Stories with Dice
Stories with Dice is an actual-play podcast where a fellowship of everyday gamers explores fantastical worlds, distant futures, and parallel realities through tabletop role-playing games (TTRPGs) from Free League Publishing, Chaosium, Modiphius Entertainment, and more.
Join us at our virtual table as we play Mysteries of the Loop, our Tales from the Loop series; explore the Arthurian mythos in The Sword Campaign, the first part of our Great Pendragon Campaign; chart the stars in Star Trek: Magellan, our Star Trek Adventures series; and sail the seas in Dark Blue Sea, our Mutant: Year Zero campaign. Stories from other worlds are coming soon, including The One Ring, The Electric State, Legend of the Five Rings, Twilight: 2000, and so much more.
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Stories with Dice
The Fellowship of the North S1 E5 The Blade of Baranor: An Actual Play of The One Ring
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After a bloody skirmish, the Company retreats to recover. Unsettled by the keening ghost of a lady of the castle and the ghostly Captain of Arnor’s plea for burial, they find a Númenórean blade and descend into the dark caverns beneath the ruins, where ancient tombs await.
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This is the Fellowship of the North, an actual play of the one ring from Stories with Dice. If you're enjoying our actual plays, please subscribe to Stories with Dice so you never miss an episode. Don't forget to rate and review us. It really helps others discover the podcast. Follow us on social media to stay updated. You'll find the relevant links in the description of each episode. Hey folks, welcome back. We're playing the One Ring Second Edition from Free League. This is episode five. We're gonna pick up right where we left off. The combat is mostly ended. Idanion essentially saved the day. The most valuable player is of course the elf of the party. Halbren arrived sort of just as just in the at the end of the nick of time, if I Danyon arrived in the nick of time, and he is now chasing after the soul surviving Southron, I believe that's what he said, who fled into the woods, left the clearing once he realized he was outnumbered, and his companion had been killed. So I need to get to him before he gets to the bridge. You need to get to him before he gets to the bridge. That is correct.
SPEAKER_02So for him to get back to the bridge, he would have to basically cross us, because he was north of us. The bridge is now south of us.
SPEAKER_00Uh I Daniel probably will try to follow the other guy.
SPEAKER_05Okay. So everyone who's chasing this guy, give me an athletics role. Oh, okay. We need to catch him. I'm gonna uh spin upon a hope. Failure. Hurrah, I succeed. Asshole, are you chasing after him too?
SPEAKER_03Uh probably not. No, I'm probably assessing my wounds and uh scrambling for my uh bow that I dropped.
SPEAKER_05Okay, so uh Halburn, you see him up ahead. What do you do? The the bridge is just right there, a few, you know, a few feet away. You've just caught up to this South Ron. He turns around and looks at you and sees that you've gained on him.
SPEAKER_04I just run full force as much as I can, and I'm just gonna strike again with my sword.
SPEAKER_05So let's call that a forward stance.
SPEAKER_04Right. Well, let's attack with my sword. I am going to use another point of hope. Let's see what I can do. Okay. I hit him doing four damage. So I kind of like run, he's probably what got maybe 30 meters, 40 meters to the bridge. So I kind of like come running behind him. He turns to sort of like look to see where I am, and I kind of like throw myself off of a tree, and I just kind of like run with all the kind of momentum I have to kind of slice down into him. I'm trying to go low so I can kind of like take out a leg or something to kind of stop him from getting as far as I can. Well, I probably clip him along the thigh as I kind of then with my momentum go past him to then look up at towards him to sort of block his path, as it were, putting us into combat. I'm hoping that somebody else is kind of like then gonna be come up from behind and shank him from behind as well. So we'll have two of us, but I don't know. I'm just stopping him from being engaged. I want to kind of keep this as quiet as I can, but it's gonna be very difficult.
SPEAKER_05So he swings around with his axe, dealing nine points of endurance damage. And you have to make a protection test. So if you just click on where it says protection roll in the chat window, pull that up for you. Okay. Oh, Ash Cloak is wounded. So click on the injury roll in that chat window. Okay, so you have a severe injury that will won't heal for two days. His axe blade goes right through your leather armor, cuts into your side, and gives you nasty, nasty little wound. And Branwyn, you are now on the scene.
