Totally Reliable Childcare Services

All right. Is everybody ready? My life is complete. Go ahead. My life is complete. Go ahead. Everybody, welcome to session four of Daggerheart. We still don't have a name for this group, but regardless, welcome. Oh God, the smoke. One of you says, as the memory of stepping out of the forest into the clearing and seeing Skyland on fire washes over you, you're pulled from the story and back to now, the campfire that you are gathered around, um, with your friends, your bellies are full of good food and drink and here you're safe and sound with no immediate threats nearby. You don't feel safe though, as the memory of your first big adventure together settles in your bones. Some of you shiver like there's a chill in the air, even though it's a warm night and the drinks are making you feel warmer and the fire burns brightly nearby. The storyteller, your friend looks to you knowing that for the moment the spell is, uh, is broken. He waits patiently for you to say anything you may need to say to one another, to clear any weights from your mind before he continues. Um, go ahead, booger. No, no, no, it's fine. Please be my guest. Oh, I was just going to say that I don't think I can ever get the memory of coming out of that forest for the first time and seeing Skyland on fire. I don't think I will ever forget. Anytime I smell a campfire, like right now, it brings me back to that day. I can, I can hear the distant cries still. Why would you want to forget? I know sometimes it is easier to forget than to remember such painful memories. I've always seen you, Dad. You'd think this would be easier. The looking back on old, old tragedies, but it never, never fades. You know, I'd say I don't think of that a phase, but sometimes it gets easier over time, but there are moments when it can come back and, um, and hit you and, uh, you know, it's like you're living it all over, you know, um, again, and, you know, looking at the fire makes me, you know, sometimes, you know, think back to seeing Skyland on fire again. And, uh, it hits you, you know, deep, right? You can feel it like in your body, like it's not just, um, you know, a memory or a thought it's, it's more of a feeling for me than anything else. I don't know if anybody else has that, you know, experience of, um, you know, as, as you gaze into the, you know, kind of flames, um, and, uh, you know, um, feel what it was like to, you know, see that for the first time. I think for me, it was especially hard knowing that just previously in the days before I had enjoyed the city, um, and the festival so much, uh, I hadn't had a good time like that in a long time. And so, um, it was difficult to see a place that I only had pleasant experiences with, um, be in such disarray. Of course, you, you, Maz might have a different feeling than me seeing as you left the city. Um, and you must've had a good reason for that. I did, but I always say, you know, the feelings they come in, uh, you know, bundles, just like this, uh, you know, campfire as it sits in front of us and, you know, watching the campfire burn, you know, you can take some enjoyment, you know, from that. Um, but at the same time, uh, you know, it can be sad to watch it wither away and you can feel both of those at the same time. You know, I was trying to remember and somebody could jump in and help me is, um, what was the name of the young boy that we were trying to rescue on this, um, adventure from the bandits if someone can remind me. I got to give him, that's when I don't have my notes thing. His name was Tom. Notes tab. Tom. And the mother was his sister. And you know, I, I feel like I remember us talking to him and we were, you know, surprised by at least me by his, I couldn't tell if it was sort of naivete or if he was really, you know, happy where he was at with, um, all of those, uh, bandits. Yes. He thought he was playing a game. Or at least that's what he told us at the time. Yes. With the bandits of I'm trying to go back or trying to remember. It was a long time ago. They were the jagged knife, the jagged knife with their symbol. That was, wasn't it also a knife? It was pretty on the nose symbol here. Yeah. Yeah. The jagged knives were, yeah, their symbol was a knife. So, you know, rest, rest assured. Um, and, you know, crossing the log and of course, you know, everyone can remember, um, you know, I, I call him Barry at this point, but, um, you know, the bear that we encountered in the woods and, uh, you know, that was a, that was a great lesson for me. Um, and what was that lesson, Mass? Do tell us. What did you learn? That you, you, you don't wake a sleeping bear. Uh, and, uh, that applies in many ways and in much more ways than one. Uh, you know, that, uh, you don't want to, uh, ever, ever wake a sleeping bear. Although I will say, I think that everybody has a bear in their lives, right? Um, and, uh, you know, you never know. Um, sometimes you don't know when it's, when it's going to be woken or what the reaction will be. Right. Mass, you are full of symbolism today. I'll tell you, I've been reading some good books lately. Maybe that's why. I enjoy it. Yeah. Yeah. I was trying. Oh, go ahead. No, no, no. I was gonna say, when we're looking at the Skyland burning, I believe was the boy with us at that point. He had followed us out of the woods. Yeah. We were taking him to his parents' house, I believe. Yeah. What I still don't, I don't quite recall. Um, I know that, um, his parents have apparently paid the bandits to take him and that Amara was told of this plan. I think it was the other way. Uh, what? The bandits paid the parents. Oh, what did I say? The parents paid. The parents paid, yes. Oh, yes. Yes. The other way. The bandits paid the parents. Um, but what I don't understand is if Amara was told of this plan, why she alerted us to come find the boy. And if this was all a plan to get us out as a city. Do you guys remember? Definitely not. Definitely not. Maybe Sal can help refresh our memories so long ago. When you all quiet down, Sal slowly leans forward again and, uh, continues the story, starting off with a recap, hopefully for, uh, no, no reason because you guys have all been sitting around a campfire continuously, but all right, the recap, the celebration of the hundred year piece was interrupted by a girl named Amara who told you after publicly collapsing from something wounds exhaustion, that she had seen some bandits take her brother, Tom in the woods to the east of the city. Amara and Tom use the wood, she said, for traveling to and from their village and Skyland, it was a place they played a place. They felt safe, but Amara told you that it wasn't. And Tom was in danger. You rushed to the woods to find Tom and encountered not a few bandits, but many, and all of them eager to stab not only you, but any among their ranks who might betray their cause. You managed to fight your way through and eventually after an unfortunate run in with a bear and many, many members of the jagged knife, you found the main camp and you found Tom except after dispatching Tom's guards, you learned that the story Amara had told you may not have been the entire truth or even any of it. Tom had been safe, at least in his perception, a willing pawn in a game he likely did not understand. You took him from the forest and once you cleared the trees, the site stopped you dead in your tracks rising from Skyland like a serpent was a thick cloud of smoke. The aftermath of something you don't yet understand. Now a little bit of a note because we had some issues kind of with, I don't know, continuity, consistency, something like that. At the end of the last session, when we were in the forest, the map that I had laid out for you guys in Roll20 showed that there was basically only one exit from the forest. So you guys kind of stated that you went out that way, but that doesn't really sort of make sense with the layout of Amara and Tom traveling through the woods to go to Skyland in their village and back and forth. So here's what I want you to picture as you exit the forest to kind of make it make a little bit more sense consistency wise. Ahead of you and to the west is Skyland and you see the smoke rising and it might even be thicker than before. According to Tom, his village should be somewhere to the east away from Skyland. You can't currently see it, but it is just think of it as being like the forest being in the way to see the village. So the forest is a path that people can take from Tom's village to Skyland, but we kind of didn't have that map available on Roll20. So that was the issue. Now you have two choices for what you want to do and where you want to go. But before we go anywhere, we talked about this last time, I think, but I don't see any of it. We all should level up. You guys, you guys have done fights. You guys have won fights and it is time to take these characters from level one to level two. All right. If everybody is leveled, that was a really everybody stretch, breathe. That was a good, good long rest. You woke up after that long rest and everybody's feeling oddly more powerful somehow. Like should I have no armor slots marked? See, this is a problem. I don't remember what people did at the last long rest. So I don't know. No, then leave it, leave it. We're good. Go ahead. You would have chosen what you did. So yeah, I would think that you probably cleared the ones that you did. And then, I mean, I guess technically, if you guys want to just do a quick short rest and get your last little pieces cleared up, I don't, I don't really mind. But you wake up feeling refreshed, feeling stronger, as if you had have added new skills somehow in your sleep. And now you have a decision to make. Do you follow what you see in Skyland? Do you investigate there? Do you, do you take Tom home? What do you do? It is completely up to you. And now you can see why I spent so long planning because good luck. I have no idea what you guys are going to choose. That's okay. We don't either. What? I don't make choices. That is definitely not in my domain cart. Are you sure? It's