[00:00:05] Speaker A: You are listening to an atomic broadcasting production. So sit back, relax and enjoy the feature presentation. And remember, do your part, such as like, comment rate. And don't forget to tell a friend to tune in for an Atomic time.
[00:00:38] Speaker B: We begin in a dark room, narrow shafts of light breaking through and catching glimmers of dust dancing in the still air.
Although it's dark, the shafts of light provide enough dim view of the surroundings of the room to see its dirty, coarse haphazardly put together. And sitting on one side of the room, leaning against the wall, is a figure.
Sam. What does this person look like?
[00:01:12] Speaker A: It's a guy, middle aged, probably 40, 47 ish.
He's got some thick, curly brown hair that's graying up, kind of swept back, but it looks like it could easily fall down into a kind of thinner, curly look.
He's got this runic kind of tattoos his right eye, his eyelid going right down kind of vertically.
He looks like he has seen a lot and that he's always got a lot on his mind, not necessarily sad, but not happy in a way, or angry.
He's got a chain wrapped around his right arm.
He's wearing black tattered cloak that covers up some what once was probably regal looking cloth and whatnot where it all looks faded and tattered with chain mail underneath it. And you can see it in places you probably wouldn't have been able to see it back in its prime.
Yeah.
Do I have all my stuff on me? Do I need to talk about my stuff?
[00:02:41] Speaker B: Yeah. So you're sitting in this dark room and kind of just leaning against one of these ramshackle walls.
Okay.
I think we don't need to go into the equipment stuff. That's fine because of the situation at hand.
[00:02:55] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:02:58] Speaker B: And as you're sitting there and as you're sitting there, you just hear this thumping on the door behind you. It's not like aggressive thumping, just like and I hear a voice on the other side. It's like oi. You ready?
[00:03:17] Speaker A: Yeah, give me just 1 second.
[00:03:20] Speaker B: Right, well, crowd's getting ready, so you don't have much time.
[00:03:25] Speaker A: Okay. So he stands up, takes off his cloak and then takes off his upper tunic to where now we see a scrawnier, muscle, muscular man, like a lean muscles, like definitely not in its prime, kind of a body. Looks beaten up, bruised all over. Doesn't look like everything's always healed quite correctly.
But he gets up and he kind of stretches, popping some muscles and then starts heading to the door and opens it up.
[00:04:02] Speaker B: And as the door opens, we hear the roar of a crowd cheering. And there's all the light streaming in. For a second we're kind of blinded until our eyes adjust to the light and we see on the other side of the door is a small ring of sand in the bottom of what appears to be like a cellar or a basement of some building. And all around this ring of sand, we see rough and tumble common folk, some with drinks in hand, others with scraps of paper in hand, and they're shouting as if they're looking on at some spectacle, maybe some event one might bet on. Standing in the ring opposing hamir, we see a ORC.
She is roughly 6ft tall. She's got colorful tattoos all over her face, arms, and her midriff. And her hair is shaved on the sides, and what's left on top is pulled together into a form of a top knot and is dyed scarlet.
Hey, Mir, you recognize this ORC as your opponent, the Savage. You don't know her real name, but you know what name she goes by in the fighting pits.
And with that, we're going to roll for initiative.
[00:05:19] Speaker A: Cool.
[00:05:21] Speaker B: So, as this is a duel, we're going to be using the duel mechanics.
[00:05:26] Speaker A: I am not very familiar with those.
[00:05:29] Speaker B: Allow me to assist you.
So, one of the main differences in a duel, as opposed to a regular combat encounter, is that each of the combatants rolls initiative at the beginning of each round.
[00:05:46] Speaker A: Oh, that sounds fun.
[00:05:48] Speaker B: In addition to that, you gain access to a new reaction based off of what you rolled for initiative. So your options are deception, intimidation, or perception.
And each of those give you a new advantage that you can wield. However, in a sort of rock paper, scissors fashion, each of these different skills that you can roll for initiative have a different weakness to another skill. So, if you use deception, then you're primed to use a sidestep to try to avoid an attack. But you are weaker against someone who's using perception.
If you are using perception, then you have the opportunity to sense an opponent's weakness. However, you are weak against somebody who's using intimidation. And if you use intimidation, then you are primed to frighten your opponent when you strike them with a blow. However, you are more vulnerable to somebody who's using deception.
All right, so the combatants do not know what the other combatant has rolled for initiative, but as I am the game master, I do need to know what you have rolled.
[00:07:00] Speaker A: So, 20 with deception.
[00:07:01] Speaker B: All right, your opponent will go first.
[00:07:10] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:07:14] Speaker B: So, the Savage comes up, and she starts walking across the ring to you, using her first action to close the distance between you. With her second action, she'll hold her fists up in front of her face in a defensive posture and then swing out with a blow towards your face with a 24 to hit.
[00:07:41] Speaker A: That does hit.
[00:07:43] Speaker B: All right, cool.
And that deals five bludgeoning damage.
[00:07:53] Speaker A: Okay, already not looking great.
[00:07:56] Speaker B: Right out of the gate, and it's your turn.
[00:07:59] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:08:02] Speaker B: Now, I do have a question for you.
[00:08:04] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:08:05] Speaker B: You rolled deception.
[00:08:07] Speaker A: I did.
[00:08:07] Speaker B: Would you like to use your special reaction?
[00:08:10] Speaker A: Yeah, that'd be great.
[00:08:11] Speaker B: Oh, I thought you pulled them up on your side.
[00:08:13] Speaker A: No, I have it. Yeah.
[00:08:15] Speaker B: Okay, so your reaction is the deceptive sidestep. When an opponent hits, but does not critically hit you with their melee strike. You can use that to make them roll again.
[00:08:25] Speaker A: Oh, okay. I was misreading that. I thought it was something for positive, like on my role. Okay, then, yes, I would love to use my sidestep because I figured she'd open with intimidation.
[00:08:35] Speaker B: And you figured correctly.
So she rerolls with a minus two penalty, which is a 19 that still hits. All right, so you still take the five bludgeoning damage, but is now your turn.
