Keep the Change - Episode 28

The party meets an ancient red dragon! What secrets will they uncover in Gracklstugh while they wait for their meeting? Can Sephel keep his tentacle-faced identity hidden? And will our party stay one step ahead of the ever-present drow threat?

Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition playthrough of Out of the Abyss adventure module, written by Wizards of the Coast.

Dungeon Master: William Johnston
All NPCs: William Johnston
Indigo Honeydew: Andrew Walker
Sephel Hesk: Brendan Proal
Lara Wippen: Sam Conklin

AUDIO:
Latin Electro #10 | Dmyra
Cosa Peluda | Dmyra
Nerbuldar | Ambient Mixer

Dnd 5e, underdark, drow, wizard, cleric, warlock, Dungeons and Dragons, The Madness Table, D&D

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Transcript

0:02

[Music] so[Music] you guys find yourselves standing before a very large uh huge even we could say uh adult red dragon whose appears to be quite thick and stocky um and they have bent down and are peering at you with this great big yellow orange eye and they had said hello uh to you all and they seem to be kind of watching you for a moment what do you do good question hey hello yep yeah let him handle it how are you are they speaking common sorry uh they said it in a couple different languages uh a couple of which you i'm pretty sure none of you speak draconic right no okay and none of you speak dwarvish i'm pretty sure we've uh established and then how many of you speak under common no no another party holy [ __ ] i got deep speech not under common look i speak celestial great and then they like this dragon clearly goes through a couple different languages before it finally settled uncommon those are all too [ __ ] dumb their big yellow eye just rolls like uh[ __ ] i'm sorry we are we we need to take a minute to appreciate a multi-linguistic dragon like she had that many languages on tap to go through the rolodex what a guy i mean considering these are all the common tongues down here besides common yeah just doesn't have to care about them which is something you all have like started to realize especially now that you're hearing grackle stug is that common as you know it is rarely spoken those dwarves down in the dock like initiated you with dwarvish and then went to under common which is probably almost like the equivalent of like i don't know spanglish or something like that you know a mix of common and they're uh more of their colloquia god i can't talk you know what i realism thank you um i don't have the languages like this this dragon um and so like most of the people you have talked to besides like the the the mean nasty darrow that have pointed you towards the gold warren's lair or the bullet layer uh have been speaking these other languages and so this dragon head settled on hello in common finally and kind of seeing you guys elicit a response he's like oh finally um and so with it still peering at you it kind of like turns its huge face the other way to kind of get its other eye on you and it squints a little bit and it says are you new to town why yes sir we are lovely and what is your business here we're seeing the indigo is not safe um oh great one we are here for provisions on a long jury journey to the surface uh it kind of like bristles a little bit or not bristles uh what's the word it kind of like shakes its head and a little smile appears when you refer to it in such a way i'm glad you understand greatness when it's in front of you a long journey to the surface i suppose you have not heard much of the news seeing yes you are new to town we have not would you care to enlighten us i will but a moment and you see it kind of picks its head up and this large puff of like gray sulfur smoke just expels from its nostrils over like washing over all of you because i request that these little gods find their way home before i speak to you further and you guys like look all around you and you don't see anything any anybody that was nearby you can see has run off in this instance but you see all of a sudden all around you six uh gray dwarf guards pop out of invisibility they had lances and shields pointed at you and they kind of slowly and begrudgingly get into uh uh more of a relaxed pose and one of them bearing kind of a a different type of insignia compared to the others nods their head and says one smith and they all start to walk away before as they like as they're starting to turn a corner you see them all wink back into invisibility now that they are gone i would like to an extend a invitation to the lord of you seeing as you're new to crackle stuck i'm in need of lesser pings help oh that's us we are she kind of looks over to indigo we are happy to help um whatever you should need just as i suspected thank you for being so compliant um and you can see they're starting to move their large body kind of turning around and then go my cavern lies to the southeast i will let the gods know at the gates to allow you to pass come tomorrow and you'll find yourselves west rested and they start to drag their large forms away and you see that they are heading to this extremely large gate to the south here if you're looking at roll 20. it's kind of two white bars on our map and as they are passing by you see uh a gray dwarf run out and is kind of like waving their arms and pointing back towards the building they had come from and then you just hear this like whistle as this dragon just expels his fiery breath up into a higher level of the building and then you hear what sounds like a small explosion and then smoke starts spewing out of this chimney as he has re-lit another forge and he continues to plod along dragging their large body across the ground and the large gates they are heading towards are opened and then shut behind them and you guys find yourselves in this large street those that have witnessed from windows and want not are kind of staring at you but slowly back away and you find yourselves also in front of what looks like a cavern a smaller cavern opening leading downwards through this stalagmite where the sign for the bullets layers well i guess we have plans tomorrow morning it would appear as such did any of us gather his name other than the guards referring to him as the worm smith no that was all i heard[Music] not much for manners seemed to be seemed to be more of a title than a name but perhaps we can find out more in bullet's lair should we continue yeah yes let's yeah i'll lead the way head on in[Laughter] okay uh you guys start heading down into this uh rather narrow cavern uh and what appears to be a larger complex underneath the ground here of what was the blade bazaar that you had all come through before the halls are cold cut and bare and the temperature significantly begins to drop considering that there is uh no longer forges all around you you can still very much hear the uh ringing of the hammers and anvils all about but they're somewhat more muted and eventually you come into a large chamber that you see is something akin to a dining room there are large stone tables uh about four or five of them that stretch across this cavern