Retro Role Cast
"Serious roleplaying games played by deeply unserious people."
We are a tabletop roleplaying actual play podcast featuring games that remind us of our gaming roots! We play in person with real math rocks! We love gritty, high action dark settings with nuance, but aren't too far away from our bitter, cynical, yet still lovable selves at all times!
Currently: Going way back to many of our players' 1e roots by playing the new third edition of OSRIC (pdf available free on DrivethruRPG, fantastic hard copies available through Mythmere Games) with a home cooked mini (?) campaign in the World known as Greyhawk in the classic era. follow along as the PCs navigate the dangerous environments and tricky politics of the Duchy of Tenh/Theocracy of the Pale border region!
In season one we played Low Fantasy Gaming by Pickpocket Press, Its sequel game Tales of Argosa is released, available, and comes highly recommended by all of us, stop by Pickpocket Games on the web for more info!
Season two saw a transition to a modified Version of Old School Essentials (Advanced) by Gavin Norman, one of many retro offshoots of the world's most popular role playing game. We borrow rules and content from many sources, but with Old School Essentials we used (in no particular order), Old School Feats by Eric Diaz, Into The Wyrd and Wild by Charles Furgeson-Avery, Into the Wild by Todd Leback, The Axian Library by Guiseppe Rotondo, and the Monster Overhaul by Skerples, amongst other sources.
With the close of Season 2 and the addition of two new Retro Role Casters we have moved to a more episodic format for Season 3. We are referring to seasons 1 and 2 as our Zero Level Funnel of Podcasting.
Season three and into the first part of Season four the four OG hosts took turns GM-ing one shots, Three Shadowdark adventures because we love Kelsey's fantastic Old meets New game, Mothership to satisfy our love of the Alien Movies and a Halloween special using the Call of Cthulhu rules.
Logo Art: Olivia G, Background Art: Bob Greyvenstein. Some artwork © Grim Press, used with permission. All rights reserved.
Retro Role Cast
RetroRoleCast S2 ep2 The View From Above
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
The heroes weigh their options in the tower, Miro goes exploring, and in the courtyard below, time is running out for the captive.
Here are the maps of the episodes
https://www.instagram.com/p/CM3NtX3r0FK/?igsh=ZDRnb28yOGhnbzNq
https://www.instagram.com/p/CM0o6UWoou5/?igsh=ODYycTRrZ2ZjaWp4
#ad&d #oldschoolessentials #lowfantasygaming #OSR #ttrpg #actualplay #rpg #Dnd #oldschoolrpg #seafootgames
On this episode of Retro Rollcast.
SPEAKER_01That's going to come across so well in audio.
SPEAKER_04Well, we'll I'll take a picture. And then you can better in video. Go to Instagram and look at the GM's InstaMap. We'll be posted when this episode is dropped in March.
SPEAKER_00Editor's note? It was July. That's a dig at the GM who's awesome to edit.
SPEAKER_02Fucking gloves are off today.
SPEAKER_03That was like the third dig on time frames from your odd me here if you guys are keeping track of it. It's like somebody's volunteering to edit.
SPEAKER_04I wouldn't volunteer to edit it. I would just put it all out there unedited.
SPEAKER_01And we are here in the tower above the old fortress. At the edge of the forest. I'm amazed that I didn't mix up the words forest and fortress.
SPEAKER_04I'm not. Yay for me. That was pretty good. I never even crossed my mind. The forest fortress. Fortress forest.
SPEAKER_01That's right. No. Again, you're in a room at the top of the tower that is half covered, and you have just looked down into the courtyard and seen it to be full of beast men with one human that appears to be trussed up.
SPEAKER_04Who is the person that was living here and wrote this letter, which I cannot read, but you have read out loud and said something. You can take that copy. I can't read. Yeah, you can't read. Oh, right. I can only trust what Miro said. So you should. Yeah, Miro can read. I thought you read it already.
SPEAKER_01Wait, you you have an 80% chance of deciphering any red text, so roll me no.
SPEAKER_05But the bottom line is the guy who's down there with the Beast Men is the guy who is living here, right? And it seems like he has some connection to the ravens. Is that what the paper said?
SPEAKER_04I believe so. I believe he mentioned that he knew we were ravens, but I don't believe there was any actual connection from what you said. I mean you could read the letter again. I am. I don't think he's a raven.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, he left two copies of his journal. Yeah. On the stool. Two copies. Hey, you're alone in a tower for weeks on end. You gotta have something to do. What's the sorry?
SPEAKER_05Oh, don't apologize. I don't apologize. He's at least a follower of Corbanis. He gets you a fidget spinner.
SPEAKER_04Is he? No. Well, how do you feel about your gods' followers being captured by beastmen? Not awesome. Yeah, I'm not too keen on like the whole nowadays. Like 20 of them. And they were some ancient empire beastmen, but why are they here? Where did they come from? East.
SPEAKER_03Did they come from the east with the mingles? He watched them march in from the east across the grasslands. East.
SPEAKER_04Okay, so the he they came through the Van Vangen Expanse. Vangen Kingdoms. The land of the Blackwood throne. Okay. We only see woods from our Rodney's staring at the map. Yes. Our vantage point. We see woods. If we did video, you wouldn't have to say that. That's true. Yes. Be very descriptive of our other whatever. Alright. And to the east, we see or west we see Blackwood trees once we're on the tower, right? And south we see smoke. The southeast. As of many cook fires or something. But we really don't know where we are. Because there's no features that might give us any clues. Except a forest-ish to our never been here before. Right. Well, that's obvious.
SPEAKER_01Now just to go over the contents of the room, once again, since it was a week since we played the last time. But you came up through wooden stairs along the side of the tower. It led to a wooden platform. There was a trapdoor and a ladder. You pulled the ladder up after you, and you have the trapdoor closed now, currently.
SPEAKER_04Right, right. And Mira has a spy glass that he looked out over uh inner courtyard and saw the beast men doing their thing. Right.
SPEAKER_01Which he found in a backpack that was there. Right. There is a short bow and a quiver with arrows leaning up against a wall. How many arrows? There's 20 of them.
SPEAKER_03Well.
SPEAKER_05Weren't they plus one arrow?
SPEAKER_03No, I had some of them from the other guy. 15 Mongol arrows from the arms.
SPEAKER_01So you either are you going over to the arrows and taking them then, Miro?
SPEAKER_03Do you touch it? Yeah. I'm just gonna reload my quiver so I'm full 20. These are regular arrows.
SPEAKER_01Well, you pick up the quiver and that there are 20 arrows in there. Most of the arrows have dark blue fletching. Three of the arrows have one green feather in addition to the two other blue ones.
SPEAKER_05Is that significant?
SPEAKER_04Yes. Yeah. It's always significant if the GM points it out. Alright, I'm gonna take those 20 arrows. Okay. Is there any mention in the three of them are green? You see of the beastmen other than walking out of the from the east? What else is there about the beastmen? Was there host like were they hostile, etc.?
SPEAKER_05Were there any like minotaurs or anything with them?
