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D&D 5th Edition Actual Play Podcast
Welcome to Dumbgeons and Dragons. We're at D&D 5th Edition Actual Play Podcast.
And thank you for being here with us. I'm your Dungeon Master, Russ More.
And with me today is Tom Laird.
That's me. I play Flint Firebeard.
He is a level 8 dwarf champion fighter.
A little background on Flint.
He was a long-serving member of a militia force called the Iron Fist of the Dawn.
He slowly but surely rose up through their ranks.
But then he made captain and some new leadership came in and his mentor left the company.
And then these new guys pretty focused on greed and a lot of shady activities.
So Flint bought his way out.
Got out of there and met up with a friendly druid and a ranger who I guess you'll meet next.
Also with me, Amy More.
Hey, that's me. I play Thea Amastasia, a high elf druid.
She's part of the Circle of the Moon and she's about 200 years old, level 8.
5'9", bright green eyes, brilliant blue hair.
She was a scribe for a while.
I like to bring that up because, you know, books and writing and stuff.
But in reality, she's actually a bit of a drug dealer.
The way that her and Flint found each other was she was supplying him on the DL
with a little bit of weed for that mercenary PTSD he has going on there.
And Newlar and I found each other in a forest fighting an orc, I do believe.
You'll also see me with one of my best animal buds, Guacamole,
who's a jade serpentine owl that I keep with me and can call out.
Giant owl at any moment. Super cool. That's not what my owl sounds like.
She's a snowy owl, by the way, sorry.
And last but not least, Carla Johnson.
That is me. I play Newlar Moonbrook.
She is an 8th level human ranger.
She grew up pretty isolated, except for her huge family.
She has six older brothers. She grew up near High Forest.
And she was kind of a loner, maybe because she was the only girl
or because she was the youngest.
But she really like learned everything she could from those big bros.
And then just like headed out to kind of, you know, be a ranger in the woods.
Her and Thea met. There was an orc.
They realized, are we destined to become best friends? Maybe.
She has an animal best friend, though.
He is a pseudo dragon and his name is Donnie.
Thank you for being here with us.
We've been playing around the table for, I don't know, two years at this point.
Yeah, sounds about right.
Somewhere about there.
We've got a little bit of history with these characters.
We played through Horde of the Dragon Queen,
the first book in the Tyranny of Dragons saga from Wizards of the Coast.
And right now we decided to hit record
and continue playing this game here now for you.
So that's what we have for you.
You're jumping in midstream as we kick off Rise of Tiamat.
Thank you very much and we'll talk to you soon.
Anytime I hear midstream, I always think someone's interrupting someone else peeing.
I mean, that's kind of what they're doing.
OK, now the episode.
So last time you went through a bunch of doors, which was super exciting.
And then you got back to Salazar there and he told you
that you have been invited to a council meeting in Waterdeep,
invited by Leosin, your good friend from the previous adventures.
While you are in his office, he says,
I think it's time that you guys are a little bit more involved
in knowing what we do here.
He says, and we're going to retcon the name because I changed it a little bit.
We are the Guild of the Nine Shadows.
Fancy.
We control the fate and the order among the nine planes of existence.
Each of them have their controllers.
I am the controller of the material planes
and each other plane has its own controller who you may or may not meet in the future.
But we are in charge of keeping order within the realms and the planes.
So if I ABB up up, will you karate chop someone in the neck?
Was Salazar already the controller of the material plane
before he opened the fantasy Costco?
Or did he like, how did that work together?
Because it seems like it works really well together.
Sure. Yeah, it sure does.
It sure does seem like I planned that from the beginning, doesn't it?
It's all coming together.
No, you did.
No, you did.
That's why he's our DM.
He says, yes and no.
I had my own life before I became the controller
or I did run fantasy Costco and through various interactions
with different creatures and beings, I have come into the position that I have now.
And it is an excellent ploy for me to get in and out of places
and have a whole bunch of things that nobody else has.
Unless you have a fantasy Costco membership.
Unless you have a fantasy Costco membership.
Lifetime.
Lifetime memberships.
Yes, yes.
Side note, the controller sounds like some sort of really bad rom-com
with like Julia Roberts in it.
Just FYI.
We'll work on the name of who controls.
We'll work on that too.
Since you guys have been here, you have been working on a skill.
Which totally happened.
You can pick a tool set and you have been working on gaining the skill associated with said tool set.
Oh, thieves tools, done.
We're always like, how are we going to open this locked door?
Smash it, smash it, smash it.
I feel like character-wise it would make sense for me to do navigator's tools
because that's like my whole thing is like maps and stuff like that.
