Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Hello and welcome to explorers of elsewhere Live. First time? Nailed it. I am DM Dan and I'm joined tonight with I'm joined tonight by Theo, Nate, Livy and Dan. Hello. Hello, hello, hello, hello. How are you doing?
[00:00:18] Speaker B: Good.
[00:00:21] Speaker A: Marvelous. Marvelous. Yes. Ready to roll? Indeed. We, we, we started a new campaign we in a new campaign setting. We're playing dagger heart in the elsewhere setting and we've got brand new characters. We've got a brand new adventure. We kicked things off a fortnight ago where your four characters, Carol Al Zakar, Rere and van Yeh, step through a portal to one of the fledging explorer settlements, a small little quaint town that very few people have heard of called new Prosper. And yeah, you've, you've arrived to give your help. You've discovered that the reason for your summonings is that a research party which was investigating this curious hundreds of feet tall crystalline tower to the north of the north of the town.
One of the research teams has gone missing. They haven't come back.
It's the first time it's happened. They've been gone for about a week to a week and a half and you've been asked to go search for them to bring them back to safety.
You've met a couple of curious characters along the way, the surly sheriff of new Prosper Comstock, the sort of like the heartful councilor of the town Milia, a rather curious older Loravar gentleman down on beaches called Victor, as well as a slew of other characters and NPC's.
And yeah. Off the back of the request you have been given your directions. You've set off northwards to the crystal tower which you are told is surrounded by a forest of crystalline trees which have been gone through a process of crystallization due to the immense arcane power that this tower once exhibited.
And in this tower in this forest, you have come across three keepers, seven foot tall, seven to, you know, eight foot tall giants who have barred your way saying that this is a dangerous place and you can go no further.
So yeah, we return to the four of you in the, in a bit of a standoff in the middle of these three. The middle of the three keepers is a younger keeper man, like a barely out of boyhood you suppose, and yeah, having planted a spear in the ground that you feel hold some large amounts of importance to the keeper who has informed you that his name is Elmin.
He. Yeah, he has told you, I'm sorry but we cannot let you pass. He says the four of you see these two keepers flanking him kind of eyeing you suspiciously. One of them tightens her grip on the half to the hammer that she carries, whilst the other sort of like has a, you notice, a primed crossbow at the ready.
But if we switch through, we find the four of you.
Yeah. Standing off against these three keepers.
So as Elmin tells you, you can go no further.
What do you do you notice that tensions are running a little high.
Let's say, ray ry, you're at the front of the group. How do you, how, what are you doing right now?
[00:04:37] Speaker B: I think she's just so Vinny's a little bit suspicious, I would say, steps ahead slightly from her low sort of rumble, and, um, maybe we'll just go.
We just need to get past. We're not gonna do anything.
[00:05:00] Speaker A: Okay. Um, the, the female, like the woman keeper on the like, to your right.
She lets out this almost dismissive, like, grunt of a laughter, and Elmin once again responds. As I've said the last time explorers went into this tower, bad things happened.
And under our oaths, we will not see that happen again.
[00:05:39] Speaker C: What bad things?
[00:05:44] Speaker A: The, the two flanking keepers kind of sideways glance at the, the young lad in the middle and you. What? You notice his grip kind of shift on the handle of the spear slightly.
The tower is a scent, is a focus of evil, malignant forces.
It corrupted it, divided and through its power, someone very dear to us was lost.
There is no reason for you to be going in there.
[00:06:47] Speaker C: We are.
[00:06:48] Speaker D: We are also looking for people who are lost.
Perhaps we can help you too.
[00:06:59] Speaker A: Elmin kind of narrows his eyes.
I'm not entire.
How can I trust that you're not going in for nefarious means? Who, who are these people that are lost?
[00:07:19] Speaker C: They are your work. Looking for a bunch of researchers. You know, like bookish types, glasses, books.
[00:07:28] Speaker D: They were sentence they were sent from new prosper.
We are here to help them find their researchers.
[00:07:39] Speaker A: You come from new prosper?
[00:07:43] Speaker D: Yes.
We come on behalf of Jerryf Comstock.
[00:07:54] Speaker A: The keeper purses his lips together and he takes a deep breath and so, like his back straightens slightly.
You come with Comstock's blessings?
[00:08:14] Speaker D: Yes.
[00:08:21] Speaker E: He.
[00:08:21] Speaker A: It turns to look at you, Cal.
You're being awfully quiet.
[00:08:34] Speaker E: Not a man of many words, but what my friend here says is true.
[00:08:42] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:08:42] Speaker E: To go in, retrieve the lost and leave.
[00:08:51] Speaker A: Elmin like you seem kind of clenching on his back teeth slightly.
I'm going to ask for it seems like he's teetering. So who would like to roll some dice to try and persuade him.
[00:09:15] Speaker B: Not me.
[00:09:16] Speaker D: Not me.
My presence is minus one.
[00:09:22] Speaker A: So hang on, let me have a quick look.
[00:09:26] Speaker D: Oh, I forgot to do something at the beginning of the session. Can I do something?
[00:09:30] Speaker A: I don't know about that.
[00:09:33] Speaker D: Can I roll my paradise?