[00:08:49] Speaker A: So for first action, I take that blow, kind of roll with it, and then Hamir begins looking her up and down.
Probably gets the impression she's like the others. A miner working at the mines, I imagine.
Maybe currently, yes. Right. Most everyone here typically does.
[00:09:16] Speaker B: Yeah. Although you've heard some rumors that she's actually born and raised in Belksen.
[00:09:22] Speaker A: Okay.
So as I'm looking at her, I sort of feel a pull from my chalice and from little implements on my person and have this esoteric glimpse into her life force or whatever, and have an esoteric glimpse into her presence. And I'd like to use exploit vulnerability.
[00:09:55] Speaker B: All right, go ahead and make me that check.
[00:10:02] Speaker A: So I'm going to roll esoteric allure against a standard DC of her level.
[00:10:09] Speaker B: For an 18, that is a regular success.
[00:10:13] Speaker A: Okay.
So in that case, I imagine she has no weaknesses.
So what I do in this instant, as I'm looking over and down, my arms kind of go down for a second into, like, two different pockets and come up, and now they're covered in, like, coal.
And then I ready to swing at her, and I'm going to swing at her.
[00:10:40] Speaker B: All right.
[00:10:42] Speaker A: Did her putting her arms up do anything in particular?
[00:10:45] Speaker B: It appears to be a more defensive posture she's taken.
[00:10:48] Speaker A: Oh. But that's not something I can do.
So as Hamir glimpses into her and sees a bit of herself, my arm swings up for a nice, strong right hook after failing to sidestep for an 18.
[00:11:07] Speaker B: That's a hit.
[00:11:08] Speaker A: Awesome. So I'm going to do five points of damage.
[00:11:21] Speaker B: Nice.
[00:11:22] Speaker A: And then with the two weakness that I applied onto her, make seven damage total.
[00:11:29] Speaker B: All right, so I was going to say you're given as good as you got, but it looks like you're given more.
[00:11:38] Speaker A: And then for my last action, I'm going to go ahead and swing a second time. I think it's eight.
[00:12:01] Speaker B: Yeah. No, that's not going to hit.
[00:12:03] Speaker A: Maybe I should have done the other thing I had in mind.
[00:12:06] Speaker B: All right, so that's the end of that round. And as it is a new round, we are rolling initiative again.
[00:12:13] Speaker A: All it seven with perception, and you will go first. Oh, wow.
All right.
I reach down and I grab this stone looking chalice that's got these 13 marks on them, and I pull it up, and I'm like, I think I'm going to need another one of these. And I take a swig of my chalice.
[00:13:02] Speaker B: Yeah. And as you're sipping, she just, like, scoffs, and she's still got her fists up in that defensive posture, and she's just, like, need to be drunker to face me, old man?
[00:13:12] Speaker A: Oh, no, I don't need that to beat you. I get two temporary hit points for sipping from it. Let's see if you can make me spill any, and then I'm going to attack it again. Alas but did she use deception?
[00:13:39] Speaker B: She did not use deception this round.
[00:13:43] Speaker A: All right, then that is my turn, right? Because drawing and then drinking and then punching.
[00:13:51] Speaker B: Yes, because you didn't have it in your hand already.
All right, well, I have good news and I have bad news. I'll give you the bad news first.
[00:13:59] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:14:00] Speaker B: She's going to punch you.
[00:14:01] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:14:01] Speaker B: The good news is she's not going to do what she was planning on doing because you goaded her.
[00:14:07] Speaker A: Oh, awesome.
[00:14:09] Speaker B: So she's going to swing around in a right hook.
[00:14:16] Speaker A: OOH.
[00:14:19] Speaker B: OOH.
That's gonna be a 23.
[00:14:23] Speaker A: That's also a hit.
[00:14:24] Speaker B: All right.
This one as a right hook is effectively a power attack.
[00:14:31] Speaker A: What? How come I didn't get that?
[00:14:34] Speaker B: Well, you're not a fighter.
[00:14:36] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:14:40] Speaker B: It's going to be eight damage.
[00:14:43] Speaker A: All right. It.
[00:14:50] Speaker B: Yeah, I think she's going to keep her hands up, no?
[00:14:53] Speaker A: Yeah, sure. Keep your hands up.
[00:14:56] Speaker B: Hmm.
Yeah, she's gonna keep her hands up. Keep them up. In that defensive posture, she feels like that was a good blow, and she thinks she can finish you off here in a second.
[00:15:14] Speaker A: It was cocked in the middle of all of my dice, so that's a 24 deception.
[00:15:20] Speaker B: All right.
My dice tray is at an awkward angle.
You go first.
[00:15:32] Speaker A: Awesome. First things first.
I'm going to drain my chalice and heal three hit points, and then I'm going to attack.
Now it's a roll deception. So that just has to do with her attacking.
Okay.
22.
[00:16:02] Speaker B: That is a hit.
[00:16:04] Speaker A: Now that I got my chalice out, I also do two additional points of damage.
[00:16:07] Speaker B: Yeah. I was going to ask, are you tracing any Esoteric symbols with that chalice?
[00:16:13] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:16:15] Speaker B: Nice.
[00:16:16] Speaker A: Doesn't look like much in a fight like this. I imagine.
[00:16:21] Speaker B: One specific guy in the crowd is just like, I thought he was just holding that chalice steady, but he's, like, moving it in patterns.
[00:16:28] Speaker A: Yeah, well, I think I, like, hitting, shaking some of the coal dust off my hand and then moving the dust or whatever. Like the coal dust. Don't know what term you would use for that. And moving that into, like, sigils with my goblet holding the arm.
[00:16:44] Speaker B: Nice.
[00:16:44] Speaker A: And I dropped my weapon. Die six damage from me, and then the weakness will be applied at two.
[00:16:59] Speaker B: All right, so it's six, counting the bonus from your chalice.
[00:17:03] Speaker A: Yes, counting my chalice bonus, but not the weakness damage.
[00:17:06] Speaker B: All right. She's not looking good. Not quite bloodied yet, but not looking good.
