Anthony 0:00
Greetings, adventurers and welcome to the Adventure Incorporated Podcast. I am your Dungeon Master, Anthony Reed. If you listen to the show, you may say to yourself, Anthony, exactly which dungeons are you a master of? And I would say all the- all of them, you know, uh, technically speaking, what did Steph put you up to this? Is this her? Did she tell you to ask me that? Whatever. This is Episode 23, and it is part of the Ancient Secrets story arc, and we are so excited to have you here. Thank you for coming to join us on the Adventure Incorporated Podcast. Thank you for being a part of our adventure. And you can be more- a bigger part of our adventure, I guess I would say, in a couple of ways. One way is to make sure you’re following us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, our social media footprint, if you will, to get all of the information as it comes out to see the cool things that we’re doing, to be a part of the discussion. You can also head to our Discord which has links right in the show notes. And on our website adventureincpod.com and you can be even more directly a part of the discussion. It’s a cool community. We talked about a ton of stuff. There’s some great people there that we really, really love having around to talk to you. And we’re always there for you. Just come and talk to us. And someone will be around. I’m sure someone’s around. And then of course, you can be a Patron at patreon.com/adventureinc, like all of our other amazing Patrons who support the show monetarily. And we try to give a little value back to the people who do that. And so you will be able to get access to maybe a special feed of bonus episodes with special guests every month. That’s wow, I mean, wow, it’s actually pretty great. We do some cool stuff on those. We get some fun storylines brewing on the side there that are not relevant to our main plot, but are part of the world. They are canon. And it gets pretty wild. We also have our $10 tier which gets to do exciting things like submit magic items to me. I finally have a couple of magic items submitted by the Patrons that could wind up in players’ hands. It can be part of the pool of weapons and magic items and things that players can roll up in the shop. So, that’s gonna be super exciting. I cannot wait to see those things that have a chance to pop up. And we also do some other content creation for the Patrons of that tier. We make D&D stuff on a live stream. All of this is because of the Patrons and you can be a Patron too. You can get access to all of this. This is all stuff that is within your grasp just by supporting the show at patreon.com/adventureinc. Okay, you know what? I’m ready to get rolling. Let’s get started.
Nobles and farmers, knights and scoundrels gather round, gather round to hear a tale of excitement and mystery. Brave adventurers, facing grave dangers.
Belroth, the Ranger.
Belroth 3:09
She’s a grimalkin. That’s understood. No pets allowed, even though she’s not a pet. I will wait outside. Everyone, if anyone needs anything I am outside.
Anthony 3:18
Skarpin, the Cleric.
Belroth 3:21
Should I just try and snipe them from over here?
Skarpin 3:24
Yeah, okay. I did say they were as good as dead. I would hate to break my word on our first contract with Adventure Incorporated.
Anthony 3:32
Ellori, the Bard.
Ellori 3:35
We would want you to leave this warehouse.
Anthony 3:38
He points behind you. Church!
Ellori 3:41
Oh, sorry. We want you to leave this church.
Anthony 3:45
Deeran, the wizard.
He say you no, worship Shattered Fang.
Deeran 3:50
Yeah, man, he’s like, super wrong. We love Broken Tooth- uh Shattered Fang, man.
Anthony 3:55
Prepare yourselves, for these are the tales of Adventure Incorporated!
Let’s get started. In the aftermath of the battle with the large demon, the other demons have scattered, things have quieted down across the battlefield, but soldiers are taking some time to rest. And there’s still a scattering of imps and small demonic creatures that are, you know, prancing around that get slaughtered here and there, shot off from across the battlefield. That kind of thing. Like, it’s clear there was a battle here, and the injured soldiers are definitely an indicator of that as they take time to rest and recuperate. You may also use this time for a short rest as the rest of the crew does as well.
Belroth 4:56
When the creatures burst into flames so they leave anything because when we fought them they didn’t, if I remember correctly, but I could also be misremembering.
Anthony 5:08
These do not. They burn into like an ash that basically when there is enough of them in an area that have been killed like you can see the ash kind of collecting in places, but it is mostly they’re just burning away.
Belroth 5:24
I scoop up some. I scoop up some and put it in a little pouch.
Anthony 5:28
Okay. Two of the mages that are with the general come and find you, Ellori and Deeran. Your magic, quite impressive for hedge witches.
Ellori 5:52
Oh, um, thank you.
Anthony 5:57
I have not seen such focus, such concentration of raw power. You touch so much of the energy at once. You must be exhausted when you finish.
Deeran 6:12
Do we feel that?
Anthony 6:16
No. So for you it is like the energy is so abundant. That when you cast a spell like you normally would, I mean, it is way more powerful than you expect it to be, but it doesn’t expand any more of you than it normally would.
Ellori 6:37
Okay. You know, us hedge witches are just taught if you work really hard, you can do anything you set your mind to.
Deeran 6:55
Deeran nods.
Anthony 6:59
If you are capable of wielding that kind of power, then you would be most welcome on any battlefield we face. Sometimes hours and hours into the battlefield we are still facing demons as they pour through holes. It is our duty to rend them with flame and lightning. You will be most welcome.
Ellori 7:23
I don’t really do the flame or the lightning. That’s more you know, Deeran’s area.
Belroth 7:30
Yeah, I like, really appreciate the offer, but like, my friends and I are kind of you know, we’re like, we’re in it to win it here this time. But like, you know, we got like, our own stuff to do too, you know. But like we’re definitely down to like, help out. You know?
Anthony 7:58
I am just, I am just shocked the beam that you summoned forth, that you tore through that creature with. I mean, if you can do that, you know, 40 or 50 times that’s just an immense amount of power.
Deeran 8:17
I mean, and Deeran kind of like, thinks about how many times he can cast that spell. He’s talking about Witch Bolt, right?
Anthony 8:32
Yeah.
Deeran 8:35
Yeah, I mean, I don’t know that I could do that, like 40 or 50 times, man.
Anthony 8:45
But your power, you said that is how you cast your- Interesting. Interesting.
Deeran 8:53
I mean, you know, like, over a few days or whatever, sure.
Anthony 9:00
How many times do you think you could cast that before you would need to sleep?
Deeran 9:06
Oh, like, uh- and he like, thinks about his like, own Arcane abilities? Well, like, I guess, probably like, I could do it at least, uh, like 7 times before like, I would need like, a juice in the nap or whatever. But then like, after that, I could do it again another couple of times, at least
Anthony 9:37
Seven? They look at each other and the other court mage says, so your potency. I can see now why your spells are so potent.
Deeran 9:54
Oh?
Anthony 9:54
Because you are so limited in your ability to cast them. You pack a big punch, but only a few times.