SPEAKER_00I will shoot my bow if that's alright.
SPEAKER_05Is that possible? What stance do you want to be in, Berenwin?
SPEAKER_02I think I want to go forward. The blood is up. Vengeance will be mine.
SPEAKER_05That means you get to go first before Danion gets to roll his bow.
SPEAKER_02Well, um okay, so is this a new combat? Yes. Okay, so I'm not injured anymore. Correct. Okay, so I don't have favored, because I'm not injured. Let's let's say it's the same combat. Okay. We just changed battlegrounds.
SPEAKER_05Yeah.
SPEAKER_02It's just a new episode. Yeah. And I am going to try and rally my spirits as much as I can to use hope. And then cross my fingers, cross my toes, and roll.
SPEAKER_05Very nice. Six damage. Ooh, he has been killed. Tell us how you kill this man.
SPEAKER_02I run up as he is engaged, and after just injuring Halbrin, using my momentum, I take the butt of my axe, smack him in the to in the side of the head, which knocks him down, and then go with a big overhand to basically cleave him into. It doesn't, because the blade isn't as long as his body, but you know what I mean. Yes. Okay.
SPEAKER_05Right into his well. Right into his chest. Like right into his chest. Right. You crack open his. You can hear his ribs crack as your blade goes right through his uh breastbone. You just crack, he's like, ooh, and then his life is over.
SPEAKER_04I do that kind of like stop and listen to hear if anyone else over the bridge has heard anything has happened.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, the camp, the camp on the other side of the bridge is is deserted. So everyone must have the rest of the South Rons must have gone into the cave.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, Asell and I saw that happen.
SPEAKER_00Okay, so what are you guys doing now? Yeah. Can you rem do I remember how many were left? I know that there probably are only two left.
SPEAKER_04No, five, six, some. We well, we saw we saw four. Five.
SPEAKER_05Asell and I saw two go back into the cave. There might be three more left. There were five at the campsite, and then a sixth person came out of the cave, berated them for arguing about whether or not they should be listening to Zacharug, and then went back into the cave.
SPEAKER_00So perhaps this is the right time to push forward if there are only three left.
SPEAKER_02Figuratively or literally.
SPEAKER_00How far is it from here?
SPEAKER_05The refuge? Yeah. That's not very far.
SPEAKER_02We said it was out of earshot of the camp, so. If we go back to the refuge, and if they can't find their guys, I mean we got one on the right side of the like on the right hand side of the bridge, we got another one sitting here with another one in the bushes over there. If they find them, they know something's gonna be up and they're gonna come looking. We're not gonna be too far away. Yeah, they'll find us. We're gonna have a fire going. We need to lick our wounds. Now, if we pile the bodies on the bridge, it might serve as a warning and unsettle them. Buys us a little bit of time to recover, and then if when we go in, we might be able to have that work in our favor.
SPEAKER_00They might dig in and they might not, and they might be wary and prepare next time we come. Right now they are surprised. I mean, they didn't expect any any of us. I'm not saying to charge in in a suicide mission, but I think we can ambush them. You know, there is one that probably is still walking around. Two inside. We have arrows. I say we wait for them.
SPEAKER_02I I show my blood-soaked arm to Idanian. This is mostly mine.
SPEAKER_05Yeah. So if they suffer a second wound, then they're then they're they're at risk of dying. Those who are wounded. Can I heal them or do anything for them? No, the wound, so Buranrin's wound actually will heal pretty quickly now that combat is over. Halbrin's wound, I believe, is two days, and Basil's is three days.
SPEAKER_02Wasn't I wasn't uh Assel seven days?
SPEAKER_05We took his first roll, which was three instead of the seven. Oh, okay.
SPEAKER_04Look, we can kind of like rest up for a brief moment and then I think if we were to take any longer than it would require to heal us, I think that we would lose the initiative completely.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, if you go back to the refuge and take a short rest, you'll be able to recover all of your endurance. Huh. Except for what can you do that if he's wounded? No, you'll you'll recover a number of endurance points equal to your strength score. Oh, that'll still be wounded. So for you that'll be six points, asshole.
