Mercy

This transcript is machine-generated and may contain errors in names, terminology, or attribution.

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You guys ask us all the questions you've been wondering and we try to answer every single one of them. Thank you guys so much. Without further ado, let's get on with the show. Previously on Group A, this newly formed adventuring party has been out on the road for weeks on a diplomatic mission to save some orcs from the slavers known as the Nuval. Having found the slavers' camp, they broke in, managed to free the orcs, and did battle with the slaver captain. After dispatching the captain, freeing the moles that were also slaves there, and sadly losing one of the orcs.

The group is now free to escort these orc prisoners back to the mozog camp so that hopefully diplomatic talks can continue with the mozog orcs and the surrounding countryside. Let's do that thing where we go around the table and introduce ourselves. I'm Jason, I'm the Dungeon Master. Going around the table, starting with James. Hey, it's James and I play...Ezno...I forget. [laughter] It's written right there on the table. Yeah, I just forget NPCs. [laughter] I was looking at Rob's Twitter thinking, like, "I'm Uvo." [laughter] This is Uvo and we're Uvo's thoughts.

I should preface today, Mazoka's been hit on the head with a coconut in this episode. I am Mazoka. [laughter] And Xavier. Oh, we're gonna keep that one? Yeah! Good. I'm Xavier and I play Donovan Vyse, the human fighter. And Michael. Hey, I'm Michael and I play Amvin Yamil, the storm mage. And Robert. I am Uvo, half-orc voice of the mountain. And Kelsey. I'm Kelsey and I play Aster Fainreel, the elven archer. And Susan. I'm Susan and I play Madeline Riawen, the human cleric. Guys, today we're gonna open up on the fourth of yes day. Now, a little bit of time has passed since you raided this camp and set everything on fire.

And killed a bunch of people. But some good came out of it. I would like to ask everybody, is there something that... How would the group be feeling after that big fight, essentially? How would everyone be taking it the next day or so as you get your bearings and get ready to trek about eight or nine days on the road back to this orc encampment? I live in the wilderness and thrive on violence. I'm fine. Mm-hmm. I'd probably try to insert myself in whenever the orcs are eating together or something like that. Try to just stand by or sit by Uvo and try to just mingle if that's ever allowed.

Especially while eating. You ever sneak up behind a dog while it's eating and they don't react too well to it? Something like that. They're very enclosed people, especially based on what they've been through recently. So while they're kind of resting up and getting their bearings again, you're going to notice a few things about orcish people right off the bat. One, they are much more likely to talk to each other than to you guys. Now, part of that is absolutely the language barrier. Uvo's the only one here who speaks fluent orc. And that's a problem to communicate with somebody who doesn't speak your language.

Two, they've been through a bit of an ordeal, right? They're distrusting of humans in particular, but basically anybody who's not full-blooded orc. Three, they're going to be mean mugging the fuck out of Aster. Well, so first of all, they're not going to want to get close to the orcs in general. And kind of almost returning that, but more kind of like always keeping an eye on the orcs. And always making sure they have their weapon close at hand. They're kind of always just at the ready to spring into action should they be. They're not really relaxing fully after the events.

And yeah, so there's definitely some tension going on there for sure. Yeah, they're not outright violent toward Aster at all, but they are definitely looking at them like... Assessing, I guess is the best word. Just sort of angrily, everything they do, there's usually at least one or two, maybe all of them just sort of like staring at Aster from across the way. There's usually a good 15, 20, 30 foot gap sometimes where they'll be eating at their own little lunch table or whatever they're doing and just kind of like looking over at Aster and just a furrowed brow.

And Aster will be returning that look. What about everybody else? Some of you guys got banged up pretty bad in this fight. Well, Maddie was one of those people, but she would do hasty bandages on herself. But then if she could, she would see if the orcs, if they would allow her to see them, see if they needed any help and then see if the moles needed any help too. And maybe talk to the moles about what their plans are. I mean, they can't talk, but they can nod. So the orcs would be reluctant to get medical assistance, but if they have a really bad cut or something like that, then they would accept some help.