[00:17:12] Speaker A: All right, a second attack.
Because she has her fists raised. I'm imagining this won't be a hit. It's a 16.
[00:17:20] Speaker B: That is a hit.
[00:17:20] Speaker A: Oh, dang. All right.
Color me surprised.
[00:17:25] Speaker B: That's why she's got her fists up, then.
[00:17:28] Speaker A: That might do it.
That is eight damage without weakness.
[00:17:38] Speaker B: So would you describe these two blows that lay your opponent sprawling?
[00:17:45] Speaker A: Yes. I think as I've been trying to watch her, I started out trying to sidestep. It didn't work out. And then trying to watch her, I got hit. Aunt trying to swing out. But I think at this point now, I'm able to get a vibe on what she's doing. And as she's swinging that last right hook, I take it square in the face and then kind of roll with it down her arm. And I'm able to just land two right into her face, just one after another, same arm, because I'm not hitting her with my chalice.
[00:18:22] Speaker B: And as that second blow connects, you kind of just feel, like, a little pop in the jaw. And she staggers back and then drops to the ground. And the crowd goes quiet for a moment and then simultaneously erupts into a mixture of cheers and argumentation, back and forth.
[00:18:45] Speaker A: Does she need help?
[00:18:48] Speaker B: She's not unconscious. She's beaten.
[00:18:51] Speaker A: Okay, cool.
[00:18:52] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:18:53] Speaker A: Just put her to dying.
[00:18:56] Speaker B: She is bleeding out right now. You've broken her jaw. She's die.
[00:19:00] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:19:04] Speaker B: No. So everybody's all jubilant and or disappointed, depending on who they bet on, I think.
[00:19:11] Speaker A: As there's a mix of cheers and the mix of kind of silence, haymir looks at his chalice, sees that it's starting to refill. He just hooks it back into his belt, kind of claps his hands together to get off some of the soot in the cold. And then he sort of just walks away, walks out.
As you're walking, get his stuff back on.
[00:19:36] Speaker B: As you're walking past the savage, she holds up a hand up from the sandy ground towards you.
[00:19:43] Speaker A: I'll help her up.
[00:19:45] Speaker B: As she stands up, she takes your hand, like, shaking your hand, and then pulls you close and just headbutts you full in the head, and your ears are ringing.
You're seeing stars. And we go into a flashback. The screen goes all ripply, and there's harp music playing.
So out of the white, we fade back in, and we see Hamir walking down the roads of Tomgrove.
It's a shoddily put together part of town quickly erected when the Infernal Mining Company moved in and brought in new money and new jobs into the area. And the less well to do in the area needed somewhere to stay while working in the mines.
As you're heading down the street, Hamir, you hear a familiar voice calling out to hey. Hey.
[00:20:53] Speaker A: What is it, Charles?
[00:20:55] Speaker B: Okay, so I've got a job for you, okay?
It's not exactly a job. It's more of like, okay, I need a favor. All right?
[00:21:06] Speaker A: Don't you ever run out of favors?
[00:21:08] Speaker B: You know me. I've always got a favor. Now, this guy, he's an interesting looking fellow. Once you've seen him once, you wouldn't forget him. He's got a crooked nose and a grin to match. His left arm and his right leg are both missing, but the sleeve of his left arm has been tied into a cheerful bow.
[00:21:30] Speaker A: I imagine his hair is also pretty much pretty white, kind of gray. It's dirty, but it's thin enough that it's kind of separated and hangs down over his face.
He probably looks pretty homeless at the moment. He doesn't always look that way.
[00:21:48] Speaker B: Oh, yeah, no, like, his attire right now is, like high fashion chalaxian attire, but it's like really thread bare and used and patched in several places.
You remember when he first got that clothing, and it was like a week ago. So you're really not sure how it's been through so much so fast.
[00:22:06] Speaker A: Yeah, so I imagine, as he's starting to say all that, I check one of my pockets for where I keep the trinket, and I look, and I realize that I don't have it.
I'm just like, all right, what is it?
[00:22:20] Speaker B: Okay, now this is going to work out way better than the last one.
There's going to be no risk of any trouble, any problems.
Everybody's going to be fine. Okay? This one's a delivery job, okay? I just need you to go down to the mines. There's a guy with a package. He'll give you the package, you just bring it back to me, okay? See? It's easy.
[00:22:44] Speaker A: You know, I have better things to do than be a mailman.
[00:22:48] Speaker B: Come on, man, it's going to give you exercise. You'll get to see the sights, breathe that crisp mountain air.
[00:22:54] Speaker A: I have enough exercise, but fine. How much is it paying?
[00:23:04] Speaker B: He, like, pats his clothes and pockets.
The guy at the mine will pay you how much?
Five gold.
[00:23:21] Speaker A: All right. What does he look like?
[00:23:25] Speaker B: Okay, so he's a big burly guy. You know those Olfans that the sailor men out into the west?
[00:23:30] Speaker A: I'm an olphin. Yes, like you.
I know what they look like.
[00:23:35] Speaker B: Except he's like, head and shoulders over you. Yeah, no offense, of course.
[00:23:41] Speaker A: Why would I be offended about not being taller?
[00:23:47] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:23:50] Speaker A: All right. Does he have a name or no names.
[00:23:54] Speaker B: Well, I think names would be fine. You didn't say anything about no names. Biflindi.
[00:24:00] Speaker A: Biflindi biflindi bifflindy. All right, I'll go pick up from him. Where do I take it?
[00:24:09] Speaker B: Just back to me. Back to me.
[00:24:13] Speaker A: All right.
Just don't just leave. Oh, no, I don't want to spend another hour looking for you.
[00:24:21] Speaker B: I'll be here. Unless any enforcers come by, in which case I will be hiding in that alley.
[00:24:27] Speaker A: I thought you paid up your tab to the enforcers last week.
[00:24:31] Speaker B: I did, but there are some who disagree with me and I'm willing to let bygones be bygones. But just in case, I'll be over there.