SPEAKER_02Well, let's what if we head back for a few hours, wait until night? Two hour injuries. Yeah. Maybe an hour. Not more than that. I'd say let's wait till night. We have a cover of darkness at that point. But don't orcs see better at night?
SPEAKER_04Well, these aren't orcs. No, but they're said they're with orcs, right? No, but they are not here.
SPEAKER_02Well, all we've seen so far is evidence of men.
SPEAKER_00Okay. In any case, we should hide their bodies. I agree.
SPEAKER_02The chasm?
SPEAKER_04Yeah, gourd. I guess once we've got rid of the bodies. Scuff up the area that we were kind of like fighting in to kind of like get rid of the majority of any kind of blood or anything if there is. And then make our way back to uh our refuge for a short rest, I suppose.
SPEAKER_05Okay, so and you're coming up on evening now. You can all recover. Those of you who are wounded can recover endurance equal to your strength score.
SPEAKER_02Uh not wounded.
SPEAKER_05Haldrin recovers six points. Asle recovers six points, I think. Berenwin can recover all of her endurance. Sweet deal. Which should mean that you are no longer weary. You should be up to your twenty seven-seven max, yep. I don't recover anything. Because I am wounded. You recover equal to your strength. It doesn't it I I I rolled the short rest and it said No. Because it's because uh while in the refuge, a short rest is considered a prolonged prolonged rest. So if I roll that instead, okay. Yep.
SPEAKER_02What's my hope at eight out of eleven? Alright, alright.
SPEAKER_05Well, does our hope go back up with this new session? Well, you can spend while you're here, you can spend your fellowship points to increase your.
SPEAKER_02What if we have two?
SPEAKER_05No, you have four. You have four points. It refreshes every every episode, every session.
SPEAKER_02Oh, okay.
SPEAKER_03Cool.
SPEAKER_05Which I may revisit that if it feels too gamey to me, but I mean it kind of does because like we're in the same day.
SPEAKER_02It's not like we've had a day or two of downtime.
SPEAKER_05Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Okay.
SPEAKER_05I agree.
SPEAKER_02Like, especially if we consider like a standard session, like three to four hours, these are one one and a half hour block block. So like maybe each day that we s that we record, but I wouldn't say each like recording session.
SPEAKER_05That's fair. So you have two points to spend. So you can spend them if you all agree on that. And that's a one-to-one, right?
SPEAKER_02One point per one hope. Yes. Yeah. I'm not gonna bother. I'm five hope. You might want to bother.
SPEAKER_04Well, the fellowship points might be helpful later on, so. If we make it that far. Mouth of the cave, no further. We shall not pass.
SPEAKER_02Brave adventurers go in, but they did not come out.
SPEAKER_05Okay, so did you guys want to roll uh some treat, you know, like first aid on your wounds so they don't get worse? I guess that'd be helpful, wouldn't it?
SPEAKER_00I can do it. I can go around and it's a good elf. Okay. Neither all of them. Can we get some elf healing, please? In fact, why don't you use this athalas that we have? Healing, healing! Can I use it all the time? Or only once?
SPEAKER_05Uh you can only use it once. So you have to choose. I don't know, does Halbrin deserve it? He murdered someone. Maybe Assel deserves the Athelas.
SPEAKER_00Who is the one with I will I think I will do it with uh Assan if if he's the the most senior one, right? So do I get an extra bonus die if I use it? Yes.
SPEAKER_02I mean I I'll I'll give him minus while to use on Halbrin.
SPEAKER_00Okay, so I'm rolling with an extra die for Asan.
SPEAKER_02Actually, you know what? I'm gonna heal Halbern. I have a better healing score. Thanks.
SPEAKER_00Failure. The elf doesn't heal anything, and I lose my Fedas.
SPEAKER_05Yep, so you you know you you you bandage his wound, you clean it, you bandage it. Looks like it looks like it's not gonna get infected.
SPEAKER_02Alright, so I'm gonna heal Halbern.
SPEAKER_05You think those bandages were clean? Look, it's fine.
SPEAKER_02That's a success.
SPEAKER_05Alright, yep, so you've you've cleaned Halbrin's wound and bandaged it up. My wound goes down to one day instead of two. No, it's just not gonna get worse.