you see lots of benches some of them preoccupied by a couple different people there's probably only five mostly uh dwarves there's in a a what looks it like an orc in there um and then you see that there appears to be a desk with a uh another gray dwarf behind it that kind of looks like a check-in desk um yeah i think laura will confidently stride up to that desk checking desk looking place okay the gray dwarf uh has a shorter white beard bald head kind of these dull eyes and they just stare at you do you speak common yes do what you want a room i'm supposing yes is this your business to allow folks to rent rooms well it isn't in so yes great we will take uh she looks back at the group thinking about this how much are the rooms um let's see here one silver piece per person um then we will take four the four of us require a roof one room for the forward view very well and he do you hand over the silver i don't think i have any so she turns around and looks at everyone like hand over the buddy uh yeah in indigo hapley turns over four silver coins okay uh he pockets them and then takes out uh from behind the desk a large iron key and proceeds to come around their desk and they lead you down one of the branching uh hallways from this kind of central hub area and leads you to a room a few a few yards away and opens it up and inside it is a spartan in here you know there's a there's four cots there's a one desk there is a chair with a broken leg and uh there is a unlit lantern and they say enjoy your stay i will require more payment if you decide to be staying longer than a night understood thank you and the name's maurice thank you and they turn around turn around and walk away wait so clarification sorry unless i missed did we we paid for four rooms and he led us to one room with four cots no he said one per person one per person and then he led you to a bigger room because that like you could see as you walked by a couple of other ones that were opened or like denizens were coming in and out uh there were smaller rooms gotcha yeah so you have yourselves a room and these these uh quite luxurious lodgings clearly uh what do you guys want to do you really don't have an idea of what the time is uh when tomorrow you'd supposedly go to meet this red dragon uh and you are in this brand new civilization that you never found yourselves in before so once we're in the room i don't think it's been close to the hour yet but i will drop the disguise self anyway return back to my mind flayer form so i'm not concentrating on that um all right well it seems we have an errand tomorrow with a magical beast of a spicy preposition or disposition that's a word spicy preposition a spicy preposition i'm keeping it i love it i'm smarter than you [ __ ] off uh what why why why do we keep finding ourselves in these situations that is a great question also why is a red dragon walking around grackle stuck seems to be the well the only way that the furnaces are kept which is interesting you mentioned one of the one of the groups i read about in the journal i found in dale's chest uh spoke of the keepers of the flame they they had some weird or unknown forms of of worship there was a lot of uh question as to how the forges kept themselves lit it feels like however it would be common knowledge to the general populace especially if the dragon is walking around in the open well i mean the dragon did say that things have changed recently so maybe they used to be kept all you know exploited up and now they're roman free yes perhaps your book is out of date it very well could be there were a lot of bodies there from different times it's very possible a lot of this information is uh past its prime so if we were to i assume that we have a good amount of time before we meet with worm smith where where do we where do we want to spend our time now well i'm thinking maybe we should spend just some time around the lair get to make some contacts get to know the lay of the land uh figure out what time of day it is and when tomorrow begins great idea we should proceed with caution this was the place that bupido seemed to hint that he was going to meet us next he may run into him while we are here isn't exactly who i will be asking about then i think i think our i think our best i think our best bet will's like he's waiting for you in the kitchen he's maurice he runs back in and shanks you don't ask about the specials they're all death um well then let's head out to that main room again there were a lot of people out there all right survive a lot are we meant i mean is more than done are we meant to be inquiring of a um means to the surface here i feel like a lot of individuals were pointing us to this establishment in particular what what is uh what do we hope to gain this was our safe haven within the city um perhaps we should split up one of us myself will ask about bupido there's a terrible idea someone else that's a stupid [ __ ] idea well we'll be in the same vicinity fine i just think if we divide and conquer might be a bit quicker can give me one assurance that if you gain any information upon bupido you bring it to us before you go act on it if the information is not time sensitive you have my word insight check[Music] pose deception from sam uh no i think um that's truthful if if like she discovers that he just lives in the city and um you know and it's he's gonna be around a while it doesn't really matter but if she discovers that he's like leaving soon sure he's like about to kill some babies next door i must go well like just just yell something all right no you know what that's that's a good point we should have a code word a code word yes if you need to run out the do i've heard some groups come up with these things i think it's it's not as academic as i'd like it to be but if you need to run if time is of the essence it is it's entirely it i mean it's sounds great to me it's kind of i love it perfect what should the word be hi fine tentacles i glare a little bit at stool if you gain any time-sensitive information and you need to run and you want us to follow you without a whole speech just yell tentacles yeah fine[Laughter] give me headaches you should appreciate them more they're quite quite the feature on you i don't particularly mind them most people want me dead because of them now stool just remember that you cannot go around saying that here yes oh yeah sure i'm going to uh re-engage my disguise as soon as we enter the public space do not mention what i am and if you do well now we just leave him he's just a grumpy old man that definitely does not have tentacles nope zero tentacles here you know we should not use the safe word unless it's an emergency that's right yes you're right um doesn't have erythropods upon their face for sure all right[Laughter] scientific [ __ ] podge i've been in your mind for so long my 20 intelligence just gained an inferiority complex uh okay so it sounds like you guys wanted to go back into the dining hall and kind of hit up some people in there for potential information yeah so i'm gonna i'm gonna pop another disguise self okay i think we're asking