Deeran 10:04
Well, all right.
Anthony 10:07
If you came to study with the court mages, as you would be welcome to do, we could teach you to refine your power
Ellori 10:19
To make it less good, but more often?
Anthony 10:23
Clearly the you have great capacity, you have strengthened a muscle, so to speak, a metaphorical one, that allows you to channel large amounts of energy into one singular spell. And now, we would teach you to flex a different muscle, one that would let you channel smaller amounts of energy into a great number of spells.
Ellori 10:50
Oh, it’s like my grandma always used to say, you know, it’s not about how many sheep you can lift over your head at one time, it’s about how many sheep you can get back into the pen.
Anthony 11:03
Okay, perhaps.
Ellori 11:07
You see, because if you lift the sheep, it means you’re strong. But you know, it doesn’t matter if you’re, you know, if you’re just putting 1 away.
Anthony 11:16
Certainly, if you only flex 1 of these metaphorical magical muscles, then you are limiting your potential. And it is clear that the both of you have great potential, the power that you wield radiates.
Belroth 11:33
Well, like, wouldn’t it just be better to like, do what we do a lot? Like so like, wouldn’t it be better for you to like, get the strong magic muscle that we have.
Anthony 11:45
But if you don’t have the muscle to do things many times, then you can’t do them many times strong as well. I agree with you, perhaps flexing both muscles at once is the way for us unlocking true power. And you have followed a path we have not. And so if you follow our path as well, perhaps you will be able to show us a new way.
Belroth 12:13
Yeah, man, like, we’ll see, right? Who knows what might happen? You know, what do you have like, a business card or anything that like, you can give me and then like, after this is all over like, we can you know like, we’ll connect after you know like, get lunch or whatever.
Anthony 12:31
He smiles. He says, when this is over, we’ll find you.
Deeran 12:36
I don’t know.
Skarpin 12:45
Deeran, Ellori, we did it! Did you see me out there? I don’t even need those stinkin spells. I just- we did it!
Ellori 12:54
Yeah, Skarpin, you did such a good job out there. I was watching.
Skarpin 12:57
Thanks. You did too.
Belroth 12:59
You were so brave out there, running out there without any magic or anything, man. That was awesome.
Skarpin 13:06
Yeah, I was protected with my faith. Well, not- literally I wasn’t, but you know what I mean?
Deeran 13:14
Oh, I thought you said “face”.
Skarpin 13:18
Oh, you saw that, did you? Oh, yeah.
Deeran 13:21
Sorry, yeah, sorry. I just misheard a little bit there, man. Sorry.
Skarpin 13:24
Yeah.
Ellori 13:25
Yeah, it must be because you’re so good at holding your breath.
Skarpin 13:28
You saw that? Oh, I don’t think anyone saw that. Okay, great.
Ellori 13:31
Yeah, you puffed up your cheeks, so they made like, little pockets. Little pockets of air so they didn’t-
Skarpin 13:37
That’s the trick. That’s the trick. That’s all you got to do.
Deeran 13:40
It’s like an airbag.
Ellori 13:43
Exactly.
Skarpin 13:45
Literally, yeah, that’s all. That’s air in there.
Deeran 13:48
It’s a whole bag full of air. Right there in your face.
Skarpin 13:53
In the cheeks.
Ellori 13:53
Yeah, if you punch someone and they’ve got a bag of air in front of them, it doesn’t hurt them so bad.
Deeran 13:59
Yeah, unless that bag like, exploded or whatever?
Ellori 14:03
Well, if it exploded into their face, I imagine it would be-
Deeran 14:06
Yeah, like, if you filled that bag with like metal shrapnel or whatever-
Ellori 14:10
Why don’t you do that if you’re protecting yourself.
Deeran 14:12
I don’t know, sounds really dumb, but I bet, you know? Who knows? Anyway- and Deeran looks back at the court mage and tries to get like, an insignia off him or something to like-
Anthony 14:27
Yeah, they’ve turned to leave, but on their backs they do have an insignia that appears to be an eye inside an hourglass.
Deeran 14:40
Do I recognize that at all?
Anthony 14:44
No.
Deeran 14:44
Great.
Skarpin 14:45
Does Skarpin do a Religion Check?
Anthony 14:50
Please.
Skarpin 14:51
Natural 1.
Anthony 14:53
Nope, you don’t recognize it at all.
Deeran 14:55
Does Skarpin do a Religion Check? Nope.
Anthony 14:58
He pretty much doesn’t.
Skarpin 15:00
He can’t do those either here.
Deeran 15:10
Can I make a check against that at all from either Arcana or History?
Anthony 15:15
You’re welcome to, yeah making History Check.
Deeran 15:17
Okay. 18 plus 6. 24.
Anthony 15:24
This symbol is not one you recognize at all.
Deeran 15:27
Damn, okay. So, when you said “no” you fucking meant it.
Anthony 15:40
Hey, is “x” true? No. Can I roll? Sure. Is it true? No.
Deeran 15:53
I wanted to know how true it wasn’t.
Anthony 15:55
It wasn’t.
Belroth 15:56
So not true.
Deeran 15:58
100% not true.
Anthony 16:01
The general makes her way over as well. She looks at the patch where the demon was where the most of this ash has sort of conglomerated we’ll say, and she looks at the ash she looks back at you and she says, good work.
Ellori 16:23
Thank you.
Anthony 16:26
When we finish our journey, I would have you come with me. It seems that your power will be undoubtedly useful in whatever the Arcon will make us face.
Ellori 16:40
What about if- can you clarify “finish this journey” for me?
Anthony 16:51
Yes, when we finish marching and we meet the Archon.
Ellori 16:55
Okay, I didn’t know if it was like a, you know, long term cuz I don’t know how long, you know- anyway.
Anthony 17:03
I don’t know how long any of us have. We’re all hoping that we can make it through this.
Ellori 17:09
But that’s not what I meant.
Belroth 17:11
Yeah, no, man. I think we’re gonna be around a long time.
Anthony 17:14
Well, I hope we all will. That is good optimism that I hope that we can all share.
Deeran 17:22
I can’t wait for us all, all 4 of us to help you out with the Archon.
Anthony 17:28
Hopefully we will reach the Archon soon. I do not know what madness he will bring us, but we will have to appease him if we hope to gain his favor.
Ellori 17:43
Now how does he work exactly. Does he like- when they say he sees with the Titan’s eyes are they using that with the apostrophe after the s on Titans or like, before the s on Titans? So, is it like, he gets to pick 1 Titan and he sees through their eyes or like, is it all of them lumped together so he’s got like, a full picture.
Anthony 18:05
There are 5 Archons, 1 for each of the Titans. So, apostrophe before the s.
