Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Hello and welcome, everybody. Hi, hi, hi, hi, hi, hi.
I'm DM Dan. We are the explorers of elsewhere and this is live, if you couldn't tell.
We have returned to play some more tales from elsewhere, which is a cheeky little name I've given to our dagger heart campaign.
We are. This is our third, like, live episode. We're coming up to the end of our first tale and so far you lot have.
You've done some talking, you've done some.
You've done some spelunking through a pretty glowy cave and you've.
And twatting. Yes, you did some whoppy boppy stab and choppy. Um, yeah, you did some fighting. You're looking for some researchers. You founded the researchers. Hurrah.
[00:01:03] Speaker B: Jobs are good.
[00:01:04] Speaker A: Jobs are good. And you've also theoretically completed the side objective, which was to find a missing croak.
[00:01:12] Speaker C: Oh, yeah.
[00:01:18] Speaker A: The more important.
Oh, that music just ended very abruptly. Yes, arguably the much more important objective of finding this missing crowd. So, yeah, I mean, jobs good. We can all go home there, right?
[00:01:37] Speaker D: And, I mean, I hope so. That's. That's cow's plan. Cows is gonna just walk out.
[00:01:42] Speaker A: Let's go. Let's go see? It'll be fine. It'd be fine.
[00:01:48] Speaker D: Do we know how to get out?
[00:01:50] Speaker B: Well, kind of, maybe.
[00:01:57] Speaker A: I've just discovered. Hold, everyone, that I've balls up the audio. Hold, hold. Right, so if I do a little bit this. Click. Ok. And then I do a little bit this and I click. I click there and then I click that and then I click here and I click there and I click. This is. This is the truth of.
Of live streaming. Right, if everyone can say hello and we'll do some test quacks, right, do we have. Do we have test quacks?
I think we have test cracks. Okay. I think we're good.
Cool. So, yes, you've done some stuff and some things in a place, and I reckon it's high time for us to whip straight back to see what comes next, which is, you know, just pack up and go home.
Who's ready for it?
[00:03:05] Speaker E: Yeah.
[00:03:07] Speaker A: Well, first, let's have a title screen.
[00:03:10] Speaker F: All across the unknown world, rediscovery pushes ever onwards to find the lands and people lost, all thanks to our brave explorers.
[00:03:25] Speaker C: Hi, I'm Nate and I'm playing Azakar and the Jani seraph.
[00:03:31] Speaker E: Hi, I'm Dan and I'm playing Vanya.
[00:03:33] Speaker A: The Wolf King warrior.
[00:03:35] Speaker G: Hey, I'm Livy.
[00:03:37] Speaker B: I'm going to be playing Ray Reid, the Sprite Ranger.
[00:03:40] Speaker D: Hi, my name's Fio and I'm playing Cal, the slang of our guardian and.
[00:03:45] Speaker A: My name is DM Dan. I'll be the GM in these adventures.
[00:03:49] Speaker F: The further we go, the more we.
[00:03:52] Speaker A: Learn of these magical tales from elsewhere and so we return you lot to a rather peculiar location. Having been tasked with finding some a lost researcher team from the, by the instruction of the the pupils of one of the explorer expedition outposts, new prosper, you have delved into a large, an impossibly large crystalline tower like structure which dominates the, the nearby landscape, surrounded by a forest of crystalline petrified trees.
And walking through the almost liquid like front door which come portal you've found yourself in some strange kind of crystal caves somewhere within the tower's structure.
And as you've gone exploring you've discovered that quite worryingly there are what appear to be pools of coalesced mana which those of you who've had kind of prior experience with mana, you have noticed that implies an extremely high concentration of, in this case, arcane manner for something that is inherently ephemeral and like invisible to the eye, to be given such quantities as to almost form a liquid of sorts.
You fought what appears to have been a number of pseudo sentient mana blobs, like mana, like coalesced mana. And you've pressed on through the caves finding an area which appears to be overgrown with greenery, with vines and plants, only to find on a rock in the middle of a small pool surrounded by what appears to be an almost like a bewitching shimmering green glow.
You found the research team accompanied by a curious little croak who van. Yeah, has immediately jumped into like check on, only to find that this croak spoke back.
You've also been introduced to who appear the lady that appears to be the research team's leader, a Loravar woman called tree.
And she has very excitedly kind of shaken all of your hands with much vigor and yeah, informed you that she's very, she's very glad you're here, but to the, to the pressing matter at hand, vanier, you peer up, sorry. You peer down at this croak that's peering up at you and this croak has its little kind of webbed, fingery hands on its slightly slimy hips and it looks to you and again repeats, are you here to save us, sir?
[00:07:34] Speaker H: We have indeed.
We probably should start making a move soon.
I think we want to stick around too long knowing what we've just faced.
[00:07:47] Speaker A: Wow. Very good, very good. It says and then it sort of, like, peers around. You looked at the other three explorers, like your fellow explorers.
And for the other three of you, who are still kind of stood a little away, away from the, the rock that the other researchers are sheltering on, what do you make of the whole scenario as we zoom out on this beautifully crafted birdie maps map?
[00:08:23] Speaker C: Obviously, we've, we've been introduced to tree.
[00:08:26] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:08:26] Speaker C: And the, the little croak we've noticed talking. How are the other researchers looking?
[00:08:36] Speaker A: So the other, the other four researchers, they, they fundamentally just look, first and foremost, they look a bit tired.
They, yeah, they look a bit tired. They look, actually, it is just tiredness. Like, you can see that there's, like, large, kind of heavy rings, like bags hanging under their eyes. But otherwise, they look, they don't look like a group of people that have been kind of lost with relatively few provisions for a week, week and a half, as you would expect them to be, they, for example, look quite well fed.
And glancing around as a car, you notice that on some of these kind of roots that are bursting through the ceiling, kind of wrapping down the walls, you can. And, like, on bushes on the rock that they're kind of huddled on, you can see what appear to be large, like, relatively kind of like fist sized berry like fruit just hanging.
And you, in actual fact, actually, yeah. You can notice, like, on the floor by the, the side of this croak that vany is kind of squatting down to talk to.
You can see what appears to be, like, one of these half eaten berries.
[00:10:14] Speaker C: Azakar's gonna actually side up to Cal, and he's gonna just sort of lean.
[00:10:21] Speaker I: Into him and go like, I do not, I do not believe these berries have done these researchers any good.
I think we must, I think we must be quick with getting them out here and getting some sort of medical help. Something, if anything, is growing in here, it will, is obviously having a negative impact on them.
[00:10:53] Speaker A: What do you make of that cal.
[00:10:57] Speaker D: Pink? How he'll frown? Like he's a man who frowns quite.
[00:11:04] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:11:05] Speaker D: But if anything, his brow is a lot more furrowed than normal.
Is he okay to collect this half eaten berry? He's not going to eat it, obviously, and he doesn't have the knowledge himself to study it, but he might pocket it in some sort of pouch. Might be useful at some point.
[00:11:30] Speaker A: Yeah, absolutely. Um, well, yeah, you like, as you kind of make your way, uh, across the water to kind of join van. Yeah.
Like, as you stoop down to pick up the berry, the Lorravar woman tree, she looks to you and says, oh, if you get the chance, you should really try. It's actually quite delicious. And it's such a curious thing to have just, it just sprouted here. It was a very strong, strange set of circumstances. She says.
