Hi i'm Olma, Flynn, March, Ceallach, Shraya

and i'm your DM Ethan welcome to Venture Forth

[Music]

previously you all had left the cold

crest

outpost where a uh a drow

by the name of kellik had been working

as a medic along

alongside a dwarven man named jarnan

frostnane

he had been uh recently kicked out of

the uh

the group that was stationed there and

uh amidst packing his things he was

greeted by

a group of adventurers you could call

them

um by the names of shraya and flynn

um they had a bit of a problem that they

had come across

that uh shraya's commune in the forest

was being attacked by mysterious forces

and flynn was there to

sort of help him out um

a little bit later in the day once once

you guys were finished with your packing

you guys had discovered a couple of

bodies that had washed up on shore

um these were the bodies of alma and

march

um upon waking up you guys discover

discovered sort of a mysterious past

with them um and uh after a uh

awakening of a couple of the dead bodies

within the tent and

a fight with zombies ensued um you guys

decided to all

gather your things and leave together

for the commune within the forest

you guys left cold crest outpost and met

uh a fisherman an older fisherman

who was able to barter with you guys a

little bit some drawings were exchanged

for a boat

and you guys were able to head up river

into the forest

you guys noticed there was some sort of

mysterious happenings within the forest

as well

uh some shadows that weren't quite uh

adhering to the way that shadows

normally

do and that the branches of the trees

were sort of

reaching out over the water like arms

and limbs and fingers

you guys had continued down the river

and were attacked by

a water weird a water creature that

attempted to

suck some of you into the water and and

attack you but you guys all defeated

that creature and continued moving along

down the river so

moving along the river you guys are sort

of beginning to pick up

pace um the the rapids are sort of

coming back into

uh into effect and there are rocks

everywhere and you guys are

beginning to have to dodge with your

oars all of these uh treacherous waters

you look off on your right and on your

left and

these shadows begin to emerge from the

trees and

uh extend out over the water and reach

out towards you guys and the limbs of

the trees begin to move in

in weird ways and almost begin to look

like they're reaching out trying to grab

at you

and it doesn't look like there's any

anywhere to go until you look off

in the distance to your left and you can

see

just a a a little bit of a beach there a

little bit of a respite between the

trees

there's some sand and there's a little

bit of an alcove

for you guys to possibly stop at you

guys don't see any other place to stop

on your right and left

so as you guys are moving down this

river what would you guys like to do

i believe that march and alma are

steering where the paddles yes

i have do i have the glowing paddle did

i take that from

kellik you did yes okay yes and it's

still glowing now right

uh it uh dm has it been more than an

hour since i

it hasn't no it's only been a couple

minutes since your last encounter

hey march should we go there

and i point to the little area and i

start kind of like shifting my

paddle to go that way i would prefer

that i think after

our last two experiences involving boats

i'd like to never see one

or at least for some time let's let's go

we're talking we're talking sort of an

outcrop like a like an alcove or is it a

how much of it can we see detail-wise is

there

as you guys are approaching it and at

this point it is approaching pretty fast

it just looks like a little bit of a

beach um possibly with with some rocks

there and a little bit of sand

yeah uh after you know getting

my uh flesh a bit torn off by the water

it might be nice to be on dry land for

a spell yeah i think we all could uh use

a breather shraya do you see any

of you the symbols you're looking for

over there

i'm not sure let me look shraya i'm

gonna have you make a perception check

for me

oh critical fail

[Music]

