This is Farewell. A city founded on freedom, growing faster than it can ever manage. Its capital building, a colossal tower stands at the edge, the literal sheer cliff edge of the eastern frontier. To the west of the city lie 3 old crumbling kingdoms where the people of Farewell rebelled from, and to the east forever and beyond to the east, lie the clouds. To step off the boardwalk at the edge of Farewell is to step into the clouds and fall straight down into the wildlands of the crater below.
But where the world ends, it seems some are driven to keep going. The people of Farewell banded together on the idea that there is something better out there and each citizen is eager to find it. With their eyes set on the endless clouds, the revolutionaries that settled here are advancing science and magic in ways the world has never seen. A new invention called the spark engine has made it possible to levitate and maneuver massive airborne ships with grace and speed. Every day since the debut of the spark engine has been a creative race to the starting line, a race to construct a vessel, take to the skies, and explore the mysterious floating islands hidden among the clouds.
And what better day than to start the next grand chapter of history? Today marks the 15th anniversary of the founding of Farewell, an eagerly anticipated celebration called Break. In less than an hour, the Guilds of Farewell will debut their newly constructed flagships in a spectacular send off as they venture into the clouds in a massive ceremony attended by everyone, almost everyone. In the smallest, quaintest start up tavern in all of Farewell, an anxious gnome bartender stands in the middle of her empty bar, staring across the room at a dusty shelf of liquor with a frown. She checks a clock on the wall.
Patrons could start pouring in at any moment. After an event like this, she needs to be ready. She crosses the modest space, stopping to push in a chair and clean a speck of grime from a stylized flower inlay on the wooden table. She reaches to begin clearing and cleaning the shelf, but just as she gets to the first bottle, the front door is thrown open causing the evening sun to spill into the threshold and standing in the doorway, we see Journey.
Journey looks like a tree emerged from the forest. She is mottled brown and green skin with a canopy of hair that captures the greens, reds, and purples of a flowering tree. She wears homespun clothes with found furs and leathers and has patches of moss grown on her shoulders and forearms Journey carries a bow and wears a hand axe on each hip that she uses as tools in her wandering, as well as weapons, should the need arise. She wanders over to a table and sits down.
The bartender kind of wheels around to look at you and you hear, hi, and then a crashing of glass immediately. Damn it.
Oh, no hurry at all. I'm I'm just taking my time. You you do whatever you need to do. I'll I'll take a drink whenever you're ready.
She kind of disappears behind the bar, and she's, like, crouched over to where you can't see her anymore, but you can hear some deep breaths. It's like she's trying to calm herself down.
Is everything okay over there?
Yeah. It's can you, I'll be right there. I'll be right there to help you.
Is there anything I can help you with?
If someone comes in, can you just distract them?
Absolutely.
You, kinda stand up and look around, and you can see, she is rapidly trying to clean up what just happened. She looks very nervous and anxious.
Okay. I'm gonna use mage hand to help kinda sweep her mess up into a pile that she can clean up easier.
She kind of, like, stands as she's seeing you do that and, looks at you and smiles a little bit, and she kinda runs back to the front of the bar to take her post and attend her her store again. She says, yeah. If you could just, finish up there, that'd be great. Thank you.
No problem at all.
Someone's coming. Can you hurry hurry up, please?
Sure thing. Journey thinks this is totally normal to, like, just help out at a store. I don't think I said she's a furballg, so she, has no idea what what the social situation is.
Sure.
She's used to everybody being kind of family, like, in in her, home area. It was just all family units that all helped each other, and so she's not used to being waited on,
Mhmm.
I guess. So she assumed that this is normal for her to help out. Okay. Well, you
know what they say. The slogan, when you're at this bar, you're family. Sure. The name of the bar is this bar.
Why don't you also give me a, insight check against this bartender?
Yeah. 1st roll. I can't read my character sheet. It's a non natural 20.
Okay. You can tell that while you don't really understand the rules of this, it seems neither does the bartender. They're either not used to this or brand new to it.
Journey finishes cleaning up the mess down there and, stands behind the bar for a little bit thinking that maybe she could help more there.
Okay.
And, glances to the bartender and gives a, like, a nod, like, right? Is this right?
She's actually checking her reflection in a mirror, and then she looks over at you really quickly and just gives you a a nod regardless of what you're saying. She's just like, yeah. Sure. Okay. Good. At that moment, the handle on the door starts to turn and is flung open again, and you see a small half wing.
Oh, gosh. Guy, don't slam doors open like that.
It's alright.
You You see a short round chubby faced and cheery halfling. She has freckles and a button nose and big brown doe eyes. She is rarely seen without flour coating her clothes or dusting her nose and wears light breathable cotton or linen dresses in bright happy colors. She also has an apron embroidered with forget me nots. She wears little brown blue glasses and forget me not earrings.
Her wavy auburn hair is short and loose, but she wears a little baker's hat to keep the flyaways from infiltrating her food.
And towering over Poppy, standing right behind her, opening the door, is Guy.
Guy is a huge hulking man in a weathered suit of armor. He sports a green cloak swaddled around his neck and carries a large great sword on his back. He is also quite old, old enough that it looks like he shouldn't be able to carry his armor and weaponry, but he appears to be getting along just fine. You can see the years worn on his face and the top of his head is bald with long silvery thin hair below that.
Journey, you can see the bartender. Her eyes dart between the two people. She's not sure how to attend the largest and smallest persons in all the farewell
at the same time.
She seems to be looking to you for advice.
Hey. What what do you serve around here? I what is this? And Journey picks up a bottle and, like, points at it. What what is this?
She goes, no. That's really expensive. That's for a special guest. Don't use that.
Oh, okay. She puts it back and she picks up one that's, like, higher up on the underneath shelving.
She's like, yeah. We can use that.
Good evening. Oh, Hi. Could I get an, a small ale, please? I'm sure you could. And Journey walks away to a table and sits down. Oh,
whom shall we order from? Is it the tiny one or the tree one?
The tiny one.
Oh, sorry. Could I get an ale?
She immediately disappears. She kind of, like, bounces down from her little step stool behind the bar, and she runs back out to see all of you. The 3 of you near the same table now. She takes a quick bow and then looks back up at you and says, I'm Clara. This is my bar. She goes down in, like, a hard bow holding her eyes to the ground. She says, thank you for attending my bar.
You're yes. It seems lovely. I appreciate small businesses. I have one myself. I'm Poppy. This is Guy.
She looks up with a start and she says, yeah. I've I've seen you. I used to sell flowers around Lake Orthea.
Oh, no way. Yeah. I Yeah. You're the flower gnome.
Yeah.
Sorry. I didn't know your name. So I just, that's how I thought of you in my head.
That's it's Clara.
Oh, good. Now I have a name for your face.
It is no wonder you've heard of us. It is the finest bakery cart in all of Farewell.
Thanks, Skye.
Well, I I mean, I've seen it.
Oh. Well, it's okay. Maybe you'll come by sometime. We're kind of stuck here.
She says, I'm kind of stuck here. I I just bought this place.
Well, it is lovely. Good job.
Thank you. Although, it's not starting off great. I I was promised that Phenom Green was gonna stop here later tonight, you know, for my grand opening, but I was gonna give him that special wine and it's broken. Oh,
that's rough.
Do we know who that is?
Yeah. If you've been in Farewell for any amount of time, you've you know the name Phenom Green. He's sort of a mascot, a minor celebrity.
Mhmm.
He is one of the foremost illusionists in the eastern frontier.
That is really unfortunate. I'm sorry.
Vietnam would be an incredible boon to your business.
Yeah. I was hoping so. She picks up, the last little shard of broken glass from the mess and she says, this was actually made with some really rare stuff from the Fae. They're called pink meridian blossoms. I swear, they're like the rarest thing.
Yeah. Well, good luck. Would Journey know if those flowers are actually rare?
They are indeed. Okay. Pink meridian flowers only grow in the exact center of the Feywild between dawn and dusk. Damn. It's also one of the most contested territories in all the Feywild. Very dangerous to be in.
Little little gnome friend, how how did you get your hands on some of them flowers?
Well, it's all about marketing. Right? So half of my investment was the shop and half of the investment was that bottle.
I understand quite well.
Are have you bought a place too?
Oh, yeah. My shop. That's
Oh, you still got the little Rolly wagon,
Yep. It's doing okay. Well, you
should think about opening up. There's some really good deals out there. This place was super cheap.
Yes. That was the plan. Thank you.
Poppy, I would not take business advice from one who waste their investment on fake knickknacks.
Knickknacks? Sorry. Where are my manners? Can I get any of you anything? Did you say an ale or Erin, you're pretty much in the room before people noticed. What do they see?