SPEAKER_01You yes, that some of the beastmen are larger and are minotaurs. But no. Motaurs. So bedroll unfurled on a bed of rushes and weeds. There was the bag of fluff, a small stack of firewood, eleven torches, and there's a fire pit there.
SPEAKER_04And a giant glowing white ball.
SPEAKER_00Correct. From the ceiling on a chain.
SPEAKER_04Whatever they called it. Yes. And that's been lit forever. As far as we know. And did it mention what the fires were? To the south? There was a bunch of fires.
unknownSmoke.
SPEAKER_04I'm assuming it's like an army. Is it his army? Fires.
SPEAKER_05Smoke to the south. Yes, large encampment of some sort. We don't know what. Was it related to this dude?
SPEAKER_04Like, is he on loan from that encampment? I don't think we know. Was he wearing a uniform from what you could see there, Miro?
SPEAKER_03Pull up my spy glass and take a look. Is he uniformed or does he just look vagabondy?
SPEAKER_01He looks fairly vagabondy, but he is wearing a green tunic. Green, like the trees. Like the fletching and the arrows. Like the fletching and the arrows, and you did find the one little badge that had the green background with the tree on it.
SPEAKER_04Oh, that's right. Yep. So do we think those true the smoke thing or his army? I don't think we have enough information to make a decision on that. Okay. Well, I see two options here. Fight or run. Right. It's literally the fight or flight option. Well? And but the flight is where, and the fight would be how.
SPEAKER_05Twenty Minotaur or 20 beast men, some of which are minotaurs, does not seem like a winnable fight with the three of us.
SPEAKER_03We have the high ground.
SPEAKER_05100% agreed. Also true.
SPEAKER_03Two bows and the high ground.
SPEAKER_04Right. I'm not saying we'd lose, but I think we would get a pretty good start. The problem is do we want the prisoner to stay alive? Their prisoner. I have no connection to this guy. Me either, but he didn't kill us or report us or do anything negative to us when he found us in the circle.
SPEAKER_03True.
SPEAKER_04I feel a slight debt to the not hurting us when he could have, which means he's probably not our enemy.
SPEAKER_03So we should try to get him.
SPEAKER_04It might be time to open our Ravens manual to page Raven101 and go through the code of the Ravens again. That's this is true. Where is our Raven code? Raven Code.
SPEAKER_03To know if the Raven code might clear us into our I think the Raven code is in our Google chat way, way back up at the top. I think it was on that. Oh yeah. Did you print it out in our handy dandy uh binders that you made us?
SPEAKER_01I don't I don't remember.
SPEAKER_05I have a lot to look through. No, I think the Raven code there. In spring we gather to renew, shed our old cells, and start a new festival of life. Oh yeah.
SPEAKER_03That was some that was your thing.
SPEAKER_04My ritual. That was your speech. Day low habitual. Everybody go make babies.
SPEAKER_03It's spring speech. We don't have any uh any handout. Our DM sock. Give us a handout of our rules.
SPEAKER_01Not our rules, our Raven code. Our creed. It was available on a page you all had access to for a year.
SPEAKER_04It's in my heart more than anything.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, but now it's gone. Right. It's not gone per se.
SPEAKER_04It's a year of scrolling pages down.
SPEAKER_01Yes, it's scrolling way the fuck back up there. I'm trying to think. Did I put it on Google Drive?
SPEAKER_03I don't think we put it anywhere. No, I think we just talked it out in chat.
SPEAKER_04It's on the it's on the webpage something.
SPEAKER_03Is it some is there something about leave no man behind?
SPEAKER_04I believe there's something that's you know might be But he's not a Raven. This is his religion. Yes, but remember there's helping the oppressed? Guys looking awful oppressed. Right.
SPEAKER_01There was Yeah. He is very oppressed. Afflicting the help. Comforting the afflicted and afflicting the comfortable was definitely part of the code. Yeah. Does he have shit all over him? Uh no. Well, he must be a king. He's very travel stained.
SPEAKER_03Urine stains. Let's see. So I think we're morally obligated to try to rescue, dude.
SPEAKER_05But is there anything in the code that says don't do stupid shit that's guaranteed to get you killed?
SPEAKER_04Afflict the comfortable, comfort the afflicted, provide no service for coin, steal not from the poor. Let no man who profits from war rest easy. Pay the Raven King in petty stones and jewels, and you will be blessed. The eyes of the enemy are forfeit.
SPEAKER_01Nothing in there about You guys have been really bad about taking the eyes of the enemy out. I just gotta say.
SPEAKER_00Was that like literally cutting people's eyes out? Yeah, ravens, man.
SPEAKER_03I don't think I don't I didn't take that literally.
SPEAKER_04We really haven't always had the time to take their eyes out either. Usually we're running for our lives.
SPEAKER_03To be honest, I forgot about it.
SPEAKER_04Or they didn't have me too.
SPEAKER_02You did too.
SPEAKER_04Or we were in a I will neither admit or deny.
SPEAKER_01I mean, you the the the Raven uh Brotherhood is it's not a martial organization.
SPEAKER_03No, we're gang of thieves.
SPEAKER_01It doesn't have a whole lot of uh no man left behind. Right. None of that sort of thing.
SPEAKER_00None of that really fit into there's honor there of a sort. Sure, but it's ours.
SPEAKER_03So, like I said, this really would come down to this guy, we don't know he's a raven.
SPEAKER_05He's not, he's not, he's a worshiper of Corbanis.
SPEAKER_03So that boils down to it becomes a religious quandary on your part. Because as far as the ravens go, this guy can well.
SPEAKER_01The question you might need to ask yourself is do you like all of your coins? For now.
SPEAKER_03I like mine.
SPEAKER_01Well, I mean, if he has religious conflicts that has affected you monetarily in the past.
SPEAKER_03Well, but that was only what what he had. The the problem was he had all the gold before. Right.
SPEAKER_04They hadn't been distributed.
SPEAKER_03Now he doesn't. That's all. So whatever happens doesn't negatively affect my gold.
SPEAKER_01And Sean is making the universal Picard face palm gesture.
SPEAKER_04The Picard meme.
SPEAKER_03Would Corbanis look upon you with favor if you save this guy?
SPEAKER_04Well, can we save the guy?
SPEAKER_03That's it's not a matter of can. It's a matter of try.
SPEAKER_05No, it's a matter of can. Twenty beastmen, some of which are minotaurs against the three of us. We don't know that they're necessarily hostile either.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, we don't know what's going on.
SPEAKER_04Have we met a friendly beastman? How far is it from the top of the wall down into the courtyard where the beast men are? About a hundred feet. So they could hear us if we were to tell have a conversation while we were up on the wall yelling down, they would be able to.
SPEAKER_01If you were down on the battlements and not taking care to be quiet, they would probably hear you.
SPEAKER_04Right. So then we would have however much time it takes for them to get up here before we can make an escape out over the wall. And yes, we can make an escape out over the wall from the top of the tower.
SPEAKER_05Your mother was a hamster?