about three different things right is that the plan somebody else asks about general knowledge well yeah what are yeah so the three thing so we're looking for bupido we're looking for uh i guess maybe general knowledge about the uh oh no probably like our dragon friend maybe yeah information about the dragon and then if anybody knows uh a possible route to the surface oh we should probably also ask about the drought if anybody has the opportunity i i'm kind of curious if we should i guess we did we did learn that they're not welcome here necessarily well they're not saw some within the like the docs area in the played bazaar but not many so that's my my concern around that subject is i feel like this is there's a lot of sketchy i mean we had six invisible guards around us and no no [ __ ] clue i'm almost wondering if even asking about the drow is painting a target on our back that might not yet be there okay so mom's the word don't talk about the drug at least until we know a little bit better the the people around us agreed okay so laura's talking about pepito stefael do you want surface or dragon uh i think safel is a little bit more oh i don't know he's curious about the dragon but almost in it like in an irritated way because he like that whole interaction was just out of nowhere and very like i don't know it like it it was irritating him in multiple ways so i think he's sort of um persevering on that right now but i could go either way all right uh in indigo take the dragon then that sounds up this alley okay okay um instead of doing a [ __ ] ton of role play for this potential information i'm gonna have each of you do a uh charisma check whether it be through persuasion intimidation whatever just roll me a charisma check and then depending on your number you you will or will not gain information just so we you know excellent well uh laura you still have eagle splendor up so you have an advantage on christmas trucks nice nice what was that it was me trying to remember if indigo had any charisma um skills and uh the answer is no do you want do you want stool looking for any information do you want him to roll yeah have him have him find out you want him to find out about the dragon no i'm just kidding or do you want him to find out about the drow no no um maybe i mean he might be interested in asking about the direction of the grove fair point yeah all right wow okay he hit it right on the money oh really well i i don't have any bonuses to any of these so i probably shouldn't have been looking for information about bupido because it's not nearly as relevant but it's relevant to uh laura so i mean it it is a potential danger honestly like the more information we have on him before he gains it on us is true a benefit i got a 22. holy [ __ ] yeah okay he's right over there tell me about him um because this is such a specific person in such a huge city you none of the people the few people that are still in this kind of dining hall as i said there was like five one of them was a a human one was an orc another one or like the other were some uh some deep gnome and uh you actually saw that there was one drow in there as well but they were kind of off to themselves and i'm assuming you guys don't go to them um you[Music] actually don't find any information about bupido none of the figures in here are able to tell you anything about this they however do tell you that if you are looking for any more information about this person you might have better luck going to the shattered spire which is the um kind of the what would i call it the dark lake district's main tavern essentially where everybody who's in the dark lakes goes to have a drink in a meal and that's where you're more likely to come across uh some darrow who might be willing to talk to a surfacer um about one of their own kind but you do also learn that the daryl have are extremely prone to anger and hate basically everyone especially those of the surface so they're like good [ __ ] luck that is what you learn that you your best to investigate the shattered inspire and good luck getting to daryl to talk to you successfully um okay uh andrew what you get indigo silos up to the bar with a 2. and what was the question you were asking hey what's the deal with this wormsmith guy you know seems pretty cool so so you went back up because there's not really a bar you went back up to maurice the the grey dwarf behind the absolute desk absolutely and he's like oh well i don't i don't know anything about him i i wouldn't know i i'm down here all the time sorry and that's all you get see you around maurice[Laughter] uh all right so fell what you got so i rolled the six okay i have no bonuses i used one of my uh knowledge from past lives to roll with d6 and i rolled a five so it's a total of 11. okay nice and what was your question again uh knowledge about potential roots back to the surface okay you actually find yourself talking to that human and they are able to tell you that unfortunately all trade routes that the grey dwarves have been using to bring goods uh you know all the weapons and armor that they make here within grackle stug which they you know they're kind of like do you know the dwarven meaning of it it means the city of blades that is their main export within the underdark and the surface is they make weapons and they're damn good at it but all the trade routes leaving the city and to the surface have been overcome with various amounts of flora and fauna a lot of the more primitive denizens of the underdark have been filling up with them attacking travelers overtaking caravans even though they've been heavily guarded and uh they tell you you know you know lots of rumors are starting to circulate but again if you want to try and find more you know there's a lot of people right now at the shattered spire who might contain a little bit more information but they you know you find out from this human as well that they have been down here uh for a couple of weeks and they are they're desperate to leave but travel out under escort is extremely restricted because of all the reports coming back from caravans not making it or being decimated um in my in my weathered old man form i'll ask him do you know if um could someone accompany a trade caravan if they were to offer it protection uh jesus listen man i you could try you could try but have you seen the guards here they're kind of beefy and i mean don't take this the wrong way but you'll look like you're on the other side of the hill my friend i am in my prime and i'm insulted you would insinuate otherwise oh god i'm so sorry i've taken three of you on a what day of the week is it yep good luck and he gives you a pat on the arm and one just gets up and leaves he's like oh god all right grandpa cool i don't know i'll shamble on back okay yeah when we when we get back into a group um i think well that's sucked yeah laura's standing with her arms crossed we need to go to the shattered spire there's no information here i gained similar knowledge which is none i learned it quite a bit i learned that maurice rarely leaves this place and doesn't know anything