They see a tall, slender elven woman hidden by a black hood over their head. After a quick scan of the room, you see the person pull the hood down off their head and reveal beautiful elven face. No idea what age they are as it is often hard to tell with middle aged elves. However, they do have jet black hair pulled back into a tight top braid ponytail on the top of their head and very vibrant green eyes that take up a large portion of their slender face. They also have, darker tan skin, and they are wearing a kind of shabby looking, simple black tunic over leggings, with a a leather belt.
And you see a few, a dagger sheath at the belt as well as, a crossbow holder for a small crossbow.
Clara stands at attention again and resumes her bow towards you and says, I'm Clara. Welcome to my bar.
Hello.
She, like, rises again and, like, looks at you, and then Clara and Aaron just kind of stand there staring at each other for a second. Can I get you something?
Awkward. No. That's that's okay. Actually,
water? Yeah. And for the rest of you?
Just that ale. Thank you.
Sure.
A large ale, please. K.
How much does that, a cup of the very fancy fey wine cost that broke all over the floor and is gone now?
I promise I'm not making this up, but it's it's upwards of 500 gold a cup.
Even my cookies aren't that good.
She she kind of, like like, brushes your hand away, Journey. And she's like she's like, if you meant to try to do something kind here, really, it's it's it's nothing.
What about that other bottle that I picked up that you said was expensive?
Yeah. I think that's kind of my runner-up for Phenom, but but sure. Would you like to try
it? Yeah. I'd try it, and I toss, 20 gold. Okay. Let me handle the gold this campaign. It's like a handful of gold
Yeah.
Out of a jingling bag.
She, yeah, she reaches out one hand to accept the gold, and then the coins start to pile over her open She's like, really? You didn't have to do that.
No skin off my back. No bark off my tree. Poppy is making an like, a look at guy, like, oh my god. This person does not understand what money is worth.
Aaron smirks after, the furball says no bark off my tree. You just see a little smile come over their face.
Clara, gives you all another big smile and takes a second to stash away all of that gold into a till near the back of the bar, and then she gets to work on your drinks. Again, she's not used to this. It takes her a long time to find the right taps. You actually see her kind of turn around and dump out some stuff that she had poured, clearly using the wrong taps at the wrong time.
I remember what it was like opening my own shop at first.
I can't imagine you were ever this incompetent, miss Barbie.
Well, I mean, it's when you know how to bake, that's kind of half the battle. And I I learned a bit of entrepreneurial skills from my parents, but, you know.
Guy, you hear from behind the bar.
What's that?
Incompetent's a little harsh. Yeah.
I think maybe that's that might be a little rude.
Oh, I'm sorry. Sometimes I am just a little too earnest.
She says, it's okay. She is coming back around with your drinks, sets them on the table 1 by 1. Guy, it's a little painful to be near her at this moment, or maybe it's not. I don't know how embarrassed you actually are, but she turns back around, and she goes, you know, you might think I'm incompetent, but I'm gonna be fine, and this place is gonna make it, even if Phenom doesn't get exactly what he wants. I mean,
I still got all this, and she gestures up wildly with her left hand and hits a rack. Oh, no. And you see the rack begin to lean forward and then back, and you all stand with bated breath as the rack leans forward again.
Erin's gonna try to catch it.
Okay. Journey puts up a mage hand to try and push it back. Okay. I also use a mage hand.
Okay. So it's like a combined £10 of course, I think.
20, I think.
That's pretty awesome.
And, Erin, go ahead. Make a Dex ability check.
22.
Wow. At the same time, Poppy and Journey have the same exact thought. You see them both stand and reach out a hand, and a small spectral image projection of a hand grabs this rack as it's leaning over, but their force enough is not enough to keep this thing from falling. You see Erin sprinting up towards it and she grabs at the shelf, gets underneath it, and kind of presses her shoulder into it to write the shelf. Doran.
It's dark and cold, and silent. It's just before dawn. You're looking over an endless horizon of dusty blue clouds showing the faintest warmth of pink coming through the dawn. You're wearing thin clothes that do nothing to keep the wind from cutting through you. The blank stone pavilion beneath you makes you feel solid, but even so, looking out at the clouds at dawn is uniquely exhilarating.
The wind is causing your eyes to water, but you still strain to meet the light. In the distance, just before the sun peeks over, you see a dark tower rise from the clouds. A castle of immense construction comes into view with a strange silhouette unlike anything you've ever seen. You're fixated on the eerie beauty of the silence as it rises higher and higher above the clouds, and then you see another. Towers float up over the clouds that span before you, just as the sun breaks, casting them all into imposing black shadows bleeding daylight around the edges.
And then you hear the clarion call of your death. A familiar sends you into an instant panic, it grows too quickly into a roaring, growling cacophony that takes hold of your bones, and you become numb. The stone beneath your feet begins to split apart, the clouds swallow your vision, and you fall. And you wake up to a crash of glass.
This is
I wipe the sweat from my forehead and, sit up and, look over at my belongings. One last sigh, and I'm going to put on my armor, put on my green cloak. Doran is a fairly lean, young human. His studded leather is more form over function, I suppose, than you'd typically expect. His wardrobe is, very plain, but very clean. He steps towards the door, but stops and decides to, real quick check his hair and proceed.
Doran, you look a little bit more pallid and panicked than you expected to see. You're still sweaty under your clothes. The, effect of the dream hasn't quite worn off of you yet. You take a moment just to get yourself right, and you can hear people downstairs. It might be tavern patrons, but based on the location of this tavern, probably not.
Alright.
It seems you're the last one to, arrive downstairs.
Good morning. Or is it afternoon? I'm not really sure. I check out hit the window.
It is evening. Okay. You're a little bit behind schedule. The bartender Clara, who you had organized to stay at a room at her tavern earlier the only room, in fact.
It's her room.
Okay. Yeah. It's her room. She sees you come down the, short couple of steps, and she looks up, already crying. It looks like Poppy and Journey are close to her.
The First Affair is canon.
So No. I meant like she's a bad innkeeper and she's like, well, they have we have a room upstairs, I guess you could run.
Oh, no. They definitely
I'm just kidding. We can't start this again.
Erin is supporting a wooden rack that had all but fallen over. She stopped it from crashing against the ground, but she wasn't able to stop every bottle from sliding off of it.
I think maybe you should invest in, like, stronger bolts or, like, shelves with a lip on it so things don't and maybe stop flailing.
I didn't know you had to drill them into the walls. I think it's And I'm gonna need the other half of your deposit.
Well, we'll talk about that. It's break day. It's a holiday. Right?
It's 5 to 8. There's gonna be people here soon, and I've got nothing to give them.
Okay. Well, I mean, it looks like, there's plenty still on that, rack there. Speaking of which, do you still have that, mead? The one that's not too sweet?
She picks up a broken shard of glass with the correct label on it. She looks up at you with a quivering lip.
You know what? Any of the mead is fine, and sure, I think I can cover that other half of the deposit.
She looks around, and you hear, like, shuffling glass as she just kind of, like, searches the wreckage.
Erin, how are you?
Erin is putting the shelf back to rights, and trying to just straighten some of the glassware on it. I'm fine. How are you?
Doing great. Great. Happy to be here. I'm excited. Looks like everyone else is pretty excited.
And raises both eyebrows. It's like, really?
Are we are we all working together? I I didn't get the impression that this was all I'd never met you before. I I I didn't know you guys knew Doran. He's he's, yeah, we're here for him.
They can't be on the team, and Aaron nods at Clara.
Oh, right. Yes.
Non negotiable.
What? Oh, hold on a second. I, cast unseen servant to help clean up Okay.
The mess
and, like, maybe take orders while we're still here.
Yeah. She kind of, like, watches it clean, and she just kind of, like, sobs and and, yeah, just gets back to holding her.
It'll be okay.
I'm gonna go over to Clara. Mhmm. Here's that deposit. Anything I can do to just make this, it seems like your spirits are dampered a bit. Is that
She looks up to you with just an a really hideous crying face and she's like, do you
know phenom?
I we've talked. He's nice.
Can you make sure he still comes here even if I don't have the pink meridian wine?
Pink Meridian? You you got one of those? Okay. Tell you what, Clara, you know what? Just it's okay. I will talk to him and it may not be tonight, but that gives you some time to find something else. I don't think he needs that as a show of kindness.
She kind of nods up and down, and then, Doran, it strikes you. At the beginning of this exchange, she said it was 5 to 8. You are massively behind schedule.
You know what? I see that bottle right there. That says me down. I'm gonna grab that, pour myself 1. And, we'll talk about this, later. You know what? You're doing great. You're gonna have a great night. Whether he comes or not, we'll talk, tomorrow.