a linear experience. Someone could, could we just forgive my ignorance, reset the scene a little bit. So we are currently coming up from a long rest. Basically after looking upon Skyland burning and we could go through the forest, well, I guess through the forest east to Tom's village. You could technically go around the forest too, if you wanted. If you, if you wanted to. Of course, we could go back to Skyland. Right. So essentially east and not visible to you currently just because of the tree line is where Tom says he lives. And west, you can clearly see floating in the sky, this giant island where you just, where you just celebrated and had fried potatoes, at least most of you. And you can see that there is something wrong. There is large plumes. Is plumes the right word? Plumes of smoke. I want to say plumes is the right word. Presumably there is or was a fire. I just can't help but think that they were trying to get us out of Skyland. It worries me that Amara lied to us. Um, that Tommy was in danger. Are you us though? Why would they try to get us out? True. They don't know us. I don't know half of you. I mean, I think if we were to go to Skyland, I don't know that it would be safe to take Tommy there. I certainly wouldn't want to take a child to a place that was on fire. Um, I agree. I can't believe I'm saying it's weak, but we can't just sit here for people that possibly pass away up there. Surely. I, um, I mean, I think we should go to Skyland, but I just don't know what to do about Tommy. I mean, is there any place nearby that is not on fire that we could drop him off with somebody responsible? I just don't think it would be a good idea to take him. Um, you can look around, see if you see anything. Do a, do an instinct role to see if you, you recognize what would be a safe place to leave a child. Uh, 19. Oh wait, no, sorry. That's a, I do the hope and fear. Yeah. Oh, sorry. I did it to 20. 19. Okay. Um, that is a 20, wait, no, 21 plus one, 22 with fear. 22 with fear from where you are right now. You, I mean, you see kind of, kind of nothing you, you see, I guess what you, what you're starting to notice is you see kind of people moving about, but they're, they look like they're moving really quickly. Um, away from Skyland. So you do see people, you don't see any, any towns or any, anything like that. Um, but you do see people moving away from Skyland. You don't know where they're going other than away from Skyland. So you do see that. Um, would I see anybody with vestiges that I like recognize, like people that are like either like me, like divine, uh, or part of a, a certain church or place that I would recognize and trust. It's a very interesting question. Um, yeah, you would, you would be able to tell as people were passing, you can kind of see, I mean, they're, they're, they seem to be fleeing, but they, they're not moving so fast that you can't recognize things. You can, you can recognize what they're wearing currently. Currently, unfortunately, you're not seeing anything that really rings any bells. Um, but you do see people, some of them are families. Some of them, you know, some of them could be helpful. Might not. Um, do you guys think we should stop somebody and ask? I mean, I don't want to just like leave this child with strangers. We either need to go for it. I want to hear what Hylos got on this one. We either need to take him to his sister or take him to his parents. Is his sister still in Skylands? So are you asking me? If we go to Skylands to find out what's going on, we also potentially could reunite Brother and Sister. There's a possibility. That's where we saw her last. Under the care of, yeah, we left her under the care of the, oh no, who was the, there was some person at the med tent who was like someone in charge supposedly. I don't remember who it was. Yeah. The, uh, the two people you talked to at the med tent, there was kind of a nurse. Um, I don't think, unfortunately we gave the nurse really a name or character much. Um, or there was, I believe the herald of the square came in to talk to you while you were in the med tent, the person who was kind of doing the, this is the start of the hundred year piece. This is the kickoff. And he came in and said that there couldn't be disturbances like this at a, at such an important event. Right. At least I sincerely hope that happened because I wrote that out and I don't remember, but it's written down. So if that didn't happen, we'll backstory for you. No, no, that was what I was remembering was he was, he was all freaking out and we left them in care of the guy that was in charge of the festivities or whatever. Yep. Cool. I'm glad my memory is lining up because I don't take a lot of notes while we're doing this because I'm paying very close attention. And then I forget as soon as we're done. I mean, there's another crazy idea. If we were feeling really crazy is that, you know, three of us could take Tom to the village and the other three of us could go to Skyland. There's only five, but yes, that is, that's how math works. Yep. Yep. Two and three, two and three. He doesn't teach math. Definitely not. We'll say Tom, we'll say Tom was one of one of the groups of threes. How about that? That's what I'm sure. Sure. Sure. Sure. That's it. Yeah. I didn't count the little boxes on the discord thing right in front of me. Just go. Yes. I don't know if splitting up is the best idea. I think we work well together and I wouldn't want anything to happen to you all while I was not around to protect you. Yeah, I agree. I'm not sure how we can. I'm not sure the best way to proceed. I think, you know, this is also our last chance to potentially even see Skyland in all of its glory, even as it, you know, burns down and may never really be the same. And we also need to try to keep Tom, I think, find him a safe place. Some inspiration has just struck me that we should split the party. No, no, no, please, please. That's not actually advice. I was just, just goofing. If you want to try to manage that, just know that it's going to be a, it's going to be a lot of time. It's going to be a lot of pain for me, but we can try it. No, no, no. I mean, I could really go either way, but I say that we try to reunite him with his, with his sister. I'm confident if we stay together, that all five of us will be able to keep him safe as we, you know, move about through Skyland. And we may find somewhere, especially at the entrance, we may even encounter his sister fleeing the city on her way out because there's only so many ways out of Skyland and we'd have to proceed back up one of the main routes for sure. She's probably not going to be able to take the airship. I, you know, she didn't seem to have those kinds of means about her. I'd imagine she'd be taking the same path. Yes, I think that's a good idea, Maas. I think, I think definitely we should stick together. But if you guys agree, I think going towards Skyland, I mean, if we have to, we can hightail it out. If it becomes too dangerous to take Tommy, but I think it's a good start at least. Does the child, maybe, does the child know his way home? He's like, how old is he? Like six? He's like nine. I want to say he's nine. Oh, okay. I guess that's not that bad. I've talked to nine-year-olds before. They know stuff. Let's ask Tommy. But there's there's a what's. You look down and he's just looking up at you guys with wide eyes, kind of looking back and forth as you're debating this. What do you think, Tommy? Would you want to go to your parents and try to find your way back or do you want to go with us to try to find your sister? I'm shrugs. That's some helpful thumbs. Yeah, you're shrugs. Shrugs. He looks looks up at you, wide, trusting eyes. You get the impression that whatever you tell him to do, he will do. I will lift him up onto my shoulders and be like, you ready for a break? I will lift him up onto my shoulders and be like, you ready for a piggyback ride? I guess a cowback ride is more. More like it. Shall we go to Skyland to find your sister? Yes. All right. Who thinks they know the way back? I mean, you all do. It's just just a path. You can see it. Yeah, you can see where you. You can follow the flames and smoke. Right. This is you are essentially, if you remember, what did we call? Shoot. What did we call the path that you guys took? Teach and named it. Skyland way. Skyland way. I think I typoed it in my notes. There's no K. Was it just Skyland way? That sounds right. So yeah, you can see your path that you took down. You remember it was a little bit treacherous, but it was not costly as opposed to the other the other paths. There is some sort of lift. There is a lift. I think we should make for the lift to see if it's still operational. And that way we're not trying to take the little boy up the more adventurous path. Fair enough. You can do that very easily. Because if you think about the positioning of of Skyland and the paths off the path that you took was the, I guess the least developed. So it was kind of the furthest off in the distance. So on the way to Skyland way that sort of treacherous path you took, you would actually pass the lift and things like that anyway. So it's very easy to do and very easy to find those giants, hellers and chains and everything. All the, all the mechanics and gears that are necessary to have an elevator going into the sky. Very easy to find them on your path. I would say on the way, I'm also keeping an eye out just seeing if anybody is paying us any particular attention. And if I can see anybody in the woods, like along the path, watching us. Okay. Yeah, you can do that. You are, yeah, go ahead and go ahead and make another, another instinct role actually. I think about it. I got double fours and then I have a plus one. So you don't even, you don't need the plus one. You get to, you get to clear your stress that you had. I know you had a stress. Yes. Remember on a crit, which is any doubles at all, including double ones on a crit, you take a hope, clear stress, and you get basically the best possible outcome. So what you notice is that while