about a dragon indigo you were there for 20 minutes very thorough i just imagine like a weird staring contest between the two of them just like no words indigo's just staring at him like sketching in his notebook what are you doing don't worry about it nothing what do you mean um stool what did you find out uh i didn't talk to anybody great he rolled in that one i thought it was gonna be the opposite oh no someone literally sat on him for 20 minutes he was like yeah that human had a bony ass well i expected nothing so you've you've at least accomplished that i'm good i've lived up to your expectations that makes me happy at this point stool you can only impress us aw thanks savelle that's really sweet uh okay so you guys are gonna make your way across the dark lake district uh as you've heard it referred to um and head to the shattered spire okay as you guys exit the goldborns lair or the bullets lair you head back out into the blade bazaar once again filled with all sorts of different um you know tents and small structures you see all the different types of individuals here bartering and trading lots of yelling going back and forth you see some guards you don't see two you know some of them you're like all right do we actually know how many are here considering there was six invisible ones following us um so i am actually going to cast detect magic uh while we are making our way over to the uh shattered spire and that lasts 10 minutes okay uh i can tell you right now it's going to take you way longer than 10 minutes to get to the shattered fire that's fine at least for the first 10 minutes like immediately especially because we were just asking questions and this was the general area where we first saw guards around us um just until we get a little ways away i think he'll pop it up um you don't really detect any magic and then as you guys are starting to exit the blade bazaar you detect four bits of magic and you sense education magic and they are uh a little ways behind you um but when you you look back you don't see anything that would blatantly say or or appear to be you know something dangerous per se that's interesting but you you find four points easily kind of spread out at equal intervals like you sense that uh and that they are behind you but they don't seem to be moving or anything no illusion hmm okay um grandfather alex isabelle um perhaps you should let me know if you find yourself um losing your concentration and needing to rest uh my mind is sharper than it was when we were on the boat aquilara oh that felt gross[Laughter] school pipes up shut up old man i um nobody cares you're you're a hack i don't mean that what what is this i don't know what what conversation are we having no i um i believe i can maintain focus for the next hour or two i may have to stop for a short while uh if we go longer than that but for now i am fine just try and give me a warning and i might be able to help you out very well all right let's continue okay uh as you leave the blade bazaar you see yourselves kind of glancing off to what would be the north you see the dark lakes again you see lots of different industrial buildings and whatnot and eventually you find yourselves kind of uh along the shores seeing a um you see a broken stalagmite that juts out from the dark lake and it's about 40 feet from the shore and it kind of like forming the foundation of this what appears to be a tavern is built upon uh large fungus stalks uh in a very similar manner and they kind of like uh blend together into what would look like we would call it like a log cabin essentially um and that there is a bridge leaving the shore to this area kind of woven from this coarse looking material and you see all sorts of different some drow some gray dwarf um sniffleblend or however you pronounce the the actual term for the uh the deep gnomes uh going back and forth kind of passing you a couple of humans but they're a little rarer but do you guys make your way across yeah i'll lead the way um remember the word indigo does a big slow wink and falls laura uh dm how long roughly did it take us to get here just uh you feel i mean can you tell when your magic starts to wane i would imagine you yeah almost an exhaustive sort of thing like you're you're holding a spell for so long um you can feel when you're starting to give out so so i imagine i would okay as you're reaching kind of like the rocky shores around the beginning entrance to the uh the bridge you do feel the spell beginning to wear off it took us a whole hour okay yeah it's a big it's a big area plus there's lots of people it's not like you were able to really easily walk across it's like picture walking in on the sidewalk in new york city like fighting through people no that makes sense okay uh great i will i think um there's a whole bunch of people around us right now is that yes but there are some some rocks and outcroppings you can potentially hide behind okay i'm gonna i'm gonna duck behind one of those um one of those outcroppings real quick okay like give give a nod to lara duck behind one of those outcroppings um and she would probably see my disguise flicker for like a fraction of a second and then it's back up uh okay but uh can you roll me a stealth check yep i can do that oh[ __ ] hell uh 14 on the screen okay you don't believe that anybody saw you do this okay uh sam for for whatever you have in mind uh that was my last uh spell slot for that okay i think i can i think i can use higher level spell slots but i'd really rather not use a second level spell for that i'm pretty sure anything at first level you can cast with like a level or higher it just doesn't have any different effects if we if we were to rest i mean he here's the thing even if we were to take a short rest we would have to do it somewhere secret where i could drop the spell after this because a short rest is an hour so i would literally like if i were to even try to take a short rest for my arcane recovery which is what i had in mind i would be wasting the entire duration of this spell just to be able to cast it again so how many hours worth of time in disguise do you have uh right if i were to use second level spells i have i have three more but i have no more first level spell slots so i either have what we can do is we can either use this hour here find somewhere to hide take a short rest on scene to get me another hour so that i can get back to uh the bullets layer and then i'm out or i could start using second level spell slots but it depends on what we think is going to happen today if we think this is just going to be a whole bunch of social stuff and then we're going to take a long rest and be fine before we go yeah that i i don't trust any of it i don't even like that then all my first level spells or her first level slots are gone uh um uh i think when safalo joined us again i think laura would just say you know what if we were to get you a a hood and perhaps a a covering across your you know i mean that that would be another option that's kind of insulted i didn't think of it are there stores nearby like could i ostensibly like hop over and try