looking around you're you look around

for that that signature sort of glow

that

that these trees have and you don't seem

to find any all of these shadows around

you seem to be

uh overtaking the area uh nothing i can

make out at the moment

don't know what's going on there's

usually telltale signs all over the

place in this

in this wood you know sometimes whenever

i'm having trouble with stuff

it just you know it's kind of just cause

i'm hungry

maybe we should just take a break you

saw those fish shraya i don't know if we

brought those with us did we leave all

of them with uh

the fishermen i still have two here

however they still need to be cleaned

right and i open my

uh wing out and they're uh two fish kind

of stuffed

uh between some of them you should get a

bag

you should get some kind of

oh no i i have a bag i i prefer keeping

my fish here to dry them out

speaking of stuff stuck in your feathers

how are the crystals

are they giving you any irritation do

you need an ointment

or something and then i open my wing

over on the on the other side and say

yes they are quite uncomfortable uh

i might take you up on that box offer

that you had

mentioned before that's why i put it in

my bag buddy they are quite irritating

all right i'm gonna start rowing

just a little faster just yeah oh my

gosh just a little bit faster look at

each other like

yeah we gotta get to shore uh do do they

seem to be

like does the boat seem to be shifting

easily toward

the shore or or are they having

difficulty

um yeah it seems to be a pretty easy

task to be able to the the waters are

sort of turning into rapids but

um it's not like extremely treacherous

so you guys are able to

uh sort of maneuver your way over is it

on the southern

side because i know we're going north up

the trail uh

is this alcove on the southern side or

the northern side of

the yeah so this trail you guys are are

heading up the river into the forest

um so it is going to be on your left so

that is going to be

uh the northern side

yes cool good

yeah all right let's uh let's pull it up

over here and uh

i guess we could just leave it here for

now and then if we want to use it when

we come back we can

you know try to maybe turn it up so it

doesn't or just make sure it's

completely

on dry land so it doesn't yeah yeah i'm

gonna go uh

just look for some some wood so we can

maybe start a fire

uh and cook these fish is anyone else

hungry

do you need help sure come with me

i'm gonna take the oar with me because

it's glowing

okay it's like my little flashlight i'm

just holding on to it

it's like that it's like twice your

height

so as you guys as you guys

um are are able to beach the boat pretty

pretty easily and as the boat comes

ashore

um you guys hop off the boat and you

guys can see as soon as you guys step

down

onto the ground around you these same

shadows that are forming around the

trees begin to

sort of uh creep out from around the

trees and almost

start making their way towards you guys

um there's a bit of a moment of panic

uh before you see um uh one of these

trees

amongst the the forest begins to glow

slightly

and try you look over you look over and

you see this and

um shray you recognize this as one of

the guiding trees of the forest

um and as you look over the tree begins

to glow and the glowing from the tree

almost

pushes back the shadows there and is

creating sort of a safe perimeter

around this one singular tree and on

this beach area

um that are keeping the shadows that are

creeping in at bay

almost gonna run up and hug the tree

um it's it's warm it's surprisingly warm

there's sort of like a gentle

glow to this tree uh that's providing

warmth ah

that's nice march march come feel this

tree

i i i oh okay i'm just

i'm very cautiously i kind of just go up

to it just

tap it tap it feel it very kind of like

what

is this am i going to get sucked into a

tree right now because

you know i just watched all the

disappear people go overboard i have no

idea what's going on

i don't trust anything right now so like

yeah

i guess like nice and warm i guess

it feels so nice

oh don't trust it while they're doing

that can i just like scan and see if i

can find any

twigs or like branches or something that

i could use to start a fire

yeah um i mean long story short this is

a forest so there's

foliage and branches just about

everywhere

there is there is um a lot of uh quite a

few dead branches and stuff within

this there it's like a 20-foot radius of

glowing light

um where the shadows are not intruding

and there's quite a bit of branches

there

hey flynn yeah what's up and try it try

do you think this is one of the

important trees

that help guide us i do believe it

might be an initial entryway

if we find more near it and lead in a

certain direction perhaps that will help

us find

the center of the commune so so flynn do

you think we should build a fire now

or or just try to get to the commune so

that we have more

more beings around us well i don't know

what's

going on in the commune and i don't know

how safe it is so it might be a good

idea to

get a get a rest in now before we run

into some danger

like we don't know how the town is it

could be overrun

we might also run the risk of i mean we

don't know

are are there gaps of shadows between

these wards that we'll have to cross in

order to

to to get to the commune safely like

uh shraya do you know do you have any

sense of how close we might be

we you know we've sailed pretty uh far

into the forest

uh so maybe we're closer than if we just

come in from the front

i've only entered and left this forest a

few times

i like to think i was meant to find

these elves

hopefully we're meant to find them now

but

i do believe that these

beacons will guide us just they just

like they guided me the first time that

i found them

dm can i can i tell what kind of uh

magic is being used here on the tree is

is it can i assess whether or not it's

the light that's keeping the shadows at

bay or if there's

further uh warding going on

and and maybe if i get recreated uh yeah

make an arcana check for me

[Music]

uh that is a 21.

a uh 21. yeah let me uh let me see

exactly what this is so this is going to

um so you are you know that this is

uh some pretty strong absoration magic

this is a a spell that has been cast on

the tree

itself um and that it's not

it's not necessarily um originated from

the tree but it was something cast

upon the tree um and very

easy to see that it's obviously keeping

the shadows away um as the shadows are

trying to creep in towards you guys

um are there any limbs of the tree that

seem easy to remove

um you look up and it

doesn't really seem the the ones that

are near to the ground are some pretty

thick um thick branches they get a

little bit thinner once you climb up

once you get up the tree

um but nothing near the base no

uh oma can i can i see that ore

the glowing one just for a second i'll

give it back

yeah yeah yeah i've got a tree and i

hand him the oar

um i'm gonna just walk over to an area

where

the shadows are with the ore and see if

the glowing ore

um pushes the shadows away like this

tree is doing

gotcha um so yeah you walk up to the

edge of the shadows with the ore

and as soon as you get to the the edge

of the shadows

the glowing ore seems to dim a little

bit as though the shadows are coming up

and

and almost consuming the light around

the ore um you pull it back after a

second and the glowing

brightens back up but as you push it

into the shadows they

they consume the light around the ore

interesting okay um so this doesn't work

only the tree does i'm famished

i'm gonna start this fire here's your

ore back

there is one thing i could try first

time i came into these woods

while seeing the trees i could feel the

energy

pulsing also from under the ground i

could feel it coming up through my legs

and into my body

perhaps and i look at the tree

perhaps there's something more than just

the beacons that we can see

and uh i'm going to tap the crystal of

my staff

to my forehead and plant it in the

ground

as i reach my hand forward toward the

tree

uh and uh

though there's light that pulses from

the staff and from my forehead

and i'm gonna druid craft my way into

this tree and see if there's any kind of

communication between this tree and

other trees

nice okay um so yeah you drew your crop

you [ __ ] craft yourself into the tree

um and all of a sudden you

your consciousness feels like it's

expanding a little bit as you can feel

this network of trees that's been set up

within this forest you can feel that the

roots of these trees are not

one in the same it's not of the same

tree but underneath the ground

the roots of this tree seem to

intertwine and almost like a handshake

um meet with the next tree and

the next tree and the next tree so you

could feel the energy

moving on beyond this tree and uh you

can feel that there are other trees

very close by that are just like this

one i think i might have a direction

for us

there's more trees well there

there are many many trees in this wood

but i

do believe i might have found a way of

discerning which trees lead the way we

would like to go

[Music]

and uh and feeling the sort of the

interconnectedness of the trees

um it feels like uh not quite as much of

a web but it feels like there's a long

string of them

heading north it's sort of one tree

connected after the other

uh so i i open my eyes again and

am i able to sense these with my eyes

open or do i have to keep my eyes closed

to get a sense of which

way this is going you

um with your eyes closed you can

feel a little bit more of the direction

of the trees and sort of the path that

it takes

but uh with your eyes open you can look

beyond and actually see

within the into the forest um a couple

um like 40 or 50 feet away there is

another tree that's glowing

[Music]

i think it might be wise to try to find

my brethren deeper in the forest

there are there are fewer of us

and we do not know the numbers of

whatever these shadow creatures are

[Music]

uh so uh

the the odds are that this will not be a

safe passage through the

through the woods i i think it's i i

think i'm on

uh flynn's side here in terms of maybe

we should take a breather

so yeah is anyone um works for wear

i kind of took a minute on the boat and

i feel a little bit better but

i want to make sure all you guys are on

tip top shape also those fish

how are they looking i don't know if

they're gonna last much longer

i'm not tired okay you're just

never tired oma don't listen to her she

doesn't

sleep she's always up and happy and

excited i'm

on the side of flynn here and that

the fish are here we should probably eat

them now before they spoil

and uh i i believe kayla can use

a little bit of a rest at the very least

i'm just tapped i'm uh i'm sapped of any

sort of

uh the use i can be a uh

is as little uh if anything but just a

little nap

isn't gonna help me right no i'd need an

extended time

so do we risk yourself do we just push

on try to get to the common

yeah i think so i mean and then we could

have like a real meal

and a long time to go to sleep and

wake up refreshed unless the towns are

overrun by ghosts

i mean but do you really want to pitch

up a tent and sleep all night out here

that's what it would take if we're let's

say

let's imagine for a second that we're

moving from

you know warded tree to another warded

tree uh

then we we're as safe here as we might

be you know

three trees down closer to the to

the commune i agree uh

not to mention uh we could get a better

sense of what we'll need

uh when we're there uh

for me i have to anticipate uh the kind

of magic i'll need to use in order to

have access to it wow

that's so cool

yeah i mean that makes sense um i mean i

just want to make sure everyone's okay

uh like no one's cut or or bruised or

anything they don't need to

uh like a bit to make sure they're okay

i feel my burns that were healed

um earlier this morning and i say

[Music]

