Magnificence

Content warnings: Misophonia (Chewing SFX, 0:42:00-0:43:15), Minors in dangerous situations

—INTRODUCTION—
[gentle, moody music]

Jee: [with gusto] Hello everyone and welcome back to this episode of Magnificence, our D&D actual play podcast. I am going to be your dungeon master as always. My name is Jee, I'm very excited to have you all here with me. And I have all of our players today as well who are all equally excited. They don't have a choice, they do what I say. [laughs] Sorry, that was mean of me.

Winter: Oh, we've made our choice already, and we've sold our collective souls to the devil, so.

Jee: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, they're mine.

Jacqueline: Not to the devil, to the Nightmare King.

Jee: That's me!

Emma: Yes.

Winter: I like that even better. [Jee laughs in delight]

Jee: Very glad to have everyone back. I hope you're all excited wherever you may be listening to. We are very excited to get into this. Before we begin, I just want to give as always a quick shout out to Sarsen Games for writing the fantastic sourcebook, Oracles of Aughra, that we use for our pantheon in this game. Please go give them some love for Oracles of Aughra as well as all the other content that they produce.

Jee: So with that, let's just jump right into it and get into all of the juicy bits of this campaign. A quick recap of where we left off:

[Recap begins ~1:24]

Jee: Our last session started with the aftermath of the mysterious battle, what was soon discovered as a failed assassination attempt. It brought confusion as allies are patched up, supplies are gathered, and Khuvos in particular brought up an interesting question to Suda, creating some very.. interesting party dynamics right off the bat. With half of our party still poisoned, however, a safe house is needed to rest and recuperate and just decide what to do next. Luckily, Cerridwen knows a guy.

Jee: As introductions are made, the party makes their way through the Rat's Maze towards a little tavern called the Labyrinth's Rest, run none other than by Zara Demtor, a drow woman who attends to the less fortunate. Her people, called Demtor’s Lowborn, guard her door, but they let the party inside with Cerridwen leading the charge. Zara quickly gives a rundown to the party: no fighting, no problems, discretion, and if you're able, leave something behind for the next group.

Jee: Our party takes shelter and they begin their investigation proper, with Khuvos, Sage, and Olwen beginning to dissect the poisoned candles, determining that the wicks had been coated in an oily, homemade poisonous inhalant. Aelina magically identified the candles, coming to a similar conclusion, also noting that the poison still remains in her body, Khuvos, and Cerridwen. And while subdued for now, it will return. The only thing to do now is to find the cure, which is likely held by the poisoner.

Jee: Cerridwen, in looking over the events that happened during the Grand Funeral, knows exactly who perpetrated this: the Reavers, an assassin's guild that has a questionable back and forth reputation. And the assassins were none more than apprentices trying to prove themselves. But who were they? Who could have been behind the job? Luckily, again, Cerridwen knows a guy.

Jee: So Cerridwen quickly sends word out to fetch for her next contact, and Aelina settles down in the cellar, feeling a strange breath on the back of her neck, but seeing no visible source. [background music fades out] It's at the end of this short rest, with questions still hanging in the air, that we resume the story with our party. So everyone, at the end of this short rest, what is everyone getting up to?

Jacqueline: I think short of...of this strange feeling on the back of Aelina's neck, I'm looking for a piece of paper and a quill or a pen, if I don't have one already on my person, and writing a couple of notes. [scribbling sounds] I think I might've mentioned this at the end of last session, actually. One to the Dame of Thorns and one just to my family. Just for.. Dame of Thorns trying to find out what's going on, what does she know, and family– it's as much a status report, fairly dry and bland, just like, I'm okay, I'm here, will try to get out when I can.

Jee: Mhmm, mhmm.

Winter: Now, we are quarantined in the Rats..?

Jee: Yes, from what you heard, the Rats Maze has been, the entirety of it has been locked down with everyone inside, no matter where they originate from.

Andie: Question. Do I know of a way to get in contact with Bonnie right now or no?

Jee: Right now…You could– this is the Steelbone, correct?

Andie: Uh no, this is my contact from the Crafters Division.

Jee: Right, wrong one. Which one am I talking about? [Jee and Andie laugh] That one? Not off the top of your head, no.

Andie: Okay.

Emma: I think…this is a question for you, Jee. During a short rest, is it possible for me to cast a ritual spell while still having the short rest? Because I just realized I probably didn't have Kari with me for any of that, or did we describe that Kari was there?

[plucky, upbeat music begins]

Jee: I don't think Kari was there, no.

Andie: Yes, can confirm. Flying turtle was not there.

Emma: No turtle. Okay.

Jee: Mm-hmm. We would have remembered.

Emma: If possible, I would like to use our short rest to ritual cast Find Familiar so I can have Kari, please.

Jee: Yeah, absolutely. It's easy enough to find a stray 10 minutes somewhere within the realm of this rest to ritual cast and summon Kari.

Emma: Perfect. Um, so everyone would just watch Khuvos sort of head off to a corner and, uh, hide as he sort of...I haven’t really thought about what the flavor for Find Familiar would necessarily be, I feel like it would almost be like chalk drawings on the floor. Almost him drawing... now he is not an artist by any means, but I feel like he would almost draw Kari onto the floor. [music fades to the sound of chalk drawing]

Emma: So people would just watch him with chalk and sprinkling in elements of the material components as he's stating the verbal out loud and sort of muttering the spell; you would watch this turtle with winged flippers be drawn on the floor and then watch it sort of emerge from that drawing and just start floating in the air next to Khuvos [popping bubbles and flappy sounds]

Emma: This adorable little, what looks to be like a sea turtle, but the flippers are–the front flippers are feathered, since she flies next to him. This nice little seaweed green with splashes of orange and turquoise in her shell, and this little happy-go-lucky little turtle who flaps up and turtles don't make noise, so I can't really describe any noise that she would make [Emma and Jee laugh].

Jee: The noises mostly coming from Kari…Yeah turtles don't really make noises, so it's mostly just scrabbled flapping, [more popping bubbles and flappy sounds] because she's not very coordinated. When she's first summoned, it's on her back and she kind of rocks back and forth for a second, flapping her little wings. [Winter laughs]

Jee: It’s just feathers against stone before she rights herself. And then just perpetual smile on her face, no thoughts in her brain, just flaps up and does her ritual of trying to perch on your shoulder but since she has a shell and feathers, is not very good at perching. So kind of slides and then scrabbles back up and then slides and then scrabbles back up. Very, very adorable little bumbling creature.

Emma: Mhmm, and I think as they're resting Khuvos would just sort of make a little nest in his arms like almost like he was gonna cradle her [Jee makes noise of understanding], just so that she can actually like sit in his arms and rest while he’s sitting down.

Jee, overlapping: Yeah. Her favorite way to be carried. She's a baby. [laughter]

Winter: The longer that this rest goes on the more agitated Suda becomes, like a…rat trapped in a cage. And by the end of that hopefully restful hour, it's just like, ah, Suda will say,

Suda: I need, uh, I've got things to do. I-I need to go. I can't wait around here until they do some arbitrary time that they're going to open all these things.

Olwen: Well, we've rested long enough. If we are going to figure out what's happening here, then it would probably be best for us to leave at this point.

Andie: Olwen is doing his best not to look at the interesting animal that just appeared. [Jee and Andie chuckle]

Suda: See, this guy gets it. You know, so let's, uh, let’s go.

Sage: Not like we're going to learn anything new here at this point anyway. We took our time to look at the candles. We, uh, Miss Aelina was able to show us who we're looking for.

Aelina: Mm. So what, we just spread out and try and find the person?

Olwen: Well, they were a group of kids. Cerri, you said that you might know someone that could find these kids, right?

Jee: Very much on cue, Cerri. That question is posed to you. And this is familiar. It is a...multi-toned whistle [eerie music begins] that somehow seems to echo telepathically in your head but also bounce off the walls all around you and you're not sure what magic is behind this signal but the person who needs to hear it is the only one who hears it and it is familiar to you as you hear the whistle and it is sharp and permeating through the air. You know he's waiting for you. And words need to be had.

Cerridwen: Give me a few moments and I might be able to get us some more answers or at least a direction, and hopefully I am still alive at the end of this conversation. Excuse me.

Grace: I will go upstairs.

Suda: If you don't come back in like ten, I'm not coming after you. [Jee chuckles]

Cerridwen: I would expect nothing less.

Suda: Cheers.

Jee: You go up the stairs and exit the cellar. Is anyone doing anything? Are you all just staying put and just letting Cerri take care of business or anyone following or trying to listen in?

Jacqueline: I think before she leaves, I wanna insight check. Or I wanna see if I understand…anything about what's going on under the surface, if it's, or if I just get the surface meaning.

Jee: Yeah, I will…absolutely, go ahead and do an insight. I will leave it up to Cerridwen if you think the number that is rolled would see through just Cerridwen's natural demeanor that she holds.

Jacqueline: 14?

Grace: I am a fortress of secrets and mystery. [group laughter]

Jacqueline: Fair.

Jee: There you go.

Andie: Olwen would like to hide and follow Cerri. [Jee laughs in delight]

Jee: Yeah, go ahead and roll stealth and then Cerri, what's your passive perception?

Grace: My passive perception's only 12.

Andie: Damn, that's a three plus six, that's a nine. [Winter laughs]

Jee: Yeah, you definitely spot Olwen.