She seems a little better. She's kind of nodding her head up and down. She takes back the bottle as you hand it to her. She mumbles to herself, it says meat.
Who labeled these?
Sir Doran, what is the meaning of this? Am I to gather you have gathered us all here for this job?
Yes. And, you can drop this, sir. We definitely don't need to do that. But thank you. That that's kind. Yes. You know what? We had a schedule and it's getting, close to action time. So I suppose we can just take, my heightened state, and we'll all just, kinda channel that and this is gonna work super well. Actually, you know what?
I will go right. Claire is is Claire just like listening to us right now? Yeah. Maybe let's, take a table outside, or maybe just over there in that corner. To answer your question, Guy, well, everyone's met each other. Right?
Not precisely. Briefly.
Kind of.
Sure.
Okay.
The small one and I have, collaborated on trying to keep the shelf up. Yeah. We're kinda good team.
Team building. That's great. Awesome. Yes. So, Guy, yes, this is
the whole group. Hello, group.
Hello? Hello, Guy. Guy?
Yes. Guy, Journey, Aaron, and Poppy, myself, Doran, that's the whole crew, and we are all going after Bismarck.
Well, I'm not going after Bismarck.
Well, yes. Yes. And and that other detail, which we'll get to, it's part of the plan. We already figured that out. So, I think based on the schedule he planned out, I we should be leaving now. So do we have any questions, or are we all all set and on the same page?
I was told I was to be, supporting, guarding someone. Is that Poppy here? Probably. I can't imagine it's the very large man with the sword.
Yes. Poppy. And Journey, yes, you are gonna be going through the front door, and then Doran, which is me, Guy, and Aaron will be going through the back door.
They're the distraction?
Right.
We're the bait.
Yes. Well, specifically, Aaron's the bait.
The bait.
We should be able to meet up inside the headquarters once we're in.
How do we know these criminals will take the bait?
You see Aaron's expression darken, and she says, don't worry. They want me back.
Guy looks very surprised, but it says nothing.
Erin's done a lot to earn this bounty, which is great for us. Okay. Well, according to the schedule, we should be leaving now. Anyone else need or any other questions?
Do you have a copy of said schedule?
Were we supposed to have a physical copy?
I didn't write it down. No.
Okay. So I just have to be a distraction.
Yes. And once we get inside, everything should just go it'll just be natural at that point.
Yeah. Perfect. Totally natural and comfortable and have totally done this before. Journey stands up and goes to the door and starts walking away.
You can all see that there's varying levels of acceptance among the group for what's about to happen.
We're splitting into 2 groups. Right? Mhmm. I'm going to give Guy a pronto puff. Mhmm. I'm going to give Doran a pronto puff. I'm going to keep one for myself. K. Poppy can cast spells in the morning while she's baking to imbue her baked goods with specific traits. So the Pronto Puff is a shoe pastry cream puff, that I can create Spell
choux for me?
C h o u x. Nice.
Consuming it as a bonus action causes the following effects for the next 10 minutes. Your movement speed increases by 15 feet. Your jump height and distance are doubled. And when you take damage as a result of falling, reduce that damage by 20.
I just wrote double jump in my notes. I'm sure that won't be misinterpreted.
Bling bling. So I made cookies that keep you from getting hurt when you fall. So only use it if it's an emergency.
These are very good if you haven't had one.
They are really good. But don't eat it.
Eat them now.
Yeah. Do
they work when you're sleeping?
I have eaten them before bed and regretted it.
Yeah. Maybe not this one for bed. I have other ones that could put you to sleep, maybe. Wait. Who did you give them to? Me? No. I gave one to Doran, one to Guy, and I kept 1.
Okay. Sorry. So there
will be 2 on your team and 1 on mine. Sounds good. Cool.
Thank you, Poppy.
You're welcome. I hope you don't have to use it.
Me too.
You all pour out of the tavern in a no nonsense single file, Poppy double timing just to keep up. The wind on the ledges can be vicious and tonight is a brisk reminder of how even a pleasant breeze on the ground level can become a cold, powerful gust when you're crossing a wooden bridge a 100 feet up. The bridge you're on sways And on your left, as you cross, you see a colossal gray blue banner that extends high above you and then back down nearly a 100 feet nearly reaching the ground below. Woven into that banner, almost 30 feet across, is the crest of Lotem, one of the 3 kingdoms where the people of Farewell came from. The smell of hot metal accompanies a thin plume of smoke drifting by the party.
In the silence, you hear a hollow metallic voice from behind you. Target reached. Doran prepare to meet the maker.
Excuse me?
There's a tense moment of silence as you turn around. A slender armored warforged causes
the bridge to shutter with
each step as he closes the distance in just a few strides. Doran. You recognize a familiar faceplate. His name is Sir Beau, and you've never actually spoken to him directly. You're not entirely sure of their relationship, but he seems to be a servant or a guardian of a young artificer named Rhun.
Using his mechanical Warforged body, Sir Beau turns to the party delivering a turbo speed curtsy to each individual using pistons in his legs and neck to bob up and down. He then stabilizes. He turns his head a 180 degrees revealing a blank round metal skull. There's a sharp electrical whine and lights flash at random across the metal. The lights begin to organize into a dense grid and that grid shows a smiling humanoid face.
In Doran, you can recognize the face of Rune being depicted in these dots of light.
Guy has his sword drawn.
I've never seen anything like that.
Do you know this device, Doran?
Not sure yet. Sir Bo, is it?
Sir Bo's head is turned around from you now. And so you can hear kind of him shouting into the wind. And he says Yes. My name is Sir Bo.
Okay. Sorry. We are in a bit of a hurry right now. Is there any chance you could swing by?
Can you guys
hear me?
Do you
guys hear me?
Yes. What is this witchery?
I can hear you. Yes. Yes. I can hear you. Doran. Mhmm.
Yep.
Hey, Doran. Mhmm. Sorry. Are you busy?
Do you mind if we just You look busy. We can walk and talk. Right? Is that fine?
Actually, he can't walk while he's doing this.
Okay.
If you look down in his leg, I put these extra stabilizers on his ankles because we were having a lot of trouble getting image to stabilize when he was still moving around.
Too much detail.
That dot matrix on the back of his face kept shifting with his steps, and it was just really tough to get it to stabilize. Yeah.
I think you did tell me about that.
So sorry about that. He really can't walk and talk to answer your question.
Yeah. We are in a bit of a hurry, Rune, but it's, this is marvelous. Very cool. What what is it?
Oh, sorry. Yeah. I just wanted to say thanks for, bringing me that, you see the face kind of like look at the other people that are around here? And he says, thanks for bringing me that extra food last time you came over. I I feel a lot better. Anyway, I've been on a roll lately. I got this whole thing working, and and then you hear Sir Bo. Is it working?
This machine can eat food?
Hi.
Yeah. Yeah. And I I also got these things done ahead of schedule. I I knew you had a big day today, so I thought it it would be stupid if I held out until after. Right? And, you see a little compartment in Serbo open up, and inside you can see, 2 little metallic ammonites.
And for the listeners, what is an ammonite?
It's like
a little spiral shell, like, the Pokemon Omanyte was based off of. Okay.
Oh, like the little fossil
Yeah. It's like the little fossilized shells.
I love that you had to use Pokemon as
I picked real world references.
I picked Kabutops. So
Right. Okay.
So you
just use yeah. Okay. So as their talking journey is going up to this warforged and is, like, done a little bit of a mini, not real cast of primal savagery, but a mini one to sharpen one claw. Mhmm. And it's like scratching the war force. Like, the fuck is this?
Yeah. It makes like a hollow metallic kind of grating noise as you draw a claw through it.
Mhmm.
Servo kind of like turns his head and you hear the turning of of Servos and gears just just really hushed as he turns his head Right. To look up at you. Is there an issue?
No issue at all. I was just checking the whole thing out. You're you're pretty neat.
Pardon me? I'm on the phone.
Hey, god. Do you think that thing runs on Bismite?
From what I know of these machines, which is very little, I suspect he might.
Anyway, Doran, so these are echo bells. They don't I mean, they're a little stylized because, I mean, you know how I do. But you should be able to hear whoever speaks into 1 if you speak into it or you know what I mean? It's like you can talk into 1, they'll hear on the other, but you gotta know when they're talking because you gotta put it to your their ear when you're talking
because you can't hear through your mouth. Or wait. Maybe I should get to work on that. How could you hear through your mouth?
Hey, Rune. Yeah. Truly, this this is a excellent gift, and this means a lot to me. Thank you. I I really do appreciate it.
There's a a note in there too. Did you see it? Indeed. There's a little folded paper note in that compartment.
Oh, I I took it out.
Says thanks for the food. Good luck.
I put my, hand on the servo. Mhmm. Thanks, bud.