[00:12:18] Speaker C: Have all of you been eating this flame?
[00:12:23] Speaker A: She, like the researchers, all kind of nod in response.
And that's the noise of the croak, actually.
And yeah. Tree continues.
When we were, we were exploring the caves and everything looked like it does over there, she says, kind of like jabbing a finger in the direction that you've just come from.
And we realized that it was almost like the cave was, was watching us as we were doing our, taking our readings. And I think it was when we kind of started interacting with the pools that the cave almost seemed to come to life. Almost.
But we started heading in this direction. We thought that this area here would provide some kind of security and safety because we couldn't see, we thought, given it was slightly higher up, that perhaps there wouldn't be any pulled manor here.
And we could see flickering lights moving down the corridors after us and, but as they, these kind of floating, almost like will o is starting side heading towards us, clinging to the walls and the ceiling floating in our direction. And then all of these roots just burst through the ceiling.
They just wrapped around the whole area. And seemingly the started warded off the, the elementals, a few of them approached, but they just couldn't seem to pass the threshold, she says, kind of gesturing to the ridge that you climbed up.
She kind of looks around again with a bit, with a look of genuine kind of marvel on her face.
I don't know why, where these roots came from, but frankly, I think, I think they saved us.
And then with the roots came all the plants and you can see all the waters been purified. You can drink it, she says, gesturing to the water, like the pool around them. And over in the corners, which Vanya, you do notice kind of glows with this like green, almost like bioluminescence.
It's, it's perfectly good to drink. And then these berries started fruiting on the, on the bushes around us. And we've been to relatively safe and well fed ever since we've been here.
Ray Ray, what are you thinking about this tall tale?
[00:15:40] Speaker B: I think Ray Re, who spent a lot of time in nature, is quite interested in these very harsh berries.
I have an ability I would like to eat.
[00:15:56] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:15:59] Speaker B: Which I can speak to plants.
[00:16:03] Speaker A: Oh, interesting, interesting.
[00:16:10] Speaker B: Can I have a little chat with the berries?
[00:16:14] Speaker A: With the berries.
[00:16:15] Speaker B: Yes. Or the plant that makes the berries.
[00:16:18] Speaker A: Okay.
Okay. Yeah, go ahead and make does it?
[00:16:26] Speaker B: So it has, it has to be over twelve.
[00:16:30] Speaker A: Okay, you've got this, you've got the DC.
[00:16:32] Speaker D: Okay.
[00:16:32] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. By all means, roll me an instinct.
[00:16:35] Speaker B: Did you say it's an instinct role?
[00:16:39] Speaker A: Beautiful. Beautiful.
Okay.
[00:16:54] Speaker B: So I think Rayri will kind of pop up kind of listening to the story kind of looking at the berry that Carl has like picked up. Kind of gives it a sniff.
Vinny gives it a sniff.
[00:17:18] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:17:18] Speaker G: I dunno, it seems all a bit odd, doesn't it?
[00:17:21] Speaker B: And then she's gonna bend down and just, just not telling anyone anything what she's doing to say, hello, little plants.
[00:17:36] Speaker G: What have you grown here?
[00:17:41] Speaker A: You.
Okay?
Everyone else watches like turns to look as this little ignomin sprite squats down and starts talking, like grabs one of the bush branches and starts like talking to the leaves.
And I can only imagine like holding the leaf to your ear just in.
[00:18:03] Speaker B: Case it, the berry, like, it's a little face.
[00:18:10] Speaker A: And like the researchers all start kind of like side glancing at one another tree is looking at you mesmerized.
How peculiar is this for everyone else?
[00:18:26] Speaker C: I think from, I think from the past I've made it aware that obviously Azakar and rere have worked on jobs before.
So I think Azakar has seen it before, but he's not actually really sure what she's doing. He thinks she's just a little odd and she likes to talk to plants, not actually knowing that plant is talking back potentially.
What about Vanya?
[00:18:56] Speaker E: Well, I think it just says it all when the camera just slightly focuses in the background as Vanya is like cutting some of these berries off and shoving them into his cool bag as he's heard that they're great.
[00:19:09] Speaker H: And he's like, David, good food. You ate her.
[00:19:13] Speaker E: He's just like.
[00:19:18] Speaker A: Cal.
[00:19:23] Speaker D: I mean, I think Cal has had a lot of life experience, so I think this isn't probably the first time we've seen someone talk to a tree. I think a little bit like Azakar. He's a bit like, they're just a little bit, you know, I think the war did something to, you know. But no, he knows. He's obviously seen earth spirits before. So I think he's not unaware that nature has, you know, a life of its own in that way. And that there are, there is such a thing as natural magic.
But he doesn't look any different. If anything, he's just like.
And that's about it okay?
[00:20:03] Speaker A: Well, yeah. Is everyone kind of. Regards, Rayri and Raywe. You yourself kind of, you've just started talking to this berry, and you wait a moment, and you're kind of, you're expecting a response, but you don't hear anything back.
And as you kind of frowned and pout a little bit, you notice, like, at the corner of your eye between two of the researchers off on the far wall, like, that's currently kind of covered in a, like a sheet of vines and leaves and whatnot.
You. You swear you notice, like, a yemenite slight shift in the tree line, like in the, in the, in the plant life.
And you turn to. To look.
And perhaps, like you, when you turn to look, you don't see any movement. You see another flicker of movement in your peripheral, and, like, your head starts spinning as you. Your eyes are just picking up on these bits of movement.
But it's when you glance across, like, as you're. As you're glancing around, your attention is kind of to your left.
And when you glance down at the water of the pool that this rock is protruding from you for the fleet, for a fleeting moment, you see the face of what appears to be a young keeper woman with, like, a floral headband around her forehead, that kind of nestle and kind of wrap around the horns that protrude from her forehead and rise up.
And it's tough to tell because of the way that the light is reflecting in this place and off the surface of the water, but she appears to have these almost kind of like, milky white eyes she's wearing.
You can only see sort of like the tops of her shoulders in the reflection in the water, but she's wearing what appears to be sort of like robes of green and yellow.
And there's a moment when you recognize that the color, like the hues of those greens and yellows, were the same as the keepers that you met in the forest before you came into the tower.
And all of this happens in a moment. And then that you kind of catch the eyes of the reflection, the keep of face in the water.
And there's a solemn. There's a look of, like, a solemn duty in her gaze. And while she doesn't say anything, she just gives you an ever so slight nod.
And then the reflection just seems to slightly disappear and kind of disperse across the surface of the water.
And you're not 100% sure, but you can swear that while all of this was happening, it almost sounded like someone was playing a violin.
Just wispy, airy notes of a stringed instrument that then just kind of disappear into the sounds of the cave once again.
And whilst you didn't get a response per se, you do get this feeling that whatever is happening here is a measure of protection, measured and active protection.
[00:24:53] Speaker B: And she'll say to Cal, who's next to her.
[00:25:04] Speaker G: I think it's like. It sounds a bit weird, but I think there's somebody looking after all these people like a keeper. You know, like the lady people we.
[00:25:18] Speaker B: Saw before, they were like, oh, don't.
[00:25:19] Speaker G: Go in now like that. Like one of those, um. And they're like, protecting everything.
[00:25:27] Speaker A: Ray, Ray, give me.
Make me a quick knowledge roll.