you are moving towards Skyland, you are essentially pressing into a throng of people that are moving away from Skyland for presumably obvious reasons. Something happened there and people are eager to get out as soon as they can. It's, I guess a throng is probably too strong of a word because you're coming after a little bit. So most of the people would be gone, but there are people leaving Skyland in the opposite direction, looking around, kind of scanning back the way you came towards the tree line and things. You do see a pair of eyes looking out to you from the trees. When you look at those pair of eyes, they duck back into the trees and that is all you see. But there is someone watching you. There's someone paying attention to what you are doing. Other than that, everybody else seems very wrapped up in what they are doing, which is mostly running. Is there anyone that is moving slower that we could ask what happened? Yeah, absolutely. You can stop someone. I mean, they are, when I say they're running, I mean, they are attempting to get far away, not necessarily full out sprints. So you can stop someone. I think I would nudge Hilo and be like, "Hilo, you are a good judge of character. Do any of these people look like they would be willing to share information to you?" Good question. Hilo is going to look around and see if he can see somebody that would fit that bill. Awesome. Can you roll an instinct roll for me as well? It is a 17 with fear. All right. You look around and you see someone who is not moving as fast as other people. It's a very tall creature from the looks of it appears to be a red Damon. Not to be confused with a Matt Damon. It is a, sorry. Sorry. Oh, God. Anyways. And it, I guess this, this character, tall character horns coming from the top of his head doesn't appear to be as in a rush as some of the, some of the others. And I mean, it looks, this character looks stoppable if you would like. Yeah. I think, I think I will attempt to stop said person. Okay. Remind me how tall Hilo is. Hilo is actually pretty tall. He's like six feet. For some reason I was thinking hello was short. No, Hyla's one of the few tall people in this group. All right. So, so this Damon that you stop, looks over at you, kind of looks back at Skyland and Brunt's a sort of greeting. And Hyla's like, did we miss it? Are we late? What's going on? Late? You don't, you don't know what happened. Why are you here if you don't, if you weren't? We were on our way to the festival. There's no festival anymore. Hyla looks sad. What happened? I don't know. I was, I was playing one of the games where you, you throw a ball and I don't know, you see how hard you can throw it. And then there was this, this big explosion. I think it was, there was a loud noise and then it was quieter than I think I've ever heard it. And then the screaming started and then the running and the fire. And explosion, you say? He looks unsure. Like he, I mean, it might not be the right word, but it is the best that he has in terms of describing what happened. Where? Center of the town. It was, he kind of looks down and like he's, he's lost in his thoughts a little bit about it. It was, I've seen some bad things. I've done some, I've done some bad things, but so many people. I, I don't know how many might be hurt or dead, but it's who, who would do this at the, at the festival who would do this when there are so many people. And then he kind of realizes that he's stopped on his way and says, I, I need to go. I need to be away from here. Kylo kind of glances over to, oh no. Our nice. Svetlana. Thank you, Svetlana. And look kind of gives a little shrugging motion with his shoulders. Like, did that help? Yes. Seems like something sudden happened. But this gentleman doesn't seem like he was in the middle of the fray. So unfortunately I don't think we know quite what happened still, but I think we should renew our efforts and go as fast as we can. Tommy is a, or Tom, I guess you guys have started calling him Tommy. So now I've gotten into the habit of it. Tom goes, yeah, as if in encouragement because he's on, he's, he's a cowboy right now. Almost literally. Are we close to the lifts? Also Tom has, has no sense of like actual danger. If that's not clear for his character. Anyway. Yeah. I mean, you are, you are essentially in the time that you've traveled. You're, you're not quite to the bottom of the lift. You're pretty close. You're pretty close. One thing you do notice is that a lot of the people seem to be moving from beyond the lifts area. Like they're not necessarily coming from that area. The people you do see, do seem to be coming from further away. Like from Skyland, but past the lifts. Yes. Are the lifts in operation? Try to find out. Fair enough. That's what we're here to look at, right? Yeah. I mean, if you're looking at the, if you're looking at the, the bottom of the lift, you got to imagine that it's each lift is essentially two giant pillars that run all the way up. Kind of like the tracks that the lift runs on. And then there's going to be a cross beam all the way at the top with a pulley and then chain. It's, it's, it's a very, it's well built, but it's also like, it's not like it's a super fancy design. If you remember, there was, there was some talk about falling off the lift back in the day. So you get to the bottom of the lift and you see these beams and on one of the beams, there's essentially a, there's a bell that you can ring. And that would be, I guess I should have made one of you investigate, but that would be the way that you would call the lift. So. It just walks right up and just rings the bell. All right. You ring the bell and you wait. Nothing seems to be happening. Yeah. The peers they've abandoned their post. If we look up, can we see the tops of the lift or is there cloud cover? Yeah, you can see. It's a good question. You can see the, you can see the bottom of the lift. And after the bell rings, you don't really see the lift move at all. I think you might be right. I will kill. Yeah. I think we might have no choice but to take Skyland way. Well, no time like the present. I start tracking my way. I'm used to mountains and ridges and things like that. So it's doesn't phase me hardly at all. Having the treacherous terrain. One thing you find is that the process of going up is a little bit less dangerous than the process of going down. Any of you who've been in Skyland frequently might, I guess, might know that people who traveled to and from Skyland a lot will often use Skyland way to get up because you know, traveling downward, you have that downward momentum, a lot more chance of falling, traveling upward. You are, it's a little bit less treacherous than it, than it normally would. And so some people will travel up Skyland way and then paid to take the lift or other methods down. So in general, you don't have to, I mean, we've already done a roll for Skyland way. So I'm not going to, I'm not going to make you guys roll to try to traverse it again. You make it to the top of Skyland way. And what you find is that the, the once beautiful city is destroyed. It is much like the, the Damon told you, it essentially looks like either a giant explosion went off somewhere in the center and sent out fire and rubble and all of these things out from the center or maybe smaller explosions happened in kind of a radius around the center. There are still buildings standing, but pretty much things are destroyed. Things are on fire. The closer you would get to the center, the more smoke there would be. It is not the place that you remember from just, I guess 12 hours ago, essentially. In the 12 hours you've gone, something has, has happened. So you are, let me switch the map here. You traveled up somewhere, somewhere around here. And so you kind of entered near where crap. What was the name of the potato stand that you guys spent so much time at? Podres potato. You traveled up somewhere near where you, many of you met by Podres potatoes, which I think was canonically like slightly west of you, but you don't imagine that Podres potatoes is still in operation. Do we see like bodies of people around or are those, is it mostly rubble and like buildings collapsed? It's a lot of, a lot of environmental destruction. It's possible if you investigate, you might find more than that, but it is, it is just a lot of, a lot of destruction and things like that. And if you'd like to look for bodies, you'd like to look for bodies. You can. Where we left the sister was in a medical tent by the amphitheater. So if we make our way around, you know, like the outskirts of the Island there, will we skirt, you know, most of the fire danger is, or is just the whole place is falling apart. I would, yeah, I would think of it more like you're kind of in the, that after aftermath of it. So at least where you are right now, there doesn't appear to be any immediate danger from whatever happened, but probably a good idea to stay out from under the tall buildings. Noted. So yeah, if you would like to take the, the path on what the east side going up, is that what you're thinking? Kind of like along this line, like, is that where you're thinking? Yeah. Okay. Yeah. You are welcome to do that. I would say I, as we move along, um, Svetlana while trying to be, um, efficient and quick, because she knows it's important that we find Amara, she would be scanning to try to see if there was anybody in need of help or assistance, uh, specifically like people trapped under rubble that she could help, you know, move rubble off of people. Yeah. Go ahead and make a, uh, kind of just a general, sorry that I keep asking you to make the same role, but you guys keep looking for things. So make another instinct. Sorry. Um, I got a, 15 plus one, 16 with fear. Okay. 16 with fear. Giving you a lot of ammunition. You do, you do almost immediately, um, see a building that has fallen down and a big chunk of wall is, is down on the ground and you're looking and you see that you see an arm from underneath. Uh, the arm is currently not moving, but you do see that. Um, well, it's