EE-3-14 - The Things That Haunt Them

SUMMARY

The girls, still nervous about Ariel being attacked by the shadow creature once more, decide to have a sleep over in Ariel’s room. While preparing, Kenina and Tempest both find letters in their rooms instructing them to meet with the guild masters tomorrow. Meanwhile, Rem heads to his room, where he, once again, finds himself dealing with the aftermath of his Fort falling.

After a full night’s rest, the party has a number of errands to run, but before they can get started, a note is slid under Ariel’s door, requesting that she meet the guild masters. Now. Alberich leads them down to where Verna is waiting for them in The Vault. The shadow creature had appeared, only it appeared at the spear.

SHOW SPONSORS

This episode is brought to you by Fred on Fyre, and Evora Dawn. If you'd like to join them in supporting the show, consider joining our Patreon.

SHOUT OUTS 

GonnaGeek Promo – Play Comics – Play Comics is a fellow GonnaGeek podcast that compares and contrasts video games with their comic book source material.

Ovani Sound – Ovani Sound is a wonderful group of audio producers. They have ran a couple of Humble Bundles since I was last doing a lot of show production and I quickly grabbed them both. They create music, sound effects, and atmospheric sounds and have been a great addition to my catalog to pull from. As this episode goes live, they are actually running yet another Humble Bundle with even more sounds!

Andrew H – I just gotta give a shout out to Andrew H. We took an unexpected hiatus when Caitlin and I moved. While things were always pretty transparent in our Discord community, I am pretty bad about updating general social media. During the hiatus, Andrew reached out to us to see what was going on since it had been so long since the last episode. As a pretty small show, it makes our day whenever we hear someone is listening to us and enjoys our show enough to notice when it isn’t around.

Upcoming Nightwatch – I know, a lot of shout outs and calls to action with this episode, but our last one is to encourage you to send questions to us for our upcoming Nightwatch! Luckily, you probably have a few months to get them in, but we know this arc is coming to a close in the next couple sessions, so we wanted to go this out now. You can also leave us a review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or Podchaser. We’d love to see the feedback and if you let us know about the review, we will be collecting them and reading them out during the Nightwatch recording as well!

CAST

Damian - The DM

Chris - Rem

Christa - Ariel

Chantalle - Kenina

Caitlin - Tempest

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GONNAGEEK NETWORK

Adventures in Erylia a part of the GonnaGeek Network of shows. You can find us and many other geeky shows over on gonnageek.com

MUSIC

A huge thank you to all of the musicians who allow us to use their work. If you are interested in learning about them, check out our Music Page.

Fimbulwinter – Vindsvept (Intro)

Long Journey (Main) – Ovani Sound (1:16)

Exploration (Main) – Ovani Sound (1:56)

Nocturnal (Main) – Ovani Sound (3:13)

Tavern Loop 1 – Creator Chords (4:36)

Ambient Room – Monument Studios (5:59)

Temple of Knowledge (6:11)

Et Ainsi – Dark Fantasy Studio (6:19)

Improv Piano B – Monument Studios (7:09)

Medieval Library – Tabletop Audio (7:19)

Ethereal Atmos – Monument Studios (9:38)

Dark Emotional Piano – Monument Studios (10:49)

Improv Piano B – Monument Studios (12:23)

Under The Night Sky – Cafofo (13:58)

Classical Harp Night Time – Monument Studios (17:15)

Garden Oasis – Purple Planet Music (19:52)

Suspense (Intensity 1) – Ovani Sound (21:22)

Divine Offering – Monument Studios (21:36)

Retribution (Intensity 1) – Ovani Sound (23:11)

Secret Water – Dark Fantasy Studio (24:02)

Hidden Secrets of the Realm – Fusehive (24:07)

Sleepy Harp – Monument Studios (25:24)

Creepy Corridors – Joel Steudler (27:53)

Countryside – Michael Ghelfi (27:55)

Carriage Journey – Tabletop Audio (28:05)

Construction Ambience (Simplified) – Fusehive (28:18)

Carriage Journey – Tabletop Audio (31:01)

Construction Ambience (Full Mix) – Fusehive (31:06)

Lumber Camp – Michael Ghelfi (31:24)

Blacksmith Shoppe – Tabletop Audio (31:53)

Ephemeral – Monument Studios (32:08)

Village 4 – cafofo (32:08)

Ambient Room – Monument Studios (33:05)

Evil Cave (Intensity 2) – Ovani Sound (37:00)

Evil Residents – Joel Steudler (38:12)

Duel (Intensity 1) – Ovani Sound (39:44)

Mortal Terror – Joel Steudler (40:04)

Murmur – JDB Artist (41:49)

Alone – JDB Artist (41:50)

Sleepy Harp – Monument Studios (44:00)

Ethereal – Monument Studios (44:29)

Background Strings and Woodwinds – Monument Studios (44:43)

Medieval Library – Tabletop Audio (48:42)

Piano Improvisation – Monument Studios (48:44)

Ambient Room – Monument Studios (50:00)

Solstice B – Monument Studios (54:06)

Tense Atmos – Monument Studios (55:11)

Tension – Monument Studios (55:12)

Abandoned – Purple Planet Music (55:53)

Somber Cello – Monument Studios (56:21)

Scary Theme #1 – AndySV (58:17)

Lullaby for Piano – Monument Studios (58:37)

Dreamscape Loop A – Ovani Sound (58:51)

Dark & Anxious – Monument Studios (59:31)

Low Magic Tones – Monument Studios (59:32)

Panic Attack – Dark Fantasy Studio (59:45)

Dark Magic B – Monument Studios (59:54)

Knightfall D – Monument Studios (1:07:10)

Ethereal Calm – Ovani Sound (1:07:15)

Rites – Incompetech (1:09:15)

Last Stand – Vindsvept (Outro)

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

This episode of Adventures in Aurelia is brought to you by Fred on Fire and Avora Dawn on Patreon. You can join them in supporting the show at patreon.com/slash adventures in Aurelia. Hello, and welcome to Adventures in Aurelia, a podcast where five friends sit around the table and record themselves playing Dungeons and Dragons. I'm Damien and I'm the DM.

SPEAKER_07 0:37

I'm Krista and I play as Ariel, an Asmar Divine Soul Sorceress.

SPEAKER_01 0:43

I'm Chris and I play Rim, a human paladin.

SPEAKER_04 0:46

I'm Chantel and I play Kanina, a tiefling sorcerer. I'm Caitlin, I play Tempest, a Water Genasi Ranger.

SPEAKER_00 0:54

I'm Chris from Play Comics, a show where we look at video games based on comic properties and how well they stick to that source material. A part of the Gunning Geek Network. Just like the show you're checking out now. Shows on the network are individually owned, and opinions expressed may not reflect others. Find other astonishingly geeky shows at Gunning GeekNetwork.com.

SPEAKER_02 1:17

We do have a couple shout-outs for today. I want to give a shout out to Ovani Sound, who is a group of like audio engineers that create music and sound effects that I found on Humble Bundle. Since our last recording, they've actually done two Humble Bundles, and I have gotten a lot of stuff from them over the last year and change. They're super active in their Discord, and I know that at least a couple of them have been uh following along with the show since I started interacting with them, and they've been uh really giving some support and looking forward to uh us getting back to recording again. I'd also love to give a shout out to Andrew H. You know who you are. He reached out to us on Facebook during this long, unintentional hiatus that was spurred on by the fact that September of 2023, Caitlin and I found out that we had to move. And all of our focus for the last nine months has been spent on moving and then trying to get our new place ready to have people over. And then after six months of not hanging out with people, we needed to hang out a couple times before we tried to get right into DD. And now we're finally in July of 2024, recording again. Yes, I'm dating this podcast recording because it's been that long.

SPEAKER_05 2:48

13 months.

SPEAKER_02 2:50

Yeah, the last one was recorded in June. We looked that up earlier. June of 2023.

SPEAKER_07 2:56

Not last month. Last year. I've been deprived.