[00:25:41] Speaker B: I'm not very smart.
That is my dumpster.
Eleven minus 112. No, 1010.
[00:25:59] Speaker A: With hope. So we're gonna give you the hope.
The when you roll fear last time, the, like, it was just a complication of. You didn't get quite as much knowledge, like, info as you did, but you get a hope this time.
And, like, as you're kind of explaining it to everyone, like, what you just saw, it's as you say it, and, like, your mind's racing, like, trying to remember everything that you just saw a few moments ago.
And just an image flashes into your mind and you recognize, you realize. Sorry. That the face of the keeper you saw in the water looked remarkably like the face of the keeper in the statue in new prosperity.
With the bear and the horse.
[00:27:07] Speaker B: Yeah, I reiterate, you know, the one.
[00:27:10] Speaker G: In the village with the bear and the horse and the statue, she's like.
[00:27:18] Speaker D: So we're dealing with ghosts now as well, potentially.
[00:27:24] Speaker G: Spirits, ghosts, protection. I don't know.
[00:27:28] Speaker B: He's there, baby. Just points to the water that's now got nothing.
[00:27:35] Speaker G: Maybe you should speak to the berry.
[00:27:42] Speaker D: I just look at very intently at this berry.
[00:27:45] Speaker A: Sure.
[00:27:46] Speaker D: I don't say see.
[00:27:48] Speaker A: See.
[00:27:49] Speaker G: Can you see?
[00:27:50] Speaker A: The more you focus on it, like, you start to notice just that the ever so slight kind of sweet scent that is giving off. But. And you. You can't help but feel a little bit of saliva gathering your mouth as it. I mean, it looks really tasty, looks really plump. It's probably not helped by van.
[00:28:15] Speaker F: Yeah.
[00:28:15] Speaker A: Just like mass gardening it all in.
[00:28:17] Speaker B: The background, just making jam.
[00:28:22] Speaker E: It's all going in this magical bag for later use.
[00:28:28] Speaker A: Yeah.
I mean, what does.
Based off what Ray Reeves just said, what's kind of any or what you thinking, by the sounds of it. Yeah.
[00:28:41] Speaker E: Ray, redress over here.
[00:28:43] Speaker A: Yeah, 100%. Yeah.
[00:28:45] Speaker B: I would have been yiffling on.
[00:28:48] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:28:50] Speaker E: As he's finished putting the last Derryman's vine. He kind of looks over at Ray.
[00:28:55] Speaker H: Re and it's like, really?
Is there someone in the water we need to save?
[00:29:04] Speaker G: Hello, water berries over there.
[00:29:10] Speaker E: I look over there. Do I see face?
[00:29:14] Speaker A: You don't see face, but.
[00:29:19] Speaker H: Hmm.
I think we better be getting off.
It's not safe for these people. We need to get them back to the town.
[00:29:33] Speaker G: I don't understand why it didn't go before. I mean, we don't have any problem.
[00:29:39] Speaker A: So. Tree responds.
Well, I mean, we've kind of been stuck here ever since.
Like, we got chased here by the elementals and this, this grove has been, been sustaining us, but, I mean, one of us.
She points to the, one of the, like, the Laura Varman across the way from her. I.
He tried to, like, find the entrance that we came in through, and it seems to have gone like the wall was kind of. You could pass through the wall where we arrived from, but it's just solid now.
I. So we've kind of been stranded here. We've been perfectly safe, but we've just not been able to escape.
Um, rm our croak friend has made some suggestions, though, and we're not entirely sure that we can.
Well. Well, maybe, well, whether or not we should put our faith in the plans of a croak, she says in, like, a hushed whisper, because, like, you notice that this croak in the corner is just kind of looking over at you, um, looking over at her. Um, but you. If you. If you're gonna get us out, first you'll need to find. Help us find a way out.
And the croak pipes up.
[00:31:13] Speaker F: Well, I've told you, we've got an escape. We just have to figure out how to make it work.
[00:31:22] Speaker H: Well, what is this plan?
[00:31:25] Speaker A: And the girl. Sorry, Gople. The. The croak looks to you, Vanier.
[00:31:32] Speaker F: And finally, an individual forward motion and momentum. Come with me. Come with me. I'll show you our escape, he says.
[00:31:42] Speaker A: And he kind of gets up off his rock and splashes into the water and then starts kind of heading further into the tunnels that you're in, who's joining gorple.
[00:31:58] Speaker E: Yeah, and just kind of following the way.
[00:32:04] Speaker C: Before everyone pops off, I want to just talk to the law of our man, one of the ones that are looking like they're very tired.
[00:32:14] Speaker A: Sure, sure.
[00:32:16] Speaker C: And just ask him.
[00:32:17] Speaker I: It's just, you look, you and your party look a little worse for wear compared to your leader.
Are you all right?
[00:32:31] Speaker A: The lorvar man kind of nods, and.
[00:32:38] Speaker F: We'Re all right.
Tree here is just an endless source of. An endless well of energy. But while we've been, you know, relatively well fed here, it's not easy sleeping. Sleeping on wet rocks. We're just.
I'm just.
Yeah, I'm just feeling a bit run down. I'm. I'm counting the.
[00:33:06] Speaker A: Counting down the owls until we can see the sky again.
[00:33:12] Speaker I: That will be soon. Don't worry. We'll get you out of here.
[00:33:16] Speaker F: Thank you.
[00:33:17] Speaker A: Thank you, he says, and kind of clutch you on the shoulder.
[00:33:21] Speaker C: And Azakar is gonna follow the others.
[00:33:24] Speaker A: Okay, so as you kind of jog to catch up with the others, you notice that they're being led by this.
Yeah, crow it through the tunnels. The tunnels. And this tunnel is itself just as overgrown as the rest of this kind of, like, grove, such as it is, with the same kind of almost glowing waters to the. The sides of the, you know, up against the walls, which appears to be kind of nourishing the.
The plant life, it would seem. But there are a number of, like, broken stair. Like, stair bits. You are gaining kind of altitude.
You don't know how far up, given that you've got no real context.
But the crow leads you to, like, an opening at the end of the tunnel.
And so, surrounded by, like, a ring of.
Of water, you see a circular dias at the center of which is what appears to be a well, about a five foot ish wide circular crystal, which is currently.
It looks like it's.
I mean, it just looks like colored glass to look at it as it currently stands. And if I could have a consequence less knowledge check from all four of you.
[00:35:08] Speaker D: Sure.
[00:35:14] Speaker A: So we got roll of 13. Roll over 16. Roll over five.
[00:35:22] Speaker D: All right.
[00:35:24] Speaker A: Guitar, what are you looking at? What are you looking at? Oh, and a crit.
Okay, so everyone except as a car. And we'll say it's because you can't see. Nate, you.
You recognize that this circle is like, this. This stone deus in the middle of this, at the end of this tunnel is like a summoning circle or like a portal circle. It looks kind of similar to the portal that you left Ava Moore fire, but it does look like it's currently deactivated.
So the croak kind of marches onto the dias and just sort of, like, wraps the. The slightly kind of raised platform where the mana crystal is. Wraps it a couple of times. And.
[00:36:31] Speaker F: If we could just figure out how to re. What's stopping this from activating, then we can just teleport out of here.
[00:36:38] Speaker A: He says very matter of factly.