just as good as i was two hours ago so

okay well uh try it i guess we're

following you bud

very well let us be on our way

um before we leave i want to put my both

of my hands on the tree

and just like lean my head against it

and whisper goodbye

um it gets about not much but maybe a

degree or two warmer as you say goodbye

uh dm just for uh keeping track

uh yeah while we were on the boat uh

just at the tail end of last episode i

applied one of my healer's kits

so i so uh as you're estimating the

uh livelihood or uh for lack of a better

word

uh flynn of our group like i i look

wounded but i have been bandaged i'm in

i'm doing well i am repaired

no problem i feel like i'm the only one

that really benefits from a

uh like an hour long rest but right now

i don't really gain too much

back just the ability to heal a little

bit that's true that's a fair point

but yeah that's what you're for right

i know yeah i mean i have i have some

supplies left

uh should we need them so can't be done

great just stay next to me i'll keep you

safe and you keep me healed

you got us stay out of the shadows they

take light away

yes i'm uh curious to see exactly

how where the lines are drawn between

you know the shadows cast in the forest

and the

whatever uh supernatural force is at

work here

so as you guys uh lead off into

the forest itself um you guys are able

sort of get to the edge of this radius

of light that the initial tree is

is casting and you guys can see just

outside of that radius another radius of

light

is beginning to emanate and you guys can

see sort of this

interconnected pathway from tree to tree

to tree um

you guys see one in front of you and

another one just

beyond um uh another grove of trees

and you guys are able to to see sort of

a clear path forward

so yeah damn what do we

what kind of distance are we talking

like are we talking

when you play like hopscotch like a like

like a nice hop

would get you to the next yeah so

there's

there's uh actually a couple a good

couple foot overlap

between each uh protection radius

so you guys are able to walk freely from

tree to tree um

but uh if you guys you know were to

falter at all

then um you guys would be within the

shadows

so like single file line it would pretty

much be single file line yes

and there are points where you know at

these

interconnected points of light

you guys are sort of having to almost

squeeze past

um these these branches that are it

looks like they're reaching out trying

to grab at you

um but you guys are able to move from

tree to tree

and you guys are moving within the safe

space but just

beyond out into the shadows just beyond

where you guys can see

you guys begin to hear whispers and

voices

and just very very quiet voices

can we have tied like can we have like

tied a rope like

little kindergartners and should be

holding on to it

yeah you can definitely do that okay

okay is everyone cool with that

yeah want to have yeah i feel like

schreier's in the front because he's

leading us through these trees

um i'd like to take the rear just to

make sure

um if anyone gets pulled away i can see

that happen

okay other than that whoever wants i to

be just just

in front of uh flynn there since we

agreed

that i would protect him and he protects

me i'll go in the middle and and

um march do you want to go in front of

me yeah i'm going to be directly behind

cheyenne because i am

just not down with you know whispering

shadow tree creature things that i

cannot see

i am absolutely going to have

uh just my my warhammer just ready to go

just at the faintest site of

you know i'm just just just holding it

just prepared

i don't do well with things that that

whisper in the dark

i would just like to imagine that i'm

faintly annoyed by where having to hold

on to the rope

i've barely got a grip on it

just being pulled along all right so

safely secured uh with the rope in

between you guys

uh you continue on from tree to tree to

tree

and you guys continue to hear these

whispering voices

almost calling you into the forest

calling you deeper

out of the light and into the trees

after a couple minutes the whispering

subsides and

you guys begin to hear the sounds of of

creatures

but these are not pleasant creatures

these are not birds chirping

these are deep growls of

what sounds like wolves and and just

like guttural roars

of these creatures around you guys

and after a couple minutes only about 15

or 20 minutes of

walking you guys walk into

an open area um completely devoid of

trees devoid of of shadows

you guys open up into a beautiful

forest commune um you guys look around

and you guys can see

that there are these glowing trees sort

making a perimeter around this this area

of forest

um protecting and keeping the shadows

out

you guys look around and you see um

makeshift but still

beautiful houses made of wood and

almost made into the trees and made with

the nature um you guys look around

and it's it's only maybe 15 or 20 of

these actual structures it's not a very

big commune

but you can see elves moving in between

the buildings moving back and forth

you can see that there are people being

tended to you can see that there are

people making trades and and talking and

you can see in the middle of this

commune directly in the middle of this

this circle of an outcropping um

what looks like an ancient temple it's

made of mostly stone

and you can see it's it's overgrown with

vines but

in this beautiful sort of natural way

and as you guys walk into the commune uh

you guys see

a couple of elves walking around and uh

what would you guys like to do as you as

you approach

i want to drop the rope and sidle

up to flynn and elbow him in the

in the ribs because i'm down there with

him and

and say see have a little faith we made

it fine

yeah i mean it worked out i just you

know i just want to make sure everyone's

safe but

you know yeah it worked out we're good

and i'll stroll up next to

raya and kind of be there at his side as

takes the lead

freya do you see anyone this look of uh

relief

and comfort kind of washes over my face

and my

my body relaxes just a little bit um my

feathers sort of like

stretch out a bit and then go back to

where they were

uh and i approach uh one of the do first

of all

do i recognize any of the elves in front

of me

um looking around you do recognize a

couple of friendly faces

um most of them you haven't really had

any serious time with um make a

uh perception check to see if you uh see

anyone that you know by name

uh 15. so you can see uh walking around

just exiting um the uh the stone pillars

of the temple in the middle

uh you see a friendly face um you see a

very tall elven man he's got very long

brunette hair

very intricate braids and uh beads

all in inside of his hair um you see

he's wearing these brown

and green robes and you immediately

recognize this as uh

farlain autumn loft um your friend who

you had uh

who you had spent some time with here in

the commune and uh he's one of the

one of the only people who you really

know by name here

um but he uh he does not seem to notice

you

i approach and i say

is that my good friend from the autumn

loft family

and he immediately his head whips around

and he sees you

and his face just lights up and he

rushes over to you and

envelops you in a huge hug and he says

oh my god shraya all of elbor praises

your return i am so happy

likewise my good friend uh i've been

longing

to come back to your brethren and the

rest of these pure of earth

i've brought back some companions with

me that may be able to help with our

impending troubles

i see that oh my you are all

so brave of heart and i am thankful to

the moon and back that you are all here

can you repeat his name please yes his

name is

farlane autumn loft

mr uh autumn loft uh i take it uh

wha what uh

what's going on here exactly uh uh

shreya has given us a