SPEAKER_02 3:04

But we're back and hopefully more regularly now. Yeah. Let's see how many recording sessions we can get in in 2024. Yeah, we'll see what this chapter looks like for the uh Adventures in Aurelia group. Speaking of this chapter of the Adventures in Aurelia group, we are getting close to. I say close in relative terms, uh, because who knows how long it takes us to actually record that far. But we're getting close to the end of this arc, which means now would be the perfect time if you haven't done so to go leave us a review on Apple Podcasts or Podchaser or anywhere else. Send us in an email at adventuresinarillia at gmail.com if you do leave us a review, just so I know to go hunt it down and find it, because we will be doing a Night Watch probably in the next three or four months as we wrap up this story arc and begin the next one. And if you leave us a review, it'll get featured on the Night Watch episode. You can also send in any questions or discussion topics that you would like us to uh talk about during the Night Watch session because that is kind of our meta breakdown time of talking about the whole last arc and how things have gone and what we're thinking of for the arc coming up in the future. So you've got a couple months to get those in. Hopefully, by the time this episode is uh edited and released, it will still be a couple months. I'll try to put enough of a gap there that we can uh get some questions in first. Previously, on Adventures in Aurelia. The party had some time off before they get ready for their next adventure. Naturally, after being gone for so long on their first real adventure, they had to do some resupplying and realize some of the things that they are missing for long journeys away from the city. After a group stop at Gregorio's General Emporium of the regular and mundane for general supplies, the party split into a few groups to do some focused shopping of their own. Canina, Tempest, and Ariel visited the farrier to acquire saddles for the horses, as well as inquire about getting armor for the horses. Rem revisited Gizgig, the alchemist, before returning to the stables to drop some stuff off. After the farrier, Ariel made her way to the farmer's market area of Riven to buy treats for the horses, while Kanina and Tempest visited a blacksmith to inquire about getting armor and weapons for the cart, as well as armor for the horses, since that was not something the farrier offers. Hell broke loose at the stables as everyone eventually found themselves there to drop things off and learn about the limitations of the token system. We're gonna pick things up today. About 9 p.m. on the 12th of Monanon. The group had just gotten back from a very interesting trip to the stables to drop some stuff off to try to see the horses and the cart, and you guys, I believe we're making your way back to the guild hall. So why don't we kind of pick things up as you guys enter the main kind of great hall chamber of the guild hall?

SPEAKER_07 6:24

Hey Rem, can we go up to your room and uh I just want the tokens, the horse tokens, please?

SPEAKER_01 6:32

Yeah, sure. Rem will head up to his room, stop Ariel at the door as he goes in by himself, pulls the horse tokens out of his pocket that he's at the entire time, open the door and hand them out.

SPEAKER_07 6:44

Thank you!

SPEAKER_01 6:45

Try not to get in any more trouble.

SPEAKER_07 6:47

Okay. Uh can we have like are you going to bed right now? She knocks on the door.

SPEAKER_01 6:57

What do you need?

SPEAKER_07 6:58

I was just wondering if we could have like a group meeting and chat before we all go to bed.

SPEAKER_01 7:03

Uh yeah, sure. Where do you want to meet?

SPEAKER_07 7:06

Why don't we head back down and find the others? Maybe we could get a drink or something.

SPEAKER_01 7:11

Alright, I'll see you down in the canteen.

SPEAKER_07 7:13

Okay. And then Ariel's gonna go try to find Nina.

SPEAKER_02 7:16

What do Canina and Tempest do after Ariel follows Rem up to his room?

SPEAKER_06 7:21

Canina and Tempest will uh just wait downstairs, probably by the receptionist desk. Bid Susanna hello if she's there.

SPEAKER_02 7:29

Uh, it's not Susanna's shift right now. I'm the night shift attendant. My name is Roger.

SPEAKER_06 7:35

Roger.

SPEAKER_02 7:36

Uh, it does look like your friends are on their way back down right about now. Uh, if if you do need anything, I will be here later.

SPEAKER_06 7:45

Thank you, Roger.

SPEAKER_02 7:46

Good day, Kanina.

SPEAKER_06 7:48

You didn't introduce yourself to him.

SPEAKER_02 7:51

R Roger looks over at Tempest. Kanina is quite well known among the guild.

SPEAKER_06 7:58

Uh, but yeah, as she sees um Ariel and Rem coming back down, she'll be like, uh, oh, you got the tokens, guys? Are we going back in?

SPEAKER_07 8:06

Rem got me the tokens. Um I think it's kinda I don't know that they're gonna want the horses now.

SPEAKER_06 8:13

Yeah, I think we should just keep them in hand, because I also have an errand uh to take the cart in, so I may need to use the horses to get to where I need to drop them off tomorrow.

SPEAKER_07 8:22

Errol's gonna look over at Rem. Is there a cart token too?

SPEAKER_01 8:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 8:28

You have that one?

SPEAKER_01 8:29

Nope.

SPEAKER_06 8:29

Where's that one?

SPEAKER_01 8:30

With the guild quartermaster.

SPEAKER_06 8:33

Well, we'll have to pay them a visit in the morning so that I can uh grab that.

SPEAKER_02 8:37

Did you guys stay where you were when you had this conversation? Sure. Uh I believe that we actually have the token uh back here. It was under file for uh uh Rem left it with a note earlier.

SPEAKER_06 8:54

Oh.

SPEAKER_02 8:54

Do you need it back?

SPEAKER_06 8:56

Uh like uh canino will look at him.

SPEAKER_01 8:58

Just be like Roger is staring at Rem. Uh I left it with you guys so that the cart could be loaded. If uh you are no longer requiring to do that, we can take it.

SPEAKER_02 9:09

It doesn't say that the cart has been loaded with everything yet, but uh it did sound like you might need it tomorrow.

SPEAKER_01 9:17

Well, if we need it, we can come get it then. Rather leave it where we're using it, we know where it is.

SPEAKER_02 9:23

Can Kanina comes?

SPEAKER_01 9:24

Kanina can come take it.

SPEAKER_02 9:26

Roger uh writes down another note that says that Kanina is able to retrieve the token.

SPEAKER_06 9:33

And I'll probably need the tokens for the horses, so if I can get permission for that, she'll like lean over and make sure that Roger's writing. I have those. Yeah, but uh You can have permission to use them. There we go.

SPEAKER_02 9:45

I've made note.

SPEAKER_06 9:48

Thank you very much. Uh but that being said, um, and she'll start to pull you guys kind of away um a bit and just be like. Uh, I do think perhaps we should keep close tonight, just because we may run the risk of uh having another nighttime visitor. Even with the object being removed from our possession, it might be good just to make sure there's no lingering remnants that might pop up. I don't know, it felt like it was quite a dangerous thing we encountered. I'd hate for anybody to have to handle that alone in case it's not as simple as we think it is.

SPEAKER_07 10:23

I don't think we've worked out if it was actually after the spear or if it was after me because of the bad dream I had.

SPEAKER_06 10:32

So it's I mean ultimately it is up to you.

SPEAKER_07 10:35

If you feel like you're secure enough to remain by yourself tonight, by all means, but I wouldn't mind having at least somebody there in case it does come back and makes it so I can't do anything. Yeah, sure, I can sleep over. I don't think I've ever stayed over in your room before, so. It's clean for the most part. I did have a question for everybody, but I mean if everybody's tired, I guess we could talk first thing in the morning. Uh yeah, what's your question? Well, so I'm kind of uneasy about bringing Princess along with us. Um, but I don't know what will what would happen to Princess. And like, if we can't ride the cart and the horses anymore, then like where are they gonna go? Will I ever see princess again? So I was thinking maybe we can and I don't mind spending my money on it, like, rent a new horse, and I can find out how much it's gonna cost for princess to stay.

SPEAKER_06 11:35

I don't know if renting things has worked out well for us in the past, so it may be more of an investment we might need to consider. But I mean, Princess was certainly uh the horse that you've purchased and cherished along our journeys, so it is entirely up to you what we do with Princess, but we do need to look for a replacement as soon as possible if we want to keep our original plan of leaving within four days' time.

SPEAKER_07 12:03

Yeah, so my plan was to get up in the morning and go see if I can find a different horse.