[00:36:46] Speaker H: Do we know where this leads to?
[00:36:50] Speaker A: Um, he, well, he looks around, he looks at you for a moment, and whilst this croak seems rather intelligent, there is a sort of a blank confusion that etches across his feet, his face and his eyes. Like the eyes that are moving kind of separately from one another, like they keep on, like alternating as to which eye is actually looking at you. And then he like turns its head. One eye stays, fixes on you, and the other rotates to look at the crystal.
And then the croak says, well, no, I don't.
[00:37:32] Speaker F: But what I do know is that portals allow you to be in one place and then suddenly be somewhere else.
[00:37:42] Speaker I: That is usually how they work. Yes, exactly.
[00:37:45] Speaker A: Exactly, says the croak. And he kind of go up or puffs his chest out.
How are you all feeling about this croak talking about portals?
[00:38:00] Speaker B: Fabulous.
I feel like he's completely normal.
[00:38:08] Speaker E: Yeah. I mean, Vanya only knew about portals because he's seen them. That's as far as the knowledge goes. So if a creature knows about portals, he's obviously intelligent. So as far as Vanya is concerned, he's like.
[00:38:30] Speaker H: Do you know how to make it work?
[00:38:32] Speaker B: I think after meeting the previous set of crowds, yes. This guy seems a little, maybe advance.
[00:38:42] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:38:43] Speaker B: Um, his. It's probably what Ray re's thinking. Just a little.
[00:38:46] Speaker A: Just a little bit.
[00:38:47] Speaker B: Maybe a little more smart about him.
[00:38:50] Speaker A: Cow we. Well, Cal, you said that you have encountered Croix in your past and you know that Croix, like if we're talking D and D. Croix are like intelligence to like, these are creatures that barely have self like they are, they are floating barely above id level of kind of self awareness.
[00:39:24] Speaker D: Self aware. They're not intelligent.
[00:39:26] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:39:26] Speaker D: Yeah, you kind of need. Yeah, I get it. I get where we're going with this. This is weird to Carole. That's very weird.
He knows his intelligence isn't great in some regard. Like academically, he's not useful.
Well, that's how he comes across to have a croak. Talk about arcane portals.
Of putting.
It's kind of weird.
I think Cal's reaction to the portal is very much going to be.
You do realize that this portal could take us deeper into the tower as well as leaving the tower. If we don't know where it's going. It is quite unsafe to use unless we're able to wield the magic in a way that is to our advantage.
I'm not a spellcaster, so I won't.
[00:40:28] Speaker C: Be able to tell you how to do that?
[00:40:31] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:40:32] Speaker G: To take us. Brilliant.
[00:40:34] Speaker B: Wouldn't it.
[00:40:39] Speaker G: Go anywhere we could appear in like, somewhere cool?
I don't know why you're so down about it.
[00:40:48] Speaker D: I'm nothing down about it. I'm just concerned that we don't know where it will take.
Is my face.
This is my natural resting face. I'm not necessarily upset. You do understand this.
[00:41:12] Speaker H: Are you ready?
Why don't you ask your ghost friend that you saw earlier?
[00:41:23] Speaker G: I can't really see her anymore and I left the berry. So.
[00:41:29] Speaker H: Can you find her.
[00:41:38] Speaker G: Interest?
Mister Gople?
[00:41:41] Speaker B: Is it rash, sir?
[00:41:43] Speaker A: Gople, just go up, okay?
[00:41:48] Speaker G: Have you always been, you know, who. How you are, you always been, you know, so smart? Did you go to like, portal university or.
University or versed in.
[00:42:08] Speaker A: There is a moment.
It's perhaps one of the more unnerving things you've seen in relation to a croak. But girl looks to you and like you, you've been used to, like, all this time. Like gopals kind of independent eyes have just been kind of looking at two different things, all different points. But go Paul. Like, looks at you head on. And like, both of the eyes, they strain a bit. It's a bit like us going boss eyed, right? But they strain and the two eyes turn to look straightforward both at you. And it's quite.
It's quite. Yeah, an unnerving sight to look at.
And like, the eyes stay there and despite, like, the head itself is sort like moving ever so slightly as gopel starts, like, stroking his wet chin, his dewy chin.
But like, the eyes just stay focused on you as, like, his head moves around ever so slightly.
[00:43:08] Speaker F: Well, I mean, as long as I can remember. I spoke like this. Yes. Yeah, I was like this.
[00:43:17] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:43:19] Speaker F: I. I have fond memories of the sea and. And my siblings, uh, my. My spawn mates.
And, uh, I have.
I. I can fondly remember feasting on.
On the delights of the ocean.
And I do remember I.
The last thing that. The really bold memory, there was this.
[00:44:00] Speaker A: Glowing rock in the water.
[00:44:03] Speaker F: I did like a shell. It looked like a shell or something. And I gobbled it up. I just gobbled it up. And then.
And then.
[00:44:13] Speaker A: And then I could.
[00:44:18] Speaker F: And then I. I found myself questioning my life choices.
[00:44:25] Speaker I: You know, I've never been there.
[00:44:30] Speaker F: And I decided in that moment that I needed to see the world.
So I. I left that beach behind and I went traveling.
[00:44:41] Speaker A: And then I ended up here.
[00:44:48] Speaker H: Though you were croak, you ate magic shell, you learnt to comprehend, and then you traveled.
Sounds wonderful. To me.
[00:45:01] Speaker G: You come in with the adventuring party or.
[00:45:06] Speaker F: No, I can't say I've ever seen those as five in my life. No, no, no, I found them here actually. I, wait, I do remember.
I was walking.
[00:45:20] Speaker A: I was walking.
[00:45:21] Speaker F: There was lots of these large, crisp, large, kind of hard, glassy like sub objects. They looked a bit like this, the stone that I ate in the water. And, and then, and then I, I saw a really, really big one. And then I thought to myself, oh, well, I'm just going to, I just want, I just wanted to see inside it, you know, I wanted to, I wanted to be in it. So then, and then I, and then I was walking around and there was, it was very dark, you understand?
[00:45:53] Speaker A: It was very, a very confusing place.
[00:45:56] Speaker F: There was, there was a big, there was a big, big stone thing. It had a face and it had wing. It looked winged, raw. And. But then I walked around and then I, there was lots of glowy lights and there was a particular.
[00:46:16] Speaker A: It looked like a letter.
[00:46:18] Speaker F: It looked like on the, on the wall. And I, I don't know why, but I felt compelled to press it and I pressed it and then I was.
[00:46:25] Speaker A: Here.
[00:46:31] Speaker F: And that's when I found, found these. Well, and that's why I know that this portal will take us places because after I pressed the thing, the letter, the glowing, the glowing shape, I appeared on this portal and that's when I.
[00:46:49] Speaker A: Found the other five. The five round the corner.
[00:46:53] Speaker F: So if I came in this way.
[00:46:55] Speaker A: Then I know that I can leave this way.
[00:47:02] Speaker B: Looks at Asakar as the magic or the magic.
[00:47:09] Speaker C: I think Azakar is gonna feel fairly concerned about the fact that the croak has mentioned that he's eaten a mana crystal.
[00:47:19] Speaker D: Yeah. Pals also very concerned.
[00:47:29] Speaker F: So what do you make of our play? If we can figure out how to make this, this thing work, this, this exit, make this entrance into an exit, then we can all leave this place. I can go back to, to the sea and see my, my siblings taste those, those bountiful ocean goodies. Nothing like some fresh ocean sludge.