Ellori 18:18
I see, yeah.
Belroth 18:20
And is it literally like, seeing through the Titan’s eyes or is there some sort of metaphorical object with which he does such a thing- he or she or they is such a thing?
Anthony 18:31
I am not an Archon, and I do not know their secrets.
Belroth 18:34
Okay.
Anthony 18:35
But to my understanding the Titan has no eyes. The Titan has no form. They are essence. They are everywhere. So, when the Archon speaks with the voice of the Titan, or it sees with the eyes of the Titan, it is a connection to that energy more than it is a physical being. But again, I am no Archon. Get some rest. You will need it.
Ellori 19:20
Okay.
Belroth 19:22
Anthony, how many silver arrows were handed to me? One I incorrectly shot them with not a silver arrow.
Anthony 19:33
You have a dozen silver arrows.
Belroth 19:34
12 it is.
Anthony 19:37
A baker’s dozen.
Belroth 19:38
13 silver arrows.
Ellori 19:42
13 arrows, ah ah ahh.
Anthony 19:44
Yes, but they were made by bakers.
Belroth 19:47
Ahh, bread arrows.
Anthony 19:48
They’re bread arrows made by a baker. They’re breadsticks.
Skarpin 19:51
Oh, yeah. And Skarpin has a silver shortsword he attached to his staff.
Anthony 20:00
Making like a makeshift spear.
Skarpin 20:04
Yeah, and it’s got silver coins on the other side.
Anthony 20:11
You’re right. Okay. So, you guys continue to travel. The soldiers all get back together. The caravan begins to move again Eastward and to the North. Is there anything that you want to do while you travel? Is there anything else that you guys want to look into?
Belroth 20:34
At some point during the travel at like, night Belroth wants to do a little experiment with his own magic.
Anthony 20:44
Okay.
Belroth 20:49
Basically when only the gang is around, ideally.
Deeran 20:55
You sure you want us around for that?
Skarpin 20:57
Yeah, buddy, we don’t have to be there for that.
Deeran 20:59
Yeah, like I mean, you can experiment with your own magic. Oh, I was making a masterbating joke.
Belroth 21:09
That’s not an experiment dude.
Anthony 21:12
That’s just practice. So, uh, it is the group and Dorrin. Dorrin finds his way to like, the campfire with you guys pretty frequently, not every night, but most nights he winds up over there playing a flute and just like, chatting with you.
Belroth 21:38
Sure, so like, when he’s kind of not paying attention or like doing his own thing, just playing a flute or whatever. Belroth is gonna elbow Deeran and be like, Deeran, so my magic I use as a Ranger that I’ve studied doesn’t seem to work normally here. But being a tiefling we are given certain gifts naturally, that are not derived from that sort of training. So, I want to see what happens but I’m terrified Dorrin is going to get scared, and I’m going to do something like make too many teeth, but demon teeth, and everyone’s going to exile me from the camp.
Deeran 22:27
You want to like, sneak off into the woods?
Belroth 22:30
Sure. Yes. Yes.
Anthony 22:35
No one ever got upset when a bunch of people snuck off into the woods and did demon shit in the dark.
Deeran 22:41
Deeran just gets up and walks away from the campfire into the middle of the woods.
Ellori 22:46
The Hedge Witch trials. Whoa, Demons! I’ve never seen Blair Witch Project.
Skarpin 22:55
It’s so good.
Ellori 22:56
I imagine it goes like that.
Deeran 22:57
That’s exactly it.
Ellori 22:59
Ah! Ghosts!
Anthony 23:01
Now just imagine that on VHS.
Ellori 23:03
Yeah, I was, I was shaking while I was saying it. You couldn’t, you know, you couldn’t hear it in the podcast.
Anthony 23:10
Yeah, your current audio and video quality are too high for Blair Witch. So, if you can just drop down to like, a 460p that’d be great.
Ellori 23:24
Yeah, dropping down, baby.
Belroth 23:27
Oh, much better. Here we are.
Skarpin 23:30
Y’all haters. Blair Witch was dope.
Deeran 23:34
I loved it.
Belroth 23:35
It wasn’t bad. Belroth takes out a torch and kind of like, takes out like a flint and like, lights it on fire. And sort of stakes it in the ground to like, so it sits up correctly.
Skarpin 23:48
Whoa!
Belroth 23:50
Everyone’s spooked.
Deeran 23:52
Now they’re gonna know where we are. I thought we were sneaking off.
Belroth 23:59
It’ll be fine.
Deeran 24:02
Okay.
Anthony 24:04
There’s someone in the woods!
Skarpin 24:07
It’s okay. It’s just Belroth and Deeran over there. I don’t know what they’re doing yet. Let’s watch
Belroth 24:12
Belroth like, flicks out the torch.
Skarpin 24:15
Oh, they’re gone.
Belroth 24:17
Oh my gosh. Okay. That one was the easiest version, but now how good is your- can you see my eyes? Is that something you can see? Is it too dark?
Deeran 24:26
I can feel you know, I’m touching you right now.
Ellori 24:28
I can make little lights that look like fireflies.
Belroth 24:36
Whoa!
Ellori 24:37
I was so caught up in the Blair Witch that I would just put myself in this scene. Sorry.
Belroth 24:44
We just like walked, snuck off and you’re just like, there.
Deeran 24:48
She just followed.
Anthony 24:51
Dorrin’s like, everyone came out here so I came too. What’s happening?
Ellori 24:56
Sorry, sorry, sorry. Continue with your dark blindness.
Belroth 25:00
Okay, yeah, Belroth takes a small twig and flint and tries to like, light that on fire so it’s just like, a little matchstick kind of flame.
Anthony 25:10
So are you are you using your flint for that? Like, your lighting a physical fire?
Belroth 25:15
Yes, he’s trying to get like, a very small flame? A very tiny flame. And then with his tiefling ability he’s going to use Thaumaturgy to cause flames to flicker and brighten and change to a purple color. He wants to see what happens.
Anthony 25:34
Okay. You focus your tiefling energy into this Thaumaturgy-
Belroth 25:44
And he like, puts his hands like, kind of around the flame to sort of like, shield it but also to like normally push the magic that he doesn’t really think too hard about into it.
Anthony 25:56
Yeah, and you normally don’t think too hard about it. What does strike you when you try to do it this time is the torrent of magic that pours into you through the Thaumaturgy and in fact, the flame turns purple and gets big, very big, much larger than you intended as it bursts out between your fingers into this like, explosion of fire around you and the ground around you, you can feel a creeping darkness spread from your point of origin outward as the plants around you die and things blacken in the light of the fire burning above you.
