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! As you're nearing closer to the the point indicated ⁓ on map, you realize that it is in the kind of central market area ⁓ of of cracks. Very, very different from ⁓ the market area of the city, which you've been to before. ⁓ this one as the light fades and begins to ⁓ peel behind these large crooked buildings. The night market begins almost without announcement. one moment the streets are ordinary slum streets, damp cobbles, shuttered windows, suspicious dogs. And then as the sun dies behind the smog, the lanterns are lit, ropes are pulled, and curtains drop from balconies, carts unfold into stalls, hidden doors open, music starts from somewhere unseen, and then everywhere at once. The night market sprawls through several streets, but never quite in the same shape twice. locals you hear say that it moves to avoid the courts. Others say the streets themselves rearrange to protect it. either way, maps are useless here after sundown. So you have a general idea of where ⁓ to this location, but not a precise one. ⁓ Do have time to do some shopping? Seems interesting. Not got a whole lot of time. I'd say you probably have about an hour left. Maybe less. Quite like a CD little market. You get some interesting stuff. There are a lot of food vendors, ⁓ but it's not the same kind of thing that you saw in the other market. ⁓ okay. ⁓ so as well as the entertainers that you're used to seeing. Yeah, the footlights, you know, who are more stage performers and things like that. This is more jugglers tossing knives or bottles or burning clubs and or occasionally live rats. ⁓ fire eaters stand on crates and swallow flames to roaring applause. Their eyes live rats. ⁓ Their eyes briefly glowing with something that may or may not be part of the act. A troop of masked acrobats swing between balconies on ribbons of red silk, snatching coins from the air with their toes. A one eyed dwarf plays three concertinas at once while a mechanical monkey collects in a dented helmet. A kinku mimics repeat private arguments in the voices of passers by. Drawing laughter, outrage, and sometimes immediate violence. They're puppet shows. They're supposedly for children, but they're absolutely not for children. They're fortune tellers with real teeth hanging from their veils. They're living statues who only move when no one's looking directly at them. And there are singers whose song makes people weep for lives they do not remember having lived. Do you want to see if can make some money? Will I get my little flute out and do a little performance? ⁓ hell yeah, let's do that. Yeah, let's do that. Because I've got plus eight performance. It's gonna be good. Alright, so you wanna try and try and just do a little busking here? Well while while Ruby is doing that, can we well at least me, I don't know what you wanna do, Mac, but ⁓ I'm gonna try and find out where exactly this location is. You're so that like the maps don't make sense anymore. So while Ruby is doing her performance, start talking to people to find out where exactly we need to go. Okay. All right, so you make an investigation roll and you roll performance. Mac, do you wanna do anything? No, I not thrilled at the idea of Ruby performing in a place like this. Like sound. It's a hell yeah five plus eight. Okay. So thirteen total. Mm-hmm. ⁓ yeah. So you take out your bone flute and what you noti I mean the what kind of melody are are you playing? kinda melancholic give me your money kinda melody. Give me your money. All right. ⁓ because that is your intent. ⁓ I want you to roll it again with ad so you roll with with advantage. Seventeen. Okay. ⁓ so this flute as you begin to play it, it has a resonance to it that almost rattles your ribcage. Like it's got that weird, almost gargling quality to it. That it's so it's so low and somber ⁓ when you play it that that it almost instantly draws you to another place in time, whatever your saddest moment is. You you personally, even as you're beginning playing Have ⁓ flashbacks to the time that you spent with ⁓ Seraphine. ⁓ and you notice some of the people around you begin to ⁓ stop and look wistfully off into the distance. And as you finish playing, several of the patrons do drop ⁓ coinage into onto the street in front of you. ⁓ and so you ⁓ You make nine gold. Nine gold. Nice. Here you go, Stan. Thanks. My wallet. Pay me back. My wallet. I don't know how I ended up drawing this gold. Okay. ⁓ Stanley, what did you draw? Seven. Seven. investigation. You