Jason: And that brings us to the end of this episode of daggers and drums. Thank you for spending your time with us, whether you're listening on your commute, painting minis or rolling dice at your very own table. If you enjoyed the episode, please consider liking the video and subscribing to the channel or following the podcast wherever you listen. We'd also like to give special thanks to everyone who helps to make this show possible. Your support means more than you know. you Previously on Deep Six. If you want to keep up with us between episodes, you can find daggers and drams on YouTube, Instagram, and other platforms. As always, thanks for being a part of this journey with us. Until next time, pour yourself a dram, roll your dice, keep on telling great stories. wonder where I go when I die Underneath the surface I hear voices Trying to get to heaven, but it's all hell And every day I wake up I still wonder if I'm dead or alive Six feet deep, deep six Sitting in the middle of heaven and hell 6 feet deep! So, when you guys arrive back, back obviously you were there the previous day, and you do see a number of the... leaders and lieutenants of the Arbiters Court. There are what are known as chief these are your judges, for the smaller civil court ⁓ Whereas you have your justices things like that when get higher. the solicitors, lawyers and things which are kind of going around. I'm going to take my button out now and have a look at it. Okay. What are laughing at? I'm not Shut up. What are you doing with your button? Well, I've got my fan open. I've got my button in the other hand. Okay, look, it looks This is a serious game for serious people! It looks well rubbed, right? ⁓ I'm rub and see what happens. ⁓ just a button. ⁓ finding after scribes which seem to be working under them as well as you have ⁓ These you've seen around the city, so these are masked arbiters, right? These are the muscle for the arbiters' court. You know, always, the court in general claims to have a neutral stance on everyone. But these kind of helmed horrors which you've seen kind of walking around town, I mean, they ⁓ almost It's just a button. It's just a button? ⁓ okay. Here you go, study. This is for you. ⁓ It's just button. ⁓ I hate you all. the GM. ⁓ hockey mask like features in their ⁓ they're all exactly the same and you never see them in numbers less than three. And they are set out to either bring people to court, to submit summons, kind of thing, ⁓ or even to with investigations. They do not give a nice, warm, fuzzy feeling ⁓ when you see them on the street and certainly not here. because they seem to be posted up everywhere around here, function as bailiffs inside the court. also see members from the different consulates, from Dawnshore, from the Emerald Consulate as well. And so you see envoys and you see captains and lantern guards from the Dawnshore, ⁓ all dressed in kind of, know, same courtly robes, but of an immaculate white with kind of golding trim. And then you see, consoles and they're ⁓ personal assistants ⁓ of underlings following them around as well. Which you've seen ⁓ these as well, which also are enforcers from the unworld side. And ⁓ so they are as velvet blades. And so they are literally hired protection for each side. So there is equal ⁓ of everyone, every stitch inside of Redencia is ⁓ within the chords. And you do happen upon a ⁓ familiar voice, okay? ⁓ you Halvard Wainwright. You wouldn't know his voice. I wouldn't know his voice, yeah. But they would. And so you hear him concealed from who? From the same court that ignored funding petitions for six consecutive years, from the same inspectors who visited twice in a decade and spent more time counting bedsheets than speaking to children. from the same city that remembers orphans only when they vanish. And as you're hear this court proceeding, as you walk into the main building, it is not what you expect. You're expected to see a traditional justice court system. This seems to be a large open parlor. There are some nice furnishings sat around, of sofa settee things. Most people are just standing in small groups. there are raised kind of dais type areas so that those who are speaking more probably can be heard. But it almost looks, as if this is. ⁓ more of a fancy gathering rather than it is, an official court. But first thing you see on the way in, there are a number of kind of cubby-like shelves. And on each of these shelves ⁓ is a very different, very unique mask. ⁓ And some of the shelves are and everyone in this room seems to be wearing one. as you guys are entering, you ⁓ as two of these individuals leave, they remove their masks, put them into the cubbies and walk out. You see two more come in, grab those same two masks and walk in. So it seems to be ⁓ a situation these are communal use masks. Everybody should keep their visage unknown except for those being brought forward to the courts. ⁓ Okay, so obviously. Wainwright's not wearing one. As you do see, it seems to be optional because ⁓ some the people that you see from either the Umbral Consulate or the Arbiter's Court ⁓ or the Dawnshore Embassy themselves seem to not have these masks on. It seems to be ⁓ whether you like you want to remain anonymous or not. rather a center table. You see what looks to be a ledger and ⁓ a kind resting place where you're not sure what would typically go there but it seems to be something of a court function of just not being used in this particular trial or meeting or whatever it is that you've stumbled upon. Those final two words when he says, orphans only, only when they vanish, the words land hard, too hard. The prosecutor hesitates and Wainwright looks, takes the silence and sharpens it. And he was kind of on, you know, if there was a stand, he would be on it, but he's just kind of freely speaking. You accuse