Latest / Smooth Critical / C1 Ep.21: A Gift From An Old Friend

Transcript

C1 Ep.21: A Gift From An Old Friend · Smooth Critical

• 0:20
  Welcome back to Smooth Critical. I'm your DM, Avni.
• 0:24
  Quick question, Avni, are you OK?
• 0:28
  Avni, are you OK? Oh, look.
• 0:35
  At it. We're in a library.
• 0:40
  Keep it down. We're in a library.
• 0:42
  Charlie, I may introduce you to my three gorgeous gladiators.
• 0:49
  He my. Hello, it's Abe.
• 0:52
  Harry. It's Bond Bunty's bestie,
• 0:55
  beguiled and bewildered by my brand new bloody breastplate,
• 0:58
  baby. Oh.
• 0:59
  My God. Dang, OK, he was reading Aunt
• 1:03
  Charlie Ambrose Skylark. Ambro your your nickname should
• 1:09
  have been Bro, not Bo. Aram Bose, Skylark.
• 1:13
  That's me. Ham bone Skylark It's.
• 1:17
  Like the Benedict Cumberbatch variation.
• 1:20
  You didn't have to call me out for reading of me.
• 1:23
  That was unnecessary. Sorry, you had it.
• 1:26
  You had it all memorized. It was all memorized.
• 1:29
  I'll cut this before, don't worry.
• 1:32
  Well, that was crazy, Harry. It was completely memorized and
• 1:35
  off the Dome. So many B words dude.
• 1:38
  Yeah, guys, listen, what can I say?
• 1:42
  Yeah. He was asking us.
• 1:49
  What can I? What can I say?
• 1:50
  Tell me what to say. All right, let's start our kind
• 1:54
  of long recap. The four of you headed to the
• 1:57
  library, a giant nautical building built on the edge of
• 2:01
  the Cliff. Because of the time of day, you
• 2:03
  were all alone with the librarian, Jerry, an emo man
• 2:07
  with odd vibes. Abe, unsurprisingly, had lots
• 2:12
  and lots of questions about band books and where they were stored
• 2:15
  and where he could find them and things like that.
• 2:18
  And Jerry kind of answered them but was weirded out by all the
• 2:21
  questions. You asked whether Vox visited
• 2:25
  this library and Jerry said to get back to him in a bit so he
• 2:27
  could look into it. The three of you split up to do
• 2:30
  some research. During this, Bunty had a weird
• 2:33
  reaction to the name Cass Everlore.
• 2:35
  He had heard the name before when reading Johnny's journal,
• 2:38
  but this time Bunty seemingly had a freak out stating that it
• 2:41
  was supposed to be him with Cass.
• 2:43
  Abe had no idea what that meant at all, but comforted his
• 2:46
  brother and Bunty seemingly calmed down.
• 2:49
  But he remains stressed because he did not know where these
• 2:52
  memories came from or what they meant.
• 2:55
  After reconvening at Jerry's desk, he let you guys know that
• 2:58
  yes, Fox had visited the library soon after the three of you last
• 3:01
  saw him, but he had not returned his book, The Fault in Our Many
• 3:04
  Stars. As you were talking, the three
• 3:07
  of you noticed a ship's wheel next to Jerry's desk with some
• 3:09
  numbers on it. After hearing the slight click
• 3:12
  when Jerry leaned on the wheel, Beau realized it was a lock.
• 3:15
  The four of you created a distraction far away so Jerry
• 3:19
  would leave you alone with his desk.
• 3:21
  Unfortunately for Jerry, the distraction was Bunty.
• 3:24
  Letting loose some bodily fluids, Beau opened the lock,
• 3:27
  revealing a door. After descending the stairs and
• 3:30
  solving some puzzles, you all made it into an empty room.
• 3:33
  You were able to piece it together that this is where the
• 3:35
  banned books were stored and the Imperial guards had burned the
• 3:39
  books recently. Using this you figured out
• 3:41
  Servani's cryptic message and found her bag of things which
• 3:44
  included a scroll of feather fall, odd gold coins that had a
• 3:48
  phoenix carved into them, bracers which Bunty said used to
• 3:51
  be his, and then he also cried again, and some pretty cool
• 3:54
  armor for Bond that took his blood which was not ominous at
• 3:58
  all. Lastly, there was a long oil
• 4:01
  painting that looked like it had been torn.
• 4:03
  A long lineage of human men were portrayed, and looking at this,
• 4:07
  Beau chose to fail his wisdom saving throw and was thrown into
• 4:10
  a memory of his past life. Beau, you are Ambrose Elias
• 4:14
  Skylark, junior, brother to Corin and son of Ambrose
• 4:18
  Skylark, the man whose letter you found all those weeks ago
• 4:22
  underneath the ugly arena. And that's where we are now,
• 4:25
  reeling from this profound revelation, but also not exactly
• 4:29
  knowing how you're going to get out of here.
• 4:31
  The heavy stone lying door behind you is sealed shut and
• 4:34
  there are no handles on this side of the room.
• 4:37
  What are you going to do? Guys, I think my name is
• 4:42
  Ambrose. I don't know.
• 4:44
  I don't feel like an Ambrose. Do you?
• 4:47
  I look at Bon and then I look at you, Bo.
• 4:51
  Do you? Do you want us to call you that
• 4:53
  going forward? No, I don't think so.
• 4:58
  I don't know. I'm going to sit on it for a
• 4:59
  little bit. I think I'm just Bo.
• 5:02
  I nodded. That.
• 5:04
  Remind me, how did you where where did the name Bo come from
• 5:07
  again? I think at this point I'm going
• 5:09
  to take off my hat and I'll pull back like my collar.
• 5:13
  And I never, I don't know if I ever specified like where the
• 5:16
  markings were. I don't know if you had a spot
• 5:18
  of me, but I feel like it's probably like on my collarbone
• 5:21
  or something, or where, you know, a human collarbone would
• 5:24
  be. There's a metal plate and lots
• 5:27
  of the inscription is kind of worn off, but you can still make
• 5:32
  out the letters B&O. But as you, I guess as we look
• 5:36
  at it, we can see that Ambrose seems to fill in the gaps.
• 5:40
  Yeah, I guess I I am Ambrose, but I'm not, or I'm like what's
• 5:47
  left of him, so I guess I'm Bo. I glance at Bunty, considering
• 5:55
  his split personality as well. And then I look at you.
• 5:58
  Bo put my hands up. Hey, listen, I know that this is
• 6:03
  a lot right now, and I look at you, Bun.
• 6:05
  But guys, I called it and I just want that to be on the record.
• 6:11
  Ape aim, not the time. I, I know.
• 6:13
  I'm sorry. I'm sorry.
• 6:14
  It's not what's important right now.
• 6:16
  Yeah, like courtesy and bow. Yes, very, very polite.
• 6:22
  Good job. I give you a treat A.
• 6:27
  Scooty Snack. Well, I mean, listen, you've
• 6:32
  always been both to us and whatever you feel comfortable
• 6:37
  with. I think we'd be happy to just
• 6:39
  keep on calling you both if that's what you want or if
• 6:42
  something changes. I mean, I've also, you know,
• 6:45
  I've taken on kind of this new name, GAIL Song as a connection
• 6:50
  to my mother and her family. But you know, I knew my mother
• 6:54
  and her family and it to me, it makes me feel closer, that name.
• 6:57
  But if you don't feel any attachment to your past, or I
• 7:01
  guess Ambrose's past in that way, I think that makes a lot of
• 7:05
  sense. Yeah, that's fair.
• 7:08
  I feel like I don't know, pieces are seems like they're starting
• 7:11
  to come back to me, very small pieces, but I guess we'll see
• 7:16
  where this leads. I get there's a little bit of
• 7:18
  like, I don't know, a comfort and kind of knowing where I came
• 7:22
  from. I mean, we kind of had our our
• 7:24
  suspicions that it was a skylark of of some kind, but huh.
• 7:28
  Do you think Vox knew? I think I might be related to
• 7:31
  Vox maybe. I mean, obviously in the general
• 7:35
  sense, I think we're all related in some way, but I wonder if if
• 7:39
  Vox is another member of the Skylark family 'cause I mean he
• 7:43
  had, I'm going to take out the wrench, which was EGRECS and now
• 7:48
  has my initials on it. And I don't know if I ever like
• 7:51
  held it up to 1 of like the bolts on my body but I'm sure
• 7:55
  it's like a perfect fit or something like that.
• 7:57
  Yeah, no check needed. It fits perfectly.
• 8:00
  Yeah, this makes sense, huh? Now that you bring this up, I
• 8:04
  wonder if you have any type of, you know, if you focused your
• 8:09
  magic now that you've been doing magic a little bit, if you have
• 8:12
  any sort of connection to this wrench.
• 8:18
  I I I could try. I don't know.
• 8:22
  I I start staring at the wrench really intently.
• 8:29
  Can you do like in our college? Yeah, yeah, you can do one with
• 8:32
  disadvantage. I'm going to give you guidance
• 8:37
  and I say the power of this mirror compels you.
• 8:40
  OK, OK, OK. So with my arcana and
• 8:46
  everything. Oh yeah, OK.
• 8:49
  And I don't, I shouldn't forget the the guidance, which is a
• 8:52
  whopping 2. That's going to be an 8.
• 8:57
  You. Really.
• 8:59
  I really thought it was awesome. Yeah.
• 9:00
  Charlie. OK.
• 9:03
  You got A5 and A7 of my rolls. With an 8, with an 8, you know
• 9:12
  that to have this wrench turn back into egrets, this requires
• 9:17
  like an artificer infusion. That's not something that you
• 9:20
  could do right now, unless you obviously chose to take levels
• 9:24
  in Artificer. But with that eight, you do get
• 9:30
  a feeling of like warmth as you like hone in on the like
• 9:36
  lingering magic that was on this wrench.
• 9:39
  It just makes you feel close to something.
• 9:44
  Yeah, well, I'm, I'm definitely connected to this wrench.
• 9:47
  I wonder if the the wrench could fit into that like panel in your
• 9:51
  arm like in the movie Robots by Pixar.
• 9:55
  Oh, I love that. Pixar or DreamWorks, I don't
• 9:58
  remember. But you remember how the guy
• 9:59
  would. Just it was, it was DreamWorks
• 10:00
  shot, yes. That was so sick.
• 10:03
  Anyway. I look around the room.
• 10:10
  So the exit behind us closed, Yes.
• 10:13
  Yeah, it's like sealed. It's it was a stone door that
• 10:16
  matched with the Stonewall. So it kind of just like won't
• 10:20
  shut. You guys want to give me an
• 10:22
  intelligence check real quick, just flat?
• 10:25
  Yeah, and Abe, don't forget your new Yeah, +2 to your
• 10:30
  Intelligence. Score score, not modifier.
• 10:33
  Yes, I that's in my sheet because I've been known to fuck
• 10:36
  that up. 11. In 19.
• 10:41
  I look around and I just lock the fuck in and with a + 0 to
• 10:46
  intelligence that is a Nat 20 hell yeah.
• 10:49
  Oh, incredible. All right.
• 10:52
  Both Abe and Bond. You know this Bond.
• 10:54
  You know this more so logically, The Imperial.
• 10:59
  Bond is just knowing a little more.
• 11:02
  Just just a little bit more logically, the Imperial Guards
• 11:06
  didn't mix color shifting elixirs or play like mind games
• 11:10
  with a contrarian lion. Every time they wanted to haul
• 11:13
  hundreds of seized books here to be burned or come down here to
• 11:17
  burn the books, so they had to carry the contraband up from the
• 11:20
  docks somehow. And with that, because of Bond's
• 11:25
  Nat 20, no need to do an investigation check.