[00:24:43] Speaker A: I should tell Raya to throw you into the pit next time.
[00:24:46] Speaker B: Oh, no. Nobody wants to see an old man fight. I mean no offense. I mean no offense.
[00:24:53] Speaker A: I'm not as old as you, Trowel, and I still have all my limbs.
[00:24:59] Speaker B: I am cut to the quick. Speaking of cutting to and quick, don't you have somewhere you need to be?
[00:25:07] Speaker A: I'm already going.
[00:25:09] Speaker B: And as you head out of town towards the mine, the shacks get more and more run down ramshackle, more slapped together, until basically you're just walking past like lean tos and shandies. But before long, you find yourself at the Tomgrove Mine. Now, you remember back when you lived in this area that this was like an old rundown, disused copper mine, like it had been considered completely worn out. Nobody mined in there anymore since coming back to town. You've heard that there's been a vein of methril found at the back of the mine, which has brought in the corporate sharks from Chelliacs who have bought up the land and are now mining and exporting the mithril to wealthy purchasers down south.
As such, you're not surprised to see a higher presence of enforcers in the area. They're all wearing their uniforms of burgundy and gold, and each of them has their standard issue ARCHIBUS imported from Alkenstar.
[00:26:18] Speaker A: All right, I haven't seen a lot of those, but I've seen, I guess, a fair share at this point.
[00:26:24] Speaker B: Yeah, you probably hadn't seen any until you returned back to Tomgrove and found that the company had set up their shop here.
[00:26:33] Speaker A: Yeah, maybe the occasional one in the war. There's a lot going on during that time.
Okay, so I'll take a look around. If I see that guy, I hope he's out in the middle waiting for me. Makes things easier.
[00:26:50] Speaker B: Yeah. So when you get up to the mouth of the mine, there's a bunch of guys just out there working.
Nobody particularly seems to be waiting for.
[00:27:00] Speaker A: You there, and they'll probably all fit his description except for the name.
[00:27:07] Speaker B: Well, most of them are more of skulled descent than Olfin.
[00:27:10] Speaker A: Oh, fair enough, fair enough.
[00:27:13] Speaker B: And you can tell the difference because you're.
[00:27:17] Speaker A: It'S true. All right, I'll walk up to someone and ask if they know this guy, this Bryander what was his name?
[00:27:30] Speaker B: I'm just totally picturing Hamir coming up and saying that that's fine.
[00:27:35] Speaker A: Yeah, that's what I'm going have you seen anyone? His name was Briflander. Bryfander?
[00:27:43] Speaker B: Brifflander.
[00:27:44] Speaker A: Briffl.
[00:27:46] Speaker B: Briffl.
Well, I haven't seen anybody by that name, but you could talk to Bifflindy over there.
[00:27:53] Speaker A: Bifflindy?
That's what it was. Where is he?
[00:27:57] Speaker B: Oh, well, he's just down the way over there towards the provisions office.
[00:28:01] Speaker A: All right, thank you.
[00:28:03] Speaker B: No problem.
Mine is not the most pleasant of places to be. Yeah.
The exterior here has been shored up more recently with fresh wood, but there's still, like, the older support beams that were installed when the mine was first built, and they're just kind of beginning to decay a little bit just from disuse and lack of care is how cold.
[00:28:28] Speaker A: What's the weather like right now?
[00:28:32] Speaker B: Michigan.
[00:28:33] Speaker A: Michigan?
[00:28:34] Speaker B: Michigan right now?
[00:28:36] Speaker A: I don't know what Michigan's weather is like currently.
[00:28:38] Speaker B: Oh, like Michigan right now? I don't know. Regionally, it's kind of like Michigan.
[00:28:43] Speaker A: So it's cold and snowy.
[00:28:45] Speaker B: Yeah, it's getting towards the end well, towards the beginning of spring. It's past the end of winter.
[00:28:52] Speaker A: Okay, so it's not like, heavy coats and stuff.
[00:28:56] Speaker B: Well, maybe not for locals like yourself. You'd probably be wearing long sleeves and a tunic over top of that, but probably not.
[00:29:04] Speaker A: My cloak over. Yeah. Okay, that's fine.
All right.
[00:29:11] Speaker B: Fifth, as you enter the supplies room, there's a tall blonde man of often descent, much like you were expecting. He's got a beard that's braided into two plates that comes down all the way down to his belt, and he's got, like, a journal and a charcoal stick in his hand, and he seems to be, like, taking stock of crates and such in the room.
[00:29:35] Speaker A: I'm just going to knock on the door.
[00:29:39] Speaker B: What do you want?
[00:29:40] Speaker A: I was told you have something for me to pick up.
[00:29:44] Speaker B: It's possible. I've got a lot of things for a lot of people to pick up.
[00:29:52] Speaker A: I was sent by Trov.
[00:29:54] Speaker B: He quickly looks around and then, like, gestures for you to come in. He's like, come on, come on.
[00:30:00] Speaker A: Yeah, I just casually, annoyingly kind of walk forward, like, getting really tired of all this. Come here, come here.
[00:30:07] Speaker B: Be quiet.
[00:30:09] Speaker A: Hide in secret meetings.
[00:30:11] Speaker B: Right? You're here for the export, and he gives you a really heavy wink.
[00:30:17] Speaker A: I don't know what it is. Just give it to me.
[00:30:20] Speaker B: That's fine. You don't need to and he hands you a sphere that's about the size of, like, a cantaloupe, and it's wrapped in, like, old brown cloth.
[00:30:31] Speaker A: Okay, I'll take that.
[00:30:34] Speaker B: Right.
Just take it straight to Trov. Tell him I held up my end of the deal.
[00:30:40] Speaker A: All right? Sure. Is it fragile?
[00:30:45] Speaker B: It's best to assume it is.
[00:30:47] Speaker A: Well, all right.
[00:30:48] Speaker B: Then you get the sense that he doesn't actually know the answer to that question, right?
[00:30:54] Speaker A: Yes.
Yep. So Hamier just takes it and then leaves.
