It is the middle of the night near the border of the Kingdom of Balcanus. The air is still and quiet as same as when you first came here in your pursuit of cloveway. And only the distant sounds of Chester City can be faintly heard. On Enoch's watch, a figure was seen floating in the distance before it swatted his homunculus curo down before vanishing. What do you guys do? Everyone is up and awake. You have not completed your long rest yet, since it has only been one watch. I like to consider like two watches worth of rest to be a long rest. Ah, we're all elves here. Are we all aware of the fact that curo has been knocked? Yes, I think that has been told. The last to remember is... He had an obvious ping on his head. The last to remember is all discussing is that curo, we know curo is hurt. We are all trying to be quiet. Luna said she had a way to look around the camp without leaving camp so that we don't risk a casualty. And I think that's where we are at in terms of discussion. Yes. So... I make recommendation is, well, at least for Enoch, I am going to try and hide behind something. Okay. Like I intend to stealth. Okay. Is there any specific way that you wish to do that? I am going to get behind the farthest tree back. Farthest tree back. Okay. Let's say you can put yourself... Yeah, right there. Perfect. Curo, I am going to command to stay by Nathaniel. Oh, that's good, because I'm going to do the exact same thing, but over here. Renee is also probably going to look at her brother and be like, just take one of the hostess and go to one of the façades. If anything goes long, I want you to take it and just go. I can fight. He pulls out a dagger from his waistcoat. Aw, he thinks he can fight. He thinks he can fight. But she just shakes her head and is just like, we don't even know if we need to fight yet. Okay. Okay. And we also don't know what it is. Just because you can't fight doesn't mean you always have to. World number one when you are adventuring with anyone. But... Now go take one of the hostess and go behind the tree. Fine. Walks over, takes one of the horses and follows your instruction. I'm going to put him off of the map. Actually, I'm just going to put him right here in case I need him again. Yeah, because knowing him, he's probably not going to listen to me. He's only going to be like, okay, why no? Especially because she's also silently cursing to herself. I didn't get a full rest, so all of my high level spells are gone. Yeah, you and me both. Does everybody seem like they're in the position they want to be in? Is Kara where she wants to be in this? Oh, yes. Positioning of Kara.  Well, go ahead. Okay. Well, Lona is going to kneel down before she does this because I will be blind and deafened for doing this, but I'd like to invoke my Echo avatar ability, please. And what is that? That is my fancy new Echo Knight ability that allows me to transfer my senses into my Echo like you do for a familiar. I am blind and deafened, but my Echo can now move up to a thousand feet away from me for up to 10 minutes.  Oh, my God. And you want to scout around the area? Yes. Up to a thousand feet. Without capital T because Echo Disco is poof when it gets smacked. Echo Disco is poof. You could say that Lona just went into the avatar state. Get out. Please. I can't believe Lona is the avatar. Lona is a terrible avatar. All right. I'm going to need your choice between a survival or perception check. As you go, you're going to send your Echo on this patrol. I'm going, well, the same either way. So we're just going to go perception. All right. And as you do this, you can hear like just a whispering of from Kara. Just go, oh, that's a fancy trick.  Worst case, the Echo will trigger something and get hit and then you'll know something's out there. Yeah. The aim is I just want my Echo to basically do a lap around the camp, not being particularly stealthy because if the Echo is caught, it's fine because the Echo is not a living person. All right. You travel around the kind of far perimeter of the camp, just traveling around. You don't hear anything aside from the odd cricket here and there. And just like as you go around the radius nearer to Chester City, you don't hear anything, but suddenly your consciousness fades and comes back to the camp. Your Echo has been hit by something. Do I know approximately which direction the Echo was in because my sight, my eyes and ears were in the Echo so I'd know where camp was from the Echo's point. Moving from kind of where it was here, I'm going to bring us to the map so that I can pinpoint kind of the direction where your Echo was before you lost your senses from it. It was kind of towards this direction. Okay. So I'm assuming. As your Echo was like say like over here, like about that far from the camp, I don't know if that's a thousand feet, but you know, like towards that direction is when something struck your Echo and killed it. So when it got closer to Chester City. Yes, but although not directly towards Chester City or somewhat to the south. Oh, so what you're saying is we need to go the opposite direction. Which is, you know, that's the direction we're heading though is the problem. Exactly. Yep. Luna will stand up after after having Echo like poofed just immediately. Well, yeah, there's something out there. And it's also didn't even see it. Didn't give a warning. Just immediately destroyed it. I cannot send the car speaks up. I cannot send anything into any necromancy. Friends of yours. Well, not exactly. If they were friendly, I feel like they would have recognized you or even worse, maybe they were friendly and then decided to kick our asses just because. OK, not everybody in my life does that, Renee. A lot of people in my life have. I just try to be cautious. While while they're talking, I have an idea. What is your idea? I'd like to scan the tree line around. I'd like to let I want to first move over to this one if possible so that I can look closer towards the tree lines. And I'd like to like investigate them to see if I can't figure out what is the most likely path that they would take. Yes. OK.  Scanning the tree line, you can tell that you are out in the open. There's not a lot of cover from where you are. They could easily overwhelm you and like kind of take if you I'd say putting yourself in the shoes of someone who would want to ambush you. Most likely they could easily surround you like kind of make a spoon formation like coming from the direction that they're coming from and then splay out and then cover your behind as well. OK, well, that's good. Kind of. That's what I thought a little bit. In that case, in case they try to flank us, I'm going to throw a zone of truth over this way. Now, zone of truth doesn't have a I don't believe it has a physical like it doesn't look like anything normally. So I want to toss it out and anything actually does it? Yeah, anything that enters the spells area for the first time. So the idea is I'm going to toss it out and I'm going to leave it there. And if someone walks through it, I'll know because I know whether they've succeeded or failed. That's oh, that's clever. I like that. So so I'm going to toss that out. And my goal is hoping hopefully if they try to surround us, if they try to flank us, they'll cross that first and I'll be able to warn us. Yeah, so you throw it out. Everyone's waiting. You keep your sense on the zone of truth. Something passes through it and fails. Understood. In that case, I'm going to immediately like motion. And I'm going to say as quickly as possible, something is trying to flank us. And can I summon my echo again, please? Just to protect Kara. Can I need to protect Kara now? Because I think I know who it is and I don't like it. I'm going to.    Can I still do it? Did she dang it?  Never mind. My plan won't work, but I will just kind of be the first line. If something hits me, we know it's bad. OK. Oh my god. So what are you doing with your echo, Luna?  And I just want to be there to intercept anything that might smack her. Seeing everyone get prepared, Kara looks a little bit more taking the situation a little bit more seriously and does a little bit of waving with her wand. And she is going to cast major armor, however, it takes the form of her bones extending from her body, kind of forming around her, her bone armor, rather, not her bones. Can I look at her and just kind of give her an explanation of what at least Luna thinks is happening? Sure, you may. Yeah, because it is there's a figure in the sky, something trying to come after us. We've already run into a very dangerous figure we mentioned on before. They hate necromancers, and well, I've seen them fell and necromancer in a single swipe of an axe, rather, you not get killed. That creature, it has not approached clove way for some odd reason. I do not understand why I don't know, either. I just know that we particularly pissed them off. And we don't know if they're hunting us. We used one of your crystals. And I think we told you, wait, you said that they did not approach clove way at all, like at all at all. You didn't have to try and find about seeing as the whole kingdom of Belkanus wants me dead. I have been keeping in tune with what has been going on, including the rumors of this thorn beast. And they have been hunting necromancers. But I find it strange that they have never approached clove way before. Yeah, no, that is very, very odd, very odd. As interesting as this conversation is, perhaps it would be best for us to get on our horses and flee while they are currently trying to surround us. But if they hide there, are we really going to be able to outrun them? Yes. And I'm going to give each person one final chance to say what they're going to do slash prep. Oh, boy. OK. If the plan, you know, if the plan is to ride away on horses, you need to say that that's what's going to happen. I'm going to move towards the horses. You're going to move towards the horses. That is my intention. Yes. All right. And we'll over here. All right. I hope everybody will join me, but it's up to you. I feel like I'll join you, but I'll be behind everyone trying to cover your backs as you're all mounting up. OK, I think that'll be what me and Echo do is just stand as a line of defense. So I'll put them over here. All right. I'll give I'll give Luna some bardic inspiration before I bounce. Thank you. I can't do a lot, but I can do that. Thank you so much. I'm going to need it. Dyson, I'm going to move towards the horses a bit. Seeing as everybody else is as well, Kara is going to move closer to it. But you can see she's getting in a defensive stance and the armor, her bone armor is one akin to that of a royal knight, except made out of bones and a little bit more organic looking to to the point where she's got a face covering as well.  