and purchase something uh you'd have to go back to the blade bazaar which was almost an hour's walk an hour back so we could do it for tomorrow maybe conserve some spells but today we might be well i have guys guys guys laura you take sephora back stool and i will take care of this laura if we listen to him we will never see either of them again like you'd be upset with that i'm just kidding i know you love me too much what is this animosity from you today you're an [ __ ] this is very out out of character i think the underdog is starting to affect you but you're from here here but you are from here here i don't know what it means underdark under underground not surface yeah okay you know you people still comes over starts punching you in whatever area they can reach just like i'm old i get a pass um last time you get a good berry from me the impression that we got is that stealing bad like really bad here right yes okay we we have money you have money you don't know the extent of the laws here but only that stealing's apparently very bad so that might be a good thing to try and learn about as well we all yeah we also don't know if like stealing is bad because of like actual legal like police level laws and how much stealing is bad just because all of these people are thugs and you steal you die like it might just be the mafia kind of deal where it's like disrespect to the clan we will hunt you down and kill you could be i mean we have to continue forward yes uh we will just have to do what we can and then tomorrow we will find another at this point we are wasting time uh yeah you've wasted 15 minutes oh shut the [ __ ] up[Laughter] get out of here all right so then let's yeah let's just keep an eye on it i guess yeah all right so you head into the shattered spire and as you enter the the noise very much shifts from the uh overbearing sounds of metal work to the happy cheers and song and dance of various folks in here as you kind of walk through picture very saloon wild west-esque uh aesthetic um you know tables chairs uh this place is actually filled surprisingly with lots of different uh trophies and adornments you see you know um a couple people are dancing to some of the music on the floor there's one individual uh a woman that is actually standing upon a large table and people are like pounding their drinks upon the table as she is dancing a jig upon it uh you see a very long bar with many bar stools most of them are filled with uh different people taking various you know beers and drinks uh and it's quite a lively scene what would you guys like to do all right shall we try the information grab again i think so same questions same people tend to go thoughts i got it this time indigo boldly strides up to the bar okay spins a gold coin on it how's it going uh a a gray dwarf torns uh turns towards you and they're like hello what what can i get you i need some of your strongest stuff buster i'm [ __ ] loving this i can't believe you stole this roleplay from us in the ballet slayer there wasn't merely enough going on uh they look at you and they go do you want the pint or do you want a gallon i think this like my first i'll need the gallon for our strongest stuff that'll be two silver pieces i uh i i like slowly one finger push the gold piece across the bar keep the chain picks it up and goes i'm not serving you till there's a second one put up on this bar oh oh [ __ ] all right all right ah i take another coin coin out and put it down and push it didn't he say it was too silver yeah and he's i thought andrew said he gave him a gold ross oh he put his hold across oh okay i thought he was like what the [ __ ] do you mean another one it's crazy this guy just got cut through real quick yeah it's like oh if you're overpaying do it right [ __ ] yeah he he takes the gold pockets it puts a gallon upon here and goes i'll keep my eye out for you i i give him a strong wink[Music] the face the face for that wink man i wish the listeners could see that he gives you a nod and turns back to other customers as you now have this gallon of what sound smells horridly like 100 plus proof like this will clean you indigo is going to stand at the bar like leaning with one elbow in like you can't like probably lift the gallon jug so he's like sipping it from the top like a saucer of milk uh and everyone anyone walks up like what's up the the people all about you smell it and watch the entire exchange and are just staring at you and you take this sip and i need you to make a constitution saving yes that's fair that's a 10. okay you just barely because it's such a small uh sip just barely able to keep it down but you kind oh that's of oh god a bunch of people start kind of laughing and cheering at you and one of them uh kind of claps you on the back another gray dwarf and they're like that's the spirit of the dark like you're a daring young man to be taking that on well you know i'm a daring daring guy and i'm i'm just here in town trying to learn a little something about what's going on they just kind of stare at you and they're like that's such a roundabout question did you just get here or something yeah as a matter of fact i did just swing into town they just kind of nod like well um there's not too much happening here other than what we do every day day in and day out is making weapons nice the pointy kind my favorite kind yup it is the city of blades good on you for no not much and um on our way in i did see a big red fella moseying about any uh anybody who that might be oh you saw resident worm smith that would be thumber child excellent yeah i'm sorry what interesting fella fember chowd i'm i'm probably butchering it it's uh let's see here again let me go back to it it sounds to me like[Laughter] shot interesting in this um worm smith seems like a pretty important guy huh yes it's he's what keeps our forges going day and night he only has to make his rounds every once in a great while but uh without them and the keepers of the flame we wouldn't be able to keep up with the demand makes sense makes sense to me and yeah any local sites i should check out mom here in town ah well good luck leaving anywhere but the dark lake district i'm surprised you even saw the great wormsmith himself but uh i suppose you could just find something for yourself in the blade bazaar what what would you be doing here in grackle stock anyways oh i'm a i'm a scholar i'm um doing some research myself ah research and what research would that be i don't think we've had a scholarly type come here in quite some time uh this is um doing a secret of the underdark totally on purpose uh to see that local flora and fauna in these uh very interesting uh ecosystems here well you've seen one part of crackles like you've pretty much seen it all so i i don't really know what else you'll be gleaning from your time here the really interesting stuff's out there but we don't really go out much not lately that is fair enough might be a short stop for me then but hey this tumbleweed's got lots of miles left to tumble uh right then you might want to find yourself something a little bit lighter to wash that down with