Grace: I...will not…I will pretend that I did not spot Olwen. There are people far scarier than I am who might take more of an issue with Olwen's decision to snoop. That's none of my business. [Andie chuckles] [music fades out]

Jee: Cerridwen you go upstairs, you leave the cellar. You leave the tavern, you leave the Labyrinth's Rest. Very aware of Olwen following behind you, Olwen thinking he's being very stealthy. Uh [laughs] you walk out onto the streets and… He has a way of making himself known when he wants to be and making sure the right people see at the right time. An alleyway across the street where there are sort of like wooden scaffoldings set up to maybe, it looks like maybe repairing one of the houses across the street. About 20 feet off the ground, sitting on the edge of one of the wooden scaffoldings, you see Atash.

Jee: This hulking black dragonborn. He is a terror to look at. [eerie music begins again] You would not look at this individual and immediately think of a proficient assassin. You would think of a hulking berserker, a terrifying barbarian; standing about..almost seven feet tall. And that's with the sort of hunchback that he carries. Unsure if it's an actual hunchback or if he just stands crouched over to make himself appear smaller to the public, with long, thick, muscular arms and clawed hands, sort of patched together dark armor and robes, and just piercing, piercing eyes.

Jee: This is a very intimidating individual, and no matter how long you've known him, Atash Cereth still sends chills up your spine. He watches you as you approach, and just waits for you to get within earshot as you enter the darkness of this alleyway, sort of having to look up a bit at him as he just continues to sit calmly, one leg dangling over the edge.

Cerridwen: [clears throat] Blade Atash.

Grace: and I will not fully bow, but certainly nod my head. There is a seniority that exists, and I am much nearer the bottom of that ladder. And then I will scramble up the scaffolding to sit next to him because I am not about to crane my neck up [Jee laughs] for this whole conversation.

Jee: He just watches you for your introduction and as you climb up the scaffolding to join him until you sit, sort of on this wooden beam that he's perched himself up on. You sit on the other side so you can look at each other face to face.

Atash: I understand, you... Were enjoying the festivities of the grand funeral. No?

Cerridwen: Enjoy is a strong word. Yes.

Atash: Ah, but for someone so accustomed to death such as you, I would think... A wondrous affair. But... You know as well as I do what was really happening there, I assume that's why you called me, isn't it, little hare?

Cerridwen: Yes, I…I see to some degree what was trying to be accomplished. I have my questions and reservations, they are mine to have, and I am not here to question you exactly, but I am aware that there may be some lingering effects from the festivities, such as they were, and I am interested in, uh, negating those effects in the long term, if possible. And I thought you might be the one to ask.

Atash: Hm. Poison got you, it looks like. You always had a bit of a wildness in your eyes, something misplaced, but it is..eh..very fucking noticeable, now. As I'm sure you are very aware of our practices, it was a test that the apprentices – as I'm sure you saw – obviously failed. [Atash chuckles] What would you think? You are 15 and 16 years old and you get a job to go kill the fucking Sovereign of the Empire and you're like, oh, this surely won't be a trap. I tell you, these, all these apprentices, they're getting dumber every time we recruit them.

Cerridwen: Huh. Yes. Dumber. More desperate. More willing to engage in collateral damage.

Atash: Hmm. [sighs] I do know the ones that perpetrated it. Where they are now, that is not knowledge of mine to have. Urchins of the street, you see, that approached us looking for a better life. So they put it. They had connections and safe houses set up long before approaching us out of interest. The third one though, the Tiefling boy. He was not an apprentice, not one that was trying to join us. He was... outside...help. Eh, such a thing does not matter. They have already lost their chance, so their methods will not carry over.

Atash: But, as I was saying, the Tiefling boy. A little younger than them, he is. Ozit is his name. That much I know. Not as proficient a poison maker as the siblings are – worthy apprentices – but a friend, a supplier, whatever their relationship is none of my concern, business, nor interest. He...resides...still within the Rat's Maze. Trying to flee was pointless for all three of them, really. But...try they must, of course. I have to ask, [clicks tongue] what are you thinking of their performance?

Cerridwen: Sloppy.

Atash: Mm. Nothing good can come of the attention they have drawn.

Cerridwen: Regicide is one thing, but so publicly? We will all suffer for it.

Atash: You've been part of this organization for a long time now, haven't you, Cerridwen?

Cerridwen: Yes.

Atash: [clicks tongue] I am not privy to all the plans that the Four Speakers have for our organization, but... I hear rumblings. A position such as mine offers a rumor or two, occasionally. [clears throat] There are... changes coming. And I'm not speaking of the Empire, I'm speaking of us. What the Reavers will look like a few years from now is unbeknownst to me. But, it will not look the same as how they do now. I want to make sure that you will prove yourself to be a strong asset, to myself and to the Reavers when those changes do come. You had some time off. There were some concerns. Some questions, some rumors...

Cerridwen, quietly: Yes.

Atash: Not to mine to know. Personal business is one's personal business, but... I feel it only fair to warn you, little hare, that there are many others – better than me – that have many questions, that have no answers. And they look to you for those answers. You will answer those with your actions, yes?

Cerridwen: Always.

Atash, with satisfaction: Ah, it was a good day for a funeral. A very, very good day for a funeral. [chuckles and sighs] Go find Ozit. He is down at the docks on the western end of the city. Last I heard he was in some small shack out by the water. If anyone knows where the two siblings are staying, he would know. But he's, from what I heard, prone to flights of fancy, so try not to spook the lad.

Cerridwen: The western docks. Thank you, Blade Atash.

Atash: Mhmm. One more thing, Cerridwen.

Jee: He stops you as you are mentally preparing yourself to end this tense interaction.

Grace: I want out of here so bad.

Atash: These…apprentices. They are children. They are young. There's no discrimination due to age when it comes to failure. And that is what they did to us. They failed us.

Cerridwen: Yes.

Atash: Now, I am not sending you to do anything in particular. I merely want you to keep one thing in mind. When they failed their test today… They rid themselves of any allegiance they had to the Reavers. Those children, they are not your people. These ones that you have found at the funeral, the ones that you are poisoned alongside, they are not your people. I am your people, little hare. The Reavers are your people. Do well to remember, when the time comes to make decisions, yes?

Cerridwen: Yes, Blade Atash.

Atash: Ah go on then, spread bloodshed, bring your blades. Be quick, run fast. Make sure they don't catch you.

Cerridwen: They never have.

Jee: He turns, sits back, and just continues to sit calmly and observe the surroundings as he almost allows you to leave by not continuing the conversation.

Grace: Yes, once the pause has gone on long enough where I know he has no more to say to me, I will climb down and as absolutely calmly as possible, walk back inside.

Jee: Yeah, absolutely. Um. Olwen?

Andie: Hey. [Jee and Andie laugh]

Jee: You did hear that interaction. You listen carefully, watch carefully, kind of situating yourself behind like maybe in a small bit of people, kind of blending in with the crowd. There's not too many places to hide in this open street during the day, so you more so blend in, trying to observe.

Andie: No wonder I rolled a nine. This isn't what I usually do.

Jee: As best you can.

Andie: Yeah. [laughing]

Jee: You listen to as much of the conversation as you can with the general, ambient noises of the street rising up around you. Up until the point that Cerridwen leaves, walking back across the street, back towards the Labyrinth's Rest.

Andie: Could I have written all of this down in my notebook, in Druidic?

Jee: Absolutely, yeah.

Andie: Okay. [scribbling sounds]

Jee: As you look up from writing in your notebook, you look up directly into the eyes of that dragonborn. [heartbeat sounds, eerie music] No longer sitting in the scaffolding, standing at the mouth of the alleyway; moved with such speed and absolute silence, you quickly understand why he is in the profession that he is in. And he just stands, and he just stares. Standing rather than sitting, you see his mass, how large a creature this man is. And he carries no weapons, merely clicks his clawed fingers against each other, calmly whistling to himself as he just watches.

Andie: I think Olwen… Olwen isn't like that tall of a guy so he's used to like people being like bigger than him. So I think his initial reaction like still holding like his notebook is to like crouch down, not like prepared to like fight but in such a way that he can try and move quickly whether he has to like fight or run. But he's like waiting to see what happens.

Jee: Atash continues watching you. Things…the air of this man, things happen at his pace when you are in his presence. And you understand that very much as you are in his gaze. He stands straight from the wall that he was leaning up against, gives you a very slow once-over eyes going down to your feet and then back to your face, clicks his tongue once, turns heel, and disappears into the alleyway.

Andie: Uh, Olwen will do the same thing and like leave; ducking into like a different place to hide. And try and make his way back to like the others.

Jee: Yeah. Yeah. Uh, Cerridwen, you rejoin everyone in the cellar of the tavern, with Olwen following soon, a few minutes after. Um, and everyone, uh, you watch as the two arrive within a few minutes of each other, and you have new information.

Winter: Uh, Suda is practically chewing the threshold, uh, waiting for them to get back. [Jee and Winter laugh]

Suda: So, uh, what, what is the word? What can, can we, can we please like.. get out of here?

Sage: We have three different routes to find in a maze.

Cerridwen: I have a direction.

Suda: Then let's go. Everybody pack up your things! Let's get moving.

Jacqueline: At some point during the absence, Aelina had like pulled a lyre out from under her robes because it's just always kind of there, because you know, Bard. And so she had just been like slowly playing some.. just plucking random tunes. [someone giggles]

Winter: Suda is really glad that she already had the wax in her ears from earlier.

Jacqueline: Ohhh.