you don't see any any obvious entrance, you know, but to be honest, you wouldn't expect to see ⁓ you know Underground fight pit this way, you know. what you do notice is that there is no real pattern to how these carts and things are set up. So there's no kind of ⁓ clear passageway between them. ⁓ no no system or structure there. ⁓ but you do notice that there is ⁓ one stone structure amidst the amidst the rest. ⁓ and it it looks to be almost like an old guard house or something like that. ⁓ but as you as you approach closer you realize that it is like like public toilets. I'll be right back. Then he's like something smells good. looking around, you know, in you know, before you found that, ⁓ you You did see lots of different kinds of of of stalls. ⁓ Matt, roller perception as well. but Stanny you saw six. Six. Okay. So Stanny, you you see these different carts and things ⁓ you know, selling everything that a desperate soul might need. False papers, cheap knives, expensive knives, bottles marked luck. names in envelopes, map fragments, stolen opera tickets, ⁓ you know, people selling things out of their coats as much as they are carts, secondhand wedding rings, automaton fingers, religious relics of extremely doubtful origin, used court robes with blood mostly washed out, and cosmetics to strengthen the geese for an hour, things like that. black market charms to weaken someone else's. You said you got a six on on ⁓ perception? Yeah. ⁓ I see watching her each performance. All right. How much gold did you have when you entered? Why not? Actually. I wrote it down at some point. Well you're our wallet. You should know. No, I'm not you're not your wallet. No. No. He has all my money. I keep giving it to him until he after it. ⁓ I'm trying to rent this. It wasn't a lot, not that much. No, Max that or no wait it gives me d well, I've written down here five. You were given twenty f well, yeah, you had five on you, the party has twenty-five. ⁓ has more than that. That's like a hundred. Yeah, because we put all the money together. So I would have had five of my own goals. Alright. Had seven seconds. Yeah. Yeah, I've got seventeen mine left, so yeah, I said. You see a burned out wagon and you see what looks to be the remains of a very tattered and very destroyed tavern or inn. And you see this figure step in and he's much larger than he was before. He's standing now fully upright and he steps in with this deep red robe. and removes it and you're staring at yourself. You now only have four. ⁓ yeah, so you feel like you got about maybe fifteen minutes before this whole thing is meant to kick off and you don't have any indication as to where it might be. And so like obviously these places like attract people who go for fights and stuff, but they also attract crowds of people or people who want to go watch. Does this seem like It's not quite like yourself. It's kind of a stubbled beard, a long draping scar over one eye. And you watch as he steps one step, two steps forward and delivers a thunder clap. I don't know that there's maybe one area that's people seem to be heading into more, like as opposed to the time. Where's Sunny? Last time you saw Sonny he was heading back into the tavern to fix his broken arm. And you did not go in after him. I thought he would want to come to this place with us. Never know. Yeah. Never know. So I was ⁓ fourteen. Fourteen. ⁓ the only thing with that you see the most people gathered around are the toilets in the center of the marketplace. You should see in the fucking awesome the great toilets. Let me rule perception. I'm gonna have a eighteen plus four, twenty two. You you also see a large crowd of men and women going into the toilets. You don't, however, see a lot of people coming out. Piss fight. You're not allowed you're not allowed on you no. You're not allowed near that no no not on that website anymore. I I don't block the toilet. You need to go to the toilet. Okay. Let's get toilet. Yeah, let's go to the toilet. Alright, so you guys head into the toilets Together. There is, you know, the ⁓ ye old piss trough, which lines one of the walls. ⁓ currently unoccupied. you do get the sharp chemical smell of a urinal mint ⁓ mixed with the expected smell of urine. ⁓ The the this place is like it hasn't been cleaned in ages. the floors are slick and it's almost hard to kind of keep your footing. There are three stalls. The first one, ⁓ as you look in and these are kind of drop privies, right? So it's basically a wooden