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Episode 5: The Girl in the Cell

Last time we began in the aftermath of the fight with Jasmee. The five of you and (Housewives’ Choice) Morgan, the newly dead, alone in the forest. Holding a letter in which Barabask had condemned you. Morgan told you it was time for him to depart; that he would be reporting back to The Spinner, who had been kept abreast of developments up to this point.
Knowing that your path led towards Baruun, you said goodbye. Before the sounds of the Festival of Benediction and the promise of caramel treats proved impossible to resist. Dolly, I and Kelnys convincing Endellion and Raidion to let them ‘check out’ the market.
You slipped unnoticed into the tents, I stealing his body weight in artisanal gnomish popcorn before Endellion was finally able to take the edge off with a goblet of spiced wine. Dolly spied an opportunity to make some quick coin and set up a store hawking the many spoons that Kelnys has made along his travels.
A crowd soon gathered and spoons were selling like hotcakes before Endellion spotted Pollyanna (the junior cleric of Theolon who you first met when you entered the festival). Kelnys scrambled to gather his spoons as you all prepared to run before a clutch use of Thaumaturgy from Dolly attracted the attention of Pollyanna and the other festival goers to a new caramel seller’s startup. It’s rich story telling.
You left the festival, and guided by Kelnys, you knew the roads well. Made your way to a tavern, the Old Oak. There you drank and ate your fill; Kelnys gifting Dolly an ornate spoon and I gleefully discovering the existence of high chairs.
As the others made for their comfortable beds, Raidion sought out the quiet of the forest. He dug a hole in the earth and buried a deck of cards inside it, silencing the perpetual whispers and screams he could hear in his head. With that done, he burst into uncontrollable tears (God he’s complicated, but I know I can fix him!)
The next morning you headed for Baruun, taking a shortcut through the forest so as to avoid a ponderous journey by road. As you made your way through the dense trees and foliage, Kelnys spotted light and heard whispered voices. I (the character, not the me) and Raidion snuck forward, spying two figures dressed in slate gray cloaks with silver masks. They were disagreeing over their orders (to wait in the forest) with one of them relishing the chance to “bleed the council” and making particular reference to someone called Trusk. The other insisted that, having written the message, they were now to wait for further instructions.
Raidion snuck back to relay this to the others and Dolly approached, but a misplaced step in the dry bracken alerted the vicars to her presence. She attempted to pass herself off as a lost traveler heading for the toilet miles from the road, but as she headed back into the dense forest I watched as the masked figures prepared to follow. The kobold bolted back to you all with Dolly still in the open and the others hid as an arrow flew from the trees and struck Dolly in the chest. Another followed and Dolly fell. Two enemies, one wielding an axe and the other a bow, approached to inspect the body. Raidion cast web, restraining two of them, as Endellion emerged to slice into the axe man. A third enemy emerged from the trees, wielding a rapier, and he too went on the attack.
I was first to Dolly, bringing her back with a potion of greater healing and from this point on, Dolly rescued from death, it got pretty dark. Raidion killed the archer with a mote of acid. Before the rapier-wielding mask man battled with and (sliding a rapier between his ribs) downed Kelnys. I (the character, not the me) slew the axe man with a crossbow bolt as Dolly brought Kelnys back with a healing word. Raidion cast mind spike on the rapier wielder and gained the ability to psychically locate him.
Realizing the danger he was in, your remaining enemy fled into the forest with the words, “the shadow will flood”. Thanks to the Mind Spike, Raidion and I were able to track him through the trees before another well-placed crossbow bolt to the back brought the runner down. I approached, wearing a mask like that of his enemies (having cast silent image) and attempts to gain more information, but learning little.
You discovered a letter on the body. Raidion arrived and begrudgingly praised I before reading the letter which said, “Camino, write the message on the mural, then return to the forest and wait. The water will soon rise.”
As Raidion put the letter in his pack, he discovered the deck of cards he buried in the forest had returned to him. As you searched the bodies in the area around the campfire (where you had happened upon your enemies) you discovered black paint and and a brush before Raidion suggested that Dolly, Kelnys, and Endellion adopt the identity of the three enemies you had killed, and wait for instructions to arrive. This course of action decided on, you remained in the forest and that’s where we are now.