So that gets me sea proficiency as well as forest proficiency.
That is correct.
So we're oh and I also have swamp proficiency.
I'm really good in nature.
All right, I think I will go with maybe disguise kit.
Glasses and a nose.
Change our appearance.
Oh yeah.
The bitching beard always stays though.
Oh yeah, that is a downside though.
Could work for you.
Could work.
Let's go with smith's tools.
I am a dwarf after all.
So yeah, make note of those and then you will now have those skills.
Thieves tools, navigator's tools and smith's tools.
He also says you will be on your way to water deep.
I would like you to swing by one of the shops in the guild here
who you haven't been to see yet.
He deals in extraordinary items and he will set you up with a couple things
that you might need on your adventure.
His name is Ozark and he is down on the third floor.
He's the only thing there.
You can't miss him.
It's literally an entire floor devoted to this guy.
Yes, Ozark's Bizard is on the third floor.
Ozark's Bizard.
Is he like the Q character from the James Bond series?
He might be.
Okay.
It's a possibility.
I'm looking forward to wearing a watch that does eight other things.
And Salazar says unless there's anything else you need from me at this moment,
I wish you a grand adventure.
Tibby will unfortunately not be able to come with you as he is from another plane
and he would probably draw more attention to you at this time
than you would want.
But later on down your journey, he may be able to come and join you further.
Is there a robot plane?
Yeah.
An angel robot plane?
Well, I mean, it's like a mech plane.
So angel bots, yeah.
Okay.
Yeah, angel bots.
Out of curiosity, how were we on the same plane as Tibby last time?
Tibby, we here are able to bring things to and from other planes.
Tibby was brought here after the Guild helped him and his clan
in a grand battle on their planet.
He decided that he wanted to join the Guild
and after doing many, many training sessions
and proving that he was able to undertake adventures of his own,
he was brought in to work with the Guild.
Okay.
And he was partnered with you to help you out picking locks and stuff.
Boy, did he ever.
Indeed.
He was great.
Now we don't need him anymore, guys.
I've got thieves tools and he had a little bit of a mouth on him.
He was a little sarcastic.
A little sassy.
That damn button.
Unfortunately, the programming is hard coded.
We can't change that.
Let's go to the Ozarks, get some mountain tools.
For sure.
Let's do this.
All right.
So you head down to Ozarks Bizard
and you walk in to this room and it is a dimly lit,
incense-filled apothecary of sorts.
As you walk through the entrance,
a chime rings throughout the room
and from a back storage room door,
a little older man in a dark robe comes out and says,
Oh, I've been waiting for you.
Thank you for coming down to my Bizard.
Flint, Nularaaa, and Thea, right?
Yeah, you must be Ozark.
Yes, I am.
I've been waiting to meet you guys for so long.
Come sit down.
And he brings you to a table
and he hands you a package each and you open it
and in it there is an extra healing kit.
If you already have a healing kit, it's extra.
Two healing potions and he hands you a key each.
And he says, with these keys,
you walk over to the wall over there.
This big wall has a key.
You put your key in and you will get something
that should be beneficial to you
in your upcoming adventures.
Sort of sorcery, is this?
Magic sorcery.
Okay, I go to the wall
and try to put my key in the key.
You put your key in the key?
Sorry, key hole.
Oh, I put my key in the keyboard.
Smartass.
Which one is that?
This one?
And your other detail.
How long it takes me to find it.
Okay, that's a 90 and a four.
94.
So you hear some gears churning through the wall
and a slot opens up.
It's a small box comes out of this slot
and when you open it, there's a ring inside.
Is it pretty?
It is super pretty.
It's a super pretty ring
and it goes with your whole ensemble.
He snatches it from your hand
and goes and gives it a quick look over.
He says, yes, yes, this is the ring of spell storing.
I just got a tingle.
Why were you a ghost right there?
No, that was like, that was like a,
whoo, whoo, whoo, whoo, whoo.
Like I, that was a pleasure.
That was, that was an whoo, whoo, whoo of pleasure.
I see you're delighted by your spell ring.
Yes, it's pretty
and it does something that has to do with spells.
I'm happy.
The ring stores spells cast into it,
holding them until the wearer uses them.
The ring can store up to five levels
worth of spells at a time
and when found right now,
it contains, it contains three spells right now.
So I have a question.
Are these spells that aren't necessary,
they're not in my spell slots,
but I could just choose any spells within.
You have to cast them into your ring.
And then I keep them there,
not in my spell slot,
so I could have different spells
that aren't in my wheelhouse.