structure, ⁓ with a hole in it. And so the first one looks like it's been kicked and caved in ⁓ and used anyway. the second one looks to be equally as disgusting but operational. ⁓ and ⁓ someone walks out of it kind of as you guys are are are walking in and he's he's kind of ⁓ doing up his trousers as Ruby walks in first and he says, Pardon me. And just kind of shifts past all three of it. Maybe we'd not say that. No, but he says it to you. No, he says it to you. ⁓ okay. No, I know better. and the last stall ⁓ is currently occupied. You see two large feet underneath the stall door. Interesting. Do we see anything else? Nope. Damn. You're on a knock. Yeah I'll not. Alright, so you knock on the stall door? Alright, you knock on the stall door and you say go away. Hmm? Do you need any help in there? No, no, go away. Seriously, you've been in there a while. response. Kick the door in mark. ⁓ Come on back Dan do it. Let's see what happens. No do you want me to kick a dame? Do we not do we're not gonna give the guy the coin? Is that not what we're supposed to? Come on, please I ⁓ I almost wanna I just w wanna get you to kick down the door. But okay. Yeah, is there anywhere clearly that I can someone's gonna say it mac here. Is there anywhere clearly that I can I can put the coin? I mean there's no slot. you just see the guy's feet down below. Well can I just like s like hold the d the coin underneath the the thing? Okay. Yeah. ⁓ so So you hold a coin underneath ⁓ where you think the guy can see it. Yeah. ⁓ and you hear the latch open. What the hook and as the door opens inward ⁓ you see that the shoes are not being worn. The shoes look appear to be bolted to the floor and there's no toilet. There's just a small door there and you see the doorman on the other side fully clothed and you see like a like a short tunnel way and then ⁓ a set of stairs descending down. DNE is a very silly game. It is. And your DM is a very silly person. This is why we don't just kick every door we see. Yeah. Alright. It would have worked, but ⁓ so I'm I'm like super aggressive myself as well. I like I'm just kinda like I can look around the other two and just like ⁓ So the guy kind of stands back against the wall and is just like just like ⁓ come on in, you almost missed it. You almost missed it. You know, he's kind of ushering you guys in. Welcome, welcome, welcome. Glad to see you. Glad to see you. ⁓ so you guys head in down the stairs. ⁓ and where you enter, ⁓ you if you can see on the map here, let me just check what I can see from the camera. All right. From where you guys enter, ⁓ you enter in through this main stairwell here onto what looks to be a a large platform area. There is a small table that you see people clambering around ⁓ There's a chalkboard behind him, there are people making bets, there's all this kind of stuff happening. ⁓ you know, what you would normally see pre fight Mac. This is not anything new to you. You are all once again in the ⁓ aqueduct slash sewer system beneath Valencia. ⁓ seems to be your ⁓ your home. So you know you know very well what depth level you are at and what to expect ⁓ here. The walls and you know everything are are very similar from the other areas of the city that you've seen. ⁓ Umjmac and I feel like specific. So so there are ⁓ there's a set of stairs or or two sets of stairs which descend below before met by a large iron gate leading through to ⁓ what you would assume is going to be the ⁓ the fighting pit. ⁓ Around the exterior walls at the level which you arrived in, there is a large crowd of people. To the left, you see lay people generally. A a huge crowd kind of clamoring for ⁓ position to be able to look over into the pit itself. ⁓ and you see people from all walks of life, and they're may you know, small bets are being made here and there, ⁓ drinks being had, people are having a good time, over to the ⁓ the wall to the north, you see another stairwell, a smaller stairwell, ⁓ which is entered in, and you see a guard posted up there. ⁓ and Roll this wouldn't be perception, this would have been in history, perhaps. Whoever wants to roll that. I should be I think ⁓ I've got I'm really good at the old history, I think. Yeah, I've got plus three in my history. Twelve for me. Nineteen. Well, doesn't make a matter of that. It's twenty fucking two for me. I mean I mean all of you would would pretty much clock this that you've you've seen some of these guard individuals before. ⁓ these are shadow doves. So so so these are the assassin