SPEAKER_02Then I get rid of my athless. Thank you very much. You're welcome. Remember that.
SPEAKER_05The sun is starting to go down. It's getting dark. You can hear just in the woods beyond the walls of this ruin, you can hear a woman sobbing, and you hear her footsteps, or at least you you assume they're her footsteps in the in the grass, somewhere beyond the ruin. You can just hear her sobbing and crying and howling My Lord! Oh my oh my lord. I wasn't expecting that.
SPEAKER_00Can I move estillely and try to see what's going on? Okay.
SPEAKER_05So you're peering through sort of the broken doorway of this ruin, and you can see a woman. Her garments suggest that she's a lady of a noble house, of a noble lineage, but her clothes are torn like she's been in battle, and she's just sort of wandering through the woods crying and just saying, Oh my lord, my lord, my love.
SPEAKER_00I don't know, it kind of makes me think about the lore, you know, of this place, you know, the person that died. And it makes me wonder if this is more than meets the eye. You know, and perhaps with my kind of elf-feaked finesse, or perhaps I don't know if I can feel if there is anything off or different.
SPEAKER_05You believe in fact that this is a spirit of someone who has died, who is wandering and haunting these ruins.
SPEAKER_00Okay. Knowing about this, I know that this thing you know, this kind of spirits can be dangerous, right?
SPEAKER_05They could be.
SPEAKER_00I've seen what it is. Seems to me that we are facing a a spirit of some kind. I don't know if you know about the lore of this place, but long time ago there was a big battle in this in this castle. Several important people died among those Berewin? I remember one. How is it called? Berenor. Berenor. Who was the captain of this uh of this tower of this outpost? I think that the the spirit of this woman must be somebody related to him. And you know, spirits sometimes can be can bring darkness and can be dangerous. I don't know if it is wise to to talk with it.
SPEAKER_03Uh can I do a little check to see if I recognize Baronor from any old songs or poems or tales I've picked up?
SPEAKER_05Yes, go ahead. The eye awareness is now six. Asshole rolled an eye. Anyone else? I mean, uh, you wanna do you wanna respond to what I Danian has just has just told you?
SPEAKER_03He's talking about spirits and he's worried, so yeah, I'm don't want to know any more about them, but just gonna hide in here until till morning. I mean that seems like a good option.
SPEAKER_04I think uh my my knowledge of spirits is very limited, so I'm gonna trust the elf on this one.
SPEAKER_05Okay. So are you gonna wait until morning or did you s Berenwin was Berenwin's plan to go to undercover of darkness, so you s yeah. Do you wanna change that? Is that what you're saying?
SPEAKER_04No, I know I think we'll just kind of take an hour or two to sort of like rest, recuperate, heal, and then make our way forward.
SPEAKER_00Okay can I know more about this woman or not?
SPEAKER_05Do you think I could I mean you don't recognize her you know, she's someone who died thousands of years ago. You you know, like unless you have her name, you uh I don't know how you would how you would know anything about her.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, because for me this is, you know, this is part of the unseen. Yeah. So better be careful with. I mean it can go many ways, and so yeah, I say, yeah, better not to raise plate or voice. She might be bound here by sorrow. And you know, it's not probably it's not malicious, but we don't know what can bring to us. I would be very wary of bothering her if I were you.
SPEAKER_04So wise words, my dunyan. So, do you guys have a campfire? Probably not because it'll probably be smelt and seen or from from elsewhere.
SPEAKER_05So night settles in over the ruin. Perhaps you're eating, you know, some cured meat, dried bread, whatever it is you have in your provisions. And in the in the doorway of the ruin, you see a man standing there, or at least the memory of a man. His form is pale and worn thin as moonlight. His raiment is gray and tattered, and when he speaks, his voice is low and measured, and touched with a cadence of sorrow. He says, Greetings, I am Baronor, son of Belakhor, a captain of Arnor, sworn to watch upon these hills. Too long have I lingered in this darkness, forgotten, alone, doomed, what remains of me lies trodden where I fell against the dread forces of the witch king of Angmar. I beg of you, bring forth my bones, grant me a burial befitting the man of Western S. And he pauses, and he bows his head slightly, and then as quietly as he came, he just fades from view, like like turning into the mist of the river. And I danya, you remember in the runes that you saw etched in the stones of this ruin that you're in, it said that I that Baronora fell here. I I can do you think I know where he is? You guys can roll scan to s if you want to search for his r if you want to search for his remains, yep. Happy to have a bit of a a search.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, we should grant the rest to this great man from Camden of the North Kingdom. He fought the Witch King.