Yes.
They're in my ring house.
Yes.
Exactly.
So these spells that are in your ring right now, Amy,
are Healing Word, Guiding Bolt,
and He's just randomly picking spells right now.
He's just like, he's closing his eyes.
His fingers just kind of circling over the page.
Busted the Ouija board.
Searing Smite.
That sounds vengeful,
which is right up in his alley.
It's true.
She holds a grudge.
Yeah, I like it.
Who's next?
I guess it is me.
I put my key in a hole and turn it.
You want to roll your percentile die?
Dice.
Don't know what you mean.
So that's the one with the number and the zero on it.
Like this one.
I already put that away.
I know, you only had your four go.
Sorry, my percentile die and that's it.
So that is a 49.
49.
Under the O, 49.
You hear the same churning of gears and out from the slot.
Another small box pops and you open it up and another ring is inside and he does the
same thing.
Gives it a look over and he says this is an alchemist's ring.
When the wear of this ring imbibes a healing potion, they receive 1d6 additional healing.
Sweet.
I guess I shouldn't say me.
Gives the wearer.
If one of my comrades is hurt, I can just slip it on their finger.
Lower the ring style.
Throw that ring over there and have it just get on there.
All right, I got a 30.
You get a scarf.
You get a cute pair of pumps.
Is it some sort of awesome scarf?
It is chilly outside.
You get a scarf.
Out from the slot pops a larger bag and from the bag you pull a dwarven plated belt.
He tells you that this is the belt of dwarven kind.
FYI, I totally wrote out belt of dwarven king and then quickly corrected it.
Apparently, I am just a grade schooler.
While wearing this belt, you gain the following benefits.
Your constitution score increases by 2 to a maximum of 20.
You have advantage on charisma persuasion checks made to interact with dwarves.
You're like, look at my sweet belt, now do what I want.
But that's only on charisma checks involving dwarves.
Yes.
If you weren't a dwarf, it would also allow you to grow a beard by the day's end.
Oh, son of a bitch.
Doesn't need that.
I've got that talent natural.
Yep.
Thank you, Ozark.
Oh.
Yeah, thanks buddy.
You're most welcome.
Please, please come back as soon as you can.
I have lots of things that you might maybe need.
Sure, that sounds great.
Maybe some things you don't.
Who knows?
Certainly, our ubiquitous comrades.
Beyond your way, go catch the train.
What's a train?
Well, we didn't have airplanes last time, so I don't know if we have trains.
We have flying castles.
That's true.
Do we know what trains are?
Yes, because you've ridden the train before.
When you went to fight the volcano giant?
Oh, that's true.
We did ride the train.
Yeah, it was the train that, you know, took you out and then just kind of showed up.
Can't just forget everything I just said.
I didn't know if that was canon or not.
It's all part of it.
I was just kidding.
I just forgot.
To the train.
So you guys go hit the train and it drops you just outside of Waterdeep and it goes off.
And as you turn to look towards Waterdeep and look back, the train tracks are gone.
Oh, ghost train, Polar Express, any of those ghost train, Polar Express, Spirit of Vengeance.
Come on, give us something here.
Back to the Future 3, any of these.
Any of these.
And as the train pulls away, the conductor leans out and it's Doc Brown.
So you guys walk towards Waterdeep, I assume?
Yes.
So you come in near the south end of Waterdeep, which is the south end of Doc Ward's.
And when you arrive in Waterdeep, you sense a sudden shift in the wind.
And with it brings a strange sense of unease.
The feeling is akin to the drop in air pressure before the approach of a deadly storm.
Or faint tremors felt from a landslide or earthquake far away.
And you look around and you notice you're not the only ones who have noticed this.
The city around you goes unnaturally quiet.
No dogs are barking, no birds squawk.
Even a lot of the street vendors have all gone silent.
The silence lasts only a moment before the normal sounds of Waterdeep begin to pick
back up again and you hear just the normal commotion of the city.
Well, that was weird.
Yeah, that really gave me the old heebie jeebs.
Leosin's note told you to meet at the Lord's Palace.
I would say we go see our homeboy Leosin.
Yeah, that's probably a good idea.
I mean, we just got hooked up with some equipment,
so we're good as far as that's concerned.
We should probably just head on in there and see what's what.
Yeah, okay.
Agree.
So as you as you travel through the city,
you notice that a lot of the animals throughout the city,
the horses, the dogs, the cats, all seem a bit unusually nervous and on edge.
More so than you would have normally expected walking through just any random city.
Sure, but we did just experience that weird weather phenomenon,
so that's probably playing along in there.