[00:47:56] Speaker E: Gm yes.
Question answer. From this perspective, does it look like the crystals inert, like there's nothing really like emanating like magic about this circle in this stone. At the moment it might be lacking in power.
[00:48:20] Speaker A: I'm going to ask for anyone who wants to have a look to roll me an instinct role and it this will be consequenced so role if I you would like to.
[00:48:38] Speaker E: I got an okay instinct, I guess.
[00:48:43] Speaker D: I'm gonna go for it.
[00:48:44] Speaker A: Why not?
[00:48:44] Speaker D: I wanna have fun.
[00:48:45] Speaker E: Yeah.
[00:48:46] Speaker D: Plus zero.
[00:48:48] Speaker A: Sorry.
[00:48:50] Speaker C: Can I just ask what this to look at again?
[00:48:53] Speaker B: It's a big question.
If the crystal. If we can figure out how why maybe works, doesn't.
[00:49:03] Speaker E: Okay, um.
[00:49:09] Speaker D: Cool.
[00:49:10] Speaker E: I'm trying to.
[00:49:15] Speaker D: 15 with fear, dad.
[00:49:18] Speaker A: 15 with fear. Okay. Is anyone else joining?
[00:49:25] Speaker E: I was thinking about, yeah, but I was trying to see if my experiences could be wrangled into this scenario.
Oh, you crit.
[00:49:35] Speaker A: Okay, so as a car, do I.
[00:49:38] Speaker E: Even need to try? Maybe I posed the question, and somehow the people who know what they're doing.
[00:49:43] Speaker A: The two daddies in the group, stop.
[00:49:45] Speaker H: Hmm.
[00:49:46] Speaker A: Go full diy mode. So as a car goes up to six. Hope.
Cow. Well, both of you.
Cow. You notice that the crystal itself, and sort like that there's a crystal in the center. There are the runes of power that encircle it, and the runes. The runes and the crystal aren't completely dormant. It's seems like there is an ever so, like a residual flicker of, like, life in it, but it's. It's only that it's a flicker, which is kind of odd because, you know, runic circle like portal circles like this normally are kind of self regulating and so on and so forth to be quite stabilized.
But it's.
You don't know why. The idea kind of flashes into your mind, but you almost get the feeling like this. The magic that powers this portal is being smothered or throttled.
And as a car, you come. You have a similar idea.
But as you kind of close your eyes and I kind of focus, use like, your innate finer, like, awareness of mana. Thanks to your. To being a major like you, you can almost sense the vibrations of magic kind of through your crystal horn.
You sense that there is a strong kind of arcane search that's like, arcane mana is normally kind of explosive. It normally grows much like the crystals and the mana crystals you've seen in the forest, whatnot.
The direction of movement is usually out outwards, but this seems very insular, like there is some sort of arcane magic stopping this portal from working.
And you feel that it's working in contention with another magical force.
And as a car, as you kind of open your eyes and look around, you look at the.
[00:52:26] Speaker H: The.
[00:52:26] Speaker A: The roots that are growing from the walls, and you notice that they're reaching out across the water. But then it's almost as if they can't push any further towards the portal, as if they're being held at bay.
[00:52:49] Speaker C: Come on, start just doing like a perimeter of portal, just seeing what I can find, yeah.
[00:52:55] Speaker A: Um, well, so you, like, as you walk around, um, you notice that, you know, the, the difference between the pools of water with all the kind of roots in as the, as the roots and the plant life kind of reach on to the, the solid ground, like the stone around the, the portal circle.
You notice that unlike in the other room, where everything seemed quite, like, verdant, it almost seems kind of like the roots seem dry, brittle, thorny, almost like it's being kind of tainted, like it's being corrupted almost.
But like, walking around, you, you notice.
Yeah, I think it's that, that kind of almost. You can always see the line where anything that grows past it just seems to be kind of withering and drying and dying.
[00:54:13] Speaker D: Any for your thoughts there, Aziko?
[00:54:17] Speaker A: There is.
[00:54:18] Speaker I: There is something preventing this portal from working. There is a.
If you look, look around, you can see the branches, the water. They do not. They can't reach onto the shoreline.
I believe there's an arcane that is, that is preventing this portal from. Obviously, this. This magic that is happening here, that has protected this, has protected the researchers. It can't, can't penetrate something here.
[00:55:00] Speaker H: Well, it's like, what? All these roots are dead, probably. Primal, right? Primal magic.
And I don't think arcane and primal magic work well together.
So, you know, nasty stuff, contaminating roots.
[00:55:30] Speaker A: Ray ry, given that you were the one that kind of reached out and kind of interacted with whatever has caused these roots to sprout as you like, as Vanier kind of gives his theory that you kind of look around and I like you. You can you notice the difference in the, like, in the natural growths and it.
The space that you're in, like, immediately around the portal, it almost feels sick, like there's an illness.
There's a lingering illness here because Van Yi is right. You know, the. The culmination of the war.
The the world spirits fought, like, use their powers to fight back against the arcane dragons, and that allowed ire and the divine dragons to imprison the betrayers.
So primal magic is its very own thing.
But, yeah, there's just this malady in the air, but the longer you stay here, you almost feel like.
Like your mouth is starting to dry out. Your bones are starting to feel a bit heavier and creakier the longer you stay here. There's this something wrong about the manor in this place. Place.
[00:57:15] Speaker B: Yeah, I think she's feeling.
Yeah, it's kind of suddenly, like, dawns on her that she's feeling this kind of sickness and this sort of closeness and heaviness of being in this area.
And she just says to the lads.
[00:57:42] Speaker G: Does anyone feel like it's all of it, like there's like, sort of like a blight or like a sick, like, it just feels like there's something really not right about all of this. Like, it's a bit sick.
[00:57:57] Speaker H: Like, I think I know what you mean. But here is, here is a thought, right? So, you know, when, like, plant, um, you know, you get a piece of plant that sort of withers on the branches, often withers a bit, so you, like, break it off so that the rest can be healthy. Right.
Maybe we destroy all of the branchiness here to let the goodness good bits grow, but then that stops whatever is going on here.
[00:58:41] Speaker G: I think it's more that they're sick because something bad is here, rather than that we need to destroy the plant life. I think they're being affected. You know, it's like they're growing in Badlanda bad soil. So we don't get rid of the.
[00:58:55] Speaker B: Plant, we get rid of the bad soil.
[00:58:58] Speaker H: I mean, look around us.
Giant crystal made of arcana.
[00:59:07] Speaker G: Yeah, I don't think it's doing much.
[00:59:08] Speaker A: For the plant life cow, as they're kind of speculating, think they. You have this feeling that they've kind of got it half right because the. The roots and the like are growing into the area fine. But it's when they get kind of too close to this portal, to where this bad, stagnant feeling is emanating from that that's what's seemingly spoiling it.
Like, the proximity to whatever is happening to this portal is poisoning the plant.
[00:59:58] Speaker D: I think cow will kind of explain this in a cow way, which is very much, you know, still frowning.
I think the portal is what's bad news, or whatever the magic that is currently affecting the portal is bad news.
[01:00:20] Speaker H: Oh, you want me to smash you?
[01:00:23] Speaker D: No, don't smash the crystal.