me of benefiting because these children were unseen. But I did not make them unseen, Videncia did. And he's kind of now pivoting to speak to the people within the room. You do see that there are some who seem to be listening very intently, taking notes, and they are all sitting on these kind of semi-circle sofas ⁓ or gallery falls silent. Presiding Magistrate tilted her mask face towards the prosecutor. Council present direct evidence tying Mr. Wainwright to these alleged abductions. Prosecutor looks down at his papers. was a small motion but everybody saw it. There are witnesses inconsistencies still under review. Direct evidence, the magistrate repeated. We have circumstantial association, financial irregularities, access privilege, and institutional authority. prosecutor swallows. No surviving direct evidence at this time, your honor. At the word surviving, Wainwright's eyes flicker. Only for a moment, but a tiny glint, kind of almost gone, lowers his head. The magistrate conferred in whispers behind bench, their masks turned towards one another like pale moons. The chamber waits. Somewhere, ⁓ a quill scratching over ⁓ the side, someone recording, someone taking notes. And ⁓ what seems like ⁓ significant amount of time, the presiding magistrate faces the court again. The judiciary recognizes the grave nature of the disappearances. This court recognizes the suffering of the families, guardians, and citizens affected. However, suspicion is not proof. Reputation is not evidence. Public outrage, however justified, cannot replace legal burden. A wave of dread moved through the gallery as this verdict was spoken. There are many people here who quite clearly had been working very hard to make this stick to Wainwright. And you see this kind of smile return to Wainwright's face. The court finds insufficient evidence to hold Mr. Wainwright on ⁓ implications brought us. The hammer falls. He released from custody. sound breaks from the back of the chamber, not a scream, something worse. You see one of the. one of the matrons who was working at the orphanage. You've never seen this woman specifically, but you've seen ⁓ attire, she seems particularly distraught. The prosecutor his eyes. The reporters from what seemed to be a variety of different ⁓ news agents and things to rush in. Wainwright remains still. perfectly still. But then after you see that smile creep across his face, it's just as quickly removed. And with the weary dignity of a wronged man, he bows to the bench. Thank you, your honors. And he turns from the rail. And as he passes the public benches, no one touched him. No one dares. He's... many people glaring at him. Some would look away. elderly gentleman reaches out as if to offer him comfort, but then thought better of it and withdraws. And then. Again, you catch this look on his face just as he pauses before heading towards the bronze doors. not a smile, nothing as crude as that, but the grief drained from his face like water through a gate, like he was never concerned. And he pauses just for a moment. Where are you guys standing? I think we'd probably still be further from the back, I would imagine. not having gone in and filled it yet. Did you guys take masks when you came in? I would have taken I'm just going to put my hood up. Mag would have a I'll sit on Max's knee so nobody sits on me. I'm just going to come sit on your knee like a child in case somebody sits on me because I'm invisible. So you see him stop before he hits the door. He's kind of... sniffed. kind of looks towards where you are. Jesus! Smiles again and walks back out the door. I'm like, who's the windbag? That man is a creep. I can tell that by looking at him. He is the one who we were sent to out, essentially. think the fact that... I don't know. I feel responsible that we were maybe sent to get evidence and didn't. Yeah. I like I failed a little. We tried. There's a lot going on that night. I don't think this is over. No. All right, so continuing on. for the sake of brevity, I'm going to... Hi, brevity, I'm Dad. Hi. I'm going just kind of briefly drop some info on you guys. Fuck yeah, lore dump. Yeah, lore dump. We're gonna do a little lore dump here, because I feel like we've gotten kind of heavy into the talkie talkie ⁓ side of things That's fair. ⁓ All right, so following Wayne Wright's proceedings, you see him pretty much everyone that was involved in that discussion ⁓ leave. And then you see ⁓ a much group begin to assemble in the same room. And it seems like people are almost fighting for space here. Almost all of the masks are disappearing out of these cubbies. Everyone wants to be here. No one wants to be known as being here. Alright. I left Ruby up onto my shoulders so that she can see what's going on. Oh, thank you. I feel like I'm jumping up at your feet. All right. Okay. So you guys still just kind of hanging out in the back, back wall. All right. So this seems to be more of the high court, which is being, so you get the feeling that this is kind of the major proceeding. which is happening today. And you see a couple of more enter this time. You see... A man enters wearing a mask that is, know, most of the masks, their expressions are either rather plain ⁓ ⁓ This mask has a smile, ⁓ to your mask. It's almost maniacal grin, very toothy. And It's a rather short man. you hear ⁓ he enters, just kind of river mills and whispers being kicked the room. And you hear someone say, mask manipulator. And then you hear other people more prominently, it's the judge, the smiling judge, the smiling. Additionally, you see individuals that you guys recognize from the gala the other evening. So this seems to be kind of upstanding members ⁓ society here come to see as well. And you watch as they take masks as well. Even the ones which you borderline recognize from other night, they