So you pull into the Lord's Palace and you as you walk through the main entrance,
you are greeted by Leosin and he says,
I'm so glad you are here, friends.
There's been some things going on and I feel we need your help.
The council meetings are about to begin and I've got you into them.
Let me lead you this way.
Is there anything you require from me before I send you in there?
They will likely ask you about your dealings with the cult to this point,
so be prepared to give your accounts of your adventures so far.
I was not told we would need to study for any sort of reason.
This is just like a town council meeting?
This is a council meeting of all of the lords and leaders across Faerun.
Not a guild council meeting?
No.
I mean, still not great because our memory is pretty poor, but we'll do our best.
Hold on people, this could get real rough.
But sure, sure, why not?
I'm sure we can do it.
We're nice people.
We can answer some questions.
We generally know what happened.
Except when it comes to needs of transportation.
He leads you to a large chamber and opens the door and council is currently going on.
So you enter and you see the man head of the table.
He's doing the talking right now and they are talking about
actually the sound that you heard when you came into Waterdeep.
He is asking if anybody knows anything about this sound.
And one woman stands up and she says,
The disturbance that's been sensed across the Sword Coast is the Drakorn,
an ancient device whose sounding alerts dragons across Faerun that great events are unfolding.
It's impossible to say what the sounding means,
but all dragons hear it clearly and will eventually answer its call.
The guy at the beginning of the table says,
Lady Silmarhelv, where did you get this information from?
Why do you know so much about dealings of dragons?
And she refuses to say where she knows from,
just that a family benefactor has told her stories of such a device.
At that time they look to you as you enter the room
and Anthar Froome stands up and says,
Our good friends who have saved us many many times are here to tell us their tales
and shed us light on some of the dealings that they have had with the cults
and hopefully bring a little more information to what we have.
He says, Flint, Nularaaaa, Thea,
if you could begin to tell your tale as to what you have experienced.
Where to begin?
Well, the main thing to know is that the dragon cult is collecting a horde of treasure
at the moment to try and awaken Tiamat, the queen of the dragons.
We curbed that a little bit, got a giant on our side, kind of smashed his castle,
floating flying castle.
As you mentioned that you smashed the castle,
a couple of the delegates kind of whisper to each other
and they have a displeased look on their face.
Would you like to share with the class?
No, continue.
It was unavoidable.
It's fair, it's fair.
Yes, it was like we were working together.
Yes, we teamed up with him to try and curb the assault of the cult
and as we were in the process of doing so and battling a dragon,
unfortunately we did a little bit of a face plant into a mountain with the castle.
We certainly did.
What's her face?
That awful lady.
Resmere.
Thank you.
So, Resmere was involved as well.
There's dissent in the ranks.
So, there are higher up people of the dragon cult
that would prefer Tiamat doesn't arise.
There's five leaders of the dragon cult
and they weren't exactly agreed on what direction they want the dragon cult to take.
Some wanted to raise Tiamat,
some did not want to raise Tiamat.
So, we killed one of them
and then we were in this horrible castle accident
and some of our memories are a bit foggy.
That is entirely understandable, having crashed in a castle and all.
Yes, yes indeed.
It was not pleasant.
The takeaway though is that I think we could maybe
find common enemies with some of the higher-ups in the dragon cult
to completely destroy the dragon cult, it seemed like.
There's definitely some...
Not everyone is on the same page over there.
If not destroy it, then at least alter its course of actions.
We didn't ever end up getting back to help the lizard people.
We did not signal them with a giant owl in the sky.
See, now I'm filled with guilt.
Yeah.
Because we said we'd get back there to help them
and instead we crashed a castle and never ended up getting back there.
So, there's a whole group of lizard folk who are working for the dragon cult
against their will because the dragon cult have stolen their land.
Well, it seems we should send someone to help them,
especially if a promise was made.
Yeah, maybe they're still just like waiting for that signal.
I mean, I don't know how long it's been.
I really hope they haven't done anything.
Well, we killed Resmere, though, who was running that compound, right?
So she never went back, obviously.
There was an old black dragon in the area that was also kind of running things.
That they had previously been alleged to.
But still, if you could send some people to help them out,
that would be great because we feel very bad.
Very responsible for them, too.
We stirred the pot there.
We kicked the bee's nest and we don't want them to suffer for that.
Hanthar speaks up and he says,
we will send a group of our pAlydins,
we will get the information from you and send a group of our pAlydins to go
and make sure that things are taken care of in that region.
Oh, and they have like a buttload of treasure there.
Yes.
Delightful.