• 11:28
  Bond kind of locks in on this and is kind of searching around
• 11:32
  the room and tracing the perimeter again.
• 11:36
  Your eyes land on the far back corner of the room behind the
• 11:40
  last empty bookcase. And you notice that it just sits
• 11:44
  a few inches out from the stone. And you look a little closer and
• 11:49
  you see a little seam in the wall.
• 11:52
  And so if you go in and you push the bookcase slightly, it pivots
• 11:59
  and it reveals A narrow arched doorway.
• 12:03
  I walk up to the bookcase and I say, gentlemen, I've determined
• 12:07
  that with the utmost certainty, this bookcase is the exit to
• 12:10
  this room. And I go to push it and I push
• 12:14
  it from the wrong side and I just push on it and it doesn't
• 12:20
  go anywhere. I pull on it.
• 12:25
  OK, nothing happens. Voila.
• 12:30
  All right, so I guess we have to, we have to try the other
• 12:32
  bookshelves, don't we? Yeah, but he starts knocking
• 12:36
  over bookshelves. But he can't.
• 12:37
  He's only a foot tall. I I try again a bit more
• 12:41
  tactfully and push push through the bookcase.
• 12:46
  Once we turn away, we hear it open behind us.
• 12:50
  And. Voila.
• 12:53
  Third time's a charm bond. You have an issue with doors,
• 12:56
  right? The one leading the two?
• 12:59
  Guess you were God would have got like a gnat one on opening
• 13:05
  the door. So this really isn't for you.
• 13:07
  But you finally get it and you reveal A narrow arch doorway and
• 13:13
  beyond it lies a pitch black cool tunnel.
• 13:17
  Well, I found the door. I think maybe I'll go to the
• 13:23
  back of the group as we go through this totally not creepy
• 13:29
  tunnel. Sure.
• 13:31
  And I and I take the leap and I pull that amulet out that I
• 13:34
  rarely pull out but shine some light using it.
• 13:37
  Don't we have to like kind of be a little bit further back for it
• 13:41
  to? Isn't it the one that senses?
• 13:43
  It's the one that senses life. Yes, Yes.
• 13:45
  But it lights up when it senses life.
• 13:47
  Yeah, it's within 10 feet. So I assume you guys are at
• 13:49
  least one of you is within. Ten.
• 13:50
  OK, yeah, yeah, yeah. So.
• 13:52
  That's a clever use I like. That yeah, I like that a lot,
• 13:55
  too, Abe. You pull out the necklace, which
• 13:59
  is pretty much always shining because it's on your person, and
• 14:03
  you start walking down the stone passage, and it's pretty narrow
• 14:08
  at first, but very soon after it opens up into like a very tall,
• 14:13
  dark chamber. Your footsteps echo.
• 14:17
  You hear the skittering of bugs everywhere.
• 14:21
  It's very quiet. Besides, you guys.
• 14:24
  Anyone want to give me any sort of perception check?
• 14:29
  Yeah, sure. Yeah, and I'm going to, I'm
• 14:32
  going to ritual cast detect magic as we're kind of walking
• 14:39
  1224. From the back of the line.
• 14:43
  But as as you're walking, the light from Abe's amulet kind of
• 14:49
  glints off something on the floor and you bend down and pick
• 14:54
  it up and it is a badge that the Imperial Guards use.
• 15:00
  So now you just have an Imperial Guard badge.
• 15:02
  I immediately hand this to Bo. Oh, fun.
• 15:07
  Incredible. It's it's not a Sheriff star.
• 15:10
  It's kind of like a Sheriff star, but it's just a little
• 15:12
  like flame. Nice.
• 15:15
  There's a new deputy in town. Exactly.
• 15:18
  I can't wait for this next bore soon.
• 15:22
  You said it was Imperial Guard. It was Imperial Guard, yes.
• 15:25
  Then I'm a Beaudie guard. So.
• 15:31
  Sorry, we can cut that one. We.
• 15:33
  Got. Guys.
• 15:35
  We just lost 5 followers. You're not going to believe
• 15:39
  this. Oh man.
• 15:43
  OK, so you walk through the chamber a little bit more and
• 15:48
  you spot something massive in the distance.
• 15:52
  Bond you see like a slight tinge of magic when you because you
• 15:57
  have to detect magic casted right.
• 15:59
  Mounted to the floor is this massive heavy duty iron platform
• 16:05
  and it's kind of an angled cargo lift which is set into thick
• 16:09
  diagonal steel rails that track downwards into the darkness at a
• 16:14
  steep 45° angle. So because the library sits high
• 16:18
  on the Cliff side, 800 feet above the sea, these tracks cut
• 16:22
  diagonally straight through the interior of the mountain and you
• 16:26
  can tell it probably goes all the way to the water below.
• 16:30
  This is like a like their elevator pretty much.
• 16:34
  And right beside the platform, mounted on a stone pillar is a
• 16:38
  heavy brass sconce with some runes carved into it.
• 16:42
  Can. I do a arcana check on the
• 16:46
  sconce, the runes. Yes, you can do that with
• 16:51
  advantage. OK.
• 16:52
  And I'm going to give myself guidance on this.
• 16:57
  That is a 16. With a 16 you can tell with the
• 17:01
  detects magic that this, I mean the whole elevator itself,
• 17:06
  elevator quote UN quote is also magic and it's pretty similar
• 17:10
  magic to what is on the scones, but you can tell that the magic
• 17:15
  on the scone seems to be in it's sort of deactivated state right
• 17:19
  now. Sorry, just trying to understand
• 17:21
  again. There's a.
• 17:23
  There's a hole that goes directly downwards and jutting
• 17:27
  out of the hole is a giant iron platform that you can tell is a
• 17:32
  quote UN quote elevator that's going to ride down these rails
• 17:35
  on the edge of the hole so you wouldn't just fall Into
• 17:40
  Darkness. And then there's a sconce next
• 17:42
  to it that has the magic that's quote UN quote deactivated.
• 17:46
  Well boys, should we get on the platform before we try fucking
• 17:51
  around with this thing too much and loose the iron platform
• 17:56
  that's. Yeah, probably a good idea.
• 17:59
  Yeah, let's go. I know exactly what that sconce
• 18:01
  does, but yeah, we should go. Yeah.
• 18:07
  So the four of you step onto the platform, which doesn't.
• 18:12
  It's not expanded over the whole pit, so Bunty gets eerily close
• 18:17
  to the edge and goes. Guys, if someone gets pushed
• 18:21
  off, they could die. Yeah, I instinctively snatch him
• 18:24
  up. You pick him up.
• 18:27
  Yeah, and pull him onto my shoulder and.
• 18:29
  I don't want to die, I'm just saying be careful.
• 18:32
  Is there a way we can secure ourself to the the platform?
• 18:35
  No, it's just in Iron platform from what you can see.
• 18:39
  But if you guys had things I. Think we have rope?
• 18:45
  Just going. To tie yourself down.
• 18:48
  Seatbelts, you know, wait. Just just a clarifier, what is a
• 18:53
  sconce? I was afraid to ask.
• 18:57
  This is a basking after I described the sconce.
• 19:02
  A sconce is a decorative light fixture, OK mounted like to a
• 19:07
  wall. Got you guys.
• 19:09
  Should I, should I like we're on the platform now, right?
• 19:13
  I kind of reach out towards the sconce.
• 19:16
  Should should I do something to it?
• 19:18
  Before we do, I pull out a scroll of mold earth and I
• 19:23
  think. So I'll say if you are trying to
• 19:27
  use it to create some sort of like ledge around the platform,
• 19:31
  is that what you're trying to do?
• 19:33
  Yes, let's say. That OK, let's do that so so
• 19:41
  like I said, the platform is iron, but everything leading up
• 19:45
  to it is stone. If you want to burn the scroll
• 19:49
  and then give me ADC 13 religion check as you cast it, I'll let
• 19:55
  you create like a little bit of a barrier around all four sides
• 20:01
  of the platform. OK, I think that's a good use of
• 20:06
  the scroll of mold Earth. That is a 17 on the dice, so 26.
• 20:12
  Yeah, you're all good. Describe how this little barrier
• 20:16
  looks to you. So it's stone on the floor
• 20:19
  around us, is that correct? Yes, yeah, all.
• 20:21
  Right. So I use mold earth and I sort
• 20:24
  of excavate 5 square feet of stone roughly and pile a small
• 20:30
  like 1 to 2 foot Ridge around each side of the platform so
• 20:35
  that, you know, if one of us trips, we at least have
• 20:37
  something holding us onto it. And then I kind of touch it off
• 20:40
  with like, mending. Yeah, cool to try to touch it
• 20:45
  up. It's not a perfect spell.
• 20:46
  It's a mix of a couple different things, but it's something.
• 20:50
  No, I love it. Very cool.
• 20:52
  Very cool. In my head it looks like a three
• 20:54
  man 1 bunty Olympic bobsled. I immediately sit down.
• 21:04
  OK, incredible. What do you guys want to do now?
• 21:07
  Can I just do an investigation check on the sconce and the
• 21:10
  runes? Yes.
• 21:13
  Unnatural 20. It just seems like the sconce
• 21:16
  needs to be triggered, possibly for the magic to take place.
• 21:21
  I say, gentlemen, I have deduced with the utmost certainty that
• 21:26
  if you pull on that sconce there, Abe, that we will
• 21:30
  descend. And I pull it all.
• 21:32
  Right, everyone, hold your bunties.
• 21:35
  I brace myself. OK, you pull it.
• 21:39
  Give me a strength check. OK, 13. 13 You attempt to pull
• 21:47
  it, it is fastened to the wall, nothing happens.
• 21:50
  So the sconce is on the wall, the there's ruins around it.
• 21:55
  Nothing's it's just a sconce. You said it's a light fixture
• 21:59
  like a sconce is like it has like usually has like a candle
• 22:02
  or something like. Is there any sort of like light
• 22:05
  operation? Or something.
• 22:06
  There's an there's an unlit candle.
• 22:09
  Oh. I was thinking as as you said,
• 22:14
  the strength, like what are the odds that we just broke my like
• 22:18
  prints and breaks? I I was waiting for Abe to break
• 22:21
  it. Oh my God.
• 22:23
  OK, I pull out. I pull out some of my my oil
• 22:26
  from my lamp and oil pack and just some Flint and try to
• 22:29
  spark. OK, you attempt to light the
• 22:32
  candle with your matches. It lights for two seconds and
• 22:36
  then goes away. I turn to you guys.
• 22:38
  Guys, listen, I know that I've said it many times in the past
• 22:43
  that I too am a person of magic. However, I I think this one's
• 22:48
  for you guys and I kind of step back onto the platform a bit.
• 22:53
  No, no, I Abe, I think you had the right idea.
• 22:57
  I think you should. You should try it again.
• 22:59
  Which which idea? The pulling it or the trying?
• 23:01
  To no, no, no, no, no, not that one, not that one.
• 23:04
  The using the using the tinderbox.
• 23:07
  OK, and and I and I try again. As he does, I'm going to use
• 23:12
  press to digitation. Maybe magical flame is the
• 23:14
  answer, but I want Abe to feel like he has a win.
• 23:17
  So. Incredible.