courtesans of the Umbral Consulate. Consulate Shadow Doves. Who you also know have domain over this part of town. Yeah. So the cracks are kind of the the surrounding area to where you would find the main ⁓ umbral consulate building. ⁓ so you would feel like a lot of the people in this area would would kind of fall underneath their you know, not necessarily control but protection as well. and so you see a couple of these guys posted around. ⁓ you actually notice that there are two more ⁓ kind of up in the corners on the wall that you entered into ⁓ with bows, not drawn but readied. directly across you see the wall is is as tall as the original entryway and there looks to be a a kind of stone bridge over the ⁓ ever-trickling flow of sewage which ⁓ is coming down from the cistern above. ⁓ and you see two individuals there. one you recognize immediately as the gatekeeper from earlier. ⁓ and immediately next to him you see a very beautiful, very well-dressed, dark-skinned elven woman ⁓ who's wearing a almost a ball gown, long silken gloves, and ⁓ very expensive jewelry. and as well as many of the people on the north side of that wall, ⁓ th they are not your common rabble. Okay. They are all dressed ⁓ to the nines. And you get the feeling that wherever that small stairwell leads is a lot nicer than the entrance that you took. but there are also bets being made in that crowd of people as well. roll I need one of you to roll perception. Whoever I've got a plus four perception. I have plus eight. That's you. All right. Fourteen plus eight, twenty two. All right. ⁓ Ruby, you clocked that ⁓ one of the individuals that you see earlier in the in the in the courts is there. ⁓ you see a kind of stocky, stocky but strong ⁓ dwarven gentleman. ⁓ And ⁓ you know that this is Knox, the coin eater. ⁓ Also fucking great name. Kind of sat there. ⁓ you know, he's got like a couple of his boys around him and he's got a plate of food setting up. ⁓ We don't like him though, do we? We got bad vibes. We got bad vibes. I get bad vibes from you when we're still kind of hanging out with you. You see another individual that you notice as well. Okay. As kind of part of his posse sitting maybe a couple of seats behind him, not really paying attention to what's going on. He's not looking like he's had the best day. but you see Malk. ⁓ yeah. Woohoo. Saudi Malk. And now I'm gonna go perception for Malk. ⁓ He does not seem to see any of you. Okay. Or hasn't really looked up. Can we have a look at that leaflet? It is much more crowded, by the way, than the you know, the ⁓ the minifigures there are just to represent the area of the crowd. There's, you know, a lot more people than that. The busy busy. Yeah. Can we have a look at the leaflet with the description of Arlan on it? Yeah. Mm-hmm. ⁓ okay. So so both the Both of the leaflets that that you found, they're not really leaflets, they're they're ⁓ they're they're handwritten descriptions of Orlean, which you got off of two different party individuals. One ⁓ which you would assume to be connected to the Umbral Court, or the or excuse me, the the Umbral Consulate. ⁓ and then ⁓ one was to the other group of fighters, I believe the ⁓ Vexa, who had all the blades. I think she was holding the other description. But they both match, both written by the same hand. and the the description that you get, it just says Bard. it says that he is ⁓ human and he is about six foot tall and brandishes swords. ⁓ This is long blonde hair. Long blonde hair. Okay. ⁓ I have two questions. How did Orange Cochrane guy get in without a token? And do I see anyone there with long blonde hair? First of all, I can't believe you remembered that that was Orange Cochrane Guy. Like Of course I did. Like how did you remember that? I just remembered cochrings. And then that was as much as I remembered. I remember Malk was the little orange guy. The curtains matched the carpet. ⁓ Jesus. Yeah. All right. so no, you do not see ⁓ anyone of that descript ⁓ in the in the crowd or or anywhere else. You do notice as you're kind of walking around this this perimeter that there is another entrance to the room which you didn't notice before because you walked in over the top of it. Is that down down the dual staircase there you see ⁓ kind of underneath the area where where you entered, there's another large double door and you would a s and you would assume that that's where the fighters enter from. Can we find is there any way for us to find out who's on the fight card? Okay, so the