SPEAKER_08 12:08

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_07 12:09

Um, and then I was planning on taking no name to get fitted for the battle saddle instead, and Princess to get fitted for my saddle that I had planned on keeping in my room, anyways.

SPEAKER_06 12:20

Yeah, I think that would be fine. Uh we'll just have to make sure we adjust our plans so that uh people aren't needing the cart and the horses at the same kind of time. So uh I know sometime within the next day or two here I need to go take the cart out to get uh fitted with some adjustments. So I'll need to uh be able to utilize the horses at some point. With your permission, of course. I know uh Rem arranged for us to get uh restocked on supplies for our upcoming journey. So we may have to uh time this accordingly.

SPEAKER_07 12:50

Mm-hmm. I have other things to shop for too while horses were being used, so.

SPEAKER_06 12:54

Uh Rem, did you uh have a timeline for when the cart would get stocked up?

SPEAKER_01 13:00

I simply asked for it to be ready for when we're gonna leave in a few days.

SPEAKER_06 13:03

Okay, so it'll likely be available for me to utilize tomorrow morning. Uh should we maybe drop the cart off in the morning with the horses, and then we can take the horses directly to uh the ferrier? That sounds like a good idea. Yeah, the sh the cart will be out of commission for a couple days, it sounds like, to get fitted uh with the changes that I've scheduled for it. Okay. Alright, sounds good. So uh I'll end up sleeping over in your room tonight, Ariel, and then the two of you can feel free to sleep as well or go back to your own rooms. I know it's been a long journey, so.

SPEAKER_05 13:36

Um, I think it's safest to crash with you guys just in case.

SPEAKER_07 13:42

Uh, that being said, it's fairly late, so. Yeah, with Rem yawning over there, we better go to bed. Old man. The old man can't keep up.

SPEAKER_02 13:52

So with that, sounds like Rem is going to make his way up to his own room, and Tempest and Kanina are going to join Ariel in her room for the night to try to keep her safe.

SPEAKER_01 14:04

If I remember correctly, Rim wasn't exactly far from her room. It's like a couple rooms down.

SPEAKER_02 14:09

Yeah, I think you're like across the hall, down a couple doors. Before going to bed, is there any thing or reason for Tempest or Kanina to go to your own rooms, or are you just going to head straight to Ariel's room?

SPEAKER_06 14:23

I think uh Nina would go to her room just to get like a blanket and a pillow, you know? Yeah, same.

SPEAKER_02 14:29

Okay. Kanina, as you enter your room, there is a sealed letter placed on the pillow of your bed. Ooh, a letter. And on the front of it it says Kanina.

SPEAKER_06 14:43

Uh Kanina, somewhat excitedly, will approach the letter and she'll start opening it up. She has no restraint.

SPEAKER_02 14:51

So the letter is actually very short. It says, Meet us tomorrow night, Beerie and Verna.

unknown 14:59

Oh.

SPEAKER_02 15:00

Does it have a date on it? It does not.

SPEAKER_06 15:03

Um, so seeing the letter, uh, Kanina could infer that they mean tomorrow night, most likely. So this is the same day. That's what you believe. Then um Kenina uh will excitedly like bestow the letter, and she'll assume that it is for tomorrow night, and uh she'll be looking forward to that. Yes, Kenina is very excited. She rarely gets letters, and to have one from people that she admires so fondly on her first night back makes her very excited. Tempest. Yes.

SPEAKER_02 15:32

As you enter your room, you also find a letter on your bed. Okay. It is addressed to Tempest.

SPEAKER_05 15:39

Oh, good. Uh, I will walk over and open the letter.

SPEAKER_02 15:45

Your letter is a little more drawn out. It says, uh, essentially along the same lines of Greetings, Tempest, and welcome to Savall's Guild of Adventures. I would like to speak with you once again before you and your companions leave Riven. Please meet me around midday. Signed, Albrecht Ironfist, leader of the clergy and grandmaster of Saval's Guild of Adventures.

SPEAKER_05 16:12

Alright. So she will put the letter back down. Keep in mind that she needs to go meet, grab her uh blanket and pillow and and head over for Girls' Night.

SPEAKER_02 16:30

Ariel, as you get to your room, there's not a letter sitting on the bed.

SPEAKER_07 16:35

Okay. Ariel just head into her room and start prepping for sleep over in her room.

SPEAKER_02 16:42

Shortly after Ariel enters her room, because I don't think it would take very long for Kanina or Tempest to read their letters or grab the stuff that they want to take with them and their room neighbors, so I doubt you know they they'd probably walk up together and they they walk over to Ariel's room. Would you have left the door open or closed it behind you?

SPEAKER_07 17:02

Um, I probably wouldn't actually have closed it. It might be just cracked or something.

SPEAKER_02 17:06

Okay. Do Tempest or Kanina just waltz in or do they knock?

SPEAKER_06 17:12

Um, I think Kanina will do both at the same time. She'll wrap her knuckles on the door as she strolls in. Just be like, We're here, Ariel. Tempest is trailing behind Kanina as usual. Come on in. You know, I say I'll say like for flavor text. I think Kanina also would have grabbed like a kettle with some water and some dried tea stuff from her room. But uh yeah, so strolling in with all of her pillows and her tea kettle. She'll just be like, Alright, where do you want us for the night?

SPEAKER_07 17:40

Um, well, one of you can share the bed with me, or you wherever you want.

SPEAKER_02 17:47

And all the rooms at the guild hall do have like a basin inside the room. And while Kenina has ways of making fire if she wants to heat this uh this kettle.

unknown 18:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 18:00

I think Kanina will like uh dump her stuff, uh her blanket and her pillow, like on the comfy chair in the corner over there, and uh she'll start making some tea, filling up the uh the kettle.

SPEAKER_02 18:11

So, Tempest.

SPEAKER_04 18:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 18:14

Because you haven't spent a lot of time in your room exploring or anything yet. You notice as Kanina walks over to the basin, because Kanina is familiar with the guild, and simply touches the spigot, and water begins to fill the basin, and then thus the kettle. Which might stand out to Tempest who has spent so much time lately on a boat.

SPEAKER_05 18:40

There's plumbing here? There's not plumbing. The fuck was that?

SPEAKER_02 18:45

What would Kanina know exactly about? Saval's Guild of Adventures is filled with a, you know, very knowledgeable and powerful people. There is not traditional plumbing in most of the guild hall. What Kanina has probably discovered from talking to like Beery over time is that the the basins are actually enchanted with a create water spell at the spigot and a destroy water spell in the drain.

SPEAKER_06 19:13

Can you all turn the tempest and be like, oh yeah, I guess you're relatively new here. Uh yeah, the uh the faucet here has uh cray water and then the drain is uh destroy water, so you know, you tap it here, and then it's worked. Isn't it cool? It's super convenient. We didn't have anything like this in my small town.

SPEAKER_05 19:30

That's pretty nifty, and then Tempest goes over and like uses her own Cray Water spell, just like so it's just like that.

SPEAKER_02 19:41

And still Tempest's water as she creates it on her own gets destroyed as it hits the drain.

SPEAKER_06 19:49

Yeah, they have a bunch of nifty and creative things here at the guild. Nina will take a look over at Ariel's like herb collection on her wall and just be like, oh, I see you have some like fresh herbs and stuff growing in here. You mind if I take a look? Yeah, go ahead. She'll take a look and see if there's anything that me might be compatible, like for tea, and throw in there.

SPEAKER_02 20:11

So there would be at least one thing that I know can be used to create tea. Ariel has a catnip plant.

SPEAKER_06 20:17

Ah, yeah. Canina will grab a pinch and pick off some of the leaves to maybe throw in with an interesting blend of some of her dried herbs that she would have tossed in.

SPEAKER_02 20:27

I imagine that Ariel has things like the catnip, and there's probably a basil plant and thyme, and maybe a lavender, and probably a couple things that turn into pretty flowers.

SPEAKER_07 20:38

Ariel's an herbalist, and she has been since that was something she was trained and learned at the monastery. So she would be keeping stuff to make, like basic rem like owies, like cut your finger, or kind of got a cold. Basically, like your your home kit of band-aids and stuff.