SPEAKER_02But if we do that now, we're gonna lose our advantage. Who knows how long it will take to find his remains? Thousands of years old bones in a forest.
SPEAKER_05So let's see. It's only within these four walls of this ruin that we're in. Uh so Assel has two ranks in Scan, which is better than I Danyan, who has none, and better than Bradwin, who has one. And better than Halburn who has one, yep.
SPEAKER_03Eager to put these spirits to rest so that I can actually get some sleep.
SPEAKER_02No sleep for you tonight, my friend. We are on the hunt.
SPEAKER_05So any one of you can roll scan to these things. Yeah, I will roll you and do I have. Yeah, you'll just be rolling the feet die when you click on scan. But if you want to like spend hope or something, you can.
SPEAKER_03So I think yeah, he's given me a good chance of doing it, so I'll use a hope on this one. Will you leave Sauron alone?
SPEAKER_05Done. So everyone everyone has failed.
SPEAKER_02Assel failed with an eye. So is there like an extended test at all for something that might take a little bit longer?
SPEAKER_05Yeah, it's called a skill endeavor, but I don't know if that's really appropriate for this for this kind of situation. Okay. If ASL, if you're amenable to accepting a success with woe, turning your failure into a success with woe, uh, I'll figure out what the negative side effect is later as we progress. But if you're amenable to that, we can do that. Is that okay?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, well, I I think, yeah, if you want to flavor it, that I spend all night searching. Because I'm desperate to get rid of these spirits, and therefore I actually don't get my rest.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, okay. Make yourself weary. Click the weary button on your character sheet.
SPEAKER_02Least you could do for rolling all the eyes.
SPEAKER_05Yeah. Yeah. So you find the his bones, whereas some wind and and and rain have like swept away some of the soil. And though time and the elements have, you know, gnawed at them, these bones and fragments are still pretty recognizable as human, and among them is a long sword. And as you as you collect these remains, you hear Baronor's voice again, like a whisper on the wind, and it says, This blade served me well to the last. May it do the same for you and see you home again. Do you are you gonna take the sword, Assel?
SPEAKER_03Well, if yeah, if he spoke to me and said that, I'll I'm very tired and slightly frantic about this thing, so yeah. Yeah, it'll just seem the obvious thing to do.
SPEAKER_05It's a long sword of Numenorian make, and it has and it has a magical quality. It has a few, I'm not gonna tell you how many it has, but the very first one becomes apparent to you as soon as you grip the sword. There are other ones you'll have to unlock either by doing certain things in a fellowship phase, or when you increase, I believe it is your valor, you can instead of getting a regular reward, you can unlock the next magical quality. So it has superior grievous as its quality. So that adds plus one to the damage rating. And if it is against a bane creature, which would be undead or evil men, the bonus is equal to your valor. And you can call that the Blade of Baronor. So what is your plan? To stay here the night or to leave under cover of darkness?
SPEAKER_04The idea was to attack, no? To go to the Yeah. The plan was to kind of like wait till it was talking and then go in this evening. I guess we'll put the elf up front.
SPEAKER_00Yes, I I can go stealthily in front to try to see how things are.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, are you guys gonna have torches?
SPEAKER_00Not me at least, right?
SPEAKER_05Okay. No torches.
SPEAKER_00I can see thanks to the stars, I see.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, I'm gonna we'll just kind of like keep low. Take it easy, take it really quietly. It's not about like getting there quickly. Which means we can kind of walk by whatever the starlight is.
SPEAKER_05So you get to the bridge. On the other side of the bridge, it's too dark for you to see if anyone is at the camp, but there is no fire there. You don't hear any noise, you don't hear anything at all. You still hear occasionally you hear that woman crying and sobbing in the woods somewhere, but that's it. I will go first and stealthily cross, I guess. Okay. Why not give me a stealth roll?