Previous Episode: The Newly Dead

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    16 days ago

    ♪Episode Song References♪

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    Highlights

    • 00:00:24 Harry makes a Matt Coleville reference “link in the old doobly-doo”
    • 00:01:11 Perfect introductions until “Thornblair”
      Politics and Gossip Girl
    • 00:01:48 Hollie:“That Gossip Girl one shot we’re gonna do.”
      Ben’s enthusiastic reaction.
    • 00:02:07 Alex:“Always got the ‘yang’ out” (foreshadowing of nude Doug stories to come)
    • 00:08:54 Alex:“Let’s go with claws.”
      Dolly entrusts I with a Greater Healing Potion.
    • 00:10:15 “Let me tell you something about hiding a body.”
    • 00:12:58 Ben’s attempt to use metric measurements is thwarted.
    • 00:18:20 As everyone is getting into position and settling inventory items, Harry says, “I’m just going to roll something.”
    • 00:20:37 Fan Art Moment I using the magical cloak as a hammock in a nearby tree.
    • 00:22:35 Raidion lets his guard down enough to seek space with I in the hammock, “Don’t. Tell. Anyone.”
      The logistics of the hammock roll I onto Raidion (and much like with a cat on one’s lap) and becomes “what you would refer to as ‘nap-trapped’.”
    • 00:24:59 Intruder detected, hoods up.
    • 00:25:30 Music change
    • 00:26:43 The contact arrives and Dolly slyly casts charm person.
    • 00:29:38 Kelnys asks a masked person their name…
    • 00:34:12 A miscommunication between I and Raidion
    • 00:39:28 Harry:…or you could just, sort of, turn into a newt; Yeah, you could Wildshape into a newt, if you want."
      Doug:There’s part of me that thinks that I should just kill her."
    • 00:41:23 Aoife:“And then, flex.”
      Alex gives inspiration to Doug.
      Hollie and Ben resume meerkat poses, this time with claws.
    • 00:44:34 Harry’s dice are on a hot streak.
    • 00:44:44 Harry:“Like when a particular character in a particular thing is cutting through the particular webs of a particular spider near a particular mountain carrying a particular ring…”
    • 00:45:48 Harry:“Yeah.” (smiling as he realizes they don’t know that Endellion is going to completely one-shot this masked stranger)
    • 00:50:33 Doug:“Why didn’t she (the dwarf) have a Scottish accent (common trope).”
      Harry:“She has a Scandinavian accent and I think you’ll find the dwarves have one or the other in my scenes. Did you think Grawnoth was Scottish?”
    • 00:53:00 Lore Drop: Baruun, the city of Union When The Virtuous left Alvelion, the capital city of Reliquiae fell into ruin. In the first centuries of the world (when Escalon, Caressian, Loathe and other cities were being founded) the people that populated these were often divided along racial lines. From their seat in Alvelion, The Virtuous warned against this kind of segregation and then those same cities began to open their doors to all. When Alvelion was abandoned, it was decided that they needed a new capital. One that would represent the unity that The Virtuous had always preached.
      Baruun is that capital.
      A three-tiered, circular city (still under construction 100 years after its founding) it’s the most extraordinary architectural and engineering marvel of the world.
      There are three tiers, which are three districts:
      • There’'s The Depths, a lower level in which manufacturing predominantly takes place.
      • Above that is The Deal, which is a site of a great market and much of the housing
      • Above that is The Crest is home to the estates of the Rich and Powerful Beyond the city walls, (there are also these what-were-once shanty towns, but have now become districts in their own right as the city has grown but the walls have not been able to accommodate all those people) there’s this sprawling life that spreads out from the city, so by the time you get to the edge of these shanty towns (these new districts, these, if you like, suburbs) you’re still probably an hour away from the walls of Baruun themselves. So vast is the spread of the city that has sprung up from the organic needs of this growing citizenry.
        Those of you who’ve been there before, there are four gates (a North, an East, a South, and a West gate) you can head for whichever one of those, the North or the West would probably be the closest.
    • 01:00:36 I:“I knows we is not tribe.”
    • 01:01:52 Alex absent-mindedly playing with his new moustache
    • 01:02:47 Harry grins and says "should have a look in the packs.
    • 01:04:27 Nearby guards are overheard talking about someone named Grenwyrd using authoritarian tactics because of the absence of another person named Rashiid.
    • 01:09:20 The graffiti in question reads “The Shadow Will Flood”
    • 01:10:15 Raidion’s first instinct is to report to a nearby guard that he has pertinent information on this crime.
      Dolly’s first instinct is to send him the mental question, “What are you doing?!”
      Raidion:“Trust me.” (there goes that teamwork idea already)
    • 01:10:53 Alex rolls a third natural 20 in a row (Odds 1 in 8.000; 0.0125%)
    • 01:12:29 Raidion reveals one of the silver masks to the guard and explains it’s connection with the party they found (and buried) in the woods.
    • 01:13:55 Pop Quiz! Harry turns the creativity on his players, “I’m going to make you roll with disadvantage if you can’t come up with names in the nxt three seconds.”
      Dolly:“Pamela…Call me Pam for short if you like.”
      Harry:“No, you can’t shorten perfection. It’s an enchanting name. You don’t expect to be struck so deeply, but these things catch you when you’re not expecting.”
    • 01:17:51 Fan Art Moment Doug:“I think we should see Dolly at some point now in a red one-piece.”
      Doug and Holly mime Baywatch
    • 01:18:30 You weave around a central pillar of sandstone as all four of these entrances converge onto a single great staircase. The slabs so thick that the cacophany of the Depth swiftly fades. The walls of this stair are carved and painted with a message that’s written over and over again. You see it written in Infernal, Draconic, Elvish, Gnomish, and in Common. The message says:

    By the hands of those shaped by The Virtuous, that a city might grow in their image.

    written over and over again on the inside. You climb 50 ft ascending into The Deal (the second level of the city).