[00:31:01] Speaker B: And as he leaves, Biflindi is like, I didn't have to pay him any gold.
[00:31:05] Speaker A: Oh, sucker. I stop, I turn around and I say, you know what? I'm used to Trob doing this, but he said, you'd have my payment.
[00:31:16] Speaker B: Oh, yeah, that's right.
And he comes up and he hands you a small pouch with some gold in it.
[00:31:23] Speaker A: How much is in there?
[00:31:24] Speaker B: Ten gold pieces.
[00:31:26] Speaker A: Oh, cool. I put it in my pouch. I put the pouch in my money pouch.
[00:31:32] Speaker B: Pouchception.
[00:31:33] Speaker A: And then I leave.
[00:31:36] Speaker B: All right? And as you're walking out of the mine, nobody seems to give you a second look.
You just went into the supplies office and got a package of something, and you're heading out?
[00:31:49] Speaker A: Yep. And I'll just go right back to where I left Trov, assuming he'll still be there.
[00:31:58] Speaker B: When you return.
You find where Trov was sitting. There's a small little card that's like, sorry, I just missed you.
And you just hear from the alleyway nearby, hey, man, I had to relocate.
[00:32:20] Speaker A: You didn't relocate much.
[00:32:23] Speaker B: Well, fooled you, didn't it?
Sorry. No offense.
[00:32:29] Speaker A: All right, here's your sphere.
[00:32:35] Speaker B: And he takes the package from you, almost greedily, and starts unwrapping it, and then stops. And he's like, you didn't look, did you?
[00:32:43] Speaker A: Does it matter?
[00:32:45] Speaker B: I mean, not not really. But you didn't, right?
[00:32:50] Speaker A: Why?
[00:32:52] Speaker B: Well, I mean, plausible deniability. Sometimes it's better off that you don't know certain things.
[00:33:01] Speaker A: You're not getting yourself into trouble are no.
[00:33:05] Speaker B: When do I ever trov. Okay, fine. Maybe I'm getting myself into a little bit of trouble, but a man's got a dream, right?
[00:33:13] Speaker A: Trov, they're going to kill you sometime.
[00:33:17] Speaker B: They haven't succeeded yet.
[00:33:20] Speaker A: You could do some safer jobs. Work for less sketchy people, less dangerous people.
[00:33:26] Speaker B: Where's the fun in that? I mean, sometimes you win big, and he, like, adjusts the collar of his once fancy attire, and then you lose.
[00:33:32] Speaker A: Your mansion and everything you own a.
[00:33:34] Speaker B: Week later, you win some, you lose some.
[00:33:41] Speaker A: Give me the token.
[00:33:42] Speaker B: Right. The token. And he hands over the fraudulent Cyclopian coin you use to track who owes who.
[00:33:49] Speaker A: Now, remember, this time you can't ask favors unless you have the token.
[00:33:56] Speaker B: There's no overdraft protection.
[00:33:59] Speaker A: Not anymore. Not after last time.
[00:34:01] Speaker B: Okay, just because I was five times in the hole doesn't mean that I wasn't going to pay back.
[00:34:06] Speaker A: Yes, it does. I don't think I've gotten all my favors back. You still owe me one. From the first time we met back here. You still haven't told me anything about where I could find my daughter.
[00:34:20] Speaker B: Fair point. I am working on the full encapsulation of all of the details, and these details will be forthcoming.
[00:34:34] Speaker A: You don't have to lie to me about that.
[00:34:37] Speaker B: I actually kind of do.
No offense.
[00:34:44] Speaker A: I know you haven't.
I don't really believe that you're even looking anymore.
[00:34:53] Speaker B: And as you say that, his eyes flicker down to the sphere and he kind of holds it a little bit tighter. And then he looks back at you and he's like, I'm doing my best. Okay.
[00:35:06] Speaker A: All right. Just don't get yourself killed. And if you need help, let me know.
[00:35:14] Speaker B: Right? Of course. I mean, you're my best friend.
[00:35:18] Speaker A: I'm your only friend, Trov.
[00:35:24] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:35:26] Speaker A: All right. Well, good luck. I'm sure you always turn around, so sure next week you'll be back in your mansion again.
[00:35:37] Speaker B: Yep. And when I am, drinks are on me.
[00:35:41] Speaker A: They're always on you, Trov.
[00:35:44] Speaker B: And I'm always on the mood for drinks.
And with that, we go back into the whiteness, and we hear ringing in our ears again. As the white fades out, we see Hamir staggering and kind of recollecting himself after the blow to his head. We hear the crowd roaring in the background again. And, Hamir, you find yourself with the arm of another familiar face. Arm of another familiar face. Around your shoulder. It's Rhea, the proprietor of this fighting ring.
She is a grizzled old, scarred knoll with graying fur around her muzzle. Nevertheless, she bears herself with, like, the carriage of a fighter. And while she wears a simple red robe, she always has her studded mace on her belt, just in case.
And she's, like, not noticing quite yet that you're back with the land of the living. And she's currently, like, berating the savage and, like, would you quit horsing around? You already lost Farron Square. Now leave him alone.
[00:36:51] Speaker A: It's fine. It's fine.
[00:36:53] Speaker B: It's not fine. If anybody starts just smacking whoever they want, just whenever, we'd have chaos. This is an organized fighting pit. But you're right. What's done is done.
[00:37:08] Speaker A: Sorry, just a second.
All right, what have you got for me?
[00:37:16] Speaker B: Well, there's your winnings, of course, which I don't have on me at the time, but we can head over there and we can collect them. And as she's talking, you're slowly becoming aware that the crowd is quieting down, almost like a ripple outward from a pond. And as she trails off, the whole room has gone dead silent.
There's just, like, a cough, and the crowd begins to part at the entrance to the room. And you see two figures entering the room.
[00:37:46] Speaker A: Oh, no.
[00:37:50] Speaker B: Although these might not be the two figures you're expecting, as both of them are wearing the uniforms of the Infernal Mining Company.
[00:37:59] Speaker A: Okay, cool.