I I
think this will help. We'll catch up soon.
The face just kind of dims out and turns around, and Serbo kind of, like, stands up to his full height and unstabilizes and says, you're welcome.
You too, Serbo. We'll do proper introductions next time.
With that extra delay, Doran, you hear the fireworks, the booming, echoing voice, the lights. You're late. It's 8 o'clock.
Okay. Time flies. Hey. I don't know if you all caught that, but I think these are actually gonna be pretty handy. So front door team.
That's me.
Great. Poppy, here you go. Oh. And, you know what? I think Guy, here you go. You can have this one.
Delightful.
Yeah. But put it up to your mouth when you say that.
Guy? Delightful.
I can hear
you. Poppy?
Poppy, you can hear like a vibrating on your lips as you're holding the envelope.
I think I can hear it through my mouth.
Are you there, puppy?
I'm right here. We're also right next to
each other. Yes. Yeah. I mean, yeah, you can hear each other on
the way. Can you see me through this thing?
I'm like holding it up. Like, I don't think so.
As this is happening, Aaron is kind of standing 5 feet away from everybody. How exposed are we on this bridge right now? Are we just in the middle of the
Yeah. So you are in a neighborhood called the upper ledges. Mhmm. Most of this neighborhood is, like, higher society kind of stuff. The the settlers from a city called Dawn's Edge came up here.
Are there people out and about not really for the party
all of the crowds are still in like the center of town like a half a mile away from you guys you can see these throngs of people just cheering and
shouting. K. Aaron's just keeping an eye out for any, one watching them too closely.
Yeah. Yeah. It's pretty much desolate around this area. There's really nobody else. You hear a distant echoing voice made exponentially louder by way of magic.
The nuance of her delivery is lost on the wind, but you hear the unmistakable voice of Libera Cambria Nimbus, the leader of the city of Farewell addressing her people. She thanks the gathered crowds for coming and lists with honor the crafting guilds that came together to be there. She thanks them for building a better future with the people of Farewell and the crowd erupts into cheers and unifies over a growing chant, this world for all. You hear a growing chorus of warring anthems play out as the revelry ramps up in earnest. You can barely hear Libera's words as she makes a grand pointing gesture as a dazzling display of lights and fireworks and cheering swings your attention from her to a distant banner half mile away from you.
Your senses tingle as you see, as big as any ocean craft, a massive wooden ship, a sky ship born on the air, sailing past the banner of dawn's edge. Thin, perhaps purely decorative sails of fine white fabric billow in the wind like clouds themselves as oar like paddles along the bottom of the ship make micro adjustments to stabilize it in the air. The scale of this thing is impressive. It slides through the air with grace over the heads of citizens on the bridges and platforms assembled below the tower.
Would any of us have ever seen a sky ship before?
You've seen attempts. This has been the talk of the town for the last few months. Everyone's trying to make one of these now that the technology is known. This is the first accomplishment. This is the first time you've seen anyone get a ship this big stable in the air.
Think about the amount of bismide they need to run one of those.
Unnatural. Men were not meant to fly.
You're just scared of heights.
I am not scared of heights.
You see tiny Libera down by the tower gesturing out again at the banners, and she makes them another wild gesture answered by fireworks. You see a banner much closer to you, the banner of Silvery. A smaller, narrower craft of bent wood glides out from behind the banner silently over the city, drawing gasps of quiet awe as a hush falls over the scene. An immaculately carved vessel of polished wood and shining brass floats with unfathomable speed. It slowly turns a brass turbine built around the center body of the ship.
She's certainly got flare. That was very cool, but we should probably keep moving. Aaron and I kinda coyly, like, make, like, a jingling sound, with my satchel and show some chains. Why don't you pick out an alleyway to and we can get set up for this? I think we're close. Close enough, that is.
As you, gesture to Aaron, Doran, there's a rumbling and, Doran, you start to panic as you feel your feet buzzing. A sound like the entire cliffside is about to fall in a landslide plays The immense banner of Loedem next to your bridge is suddenly brushed aside by the blunted face of a massive sky ship made of solid blackened steel. 12 spark engines burned ludicrous quantities of bismite to keep the hulking behemoth afloat as it moves slowly, unstoppably towards the winged tower. As it moves past the bridge, your vision Who runs ahead and who runs back?
How close are we halfway through?
Pretty much.
Forward, I'm going to say, and try to run forward.
Yeah. Who else goes forward?
I'll go forward. Yeah.
Yeah. Guy's gonna grab Poppy and run forward. K?
Yeah. Journey's gonna try and run ahead and, pull a little bit of a Spider Man, thorn whip the bridge, and thorn whip the stand where it was attached before.
Okay. Cool.
How's Servo doing?
He has chosen to go the other way. With his, long mechanical legs, he can cross quite a good distance.
Okay.
But everyone is gonna have to make dexterity saves.
Sure.
Those aren't my strong suit. That's a 19 for me.
Okay. Doran, 6. 14.
12. Aaron got 21.
Doran shouts for everyone to go ahead and they all do except Doran. Even though your mind is clear, your body betrays you. Your feet don't move.
Sit forward to you too, Doran. Come on. Let's go.
You feel the bridge beneath you is falling in earnest. Journey has has grabbed the bridge and grabbed the stand to stabilize it as best she can, but it's still falling. Or it will.
Eat the cookie.
Okay. I'm going to, how far away is to the edge?
Now that everybody's past you, you know, you're kind of the farthest behind. You've got probably 25 feet to go.
I'm going to try to use my legs and try to run still.
Alright. Give me an athletics check. Journey, give me concentration to hold up the bridge.
16.
Okay. Yeah. In tandem, you both provide a competent effort here. Journey, you're straining to keep this bridge. The the weight is is growing against you as more of the support snap and every time you hear one of those metal twangs, you know that you're about to take on more weight. Doran, you're climbing practically vertically now, the planks of the bridge beneath you serving as rungs of a ladder.
No. No. No. No. I'm going to cast a misty step
Okay.
And just shoot up the rest of the way
to be able to land.
Okay.
So is everyone up off of the
You're all off of the off the bridge that it just snapped.
Yeah. So Journey, pulls herself up with one hand with her thorn whip. Yeah. What kind of crazy people build a city on a cliff?
Those hooligans on the airships. You'll never catch me dead on one of those.
You all see the slow uncaring vessel from Lotem, crossing this large expanse out to the winged tower in the center of town.
Okay. Well, that well, there's no way that's gonna happen again. Right?
Well, the bridge is gone.
Right. Well yeah. So we'll just avoid bridges from now on. I think we can just do that. Let's no more bridges. Yep. That's part of the plan now. Great. Anyways, as I was saying, Erin, I I think we're close enough now. Perhaps we should find a spot to get ready.
Aaron nods. You can see visibly shaken from the bridge falling like sweat gleaming on their face. They lead everyone into an alley. It's a very narrow alley, so really just Doran and and Aaron can kind of fit. And so Aaron says, what is the plan?
Well, we gotta make it convincing that we have you captured, so I did get these. I didn't have them before. I bought them for this, and I take out some shackles, essentially. Mhmm. Mhmm. We probably should have talked about it before, but, yeah, I I feel like this will be more convincing for what we're going through.
You see Erin frown deeply, and her face kind of goes pale. And, they say this wasn't part of the plan. Do you really think we need it? No. You're right. They won't believe that I would be caught by someone like you.
Okay. Exactly what I was thinking. But you know what? I'm there is a key. I'm giving you the key. You can have it.
Aaron takes it and quickly shoves it into a little pocket pouch on their belt and then holds out their wrists for you to lock it
up. Yep.
Alright. Team backdoor is ready to go. I think this is where we part.
Oh, well done, Doran. I see you have captured this ally of our enemy.
Wait. Well, no. Well, yes. Guy, mostly correct. Yep. Enemy of our enemy is our friend, but they don't know that.
Enemy. And you know, yeah.
So that's what we're doing. We're just after some good gold.
Gold.
But we're actually after the Bismite. But they don't know about Yes. Yes. Alright. I think that clears everything up. Where's the rolling pin?
I we left it in the market square.
What's the rolling pin?
Oh, that's my shop. It's a mobile bakery. I sell cookies.
It's the finest bakery in all of Farewell.
Guy really likes the cookies.
I believe I've spoken of this already.
Well, you brought some cookies though. Right?
I did. Yeah. Great.
So I gave you guys Pronto Puffs. Well, I think Doran was asking about any the cookies that you're gonna be selling. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, yes. I have quite a back stock of I made chocolate chip cookies. I figured those are, like, you know, people like those.
Cloud crowd pleasers. Yeah. Definitely. So Go ahead. Sorry.