• 23:19
  So you cast press to digitation as Abe attempts to light it with
• 23:23
  his matchbox. This time the flame lasts, and
• 23:29
  deep within the Cliff wall a giant iron counterweight groans
• 23:35
  to life with this low vibrating thrum, and you can hear it echo
• 23:40
  all up that hole, and as the sconces lit, you see the runes
• 23:45
  around it flare with a bright red color.
• 23:48
  The heavy platform shutters beneath your feet, and with a
• 23:52
  smooth and heavy glide, the lift begins its long descent down on
• 23:56
  these angled tracks. It's a little shaky, definitely
• 24:00
  would have been a little tough if you didn't have those little
• 24:04
  barriers, but I'll say it's not too difficult with the ride
• 24:09
  down. So you don't have to make any
• 24:11
  sort of checks. As long as you're sitting down
• 24:14
  and the walls are around you. You feel pretty secured and you
• 24:18
  ride the platform down through the blackness for what feels
• 24:21
  like many, many minutes. You have no sense of time as
• 24:25
  you're going down this hole right now.
• 24:27
  As we're riding down the hole, I turned to bow and I'm like, if
• 24:32
  somebody's on the other side, maybe you should put on a like a
• 24:38
  Imperial guard disguise and then we could be like your prisoners
• 24:41
  or something. That's not a bad idea.
• 24:43
  Yeah, I'll, I'll put the, the badge on.
• 24:46
  However, I don't think I have clothes.
• 24:47
  Maybe. Oh, wait, I have an idea.
• 24:49
  I'm going to take the badge and I'm going to, like, tuck it
• 24:51
  underneath my coat, and then I can, like, reveal it as like a
• 24:55
  plainclothes imperial guard. Undercover, your squad car is
• 25:01
  just a black sedan. Awesome.
• 25:05
  So you keep going down. You don't know how many minutes
• 25:09
  this is. It literally could be 3 minutes,
• 25:11
  it could be 20. It's just so boring and pitch
• 25:15
  black and you just hear the same sounds over and over again which
• 25:19
  is bunty farting and rocks falling off in the hole and just
• 25:23
  landing at the bottom. Is it like the pressure change
• 25:26
  or like what's going on buddy? What's why?
• 25:29
  Are you? I just have stomach problems.
• 25:31
  I I ate a bug on the walk here. Why'd you?
• 25:34
  Why'd you do that? It had 17 feet.
• 25:38
  You know, if we're descending an elevation, he would be releasing
• 25:42
  more gas. Yeah, what?
• 25:44
  Bows head. Also, 17 legs is not a reason to
• 25:47
  eat it. I've never seen something with
• 25:49
  17 legs before. It had eight on each side and 1
• 25:53
  coming out the butt. That that wasn't a leg.
• 25:56
  That wasn't a leg, Bunty. Bunty there's there's an old
• 25:59
  saying in my village. It is hot, blobs have stomach
• 26:05
  issues so. Yeah, I am super sexy hot BLOB
• 26:10
  stomach issues, but I feel like you really know all of us so
• 26:16
  well. You're a good guy and then he
• 26:19
  kisses you. Thanks.
• 26:21
  Wet on the lips. I pull away hard.
• 26:24
  You start trying to. You stop.
• 26:28
  Oh, thank you. Thank you.
• 26:29
  So thank you, Bunty. I appreciate that.
• 26:32
  OK. Yeah, no problem.
• 26:33
  Sexy. Avni to to really sell the
• 26:37
  potential Imperial Guard look. The suggestion from Bond.
• 26:42
  I'm also going to change my disguise so that I have like a
• 26:45
  short trimmed haircut, like a mustache, kind of like square
• 26:50
  jaw, but somehow also a little bit of like a double chin
• 26:53
  underneath it. Incredible are you?
• 26:55
  Are you remaining human? Yes.
• 26:58
  Awesome, so you keep travelling down, and as you head down the
• 27:04
  roaring sound of the tide grows louder and louder until the lift
• 27:08
  finally slows and it sets down at the bottom with a soft clunk,
• 27:14
  and at the bottom of the tracks stands a heavy wooden door
• 27:18
  reinforced with iron bands. Hop out of the platform and
• 27:23
  attempt to move the door. You opened the door, it is
• 27:27
  unlocked right now. Perfect.
• 27:29
  It wouldn't have opened if I tried you guys.
• 27:32
  Voila. I I turn to Bunty and I say I
• 27:36
  deduced that. Just so you know, I deduced it.
• 27:39
  I swear to lose. Certainty.
• 27:42
  Deuce like poop. Didn't do double poop.
• 27:45
  Nope. Never mind.
• 27:47
  I walk away from Bunty. So do you guys just walk out of
• 27:51
  the door? No.
• 27:53
  How open is it? So Abe, kind of, we'll say that.
• 27:57
  Abe kind of peeks open the door a little bit and it leads into
• 28:03
  an alley that is on the Ember Hold docks.
• 28:07
  Abe, how far does your amulet reach?
• 28:11
  10 feet. I can.
• 28:12
  I can leave Bunty here and then I could.
• 28:15
  I could. Throw it.
• 28:16
  Yeah, I mean, I could. Just do it.
• 28:17
  Let's not, let's not throw it. I can use mage hand.
• 28:22
  What OK is it like when a creature or something is within
• 28:25
  10 feet it will get bright? Or does it like get brighter as
• 28:29
  it gets closer? I think it just lights up.
• 28:32
  It just it is on or off type of situation rather than a a light
• 28:36
  intensity thing. Because if there is something
• 28:38
  there, then it would just be a bright floating light.
• 28:41
  I mean, you could just walk out first ball.
• 28:43
  Yeah, I I guess, I guess I could.
• 28:45
  OK, but which is more suspicious, a bright floating
• 28:48
  light or a person you don't know?
• 28:52
  I I think the bright floating light if I'm I see people I
• 28:55
  don't know all the time. I think the more suspicious
• 28:58
  option would be the bright floating light followed by the
• 29:01
  person that they don't know, which would kind of have to be
• 29:05
  right. Well, what if you're just the
• 29:06
  God who has the light can trip? Can I make a perception check
• 29:10
  through the the sliver? Yeah, give me a stealth check.
• 29:14
  As you peek, open the door and stick your head out slightly.
• 29:19
  I'll I'll give Abe help on this stealth check.
• 29:22
  What? Does the help do?
• 29:23
  What does the help do? Advantage.
• 29:26
  I have proficiency in stealth, So what I'm going to do is I'm
• 29:30
  going to swipe the the oil that Abe used to light the fire
• 29:33
  earlier and I'll put it on the the hinges of the doors so that
• 29:36
  it doesn't squeak. Incredible.
• 29:38
  Yeah. So Abe, you have a, you get to
• 29:39
  roll one more time and have advantage.
• 29:41
  Thank fuck 'cause it was a net one.
• 29:46
  Oh nice, that's a 17. A 17.
• 29:48
  So with that stealth check, you're able to peek your head
• 29:52
  out the door. And now give me your perception
• 29:54
  check. 21. OK, you spot a woman at the end
• 30:01
  of this alleyway frantically looking around with a 21.
• 30:06
  You can hear her say. I don't.
• 30:08
  I don't know where I dropped it. It's my first week on the job.
• 30:11
  This is my first away mission. I lost my badge.
• 30:14
  Oh my God, I'm so fucking stupid.
• 30:16
  And she's just kind of berating herself.
• 30:19
  And you wait a bit longer and you hear someone yell over
• 30:23
  Ensign, Come here, we'll get you another badge.
• 30:26
  Just, I mean, you're in trouble. But like, just, we have to go
• 30:29
  right now. And she kind of jogs away very
• 30:33
  upset. I kind of I relay this to you
• 30:35
  guys and just suggest that we hang out until she is is clear
• 30:40
  of eyesight of the door. Yeah, OK.
• 30:42
  So you guys wait a beat or two until she runs off and you wait
• 30:46
  another minute to make sure she's fully somewhere else on
• 30:50
  the docks. And you guys head out into this
• 30:54
  alleyway. As you head out into the
• 30:57
  alleyway, this like sea fog is kind of rolling all over the
• 31:02
  docks. Bon, it's been so long since
• 31:05
  you've been here, and usually the docks are hustling and
• 31:08
  bustling with a lot of activity. But what you notice is that it's
• 31:13
  just very quiet. Much more quiet than usual and
• 31:20
  you can hear your boots softly stepping on the wood.
• 31:27
  It's it's quiet, quieter than usual, yeah.
• 31:32
  But I guess maybe that makes sense with the limited trade
• 31:36
  that's happening. I guess so.
• 31:38
  It's it's sad to see this used to be such a a rich and bustling
• 31:44
  area with with sailors from all over the world and travelers of
• 31:49
  every kind. As as we're walking down, I kind
• 31:51
  of like like turn fully like 360 just to kind of take in the the
• 31:57
  buildings or structures around us to see like what what they
• 31:59
  are in this alley. Yeah, everyone can give me an
• 32:04
  investigation check if they like.
• 32:06
  Can I sort of lead us over towards where Narex's main port
• 32:10
  used to be if I if it's close by?
• 32:13
  So the warehouse that Narex wrote in his letter, total
• 32:19
  opposite side of where his port is obviously less suspicious.
• 32:24
  So you head over to the other side kind of just meandering and
• 32:31
  that's where everyone will give me their their investigation
• 32:33
  check. Excuse me, it's a 12.
• 32:37
  Can I do it with advantage because I know the area?
• 32:40
  Absolutely. I don't think you need to.
• 32:42
  I got a 0. I love a dirty 0.
• 32:48
  I got a 13. I'm hoping that it's it's one of
• 32:51
  those early video games where the integer system is all messed
• 32:54
  up and since I got a zero like goes to the.
• 32:58
  Yeah, that's definitely what happens.
• 33:00
  I got a 13. A13.
• 33:02
  So a 12 and a thirteen were the two.
• 33:04
  Yeah, and it's 0. Sorry.
• 33:05
  Sorry. Yeah, and the 0.
• 33:06
  Yeah, I will never forget that. Don't forget Charlie, you've
• 33:11
  never seen water before, which is crazy because they found you
• 33:15
  in water, but you've never seen it.
• 33:17
  Yeah, but they took me out of it.
• 33:19
  Exactly. So you actually can't remember.
• 33:21
  Lava. Yeah, you've seen lava.
• 33:24
  I thought the lava was water actually.
• 33:28
  So Abe and Bon Abe, you kind of take notice more of the
• 33:33
  buildings around here. You see a lot of shops which
• 33:37
  should be open right now look kind of closed and a little sad.
• 33:42
  There's like bait shops, there's some ship repair shops.
• 33:46
  There's also a lot of excuse me, there's also a lot of warehouses
• 33:49
  here that you think some of the merchants own and store some of
• 33:52
  their gear. But it's all, like I said, it's
• 33:54
  all very dead down here. And Bond, while Ava's looking at
• 33:59
  the buildings, you're kind of looking out into the water and
• 34:02
  to see what ships are there. And you notice that kind of what
• 34:06
  you deduce, there's not a lot of ships down here and there's not,
• 34:10
  there's absolutely no small vessels.
• 34:12
  So there's no local fishing boats, there's no independent
• 34:14
  dinghies, there's no small regional traders.
• 34:17
  The harbor has been like thoroughly purged of the common
• 34:20
  folk, and the only ships moored at the Piers are large merchant
• 34:25
  ships, and you can spot some of these at the dock.
• 34:29
  Ashen Wake sees Shadow, Blazing Glory, and Draken's Darkness,
• 34:35
  which are all themes around either darkness or fire, right?