Belroth 26:41
He takes this stick and he like, stamps it out as quickly as it can-
Skarpin 26:46
Ah, there they are.
Belroth 26:48
to make it disappear.
Anthony 26:50
As you pump more of this magic in the fire is out immediately, but that circle of darkness spreads further away from you in this area.
Deeran 27:03
You did it, man.
Belroth 27:05
That was what I was worried about. That felt very much like how the Demon Isles felt when everything was changing. Except more death.
Deeran 27:20
Oh?
Belroth 27:21
I think there are- I’ve just been thinking about how the Demon Isles are connected to these 7 demons and they’re all connected to 1. There’s 7 isles, Seven demons, and they’re all of those monsters. And I don’t like that. I don’t like the way people look at me because it feels correct. It feels like they see something I haven’t seen before, and I am feeling a little uncertain, Deeran.
Deeran 28:06
Yeah, man, um, I think it’s important to remember that these are people from like the olden days, right. So, they’re ignorant as hell too. So like, don’t worry about it, man. Yeah, sure, like we did find out that like, where the tieflings come from, or whatever, is pretty direct line connected to you, but like, at the same time, man, we know that you’re a good guy. And we know that, you know, you’re doing the right thing. So like, if they’ve got a problem, that’s for them to deal with. Deeran takes a bite of jerky and like, holds the other half out to Belroth.
Belroth 28:59
Belroth like, politely takes it but doesn’t bite into it because he’s not particularly hungry right now. But he wants to be- I really do appreciate the support. I brought you out here because I figured you would maybe understand this more than I, what’s happening with the magic, but it’s easy to hear someone say that you are accepted for who you are, and it still doesn’t feel like I can believe that right now.
Deeran 29:35
Yeah, like, you know, I know, they don’t accept you, but like, our group does, and when we get back home, like there’s tons of people who are you know, there’s tons of tieflings around like, it’s not a huge deal or anything like, I had a tiefling professor, you know like-
Belroth 29:56
What if I don’t accept me, Deeran?
Deeran 29:59
Well I mean, jeez. And Deeran pulls out another piece of jerky.
Belroth 30:06
I’m really quite all right, I got this one right here.
Deeran 30:10
Oh no, no, this one’s for me, man. He finishes chewing and then he looks at you and goes, here’s what I know, man, the way people like, treat you and like, the things they expect of you, you know, that’s, that’s their stuff. Like, the only thing that you can do is like, care about your own perception of you, you know, and like if they’re coloring that, man, like, chase down like, what you like about you, you know, and like, what you know about you and like, hold on to that for a little bit like, that’s that’s what I do. And he nervously rips a piece of the jerky off and feeds it like, puts his hand down to feed Freya like, instinctively. I don’t know if Freya is there, Anthony.
Belroth 31:14
I assumed Freya was sleeping back at the camp.
Anthony 31:16
Yeah, she’s back sleeping by the fire.
Deeran 31:18
That’s fine. Yeah, he holds it down for just like a couple of seconds and then like, looks down and realizes what he’s doing and like, puts it in his pocket.
Anthony 31:25
A squirrel like, scampers over.
Deeran 31:30
But yeah, man, like, I don’t know, but we’re here.
Belroth 31:41
Thank you.
Deeran 31:44
He like, wipes his jerky hand off on his cloak and like, puts it on Belroth’s shoulder.
Belroth 31:50
And as they’re walking back, Belroth like, takes his piece of jerky that didn’t even touch and throws it to the squirrel. And looks like, at Deeran, and says, just don’t call me “bud”. I didn’t really like you calling me “bud”. It was just a weird nickname. I just don’t like it.
Deeran 32:10
All right, man.
Belroth 32:12
That’s better.
Skarpin 32:15
Hey, uh, Ellori?
Ellori 32:19
Yeah, Skarpin?
Skarpin 32:21
How come, uh, how come you’re so strong here?
Ellori 32:30
Um, Skarpin I’m gonna be honest with you, I have no idea. I, I think that um, I think that if we’re talking in relation to you and why you’re maybe not so strong. Is that the root of the question?
Anthony 32:52
I can tell you why. She carries Vorace’s gift.
Skarpin 32:58
Vorace?
Ellori 32:59
Who’s Vorace?
Anthony 33:02
The Titan who brought magic to the world?
Ellori 33:05
My grandmother said don’t accept gifts from strangers because you never know, it might be poison.
Belroth 33:14
Really on the nose with that one.
Anthony 33:16
Wise words, though, in this case, I think you weren’t really given much of a choice as to whether or not you accepted Vorace’s gift, at least I don’t- none that I’m aware of. And I don’t believe it to be poison. Although you are a hedge mage and maybe there are- hedge witch and maybe there are things that hedge witches do that are different than how the court mages react. But the gift is- that power that you can touch that you can tap into that others cannot. That you can see and feel and manipulate magic.
Ellori 34:03
Okay. That sounds like a good answer.
Anthony 34:08
And sadly for you, my large shelled friend. You just weren’t born with the gift.
Skarpin 34:18
Wh- wh- bu- fine. And he turns a little away from Dorrin.
Anthony 34:30
I do have a question for you though, my friend.
Skarpin 34:32
Oh, sorry. I can’t hear you.
Anthony 34:36
Okay, I mean, I wasn’t the one responsible for you not being born with a gift. I don’t know why I’m being punished but okay.
Skarpin 34:42
Oh, now I feel bad. What do you want?
Anthony 34:46
That shield that you carry, I cannot help but notice the beautiful painting of a snowflake that you have put upon the front of it. What is that?
Skarpin 35:01
Well, we all have different beliefs and for me, it is the symbol of my goddess, Oliander.
Anthony 35:16
Is that a goddess of your, your people?
Skarpin 35:22
Yes. Apparently she hasn’t, she hasn’t come to the mainland and maybe that’s why- normally I’m able to cast great magics actually, yes. Very, very impressive magic.
Ellori 35:32
Oh, it’s good. I’ve seen it.
Anthony 35:35
Okay, yeah. No, I- you’re right. That makes total sense. I get that now. I understand.
Skarpin 35:42
Yeah.
Anthony 35:42
Yeah, you were born with the gift just not here and back in your home where no one is.
Skarpin 35:47
Yes, that’s right. Back with the turtles. Yes. It’s very impressive. No, so that’s the, that’s the story of the shield. It’s my grandmother’s actually.
Anthony 35:59
It was her shield?
Skarpin 36:00
In a way. In a manner of speaking, yes. It protected her back for a long, long time. Here I, me, I have a particular affinity for accessing the Dreamscape and- Anthony, over the nights, Skarpin has been attempting to access the Dreamscape. Has he been successful in doing that or dreaming?