[laughter from Jacqueline, Winter, and Jee]

Winter: I pointedly put them in before we even entered the establishment. So it wasn't like a slight on Aelina, it was just like...

Jacqueline: Fair. Yeah yeah. And so as soon as we're saying, like oh, let's get going, Aelina packs that in, um, getting ready to leave.

Khuvos: So are we walking and talking then or…

Cerridwen: Don't know how much we have to talk about, but we can certainly walk.

Andie: While we're doing that, can Olwen make an insight check on Cerri to see how she feels about that whole interaction that just happened?

Jee: Yeah.

Andie: Okay…

Winter: I love how we're desperately trying to get a read on each other [group noises of agreement] at every opportunity.

Andie: It's that one instance of like.. I don't know these people, I don't know if I can trust them, so everyone's just on edge about it. [Jee laughs]

Winter: [emphasizing into the mic] Tell me your secrets.

Andie: Uh that is a 15 plus two, so 17.

Grace: Okay, let's see.. Oh, I rolled a natural 19 plus two.

Jee: Yeah. You keep–

Grace: I am a fortress of secrets and mystery [laughter]

Andie: Close, close, close.

Jee: Yeah.

Jacqueline: As we're heading out, I do want to stop by wherever Zara is and just hand her the two letters and probably a couple of gold pieces, I guess.

Jee: Yeah.

Jacqueline: To ask her to have someone try and deliver it through the fence and to people on the other side to get it, get it farther.

Jee: Yeah uh, Zara takes the letters.

Zara: Um, now just to clarify, are you wanting me to try to get this to some of my people that were trapped outside or are we going through the Steelbones? How private you want this to be?

Aelina: Uh, the one to my family can go through the Steelbones, let's keep the other one private if you don't mind.

Zara: Yeah, absolutely. Uh, yeah, I can do that. I'll get someone to take this up and, uh, if you want to stop by here, uh, maybe later today or sometime tomorrow, we'll see if I have an answer for you.

Aelina: I appreciate it.

Zara: Mhm. Stay safe out there, all y'all.

Emma: As we're walking out, Khuvos is also going to, since he was the one patched up and utilizing most of the resources, uh, he doesn't forget Zara's request to leave something behind for others, and will also place a gold piece in her hand [coins clinking] for the bandages that were used.

Jee: She gives a nod and like a shake of your hand and puts it away in like a little lock box she has stashed up there that is separated from the funds from the actual tavern. Her tax-free income. [Emma and Jee laugh]

Andie: Owen is going to pull out a very light-looking like coin pouch, like it sounds like there's barely anything in there. And he's going to like reach into it and put like a gold piece with like the empire symbol scratched out.

Jee: Yeah. Absolutely, does the same.

Rosalie: Just for the record, Jee, Sage can safely assume that Magda is 100% taking care of herself and can find Sage if need be, right?

Jee, laughing: Oh yeah.

Rosalie: I have utter faith in her abilities, so

Jee: The caravan, more or less, all take care of themselves here in the city and if someone else needs assistance with something, you just have to reach out. You can guess the members of the caravan are scattered. Some may be trapped in the Rat's Maze with you. Some may have gotten out before it got locked down. You're definitely not leaving anytime soon, not until Rat’s Maze is opened at least.

Rosalie: Whichever side Magda is on, she is fine. And if she needs me, she will find me and not vice versa–

Jee: Oh yeah

Rosalie: –is my assumption, so.

Jee: Oh yeah, absolutely. All right. So you all head out of the Labyrinth's Rest, leaving Zara and her safe house behind, thankful for the bit of reprieve that it gave you. And Cerridwen, I assume you are leading the charge to investigate this new lead.

Grace: Yes, I know the direction. This is a part of the city that I could walk blindfolded and dead. So I will head in the direction of the Western docks. [eerie music] I will look around for Atash, fully expecting that I will not see him anywhere, but some instincts simply cannot be quashed.

Jee: Yeah. Definitely every interaction you have with him leaves you with the feeling of just eyes on the back of your neck, and that persists for like a couple of minutes after, and it's uncomfortable.

Winter: While we're walking, Suda is going to sidle up to Owen.

Suda: So what did you glean while you were out with Cerri?

Olwen: Hmm.

Suda: Since she's... they are very tight-lipped.

Andie: Uh, Olwen, in like, as soft as a whisper as he can, is going to ask first,

Olwen: Depends. What are you hoping to find out of that information?

Suda: oh, I'd like to have some intel on the kind of danger that I'm gonna be walking into, and I think you could appreciate that.

Andie: Can I make an insight check on that [Andie and Jee laugh]

Jee: Insighting the hell out of each other today, y'all, I love it. [giggles with fiendish glee]

Andie: 17 again.

Winter: I think that, I mean, there is a general feeling, or general vibe of curiousness and just, you know, want to gossip kind of thing. But being a bounty hunter, uh, Suda does have an instinct to learn about her targets and wants to know what they're getting into.

Andie: OK. That's not anything like Olwen would have, would have like an issue with, so he's going to respond back.

Olwen: Reavers. She went to meet with one of them. Large dragonborn goes by Atash. We’re headed to the west docks to look for those kids. They were apprentices. Messed up a job.

Suda: What job? It wasn't what happened at the funeral, was it?

Olwen: It was, but that wasn't the effect they wanted. It was a hit on the sovereign.

Suda: Hit on the sovereign. That is pretty serious claim. All right. I will keep alert. Thank you.

Andie: Olwen will nod and continue walking quietly, still looking at like Cerri.

Jee: Amazing. [plucky music begins] As you're all walking with Cerridwen leading the charge.. Khuvos, Kari is chewing on your sleeve.

Emma: He will very casually sort of boop her on the nose just to like, make her stop it. [Jee laughs] And then pull like, I would assume he keeps a stash of like lettuce leaves and like things to feed her in his bag. He'll just pull out a lettuce leaf and be like

Khuvos: Kari, remember what I said, no clothes, food.

Jee: Tries to tilt her head back, but is like a turtle and has a shell and like can't really like look up and back. It doesn't have as much range of motion as she would want, but accepts the lettuce leaf with very loud crunching noises. [happy leaf crunching noises]

Sage: So it's, what is she? Some sort of fey or celestial or... It's rare to see somebody be allowed to...have an assistant that's not the standard variety.

Khuvos: Well, um, she's a familiar, uh-

Sage: I can tell, yes.

Khuvos: Right. Well, we were allowed to choose the shape and... Sea turtles are very common from where I'm from, so she can't exactly swim in water. So flying through the air is the second best thing. So I made some adaptations.

Aelina: What's her name?

Khuvos: Kari.

Jacqueline: Aelina leans in a little bit as they're walking.

Aelina: Hello, Kari.

Jacqueline: Doesn't touch unless Kari lets her, of course.

Jee: She definitely cranes her neck to receive tiny little pats on the head.

Emma: Yes, Kari loves her pets. And I think Khuvos would smile a little bit watching Kari get excited about receiving attention from more people.

Rosalie: [confessing into the mic] I want to give her pats so badly, but I'm trying so hard not to let it show.

[group laughter]

Jee: Your eye is twitching.

Jacqueline: Aelina's like sort of held back expression breaks into like a real smile for a second as she pats Kari and then her eyes meet with Khuvos’ for just a moment with a little nod before she moves back out of the way, and out of their shared space.

Jee: Yeah. [soft sounds of waves and seagulls] The walk over to the docks, definitely calmer than the earlier day’s events that have led you here so far. Cerridwen definitely a bit more tense than the rest of you though hiding it well. You all approach these western docks. Though... this part of the city is um locked down of course it's is still uh kept busy over here uh this sort of thing happens all the time there's always these sort of big interruptions to their day so all of the uh workers and residents of this area are just like-

Jee, in a grumbly voice: uh just another day, might as well, what the fuck is going on I gotta catch fish..

Jee: Their normal bullshit that they get about. Um so they're all continuing, moving through. The streets aren't especially crowded over here, but just enough that you all kinda keep your wits about you. My poisoned fellows, uh, Cerridwen, Aelina, and Khuvos, you…your head is starting to hurt. [high pitched, piercing noise that fades] It's, it's really, it's really bright out here.

Jee: You all continue through. Cerridwen, you know it was some shack of some kind that this Tiefling kid is staying in. With the description sort of manifested with that Minor Illusion while you were all in the cellar. You have a general idea of what to look for. Like I said, a Tiefling kid who is approximately maybe 14-ish years old would be your guess. 13, 14, 15 around that age. Shorter stature, like very pale blue skin and curled horns with really shaggy black hair is the image that you have in your head for him. And you know the name now as well. Ozit.

Jee: So, now that you have gotten here, arrived at the docks, you have a name, a description, and a general area to search. How are you all going about this?

Jacqueline: And first off, did Cerri share that info with us?

Grace: I think once we arrive in the area of the docks, I will share the- I mean, we know sort of a visual description already because of the minor illusion, but yes.

Cerridwen: Ozit, Tiefling child, early teens. Physical description that we are somewhat aware of. Likely in a shack.

Sage: Should we just expect to find the one here or all three?

Cerridwen: I was informed that it is likely just Ozit, and he may or may not know the direction that the other two have gone.

Khuvos: Do we want to not be such a big group to attract less attention, or are we staying together?

Aelina: You said you thought he was in a shack, perhaps we find the shack first and plan from there?

Cerridwen: Fine [sighs]

Jee: All right. Carrying a bit off of Khuvos' question that he posed to the party, are you all splitting up, staying together as a group? Cerridwen, you know Atash did describe this kid as skittish.