Especially considering they already accepted food from you. They're already accepting passage back to the encampment and everything like that. They've already kind of violated that orcish spirit of, you know, we can take care of ourselves type of thing. So now they're just kind of treating it like, OK, look, if we're in a party right now, then we'll just, you know, we'll earn our way the rest of the time. We'll go hunting. We'll go do that. But for right now, we need to get better. The moles. So one of these moles almost died and they've had they've had a chance to sit and talk about this.

Remember, they had a version of sign language and they've at least had the night to talk about it. Again, it's the fourth now. So some time has passed and they would try to they would try to relay a message to Maddy. And to do this, they would essentially be drawing in the dirt with sticks. I think I have a writing utensils in my priest pack. OK. I think I could be lying. I don't know. Let me bring out the book. That's the yeah, that's the... I'm pretty sure we do. I do. She could always ask me for an ink and quill if needed. Oh, yes, of course. I'd be like, "Aven, come on over.

They want to tell me something, please." Pull it out and hand it over to you. Just waiting for it. As I search my pack and completely forget that someone's writing a book. Good old buddy, Evan. Yeah, so thus begins one of the saddest games of Pictionary. Basically, it's OK. So what they're doing is they're trying to relay to you, "Yeah, we don't know what to do with our lives, but we've talked it over and we have essentially been to places guarding these douche nozzles." And there was a place they're trying to relay to you that's like, "OK, we want to go to there." And we're trying to explain it.

OK, I would say, let's see, give me an intelligence check. OK, not my strongest stat. Oh, well, OK, 20. So this is essentially them giving you a bunch of clues and you putting the pieces together and you're like, "Oh, OK." So essentially they're trying to get to the town of White Hedge. Right. And they know where it is. And they're basically just what they're trying to do is get across to you. It's like, "Thank you very much for all of your help. We really appreciate it. We think we stand a better shot as a small group kind of flying under the radar." And they're trying to just basically they're saying, "Thank you.

Goodbye." And Maddie would probably relate to them at that point. Like once she got the message, she'd be like, "OK, well, how about you travel with us to the road and then you split off just to get away from the dangerous wilderness?" And they would try and talk that over, you know. And after a few moments, one of them would essentially look at Maddie and shake his head, "Yeah." "OK." So they are agreeing to travel with you to the road and after that, pretty much take their leave. Now, everyone else, you've gotten some rest. I imagine one of these campfire scenes is essentially whenever there's been a big fight, it's like, "OK, let's just bandage this." I imagine people are sore and hurt and just probably hungry and tired from walking all day and it's just it feels great to sit down next to a crackling fire.

And, you know, the weather's getting cooler. There's a nice little breeze. Fire kind of flickers every once in a while. Orcs are still mean muggin' aster. And sort of looking at Ubo every once in a while and then talking amongst themselves. Would anyone like to do anything before getting back on the road? We're still with the moles, right? They're not gone yet? They're not gone yet. All right. I'll head over to the moles, maybe if they're by themselves in a corner of the fire. And I'll just go to them and like in an open armed gesture, go like, "Come here, come here." Like offer a big like manly bear hug to all of them.

And if they all agree to, well, that's fine. That's great. And I'll give each of them four gold pieces and pat them on the shoulders and say, "You're going to need that." Well, they understand the gold. The hug. OK, things are going to get real sad. The hug, firstly, it confuses them on two different levels. One, you're coming in for physical contact. To them, that means you're going to hit them or hurt them in some way. They have never been shown affection in that manner. So they're going to and they didn't really hang out with people who was like, "Hey, come here, hugs." Like they just they didn't hang out with a community like that.