and they uh they just kind of nod at you and slide off their stool and head off in a different direction the more you drink of the dark lake spirit or the spirit of the dark lake you're gonna have to make more saves or you're gonna get drunk that's fair[Laughter] indigo looks over at lara and just gives her a thumbs up mission accomplished she shakes her head and then turns to look at the room i would like to approach the biggest meanest burliest person in the bar okay hmm yeah you know what yeah you are wandering through the shattered spire here uh you're kind of watching every everything happen the the people uh performing the uh the woman the human woman dancing upon the table they kind of like make eyes at you for a moment as they're spinning around on top of the table um and you find yourself actually like you hit something and it feels really tough but you're also like why is it soft and you kind of like touch your hand back and turn around and you are like touching the furry abdominal of a bug bear excuse me i need to bump into you there friend oh it's all right i don't mind a party lady that's kind of you to say i'm lara and your name fog fog thog looks like before he opened his mouth as you were glancing up at them they are this dark brown furred uh bug bear with these horrible scholars all over you see that they have a very large morning star hanging from their hip and their they have a oversized uh drink in their hand um lara's lara is not um she's gonna she's gonna look at dog um and then she's going to attempt a flirtatious smile which usually probably comes out like a grimace kind of like teeth bearing but she's trying okay uh he returns it very hardly with this huge like broken and nasty looking yellow teeth i don't suppose you'd want to have a drink absolutely[Music] i i would and he just like sits there and he's still at your like same height oh my god okay he's huge um yeah uh she's gonna sit down with him um and then uh she's she kind of like uh am i sitting next to him or across from him wherever you want to there's plenty of stools and chairs and tables he is sitting uh basically on a stool but his legs he's like the biggest what is it uh like man spreading legs just it reaches the other table so he's kind of like pin you in there okay you um and she kind of like she she would have like gotten closer but he's taking up so much room that it's like pointless um you from here thog[Music] uh what brings you here drink do you come here often sometimes if i remember my way back sometimes ways are hard yes they can be difficult um you don't know many people here then i take it no well kind of i think i know i know mr salt baron behind the bar otherwise no interesting you are of no help to me i will be leaving now oh don't say that what's your name it's lara that's a pretty name it is and thought fog is a great name as well it suits you oh thanks could i could i help you please somehow uh she'll sit down she'll sit down um she gets excited clapping big hands together yes yes and she like she likes puts her hand on his to like get him to stop clapping he he flexes he's like do you like big big arms crushed crushed many thumb crush his arms he just keeps flexing it's very um nice that looks nice thank you everybody she said she likes my arms i would like it if you listen now okay i'm i'm searching for someone and it would be helpful a perhaps a dangerous person yes perhaps someone that you could hurt because they're they're they are a very evil person and perhaps wish harm upon me and my friends tell me more they are a small darrow with a long beard and a bald head an old old man he like looks around him and you see there's at least five darrow that look very similar to that he's just like no dog um his name you you have to make sure that you have the right person oh his name is bupido boopadoo sure i i would be very grateful if you found this person for me and she kind of like rubs his arm awkwardly there's to be a town crier in two days talking about the mad bug bear that went on a daryl genocide oh no um he kept yelling buputo make a persuasion check at advantage okay 21. okay all i'll i'll find this for you and i if once you find him i need you to to incapacitate him knock knock him out pulls out the morning star the massive morning star is like not a problem great and then if you could bring him to do you know where bullets lair is yes bring him there okay and here she'll give him uh she'll give him like a couple silver for like his next drink oh no no it's okay i am on a mission now for pretty lara and he like gets up downs his drink tosses it it hits a darrow in the forehead and he points at him he's like are you a poop the daryl just like no and he's like okay and then you just see him like grabbing by the head all the sorts of different daryl and like bringing him home he's like they're like no and he keeps like putting them down and like tossing them to the side until eventually like a whole bunch of the daryl are in the corner and they're like this mother and then they finally just start like chasing him out and he's like and he goes running outside with the daryl chasing after him well that was quite efficient we're gonna find that poor man in a gutter tomorrow morning[Laughter] that's fine uh she'll go sit at the bar with indigo okay all right uh safel what you doing yeah i uh i think for a few minutes he was watching the interaction with indigo as most people would watch a multi-car pileup just a horror and like morbid interest um and then i'm going to ask a couple people uh actually specifically somebody that looks like they might uh either be of the mercenary or trade professional okay make a perception or investigation check or insight that you can choose from okay uh i will choose investigation and that is a 17. 17. okay uh you see besides the bug bear fog who had just run out um that there is a uh there's an orc there that seems kind of fitted up for a war or a fight essentially they have a couple of short swords and a variety of daggers and a big battle hammer um you see that the the woman who has actually uh like now ended their their dance and is kind of like bowing to all the people atop the table you see that she is um she's got like this long dark like black hair that is uh comprised of all sorts of different braids that have like bits of jewelry and bones within them kind of like holding them together they almost form kind of like uh in like a dreadlock style but it's all braided hair they have a dagger strapped to a thigh and you see um that clearly from like the fitted leather and bits of chain maille you can see on different parts of their attire that they appear to be of uh mercenary type um and then you see a a deep gnome that seems to be leaving the shattered shattered spire uh that looks kind of grim and that they've they've probably seen some action okay uh no like no trades people though all sort of mercenary type there's uh there's a few trades people but there's not as many like you would assume that most of the trades people in here are gray dwarves um a lot of them are covered in kind of soot and ash