[00:38:02] Speaker B: One of them is a dark eyed young man with a sallow face and close cropped dark hair. He wears the burgundy and gold uniform of the Enforcers, but it is unusually clean and well pressed. The other, while dressed in the same attire as her companion, her pale complexion and long raven hair are creating a striking contrast in the dimly lit grime of the cellar.
[00:38:29] Speaker A: I imagine, as they're coming in, someone's handed me my stuff, and I'm starting to close myself again. Put on my tunic and my cloak. While they're on their way, I imagine my direction, but possibly not. Maybe to Ray, because Ray was here, so I wasn't. Okay, there's the end of the room.
[00:38:48] Speaker B: Yeah. They're kind of, like, looking back and forth. Yeah, like, just scanning the crowd.
The young man is like, all right, who's in charge here?
And it's just quiet.
I asked you a question.
And as he's, like, shouting, the woman next to him is like, calm down, Axel, please.
Fine.
Since my associate here wants me to be civil, we'll try being civil.
I'm looking for. Someone man in his 40s, dark cloak, stopped by the mine yesterday and took something that didn't belong to him.
[00:39:35] Speaker A: So I think after he says that, you hear just like the sound of a chain, like hitting the ground and pooling as it then we see Hamir wrapping it back around his arm after he's got his sleeve know in that silence in between his sentence. Just that.
[00:39:54] Speaker B: And as the chain hits the ground, he like looks in your direction and like quickly steps in between you and the man. She's like, I'm in charge here, I'll be doing the discussion, Axel. The young man cocks his head in like an arrogant way and he's like, all right, so you'll be helping us find this vagabond.
She's walking up closer and she's like, no, you'll need to be leaving now. The mining company has no business here.
And he's like, I think you'll find and the woman steps forward and she's like, Axel, please.
She walks up and is like rhea, you and I have an understanding. Yes, we stay out of your business and you stay out of ours. But whenever your people start messing with our people, sometimes that arrangement might be a little bit more tenuous. And we wouldn't want to risk that relationship now would we? We are friends, aren't we?
Rhea's lips curl in the brief like the lightest of snarls as she says.
[00:41:10] Speaker A: Actually, I'd like to interrupt.
[00:41:11] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:41:12] Speaker A: As she's snarling and with what they said, I sort of look over and I go, I'm not one of her people.
[00:41:21] Speaker B: And they all three turn to look at you and Axel's like and who are you?
[00:41:31] Speaker A: Just a soldier. But one you're looking for.
[00:41:38] Speaker B: Oh, really?
[00:41:40] Speaker A: My back's mostly to him still. As I'm still finishing getting ready.
Yes.
Swung by the vine yesterday.
[00:41:50] Speaker B: And as you're adjusting your cloak and stuff, you hear the telltale sound of an ARCHIBUS being prepared.
You're going to be coming with us now.
[00:42:02] Speaker A: Why is that?
[00:42:05] Speaker B: You don't understand what you're meddling with, do you?
[00:42:09] Speaker A: I guess not.
All I did was take something from point A to point B.
[00:42:20] Speaker B: You hear a footstep in the sand coming in your direction.
And as he's moving towards you, the savage not far from where she was when your fight concluded. So a little bit closer to you is like looks at you and you briefly make eye contact. And then she nods. And then she looks over at Axel and is like you messed with one of us. You messed with all of us. And she starts running towards him.
[00:42:51] Speaker A: Savage stop.
[00:42:55] Speaker B: As you say that.
The room is filled with a crack of thunder.
The savage falls to the ground. The sand underneath her being stained red. And chaos breaks out through the room. Seems like half of the people are trying to run. The other half of them are trying to overpower the man with the gun. And then the light goes out in the room.
[00:43:23] Speaker A: I was going to try and cast use first aid on her.
Unless she uses or frosting.
[00:43:33] Speaker B: Those things happen. Probably about about 2 seconds apart.
[00:43:36] Speaker A: Fair enough.
[00:43:38] Speaker B: One action. Go.
[00:43:46] Speaker A: Yeah. That's a successful first aid.
[00:43:49] Speaker B: Nice.
So as she falls to the ground and her blood begins pooling in the sand, you run up and you start binding her wounds. You've got stuff handy. And as you're finished starting that, the light goes out. But you've seen enough. You've gotten to that position. You know it needs done. Your hands are mechanically going through it. And then you feel a hand on your shoulder. And for a second, you stiffen up before you recognize the grasp of Rhea and you hear her voice in your ear. We need to go now.
[00:44:17] Speaker A: I'm just going to leave.
[00:44:19] Speaker B: She'll be fine. We need to go.
[00:44:21] Speaker A: They only want me.
[00:44:23] Speaker B: And she's, like, trying to pull you away. Are you resisting?
[00:44:29] Speaker A: Yeah. No, I don't think so. Because I think right now, I'm like, I got to go get Trov.
So I think I'm willing to go.
[00:44:39] Speaker B: All right. She pulls you, and your sense of direction and space is good enough that you recognize that she's pulling you to the back of the room towards the little alcove where you started the fight from.
[00:44:54] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:44:54] Speaker B: And you stumble into that back green room area, the waiting room before the fight, and there's, like, the sound of something being shuffled and moved around, and then a sound of grinding and grating. And then she's like, Follow me, and you feel like a breeze.
Do you follow her?
[00:45:14] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:45:15] Speaker B: All right. So as you head down, facing this breath of fresh air that's coming towards you, you take a few steps, and it's kind of getting colder. And you get the sense that maybe this breeze is air from the night air outside coming in.
And after a few paces, you hear the grinding sound behind you again, followed by a thud. And you get the sense of whatever passage was opened is now closed. Behind you, there's the sound of and now Rhea's holding a small torch, and she's like, we need to get you out of fine.
[00:45:51] Speaker A: Fine. You make a habit out of secret passageways in your houses.
[00:45:56] Speaker B: Oh, you have no idea how many secret passageways I have.
They're after you. I don't know why, but I know it's you.
[00:46:07] Speaker A: I know why I need to get to Trov.