quickly disappear into the crowd with their masks. And You see some though that despite the fact that everybody seems to be trying to hide their identity here, you see ⁓ man who is rather like from a distance he almost looks short and rotund but the closer that he gets you realize he's not short at all but he is very very kind of rounded but in in a muscular kind of way. His suit is not courtly robes. They are business finery. Almost kind of a pinstripe deal, right? And he doesn't seem to give a shit who knows he's there. And he just kind of walks around to the front and just kind of takes a space in not within the proceeding. but as close as he can get, front row seats, he's wanting to see what's you see ⁓ kind of flipping a gold coin in one hand, and then occasionally you'll see him just kind of put it between his teeth. Chew it little bit. He's ⁓ surrounded guys that they're equally well dressed, but they don't look comfortable in it. ⁓ They're not wearing clothes that look like they belong to them. They're wearing clothes that look like they've been instructed to wear. And they're also, they don't seem comfortable in the space. They don't seem like they belong, right? And ⁓ see other people paying as much attention to them as they are anyone else. And you see several, several kind of standing groups of people, again, a large, ⁓ envoy from the Dawn Shore Embassy, a large envoy from the Emerald Council, and several of the Arbiter's Court members as well. But this one doesn't seem to be like a jury panel the way that the last one was. This all seems to be leading up to this masked smiling judge. so you watch as they go through the beginnings of these proceedings ⁓ several arbiters kind of running around back and forth and ⁓ seem to be. looking for someone else to come into the room and then after a while the hum and rabble begins to get louder and louder and louder. You get the feeling that this was meant to have begun already. And then ultimately the smiling judge speaks. And he says that, say this wrong. Orland threes tome. Three tongue. Three tongue. Is it three? Popular with the ladies. Wait, why? Think about it, Steddy, think about it. courtroom sits in a hush, so complete that even the quills seem afraid to scratch as the smiling judge stands. At the high bench, He does not move for several seconds. his painted grin remains fixed, serene, almost kindly. Only his fingers shift, tapping once against the polished wood. But only once. The sound carries like a gavel in the silence. The witness, said softly, has chosen absence. A ripple passes through the gallery. Not surprise, but fear. The judge tilts his head as though listening to some private music hidden in the rafters. How curious. discourteous. How revealing. He lifts one hand and the bay lists straighten. These again, masked arbiters. This court does not chase truth through alleyways. comes here. Truth kneels. Truth speaks when summoned. His own smile beneath this half mask widens, but his voice remains neutral. Since the summoned tongue is missing, shall not waste breath pretending justice can proceed on a hollow chair. He turns his masked face towards the accused, which You know from your missive that that Three Tong had been called to testify against a Dom Shore officer. He lets the gavel fall. The court will reconvene when the witness is found or when the court is satisfied as to why they cannot be. There's a long pause. And let all present understand absence is not innocence. is merely another form of testimony. He back. Bayliff, clear the room. And you watch as these massed arbiters begin literally just pushing people towards all exits. And you hear them kind of speaking. This court is dismissed for now, but mark us well. The chair is empty, not silent. We will hear what he has to say. Just pushing people out. As you are kind of one of the first ones to leave and just kind of spill out ⁓ over the side. ⁓ And you do, two of the masked individuals who were actually standing quite near you, pull you off to one side and remove their mask. is Onyx and Argent. Oh, am I still in your shoulders? Invisible. Right, I suppose better get down then. costume change. So Argent speaks first. She says, I see you've received today's missive, I don't see the rest of your party. We were hoping you knew where she was. haven't seen her in a day now. That troubling. No, ⁓ I seen her either. She kind of gestures over to Onyx. He's like, don't fucking look at me. I've not around all night. Set the pop. And he's kind of looking over his shoulder back into the courtroom. He's like, messy business that. And he's kind of shuffling through some other papers or whatever and pulls out what looks to be just some kind of hand scrawled notes. He says, need to find this three tongue before they do. And kind of gestures over his shoulder at the two large groups of people now kind of clambering, speaking to one another ⁓ great urgency. He's like, you need to find him before the trial or before someone makes him disappear. This is where he lives. And this is where he works. ⁓ was a clerk for Arbiter's Court. And. the which ⁓ given is for that ⁓ a merchant's house or free house, ⁓ you know is typically someone who doesn't have a family or anything like that, that they might rent a small apartment or something like that in this type of establishment. ⁓ usually a tavern or something below, easy meals, easy bed, nothing glamorous, ⁓ quite a few people who live ⁓ towards the center of the city and who worked for the courts and things like that. They don't want to live anywhere near either of the other consulates. And it's kind of hard not to associate yourself if you live further out in a certain area. So his residence is actually not far from here. You said you find them, bring him back to Gilded Mask. Let's get on top of what's actually