not moving. That doesn't, uh, do well. Well, I just, you know, I have to set my priorities, you know, if, if it's, if they're moving, then I will, I would try to get them out of this, but, um, I, I feared the damage is already done. Um, so I would maybe like go and poke at it or, you know, like, are you okay? When you poke it, the, the arm does move slightly. Oh, well then immediately I take Tommy off of my shoulders and I attempt to lift the rubble on top of the arm as a seize this and, you know, runs into a system lift. Okay. I was going to say it's pretty heavy, so you might want to, uh, you might want to see if you can get some help. Um, all right. So I'm going to have Svetlana make a strength roll to attempt to lift this, uh, this piece of wall off of, uh, off of whoever you found. Can I possibly use my experience of fear my strength now free of burden or no? Yeah. That's not necessarily fearing. Yeah. I was going to say, I'm not sure the person underneath would be afraid of you lifting a wall off of them, but yeah, I won't use it then. Um, okay. So you do have a, uh, you do have advantage due to, uh, mass helping you. So, so that means I roll twice. Maz I believe rolls a D six and then you add that and spend the hope. Believe that is correct. Thank you. Do I spend a hope you spend a hope to help an ally. Got it. Am I still rolling my hope in my fear die? Yes. All pretty much all of your roles and lessons damage rolls or hope and fear. Okay. Um, that is a 20 plus three. So 23. Okay. Plus four, uh, with hope. With hope. Very good. That Lana kind of bends at the legs, not at the back and, um, with strength earned over the course of a, of a difficult life begins to, to lift the wall off of, uh, off of this person. Um, unfortunately with all of sweat Lana's muscles, she still is not quite able to lift it, but Maz rushes in and gives a helping hand or in this case, probably two and together. And wings together. They don't live with your wings. Well, wait together, they manage to get the wall just high enough that it is no longer on top of the person and it is held just above them, but due to injuries, it's possible that they are not able to move on their own. Hi, low. You know, help us help, help get this person out from underneath here. I don't know how long I can hold this. Um, okay. Hi lows like, um, he comes over and he tries to kind of pry the person out quickly, but also very concerned about doing extra damage to him. So he's like a little hesitant. I think that's easy enough to do. You guys are, uh, okay. You guys are skilled adventurers and you guys would be careful. Um, so high low polls, what you see to be a human male out from underneath the, uh, out from underneath the rubble and manages to get them free. And you guys can drop it. Yeah. I was going to say, you guys can keep holding it if you want to. I don't want to, I don't want to assume you're going to drop it, but I assume as soon as you know, there, that person's clear. The person, like I said, human male, he appears to have suffered pretty extensive injuries. He looks in pretty bad shape, but you do see that he is breathing. I would rush up to him and kneel down and say like, where does it hurt the most? Is he conscious? He is, uh, good question. Barely conscious and breathes out. Everywhere. I'm sorry. Could he breathe it a little louder? Everywhere. That's what he said. Is there any like clearly like broken bones? Oh, there are many clearly broken bones. What would you say is his most serious injury from Svetlana, who is a healer. She would know like, what is the most like? When, when the wall fell, he, he attempted to put his arms up as any person would likely do when something was about to fall on them. And so imagine putting your arms up to catch something that weighs considerably more than you're able to lift and then getting crushed by it. So if you are looking at the most injured portion of the body, you're probably looking first at his arms and torso. Okay. I would say she takes both of her hands and places them under his elbows. And as she does, she like a little light extends from her hands into his elbows and up his arms. And you can see the bones like coming back into place, extending out and you can see physically the mending taking place. So she spends two hope to heal a hip point from him. It's kind of a horrifying image for the rest of you. Svetlana may be used to it after a history of healing, but watching some bones and skin and everything kind of so itself back together in front of your eyes. It's not something a lot of you are used to seeing. So it's, it's a little bit horrifying, but, um, after, after this healing, you do see him kind of take a big deep breath from his chest and what you've done has helped. I wouldn't say he's necessarily out of the woods yet, but he is in no immediate danger from what you can see. Kylo can't stop watching it, even though his metallic skin actually gets a greenish tinge to it for some reason. And I think that's rust. He's got to be careful about that. Oh no, that'd be red. Oh, my bad. Yeah. Yeah. Um, is he well enough now? Are we now what? I think he will live, but, um, he will need to attend to his wounds. Um, I don't, is there a place we can take him in the city that you think might still be, um, might have like medical, um, personnel? I mean, shouldn't we be on the way to the medical tent? Yeah. Can we like put him, I just, I hesitate to move him because he probably has other broken bones. I hesitate to take on any additional responsibilities in this uncertain environment. He was saved and maybe, you know, put him, you know, sort of in a recovery position at the edge of the walkway. Did he like hung over? Like, like what's going on? Um, no, I think that this is a spot where you've done your work and you've done your deed and unfortunately some things we have to, you know, leave to others and you've already done good work today. Um, as you know, indicates sort of nodding forward to then, you know, move on from, um, from there because, you know, we, we can't fix everything. I would give him some water out of my flask and say, you know, please wait here. Um, if we reach help, we will send someone back for you, um, to help you out of the city. I mean, if you're able to move, you can try to flee, but if you stay here, we will send someone back for you. The, the narrow grasp of consciousness that he was holding onto is, uh, has slipped and he has, he has passed out potentially due to his arms essentially reforming on his body. But Svetlana, you know, you know enough from experience caring for people, um, that he, like I said, he is not currently in immediate danger. He is, I mean, I guess, you know, there, there could be a bear hiding around the corner, but at least in, from what you have healed, he is, he is not in danger of dying from those wounds that you attended to. In the first we find in the city would be pretty well trained. You know, not being a fancy. That's what they want you to think, Kylo. That's what they want you to think. Um, you know, when, um, as this, you know, scene kind of closes, you know, Mazz, um, starts to walk off, you know, in the same direction that we were moving to, you know, work our way towards, um, right where we believe that Tom's sister, you know, last was, um, and kind of, you know, leads the party, uh, looking up towards the broken and continually breaking buildings around her. Um, yeah, there's, there's not a lot of like, there's not a lot of super tall buildings on the outskirts, but you do hear and see further pieces of architecture essentially falling. Um, maybe nearby you, you see like, you know, there was a, there was some kind of food stand nearby. Um, and you know what we'll say there was that there was a fried pickle stand and it looks like it maybe got the worst of it. Um, as if there was some type of vendetta specifically against this food. No, um, you do see, you do see more possibly do that more, more things falling and breaking as kind of underlying structure. Uh, do I smell potatoes anywhere? You smell a lot of burning meat. It doesn't make you hungry. Got it. Okay. Um, then also Maz, Mazel can, you know, continue to walk glance back at her companions and, you know, sort of gesture them forward or any vigilance for anything, you know, falling or, you know, crumbling around us. Um, you know, and trying to be wary too, since we did just encounter those bandits that, you know, we don't know quite what we may encounter, you know, here in the city. As we're walking through this, uh, the sea, um, Bogota is just gradually getting more and more gray as all of, all of the, like, all the dust in the air just kind of sticking to her skin, slightly moist skin. Where did Bogota go? Has anybody looking out for anything in particular? I mean, I know Maz is looking out for bandits. Is anybody else looking out for anything else in particular? I mean, I'm still looking out for people in distress. Okay. Um, you will definitely encounter more people in distress as you travel alone, rather than kind of making you do specific roles for, for every, because there's going to be a lot of people. There were a lot of people here. There's going to be a lot of people in danger. Um, rather than doing individual roles for each wounded person that you find, uh, why don't we do a single, let's do a single strength role, just to kind of say that you are, you are rescuing the people that you come across. Well, that's not super great, but, uh, 14 with fear. With fear. Okay. Just giving them more, giving them more. I think I'm, I'm getting tired and I know we have a mission to get to. So like, I'm not maybe trying my hardest to lift things. I know, you know, this is a problem too big for me to solve, but I'm still not willing to give up. Yeah. You come across people in very different states of distress. Um, you are able to very easily attend to the people who are, I mean, they're, they're injured. You know, maybe they got hit by a rock that was falling. Um, things like that. You're able to attend to the people who are not currently in immediate