little fight the literal fight card itself is up behind that desk. You saw coming in, it's just written in chalk, people making bets and what have you. So ⁓ if you want to investigate that, you don't have to roll anything for it. I I mean they're written there plainly to see. The names which you see written there. R. Purple cochrane, yellow cochrane, green cochrane. ⁓ UC ⁓ it says the name Iron Shoulder. I ⁓ cool name. And you see the name Varic V-A-R-R-I-K. He powered from Dragon Age. He's of Dragon Age for a week. ⁓ Griba G-R-I-B-B-A. B-A. Okay. Don't wanna get the fictional character's name wrong. Mm-mm. ⁓ Ketch, K-E-T-C-H. And three tongue. Hell yeah. That was like, yeah. ⁓ shit. So he is he he he is a known fighter. Yeah. ⁓ there's also an empty slot. ⁓ Yeah. So I'm just looking at I'm looking at the board. And the whole thing. And I'm like, yeah, so I looked at the board and it and I thought I kinda called over to the other two. I'm like, Hey folks, I think we found the man we're looking for and I'd point up at Tree Tongue's name. I think Mac, this is your moment. You're arrested. You got your hit points back. You just see what the blood starts. Start starts seeping through. Out of his ears, just blood just starts coming out. I'm I'm ready to go. Punch drunk and a blank slate. Yeah, that's it. Can I talk to the person taking bets? Yeah. Yeah. ⁓ so ⁓ Like what Brooklyn accents. They all got fucking jerky boy brooking accents. Got a question, how much money's been putting on your man there? Three tongue. ⁓ three tongue is a heavy bet today. looks like it's like twenty to one. It's not bad. Fights are determined by ⁓ whoever's got the token and we're just missing one guy. ⁓ ha hadn' had hadn't turned up yet. I pull out this I pull out the pennies going. ⁓ well then I guess yeah. Well then I'm well then I'm your guy. Or he's your guy at a point the Mac. Mac's not looking at me, so he just has no idea what's happening. Alright, so he walks over, grabs the chalk, he's like, ⁓ name. I was gonna go like Mac Piss pass. ⁓ Mac Piss pas Mac Piss missed. ⁓ piss missed. My my mistake. My mistake. ⁓ And he just kind of shouts above him, he's We have a no contender. And everybody starts waving money at him and just kind of pushes you out of the way back like floating out of the crowd. Hey Mac. Fair to me. I need your help with something. Mike's not seeing any of this. How are you feeling in the old fighting department? Me fighting? Yeah, you fighting. Specifically. I I just point at the board. I just look at it Well I couldn't lose our real name. Sure no for Mac could be anything. It'd be McDonald's to give him pills. Mac cheese, who knows? Dust Mac. Peace list, perfect. You just flash back to Onyx talking about using ⁓ aliases and stuff. Onyx told us they were gonna use an alias, so we're gonna use an alias. You just know there's gonna be a record of this somewhere. You are a business. I'm just mad at the f thought I'm gonna get a turn in from Onyx about this. I can do you know who I'm fighting? Who cares? Just like listen, our bite three bite and three tongues. ⁓ just our bike three tongues up there and I think you maybe this might be the only way we're gonna meet him. Fine. Jesus, that was quick. ⁓ fine. The norm nobody's doing. Yeah. I mean to be fair, Max, like any settings that actually this you know what, that's not the worst. Yeah, you know what? That's a great idea. So then this is the this is a good idea. I respect this idea. Thank you. And then it was out of you or the rabbit. And I didn't want the sticker on them. All right. So ⁓ you guys watch as ⁓ the gentleman behind the desk ⁓ takes out ⁓ kind of bits of scraps of paper and just writes the names on them ⁓ and then puts them into a bag. and he begins drawing names from the bag. ⁓ Mac, I need you to roll for me a D six. Three. Three. Yeah, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang. Bang over there. Yeah, it's good. You're welcome. Why should we go up against Iron Shoulder and get knocked up? Why does he call Iron Shoulder? You've got one enormous metal shoulder. See how good you are. It's been a few years. A few years. It's fine. Fine. Hey, listen, if all goes wrong, send the rabbit. What am I gonna do? Fucking shout at him, I guess, like you did before. Listen, hear you! Punky go go. Punky go-go, you punky go go. She's gonna pest insults. I'll loot them. Yeah. Yeah, you know you're a bird, right? Alright. ⁓ yeah. She's a bird. She's a bird. She's a bird. She's a bird. I'm a bird. She's