Anthony 36:31
You have not been successful in accessing the dreamscape. Nor have you had dreams.
Skarpin 36:39
But I can’t even do that here. Just, just, nothing.
Ellori 36:44
Do you want me to tell you about the latest dream I had?
Skarpin 36:49
Would you? I feel so cut off from from that world, and it would mean a lot. Thank you.
Ellori 36:56
It was wild. Okay. So I was back home in Naiah and I was walking around. And I was just doing normal, you know, everyday things. And then I realized that I wasn’t wearing any shoes.
Skarpin 37:08
No shoes?!
Ellori 37:08
And it was, it was really at the top of my mind that I wasn’t wearing any shoes, because all of the places that I were walking were places that you’d normally wear shoes, and my feet weren’t dirty at all. It was like all of the mud and all of the, you know, I was walking through the animal pens-
Skarpin 37:26
Without shoes?!
Ellori 37:26
-without shoes! and, and all of these things that should be, you know, all of the dirt and grime that should be on my feet. They weren’t there and my feet were so clean. And dream me wasn’t worried about the fact that I was wearing no shoes and unsanitary places that I was just living my barefoot life. And I woke up and I was really kind of, you know, in distress about the fact that I was so nonchalant about not wearing shoes.
Anthony 37:51
At least you didn’t go anywhere, like a public restroom.
Ellori 37:54
That, yeah, that would have been that would have been the worst.
Skarpin 37:57
That would have been the real test. Oh, no, no. Thank you very much. That was a great dream. I’ll remember that. Skarpin appears more content than he had and stares into the fire.
Ellori 38:17
Aw.
Deeran 38:17
Eventually Deeran like, plops back down in front of the fire and like, finishes his jerky and just kind of smiles at everybody before going to bed.
Belroth 38:32
Good night.
Ellori 38:32
Good night.
Deeran 38:34
Good night, everybody.
Belroth 38:35
Good night.
Skarpin 38:38
Sweet dreams to everyone else.
Anthony 38:46
A few more days go by of travel, and they pass fairly uneventfully before you reach the end of the Starlight River as it passes into the mountains and to the ocean beyond. And this is where sitting at the very head of the starlight River. Just at the base of the mountain, there is a figure in long gray robes sitting, staring into the water. The figure has long gray hair that goes down to the ground and basically when they’re sitting there it’s all like, splayed out behind them in the dirt.
Ellori 39:30
Does it have tangles in it?
Anthony 39:33
It’s really, I would say unkempt. It is unkempt. The general stops the caravan and comes and finds the 4 of you, and the general, she says, I suspect that we will not have a lot of time to prepare. So before we approach the Archon please prepare yourselves.
Ellori 40:03
Ellori kind of looks down and like, straightens out her dress a little bit like, and then gives a little thumbs up.
Deeran 40:11
Hey, hey general
Anthony 40:14
Yes?
Deeran 40:15
Are we gonna fight the Archon?
Anthony 40:19
I do not know.
Deeran 40:20
The way you said like, “prepare yourself” makes me wonder.
Anthony 40:25
I think it is a very real possibility that they will try to fight us.
Ellori 40:30
That, that hadn’t entered into my mind at all, Deeran. I’m glad you said something.
Belroth 40:37
I assumed they were on our side.
Deeran 40:40
I did too until until the general came over and said, “prepare yourselves”. Like, you know, something bad was gonna happen.
Anthony 40:48
The Archon is largely on our side, presumably on our side. The Archon does not think like we think. It is subsumed by the power that it touches. And I think that we should be prepared for anything. When I last came to the Archon, I had to fast for five days under the elements in order to speak with Archons.
Deeran 41:25
Deeran turns as white as a ghost.
Skarpin 41:29
Skarpin turns as white as a…ghost.
Ellori 41:33
Corpsen.
Anthony 41:35
Because he already is.
Skarpin 41:37
Imperceptibly whiter.
Anthony 41:42
That was just to speak with the Archon, and they gave me a list of demands that when I was able to fill them I could return. And she turns and motions for some of her soldiers who bring her a giant bag of gemstones. These gemstones are part of the demand that was given me, and this part is what I will bring over there now. The rest, the silver, we’re gonna leave in the carts, but that was also part of the requirement. More silver than- I’m not even really sure how we got our hands on all of it at this point. It’s so much silver, but that was what was requested.
Deeran 42:37
All right then. And Deeran goes ahead and casts Mage Armor on himself again.
Anthony 42:45
Okay. She hefts the gems onto her back and leads the 4 of you toward the Archon. As you get closer you can see that the Archon is an elf, and it appears to be feminine. And she stands as you approach, does not turn to you. She still seems to be staring at the river as it flows, and she says, ah, you have returned and you come with what I have requested. The general looks at you guys apprehensively like, as if to say, this is it. Be ready.
Ellori 43:37
Ellori bows- er curtsies I mean
Anthony 43:41
The general looks at you and sort of shakes her head a little bit. As she looks back at the Archon she says, Archon, I have brought what you requested. Although you will have to forgive me. I am a bit confused. You are not the Archon I spoke to. And the Archon then turns and in a moment you see not 1 face but like, many faces but almost like, they’re overlaid on the same person. Like, they are many people at once and no one and their face just is almost expressionless, blank, featureless face that looks back at you. I can be many things to many people, but I assure you, this task is the one I put before you. She comes forward and grabs the bag of gems and scatters them onto the ground in front of her, next to the flowing and rushing Starlight River. She looks them over and takes in a deep breath. She says, I bring you the gift that Vorace brought to help your people. She lets out the breath, and you watch as the gems begin to glow, as energy washes over them. These gems are now tied to the pieces of the world that Vorace touched. Those places link to magic beyond this world. It links to the power of the Arcane itself, and as long as these links are in place, these gems will draw power from them. If ever the links are broken, they will use what power they have, but in time their strength will fade. Let these be the nails that build our prison. Let these be the pieces that hold the door in place. The Archon turns and raises her hands up above the water and from the lake emerges a giant stone wheel. The wheel is carved intricately with patterns and runes, and it is fitted with places for the gems to slide into. And she motions and the wheel comes forward toward her, and it drops to the ground. She says, fill these runes with molten silver and embed these gems in this place. Take this on your campaign, general. Take this to the Demon Isles and you will use it to stop the advance of their army. Place it on the gateway and the gateway will hold as long as magic has its touch on this world. The general motions for soldiers who come and pick up the- it takes like 15, 20 soldiers to come and lift up this giant stone wheel and move it. The Archon says, I have more for the 5 of you, but no others may enter. No others may come.
Are you prepared? The general looks to you.