Renee, also my gesture, Luna, be like a little bit closer to them, not as far away like that's a little too far for my comfort. And I mean, I can I can shuffle her back. And lastly, what's your one thing that you're going to do? I am going to prepare any shot towards anything that moves towards us. If if it tries to come after us violently, I am going to shoot it. And I'm going to make that a winging shot. If I'm going to make that a winging shot so that way, we just know ahead. OK, so the first thing I'm going to do is I'm going to move us to another map. And I mean, there's another map. I don't like other maps. What do you mean? There's another map to distress. What do you mean? I'm also stealthing. I've also been stealthing since I was still think I will take your passive stealth. What is your passive style? My passive style plus three. But I rolled an 18 earlier for it. Did I ask to roll? You did. Oh, I did. OK, never mind. No, you're behind the tree. Never mind then. Then we will take that 18. OK, awesome, awesome. OK, I'm going to say you hide yourself pretty well in the darkness. Why is there going to be another map? All right. And I mean, he's distressed about another map. Maybe the other map will have presents. Well, maybe it'll have trees of thorn in the tree line. The other map is kind of a decent amount, a little bit different from this one, because I was not anticipating this. So you feel free to readjust yourself accordingly if you so wish. OK. Oh, God, it's just larger. That's all as you guys take your position. Enoch, you actually see something stalking towards the party. You do have set up a reaction to fire at it. You can see it's approaching very slowly and very cautiously. Do you take it? I'm going to let it reveal itself. OK, first. Oh, God, it will reveal itself afterwards. Yeah, afterwards, there will be problems. OK.  Just let me select them all real quick. So all all all. OK. What do you mean? Oh, OK. So, OK, now we're going to have protected to Google it again. What is this shit? Why don't we just kill them? Why don't we just murder them? Yeah, this point. Sorry, I'm a car problem solved. Oh, why? If we bubble her, that means we get our job. So you guys take your positions and Enoch, you see a figure stalking upwards, kind of a someone who looks to be mounted on an axe beak. Oh, great. It is. And slowly, you guys hear the tussling of grass and footsteps of large creatures. As you can see, several riding axe beats approach.  It is protected to it is protected, including one that comes out of the water. A humanoid.  A lizard folk comes out. Hello, I'd like to get to know you better. I don't like those eyes. My sword would like to get to know you better, sir, depending on what you're here for. And he speaks well, well. What do we have here? Is that the famous tactician and necromancer? Kara Meharian. God, Renee is going to take a couple steps over to Kara. So it's just kind of like you can see Kara has her hands ready to ready to blast a spell. And, Enoch, you are right next to them. They haven't noticed you. You see, there's a human mounted on an axe beak right over here. He is not taking notice of you. Oh, good. Oh, good. And that that will make things very interesting. I'm sorry. My name's Rush. The last acting head of the protectors. Thanks to you and yours, throwing the rest of my pals behind bars. Well, they should have been better sell sorts, to be honest with you. Oh, but now we've got an opportunity for that, don't we? I see you've got the Black Vein Queen herself right there.  No, no, Luna, perhaps some tact would be in order. You know, I don't have that. Yes, well, what was your name again? It was a rask. I think there's a there's a ash like rask. Right. Well, yes, clearly, you have the chance to surprise us and attack us on sight. You've chosen not to do that. I assume it is because in some way, you think there can be some negotiation to be had here. I am certain that we can reach an accord that all of us will find to be amicable. Ah, I trusted that the witchtaker would want to do some diplomacy. Yes, as a matter of fact, I was interested in having the protectors on our side before they chose to, unfortunately, go down a path that we couldn't really follow. But now I give you and yours a chance to remedy that mistake, that hope that perhaps together we can do whatever it is that our mutual goals would want. And after that rambling, I cast, but I am going to cast my enthralling performance.  So that was a filibuster so that I could use this ability. Yeah, you basically like come bursting. And I feel like as you're doing it, like you get more sparkly. Yeah. So it's cool to my charisma modifier, which thanks to being level eight is now five people. So I'm going to ping him, this boy, this boy, this boy. Yeah, let's go with that boy. Yeah, let's go with that boy, too. Is that all of them? No, no, one that we can't get. I'm leaving that that elf alone on purpose because this is a charm and that's an elf. Right. So I'm going to ping all of them real quick. Now, if they are hostile, so this is kind of your your interpretation, if they are hostile to us, this, I don't believe that this works, but hostile is kind of your interpretation as as to what that means in case you don't want one ability, your encounter away. But yeah, as you do this, you can see that Kara snaps her head towards you. What are you doing?  And I'm going to have to roll for all of them. Yes, individually. So any of them, OK, any of them. Yeah, I feel like Renee, like a sore car. So she's like, he's doing his job. So all of them except for the elf. Yes, leave that off alone. I don't know what he's doing. But this is the time they don't like those. Not a place for them. All right. So the human, the orc and the halfling all are charmed. OK, the lizard is not valid. So the orc kind of speaks up. Now, does this does this command them to do anything? No, they are simply inclined to like me a whole lot. OK, they just think he's neat. So Rush Rush starts to speak. And I don't think I don't think you have anything you could provide for us that a large sum of coin from turning in the Black Vein Queen couldn't provide us. Oh, well, of course, you must understand, you know, of my job, my profession, a large sum of coin is pocket change for me. You see that the the orc kind of rides up a little bit and he's like, yeah, you should probably listen to him, boss. I don't want to fall for one of his tricks, you know. As a matter of fact, I back when the previous protectors and us were having our disagreement, I was able to incline, influence, convince a few protectors to work under me. I'm sure that the same thing can be arranged for you and your people should they wish it, of course. Ah, is that right? And I mean, to be to be perfectly honest, that kind of mesh is really well together. We've actually seen it like in action before.   And it looks over to the orc and break all you trust in his words and the orc nods and Rush immediately pulls a bagger and throws it at him. Everyone for initiative. Oh, that would give away for me, right? To to go and shoot him.  And since I'm stealth, since I'm stealth, do I get advantage? You do. Yes. My spell is OK. I was checking to make sure my ability. It's not a spell. My ability is not broken because I did not attack them. I was thinking for a second.  That is me. All right. So 25, yes, that does be 25. And also, since it is a wing shot, I'll go ahead and drop her in there since. Oh, it does break. Not but only on the orc. If it hits, if it takes damage, then the spell breaks immediately. Yeah. And he needs to make a strength saving throw of a D.C. 14 in order to not fall prone. OK. Oh, please fall prone. Please fall prone. Before I do, I'm going to play the battle music. Oh, no, here we go. On this lizard. That is what I'm going to do. While you guys, while I'm figuring that out, also, you guys may roll your initiative on to board. Oh, God, I'm so afraid. I'm going to do a little dumb, but also listen.  Why? Why is my initiative? I got a natural 20. Who gave me their bad dice karma this time? You're like your own dice karma. I apologize. Did you say that it was probably me? It was the orc. I was really very poorly the other week. The orc, the human and the halfling over here. Oh, it's a halfling. I thought it was a goblin. No, goblins would be green. All right. We're learning. Yeah. All right. So here's a series of events that happens. The lizard folk, Rush pulls a dagger. Enoch, you fire it at him.  Like you drew like quick draw and he goes to throw the dagger. It falls into the water. And he turns to you. You have revealed yourself and I'm going to roll their initiative. Quick.  I sniped. I sniped him. Focus. That was with the gavel. Keep in mind that was with the gavel. I'm going for him. I've got it. And his strength save. He's fine. He does not fall prone. All right. Well, I still got all they all go.  Oh, OK. It's fine. I'm so afraid. Also, Nathaniel Rene, who wants to go first since you both were 15s, I would like to go first. I have a very good idea. Fine by me. I don't care. I don't care at all. All right. You knock. You're up first. You just fired off a quick shot at Rush. All right. And there is a charmed human on Ack speak next to you. Well, he doesn't seem like he's going to be bothering anybody, specifically me, as I am ally. I am going to go ahead and I'm going to use my ring of haste. And that's going to give me a whole round of action plus two to my AC. So that puts me up to 18 and my speed is double. Nice. So. Oh, he's such a good spell until he fail it. Yeah. No, it's such a good spell until after combat.   Uh-huh. Yeah. No, I've learned that the hard way. Yeah, it's great until it isn't. All right. So that being said, I still have my other round. And yeah, no, I'm just going to jump. Dump two shots into Mr. Lizard, man. All right. Someone's going to be 21. OK, yeah, that's going to hit. Second one's going to be a 16. Second one. He parries it with with another dagger. Just ting it. He's a bad one. OK, the first one is going to scare me. Oh, that's a lot of damage. Yeah, the first one just like the lodges into his shoulder. Just all right. And then you want to know what action search action search. All right, show me the action search. Oh, my God. Yeah, action search and I am glad all cider abilities are restored, like mostly on like a short rest. All right. Fourteen. Fourteen does not hit. It's going to be a no. No, those other two, he's he's he's dodging and weaving and moving side to side like a blur. All right. Well, that was everything I had in a single round. Anything you want to do? How far are you away or he's broken, right? No, I I mended him when he got back pretty sure he would have. So how far is Kuro away from the main guy? Oh, from which guy? From the from the lizardmen. Thirty five. Thirty five. Let's get him about. I'm going to make him go under Nathaniel's feet and just. He's going to bark. Yep. He's going to bark. See with four strike. No, no. No. He burst at him aggressively. He tries. All right. And that's everything I have in a single round. All right. Nice. So on the protective slash NPC's turn. Oh boy. Rush is going to what's up?  