[00:09:35] Speaker A: You can roll your paradise. Yeah. There's any. Yes, if there are any beginning of session rolls. And please go ahead.
[00:09:45] Speaker F: Also, Dan, I don't know if on my. On the.
From the YouTube screen, it looks like my hope isn't coming up.
[00:09:54] Speaker A: You are correct.
There you go.
Okay, so.
[00:10:08] Speaker D: That basically means I can put an extra three dice on either damage or incoming damage or any role resoling after the roll. You can either instead exchange a value for as many hope and give that to a PC in range hacks.
[00:10:26] Speaker A: Okay, very good.
Very, very good. So are there any other start of session rollies?
Rollies. Okay, so in which case, yes, if anyone would like to throw some bones. I'm imagining you're going to be. This is going to be some sort of presence check. You're trying to charm, perform, or deceive. Hopefully not the latter.
[00:10:55] Speaker E: I mean, I have. I have ability called bold presence. Whenever you make a presence, roll against a hostile target, which I'd assume they'd be a hostile target if we fail.
[00:11:05] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:11:06] Speaker E: You can spend a hope to also add your strength trait to the roll. And my strength tape is plus two. So at the moment, my presence is zero, but with bold presence, it becomes plus two. I don't know if that means anything, if that's the best one in the group or not.
[00:11:22] Speaker F: So.
[00:11:24] Speaker D: I think it might be.
[00:11:26] Speaker E: I think it might be. I mean, yeah, I'm. I'm game to use bold presents and take that. Take that hit. Considering cow was the last to speak, it feels dramatically the correct.
[00:11:37] Speaker A: So does that cost a hope?
[00:11:41] Speaker E: Does cost a hope. Yep. One hope down.
[00:11:43] Speaker A: So drop you down to one.
Okay. In which case, yeah, feel free. Roll with a additional plus two.
[00:11:51] Speaker F: Okay, let's do it. I think just because of the scenario we're in, we want to make sure this succeeds.
[00:12:01] Speaker E: Well, it succeeded. I think there's a very high role.
[00:12:05] Speaker F: But with fear, I didn't see the.
[00:12:07] Speaker B: Succeeded, but not maybe as planned.
[00:12:11] Speaker E: Nobody is. But I mean, I mean, 21 with fear plus two. So you're 23 plus fear. So I'm putting the shits up this keeper, I think, but, yeah.
[00:12:25] Speaker A: Okay.
The.
So as you say this cal and you kind of take. Step forward and you let your kind of your physical like whilst you're not the.
The broadest of shoulder, I would argue. Would we argue that actually, as a car is physically bigger than you, I.
[00:12:52] Speaker D: Would say probably Valnier is probably the biggest over Vanya.
[00:12:56] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah.
So as you, as you say this and I, you take a singular step forward. And it is a step that is born of all of the years of experience, of all the shit that you've dealt with.
And Elmin, like, glances and looks at you as you approach, and there's like, the top right corner of his lip kind of curls up into this almost sort of like, grimaced smirk of sorts.
And, uh, you remind me of Comstock, actually, he says, looking at you.
And Omin sort of like takes a step forward towards you, and then he says, uh, Comstock was a brave man, but he was foolish.
And he let a very close friend of mine die.
And as the keeper kind of steps to the side, I trust you won't make the same mistake.
And while the, the three keepers still feel kind of standoffish, but at the very least, they have kind of opened the way to the crystal tower that you can, you can see the side of it kind of off in the distance through the crystalline, like between the crystalline tree trunks that kind of pepper your path in front of you.
The three kind of keepers stand to the side. Yeah. You're free to go unless you have any questions for them.
[00:15:17] Speaker D: You. You seem to know this area well.
Is there any dangers we must be aware of?
[00:15:28] Speaker A: Everything the crystal touches is dangerous.
There are.
I've seen what its corrupting influence can do to someone, to. To something.
I hailed from a village not far from here once. It was called Echo Bosde, and I watched many lose their lives to creatures that were transformed by this foulness. And you see him. So I look past you at the tree to your right that you know, juts from the ground like this stalagmite.
Nothing good can come from this place.
And it angers me that the people of new prosper aren't in agreement. They keep sending their people here, and it was only a matter of time before something bad happened.
And here we are.
I haven't been in the tower, but there are some things that you know of. Even without experiencing them, I dare not tread in a place like that.
[00:17:02] Speaker D: Wise words for such a.
For such a young being that we have a job to do.
[00:17:11] Speaker A: He.
[00:17:11] Speaker D: And he bows.
[00:17:14] Speaker A: The. The keeper sort of like, nods his head in response to your bow.
Anyone else got any questions while the dialogue box is open?
[00:17:29] Speaker B: What do you mean? It corrupt? Like, can we touch it? We're not allowed to touch it, are we? Like, oh, like try not to touch it.
[00:17:39] Speaker A: The the crystal, it's, it's corruptive.
It physical contact with it risks it changing you. The this wood was once a beautiful, beautiful hardwood forest. The trees, the trees were much taller than these feeble mockeries would have you believe.
The power of the, the corruptive, infected power, infectious power of the tower has done this. There was, there was one from new prosper, one of the explorers whose very hands and arm was crystallizing. Having come into contact with some of this it for your own safety, I would suggest not letting it touch you ever.