happening. And then it is kind of begin to disperse off unless you want to ask them any questions. Did I any questions? No, I think we should get going before somebody else gets there. That's probably right. Yeah, I think that's good idea. Yeah. Let's go. All right. I don't want to spend any more time with Onyx. No. Man, you hate Onyx! So when you arrive at the at the merchants house, everything is fine and we don't have to talk to anybody or fight anybody. He's there. Exactly. Exactly. Come with us. Come this way. You managed to find his room. The room is cramped, overheated, and smells like old ink, machine oil, damp wool, and panic. He has not fled cleanly. He has fled badly. Downstairs in ⁓ establishment, already clocked members that you saw earlier from both Dawnshore and the Emerald Consulate. These would have been the underlings. So what are known as lantern guards. So kind of a little bit less showy, still stick out like a sore thumb, ⁓ of the Dawnshore Embassy. you know, ⁓ these known as whisper clerks or, ⁓ know, lantern guard are kind of your plain clothes cops, whereas your whisper are a bit more vice, The umbral consulate, again, you've got the velvet blades. And then even more so than that, you notice a couple of the velvet blades around. They don't try to hide themselves. They're more swashbucklers for hire, flashy to the point. But you know that where they go, there are also other elements which are better at keeping. to the shadows, they're a little closer to the efforts of what you guys do at NY6. All so you know that others are looking for him there, they just didn't, they perhaps weren't privy to which room was his. ⁓ you do have the advantage at the moment in that you were able to make your way up to his room. The lock on door appears to have been picked from the inside, not the outside. ⁓ chair seems kind of wedged under the door, half-heartedly, so you're still able to get in. There's a wash basin kind of full of gray water with flakes of brass and black grit settled at the bottom. bed looks like it has not been slept in for days. Instead, the mattress has been stripped and used as a notice board. So he's kind of stuck it up against the wall and he's pinned different things to it with bent nails and wire and sharpened quills or scraps of bits of metal. ⁓ And you see diagrams and cult symbols. two recognize immediately these eye symbols, ⁓ which saw from the cult members that you encountered. Anatomical sketches ⁓ what looks be like city plans, which maybe he himself lifted the Arbiter's Court where he works in the archives. At first glance, it looks like madness. But after a few moments, you recognize that it's Roll perception. Minus one. 18. Minus one, holy crap. A perception check is here. You're strong, you don't need to be smart. Fuck off. I am smart. I am smart. SMRT. We have dumb intelligence. SMRT. I have five. All right, so you guys are kind of tossing the room around. And again, because of your private... a previous encounter the night before. You both recognize one thing, is that he had been ⁓ automatons and Those are all Romans. And their history and makeup the city of Verduncia. ⁓ But what you notice is one particular which seems to show the layers beneath Verduncia itself. Okay. and you see six layers. ⁓ And scrawlings in languages that you do not comprehend. Okay. get the feeling as well, there are notes out beside. It looks like maybe he didn't fully understand them either, but he was trying to. So possibly he was studying because the cult was studying them as well. He was trying to figure out. what they wrote, so possibly because he was helping them or possibly because he was terrified of what they had already found. Or maybe he stumbled upon something, you know, that maybe they wanted to keep hidden. Ruby would like to grab all these notes ⁓ to shove them into her little hidey hole pocket so that we can have a look at them later. Maybe get Alice to have a look at them. Okay. Smart girl. Good thinking. right. So you do, so you grab a couple of these notes and you see, The ones that just kind of stand out to you. There are pages and pages of documents, but you do see these specific notes. One says that the eye does not need maps if it can wake the witness. the other says they are not machines. They're auto-mans. They are auto-mans. It really was man juice. It was man juice. was man juice. Okay, can I look around the room to see if there's something that will lead us to where he might have gone? and investigation. Investigation. Me I'll help. Eleven. Twenty. ⁓ All right. So from now on, you all are listening. What you find is old. At first, they like bandages, but they're they're not soiled. They're not stained. There's no blood on them or you have to look like burn bandages or anything like that. ⁓ They smell of any kind of like ointment or anything. And then put together. ⁓ Ruby, you opened one of the kind of standing cupboards which are in the room. And what falls out ⁓ are kind very soft leather boots and soft leather hand wraps as well. And so you would know that these ⁓ are, you know, being actually role perception. Just the worst one. 16. All right. So you immediately, as Ruby opens this, this closet and all this stuff pours out, you realize that this guy's a fighter. Yeah. and also recognize when the closet door is open that too much of his stuff is still here. He, he, he hasn't fled yet. ⁓ You get the feeling as well, looking around that anybody who stays here doesn't have a hell of a lot of money. So that if you were going to have to try and leave this city, you know, it's not like you can just hop on local transit and make it out of Redentia. know, where, where, where are you going to go? So you wouldn't even know where to begin thinking about how someone would attempt to flee this city. but if that's what he's