Ellori 47:48
Ellori checks to make sure her dress doesn’t have any wrinkles. And then she nods.
Skarpin 47:52
Does she check for shoes?
Ellori 47:57
Yes, she does an extra like, double glance to make sure she’s wearing shoes.
Skarpin 48:01
Skarpin looks over and sees that and nods. I’m ready.
Deeran 48:07
It’s not a dream.
Belroth 48:11
I am ready as well. Belroth pets Freya on the head. We’re ready.
Deeran 48:21
Deeran gives a meek thumbs up.
Anthony 48:27
I give you now the last piece. The last of the Titans has given their blessing. This is what Jian was willing to share, secrets of times long forgotten, but in order to access the secrets, each of us now must test you. This is the way of the Titans, that all things come with effort. And only with effort can you appreciate and understand what you are given. And so you will be tested in the old ways, tested in the ways that are part of our very being. Nothing is easy. Nothing is free. Come. We must leave the eyes of others. We must go where we can be in secret. And she turns away from the river and heads into the mountains, just starts up a path up through the mountain ways. I guess we should follow, the general says. She begins to walk.
Deeran 50:03
Hey, um, how literal do you think this like, old testing is going to be anyway.
Ellori 50:12
Um, I hope it’s not like a pencil and paper thing because, honestly, in school, I was never very good at those. I just kind of wanted to, you know, to learn things by doing because I feel like it never really sunk in unless I was doing it myself. So the, you know, choose ABC or D, it never really never really worked for me.
Belroth 50:32
Personally, I hope it is a physical writing test, I am actually quite good at those compared to other tests. I actually learned best by reading than by doing.
Skarpin 50:45
Yeah, Skarpin walks next to Belroth.
Ellori 50:47
Is it a physical essay test line?
Skarpin 50:54
He just wants to make sure if they have to like, take a seat somewhere that he’s just gonna sit next to Belroth.
Deeran 51:02
Yeah, man, like, Ellori you shouldn’t feel bad about not being good at tests, though. Like, those things are set up to like, make you fail. Like, they’re structured in a way that like, they’re not for everybody, you know?
Ellori 51:17
That doesn’t make any sense because if everybody has to go to school, then everybody should be afforded an opportunity to show what they know in the way that they know it.
Deeran 51:25
Yeah, I don’t know. I don’t know that they see it that way.
Ellori 51:27
I just feel like you should give, you know, give them opportunities to show that they know, you know, that they’ve read the book in some way and and tell you what they know about it rather than doing stupid things like “what was that monsters eye color?”
Anthony 51:45
If nobody failed, did anyone really pass?
Belroth 51:48
Listen, I’ve graded on enough curves to let you know that there were plenty of times I allowed a class to pass because I felt bad and I wanted to, so that’s mostly it.
Ellori 52:07
That doesn’t feel very fair to the other classes that you didn’t want to- but I’ve never been in formal schooling, so I guess I don’t know anything.
Deeran 52:17
I mean, honestly Ellori, like, that kinda is how it felt. That’s why I finished, you know? Going to school I mean like, I just finished. I was all done.
Ellori 52:33
No, I can understand if it’s just like, you know, if the professor wants you to pass and they just pass you, or if they want you to fail and they just fail you, and you don’t really have any chance to show that you know the stuff-
Belroth 52:45
I feel like that’s an oversimplification of what I said, but I’m not gonna defend myself any further.
Ellori 52:53
I wasn’t trying to attack you, bud, I just wanted to make sure that-
Deeran 52:56
No, don’t! He hates that, man.
Ellori 52:59
Hates what?
Deeran 53:00
When you say, bud.
Belroth 53:03
It’s fine. Don’t call me bud. I don’t like it. I don’t know why.
Deeran 53:06
Wait, it’s fine when she says it and not when I say it?!
Ellori 53:12
I’m so sorry, Belroth. I didn’t, I didn’t realize. I didn’t know.
Belroth 53:14
It’s okay. I’m not trying to make a big deal out of it
Anthony 53:19
The general turns back. She says, hey, buds, pay attention.
Belroth 53:29
My Virtue name isn’t “Bud” it’s Beacon. Call me Beacon if you’re gonna say something informal.
Ellori 53:37
Okay.
Deeran 53:38
That’s like two syllables.
Skarpin 53:39
Whatever, Beak.
Belroth 53:44
Belroth shrugs. He doesn’t hate it.
I especially like that one coming from you, Skarpin.
Skarpin 53:56
What?
Deeran 53:56
Cuz like, you know, Deeran gestures to like, his mouth area.
Skarpin 54:01
Do I have something on my face?
Ellori 54:02
To his like, beak area.
Deeran 54:03
Yeah.
Skarpin 54:05
Turtles don’t have beaks, do they? Is it a beak?
Ellori 54:07
Yeah, it’s like a beak mouth amalgamation.
Anthony 54:12
A beakon
Belroth 54:14
Yeah, turtles have a beaks. They have like, legit beaks. They don’t have teeth.
Anthony 54:20
A meek.
Belroth 54:22
Can you imagine a turtle with teeth.
Skarpin 54:25
Skarpin has teeth.
Ellori 54:27
Someone google “turtles with teeth” and send us images. Advertureincpodcast@gmail.com.
Anthony 54:32
Ugh, don’t. Don’t do any of that. I’m gonna cut this so hard. I don’t want any of that. Mike and I get all the emails to our actual inbox and I don’t want that.
Deeran 54:48
I’m looking at the official character drawing of Skarpin, and he’s definitely got a beak.
Ellori 54:52
He’s got like one tooth.
Deeran 54:55
It’s not even a tooth. It’s a little jaggedy beak piece.
Belroth 55:00
Here, I’m sending 2 very accurate photos of turtles with teeth.
Anthony 55:06
I don’t like that. I’m done. So, you hear a voice echo out.
Belroth 55:09
This is horses without eyes all over again.
Anthony 55:12
It is, and I don’t want that.
Skarpin 55:14
Oh, wow.
Anthony 55:17
Ugh, I’m uncomfortable. All right, um, as you walk up this mountain pass after, you know, 20 minutes of walking, a voice echoes from in front of you. It says, in the times before, when there was chaos and darkness 5 beings came together. They created the world you see before. The process was slow and painstaking. And the first step was when Chanerel took the pieces of chaos that swirled around her and created the elements. The path in front of you begins to light up, and 4 barriers stand in your way. In the center of the pathway, just in the middle of the path, there is a pillar. And the pillar has 4 stones on it. And I now go to you.
Skarpin 56:47
Skarpin walks up and checks out the stones.
Anthony 56:51
Okay. Each of the stones has on it a symbol related to one of the elements.