SPEAKER_04Because we would use the stick as a peg to hold the grappling hook. You have two 100 feet of rope, we put it on the outside wall, we climb down, you say the command word, it lets go, and uh the whole thing comes down, and then they're standing on top of a wall while we're on the ground. So that's our escape plan. Good one. Okay, came up with that last time. You already had it. You are the tactician. Already had it in my head. So now the question becomes if we go out there and try to parlay from a hundred feet away and they start doing obvious attack things or murder this guy, we have no reason to stay. We enact the escape plan and just leave. And the escape plan is what again? What's the stick? The the stick of Corbanis, let's call it. Stick of destiny. Right. We put the stick on the outside wall, the rope and the grapple is attached to it. You say the word, it attaches to the wall. Right? It doesn't move. We know it can hold it.
SPEAKER_05Well, we know it goes to the ground.
SPEAKER_03Gravity, yeah. It won't be a little bit more.
SPEAKER_04Well, you put it on your side of the wall then.
SPEAKER_03But then it's stuck up there.
SPEAKER_04Until you say the word again, and then you pull it down with the grappling hook you tied to it.
SPEAKER_03Okay.
SPEAKER_04Why do we need a grappling hook? Well, you could just tie the rope to it. I don't really care how you do it. The plan is the same.
SPEAKER_01You tend to leave grappling hooks wherever you use ropes.
SPEAKER_04Well, you don't have to with that stick.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I'm not using my grappling hook ever again. I'm just gonna hang on to it.
SPEAKER_04Right. You just tie your rope to the stick then.
SPEAKER_03Okay.
SPEAKER_04And your smoke bombs. And then we all go over the edge.
SPEAKER_01He's gonna puff a smoke bomb halfway down.
SPEAKER_04Anyway, that's the escape plan. So we could talk to them and still get away. Maybe. That's always everything. Everything's a maybe. Always. How many do you think we can kill before they get to us? I have a sling. Three? I think three? Yeah. And that's not a lot. Six if we're lucky. I don't think I could take more than five. And that leaves fifteen for the rest of you, minus the ones killed with archery. It's not really necessarily a winnable fight, but we don't know that we have to fight them. We can talk to them. We can try. And then if we they don't want to talk, we can escape.
SPEAKER_03I don't like this plan, but I don't see a better one.
SPEAKER_04The other plan is we do what the escape plan is without ever letting them know we were here.
SPEAKER_03But we literally did nothing here.
SPEAKER_01You don't think they're gonna notice a rope going down over the tower?
SPEAKER_04That's the outside side of the wall. They're not on the outside of the wall, are they?
SPEAKER_03See if only we had like a visual display of what was going on.
SPEAKER_01All right. Give me a moment for artwork.
SPEAKER_03Really need that? No, I don't think we do. It's pretty cut and dry. Yeah, we only we are left ultimately with the decision of try to rescue this guy or get the hell out of here. Because there's nothing else here, is there? Well, no, not really. Was there down?
SPEAKER_05We haven't really explained.
SPEAKER_03Well, actually, we were only trying to get up to see what was going on. Which we did. We did.
SPEAKER_04Right now we know approximately we got fires, we got the forest behind us, which we know we were.
SPEAKER_05Do we really want to rescue this guy? Because we just ransacked his shit. You're gonna give it back to him. He's not giving those arrows back.
SPEAKER_03I don't know what he's talking about.
SPEAKER_04Well, that's the price of his rescue then. At least three of the arrows. The extra bow doesn't do you any good. Yeah, no. I mean, I could shoot it if we needed to do some kind of shooting at the beastmen. But if we shoot at the beastmen, the guy's probably going to be killed.
SPEAKER_01Okay. You are here in this tower. Right. You came in through these holes in the original circular place. You came over here, you came up on this battlement, you walked down. Tower here, there's a squat stone building here. Okay. The beast men are in the courtyard beyond this wall. That wall.
SPEAKER_04Right. So they're not in the same place we came up. Correct. Okay. How did they get in there?
SPEAKER_03We don't.
SPEAKER_01Well, there was an opening here.
SPEAKER_03That's right. Yep, there's spots we didn't check yet.
SPEAKER_01And there's an opening here, and this is full of rubble. Okay. So that's full of rubble. There's openings in the walls down below. Okay. The battlements go over those openings.
SPEAKER_04So essentially, ever this tower is in the center of the fortress. Correct. Okay. Alright. That was my mistake.
SPEAKER_01So we would have to take it out onto one of the battlements on the like the where we came up there with the fortress. Okay. Because I'll pop it.
SPEAKER_04So that would, yeah, our escape plan would just put the but either way, they're going to see us.
SPEAKER_01That's going to come across so well in audio.
SPEAKER_04Well, we'll I'll take a picture. And then you can better in video. Go to Instagram and look at the GM's InstaMap. We'll be posted when this episode is dropped in March. That's a dig at the GM who's also the editor.
SPEAKER_02Fucking gloves are off today. That's a job.
SPEAKER_03That was like the third dig on time frames from Rodney here if you guys are keeping track of it. Sounds like somebody's volunteering to edit.
SPEAKER_04I wouldn't volunteer to edit. I would just put it all out there unedited. Let's enact our plan. Why do I fuck these guys? Our plan not planned. Okay. I wish I could find any other gamers to play with. No, you guys are awesome. So we're going to have to escape that way. I'm pointing down the steps that we came up.
SPEAKER_01Well, there's no indication from the beast men in the courtyard that they know you're here.
SPEAKER_04We well, I know, but if we want to talk to them, they'll know we're here. And if we're going to talk to them, we need to be able to escape.
SPEAKER_03So this guy's not necessarily a priest of Corbanis. He just in his prayed at one point in time.
SPEAKER_04Right.
SPEAKER_03All right. There's no benefit to rescuing this guy.
SPEAKER_04Well, we don't know unless it's moral benefit for our benefit I can think of is the whatever faction he's with.
SPEAKER_05The tree people faction.
SPEAKER_03Might be cool guys. Maybe they got a good cover.
SPEAKER_04Could be useful. Right. But those people might also be out there by those fires. And if we go tell them that there are guys captured and there's 20 beastmen, he'll be dead. Yeah, but they might send a company of a hundred men or whatever to take care of the beast men.
SPEAKER_01Well, he has noted in the journal that he believes those didn't be King Galfric's forces.
SPEAKER_04Oh. Oh. Okay. Well, that's not we don't want to talk to them. Nope. We're rocking a hard place. Not that they know who we are at this point. So I guess it's into the Blackwood to stop the end of the world.
SPEAKER_05So we're not going to try and rescue this guy. I don't want to see a way. What if you like run down and throw smoke bombs and confuse everyone?
SPEAKER_03Well, you would lose your freaking mind, so I'm not going to do that.
SPEAKER_04And then just get out. I mean, it is the Miro Rescue MO. Throw smoke, go rescue the guy.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. And run it. But there's 20 beast men out in the open. There's nowhere to hide. So what we need is a diversion. And there's nowhere to hide. So we need a diversion. There's nothing to duck behind. No, I agree. That's why we should.
SPEAKER_04I can create a hell of a diversion. I think we just need to leave them. As much as much as I would love to rescue this poor fellow from a potential terrible fate at the hand of these beastmen. It doesn't seem feasible.