We'll make sure that's taken care of as well.
Perfect.
Care of, yes.
Oh, the treasure was gone, guys.
Oops.
The lord at the top of the table says,
have you come across any hatcheries, any dragon eggs,
anything that could be used from that side?
Absolutely.
I reach into my like satchel, my bag and I produce a shell,
a black dragon egg shell.
Because remember, I kept one of those.
We destroyed a bunch of them in a cave.
He says you destroyed the eggs.
Yes.
Most of them.
It seems to be split among all of the delis.
There seems to be split feelings as to that.
He says the eggs could have been used to negotiate with the dragons,
but what's done is done.
There's still one out there.
It was a situation.
It's fair.
We had to make a call.
They were going to hatch them to unleash all holy hell on everything.
And you said you have killed Resmere, yes?
Yes.
And have you come to learn any alliances they have within other groups?
There's been rumors that they've been working with the red wizards of Thay.
Have you heard anything of that?
Yes, they definitely are.
Do you know the reason behind that?
No, that was something that we never really got privy to.
He speaks up and says,
the rumors we have heard is that they're using the wizards to conjure Tiamat.
Once they have adequate hordes of treasure,
adequate number of recruits and people in order to support their cause,
they are using the red wizards in order to actually summon Tiamat is what we have heard.
Yes, that is our high-ranking source in the Cult of the Dragon said much the same.
The red wizards are pawns to help with the rise of Tiamat.
Excellent. I'm glad that checks out as far as you are concerned.
The man you've been mainly speaking to continues and he says,
I am Lord Dagult Neverember and we wish to recruit you to help us gain more information
to help fight against the cult and the rise of Tiamat.
We are willing to deputize you and your troop in order to gain information,
give you investigative powers which will allow you access
to places where you would otherwise be unable to go.
If you're willing to help us, we would be willing to do that and support you in
any way that we can as far as each of our individual clans and organizations go.
Yeah, that sounds like we're pretty much on the same page.
What do you guys think?
Agreed. Sounds like our interests are definitely aligned.
Yeah, that cult attacks on us have been pretty personal, so we're on board for this.
It is excellent. We will have that paperwork written up at the end of this session.
There is one other thing that we have to discuss.
The assassination of Arthagast Ulbrinter.
He was a massed lord of Waterdeep and husband to Remy Haven Tree and she speaks up
and she says we through the harpers after this assassination have sworn to destroy the cult
and the threat it presents to the Sword Coast.
So far we have been instrumental in bringing the factions together for this council of Waterdeep
and we wish to set up further alliances with you and with others throughout Faerun.
If through your journeys you find you are able to create alliances with any other groups
you come across, please tell them of what we are doing and how they can help our cause.
Sure, yeah. That makes sense.
So sorry to hear of your husband.
Thank you. Great loss.
That is all we have right now.
Leosin told me that he has some more information regarding the whereabouts of
one of the worm speakers, one of the leaders of the dragon cult.
So if you please see him on your way out, that would be marvelous.
Everybody kind of stands up and makes their way to the door
and the lady who was talking about the Drakhorn, Dalla Silmerhielve,
comes over to you guys as everybody's kind of leaving and she says,
I know I didn't say much more but I may know where the Drakhorn is
and if we know where it is we can control it and if we can control it
we might be able to sway the dragons to not work towards bringing Tiamat back.
I lean over to Nularaaa and I go, oh thank god she came forward because
I was going to beat the information out of her afterwards.
She sounded like she knew more but she didn't give any more information.
Oh that's awesome! Yeah, we should totally find the Drakhorn.
Whereabouts is it or do you think it is?
The Sea of Moving Ice was the last known location of the Drakhorn
no one has ever been able to pinpoint its present location from the sound
or even verify with certainty that the relic is still in the northern sea
but the search I feel must start there as that is the last known place.
There is one person who could tell us more.
She is a tiefling sorcerer called Makath the Crimson.
No one alive knows more about the Drakhorn than her
but the Arcane Brotherhood of which she is also a member
hasn't seen her for three years.
She was investigating the Sea of Moving Ice when she disappeared as well.
If you wish to go to the Sea of Moving Ice
we can have a ship readied for you to deliver you up there.
Are we on good terms with this Arcane Brotherhood?
The Arcane Brotherhood is not an enemy of any of our causes.
They haven't directly worked with us but we have no reason that they would
present a problem to you in finding more information about what is happening.
We could even get them on our side.
That is a possibility.
If you are able to find Makath if she's still living
as she's been up there unheard of for a few years
if you are able to find her find more information
yes the Arcane Brotherhood would be a great resource
for knowing more about dragons and knowing more about Tiamat.