Cerridwen: It might be best to hide our numbers and not approach all at once. I think perhaps locating his general area and having a backup plan in case he runs is probably best..he cannot get far.

Aelina: I like that plan.

Sage: If I have eyes on him, I can keep him from running, probably.

Suda: And what are we... What does our goal here? Is there a bounty? Can we like, uh, are we taking him alive?

Sage: I intend to find out how to get our affected peers…

Olwen: As much as I don't want to make some assumptions about these, this kid's abilities I highly doubt that a 14 year old tiefling from the Rat's Maze could manufacture a poison like that.

Sage: At the very least, I want to find out where they got it so we can get a cure.

Olwen: Yeah. Exactly.

Jee: All right. So how's everyone splitting up?

Winter: As much as I…I want to try and find this person first. Uh, ahead of Cerri– [Winter laughs]

Jacqueline: So do I [laughter]

Andie: Same [more laughter]

Winter: I almost want to make it like split, and race to get it, but at the same time if I stay with Cerri then… You know what, I think I'm gonna let pride go before the fall. Essentially, we're gonna make a game of this.

Suda: I certainly think that with my considerable experience, I can find this person ahead of our fellow here.

Winter: So I'm gonna branch off and uh head around the back to try and find this place.

Jee: Yeah you guys are at like uh sort of entrance to the docks um like way ahead of you are like the docks proper where like um the boats and fishermen and ships coming in are um and there's also um like canals going through these streets um so there's uh paths to walk but there's also several twisting waterways with people going down in small boats. Some carrying goods, some have like little floating shops that they're selling right out of their boat. Some seem to be using them as their primary form of transportation.

Jee: And of course, there's all manner of shackled together buildings with... A lot of them have different like fabrics and such stretched between them to create shade for some of the workers out here in the sun. And quite a few have like planks and ladders and stuff connecting rooftops that you see workers using to transport things off the ground, but also just like small children like running across them playing tag. Just a run down area, but definitely very full of life.

Jee: So we have Suda going off on your own.

Winter: And whoever wants to follow along, that's fine. But I'm definitely bee-lining off one direction.

Jee: Okay.

Andie: Olwen is also like bee-lining off to try and get to the kid first.

Jee: Okay. So Olwen and Suda both take out off on their lonesome

Winter: Mhmm.

Grace: Cerri will approach one of the vendors, boat vendors, someone very clearly local, established, lives in the neighborhood, and ask if they have seen anyone matching Ozit's description. And I will offer up a silver.

Jee: Yeah, absolutely. While we get into that, Aelina, Sage, and Khuvos, who are you all going with? Are you all by yourselves, sticking with anyone in particular?

Jacqueline: I think Aelina, she kind of, she pulls her robe a little bit closer around herself very, very aware that she sticks out like a sore thumb and is going to follow Cerri, but at enough of a distance not to like impinge on.. to harsh her vibe, if you know what I mean. [laughter]

Jee: Yeah, so sticking with Cerri, but like in the background.

Jacqueline: Yeah, but before Cerri splits off, she's gonna kind of say kind of quietly to her,

Aelina: If we can find them, I might be able to get some information. If we keep them alive.

Cerridwen: I can manage that.

Jee: Sage, Khuvos?

Emma: I think Khuvos watching the immediate split of all three of the more driven people in this endeavor, he was gonna kind of talk things out. He's very much a, like, figure out the method first and then take action and everyone has done the exact opposite. [Jee chuckles] So he considers very heavily for a moment, watches Aelina split off in the direction of Cerri and is like, okay, I don't want to draw too much attention to any of the people that are actively staking stuff out.

Emma: He still feels really awkward about the interaction earlier with Suda and mistaking her for someone he thought he knew. So he's going to go ahead and head after Olwen instead. [Jee noises of understanding] But to make a note, he very much has... He did not put his conclave robe back on just to make sure that he doesn't stick out like a sore thumb in this area while they're doing this investigation. So he still has like his under robes on.

Jee: And I will say the conclave like vest-coat thing, it is like reversible specifically for this sort of purpose. So it turns inside out into just like a solid color, no embroidery, no like heraldry to anything. So it can still be worn, it has to be essentially turned inside out.

Emma: Okay, so I didn't know that.

Jee: Yes [laughs]

Emma: So Khuvos would have purposefully turned that inside out. That is a note Emma will make for later, but he would have turned the vest inside out and be wearing the robe in reverse.

Jee: Yeah, so you just look like a wizard.

Emma: Yeah, exactly. And he'll kind of go after Olwen, trying to – kind of like Aelina, not impede what he's doing, but also trying to figure out what he's doing so he can help.

Jee: Yeah.

Winter: Similarly, Suda's shrugging off her jacket and does the reverse thing, pops it back on so that none of the patches read her as a bounty hunter because that would be detrimental in trying to find certain targets.

Jee: Yeah.

Rosalie: Seeing everybody splitting off, Sage is like, well, we don't, we never figured out how we're going to get back together if one of us finds them, but all right. I'm just gonna go off and look at all the houses and shacks and stuff. Do some investigating, just like literally just looking around because apparently, I thought that was the plan. [Jee cackling] Don't know how I'm gonna get in touch with everybody, but oh well.

Jee: Yeah, yeah. Just splitting off on your own there. All right, wonderful.

Rosalie: Very much not out of a feeling of like, well, I guess I'll just do it myself, but more so out of, well, nobody asked me to come. I'm good at looking around, so I'm gonna go look around, I guess.

Jee: All right, yeah, wonderful. So we have Aelina and Cerri, we have Suda and then Sage, and then we have Olwen and Khuvos, wonderful. Okay, so we're gonna, let's go ahead and start with Cerridwen talking to this, like, floating vendor.

Jee: You approach what just looks like an older human woman, pants rolled up kind of above her knees, barefoot, like has big bundled sacks of produce and such that she seems to be selling out of her boat. And a long, not like an oar, that long stick, that rod that she uses to push herself along in the boat and kind of leans on that as you approach her little floating marketplace and leans in to hear you over the general noise and hubbub of the streets and you offer her that silver. She glances down at it and then glances up at you, taking a closer look at you now that you're like offering her money for this information but says nothing about it, nods and takes the silver. Kind of looks around. I'm gonna roll something real quick… She looks around and then motions you to lean in a bit closer.

Merchant: Yeah, I saw... I couldn't say exactly where now. It was like a few minutes ago, like 10 minutes ago or so. Kid looking similar to what you're describing moved very quickly through here, was headed over in that direction – and points off to kind of a small like neighborhood of small rundown houses and like sort of apartments. So points you in a general direction that he headed in about 10 minutes ago.

Cerridwen: Thank you.

Jee: Goes about her business, continues on selling her produce. You begin heading off in that direction. Olwen and Khuvos, are you two just scanning streets?

Andie: I think what Khuvos sees is the way that Olwen approaches this, which is probably a little surreal to see. It's very much that of a person like hunting down an animal. Like, he's looking for signs to see like where people have been or went. He's just trying to see if he can physically spot this like child. And he's moving like very quickly the moment he doesn't see anything in like an area.

Jee: Mhmm. Yeah.

Emma: I think Khuvos would mostly be trying to keep up, though he probably would in areas where Olwen's sort of taking his time, trying to suss out more information would kind of... He's used Kari to help sort of locate people before, I feel like, especially on missions and things. Or if he has an exact object to locate, he'll send her off. [soft flappy noises] So I think he would kind of send her into alleyways that split off that he couldn't see and just have her look and report back to him.

Jee: Mm-hmm.

Emma: But would again keep that distance from Olwen. I think he would cast Message really quick. Just a quick cantrip and speak in Olwen's mind.

Khuvos: [speaking telepathically] Let me know if you see anything or have a direction.

Andie: While like we're doing this I will like throw this out for Khuvos to see what you do with it.. But the moment like the two of us like split off to go look for this kid, Olwen's expression turns like weirdly intense for like what's happening, like it's a it's a tense situation for sure, but there is like a drive and a focus and almost like anger that's like… as he like moves around very quickly like there you can… Olwen's not the type of guy to like hold something like behind his sleeve. So it's very clear that something more is going on here than like what we initially thought.

Emma: And I think there would be that curiosity, there. And if Olwen like glances back at Khuvos, there would be a level of confusion seeing that look of intensity. But I think there would be this sort of unspoken
like return nod or like after the confused eyebrow, like a wave of the hand that says, I noticed this, we'll talk about it later. Since there is something more pressing going on clearly that Olwen wants to focus on.

Andie: On like the message end as like he hears the thing… Would Olwen know that he can reply to this? Cause I don't think he would, right?

Jee: I mean, I think it's a-it's a common enough cantrip, I think. Um, you would know, you can give a reply.

Andie: Okay, so Olwen will very quickly say, acknowledging what Khuvos said, but almost like seeing this part is more important. He's going to very quickly retort,

Olwen: [speaking telepathically] Khuvos, I don't know what your stake is in this, but that child is in danger. Way more than they think they are. This could go very badly if we don't find them quickly.

Emma: And...taking in that information, Khuvos – this is a cantrip, he can do it as many times as he wants to – he'll reply back with a quick,

Khuvos: [speaking telepathically] Then I'll fan out further. If you need to find me, just reply back with a signal so I can keep an ear out. I don't want anyone to die today. I don't know what the stake is here, but clearly you know something I don't.

Emma: That's probably more than 25 words.