something of a briefing on the effects

the shadows have had but

how recent is this development is it has

have the timberlands always been

uh coursed in this way or is it a new

development

or is it is it getting worse please tell

the the timberland around here has

always been uh uh

wild to say the least but it has never

been this dark

um this is this is very new um as shraya

i'm sure can tell you this

um only really started happening um uh

just over

uh i'd say six or seven days ago um

uh when shraya left uh things were just

just beginning but now i'm afraid

they've gotten much worse

um dm about what time is it

now um the sun has gone down over the

horizon

it was about an hour ago um so you guys

are probably approached

approaching 7 30 8 o'clock

is it a big commune or like how many

buildings are we are we kind of seeing

before us what's the and what are they

made of and stuff

yeah so um looking around it's mostly um

like handmade buildings um most of them

are

made of a couple of them are made of

like some very rough stone

and um branches most of them are are

made out of um

like uh wood logs and stuff like that

um mostly huts things of that nature

you look around and you can't spot more

than maybe a hundred

elves here

uh mr autumn croft correct autumn loft

autumn loft apologies uh hello

i'm i'm march uh we've just met try

recently

uh we'd love to hear more about exactly

what is

occurring here and get a better

understanding of how perhaps we can help

is there anywhere we could sit it was um

an adventure getting here oh yeah um

yeah of course um

there is uh most of this area here is

safe

um because of the trees they've been

protecting us um

but at night we found that the shadows

begin to creep in once more

and really the only safe place is the

temple at the moment so that's

we're trying to gather everyone to to go

to the temple right now

i guess to the temple we go

yeah i'm like semi-enthusiastic about it

but also very like

yay kind of vibe if you guys would like

to join me i'm i'm heading there

before we depart uh you must meet

my friend flynn uh he is from an elite

group

uh i do not know how much familiarity

you have with the high elves of

addersfeld

but i met i met one of their leaders

there

mellaroo cardinal and she dispatched

this short one

uh but they uh they have much experience

with hunting the great

monsters and beasts of this world and

this this one here is one of their ranks

uh it's an it's an honor to have you

what did you say your name was hi

i'm flynn fellow weave uh it's great to

meet you as well and i really hope we

can sort this out as

as soon as possible i did have a quick

question um

are you guys doing this to the trees to

make them uh glow and keep everyone safe

is is there a way

we can like carry that around um

oh i'm i'm afraid this was done a long

time ago um

this uh these trees uh what you see the

the glow of them

is the result of numerous spells cast

over

many decades um these are um

many spells on top of each other and i'm

afraid this is not something that

that can be done within a day um

otherwise we would have

we would have continued to do this

oh they're they're amazing aren't they

well we'll uh we'll sort this out as

soon as possible

and that's a that's an iron light

promise

i i appreciate your expertise in this

matter

um if you would like to follow me i'm

i'm heading over to the temple right now

and we can uh further debrief there i'm

i'm afraid i'm um uh not quite sure how

much longer the

we'll be safe out here sounds good lead

the way

okay and he turns around and he he leads

you all back into this temple

um it looks like this is um

it's mostly just like a series of of

stone made

into a circle um uh

like a a few vertical pillars of stone

that have been

wrapped in these vines and beautiful

flowers um

it's an open air temple so there's no

real ceiling or anything but uh

it looks like there seems to be um some

sort of uh

there's like sitting areas on the ground

and um

it looks very beautiful and it's a very

warm feeling when you when you approach

can we tell who the temple was built for

old gods new gods um

this looks uh very like a very old

temple but you can make a religion check

to see exactly uh

who this might be too

sure

14. uh

14. so um looking around uh there's no

real definitive iconography there's no

symbols

there's no words written on these stones

you personally don't don't know exactly

who this is built to

can i can i tell just from a glance i i

don't

need to make a check if she if she has

sort of done the check

uh yeah i mean yeah you can make a quick

check too if you would like sure

uh a religion check yeah

uh that is a 14. uh 14

you again you don't really see any

definitive iconography

right um but as

far lane sort of um leads you guys into

the circle you can see that

everyone in the commune is beginning to

gather around

um the uh gather around the the center

here

um and it seems like this is sort of the

safe space

um and as ferlane leads you within the

temple

um he says okay um i i

am at your aid i'm at your disposal um

what will you all need moving forward to

to get rid of this darkness does it have

some kind of source

is there often things of this nature

stem

from some kind of conduit uh

is there what's changed in the last week

or so to make it

expand was there anything big that

happened

right before they started and if there

was anything big

did it come from any specific direction

um there was uh nothing

big like that that i can remember um

about uh eight or nine days ago there

there was a group of uh goblins that got

that came through our camp and and uh

disturbed a little bit but

um there it was it was only maybe three

or four of them and and uh

we were able to get rid of that

infestation fairly quickly

right which direction did they come from

um they came they came in from the west

um and then we were able to drive them

out

uh in sort of a the northeastern

uh direction but uh beyond that i don't

know

why they were here i think they were

just lost oh

did it seem like they were drawn to

something or looking for something

um i i could not tell their motives but

it did not seem like they were here for

us it did not seem like uh

we were what they were after you didn't

ask them what did you do to them

no uh we uh we just attempted to drive

them out um

they they came into our camp they

stumbled upon us uh it appeared by

accident and

they uh they began to try and steal uh

from some of us before we noticed and

then um eventually we we were able to

find them and uh

and draw them out i see glenn uh

you're a monster hunter right isn't this

kind of your

your expertise do you know where we

might start

well is it did you guys see any type of

creature i've i've never seen a monster

that

takes over a forest and makes it dark um

is there any kind of inclination that

there's like a big creature around the

area that

that may be living in a cave that we can

go investigate

um normally these these woods are

inhabited by

the largest thing around here might be a

cave bear um

but maybe some wolves but we really

don't get any

large creatures um around these parts

frame my understanding here

the the forest has always been dark to

some extent yes because otherwise

why make the wards in the first place

if there's it's always been wild to a to

a certain extent as

any forest can be we choose to live out

here to live

amongst the chaos um of just uh

nature but mr ottomoft forests being

wild

does not mean they're covered in shadows

right so so that is correct

when you say wild does that include the

encroaching darkness from all sides or

is that

is that has that be begun

in the last week or so uh the shadows

have

have come within the last week um as as

long as i have been here

which has been a considerable amount of

time many decades

i have never seen anything of this sort

so the forerunners