SPEAKER_05You do realize if we don't rescue this guy, like we're missing the whole adventure, right?
SPEAKER_04No, I don't.
SPEAKER_05This is the plot hook.
SPEAKER_04No, it's not. The plot hook is whatever we feel we need to do. Yes, we're in control. Right. Alright.
SPEAKER_03I can make a distraction. I agree. The odds seem instrumental. She'll come try to investigate, and then you guys go kill them. Well, here's the deal.
SPEAKER_04We don't know that the beastmen are hostile to us. So we shouldn't do anything hostile to them until we know.
SPEAKER_05I'm pretty sure all beastmen are hostile. But the only way to find out if they're hostile to us puts us in a position where if they are hostile to us, we're screwed. Agreed.
SPEAKER_01Did the man In the tower, did he think the beast men were hostile?
SPEAKER_03No.
SPEAKER_01I don't think since I read all this.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, let me refresh my memory. I don't think he liked the beast men by any means.
SPEAKER_04No, but I believe you talked about them and something very specific.
SPEAKER_05Before the Foul Abominations came here, we had a patrol on in this ruins at all times. So there's something ghostly here, I take it. Right, there was some like large killer entity that he was hiding from in the tower. The light kept away. I don't like the sound of that. It's not easy sleeping with the sorcerer's light burning at all times. But if that were not there, it or those others would have me. Oh, yeah, there's a dragon. I can see the Bowaks in the courtyard at night barely, and I can hear their silvered voices. Silvered. That's what it says. I plugged my ears for those, but it knows I'm here. It has shaken the lower base several times, or the tower base several times. And I can smell its foul odor. Light alone protects me.
SPEAKER_03The beast legions of the mad emperor.
SPEAKER_04I don't think they're good guys. How long have we dicked around here? Because it was what late mid-morning when we showed up here.
SPEAKER_01Alright, and you took a little bit of time getting getting to this point.
SPEAKER_04Right, right.
SPEAKER_01You've probably been up here for an hour and a half or so.
SPEAKER_05Right. We've been up here for a while, that's for sure. So there's a big bad guy in the castle. There's the uh beastman of the mad king. They have green tree man.
SPEAKER_03Don't don't forget the black dragon.
SPEAKER_05Where do you get in black dragon?
SPEAKER_03The world has gone mad. There's still many many devil stags flying north. Black drake, the black drake flying over the forest and very close.
SPEAKER_04Oh right. That's what we should go do. Let's go kill a dragon. We should go into the forest. Me and my 14 hit points.
SPEAKER_05We can't handle some beast men, but a dragon seems violent. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03There's only one. There's only one. Yeah, it's action economy. We have more actions.
SPEAKER_05You shut your whore mouth. Action economy. What is this? 5e? That's exactly what it is. That's exactly what it is.
SPEAKER_03That's where that statement comes from. 15 beast men is 15 d20s getting rolled to kick our ass. Blasphemer. One dragon is one d20 getting rolled. No, they usually have four or five.
SPEAKER_04Well, that's a lot better than 15. Not really. We're not going to run into any dragons in the forest. We might survive those 15. No.
SPEAKER_03Hey, I'm up for whatever. But I think we need to shoot or get off the pot. Right. You want to help your boy? He's your boy. I just don't see how. We could wait for nightfall. We could wait for nightfall.
SPEAKER_04And then that thing comes out. And they can see, and we can't. No, we could see if the thing takes care of them. We'll stay up here with the light and not get killed by it. Oh, that's a good idea. Yeah, but. Besides, we could use a day with no violence. I mean, it's been a while. It wasn't violent yesterday. I don't know. We slept all day, aren't we? Were we violent yesterday? Yesterday was literally the demon fight. Oh, yeah. Forgot about that. We're still we only recovered because we were in the magic teleport circle.
SPEAKER_01Don't confuse eight eight months of game time.
SPEAKER_04Right. It was yesterday. It was yesterday.
SPEAKER_01With like literally 19 hours of in-game time.
SPEAKER_04Right. That's how you do it for future GMs.
SPEAKER_01So you want to rest here?
SPEAKER_04Not rest. Like spend the night. We're going to patiently wait out observe. And observe. We're going to take over what the green guy was doing. For a night. Yeah. And see, we're going to spend the night in the creepy fortress in the forest. And see if there's anything unusual happens. It'll be like Blair Witch. Right. Only we need to make sure that door below at the bottom of the tower is 100% not going to open. Unless they hack it down, in which case we'll know.
SPEAKER_03Well, do we have any spikes or anything we can get it clos jam it closed with? We'll figure something out.
SPEAKER_04Not me.
SPEAKER_03I don't.
SPEAKER_04We could throw we could jam uh just about anything metal in there. Yeah, I mean, uh, I don't know. We'll figure something out. We're adventurers. One of our future things is going to be practicing making sure doors don't close or open.
SPEAKER_03We are pretty shitty at that.
SPEAKER_04I know. That's why we're going to practice on this one.
SPEAKER_03Over and over. Until we get it right.
SPEAKER_05But how do we know we got it right?
SPEAKER_04They don't open the door. They have to hack it down. That's how we know we got it right.
SPEAKER_03I think that's probably a good idea. Let's see if uh the big bad comes at night. We know there is a big bad that comes at night. Right. We don't know what it is. Right. But the light keeps it away. And this is a defensible position.
SPEAKER_04Right. And we could always make send fake messages out to King Golfric with the light. We could cover it up and make them think something's going on in the tower. Crazy. Right? Like little signals that nobody knows what they mean, but somebody from the force or the that force would have to come investigate, and then they could kill the beastman for us.
SPEAKER_03It's a good idea.
SPEAKER_04You really need to think outside the box, Miron.
SPEAKER_03You are thinking well outside the box.
SPEAKER_04Right.
SPEAKER_05And the box is sanity.
SPEAKER_04The box is what we're going to lock ourselves into and pray that no one shows up in it.
SPEAKER_05It's like Schrdinger's adventure.
SPEAKER_04Right.
SPEAKER_03There was a backpack, right?
SPEAKER_01Right, and you were you rifled through it.
SPEAKER_03Yes. How big is this glowing stone?
SPEAKER_01It is larger than the backpack.
SPEAKER_03Okay. I see you probably figured out what I was doing to do with that.
SPEAKER_04How big is larger than a backpack? Too big to feel. So about 18 inches or something? Yeah.
SPEAKER_03A blanket, essentially.
SPEAKER_04It's like the balls out in front of Target. They're real quick. Can it come off of there?
SPEAKER_03I don't know, but we could throw a blanket on it.
SPEAKER_04Have either of you even touched it? No. No. Why would we touch it?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I don't think that thought ever crossed my mind.
SPEAKER_05Let's touch the magical glowing orb.
SPEAKER_03He touches it.
SPEAKER_01You'll probably have to get up on the stool to be able to reach it. But yeah, you can do that if you want to. I just jump, roll for the ocean planet.