Jee: It's a cantrip, who cares? You can cast it more than once.

Emma: And he'll then, I think at that point, realizing the urgency, sort of split off, send Kari in another alleyway, and start keeping a closer eye out for this kid.

Jee: Okay. Um, Olwen, I'll have you give me a... since you're going more like, you're not really looking around so much as you're tracking, I'll have you give me a survival check to do like urban tracking to see where this kid might have ended up. Khuvos, you can give me just a general investigation to look about the area.

Emma: Perfect. And would Kari give me the help action?

Jee: Yeah, if you want to have Kari with you to also be investigating, she can give the help action.

Emma: Perfect

Andie: That is an 18 plus four, 22.

Jee: Okay.

Emma: That's a nat 20 with advantage.

Jee and Andie: Woo!

Andie: Hell yeah.

Jee: All right. So going to Olwen first. You see evidence of someone moving through this area quickly. Not too recently, you would have to guess. Recent enough in maybe the last 20 minutes or so but not like it just happened. You see people are... What looks like crates of merchandise or people's belongings were quickly moved out of the way of someone's path, and people are getting stuff back in line.

Jee: You see someone is just now finishing picking up a pyramid of produce that was knocked over. And all evidence suggests someone was very quickly moving through from the entrance of the docks to towards the water. So it looks like someone approximately 20 or so minutes ago came in, went directly for the docks at a very, very fast pace.

Jee: Khuvos, with your natural 20, you are not tracking, but you're paying attention to the surroundings. You discern the same sort of idea that Olwen did, which is someone was moving through quickly. You're not on the exact path that was taken, so you don't see as much of like the picking up the aftermath, but you kind of gain that same sense. People looking around confused, a few people chatting like, oh who was that person? Ah, so rude, pushed me out of the way, stuff like that. You look ahead knowing someone was moving through here, but that means they're already gone so where were they going, they were going for the docks.

Jee: You are looking ahead towards the docks and you see some fishermen with smaller fishing vessels sort of talking amongst themselves um they also seem confused, one speaking to another and talking very enthusiastically with his hands. And you can't quite hear their conversation, but you see him pointing back in the direction towards the front of the docks and motioning to his own face as if describing someone, pointing out to the water and then to his small fishing vessel and throwing his hands up in the air.

Jee: And as you pay closer attention, the person he's talking to, they're disguised well, not well enough. It is an official of the city, not wearing the big plate armor of a typical guard, someone who wants to be more subtle to not attract as much attention. These kids made an attempt against the Sovereign of the Empire. You guys are not the only ones out here looking for him.

Emma: Mm. Do I see anything if I look in the direction that he was pointing?

Jee: Uh, yeah.

Emma: Because Khuvos would notice that, noticing that guard, he would know he needs to get ahead of them and not worry about what they know.

Jee: Yeah. Where he's pointing looks to be a more residential neighborhood of these docks. Small cluster of small apartments and shacks. And again, back towards the beginning, as if someone went for the docks, didn't find anything and then looped back around.

Emma: Okay. If...If I see Olwen still heading in the other direction as Khuvos is pivoting in that way, he would signal in some way whether it be like a quick whistle or even if– need be if he's paying too much attention to the trail, sending Kari to just go poke him and gesture for which way to go.

Jee: Yeah, I think Olwen's paying very close attention in this moment. He's very intense about it. So a quick whistle. You are aware of your surroundings and you know Khuvos is also looking. So you signal Olwen and motion to him where you're going so you two can kind of catch up and continue on the search together. Sage, go ahead and give me Investigation. You're still towards the front. You're investigating the more buildings, not the people.

Rosalie: Yes, I was going to say I am specifically trying to narrow down by thinking about that description of the building and assuming that like these four buildings on this street all in a row are going to have been built at the same time, trying to narrow down by looking at the structures as opposed to trying to track I'm looking at those neighborhoods, those clusters, and seeing which ones.. narrowing down the area. That is going to be a 10 on the die plus six for a 16.

Jee: Absolutely. Let me roll mine over here. You…are paying attention. There's a lot of people out in the streets. Not a lot of the buildings are full of..people are out and about carrying on with their day. Not everyone is sitting around inside. So when you hear the sound of crashing and fumbling within this cluster of residential buildings, it draws your attention and you do spot Cerridwen and Aelina zeroed in on that same area. So you can join up easily.

Rosalie: Yeah, definitely going to head towards there, intention of looking inside the building. If I spot this tiefling, I'm going to cast Hold Person as soon as I see them.

Jee: Yeah, absolutely.

Rosalie: Before they see me, hopefully. I'm not very stealthy, but.

Jee: Yeah. Suda, you split off. Are you paying more attention to people, area, more so trying to track?

Winter: I am going to find the shadiest motherfucker that I can find lurking in some alley or other, because that's where these, you know, gang slash, you know, thieves guild types tend to disappear to. Find one of those and walk up like I'm, you know, looking for a little something. And before they can get a word out, grab them by the jacket, [Jee laughs] lift them up against the wall, and demand to know where this kid is.

Jee: Yeah, yeah. This is fun. [Winter laughs]

Jee: I'll say... I'll just call this an intimidation. Yeah, you approach this, like, shady-looking individual that's definitely dealing in some shit, and he has his whole schtick going on. He's got, like, his long cloak, and he's, like, standing at the mouth of a darkened alley looking around, and as you approach, he turns to, like, begin giving his spiel, and he's, like, speaking in a deeper voice than he probably has. You grab him by the collar and lift him up and, ah! Is the noise that comes out.

Winter: Now what was this kid's name again?

Jee: Ozit, is the tiefling.

Winter: Ozit, okay.

Suda: Now you seem to have, us, an understanding about this place. No?

[Jee makes noises of distress]

Suda: Shake your head, yes or no? Yes. Okay.

Jee: Nods.

Suda: Good. Then you know people around here. I'm looking for Ozit. I'm sure you know this whelp of a kid, and I would like to take them off your hands. You say anything untrue, I will come back and I will destroy you. [Jee and Winter laugh]

Jee: Yeah, what was that intimidation?

Winter: [laughs] Yes. 26 or 25, excuse me.

Jee: [laughing hysterically] 25, Jesus.

Rosalie: That one number makes a big difference between 25 and 26, you know.

Jee: Yeah, yeah. [still laughing] Sorry, the DC was 26.

Rosalie: Huge difference there.

Winter: One number higher and it would have been a nat 20. So, you know.

Jee: Yeah, you lift this poor guy – like 20 something, just like shit head, low level criminal – lift him off of his feet immediately up against the wall in this alleyway. He makes that strangled noise, is like nodding along to like your demands. It's like..has a look of like totally like, [strained voice] oh, I thought I knew what I was doing, but I'm so out of my league. There's so much bigger… like…Oh, people are bigger than me. Like, look on his face, realization. [Winter laughing]

Jee: Um, and kind of answers you like

Criminal: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Uh, uh, the kid, the kid, the kid, the kid, the kid, the kid, the child. Uh, he, we came running through, like, running towards, uh...like frantically talking to people like I gotta get out of town I gotta go I gotta go it's like… throwing like I'd like a few like little fucking gold pieces I was like throwing around but like everyone was like fuck no I'm not getting involved like I'm here– you look frantic to get out of the city and a big bad thing just happened I'm not getting involved, like kind of like common sense shit you know and like it’s–

Suda: Good good, where's the safe house

Criminal: I don't know where he went, he went he..nobody could help him at the docks, so he circled back around and went back towards, like, the entrance?

Jee: Like, flicking with his head

Suda: Hm

Criminal: So, like, I don't know where he went from there, but there's a shit-ton of people here that are looking for him. You are not the only one. I can tell you're probably not one of the guards, because they're, like... I don't know if they're meaner or nicer, honestly, you're all pretty mean. But, like, there's, like, a shit-ton of them, of like the Sovereign's people. They are fucking everywhere and they are good at hiding. I hear. [nervous noises]

Winter: And I will drop him. [thudding] [Jee coughing and spluttering]

Suda: Thank you. You'll have done admirably.

Winter: And I'll flick a coin–

Jee: Ping! On his forehead.

Winter: –And take off.

Jee: [laughing] I swallowed..I inhaled my own spit. Hang on.

Jee: You dart off, leaving this kid to his own devices. With the knowledge of these guards in this area, you are... They are purposely hard to spot. Now that they're pointed out to you, you are suddenly very well aware. Not all of them, but you see.. you are noticing patterns of this person moving strangely, this person moving strangely, this person has been standing, staring at people, not saying a word. This person has been pondering this mango for like 15 minutes. How hard is it to decide on one goddamn mango? Um, like it's some strange behavior that you're picking up on so you have a very good idea of where these like Secret Service essentially are in the crowd, and you head back towards the opening where he like flicked his head.

Jee: Um, I'll say at this time obviously all of you have gathered various clues that have pointed you in the same direction. Cerridwen, Aelina, and Sage are the first ones to get there, followed closely by Khuvos and Olwen and Suda right up at the rear. But you all do converge on the same area around the same time, each gathering various information through various ways. And it is like a cluster, like a very small neighborhood within this like dock area of small shacks, some like more apartment-esque buildings, and you do hear something scrabbling moving really quickly inside one of them. [noises of ruckus] What looks like a small shack with no like glass pane windows, just boards over them and then curtains drawn tightly over. Very ramshackled put together. You don't hear a voice, you just hear scrabbling and something moving quickly within.

Winter: I'm sorry, did you say that all of us or just Cerri and...