a bird. She's a bird. She's a bird. Alright. ⁓ so you see him start stacking up names. ⁓ and so The very first ⁓ name that he puts on the board is Griba. Uh-huh. And in the ⁓ bracket with Griba ⁓ he writes Pismist. Woo! Pismist Let's go, kid. ⁓ In the second bracket he rides Iron Shoulder and Three Tom. ⁓ you gotta leave win at least one fight. Six. And then leaves Barak and the Kinku in the third in the third round. Mm-hmm. All right. ⁓ so as he's doing this, ⁓ he says the fights will begin in fifteen minutes. You want to drink that? Nah, I need to un you know. Yeah, ⁓ he does another little goblin guy comes out and and ushers you, just kinda grabs you by the hand and begins like pulling you. Sure. Right? ⁓ s so he he he takes you down the stairs and you are in ⁓ it's just it's just another area of the sewer. ⁓ but but you see they're kinda little little crates and stuff set up little stations for all the fighters ⁓ down there. ⁓ and you see, you know, ⁓ you see a very large bug bear ⁓ which seems to be sharpening an axe. And he has like like a huge ⁓ pauldron on one shoulder. So he's completely armored ⁓ down his right arm all the way to the fingertip. you see a a dwarven gentleman with like like first you think he's really, really dirty, which he is, ⁓ but he is a Drugar, so so so he's a a a dark dwarf. ⁓ And ⁓ he's just kind of sitting there sharpening knives and just looking out at everybody, but he's but he's just kind of l chuckling to himself. ⁓ you wanna fight that one. ⁓ and then you see a ⁓ a goblin individual who is much smaller than everybody else that that that's in there. and he's ⁓ He's wearing kind of a ⁓ almost like a like a leather ⁓ soldier's greaves with and he's got what should be a one handed mace, but he's wielding it with two hands. ⁓ and he's just kind of like ⁓ shadow turning this this the this mace over in the corner kind of psyching himself up. ⁓ cute. and you see ⁓ a that is a predator ⁓ you see a a bird like individual, a kinku, ⁓ who is off in kind of one side of the corner and he's wearing very, very similar robes to the individuals that you encountered earlier. And so he has some obsidian blades which he is ⁓ seems to be polishing or caring for or perhaps applying something to, you're not sure. Cool. ⁓ the little goblin guy that grabbed me, is he still there? ⁓ yeah. I as we're kind of going down and he's dragging me down, I will ask him just like, what are the rules here? And he kinda laughs. ⁓ That matter fact that's all he does. That's right. That's exactly what he's doing that was. He's kinda laughs. He's like he's like, rules. That's a good one. Just kinda walks off. ⁓ and and and and leaves you standing in the in the middle of this room. Grunt. Cool. That's what one thing. I assume that the two of us are set upstairs with everybody else. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. You do notice that there are other, you know, kind of individuals down there with them ⁓ as kind of their their their corner guy or or whatever, you know, kind of helping them prep. Yeah. Not in my corner or up getting drunk or putting bets on or up to shenanigans. Yeah. Cool. Alright, so anything you guys wanna do in this last moments of preparation here? So I think I'm just gonna put my cloak to one side and as kind of preparation for what's gonna happen, I'm gonna cast mage armor on myself just now. Okay. Alright. Can I put gold on Mac? Yeah. Fuck yeah. Can I put some on for me too? Yeah, yeah. Well I no, you're not getting any of this. I know I've got my coins. The party has the other coins. I'm just organise your money 'cause you're bad with it. I don't count it, I just give it to you to look after for me. I know, it's I wanna put fifteen gold on Mac. Alright. Yeah. Yeah, so so he's got ⁓ just j just a simple two to one because he's on no. Hell yeah. Fifteen gold on Mac. And 'cause and 'cause I'm not an idiot, I'm gonna put two coins on Orland. Okay. Orland is He's like twenty to one with that. Or no, that doesn't make any sense. No, one and twenty like the other way around. Yeah, the other way around. One of twenty. One of twenty. She's gonna get like five silver back or something. Yeah, I don't give a fuck. I'm I'm just like it's something that doesn't get kicks the shit out of you. Okay. It's called hitching your pets. ⁓ before Ruby goes, she's cushious a bar, she's gonna say to ⁓ Mac, you got this. You can do this. ⁓ sorry, sorry, I I I didn't give you the other description. ⁓ in the far corner you do see