All right thanks for the heads up.
All right well should we go there?
Can we?
Donnie is a pseudo dragon so really he's just a tiny dragon.
So Donnie I'm assuming we're alone now.
All the other council members have left.
Everybody's kind of filtered out.
Donnie when we first got here did you hear something?
What did it say?
When it felt like the air pressure dropped?
Or did you what would tell us what you experienced?
And by tell us I mean psychically tell us in our brains.
It says well guys I did hear the noise and it was a noise.
It wasn't just a pressure drop to me.
It was coming coming far from far from the mountains
up towards the north.
So this is what she's saying is is possible.
So it seems like a likely place to start.
Do you feel like a draw?
Is it calling you?
Do you want to go?
I mean I don't really want to because I know what's going on.
You know there's dragons trying to bring back batter dragons
and I'm a good dragon.
I don't like to fight the dragons.
Making fun of batter?
We all were.
This is good though because if it sounds again he can hear it right?
Like I just wanted a little confirmation
Well Dalla there wasn't selling us a dole of goods.
Yanking our chain.
Yeah it's the Dracorn.
It's a dragon horn.
Not just a guy with a loud siren man.
So what do you think guys?
Sea of Moving Ice?
That sounds like a good spot to go.
Sounds like we should go see Ozarks again
and see if he has any like parkas or anything for us.
Or just ask them if they're going to like
they're arranging our our travel on the boat right?
Are they arranging us some some appropriately warm clothes?
And if so let's go.
Oil skins of some sort.
Yeah as you head back out Leosin is standing out
on the other side of the of the chamber that you were in.
Hey buddy.
How did it go in there guys?
It was tough to remember some of it but I think we got the point across.
Well they did say that your brain damage was extensive from the crash.
And I'm not surprised.
I've lost my sense of smell.
Well that is going to be deadly to you coming up here.
I'm just kidding.
It's a smell-based campaign.
No!
He says is there any anything that you gathered from that?
I do have some information to tell you regarding one of the worm speakers.
Great yes yes.
We have heard that Varam the White who is a close ally and confidant of Severin
is rumored to have lost their dragon mask.
He was the holder of the white dragon mask and he is currently last spotted
rumored to have been spotted out near the serpent hill.
Severin's the head dude right?
Out of character?
Yeah yeah.
Other out of character question.
So when we met that woman in the white scale mail at that weird house
that we went through the portal that was not Varam the White.
That was just some other person wearing white.
She wanted to have the white mask but Varam was the holder of the one.
I couldn't remember and I just saw a woman wearing white in my notes
and then a list of all the people and thought that that's who that was.
So okay perfect.
She was just like his underling that wanted to take over.
Exactly.
Great.
The cult leaders generally have other followers of the dragon type
that they wear the mask of so if something happens to them
another person is able to step into their place.
Great and sorry I think we cut you off.
Varam the White has lost his dragon mask.
He was?
He was rumored to have been seen around the serpent hills.
Word came from a a tradeway encampment called the Boroskir bridge
that he had passed through there.
Varam the White is for character information is a dwarf
and he as other leaders in the cult generally wear the purple robe set.
Likely he would have kept that as that is his status.
So when you're asking about him if you are asking about him you can ask about that.
I hope he enjoys plus two to dwarf charisma interactions because he's gonna get it.
Raz where are the serpent hills on the map?
I see the sea of moving ice.
Oh over here.
I do see them sorry they are to the east like the southeast of where we are.
Oh yep there you go.
And then yeah the Boroskir bridge is slightly south of the serpent hills there.
Yes it is.
So we have like a north option and a south option.
Okay so we'll send Thea of north to Lara's house and I'll just chill in water.
I like the idea of going to the sea of moving ice if this lady's alive
because that seems like we'd get a little more information.
But then again a former white mask holder in the dragon cult
might be able to tell us a whole lot of stuff too.
Yeah if he's there I guess all we get from him is information and then murder.
Yep but she gives us information and possible allies.
And maybe control of that horn.
And possible dragon control yeah.
Because if we can get to that horn.
Yeah that would be a huge plus for our side.
To be able to convince the dragons not to be all into the dragon cult people.
Indeed just doing some high tech mapping here.
Oh also serpent hills is like 500 miles away.
Yeah oh yeah it's not close.
They're both very far away according to the scale.
I say we go north because it sounds like more fun as well.
And that's how I base a lot of my decisions to adventure.
We've decided.
Okay.
Oh you want to know?
Well it helps for which page I flip to.