I need that to leave.
However, do any of you have any sort of healing magics we could try on the crystal? Maybe.
[01:00:42] Speaker B: Just dm have that thing that I picked up. I don't know what it is.
[01:00:52] Speaker A: Oh, the green orb.
[01:00:53] Speaker B: Hmm.
I feel like this has any bettering on life right now.
Take out the greenhouse.
[01:01:04] Speaker A: You take out the green orb.
Hmm.
[01:01:11] Speaker B: She's looking at it, looking at the portal.
[01:01:21] Speaker I: So that you got there.
[01:01:23] Speaker G: It's the thing I picked up, you know, the green orb. But we were like, I don't know what it is. I'll just save it for later.
[01:01:30] Speaker A: So, yeah, Ray reappears to be holding a almost like a polished green, like, glass green sphere with an indented golden filigree, like ornate golden filigree banding around its kind of circumference.
And, like. Van yeah, to look at it, it reminds you like that it's a deep, rich, dark green, reminiscent of, like, wine bought some wine bottles you've seen in the taverns of avermore that you see the, like, the nobles sipping from.
And ray righ, the. The orb itself, it's got this ever so slight kind of internal glimmer about it, and it's reflecting the kind of the bioluminescent bioluminescence from around you.
It does strike you that the fact that these are both green is perhaps nothing more than coincidence. So just a draw, that line in the sand.
But you notice, like, as you get it out, the glimmer seems to be getting almost like, repelled away from where the portal is.
[01:03:09] Speaker G: Yeah, I think something's sucking in all the energy out of this thing. I think it's like some kind of sinkhole of magic.
[01:03:20] Speaker H: Well, go north of what Karl said.
Azakar, you divine magic.
Can it do anything to this, to make it, to cure it in any way?
Like curing a tummy bug when you've ate something dodgy?
[01:03:51] Speaker I: Um, I don't. I don't think how that's how it works.
[01:03:55] Speaker C: Um, I will.
[01:03:58] Speaker I: I can take a look. I can try.
I will.
[01:04:05] Speaker C: I will go up to the big glowing bit in the middle.
[01:04:10] Speaker A: Yeah.
[01:04:16] Speaker C: I can. Oh, I forgot. I'm gonna roll my paradise.
[01:04:20] Speaker A: Oh, roll your paradise. Yeah. Yep.
[01:04:22] Speaker C: Oh, my paradise. Got a two and we got a four, of course.
Um, I'm wondering what I can do.
[01:04:37] Speaker A: I mean, that someone had mentioned healing it.
[01:04:48] Speaker C: What I can do.
So I do have healing hands. Obviously, that's not really intended for what we're doing here at the moment, but let's have a little flavor flay and see what we can do.
[01:05:01] Speaker I: So I will do.
[01:05:03] Speaker C: I will do healing hands on the thing on the glowy bit.
It is a spellcaster roll 13 a target and target a creature other than yourself in melee on a success marker stress to heal the target who hit points. So I have to roll over 13 to do it.
[01:05:25] Speaker A: Okay.
[01:05:29] Speaker C: Bell cast a roll plus two.
So that's a five and a three. That is eight plus two. That is.
[01:05:42] Speaker A: Ten.
You need to roll a 13 to use, like.
[01:05:48] Speaker C: So it says make a spell cast roll, and in brackets, 13.
[01:05:55] Speaker A: Okay.
[01:05:56] Speaker E: And then you want to.
[01:05:58] Speaker C: With that, I'm gonna use my prayer dice. I'm gonna use my four prayer dice.
[01:06:03] Speaker A: Okay.
[01:06:05] Speaker C: To add, to add that. To boost it up to a 1414 with hope.
[01:06:12] Speaker A: Okay.
[01:06:13] Speaker I: Obviously, I can't use hope because I.
[01:06:14] Speaker C: Can'T gain any more hope because I'm full up.
[01:06:16] Speaker A: Yeah. You don't have to use hope to use a paradise or anything. Do.
[01:06:22] Speaker C: No, paradise is.
Oh, I do have to.
Yeah. Okay, so honest success. Marker stressed, heal the target two hit points or two stress on a failure. Mark a stress to heal the target at one point or one stress. Okay, I'm gonna mark off a stress, and that will heal it up for two points.
[01:06:44] Speaker A: Cool. Cool, cool.
In which case, as you kind of close your eyes and you mutter, like, incantations and prayers to mother aya, as you place your hand on the, like, on, on the focusing iris crystal at the center of this portal, you begin to feel that warmth, kinda, if it almost feels like you can feel the warmth kind of projecting down from the heavens in through your, like, forehead, down through your body, along your arm, and through your fingers and everyone else. You watch as there's an ever so slight kind of glow that emanates from, as a car, as he channels this kind of divine energy.
And as a car, you, like, you've got your eyes closed as you're focusing. And then, curiously, you know how when you close your eyes and you, you get the, like the flashing kind of lights in the darkness, the flashing lights seem to slow and then reform into an image.
And it's a, it's a, it's a visual. It's an image of what appears to be a, like a room of crafted stone, like a, like a crypt or a temple or something along those lines.
And as the flashing lights kind of dance around a bit more, there are three kind of motes of light that begin to grow brighter and brighter in your vision.
And you hear these almost kind of muffled voices.
It sounds like they're underwater and they're distorted and garbled, but you still kind of gain a sense that there's a desperation or a seriousness in their inflections and intonations.
And the, the three shapes coalesce into what appear to be two people wearing robes and hoods with their backs to you. They're speaking to a third. And in between them, a little bit further away, his robes seem more ornate, but you can tell from the build that he's not the same. He's not the same as them. They, they kind of give you pangs of perhaps being ace of are. But this central figure, it's broader shouldered, taller, for the ankles seem more upturned.
And then suddenly, this. This world of sort of like graze and kind of muted tones suddenly starts to become much more vibrant.
Redskin blood reds, deep purples.
And the central figure turns to look over his shoulder, perhaps in response to something that one of the two companions have said.
And as the figure turns its head, you notice the telltale profile, the snout of a dragon.
And as this dragon scent turns to look, it almost seems to notice you peering into the scene.
And as the dragon scent turns to regard you fully, you see him wearing what appears to be the regalia of a mage general.
You fought against these. You saw wizards wearing these sorts of robes during the war in your time as a prisoner.
But as this dragon scent notices you and his face turns into a snarl, you watch as from the tips of his claws up his fingers, flames begin to sprout and emerge. And as the intensity in his eyes builds, so do a pair of fiery wings begins to emerge from his back, seemingly as he begins to swell in power, as he swells in fury, and as his stare burrows into you, you feel a sharp snack of pain, like surge up your arm and up the right hand side of your head as you kind of pull away from the crystal, and everyone gathered notices that the crystal has now turned a blood red.
And as a car is kind of launched back from it, it mirrors the color of your eyes, cow, before slowly fading back to the green that it once was.
[01:12:33] Speaker H: Was that meant to happen?
[01:12:37] Speaker A: All of this happened in the moment of the matter of seconds.
[01:12:43] Speaker D: As car. You're okay.
[01:12:48] Speaker C: As a car is gonna look back at you, cow.
And remember, from what he had seen, almost wanting to trust you, but then seeing your blood red eyes and going.
[01:13:09] Speaker I: I think this.
I think this portal is.