Skarpin 56:58
He picks up the one that he thinks represents water.
Anthony 57:05
Okay.
Skarpin 57:09
Nothing happens?
Anthony 57:11
You are holding the stone that represents water.
Belroth 57:13
Belroth goes up to the one that he thinks represents wind, I guess.
Anthony 57:19
Yep, you got it. I really wanted to do like, you squeeze it too hard, it breaks, you’ve now broken wind in front of everyone. That’s not true. That’s not what happens.
Belroth 57:32
He holds it quite delicately.
Ellori 57:35
Ellori does an investigation check on the earth one.
Anthony 57:44
Give me an Investigation.
Belroth 57:46
It’s better than breaking water. Oh, gosh.
Ellori 57:50
It’s a stone with the element of earth on it.
Anthony 57:53
Sure is.
Ellori 57:55
That is a 3.
Anthony 57:59
A 3 investigation? Yeah. Yeah, that’s it. Yep.
Deeran 58:04
Deeran grabs the last stone then.
Anthony 58:07
The one that has markings of fire.
Deeran 58:10
Great. He thinks this one’s like a little aggressive for me, but all right.
Ellori 58:16
No, but Deeran, you do the stuff with the fire.
Belroth 58:17
Yeah, you do do a lot of fire things.
Deeran 58:20
Yeah, but you know like, it’s so much more- all right.
Belroth 58:25
And Skarpin is a turtle, so obviously water.
Skarpin 58:28
That’s why I went with the water.
Belroth 58:30
It was really a toss up between, you know, earth and wind for me, but I picked wind first. I don’t know for some reason I feel like I’ve done earth in a previous life, and that’s totally fine.
Ellori 58:41
Oh, no I’m glad you did. Because all my power comes from the earth, so-
Belroth 58:45
Perfect. Well, there you go.
Skarpin 58:48
That would have been a better reason not to take Earth, but yeah.
Belroth 58:51
It is much better. I’m glad I chose what I chose.
Skarpin 58:56
Skarpin goes to one of the pillars, one of the barriers and investigates it.
Anthony 59:04
Yeah, so the barrier has 4 slots that are across the front of this barrier. And as you approach one of these little spaces, it looks to be about the size of the stone and words begin to appear over the barrier in that space. And it says, I am not alive, but I grow. I’ve- why did I have to write this?
Ellori 59:34
As soon as words appear Ellori says, oh my gosh, they’re riddles.
Belroth 59:40
I don’t understand the part where it says “dammit”.
Anthony 59:43
-but I need air. I don’t have a mouth, but I can drown.
Deeran 59:54
I think that one’s me, man. Deeran puts the fire stone there.
Anthony 1:00:02
Okay. As you step up and approach, you place the fire stone there, and you are thrown backwards with blast of power that reverberates as the barrier that you were like, one of the barriers glows brightly.
Deeran 1:00:22
Did this stone stay there?
Anthony 1:00:25
No, it’s in your hands.
Belroth 1:00:27
Can you read that again? I’m sorry.
Anthony 1:00:30
I am not alive, but I grow. I’ve got no lungs, but I need air. I don’t have a mouth, but I can drown.
Skarpin 1:00:43
Oh, yeah, Deeran, I think you were on the right track. Maybe we need to do them all at the same time.
Ellori 1:00:49
Deeran, are you okay?
Skarpin 1:00:51
Are you okay?
Deeran 1:00:55
I don’t know, man, like, I’m hearing this riddle, right, and I don’t know how it’s not “fire”.
Ellori 1:01:03
No, I think it has to be. So, let’s look at the other ones.
Deeran 1:01:06
You want me to try it again?
Ellori 1:01:07
No, no, no, no, but let’s look to the other ones, and then maybe like Skarpin said, we all do it at the same time. Or Belroth. Someone just said.
Skarpin 1:01:18
Thanks, man- thanks…friend.
Belroth 1:01:21
Um, yeah, so there’s just words above this hole and there’s words about other holes as well or just- Belroth approaches one and it starts reading it.
Anthony 1:01:36
Okay. It says, my feet stay warm, but my head is cold. No one can move me. I’m just too old.
Ellori 1:01:48
I think that one’s mine. Maybe, maybe we have to, you know, to say- I’m just gonna wait. I’m gonna be patient, and then we’ll listen to the other ones.
Belroth 1:02:04
Belroth moves to the next one.
Deeran 1:02:08
Deeran stands in front of the fire one still but with hands in pockets.
Anthony 1:02:13
Okay. You go to the next one. It says, I always run, but never walk. Often murmur-
Skarpin 1:02:23
That’s me!
Belroth 1:02:24
That one’s easy. Wind doesn’t run. That makes no sense.
Deeran 1:02:31
I don’t know, man, like, what if we’re wrong. What’s the rest of it say?
Ellori 1:02:38
Someone probably put a lot of work into these riddles, so maybe we should you know-
Deeran 1:02:43
I doubt it. I heard them.
Ellori 1:02:47
Maybe we should let, you know, finish reading it just, just to-
Belroth 1:02:51
To honor the Titans.
Ellori 1:02:53
Yeah, make it seem like it wasn’t too easy, that they had an appropriately difficult riddle to solve.
Belroth 1:03:03
So, water run.
Anthony 1:03:09
Often murmur, never talk. Don’t put water here, I’m wind.
Deeran 1:03:18
I told you we should read the rest of the clue.
Skarpin 1:03:23
We almost screwed up again.
Deeran 1:03:29
The last one’s mine. I don’t know how this one’s you, but like-
Belroth 1:03:34
Wind runs or murmurs even?
Skarpin 1:03:38
It’s a different time.
Anthony 1:03:41
I’ll read it if you want but-
Belroth 1:03:44
Yes, cuz I need to know.
Anthony 1:03:49
I always run but never walk. Often murmur, never talk. Have a bed, but never sleep. An open mouth that never eats.
Belroth 1:03:57
This is water. Okay, next one. That is probably wind.
Anthony 1:04:03
The last one says, I touch your face. I’m in your words. I’m lack of space, beloved by birds.
Belroth 1:04:10
This feels very windy.
Ellori 1:04:12
You know, my grandma always said that birds aren’t real.
Deeran 1:04:17
You’re grandma’s so smart, man.
Ellori 1:04:20
Yeah, you know, she would always, she would always say, you know, you never see a baby bird.
Belroth 1:04:26
I’ve seen several baby birds.
Skarpin 1:04:28
Me too.
Ellori 1:04:29
I’ve never.
Belroth 1:04:30
How have you never seen a baby bird?
Ellori 1:04:33
I’ve seen baby chickens.
Belroth 1:04:34
Which is a type of bird.