[00:18:59] Speaker F: Vanier just matters under his breath, not to self.
[00:19:03] Speaker C: Don't scrape any crystals for salt for later dinner.
Listen to Asaka.
[00:19:15] Speaker A: The the keeper continues.
There was, there was a good friend of mine from Mecca, Bos deer. He was an old wolf king, much older than his years would. He was an old wolf kin with a soul much younger than his years would belie.
His name was Dume.
He believed that this crystal was hot, the blood of a khan hardened into physical form, seeping through the world of elsewhere as a result of the war.
It stands as an affront to all of the work that the world spirits do to heal the world.
These are scars.
[00:20:15] Speaker C: Maybe it is like a thorn.
Get someone to pluck it out. The bullet heals.
[00:20:24] Speaker A: Perhaps, he says any glances to this huge hundreds of feet tall tower.
If you can find someone big enough to pluck it.
[00:20:40] Speaker C: You never know.
[00:20:45] Speaker A: The keeper looks to you once again.
Heed my words. Be safe in there.
May coral or coral or his grasp protect you.
[00:21:09] Speaker D: Thank you. And may ayah's light protect you also.
[00:21:13] Speaker A: The keeper smiles slightly and nods and yeah, the three keepers completely move out the way, give you free access.
[00:21:27] Speaker F: So yeah, as, as we're, you know, starting to make our way past them, I think I will looking towards the.
[00:21:40] Speaker C: Others, be like, what is a koalu?
[00:21:50] Speaker A: You. Well, you say that it's certainly not the name of any God that you've heard of you, but we live in a world now where lots of people will give reverence to names that you, that you suspect are most likely world spirits of some sort.
Like everyone's heard. Aya, presumably none of you have heard of Coral Oro, but you suspect now that, yeah, all of these, all of these names that people revere are most likely world spirits that appeared at the end of the war 18 years ago.
Months ago. 18 months ago.
Um, so the four of you continue on under the watchful gaze of these three keepers, these corollary as you suspect you suppose them to be until eventually you find yourself there's a point where the trees almost just stop growing. Perhaps their matter has been subsumed by this monolithic wall of crystal that rises out of the ground in front of you.
And as you look down, you notice that even the ground that the crystal is embedded in, like the ground around it, is appearing to crystallize itself so much, much like an infected wound kind of seeping out. And you can see that the, the particles of dirt and kind of the debris, the forest debris, what would be forest debris, slowly kind of becomes glass like, until it achieves this light blue pinkish hue, similar to the crystal tower in front of you.
And it's about 404:00 ish, like it's mid afternoon.
And the sun, as it's starting to peel down back towards the horizon, you can see, kind of reflects down and the light kind of clay discopes off the side of this tower in frankly quite a beautiful way. But you notice that whilst some of the sunlight is kind of piercing through the crystalline outer shell, it's not, it's not completely kind of translucent. There is clearly some sort of opaque material within.
But you can see like around, you know, you're at the, what you would, what Comstock referred to as the front entrance because there's a number of like discarded camping utensils, presumably from other survey teams.
You see what almost looks like a little like one person tent kind of thing that's only about less than ten foot by ten foot square.
And there is what appears to be like a wooden frame, like almost a door frame of sorts, kind of malleted nail, like banged into the ground in front of the tower. It looks like a door frame with just this wall of crystal behind it. You notice that the door frame isn't making contact with the tower surface, but it certainly looks like door frame of sorts on a chair in that little one person tent off to the left is what appears to be a, like a register, like a journal register of sorts.
And vanier, you're close enough to see that there are a number of names and dates written down on the, like in the ledger.
You presume that this must be some sort of, well, some sort of register.
[00:26:20] Speaker C: Register.
[00:26:23] Speaker F: What do I see any, like, like recent names, dates, like within the past, like week or something?
[00:26:32] Speaker A: Well, having a little flick through, you see that like research teams have been coming quite regularly almost, you know, sort like two ish a week coming and going for the past three or so months.
It makes you wonder sort like what they're looking at, what they're seeing that makes them keep on coming back because, you know, a lot of people are treading ground in here.
But as you flick to the last page that's been filled out, you notice that the most recent survey group went in and spent about three or four days inside the tower.
So you can see them marked in and, like, marked out.
The team before has marked in but has not marked out. And that's about a week. That's about eight days ago.
[00:27:35] Speaker F: See, there's a team before who arrived but never marked out. And then there's been a team that's gone in and out during that time.
[00:27:43] Speaker A: Mm hmm.
[00:27:45] Speaker F: Surely that must have.
[00:27:47] Speaker E: That's why.
[00:27:50] Speaker F: Yeah. I relay all that information to everyone.
[00:27:54] Speaker C: Say, what do you make of it?
[00:28:00] Speaker D: How many people were in the team that went in but didn't come out?
[00:28:04] Speaker A: So you notice that where is all of the other teams have, like, a list of names in the missing team that the team that was presumably is still in there. You suppose in rather hurried writing, it says tree plus four, exclamation mark.
Tree.
[00:28:31] Speaker B: Oh, tree. Not.