trying to do, you do know that it's going to take more coin than what is evident that he has. it's here somewhere. rolled a All right. As you're kind of searching this wardrobe, all right, you find a false drawer or false bottom. in it, you find essentially a go bag, right? And this bag, you see a false travel. ⁓ kind of the equivalent of a cheap passport badly forged. A ticket stub for River Skiff that is already left. A list of names, mostly crossed out. ⁓ one of the names on that list you heard earlier today. This is Knox, the coin eater. Okay. And it is not crossed out. So the ticket stub for... Was that a fatty? ⁓ to the stub, there is a crude map of the Astral Docks, which is where you guys were the other day, or where you were the other day. And there's a note. And it says 300 gold minimum, no credit, no favors, no gods. Okay. So he hasn't. The ferry's left already. We're assuming he's not got on it then because stub's there. Well, is no ferry. I mean, like you would know that, you know, like you can't go back. Right. Up river, or at least that you know of you can't. So he's going to have to find a way somewhere, you know, another direction. Role investigation as a group. As a group. 16, 19, Everybody's over 10. Yeah. underneath, you know, the bed is flipped and ⁓ the, know, now everything's spilling out of the wardrobe. There's a small desk in the corner and kind of tucked underneath the drawer. so like the drawer has been emptied, but if you take the drawer out, kind of. pinned underneath the drawer itself or maybe just kind of stashed there. There's a flyer stained with blood and beer. It says, tonight only. The rust below. No names, no questions, no mercy. Fighters paid in cash, winners paid double. Written across the bottom in Orland's handwriting, one more fight, then I run. Okay, we have a few choices. We could his go bag, leave ⁓ a saying, if you want to live, come to the Gilded Mask. Or we go to the fight and try and speak to him there. Or we could try and meet him when he tries to run. Fight. Fight. Fight. Do we take his go bag anyway? to... Oh. Yeah. I mean, I don't think he'll come back for it. I think he'll know that this place is surrounded by people. think it would be very foolish to come back here. Yeah. Plus we had to get our hands on him anyway. Yeah. I mean, well, I suppose if we get his stuff and then we're trying to convince him to come with us. It's a bribe, isn't it? it's a bit of a, like, here, we're here to help you. Here's your go bag. Yeah. Yeah. Let's statch Okay. There you go. really like that pocket? I love my pocket. So the only problem is that you don't know where this underground fighting ring is. You know the name? Yeah, it's called the Rust Below. How does this teleportation potion work? Do you have to know where have any fucking idea. Or can you just say, take me to this place and I'll take you? So you can cast the teleport spell upon drinking. I think you would need to know where you were going. Okay. Yeah. Pretty sure you have to have been there before. It's not like I knew about a taxi. I mean, Matt has a bit of history with fight clubs and fights and stuff. although he wouldn't know where this one specific ⁓ is, would he have a general idea of knowing to look to ask someone ⁓ where might be? If he's chosen this place, you would reckon he's chosen this place for a reason. Okay. So you feel like it's probably in this area. maybe asking at the Tavern downstairs might be, be to your benefit, but you do know that it is also crawling with everybody else who's looking for him. ⁓ none of them know who you are, that know. Let's take as well in case anybody else finds it and knows his plan. Fair enough. That's a good idea. Stick it all in the pocket. You feel good ideas today, Ruby. I am. Smart today. I'm rubbing off on you, I think. I think you're... Stop rubbing off on me. I don't like it. Okay. so you your down to the tavern. and there are still quite a few patrons around, still quite a few that you recognize from the court system, ⁓ obviously state kind of out the area waiting for three times. But you do see ⁓ as the evening begins draw closer, you do see couple of other individuals in there, who look like they might know where. fire again. You see... ⁓ And I have to. Why are so enthusiastic for a flanking game? Yeah, but that was for reasons. Still on dry-flight. We should enter you so we can make some money. right. So you a number of individuals downstairs in the Tavern. It's crowded enough that no one's really noticing you having a look around. And you see ⁓ patronage is getting a bit rowdy to be not quite sundown. You see a large bald broken nose bruiser set up in the corner with a jaw ⁓ by crude brass plating. Like been wired both inside and out. He's ⁓ speaking to his ⁓ constituents. And he kind of constantly grins and has a forced underbite. you just see it was kind of cracking his knuckles and seems that they just seem to be talking about fighting or talking about technique. You see a lean woman in a dark blue coat. You're not ⁓ if she's his manager or that they're together ⁓ in some But then ⁓ you eye kind high on her right thigh as the coat. kind of peels out of the way. She is wearing leather breeches as well and has a bandolier of throwing knives along her leg. And then you start to notice other things. She not only has knives at her right leg, she has them on her left sleeve in her boot. You're pretty sure you see a small one in her collar and her hairpin as well has a prominent hilt. All right. So you get the feeling that maybe she might be the fighter and possibly he is the manager. You're not really sure. Do think she has enough knives? ⁓ ⁓ you see. sitting separately from them. You see a man sitting by himself. Initially, but then he is joined by two individuals that you recognize from earlier wearing