• 34:40
  And Bond, What you also spot is Tux, where Narex's ships should
• 34:47
  be. Are three identical predatory
• 34:51
  looking ships that you've never seen before in all of your years
• 34:55
  traveling with Narricks. There are these sleek ships
• 34:59
  painted an ominous matte black, and their hulls are literally
• 35:03
  wrapped in heavy iron chains that drag through the dark
• 35:06
  water. They look less like merchant
• 35:08
  ships and more like attack ships.
• 35:12
  Their names are the Maidens Manacles, the second one is
• 35:15
  Shackles of the Sea, and the third is the Iron Pearl.
• 35:19
  These must be they do ships and the Chains cartel.
• 35:24
  And there's like shackles and manacles and stuff, so
• 35:27
  definitely on theme for them. Yeah, what what even is the
• 35:32
  point of all this? I kind of like gesture to all
• 35:35
  the closed down shops at lunchtime where like I mean I
• 35:39
  assume that people should be here.
• 35:41
  It is like a very busy merchant city as well, even without that
• 35:45
  context. But like, like to what end?
• 35:48
  And I look at you Bond and and you Bo.
• 35:50
  This isn't anything like what it used to be when I was a traveler
• 35:55
  when I first came here. I don't know.
• 35:57
  I mean, a quick lower question. How did you get to YEAH?
• 36:04
  I probably didn't get on a legitimate ship.
• 36:07
  Hey, did you come through a port to get the scenario?
• 36:13
  When we first met, I never really asked how you got across
• 36:16
  the smoldering sea. No, I guess when I decided that
• 36:21
  I was going to seek out the Imperator, the only person I
• 36:24
  really knew who had a ship was Stick Nerricks.
• 36:26
  Sorry, but then he never came back.
• 36:30
  So I just paid off the first smuggler I could find that
• 36:34
  didn't ask any questions about Bunty or me, and they dropped us
• 36:38
  off north of Emberhold. So yeah, I never, I never made
• 36:40
  it here. And the rest of the journey was
• 36:42
  on foot or in the backs of like ox carts and carriages that I
• 36:47
  could sneak into. It's hard, it's hard to say what
• 36:51
  could be gained from this A, because, you know, in some sense
• 36:55
  there's control and, you know, major limitation and alliances
• 37:00
  clearly being unfolded. But at the same time, it feels
• 37:03
  like they're probably losing so much revenue that the trade
• 37:07
  generated I I can't imagine the payoff is worth it, but.
• 37:11
  Yeah, unless they're getting ready for a war.
• 37:14
  I think that might be the gist of it.
• 37:17
  They had an alliance 500 years ago when they had a common
• 37:20
  enemy, and without a common enemy it's hard to get people
• 37:24
  to. Unite.
• 37:26
  Get along if they have a lot of differences.
• 37:29
  Bunty starts to freak out. I don't want to go back to war.
• 37:32
  I don't want there to be war. What do you back to war?
• 37:35
  Bunty, what do you mean? Whoa.
• 37:36
  Bunty. No, no, no, I'm not a war hero.
• 37:38
  I'm a Barber. But like what?
• 37:42
  Wait. What bunty Even in the toughest
• 37:45
  times, barbers must be called upon.
• 37:49
  I mean. I'm obviously more than a
• 37:51
  Barber. You've seen me.
• 37:52
  I'm also sexy. Those aren't mutually exclusive,
• 37:55
  but also. Occupations Barber, sexy and
• 38:03
  pervert. I put him in my palms and I lift
• 38:08
  him up so that he's on eye level with the three of us.
• 38:12
  It's. Actually a really cute scene.
• 38:17
  Like from his perspective, you guys are all kind of leaning
• 38:19
  down to him eye level. That's very cute.
• 38:22
  Yeah, and Ponte and I look at, I look at him.
• 38:26
  Yeah, he's shaking in his boots. Listen, if if war doesn't
• 38:31
  happen, there's no guarantee that it's going to be like the
• 38:34
  last time that you experienced war.
• 38:38
  Well, I mean, like, I wasn't in the war, but the war was
• 38:44
  happening, you know, It was all around us, but not me.
• 38:48
  I actually had a pretty cushy life sometimes, but it just kind
• 38:51
  of like happened and everyone was on edge and then it came to
• 38:54
  us and then it came to us and it wasn't supposed to come to us
• 38:58
  and it came to us. And he takes a shit in your
• 39:00
  hand. OK, I'm going to try to move
• 39:03
  past that and I can I motion to you whoever has like what is the
• 39:09
  one that cleans things? Yeah.
• 39:12
  Yeah, and I'm going to be like, you know, if you could help me
• 39:15
  out, Bo, trying to be calm. I don't.
• 39:18
  I don't. I think the first time I used
• 39:19
  precipitation was the so I don't even know if it could do that.
• 39:23
  Like OK, he changes. The smell of it.
• 39:29
  No. Why does it?
• 39:30
  Smell like lavender? It smells real good now.
• 39:34
  But I try to keep Bunty calm. Hey, it's OK buddy.
• 39:37
  Where, where, Where did the war come the last time?
• 39:43
  When do you think it came? The the the Rebellion Empire.
• 39:50
  He takes in a deep breath. His eye turns to the human form.
• 39:56
  Not you. Again.
• 39:57
  And I fucking drop the Ponte. No, I drop him now.
• 40:03
  He's. Doesn't drop him.
• 40:04
  I I punt him 20. Feet away into the water.
• 40:11
  Oh my God. So you you get startled and drop
• 40:16
  posh Bunty and he looks up at you, rubs his head and then goes
• 40:23
  ow and then it turns back into regular Bunty.
• 40:26
  How the hell did I get here guys?
• 40:28
  Well, you, you did the thing again.
• 40:29
  You keep turning into posh bunty.
• 40:32
  Guys, I think you're under some sort of like shared delusion or
• 40:36
  something. We'll explain the gaps in your
• 40:38
  memory. Drinking.
• 40:40
  Wait, what do you mean drinking? Do you Do you have the flask?
• 40:43
  We got rid of the flask when we left.
• 40:46
  No. Bunty and I and I vigorously
• 40:50
  search his person looking. For the you just shake him
• 40:53
  upside down. You see he's been collecting a
• 40:57
  bunch of rocks and bugs in his somewhere and the flask.
• 41:01
  We gave him pockets. Oh yeah, the pockets of the
• 41:05
  everything falls out all of a sudden you hear bonk it, pull it
• 41:10
  very loudly on the dock. Pick it up and put it away.
• 41:14
  Yeah, and there's no, no flask, I'm assuming falls out.
• 41:16
  So I'm like, why did you say that so suspiciously?
• 41:19
  OK, nothing happens. Bunty just goes.
• 41:23
  Ideas. I used to have memory issues
• 41:27
  back in the day I. Think you still have memory
• 41:30
  issues Bunty? Stares off into this.
• 41:32
  Yeah, I hate to break it to you, bud.
• 41:33
  OK, you, you know, just another thing, 'cause I kind of just
• 41:37
  turned away from Bunty for a second.
• 41:39
  This, all of this makes me feel like, you know, the trading
• 41:43
  stuff that Peshwari was and, and Drummond were trying to get
• 41:48
  going in La Grande's village. Like is that even going to come
• 41:52
  to fruition at all at this point?
• 41:55
  It's interesting that in that election there was a candidate
• 41:58
  who was very opposed to the idea of foreign traders coming in is.
• 42:05
  There is there anyone on these docks at all?
• 42:08
  You saw that the Imperial Guard went somewhere, so you look over
• 42:13
  to the east side of the docks and it looks a little bit more
• 42:16
  populated to rather than where you guys are on the West side of
• 42:21
  the dock. And as you're asking that, you
• 42:25
  see there's a silver tram system that goes from down here at the
• 42:30
  docks halfway up the mountain. It's those, they're the aerial
• 42:34
  trams, the ones that you would use for like skiing and stuff
• 42:37
  like that, traverse up a mountain.
• 42:39
  So the tram lands at a little bit further away from where you
• 42:45
  guys were. You hadn't noticed it at first
• 42:47
  that there was a landing over there.
• 42:50
  And three people come off of the tram and they just look kind of
• 42:55
  like dock workers. Bunty turns to you guys and
• 42:59
  goes. Guys, I don't want to talk about
• 43:00
  this anymore. Can we take a ride on the tram?
• 43:03
  It seems really fun. Which way is the captain's club?
• 43:07
  The shanty is halfway or a little less than halfway up the
• 43:13
  Cliff, so you could take the shanty up there if you wanted
• 43:17
  and just walk a little bit from where you are.
• 43:19
  Yeah, Bunty, you want to go on the tramway?
• 43:22
  Oh my God, yeah. It's paid though.
• 43:24
  Will you pay for me? Yeah, I mean our, our money.
• 43:27
  Are you are you coming with or can I go alone?
• 43:29
  No, no, no. No, no, no, no, no.
• 43:31
  And also like our money is kind of a collective thing we've
• 43:33
  established. It's not like my money or your
• 43:36
  money, Bunty or Bonds money or Bose money.
• 43:38
  It's like I know, but. But Bond just holds all the
• 43:41
  money. He's our sugar daddy.
• 43:43
  Well, yeah, yeah. Bunty, I thought you were
• 43:46
  independently wealthy. Oh, I was.
• 43:48
  But then I I gave all my money to the monastery.
• 43:52
  What? Oh.
• 43:56
  It's like every other sentence out of you nowadays, Bunty.
• 43:59
  I have memories. Can I do like a medicine check
• 44:03
  on Bunty? Absolutely.
• 44:05
  See if something weird has changed.
• 44:08
  I mean, not that I know Bunty's Physiology very well, but.
• 44:12
  And while Bon is doing this, I'm going to whisper to you, Bo the
• 44:17
  mirror maybe? I don't think we want to risk
• 44:20
  chromatic bunty right now. Not Chromatic Chrome Bunty, not.
• 44:24
  Right now. But when we're when we're ready,
• 44:26
  maybe when we're prepared. Maybe on the boat.
• 44:29
  So that is a 26. Yeah, so you've known Bunty for
• 44:34
  a couple weeks now, and I narrated this the first time
• 44:37
  that you guys leveled up, but you haven't super noticed it.
• 44:42
  But he's been like growing ever so slightly, like 1/4 inch, 1/2
• 44:48
  an inch. He's definitely a full, like two
• 44:52
  inches taller than he used to be, which is proportionally huge
• 44:57
  for Bunty right now. And ever since he started
• 45:00
  growing he's been saying all this weird shit.
• 45:03
  So that's what you get with that.
• 45:06
  I'm like pulling out my medical tools.
• 45:08
  I I tap Bunty's knee with the triangle thing.
• 45:13
  He has no reflexes. OK, OK.
• 45:16
  I guess maybe that's normal for him.
• 45:19
  I am sort of like checking his pulse or attempting to check his
• 45:23
  pulse. It's very small, but it's very
• 45:27
  slow. And then I noticed that, you
• 45:30
  know, I put his little pirate hat on for a minute, and I
• 45:32
  noticed that it's a little snug. And I say to Abe, yeah, we just
• 45:37
  got this resized. He's already growing out of it.
• 45:40
  How much? How much do I know?
• 45:43
  Like, how much do people in this world know about Physiology?
• 45:47
  Obviously we know about like the musculature and bones and things
• 45:51
  to replace and like the nervous system to an extent, but like,
• 45:54
  do we know about the brain and like sizes of brains and like.