danger. Um, you do also encounter some people that without some extra care, you just, you, you won't be able to, to help. So yeah, I would say you do your best for everybody you come across. You manage to, to make the path that you, the path that you follow, I guess safer for the people that you encounter on the way. I mean, as Maz, uh, notices this as a, you know, an astute observer, um, she, you know, it kind of grabs just above Svetlana's, you know, wrist, um, looks at her and says, you know, a lesson that I've had to learn is that, you know, we try to carry our burdens, uh, with us. And at some point we need to know that, you know, they're too heavy to continue to carry. And once we can finally let that go, um, it frees us to also do the work that we really need to do. Cause we cannot do it all. And then, you know, kind of indicates to her to keep, you know, moving forward, but sees that she is, um, you know, continuing to go and aid those as she can, as we, you know, walk, walk towards, um, our destination. As Maz says this to Svetlana, she breaks down in tears and, uh, she says, uh, but with Kor, I can bear anything. I should be able to bear this. Kor, where are you? And her heart is just breaking because, um, she's, she's seen some crap in her day. Um, she's helped a lot of people, but she's never seen a catastrophic event quite like this before. Um, just the number of casualties. And so she, she always thought that she could help anybody she came across. And so this is a new low, but she, she heeds Maz's advice and keeps moving forward. That is a difficult lesson that we all, you know, must learn at some point, even though we don't like it. And you know, continues to walk forward. When you arrive at the, what was once the medical tent, um, you find it crushed underneath a pile of rubble that if you take a second to look around, you don't really think that anything tall enough was nearby to have fallen here. It is almost like whatever happened, the people who did this knew that this was a vulnerable place. And they focused some of their energy to, to cause pain here. Are there any, actually, I mean, there's gotta be, um, any sort of like ledges, pieces of buildings, boxes, things like that, that one could climb on. Climb on top of what? To get higher up. Oh, just to get a view. Yep. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. So, um, to be clear, you, you won't know for sure if you climb on top of rubble, if you're not pressing rubble further down on people. So it might be worth investigating that. But who are you talking to right now, buddy? Who are you talking to? I know my characters that I have here. So I just wanted to give you, you also have wings. You don't really need to climb. No. So, uh, Maz starts to flap, um, you know, her wings to get a little bit higher up in the air, seeing, you know, a bit of rubble nearby, places a foot on the rubble to test whether or not it feels sturdy. Okay. Feels like a pile of rock. Feels like a pile of rock. Cool. Places a bit more weight on it, but leans into her wings more to get a little bit more air to jump up a bit further, um, to look around and get a lay of the land to see if there's any, you know, people of note, uh, again, especially still looking out for bandits more than anything else as a top concern, because Maz has the inkling in the back of her mind that, um, this, the, these folks, the, um, the jagged knife, um, is, um, at, behind this ultimately. Um, and, uh, also to see if she can see what caused, you know, the, the collapse, you know, is there any clear indication of that looking around? Okay. Um, give me an instinct to roll for all, for all of that, I guess. Yeah. It's a lot of things to try to perceive all at once. Oh my gosh. Uh, it's a 10 with fear. 10 with fear. Okay. You, you, you press a foot off, off the rock and, um, seems to give ever so slightly as you, as you jump, um, you don't fall, but, uh, it doesn't help you get any higher. And frankly, all you see is what you see, all you see in the distance, I guess, is what you see nearby. You see, uh, buildings that have fallen down. You see smoke, especially looking off in the distance. You, you pretty much see just a thick cloud of smoke that seems to be towards the center of, of town. Um, and not much else. You don't really see anything else that attracts your, your attention. And as a flaps her wings slowly to sort of glide back towards the ground, turns around towards the, um, the group and says, well, I, all I see is destruction as, as, as far as I can see, you know, there's nothing around that gives me any idea of what happened. And I, I didn't see any people, um, but I, I, you know, I'm not confident there's nobody, you know, hiding or lurking around, but I think we should, you know, work our way around the medical tent to, um, see if there's, um, anyone left, um, around from who we had seen before the, uh, the Herald, anybody else who, you know, may still, you know, be in the area. Can I, uh, cautiously check out the sky above us to make sure no more buildings are going to fall out of nowhere onto this tent? You sure can. Uh, easy enough to do. Um, there's some smoke, um, and also you're high enough that the smoke kind of mingles in with the clouds. So you don't have perfect vision, but you don't see anything that is a immediate threat. Waiting to drop buildings on our head. Right. You do that. You do not see in a looming building. Uh, okay. All right. Perfect. Somewhere in between it's, it's a structure more than a tent. Um, but it is a temporary structure because obviously this is the, the town or the city, I guess of Skyland was, was rearranged, um, kind of dressed up for the festivity. It's not always like this. It's not always going to be a town that has a, uh, a bunch of games and a bunch of, uh, food stands and those sorts of things. Like people do business here as well in the normal times, but it's kind of all been shuffled around and people have made room for temporary structures and things like that for the celebration. So, um, not brick, but it is as the temporary structure though, it's probably lighter, um, material than like a normal building structure would be. Right. Yes. Not, it was not, not designed intended to, uh, to take anything falling on top of it. Hmm. Is there a way that we can start kind of moving some of the, um, the fallen structure, like apart, like, can we see like where the main area was? Like, if there's a way to move stuff out to see if there's anybody inside the building when it collapsed. Like you're trying to clear things away from the medical building to see if there was, okay. Those of you who kind of were paying close attention, I'm going to say Boga in particular was doing a lot of observing when you were, when you were last in Skyland. So Boga could be the one to tell you like, this is the area that I remember the tent or medical building. I should probably stop calling it a tent since it's not technically a tent. It's just like a big festival thing. You know, the medical tent. Anyway, Boga would be the one who could say this is the area that the medical tent was. And then from there, you can, uh, yeah. I mean, do you want to clear out? Well, first of all, Boga, do you want to share that information? I guess would be a good question. The best of my recollection, I would, I would try to try to share what I could. Okay. Yeah. And you kind of spotty because I didn't really spend much time around the medical tent. Oh, that's fair. Yeah. Boga kind of points you in the right direction. And then I guess, how do you want to kind of clear out the area? Like, are you thinking these are pretty big pieces of rock? Are you thinking big pieces one at a time? Like what's your, what, what kind of plan are you looking at to clear this area away? I would say Svetlana would start from the perimeter and go in. She doesn't, definitely doesn't want to go on top of any of the rubble just in case it is on top of people and she knows how heavy she is. So starting from the outside, she would tie ropes around the big pieces. She has 50 foot of rope. She would tie it around and pull. She has very good pulling strength from her years on the farm and would attempt to pull it farther away into the street. Just getting piece by piece, knowing that there might be people trapped inside of the building. Okay. Is anybody else helping or is everybody gonna watch? There's no wrong answers. There's no judgment in that. I just want to understand. Boga feels like she's kind of on the sidelines a bit too much in this scenario. She's usually quite scared but she feels a weird drive to help to try and find someone, if anyone, by kind of seeing if she can find space in the rubble she can climb into and move around in. Okay. Maz opts to sort of seize this movement towards getting inside of the rubble but starts to sort of walk slowly around the periphery of the fallen structure and then looks back and says, you know, I'll try to, you know, I'll look at the other sides of the medical tent to see if there's also an easier way in and to see if there's anybody else around. And so Maz starts to walk, you know, slowly and cautiously, shockingly, around the outside of the structure while looking carefully at it and for anybody else around. Okay. Boga. Can I approach and try to use my big ears to hear if anything is shifting or if there's, you know, any noise from any potential survivors under the rubble, any calls of distress? You don't hear anything at the moment, Uriel. You don't hear anything at the moment. Can Boga and Maz both roll an instinct roll for me, please? I've got a 12 with hope. Okay. Take a hope if you... 19 with fear. 19 with fear. Okay. While Maz is circling around and Svetlana is kind of furiously clearing rubble as quickly as she can, Uriel, the things that you're hearing are essentially your friends' activities. They are not concerned about making a lot of noise. So you are hearing a lot of rustling and things, but as far as you're aware, what you're hearing is Svetlana moving rubble and Maz kind of pacing about and Boga digging into the rubble