So Rush grasping just like his hurt arm. He just cry. He makes a few parts of here. And you can hear you see that only the elf kind of gives back a reply whistle. And he makes some some kind of signal that job. Bash him and the elf nods hops up off of his axe speak and is going to wild shape. Oh, this is very cool. Oh, no. I'm down. Scariest things to find. Now we're going down the path. I do have one minor discrepancy. What's up being friends with me doesn't make them not friends with the fishman. And also they do retain their memories.  Oh, I don't like they still know what that means. They they haven't stopped knowing things. Never mind if you want to do this anyway. I'm I'm cool with it because I have ideas. They all whistle back in unison. Never mind keeping that in mind. I didn't know that that's exactly OK. Thanks for thanks for letting me know. They always want to run it the other way. I'm fine, but he does go. He does wild shape anyway. And he's going to wild shape into a wild shapes, a giant vulture.  And he is going to down. I don't I don't like that. No, no, like this. No, I might be it'll be fine. It'll be fine. Oh, I don't like this at all. He's going to pick me up. He is going to pick you up. It's OK. I have a plan for if you fall. He likes I do have something I can do. He leaves my area and he will not pick you up. I'm not worried about falling into him. So I'm worried about him getting his claws in you. He flies over here and he's going to go for the person who is they see as the biggest threat. No. Well, I guess the horses. Oh, my God. Please. Now you can't run away. OK, you see this beast of the sky fly towards you, Nathaniel, and immediately just like thrust its beak just like straight at you and just flashes you in the chest until the wind is knocked out of you. You take. I would like to intercept this damage, please. Oh, you may have a reaction to invoke my fighting style interception because Nathaniel was within five feet of the echo. Yes. OK. Roll your one d 10 plus your proficiency. Yes, one d 10 plus. What is our proficiency this time? I think it's three three. It's our proficiency right now is well, that reduces it by 11.  Oh, my God. Oh, thank God. You take my interception is the best fighting. So it nearly gets at you just like you are able to dodge out of the way. But the exertion of force of you trying to move out of it exhausts you a little bit. You take one damage. Oh, so much damage for me. I'm trying to protect you as this thing flaps towards you. However, it does have a multi attack, so it goes for it again. I did what I could. I'm sorry. You did so much more than is like, listen, thank God, honestly, my only purpose for Luna existing is to protect you. Squishies and this second attack with its talons goes to slash at you and cuts you kind of just like right on the arm. You take nine damage, so much damage. Watch my health drop. That's nine damage. Oh, my God.  And so the rest of them will try to protect you. Yeah, Nathaniel, as if they are friends or not necessarily. No, they they are not inclined to fight on my behalf unless they were already inclined to fight. They they avoid violence unless already inclined to fight on my behalf. They have no reason to attack their own people right now. OK, so they're just going to sit aside. Yep. Sure. And and Rush notices this. What are you doing?  And see, I wasn't being killed by a bird. He's going to leap into the water.   And so you only have one target right now. The others are kind of just like standing aside. And Kara is going to come up and she almost like shoves you out of the way. Nathaniel and just holds up her hand, kind of her bony armored hand, and she's going to cast Blight on the bird. Flashbacks to Bloodstred. No, no. You don't have to blame it on our side. It's amazing when it's on our side, but I'm getting mad. Well, we know how bad you know how bad Kara's blight hurts. Oh, yes, I do. Well, it would if it would hit, but it doesn't. The bird is flapping and making a scene that kind of distracts her. Gosh, I still. Nathaniel, it's your turn. Right. I think that I've overstayed my welcome here. I am going to bring my hand up and wave it through the air. Pink lights are pink lines will shoot out, connect with myself. Let's see. Are you within? Yeah. Yeah, I'm going to cast, of course. Sorry, I forgot to I need to say I'm casting my mantle of inspiration, which allows me to pick up to five people now that are within 60 feet. And so that's going to be myself and all the boys and also all the girls. So myself, Enoch, Renee, even Kara can get in on this and Luna. And we all we can all use our reaction to move up to our speed. And we also get eight temporary hit points. You're welcome. Thank you for the record. Nathaniel said, head focus on the on the head of the operation, right? Yeah, that's what I said. But also he dived into the water afterwards. So maybe plans have changed. Regardless, I don't have a 60 feet of movement right now. Yeah, because they're hasted. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, eight, ten page for you. Right. Yes. Yes. Thank you very much. Well, I could just rush into the well. I'm going to go where he where he was. Oh, God, why are you ruining the water? You're ruining my plans. Throwing off the hat and I'm going to. And I got a fire under water. Poorly poorly, which is the reason which is the reason why I have a rapier. Yeah, OK. Listen, I'm a firefighter. Don't don't at me. I'm going to you for this. Seeing him run into the water, Renee, literally face palms. And we'll have to move this way, I guess. I'm going to move away from the action. I'm fine. Go to you. No, you're not. No, no, no, no, no, no, I haven't done my thing yet. I'm letting you all go because I have a fun thing. Yeah, no, Renee's just going to go over here because I was going to do the thing. But I was going to reposition herself over here. Good idea. Everybody has everybody else done their inspiration shuffle? I've done my shuffle. The inspiration shuffle. Fantastic. I'm going to use my man to live in inspiration. Keep in mind, I do not provoke attacks of opportunity. As I like almost glide right over here and I'm going to glide on to the horse. And then as I and then as I take the reins, I'm going to call out if any of you would like to entertain a career in investigative work, please follow me. And I'm going to go here.    Well, there it goes. Yep, I'm going to leave. I'm saying that to all of my charmed fellows. Hey, come on, come on, come on with me. All right, so you can give me a persuasion for that to see who actually does want to start investigative work. Do I get advantage because you're charmed? I think that's how charmed works. Yeah. Yeah, I believe so. Yeah, let's do this persuasion. I mean, you're probably going to. OK, that's really bad. Oh, oh, my God. What is wrong with the dice? Anybody have inspiration? Yeah, I gave it for a shoot. I forgot to do a thing that I forgot that it's not a big deal. Damn it. Worth comes to worst. They'll stand around. I'll leave. Life will go on. OK. I'm going to sign the old notes out of the campaign. Yep. There he goes. It's going to leave. You're going to leave. You're going to leave. So a dash would put you off of the map. And I'll say you get far enough that you can leave combat. Is that what you wish to do? Yep. The everybody else can fight as much as they'd like to. Because as long as I leave and these guys aren't inclined to do anything like nothing is as good as them not like it's as good as them being knocked out. And I feel like I've done enough. So I'm going to do it very well. Nathaniel leaves the combat and you can say that this banana just let me see. Get out. Oh, my gosh. I already did. Yeah, like stay out. Leave the thing is, I have not fleshed out these protectors enough to see who would be interested in becoming an investigator just in general, just in general. Maybe maybe they'll see what you know what my pitch is. And all right, yeah, who knows? You can see that the the halfling over here does seem like they might take an interest. They're just like, hmm, but they'll have to move on their turn. That's fair. Oh, what's next is Brene? OK, your boss just bailed. Yep. No, listen, I'm I'm so used to this. It does not even phase me. So what I'm doing is basically hoping I don't die. And first things first for my action, I believe. Yeah, she's still with an ear shot of me. So I am going to cast true strike, which we have like the thing, the point, the finger thing, but we have the custom thing of an ally with an ear shot that you speak to learns the weaknesses of the creature. You point to and the ally gains advantage on the next attack that they make. OK, and which target I am. I'm telling Kara, I'm basically like, car to both get hit the boat. Now, OK, yes. And then bonus action, I am going to use I'm going to give Bartek inspiration, but I'm going to give it to both fighters because I'm using my first iteration of the helping hand. Yep, which allows me to if my pair of comfortable fingerless loves and it allows me to use a class feature or spell on. Oh, it's a feature spell on themselves. Fuck, I thought it was I could do it. You can just inspire, you know, because I still already I already have inspiration. Does that technically mean I can inspire myself? So, yeah, so that wouldn't work. Damn it. Oh, it makes me so sad. Sounds going to be so cool.   No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. You can feel you can feel a middle finger jab at your cheek. That is your Bartek inspiration, specifically the middle finger pressing against your cheek.  Oh, wonderful. So, by the way, I'm also going to use my movement to, you know, kind of maneuver still over near the trees. Kind of hiding the trees. I am replacing the gavel with objection, not a rapier. Because guess who? Guess who doesn't have to worry about disadvantage at range anymore? But would be under water, but you're under water. OK, worry about that on your turn here. Yeah, Renee, is that your turn? You're true striking and inspiring Enoch. Yep. All right. I guess. Oh, please, I haven't. I've not taken a bunch of damage in this campaign. You were at Luna five. Your turn. I'm going to argue drawing upon my monster hunting knowledge for this. I want to see I want to gaze across the water here and see if I can see where maybe there might be some air bubbles coming up from where a little lizard friend is hiding, whether he's dislodging air that might have been caught in in plants or it's its breathing. I'll say perhaps this could take a free action for your free action to give me a perception check. OK, I will be adding Bartek inspiration to this, probably most likely. Would you like to use your part of inspiration? Don't think that inspiration is going to fix this.  