• 45:59
  To an extent. I mean, there are people who
• 46:03
  work in medicine, they're usually clerics, but I imagine
• 46:06
  there's definitely been like some sort of like dissection and
• 46:09
  studying and scientists. Yeah, I wonder if his brain is
• 46:16
  growing. You see him pick his butt, sniff
• 46:19
  it, and go. Let's go ride the tram.
• 46:22
  At this rate he'll be smarter than us in no time.
• 46:27
  I guess we get on the tramway. Yes, yeah.
• 46:29
  So you guys head over to the tram.
• 46:31
  It's 1 gold total for the four of you for unlimited rides for
• 46:36
  up and down. But it only goes halfway up the
• 46:39
  Cliff side because the dock workers don't really give a shit
• 46:42
  about going on top of the Cliff. You take the tram up.
• 46:48
  The tram car is lined with like it's very pretty.
• 46:50
  It's stained glass velvet upholstered benches.
• 46:54
  It's built specifically to haul these like high tier merchants
• 46:57
  and nobles and imperial officers up to like the middle terrace of
• 47:01
  the Cliff. And it starts making its way up.
• 47:06
  It stops about two times, but you know Bond that the third
• 47:11
  stop is the one that you want to get off of.
• 47:13
  So it stops at the third stop and the three of you head out.
• 47:19
  So looking from up here and looking during the tram ride, it
• 47:24
  was very beautiful, just like looking over the expanse of the
• 47:29
  cliffside, looking over the docks and looking over all of
• 47:32
  the ships. And once you get on this, this
• 47:35
  third stop, the cliffside is actually quite busy up here.
• 47:39
  Like it was empty at the docks, but it's like really hustling
• 47:41
  and bustling up here. This, this feels, this feels
• 47:45
  better. I don't know.
• 47:46
  That was kind of unsettling down there.
• 47:48
  What kind of people seem to be about?
• 47:50
  A lot of them look to be like rich merchants and bond.
• 47:55
  You can tell the difference between how deckhands look for
• 47:59
  large merchant ships and like some of the lower merchant ships
• 48:03
  and these guys look like they're all deckhands of like large
• 48:06
  merchant ships. They all have signets of
• 48:10
  different merchants. They're all wearing like
• 48:13
  uniformed colored clothes that used to match the other
• 48:17
  deckhands on their ships. It's kind of like they're quote
• 48:19
  UN quote going out clothes when they're not on the ship.
• 48:22
  So everyone seems to have gotten off the ships and been having
• 48:25
  like a good time up here. This is where the like hoity
• 48:30
  toity members of the ships usually hang out.
• 48:33
  I think Narricks is people were usually really good people, but
• 48:37
  if I recall a lot of the other big names they didn't have as
• 48:41
  much decorum. So as you guys step off the
• 48:44
  tram, because it's so busy and for some reason this city does
• 48:48
  not believe in like rails and stuff to keep you from falling
• 48:53
  off of the Cliff, you kind of are getting bumped around a
• 48:56
  little bit and bon, you know the way to the shanty.
• 48:59
  So as you start leading people over, you guys feel yourself
• 49:03
  getting jostled. So can everyone give me ADC 12
• 49:08
  decks saving throw? 14. 25.
• 49:15
  Three, I am going to use my heroic inspiration here to re
• 49:20
  roll that. That is another 2.
• 49:23
  So that is a three total. OK, so Bo and Abe, you guys kind
• 49:28
  of catch yourself within people and bond.
• 49:32
  You feel yourself get bumped and you start to lose your footing
• 49:36
  up here. But before you can fall, a hand
• 49:38
  reaches out and grabs you. It's the strong hand of a red
• 49:41
  dragon born woman and she just kind of lifts you back up.
• 49:45
  She's wearing like a tank top and shorts.
• 49:47
  She's dressed very differently than everyone else up here.
• 49:50
  She looks over at you and goes be careful you overlook her and
• 49:53
  then she walks into the crowd. That was see this?
• 49:57
  That's what I mean by hoodie Toddy.
• 49:59
  They're so fucking rude down here.
• 50:01
  She did. She did kind of help you.
• 50:04
  Yeah, she helped me, but then she chastised me for falling
• 50:07
  because she pushed me over. Yeah.
• 50:09
  No, that was part. That part was that part was
• 50:11
  lame, but yeah. God you guys start making your
• 50:16
  way. You didn't know who pushed you
• 50:17
  but yes. You start making your way over
• 50:20
  to the shanty and you notice her kind of going in the same
• 50:23
  direction and as you watch her you notice a little bit in front
• 50:28
  of her. An elf man loses his footing and
• 50:31
  before he can fall she reaches out again and grabs someone else
• 50:35
  and pulls them back on to the Cliff and she goes, God damn it,
• 50:40
  twice today. They need to build like a
• 50:43
  railing or something. I just, I can't deal with this
• 50:46
  right now. I'm late to work.
• 50:49
  And she just keeps moving along the crowd and the posh elf who
• 50:54
  almost fell. You are kind of walking close to
• 50:57
  him as this happens. He's standing still.
• 50:59
  He's like wiping his hand that she touched on his suit pants
• 51:04
  like almost disgustedly because she was wearing like tank tops
• 51:06
  and shorts. She was like super chill and
• 51:08
  he's just like wiping it away and he goes disgusting.
• 51:12
  I hate the trek to the shanty. I wish the guards did something
• 51:16
  about this. Give me a perception check. 17.
• 51:22
  It's going to be a natural one for me.
• 51:24
  I'm going to look at Bunty and consider picking him up and
• 51:27
  rubbing him on this guy. So 24.
• 51:32
  Bon and Abe, you guys noticed that this elf is fiddling with a
• 51:37
  ring on his finger, and it shows a signet of a partial sun being
• 51:41
  covered by a cloud. And he drops his hand and
• 51:44
  continues walking. And Bon, you know that this is
• 51:48
  the symbol of the merchant Ophelia from Noctavalis.
• 51:52
  She's not like a huge merchant, but you know that she's been
• 51:54
  like trying to get bigger and everyone that she hires is kind
• 51:58
  of like a huge douche. So he's just walking, hands by
• 52:02
  his side. I kind of whispered to you guys
• 52:06
  that Dragonborn had really good reflexes.
• 52:10
  Yeah, I I'm going to, can I check my pockets to make sure
• 52:14
  that nothing was stolen real quick?
• 52:17
  Yeah, absolutely. What do you keep in your
• 52:21
  pockets, just out of curiosity? Probably my dream salt.
• 52:25
  So 2 vials of Dream Salt I. Keep.
• 52:29
  Like the signet ring much closer to my chest.
• 52:33
  Like sort of like in my undergarment robes on my chest.
• 52:37
  I keep a dagger in my pocket and I would keep potions there if I
• 52:41
  had any. You kind of look through all
• 52:45
  your stuff, nothing seems to be missing from her.
• 52:50
  So you guys kind of pass by this posh elf who is just kind of
• 52:56
  meandering a little nervously. He's also heading to the shanty
• 53:01
  and you guys. His hands were by his side, so
• 53:04
  the ring was exposed. Yeah.
• 53:07
  Bond, do you think another signet ring would help us?
• 53:10
  I'm just pro stealing in general, so yeah I.
• 53:13
  Was asking Bond but I do. Oh, I thought you said Bunty.
• 53:16
  My bad. My bad, my bad.
• 53:20
  Retconner. Alia only asked.
• 53:22
  Bunty's opinion? I mean, I don't really want to
• 53:27
  show Narex's ring to get into the shanty, so it could
• 53:32
  definitely be helpful to have. I just kind of glance at Abe.
• 53:36
  Yeah. Like what do you think?
• 53:38
  Great idea, and I'm going to How close are we to him?
• 53:41
  You guys are going to pass him. We're going to pass him, I'm
• 53:44
  going to fake trip and and fall just into him but like away from
• 53:49
  the edge. I I I'm going to summon the
• 53:53
  invisible mage hand. OK, so Bo, you give me a sleight
• 53:56
  of hand with advantage to get the signet ring.
• 53:59
  Avni, I'm going to use the the clockwork amulet on one of the
• 54:07
  like for one of the D12. Rolls, yeah.
• 54:10
  So that the lowest I can get is a 13.
• 54:13
  Cool A13 plus your sleight of hand which is.
• 54:16
  Yep. So that is going to be a 19. 19
• 54:22
  Yeah, you slip it off and Abe give me a dex check and he's
• 54:28
  going to give a dex even throw to not fall off the Cliff. 23.
• 54:35
  You bump into him and you see him kind of lose his foot
• 54:39
  footing as if he is going to fall off the Cliff.
• 54:42
  But I assume that it's not your intention to kill this man.
• 54:45
  So you kind of, as he's falling over, you kind of nudge him back
• 54:50
  a little bit on the Cliff. So you guys both kind of just
• 54:53
  trip on the edge and he turns over to you and he goes, God
• 55:00
  damn it. I, he starts to just like, like
• 55:05
  breathe heavily. And it's like, I can't do this.
• 55:07
  I can't do, I can't do this anymore.
• 55:09
  I'm just so fucking pissed off. I can't do this.
• 55:11
  I can't do this. And he just, he just, he ignores
• 55:16
  you and just turns around as if he's going back to the tram.
• 55:19
  Sorry, I called back and then I look at, I look at you guys and
• 55:26
  I thumbs up. I'm wait, I'm gonna, I have an
• 55:30
  idea to cover our bases, OK? I'm gonna with the mage hand,
• 55:33
  the invisible mage hand. I'm gonna put the ring on like
• 55:36
  the very edge of the ledge and have it be like kind of
• 55:40
  teetering off. And then I'm gonna say, hey,
• 55:43
  Sir, is that yours? And point to it so that he can
• 55:47
  see it just before I have the maid Chan just kind of drop it
• 55:50
  below to make it look like it's fallen off of the ledge.
• 55:53
  Oh my God, he turns over, he goes.
• 55:56
  Oh my God, that was my five year anniversary ring that Ophelia
• 56:02
  gave me for working with her for five years.
• 56:06
  Today, today is not my day. Today is not my day.
• 56:09
  Oh my God, today is not my day. Hey Sir, you know I'm I'm a
• 56:14
  professional scuba diver. I, I, I he.
• 56:18
  He puts his hand up and he just walks away.
• 56:20
  He cannot deal. With I could retrieve it for you
• 56:23
  for a fee. Oh my God.
• 56:27
  Running cons again are we bud? Just one last job it.
• 56:33
  Was instincts, guys. I just had to try.
• 56:36
  He he walks away and you guys continue on your way to the
• 56:40
  shanty. Can we Can we quickly pop by
• 56:43
  like a general store nearby And just I have a couple of random
• 56:49
  items I want to sell like my old Mace, my old scale mail now that
• 56:55
  I have a new thing. And then we've got some bows and
• 56:57
  arrows and great axes that we just picked up from those
• 57:01
  bandits earlier. Yeah.
• 57:03
  So we'll just real quick, we can look at the player's Handbook
• 57:07
  and just I'll give you the equivalent for how much that it
• 57:11
  all costs in gold. And then is there anything you
• 57:14
  wanted to buy from the general store as well?
• 57:16
  How many healing potions do you guys have?
• 57:18
  I feel like we should probably re up that.
• 57:20
  I have none. I also have none.
• 57:23
  I have a single potion of healing.
• 57:25
  OK. Yeah.
• 57:27
  Why don't we buy like, I don't know, two more, three more?
• 57:31
  3 is probably good. Yeah, we could buy three more.