Oh, that's okay. Yeah. The the plan why? The plan is that I'm gonna sell cookies door to door and hope that they they want cookies maybe or or are like distracted enough by the cookies that you guys can slip on in.
Perfect.
Well, this is all sounding very pleasant. However, we need to get there now because the guard change only lasts 10 minutes.
Mhmm.
Right. We should have been there 5 minutes ago.
You all find your way to the north end of Silver Street. That's kind of a misnomer of a name. It's a slum like stretch that spans nearly the entire city in a narrow band. Here, the streets are dusty with crumbling and depleted bismite, while the locals around you examine every discarded pebble for magical energy. You approach the backdoor to the Blight headquarters.
In the distance, you see an Earth Genasi with stone like skin covering his right arm. He sits on an upturned bucket in front of the door. Aaron, you recognize him as Lob?
Alright. Everyone, stop here. We can't go any further, or the guard will see us.
Okay. Hey, guy. Here's a a pop off for you.
Oh, thank you, miss Poppy.
Yes. Whenever you make an attack roll or the dice shows 15 or higher, you roll again. And then if it's higher, then you roll again. And then and then you repeat it until the resulting roll is lower than your previous roll. And if you crit on that, you get an additional 1 d twelve force damage, and they have to make a strength save or get pushed 10 feet away.
To summarize, Poppy makes magical treats. The first of which that a few of you have is
A Pronto Puff.
And pronto puffs save you from getting hurt when you fall. The second treat that she had just created for Guy was called a pop off. And a pop off, well, when you hit, it helps you hit even harder.
It's a Poppy special. As they're discussing this journey, uses one of her daily uses of hidden step. Okay. So, Journey is behind you all and then disappears. Good. Journey's gone. So, Oh, I'm still right here.
Oh, okay.
Good. I thought you just kinda, like, dipped. I'm still right here, and I'll be protecting you, miss Poppy. Don't worry your little head. Thank you. I feel safer.
With an invisible person behind you, you feel safer?
I am not very strong, Doran. I don't know if you guys have a calming presence even to go.
Guy puts out his hand to put his hand on Journey's shoulder and and misses. Journey, guard miss Poppy with your life.
Sure thing.
Awesome. Good. Pep talk. Let's, separate teams here and we'll see you on the inside.
Alright. Go team.
Good luck, Poppy and Journey.
I have a bad feeling about this. And Aaron kinda leads the way towards the back door.
Poppy and Journey, you find the unassuming storefront of the Blight headquarters.
I pull out a basket of chocolate chip cookies, and I adjust my hat so it's a little junky, and I stroll up to the front door and knock. Okay.
When you knock, you don't hear any response. You just hear a continued conversation from the other side of the door.
I knock again. Hello? Excuse me.
You hear someone inside. Yes. I open.
Oh, you you just want me to come in? That's usually not how this goes. Okay. I open the door.
You step inside and, a kind of weaselly looking scrawny man at the front counter looks down at you and says, you used to people opening the doors for you when you come into stores. Where are you from?
Oh, well, sorry. I'm I just I'm a door to door cookie saleswoman, and, usually, I'm going to residents and they don't want me to just walk in. Good evening. Happy break.
Happy break. Door to door cookie sales?
Yes. So I am trying to raise money to get some more fuel to
We don't want any.
But they're really good. I I think you should probably try one.
You see a gnome, with kind of a sickly demeanor, like he looks unhealthy, kind of climbs to the counter and says, yeah, we don't need any. You can
leave. I really would beg you to try one. I make really good cookies.
Listen. Unless you need some laundry done, we don't need any. We're here to make money, not to spend money.
I respect that, sir. So am I. I made these especially this morning. They are fresh baked homemade chocolate chip cookies and they are the best cookies you'll ever have.
You hear the the first weasley man say, well well now, chocolate chip.
They are very good, if I do say so myself, and they have a special ingredient.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Hold on there, Ginge. Let's not, let's not poo poo this right out the gate.
Would you like to try 1? The first one is always free.
That's what I was waiting to hear.
Why don't
you put that up on the counter?
Here you go
he breaks it very evenly into 2 halves and then he eats 1 half and then he eats the other and he says that was delicious
thank you
Ginch kind of looks up at him with cross eyebrows and says, I'll try one if you're just throwing away.
The first one is always free. And as I'm doing that, I also pull out the what I wrote down as Mennonite walkie talkie.
Okay.
And just kind of scratch my ear and, like, tuck it into the back of my hat so that it is listening. Okay.
Yeah. Give me a, sleight of hand check as you do that.
Awesome. I'm probably good at those. 14. It's a
little uncomfortable, in your hair, under your hat like that, but it actually stays. You're able to listen in. You just wouldn't be able to talk very clearly into it if you had to.
Right. I'm hoping that they can hear if I talk loud enough.
Are we still a little distance away from the back door?
Yeah. You guys still have a little bit of time. Okay.
Oh, I I think Poppy is trying to reach us. So Poppy, it's me,
Guy. Can you
hear me?
Poppy, you can hear this so loud in your ear that you're suddenly, like, sweating and nervous and panicking that they can hear it too.
I don't think she can hear me.
Can I hear it? Even
Journey, I think you can hear it standing right next to Poppy.
Okay. So I I take a step closer to Poppy right behind, and I gently put a hand over where the Yeah. Yeah. Thing is, which is covered. I think makes it echo more into my skull. Yeah. But can't hear you.
With your thumb over the ammonite, like receptor journey, you can feel it, like, vibrating pretty hard with with guy trying to speak into it. And then as if the problem was he wasn't loud enough, he starts speaking louder and louder, and the whole thing is just shaking in your hand.
Doreen, this thing is a piece of junk. She can't even hear me.
I don't think you should yell into that. We're not even in yet.
I will yell into it later.
I'll talk to Roone about it. Oh, well. We don't need it.
Looking down the alleyway, Aaron, you see that lob has stood up to see what all the noise was.
Now or never, boys.
Doran, will will you be
doing the talking? Yeah. Let's do that. You can be the muscle, hold holding on to Aaron here. Alright. Here we go.
This way. And guy kinda shoves Aaron.
Well, it's him and I'll give this cookie to everybody. And then you can buy a subscription if you want to miss something.
I'll definitely talk to Roone about this.
The 3 of you approached the back door to the Blight headquarters. Lob is now standing, interested in what all this noise is. He looks up and immediately recognizes Aaron.
Hey there. Got a delivery for you.
Yeah. This one's been gone a while.
Wasn't easy. Any way we can make this quick and clean? Can we just get inside? I normally don't do stuff like this.
Do gooder, Yeah. Well, I'll tell you this much. Diver's not gonna give you the 5,000 that was on the poster.
Oh, okay.
It's gonna be more like 500. Take it or leave it.
Alright.
Is this agreeable? That seems less than the other number.
By quite a lot. And, I guess diver doesn't want this that bad. I guess we could probably, you know what? We'll just come back another time.
I could shout for diver to come out here. Aaron, is that what you want? Should I shout for diver?
You see a scowl on Aaron's face as they look up into the eyes of Laub, and Aaron says, of course, you would run a scam on my bounty. What a skis ball. And then she's gonna try to fight the hold on her with Guy.
Great. Make a performance check for me.
Performance. Charisma. Oh, yeah. Free thank you for everyone. If you if you wanna bring my social here and I can do it for you. If you will try, maybe you'll like them. Yeah. Yeah. You could have 2, I guess. That's fine.
14.
Okay.
Is the guard gonna notice that sound?
No. It's pretty subtle, especially being outside. Lob stares at all of you with this, like, big blank face, and you're trying to guess if he actually understands what's going on here. He seems kind of slow to respond to everything.
Look, man. I saw the list of bounties and, this one's pretty high up there. I'd love to have this conversation with Diver, the man with the purse. Can you let us in?
Yeah. I can make that happen.
You're good at your job.
Mhmm. Diver, the man with a purse. Corny purse. Known as.
He says, right this way. He, stands up, and the door isn't locked or anything. He just kind of jiggles the, shitty broken knob on it and kicks the door open. It's kind of, bouncing and creaking as it flings open, and you look into a dark lounge.
Through the door, you curr.
Make a performance check with disadvantage.
Oh. Please be good still.
Oh. 10.
Alright.
Log goes, yeah. Back at the front, front of house. Journey. You're able to move around a little bit
Mhmm.
While you're invisible here. Poppy has been kind of going on and on and on, giving everybody her typical elevator pitch on the entire business, as if they were there to buy a franchise. Partway through her speech, a third person comes out. A elderly human woman, is smoking a pipe, and she steps out from the other room and is kind of interested to see what's going on here. She is finishing up her first cookie as well.
She kind of, like, looks back into the room behind her and shouts for more people to come to the front and get some of these free cookies.