I think this portal is a dead end. I don't think.
I don't. This.
This will only bring us something worse.
[01:13:36] Speaker A: Gople. Shoulders slump.
[01:13:41] Speaker F: Wow.
Well, I suppose it was worth a.
[01:13:44] Speaker A: Shot, he says as he looks at you, as you kind of pick yourself up as a cardinal.
[01:13:50] Speaker F: Perhaps we should head back to the others.
I can look after them if you want to carry on exploring the caves in case you can find another exit.
[01:14:07] Speaker H: Well, let us ask the others how they normally get out.
[01:14:13] Speaker I: Well, I think that's their problem. They can't get out.
[01:14:15] Speaker H: Yeah, but if they've been here before and they know this place changes, how do they normally get out?
Do they just keep exploring till there's another exit?
[01:14:35] Speaker A: Well, did you want to head back and ask we sure. So, yeah, as you all kind of head back, as you kind of round the corner and you see the rock jutting from the pool tree is sort of like waving at you as you approach, did you, did you find anything? Like, did you manage to make it work?
She shouts out.
[01:15:10] Speaker I: No, I believe it is a good idea that we steer clear of it.
[01:15:18] Speaker A: She, like, she sighs and like, she flaps her lips.
Well, we, we can't leave the way we came.
[01:15:38] Speaker H: Question, have all of you been in this tower before?
[01:15:44] Speaker A: This is my second time. Yes, but these four of, the other four of this is that this is their first time.
[01:15:53] Speaker H: Okay, well, you, how did you get out last time?
[01:15:58] Speaker A: Oh, we went out the way we came in and that's the problem because we can't this time because the walls not all gooey anymore.
[01:16:14] Speaker D: Dm.
[01:16:15] Speaker A: Yes.
[01:16:17] Speaker D: Was the wall wobbly when we got in last time?
So technically speaking, can we leave a the way we came? I cannot remember.
[01:16:27] Speaker A: No, it was not.
[01:16:31] Speaker D: Okay.
[01:16:34] Speaker A: So from what you, yeah, from what you would have been told by the people of new prosper, like these research crews kind of go and go out. They've been drawing, you know, they were drawing the maps, but fundamentally they would just kind of strike in and then exit the way they came.
But for whatever reason, these researchers can't. Something or something has happened that has presumably turned off the entrance for all extents and purposes.
[01:17:07] Speaker D: Great.
[01:17:11] Speaker H: Well, if we can't go the way we came, then we just find new exit.
[01:17:18] Speaker B: Can I show tree my green orb?
[01:17:24] Speaker A: Mm hmm.
[01:17:26] Speaker B: I still got it in my hand, by the way.
[01:17:29] Speaker G: I found it.
[01:17:34] Speaker A: Tree.
Tree looks at it and like, her eyes open wide. Surprise.
No no, that, that's not, that's not one of ours. No, no, that, what is that? She says. And she like offers it, like ask effect. Holds her hands out as if to ask to take it off your hands.
[01:17:56] Speaker G: Before I give it to you.
[01:17:59] Speaker A: I mean.
Well, something like that is probably magical, but we'd have to inspect it and kind of run some tests to find out exactly what it does.
[01:18:12] Speaker G: As long as if it's got stuff it's good in, it's mine. Okay.
[01:18:16] Speaker A: She, she nods.
Of course, of course.
Yeah. She, like, if you're happy to hand this over to her, she can start like investigation of it. It'll take her a little while, but then she'll be able to figure out roughly about as long as it takes for the GM to figure out what it is.
[01:18:43] Speaker B: Very.
[01:18:44] Speaker G: Just my eyes on you, though.
[01:18:48] Speaker A: Tree. Tree sort of like nods and then you watch as she kind of pulls down the goggles that are on top of her, sort of like traveler's hat. And she pulls it down and, like, the lens is. Lenses are that. They're not kind of standard goggles because of the lenses appear to be made of, like, a faceted gem stone, so they kind of protrude slightly. So, like, she looks to you, and suddenly she appears like she's got ten eyes that kind of just looking in all different directions, and she looks at you and there's this kind of genuine, kind of chaotic, frenzied energy. Like, she. She nods and starts, like, inspecting it and kind of sniffing it, holding it to her ear, shaking it slightly, and she begins her investigations.
She nods like she's lost to the world as she starts inspecting this orb.
As she does that, the Aquin Sprite researcher that's in this party turns to the four of you and says, well, if we can't go the way we came and that portal isn't working, could we trouble you with scouting ahead to see if you can find an alternate exit?
[01:20:17] Speaker H: Well, we can certainly do that, but if we were to go ahead, this place won't change, will it?
[01:20:27] Speaker A: All of the research that we've gathered on this place so far tells us that every time a group comes in, their space becomes set. That's. And once everyone was to leave, then the. By the time, the next. Every time a new group comes in, they're presented with a new layout. That's what we've discovered from our cartographers that have been in here before.
But we've never heard of someone going in and having their layout, if you will, change whilst they've been in it. There must have been some sort of external factor that's changed something about the tower and fundamentally locked us in.
Who's got the highest knowledge?
Or are you all minus ones?
[01:21:36] Speaker E: I'm.
[01:21:37] Speaker C: I'm just a zero on knowledge.
[01:21:41] Speaker D: I'm also just a zero on knowledge.
[01:21:43] Speaker F: Okay.
[01:21:44] Speaker A: In which case, Vanya, like, is this. This Aquin sprites talking to you? Ray V, you're keeping a very close eye on tree as she kind of starts in know you investigating your orb, but count as a car at the mention of this external fact tell, you can't help but glance down at the croak that seemingly like. But based off what these. This researcher said, every time someone like new comes into the. Like, a new group comes in, they get a different layout.
But somehow Gople here has strong armed his way into these tunnels while these people have been in here and you can't help but wonder if perhaps Gople's intrusion is what's caused this place to change slightly.
Go. Paul is oblivious. He's eating another berry.
[01:22:51] Speaker I: I think. Gerpil and die.
You can't hear this.
[01:23:05] Speaker A: Pierre, the, the Aquin sprinkle, the aquarium sprite kind of asks again. Yeah. If you're able to, to explore up ahead, because we're, we're not any good in a, in a fight. We, we frankly get in the way. But if you could make sure, if you could scout ahead, make sure that everything's safe, and then if you manage to find an exit, you can come fetch us.
[01:23:33] Speaker H: I think that seems reasonable.
[01:23:40] Speaker A: Um, remove him.
The researchers.
The researchers kind of look to one another and then look at you a bit curiously.
Go up or mouthful of berry?
[01:23:55] Speaker F: Absolutely not.
[01:23:56] Speaker A: He says.
[01:24:02] Speaker H: Well, we can't do anything certain around. Why don't we just go ahead, see if we can find another exit.
[01:24:14] Speaker G: Which way do you think we should go? You're the hunter.
[01:24:19] Speaker E: I point over to the route that, at the bottom of the cliff that we climbed up, I point over towards the continuation around the bend that we didn't go.
I don't believe, unless, correct me if I'm wrong, gm that up here there's any other routes to explore.
[01:24:55] Speaker A: You would be able to take a quick few seconds to realize that this kind of area of the cave, of the tunnels that the research team are in is kind of, is effectively a dead end. The only route away from it led to the portal.