So as you come in, I would think they're not going to draw a weapon or anything, but they would it's like, "Hey, what's that?" Like they just kind of and then you come in and hug and it's like, "OK, that's nice. OK." They're starting to understand that it's like, "Oh, OK, that's a it's kind of like a handshake or something like that. It's a it's a it's a nicety. And I would like non-verbally, like reassure them with my with my I'll do like the Robert De Niro, like frown smile, like with you know what I'm talking about. Yeah, it's all right. It's all right.

And then like big hug with a tap on the back. The gold is also going to confuse them ever so slightly, just because I think after you give it to them, they would they would start to try to communicate to to Donovan and essentially ask the questions like, "Do you want us to work for you? Is that what you want? Do you want us to like protect you?" If I get that, that's that's what they are saying. I'm just going to go, "No, no, no, it's for you. It's for you." I like put in his hand and close his fingers on it and like bring it to his chest and like tap on my hand that's on his hand on his chest.

OK, I do want to stress this. That means that will take you down to two gold in your pocket. Yes, sir. OK, enough to drink. That is still enough to drink. OK, that is that is insanely kind of you. And this is probably the most the most kindness in one burst that these these moles have ever been shown. And they're going to they would kind of re-hug you after like after after they understand it's like one, OK, hugging equals good to people. Two, this this gold, like we understand the value of money, we understand like this is this is very important. Thank you.

And there's no strings attached to it. They would hug you and probably probably put a little more force into it than than than the standard hug. Like this is going to be a big, strong. Mm hmm. That's good. Yeah, that's good. I like it. Oh, so I'm, of course, using this opportunity to write because you can't write at all when you're walking. No, really. But I want I want to be able to if I could see that and see if I can see what the orcs have any reaction or if they're even noticing that. Most of the time. OK, so the orcs don't get much exposure to other people, just like other people don't get much exposure to orcs outside of the violent.

Right. They're looking at you like you're insane. Like all of this just. OK, you're essentially rewarding people for being terrible at their job. Also, these moles were probably none too kind to the orcs as part of their job. So they're not they're not they're not looking at the moles as, you know, like their buddies. And on top of this, all the frivolous emotion of it, the hugging and the it's just it's just not their style. They look at it as coddling, like essentially what you're teaching them is that the next time they get into a scuffle with them, they'll try to hug it out and they'll get stabbed in the face like they don't they don't they don't understand.

And again, I cannot emphasize this enough. They are segregated from the rest of you. They are part of the group, but they are very much removed from the core of it, like they have pulled away. And they've repurposed a lot of these. I'd say we talked about it off camera, but a lot of these the slavers gear is going to be repurposed. So the orcs are armed and stuff, and they're going to be sharpening. They're going to be sharpening weapons and things like that. And after the after the spectacle of the of the moles and everything, they're going to they're going to start looking at Astor again and just shoot.

Shoot. So I imagine when they first like were picking up weapons and everything Astor was kind of like glancing like at the rest of the party and kind of looking like, is anyone going to jump? Nope. Okay. We're arming them now. Okay, cool. Yeah, basically. I mean, as far as they're concerned, the whole distance between them. Yes. Good. That is a good thing. Very happy. So just out of curiosity, when the whole thing with the moles was happening, were the orcs like completely focused on that? Like was like for even like a second their attention turned away from Astor?

No, they were looking at the moles thing too, because they're basically taking this in. Right about the hugging, though. They were like, all right, this is just... Okay. Yeah, because when they're not looking at Astor for like the first time Astor is absolutely going to flip them off. So just putting that out there. Yeah. And I'm just like with like the whole like the sharpening weapons thing Astor is again going to kind of like glance around at everything else. Like, you're not going to say anything, kind of just seeing if anyone else is noticing like, "Eh?

Like, is it just me or..." That kind of thing. I don't know how everyone else is reacting or if they're at all, but... At some point during this day, Mattie would have searched the wreckage not looking for loot, even though someone else would probably do that. But like looking for like orders, specifically. Or like a link to their, I guess their big brother, you know, like the bigger nouveau like scheme. Okay, couple of problems there. One, a lot of their personal effects got burned in the fires. There were two tents that survived. There were two tents that survived.