the same kind of shitty business suits. and they kind of sit down and speak to him. The guy himself looks like maybe he's a guard. He's wearing kind of very, very simple, almost monastic robes. he's got a heavy ⁓ iron bell with him and he's wearing ⁓ know, it almost looks like the kind of person who would be charged as a protector on some sort of crusade or even a pilgrimage He to be clerical ⁓ in way But you hear them him as brother when they said that The other individual is sitting all by himself apart from the bartender. And notice he has, he is in a cast from elbow to palm on his left arm and in a from knee to ankle and foot on his right leg. And he's... with the arm that's in the cast, he seems to be working at something. And as you make your way around to see what it is he's doing, he is cutting another cast off of his right arm. wears, his face is heavily bruised and scarred, and he has ⁓ an scabber on his back, but it's huge. Like you don't know what weapon goes in that, but whatever this guy is packing is significant. Yeah. But he just seems to be ordered. ⁓ just ordering pints as he's kind of sawing this cast off his arm is this kind of cast. Well, I'm thinking that's Orlin because we found all those bandages in his room. But we could test it out. We could shout Orlin, see if he turns around. don't think it'll be Orlin because people are not looking out for him. No, has he got a disguise on? don't know. Does anybody know that he's there? Is he under a different name? Mm-mm. He's tippy-tapping, hold on. Tippy-tappy. Tippy-tappy. You guys carry on discussing. I'll flag you down when you hit something. You're thinking that's not him. I don't know. I mean, I don't know what's happened to him, as in, like, the guy who's in the cast. But the people I'm intrigued by are the women with all the knives and the guy who's got a face full of metal. Yeah. Probably the best one I've talked to is going to be the barman. The barman. The barman. Yeah. Let's go order a drink and listen in. Good point. Plus, it'd be quite fun to have a couple of drinks. Daggers and drums. Steny Payne. What? Are you paying? Steny said you paid. I'm not paying. and not have your own damn drinks. I'm to walk up to the, and I do mean I walk up to the bar, which is like, I don't know, probably just above my head. I'm put my hand up on the bar, the counter, try to get the barman's attention. You could lift his ass a bit. Don't you dare lift me! There you go wee man! So the barman, so the barman is actually a dragonborn female. ⁓ cool. And she kind of comes up ⁓ and just wanders over. She's like. What can I do for you? I'm going to three stronger strings I possibly can to see who can handle it. Yeah, go for it. Give us the three of the strongest strings you've got. I'm hoping it'll kill the bunny. Everyone hates the bunny. Steady Mac wake up three days later. While you're doing that and we're getting our drinks, I'm going to turn to the guy that's trying to saw his cast off and say, you okay there? If you want a hand. And just see what he says. So he's not even kind of like turned your direction. He's like, he's like, no, no, almost there. And he gets it off and you see, and he's just kind of flexing that arm. You can see where there's been several breaks lacerations which have healed over time. This not his first broken limb nor his only. He's like, no thanks. And you see him kind of raise up to the bartender as well. And she already has his next one ready to go, slides it down to him. Downs it, takes the same knife and just begins working at the other I'm thinking I'll introduce myself and say, you want a drink? So he kind of looks over at you, and he's got three sheets to the wind. Right? But you feel like functional three sheets to the wind? Like he kind of looks over at you, looks you up and down, like, yeah, sure. It just starts. I'm in there. It just keeps on working that cast. Okay. So I'll give him his drink, you know, cheers? He does the cheers, throws it back, continues working. I'm gonna say, what's the story here? You must be pretty tough. You must be in a lot of pain right now. kind of looks over you, he looks around the room and like, you ask a lot of questions. I ask a lot of questions when I'm interested. That's fair. He said, no, me, I'm not tough. If I was tough, I wouldn't be in this fucking predicament. He just keeps working at it again. going to say, I mean, if you need help, maybe I can help you. you got some way to get this fucking thing off. I don't really know how you're do mean this seems like a moment for. ⁓ me see. ⁓ your fan. Yeah, I know we're strangers but you want to my fan. ⁓ so so as you open the Ruby show today. ⁓ ⁓ you whip out your fan he just goes. I think I got it. Thanks. Like, like, like he's working with like a butter knife, you know, like he's just like trying to pry it off or anything. Cause he doesn't want to cut himself. Yeah. He just wants to try and get this thing off. So you guys are ordering drinks, right? While all this is happening. Yep. So she says three strongest ⁓ and and she puts up like a sign of like daily specials and one says dragons regret. says giants toast. And it says, but it's spelled T-O-E-S-T. Toast. And then the last one says the Widowmaker. The Widowmaker. Thanks, Dan, a strong drink! Three giant toasts, please. think I'm going to go Dragon's Regret. I'll go the Widowmaker. I'm not drinking anything that's called a toast. All right, so so as so she kind of grabs, you know, ⁓ and bottles and it's just going crazy, what have you pouring all these different drinks and they all come out like like a different shade ⁓ brown. ⁓ of them look look look pleasant. ⁓ One is almost a blackish red ⁓ spirit. ⁓ and it served in a smoking metal cup. Smells of cinnamon, coal smoke, and bad decisions. So whose was the dragon's regret? Obviously