But, yes, you're absolutely right. The, the direction you were traveling did carry on, and then you kind of peeled off into this, this grove, this underground grove, much like it would seem the researchers did.
[01:25:25] Speaker E: Yeah. So, yeah, I point, I point the direction that we've yet to continue up.
[01:25:34] Speaker A: Sure.
[01:25:35] Speaker H: And now you say, shall we deem.
[01:25:45] Speaker E: Yeah. So I just start making my way and I say to, as we're passing the researchers, I'll say, sit tight and.
[01:25:55] Speaker H: Don'T get into trouble while we're away.
[01:25:58] Speaker A: The four researchers nod. Tree does not respond because she's currently, yeah. Prodding and poking just before we leave.
[01:26:09] Speaker C: Yes. Azakar is gonna just take a handful of the water and just sort of rub it on his, on his burn marks to sort of calm them down a bit.
[01:26:18] Speaker A: Sure.
And as you do, it feels surprisingly cool to the touch and there's a slight kind of a pleasant, tingly feeling that lingers.
So as you stand on the ten foot ledge looking down, there's that kind of stream of manor that you had to kind of get past on your way up, but from your elevation, you're able to just clearly kind of vault over it and down the ten foot drop to the other side. So you may absolutely just move your tokens down.
And as you return to the tunnels that you were first kind of walking down, the tunnel continues on to a sort of a t junction. You can see a ledge up on the left as well as a. Another ledge up ten foot to the right.
It looks like Cal is point break. So what direction is Cal going in?
[01:27:38] Speaker D: I think I would like to go straight ahead.
[01:27:44] Speaker A: Okay.
[01:27:47] Speaker D: Yeah, straight ahead for me.
Yeah. So we're gonna. Are we gonna work together to get up ten foot again?
[01:27:57] Speaker A: There's. There's nothing kind of untoward that would stop you, so feel free to just who yourself up it. There's enough handholds to get up there quite easily.
In which case, as everyone follows him behind you, well, that doesn't become enough cow. You spy and the others do as you. As they enter what appears to be another manipulator. But this one is significantly larger than the ones you found before.
And unlike the others, this appears to.
Well, this is a.
A dark claret with streams of dark purple, fiery orange as a car. As you kind of come around the corner and lay eyes on the pool, you don't know what it is, but you suddenly feel nauseous.
Gregory, as you regard the pool, you get the same kind of feeling in your stomach that you felt when you realized that the magic around the portal felt sick.
And as you like this, the. The manner itself kind of seems a lot more viscous than the. The pause you've seen before.
It it's not like Paul's of arcane mana were bad, but there's something about this.
It's almost blood like.
What do you do?
[01:29:59] Speaker G: I don't like the feel of this at all.
[01:30:04] Speaker D: Neither do I.
[01:30:12] Speaker E: You can go around that edge there, or is that submerged as well up here?
[01:30:19] Speaker A: So you notice that there's a slight incline north of you.
Ray re, you spot that there are some like, there's incline to the west of you.
Yeah, it looks like you could go round, but as you like, Vanier, as you kind of look left and right, your hunter senses, your slightly kind of enhanced senses, you kind of tune into the feeling of you're being watched, observed.
[01:31:05] Speaker H: There is something here.
[01:31:11] Speaker A: The.
As you kind of look left from right, Van? Yeah. Like you glance at the manor and based off your kind of, your natural foraging skills, this blood reduced manner, it.
It's like stagnant water. It's tainted somehow, like this mana has gone bad.
But you're not sure what's polluting it.
[01:31:50] Speaker E: Do I see from this point, point where the, what's coming into this pool? Is it something that's coming from the ceiling? Is there streams coming into it that might be showing, like, a route to where this pollution might be coming from? Or is it seemingly like it might be something from underneath?
[01:32:12] Speaker A: As you look at it, you notice that there are no streams running to this, this collection of mana. Like the others, the others were fraul extensive purposes, naturally formed ponds, like pools, if you will. But this, you can't really see any drips coming down from the ceiling. There's no, there's no streams running to it.
You just get the feeling that this shouldn't be here or it wants to be here.
[01:32:58] Speaker E: I kind of look to the others.
[01:33:00] Speaker H: And eyes here, considering what we fought before, I see something tainting in this pool.
I think there's a monster to hunt.
[01:33:13] Speaker E: As Vanya gets a little excited about the prospect of beating something up.
[01:33:22] Speaker A: What's everyone making of that?
[01:33:30] Speaker D: I think cow's nervous.
I think this, this is not ordinary.
And he's seen quite a few things.
I feel like his instinct is to keep away, to find an exit, to move on, to not engage.
But if they're being watched, he's also feeling ready to fight if he has to.
[01:34:05] Speaker A: Azakar. The feeling of nausea is not abating, but what are you doing?
[01:34:17] Speaker I: Um.
[01:34:21] Speaker C: Trying to push through the nausea.
[01:34:25] Speaker I: As a car, it's gonna.
I think.
I think you're right on some sense.
I think if we don't find it first, it will find us.
[01:34:47] Speaker E: In response to that, you see slight gusts of wind and a slight chill in the air as there's a clenching of gauntlets underneath Vanya's cloak and a slight smirk coming across his face.
[01:35:04] Speaker H: Well, shall we try and coax it out?
[01:35:12] Speaker I: I know you're eager, but approach with caution.
I don't think this is anything we've ever seen before.
[01:35:28] Speaker E: And I just take a step forward.
[01:35:30] Speaker A: Okay.
[01:35:34] Speaker E: Van, does it seem like anything's reacting?
[01:35:37] Speaker A: Vanier adds a car.
As the two of you begin taking steps towards this pool of bad manner, you notice that the surface of it begins seemingly, it begins to react, quivering almost.
And the closer you get as a car, you, you notice that the surface of the, of the pool appears to be becoming thicker, like it's congealing, until it forms what appears to be a relatively sturdy looking crystalline surface, much like a frozen lake.
But it's not just that, because as this kind of crystallization spreads across the surface of the manipul, it begins to form kind of 3d like shapes until it forms what appears to be the same stone room you saw when you held your hands to the portal crystal.
And as you peer like, across this reincarnation of the, of the mem, of the scene that you saw, but this time in hideous kind of life, you know, dark, blood red cues, you see three motes of light for a second time that begin to coalesce, two of them forming into what appear to be ace of are in long cloaks and hoods, wearing the regalia of Akani wizards.
The seconds. The first, what appears to be a male ace of arthem. The second, a female ace of r.
The light of the paw kind of reflecting off their semi translucent features.
Before the third, motive, light forms into a solid shape.
And it is a winged dragon scent with large curving horns rising from the sides of his head, flames flickering from his hands.
And this time, the dragon scent looks directly at you as a car and says.
[01:39:00] Speaker F: I don't know who you are, but you haven't truly included on my sanctum and that I cannot abide.
[01:39:17] Speaker A: And as the wings flare out and the two majors move into flanking positions, we'll call it there and go for a quick break.
Cool.
[01:39:34] Speaker F: So.
[01:39:37] Speaker A: Yeah, we will see what happens then. If you're enjoying it, make sure to hit the like button comment down below. Comment what you think is happening. And if you at all recognize anyone that's just appeared on screen, I know Nick does. Otherwise, we will be back in 15 minutes.
See you then, baby.
[01:40:00] Speaker G: Bye.