SPEAKER_06 20:59

And Kenya will start making a conversation about that. She's like, uh yeah, I also collect herbs, but I tend to uh dry all of mine out and hang them by my windows and such. Oh. Yeah, you're welcome to check out any of them if you ever need anything dried up. That sounds good. I tend to use a lot of them for cooking purposes and teas and whatnot. So then I use mine for medicines. Well, a lot of them have uh shared similarities, you know. Canino start uh putting together the collection of herbs into the steeper for all of us to enjoy. And well, hopefully uh nothing will come of tonight. We not we can all just have a nice rest.

SPEAKER_07 21:33

Yeah, I'm really hoping that the thing isn't after me, that it was just after the sphere, and I will be safe.

SPEAKER_06 21:42

So after we're kind of settled down, maybe finished most of our tea, uh, Kenita will turn to Ariel and just be like, so uh what's it like uh hearing from Kosane? Like, what do you mean? Like what's it like? Like uh you talk with Your guardian and whatnot, right? Do you actually have like back and forth conversations?

SPEAKER_07 22:05

Or well, when I when I'm conscious, it's mostly just me praying, I guess. But Kosin's talk to me like when I'm dreaming.

SPEAKER_06 22:15

Hmm. Yeah. I've experienced dream conversations myself, as I've mentioned, but yeah, so I guess it'd be a lot like when you've told me you've talked to Doiton. Yeah, and then Kanina's now on the flip side never experienced, you know, talking with Kossein like you have. So it's just very much like a, yeah, I guess it kind of sounds similar. We both have dream talking people.

SPEAKER_07 22:36

I mean, when I when I got attacked by Grimfang, um, Kossein was right there with me, um, helping me to fight him. So it kind of feels real and like talking to a friend.

SPEAKER_06 22:52

Do you ever get to uh choose when you can have those conversations, or does it just happen? It just happens.

SPEAKER_07 23:00

You see. I can talk to Kossein and like pray, like in a prayer type of thing, and I believe Kossein can hear me, but I mean Kossain can choose when they want to talk back.

SPEAKER_06 23:13

Yeah, I just I've been having a bit of uh, I suppose, doubts in some of my more recent conversations that I've had with Doitan, so I don't know. I was kind of hoping perhaps if you maybe, if you could have any conversations with Kosane, maybe about information they might know about the dragons and Doitan. If there's any information to be have. I know it's not something you can control, but if it does an opportunity presents itself, maybe getting more information might help fill out some of the missing gaps in the stories.

SPEAKER_07 23:55

Okay, I'll keep that in mind. And hopefully my subconscious remembers.

SPEAKER_06 24:08

No. Nope, never had it happen.

unknown 24:10

Nope.

SPEAKER_06 24:11

Huh. Nope. Yeah, it's kind of an odd experience.

SPEAKER_05 24:14

Sounds like it. Just don't seem like knees to chest, talking, but just curls up in a little bit. Twenty-two!

SPEAKER_02 24:29

She just seems like she's telling the truth. I was gonna say, you you can you can roll deception if you want, and now you might roll a 20. What you roll to determine what feeling they might get, but typically don't enforce uh roles against other players.

SPEAKER_05 24:49

An 18, and I have a plus zero in deception. So 18. You you can tell that she You have, but you obviously don't want to talk about it.

SPEAKER_06 25:03

It's it's like a um sure kind of thing. I think Canina like she feels she's pushed Tempests out of her comfort zone a lot. So, like, if she can obviously tell that you're not wanting to talk about something like that, she'll just be like, hmm, well, perhaps there's something that we all have a bit more in common than I thought. Yeah, well, hopefully all of this strangeness will resolve itself in due time. So I think I'll go ahead and head to bed.

SPEAKER_05 25:30

I'll take first watch. Tempest is kind of a night owl. I know Nina's more of an early riser.

SPEAKER_06 25:36

Ariel's in between. So Canina will go ahead and tuck in and she'll be like, yeah, uh, just wake me up. Uh after a few hours, Tempest.

SPEAKER_05 25:44

Tempest is just gonna play with her rope.

SPEAKER_06 25:49

I think being fairly small will just curl up in the big chair with her blanket and pillow.

SPEAKER_07 25:55

Ariel being super comfortable with her lady friends is just gonna strip and get in the bed.

SPEAKER_02 26:00

So the girls get ready for their sleepover. Or they're going to rotate through watches and ramp. Way back when when they entered their room. You would have entered your room, I imagine? Yeah. Again. There's not a letter on your bed, and your room looks nice and tidy the way you would have left it. Are you just going straight into bed?

SPEAKER_01 26:24

I mean, we'll probably go through his nightly ritual and then lay down.

SPEAKER_02 26:28

But you're not looking to accomplish anything anymore tonight. Alright. Tempest took first watch. Mm-hmm. How long would Tempest sit there taking watch before handing things over to uh Ariel?

SPEAKER_05 26:44

Were we just gonna do two watches?

SPEAKER_02 26:47

That's kind of up to you.

SPEAKER_05 26:49

Uh it's probably like what, 10 o'clock?

SPEAKER_02 26:53

It was about 10 or so when you guys decided to call it a night.

SPEAKER_05 26:57

Um, I'd probably do four hours.

SPEAKER_02 27:02

Are you going straight to Kanina or are you gonna wake Ariel up?

SPEAKER_05 27:06

Oh no, no. The idea is that Ariel sleeps and is not alone. So, Nina. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 27:14

Eventually, while you were taking watch, the sun would have finished setting. Every once in a while you'd hear the footsteps of someone walking down the hallway, probably returning to their own room. There's a couple night owls that you would have heard through the door, leaving their rooms, possibly going out for a night on the town. There there is a number of uh bars and taverns and things to do at night in the town of Ribbon, especially being a sailor's town. But during your time watching, you do not see any weird, shadowy, spooky demon creatures appearing in the room.

SPEAKER_05 27:51

Always a good thing.

SPEAKER_02 27:52

Ariel probably snores a little bit. She strikes me as that type of person. Rem. A while after you've drifted off into sleep, you find yourself outside of a fort garrison. Walking on a road that has people. Uh there's there's mules that have like log-carrying carts that are hauling things into this fort garrison. There are people that you can see working on the outside. It looks like they're uh doing a mixture of reinforcing and rebuilding things. And as you continue approaching, you see that there are. It's hard to think of them as guards. Because they're no guards that you've recognized. They're not uniformed in a way that you're familiar with. They're hardly uniformed at all. They just have armor and some crude weapons, and they're standing outside of the gate here. And as you approach, they call it to you.

SPEAKER_03 28:54

He's like, Hey, who are you?

SPEAKER_01 28:56

I'm Rim.

SPEAKER_03 28:58

What's your business here?

SPEAKER_01 29:00

Where's here?

SPEAKER_02 29:02

This is Fort Alanon, the future seat of Ulsir.

SPEAKER_01 29:06

Does Rim recognize that name?

SPEAKER_02 29:09

Yes. Alanon strikes Rem as being the name of what he knew as the bandit leader that united the bandits to sack the fort that Rem was stationed at.

SPEAKER_01 29:27

So he's going to take a moment to kind of absorb that Alan. Why is it named Fort Alan?

SPEAKER_02 29:36

After taking his rightful place as leader in this area, Alanon decided to name it for himself to signify that he is the rightful leader of this region.

SPEAKER_01 29:51

Leader.

SPEAKER_02 29:52

And where is this leader now? He's stationed up in what was once the barracks. We're working on a better accommodation for him as we build out the fort that was once here into somewhere more worthy of his attention.

SPEAKER_01 30:11

There's two of these guys?

SPEAKER_02 30:13

Uh, there's like six of them.

SPEAKER_01 30:16

I have a message that I'm supposed to give to the commander of this fort.

SPEAKER_03 30:21

And what is this message?

SPEAKER_01 30:24

For his ears only.

SPEAKER_03 30:26

Who are you to be seeking an audience?

SPEAKER_01 30:29

Simply the messenger.

SPEAKER_03 30:31

You said ears.