of this forest they put these wards up

uh knowing that this might

occur do you think

um from the stories that have been told

to me um

the original founders of this commune um

set up this place

as um sort of a halfway point uh for

travelers coming through the forest for

people to

uh come and rest and for people to be

safe so

these trees were imbued with magic to

keep

more along the lines of wild animals um

out

just for uh for safety i would like to

um actually

farlane in the

morning and daytime i i know we're in a

forest so it's

pretty shadowed do the shadows kind of

recede a little bit like is it safer to

travel

the sunlight overhead definitely um

uh helps dispel some of the shadows um

they seem to be drawn back during the

day but at night

the the shadows really um are able to do

whatever they want it seems

and the trees are the only thing that

protects us but um

i i'm afraid since centuria has left um

some of the trees have begun to go dark

and uh some of the magic has begun to

fade

um well guys i don't know about you but

maybe

we try to

get together with everybody tonight and

and learn more about

the shadows and what's happened and what

they've what they've experienced

with the shadows so that we can prepare

ourselves for tomorrow

and and go into the forest and try to

pinpoint a source of this

it definitely tracks that we should make

our move at sunrise to maximize on

the amount of light available to to put

these shadows at bay at least slightly

i would be curious to see if there's any

correlation to

where the uh goblins

were headed and to where the uh wards on

the trees had begun to dissipate because

there might if there's

any uh connection we can draw and that

might give us a place to start

i think we should definitely start where

the wards are starting to dissipate

first

we also should probably try and find a

way to safely

walk through the shadows it seemed like

the whispers are probably not a good

thing i was

um maybe we get i don't know some kind

tree branch that has this glow on it i

don't know maybe they have some kind of

way that they travel through the forest

because

it doesn't seem like a great idea to

walk into that without knowing more

about it so i guess yeah

actually during the day yeah let's go

sorry hello

also it's okay flynn you're new to this

it's okay um experience alma is uh

quite the monster under herself it would

appear

lynn kind of slowly walks away and picks

a rock

whenever i would have trouble amongst

the inhabitants of my original tribe

where i where i come from i

we would always look to our elders we'd

always call

call our tribe together when we had

crises

like like this we never experienced

anything quite like this

though i don't know what the affairs of

the commune are

at the moment but perhaps before we

retire perhaps we could call

call a larger meeting of of the larger

commune and

and uh and see if any of the elders had

anything to say

i think that's a great idea also do you

guys have any like

hunting parties that could join us maybe

anybody who is

very brave and and could walk with us

through the forest maybe maybe as an

extra hand

um well i most of the commune here

um we are um very against any sort of

violence so

um we do not have anyone who uh who

could have necessarily defended us the

trees have been doing that for us

um the some of the most able-bodied of

us uh

went out into the forest um just the day

after shraya left

and um they were they were not seen or

heard from since

um only only one of them has returned

and he has not spoken a word since

where is he uh he's off in the temple

um he's actually uh just right over here

and he

he points over to um sort of the

opposite side of of this temple

and you can see a couple of people um a

couple of elves crowded around

um this this other elf who seems to be

sort of shriveled up onto the ground

how did i not notice him before i i'll

i'll

rush over to him that's

okay um you you push push two of the

elves aside

um and and take a look at him how are

you gonna

try to assess this guy um i would like

to see the source of his

his injury or if he if he's ill

or um yeah i just want to see

um if if he is wounded externally first

but then

i'd be curious to see uh if there's

anything farther

deeper yeah uh make a medicine check for

that ten that's a ten um

you look and he is laid down on the

ground

just in a ball and he seems to be

shivering

and he's sweating and um he's just

sort of taking in very um very quick and

sharp

breaths um he seems to be

hyperventilating a little bit

uh as he is laying there on the ground

uh how how old does he appear to be

um he's an elf i take it

he's an elf um yeah so he still looks

his features are

are still very young um and

so you you get that he's probably a

younger elf

um but you know in elven years that's

still pretty old

son son

how you doing in there

he continues shivering on the ground he

doesn't even open his eyes

to recognize that you're there i'll um

i'll pull from

my bag just a cloth to wipe up his brow

and i'll um uh i'll look

if he's got any if it if there appears

to be any like

muck or disturbance to even just uh

his appearance or anything else i'll

i'll try to clean uh any any amount of

that as well

just trying to just try and make him dry

and

safe and clean yeah there is there is

quite a bit of dirt on the side of his

face that's

that's laying down on the ground so

you're able to clean him up a little bit

and he

um he's just laying there in a ball he's

hunched over

sort of um arms at his chest just

trying to seems to make himself as small

as possible

what did you see lad what did you hear

he continues shivering and doesn't even

appear to

notice you there

um can i can i lift him to be

into a more like seated position and

help him get like braces back against

the wall

sure um yeah you can you can definitely

do that um

but his head doesn't even raise as you

do that his body seems

almost frigid and completely tensed as

you do that have i

seen anything like this

in my experience at cold crest or before

um make make a history check

see if you can remember anything like

this

it's not that's not a good day for me

guys eight eight

uh i mean this looks like maybe

it's like very similar to just like a

common um common like cold except

everything is very heightened

uh i'll sort of do my best to just get

on the same level as him

like make our faces um

on the same plane and just say

what have you right is rain it's gonna

be all right figure out what's happened

here

listen my name is kellick gray

and i'm here to help you so

the moment you find your senses

come to me tell me what's happened

tell me how i can help and uh

uh are the people around him are they uh

do they appear to be of any kind of

medical profession or or uh pre-sleep

profession uh healer types you look

around and there were four elves

surrounding him and you could sort of

hear the chatter as you were talking to

him

and they were wildly speculating they

were going back and forth on

oh i mean maybe if we um oh do you think

t would help him i i don't know i've

never seen anything like this i

um do you think we should should we wrap

him in blankets no he

looks like he's sweating he's too hot he

needs to be cooled down and you can see

that there's sort of a debate going on

on how they can help this man i will um

uh reach into my bag

and

uh and just pull from it

a few uh herbs and

hand it to the who who among them is the

most

is the least distressed looking is the

most keeping their coal the most

and just say uh it's a

little bit of bark uh and a few of these

roads if you if you brew them in tea

or just have them chew on them uh it'll

help abate the favor a bit

uh i don't know if it's if it's from the

shadows themselves

there's only so much we can do in the

material sense

to ease his suffering uh but

[Music]