to find something. And Boga actually in searching finds manages to pull out a bandage with some blood on it. Like a, not a band-aid, but like a wrap with some blood on it as if it was wrapped around someone who was bleeding to try to stop the bleeding. But as of right now, you don't find anybody else in the, you're not finding anyone in the rubble. You're essentially finding what you would expect to find in a medical building, but you haven't found any, any people, any living people. Well, I guess that sounded ominous. You haven't found any dead people either. You haven't found any people. Okay, good. There is still considerable, like it, if you want to spend more time digging, you might find a different answer, but cause there's a considerable amount of like debris here. But for right now, you haven't found any signs that there is anyone here. Can you refresh me on kind of roughly wherever you'd be on the map right now? Kind of North. If you're as a fur bug, do I have a keen sense of smell? I don't know. I don't know. Do you? I mean, I assume as an animal, like, yeah, I'll allow it. If I stop, you know, for a moment to like smell out of gap, do I smell, I guess what Amara smelled like? I imagine I would have had a bit of her smell in my memory of, you know, I don't know. Or if that's, if that's not realistic, maybe do I smell blood or that type of thing? Yeah. I mean, you do get the, you do get the sense from, from smelling that they're like, that this was a place where injured people were, but there isn't any sense that you have that there is someone here at the moment. It's not like super strong. It's like, Right. It does not smell like death or anything like that currently. I think I would relay this information to the rest of the team and be like, I smell, I smell it. They were here, but I don't know if they're here anymore. Maybe they made it out in time. So that's very possible. And I wonder if we might find more if we went back towards the amphitheater where we originally saw Amara collapse, right? Because that's, if I recall, I believe that's where she collapsed, right? And towards the, in the amphitheater. Yeah. She essentially went on stage. And I was going to suggest we look around to see if there's anybody coordinating rescue efforts, the emergency response team. It's a good thing to look for. That is a good thing to look for. Yeah. Svetlana is not super intelligent per se. So she didn't really think to look for any of that stuff. She's just, she kind of gets on a mission to, to find somebody and kind of forgets that there's proper protocols for that. So she'll, she'll defer to you guys. I will say that in your immediate area, you don't see even without a, any type of role you don't see or hear. There's no signs that nearby anybody is mounting any type of rescue, but Skyland is a big city. Are there city officials anywhere? Like you don't, you essentially don't see any, any movement where you are from, from what you see right now. I mean, maybe you would, you could go back along the path that you saw and like re-encounter the people that you rescued moving, but you're not seeing anyone. Everything that happened here seemingly happened so quickly that the people who could leave, you may have seen them leave already and the people who couldn't leave probably couldn't leave for a reason. So if we're to believe the demon that we met on the road, whatever happened here happened suddenly. So I'm interested to know if it was one sudden explosion or if there was something that warned people to leave the vicinity before, you know, the place collapsed. You know, I agree with Svetlana. I wonder if that part is true. I don't think that that demon had any reason to tell us anything, but the truth, right? It seemed to be fleeing the city, much like anybody else was. And actually now that we, you mentioned the demon, did he say that it happened towards the center of the city? I believe he did. Yeah, I think so. So like center of the city being like here. Yeah. Geographically the center. Yeah. I mean, just to the point that Michaela made, we'll say it's more of a cultural center of the city. So not quite dead centered. Again, these maps that we are using are not perfect representations of what I envisioned. So yeah, somewhere the big center of the city buildings would be, but yeah, around there somewhere. And that is where the demon named Matt suggested that you would, I can't get it out of my head. That is where he suggested things happened. Every demon is now named Matt in this entire universe. Wait, doesn't he have a brother? He doesn't know. He does. Yeah, he does. Yeah. He's got like, yeah. Hmm. I can't remember his name. Oh well. It doesn't really matter. Does it Ben? Ben Affleck? Ben Damon? Doesn't suck. I don't listen. Kyle Damon. Anyway, so Uriel suggested looking for the people who might be helping. Yeah. Or officiate. Yes. Maybe probably going more towards the center. Cool. I will follow your lead. You know, Maz nods in agreement. It's, yeah. Sounds like a huge plan. Ariel heads off, you know, after making sure the group is following behind, heads off a little way in the front with Pazu. Might try to scout out a little bit, just not real far. Cause we don't want to get separated, but just, just trying to get a little bit of distance so that she could hear or see anything that would be helpful to the group. Okay. Go ahead and roll. Man, we're doing today is the day of instinct roles. Give me an instinct role, please. That's 16 with hope. 16 with hope as you get a take a hope by the way. Okay. So I didn't say that, which I did. Okay. I forgot I was going to use a thing. Use the thing. I have the, hold on. What's it called? Experience. Spend three hope and increase your evasion by one until your next short rest. Okay. Is that just an ability? It's a unique hope feature. That's my unique hope feature for the ranger. Oh, cool. Sounds good to me. So make sure you note that until you guys take a rest, your evasion is now 13 and also drop three hope and then you can add one again since you rolled with hope. All right. Thank you. Yeah. As you move closer to the center of the city, you start to hear something that you haven't heard so far since you've been back to Skyland and that is the sounds of life. It is, it is not a lot, but you do hear movements in the distance. You can't exactly make out what's being said, but you hear speaking and from the sounds of it, you're getting closer. Well, relay this information to the party and move towards the voices. Okay. Sounds good. Are you moving cautiously or are you moving not cautiously? I think cautiously. Yeah. Okay. So is everybody, first of all, is everybody following Uriel? Well, you know, Hilo follows the cat whenever possible. So sounds good. So where's, where's the cat going? Where's Pazu? Pazu is at my side. Okay. Okay. Then yeah, sure. Sounds good. Okay. I, I'm also following, I'm not as agile as the rest of the people and therefore, you know, I, I trip and fall sometimes and I'm a little louder than everyone else. So I try my best to be stealthy, but I'm still a cow. So sounds good. Okay. So everybody is kind of moving quite as quiet as they can. Um, yes. Yes. Okay. Wanna just want to check on that. Let's, uh, take, Mass takes the cue, even though it's not our preference to go, uh, you know, about, you know, more cautiously, although also with some urgency, you know, with concern over, you know, what's actually happening in the city. Sounds good. Uh, Uriel is going to, because of the situation, Uriel is going to lead a group action role in some stealth to try to move quietly. So I'm going to need all of you to roll a finesse roll with your 2d12s. And let me know what you got. Okay. And can I, oh, I forgot to add to that earlier. It's fine. Um, but what, uh, I have the carbuscular experience for, uh, more alertness at Donner desk, if that applies. Sure. Yeah. We'll, we'll say it's, uh, it's still morning. Yeah. Okay. That's good. Not sure that really helps. That's going to be 10 with fear. Okay. 10 with fear. So Atlanta, what did you roll? Uh, 10 with fear. Um, I do have my paradise. Um, I'm wondering. I can add that to any role result after the role. I think I can do that for other people too, right? Not just myself to aid yourself or an ally. Yeah. So I could give that to Uriel to, I don't know how helpful that would be in this situation. What do you think Uriel? I think neither of us have managed over 50% role at this point. So maybe it's not with wasting it. Okay. But if, if everybody, I mean, do you have to do it right now? Does, does everybody roll? Yeah. Maybe wait to see what other people got. Sounds good. Maz, what did you roll? 13 with hope. Okay. Boga and Hilo, please. I have an 11 with hope. What just happened? I have Boga said B or B. Okay. Oh, they're back. And back. Hi Boga. Hello. You are. We're doing a group finesse roll. Oh, fantastic. Can I ask another question? I'm so sorry for all my questions. Please don't apologize for asking questions. Okay. So mine's a 12 for clarification. I have minus one finesse. Okay. Oh, I was going to ask, do you do subtract when that's your trait? Yes. Whatever is on your, whatever is on your traits, you, you do change that. Yeah. My question is about the prayer dice and it says at the beginning of the session, roll a number of D four dice equal to your spell cast trait. And then I realized that I had increased my spell cast straight, which is strength to plus, plus one, with the level up. Does that count for the paradise for the session? So should I roll another paradise then? Sure. Since I have three now. Okay. So now I have two fours and a two to use if anybody needs it. Wow. So. And Boga, what did you roll for this? I rolled a 19 with hope. Amazing. Take a hope. Um, I am full. I hope so. Can you, do you have any experience you could contribute to the group role, which is kind of suffering that you spend a hope on? You have to do that beforehand, right? So with, with group roles, uh, the leader is the initial, just as a, like a little refresher, the leader is the result and