Yes. They are very good.
Poppy, you only brought, like, 15, 20 of these things, and the weasley guy at the front counter has gone through a good handful of them.
Alright. Well, if other people wanna have some, I have a couple left, but nobody else gets seconds.
The insufferable little gnome just goes, you can't tell
me what to do and
he grabs 3 of them out of
the basket. Excuse me. Those are mine. I came here out of the goodness of my heart to try and sell some delicious cookies.
They're all kind of teaming up on you a little bit. They're all, like, chortling to themselves and then the weasel guy grabs the last couple of cookies and, like, knocks your basket off the desk. Wow.
Excuse me. I have never been treated like this in an establishment such as this.
I don't know what I'm trying to say.
Journey is, checking out the the door that they all came through. Mhmm. Is it locked?
It doesn't seem to be. It's almost like a like a swinging revolving door. It looks like they took the knob off of it.
Okay. Is it is it still swinging at all from people coming in and out?
Yeah. A little bit.
Journey's gonna try and, like, sneak through just a peek.
Yeah. Give me a stealth check to not interrupt the door as you try to sneak through.
8.
Okay. Journey, you see this opportunity as the door keeps flinging open every time somebody passes through it and you're like, oh, I could squeeze through that.
Mhmm.
You kind of run behind the counter and try to get in there and just as somebody is coming through, the door slams open on you and rebounds into the previous room again. And you just hear somebody say like, what the hell was that?
I stand and freeze.
And then they they come into this front room. It's that woman smoking a pipe again. She just goes, damn it. Gensh, what the hell? And she, like, steps into the room. She didn't notice you were there. Nobody did.
Okay.
Nobody rolled higher than an 8. Jeez.
Okay. I, yeah, I just wanna peek into the whatever is beyond that door Mhmm. And get an idea of what's back there before I defend Poppy.
Yeah. Inside that room, you see 2 more Blight members are disinterested in the offer of cookies. They're sitting on a large dirty gray couch. The room smells like smoke and musty remains of half eaten meals.
Okay. Do I get a good look at either of those people?
Enough to know that one of them is a, a very small dragonborn woman. The other one seems like an older human man.
Okay. Yeah. I'm just gonna step back in the room and
Suffice to say, the thing you came here looking for is nowhere in sight.
Mhmm.
At the back door, kind of right as Journey leaves that room again, you all enter into that room. That same lounge. You all see this large gray couch, and you see 2 disinterested Blight members sitting on that couch. One of them seems to be trying to handle some narcotics. The other one just seems bored. Lob kind of stands with the the 3 of you. It's gonna be through that door and then, through the next door down the hall, and there's a door.
Great. Probably don't need a map. It's been a pleasure.
Yeah. I don't know if I can trust you. And he looks at Aaron.
Probably the smartest thing you said all night, Lob.
Let's go then. He leads you into that next room, and as you're passing by, he, kinda looks down at those 2 that are on the couch. And though they may seem disinterested, they are quite paying attention to what's going on here. Aaron, they are 2 of the more tolerable blight members are here on the couch. You see Ribbo, a young dragonborn, always called herself a runt. You also see Thompson. He's in probably the oldest member of the Blight.
Ribbo, dragonborn. Thompson, old.
Old man.
They both, like, look up at your group as you're walking through this room and kind of, like, keep eyes on you the entire time.
I stopped. We're leaving with 5,000 no matter what, and you're not getting a coin of it. And I scowl at them and then turn, continue to
follow. Yeah.
Lob kind of rolls his eyes and sighs as he opens the door for you and kind of gestures you through with an open palm. As you walk into the next room, he says, you're really gonna have to give up on that 5,000.
We'll see.
Honestly, I'd be surprised if Diver even has that much.
You know he does. Doran, you feel a hand at your shoulder. It's Lob. He's patting you down. Do you have any weapons on you?
I do have a rapier.
Okay. You're not getting past this room with that.
Are we in the next room without
yes. This next room, has nobody else in it. It is an empty storeroom. There's a lot of shit you don't understand in here, Dorn. A lot of contraptions, gizmos, clockwork, junk.
Look, as I said, I don't love being here. There's not an ounce in me that wants any trouble. I wanna get in and out. I'm keeping this rapier, though.
And this great sword is purely decorative.
He kinda he points up to Guy and he says, we'll get to you. You're not you're not doing yourself a lot of favors. When you came here, there was about a 10% chance you were gonna leave alive. That's, well, that's going fast.
Going up?
During his monologue, can Aaron start to get the key and unshackle them sun?
Yeah. Give me a sleight of hand check.
So they're gonna try to slide their hands into the little pouch in their belts while they're shackled? 19.
Okay. Lob does not see anything happening there. Your hands are free, and he doesn't know he's locked on Doran.
Can I do a sneak attack on him?
Yeah. For sure.
Okay. First attack.
Oh, but it's
Advantage.
Yeah. I was gonna say. Damn. That's better.
So 20 4.
To hit?
Yeah. That hits him.
Even though this, Earth Genasi has stony skin in most places, you know where he doesn't. You managed to get a dagger straight into him. Let's roll damage.
That is going to be 6 damage.
And add your sneak attack damage in there as well.
Shit. Plus 9. So that's 15.
15?
Sorry. Yeah. 15.
Lob is staring at you, Doran. You can see that he's about to make a decision. He thinks you're just another one of those cocky do gooders, you know, out to make a name for themselves. He reaches behind him to grab a shiv off of his belt, and before he even gets his hand around the handle, you hear a scraping, and it's Aaron pulling a dagger out of his back. Oh.
That was so great.
You hear lob.
Aaron's gonna try to cover his mouth so he's not making as much sound.
Okay. Aaron Aaron helps this 250 pounder as Genasi to the ground as he dies. Oh
my god.
I don't think he'll ever get used to how good you are at doing that. Shh. Shh. Shh. Right. Yes.
Sorry. Are you shushing Doran or the dying guy? Both.
Aaron looks up at Guy as she's down on the ground kneeling over the dying dead man. Help me drag his body. There's a courtroom down here.
Very well.
Quick and silent.
The 2 of them dragged the body away. Quick. Yeah. Silent. Not a chance. No. You as soon as it's like it's like pulling a bag of rocks. Just just
like tell you what. Maybe let's skip that part. Let's go meet Diver. Actually, let's bar this door first if we can, and then go meet Diver.
Okay. They're continuing to pull the body away, and, they've got him up to the closet that that Aaron had just mentioned. As you're going to bar that door, you look behind you, coming from where you're intending to go is a small gnome. He's got kind of blasted back hair as if something had just burst in his face. He's got kind of a wild look in his eye, like, he's expecting bad things to happen at all times, but he steps in with kind of a nonchalance approach to seeing somebody he has no idea who they are.
Aaron, you recognize Tic, probably your only friend in the entire Blight, if you could even call him a friend. Tic is a tinkerer, extraordinaire. He's good with bombs, flashbangs, smoke grenades, all that kind of stuff. Great asset to the blight, but he's in the same situation that you were. He's brought here at a young age, recognized for some extreme talent, and Diver will never let him go.
So Aaron is having a quick internal debate because they don't know if they can trust Tic even though Tic was their closest, quote, unquote, friend
Mhmm.
In the blight. Aaron decides to play it safe, and, Guy, you're you're close enough to see this. You start to see gray, thick smoke start from Aaron's chest just above the clothing line where you can see their skin, and it slowly covers every inch of their skin, and eventually their clothing as well, and Aaron slowly starts to grow in size and build. And within 20 seconds, Aaron is shifted completely into an exact replica of Lob, who is dead in front of you still on the floor.
Guy takes a few steps back from the closet. He's
Don't worry. I'll take care of this.
And, the new lob steps out of the closet.
Doran, glances back and catches the sight of lob. Hi there, Blight member. We are here to see Diver being accompanied as you can see, and we're in a bit of a hurry. Can can you point us to the right door?
They have a report on the bounty that's out on Aaron.
Throughout this whole thing, Tic has not looked at any of you. He walked into this room with his eyes fixated on a little box on a shelf on the wall. He walks over to it, gets out some component, and before walking back into the room he came from, he looks up at each of you, looks over to Lob, and says, boy, Lob, get them when they need to go.
Lob nods and gestures at the 2 strangers in the room.
And what you say your name was? I'm Doran. This is?
I am Guy.
Boring and some guy. Alright.
Cheers.
Cheers. And he, heads back into the other room.
Boring. That guy follows and he's getting uncomfortably close to Erin just, like, scanning her face and body being like, what the that is that is Erin in there, isn't it? He says quietly.
No time to explain.
Yeah. Let's, figure out the plan here now that we've shifted a bit. You're gonna take us to Diver. We're giving info on Aaron, and that's when we strike.