SPEAKER_04Gravity will bring me back. Yeah, I get up on a stool and I get real close and inspect it with my eyes shielded because it's super duper bright.
SPEAKER_01How many core images of Trump looking at the sun?
SPEAKER_04How many cores does it be turned to orange? His hair is going to go like this all the time. He's going to have a core over. All right. Yeah, I get up there and I totally investigate and then I push. I'm pushing on the bottom of my microphone. I push on the bottom of it to see if it like moves off of this uh ring setup that it's sitting on.
SPEAKER_01Okay. So there's a few things there. You so you're looking at it first.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, but I'm like I said, I'm shielding my eyes because I know it's super bright. I'm not directly looking at it like star into the sun deal.
SPEAKER_01Okay.
SPEAKER_04But it's there.
SPEAKER_01Well, just before you avert your eyes, that on the iron ring, before the light becomes too much, and you got these huge floaters in your vision right now. Oh, yeah. But you could see there are some manner of glyph or runes on the ring itself. And when you touch it, an arc of electrical energy arcs off of it before your finger gets to it and gives you one point of damage.
SPEAKER_03Point of damage.
SPEAKER_01And did that happen? But you did touch it. And it did lift up the slightest amount. So it's not a big thing. So it's resting in the ring before you go, ah, son of a bitch.
SPEAKER_04How far away was I when that happened? Like when I like was I an inch away?
SPEAKER_01About an inch away when it's when it zapped you and then you touched it, it lifted up a little bit and you yanked your hand away. Gotcha. Unless you want more damage.
SPEAKER_04No, I'm just curious at what the distance of that was. That's all. Alright, now we have to do some science. I take a glove.
SPEAKER_01Or the barbarian scientist. A glove.
SPEAKER_04Glib scientist. And I touch it with a glove on.
SPEAKER_01It arcs. But it doesn't. But you don't get the point of damage. You do feel the pain.
SPEAKER_04The tingle. I get the electrical tingle. Alright. So now I know I could take it off of here if I really needed to. And there's a Velichko, there's some runes on this. Can you read them? No, it's too bright. Maybe you should get a little closer and shield your eyes. It's too bright. There's one only one bright thing in this room.
SPEAKER_01Alright, you you also see the runes and before your vision is taken over by the enormous purple and green floater that you now have in the center of your vision.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_01They're a flowing spider-y script of some sort.
SPEAKER_04So they don't mean anything to you.
SPEAKER_01No. It's not words.
SPEAKER_04Okay.
SPEAKER_05It says Ananathrak Usvas Bethut.
SPEAKER_04There's three chains hanging from the ceiling. And this ball. Am I correct? Yes. How long are the chains? Two feet. So they're two feet from the ceiling to the ball. To the ring. To the ring, right. And we have a ladder since we pulled up our ladder. I'm gonna leave it go, but how hard would it be to rip that ring out of the ceiling and carry this fucking thing around in front of us?
SPEAKER_01It would be very heavy. The ring looks very heavy. It's attached to the ceiling very firmly with bolts.
SPEAKER_04Okay, so we're not just gonna rip it all out.
SPEAKER_00Alright. Anyway, let's spend the night in the tower. You guys have a wrench plus one? I have a ratchet.
SPEAKER_04I got a I was gonna say I got a hammer, but I don't. Confusing that with my DCC. I have a monkey wrench of real bolt heads. Alright. Did this guy have rations up here? He did. I mean, just think I'm gonna eat his stuff instead of ours.
SPEAKER_03There were sausages.
SPEAKER_04Oh yeah.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, there was a few sausages. There was probably two rations left. But he mentioned in his note that his relief was late.
SPEAKER_04Well, he doesn't need it. We're gonna I'm gonna eat his rations. We're gonna chill the rest of the time here, and when it gets dark, we're gonna do the whole flashing in front of the light thing.
SPEAKER_01Okay. And are you guys going to do anything else in the meantime as far as keeping an eye on things or exploring or anything? You're just gonna stay up here in this room.
SPEAKER_04Alright, well we know there's one other place that we could look into, but not do we want to.
SPEAKER_03I guess the question is do you want me to go sneak around?
SPEAKER_04Why wouldn't we? Go down to that blocked building there and see and into the rubble courtyard and see if there's another escape route through there. And I'll I'll stand up here overwatching. There's no way for the beast men to get into that courtyard that we know of. So you should be safe in there to explore. Just don't go into any buildings. Well, that's up to you.
SPEAKER_03Well, uh if anything happens, I'll blow my whistle. Do you have a whistle? No.
SPEAKER_04Oh, okay. Because that would be actually useful.
SPEAKER_01You would probably be able to hear him scream. Yeah, but it might be too late by then. It's gonna be too late regardless. Alright, so you're going on a on a thief mission? I don't know about that. And we can use your grappling hook to lower you down to speak about.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I'm I'm gonna go look around, try not to be seen. Okay.
SPEAKER_04Keep an eye on the beast man, Belichko. I'll keep an eye on Miro in case I need to rescue him. That's fine.
SPEAKER_01Are we in but are you leaving the spy spy glass with them or are you taking it with?
SPEAKER_03Leave it with them.
SPEAKER_01Okay.
SPEAKER_04Make sure Belichko has it.
SPEAKER_03You look through the little end. Do you have uh do you have any of the leftovers? I don't have any healing potions.
SPEAKER_04Here. It's only temporary. This is one of the icky beast men healing potions that taste growdy, but do 2d6 birth of healing. In case you get like mauled down there. Well, if I get mauled down there, it's I'll come get my potion back. Yeah, come get your potion back.
SPEAKER_03Don't forget my bow's pretty nice too.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, I'll get your bow too. I'll give it to uh my next guy. You and Quebec's child. All right, you didn't need to tell us. We know there was something there.
unknownShh.
SPEAKER_03I don't know what you're talking about.
SPEAKER_04It's okay with me, Miro.
SPEAKER_03Okay, so Miro playing was odd.
SPEAKER_04Miro, you Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Quebec is much more attractive in your imagination than as played by B, which is why we don't do that. Right, exactly.
SPEAKER_04Black little off-screen romance between the GM. I mean, I mean Quebec.
SPEAKER_01Imagine the static electricity. All right, focus, focus, gentlemen.
SPEAKER_04We are I'm driving us forward here, man. Let's go.
SPEAKER_01You are all right, Mira. So you open the trapdoor. Take a look down. You don't see anything at the bottom of the tower. Not even a ladder. Well, you don't see the ladder because it's still up in the room with you guys. Right. So I assume you're lowering the ladder down.
SPEAKER_04Wait, hold hold on. Wasn't the oh no, the tower doesn't go over that building. You have to actually go down to the bottom of the tower. That's right. Yeah, okay.
SPEAKER_01So you will lower the ladder down and you step down to the platform and then you begin the climb down the steps. Yeah.
SPEAKER_04I've I'm following him this whole way, by the way, because I'm going to be down at the bottom of the door area.
SPEAKER_01Oh, so you're going down to the bottom of the tower with them.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, but I'm not going down the next step with him.
SPEAKER_01Okay. Okay.