[00:28:33] Speaker D: Yeah, not as in a tree.
[00:28:35] Speaker E: Yeah.
[00:28:36] Speaker A: Trii. Four exclamation mark.
Smiley face.
[00:28:42] Speaker B: Five.
[00:28:46] Speaker A: Well, it seems like it's tree and then four others.
This was smiley face. Yes.
Which also ties into what Comstock and the goblin twins knock and bok told you that there were. There was a group of five.
[00:29:10] Speaker F: Okay.
Yeah. Before, I guess, we continue any further, Vanier.
[00:29:26] Speaker C: Well, before we go in, I think it is a good time to eat a little snack so that we're all fed and prepared for the journey ahead. Yeah.
[00:29:37] Speaker F: And he, as he's been wearing this, like, big overall white coat that drapes over him like a big cloak, he again reveals that as he pulls it to the side, there's that strange bag again, that once he opens it, like, little bits of frost comes out, and he'll pull out some, like, dry, jerky type bits that have got, like, some sort of seasoning. And he will be, like, handing out.
[00:30:07] Speaker C: To each one, like, here, you eat up, give you energy.
[00:30:13] Speaker B: What is it? What type of meat?
[00:30:18] Speaker F: Vanya takes a moment to think.
[00:30:22] Speaker C: I think this one was definitely a beef like texture.
[00:30:29] Speaker B: Yum.
That's my favorite.
[00:30:33] Speaker C: May not have been from a cow, but it was a similar, similar taste.
[00:30:39] Speaker A: It was from the beef Pokemon category.
[00:30:47] Speaker F: Yeah. So he tries to hand out to the three of you to have some sustain before we go in.
[00:30:55] Speaker B: Three.
Vinny's there and.
[00:30:59] Speaker F: Oh, wait, four. Four pieces.
[00:31:03] Speaker A: There is a, there is a distinct snarling and growling from the large chihuahua.
[00:31:10] Speaker F: Throw it up in the air for catch.
[00:31:12] Speaker A: How? I mean, if we were to compare Vinny, your pet dog, to another animal, like, what's. What's like, size wise, what size animal are we talking? Like? Is it like the size of a goat?
[00:31:28] Speaker B: I would say bigger than a goat. More like us.
[00:31:33] Speaker A: Good God.
Bigger than a goat.
[00:31:38] Speaker B: Bite him. So he's gonna be like, well, bear.
[00:31:42] Speaker A: In mind, you're like, what, three and a half foot or four foot?
[00:31:45] Speaker B: So I'm thinking more like Shetland. Like small pony.
[00:31:49] Speaker E: Like, I was about to say small Shetland pony. That makes sense. Okay, that's hilarious.
[00:31:54] Speaker A: And because he's a chihuahua, his head is massive.
[00:31:57] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:32:03] Speaker A: Very good. Very good.
Okay, so, yeah, as you're handed out, as you receive these beef like delicacies from Vanier.
Yeah. You find yourself.
You find yourself stood in front of this kind of wooden door frame. What's as a car doing as a car?
[00:32:28] Speaker D: He takes the jerky and he goes, thank you. And he just puts it away in.
[00:32:33] Speaker A: His pocket.
[00:32:35] Speaker F: Just off of that beat.
[00:32:38] Speaker C: Vanya will respond like, we're glad to have someone with your skills around.
I think they will be coming in quite in handy in this corrupted, magic y place.
Good to have you on board.
[00:32:55] Speaker F: And I'm using a feature called soldiers bond.
Once prolonged rest, if you compliment someone or ask them about something about they're good at, you may both take three hope.
[00:33:10] Speaker C: Sweet man.
[00:33:12] Speaker F: And because I'm role playing it with my food, you've taken my jerky and I've spoken to you. That's all I need, hope.
[00:33:23] Speaker D: Thank you very much.
[00:33:24] Speaker F: Add three hope to me.
[00:33:26] Speaker A: Right, so the two of you both up to five, hope you forget when my prayer dies.
Very good. Very good. Okay, so, yeah, as. As van is kind of complimenting you on your skills for whatever is coming up.
Yeah. What do you make of this? Like, door frame of sorts?
And when I say like, it's literally like, three, like, planks of wooden, like, embedded in the ground about half of a foot from the surface of the crystal tower.
[00:34:12] Speaker D: I guess as. As rudimentary as it is, I think he's quite pleased that at least some sort of safety measures, even how wonky they are, have been taken, have been tried. He's very impressed with the register. He likes the register. Yeah, he thinks he's already started signing in on everyone's names in to go in.
[00:34:33] Speaker A: Amazing, amazing.
Spot the order born right here.
[00:34:43] Speaker D: Yeah. He's just going to turn to everyone and go, like, I've signed us all in.
We tread. And he shows everyone, just to make sure that he spells all their names right.
He goes like, we do not know what we are going to see in here. We tread lightly, stay together.
Don't try to be heroic.
We have a job to do, and we don't know how powerful this crystal can be. So tread lightly. Think with your heads.
[00:35:33] Speaker C: I will try.
[00:35:40] Speaker A: And as you say this, Cal, you noticed that the surface of the crystal tower. Like, the surface of it. Of the crystal tower, ripples ever so slightly.