Do we kill that one?
Definitely. We kill everyone if we can.
Front of house. You have run out of cookies.
I'm sorry. I only brought so many, and then that guy had to have, like, 7 of them and I didn't account for that and I'm sorry.
Well, darling, that's called showing up under prepared.
Excuse me for assuming that you'd have a little bit of common decency. I thought that maybe you would have grown up learning about etiquette just like I did.
They're, like, not really paying attention to anything you're saying. They've got your basket and they've, like, turned it upside down. They've, like, pulled the cloth off of it, and then Ginch just goes, you really don't have anymore?
I don't have any more. All I had was in that basket. If you want more, you'll have to go to the rolling pin tomorrow.
The smoking woman, takes her pipe from her mouth and she says, you know, I bet if we cut her open, there's more cookies in there. Don't you touch me.
While they're talking, are there, are there any rocks outside? Are there windows in the storefront?
The windows here, they are so dirty that they are opaque.
I would like to cast mage hand and pick up a rock outside and throw it through the window from the outside.
Cool. On the ledges, there's not a ton of rocks being that you're not really on the ground, but being on Silver Street, there's a lot of depleted bismite, a heavy silvery metal that some people think is very dangerous to be around. You pick up a chunk of it and send it sailing through the window, and it crashes. There's glass everywhere.
I also have my mage hand, like, scuff around outside, like, making noise, like, hitting the ground and, like, hitting walls and, like, scraping things across the ground.
Okay. Both of those men, the Weasley guy and Ginch, both stand from behind the bar and walk outside to see what's going on. As soon as, weasel man steps outside he goes we'll fuck you up who are you? You hear Ginch say, I was ready for a little
eldritch blast. I have the mage hand. Just kind of like slap them and poke them.
Yeah. They both recognize a mage hand. They know better than to address the mage hand, and they look around for the source of it instead, seeing nothing. But then they look down through the broken window back at Poppy inside, and they look to each other. And, Journey, you can hear the muttering near the window. They say, I bet she's a wizard, ain't she?
Crap. Maybe I don't want the likes of you as customers in my shop.
Poppy, you haven't been paying close attention in the middle of your tirade, but when you open your eyes from your fury, you see that the smoking woman is pointing a crossbow at you.
Well, now, I don't think that's necessary. I cast primal savagery.
K.
I'm still invisible until I attack?
Mhmm.
Okay. So, yeah, I'm invisible, so you don't see any of this, but, Journey's teeth and fingernails sharpen, and she's ready to attack. I grab the lady with the crossbow Mhmm. And I just slash at her with my sharpened acidic nails.
Okay. Yeah. Breaking invisibility. You see a claw come down and swipe across this woman.
I let out a big sigh. What is the room situation look like right now?
So Poppy behind you is the door from where you came as is the broken window. In front of you is a long bar that kind of blocks your path like a service counter kind of thing.
Mhmm.
You've pieced together since being here that this is a a front. It's a laundromat. They pretend to clean clothes here. You can see some, like, soaps and and oils there. Laundering. Yeah. Laundering.
Got it. How many people are in the room?
There are 2 outside that had pieced together that you might be a wizard and one inside that just got slashed.
Yes. 1 inside. It was, 22 to hit.
That hits.
And then it does 1 d 10. Is that a 1? It's a 1. Yeah. One acid damage.
Oh, sure. So disappointing. Yeah.
You, a furbolg. Are you a furry?
Kind of. I have, like, really close cropped fur.
Mhmm.
That's kind of swirls of brown and green. Mhmm. Yeah. I I look completely unfamiliar to these people. Like, I'm not from around here at all.
And so Poppy, it's a little jarring to see what could be construed as a forest creature, breaking invisibility, slashing down at the smoking woman, and you can see blood dripping down their cheek after they get slashed.
Oh goodness. And I kind of do, like, a crouch, and I go Please don't hurt me.
You recognize Journey after a moment. It's just a little intense. But you see the smoking woman kind of reaching around for her fallen pipe and, picks it up and sees that it's been spilled, and then she kind of, like, holds her hand to her cheek where she'd been slashed.
I I didn't think any of this would come to blows. It's just cookies.
Give me a perception check, Poppy.
18.
Okay. She's going, how could you? I can't believe. Oh, you've just, oh, you you just you you've, you've, and the entire time, she's loading a crossbow bolt beneath the bar.
So she's behind the bar? Yeah. Okay. And I can see this happening. Yep. Don't you dare put your hands where I can see them. And I like pull my bread knife out Okay. From my back holster. Okay. I get it.
She pulls out the loaded crossbow and aims it at you.
I don't want any trouble. You're just gonna let us go.
And then she, like, points it over at Journey, and then she's just kind of, like, holding it between you 2.
Okay.
Role initiative.
13. 7.
Right at don't you dare looking at you, Poppy. She fires across the bolded journey standing right in front of her. Wow. That is a 12 to hit.
Does not hit.
Probably should have been looking at each other. Yeah. Probably. The crossbow bolt sails across the room, thwacks into the wall, and catches the attention of the men outside. Journey, it is your turn.
Okay. I'm going to, as a bonus action, cast Hunter's Mark
k.
On this lady. I pull out a hand axe, and I swing at her with it. 13?
13 does hit.
Awesome. Okay. So that's, 8 damage.
Okay. And what does that, attack look like?
So, yeah. Journee pulls out the hand axe, tilts her head, and her eyes get really big and kind of shiny. Mhmm. And one of her Feybuds kind of floats into the air and like target locks Mhmm. The lady. And then I slash her with one of my hand axes, and then I do an additional 1 d6 piercing damage with the swarm.
Oh, wow. Okay.
Just one. So the little Feybud that focused on her shoots through her, like, just through her shoulder Mhmm. And does one piercing damage.
Okay.
What do Feybuds look like?
Journey has a little swarm of Fey creatures that follow her around and assist her with things. They do what Journey wants, and they look like neon sparkling little balls of light. They're really tiny, like, quarter sized, and they live in her hair and sometimes peek out and come around. And she can talk to them. And she can kinda understand them, and they, yeah, they help her out when they can. And, they're able to cause damage as well.
Yeah. You see Journey strike down with this, hand axe, and the smoking woman takes a staggering step backwards as you hear a slosh of blood against the ground. And then she looks up at Journey, embarrassed that she had underestimated her opponent, and that little Fey Bud, kind of hovers above Journey having, like, ascended out of her hair, and then it strikes. It dives towards the woman, and it goes right through her. Papa, you don't know if that actually pierced her or if it's some kind of ethereal happening, but after that little thing flies through her, the smoking woman falls over.
Oh my gosh. Did you kill her? Quite possibly. I don't know, but we don't have a lot of time. Okay. Do we leave, or do we keep going? Well, do you have a way to bar the door? Because I certainly don't. Oh, here. Let me try something. Poppy reaches into her, like, little baker's pouch on her hip, pulls out a small vial of butter, and Just eats eats it. No. Just kidding. She takes, like, a little swipe of it, spreads it on the ground in front of the door, and casts grease.
Okay.
Cool. So it becomes difficult terrain. A creature that enters the area or ends its turn there also has to succeed a deck save or fall prone.
K. Can Guy hear this fight going on through the ammonite?
Yes. Through the ammonite and also through the walls. All of you heard Barb fall to the ground and hit the floorboards. Barb?
Is, Tic gone?
Tick is gone. Yeah. He moved back into the next room.
You also probably heard Journey shouting. Yeah. Yeah.
It's Poppy. Poppy. Poppy. Are you alright? This is Guy.
Oh, well, I think that is time to take hold of hey, Guy? Guy, I think we killed someone. I don't know. I've never done that before.
That's great, Puppy.
We're coming to find you, I guess.
Great? Oh, great. You're safe.
For now.
Wonderful.
We've made some progress. Yeah. The Aran one has turned into a stony one.
Okay. Cool. I yeah. I we'll talk about that later.
We'll see you soon.
Okay. So this swinging door that's between the two rooms, is it a full door or is it a partial door?
Full door.
Full door? Okay.
Full door.
I would like to kneel down and open it just a crack and see who I can see.
Those 2 people are still in there. The young dragonborn woman and the older man are on the couch, and they are looking at each other. And they're kind of like looking between the two doors, and they're wondering what is going on in each of those.
Okay. Do I have, like, line of sight on them?
Yes.
Okay. Yeah. I'm gonna
I'm definitely just imagining them sitting on the couch playing Smash Bros.
I'm gonna use a a bonus action to move my hunter's mark to whoever's closest, and then I'm going to shoot arrow.
Okay. How are you shooting them with an arrow?