Orin. You see a tall, blonde gentleman, definitely a fighter, definitely looks like someone that that you would expect to see here. specifically you would know that you know that there are many different barred colleges. and in your past you will have encountered these as well. Usu usually the ones which you see ⁓ in the fighting arena, they are College of Swords. Fucked up my ⁓ motivational speech there, but it was just getting you sorry he's already downstairs though. You can go down there. ⁓ I'm gonna go hang out with the fighters for a while. Alright, so you're down there with the Mac? Yeah. Alright. Sorry, I d I I didn't mean to interrupt you. Go ahead. ⁓ you go. That's it. You are the worst bad that we've ever had. Yeah. I'm yeah, I'm upstairs with Hobbk. Are you trying to give him inspiration here? Yeah. Okay. ⁓ so I can't remember how Bardeking's inspiration works. So I think it's for a roll like I said on like a D6. Yeah, yeah, I think you get a D six at any point that you can add to a roll. I think you have to do it before you make the roll or or say not all. Let me use let me so little off so little off so little often. So little do we get Bardic inspiration in this campaign that I didn't know how it's I just thought I had to say nice things. Well yeah. I mean well but you basically choose a stat and you can give ⁓ an extra t like extra split. I remember your kind words and I'm like, I do got this. And then I have I do got this. When you were like, I'm gonna put gold on that, I don't know why, I just thought you were like putting a gold button in my face. I take my wrong. And he's like, I put gold on that. I'll tell you that too, is my bardic inspiration. I'm gonna put money on you, Mac. That that means a lot, too. It does. Ruby does not part with money easily. This is just for random fucking flutes apparently. That flu already made us nine gold pieces. ⁓ unit? It lost me a it lost me a gold piece. ⁓ yeah, I can lose me a gold piece. ⁓ yeah. ⁓ right. And I've made a short rest, so that's gone back and killed perfect. ⁓ yeah. Ten minutes. I don't do these fight stick really thing. Okay, so you can do it as hard as a bonus action. Yeah. ⁓ you give a creature within sixty feet, a special die, so D6. ⁓ when that creature fails an attack, ability check, or saving throw, they can add the dies roll to their total to potentially turn failure into a success. So I I can find out if I fail. Nice. Yeah. Give him give him the speed, give him give him a little pat in the butt. Go get him, champ. I was about to say. It's like, yeah, yeah. You got this. Alright. So anything else we want to do here? You wanna go speak to Orlan? ⁓ we won't need to go speak to I've got like the headphones and listening to like ⁓ and ⁓ eight I've got this little school bag in here, a mic over and just go Ooh, lost something Alright. Okay. So roll perception for me, please. Me? Hell yeah. Fucking love perception, it's my favorite one. I was gonna say I don't think I have any ⁓ do it, do it, do do it, do it. Yeah, eighteen. Alright, so so you manage to make your bets and you got your tickets and everything, you're just looking around the place, and then you lock eyes with mouth. ⁓ And he's staring fucking daggers at me. I smile and I've still got like charcoal, a little charcoal around my teeth. I mean, you watch him actually start to get up and you and you see Some of coin eaters guys kinda kinda stop him and like put him back down in his chair and he's and he's and he's fighting to get away with him and he's fucking yelling at them and being pissed off. The entire time I'm just staring straight at him. Alright. Mask is glinting in the fucking darkness. All right. ⁓ so the little goblin comes back and asks everybody who is not a fighter to leave. ⁓ so Sedney and Ruby, where do you want to be for the start of this? Yeah. So which side is so this when are they fighting? In the middle. In the middle. ⁓ I kinda wanna just be over like in the middle of the crowd. Like between sort of the the red and green kind of area. Like so right in the middle so I can see them. But like with the people. I'm gonna go beside the rich people because I might steal some stuff there. That's actually quite clever. Yeah. Right. Cock green. And again, he's just fucking staring daggers at you. ⁓ 'cause ⁓ it was it was his brother that you killed, right? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, he's not fucking happy. Yeah, took his head off, yeah. I was to be fair, I didn't expect to. I thought I'd just knock him out or his magic as ⁓ nibs we killed. Yeah yeah nibs. Nibbs was his brother's name. Yeah. Yeah. And your memory's stunning. Ruby, where do you want to be? ⁓ I'm gonna go up beside the beautiful lady in the gatekeeper guide. You can't get there. ⁓ It's a completely separate area. I'm a VIP. ⁓ a VIP. A very imperfect. I am gonna put my little invisibility cloak on. I'm gonna go up behind Malk then. Okay, so outside of combat that lasts ten minutes. Make it last longer. I'm the Jew to sell bunny. I can go all night. Yeah, but your cloak can't. ⁓ okay, I'll I'll just I'll just hide behind Malp for ten minutes then. Make sure he doesn't hurt Stanny. Yeah, roll ⁓ roll ⁓ Hmm. Yeah, roll stealth for me to see if can get over there without any of his guys noticing ya. Or more importantly, past the guard who seems to be blocking that area from the general public, yeah. ⁓ okay. ⁓ D twenty? Yep. One of the shadow doves. Three plus three is six. Yeah, you get to the shadow dove there and he and he blocks you. Shake the world when I tell. So yeah, you get there and he locks you. Yep. It's annoying. All right. So do you wanna go somewhere else or do you want to just kind of stand on that side? Well I suppose I'll come over beside Stan then. You move over to the third. Yeah. Are you still you do you set up your cloak up or are you gonna take it back down? Like what are you gonna do with it? ⁓ well they can't see me for ten minutes, so I'll come over beside you. And then you wouldn't be where I am right now. Do I know where you are? Are you gonna tell me that you're there? ⁓ fuck, you know. No, I'm spooking you. Are you still wearing a cloak? Did you Okay, so you did put it on. All right, so so ten minutes. Beatrix Potter over here. Harry Potter. So about ten minutes goes by. So randomly ⁓ Ruby pops up next to you wearing a beautifully made red cloak. but yeah, it just kind of appears appears next to you. Yes. ⁓ So ⁓ Shake your pockets, Dan. ⁓ So you guys watch as ⁓ as the ⁓ the woman that you saw earlier ⁓ stands up and the rabble it almost immediately dies down as she turns to face the crowd. and you you you overhear people talking about them as well ⁓ as if they are a couple. and ⁓ though looking at their their actions and behavior, he ⁓ like ⁓ the gatekeeper seems more like a manservant to her. He's punishing. and but but the name that you do hear ⁓ that you overhear is Melina. Melina. So Melina stands above ⁓ the rest below like a queen, pretending not to own a throne. She is a highborn elf with deep umber skin, silver threaded braids pinned in an elegant crown, eyes sharp enough to make armed men look at the floor. Her clothes are expensive but practical. Dark velvet cut close to the body, gold cuffs at the wrist, and a long coat. She does not shout. She does not need to. When she speaks, the pit quiets by instinct. Beside her waits the gatekeeper, still as carved stone, his bruised knuckles folded inside his sleeves. Everyone knows he is her hand. Everyone knows crossing him means answering to her. Ladies, lords, gutter rats, gamblers, liars, and thieves. And there's a large uproar and people acknowledging themselves. Yeah, exactly. And whatever else managed to crawl beneath my market tonight. Welcome to the Rust Below. Up there they sell silk, spices, holy charms, and pretty little lies. Down here We deal in honest things Blood, bone, coin, and pride. And she looks over at the fighters who ⁓ all of which have now made their way into this sort of area, which I'm not gonna sack everybody up right now, but I'll put them back there. you are fighting Yeah, new dwarf. Not the dwarf, the goblin. So you kind of walk out of the gate. Vicious creature. And then you look down to your left, and Gribb is just standing there looking up at you like a chihuahua. I'm going to stand on you. ⁓ she says she she she gestures lightly. ⁓ she says, Tonight we have fresh meat. Old grudges and at least three fools who believe they cannot be broken and everyone laughs. I optimism. She gestures lightly towards the gatekeeper. You know the rules. The gatekeeper's word is mine. You fight until yield, fall, Or death. Weapons stay in the pit. Debts are settled before sunrise, and anyone caught fixing a fight without paying me first will be used to mop up the stones. She ⁓ she has a small smile. She says, Place your bets, grab your steel, say a prayer if you think anyone up there is listening. And then with one slow raise of her hand, she says, Begin. And the gate's open.