the least we can do is obey the symptoms

and uh you hand this to um it's an elven

woman who

who takes this from you and says okay i

i'll uh i'll take this i'll make this

into a t and i'll bring it back right

away thank you very much

of course uh just as a quick

a quick thought that i will um sort of

with uh as surreptitiously as i might

i'm going to um just turn and glance at

him and whisper

and uh cast eyes of the grave to just

look at him uh

through the uh burning amber gays

of my patron uh and to see if i can

detect any undead

about them the young man okay

um you look at him

with eyes of the grave and

as your vision expands to see if you can

see any undead

you get this stench of undead coming off

of his body

but it's not him himself

um it's almost as if uh he's been around

undead um as if the scent of undead

lingers on him but isn't emanating from

him

right i don't dismiss it

i think he'll be all right but look

after him

if he says anything tell us

we're here to help i gesture to the rest

of my motley crew

we will yes damn would we

would i know how long march and i had

been on the boat for

since the big explosion um

yeah you guys have been on the boat just

pretty much overnight

okay so so that that whole thing just

happened like a day before this not six

days okay

yeah um trying to draw some parallels

here

uh flynn's probably not with the group i

think after

after that little shot to his ego he

probably

stumbled off and started kind of like

just walking around

um and got to like the edge the

outskirts where

where the the shadows kind of meet the

the the force starts meeting and he

wants to kind of like he'll just like

be walking around like it's okay man you

you

can do this you'll you'll get there you

just you know just practice and then you

know once you

once you get a little bit of practice

just like mom said you know things take

time

um and he wants to just kind of like

start looking on the ground

for uh like acorns or

anything unique uh in this like

forest that he can maybe put in his

pouch and uh and also kind of look out

into the shadows

as well so kind of look for those two

things

um yeah so there are actually um

acorns littered everywhere um if you

want to reach down and pick one up

um this this little commune seems to be

um sort of in an area that's been

all the trees have been cut down in this

area but there are still sort of

um the remnants of where the trees once

were so you can you can reach down and

grab one

i'll reach down and uh and i'll pick up

a few and just kind of like hold them

and like look at them

and just to myself a whisper oh yeah i

think i think mom and dad will like

these

and i'll pull up in my pack and i'll

throw a few in where i put the uh

a stamp i believe that i got from yes

cold crest

i'll just kind of throw them in that

same pouch like put a few in there and

then

as i do that i'll kind of look up and

just kind of calm myself down

get back to center and just kind of take

a look out into the

into the shadows like right up against

the outskirts of it and just kind of

peer out for a few

years as you look out for a few seconds

um you are

once again again greeted with that

feeling that you had felt a couple days

ago

of looking into the forest and the cold

chill runs down your spine

and just this this deep-seated

unease forms within the pit of your

stomach

do i see anything um or is it just

completely still

completely still and at this moment

completely quiet

and it's this feeling of remind me

say again wanting to go into that forest

and unease

he said an unease you're not necessarily

drawn

into the forest okay but there's just

when you look into it for too long

there's this emptiness

that forms within you can i reach down

and grab

one or two more acorns off the ground

after putting a few in my bag and can i

take one

let's look back see where my party is

and then look back and kind of smile a

little bit and throw one into the into

the shadows

all right and the acorn tumbles and

falls

and just sitting there i look out

no movement no movement

i'm kind of like whisper interesting

i'll turn back and head to the group

wherever caleb is uh

helping the fallen comrade just kind of

head over that way

um i've either called the rest of the

group closer or just returned to them

uh and just reported uh what i was able

to observe which isn't much

uh the i've seen trauma uh before i've

seen

uh people shell shocked and you know

deeply troubled by the things they've

seen it it's almost reflective of that

but

but he's got a bad fever there's some

kind of illness that's overtaken him and

i believe there's there's someone death

going on um is uh

for elaine still with us dm or is he

gone

yeah he's right with an earshot of you

guys i'll say uh

farlane have have there been deaths

in within the commune uh that have

happened or has it all been

outside in the shadows um all of it has

been

uh outside in the shadows um

uh ildori has been able to keep us safe

here within

uh the temple for the most part but i i

fear

her magic is um is failing

at this point interesting

her magic is failing

[Music]

have you seen any have any of the people

that have gone out and died or

disappeared have you seen them

come back have you seen them attempt to

return so to speak

we have not seen them physically

unfortunately

but um every morning uh

a few of us wake up and um some people

claim to have heard their voices out

within the shadows

[Music]

i'd like to get a sense of how

eldoria might be taking in

all of this darkness

i shall take my leave for the moment and

attempt to commune with her

and then i'm gonna start toward the

temple

and uh try to find uh

whatever the center of the energy is

in with it to to try to find a place to

meditate

yeah so there's there's sort of this

central stone

um that's within this temple

and it seems to be right at the center

of the temple and it seems to be

sort of a meditating stone

for people to sit on it i would like to

sit on the stone and

touch the the crystal of my staff

to it before i plant it in the ground

and and raise my eyes

up toward the heavens and and dig my

talons into the floor

and uh begin meditating

okay

are you uh what exactly are you

meditating on are you meditating on

anything

the focus of my meditation is to attempt

uh commune with ildoria and

in a as humble of a way as i can feel

out and attempt to become aware

more through her

and with her uh and

see what i see and feel what i feel uh

as it relates to

the forest as a whole

okay so you begin your meditation

um it's probably gonna take a little

while um for you to sort of get centered

and and all of that after seeing the

sort of chaos that the forest

uh has to offer um farlane walks up to

the rest of you guys and he says

um if if you guys are planning on

starting in the morning

um we have sort of a designated sleeping

area

here within the temple um i can show you

guys to that area i'm i'm going to start

getting everyone else ready uh to go to

sleep if that's okay

um if you would you guys like me to to

sort of bring you over to that area now

or would you guys like to begin your

investigation

at uh at the present moment i could use

a rest myself

i don't know about the rest of you as

could i

yeah i think arrest is a good idea uh

caution your people

against any wistful sentiment the voices

they hear in the darkness are

not benign and uh

while that may seem obvious it's worth

mentioning

i will tell them but i i must say when

when those voices

are the voices of of a father

or of a sister or of a daughter

it's it's hard to keep those temptations

at bay

i understand actually

on our way to our area of respite could

you maybe walk us over to those wars

that seem to be down i feel like maybe

taking a quick look at them might be a

good idea just before we go to bed

um maybe we can fix them i mean if it's

if it's the line of defense and it's not

working i'd feel better taking a look at

them before i

lay my head down to rest i can point you

in the direction but

as the sun has gone down i do not feel

comfortable leaving the temple at the

moment um the temple has been the only

safe place that we have found at night

it's up to you guys

i mean we can i thought i thought that

the wards that were down were within the

forest

um there are a few to the north uh of of

the coming that protect the commune

itself

um that are beginning to fail um their

their glow has

begun to diminish the ones that have

been completely snuffed out

are ones deeper within the forest yeah

that's sorry um that's what i mean i

mean like

the ones that are here that we can check

out the ones that are weakened let's

just take a peek at them maybe glean

anything before we

maybe we can fix them or to know if this

town is going to be overrun

in the night if these are weakened

i'm going to bed i don't really have a

lot

to be able to protect myself if i

go out of the temple okay i mean

flynn if uh if farlane is advising that

we should not leave the temple he

is here you know he lives here he stays

here if he advises to not leave the

temple at this time i

suggest we go by what he says okay i

mean

yeah i'll do whatever you guys want to

do um

it's very it's very brave of you to want

to go out there

well i maybe i'm misunderstanding i i

was thinking that these wards are

not in the forest they're like right

over there in

in the town they are they are in the

town but

they they're the circle they they

encircle this this whole commune but

according to farlane he said that even

the commune isn't very safe anymore that

the only place that's safe is the temple

at night at night

i guess we just check them out in the

morning then yeah because farlane just

said that sometimes when you're in the

commune that's when you hear the voices

and they could lure you into the shadows

all right but we can check them in the

morning

yeah that's that sounds good

um is there i i watched um

kellick have that conversation with that

man is there like a fire in front of

where he is like a man-made um

fire in front of him yeah there at this

point there are a couple of campers

campfires that people have set up um

around the temple one of them is pretty

close to where he is

okay i would like to um before

going over following um farlane to where

the sleeping area is

i'd like to walk over there and um just

stand

kind of like right next to him um with

my leg kind of

touching his body and um

i'd like to um reach out to the towards

the fire in front of him

and um as i do so it um

doubles in the amount of bright light it

provides

um and i just kind of like touch his

shoulder

and walk away as the bright light

begins to glow brighter he

winces and and tenses up even more and

sort of kicks his legs out and tries to

push himself away from the fire

oh i lower it again i dim it

um the same amount that it glows i

actually i can dim it

by half okay

um and as soon as you dim it by half his

body

still very tensed up but begins to relax

just a little bit the shivering um

subsides

barely okay

interesting and as the rest of you guys

are

sort of uh getting ready for your

night's rest

um farlane uh steps up

on the meditation stone near where

shraya is

and looks out to over uh the entirety of

the commune

and uh everyone sort of takes a moment

to look up

at him and he uh he speaks to the entire

group

and he says now i know

that these last couple of days have been

trying for all of us

but for tonight i know ilduria will take

care of us

and we will wake in the morning again

safe

we have new adventurers who have come to

our commune who are going to help us

and who are going to fix this problem

they will find our friends and our

family and they will bring them back

safe

i know that this has been very tough

but we now have hope so

everyone get a good night's rest

and i will see you all in the morning

good night

and he steps down off of the meditation

stone

and uh begins to go over and set up

where he's gonna be sleeping

um after he walks away i'm gonna walk

kind of like walk up to kalec and and

tug a little bit on his robe to bring

him down to my level

i'll kneel

[Music]