So I'm gonna I wanna lean or kneel by the crack of the door Mhmm. And then use my bow through the crack to just, like, snipe them.
Give me a stealth check to start this off. Cool.
Stealth. Non nat twenty.
They have, no idea that you're setting up a clean shot.
Mhmm.
Go ahead and take that.
Hey. If I can get both of them, that's fine too. One shot. One error. Non net twenty again. Jesus.
We're rolling hot tonight.
Alright. I'll let you choose their fate. Is that going to be Ribbo the Dragonborn or Thompson, the old man?
The old one.
Thompson. Thompson, the old one.
Have much time left.
They're both kind of they're both actually squinting at the door that you're sitting at.
Mhmm.
And you see them kind of, like, lean in, and then you see Thompson kind of half stand, and he looks at the door and he goes, is there someone and he gets hit with an arrow. Give me damage on that.
Mhmm. Okay.
Right. Betwixt his head. It's like they were looking at eye height, but Journey was kneeling. So they're like, don't see anyone at first.
In the crotch then. Yeah. I mean, I think A dead shot. Whatever. It's very tall, old man. Oh, Hunter's Mark and my Swarm gives me a 2 d6 combo to add to all of my weapon attacks. Today, I am OP. 10.
Damage?
Yeah.
Bueno. You see him stand and is, like, looking closer and closer, and there's this kind of heavy silence as he leans further towards the door. There's almost a semblance of pity as your fingers slip to release the arrow, and I wanted it to hit him in the shin, and he
just bleeds out for half an hour. Oh my god. That's amazing. That low. Yeah. Arrow to the knee.
You say it comes in a little bit lower than a direct headshot, but you get him directly in the heart, and he's gone before he hits the floor. You hear the Dragonborn scrabbling against the couch. You can see she's leaving talon marks where she is pushing off of, and she is running out the back door.
I let her leave.
K.
Oh, boy. That's an awful lot of death today.
Poppy.
Yep.
You hear, have Atlee. And a man comes running through the front door. Yes. That is a 12. It's a deck save. Right?
Yes. Deck save 13.
Okay. As he comes charging through the front door where you had drawn a line of butter grease, You see him kind of like Scooby Dooing, like kicking his heels in backwards to stabilize himself as he goes sliding into the bar in of him and collapses in a heap. He is prone.
Poppy just like, yes. Like, fist in the air. Oh, sorry. You think he's okay? I I don't think it matters right now. We should get going. Yeah. Right. Right.
That was his movement. With his action, he is going to throw a knife at you from the ground with disadvantage.
Because he's prone. Bitch.
He fumbles a knife out of his pocket He, like, grabs a knife off of his belt and is going to throw it, but he slips again. He just slams it to the floor, and now the knife is, like, directly between the 2 of you.
Mage hand to swipe it further away.
Yeah.
I'll Oh, yeah.
I'm here. Okay.
Give me another initiative role, but take advantage on yours.
Magefoot. I'm kicking it out of the way. Not great. 7?
Not enough. He scrabbles forward. Greasy as he is, he's able to grab his knife and hold on to it. You see his eyes kind of dart to the door again behind you, kind of expecting his friend to be there. Unfortunately, his friend has left him. Ginch outside is nowhere to be seen.
Ginch. Asshole. Classic Ginch. Child. I opened the door to the lounge Mhmm. And gallantly gesture Poppy right on through. Well, thank you.
You guys are kind of like playing together with that, oh, thank you. And then you see this, like, bleeding out on the carpet body Bull. On the floor.
Oh, that's pretty gross.
You kind of double back a little bit in the other room, and then you see the weasel guy stand again and then fall in the butter. You hear the knife clatter to the floor again.
We should go while he's occupied.
Doran, you're once again about to bar that door.
The door that we came from?
Yep. And you see Journey open.
Yeah. I'm crouched again and, like, opening it, like, real stealthy. I'm, like, peeking through with, like, Beau at the ready. Like
Careful where you point that.
Oh.
Hi. Oh, and, that one is with us too, gesturing towards, Dom.
Lop? Lop. I don't know. Lop.
Dom's a good earth. Janos and
Oh, alright. Well, we took care of Is that Guy? Yeah. Guy's in here. Come on in. Oh, thank God.
Puppy, you're alright.
Yeah. I'm fine now. I clap Guy on the shoulder back. Took care of her just like you asked.
Many thanks, Johnny.
Mhmm. She was really fierce. She took out, like, 5 guys.
Burgers and fries.
Impressive. And
then I, like, nudged Journey like, hey, I got you.
I don't think I can stitch together a good persuading argument for why there's all of us here, and maybe we should just, go for this now. We need to find Diver. We need to get that bismite.
Yeah. Aaron, you know that all there is left to this building is the next room, which is Tic's tinkering room. This is where he puts together all of his explosives. There's a hallway after that and then it's Diver's office.
Are there like place where people like sleep in this space
if anyone's gonna stay here overnight, which is you, you sleep in the lounge Aaron's here for something else. You did not have a place for your belongings here. You'd had something that you kept on you all the time.
You know
where it is. You know who's got it.
The next room is the workshop, and then the hallway to Diver. Follow me,
and don't worry about the little one. And then, Lob Lob is going to just push open the next door and march right through and just expects all of you guys to follow.
This next room is pure chaos. There's there's just junk everywhere, more clockwork parts. There's a bunch of, like, lamps kind of clustered in one corner over a clean desk. It looks like things have been very recently worked on in here, but this is a tinkerer shop. It's not unlike any artifice or place that you'd any other part of town.
Is Tic in here?
Tic is not in here.
Can we see bismite in here?
There's some depleted bismite on the desk, Some some silvery heavy metal, but nothing valuable.
Okay. Attorney's gonna look around and see if she can spot anything not of this town.
Unfortunately, not. This room is sort of the opposite of magic. This is a purely scientific place.
Okay. Yeah. Journey moves along and, heads toward the hallway door Mhmm. And does the same, like, kneel down and, like, poke through the door. She doesn't love doors. She doesn't think that they're useful or she's a little peep that every everything here has doors.
Mhmm. Yeah. Lob will just keep leading the way.
Okay. With Lob leading the 5 of you, move into the next hallway. And it's a narrow hallway. It's barely to the point where you could stand shoulder to shoulder with one other person in here. You're also getting towards what are, like, additions or expansions onto this building, and the quality of the build is deteriorating the farther you go. Between some of the floorboards here, you can look down to see the city below you.
Oh, what again? Why are people building things so high up? I don't understand.
That's farewell for you.
Well, I'd like to bid it farewell. I'm just really sick of being here.
At the end of the hallway, before you even reach it, you see the door open. You see Tic stepping out, holding something in his hand. He closes the door behind him.
What you got there, Tic?
He throws it up into the air and catches it again. You've seen these before, Aaron. These are his flashbang bombs. It's pretty much his, like, go to for any robbery, but he catches it harmlessly in the air, and he says, just another banger. You're a little bit, in the way, Gove.
La will just step aside and kind of push everyone who's behind him within arms reach to, like, shove them against the wall to make room.
He looks at your single column of 5 having, like, moved off to the side of the hall to let him through. He says, someone, really ought to be guarding the door.
I mean, Ribba was there.
Right. You know, he, picks up that explosive in his hand again, and he kinda turns it over. He says, lobs, eyebrows. They're actually made of metal. It's not hair like you've done, Aaron.
Sleep. What?
I tried to cast sleep on him.
Yeah. Go
ahead. Dory falls asleep.
Okay. 20 foot radius targeting creature with, lowest HP, so I'm gonna try to place it as best I can Sure. On him, and I get to roll some dice. 25.
You see him kind of, like, smirk to himself a little bit, and then his eyes get real heavy. And he takes one little step forward, and then you see his eyes roll back into his head, and he starts to lean backwards.
I run forward
Mhmm.
And, just try to
cradle them down to the ground.
The door that tick was closing didn't shut quite all the way. The door flies open, and heavy hands reach to catch Tik, and then he stands up, a bald head, jagged metal plates over his knuckles. Built like an ox, he looks at your group and says, To what do I have the pleasure?
Diver, I take it?
Aim for flesh. He, guides Tic to the ground.
Well, we came and we had some things we wanted to discuss with you. Mind if we step in?
Everybody make a perception check. 22.
16. Okay. 11.
16. Okay. It's 12.
So I think even the 11 is capable of seeing what's happening here. I did it. As Diver lowers Tik to the
Thanks for listening to Cloudfall. I'm Hannah playing Aaron.
I'm Thomas, and I am Guy.
I'm Maggie, and I play puppy Kenmore. I'm Tara, and I play Journey.
Hey. I'm John, and I play Doran.
And I'm Tim, your GM and all the other people. See you in the next one.