from working in the forges um you do uh with that check you see what looks like a lizard folk um that seems to be that has like a very large pack with them as well and that that person might have goods they might be a trades person you're not exactly sure okay uh i am going to approach um i'll approach the woman who is uh dancing on the table excuse me uh first of all absolutely um beautiful performance i it's very rare i get to see a dance with such life to it very well done well thank you very much darling i appreciate that um please if you could i stumbled my way down here i'm i'm very very lost my my family is going to begin to worry please i am trying to find my way back to the surface and people are telling me that that the roots are closed but that cannot be so like is there any way that uh a mercenary such as yourself or others could could accompany a caravan up or some way that a lost wanderer could find their way top side again ah well my dear friend um i'm sorry to say that we're both kind of in the same same conundrum here uh name's mary by the way and she holds out her her hand oh uh uh savelle yeah wonderful to meet you fell um they call me mary mal red sometimes those in the mercenary trade call me malicious mary don't worry about it though it's just a nickname i'm very efficient at my job uh you know i came came down in a caravan a few weeks ago and uh i'll tell you right now it was not an easy trip and you know i've never seen the city of blades so i decided to spend a little bit of time here but uh caravans have stopped coming and a few expeditions from what i've heard through the grapevine around here is that it's uh they've been having a hard time getting anybody to go back out including the uh the city guard they they don't really want to be going out there especially um well i don't i don't know exactly what they're called but i think it's some kind of clan that ride these large spiders they're usually the ones from what i ascertain that head out into the tunnels heading back to the surface carrying their goods they aren't going out there their spiders are giving them a hell of a time for uh fighting for control so i mean i'd love to find a way myself if if you'll find a way i mean i'll keep my my ear open if you you let me know if you hear anything of course you are i believe you are speaking of uh clan zundum is that correct oh it could be i you know great wolf around here aren't too particular about talking to us about their their politics i hear things going back and forth i'm trying to collect what i can uh but yes i will i'll keep my ear open um and i appreciate you doing the same yeah absolutely cephel that's not a problem hey uh you know i mean it's i don't know if it really means nothing or not but some of the people that came in a little bit later and from uh what you hear coming in from the docks is that there's i mean i don't know i'm it there's supposedly talk of these horrible looking demon things apparently starting to a pop up here and there i i don't know again i don't think it's nothing too much to worry about because that seems a bit ridiculous that's a word where have you heard these things who's been saying them and and how recent well i i couldn't tell you who exactly i've spent most of my nights out here dancing just trying to have a better time but uh just over over her hearing a couple you know conversations here and there some people just passing through mostly of the some of the gnomes and the the uh the elves coming through passing kind of their their hearings along their musins interesting i'm sure there's nothing to be worried about tales tales travel as as you know yeah i mean i can handle myself i'm sure you and your family can how'd you wind up down here by the way i well my my family is um my family is is above i'm trying to to get back to them you see i i have um moments as as those in in old age do i don't exactly know what happened i i did a little bit of stumbling i got a little ambitious and uh i fell hmm and um i woke up walked one direction and and ended up in in several so i don't exactly know what's going on a little bit frightened so if you if you do hear anything please uh please pass it along make a deception check yeah sure we're gonna make an opposed insight check here okay do i want to use no i'm pretty happy with that okay what you got so it's a natural 20. oh [ __ ] for 20. okay okay well my gosh that's it must have been quite the the walk and fall i'm so sorry to hear but i mean looking at you you think you'd you've never seen a scrape in your life but i don't worry who's you your friends he came in with i saw saw them kind of wondering about uh akulara is um well both of them actually we we met uh on a uh boat when i was when i was traveling they had a vessel um and picked me up and we we've sort of been protecting each other down here oh well that's that's good you found some friends to help take care of yourselves fail um i mean gosh i i mean i'm not i'm not necessarily in a hurry to get out of here i mean if things got too bad i suppose i could uh try mosey on up to the surface but uh i mean if you're needing an extra hand in your travels i come along if you're in need of protection i um we will be here a short while but if if we find ourselves uh in need i will certainly certainly come to you i i very much appreciate it yeah no problem and uh as you guys have been like talking i i picture her like meandering over to the bar and a couple of people like move away from a chair that has a couple belongings on it and there mary picks up like a mug and she's sipping from it and you see that they have what looks like a heavy leather coat of the inverness style so like long uh kind of like a half demi cape wrapped around the top and then there's kind of a a large floppy hat kind of what we would call like a witch's hat it kind of like seems to droop down it's got a little bit of a point on there um but leaning against the bar behind these things like this heavy coat and stuff like that you see that there is a bag uh and out of one of the uh there's two bags one that seems to have kind of like regular traveling gear and whatnot and one of them appears to be a kind of like bag wrapped over what appears to be a large weapon of some sort with a half that comes up uh just underneath the bar top as well so she seems to be pretty heavily armed um and she goes so uh well yeah sephill no i'm not no problem um yeah i don't know how long i'll be staying it depends on you know how my fortunes fair here i guess uh you know i've she kind of looks at you i've gotta i like to collect you know odd and rare things every now and again bits and bobbles so you know i tried my hand just about everywhere up top i figure i'd come down here to the mysterious underdark you know but you know it was a pleasure pleasure to meet you and i hope you and your companions have at least a decent time here you you look out for yourselves though these these uh these dwarves around here a bit cutthroat yes well uh you you as well take care of the thank you very much molly mary mary yeah no worries oh hey by the way are you