SPEAKER_02 30:32

I'm guessing that this was a spoken message only.

SPEAKER_01 30:37

Well, that's what makes it a message, yes.

SPEAKER_02 30:39

Some messages are written. And he turns away from you, puts his fingers to his lips, and whistles loudly. And three people that are in the similar piecemeal armor that are deeper inside the fort carrying spears come at kind of a slow trot over to you. They've got a little bit of hustle, but they're not moving, they're not running. Messenger for Lord Alanon. Aye, sir. Come with us.

SPEAKER_01 31:09

Remove follow. As he goes, he's looking around the base.

SPEAKER_02 31:14

As as you look around, there's probably somewhere between a hundred to a hundred and fifty people that you see throughout the inside of this area. Like I said, some are uh leading mules that are carrying log carts. There's an area that has been built up to be a like lumber uh processing station that has a number of beasts of burden and people helping uh turn the logs that are being taken from the mountainside and turned into usable lumber. And there are dozens of people that are working on repairing things. You can see a couple like wood foundations that are being worked on. There's the sound of hammers ringing, uh, that seems to be blacksmiths working on tools and nails and other things for the rebuild effort.

SPEAKER_01 32:08

So he's taking note that the fact that this is obviously or was recently a sacked fort and uh keeps walking.

SPEAKER_02 32:16

You are escorted to the old barracks. Uh you can see that the like outside of it has been extra reinforced. There's places where there were windows that have had like iron bars affixed to the windows, and even with that, they've like affixed stakes to the outside of them. To discourage anyone from even attempting to enter through them, the door has uh a number of large spikes that have been implanted into the outside facing out. But with being escorted by these couple guards, the door is opened for you, and you are brought inside. You hear them mention that a message for Lord Alanon, uh messenger was sent. He'll walk in. Stand quietly. The doors closed behind you. Gonna need you to wait here for a moment. And one of them stays with you while the other one that had escorted you over goes somewhere back deeper into the barracks. Uh, they round a corner and you can't tell where they're going anymore. A few minutes later, they come back. Lord Alanon would like to know what your purpose is here. I have a message from him.

SPEAKER_01 33:33

A message from whom? From the prior lord of the area. Prior Lord of the Area.

SPEAKER_02 33:41

The one that was disposed. I see. One moment. He walks back. A few minutes go by, and he comes back once again. Lord Alanon does not recognize anyone of leadership from this area. He says that he is only interested in receiving a message from Queen Selena.

SPEAKER_01 34:04

I cannot speak for her majesty, but the message I have is short. It's meant for him and should not take long.

SPEAKER_02 34:12

He hangs his head, walks away again. Kind of hear him scuff his foot across the ground.

SPEAKER_01 34:18

Like, how far does it seem like he's going? Can I tell?

SPEAKER_02 34:21

I mean, he's gone for three to five minutes at a time. So you can't tell how far he's going. Who knows how long when he's talking to Alan on? Is there a back and forth or anything?

SPEAKER_01 34:36

With previous knowledge of similar forts and barracks, like, do I know about where I am and about like the layout that might be beyond this area?

SPEAKER_02 34:46

Kind of, uh, based on the way that it was structured before, um, you knew that the previously presiding lord had a room in the upper level towards the back that was relatively secure with multiple choke points to get to it.

SPEAKER_01 35:05

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 35:06

You would estimate that it probably takes him about a minute to walk there and back every time.

SPEAKER_01 35:12

Okay. And the room I'm in, I'm guessing it still has seen.

SPEAKER_02 35:14

You're just in the front room.

SPEAKER_01 35:16

Several people in it.

SPEAKER_02 35:17

Several people. There are several closed doors because this is like the leading choke point if someone were to ever breach it. So there's many pretty sturdy doors that are surrounding the room that you're in to try to prevent uh an incoming attacker from advancing through here before the defending forces have time to get their defenses in order. A few minutes go by, he comes back. He says, if it's short, he will see you. It is short. And he walks you back through the room. He walks you back through the barracks to the room that you would have expected to be taken to. So past all the choke points, and yeah, you notice as he's taking you through, there are a number of doors that, like, there is two guards standing outside of you. Count three of these sort of checkpoints where one of the guards that you walk up to is the one that unlocks and opens the door to let you through. And you are walked into a pretty extravagant office area, large kind of war table set up in the center of it. You see maps of the region. There are a number of things circled and highlighted on it. There are a couple of like pawns placed on the map, and uh standing on the opposite side of the table from you is a you would say well dressed for a commoner man with a very extravagant uh sword at his hip. In fact, though it's not the final version, you can feel free to describe the weapon that is at Alan's hip.

SPEAKER_01 37:08

It's like a basket-hilted rapier, possibly eh, more saber-ish, adorned with green filigree jewels and claws. Looks relatively sharp.

SPEAKER_02 37:20

And by the time that the episode is live, we should have the finished piece of that artwork.

SPEAKER_07 37:27

So that's what it is.

SPEAKER_01 37:30

So as Rim enters this room, is that is it just the two of them or did that other guy come in as well?

SPEAKER_02 37:35

Oh, there is two guards that are like on the inside of the door, plus the one that was escorting you through here. Okay. And he stops kind of mid-stride. This man is probably about three inches shorter than you are. Rough cut, fairly shaggy, blonde hair, is wearing sort of like a a dress coat, tailcoat that is relatively tattered. It's not one that you recognize from the lord that used to run this garrison, but it is a dark black with some gray trim to it, silver buttons, and he plants a heel mid-step, turns, puts his other foot down, clasps his arms behind his back. I hear that you have a message for me.

SPEAKER_01 38:27

I do. Rem's gonna stand up straight. Is does he recognize this person? Is this from memory? Okay.

SPEAKER_02 38:33

This is a person that Rem has seen in his dreams multiple times. This is a person that Rem has seen once before in his life. Seeing his face, you feel just a slight burn in the middle of your chest.

SPEAKER_01 38:51

So Rem's taking a deep breath, and he's going to look at the guards and then look back at Al Anon and be like, these are your trusted men? A few of them. I suggest possibly making sure it anyone in the earshot is a trusted man.

SPEAKER_02 39:04

Oh, I just mean that these are a few of the men that I trust. There are others.

SPEAKER_01 39:09

Very well. So this doesn't say it has any kind of verbal semantic or necessary magical y things. Rim is going to look down, close his eyes, and grasp the chain around his neck. And he has to pray, so it's just a quiet prayer, it sounds like a prayer. And he will say, Noada, he who vengeance belongs to, and whom all vengeance will go. Show thyself, know thyself, produce judgment upon those, and render the ward to the proud. And then he's gonna let go and he's gonna cast them.

SPEAKER_02 39:39

You're going to have to speak up if you would like me to hear the message.

SPEAKER_01 39:42

And he's casting Abjur Enemy on Alan. Uh, so can he roll a wisdom save, please? That is a fail. Alright, so with Abjur Enemy, he is frightened. His speed is reduced to zero, and he can't benefit from anything else for speed-wise for one minute or until he takes damage. So he's basically terrified of the messenger now. His rim's going to stop. Look him dead in the eye.

SPEAKER_02 40:10

And as your eyes lock with him, and your spell takes hold, you see him freeze, his eyes go wide, his jaw drops, and he starts to sh. You. You're dead.

SPEAKER_01 40:30

I have come with the message. The message that all those who use violence upon those to gain power should know. You and those like you will reap what you sow. And at that point, guards!

SPEAKER_02 40:47

He's going to cast how far away is he? Say ten feet.

SPEAKER_01 40:51

Alright, he's going to misty step directly behind him, which is a bonus action. He will reach forward and grab the hilt of the sword, draw it, and drive it through his back.

SPEAKER_02 41:05

As you reach forward and grab the hilt of this sword. I need you to make a constitution saving.

SPEAKER_04 41:14

Uh-oh.

SPEAKER_02 41:16

19. As you grab the hilt of this sword and pull, your grip locks into it, and you feel the type of burning as if you had stuck your hand into like an acid mist. You're going to take four points of damage as you hear in your head. And you stick the sword through his chest, and you wake up.