anybody who passes adds one to the leader's result, anybody who fails subtracts one, the leader's result. Okay. They've already passed. That's what you're saying. Or failed. Yes. It's all, it's already, uh, it's already happened. The die has been cast. So with, uh, with all of the chaos and all of the smoke, um, and I guess just the, as you get closer to the sounds, I know where this is going. You don't get, you don't get any sense that anybody has noticed you approaching, but you do see, um, through the smoke, you can't make out who it is, but you do see a person across a, uh, basically across like a, a street, I guess we'll call it. You do see a person across the street who from listening, stopping and listening silently seems to be telling people things to do in terms of trying to handle the situation. I guess there seems to be someone who has taken charge and you have managed to get within a street's distance of them and you don't think you've been noticed. You're a little would like to approach this person. Okay. I'm a, I'm a, you know, I get straight to the point and find out what's going on kind of goblin. Okay. Are you stealthing towards this person or now that you have gotten close enough for you marching up to them or somewhere in between? Oh, I'm marching. As you kind of walk through the smoke, it's almost opens around you like a, like a curtain and what you see, um, leaning against the wall, very injured is the herald of the square. And he, uh, he has blood on his head. His arm is in a sling, but he is doing his best to tell the few other people that you can kind of see milling about, um, things that they should do. So he's saying things like you over there. I think there's someone underneath that rubble or, um, get those people to the Skyland way. Things like that. Approach him. Not just, just normally, I suppose not, not threateningly or I was like, you approach him. Not what does that mean? That was a pause. Not, uh, and ask what happened. What is going on? He, uh, for a minute, he looks at you and like, it's almost like he is struggling to recall who you are. And then it kind of, it lights up in his eyes and he says, it's you. Oh, thank God. It is me. Answer the question. He kind of blinks and touches his hand to his forehead and asks you to repeat it. We've just returned and we're trying to find out what is going on. We're trying to find out what's going on too. All we know is what we can see. And that's, we were in the middle of the festivities and suddenly everything happened. All at once there was, there was a loud crash and a bang and it is like fire came down from the sky. And he kind of hangs his head and says, we, we had warning systems in place, magic that was supposed to alert us if there was danger. And it all happened so fast that those of us who are still alive are trying to put the pieces together. Did anybody see anything suspicious? Anything? I don't know. I'm trying to figure out if it was like airships in the sky or. Someone was at on ground level. Someone, as they were leaving, mentioned a large shadow over the city. And he kind of, they weren't, things shouldn't be over the city. Things, the city is, is over things like it. He is struggling to, to form his thoughts in a, in a comprehensible way. Like he has been in the middle of some kind of terrible event and is attempting to guide people to help, but also barely is able to, to think coherently. Understandable. Looking around, is there anybody else we should speak to? Take, you know, there are other people who interview witnesses. Okay. Good boy. There are other people who are lifting, like lifting rubble, looking for survivors, kind of similar to what you guys were doing. They are, they probably don't want to stop and have a chat. I mean, it is up to you whether or not you, you talk to them, whether or not you help those sorts of things, but it is a. Yeah. The people that you see are very, other than the Herald of the square, who does not appear to be able to do a whole lot. They don't seem to be slowing down any. Anybody else have questions, suggestions? Svetlana, how are you feeling? Are you still tired? Is there any chance you could help the Herald? Yes, that's a good, good thought. And I go up to the Herald and I say, is there anything I can do to help you? I'm a healer. He waves you off and says, no, there are, there are so many, so many people in worse shape. You don't. I am hurt. But I will be okay. Thank you. And he looks like he gives you a very, very sad, but sincere smile in terms of like you offering to help him. And he. He just kind of mutters again that he doesn't understand there were. This was supposed to be a joyous event and there were so many safeguards in place. And he doesn't understand how this could have happened. Where were you when it happened? Were you in the empathy? No, I, I, I, I was simply doing, doing my duties at the, at the event, making my presence seen. I'm a representative of, of the leaders and the pronouncement that the event had begun was, was long beyond when this happened. This was, you know, that was half a day ago at this point. So as far as I know, the amphitheater was empty and I was just making my presence seen so that way people would know that the leaders are here and, and care about them and that the people were safe. That was, that, that was my role to be visible and present. You mentioned that there's magic in place to protect the city. Who is in charge of keeping up that magic? The, the, the wizards of the, the leader of the leaders of the west and the east of the country. Does anybody remember their names? Do I remember their names? Not the wizards, the, the actual leaders. Remember there was two, shattered lands was split into basically two halves and each side had a leader and they agreed that Skyland would be raised into the sky as an example of like the peace between them. I believe it was queen Margaret. I'm trying to remember who the other one was. I think it was prince Amatus. I think those were the two leaders. What's Amatus Hugh? Okay. So I believe those were the, I believe that those were the Amata kick him out of here. So the, the people responsible were the, the wizards of queen Margaret and prince Amatus. They, they set up some, I don't know how it works. I am not a man of magic, but they set up some kind of system that was supposed to warn us if something like this would happen. I don't know why it would have failed. Have you heard of any diplomatic relations between the two? Any issues between the East and the West? He smiles a little bit and says, whenever it comes to power and control, there will always, always be issues. But this was to demonstrate that those issues can be overcome. That's, that's what the hundred year peace celebration was. I just wonder if somebody didn't agree that we were living in a peaceful time and they were using this festival as a demonstration of that, or I guess the destruction of this festival as a demonstration. It, it, it very much looks that way, but who would do this? Kylo ignores the who would do this question because it's come up a couple of times. And he's making it out of it. What about the girl? He asks his peers. Thank you for clarifying because I was about to answer. Go ahead. You mean Amara? I couldn't remember the name, so thank you for providing it. Now the guy can ask. I was actually going to ask the Herald if he had seen her since the amphitheater. So I would ask the Herald. It's the curious, the most curious thing. As soon as you all left, the nurse reported to me that she did as well. Hmm. Almost. Almost as if she wasn't injured at all. I, I, I didn't think much of it at the time, but now that you bring it up, do you think that's related? I have my suspicions. I think she's involved more than I'd like to believe. But we're just looking around. Where's Tawny? He can't see because of all the, uh, the dust getting in the way. Too dusty. Well, he was on my shoulders, but I took him down whenever I went to go clean up the rubble. I'm going to leave this one up to you guys, uh, because I noticed that no one has talked about Tommy for a while now. So has anybody been, children should be seen, not hurt. Has anybody been keeping an eye on Tommy specifically? No one, no one has mentioned it. No, no, because, because, uh, Svetlana had him and then she put him down to go pick up stuff. And then who knows? I just, I, what I was going to say is that you guys notice that you can no longer find Tom, but I also didn't want to like, if someone was like, I was intending to keep an eye on her. You know, I didn't want to take that from anybody. I kind of thought I was going to keep him on my shoulders the whole time, but I did. I was helping like lift people out and I don't think I could have done that with him on my shoulders. So I don't know. I will leave it up to all of you. If you, I think that's, I still dig that he's gone. I think that things and did the things. And yeah, now I just, I just, uh, I didn't want to like, seem like I was like power gaming or anything in terms of taking that from you guys, but yeah, Tom, Tom's gone. He's gone. I I've been shaking my head that you're not power gaming, but I turned my camera off during the break and I returned it back on. So Tom's gone. So what was the name of this cult? Cause we may, we may know who it was again. It was the dagger people, jagged knife, jagged knife people, jagged knife. Okay. So so high low glances around and not seeing the kid. Now that he's been mentioned size as deeply as a mechanical lungs, lung, the person can love it. And, um, I believe that's called a bellow when it's mechanic. Fair enough. And those are bellows. That's not the same thing. Okay. And mentions to the Herald, uh, we've encountered some people, they call themselves something of the jagged knife question mark in his voice. Like maybe this person's heard of it. His eyes, eyebrows, not his eyes. That's horrifying. His eyebrows shoot up when you mentioned, mentioned the jagged knife. His eyes literally go into his skull. Right. It's very cool. He's lost consciousness. He