[00:46:09] Speaker B: You're my prize fighter, and I can't risk losing you.
[00:46:14] Speaker A: I'm just here for me, not for you. You don't own me. Remember that.
[00:46:21] Speaker B: No, but you bring in a lot of money to these pits.
[00:46:26] Speaker A: Yes. And when I'm done, I'll stop. But I'll be fine. I just need to get to trial.
[00:46:31] Speaker B: Would you roll me a perception check?
[00:46:35] Speaker A: 24?
[00:46:36] Speaker B: Yeah. She's lying. She really cares. She's trying to make it sound like it's all business.
[00:46:42] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:46:45] Speaker B: She's like, I guarantee you, after that stunt that that kid just pulled, he will not have this position in a week. The company is not going to stand for that kind of brutality.
[00:46:59] Speaker A: Maybe if she didn't charge him, things would have gone a bit better.
[00:47:05] Speaker B: She's headstrong, but her heart's in the right place.
[00:47:09] Speaker A: Hotheads get people killed.
[00:47:12] Speaker B: Right.
Take care of what you need to in town. And I would suggest you lay low for a while. There's a company heading out of town tomorrow morning. I heard they're looking for some muscle to help keep them safe on the road. There's money in it.
[00:47:35] Speaker A: I'll look into that after I grab Trov.
[00:47:37] Speaker B: All right. You're now at the mouth of the secret passage, and she extinguishes the torch and some snow next to the passage, and she's like, take care of yourself.
[00:47:54] Speaker A: I always do.
And I think as he's looking at her in that darkness, you can see, like, a few other figures back there in the darkness with her around her, kind of just staring at him. And he feels guilty of it, but a little judged.
And then he sort of just takes off towards Trov without really saying bye or anything.
[00:48:26] Speaker B: And the camera kind of, like, pulls backward, kind of watching over your shoulder as you walk away, when she's just kind of watching for a moment before she turns and heads back into the tunnel.
So you're looking for Trov, then?
[00:48:41] Speaker A: Yeah.
All right.
[00:48:44] Speaker B: So where are you looking for him?
[00:48:46] Speaker A: The bar, all the nearby taverns. He doesn't usually hang out at the cellar, so I'm going to go to the other places in town and check the alley that he hangs out at a lot first.
[00:48:59] Speaker B: So as you check his usual haunts between the bar, the company tavern, the alleys, you're not finding him, nor are you finding any calling cards.
[00:49:16] Speaker A: Does it look like I could swing by the mine and see if I can't find that guy, that BIFF guy again?
[00:49:22] Speaker B: So what do you mean by does it look like?
[00:49:26] Speaker A: Is there a lot of activity? Does it look like they might still be looking for me around the mine, or does it look like it was just those two chillaxians?
[00:49:34] Speaker B: From your experience in the area, you know that there are likely one or two enforcers at the mine. Just making sure nobody messes with stuff overnight. But there's not likely to be a lot of other people there since the working hours are over.
[00:49:47] Speaker A: Oh, right. So that guy's probably not there. We'll see you at the company tower.
So I don't see him anywhere? No, I didn't see him in the cellar.
I'll go back by my house.
[00:50:08] Speaker B: Okay. Make a perception check for me as you approach your house.
[00:50:13] Speaker A: Ten.
[00:50:14] Speaker B: Oh, that's nice. It's your house.
[00:50:17] Speaker A: Cool.
Okay, I approach my house.
[00:50:24] Speaker B: All right. What you doing at your house?
[00:50:27] Speaker A: Going inside and then looking to see if Trov's hiding in here.
[00:50:33] Speaker B: It's dark and still as your house often is when you return from the pits.
[00:50:39] Speaker A: Okay, then I'm going to grab a pack of stuff, and then I guess what did she mention?
[00:50:43] Speaker B: She said she said that there was, like, a caravan, a detachment that was heading out of town. They were supposed to leave early that.
[00:50:52] Speaker A: Morning, like, this last morning?
[00:50:56] Speaker B: This morning. That's coming up.
[00:50:58] Speaker A: I guess I'll go there because maybe Trov's gone. There that BIFF guy's gone.
So I'll grab my stuff, essentially my packs and travel packs, and just head that way.
[00:51:10] Speaker B: All right. As you're packing, you hear a banging on the front door.
[00:51:15] Speaker A: I want to sneakily, look out a window and see if that's anyone I like at the front door.
[00:51:22] Speaker B: It appears to be an enforcer, which I would imagine would be somebody you don't like.
[00:51:29] Speaker A: Yeah. Is it anyone I recognize?
[00:51:36] Speaker B: Not particularly. Like, you've seen him before, but you don't know his name? He's just one of the guys.
[00:51:49] Speaker A: Does he look, like, aggressive? I know he's banging on the door.
[00:51:55] Speaker B: Not exactly american police officer aggressive, but aggressive, yes.
[00:52:00] Speaker A: Like, if I open the door, he's not going to maybe just attack me.
[00:52:04] Speaker B: With his posture and him yelling, Open up. You kind of get the sense that if you open the door, he'll attempt to arrest you.
[00:52:11] Speaker A: Okay, then I'll go out the back door.
[00:52:15] Speaker B: All right, let's see. So stealth checks are secret in this game.
[00:52:20] Speaker A: Who's to say, really?
My stealth is a plus four, and you just roll a secret check for me, so that means I failed.
[00:52:29] Speaker B: I mean, that is customarily how I roll for secret checks.
[00:52:33] Speaker A: Yeah. I go out the back door.
[00:52:37] Speaker B: As you go out the back door, you realize that the backyard is full of crisp, fallen snow that hasn't been stepped in yet.
[00:52:51] Speaker A: Um, see, so I could make a run for it from the back, or I could go to the front door and slam it open and knock them over. And then I'm going to try and do that. I'm going to try and just slam open the front door as I'm like, essentially running.
[00:53:13] Speaker B: All right, go ahead and make an athletics check with a plus two. Circumstance bonus.
I think that one doesn't count with how many various surfaces it went over.