• 57:34
  So because of your merchant discount, you'll get them for 45
• 57:37
  gold pieces and we can work out the math a little later.
• 57:41
  So you guys head over to the shanty and very classic store
• 57:46
  embedded directly into the Cliff wall that is kind of their jam.
• 57:50
  And so despite its humble name, it is like this staggering
• 57:53
  display of wealth. So there's like towering brass
• 57:57
  fitted mahogany doors, like a double door.
• 58:00
  There are two looming stoic bouncers, clad and tailored suit
• 58:04
  jackets over steel breastplates. They look like armored up but
• 58:08
  also kind of fancy with the jackets.
• 58:10
  And above the door hangs A glowing sign depicting a golden
• 58:15
  anchor entwined with Laurel leaves.
• 58:18
  And it says the shanty. And you can see that there is a
• 58:21
  little bit of a line out the door, and as people go to enter,
• 58:25
  you hear soft ambient lute music and see some warm amber light
• 58:30
  spilling out from the from the large doors.
• 58:33
  So the line is these wealthy merchants in silk robes and
• 58:37
  velvet coats, and they all have their signet rings in front of
• 58:41
  them, showing to the bouncer before being let inside.
• 58:45
  I kind of pull a beside with, with everybody.
• 58:49
  I'm not doing this in secret or anything.
• 58:51
  I I put my hand on Abe's shoulder and I say, hey, what's
• 58:55
  that mantra that you've been, you know, that you discovered?
• 58:59
  Oh. Inhale the boundless sky.
• 59:01
  Exhale the heavy stone. I think this is a perfect
• 59:04
  opportunity to inhale the boundless sky and exhale the
• 59:07
  heavy stone, if you know what I mean.
• 59:11
  Yeah, I kind of. I kind of motioned to the sky,
• 59:14
  into the stone all around me, and I'm like, yeah, yeah, I
• 59:18
  think you're right. Do you?
• 59:20
  Want. To try to take the lead on this
• 59:24
  one. Bo's eyes go wide, but he
• 59:27
  doesn't say anything. Like like be a merchant.
• 59:31
  Do you think you could? I mean, I can be anything and I
• 59:34
  wink at you. I look at Bo.
• 59:39
  Yeah, I, I, I mean, you feel up to it, Abe, do you?
• 59:42
  What do you Quick, quick test say I'm like the bouncer and
• 59:48
  you're pretending to be like a kind of upper class merchant.
• 59:52
  What What would you like say to try to get in?
• 59:55
  I look at you, Bond, and then I look back at you, Bo and I
• 59:59
  courtesy, and I bow, and then I turn up to you, and I extend my
• 1:00:05
  arm, my hand, and I say hello. My name is Bartholomew.
• 1:00:13
  And I am a merchant of Ophelia and it is my five year
• 1:00:17
  anniversary of working for her and I have come here to
• 1:00:22
  celebrate said anniversary, Mr. Bouncer, I hardly know her.
• 1:00:28
  Hey, OK, that was that was pretty good.
• 1:00:31
  I'd say everything except for maybe the joke at the end.
• 1:00:35
  What joke? And then I wink at you.
• 1:00:39
  Folder. Interesting.
• 1:00:40
  I just want to. I just want to highlight this,
• 1:00:42
  the curtsy works well here, but the curtsy will not always work
• 1:00:47
  well. I just want to put point that
• 1:00:48
  out there like this is the one scenario where you happen to be
• 1:00:51
  right. The curtsying and bowing is it's
• 1:00:53
  like the right thing to do because I'll feel these people
• 1:00:55
  are super, super hoody toity. But you know, actually, never
• 1:01:00
  mind, you know, just keep curtsying for now.
• 1:01:02
  It's it's a good, it's a good point.
• 1:01:04
  Bond. Yeah.
• 1:01:05
  Also, just just to clarify, when we left today, remember like we
• 1:01:09
  I don't know if everyone else also dressed in disguises.
• 1:01:11
  I know Beau doesn't have to but I had like put on like a
• 1:01:13
  different coat and and boots and.
• 1:01:15
  Pants. Yeah, You put on clothes from
• 1:01:18
  the bag that Servani had, so very eccentric clothes from the
• 1:01:25
  Verellian Empire that were a little dusty, but I think Beau
• 1:01:29
  had maybe prestidigitation them so they're less musty.
• 1:01:32
  Yeah, just just to clarify, like what I look like, I don't look
• 1:01:35
  like. Yeah, I don't look.
• 1:01:38
  Monkey Yeah. You see the line in front of you
• 1:01:43
  gets a lot shorter and now you 3 are at the front of the line.
• 1:01:47
  What would you like to do, Abe? I give the ring to Abe.
• 1:01:50
  OK. And I and I slipped the ring
• 1:01:52
  onto which finger was the merchant wearing it on when we
• 1:01:55
  saw him. He was wearing it on his first
• 1:01:58
  finger. OK, so I'll do that on the same
• 1:02:00
  hand that he had it on. And I clear my throat.
• 1:02:06
  I stand up straight and I look at the bouncer and then the
• 1:02:08
  other bouncer and then I curtsy and I bow and I extend my hand.
• 1:02:13
  They do nothing. They just look over at you and
• 1:02:15
  go signet. I show them the ring.
• 1:02:19
  Are they with you? Nope.
• 1:02:21
  Are they with you? He points to Bon and Bo.
• 1:02:25
  Yes, these are my. And then he just opens the door
• 1:02:28
  as you're trying to talk to him. Do you want to go in?
• 1:02:35
  Thank you. Yes.
• 1:02:36
  Start to push a bit. Yes.
• 1:02:39
  The door slams behind you 2. Fingers.
• 1:02:42
  OK. Damn, all that practice for
• 1:02:46
  nothing. It's not over, it's not over.
• 1:02:50
  You're still the captain here. Oh, oh, you're so right.
• 1:02:55
  You guys walk inside the shanty and it is breathtaking.
• 1:03:00
  So the anterior is lit by floating amber lanterns in the
• 1:03:04
  shape of little lighthouses. There's blue velvet booths, dark
• 1:03:08
  mahogany tables, and fine silks just kind of draped around the
• 1:03:13
  stone walls. On the far side of the room sits
• 1:03:16
  a massive horseshoe shaped bar carved from a single piece of
• 1:03:20
  dark mahogany. And behind the bar is a striking
• 1:03:24
  red Dragonborn woman with swept back horns, polished Crimson
• 1:03:29
  scales, and a sharp tailored vest over some crisp linen
• 1:03:33
  sleeves. And she's making some cocktails
• 1:03:35
  wicked fast with her hands and expertly uses her tail to uncork
• 1:03:39
  a bottle of wine. This is the Dragonborn you had
• 1:03:43
  just seen in shorts and a tank top.
• 1:03:45
  But here she is now very put together at the bar, like she's
• 1:03:50
  just like in her element. What do you want to do?
• 1:03:54
  Should we get a drink guys? Yeah, I think so.
• 1:03:57
  Yeah, I look around every everybody else has a drink.
• 1:04:00
  And Bond. So like, what should I know
• 1:04:02
  about Ophelia? OK, Ophelia is one of the
• 1:04:06
  merchants from Noctavalis. She is a halfling with, you
• 1:04:13
  know, dark hair, dark eyes. She's very short, you know, in
• 1:04:18
  typical halfling fashion, she always wears A magnificent robe.
• 1:04:26
  And, you know, whenever she's like around other people, even
• 1:04:29
  on her own ship, she always has a stand so that she feels taller
• 1:04:33
  than other people. Because, I don't know, it's,
• 1:04:35
  it's a weird power thing with her.
• 1:04:37
  She's always trying to just make herself bigger.
• 1:04:39
  In fact, I think some of the captains sometimes when she's
• 1:04:42
  not on her ship, carry around a platform for her and they'll put
• 1:04:46
  it down before she sort of sets up shop.
• 1:04:50
  And that's kind of, it's kind of weird.
• 1:04:53
  She. She Does she specify in any
• 1:04:55
  specific trades or is it just a bunch of different stuff?
• 1:04:58
  Yeah, she, she trades a lot of, you know, silks and different
• 1:05:05
  textiles from noctivales, you know, cloaks of displacement,
• 1:05:09
  things like that. Some more magical items, some
• 1:05:12
  just sort of magical silks from the Audisans and Octave Alice.
• 1:05:18
  OK, all right, and you can see me making a mental note as we
• 1:05:21
  walk over to the bar. So you guys make your way over
• 1:05:24
  to the bar and you see it's a mix of people kind of standing
• 1:05:28
  around chit chatting, drinking very loud, but in a quiet way.
• 1:05:34
  They're all kind of just like, you know, casual hush tones.
• 1:05:37
  But there's a lot of people in here.
• 1:05:38
  So it kind of elevates the volumes.
• 1:05:40
  And you see, there's also some like larger boots where people
• 1:05:43
  are just hanging around drinking.
• 1:05:46
  They have apps so some fried calamari and such.
• 1:05:50
  Apps. Apps sound good?
• 1:05:52
  Yeah. Apps sound Really.
• 1:05:54
  Good. So you guys would make your way
• 1:05:56
  over to the bar where the Dragonborn is kind of slinging
• 1:06:00
  drinks to people who are who are waiting there.
• 1:06:03
  Are they ales or is this like a craft cocktail kind of place?
• 1:06:06
  Oh no ale craft cocktail for sure.
• 1:06:09
  Oh God, everything here is going to be like 20 gold plus.
• 1:06:14
  I'm going to patiently wait at the bar.
• 1:06:16
  Yeah, at some point she turns over to you and it kind of snaps
• 1:06:20
  her finger and points at you and goes pick your poison.
• 1:06:24
  I will have a moon Fen 75. The incredible choice.
• 1:06:30
  She pours it. She as she turns her back, she
• 1:06:35
  kind of is doing something and as she gives the glass to you,
• 1:06:39
  it has kind of smoke pouring out of it.
• 1:06:41
  It looks sick as fuck. Exquisite and my deck hands and
• 1:06:46
  I and I look at you guys we'll have.
• 1:06:50
  I'll have I'll have the ye oldie fashion.
• 1:06:54
  Brilliant choice, Sir. And I don't know cocktails so
• 1:06:59
  bad. Can I just have the like a a gin
• 1:07:03
  and tonic please? But it's spelled DJINN, like a
• 1:07:07
  genie. Awesome.
• 1:07:08
  OK, fantastic. Just, you know, be careful with
• 1:07:13
  this one. This one will get you.
• 1:07:15
  Do you have to drink it all in three sips or less?
• 1:07:17
  Otherwise it's gone. She turns it around, she makes
• 1:07:21
  your drinks and she hands it to the two of you and.
• 1:07:24
  My and my parrot here. And I motioned to Bunty.
• 1:07:28
  We'll have. Oh my God, wait, what's a
• 1:07:31
  parrot? We haha we taught him that that
• 1:07:34
  phrase. Isn't he funny?
• 1:07:37
  My guy doesn't look like a parrot, but whatever he's
• 1:07:40
  ordering. I kind of raise my eyebrows,
• 1:07:43
  frown a bit, but I say it One. One standard shot of your
• 1:07:47
  heartless liquor, please. She looks at you guys and goes.
• 1:07:51
  Don't really do shots here. Very craft cocktails.
• 1:07:54
  I can get him like a Moss reach mule or something.
• 1:07:56
  Is he into that copper glass? Nice.
• 1:07:59
  Sure, and you can leave out all the other things that go into
• 1:08:02
  it. OK, Sir, we only do craft
• 1:08:05
  cocktails here. It's kind of like my specialty.