Jee: Yeah, at this point, all of you have kind of converged on the same area.

Winter: Converged? Okay

Jee: Yeah, so all of you are there.

Winter: I think we'll like recognize each other and I– is this a one story or are there multiple levels?

Jee: The– where you're hearing the commotion, it is one story, but it's connected to the bigger building. So it, it's like a little add on tiny little area to a bigger building.

Rosalie: It's their garage that they built after the fact.

Jee: Yeah yeah yeah. He's in the, he's in the shed.

Winter: And, uh, after a quick walk around how many entrances besides the boarded up windows?

Jee: There's a couple. A lot of these seem to be like they were once smaller buildings that have since just added on to each other and connected over time. So there's a fair amount of entrances and exits, whether doors or windows. And then, of course, some of them go two or three stories or so up and are a lot connected by the rooftops as well.

Grace: I would like to try to find a way to get inside stealthily.

Jee: Okay. Yeah. So are you going by yourself to stealthily enter? Are the rest of you waiting outside also trying to stealthily enter?

Grace: I'll sort of make eye contact, but I will head inside by myself. If anyone else comes, that's..on them.

Winter: Cerri, Cerri, you're trying to find the..the quiet way in. Uh, Suda? Not so much. [laughs]

Jacqueline: Oh no

Rosalie: I want to try to find a way to see inside before we go inside. I want to find if there's some place where some boards have rotted on a window, or maybe there's some tattered curtain, some way to get a peek inside, try to see that.. I'm hoping it'll be not a ton of small rooms, but my mental image of an attached garage that was built later, I'm hoping this is a studio apartment.

Jee: Yeah. So I will say..Cerridwen, give me stealth, Sage, give me perception. Suda, you're just busting in the first entrance you see essentially?

Winter: Yeah, so I think I'm gonna aim for one of the windows.

Jee: Hm, okay

Winter: Cause I imagine that they're gonna feel semi-safe with the boards over the windows, they're gonna block up the door. So it'll be easier to get through one of the windows. As I approach one, shadow coalesces into a–what resembles a scimitar shape and with my other hand just a sweep of it gathering the ambient shadow and Eldritch Blast the window. [laughs]

Jee: Okay so as you're, Olwen, what are you doing as..this is, I'll say, with you just going in hard, it'll be Cerridwen, Sage, and Olwen, whatever they're doing before you are blasting open this window and setting off whatever's gonna happen.

Andie: Olwen's also going to try and get inside quietly, but I would like to hold an action if that's okay.

Jee: Yeah, what are you gonna hold the action to do?

Andie: If I see Cerri go for their weapon, I'm going to grab the child and move away.

Jee: Okay. Okay. Gotcha.

Winter: Oh, I'm gonna blow up all your plans.

Grace: My stealth was a 24.

Jee: Okay, and Sage, what was your perception?

Rosalie: I got a 19.

Jee: A 19, okay.

Rosalie: And my intention is I'm going to cast Hold Person, I don't want this kid to run away.

Jee: Mhmm. Okay.

Winter: Oh, where's Khuvos in this?

Rosalie: Yeah, and Aelina.

Jee: With you going in hard, I will say their actions, we're only gonna have time for the other three before you set things off with your Eldritch Blast.

Jacqueline: I do wanna– Aelina, as all of this fires off, Aelina's gonna be like

Aelina: We could just knock.

[group laughter]

Jee: With everything exploding, everything going wrong, yeah, yeah, yeah. {laughs] I love it.

Rosalie: Me trying to peek through, like trying to get the angle where I can see through this hole in a curtain

Sage: We don't want him to run.

Andie: And here we see the difference between the nerds and the goth jocks.

[group laughter]

Jee: So I'm gonna start with the quietest entrance to the loudest. So I'm going to go – I dropped my dice – we're gonna start with Sage not even engaging, just trying to see… Okay. This shack isn't the best put together, so there are definitely some holes. You peek in, you do see a shorter cloaked figure. No details of the figure, but you do see someone inside. [Rosalie noises of understanding] You can cast the spell if you like, and this individual will make the save but that is all you see at this time.

Rosalie: Are they wearing some sort of a hood or anything like that? Can I–

Jee: Yeah, hood up, cloak on, like very shrouded in their clothing.

Rosalie: Okay. But I can't make out like, oh, the hood looks like they might have horns or something on the head underneath the hood, like the shape of it.

Jee: It's maybe a wide set hood. There's no like, like horn shape sticking up or sticking directly out.

Rosalie: Okay. But nobody else in here.

Jee: Nobody else that you see, no.

Rosalie: I think I'm gonna cast it.

Jee: Okay.

Rosalie: I'm gonna cast it anyway. It is a wisdom saving throw. My spell save DC is 14.

Jee: Okay. Let me double check. So a wisdom save 14. Wonderful. Let me double check if there's anything added to that… You know what, even, yeah, that's a 16 on the die.

Rosalie: Damn.

Jee: So you cast that spell and it does not take effect, but you do see the figure pause, not from the spell, but out of realization that someone sees them.

Rosalie: Mhmm.

Jee: We are going to, with this first engagement, let's roll initiative. [moody music begins] Not for battle, but this is all going to be very fast-paced.

Rosalie: I got a two. So it's a good thing I got to do something beforehand.

Jee: So we'll start from the top. So anyone above 20, let me pull…

Winter: 22.

Jee: 22.

Andie: 22.

Jee: 22 from– [Jee, Winter, and Andie making excited noises together] Oh boy, oh boy. So that was Suda and Olwen, who both rolled 22 it sounds like?

Winter: Yep.

Jee: Wonderful, okay. So 15 to 20, anyone.

Emma: Dirty 20 for Khuvos.

Jee: Okay, dirty 20 for two Khuvos. Okay. Uh, 10 to, uh, 5.

Jacqueline: 8 for Aelina.

Grace: 8 for Cerri.

Jee: 8 for Cerri and 8 for Aelina. And Sage, what was yours again?

Rosalie: 2.

Jee: 2. Wonderful. Okay. Let me roll initiative for this individual here. Heh. Okay. So. Um. Working out pretty well for the order of actions that we had already kind of established. Um, Olwen, you are going to go first. Um, you see that the spell went off. Um, you understand just, uh, just the nature of magic. This spell was not harmful, it was to stop. Um, so there's been no, like offensive taken so far. But you see the spell go off and the person inside realizes that you are faster.

Andie: Uh, Olwen is going to very quickly rush inside. I'm not sure how much movement that's gonna take.

Jee: Yeah, you guys are right outside, so it's as easy as just basically kicking down the door. You and Cerridwen are hidden from your stealth rolls you rolled prior to this, so you are hidden currently. So any attacks or grapples or anything like that will have advantage.

Andie: Yeah. Uh, Olwen is going to come out of the stealth holding out a short sword but not pointed towards the child and he's very quickly going to say

Olwen: Brat a lot of people are gonna come to kill you right now you need to leave.

Jee: As you burst through the door with your short sword drawn though not pointed at this individual you do see um the face whirl around and you see the young face of this tiefling boy who immediately looks terrified of someone busting in the door; is holding a put-together knapsack. And you see there's belongings scattered around this, essentially, studio apartment, like you said. And just immediately goes like [distressed yelling] ah, ah, ah, ah.

Jee: And he's looking around wildly, doesn't respond, just clutches his bag to his chest and moves backwards, his back hitting the wall. He's right next to the boarded-up window, and his hand begins reaching for the curtain as if trying to find a way out, but has his eyes wide and on you. Is that all you're doing with your turn? You're still holding that action if there's any offensive taken against the kid to sort of try to stop it, essentially?

Andie: Yeah, exactly. And as the kid backs up, Olwen's going to back up with him, but his back is turned towards the kid.

Jee: Okay, yeah. Suda, you are up next. [Winter cackles] So you Eldritch Blast this window. Please go ahead and roll.

Winter: [still laughing] I mean, do I need to roll the attack or do I just roll damage? Because…

Jee: Honestly, just roll damage. [laughs] You're standing right next to this window and you're just busting it open. Yeah.

Winter: Yeah, because it's– I think it's just ironic, that Olwen’s like [Winter does an Olwen impression] they're coming to kill you and.. buh-boom!

Jee: Cerridwen there's a slow motion moment in your head of you just hearing the words, yeah the kid's skittish and you're like..[sighs]

Winter: Uh, six.

Jee: Six. In rapid succession: the door bursts open, this wild man runs in and says people are coming to kill you, you have to run. He backs up towards the window and it immediately explodes next to him, sending debris of wood and tattered curtain all over the place. And he covers his head with one arm and goes, Ah! And just yells in fear. He thinks he's gonna die. Suda, anything else for your turn?

Winter: Using I guess a bonus action or whatever to leap in through the window

Jee: And you jump in through the window, yep, you are right next to him

Winter: Wunderbar

Jee: Alright, um, holy shit you guys. [laughs] Oh I love it. Uh, Khuvos! You're up next! You're seeing everyone burst in here and you're hearing the kid screaming.

Emma: Okay, um, so this has gone very bad very fast. [Jee laughs] Um, it's also very loud and not very inconspicuous and-

Winter: You're welcome.

Emma: Um with that observation that the guards are around, we're not going to get the information we need. And this kid's gonna die if they start coming towards the screaming and chaos. So Khuvos is keeping an eye out for guards, and he's going to take care of them if they start coming here.

Jee: Okay, so you're basically gonna hold an action if you see one of those like hidden guards approaching.