SPEAKER_01 41:52

So he'll wake up and immediately just look at his hand kind of.

SPEAKER_02 41:56

There was a green filgree pattern through the handle on the hilt of the sword. And you see it like fading from a white, almost bubbled scar into your normal hand shape.

SPEAKER_01 42:13

So like an after image? Yeah. Okay. Do I receive all the benefits of a long rest? Or do I take it as if I took it actions?

SPEAKER_02 42:21

You have not completed a long rest yet.

SPEAKER_01 42:23

Okay. Did I use a spell slot?

SPEAKER_02 42:26

You did. As well as one use of your channel divinity.

unknown 42:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 42:30

Which I only get one per short rest. I finished a short rest. Uh, you would have finished a short rust, technically. After the use of the divinity?

SPEAKER_02 42:38

No, during the time of it. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 42:41

So he's gonna look at his hand and kind of rub the palm. Also rub his chest a little bit where it's still a little sore. And he'll look out the window and judge the time.

SPEAKER_02 42:53

So as Ram wakes up, he's rubbing the palm of his hand. He feels where the scar on his chest is. I imagine he's breathing pretty rapidly. And he wakes up with a splitting headache. You realize that the throbbing in your head is probably what pulled you awake. As you look towards your window to try to determine what time it is, it's very dark outside. Off in the distance, you could see hints of torchlight. It could be midnight, it could be 4 a.m. You know that you are somewhere between full sunset and early dawn.

SPEAKER_01 43:37

Okay. He'll stand up for a moment, wash his face in his basin, listen to the you know, the creakings and groanings of the building. And if nothing really catches his ear, he'll head back to the bed.

SPEAKER_02 43:50

It seems like at this point, um the keep is still. Uh the keep is asleep right now. Rem heads back to His bed and we pivot over to Tempest waking up Kanina for her watch.

SPEAKER_05 44:07

Hey Nina, I'm gonna go catch some sleep. Yeah, okay, yeah.

SPEAKER_06 44:14

All quiet so far. Sounds good. Sleep well. And Nina will uh sit up straighter in the chair using like the pillow and the blanket to prop herself up and scan the darkness of the room with her eyes. To shake remnants of sleep off, she might do a little bit of a walk around the room just to you know check under the bed, make sure aerial's still fine.

SPEAKER_02 44:38

Depending on what Tempest would have done as far as light goes, it's dark. If you look towards the window, it is dark outside. If you look towards the the doorway, you see this faint yellow glow from what you would know from other times that you've walked around the guild hall at night are torches that are kept real low so as not to blind people as they open their doors if they're making their way to the restroom in the middle of the night or anything.

SPEAKER_05 45:12

I would say that in the past you have let me use the moon touch short sword, like just a crack open, as almost like a night light. I would say I was doing that again.

SPEAKER_02 45:25

Okay. So there's this pure silvery white glow that's really focused around tempest, and it's enough light to see the shapes and shadows around you, but dim enough that you it didn't wake you up or anything as she pulled the sword out a little bit to create some light.

SPEAKER_05 45:47

It doesn't have a like time. It's just always like that. So it would have been like that from the time that we tucked in.

SPEAKER_06 45:55

Yeah, and uh Canina having dark vision would be quite comfortable with the dim lighting as it is to watch uh the room. Canina will settle into her watch after having stretched her legs a bit, and she'll get comfy in the chair, and but not too comfy. She doesn't plan on falling back asleep. Alright.

SPEAKER_02 46:15

Tempest manages to fall asleep herself. And I suppose there is a relatively important question for you guys. Do you actually get a full night's rest?

SPEAKER_06 46:28

I think Kanina is fine with taking the extra time to uh make sure that the watch gets fulfilled, even if it means she doesn't get a long rest. So we can definitely adjust the times of the watch to make sure that Tempest gets a long rest if she wants to.

SPEAKER_02 46:44

Yeah, I mean, especially in this tempest took first watch, technically all you have to do is let Tempest sleep for six hours, and that would fulfill the the eight hours of long rest.

SPEAKER_06 46:53

And that's technically, I think she tends to sleep in a little more anyways.

SPEAKER_02 46:56

And if Kanina were to wake Ariel up after two hours, it would it would work as well. But that's why I'm curious if essentially it's kind of on you. Do you stay up enough that you will take a level of exhaustion for skipping a long rest?

SPEAKER_06 47:11

Uh, I think Kanina will be willing to take a level of exhaustion. She knows that um Ariel has been suffering being cooped up by herself in the cabin on the long boat ride over. So I feel like she doesn't want to disturb her. This is like the first peaceful night she's had in relative safety that she feels like she could relax. Kanina wants to make sure that she can rest peacefully and safely.

SPEAKER_02 47:33

So, especially since Kanina would be staying in the room for an extended watch, at what point would Rem actually wake up for the day?

SPEAKER_01 47:41

Um, he'd still have his earlier morning like cycle, so he's probably waking up just a little bit before dawn during like the twilight hours.

SPEAKER_02 47:49

As you wake up and go out and start to uh do you leave your room for your morning activities?

SPEAKER_01 47:56

Well, he'll first he'll you know, he'll get up, he'll get changed into his day clothes, like parents and shirt, but then he'll walk down to uh Ariel's room very gently, not knock like he doesn't want the sharp noise, just kind of like the soft side of the hand and crack the door to look in, figuring Nina or uh Tempest would probably still be awake.

SPEAKER_02 48:18

And Canina, you hear this light. I almost imagine like a fingertip tap on the door, and it opens just a crack.

SPEAKER_06 48:27

Canina will approach the door, um, and she'll peer out.

SPEAKER_01 48:31

All is well.

SPEAKER_06 48:32

Uh yeah, so far so good.

SPEAKER_01 48:34

I'm just going to head down and grab some breakfast. Would you like me to bring you anything up?

SPEAKER_06 48:38

Sure, yeah. That'd be great.

SPEAKER_01 48:40

Right. We'll head down to grab like a couple bowls of porridge, toast, stuff like that.

SPEAKER_02 48:45

As Rem makes his way downstairs, the the you see, you know, a dozen or so people that are relatively early risers, such as yourself, out getting some breakfast. As you said, the the breakfast at this point is is pretty quick serve. It's relatively bland. There are some toppings that you can mix into the porridge, like some mixed nuts, uh, some dried fruits, uh, some honey and sugar.

SPEAKER_01 49:14

So Rin will grab, you know, two bowls of the porridge, figuring the other two are probably still sleeping, and a couple of mugs of like warm tea. Then he'll if he can manage to grab a couple of jars of like toppings and stuff, he'll take those two and he'll go back up.

SPEAKER_02 49:29

The interesting thing about this is you've got like two bowls propped in like the crook of one arm, and I imagine that you can grab like two or three pots of like toppings to hold in your hand. So you've got, you know, a a little bit, and as you're realizing that you can only carry a couple things, you look over where the the cook area is, and they're not paying any attention to you whatsoever.

SPEAKER_01 49:55

So he'll just kind of like arm load up and then head back upstairs and kind of nudge the door open, hand Kanina a few things.

SPEAKER_06 50:04

Yeah, Kanina will like just uh very quietly bounce on her heels and be like, ooh, trying to be as quiet as she can, but she is definitely very excited for food because she can feel the effects of the non-restful sleep kicking in a bit, so she's like, ah, food will help fuel me through the rest of the day.

SPEAKER_01 50:20

Well then, you know, like he'll fix up his own uh oatmeal porridge thing, eat it, drink his tea, and then he'll look at Nina and be like, why don't you catch a couple more hours? I'll stay.

SPEAKER_02 50:34

It's it's super early dawn. Like, you're at that point that the sky is starting to turn pink, but obviously the sun isn't up over the horizon yet. You you are no longer in night time, you're just in early morning.

SPEAKER_06 50:48

Yeah, she'll she'll glance to the window and she'll just be like, oh well, yeah, if you're sure, I could definitely use a little bit more rest.

SPEAKER_01 50:54

Yeah, I'll I'll wake you up at dawn.

SPEAKER_06 50:57

She'll finish shoveling the rest of the food in her mouth and stuff, and then she'll uh curl up on her chair.