Ruby. She slides that to you. And this whole time the guy next to you is just kind of looking at the three of you like, what in the fuck? And then to you she slides a cloudy, ⁓ kind of dirty honey colored ⁓ liquor, which is like, like you see her kind of topping it off from a barrel. It's reinforced with iron bands. And, but like, what she's pouring it into is a mug that's like the size of a soup bowl. So it's a pretty good portion that you're getting here. so she kind of slides that to you. And then lastly, Mack to you, she slides, you know, what looks to be an almost like at first you think your glass is empty. It's small, clear glass. This is an almost invisible liquor in a very, very tiny glass, but it's got ⁓ You know how you would salt a rim? like there's, but looks black. Like it's like a black crystalline rim on the glass. It has no smell. That's always a good sign. Alcohol with no smell is always a good sign. guy next to you just kind of sits back and smiles like looking at you guys. know what he's like? My name's Sonny. And he just kind of introduces himself with his now freed hand. And then he raises the other hand up and just starts banging it on the bar until it... crushes it away and like rips the rest of it away and just kind of gives like a big flex, right? And he's just like, all right. And she slides him again, another one, which looks just like yours. ⁓ This is where Ruby's going to pull out her dagger and go, ⁓ shit, ⁓ could have given you this. Don't about it. ⁓ He throws another one back. I'm already like, I've picked up my one already. Well, this conversation is happening and I'm just downing it as fast as I can. I'm just going and splitting that over my beard and everything else. actually threw my hair as well. I put it down on the table again I don't look happy. Just like. Yeah, so for of you, we had just about enough time to do this. We had dragon's regret. Mm ⁓ OK. So I you make a DC 15 Constitution saving. That's so funny. DC? No, just do regular. This one. Do D20. Oh, this one. are poisoned for one hour and belt harmless smoke whenever you speak For the minute for the next any persuasion check automatically becomes intimidation instead So if you're trying to persuade someone to do something you'll be more intimidating yeah then persuasive Oh, my God. could kill my crushes quite time Could be useful. Could be useful, yeah. It could be useful, yeah. You see the bottle that she was pouring that from. says, not drink near curtains, dry hay, or unresolved romance. Oh, okay. I need you to make a DC 16 consultation saving throw. Oh, my God, I'm in heaven. If I just... Oh, fuck it. I'll this. a const. Hold on. Excuse me. C16, nine, 10, 11, Yeah. So for one hour, no, excuse me. yeah, actually. All right. So for one hour, you count as one size larger. Okay. And you have advantage on strength checks. the first time in my life. Yes. However, ⁓ also suffer disadvantage on intelligence, wisdom and charisma checks. Once again. For the same time. ⁓ I don't get any rules anyway. ⁓ you loudly believe that every plan you make is too small. ⁓ You know, I think we can take over Svendensia place if we really want to. And you guys are reading the mug which was passed to him and it says tavern warning one cup makes you brave two cups makes you furniture. And then finally, ⁓ I need you to make a DC 18 Constitution saving throw. ⁓ my God. Natural's wedding! So you gained advantage on saving throws against fear for one hour. Oh wow. I'm afraid. I'm afraid of nothing. I'm pretty sure Goliaths are immune to that. Like can they be? I don't know. I don't think so. think you can say that. Not anymore. Maybe that's a berserker thing. Yeah, not fear checks if you're raging. and she says, we serve it in small glasses because the big ones became evidence. She just kind of winks at you. I look at the other two here just about rolling about the place where the drinks headlong. I'm not even trying to speak to Sonny anymore. don't care who he is. Yeah, he's actually now sawing at... He's got his butter knife back out and he's sawing at the castle in his life. When that happens and Mac takes the drink, I know he didn't fail, but what Mac's going to do is when he finishes his drink, is he's going to slam the glass down. And as he does so, he's just kind of like slightly kind of stage whisper voice, but slightly just kind of like. you know, slightly so that he has hair kind of across the bar but not too dramatically. He just kind of like flexes muscles a bit and go, oh, that's better. Who around here wants a fight? I knew it. I knew he was going to fight. Do I hear this? Yeah. I guess it was just saying about the whole plan thing. I first think you can fight two guys. ⁓ kind of looks over at you and looks at the party and smiles. ⁓ ⁓ got like a sweet leaf rolled cigarette that's unlit. He's just kind of holding it and he shakes his head. you lot have the look of people who make terrible decisions for noble reasons. That's my favorite kind of stupid. ⁓ We're dumb-intelligent. ⁓ Roll for try persuading the... Who's... I'm not gonna ask him, ⁓ but one of you guys want to ask Sonny if he knows Arlen? Maybe try and get some information about what he looks like, how we can find him. I'll just intimidate him because I'm so scaredy. Well technically you're trying to persuade so just use your intimidation stat. Yeah, just go for it. Yeah, my drink... ⁓ intimidate him. Intimidate him. Can I do that? You can try. Well, if you try, yeah, so if you try to use persuasion you're using your intimidation instead. Okay, so the more persuasive I am... The more intimidating I am. You're coming across as intimidating but that might be enough to scare him into telling you what you want to know. The guy who's currently sawing cats off of his arms and legs. Okay, I'll try it. Hey good