    • 01:29:15 The Manscaped Ad
    • 01:31:31 We go back into Reliquiae. Into the city of Baruun. Into The Deal (the second tier of the city) and outside the Wise Walker Tavern, where Raidion has just seen half of a Web symbol. An orc with a hood looking at that symbol, looking at Raidion, he reaches out his hand and says to Dolly,
      “Come with me.”
    • 01:32:28 Hollie’s reaction when the key phrase gets a response
    • 01:34:25 Fan Art Moment While on Endellion’s shoulders and holding a massive beer, “I” tries to explain the concept of high chairs to the local tavern staff.
    • 01:36:10 Kelnys:“We live differently.”
      Barkeep:“Right, and that’s between you and The Virtuous.”
    • 01:39:48 Orc(Casper):“I’m going to have to stop you, my dear chap. I don’t know what you’re talking about. Who do you think I am?”
      [Holly and Aoife perform the Pointing Spider-Man Meme]
    • 01:42:15 Iesco’s Tinctures, Salves & Solutions
    • 01:45:11 “The quiet one’s Goff.”
    • 01:48:45 An asset of the Web was imprisoned after a bar fight and the mission is to break them out.
    • 01:51:18 Harry:“If you want to try and discern he is (telling the truth) you can always roll an Insight”
      Ben shakes his head.
      Harry:“You just wanna go off vibes.”
    • 01:52:43 Casper:“I’m chapter head, Juno is my second, then Goff and Madea make up the rest of the chapter. We’re a small group.”
    • 01:57:18 “I” passes on the Cloak of Many Fashions to Dolly and then immediately acquires a Lockpicking set from Casper without them even realizing it. “Now that bodes very well.”
    • 01:58:30 HDYWTDT
    • 02:00:42 Casing the joint
    • 02:01:59 Raidion:“I have a plan…hear me out…”
    • 02:04:45 Hollie clears the room
    • 02:11:03 Fan Art Moment Doug decides his first Wildshape with Kelnys will be a cat. Katnys is born. Harry gives a quick clinic on Wildshape and also Disguise Self.
    • 02:15:46 Watch Alex have a ball giving the details of the plan as “I”
    • 02:20:03 Ben loves that animal pose.
    • 02:22:00 Harry:“So you’re Mooching about.”
    • 02:29:02 Doug’s cat impression (Doug’s…howling…)
    • 02:45:25 Unhinged
    • 02:53:35 Stocking up on hinges
    • 02:59:11 There’s never a reason to kick a cat
    • 03:02:12 Dolly the hardened criminal is brought in
    • 03:05:21 Midnight
    • 03:12:20 Kelnys is discovered, but by a prisoner, not a guard (natural 6 by Doug)
    • 03:13:20 Another Natural 6 by Doug.
    • 03:16:08 The guard tells a story about Madea blinding someone with a dagger
    • 03:19:11 Dolly Lore Prisoner (Indy) mentions someone else named Knox.
    • 03:26:26 “I swear before the Nine, I never seen anything as dark as what she done, you watch her.” (pointing at Madea, the chained halfling).
    • 03:26:57 Doug:“I did that once…”
    • 03:29:21 “Like Cool Runnings, you slide down there, kiss a lucky egg, and down you go.”
    • 03:32:54 Learn Welsh Pam ydw i(vi), Dduw = Why me, God?
    • 03:35:43 Kelnys suggests staging a larger prison break to distract from their escape.
    • 03:38:12 I happily sees an opportunity to display his lockpicking skills until Raidion reveals he’s acquired the keys, promptly deflating poor I.
    • 03:44:33 Madea’s first free actions are to obtain a weapon and murder a nearby prisoner because she “didn’t like the way he looked at me.”
    • 03:45:30 Fan Art Moment Kelnys carrying the paralyzed Raidion.
    • 03:49:22 Alex rolls two natural 1s in a row while the team escapes in the flume of waste.
      Harry:“You are doing the whole lot, baby.”
    • 03:52:06 Madea escapes alone with Kelnys’ scimitar while the rest of the group is launched into the drainage area