[00:35:59] Speaker E: What, reacting to the conversation or just is this.
Don't like that.
[00:36:10] Speaker A: But. Sorry. And when I say ripples, like, you see through this, like, door frame, that the surface of the tower.
[00:36:17] Speaker E: Okay, cool.
Interesting.
I think cow will. And by the way, in terms of the jerky, I think he just. He doesn't even ask what it is. He just starts eating it. So he's. He's chill. Like, everyone's like, so what is this? And he's just like, no, I'm nom, nom, nom, nom.
[00:36:35] Speaker C: It's protein, right?
[00:36:38] Speaker E: He knows it's food. Okay? He went through war. He knows food is hard to get by. Um, so, yes, he's not that picky. Um, I feel like he'll continually glance at the door.
He. Well, he recognizes it's. Well, I said that. Can. Can it be taken that he would recognize a magical doorway? Because I'm assumingly the way it's set up is that it is some sort of portal into the tower.
Am I allowed to say that Cal wouldn't notice that with. With some of his.
[00:37:14] Speaker A: Well, yeah, I mean, having noticed the. The shimmer on the surface of the. Like, the surface of this thing, you glance going to the left of the door frame. To the right, the door frame.
And you don't notice any kind of movement in the. In the surface. Like, is a solid surface. You see. You know, the light. Pitter patter glints off it, but, like, as you glance back to the. The part of the wall, the part. The tower that's framed by this door, you once again see it's. It looks like the surface of a very still and calm lake.
Like, the light kind of rolls slightly within it before it refracts.
[00:38:03] Speaker E: Well, I think it's safe to say that that's the entrance.
[00:38:07] Speaker C: What, those sticks?
[00:38:10] Speaker A: Mm hmm.
[00:38:12] Speaker E: Looks like a magical portal of some description.
[00:38:18] Speaker C: Magic.
[00:38:18] Speaker E: A safe entrance to the tower. Yeah, that. That old chestnut.
So, we should get in there soon.
Something I would like us to keep in mind, actually, is if there's already been a research team inside. And they've not noticed.
Like, surely if they found the research team, they would have said something. Which suggests to me that the previous team have gone in perhaps a little further than the ones who've recently gone in. So we should probably keep that in mind in regards to when we're having a look around.
[00:39:05] Speaker C: Good point.
[00:39:06] Speaker E: If there's any telltale signs of drifting off a path or there's a way.
[00:39:12] Speaker A: Of sensing that, just as a quick reminder, you, your minds flashback to because you asked the question, like, has anyone mapped the inside of this place? And the two goblin twins told you that it was discovered that every time a research team went in, drew a map, and came back out, it was a different map.
So it seems that the interior of this place is quite mutable. It's. Yeah, sure.
[00:39:46] Speaker E: Ignore that then, because cow would have definitely remembered that.
Theo did not. So cows. It's like, yeah, that's. It's. It's Trixie. Let's be careful in there.
[00:39:59] Speaker B: We go off in different directions.
[00:40:02] Speaker E: Let's not. Let's not split up.
[00:40:05] Speaker D: Did I just say no, no.
Stay together.
[00:40:16] Speaker A: Lady.
[00:40:16] Speaker D: No. Remember last time when we had to rescue you from the big blue glove? Do you remember? Do you remember?
[00:40:28] Speaker A: Do.
[00:40:28] Speaker D: Do you remember? Do you remember?
[00:40:30] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:40:31] Speaker D: Well, I don't remember like that.
[00:40:32] Speaker B: I don't remember it being that I was lost. I was just distracted, and then I got pondering.
[00:40:39] Speaker A: Vinny looks at you with the closest approximation to a raised eyebrow that a chihuahua can pull.
[00:40:48] Speaker B: Oh, yeah.
Okay. Me and Vinny will stay together.
[00:40:52] Speaker D: Stay together with us. We all stay.
[00:40:57] Speaker A: Who's stepping through the door first?
[00:41:04] Speaker F: I'll probably just, like, go straight up to the door after this conversation and.
[00:41:07] Speaker C: Say, it is fine. We got two pups here with good noses. I'm sure we can sniff them out.
[00:41:15] Speaker F: And I just walk straight towards the door.
[00:41:17] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:41:18] Speaker F: More to a frame.
[00:41:20] Speaker A: So you walk, as you kind of pass through the door frame, you notice that not what you.
You wait for something to happen, and then nothing does. But, like, the momentum of your step carries you forward, and you realize that at this rate, you're about to face plant into the side of this enormous crystalline structure. But as you. And as you go to, like, bring your hands up to catch you, your hands touch the surface of the crystal, and you just feel this.
This, like, chill wash over your fingertips. And the rest, the other three of you watch as van. Yeah.
Disappears into the surface of the tower with a.
[00:42:14] Speaker F: You probably just hear this.
[00:42:16] Speaker C: Oh, no.
[00:42:20] Speaker A: And yes, like, the. The sound of his voice is cut off there's. A point where it just stops and you see the surface kind of rippling like a still lake that's been disturbed.
And Vanya is gone.
If you could create a new character for me, Dan, that'd be great.
I'd leave. Joking.
Yeah, Vanya is gone.