looking. I really like you. You are such a nice charming handsome guy. Do you by any chance know Orland Three-Tongue? kind of looks past her to the two of you and he's like, is she blind or what? or just a little bit. She's fucking... What, a rabbit? She's rabbit. I thought so. He kind of looks back to you and he's like... He's like, don't know any Orlin Three-Tongue. And when he says the name that loud, lot of people kind of clop now. they know that you're at least talking about. ⁓ shit. That's alright. I think we ask everybody if they know Orland Treetongue. I'm bold. I'm like my filter is gone. The bartender says, yeah, I Orland. Lives upstairs. I've seen you quite often. I'm quite impressed. I'm quite impressed with myself. mean, ⁓ a tavern underneath the guy's house. Yeah, that's right. He's probably going to be there quite a bit. ⁓ you seen him recently? ⁓ two days ago. ⁓ really need to talk to him. Where can we find him? I don't know. I'm not his mother. Damn it! I don't know how to be intimidating. work for me. You generally get the impression that she doesn't know. She's not black. With Steny shouting about Orlan and Sunny shouting about Orlan as well, any of the, like, who is picking up on that? the groups that we kind of saw earlier, like the woman in the blue and the metal face guy, they looking over this way at all? Yeah, I mean, ⁓ like Not only just that you guys, they've they've clocked. They've not only noticed you, but they've noticed people noticing you. You know what? Everybody's just kind of looking around the room at this point, like, what the fuck is going on? Ruby's just like, we know who they are. We know who they are. But then they're going to look at you like, who are they? Yeah. We've already made an absolute mess of this. I'm just going to get up on the bar table. just going to check. I had such a good idea in my head that would have used you, but I do not think it's going to work if you're drunk. I'm wasted. I'm just going to get on the table. I'm just going to go, Arlen! Arlen! Arlen, come here! I want to help you. It's supposed to be covert, huh? He says rolling about the floor. Sonny kind of reaches up and pulls you back down. He's like, he's like, listen, I don't really fucking know who you are. But I've been drinking here for about the last four or five hours trying to get up what I need to to get ready. Get these things off. But you're kind of giving me a headache here. We're all fucking screaming and shouting. What is it that you're looking for? Look, I'm going to be straight with you. We need to find Orland three times. yeah, yeah. Orland three times. I fucking got that along with everybody else in the book. So like Mark has just had enough of like, sorry, sorry. Don't mean to like you just to say. Take it. He's like burp smoke in your face. Just take it. Just it. We're looking for this guy Arlen. There's obviously a lot of people. Should we mention the Gilded Mask? No. No. We've got reason to... I don't know if I can trust this son. Well, no, he's not... I don't think he's one of the people. I like him. Do you know what? I'm going to take it We've got reason to believe he might be at a fight club later tonight. Do you know where there's fight club around here? I wouldn't be so blunt, like these two are really... ...fucking up for me. they're your sanctioned fights, which happen just about everywhere, including here, but not tonight. I'm not looking for anything sanctioned. looking for... I've there before. I'm looking for, ⁓ know... looking the one where, you know, coin gets exchanged and, you know... If you get injured, you get injured. I don't know how you happen to get hurt, but I've seen some of those injuries before. Wouldn't surprise me. I get tired of being the punch line, but I've learned to swing anyway. You got a name for this hypothetical situation. I have the leaflet. So I'm just going to take it and then just hypothetically, if I was looking for Iron Pan, what was it called again? Oh, it's on the leaflet. It's on the leaflet, sure. Yeah, I show him the leaflet. Hypothetically, if I was looking for a place like this, where would I hypothetically look? He kind of looks around, looks over his shoulder and he said, I don't know, but I need to find out. And he kind of points over at the two guys, knocks his two guys talking with the monk looking guy. And at that point you, you, you watch as the big bruiser guy with the wired jaw and the woman walk up and walk over to them as well. And they seem to be having kind of a heated confrontation about something they take it outside. they began walking out into, when you came through, there's kind of a closed way ⁓ which enters a very small stables area. ⁓ which is typical of the building patterns here where like they have kind of an inner courtyard almost. which you ⁓ get the feeling probably has held its own sanctioned or unsanctioned ⁓ bouts at one point or another. but these guys have clearly taken it outside. ⁓ Okay. Can we follow them? We're going to follow them. Hold my hand, Steny, Yeah, as you guys get up and start to follow the other ones outside, he kind of finishes up his drink. Hell yeah. Kind of stands up, rears back and kicks the shit out of the bar itself. And the other plaster cast just kind of smashes. ⁓ And ⁓ you watch as he grabs ⁓ one of the bar stools. and picks it up and the bartenders kind of looking at him, like, ⁓ Sonny, not again. And he just breaks the barstool over the ground, picks up one of the legs off the barstool, puts it in that massive scabbard on the back. Right? And then picks up one of the other legs and kind of cleans it off, tearing splinters off of one next. And he was like, he's like, Wait for me. He just kind of follows you out. He kind of throws it over one shoulder and follows you out the door. I like Sunny. I like him. He's fun.