In a single. This ain't your daddy's inspiration. So scanning the water, it's too dark. You can't quite see. And it's too dark, you said. Well, I have something to fix that because this will still hit him, even if he's in the water, if he's within 10 feet of me. Radiant consumption. Yeah, that's what's going to happen. Oh, me, really. Don't worry. Don't worry. I have dexterity saving throw advantages right now. I'm not worried about you at all, man. You made your own bed. So if he is within 10 feet of me, he will start taking radiant damage. And I believe my consumption has gone up. I'll put that in the chat because I hold on. Is that it? Yeah, how much damage is it? Like every year. Yeah, so I need to go and take two damage. All right, awesome. It is for damage now, I believe. Yes, that. And I guess I want to hold my action for a few surfaces. OK, the surface is around me. Then you're going to use your reaction to attack. Yeah, a little map. You're under the water. It's very dim. However, you can see something of a silhouette further ahead of you around this area under here.  But you can see generally where he is and you could probably make an attack on on him at disadvantage since you're under water. OK, I'm going to swim towards him. OK, yeah, I'd say like right about there as you could probably see, she's like around here somewhere.  I know you have resistance, but you if you stay there, you will start taking radiant damage. That's right. First and foremost, for my first bonus action, I'm going to cast Expedious Retreat just in case. OK, I need it. Just in case that I need it. And as my action, I'm going up with the rapier. I'm going to see if I can stab him a couple of times. OK, show me rapier with disadvantage. That does not hit that 13. So if you want to make another attack, you're going to have this is not going. Well, no, you're you're stabbing and stabbing in the water. However, you're not able to. Well, second round from haste, I'm just going to go. You want to know what I'm just going to keep going. There's no there's no point to to resurfacing. All right, see the second attack or rather the all right. That one does hit. You are able to snag a little bit of something. Show me the damage. All right. Nice. OK. All right. And this is my second attack. Oh, God, this is so getting way out of hand. All right. 17 does hit. OK, fun. We're doing it. All right. Nice. Another slash as you see blood kind of coming from where you swiped.  All right. Let's see if he hits you. He does. All right. And he has sentinel. Wait, he has sentinel. My armor class is 16 or 18 right now. Yes, because of haste. Yes, it is. But they think it's you still can't move. Oh, now you're stuck underwater. God, well, you did say that you're not going to resurfacing anytime soon. Well, I think that means Enoch is taking is absolutely taking radiant damage then. And I'm glad you agree, Enoch, because Rush believes the same thing.  Yeah, acrobatics. I'm more dex. I'm going to use my inspiration.  So you have you get an 11 11 to contest. Enoch, you are grappled underwater. Oh, fun. Just just for for the sake of this, it can is the is the water splashing around? Are we aware that now you can see? Yes, you can see bubbles coming up from the struggle and the movement. Yeah, he can still struggle. He just can't move if he's grappled. So no, this is not a big threat. That actually helps me. You have two minutes, which is 20 rounds of combat. Yeah. Well, it's just, you know, he can also continually try to no generous your neck in those 20 rounds of combat. So you might want to get you. Yeah. And keep in mind, you know, if you do take eight damage, so remember to subtract that from your HP. Oh, I already did. You already did. Those were attempts. That was all 10 HP. Oh, that's right. Yeah. The mantle of inspiration. I went over my my thing and it's not it's it's not on their turns. It's on my turn that they take the damage. I remember now. Thank you. The rest of the protectors notice that, like, things are not going well, seeing as all of them are not fighting. They're like, we can see, you know, got the look on their face. They just call out to each other and they're going to retreat.  Yes, you're OK. Oh, not all of them. One of them. So this one leaves this one leaves because the dagger didn't actually hit that orc since it was shot out of the hand by you know. Yeah. This one, yeah, they're still the vulture that's here. Forgot the vultures still here. However, this one actually, this halfling was swayed by Nathaniel. So he's going to try and go this way to follow him. However, your trusty brother sees us as a threat and he's going to run forward and try and. Ah, oh, he's trying to go after that. Going after Mr. Nathaniel. I'll help. Yeah. And he's going to tackle the halflings to the ground. Oh, no, Francis, no Francis.  But they're both prone. And lastly, Cara is going to conjure something. You see large, too large, kind of skeletal, bony hands burst from out of the ground. It throws dirt kind of a few feet away from it, from the sheer force and grabs the two talons of the vulture and pulls it to the ground. The vulture is now prone. Oh, yes. Oh, dear. And you can see her making motions of the hands and pulling kind of making her own hand motions that the bones mimic. Someone might want to hit this thing. Oh, man, Renee. Oh, my God. Your turn. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. I see my mission, but I see my brother, but I see my mission. I believe in you. You got this. All my plans, all my beautiful, beautiful plans. The bird is the biggest threat. If it helps at all, I've got Enoch if you want to take care of the bird. I'm going to shatter the bird.  You know what? That's a good point. The horse would the horse would. I'm sorry. I'm just going to say that I was my only thing in my way. No, yeah, my bad. That's that's me not paying attention. There's a lot going on. No, it's OK. I just I appreciate you doing that for me. Good roach. So this has a 10 foot radius, my beautiful, beautiful shatter. So I can totally hit this bird, I think, without hitting Kudo for the bridge or the echo. Yeah, the bread. You know, I'm going to hit the bread. Give me my bread. If Kuro makes his save, he take. I got the bread. To you. I'm going to be hard to grab. All right. A loud crackle emits from where? OK, yeah, you put it there. Oh, yeah. But now I'm just kidding. I'd rather hit your dog than my brother. I'm sorry. Francis would take it if you put it there. This is not taking it. I'd rather hit the dog. He mended things to take out of context. The dogs about to be extra crispy. So, you know, all right. So the shatter is DC 16. So next Saturday, Constitution. Yes. Yeah.  And it kind of blows a lot of the grass around the area. And you can see that the vulture just like lowers its head like kind of quivering in pain. Good. I'm using my movement to go over to my brother. Yeah, I was wondering. Kuro shuts down. I'm sorry, Kudo. Oh, I'm glad he shut down from that. And you can see Francis is just kind of like laying on the kind of like on top of this halfling. I've got them running. Quick, knock them out. Oh, my God, I can't do anything if I actually at the moment. So what I'm going to do is because I still have it with me and it's a bonus action, I believe, because it's my bardic inspiration. Yep. I only have one left, but I can use that inspiration to God. Where is it? Where is it? Where is it? As a bonus action, I can expend my bardic inspiration and choose a creature I see within 60 feet. The creature subtracts the number rolled on this next saving throw it makes before the start of its next turn. OK, so I don't listen. I'm just I'm wanting to hit it with something, knowing that it feels something as I'm looking at my freaking brother and I'm like, what did I just say? What did I say about you running if we had to fight? But he's a little bit lost for words. Oh, like she is. She's not saying, but like clearly in her face, it's like not necessarily angry. It's just like distressed. He's just gesturing back and forth at the at the halfling and towards the direction of now. But then always has a plan. I don't know how it always works up for him, but it does. So is that your turn then? Yeah, that's all I can do. All right, Luna, you can see bubbles coming from where Enoch was as if there you can see that there's a silhouette of a struggle going on. Cool, cool, cool. There's this something I was reminded of something interesting that I read on Twitter and I was going through my manifest echo to check out. My echo can technically appear in any direction as long as it's 15 feet, including above me. So that also means below you. Do you want to put the echo in the water? Yes, because I am also going in the water. I just want that lovely that lovely flank when I try to I don't know if it'll help, but maybe being surrounded will help.  All right, I'll say, yeah, with like two people down there just kind of surrounding, you can see clearly if where Rush is. Lovely. Yeah. No, I want to see that. He is just kind of like holding Enoch with one arm and he sees you come down. Yeah, no, I'd like to, if possible, jump on him when I do this. Are you trying to make your own grapple check? Yep, I am trying to grapple him. All right, I assume athletics is what I think you may. I don't I don't think I did because I said I was going to before and I never did. So you did not. So you can use point to going to try and use his acrobatics instead. Would you like to use your bardic inspiration? I think yes, for safekeeping, for safe measure, I think, because I want to make this impossible for him to and get that get that eight. OK, twenty seven. Twenty seven. So good. Yeah, no way he's getting out of that. You have him grapple now. Grapple chain. Well, is it an action to try and move him? Or is my speed just half to try and pull him out of the water? Yeah, you spent five movement to get into the water. So you have twenty five left. It'll cost twice your movement to move. Yeah, so I'm just I just want to pull him on the shore, because I'm assuming pulling him out will also pull E knock out. Yeah, yeah, all the while. It's like, all right. And Echo's Echo's going to Echo's going to come back. I was going to move and all right. Yes, you pull him to the shore. He's out and I just like to yell at him if I can. All your men have deserted you.  