Emma: Exactly. He's gonna have...I'm gonna say he's gonna hold, um, he's gonna hold an Ice Knife just because he doesn't know what else to do in this moment. He doesn't have very many combat spells, so that's what he's kind of got. So if one of them...

Jee: Love it. True Conclave kid. It's your first day in the capital of the Empire and you're already attacking their forces. Good for you. Yeah.

Emma: [laughs] I mean, what else are you gonna do? But if anything, he'll buy them enough time to get the information we need from the kid or grab the kid and get us to an area where we're gonna be safer.

Jee: Aelina, you're up next.

Jacqueline: Wow, I assumed the kid was gonna go next.

Jee: He rolled really low.

Jacqueline: Yeah. I think first off, I wanna look around and see if we've already attracted attention.

Jee: Yeah. Go ahead. I’ll just have you do a perception check.

Jacqueline: [dice clacking] Aha! Natural 20 for a 25.

Jee: Woohoo, baby!

Jacqueline: Wish I could have used that on something else, but you know.

Jee: You see, it's suddenly got very loud over here. So there are definitely some people turning towards you. They seem to be locals. You don't see any of the hidden guards so far, but some of the locals are starting to split off very quickly in a direction away from you with intent on their face. So you have to guess it will not be long at all.

Jacqueline: All right, I'm gonna duck in through the hole that Suda has made in the wall.

Jee: You jump in through the window right after.

Jacqueline: Just duck right in.

Winter: Aha!!

Jacqueline: And look at the kid, and I see this kid cowering, freaked out, and it's,

Aelina: Okay, it's okay. We're friends, just, we've got you.

Ozit, sobbing: What? He tells me there's people coming to kill me! What are you talking about?

Jacqueline: I'm trying to convince them to trust us.

Jee: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah, okay. Is that all for your turn?

Jacqueline: Yes, unless I can try and persuade them this turn.

Jee: I'll say your roll is perception.

Jacqueline: The roll was that? Okay.

Jee: I'll say you won't make the roll yourself, but it will aid– it will add on to the next person who attempts to persuade and calm down, de-escalate the situation. Because you're coming through in a friendly manner.

Jacqueline: Yes.

Jee: OK. Cerridwen. Ha ha ha.

Grace: I love that everyone assumed I was just gonna go straight to trying to kill this kid.

Jee, laughing: I know!

Grace: Like, I also don't want information. I know. I love that.

Winter: And I mean this– Well, to be fair, that's the gist that Olwen got, and therefore I got.

Jee: Which, I will say to you, Cerridwen, based off what Atash said, it wasn't “kill this kid”, it was more so “don't interfere”. Like, just let whatever's gonna happen to him, let it happen. Like he's not your problem.

Grace: He's not my people.

Jee: Yeah, he's not your people.

Grace: So I think with the stealth check and sort of coming in later, I'd like to think Cerridwen found like, a weak spot like in the roof, you know, it's a little crappy old building. So I'm gonna just drop in from the ceiling. [Jee laughing]

Winter: Goddamn assassins!

Jee: Wait! There's people coming to kill you! Window explodes! [Grace: Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam!] Diving in! Aelina coming in! We're not here to hurt you! Roof explodes! BOOM!

Winter: Fucking SWAT team! [players laughing]

Jee: Fucking SWAT team response!

Rosalie: Not to mention, right before that, you realize somebody's looking in your window and has a wand pointed at you before any of this!

Jee: Literal SWAT team response! [laughs, catches breath] Yeah.

Grace: Truly incredible.

Jee: That's hilarious. So on– I'm so into that. Don't roll, cause that's hilarious. You drop in through the goddamn roof.

Grace: Hell yeah.

Jee: Boom!

Grace: Yeah, trying to get as close, yeah, dropping in as close to the kid as possible. I do have a knife out, but it is also not pointed at this child.

Cerridwen: Little Shadow, you are in so much more danger than you know.

Ozit, still sobbing: What's going on!?

Rosalie: Terrifying thinking about how much danger they probably believe they are in.

Ozit: Don’t kill me please!

Jee: Just full weeping.

Cerridwen: That comes later.

Ozit: WHAT!? [sobbing, turning into Jee laughing]

Jee: Yeah! Amazing!

Winter: Followed by a light salad.

Andie: I think Olwen was about to like, try and like, uh, to point his sword towards Cerri, but the moment he sees like the dagger is pointed away, he like hesitates enough that he doesn't do it.

Grace: Yeah. It's more like one hand is like on the shoulder or like… not full intimidation, but like, I am touching you. Okay. We are in, we are in melee range, but you know, knife out in a much more defensive position.

Jee: Um, yeah. Um, Sage, you're up next. Your spell jumpstarted the initiative, so your action is technically spent at the top. So you have your bonus action and movement, still standing outside all of your party going bonkers and converging on this kid. Except for Khuvos, um, is trying to keep an eye out.

Rosalie: Okay, seeing this chaos and knowing like things are very loud right now, we may have limited time. I want to look around this room again. I think I'm probably like, standing next to the window that was broken in. I think that's probably the window that I was like aiming my wand through and stuff.

Jee: Yeah yeah yeah.

Rosalie: I want to see– just do a quick scanning of the surroundings. I want to look for anything that looks like it could be… like if there's a bag of these candles, if there's some bottles, unlabeled bottles of some sort. I'm looking for anything that could be related to this poison.

Jee: Yeah, I'll say give me investigation. In this moment of tension, you quickly look around to see if there's any.

Rosalie: Let's see how my purple D20 is rolling here… Um, not great, but could be worse. 15.

Jee: 15? Um, you see nothing of the like. It's personal belongings, day to day stuff. Nothing suggests this was the poisoner.

Rosalie: Okay. I don't have a bonus action way to hide, but I think I'm intending to kind of like get off the street if the guards come up or something. I don't want to be involved, but I also don't want to be in the room that's exploding.

Jee: Mhmm yeah, absolutely.

Rosalie: So, use my movement to kind of get some cover from passerby, basically.

Jee: Yeah, wonderful. Okay, at the end of your turn, after Sage, your turn, we're gonna go over to finally rolling a two on his initiative, Ozit, and his turn. Absolutely petrified in a corner in this shack, a bunch of strangers SWAT teaming, kicking down his doors, windows, and rooftop [laughs] to enter in a very aggressive but like, uh, somewhat, uh, looking out for you kind of energy, um, very confusing energy he's facing. Um.

Jee: He… Sage you are still at the window, correct?

Rosalie: Yeah, I think I just kind of just barely ducked around the corner. I'm still like. Basically at the window, but if something were to go off through the window, I could run or something, I don't know.

Jee: Yeah, cool. He's going to jump out the window. [laughs] Those of you. This kid is petrified suddenly surrounded. I believe it is… it is a pretty small area. Suda, Aelina, Cerridwen and Sage. [laughs] You guys are all right there.

Winter: I was gonna say, can I use an attack of opportunity to grapple?

Jee: Yes.

Winter: Like grab him by the collar-

Jee: If this kid isn't disengaging and dashing all at the same time to try to get the fuck away. He's not an attacker, he's not a fighter. He is going to fully, bag in his arms, look around at everyone. The ones closest to him, I think are Aelina and Suda, who are right at that window, lifts up his bag, throws it at you and shoulders you out of the way and just vaults over the windowsill and immediately tucks into a roll to avoid Sage right outside the window as his disengage. All of that took some climbing, so that did take a bit of his movement, but he is going to turn and just start booking it. He is going deeper into the docks.

Jee: Khuvos, he has not reached you yet. He will likely on his next turn, unless one of the others is able to get out and reach you first. At this point in time, he is outside of the shack. He is 20 feet away from the shack [footstep sfx] within your guys' movements and heading further into the docks. And that will be the end of his turn, is disengaging, shouldering people out of the way and booking it.

Jee: So with that in mind, we are gonna go to the top of the initiative. [snickering] I don't expect it will go on too much longer. I expect it will be easy to catch this kid, but he is definitely… he's not fighting. He's just trying to get away from you guys. Olwen, you are still at that door that you just kicked in. I will say it is easy enough for you to just turn around. The window he exited was on the opposite side of the door. So he had to exit, go around and then go forward further into the docks. The door you're at faces further into the docks. So it's really just, turn around. He's actually closer to you than he would be anyone else who was by the window. So he's...let me look...he's actually would be only 10 feet away from you.

Andie: Okay, okay. I think Olwen is going to run after him, try to grab the kid and force both of them to like crouch down so that I can tell the kid to not run into the docks because that's where the guards are.

Jee: Yeah, yeah. Absolutely. Go ahead and give me Grapple. That would be...

Andie: Athletics, right?

Jee: Yeah. Go ahead and do athletics, yeah. He's a weasley kid, so we'll see if he slips out. What'd you roll?

Andie: I rolled a five plus three, so eight.

Jee: [laughs] He, with his natural two – one of the only things that he can roll and he failed this check – he's a skinny, skinny little kid. He's very slippery, very dexterous, but you just brute force hold him down. So it's a moment of him running out and being free for a few seconds, immediately getting side-tackled by Olwen and pulled off of the streets and forced to duck down. He made it like a few feet before getting snatched.

Rosalie: This kid is having a really bad day.

Jee: He's having a really bad day.

Andie: Olwen's hand is like on his mouth, as like they crouch down and he's going to say,

Olwen: Brat, don't be fucking stupid. The guards are looking for you at the docks. You need to go the other way. We're going to hide you, understand?