um do you know who eldoria

is she's gonna protect us i don't i

don't who is that

alma i don't know the ins and outs of

what's going on here

but i can tell you for sure

eldoria will not protect us

who is she

you don't know no

huh uh for a time she was uh

very powerful but uh

that time has passed i

think we're on the brink of something

the world is changing in ways i never

thought possible

and uh

i'm afraid

and i don't like to be afraid

but uh i think i have a right to be

given the current circumstances

so uh let's uh let's stay safe tonight

yeah

um calic you looked at that man

do you think we should be worried about

him do you think

maybe he could turn into something like

we saw earlier

[Music]

it's just that he was scared of the

light

and there's nothing to be scared of

there unless

you're preferring the darkness

there were some there was some

shadow clinging to him

and i i couldn't tell whether you know

it was

with adam or just a residue

of something else there's things i could

do for him but i need

i need energy i need time well do you

think

maybe we shouldn't all sleep at the same

time and we could

keep an eye on him i think that's um

wise especially considering your age

huh i just i'm impressed the amount of

in a forethought what do you mean

forget i said anything okay

you're weird

i can't argue there um

just as a cursory thing uh dm i would

like to

um just uh uh

maybe even retroactively have you know

just um

given the the man a case on the forehead

and

uh said uh non-dom and and cast sparrow

the dying

on him um

it uh it won't do anything really

mechanically

but uh just as a an act of grace

okay um and when you did that

you saw no visible change i i didn't

think i would

all right

alma uh i don't know what you know

of the gods and their workings not a

whole lot i mean

i learned a little bit but we we're very

focused

select like i don't know how many there

are and i don't know anything like that

i would like just know what i know more

every day

it would seem uh is that normal

well what's normal ulma you cast a spell

and you blinked out of existence

and i was here the whole time

of course you were uh so

uh the short answer is no it's not

normal but

it is uh the way it thinks

uh just be on your guard and don't trust

the gods

it's not worth it and i without

i like completely uh like

whip away almost like

do you think i upset him i touched i

turned to march

and be like i'm gonna kind of just shrug

like let's just

go to sleep i'm just

i'm pretty much just gonna put all my

stuff down

um but keep kind of almost almost like

in a

ready-to-sleep kind of area but have my

warhammer like it's

like it's a baby

uh deep in my meditative like dream

trance trance-like state uh i'm going to

repeat

these words in my head um

ildoria ancient one

sacred one your light traverses

all the corners of this wood

where where what might i know about

how the edges of your light might be

fraying

how can i help heal this land

okay um you continue to repeat that over

and over and over in your head

um you uh you feel that it might take a

little bit more time

to get any sort of answer

but you are deep within your meditation

and you've sort of found your zone

there um with that um

is everyone choosing to go to sleep i

think um

sorry shraya is away from us we were led

away while he was in the center of the

temple

communing so now we're kind of off in a

different area

and he's not with us you guys are all

sort of within

the same area the temple itself only

spans

about 50 feet um so it's not it's not a

huge huge thing um it's mostly just like

a circle of rocks basically um but yeah

you you are

pretty much always within sight of

shraya

okay uh i think flynn um realizing

everyone's kind of

going to sleep um i think he would kind

of turn to the group and kind of just be

um guys i think we probably should have

at least some kind of watch

um should we double up i mean i'm down

to stay up a little bit longer i'm i'm

feeling okay does anyone want to watch

uh with me caleb march

i've basically uh gotten into bed and i

have like a pillow over my face like i'm

just a wreck march then march would you

like to

stay away from me march is snoring

alma are you awake i'm a i'm awake

hi i'm awake um do you i do think we

should watch

um but since it's just you and me we

probably should split it up

and just be you and me and then maybe i

can like wake march up after

yeah he gets once he gets a full sleep

yeah just us two and then we wake other

people up to watch no

no like you and i watch

but we watch at separate times so that

you can also get enough sleep and i can

get enough sleep and then i'll wake

somebody so you'll watch

and then you'll wake me up and i'll

watch and then i'll wake somebody else

okay i just was the you know looking

forward to kind of chatting with some of

the party members and getting to know

him better but

yeah i guess that makes sense um we can

get to know you later

like tomorrow morning when we're all

traversing through the forest that's a

really good time to get to know people

yeah when we're when we're trekking

through a

force is trying to lure us to our deaths

we can learn about ours

all right i'll wake you up in a few

hours

good night and i'll just kind of stand

up and just

start walking around the oh before i've

gone to bed i say

hey um can you keep an eye on that guy

who's uh shivering

i'm a little concerned yeah that was one

of my reasons for doing a watch i feel

like keeping an eye on him is a good

idea

um yeah

okay i'll wake you up in a bit thanks

i'm gonna curl up next to march and get

some steal some of her warmth

just like my head is completely covered

by a blanket

and it's just like up against her side

i'm very instinctually

march now kind of is going to do this

thing where she's got kind of alma and

one arm and her war hammer and another

like these are my children i protect

them

yeah flynn probably doesn't say anything

but he's just kind of walking around and

one of the thoughts to his head is like

is that is that a mom and a kid like is

that her daughter

but he doesn't say anybody he's just

thinking of that

so uh flynn as as you're walking around

um you're

starting to sort of take the perimeter

of the temple yeah just doing a little

patrol kind of like a round down

yeah um after you know a lap or two

um farlane walks up to you and uh

everyone else seems to be

resting at the very least if not fully

asleep and he walks up and he says uh

so uh you can't sleep either

um yeah i mean it's mainly just i feel

we should keep an eye on things

especially that guy over there that

seems to not be doing

too well we saw some weird stuff um at

cold crest

where we met up and you know i'm kind of

wary about any type of weird

stuff going on how you doing

uh as well as i can be doing um

my health has not left me um thank the

gods but

um i i i fear for

these people here hey man we'll we'll

take care of it we'll figure out the

problem we'll sort it out don't you

worry a bit

um side note i took some acorns from the

forest is that cool

am i going to get like smote

no the the the forest uh the forest

provides for

all of us i'm sure that's uh

not going to upset any of the trees if

that's what you're worried about yeah i

kind of am because they seem to be

reaching out a lot sometimes anyway

um yeah i mean i don't know

i guess what so

i was kind of off walking around

what what happened a week ago that's

when this all started and you didn't

notice any changes

yes it started not as intense

as this is now um we could not

see the shadows creeping in it was

a little bit more subtle unfortunately

we uh we had a couple people disappear

before we

understood what was going on

it uh it's it's

difficult because i i really i do not

know how it started

but um i

i do not wish to speak ill of anyone

but um the uh

the man i don't know if you've seen the

man over there who's laying on the

ground uh

in in a pile of his own sweat yeah what

what's his name by the way i don't know

if we got that

that might be something we should have

just in case he wakes up

um yes uh his name uh is alithar

dazumin

he was one of the first to go off into

the forest

um just before this this all

began happening um

i i again i wish not to speak ill of

anyone

but the timing is

suspicious hmm

so you think he may have something to do

with this he might be the reason why