[00:53:29] Speaker A: 16. No, wait. Yeah, 16.
[00:53:34] Speaker B: That was a real close one. In a good way as you burst through the door, and this enforcer goes sprawling, his gun falling off out of his hand, and, like, skittering down the cobbled streets and just spinning wildly.
[00:53:47] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:53:49] Speaker B: And are you just booking it?
[00:53:51] Speaker A: Yeah, at this point, I guess.
[00:53:53] Speaker B: All right. And he's, like, stop.
He scrambles to his feet and tries to pick up his gun. And as you're running, he tries to take a wild shot, but it just goes wide and just, like, splinters off a corner from a house as you go by.
[00:54:10] Speaker A: Yeah.
Going to keep going, but I'm going to try and use backways that Trova and I use for our jobs. So like around alleys and down to keep out of just direct sight.
[00:54:22] Speaker B: Oh yeah, and you actually lose him pretty easily because you know these back alleys and the backways through town this is familiar to you? And he had to stop and scramble and try to get his gun. So by the time he's running after you, you've got a huge lead and you've already taken a few corners.
[00:54:42] Speaker A: Okay, are there any open doors right now?
Like to houses or anything? Shops?
[00:54:51] Speaker B: Not at this point. So it's about maybe eight or nine in the evening.
[00:54:56] Speaker A: Okay, fair enough. I was just thinking while I was running, if there's something I could just jump into to hide low, but I'll keep running for the caravan. Wait, but it's supposed to leave in the morning.
[00:55:07] Speaker B: It is.
[00:55:07] Speaker A: It's like nine at night, so I've got hours.
Oh, are there like sewers here underground?
[00:55:20] Speaker B: Not in tom pathways.
[00:55:22] Speaker A: Okay, let's see.
[00:55:23] Speaker B: So as you were asking about open spaces that you could get into running past the old Time Inn in town, like back from before the company moved in, there is an outdoor stable.
[00:55:40] Speaker A: Okay, I guess I'll go there. Sounds like maybe one of my only options at the moment. Because the place well, because I don't know all of Trov's hiding places, so if he has a good hiding spot, I probably don't know where that is, nor does Trov have I could go to Trov's old mansion, abandoned mansion, but that might not be sufficiently a good idea.
[00:56:01] Speaker B: Why don't you try making a stealth check to recall knowledge?
[00:56:05] Speaker A: Oh, that's an interesting never asked for that before.
You'll try and get that difficult.
[00:56:20] Speaker B: Oh, that's a good 223 with a 23.
You know, first, that you have checked all of Trov's normal hiding places, and second, there's not really anywhere else in town that Trov would consider a sufficient hiding place. So you feel comfortable in assuming that he's no longer in town or the Enforcers have him. That's also a possibility.
[00:56:54] Speaker A: Well, now I'm thinking what would be the chances of me being able to go near where the Enforcers keep people?
Because it might be less guarded than maybe out and about looking for me to see if they do have him.
[00:57:09] Speaker B: Not as far as you're aware. The Enforcers are very efficient.
[00:57:21] Speaker A: Yeah, I guess I'm going to go no going to say I could go to the end, but they probably don't like me, so I'll go hide out in the stable.
[00:57:34] Speaker B: All right, so you've sequestered yourself behind one of like these half walls in the stable where the top is open to allow ventilation and such.
[00:57:46] Speaker A: Yeah, next to one of those big what are they called that have water that they're like oh, a trough. Yeah, trough.
[00:57:55] Speaker B: And not long after you've found this hiding place, you hear like hurried footsteps going by and the enforcer who is giving chase just runs straight past.
[00:58:08] Speaker A: Cool.
[00:58:11] Speaker B: And then he comes inside the building.
[00:58:17] Speaker A: I'll make myself comfortable.
[00:58:20] Speaker B: Yeah.
Is there anything else you want to do over the course of the night?
[00:58:25] Speaker A: I don't think there's anything else I can do overnight.
I guess I'll be drinking my chalice whenever I can to heal myself back to full, because every ten minutes, three hit points.
[00:58:40] Speaker B: Wow. That's actually really efficient for a solo player.
[00:58:43] Speaker A: Yeah, I really like that about the chalice. It's got a great pass of just I have lay on hands, essentially less good. Lay on hands.
[00:58:52] Speaker B: Yeah. Lay on one hand.
[00:58:56] Speaker A: Yeah, I think that's how it will do. All right, stay ready. If I start hearing someone, I'll jump into the trough, hide under the water.
[00:59:12] Speaker B: And as the morning dawns, it's like the sun is just barely cresting over the mountains.
Excuse me? There are no eastern mountains here.
As the morning dawns and the sun is just barely cresting over the horizon.
[00:59:33] Speaker A: It'S cresting over the mountains. If I were on the other side.
[00:59:35] Speaker B: Of the mountains well, the mountains are to the south here.
[00:59:38] Speaker A: If I was to the west of the south mountains.
[00:59:44] Speaker B: Sitting in the bay wow, look at that sunrise.
Okay, but as the sun begins to crest over the horizon, people start milling about inside the inn, and you see a young elf man step out of the tavern. He's wearing niceish clothes with a mixture of fabric and leathers, and he seems to have, like, little crystals growing all over his skin.
This has been an atomic broadcasting production pathfinder. Galerian and the Lost Omens world setting are copyright of Pizzo. More
[email protected] music in the show is from Monument Studios collection as well as Assorted artists with some original tracks composed by Jordy Hake. More details in the description. If you enjoyed the show, please remember to share with a friend, and we'll look forward to seeing you again next time.
Well, so here getting ready to start. I kind of feel like and I felt the same with Jenkins prologue. Now I feel kind of like getting ready to hang glide on the side of the Grand Canyon.
[01:01:01] Speaker A: You what the music's for?
[01:01:04] Speaker B: This is my gear. Grand Canyon.
Hey, we're experiencing technical difficulties over here. I don't hear technical difficulties. All I hear is party time.
[01:01:20] Speaker A: I haven't partied since the Civil War.