Those are your options. Give me an intimidation. Strength is to believe this never works. This never works. Thirteen, OK, he just hits his back. Well, then you might as well gut my throat if you're going to be siding with the necromancers. Fine, that can be arranged. I really didn't want to do this. So I assume that's your turn, Luna, because I was an action to grapple. Yep. Yep. Unless you want an action surge or anything. Hmm, you know, kind of, because we're about to have I forgot that that was the thing I could do. I'm so sorry, Aaron. But yes, I think I would like to action surge to punch this motherfucker. Yeah, no, do it, do it, do it. Yeah, punch it. Yeah, yeah, no, I want to knock him out. I said I was going to kill him. He didn't believe me. I'm going to knock him out if he's low enough. Well, he has taken a lot of damage, actually. Yeah, well, and I if I do this, this is too. And I'm striking two attacks by action surge. So right, you may one. That's all right. OK, hold on. And that means the damage from my unarmed strikes at three. So I don't know if you want to double that. That's a crit. So six. Yep. And one more. That's a mean punch. Bop him in the 18. So another three. Also, I'm still ready. It comes something. I'm sorry. Oh, so he takes an extra four. You take two because you're resistant. OK, which I don't think I have to roll too high for a con with that. Oh, my God. And he's about to make another snarky remark. I thought you and you knock him out. Yeah, well done. Straight cocked him. He's out. He'll have a bird. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Sorry about that. I needed to help the drowning man. So I was a brown and you. Oh, I have a plan. No, I was going to keep stabbing him until he let go of a great plan. Anyway, you know, your turn for it. It's a good plan. So he's knocked out. He's not that cold. Yes. Yeah. And I will say, Luna would make a point to be like, I want him alive. All right. And the only thing we have to do is roll your haste yet. Oh, yeah. From the radio consumption. You just need to attend. That's all. Oh, never mind. You're exhausted. I am so sorry, Aaron. Oh, God. You're no longer hasted. So you do not gain a level of exhaustion. That's not exactly what the spell does. You don't. It means it means you cannot move or take actions until after your next turn. So you lose a turn is effectively what happens. All right. I'm sorry. Sorry, Aaron. It is better than a level of exhaustion. It is better than exhaustion. It's definitely better than a level of exhaustion. It's a lot more temporary than exhaustion. Well, it's fine. I need to catch my breath. Anyways, on the protectors' turns, this bird is going to try and pack at the hands. Yep. It breaks out of its kind of bony grapple, I guess. And it's going to flee.  It just gets up and flies. Kara is going to try and take an attack of opportunity against it. Hit a car, hit it. About to pull a lion out and shoot it. She does. You see one of her bony kind of like armored arms extend out into a blade and slash at it. However, it's still up and alive. So it flies away anyway. Well, we thought we sure showed it. And this halfling is going to push Francis off of him and yep, easily, because Francis does not have that high of a strength. And he's going to run. Renee, you have an attack of opportunity on this halfling. Do you take it if he was running like towards Nathaniel? Like, well, actually, hold on a question.  No, he seems to be fleeing now. And what he's going to do is he's going to get on his axe beak and run away now instead of towards Nathaniel. Cool, cool. I'm OK with him just running away then. That's fine. He leaves. He's like, and with that, combat is over. And you guys have fended yourself off from the ambushing protectors. Well done. Are you OK? She's like grabbing on to her brother, like checking his face. Like, did he hit you? Are you OK? No, he was nothing. I pushed him to the ground. Did you see that? It was so cool. Oh, my heart is beating so fast. I was so scared. I saw him heading for Missa Nathaniel.  I can't just sit here. Did you did you know what he was running to Nathaniel for? Well, he tried to protect us. They they are bad and they were going to kill him. They are the protectors. You're right. But if you listened to what Nathaniel is saying earlier, he actually tried to convince people to go with him. So far, you know, he might have just been going to go and like conversate. You can see it dawn on his face and he's like, oh, but, but, but what? But he I I'm not reprimanding you.  But I thought he I see I saw I I know what you were thinking. And it is understandable. But now and for next time, you know how how he works and you know what his plan plans tend to be. He just puts one hand on his forehead and just kind of like rubbing it. Merda, adventuring is confusing. It is confusing. But that's why you travel with people and learn the strengths and weaknesses so that you can better help each other. Right. Oh, and speaking about being each other, she looks over at Enoch. Did you have a nice swim? I looked down at Kuro. What happened?  So why are we mad at me? She's just like, look down on both these and I'm going to start mending. She just looks at him and then like gestures to like probably her arms is like because of her previous thing, her arm is probably still pretty black and she just gestures at it. And she's like, I didn't have a lot of options of what I could do. And neither did I. Look at the circumstances. You have a gun. Kara steps in between you. I expected you to beca. But right now we need to figure out how to get your friend back. Do you have any sending? She just looks back at Renee. I would if I had gotten enough sleep. Oh, he's going to circle back around. Nathaniel, do you plan on circling back around? Yeah, if that big old bird that I think is still chasing me isn't in the sky, eventually I am going to stop because I expect the the protectors to like follow me. When none of them follow me, I get a little confused because what's his face intercepted the only one that was going to. So like I'll wait a minute and then I'll start to like move back towards the camp as the the one that got intercepted finally makes its way to me. Yeah. So I'll say you probably make it back to camp with a reasonable assumption.  Can I just say I've tied him up, please? Oh, yeah. Here, let me get a little thing. Yeah, I'll have communicated that I just want to have a word with the sky. All right, all right. OK, are you going to tie him up first? That way he's already he's already tied up. Don't worry. I love that. I love that. That's OK. Don't worry. I took care of it. His weapons are off him, too. OK, I'm going to try and look for Nathaniel. Well, he came back to the camp. OK. And so, yeah, I guess we can talk about we can start with Luna first with interrogating this guy. Yeah. I guess I try to wake him up, you know, being locked in the face. Cars going to come watch. Francis is just going to tend to the horses.  Oh, rise and shine. Listen, I just want to have a word with you and then we're going to figure out what we're going to do with you. You can talk or you can not. It's really up to you. He simply tilts his head and smiles without saying anything. I first want to know what exactly made you join up with the protectors. He had to go to Necromancy, running, chasing coin, couldn't get any better job with better bosses. And what do I get got to gain from telling you? Better opportunity, maybe one that isn't working with Necromancy, my dear. And I can trust that from you, eh? And he turns and looks at caros crossing her arms. Yes, because she's not with the Smine of Death or the Black Vein Queen. You all made assumptions. He tilts his head the other way. Ah, but she's still in Necromancy.  And only to defend herself. The only spells you've seen her cast are when you've attacked her.  I want to know just exactly the names of the people that she's defiling. Does it matter? I mean, Kara just takes a step up. I raise who I please. Kara, please. Listen, I'm not going to try and convince you otherwise, because frankly, I think you'll probably set in your ways, but I'm just giving you a chance. Listen, I just want to know why you involved yourself in this. If it's a hatred of Necromancy, we can have a conversation. If it's looking for better coin, I can get you a better opportunity. Give me a persuasion. Sure, let's see how this goes. That's the 14. That could be worse. He turns his head to Kara and doesn't and just kind of locks eyes with her and doesn't take his gaze off. They've really got a better job for me than turning in Kara Mihara into the authorities. Yes. The war criminal that Belkines has been hunting for decades. What if we have been hunting the wrong person? Hmm. What's that mean, anything? So then all the people she's hurt doesn't matter, does it? All the things she's done. All the things she's done. What exactly has Kara Mihara in done, not the Black Vein Queen? Kara steps up, I siphoned. I've taken many people for the benefit of my powers, for my research, without a single inkling of remorse. And she leans down, just like face to face with him, and I'll do it again. Kara, please step back. I don't answer to you. I'm asking you. I'm not telling you, asking you to please step back. She just takes a step up to look at you, Luna. If you want a chance at this working, do you want a chance at fixing everything in Belkines right now, making things easier? Do you want that chance, Kara? She looks at you just face to face, her cold gaze, like she tries to keep up a cold, like mean stare, but just is having trouble looking at you. And she just shakes her head and just walks away, just does a little grunt, steps past Enoch without saying a word and goes to the horses. Turn back to Mr. Lizard Folk. She's had a lot of people. And so have you. So if they protect us, ransacking a town that's just trying to exist. We were providing a service. Providing a service. You saw the Spina Death attack the place, trying to recruit more people? Yes, of course I've seen it. But does that mean every single person who casts a spell like that? Does that mean they all deserve some form of retribution for the actions of a few? He just looks down and seriously considers this. His eyes are darting left and right. Listen, I'm not someone who has no idea what necromancers have done. I'm a daughter of a veteran from the war and I've seen the carnage that this cult has caused But what we're trying to do here is fix it. Bring who needs to be brought to justice and maybe make some change. Then what do you need me for? Competent swords are always handy. You've heard my friend back there, yes? The witch taker? Yeah, he's taken in a few buddies of mine in the past. Didn't quite see what the benefit in that was or why he would do that. I mean, sometimes you... As far as I understand, sometimes you need people that also work in the seedy corners of the world. You need people who are familiar with them. I have two questions. Yes? First, is this within