Skarpin 1:04:36
That’s a bird, Ellori.
Ellori 1:04:36
No they’re like, they’re like, they’re, they’re not birds. They can’t even fly very far up. I’m talking about the ones that are high in the sky. I’ve never seen a baby one of those.
Belroth 1:04:45
I’ve seen them. They exist.
Anthony 1:04:49
I love the idea that Ellori’s grandmother walked out on the porch. She looks up at the sky. She gets that face when she’s about to say something profound and she’s like, birds aren’t real. And then just like, turns around and walks away.
Ellori 1:05:04
Okay, sorry.
Belroth 1:05:07
Very wise except a conspiracy theorist also.
Ellori 1:05:14
So, should we try putting them all in at the same time? Maybe we count down 3, 2, 1 and then put them in?
Belroth 1:05:20
That sounds, that sounds like a great idea.
Deeran 1:05:24
Was there an order that like the stones appeared in, like on the ground or whatever?
Anthony 1:05:32
They were all on the top of the pedestal.
Deeran 1:05:36
But like, left to right, I guess or like a circle?
Anthony 1:05:40
Yeah.
Belroth 1:05:41
So, I don’t think so.
Deeran 1:05:45
Should we do it in the order that we picked him up then?
Ellori 1:05:49
Okay.
Deeran 1:05:50
I don’t know like, cuz I knew mine was fire and then went to put it in there, and then well, you saw.
Skarpin 1:05:58
I could try that first.
Deeran 1:06:00
Which way do we want to try it?
Skarpin 1:06:02
So I picked it up mine up first, the water so, here goes nothing. He tries to plug it in.
Anthony 1:06:09
And you also get thrown backwards, stone still in hand. The barrier shimmers, but does not change.
Belroth 1:06:20
First of all, Skarpin, are you okay?
Skarpin 1:06:22
Thank you, but I’m okay. Same time.
Belroth 1:06:26
Yeah, same time aeems like the next best conclusion.
Deeran 1:06:30
You don’t want to try?
Belroth 1:06:31
No.
Deeran 1:06:34
All right, I just, you know, I figured I’d give everybody a chance if they wanted to.
Belroth 1:06:39
Ellori, do you want to try? I mean, it just seems like we’re all just gonna get blown away.
Ellori 1:06:46
Um, maybe if it doesn’t work all together, I can try first.
Belroth 1:06:51
Let’s do that.
Skarpin 1:06:54
All right. On 3, 2, 1-
Deeran 1:07:02
On 3, like 1, 2, 3 or is it gonna be like 1, 2, 3 go?
Skarpin 1:07:06
I’m starting at 3, so don’t go on 3, okay?
Deeran 1:07:10
Okay, so is it 3, 2, 1 go?
Ellori 1:07:14
Go on go.
Skarpin 1:07:15
Go on go. Don’t go on 1.
Belroth 1:07:17
Start on three, end on go.
Skarpin 1:07:19
No, we should go faster. Go on 1. So, we put it on 1 because we have to do this quickly.
Ellori 1:07:25
Okay.
Deeran 1:07:26
All right.
Skarpin 1:07:28
3, 2, 1 plug.
Anthony 1:07:34
All 4 of you place your stones in and the barrier reacts, pushing back. But it seems like about a quarter of the strength of the push that you got before from the blast of force enough that you can hold the stone there as all 4 barriers shimmer and then shatter, falling away. And the stone crumbles alongside it.
Ellori 1:07:59
Good job, everybody.
Skarpin 1:08:00
Hooray!
Belroth 1:08:01
Excellent.
Deeran 1:08:02
Yeah, good work. Good work.
Anthony 1:08:12
There’s stone walls on either side as you walk through this ravine, basically, and the voice echoes through that again, as it says, once the most fundamental building blocks were in place, it came to Vorace who gathered up the energy of this place, and created each of the spaces where magic lives. Collected together, the Arcane became a source of power to fuel creation. And as you continue to walk down this way, a beam of light up ahead shows some sort of creature, all hooded head to toe. It is far enough away that you can’t interact with it. It’s like 80 feet away.
Skarpin 1:09:08
Just kind of in a big open area?
Anthony 1:09:10
It’s still in this sort of ravine that’s probably we’ll say 3 people wide, you know, 15 feet wide, but the creature is pretty far away. The general is behind you guys at this point. She is still with you though.
Ellori 1:09:26
I almost asked where-
Anthony 1:09:29
Well, yeah, when you guys start doing stuff at the puzzle, she was just like, checked out like, that’s not her business at all.
Belroth 1:09:37
Okay, well, um-
Ellori 1:09:39
Do you think we should go up to it?
Skarpin 1:09:42
Yeah, I’ll go in front.
Belroth 1:09:46
I mean, I can stay far back here and while Freya goes up and attacks so that I’m from a distance, and I can snipe at them. Or I can come closer. I don’t care. I’m not afraid.
Skarpin 1:09:57
Skarpin approaches.
Deeran 1:09:59
I’ll go with you, Skarpin. Deeran’s pretty emboldened by his mage armor, feeling so strong.
Anthony 1:10:08
The general approaches with you as well, Skarpin. As you approach the figure, it’s got both of its sleeves like, pressed together, and it’s hood down low. So, even as you get close, none of the features are visible and it does not seem to react to you getting closer.
Skarpin 1:10:32
Skarpin tries to walk around it.
Anthony 1:10:36
Okay, as you get within we’ll say 20 feet or so a hand comes out, telling you to stop. The hand is purple in color, and there are 3 fingers on the hand that holds up to stop you.
Deeran 1:10:57
Deeran grabs Skarpin’s shell and like, yanks him back when he sees that hand come up.
Skarpin 1:11:03
What, what?
Deeran 1:11:04
Careful, man.
Anthony 1:11:06
The head lifts slowly and the tentacles begin to drop from the darkness. The hand reaches back and pulls off the hood and the mind flayer in front of you blinks its eyes once and a ~mind flayer clicking~. We will face you in combat of magic ~mind flayer clicking~. He puts his hands out and 2 creatures appear next to him. Long, cat-like bodies with tentacles off their backs. 3 rows of legs along the outside. And we’re going to need Initiative.
Hey, everyone. DM Anthony here, just reminding you that if you’re enjoying the show, tell your friends, tell your family. Let people know word of mouth. And you can support the show at patreon.com/adventureinc, or you can check out the shop at adventureincpod.com/shop. Make sure you check the show notes and the website for all our social media, including our Discord where you can come and hang out with some great people. We’ll see you there, and until next week, I wish you nothing but critical success.
Adventure Incorporated 1:12:49
Serious Business.
We’re super serious!
Transcribed by https://otter.ai