SPEAKER_04And so we're staggered. All right. Right. Three a three-tier defensive setup.
SPEAKER_01Three people. So, Val, you're up at the top. Yeah. You've been keeping an eye on the backbone up top. On the beast men. Okay, so you guys make your way down to the bottom of the tower. And there was so you closed the door or did you leave it ajar? I thought we left it exactly like we found it. Okay. So the door is still ajar at the bottom of the tower. And you can see, I mean, you've lost sight of the beastmen from here because they're over the parapet of the battlements from you. And you look across, there's on the block building on the other side of the battlements from you, you don't see a door on this wall. But it's about a 15-foot wall, and you could cross the battlements and see if there's a door on the on this side. So you are here. There's no door here, but you can see if you can creep over here and see if there's a door.
SPEAKER_03I will do as stealthily as possible.
SPEAKER_01And what is your stealth role?
SPEAKER_03Uh hide is four out of six, and move silent is four out of six.
SPEAKER_01Okay. Alright, so you creep ever so carefully across the battlements.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_01And you round the corner and look along the side of the block building. In a doorway about 15 feet away, you can see that the doorway is slightly is open, and you say a hoofed leg sticking out on the ground from the doorway. Like it's laying down, like it's laying down.
SPEAKER_03Dead in there or something. Or sleeping. I should go make it really dead just to make sure. Any windows or anything on this billing? No, it's just solid stone, no windows, no. Well, yeah, I'm gonna go and take a look in the door.
SPEAKER_01I'll get my dagger out. All right, so you pull your dagger out very quietly, and you creep over hugging the wall so as not to be seen over the battlement, and you come to a doorway and that inside in a pool of black blood lay most of one of these things.
SPEAKER_03Most of one of them.
SPEAKER_01The lower legs and the abdomen area is all that's left. The rest is shorn away. Okay. Feet towards the door. Feet towards the door. There is a spear laying on the ground, and there's a lot of blood in the floor. But beyond that, you can see that there appears to be like a storehouse. So you can see racks, and it appears to be not decrepit. It's not ruination. It appears to be like a place that's currently being used for some sort of supply.
SPEAKER_03Okay.
SPEAKER_01You can see crates and boxes and barrels of things organized mostly very neatly in the center of the room, and then there is a set of stairs going down to a lower level.
SPEAKER_03All right. Quick look in the boxes, the store, the stores. Is it food stuff? I'm trying to identify what it is real quick. Not digging around forever, just to Well, so how much time are you taking? Just uh quick 30 seconds. Try to pop a box open, maybe look in a bag or two.
SPEAKER_01Okay, well, the you a lot of the crates are nailed shut, but there is two things that you can get into. There is one one of these crates that has already been open, and inside that is a number of hemp ropes, and there's a bag with some strange-looking red spikes sticking out of them. Pretty big. They're about yay long and about that thick. And they have some sort of uh sigil on the top of it. How heavy's the bag? The bag is probably about 20 or 30 pounds. Leave it. And these are all metal, so they wouldn't make noise when you pick them up. But you could probably get one or two of them if you wanted. I get one. Okay, so you're taking one of the red spikes.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Okay. And Corey, you're just hanging out at the bottom of the tower. You're not going out, and you're just staying there.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, but I want to be so they're they've got the one parapet this way and two parapets that way.
SPEAKER_01Okay.
SPEAKER_04Right. So we got the tower on, let's say, the left side, the blockhouse on the right with the parapet between. Right. And then at the south end of that, let's say for illustrative purposes, we have the other parapet on the other side of which are the beast men. I'm going to hang out somewhere where I can see every direction on top of the parapet, one, two, and three. Okay. But I want to be hidden from the stairs.
SPEAKER_01Okay.
SPEAKER_04So wherever I can see both of both ways, east to west, north-south down the parapet, and but hidden from the stairs.
SPEAKER_01So you don't want to be seen from the stairwell that you came up.
SPEAKER_04Right. He can watch that.
SPEAKER_01Okay. Right? He can see the stairwell.
SPEAKER_04And he can see into the courtyard with the stairs. You have line of sight with where I went in. Yeah, I should because you went in the door on the east-south, right? Or east-west. On the south wall, basically. We're definitely going to get a picture of this up on Instagram. That's a little better than what we have here. We'll redraw it.
SPEAKER_03But if I know that you're have line of sight. All right.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, I'm going to be bottom left corner where it says 13, actually.
SPEAKER_01So you're going to be over here? Yeah. And he just went in that door. So you don't have sight of him, but you're backed up against the beast.
SPEAKER_04Exactly. But I want to keep looking in all directions.
SPEAKER_01And you see the I can see this there.
SPEAKER_03The remains of the beast maker. I will come out by the feet. Give you a thumbs up. And that there's a door, and I'm going down.
SPEAKER_04Okay. You don't have to say it. I'm not saying I'm just winging it. I'm just I'm just saying, like, I'm curious if I could have interpreted that. You probably would have been able to interpret that. I got the swinging door going down. And you could have whispered it to me. I'm right there. But I got it. Can can Velichko see us from where he's standing up on the in the tower area? I assume you could be everywhere.
SPEAKER_01If you but you are keeping an eye on the stairs that you came up. No, my plan was to pull the ladder back up and close the hatch. Okay. And what do you so where are you looking? The Beastman. So you're watching the Beastman. Okay, so you can see Kor in. You saw Miro briefly when he went in, but you can see Core's like leg. Ooh.
SPEAKER_03I pull up my give him a little ankle. Give him a little give him a little ankle.
SPEAKER_04Actually, Kerr Kor has fur boots that are thigh-high. No, they're just thigh-high. They're chin-high laced boots. For the snows. For the snows. Are they high heeled? No. They're very soft. No, they're those foot shoes. They're like Uggs. He's wearing fur ugs. He's a tree hugger like that. All right.
SPEAKER_01He's got the foot sneakers. Rabbit fur ugly footwear. Miro, you creep down the stairs and you find that the bottom floor of this squat stone building is much like the top. There are shelves, crates, barrels. A couple of the crates down here are open as well. There does appear to be a closed door to the north. And looking over your left shoulder as you come down the stairs, you can see that there is light coming in from the south because there is a heavy iron portcullis to the south. Wait, who thought it was a good idea to split up the party? We're not split up.
SPEAKER_04We can all see each other.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I'm I'm the only one that's a little bit aways, but I'm not far.
SPEAKER_04Come on, we're not like so codependent that we can't like move out of each other's sight.
SPEAKER_03Alright. Yeah, I better go back up. I'm not making a decision here.
SPEAKER_04I didn't separate the party.
SPEAKER_05Miro!
SPEAKER_04We're not really separated yet. There's no snowstorm.
SPEAKER_05No. Listen. We're in a big thing.
SPEAKER_03Would you want to be down here sneaking around?
SPEAKER_05You couldn't. I wouldn't be sneaking.
SPEAKER_03Exactly.