earshot of everybody? I assume we're not hiding it, right? Yes, Luna just asked to have this conversation alone. That's fair. If you want to jump in, that's totally fine. Just know that's what she asked. Nope, that's okay. I don't need to jump in. One small thing. I didn't want to cut the tension, but I've been holding on to this for a really long time. I kind of expected it to jump to me walking in on the horse, and my finger is getting really tired. So this is going to cut the tension, and I apologize. You know what? Go ahead. Okay. Oh, my God. Whoa! Oh, my God. It's banana time! Oh, my God. It's a little bit. This has been great. You were all like, hey, let's get... Like, the Daniel comes in. I'm like, yes, I do. No, no, no, no, no. God, my finger hurts. No, no, no, no. Not that. That's fine. That's fine. I saw it. That was worth it. Davy, that is on me. I thought like you were over there because I thought you were just going to go over there to do stuff. I didn't know you were preparing. That's on me. Nope. Makes sense. No, I do the stuff like that all the time. That makes it for the lack of banana effect this episode. Damn it. I was just, I was sweating because you were getting more intense, not less. So this definitely would have not been the time to do that. All right. I went back to where Nathaniel is. Keep having your conversation. Perfectly relevant to the conversation as he is part of the subject of it. Yeah. No, you were totally fine. That was worth it. That was funny. All righty. I did you. All right. All right. So Rushk just looks around. Or if you don't want to join them, because I understand if you might not want to, his, what he can do is quite terrifying. Actually, I think a fair point is made that that kind of magic can be just as dangerous if it's not used correctly. You saw what it did to your men, didn't you? He just looks down for a second. If the majority of the kingdom can't see necromancy for what it is, who's to say they can do the same for us? Stop. Stop villainizing the protectors, the people that are extorting poor villagers out of money, kidnapping people, ransacking homes. He just looks down. All right. That's not fair. No.  If not slightly worse considering, you know, you're practically destroying lives. I mean, both of them are practically destroying lives, Enoch. Well, technically, one's bringing them back, but I won't get into it. And just because you don't understand the spell doesn't, and just because you don't like it, doesn't mean you have to really live with it.  Like Renee is saying this, like she basically like focusing on the fires, like totally, but since everyone else jump into the conversation, she's just gonna doing it too.  Why do we have the right to, why do we have the right to condemn somebody for their magical practice? If it is, if it really is not harming a single soul, no souls are being brought back from the dead. Nobody's being siphoned. Well, eh, she like looks over a car. Like she's just like waving her hand. I'm talking about in general, almost every there are definitely major crimes that we can totally focus on. Yes, but people using a spell to dry herbs and using using a harm raising people that have agreed to be raised to help keep the town running doesn't to me sound like the nefarious necromancers I've heard about my entire life. Now I said that there was a second option. If you didn't want to join the witch takers. I would like a third option, if possible. Why does that? You, you're a- She's taken! Your mum's part of the guard, isn't she? Yes. I recognise your face. You look similar. Yes, I suppose we do a bit. Right. You are willing to hear out these necromancers. See that? Yeah. All their, in all their plight, in all their troubles. I thought there was a story behind it. Yes, of course. I want mine and my protectors heard as well. Seeing that, Luna, who still has a little bit of a bottle of wine left, I think is going to cut his ropes.  Sit down beside him and pass him a wine bubble. Not yet. Why don't, why don't we have this conversation if we're a drink then? Fine. He takes the bottle and limps towards the fire.  Yep. All right. So, that graciously smile at, at Luna, for this whole conversation. All right. Like, that was really awesome. So, Nathaniel, you get back seeing as this one guy who tried to attack the group is being brought to the fire with a bottle of wine now. And Kara sees this as well, and she just scoffs and starts just brushing and feeding the horses. I'm going to mosey on over towards the rest of the horses. The burden did you too hard, did it? Now I use helping hands to use healing word on myself and Nathaniel. Yeah. I will take it. And I'll do a second level because... You squishies. I swear to God, you give me so much anxiety. It's fine. Don't worry about it. So we both get nine points. I meant to... More than my maximum. Oh, nine? In that case, I'll respond. It wasn't that big of a deal. I feel better already. Good to know. She's just like rolls her eyes. She's very used to this. Slide off of the horse. And I don't... I didn't know what happened with this guy. So I'm just gonna... Yeah, sorry. I didn't mean to put him there. Or is that one protector that was like following me around? Oh, you know that one?  Listen, I thought he was coming to kill you, and then I saw him riding off, and I just wanted to help. I just wanted to help. Oh, I'm sorry. Oh, so you intercepted him then? Yes, he did. Yes. You did a very good job. So you're like, oh! Why can't you say this to your son, Nathaniel? Because my son needs negative reinforcement. Renee looks flabbergasted.  She has a matching open mouth, but instead of being happy, she's just more shocked of like, ah! I do not look him in the eye as I say that. I'm just saying that as I like... As I... In stride, as I walk over here, I don't look at him, I just keep moving. And then I'll like reach you. Like, you still need to take the lesson that was being taught to act. Just because it succeeded does not mean that no lesson should not be learned. And I suppose that our bone queen is still perfectly fine. And Kara just like brushing the horse without looking at you. Yes, thanks to your mind control, Witchtaker. Well, very good then. And what of the last person? I see that someone has joined us for a drink. You can see that he just kind of like lifts the bottle like very gently in like a cheers motion. No odd feelings, Witchtaker. None taken. Many people tried to kill me. Some of them even stick around. I feel like that might be a common occurrence. As I pass by, some of them even stick around. I suppose. You'd actually be very surprised of who we've recruited sometimes because it can get very interesting. Right. Well, as it stands then, it seems that Luna has these things covered. As for the rest of us, we should lick our wounds as it were. The night is still dark. The sun won't be up for a while. I know that I still need rest. I would like to get some sleep.  Seems like I have a conversation to be had here. I see that Rush looks a little uncomfortable.  For the record, my weapons are sheathed. I'm not going to hurt you unless you make any move to hurt me. Sorry, I'm just out of my element. It's not exactly what I was planning. That's kind of a gig, you know. We kind of like take everything out of the moment. Where do you suppose the rest of those protectors would have gone?  Would they go back for you? Hopefully, yes. Well, in that case, I'm going to take a horse and see if I can't round them up and that spill won't last forever. And when it wears off, they might be a bit confused. Are you going to go by yourself? I don't see what dangerous there are in the woods. She just gestures at this man who just tried to murder us. Like, really? Yes. Are you sure you don't want to rest, Xenia? I would love to, but if I do not round these people up, then most likely they will try to attack us again. Francis, do you want to go with me, Xenia? Actually, I would feel much more comfortable if someone with tracking skills or perhaps a sense of where people are in the world. Kara, are you busy? Fine, I think this could be a nice little trip. Well, there goes that plan.  Hopps on the horse with you and I assume you're going to ride off and kind of patrol the perimeter? Exactly. My main goal is I need to find those four because it's the spell. The ability only lasts an hour. So you're actively trying to recruit them? I don't need to recruit them. I need to round them up because the spell will end in an hour and they will no longer like me, which means they might just try to beat me up. They might just want to attack us again. Because they realize what happened. So this isn't recruitment. As much as it is if I know where they are, I might be able to drown them in a lake or something. We'll see what happens. Please don't drown them in a lake. There's a lot of options here. I'm bringing a very powerful necromancer. Maybe they can kill them. Who knows? True. All right, I'm just going to put you over here on the map and pretend that that's another place. And we're going to go to you in a little bit. That's fine. Meanwhile, you guys are mostly just kind of camping out and Luna, you're going to have a conversation with Rusk, yeah? Yeah. And you said you wanted the story that protected us to be heard. I'd be interested to hear it. Can't say I've ever... I have found very many positive experiences, but I'm open into broadening my horizons a bit. All right. When I was younger, a long time ago, grew up on the streets. Life was hard. We had to scrounge for food, steal things to survive, and no one wanted... And with it, our reputation dwindled. Each one of us, friends, pals, just trying to live day to day. And we were known as scoundrels, thieves. It's harder to bounce back from that. No one wants to hire someone with a criminal record. Oh, you got that right. Ah, you would know, huh?  And I'm fluttered. She just kind of like... There's a little like... I was thanks to you snooping around that we found some nice shortcuts into a few places. Oh, you're one of...  It's an honor. She's like... She's like, looks at that, and then looks over at Francis like, Oh no. I'm being revealed in front of my friends. Francis is just like... What is he talking about? Oh. Oh, Renee. Oh. She just pinches the bridge of her nose, like, all right. Well, there is no hiding this now. Well, that's just fun. It was nice while it lasted. Hello, everyone. If you did not know, I am like... She's just like, Hello, everyone. If you weren't painfully aware of Chantel being literally pissed at me, I was very good at smuggling. Just thumbs up. Like Francis, just like one hand over his mouth. She just... She just... Oh, pshh. Listen, when you're trying to find something, you have to go through CDWIS in order to make it work. And she looks over at Rush like, You know what I'm talking about, right? Sometimes in order to get what you want, you have to do the things that aren't necessarily, like, you know, entirely okay with other people's mohors. You can see that, uh...  