SPEAKER_04And could you just um describe where the camp is compared to the tower and the rest of the chasm and stuff, sort of this?
SPEAKER_05The bridge crosses the chasm, and directly on the other side is this expanse of ruins up against the rocky hillside. The camp is right on the other side of the bridge in a little clear spot, and there's a cave right there, and the tower is a a little bit of a ways away.
SPEAKER_00And all forestals.
SPEAKER_05Okay, so I Danian, you you make it across the bridge very stealthily, very quietly. It's quieter than a mouse. The camp is empty. The there are these couple of tattered tents, they're empty. There are no bedrolls, there are a couple of satchels, some rotted provisions, a couple of canteens, but other than that, nothing. Footprints, yes, all over the dirt.
SPEAKER_02So are we there poking around too, or is this just I Danian?
SPEAKER_05I guess we're kinda waiting on the other side of the bridge. Yeah, so what are you guys doing? He snuck across the bridge.
SPEAKER_02I guess waiting for some signal to follow.
SPEAKER_00I would make the accorded signal that we did not share.
SPEAKER_05Oh, cool. Yeah, so okay, so I I Danian makes some bird noise that you all agreed upon would be the st the signal that that everything was safe to for you guys to move up. So you cross the bridge and the and there's nothing there, just a couple of tattered tents, some footprints going in and out of the cave, a satchel, some rotted provisions, a couple of canteens of water. That's it. Do they eat the stuff?
SPEAKER_04No wonder they're angry. Well, I guess we can all have like a bit of a poke around. See if there's anything that tells us what they're doing here. And then I guess everyone's kind of the other footprints, I'm guessing, are going into the cave, because Ferrari and Assel had already seen them go in, right?
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, in the meantime, I will be covering the entrance of uh I want to see what's gonna happen. Okay.
SPEAKER_05So, Halburn, you open the satchel and you find maps. Okay. Hand drawn, crudely drawn, maps of Holland and eastern parts of Iriador, around like the Troll Shaws, the Great East Road, up to the mountains. It looks like to you, based on these maps, how they're drawn, and the notes and the markings all over them, that they're like it's almost like a like a they're they've got like a search grid. They're trying to find something. Oh, okay.
SPEAKER_04I'll um call Assel over and kind of like show him the maps and voice my opinion that I think they're obviously looking for something. I know he's a bit of a map maker, so yeah.
SPEAKER_05Try not to roll an eye. Try. Maybe I should do it. Ah, for the love of God. He rolled an eye, ladies and gentlemen. The eye awareness is now eight. Your hunt threshold is 16. Uh Halburn, do you want to roll treble?
SPEAKER_02Question. Yeah, yes, yeah. So he was this a favored roll for him because he rolled two feet die?
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_02So then would the eye still be considered as hitting when it's favored and there's something of higher value?
SPEAKER_05Yeah, it should have sele so he rolled a seven and an eye. He should have it should have selected the seven. Yeah. And that would have succeeded. Does it happen regardless of the seven? No, no, he's weary, so this it still would have failed, but it would have failed, but it wouldn't have failed with an eye. That's interesting. Well, does it only happen when it's any eye, regardless of whatever the dice roll is?
SPEAKER_02I thought that was kind of like the purpose of the favored role is to help negate that.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, exactly. It's uh it must the system must be buggy. That's a good catch, Charlotte. I'll remove that eye awareness. But Ed, did you want to roll travel? See if I can get a roll. See if I can get an eye.
SPEAKER_04Yay, yes. What about a success?
SPEAKER_05Ed, they're trying to find Rivendell.
SPEAKER_03Ooh, okay. Interesting. Maybe that's got something to do with them kidnapping and capturing elves. That would make sense.
SPEAKER_04We want to know where uh shame they captured Idenon, who is not a Rivendell elf. Well, we should definitely take this to an emissary of Rivendell to let them know.
SPEAKER_05Okay, so make a make a note somewhere that you have, you know, you have these maps. I will so you don't you don't forget because I may forget that you have them.