Leosan says so where do you guys need to go in order to further your investigation?
Well I believe our first stop should be the sea of moving ice.
So you will need a ship then.
We will.
I will procure you passage.
The sea of moving ice is dreadfully cold.
We will make sure that you have winter clothes in order to survive.
It's probably a good thing.
And if there's anything else you think you might need we will get it for you.
But you seem fairly well equipped.
Leosan in the council meeting they said they would
send some people to help the lizard folk.
That we kind of maybe left a little hanging near the mirror of dead men.
Can we count on them to be good to their word?
Or should we go and finish our own promise that we made?
Yes who was it that told you?
If Anthar or Lord Neverember told you I will pass that information on to them
and they will send someone to take care of that.
That is something that yes they are of their word and they will make sure.
Especially Lord Neverember as that is in his area of jurisdiction.
So that's a problem under his own roof is what you're saying.
So he will want to have that taken care of if it is still an issue going on.
Feel like there's still maybe one witch running around up there too?
Maybe warn them about that.
Definitely no those witches were down by greenest and they were further down.
I thought they were in this in this wood.
Or this wood.
Never mind there's no witches they're fine.
Maybe the Misty Forest is that where it was?
I don't know it was further south.
To the boat!
The captain who we will likely procure.
I can't think of good words.
That's not a word.
It's not a word it is now anyways.
The captain who we will hire is Captain Larusta Half-Face.
You gotta make these names easier on yourself for us.
Half-Face.
Captain what Half-Face?
Larusta.
Larry Half-Face.
Captain Larry Half-Face.
Perfect.
Sounds handsome.
We have worked with him in the past and he is he is a good man who will get you to where
you need to go and we will send all the all the clothing you require down to his ship
and have that ready for you when you are ready to go.
Fantastic.
To the ship!
North!
So you guys head to head down to the docks and there are plenty of ships down there.
There is there are a bunch of large ships some really small ones.
Some that climb on rocks.
And some that climb on rocks.
But as you walk through the docks you see a couple a couple individuals who you recognize
wearing Order of the Gauntlet regalia coming from a.
Okay do we get like badges or anything?
We've been deputized right?
Like.
As you leave Leosun hands you a writ for your deputization.
So you have on your person written a letter from.
Just a letter like no badge?
And a badge.
Okay.
And a sweet sweet badge.
Okay perfect.
I want to whip that out and interrogate some motherfuckers.
Alright.
Uh so you got you got badges you got writs.
Alright.
We got rings.
Yep.
And a snazzy belt.
I have a follow-up question about the ships.
You said that there's ones that climb on rocks but do our ships have a first name
or perhaps a last name?
Yep.
I can do this to myself I don't know.
What boat are we going on?
If you could spell out the letters one at a time too that would be great.
Alright I will do that.
My boat it has a first name.
It's.
So you go uh you are down at the docks and you see a couple people from the orders of
the gauntlet coming from a ship and as you walk in that direction a rough sounding fellow
yells out to you and says you guys are the ones going up north aren't you?
Who wants to know?
The old half face.
I'm Larry half face.
Ah half face.
How are you today?
Hail and well met good sir.
That to you too this is the uh f-r-o-s-t-s-k-i-m-m-r.
Ah the frost skimmer.
Yeah.
Thank you for playing along with that.
You're welcome.
That's a fine looking fine looking craft.
You are looking at the ship.
She looks seaworthy.
Our oh the frost skimmer has seen many a battles
and going up north it's the finest ship you can get on.
You look it over and it is a much smaller ship than most of the ships around.
I start knocking on the wood like I'm looking for something like I know a lot about.
It is a single mast ship about 60 feet long and about 20 feet across so it is
considerably smaller than all the other ships around you.
Okay it's not the size of the ship that matters.
Is there a genie on this boat?
He says no there's no genies on the boat.
Who is this fine fellow in the turquoise with the saber?
He looks rather genie-like.
He's one of the crewmen.
Oh no name.
You know they're gonna die.
He didn't name them.
He didn't bother to name them.
I didn't even give each of them a each of them a character so you know that's fine.
His name is Gene E.
Gene.
Tom and I decided we think it's really funny.
Larusta says as a matter of fact there is one guy named Gene
who doesn't have a last name so we'll just give that to him.
Good old half face always playing along with our shenanigans.
Larusta or Larry is a is a human and he wears a mask over his face or like a
covering on his face.
You see massive scarring over the eye of his of the right side of his face.
How long is our trip going to be here Larry?
Well it's several days.
Trip we have to go up the Sword Coast.