SPEAKER_01Stop it. So that's why you stay up there with the eyes. Here comes a bear. Okay, so you're just leaving the bottom room. Yeah, I'm coming back up. And you're coming back up. All right. So you come back up, you're in the top room of the storehouse. And I guess you're going out and yeah, letting him know. Okay, so you go out and meet up with Core on the side, and you can see the the battleman's. keep going off to the to the west quite a ways and you can see that there's another like circular area off about a hundred feet in that direction. Like another tower. And the original place where you came in where that had the The Bailey. Well the Bailey was the inside of the courtyard that you crossed but there was that big drum tower over the entrance to the to the thing. And you can see that is there. And there's an a there there is some it's there's a door there.
SPEAKER_04So it's accessible from here.
SPEAKER_03All right.
SPEAKER_05Can get there from here.
SPEAKER_03Well from the basement we got a north door and a south port cullis with light coming in.
SPEAKER_04Which way was south? Is south towards the basement south is towards the basement.
SPEAKER_03So there's a north door did you open it which would go to the courtyard probably I didn't open any door.
unknownOkay.
SPEAKER_03I didn't want to get too far gone. Well we know that we can maybe go that way in a pinch if we needed yeah it's more stores there's this thing pull out this big spike whatever what's that I don't know there's a bunch of them in there like a lot of them.
SPEAKER_04And you said it had a rune on the top is that a word like a command thing? Can I read it? We'll show it to Vel. Maybe he'll be able to that guy can't he really doesn't know I mean I don't like magic but he doesn't know magic even though he can do it. We should kick him out of the party.
SPEAKER_03He really seems to have lost a lot of his power here in the last two sessions. I think he's I think he his god doesn't favor him anymore.
SPEAKER_04It's hard to know it's hard to know he's very irreverent. That's fine. If the gods wanted slaves they'd have made slaves.
SPEAKER_03This is true. This is like what is it your ear itching because somebody's talking about you nah he's too busy watching the beastmen execute the guy I don't know are they?
SPEAKER_01Yeah we've been dicking around for a little bit so you're still there but by the wall of the squat I guess now we do we go looking at the beastmen through the I assume you're using the spy glass yes you would say that a full half of them are busy making torches. They have a long pile of torches there. They have several fires burning and they don't seem to be paying a whole lot of attention to their prisoner but he is tied up and in this in the center of their midst.
SPEAKER_05So they know darkness bad.
SPEAKER_03Oh okay I didn't even I didn't even think that far ahead I was thinking they're trying to burn the place down I don't they know that there's something that comes out at night doesn't like the light.
SPEAKER_04Right maybe their prisoner warned them because he wants to survive another night but if he really warned them they would have come up here to where the light is which they haven't done.
SPEAKER_01If they can even tell let's put the light out well they wouldn't all fit up there. Oh even in the bottom of the tower and well they might fit in the bottom of the tower but let's cover the light up why well while you were exploring I came up with a plan for that it's getting towards late afternoon by the by the by the time you get back in and we should probably go back up with Val to discuss our plan.
SPEAKER_03Okay. Or lack thereof.
SPEAKER_04Okay. Yeah so there's a plan for the light and the globe if you guys are willing. Yeah I I'm you want to cover it up but we want to cover it up and take it down.
SPEAKER_03Okay. Right? I just wanted to cover it up to see what would happen.
SPEAKER_04All right well there's uh the I've come with a plan just to cover it because I figured if we were going to signal later we needed a signaling plan. So that involves one of our blankets from our bedroll and two spears and we just lift and raise and then we can Man you put a lot of thought into this well I was I had nothing to do while I was waiting for you search. And the plan to get it down would be a spear blanket rescue blanket where you something falls into it and you catch it softly with two people and a blanket while somebody pushes it down and you have it's like a shock absorber now you've caught it and then you just take your fold your ends of your blanket up and now you have a glowing orb in a blanket. I like that I mean you you gave me five minutes to think while you were out there okay so you guys climb the steps of the tower.
SPEAKER_01Are you going to let them back in what's the password? Password real and okay and so you're all back up in the tower? Yes but when I drop the letter I'm aiming for core. Alright making a make an attack roll nope I didn't want to hit him not aiming close enough to force him to dodge on the narrow platform.
SPEAKER_04He hit armor class four wait yeah four because it's a positive number we're doing positive around a positive okay so you guys are back up in the tower pulling the ladder up pulling the ladder up right oh hold on we didn't close or spike the door we're spiking the door now with that thing that you brought up with the red spike yeah well why don't you go get a couple more of those there's no reason they can't be over here right you could transfer those over into this tower in like five minutes right I could bring a couple over here bring a whole bag well the bag's pretty heavy you're hammering a spike into the door no we don't have a hammer we're just jamming oh you're just jamming it yeah we're just gonna jam it in there tap it in gently and then because we don't have a hammer. Alright you have a hammer?
SPEAKER_05I'll allow it yeah we don't have a hammer nope but I imagine a mace could function as a hammer.
SPEAKER_04I imagine if we needed it to yes were there any hammers with the spikes no I didn't see any hammered then that's my logic their hand spikes.
SPEAKER_01Okay so you are in the tower you have spiked it with the red spike right and we have a couple other red spikes core's gonna take two red spikes by the way the batch from mirror two red I'm not sure I like the idea of turning off the light though it's just an option.
SPEAKER_05I just want to see what happens we're gonna we're gonna blink it what's gonna happen is the big bad's gonna come and there'll be no blanket immediately there'll be no light to drive them away we just open the blanket up we're not you can't turn it off it's magic.
SPEAKER_04Can you turn it off?
SPEAKER_01You don't know I don't know I don't know either I don't either so Val while they're doing all this you take a look down into the courtyard and you can see that a couple of the beast men are with their prisoner and they have him standing up and he appears to be struggling against them. But they grab him and they start walking him west until he disappears from your view because of the wall of the tower.
SPEAKER_05Okay.
SPEAKER_01Bye bye the rest of them continue making torches and they seem to be very nervous.
SPEAKER_03Because they know that the big bad doesn't like light there's three badasses in the tower ready to smoke them.
SPEAKER_01Yeah I don't think they care.
SPEAKER_03I don't think they know.
SPEAKER_01And it's about 5 30 p.m you're about an hour and a half from sunset I'm scared I'm a little nervous so what are you guys what are you guys doing?
SPEAKER_05I'm gonna light the fire in here what there's a fire?
SPEAKER_03Fire pit oh didn't he have a fire he had that's gonna instantly that was outside wasn't it wasn't no I thought there was a fire pit up here.
SPEAKER_01There is a fire pit there's a little bit of firewood but other there is the lit thing so uh it's in the open part of the room right the outside yeah exposed to the night sky so yes if you light a fire there will be smoke wafting they will know we're here invisible invisible light yes except if it's nighttime they can't see the smoke they'll see the fire there's a light coming from here anyway we don't know what it looks like at night light I think fireless is fine I don't light the fire okay so how long are you guys waiting? Are you guys waiting till nightfall?
SPEAKER_03I don't have anything better to do yeah I think we're just uh sharpen my weapons I guess sure I imagine I see the beastman just building fires and lighting torches.