SPEAKER_02Okay, so what's your plan? I think we should go slowly into the cave and see if there's any lights up ahead that'll help us because we can't see in here if it's pitch black. Nor do we want to make light and give our position away. Or do we make noise out here, hope they come out, ambush them by the light of the moon? Is there a moon out tonight?
SPEAKER_05Uh, there is a moon out tonight, yes.
SPEAKER_02I mean, if we try and get them out here, we're able to control our situation a little bit more. What do you guys think?
SPEAKER_00It might not come out, but we're gonna try and.
SPEAKER_05Okay. Well, you guys, so how are you gonna do that?
SPEAKER_02Well, do when we had the uh one tied up in our camp, like how much of an accent do Southerners have?
SPEAKER_05Well, you can definitely tell, yeah, by their speech that they're that they're Southrons, that they're from Harad.
SPEAKER_02Right, me lover. I mean, if you or a Sal can mimic one of their lost brethren, that might be enough to get them outside. They haven't found the body, so they're still missing. I can give it a go.
SPEAKER_04How am I so devious? I only have a wits of four. We could try. I mean, we heard him talk to us, so we could try and mic it.
SPEAKER_02I mean, I unless someone has a better idea. That might be the safest.
SPEAKER_04I assume South Runs are gonna require fire to see. So I guess we could potentially go in there and ambush them while they're sleeping. Well, I don't know if they'll be sleeping. They might be because this is their camp. That's a good point. Bringing up their camp, how many bedrolls and sleeping positions or areas are there in the camp?
SPEAKER_05In the camp, there are five. Five.
SPEAKER_04So it could be that we've got all five people. Well, I mean we've taken out three. Three. Three. So yeah. Assuming at some point they're gonna have to come back out. But why wouldn't they have to come back out already? They might be doing something for whoever their other musts are.
SPEAKER_00When if you guys want, I can I propose I will uh stay here. I will try to see if I can see them carefully and see what I can find. I think I will try to go in inside the the cave alone. I Danian, what do your elf eyes see?
SPEAKER_05The cave. So Idanin, you step into the cave and you take a couple of steps in, and the rough ground gives way to ancient stone steps that go down, and damp air drifts up from below, and you see like this staircase going down quite a distance. I'll go down very carefully.
SPEAKER_00Are there lights or is it just dark? You don't see any lights, no.
SPEAKER_05Do I see more or less okay? I mean it's dim, but you know, it's not like pitch black for you. And as you as you start taking steps down, you start you hear the sound of rushing water growing louder as you move down these steps. The passage starts to widen, and the the stairs, you can see the stairs are gonna end at a wide cavern, and here you see some torches flickering. Do I see people? You don't see anybody from your vantage point. Oh, but it is a jump? There's a yeah, there's a broken bridge there. Over so this is where the so the bridge crosses the an underground river, and the bridge is broken.
SPEAKER_00Okay, so this is not a natural cover, this is like a previous construction, I guess, from Arnold?
SPEAKER_05Yeah, the cave is natural, the stairs are not, and then it it leads to a place that is man-made, constructed, yeah.
SPEAKER_00And do it does does it look like human-made, I guess?
SPEAKER_05Yeah, yes, it is it definitely looks like it was made in the days of uh of the North Kingdom.
SPEAKER_00I'll come back up and bring the rest down because I don't think there is any danger yet. And anyhow, this is very big, so even if we make noise, there is no point.
SPEAKER_04Okay. So we could like take a um we could take a torch then with us and then.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, and oh, so I neglected to mention that so that stone bridge is crosses this underground river, and its middle has fallen away, but in its place is a a rough wooden ramp that joins the two sides together, and it's bound with ropes that hold it in place.
SPEAKER_04Well, guess we're gonna go into the depths of a dungeon in in the one ring.
SPEAKER_05Wrong IP, sorry.
SPEAKER_00Yep.
SPEAKER_05Definitely wrong IP. Okay, so you you're you're crossing the bridge. Does that seem to be the least useful in a fight?
SPEAKER_03I guess I'll take the torch. I was gonna say, shall I take a torch as well? So one of us near the front, one of us near the back.