Could take us anywhere from five to eight days to find what we're looking for.
What are we looking for?
I think we're the ones who tell him that.
Sorry Tom.
No that's fine.
I thought maybe he was taking us like to a destination and then we were branching out from there.
Must be going to take us to the last known sighting of Tiefling Macoth right?
I would assume.
He says well the information that I was given from Lady Silmarhalve
was that the the Tiefling you're looking for
Macoth reported her progress to the host tower of the Arcana brotherhood by way of
sending spells and her last report spoke of seeing ice hunters paddling their sealskin boats
towards a huge iceberg flattened like a plateau across its surface but ringed by icy peaks
and she had intended to follow the ice hunters and investigate the iceberg.
After that no more reports came.
Attempts to find Macoth by the brotherhood using scrying and other magical means only
located her ship adrift ahead and heavily damaged.
Some of the ship's crew have been seen dead but no signs of the Tiefling's
Tiefling sorcerer were ever found which is why they believe she might still be alive.
However there is the lair of a dragon who is who is very powerful.
He is the name Ruthator and he has been known to control through fear
control different clans up there.
He himself has he knows magic is what I'm trying to say here
and he is a very powerful dragon and no doubt has protected his location of his lair
and if Macoth is alive in addition to the lore that she can you know share
regarding the Drakorn the arcane brotherhood would be most grateful to get her back
and any other information she has gained where she is being held.
Would it be a bonus if we kind of took a Ruthator the dragon out of the equation?
I mean you guys are fighting dragons right?
You betcha.
Well yeah I mean ultimately we kind of want to sway them to her side.
We could like bridge the divide and all come together.
It doesn't sound like he's that kind of guy rules through fear and whatnot but I mean.
From what I've heard of a Ruthator he's a he's a he's a mean motherfucker.
Can we get on this boat?
Let's do this thing.
Yes so you guys climb aboard and he hands you all the clothes that you would require winter
winter garb and I call top bunk and I run down into the
Turns out it's all just single cots so there are no bunks.
What are we working with?
There's bunks.
Of course.
As Larust is kind of describing his ship he says there are 40 crew aboard.
We do have room for you in in the bunks.
I already have my like entire room area set up.
They're sent with candles.
I don't light them.
It's a wooden boat.
I'm not stupid.
It's just for just for the film.
It says yes please don't use fire on my boat.
Okay.
That would be great.
Done or not done.
You know what I mean.
I'll put this one out right now.
I apologize.
No whispering Mui Telliente to your sword either.
Geez.
It takes you about five days travel up to the sea of moving ice.
You are told by Larusta, Larry.
You were told by Larry.
I'm just going to call him that.
It's probably easier.
Yeah you're told by Larry as the sight of more and more icebergs become more
frequently that you are in fact now in the sea of moving ice and that his ship is the
best ship because it is light and easily built so at night if we choose or if we get stuck
we can all get off and lift the boat onto the ice floe.
In portage.
He says it is about night time now as you guys are pulling into the area
of the sea of moving ice and he says it makes no difference to me or my crew but
if it makes a difference to you whether we stay on the water or on the ice at night there are
creatures in the area both in water and on the surface but whichever you guys prefer we
would just keep going until we find something or we can pull on and rest for the night.
You've done this before.
What's your your best guess for how we should proceed?
Yeah, Lair Bear.
What's your professional opinion?
Likely if it were just me and my crew we would just stay in the boat.
Okay sounds great.
We will stay in the boat.
I like that you didn't object to me calling you Lair Bear though so I feel like we really.
Well you guys have been traveling for a few days so you guys you guys are
developing a suite.
Maybe we've made out a couple times in the brig.
There's no brig but there's a broom closet I'm sure.
Yeah there is.
Yeah it's the same thing a brig in a broom closet when there is none.
It is getting to be nightfall now.
Where are you guys on deck underneath?
What's going on?
I would be on deck taking you to the sites.
Me too.
Same here.
You hear a loud splash come from the bow of the ship.
I run over to look.
I look for dolphins.
There are no dolphins.
Murfolk?
Yous.
Normals.
Looking off the starboard side you see thrashing in the water and the heads of
two crewmen disappear beneath the waves.
Surrounding the boat you see the scaly heads and bodies of multiple marrow.
They begin to rock the ship back and forth.
As the ship hits a large wave you have to hold onto the railing and you hear more
crewmen scream from port side as people and cargo are dumped into the water.
The intro and extra song Nowhere Land is by Kavin McLeod of incompetech.filmmusic.io.
Dumbgeons and Dragons is a Dumb Dragons production.