SPEAKER_01Yes so that is what happens over the next bit uh you can see that every beast man grabs a torch at some point and they seem to have them ready as the light gets dimmer and dimmer. They put plenty of fuel on the fire. And they're how far away? They're about 90 feet vertical and about 90 feet vertical and about 40 feet horizontal.
SPEAKER_05A squared plus B squared equals c squared right I was just about to start calculating that distance from my from my spear Pythagorean theorem is big up I have a thought all right so they are lighting up the area because they fear that the darkness will allow Big Bad to get them.
SPEAKER_04They fear the darkness.
SPEAKER_05So a continual light spell has a hundred and twenty foot range if I reverse it make it a continual darkness spell that would undo their light and potentially get them all killed?
SPEAKER_03Yeah. Okay well what area of effect is thirty foot radius?
SPEAKER_05Man seems like worth a shot to me duration I'm no spellcaster but permanent yeah but what's to stop them from moving out of it well there's there's nothing but if we were to observe say a big bad that was around the light like outside their radius stalking them a sudden disappearance of light in their vicinity might catalyze an event.
SPEAKER_03Or it might nullify it because maybe the thing can't see through magic dark.
SPEAKER_05No unless it's just scared of light and that's what's keeping it away yeah I don't know we could him and haul this all day long that's the best plan we've had so far.
SPEAKER_04It's certainly an option to do something to it. Or maybe it really doesn't like the light and then you'd use that instead right yeah for some other reason whatever.
SPEAKER_01Okay Vell explains this option to you when you start hearing the screaming oh shit they'll go look over the edge of the tower made for us and through your lens unconcerned looking beast men and about half of them that at this point have their torches lit and they are they are looking nervous they they're you can see them speaking back and forth to each other. And they seem to be forming a ring around their little encampment and filling it with light. No sign of that but the screams you can't leave me here you can't get me oh it's your boy they left him in the dark go get him and the the shadows are getting longer it's not dark yet but it will be soon.
SPEAKER_05Or I could cast a continual light on him what's how far away can he be well I would have to get closer.
SPEAKER_04Could we get closer by if we went down twenty feet and snuck along the top of the wall would that get us closer to where the guy was taken well you I mean the sound is coming from the area that you can't see because it's blocked by the wall in the room that you're in and his voice is getting shriller and shriller as he screams out as protests I start opening up the there's curses there's you start putting the ladder down yeah let's do that a walk down thing remove our spike out of the door are you guys taking anything of the items that are in this room unless we're gonna take that glowy ball I think that would be a bad idea. Was there any torches up here? Yes there was eleven torches.
SPEAKER_03Eleven torches are now in our possession well now we they're gonna fucking see us. We're not lighting them yet well as soon as we light them they we're it's on yeah except they're not gonna want to leave their little oasis of light.
SPEAKER_05Not no I can't imagine they would So what we do is we go to the guy we light some torches and then we make our way back here without going where they are could you put your light on like a coin?
SPEAKER_04Absolutely that way you can put it in your pocket and only hold it out like when you need it like a like that light bulb up there but on a Now that is of course assuming I can actually cast the fucking spell what Corbanus doesn't approve of you casting light in dark places?
SPEAKER_01Oh I still have to make it roll right you probably estimate that there's about 40 minutes till full dark so you could ritualize this and increase your casting odds if you would like. Would that take 10 minutes?
SPEAKER_0410 minutes for each bonus or so 20 minutes would get you a plus two or whatever.
SPEAKER_01Right.
SPEAKER_03Yeah I could just jam out there and get him and drag him back.
SPEAKER_04Yeah and that's why I asked where he is because if there's a spot where he is we might be able to lower the grappling hook with you and then you could cut his bonds and then you could both come up the rope. But we got to know where he is so you got to get out there we can't see him from here so Mira's got to go look for him. I'll go with Mira will sneak along the top of the battlement keeping the on the far side away from the beast man while you get your ritual casting started to improve your odds of making the light. So what am I doing with the light? Am I putting it on a coin or something? I don't know I don't know what you do with that kind of stuff. I mean it's a coin so you probably shouldn't touch it we should probably like a rock or no not a coin not one of our not even a coin anybody got a copper coin I'm sure we have a copper I'm gonna find a rock and I'm gonna name it happy fun rock all right it's gotta be a pebble up here somewhere do not taunt happy happy fun rock that's right all right yeah whatever it takes you do what you want we're gonna go see about I'm gonna do a 20 minute ritual okay 20 minute ritual all right so in that time you guys get to the bottom of the tower okay and what is your actions once you get there. So we're gonna remove the spike okay go along the battlements towards the direction they took the prisoner stealthily and I can be pseudo stealthy I guess even though it's not a wilderness setting I assume that means I'm not a loud clunky asshole everywhere. Plus I'm not wearing I'm not wearing metal armor. And then towards that section where we thought he might be take we take the grappling hook and the rope and that way we can lower you down. Just lower yeah we can go down I can climb down whatever climb down um I'll keep a couple of torches and my fire tinder ready to light torches and start throwing them down there wherever you are just randomly throw chucking torches down there light the area if we need it. Sounds good so I'm gonna take five torches for that you are making a stealth roll for Miro and that is that and your stealth chance is what it's a bit percentage base for core and it like I said it is only in wilderness settings and it is only 25%. Okay. But it is pseudo dark and I'm not a little bit on your side here. I think moving quieter is probably more important to me. I mean you can do them both I assume.
SPEAKER_01And so you're going you're sneaking over and taking a look over the parapet yeah I want to see you can get to the dude.
SPEAKER_04Right and I'm gonna be like behind him like 20 feet. We're not gonna be together but we're not gonna be far.
SPEAKER_01Okay so looking out over the parapet mirror you see the camp that you've seen from up on high there are an additional few beastmen holding torches and holding crossbows and they are staring out to the west and in the center of of a like 60 foot square area there is a post and there is a man tied to the post.
SPEAKER_03So they didn't leave him out here by himself no they left him out here by himself tied to the post. But there are people observing him fairly fairly closely. How many are looking at him in this immediate area?
SPEAKER_01There's most of the camp of the beastmen well this plane they have formed a wall of their large shields and they all have spears at hand they're all looking very nervous and they all by now have their torches lit and you can hear the at talk back and forth is in beast speech.
SPEAKER_04Smoke bomb is this yeah that is this from the we're seeing this from the top of the wall correct okay I'm gonna whisper it a mirror get real close like like if something starts happening that's is that like the ghost signal here?
SPEAKER_01And how far down is it to the now you can see also at the end of this wall is like a half tower and at the base of that tower you can see a door going to the northwest sort of in the direction of the two doors that you didn't go through when you came into this place.
SPEAKER_03Okay. I thought he was by himself I thought they just threw him out in like in a corner like bait or something. He might still be bait well he definitely is but I didn't is he in the darkness he's fucked is he?
SPEAKER_01Find out next time this has been a retro rollcast production
People on this episode
Podcasts we love
Check out these other fine podcasts recommended by us, not an algorithm.
3d6 Down The Line
3d6 Down the Line
The Vintage RPG Podcast
Vintage RPG
Miskatonic University Podcast
Miskatonic University Podcast