Who's going in next? Yeah.
[00:42:55] Speaker B: I think, yeah, Ray Ry and Vinny will just do a run.
Like, the quicker you go in, the less likely you are to fall over, you know, pelt ourselves in.
[00:43:12] Speaker F: So I'm just gonna get, uh, get the both of you just rammy for the.
As you jump in.
[00:43:20] Speaker A: Okay. Ray re's jumping in second. Who's going in third?
[00:43:24] Speaker D: Uh, Azakar has put the register down quite neatly where it was. And he walks in.
[00:43:29] Speaker A: Okay, very good. Uh, and then, Cal, it's just you, the back, and I can, I can only imagine as a, as you follow in behind. Okay, you all respectively feel like this.
[00:44:00] Speaker E: You.
[00:44:00] Speaker A: The chances are none of you have ever kind of come face to face with an ice drake.
But the chill that washes down you, you feel it running from the top of your skull all the way to the base of your spine.
And you feel your body is involuntarily shake before you feel a sensation of free fall.
There's that feeling of your stomach launching itself up into your lungs as you teeter and plunge through emptiness before everything comes back into sharp focus. As you feel your foot land on solid ground, it's a, it feels like a much more violent version of going through a port, going through the portal that brought you to new prosper.
But as you all sort of like, open your eyes and take your first breaths, the first thing you notice is the darkness.
And as your eyes begin to acclimatize, you notice that you're in some sort of cave like structure.
The path, a small amount of the path ahead of you is illuminated by crystalline growths that sprout from the wall behind you.
And you, Cal Azakar and Ray re, you see, you know, Vanier at the front of the, of the quartet, the quintet, if you count Vinnie.
But van. Yeah, you can barely see a few, like more than sort of 5ft before the light of the glowing crystal behind you peters away. That said, as you focus, you can see that there are spots of light piercing the darkness, revealing what appear to be more areas of this cave like place.
But from where you are, you can see relatively little.
Just gonna. You can't see much of it right now, but this is a shout out. This is a, this map will be a combination of three of birdie maps. Maps.
And if you. So if you like what you see, make sure to have a look at birdies. Patreon. Bird patreon.com birdie maps because, yeah, some really, really good stuff.
Anyway, we find. Yeah. As the four of you kind of, your eyes begin to acclimatize to the darkness. Who brought light?
Rabi brought light. Who else brought light?
Okay, so I will remind you that if we turn on a torch, you won't be able to use your bow.
[00:47:33] Speaker B: Yeah.
What if I mount it now?
[00:47:38] Speaker D: Put it in Vinny's mouth.
[00:47:39] Speaker B: Put it in Vinny's mouth.
[00:47:41] Speaker A: You giving it to Vinny?
[00:47:46] Speaker E: I also have a torch in my backpack as well.
[00:47:50] Speaker A: Okay.
Are both of you torturing up?
[00:47:56] Speaker B: Yeah. And then if I have to action myself.
[00:47:59] Speaker A: Okay, so the two of you produce and light your torches, which help to illuminate the space in front of you. You can see that the passageway that you're in stretches forward about 2020 ish feet before it peels slightly to the right. You can see what appears to be a bit of a precipice, like a drop down just off to the left leading into, like, a larger cave area.
But, yeah, feel free to start moving, obviously, within reason. Don't go too far.
[00:48:44] Speaker F: Yeah, I think as you, you both have got the torches out, like.
[00:48:52] Speaker C: I don't mind taking the lead, and I.
[00:48:56] Speaker F: Start sniffing the air to see what I can sort of gauge as we start to traverse.
How can I not move my token?
[00:49:08] Speaker A: Well, I've just paused the game, so in which case, as you sort of, like, go to assess, the air smells.
It smells like old, musty and rancidgesthe. There's like, a sharp, sour smell in the air that kind of stings the insides of your nostril slightly as you kind of take in a deep breath.
And as you grimace, like taking in your surroundings, you see that the walls themselves are kind of rocky. For the most part, they seem slight. It's difficult to tell whether the. The. The rock itself is colored like it is colored in kind of bluish pinkish hues or if it's simply the. The glow from the crystals that are jutting out from it and providing you some illumination.
But as you focus in on your senses, vanier, you feel like you can hear an almost like a dripping sound, a dripping sound that ray r, you feel you have found the source of.
And as ray re, as you step forward with Azakar, you see what appears to be a lake of this glowing, luminous but liquid.
It looks thick.
You see that there's a, there's about a ten foot drop in front of you. That's the area marked out by these little triangles.
Yeah, there's this kind of large.
Large kind of. Well, this lake of.
Yeah, this liquid. You notice that around the edge of this lake of sorts there are, you know, what you would assume to be bush like plants almost, you know, like you would, you know, you would get these kind of large leafed plants around the edge of a pond, for example.
And you can see sort of like vines and like budding flowers sprouting from the top of them.
And it would be normal to look at if they weren't entirely made of crystal.
And ray re, as you and Ray Reinazakar, as you watch the surface of this kind of lake, you can see that light shimmers off it in ways that it shouldn't. And there's an almost, there's a quiet of quiet but constant.
You can see drips of this liquid coming down from the ceiling to land in, land on the lake surface.