Is she avoiding at me? No, she's avoiding at Rush. Rush just lifts his bottle. Aye, I hear that. See, look, there's only one way to get the attention of the witch takers, and that was to commit crimes. They are very good at staying hidden unless you get yourself in trouble. So that was all I was trying to do. Rush just takes a sip out of the bottle. Listen, when you're born at the bottom, you're taking a stay at the bottom. You have to do what you can to survive, and people call you names for it, labels, to the point where you start to believe them. Any time you try and convince someone, and it doesn't work, you wonder why you even bother trying. And so I guess most of us see as there's no other option. If the whole world is going to see you as a thief, as a bandit, I might as well embrace it. You know, I've heard that before, but it was from a few necromancers. Oh, funny that. The whole world sees you as something evil, something to be condemned and destroyed, and at some point you begin to believe it and embrace it to protect yourself. And you think the kingdom will ever take in the necromancers? I think it's going to be a very long road, but I think the more people are able to see that maybe it's not as black and white as we've been told our entire lives, if I mean something.  Can't you? People tend to only see what they know. People in the light of the city see the light. People in the dark of Glowway see the dark, and it's so bright to each other that they tend to not see what's in the middle. Even if that person has done things that even they admit they're not proud of, and he looks down, he just kind of lets the bottle back on the grass. I think for everybody sitting here is some things they are not proud of. No one lives a life completely without regret. So it's about being better than you were yesterday, being better now, because that's all you can do, whatever happened in the past you can't change. Oh, at the very least whatever you're doing ends up hurting you more than it hurts others. Tell me, what did you... So were you in the original forming of the protectors or did they take you in? They took me in, saw that I couldn't go nowhere, gave me a job. I didn't quite like it at first, but seeing as there were no other options, I went with it. What kind of jobs do you normally take? It started small, something menial, steal something from a rich folk here, push a guy around there, then it started getting darker, heavier, harder to do, but when they're all back to back like that, and just a small escalation I guess, I didn't notice. It's just...  I just, I guess it's just, with a small incremental change here and there, I guess I didn't notice. Looking back at it now, seemed like such a smooth progression. Is it only yourself you're supporting? Do you have family, siblings? I do. How many? Ah, got a little brother, lives in balconies proper, kind of in the slums. I've also got a grandmother. She's with some healers right now. Been one of the healing buildings quite a few months. I don't see her making out of there. So you took all this on to support them? Aye, but I see now that I don't think it matters. No, I think it still matters, but I think you can do it a different way. So the kind of jobs you take, tracking, finding people, finding things. I used to rough up, used to rough up a few people who wouldn't pay the ransom. Eventually turned to, I'd rather not talk about what it turned into. Oh, you don't have to, I've probably seen it enough. What if I told you I could potentially get you in a better line of work, one that will pay a bit better and won't leave you with that much guilt? Well, then I'd say the gods have answered my prayer. If you can make it happen, I try to see if a few of my folks and the protectors might do the same. I would hope so. You are competent sorts. I hate to see so much talent go to waste like that, especially when there's so much honest work you could be taking. I have a contact in Chester City. If you follow us through this, I'll put you in contact with them. He clutches out his side. I'll see about that. For now, he just leans down. I need to put off a stab wound you gave me. Oh, here, let me. And I'm going to lean my hand over and give him my healing hands. Aww. Aww. It's not much. It's like eight hit points for me, isn't it? Yeah. Sorry about that. I thought you were going to drown my friends there, so. Oh, I was. But, uh, no. No, you didn't. I appreciate you not doing that. To be fair, that is the line of work. So that's that's probably okay. And that she says that I'm going to do another one of the healing words on myself as well as him because I can. Aww. I'm only level one, but you get eight points of healing. You're not just shrugging your shoulders. Yeah, it's part of the line of work. All right. You deal with it. Now, while this conversation is happening, let's go over in the meanwhile to Nathaniel, riding around the perimeter with Kara. I'm like one of those girls. I got a horse trying to find bodies.  Dang it. Hair floats. My hair is flowing in the wind. It's all beautiful. Holding her onto Kara's waist as you run into the sun. Oh, no. No, I, Kara sits behind me and is not allowed to touch me. She does not. You, you see, she is just holding on to kind of the back of her seat, keeping herself steady as best she can. That's so hard. And while you're riding, she just speaks up.  Is that so? I'm very disappointed. No, I've no, I know what you've done. I like you very much. No, I've lived in this region long enough to know about your reputation in your story, especially the one that you tell people. I don't tell people much. Only what's already been repeated to me. But if we're on the subject of stories, I do appreciate how open you are with yours. Uh, especially earlier, as Luna tried to stick up for yourself, but for you and you tore her down. Well, tore yourself down.  You think the people of this realm can be convinced to turn a blind eye? No, not at all. It's why I use magic. Yes, that's right.  You simply change people's minds to believe what you want them to. How can I be sure you've not done the same thing to your friends over there? Oh, you cannot. But they are doing what's in your best interests. So if you were to poke around, and you discovered that in fact that all of them had been enchanted to follow me following you. She stops and she hops off the horse and immediately gets into a defensive stance. I will, like, I'll rear back on the horse a bit and then I'll look like I'll give a glance back down to her. I'm not going to stare directly at her. There's something wrong. Mr. Gainesby, why do you think Necromancy was outlawed? Well, let's not get overzealous. Necromancy is a macabre practice, even when used with only a pragmatic mindset. The simple fact is that we live in a world where people who die do not cease to exist. The bodies are still their own, even after they've gone to wherever they will go. And desecrating those bodies can negatively affect the very real system of afterlife that the soul now has no control over. If the gods were to see a corpse puppeteered by you, well, I'm sure that they would be very concerned. Ah, very good. However, I say that that's ridiculous. As the body is no longer sentient and has no pride to disrespect no self, to feel, and most importantly, no mind left to control. I'm not worried about, and you shouldn't be worried, about the pride of small people. It's the pride of the gods that you have to be worried about bruising. But I don't deny it. Enchantment is scary, but it also circumvents the need for torture during interrogations. It can be used, as I have done, to save lives by removing them from what would otherwise be a very deadly situation, even if it is against their will. In fact, a less aggressive practitioner could even use it to help treat problems with mental health. But if you must put magic under this myopic lens, then yes, enchantment is very dangerous. So she squints her eyes.  Well, I suppose that you just chose the wrong profession. Her eyes widen in shock at that. She simply turns the other way. I'm not taking any time away from those bodies that I raised, Mr. Nathaniel, and I see now that you have no problem taking the time away from those who are still living. I hope that your conscience sleeps well, knowing that. So long as it can keep the good people living, I'm fine with taking a bit of time to give them back.  My mouth twitches. He betrayed emotion. She starts to walk away. Good luck finding your victims. I'm heading back to the camp. Of course, it would be unfortunate if Chandrail were to get away. I'll have plenty of time to ponder that as I look for these people that might try to kill us. Perhaps you should think of the same thing before we start speaking of things we might not understand. She does not say anything in return. You see her walk just into the darkness, towards the direction of the camp. And I will go off to find the rest of the people. All right. You ride around and it seems like you have a hard time finding anyone, except you find two just vacant axebeaks, the common mounts of the protectors just on their own. Roaming on their own. Their reigns not being used. I'm going to move over to them and I'd like to investigate them for any sign of a struggle or maybe something's been ripped. Were they just abandoned? It seems that way. With your passive investigation, you look at them and it seems as though one's got like a sword scabbard without its sword. So looking at it, you make the plausible assumption that whoever this ryer was, they drew their weapon, but they're gone. They had to fight something. Well, still overlining. I'm just trying to think of what all the other details with your book and high investigation. All right. Let's just very simply. How do the animals seem? Do they seem a little perturbed back before?  And if so, do they feel like...  