• 1:08:07
  Got it. No.
• 1:08:08
  Wait, I want, I want, I want a mule.
• 1:08:10
  I want a copper glass. Yeah.
• 1:08:12
  You know, OK. Yeah, sure.
• 1:08:14
  That sounds great. Thank you so much.
• 1:08:16
  Captain is a funny 1, isn't he? And I I pull out the coin pouch.
• 1:08:21
  Your coins, Sir. Yes, thank you.
• 1:08:26
  And I just and and. 4 drinks, 16 goals for all of them.
• 1:08:31
  And I give her 18. Keep the change, man.
• 1:08:35
  Thank you for the tip, Sir, really appreciate it.
• 1:08:38
  She looks over at you a little closely.
• 1:08:40
  You almost fell off the Cliff, didn't you?
• 1:08:43
  Yeah, I'm sorry about that. It's been a long time since
• 1:08:47
  we've been here. We just got back and, you know,
• 1:08:50
  I haven't spent a lot of time on the Cliff face, you know, in the
• 1:08:54
  past few years. But we're here, celebrating our
• 1:08:56
  captain's fifth year anniversary with Ophelia.
• 1:09:01
  Ophelia. Kind of slow blink and I and I
• 1:09:03
  know how to bit. Very nice you guys.
• 1:09:07
  Have you guys been to Noctavalis recently?
• 1:09:12
  Can you guys give me an insight check real quick?
• 1:09:14
  Yeah, sure. So 17.
• 1:09:17
  Just a 10 for me. 26. She OK Bon, you can tell she has
• 1:09:23
  a question she wants to ask you guys, but she can't tell if she
• 1:09:29
  should ask you this question, right?
• 1:09:30
  Everyone here is very uppity. For the most part.
• 1:09:35
  You guys are a little odd, especially with Bunty.
• 1:09:38
  Like you can't ever just not be odd when you have Bunty with you
• 1:09:41
  guys. So she kind of seems to be
• 1:09:44
  interested in you guys, and she has a question that she's
• 1:09:48
  hesitant about asking, and you think she's hesitant because of
• 1:09:52
  what's been happening with Vaidu.
• 1:09:54
  We've been away for a little while.
• 1:09:56
  I mean, we, we still get news from Noctavalis.
• 1:09:59
  But you know, I'm sure our captain can tell you where we've
• 1:10:03
  been. You know, we've been dealing in
• 1:10:08
  some independent avenues of trade, you know, small villages
• 1:10:13
  that dot the countryside, looking at places where we can,
• 1:10:17
  you know, bring textiles that don't have them.
• 1:10:21
  So, you know, we're not really part of the big.
• 1:10:24
  We don't do the major runs, let's say.
• 1:10:26
  But that's because she trusts me and and us to to really find
• 1:10:32
  niches that didn't exist before. Gotcha Abe, give me a persuasion
• 1:10:37
  check. Help.
• 1:10:42
  It's your heroic. I don't think we can.
• 1:10:47
  Use they use your heroic. Inspiration.
• 1:10:49
  It's a five. I'm going to use Heroic
• 1:10:50
  inspiration. If Charlie had spoken, maybe you
• 1:10:52
  could have helped, but. OK, that's better.
• 1:10:56
  It's a 14. With a 14 hold on, let me with a
• 1:11:02
  14, she looks at you and she goes.
• 1:11:04
  So you you wouldn't really know what what might have happened to
• 1:11:11
  my friend and she kind of leans in close to you Abe and she goes
• 1:11:17
  lyrics would you? I think it'd be best if you
• 1:11:22
  referred to him as Stick in this conversation.
• 1:11:26
  And I wink at her. Stick Yeah.
• 1:11:28
  You wouldn't know what happened to my friend Stick, would you?
• 1:11:31
  You know, and I look at the two of you and I lower my voice a
• 1:11:34
  bit. Is is there somewhere else we
• 1:11:36
  could talk about this? You know, maybe like.
• 1:11:38
  Yeah, yeah. Let's let's, let's go talk about
• 1:11:41
  it. I'm Hake, by the way.
• 1:11:45
  She reaches out her giant Dragonborn hand.
• 1:11:48
  Yeah. And I I reach out my hand and I
• 1:11:51
  say, I am Bartholomew and this is John.
• 1:11:56
  And I point at Bond and I say, and this is Elliot, Elliot.
• 1:12:03
  Elliot So you guys, she kind of takes you guys to a door that's
• 1:12:12
  labeled private reserve. It's a small, elegant backroom
• 1:12:16
  lined with like shelves of rare high end vintage wines.
• 1:12:21
  The only thing you see other than the wine on all the shelves
• 1:12:25
  is like this mounted brass like sconce of like a roaring
• 1:12:29
  Dragon's head that's kind of just in the wall.
• 1:12:32
  She kind of leans up next to the dragon head.
• 1:12:36
  She looks at you guys and goes, yeah, I know I shouldn't be
• 1:12:39
  asking, you know, questions about that in public and
• 1:12:42
  whatever, but I don't know. Yeah, he told me this might it
• 1:12:47
  might be gone and you know, been waiting for something or someone
• 1:12:52
  and just don't know if he's OK or his I think it was his like
• 1:12:57
  nephew or something is OK if you've heard about that.
• 1:13:00
  That's really interesting that you'd say that.
• 1:13:02
  And I kind of like, I kind of put my arms around the two of
• 1:13:06
  you, Elliot and John. And as I do my left arm around
• 1:13:11
  John, I like kind of pat the signet ring near your chest, but
• 1:13:16
  just very subtly. You said his nephew.
• 1:13:20
  Yeah, or something. I don't know.
• 1:13:22
  I know he wasn't like married. I don't know if this dude was
• 1:13:25
  like by blood or whatever, but like he used to travel with Nerx
• 1:13:30
  and Nerx told me to keep an eye out if he comes back or
• 1:13:36
  something so I don't know if you did.
• 1:13:38
  He give it a description of of his nephew at all.
• 1:13:41
  Not really. I mean, he said I'd know if I he
• 1:13:46
  should have something on him that I would know that it's his
• 1:13:49
  nephew. Can I ask you, what do you think
• 1:13:53
  of Ophelia? She's fine.
• 1:13:56
  Is she? Is she?
• 1:13:59
  I don't know, you work for her now.
• 1:14:00
  That we're in private. I'm not going to speak I'll of
• 1:14:03
  her. No, I'm just like, you know.
• 1:14:07
  If she, I would like to do an insight check yes to to see if
• 1:14:11
  this screams entrapment at all. Go for it.
• 1:14:16
  And I got a 7, so it's not going to be very much for me.
• 1:14:21
  Bond, did you also want to do it?
• 1:14:22
  Sure, yeah, I'll do an insight check.
• 1:14:24
  I was watching you look very sub on camera so.
• 1:14:28
  Yes, what what I'm trying to do is also see if I mean I'm trying
• 1:14:32
  to flip and trap her to see if we can trust her.
• 1:14:36
  So like, I don't know if I double in trap what she needs to
• 1:14:39
  do an insight check on you, Yeah.
• 1:14:41
  Let's let's wait to see what Bond got on his I.
• 1:14:44
  I got a 10 unfortunately. With the 10, doesn't seem
• 1:14:51
  disingenuous, but she seems like, yeah, she just seems a
• 1:14:56
  little anxious about figuring out what happened.
• 1:14:59
  I'm going to, I'm going to, I don't know how to word this, but
• 1:15:03
  I'd like to say something in thieves can't.
• 1:15:05
  I don't necessarily know if she knows how to speak.
• 1:15:06
  Thieves can't. But you know, person in the
• 1:15:09
  service industry probably has a better chance than most other
• 1:15:12
  people. So I'm just going to kind of
• 1:15:16
  what I'm going to say outwardly is like, no, I think it's it's
• 1:15:20
  good to to be curious and try to keep track of old friends.
• 1:15:25
  And what I'm saying through thieves can't is kind of you can
• 1:15:28
  trust us. So you can't tell if she knows
• 1:15:32
  thieves can she just turns and she goes yeah yeah, nearest was
• 1:15:36
  in or Styx. Excuse me was important to me so
• 1:15:38
  I just wanted to wanted to check.
• 1:15:41
  Sorry, I I didn't mean to make this weird.
• 1:15:42
  We could just go back and. Have what was No, no, no, wait,
• 1:15:45
  what? I mean, why was he so special to
• 1:15:48
  you? She kind of sighs here.
• 1:15:54
  This is my place. The shanty.
• 1:15:58
  He invested in it. He invested in in me a long,
• 1:16:02
  long time ago. I used to sail and I something
• 1:16:12
  bad happened on the water one day and I kind of developed a
• 1:16:15
  little bit of a, a fear. And so I stuck to the mainland,
• 1:16:19
  but I kind of always wanted to be at least near the water.
• 1:16:22
  And one day I met him down on the docks and we're talking
• 1:16:26
  about our dreams. And this was before he was a
• 1:16:29
  huge name, I guess. And yeah, he invested in this
• 1:16:33
  place. He actually, he owns the place
• 1:16:36
  with me. Technically.
• 1:16:37
  He's more of like a passive partner.
• 1:16:40
  But yeah, he saw something in me, but no one else did.
• 1:16:44
  OK, All right. Yeah.
• 1:16:49
  So listen, we are, we are not, we are not merchants of what
• 1:16:54
  fuel? And I take the signet off and I
• 1:16:58
  say bond teller. Teller.
• 1:17:01
  Bond Tell. Bond teller show her the ring
• 1:17:05
  are. You.
• 1:17:07
  Your nephew? Yeah.
• 1:17:11
  It's I'm, I'm his, his godson. Technically speaking, he's he's
• 1:17:17
  kind of like my uncle, my godfather.
• 1:17:20
  Yeah. I I take out the signet ring of
• 1:17:23
  Nerix. She looks over at it.
• 1:17:25
  Oh, thank God. I've had so many weird
• 1:17:27
  conversations with people for the past like four months.
• 1:17:32
  Oh my God. And she just kind of leans over
• 1:17:34
  and grabs you in a like a big hug.
• 1:17:37
  She goes, oh, man, that was so awkward.
• 1:17:39
  Everything was so awkward. I was just like, I didn't want
• 1:17:41
  to get in trouble with like Vedu and shit and like, Oh my God.
• 1:17:45
  Oh my God. OK, you're here.
• 1:17:48
  What up, my dude? Hey, so good to see you God so
• 1:17:52
  happy. Hi.
• 1:17:55
  Hi. Listen, we're sorry about that
• 1:17:59
  and I'm and I and I apologize that we had to lie to you and I
• 1:18:02
  I guys, I'm sorry as well. I broke cover without asking,
• 1:18:05
  but it just really felt like we could trust her like like stick
• 1:18:09
  invested in her, like she invested in you bond and how he
• 1:18:12
  kind of invested in me too and it just.
• 1:18:15
  Yeah, you know, No, no, no, I I think, I think you did good.
• 1:18:18
  Yeah. And I'm sorry about this too.
• 1:18:20
  And I'm going to pull out the badge and you're under arrest in
• 1:18:23
  a Oh my. God, Oh my God.
• 1:18:24
  Oh. My God, no.
• 1:18:25
  I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding.
• 1:18:26
  It's a joke. It's a joke.
• 1:18:27
  We're friends. We're all.
• 1:18:28
  Friends here, we joke. I'm on friends.
• 1:18:33
  She kind of stands there very stiffly and goes, I have
• 1:18:42
  something to show you, Bon and Elliot and Bartholomew.