As a cardinal, as Ray points out, the, like, the viscosity of it.
There's a horrible, horrible thought that creeps into your mind.
It looks like glowing blue pink blood.
It's got that thickness to it.
[00:53:06] Speaker D: I am not sure what it is, but I would advise you stay back.
[00:53:12] Speaker B: Don't drink it then.
[00:53:14] Speaker D: No, don't drink it. Not this time.
[00:53:22] Speaker B: It looks kind of like soup.
[00:53:23] Speaker D: I do advise that there is nothing in this place that is worth eating or drinking. Can we please not do that?
[00:53:38] Speaker B: Let us eat anything.
[00:53:40] Speaker A: What's, what's cow thinking? What's cow doing?
[00:53:46] Speaker E: I think, I think Cal is just like, I hate magic. I hate this. I.
That lake looks like bad news.
Um, I think we should avoid it and keep going unless we have absolutely a very big reason to go and near that lake, I think we should keep going past it.
Makes me uneasy.
[00:54:30] Speaker A: So in which case, as you say that, yes, you can see that the passageway that you're in continues south.
Ray righ with your torch and the illumination from kind of crystal growths that sprout from the walls you can see that the pathway continues south. And to your concern, you can see what appears to be another lake like surface at the end of the tunnel.
Oh, lake, you see, as you approach that leading to, or maybe from, you're not entirely sure because it moves so slowly, but there is a stream of this kind of glowing liquid that flows as you approach off to your left that, like, following it. You see it cascades you, you suspect that it must be flowing from this smaller lake, to be sure, because it seems to be cascading down a ten foot drop into a lower tunnel. Over the. On the other side, though, you see that there's another section of the.
The cave, roughly the same level as you. So it would seem that this liquid is flowing into like a chasm.
A chasm ten foot lower than you.
But vanier, as you approach, you notice that the lake itself, this liquid, is giving off this iridescent glow that illuminates and it shifts ever so slightly. It's quite mesmerizing to watch.
But again, around the edge of this lake are crystalline, are plants that look as if they've been made from glass by some sort of artisan.
[00:56:43] Speaker C: Well being.
Looking like there are two slopes from the path we've been traveling.
Now, I'm quite used to traversing the ridges of the world.
May I advise we tread back and go on the shallower slope, because I think especially this one that seems a lot deeper, also has trails of water, which might be a little bit slippery.
[00:57:18] Speaker E: I'm good with that.
[00:57:22] Speaker A: Okay, so sorry, heading back for. Heading back from whence you came.
[00:57:28] Speaker F: Yeah, heading back to this shallower slope.
[00:57:32] Speaker A: Sure, I think so. Upon kind of heading back, you notice, let you spot that stream that was flowing from the smaller ponds kind of trickling in front of you that snakes between the various kind of crystalline plants.
And it would seem that this large kind of lake of sorts is being fed by droplets coming from the ceiling. And you're glancing up, it's a bit hard to make out in the murk, but there appear to be stalactites made of these crystals, like they're spearing through the ceiling.
And this stuff is kind of collecting in heavy drops on the tips of the spines before falling into, falling towards the surface of whatever this is.
[00:58:34] Speaker F: Question to the DM answer for the PC.
Now, this might be my D and D brain thinking here, but can I check the ceiling around just to make sure that there aren't any creepies hiding away up in the ceiling? Or I.
Maybe if there's nothing really hiding up there, maybe it's a case of making sure that wherever we're traversing, we're not underneath something that has quite a lot of drip.
[00:59:11] Speaker A: Sure.
[00:59:11] Speaker F: To make it a safer path for us to traverse to try and avoid the drippiness. Sure there's enough hiding?
[00:59:23] Speaker A: Yeah. Chuck me a perceived. So instinct. Yes.
[00:59:31] Speaker F: Yeah, I'll do instinct. And I'm just checking my, my skills.
Yes, because I've got a skill. Sorry, an experience.
Heightened senses. Okay, so would, could I spend a hope to add my heightened senses to this role, please?
[00:59:53] Speaker A: Diem, I mean, you've got more hope than God, so. Sure, why not?
Okay, so one down to four, hope.
[01:00:03] Speaker F: Yep.
And so this will now give ads plus two, so making a total of four plus four to my role. Okay, so here we go, folks.
I rolled 24 with hope.
[01:00:20] Speaker A: 24 with hope.
[01:00:22] Speaker F: And I'm opting before we continue, because I'm a warrior called the Slayer. I'm foregoing the hope that I'm getting from this to add a d six die to my slayer die pool.
[01:00:38] Speaker A: Okay, very good.
[01:00:40] Speaker F: I'm not getting a hope from that.
[01:00:42] Speaker A: Sure, sure. Okay, I'll leave you at four then.
So as you like, your eyes now, having accustomed to the gloom a bit better, you notice that, like over this large lake and the small ponds, you know, further down the corridor that you just walked away from, there seem to have been these kind of crystalline stalactites over those areas.
You suppose that might be why it's pooling here as much as it is.
But luckily, the stalactites seem to be focused on those above those areas. Like, you glance immediately overhead and it's the same kind of, of dead looking, rocky surface.