does like a cartoon like, ooh, no. Exactly. He, uh, his, his eyebrows go up rapidly when you mention him and he says the jagged knife. Do you think they have something to, I couldn't do this there. And he looks kind of left and right. They're idiots. The, the worker, the people we've encountered have not been terribly bright either. However, there seems to be a series of unusual coincidences involved. I don't know how much I can tell you about the jagged knife, but I can say that even a city in the sky has to have an underbelly and that's, we have in the past run a foul of the jagged knife or rather, I suppose the jagged knife have run a foul of the laws and precepts of the city of Skyland and a few just so happen to be detained in the dungeon below the city. Are we sure they're still there? Well, I mean, when you have a dungeon inside of a rock and you heat the outside of the rock, there's always a chance of the oven effect, I suppose. But last I knew before all of this, they were still within. It was, it was simply, I was told it was not of any benefit to move them before the festival. Would the dungeon there in Skylands be near or about the town center where the initial damage seems to have occurred? The dungeon runs underneath most of the town or the city. It would be very tough to talk about a part, I mean, it's a big dungeon. It would be tough to talk about a part of the town that wouldn't be above it, but that's an interesting point. And once we have the people necessary to investigate, that is something that we can do. But right now, everybody who's left is doing their best to try to find who they can and save who they can. Ariel sort of flourishes her robe that she wore for the city festivities and is still traipsing around in. I heard you need people to investigate. I fear we've already asked you all too much. Was there trouble in the forest? Did you find the boy? What? And it kind of like, it's like dawning on him in waves almost where he had sent you or at least encouraged you to go before. Like, why did you come back? What happened in the, I, I, and then he gets a little dizzy and kind of has to steady himself against the wall. Mass. Fill him in. So mass fills them in. Patented mass recap. Recap. Flawless. And you know, I'll tell you what that bear never never. It's a masterful. At the end of the recap, the Herald kind of Cox's head to the side. You poked a bear. I know, I know, I know. Okay. It's, it's, it's a thing, you know, and there's the toe and I, I don't want to go back over everything right now, but, uh, you know, we, uh, we had to come back to unite Tom with his, uh, sister. And as we've journeyed on back, uh, judging by the expression on your face, I feel that you've had some of them, perhaps the same thoughts that we have and mass kind of, uh, sort of opens her arm, uh, indicating towards the, uh, the group that it seems that there is more happening here, um, than it would seem on the surface and that, uh, the jagged knife appears to be the, uh, at the center of everything that's happening. Now, if there are a bunch of idiots, as you do say, uh, that doesn't mean that they're the ones, um, running the show. Um, but investigating that further, I think is, is our next step. Hilo says that was a masterful telling. I think it's, uh, the rest of the party suffers one stress. I'm just kidding. Wow. I brought the Baron and every, I brought the bear. I brought, brought the toe back. I mean, so, uh, so, uh, the Herald says, so you traveled back to bring the boy to his sister. Yes. And he is the Herald kind of looks behind and says, not here And he kind of raises her eyebrows and does the our eyes pop out? No, no. And so and so the Herald says, ah, you left him somewhere safe. Smart. Very, very very shirked back into a cloak. Pulls that further over her face. I fear that I can't ask you to investigate. Any further, but if there are answers to be found in Skyland, I don't think you're going to find them on the surface. And I wonder if where you will find them is in the dungeon below. I've never been in a dungeon before. I love that. So hopefully just like you said that every city has its underbelly and knowing Skyland as well as I do, I know that the one here goes very deep and is very dark. And the Maz looks towards each individual in the party and then looks over at Boga, kind of hiding away in her cloak. It's like, you know, are you ready for this this journey as well? Because I am. Spits Lana peaks under her chest, like draws back the the button on her chest to show her orange tinged fur here. And says, well, and she touches it for strength and she says, well, where there is dark, we must bring light. That was good. That was good. Got a little chill there. That was good. I like that. I think we should move closer to Svetlana. Pat, pat, pat, pat. Probably more like with how tall I am. You might you might even have to stoop over a little bit. I, for one, would like to go and see what's going on down there. OK, so what would you do now? You have to ask him where the entrance is. Yeah, I grab my short sword. And no, no, no, I'm just kidding. Ask him, you know, where is the nearest entrance towards the dungeon from where we stand now? The Herald, he kind of thinks about it for a minute. I don't know that I should be telling you this, but the entrance to the dungeon is to the very south of the city. You will find a path that is closed off. It won't be hard to get past the the barrier, but you'll find a path that will take you down and take you to a door. And that door will take you. To the dungeon. May I ask, sorry, this is more of a point of order sort of thing. The jagged knife. What's the collective name group cult army? Like, what are they? They need some descriptor for my notes. General Nair Duels. I mean, yeah, Nair Duels is good. They're called the jagged knife is the name of their group. You could call them. I'm about to call them terrorists, but you could potentially. That's foreshadowing. You could potentially do that. I mean, I think that most of the jagged knife would think of themselves as like bandits, essentially. They're a group of. I think it's like folks for hire, right? Just like, yeah, mercenaries could be a good person. Okay. Could be a good phrase. I'll take it. So I'm pretty damn good. Okay. Exactly. Writing. I just need the right word. Thank you for everybody who's taken general criminally activity, you know, if they're making money. Right. Yes, exactly. They are, they are fantasy guns for hire. They're not guns though. You know, there are, there are knives, daggers for hire knives. Okay. Anyway, sword sword fire. Oh, they're called the jagged knife. Anyway, whatever. Yeah. So yeah. Um, you now know where the entrance to the dungeon is. Hmm. Uh, does the entrance or any of the surrounding area look like it has been a part of the destruction? Uh, I don't know. Cause you're haven't gone there. Oh, I'm sorry. I thought you said he led us there. No, he just told you where it was. He just told us. Oh, okay. Sorry. That probably got lost in the, in the, the disconnect sounds that I was having. But yeah, no, he just, he told you it's at the South. The entrance is kind of obscured, but also it's going to be pretty obvious that it's not a part of the town proper when you get there. Who are we following to go to there? Hi-Lo. Me what? Hi-Lo, hi-Lo it's off to dungeon. We go. Ah, nice. No, it's so bad. Hard to argue with that logic. Everybody else takes a stress. I kind of love it. Sorry. That's going to be my new joke. It's never true, but that's going to be my new joke. I'm going to crack that joke at school one day and the people are just going to look at me and be like, I'll do it on the off. I see no problem. I see no problem with that. Honestly. Yeah. Um, so, so Hi-Lo, Hi-Lo leads the party. Then we start to Hi-Lo, Hi-Lo our way down to towards the South. Okay. And Hi-Lo, can you make a instinct roll to see if you can easily find the entrance to the dungeon, which is to say the path that leads down to the dungeon. You're not just looking for a door. Oof. Okay. That's crazy. A 21 with fear. Hey, you, you don't only find the entrance, the path to the dungeon. You also find a handful of gold. Yeah. So enjoy your, enjoy your extra gold. But because it was with fear, the gold has a little bit of blood on it. Kind of gross. Oh, gross. Oh. All right. I just wasn't, I didn't even, oh my gosh. Okay. So yeah, you find the, you find the entrance down into the dungeon. Handily with that role. Are you guys going to go Hi-Lo first or what order are you going to take down into the dungeon? Luncheon to dungeon. I think I kind of liked the idea of Ariel as not a dedicated scout, but, you know, sort of trying to see and hear with her big eyes and ears out in front of everybody. Seeing if she or Pazu can find anything that seems dangerous. I think that's fit. Lana would be, if not next to very close to the front as someone who likes to be a part of the action and wants to be in front of people to potentially block them from any damage. So she would be up near the front. Okay. On the mass sort of slowly works her way towards the back, always wanting to also then guard those around her from potential enemies. And so mass kind of sort of works her way towards the back of the group, allowing others to filter in between her and Svetlana and Uriel. All right. So Uriel first. Sorry, I think things are broken at the moment. So Uriel Svetlana first, is that what I said? I'm, I got super distracted trying to fix something on roll 20. Could you guys repeat that? Yeah, I think it's sort of, uh, Ariel and Pazu Svetlana, um, Hilo and Boga are in the midst, middle and then, uh, mass bringing up the rear. Thank you. Sorry. I think I need to double check something, but I think something might have broken a little bit, so please forgive me. But, uh, you, you find the entrance to the dungeon and with a loud creak, push the door open and you find yourself in the prison underneath Skyland and based on the timing, I think that's probably a good, pretty good place to call it for the day. Oh boy.