SPEAKER_07 51:03

I'm just imagining Ariel over in her bed across from the doorway, probably blankets all over the place, and there's her like bare ass.

SPEAKER_06 51:13

I feel like uh Kenina might throw like something over you if Rem's coming into the room.

SPEAKER_01 51:18

She pulled a sheet up over you as she opened the door.

SPEAKER_06 51:21

Yeah, like I feel like like if if Ariel is just like starting to lay like very exposed, she'll she'll at least like cover the uh important bits. Yeah, so Rem wouldn't have uh gotten any kind of glimpses peeking in earlier when he was talking to Nina initially, but by the time he came back, she would have uh probably like threw a sheet across you.

SPEAKER_01 51:40

So yeah, Rim will sit quietly, kind of just leaned into the doorway a little bit. He's gonna be sipping what's left of the warm tea he brought.

SPEAKER_02 51:47

Okay, we've got another watch.

SPEAKER_01 51:50

Basically, when he's not sipping, he's still gonna be rubbing his palm, lost a little bit in thought, but still aware of what's in the room.

SPEAKER_02 51:57

Rem sits, I guess, kind of propped up near the doorway, listening to things. Gradually, as time goes on, uh, you see the sky starting to lighten and change from that like pinkish color to a light blue, a little bit of high clouds in the sky, and it's around this time that you hear footsteps more frequently outside the door, as it seems like other members of the guild have slept their night away and are waking up and starting to begin the day. Every once in a while you'll hear somebody walking by and just pancakes. Bacon. Just every once in a while there's a a a waft of someone that has gone and picked up breakfast to take to their rooms. And that's kind of what tells you that oh, like, real morning has normal people morning has started.

SPEAKER_01 52:56

Not old people morning, work crazy workout people morning. Normal morning. So basically, at about two hours, he'll uh check on everybody, kind of nudge Nina back awake. Because you know she likes being up early anyway. Walk over and cover Ariel, but then shake her. Let her wake up or start waking up, and then walk over and kick the side of the bed that Tempest is laying on, or the chair, or the couch, or whatever she's on.

SPEAKER_05 53:21

I think I'm on the floor.

SPEAKER_01 53:23

So you just walk up and not like hard, like give you give you a solid shove, basically. Knowing that you're a heavy sleeper that doesn't enjoy being woken up in the first place. I should get in and out of range real quick.

SPEAKER_06 53:37

So let's just piss her off. By the time you turn around, I'm sure Kanina's already up and doing some stretches to get her blood flowing.

SPEAKER_02 53:44

And especially with Rem helping out, everyone can go ahead and mark off having taken a long rest tonight. Me too. So Rem has been, you know, slowly witnessing the area around him waking up, then going through and waking everybody else up. And everyone actually got enough sleep to count for for a rest last night. So you wake up feeling relatively refreshed. Ariel managed to sleep through the night once again without any uh shade creature attacks.

SPEAKER_07 54:20

Thank goodness. She had really good dreams about being a lady. I'm sure she was probably, yeah, in some whatever she considers like regal and fancy and having uh everyone start to kind of wake up from being roused by Rem.

SPEAKER_06 54:39

Uh, can you just be like, uh yeah, uh, Rem came by and the last bit of my shift, and he was kind enough to take over for me. Seems like we all got a fairly decent rest. She'll look around at everyone. Slightly bleary eyed, I'm sure.

SPEAKER_01 54:52

I mean, he's his normal grumpy-looking self.

SPEAKER_02 54:55

Rem does not look any worse for Rem.

SPEAKER_01 54:57

After uh seeing everybody's kind of waking up, he'll be like, I'm gonna go downstairs, get some coffee. Closes the door and leaves.

SPEAKER_02 55:05

Before Rem gets to the door, a slip of parchment is slid underneath the door. Grab the door, he'll open the door real quick, looks outside. You see, about four steps down the hall, uh a page-looking person in um pretty novice guildware. Stops on one foot. Hi! Do you need something?

SPEAKER_01 55:30

Who's the message from?

SPEAKER_02 55:31

Guildmasters?

SPEAKER_01 55:33

Lean down and pick it up. He'll look at it real quick. Not letting the boy leave his sight root yet. Alright. Do you read it? No, he'll just hand it back off to Ariel. It's not his message.

SPEAKER_07 55:43

I mean, does it say Ariel on the on it?

SPEAKER_02 55:45

It's it's not a folded letter or anything. It is just a small sheet of parchment. Alright, she'll she'll read it. Um, it says, Ariel, we need to see you now. Guildmasters. Bottom P.S. You can bring your friends. PPS, but you don't have to. Bottom signature, Verna.

SPEAKER_05 56:09

Get dressed first. I was expecting it to say, please wear clothes.

SPEAKER_02 56:16

No, it's just the the structure of the note is very clearly something written by the guildmasters and then signed, and then it looks like Verna, while reading it was just like, we need to add a couple more things.

SPEAKER_06 56:30

Yeah, Canida through her stretching will just be like, oh well, what'd you get there so early in the morning?

SPEAKER_07 56:35

Um, it looks like guildmasters want me to come see them. They said my friends can come if they want to, but don't have to. Ha. That's interesting.

SPEAKER_06 56:43

Uh, we probably should all go together. I mean, we're all here, might as well.

SPEAKER_07 56:48

Ariel will uh get up and start getting dressed.

SPEAKER_06 56:53

Kenina uh figures that she'll probably have to skip uh most of her morning routine just with the the crazy uh watch shifts last night and whatnot, and already having had a bit of breakfast. So she'll just get what stretching in she can and be like, well, I'm ready to go whenever. Ariel's just gonna get dressed and be ready to go when everybody else is. It just occurred to me that we probably would have like, I don't know, changed into our like uh rest garments or something before coming to your room. So yeah, Nina will pop back into her room, uh, deliver her kettle and pillow and blanket back to her room and then get dressed in something proper for the day.

SPEAKER_07 57:32

Errol just wearing something casual, not her normal stuff. Gonna leave a robe at home, feel the freedom of not having to hide herself.

SPEAKER_02 57:42

Okay, and everyone makes their way over to the uh where the guildmaster's meeting area is. Which, hey, thankfully, you're on the second story, you're already up there. Uh, the person that runs reception for them is just like, uh you're you're you're early early? That was quick. Didn't they just send you didn't they just send you a note?

SPEAKER_07 58:03

We were basically awake and ready to go, and we have a lot to do today, so.

SPEAKER_02 58:08

I see. Uh, go right on in. I know that they just sent for you.

SPEAKER_06 58:13

And I head in there. You know, we'll cheerily follow. Same.

SPEAKER_02 58:18

Ah, adventurers. Verna had a send message to uh Ariel. And uh so this is um Alberic that is sitting at the guildmaster's table. Uh she needs you in the vault. And he stands up, walks to the door behind him, and opens it up, escorts you guys into the back room, and then down the ladder to the trapdoor. And as you get to the bottom floor before the barriers that you guys had uh traveled through before, Verna is sitting there and uh kinda looks like she's about to explode. Just with like standing, rocking, wringing her hands, waiting for you guys. Oh! You guys came quick! Good, good. Um, you and she points at Ariel.

SPEAKER_04 59:13

Uh yes.

SPEAKER_02 59:14

Ah, this way. And you see her, like, quickly, while walking at a brisk pace, waving her hands in front of her, muttering incantations, the bars, they disappear. Doesn't even break pace. The big sheet of leaded steel disappears. Guys walk into the room where, as a reminder, you see Fioc sitting atop a pedestal, spinning in the middle of this room. Not that. Over there. And over on the side wall is where when you guys were down here previously, the uh spear was floated into an area with a magic barrier put around it. Is that it? There is a shadowy creature. Oh god, rapidly like floating and flying around inside of this space where the spear is. It turns over, especially as she like loudly has an outburst, spins into your guys' direction, and starts like repeatedly. You just see the magic ward that is trapping it light up as it pushes itself into it, repeatedly trying to get out.

SPEAKER_07 1:00:30

Like it's trying to just escape, or it's trying to get to us.