So, yeah, you, you know, you are able to see that there's no writ, there seems to be no real risk of being dripped on by whatever this is.
You rolled like 24, didn't you?
[01:01:54] Speaker F: Yeah.
[01:01:57] Speaker A: And as you ponder them to what it is, there's a point, there's a moment where a crazy idea comes to the front of your mind.
And the other three, you know, you can almost see the cogs turning in Vanier's head.
And van. Yeah, you turn to look like you look at the, the hues of the lake, you look at the hues of the crystals that are jutting out of the walls, that are hanging from the ceilings, and it's pretty much the same.
Is this lake manor?
Is this a lake of arcane Manor?
[01:02:58] Speaker F: Um, as that thought comes to the forefront of my mind and, uh, in turn, um, Vanya will sort of, sort of mutter.
[01:03:12] Speaker C: Mandev, is that just a pull of mana, you folk? What do you think of this as.
[01:03:25] Speaker F: I start pointing towards the pool, as not the most intelligent in the world.
[01:03:36] Speaker A: Cow.
And as a car.
You were both, you were both soldiers in the war, weren't you?
You know, the arcane manor was a gift given to mortals by the betrayer. A calm.
And it's, it was described that it comes from within.
Cow, you would have heard. Well, cow, you would have heard that it's sometimes referred to as, like, soul energy, but as a car. You know, from being a major, that major wizards were so valued, the war, because of their abilities to more acutely control the flow of energy through their bodies, much like yourself.
But Mana is, like, ephemeral. It's. It's kind of nothing until it's formed into a spell, and then it might become solid or explosive or whatever, you know, the spell cast wish to do with it.
You know that since the war, these crystalline growths, like mana, can be crystallized. You've seen it with runestones, you mana, mana gems since the war, kind of more natural, corruptive, arcane crystals like this place is, that's becoming more commonplace.
But to concentrate so much that it liquefies, it's like you're seeing liquid oxygen.
The concentration as a car, frankly, scares you.
And you found at least two pools of it.
As the four of you stand looking at the surface of the, of the pool, ray ry, you notice just, you know, near. Near the kind of the shore.
Sure. Near you, a small little bubble rises to the surface and pops.
It makes a cute little noise, which is perhaps what draws your attention.
But then as you watch, because it. The bubbles and then pops, just like you would see in, like, a bath, for example. But the droplet that forms from the pop flies up in the air and then doesn't drop back to the surface, and it just floats and lingers.
And you watch as it begins, this droplet, this spherical droplet, begins to shape and warp ever so slightly.
And then it begins, you see an edge begin to form on the perfectly round surface, and it elongates into.
[01:07:16] Speaker E: A.
[01:07:16] Speaker A: Hard, crystal like shape.
And again, it's still very pretty to look at, but let's just show you all the. It's the colors split across the shards as this thing kind of breaks apart slightly into this collection of, kind of float, almost floating rock type things.
And like the other three of you notice ray re's head slightly tilted.
And then other ripples, bubbles begin to pop across the surface of the lake, and you see other motes begin to coalesce.
And while that's happening, is it whatever any of you for doing anything while these are just kind of floating up from the surface?
Pity.
[01:08:36] Speaker D: I think Azakar is going to sort of put his hand on Raimi and sort of try and push her back.
[01:08:45] Speaker A: What's cows at the front? What's Cal Finger? What's cow doing?
[01:08:50] Speaker E: I think Kal's hand is on his sword hill. No, he's a bit like, I don't like this.
[01:08:56] Speaker A: Okay.
[01:08:57] Speaker E: Um, yeah, he does not. He does not like this at all. He's very concerned. This is not how, like, the mana thing is terrifying enough as it is.
The idea of it actually for forming into solid shape without actively being touched, it's just something that's happening is concerning him.
[01:09:21] Speaker A: Okay.
In which case, as you think these thoughts and kind of grimace, that's not right.
There's a, you see movement under the surface of this lake, of this manor lake. And a very large kind of growth begins to emerge from it until it also pops like a wet zit.
And rising from the surface of the lake is a large globule of floating manner.
The light ripples across it as its form undulates and wobbles.
And kal, as you sort like, as you feed that dark. For as you grip the handle of your. The hilt of your sword, the orb seemingly ripples angrily in response.
And as you watch, the small moats that have emerged from the lake begin floating towards you.
And as the large globe in between floats with them and begins converging on your locations.
Let's go for a quick break.
Cool. So we are gonna be away for about 15 minutes. So, yeah, make sure to stick around. If you enjoyed it, make sure to hit the like button comment down below on your thoughts. If, especially if you're a bit more versed with the elsewhere law, how you think that this is all panning out and how you think our adventurers are gonna do in the face of this living, floating manner.
Yes. If you want see more of this, make sure to hit the subscribe button and the bell icon for notifications. And when we release new videos, we've got this campaign running. We've got Alicia Rising, which is a blades in the dark campaign running. We've got fallout London. Let's plays. We've got all sorts. We wouldn't want you to miss out. So. Yeah, do yourself a favor. Hit subscribe, hit the bell icon. Beautiful. Right. I will see you beautiful creatures in 15 minutes, which means 929 28.
Cool. See you all in a bit.