However, you do see that they're incredibly shaken. When you approach, they kind of squawk and kind of take a few steps back defensively. Ah, okay. Well, I am alone. I don't have that person I needed to keep me alive. So I am going to turn and hightail it back to camp. I think I'm gonna... I think I would reach Kara before she gets back to camp. Most likely, yes. You'd probably pass her up. Yeah. So like I'm moving quickly. I'm not like going at a full sprint. But like, I'm moving quickly and I will reach Kara. We need to put a posturing aside for a moment to some things in these woods. Of course there's things in these woods. It's woods that are animals and creatures. Right, but also things that have killed those two protectors that I charmed. You get on the horse. We don't have to talk, but we need to get back to camp. She stares at you for a moment and seeing just the straightness in your tone without another word simply gets back on the horse. And he are... Alright. You head your way back to the camp, Cook of Kara in tow. You can see that... About now, Rush has fallen asleep. And Rene, you can see that your brother is also asleep. Like he's got a dagger in his hand, but as if he was gonna like stand guard, but he's just kind of like, couldn't help himself, like before he was like, I'm going to stand watch and make sure you know like she probably was like she was basically like babing him into bed he was like I'm gonna like I'm gonna guard she's like uh-huh he's like I'm gonna do a great job uh-huh I know yeah she's like uh-huh just close your eyes go to sleep he's like in her lap like yep this is nice how old he is because I don't think like he's like a teenager but he's also like very immature he's a baby okay yeah I don't know I don't know what elf ages would be for him but like he's yeah he would be like the equivalent of human like 1920 very young oh he is baby oh yeah so now he's like just turning into an adult shaped something yeah yeah he doesn't know what he is yet and Renee's very fully aware of this what she's just like uh yep I was just curious sorry to interrupt the flow you're good I appreciate you asking but yeah no she she just knows him that well and she's like mm-hmm actually a baby oh my god yeah she's also probably just like drifting her eyes like I was just starting to close like um-hmm uh once we reach back or once we make it back to camp I'm going to uh like call not call out not like yell but I'll say to everybody the protectors are dead at least two of them what something in the woods attack them I imagine that it was something that they had prior knowledge of one of their thoughts was missing oh good so what what do you what if we try to leave now we're all going to we're not going to have enough strength for tomorrow I'd rather worry about tomorrow than die tonight like Renee is going to start getting up like okay just like how do how do you enter other cities without being seen well I usually put on a strong visage most people won't look at someone who's got a cloak on and hiding their face it's not the most difficult thing to cast an illusion on yourself but I usually I rarely ever go into balconies itself I've strayed away from that city for from that entire country for many decades now this will be the first time I've stepped in there for a long time how many days of travel do we have till we get to balconies yeah can we see the map real quick yes you may I believe it is three days if we just on horseback if you go directly to the capital from where you are um straight through yeah let's see so like you can move two days uh in one on horseback away I can missy step there so one two I don't know how well the horses travel over the mountains yeah that'll be a if there are trails because I think we we know that there are like some there's some sort of a trade route through the mountains to get supplies to Yedzel and sure so yeah okay yes so if you book it you can make it there in two and a half days so we'll be passing back through what rugowood which honestly also works for me yeah well I'd kind of prefer that because I know you want to drop your brother off and I'd rather not take him into into you know Dangerville yeah no that'd be great Renee wait what if we are if we are moving till tomorrow will you still be able to rest while on the horse will somebody be able to will somebody be able to I don't know but just drive the horse for you so that you can rest I'm not slept on the horse well I can damn well try uh well if this is the direction we're going wait are we here at this X yeah yes you are just outside of the border we're going to need if we want to rest then we're going to need to enter just a city anywhere else would be too dangerous you can you have connections as I look to luna to get us in quietly yes I would just need to you're going to need to let me speak for a second with my mother to cat her up on some of this if we're going to get her to bleed to let us in okay and keep and keep car hidden that's the problem we are risking it if we are going to be even so much as introduced to your mother on any of this idea someone here is already aware of our presence we're risking it by being in the woods and frankly I think I might have a decent shot at convincing her my mother has picked up an attitude that she has never held before and I I really think I have a shot yes she's still a city official that just let her daughter go with city officials weren't allowed to let people go this is a different situation and you know what I'm inoc where you have some faith in us we've tried to we've had faith we've had faith in you and you're in differs please I don't like it but I believe it is the best option you know clearly don't want to die I really don't even have to explain to her who car is I'm all right I'm just expressing my concern and if it's I am expressing my concern I'm appreciate you taking validity but if you guys decide that it would be best for us to go through Chester then so be it and if this at any point goes wrong I take full responsibility and I'll do everything I can to get us out but if we're about to ride now we can't handle being exhausted on this journey especially if we're going through the peaks to be fair we do have at least and I'm gonna look between Cara and Francis at least one other voice of reason do you have any other ideas uh so you're saying this to Francis and Cara yes Francis at least one other voice of reason Francis just like uh his he looks up and he's just like darting his his gaze back and forth between Renee and Nathaniel do you want my opinion uh I uh well and I turn to Cara can I add one more thing for we go on a final vote because it's it might help us we're trying to get an entire population on this idea why not start with one section one section of the guard to back us and then we move along absolutely not we're not telling the guard the easily corruptible it would be well-skinned scenario to tell them is what I think she means we're going to try and get to it without causing any concern and then the worst fucking case scenario is that we might have to start negotiating with one city and if we need a place to stay I might have someone that can keep everything on the hush hush her name her name is Serene uh a couple of y'all already met her white dragon born oh she's a little one at the church yes she um she dabbled in necromancy it's more than willing to do it again for me so I imagine if she was willing to do that she at least might be comfortable with Cara well there we go all right fuck that's just might work so it's settled then Renee you will message Luna's mother Luna you will communicate with her to allow us into the city discreetly and then I can't do that tonight why not I am completely spent I have been spent the potion the potion isn't enough the spell is too high well that's unfortunate can you cast higher than that not without getting some sweep down well in that case I have a solution but it'll be a bit more improvised right what's what is your solution I'll charm a guard and have them bring your mother um they don't know after the fact do they that might be after something I have to explain away which I'm more than willing to but it won't be a problem I assure you okay let me wake this one up he yep you will get them up and I I'm sorry to wake you but we need to move something's in the woods it gave me another day to live so I think it's fair that you take away another night of sleep uh you can uh hold on wait we have we exceeded the limit of our horses I legit forgot that he was here can we just leave him behind let him go no what do you mean no wait wait wait wait wait wait wait wait wait wait wait wait wait wait I just had a conversation I put a divot in what our plans that we have at the moment but I just had an idea yeah what's your idea um wash hi does that entrance still exist in just he gives a little smile that it does okay oh it's been a hot minute okay I might know a way for us to go under into the Rene passageway I can't believe you named it Rene where you couldn't name it something cool no I raised my eyebrows I we had to pretend while I was there before I knew you we have a life we have to protect us pay uh due credit I just didn't realize it was all of you who were using it so what if it was called the Bordeaux below railroad oh I like that one all right let's all move so the name once we get through it so you guys so are you guys riding out in the middle of the night then to find the Rene passageway I think Rene way it's the Rene way it's the Rene way I have a question because I think we've exceeded the capacity of our horses just this guy still have his axe speak oh no it ran off actually he did not come in on axe speak all right he came from the fucking lake well um I mean all right someone right girl Francis is small so I'm sure we can triple up somebody I'm you know what we it's I'll I'll say let's see how many passengers one two three four five six seven I'm gonna be generous and say yes you can triple up on the horses it will not impede on your because I you know it'll be a rough ride for the horse but for convenience sake yeah you start to ride out in the middle of the night heading back towards chest of city and you cross the border and you can see as you cross it you can see you do pass by the two axe speaks as well I'm taking one are you gonna take an axe speak I won't take the axe speak yeah I'll look at our our mystery friend do you want do you want to take one or do you want to keep riding I'm used to him go and you see him hop off the horse and look at the axe speak and kind of calm it down and look what's going on just lost another one that's all lost another one one of your men can it tell us what he just kind of like brings it down kind of rubbing its beak a little bit whatever it is it's got this one scared then we should move quickly is it willing to move it is all right I've got the reins and you start guys start to ride off heading towards chest or city and as you pass over the border the sound of bustling chest or city in the lights going on start to get brighter and louder until a screeching sound pierces through it all and a meteor crashes in kind of a a meteor of an object not an actual meteor sorry oh okay it's just thorn that's still not good guys wait finish your sentence a a meteor like object crashes in front of you and a heavily armored being bearing an axe confronts you no oh god I had a question about this for a while are those black veins on thorns fingertips you don't know we're gonna have to answer that question on the next session oh well guys we're dead