SPEAKER_06 1:00:33

It it's in your direction. Yeah, I think Kanina matching like Fernna's energy will just be like, yeah, yeah, that's it. She'll just point like at it.

SPEAKER_07 1:00:42

The moment Ariel sees that, she is like going behind her friends because she doesn't have her cloak or her or her staff, nothing to make her feel protected. Although she does have Kosane with her, but yep. Yep, that yep, that's it, that's it.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:58

Okay, so it came. Good news. It came here, it didn't go up there where you were. So, conclusion, scientific conclusion, it cares about the spear.

SPEAKER_06 1:01:11

That's actually a relief to hear. We uh spent the night over in Ariel's room because we were concerned because we didn't know the means for it to uh approach and we didn't want her to just, you know, be under attack all by herself. So Yeah, it was weird.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:24

So I've been down here, continuing to go through books and scrolls and doing research, and suddenly, as I'm staring at Feehawk, I just hear boom, boom, boom, and I turn around, and that's there!

SPEAKER_06 1:01:40

You know, like approximately what time it appeared?

SPEAKER_02 1:01:42

Uh late. Or early. Depends on your, you know, perception.

SPEAKER_06 1:01:48

Hmm.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:49

After midnight? Before the sun came up?

unknown 1:01:52

Well.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:53

What time is it? Early morning. I've been down here since you guys left. I sleep over there sometimes.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:01

So Rim's weird. Rim will approach where the spear is while staring at this entity. And uh he's going to use his divine sense as he does, which uh as an action. He can detect good and evil and sense anything affected by hollow, and he knows if there's any celestials, fiends are undead, besides those three.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:24

Okay, so first, as Rem approaches, this thing that was like rapidly like flying into this beer. You know, like a bird that wants out of its cage. It's kind of been like that. Like, if I go this way, will I get out? If I go this way, will I get out? It stops, floats back for a second, gets level with Rem, and you see as, you know, it's it's a shadowy figure, but you see this space where you would imagine if it was more corporeal, its jaw would be just like unhinged, its head tilts, and its mouth just opens up, and and you see like a layer of frost forming on the inside of this barrier. And it conceptualizes that it's not working, snaps back shut, and the ice just shatters as it slams its face up against the barrier again. And your detection off of it is um, yes, evil. There's so much evil coming through this barrier, but you also see undead and I need you to roll me a perception check.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:37

So it's an undead, you said?

SPEAKER_02 1:03:39

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:40

Uh perception check. 19.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:44

Ooh! It's not terribly surprising, but it's it's one of those things that in your perception, it kind of draws your attention for a second. Evil aura towards the center of the room, too. Towards the center of the room? Yeah. Fiat. Where Fiock is spinning over a pedestal.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:00

It's like someplace new. So he's just gonna be looking at this thing so he realizes it's evil and undead.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:06

One of those things where, you know, it in visual perspective, like out of the corner of your eye, there's just a oh, that makes sense.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:13

So I'm gonna try. Does this thing seem intelligent at all? Other than like it attacks whatever's near it. Does it seem to have its own awareness and consciousness, or is it just I'm going to say no.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:28

Based on what you've seen, it seems that it has an almost feral goal. Okay. And as you guys entered, it was focused on the spear. It was like swirling around it, swarming around it, like phasing through it, like it was trying to grab this spear. And then once Ariel entered the room, its focus has gone to Ariel. Okay. Until you stepped in front of, like, uh not only in front of Ariel, but threatened it itself with your approach to it.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:10

Uh so he's gonna kinda without taking his eyes off the creature, he's gonna lean and look over his shoulder and be like, where is Albric?

SPEAKER_02 1:05:19

He just he he just brought you here. He was out there.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:22

Can can you bring him here?

SPEAKER_02 1:05:24

Yes! And she scurries out through the wards, through the things that seal you guys into this room.

SPEAKER_06 1:05:32

I think Canina out of curiosity would also like approach the warding area, not too close, but maybe like a step closer than Rem, just to see if it shifts focus at all.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:41

So, to get an idea for this, uh the the spear was placed not even over a pedestal because they weren't prepared for it, but it was placed off on like the sidewall and has a like, especially as it impacts and kind of creates a reaction in the magic, still in. Around where the spear is in the center of it. And as you approach over towards next to Rem, you get the same treatment that Rem got. It unhinges its jaw, it opens its mouth, and just inhales, and you watch like a barrier of ice form over this magic cylinder. And when it obviously isn't working on you either, it just goes back to punching into this thing with its body, with its face, with its arms.

SPEAKER_07 1:06:35

This thing's a bit intense, isn't it? I wish we knew like when it uh when it came here, if it just like would it have been able to fly through the barrier to the to the spear, or do you think maybe it just appeared in that same uh chamber? Did it come out of the spear, maybe? That's what I'm wondering. If it's like anchored to it, and maybe it still is trying to get to me, but it can't leave the spear because it's stuck in there with it.

SPEAKER_06 1:07:06

Considering how it was trying to grab at the spear, I can definitely imagine it being tied to it, or perhaps being summoned by it when the night strikes a certain hour. Who knows?

SPEAKER_03 1:07:19

You sent for me. Yes. How can I be of assistance?

SPEAKER_01 1:07:24

This creature is undead. Would you be able to, with your faith, banish it from this plane? Yes. Would that prevent it from returning ever?

SPEAKER_03 1:07:35

I do not know yet. Is that what you would like me to do? We now have what we were seeking. Confirmation.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:44

It seems mindless. It's I don't believe questioning it would provide us any benefit.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:51

We just needed confirmation that this is the creature that had attacked Ariel before.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:58

Yes, but if it if this creature had been intelligent, we could have asked its reason or its master, but it appears to be nothing but mindless rage.

SPEAKER_03 1:08:10

That seems to be an accurate assessment of the situation. Before she was brought down here, its focus was almost entirely on the spear. It tried to attack Berna when she first noticed it and approached.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:28

She came to get me. And it tried to attack me. However, for both of us, once it seemed clear that it wasn't going to have an effect on us, it went back to the spear. We sent for you simply to verify that this is the same thing that you guys were dealing with before. Which gives us some hope that your issues on the ship that you took here are tied to the spear itself, and not to Ariel.

SPEAKER_06 1:09:02

Well, that's absolutely the creature that uh we vanquished on the ship, so it seems if it had reappeared again in this manner, it seems it definitely is more tied to the spear, even if it seems to have a bit of a fixation on approaching people.

SPEAKER_03 1:09:18

Are you ready for me to banish it? Yes.

SPEAKER_06 1:09:23

Please do.

SPEAKER_03 1:09:24

Everyone stand back.

SPEAKER_06 1:09:28

Nina will also retreat.

SPEAKER_07 1:09:29

Yep. Ariel's gonna go as far from that area as she can.

SPEAKER_02 1:09:33

Put your back up against the lead steel plate that blocks this room off.

SPEAKER_07 1:09:39

Yeah. And she's ready to like get out as soon as that is opened.

SPEAKER_02 1:09:43

Alberic draws a sigil with his hands and slows down, looks over at Verna. Are you ready?

SPEAKER_07 1:09:53

Ariel's gonna cast mage armor on herself.

SPEAKER_02 1:09:56

And you see Verna make one quick motion. The shade charges directly at Ariel, and Alberic makes one final gesture, and a golden light erupts from the center of this shade, and mid-motion it burns up, and a ethereal dust just drifts in between Alberic and Verna. We hope you enjoyed this episode of Adventures in Aurelia. You can help the show out a ton by sharing episodes on social media and telling your friends. Leaving a review on Apple Podcasts or Podchaser tells us what we are doing right or what we could improve on. Your review will get featured in our next Night Watch. Lastly, we'd like to thank the artists who allow us to use their music in our show Monument Studios, Dark Fantasy Studio, Michael Gelfi, Tabletop Audio, Scott Buckley, Joel Steadler, Ovani Sound, Alexander Nacarata from Creator Chords, Windswept, Adrian Von Ziegler, and Kevin McLeod of Incompotech.com. You can find links to all these wonderful artists at Adventuresin Aurelia.comslash music.