• 1:18:47
  I guess if you trust them, they can come.
• 1:18:50
  That's that's Bo and I'm Abe and and this isn't my parrot.
• 1:18:54
  We don't really know what. Yeah, I know he's.
• 1:18:56
  I know he's not AI know he's not a parrot.
• 1:18:58
  I was just trying to get a. Tip Now that we're talking about
• 1:19:00
  it Abe, you did so good but that was like the one thing that
• 1:19:03
  probably first of all I just don't think I don't think that
• 1:19:07
  parrots should be drinking alcohol in the 1st place so like
• 1:19:10
  you know you kind of shot yourself in the foot a little
• 1:19:13
  bit there but. Pirate ship captain had a had a
• 1:19:15
  parrot and it just felt like. But you did skull good.
• 1:19:18
  And while while we're all coming clean, I don't even like ye
• 1:19:21
  oldie fashions. OK?
• 1:19:22
  Like I just had to get it because the only thing I
• 1:19:24
  recognized on the menu. Anyway, as you can see, these
• 1:19:28
  these three are my family as much as Narix has been to me.
• 1:19:33
  So we should probably be be quick with this, but I, I, I
• 1:19:37
  have some things to get you. And she turns around and looks
• 1:19:41
  at like the, the roaring Dragon's head, the, the, the
• 1:19:46
  brass sconce. And you see that it's eyes are
• 1:19:49
  faintly glowing with blue arcane runes and I look.
• 1:19:52
  Over to Avon Bow and I'm like, what's with all the magic
• 1:19:54
  sconces over here? I know two in two days is sconce
• 1:19:58
  central I. Mean one day.
• 1:20:01
  She looks over at the roaring Dragon's head, and its eyes are
• 1:20:05
  faintly glowing with blue arcane runes.
• 1:20:07
  And she goes. It's cost me a small fortune.
• 1:20:10
  It's an arcane biometric lock. There's a yeah, there's
• 1:20:14
  something in here for you. She steps up to it, clears her
• 1:20:17
  throat, and then spits into the Dragon's open maw.
• 1:20:22
  The blue runes flash. Silver, mind you, of your past.
• 1:20:28
  Immediate flashback to Leather Daddy.
• 1:20:31
  And with a heavy hiss of pressurized air, the Rockwall
• 1:20:36
  shifts backwards and grinds aside.
• 1:20:39
  And there is a massive cavern that you step into, very much a
• 1:20:45
  kind of like Batman's cave. You know I'm talking about,
• 1:20:48
  where it's just like a giant cavern.
• 1:20:51
  And she steps forward and beckons for you to enter.
• 1:20:55
  Oh man, Narricks. Eric's always used to tease me
• 1:20:59
  about being afraid of caverns. Yeah, that's kind of like the
• 1:21:05
  thing here. Sorry about that.
• 1:21:09
  So you step into the cavern and you hear a thunderous sound of
• 1:21:13
  rushing water, and there's torch lights everywhere.
• 1:21:16
  And you see thousands of vintage wine casks, like, stacked along
• 1:21:21
  all around The Cave. It's like this really nice fancy
• 1:21:24
  wine cellar, but your eyes are pulled straight to the center of
• 1:21:27
  the vault and suspended in mid air from chains hooked into the
• 1:21:32
  cavern ceiling is a ship. A ship just hanging there above
• 1:21:39
  the ground. It's a very modest ship.
• 1:21:42
  It's freshly built. It's unpainted.
• 1:21:45
  It's clean. It's pristine.
• 1:21:46
  There's no banners, crests or merchant markings or anything
• 1:21:49
  like that. It's pretty compact.
• 1:21:51
  And Hake turns to you and goes, yeah, so if you look down over
• 1:21:55
  here and she kind of points for you guys to lean over the ledge,
• 1:21:59
  you're going to see that there's a a river somehow in this cave
• 1:22:02
  and it's surging through the rock.
• 1:22:05
  And I don't know. And Ericsson, I really didn't
• 1:22:08
  like, think this part like super through.
• 1:22:10
  But like, he commissioned this boat for you, Bon, in case
• 1:22:13
  anything ever happened. It's a blank canvas.
• 1:22:16
  No name, no history, no imperial eyes on her.
• 1:22:21
  Once you're ready, you get in the ship.
• 1:22:22
  I pulled this lever. The ship drops into the water
• 1:22:24
  below and it's kind of like AI describe it as a roller coaster.
• 1:22:29
  It's going to take you down over there and she points over to
• 1:22:31
  like a black hole in the wall where the water is rushing
• 1:22:34
  through. And then pretty much you you
• 1:22:36
  ride the boat, no sails, very scary through the hole for
• 1:22:41
  about, I don't know, 350 foot drop.
• 1:22:45
  Well, it's not like directly down, as you know, it's kind of
• 1:22:47
  goes round and round and this and that, but it will take you
• 1:22:49
  all the way down to the sea and then you're you're out of here.
• 1:22:57
  OK, OK. I turn to, I turn to them and
• 1:23:01
  I'm like, aha, generics is he's always been the adventurous one,
• 1:23:07
  quite the adventurous 1. Oh, yeah, He thought this was
• 1:23:09
  going to be real, real fun for you, Bon, he said.
• 1:23:11
  He said Bon needs to break out of his shell and kind of just go
• 1:23:15
  for it, you know, just go for it.
• 1:23:17
  Yeah, OK, Neric said. Neric said that about me.
• 1:23:21
  Yeah. No, he's right.
• 1:23:22
  He's right. He's right.
• 1:23:24
  I need to do that. Yeah.
• 1:23:27
  Where do you know where this leads out?
• 1:23:29
  Does this lead out by the docks or does this lead?
• 1:23:31
  Out. Yeah.
• 1:23:32
  So it leads out kind of on like the eastern side of the docks.
• 1:23:34
  There's like a little cavern that's hidden a little bit by
• 1:23:38
  some like seagrass that grows and you will just kind of shoot
• 1:23:42
  out through that cavern over there.
• 1:23:45
  This is like metaphorically like a, you know, we just took that
• 1:23:49
  leap of faith with you and then and now Bond's going to have to
• 1:23:52
  take this leap of faith with the boat and.
• 1:23:55
  Oh, you're coming on this with me.
• 1:23:58
  We're all taking a leap of. Faith what I thought, I thought
• 1:24:00
  Bo and I were going to meet you down at the at the.
• 1:24:03
  Doc, hold on. So as you guys are talking about
• 1:24:07
  this, can everyone give me a perception check?
• 1:24:14
  God, well I keep fucking I've. That's the third two I've rolled
• 1:24:17
  today. I also rolled it too Harry.
• 1:24:19
  But that's an 11. I rolled a natural one.
• 1:24:23
  It's a nine. So Bon, you barely hear this,
• 1:24:26
  but Hake hears this. There's a commotion happening in
• 1:24:31
  the bar behind you, and she kind of jerks around a little bit and
• 1:24:35
  goes, crap, We'll can we get to the boat in a SEC?
• 1:24:41
  Can we get to the boat in a SEC? Yeah, we'll come back.
• 1:24:43
  We need to see what's happening in the bar.
• 1:24:44
  We need to have a bar. And she kind of runs inside,
• 1:24:46
  gestures you guys inside, pulls the Dragon's head so it closes
• 1:24:50
  the door, steps through the door into the shanty.
• 1:24:54
  And it is a hot fucking mess. People are screaming and running
• 1:24:58
  around. And two merchants that you
• 1:25:01
  didn't really notice before because they were in a corner,
• 1:25:04
  but they're wearing the colors of silver and Rex and they are
• 1:25:07
  laying dead on the floor and right in the centre of it all.
• 1:25:13
  Can you guess who it is? It's Vedu Blorp and the chains
• 1:25:17
  cartel spread out around the bar screaming.
• 1:25:21
  And as they see Hake walk through, Vedu goes OK, OK.
• 1:25:28
  I I told you, if you, if you serve any more merchants from
• 1:25:30
  those lesser empires, I don't have your fucking head, I will
• 1:25:34
  kill you. I will kill you.
• 1:25:36
  And what did you do? Here are two merchants from
• 1:25:39
  Silver and Rex in your fucking bar.
• 1:25:42
  In your bar. So you're fucking dead.
• 1:25:45
  And she looks over and spots the four of you trailing behind.
• 1:25:51
  OK, I should have known. What?
• 1:25:53
  That fucking big ugly, this mirror symbol on your cloak
• 1:25:57
  bond, You're friends of hers. Oh, why did this happen, Bunty?
• 1:26:04
  I really like you, Bunty. I like you do, lady.
• 1:26:08
  Bunty, Bunty well it's not a good look if I leave you alive
• 1:26:13
  it's I can't be lenient. I'm not lenient.
• 1:26:16
  No, don't kill me Bunty. Bunty, I promise I will not kill
• 1:26:22
  you. And Glorp standing next to Vedum
• 1:26:26
  and Glorp looks over at Bunty with big sad eyes and goes Glorp
• 1:26:32
  sorry Glorp gonna kill Bunty and he raises his fists.
• 1:26:40
  Bunty and friends did not follow rule in place with illegal
• 1:26:45
  people, with women who do illegal thing.
• 1:26:48
  Glorp have to kill you. This is strike two.
• 1:26:53
  Everyone roll initiative. And that's where we're going to
• 1:26:57
  end this session. Yeah, yeah, that's what I
• 1:27:00
  thought. God, man, I was gonna.
• 1:27:04
  This is so peak of me. This is such peak fiction.
• 1:27:11
  Is Bond Batman? Derricks is Batman.
• 1:27:16
  I'm Robin. He's.
• 1:27:17
  Kind of. You're Robin.
• 1:27:18
  A dead Yeah, you're you're. Fucking which?
• 1:27:20
  Which Robin? Dick Grayson.
• 1:27:22
  I hope I'm Jason Todd. That would be awesome.
• 1:27:24
  Jason Todd's a little. I've got to be like, I've got to
• 1:27:27
  be Jason Todd. I'm not.
• 1:27:28
  I'm the. One I have to be Jason Todd.
• 1:27:31
  Bond's obviously Joseph Gordon Levitt in OH.
• 1:27:35
  My God when they just like drop that his like middle name or
• 1:27:38
  first name is like Robin and they never.
• 1:27:41
  No, none of Yeah, that was, that was.
• 1:27:43
  I love that series pretty much except for that last part.
• 1:27:46
  I fucking hated there's. No, that's why Christopher Nolan
• 1:27:50
  is the greatest director of all. Time.
• 1:27:52
  Because okay, okay, just like. It's a mind fuck, you know?
• 1:27:59
  Yeah, All right, we're going to end here guys.
• 1:28:03
  If you like the podcast, make sure to follow rate US and
• 1:28:06
  comment on Spotify or Apple Music or join us on our social
• 1:28:10
  media for updates, official art and more.
• 1:28:12
  We are on Instagram at Smooth Critical Podcast gang.
• 1:28:16
  I love reading all your comments on Spotify.
• 1:28:18
  So like, please keep it up. We send screenshots of the
• 1:28:21
  comments in our group chat all the time and it really makes our
• 1:28:24
  day. So really.
• 1:28:26
  We love. We love Bonti, so keep
• 1:28:30
  commenting, keep liking, we love seeing your thoughts and we'll
• 1:28:34
  see you next time. Bye bye.
• 1:28:39
  So This is why the Odyssey is the greatest.
• 1:28:41
  OK, Oh my God, we're done.