uh did you find yourself a place to stay the uh the bullets lairs uh you know what i hear is like the only place we can stay around here and uh yes we uh we actually we do have a room there uh at least for tonight oh we're wonderful and she like goes and pats your arm uh and is like oh you're a little bit sturdier than i thought you were cephal good on you one one must be adaptable to all situations well uh i'll probably be seeing you around either here if you come on back or or at the lair that's where i'm staying myself so i won't keep you too busy though i'm sure you want to go see your other friends or make other inquirers very well uh thank you again it was very nice to speak with you pleasure i'll uh meet up with the others at the bar okay i also feel this lake water is wild let's make another con saving dear why did you allow him to continue to drink and he goes deep in the cups now that's always being carried i'm fine you cannot leave this boy unsupervised stool is like next to indigo kind of like below and it's just kind of like wobbling back and forth like i've never experienced being in someone's head like this before really weird how are you doing on time safal after all of this conversation i imagine i am at least um half if not more through my ability to maintain and a little bit nervous uh there was physical contact in my in my conversation i would have preferred to avoid that did you consent do i need to hunt her down it it was not it's always sexual you are right it's always sexual with you young folks my goodness i'm simply inquiring into your state everything is fine however this is purely an illusion if that thankfully she only touched me on my arm which would have been mostly my cloak but if someone were to touch skin uh does not exactly hold up to physical inspection it's time to get this baby home he doesn't know where he's doing i hate to agree with the drunkard but we should move hey phil it's phil yes indigo do you want to see a magic trick i am a practitioner of magic you would only insult me uh indigo claps his hands and uses thaw maturity to make it sound like cephel farts a couple of people like like record scritches everybody turns because it's way louder and it's just staring at the felt and then all right finally mary like leans back from the bar so you could see her and she's like nice one and everybody just starts laughing and patting you on the back we're supposed to be keeping a low profile indigo please sensitive stomach in in old age please i'll i'll excuse myself let's [ __ ] go everybody out yeah as you're leaving like more and more people are kind of like laughing and pointing at the fell people are like you know punching them on the arm and all sorts of stuff and it's stefan you can feel the spells coming close to a close oh yeah so it's probably nerve-wracking as hell trying to oh yeah i mean the touching alone he is super nervous about like he i i honestly imagine every time he like if he sees somebody about to if he can't like get out of the way he's strategically turning so that they're touching clothing um but even then yeah the the whole situation is making him nervous okay um well you guys start heading out of the shattered spire where do you want to head to i mean either i think at this point we have to head back based on indigo and stools and my my magics are beginning to uh i didn't wish to use so much of them we i agree with your um earlier suggestion we should find alternative means of disguise by tomorrow it's been quite taxing on my abilities but um yeah he is because he doesn't really have another choice well hold on so we have we have definitely got like a bunch of extra clothing and cloths and um i still have a oh the silk handkerchief probably isn't super obscuring not for [ __ ] tentacles from the hagg's house you there was lots of bits of clothing there you could have collected quite a few things if you wanted to yeah i think that you retroactively do that he's definitely not as confident with just covering up just because of the like the form that is a mind flayer's visage um you know even covering it it seems like it could be obvious to to anybody actually carrying the look that it's not a human face we just have to make an hour back right yeah um and the crowd might do us favors like there are a lot of people we might be able to hide in the masses savelle do you remember at um the haggs cottage when i disappeared i could do that for you it would last an hour and it would get us back you're just going to just going to keep rubbing invisibility in my face are you um grandpa eventually uh that i mean that's fine too you guys just wouldn't like don't address me at all during the walk i also don't well i was gonna say i don't know if anybody around would have it detect magic but if that's the case i mean my disguise self would be just as useless so yeah that i mean that sounds like a fine idea to me okay yeah so she'll pull sephill into like a corner or whatever and um passive visibility on him so that we can get back okay make a stealth check me or savelle or both both i'm both i need to do this[ __ ] christ uh i'm gonna go ahead and burn my other knowledge i got a 15. okay not much better uh 12. oh excuse me um you kind of tuck yourself away before laura casts this this spell over you and you can't help but feel safel like someone might have been watching you that's fair indigo even in your inebriated state what's your passive perception good old 16. oh that's right okay let me double check here yeah as lara has casted some bills invisibility and you guys are starting to make your way back to the bullets lair a couple of times in your in your stumblings and ramblings back you feel like you keep seeing a couple of figures picked out of the crowd just every once in a while you'll see one kind of like this dark shadow just standing and staring amongst the the moving mass about you and you'll see another and another and another and then finally as you are all making your way back into the lair you look back just because you feel like this kind of chill up your spine and you see what look like six drow figures make out their distinguishing features of any kind but you see them standing back across the street as you start descending into the cavern of the lair and they're just watching you and that's where we'll leave it this week hey you loyal listener you've made it this far to the post show notes and that means the absolute world to us thank you so much for being here if you have one more second we would adore you if you could leave a rating and a review in whatever podca you're currently listening in the ratings and reviews are astronomical when it comes to growing the show because it's what gets us noticed for new listeners so if you have just a moment to do that please do and we also have a twitter facebook and instagram if you want to give us a follow it's at the madness table and if you've noticed we are now posting weekly episodes because of supporters like you so if we haven't said enough thank you and we will see you in just seven short days for our next episode when[Music][Music] you