this shadow stuff has happened

i i truly have no evidence um apart from

the timing he uh

he was one of the few who insisted

that uh we continue chasing the goblins

out from our camp um to the north he

thought that uh

they they got a taste of of what goods

we had here and and he thought that they

might bring

more back so he he was of the mind that

we must continue chasing them

um so him and him and two others um

went north for a day or so

to chase the goblins further away to

ensure that they didn't come back

um and when he finally stumbled back to

camp he uh

unfortunately was in this condition and

the other two members never

returned oh i have not seen them since

um well i have a feeling that

uh some of our party members might be

able to

remedy his situation in the morning so

maybe we might be able to

glean some information from him and see

what's going on

um as uh

someone of your profession um what

what is your opinion as to what we

should do with him

i i over these last few days

i have tried to think of things i

i do not know but i am now

almost certain that we we must give him

back to the shadows

he he belongs there

he is not doing anything for anyone here

and

i fear something might come of him

yeah it's it's definitely a predicament

i don't know part of me thinks that

you know if if it was someone that i

cared about and i'm assuming you

care about this man he's part of your

group he wouldn't

want to just necessarily let him die

maybe we put him in restraints or

something if

because we were kind of thinking maybe

something might happen like he turns

into a

crazy monster um maybe we tie him up

make sure that he doesn't lash out

or transform if that's even what's going

on here which honestly

anything's possible at this point this

place is weird

i just simply fear that the darkness

within him will be contagious oh

i didn't think of that yeah

well maybe we'll find out in the morning

i don't

i don't want to do anything right now

except keep an eye on him

okay as as the expert i will take your

opinion

yes i know these things and

that's my expert opinion oh

you're doing okay um

i don't know maybe i'm just getting

tired maybe i do need to sleep

i think we all need a little bit of rest

yeah

all right well if i think of anything

i'll give you a wave but i'm just going

to keep walking around in circles and

you know this small temple until i fall

asleep

okay i will see you in the morning then

and he walks off and uh and sits down

back in his little cot that he had set

and uh lays down um during all that

could i

glean if maybe

i don't know uh if he was maybe trying

to push blame onto somebody else

for something he's done uh if he felt

like maybe

us being there is

worrying him yeah uh make an insight

check sure

[Music]

all right okay it is a plus

oh that's a little road that's a rule

total 20.

total of 20. um definitely happy to see

you guys there

good um he is very paranoid

at this moment of this man or just in

general

in general he is he's looking for

answers he's desperate and paranoid okay

yeah he's he's putting on like a pretty

brave face

um like he's sort of taken up the

leadership role

here um so he's sort of trying to keep

everyone cool calm and collected

um but deep underneath behind his eyes

there is

some some intense paranoia okay um

and then during my patrol i just like to

maybe

take a look outside and just kind of

periodically through my my watch and

just kind of look and see

the progression of the shadows getting

closer and maybe see if i can spot the

wards

that seem to be dimmer yeah make a

perception check

for me

that's better but the role's not eight

eight um looking out into the forest um

you're once again just met with that

cold um sort of abyss

that that you see out within the trees

just very surface level what you see is

um the trees to the north

are just very slightly getting dimmer

um the glow isn't as tense intense and

you can see the radius of light sort of

retracting

and you look to the south just sort of

comparatively

and the the trees to the south are much

brighter you can see

the glow is sort of emanating from the

very tips of the leaves and the very

tips of the branches

um almost like this this golden dew

that's collected on the outside of them

and you look off to the north again

and just very less intense um

you said farlane went to sleep right he

he or is he still walking around

he went to he went and he laid down on

his cot okay i'll

deal with that tomorrow morning i'll

just keep walking around just keep an

ear out and then whenever my watch seems

to be kind of coming to a close i'll

walk over and uh whisper to

alma kind of like wake her up

i'm not like a starfish like i'm just

spread out and i like lift my head up ah

what hey

you dream about anything cool

i dreamt that there was water everywhere

and i was in the water and there was all

these little

little things swimming around me and

then they had tentacles like we saw

earlier in the day

and they started smacking people and

then i grew tentacles and i started

smacking people it was

it was crazy felt pretty

powerful though it's kind of cool

man you have a cool mind

thanks anyway i guess

here's your ore i don't think it's

glowing anymore but

[Laughter]

i figured you might want it just to kind

just to keep your patrol um

uh thank you yeah i'm gonna get some

sleep

thanks wake us up if any trouble happens

uh okay and don't go out in the darkness

yeah duh okay just make sure you're safe

all right you don't have to like look

after me just go to sleep

yes i do and i'll go to sleep

okay um oma you are now

up and awake uh is there anything you'd

like to do as as your watch begins

um first i'm going to put down the ore

and look at the man who's shaking has he

fallen to asleep

is she shaking in his sleep is he still

awake does he look

what's going on there um at this point

he seems to be

unconscious in a state of

unconsciousness still shivering still

sweating still

curled up in a ball um but for the time

being

he seems to be unconscious okay

um so yeah while

during my watch i'll i'll keep an eye

out but i will also

you know play with the flames around me

just kind of

putting them through a rainbow of colors

and and

just watching them watching them change

colors

while i kind of keep an eye on

everything

nice okay um make a perception check for

as you're looking out and around to see

if there's there's anything out there

[Music]

no dm there's nothing out there i will

not look

i refuse i refuse um

18 18.

you uh looking around you don't see

anything out into the forest

into the forest is just this cold dark

abyss

of nothing no sound no movement

nothing um but looking over at the

the elf that is shivering on the ground

at this point he seems to be going in

and out of consciousness sort of

startling awake and then falling back

into unconsciousness not really sleep

but just passing out okay

um and that's all you are

able to sort of discern

yeah i'll just continue to watch and

just continue to

continue to look out at him and so like

between my like keeping the colors going

um i'll just kind of like look up every

once in a while and look out at him

otherwise i'm just staring into the

flames

okay um are you going to be staying

awake for the rest of the night or

no um this is my question for you

yes this is a community of elves i'm

assuming they probably sleep less time

than everyone else

or are they going to sleep until sunrise

or will they start kind of moving around

a little earlier um yeah so

a lot of them when they sort of bedded

down for the night

um it didn't really seem like a lot of

them were going to sleep

it was just sort of like a general rest

so it seems like they might be doing

that until just before sunrise

okay um that's sort of like meditating

and they're not focusing on anything so

so yeah i will um

at the end of my rest i'll go and um

poke kalec

kellick on his nose

kellick hey calek

[Music]

yeah what what hi

um i think you've slept

for enough time maybe you want to wake

up and

and and watch and i can get a little bit

more sleep

i yeah that's uh that's not simple

were you here were you what taken watch

on your own

why i'm surrounded by all of you what do

you mean why i don't

because because you're right

alma yeah okay all right

we should talk about all a little i've

seen a whole lot of the world