SPEAKER_04You're better with a bow. So I think probably you need two hands. I've got a ha I've got a one-handed sword and I can carry a torch. And I think Berwin has a two-handed axe?
SPEAKER_02Uh, I've got my shield and axe.
SPEAKER_05Okay.
SPEAKER_02I left my little backup camp.
SPEAKER_05Okay, so yeah, so you you cross this this bridge and you enter this chamber. Uh it looks like it used to be like a guard post. It's mostly empty. It's littered with debris and and refuse that appears to have been left behind by the Southrons. There are bedrolls here. So this also might be like uh sleeping quarters for additional members of their party. How many? How many? There's six bedrolls here. There's a small niche on the west wall, and then through this gate here, there's a broken gate. You can hear the steady drip of water.
SPEAKER_00Go check in the north one. Do I hear anything? I don't know if it is a north, but you know, that one. Sorry.
SPEAKER_05The niche.
SPEAKER_00North, north, yeah, the niche. Ah, there is nothing in there, no?
SPEAKER_05So you find some gold hidden in there, along with a supply of dry kindling, stale bread, and dried meats. There are so the amount of gold is essentially six treasure points worth, so No, I will not take it.
SPEAKER_00I know I don't like money. I will just leave it there. I don't even take it. I will not take anything.
SPEAKER_05So, are you going through this broken gate? Yeah. Yep. Okay. As you enter this chamber, an inexplicable sense of dread falls over you. I need everyone to make a valor test.
SPEAKER_04You will bravely run away from this adventuring life. None of us are valorous.
SPEAKER_05Oh, I I I Dany rolled an eye.
SPEAKER_00And the same uh Asal too.
SPEAKER_05Asal rolled an eye?
SPEAKER_00No.
SPEAKER_05I saw two eyes that pop up.
SPEAKER_00I saw two eyes.
SPEAKER_05Oh, there's only yo, yeah, there is there are two eyes. Berenwin rolled an eye as well. Did I know? The eye awareness is now nine. You each uh take two shadow points. I know one of the most shadow points. I've got too many. Across the hall, you see someone darting into this doorway. Between you and that passage, the floor drops away into a lower section of the hall. It's flooded with waist-high muddy water. There are stone sepulchres throughout the submerged area. Their carved lids are sort of just above the surface of the water. Some remain intact while others bear the scars of some violent upheaval. Lids are cracked or completely missing. Two of those sepulchres stand apart. Their marble slabs are more elaborate and they are carved to represent sleeping figures. One is a lord, the other is a lady. And you can also see inscriptions carved on the walls of this area that you've just stepped into that note that the remaining tombs hold the stewards and house guards of the noble house that once ruled here.
SPEAKER_00Well I Daniel will try to jump. I don't know if I can jump between stones.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, give me an athletics test. Sounds elf to me.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Now I fail, of course.
SPEAKER_05Okay, so you fail, you splash into the water. Uh what are the rest of you guys doing?
SPEAKER_02I'm gonna try and show him how it's done by following in his steps and try and jump onto one of the platforms. Okay.
SPEAKER_05These are all, you know, coffins that you're jumping onto, so.
SPEAKER_02Better than going into the water.
SPEAKER_05An extraordinary success. You have leapt onto one of these sepulchres.
SPEAKER_02Can I try and pull Idanian up out of the water? Because I'm assuming that he almost made it.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. You you you can spend that extraordinary success to help him succeed in his task. So you see that he's he he jumps onto the sepulchre, but just sort of at the edge, and he's about to tip over into the water. You jump onto the one next to his and you grab a hold of him and steady him so that he doesn't fall into the water. So the two of you are now on these coffins right here. What are the what are you and Assil doing? I'm just gonna wade into the water.
SPEAKER_04I'm not I'm not I'm not that kind of athletic and stuff. I'm just gonna walk just wander into the water and just make my way across. Just kind of like lift my sword up. Just basically wade across.
SPEAKER_02Have you never been warned about standing water? So, asshole, what are you doing?
SPEAKER_03Still standing at the back, waiting to see what happens to the others.
SPEAKER_05Perfect. So as as soon as Halberin steps into the water, eight of these ghoulish, slimy creatures emerge out of the water to attack you.