Jee: Go ahead and make this – I'll have this carry over from Aelina's attempt to persuade – go ahead and make just a Persuasion, you can do so with advantage.

Andie: Ha. Minus one, baby!

Jee: If this succeeds, we'll get the-

Grace: I was gonna say, Olwen's so charismatic and friendly...

Jee: If this succeeds, we will exit initiative. But-

Andie: Terrifying wild man grabs you from your house. [group laughter]

Jee: I know, that was all fucking scary. Fucking Bigfoot just football tackled him.

Andie: Okay. Lmao! Eight.

Jee: Jesus, that's with advantage?

Andie: Yes.

Jee: Yeah, he's like trying to bite your hands. He's squirming, he's not convinced.

Andie: Which finger does he try to bite? Cause he might find something weird. [Jee laughs]

Jee: It's like the hand over the mouth, he's trying, but he's not really succeeding. But he's trying.

Andie: At the very least he can't scream while I'm doing this. So yeah, I've accomplished my goal.

Jee: Okay, great. Uh, uh, Suda, you are up next.

Winter: I'm gonna rush out in that pursuit, but seeing that Olwen has subdued the boy, do we have any idea if our commotion has drawn attention?

Jee: You can go ahead and just give me another perception check just to look around the area.

Winter: My perception sucks. Ooh, but, it doesn't matter when I got a natural 20.

Jee: Hell yeah. There is commotion there, people looking around in confusion. Significantly less than you would expect. This is definitely because some have already taken off. There are no officials here yet, but a handful of people definitely went to go fetch them.

Winter: Hm. Then I will just go to Olwen.

Suda: We need to get off the streets, now.

Andie: Olwen will nod in agreement as he's like physically holding this kid down that’s biting his hand.

[Jee making struggle noises]

Winter: I will also grab onto the kid and help Olwen drag him wherever we're going.

Andie: [laughing] These two terrifying people just start dragging him to an alleyway

Jacqueline: Has any of this done any damage to the kid?

Jee: No, he’s–

Jacqueline: Okay

Jee: He's uh, you guys haven't been doing damage to him, it's just been trying to grab him. So yeah, he's just [laughs] you guys carry him off. He's just wiggling–

Winter: Give a whack on the head, let go! Stop!

Jee: You have a hand over his mouth

Ozit: [more distress noises] Waa, waa, waa, waa, waa, waa, waa, waa.

Jee: Like just yelling and freaking out. Having a bad day. [laughs] Wonderful. Khuvos, you're up next.

Emma: Beautiful.So is Khuvos seeing any guards approaching or anything like that?

Jee: Um, since you're being like the primary lookout, um, you do see some of the like four or five people left, um, from what you are positive is them fetching guards. You do see two of them have cornered this one individual who seems to be one of the more undercover guards and are speaking frantically to him and pointing in your direction, and he's nodding along and beginning to move.

Jee: So at this point with you taking your turn to be active lookout, you do see they have been alerted and they are going to start moving towards you guys. In the next round, they will begin to converge on your location.

Emma: Okay. I think just in preparation, um, I'm gonna go ahead and to give us some cover, I'm going to go ahead and instead of that Ice Knife I was holding, I'm gonna switch my tactic, especially after seeing that Olwen and Suda both have a hold on the kid. Um. I'm gonna go ahead and cast Fog Cloud

Jee: Mmmm

Emma: Give us some cover so that we can get out without being seen. Even though they clearly know we're here, so it makes no sense to try and be inconspicuous. So you're just gonna watch Khuvos kind of… In order to make this Fog Cloud, open up his water skin and start pouring water out and you're gonna watch his hand sort of heat up and create this area of steam [sounds of bubbling water and whooshing air] that just issues out to create this fog cloud that just hangs in the air. [more whooshing]

Emma: And with that, he's gonna turn around and after creating this Fog Cloud, move towards Olwen and Suda immediately and just um, not trying to be super loud but, um, carrying the voice, say–

Khuvos: We don't have time, they're coming.

Emma: And that's his turn.

Jee: Amazing. Okay. I love that. Yeah, you create this Fog Cloud. What's the radius of that again?

Emma: One second. Radius on that is 20 feet.

Jee: Okay, wonderful.

Emma: So it's gonna be centered on the house and where everyone is currently trying to grab this kid and go just to give us a head start.

Jee: Okay, yeah, wonderful. Since it is centered on all of you, it does effectively reduce your vision as well. Does it blind completely or just.. remind me of the Fog Cloud?

Emma: So it doesn't blind completely. The area is heavily obscured, it lasts for the duration which is up to an hour as long as I concentrate on it. Or until a wind of moderate or greater speed, at least 10 miles per hour disperses it.

Jee: Gotcha, so you guys, it is heavily obscured. So people from far away can't see you within it, but you guys can still navigate your way out. Good spell, good spell. Good spell for the situation. Okay. Wonderful. At the end of Khuvos's turn, we are going to have, where's my initiative? Aelina, you are up next.

Jacqueline: Absolutely, so Aelina is going to, I'm gonna step out of the shack, right? So I can see what's going on outside. And then I am actually going to cast Message at the kid and say

Aelina, with urgency: We're here to help! Relax, let us get you out.

Jee: Okay, yeah, go ahead and roll Persuasion.

Jacqueline: Alright, come on..

Jee: Please someone with good Charisma roll Persuasion [laughs]

Jacqueline: 18, for 26

Jee: [laughing] 26, goddamn. Yeah. He–

Jacqueline: There's a reason I wanted to do that!

Jee: Absolutely. He does stop, hearing this Message and seems to force himself to take a breath and actually look at his situation. You guys haven't hurt him. You guys have been saying we're here to help, we're here to get you out.

Jee: He took your initial “people are coming to hurt you” as a threat, followed by all of the exploding walls and windows, doors and roof. He.. taking.. you kind of – in a sense, sending this Message directly into him instead of just being another voice yelling in his ear – in his brain are basically saying stop and calm for a second and just look. We are helping you.

Jee: You see this is very effective in getting him to stop struggling. And he kind of holds the hand that was like clawing at Olwen to try to get it off of his mouth. Like he kind of stops and like kind of gives your arm Olwen like a gentle pat as a way of saying like, I'm chill, I'm chill. I'm cool. And you slowly remove your hand and he kind of holds his hands up and goes like

Ozit: [panting, breathing heavily] I gotta get out, I gotta get out of here. Everyone, people are gonna kill me if I stay here but nobody wants... No…I don't know how to get out.

Jee: Um, and with him more or less de-escalated, we are actually going to end initiative here. Um, you guys are in the Fog Cloud still, the people are still converging, so it is in your best interest to um…book it. Um, but he is now, he's no longer running from you guys, he will follow you for the time being.

Aelina: We need to move. Should we go back to the safe house?

Khuvos: That seems like a very big crowd to bring someone wanted to.

Grace: Would I know of – because this is still in the larger part of the lower city in the Rat’s Maze – would there be another, not necessarily as official an establishment as Zara's place, but Cerri has safe houses throughout the lower ci– places to lay low, to hide. Would there be one nearby?

Jee: Go ahead make me... we'll call this a History check.

Grace: Dirty 20.

Jee: Ooh. I mean, you have your own connections here in the city, your own places to go and fall back to. You know of a nearby area. It's essentially like a small sort of like apartment that is not specifically yours. It's used by a lot of Reavers, but it's kind of like open access for anyone to go in and out as they may need. So yeah, you definitely know of that, that is the closest place that you could get to.

Grace: So yeah, I think having heard this discussion, seeing that the kid is no longer fighting going with us, sort of vault myself out the window into the Fog Cloud with the group

Cerridwen: Let's move this way.

Jee: Alright

Rosalie: Before we go, I want to kind of crouch down in front of the kid and look him in the eye and go,

Sage: Is there anything important in there that we need to take?

Ozit: Just my bag that I threw, but it's not like important to like anything. It's just important to me, really.

Sage: All right, let's go.

Rosalie: We have the bag, right? He threw it at us?

Jee: Yeah [laughs] he threw it at you guys.

Rosalie: Okay, yeah.

Jee: I say Aelina, it's easy enough to just scoop it off the ground. He like kind of hit you in the face with it.

Jacqueline: Yeah.

Andie: As we're all like moving out, Olwen is going to sort of follow through the rear. He's going to pick up some of like the dirt and grime that's on the ground, clasp it together in his hands, and sort of spread it down as like they're walking. And I'm going to cast Druidcraft to hide our tracks.

Jee: Ooh. Nice. Okay. Easily enough that we have exited initiative. You all with the Druidcraft and the Fog Cloud, I'll say that is more than sufficient to kind of cover your quick departure. Definitely a bit louder than maybe it should have been, but you got out quietly enough to have no one follow you. At the very least that's what it appears to be. You have Ozit in your company and you all retreat to a sort of small safe house that Cerri knows of.

Jee: There are still questions to be answered, but now at least you have a much, much better lead. It is with that that we will end our episode for today, everyone. Thank you so much for joining in. I hope you had a wonderful time in this sort of uh, tense capture of this witness to this crime. What could he know and in what directions will he point our party next? That you will have to tune in next time to find out for yourself. Until then, we will see you next time. Bye bye.

Grace, Jacqueline, Emma: Bye.

Suda: Bye bye now.

Andie: This was perfectly executed.

Rosalie: I don't trust him. I think there's something important that we left behind, but I don't..aah!

Jee: [laughs] Yeah, wonderful.