I said a lot. Not all. Now, there are some letters and a lot of them are reading through these. Some of them are more personal correspondence. There's a couple of writing, "Sweethearts in Brightport," that type of thing. And there's a pretty big connection between these guys and Bandit's Rest. Specifically, if you're talking just south of Bandit's Rest, right above the Silverglades somewhere in there, that whole general region has been a big nest for nouveau activity. They even started spreading out after their operation got hit in Durnhollow a couple of years back.

Group Road Through really screwed everything up for them. And that really caused some issues for them. So they were forced, without that steady stream of income, to sort of branch out and start trying to grab new people. They've been spotted in the Black Rock Mountains, blistering peaks, waiting in passes in between Esterholt and stuff like that. Do you know what? Do me a favor, roll a flat d20, because there would be some letters that would be very interesting. But I want to see if they would have survived. So what we're going to do is we're going to roll a saving throw.

On a 10 or higher, these letters would have survived. And you'd hear about this. Yes! Well, the nouveau are trying to diversify their slavery portfolio, so to speak, right? So what they've traditionally went for are the large, strong-backed...moles are perfect, right? You can get the occasional dwarf, but they're a little height challenged. You can get the occasional dragonborn, but they're very...dragonborn orcs, they're very strong willed. They're only good for pit fighting and stuff like that, where moles, they'll take orders if you get them young enough, right?

But they wanted to. Is get the big score. Now down south in the city of Onakol, the Aladrin are back on the continent after 100 years, right? The nouveau are writing back and forth because they want to grab some of them up. I feel like I should take this letter and hold on to it or letters and show someone important. Yeah, it's mentioned. It's not really so much orders as like, OK, OK, well, you're working on this. Here's what we got going on. Here's an idea that we've had. The orcs essentially were just going to be used as they were either going to be sold off to the highest bidder.

It's like, yeah, you know, you're putting on your own little tournament or something. You need something for like, let's say, I don't know, round three and you want to throw some orcs at somebody. Cool. You could do that. You could probably just, you know, beat them long enough and they'll listen to you somewhat. You can have them fight for you or something or just coke them up, set them loose on a battlefield and they'll just run roughshod over something. That's pretty much what they were selling these for. And it's just to make some quick cash. You get the sense that they might be they might be falling on some hard times, might be getting a little desperate.

If they're going after orcs, might be a little desperate. I'm curious, what about the eladrin would make them like really good? You know, like... Why them? Yeah. That's a rarity. Think of them. Okay. Do you remember the Beanie Baby craze in the 90s? Really? Hold on. I'm going somewhere with this. So is it more of like a sex thing? No. Well, yes. But I mean, yes, a little. Because they're pretty, right? Well, they're pretty. They're very pretty, but they're also knowledgeable. And you can... Okay. Their thought process is, okay, so the eladrin have disappeared before.

I mean, who knows how long for this world they are? If we could snatch some of them up and sell them off to somebody, I mean, they could really increase in value at some point. Like somebody would pay top dollar for some of these elad... I'm not saying the thought process is high minded. I'm just saying that like, you can see how they got there. That's really depressing. But talking about it that way is kind of... Well, Maddie would give these papers actually because she realized she's traveling with someone important. She would give these to the ambassador of Winterhaven.

Is the ambassador, is that his title? Aren't you? I don't know if we've established. I think I'm like, I do things for Winterhaven. I help out. I think it's like trying to get status. I don't know if there's been an official title or not. I think you're definitely connected to people with influence. Yeah. Yeah. So Maddie would give those to you. Well, I've got... To do things with. Fix this. More papers. I hope I don't forget. And then when I return back... Hey, paper guy, take the paper. I'm not the postman. Oh, yeah. Can I ask a question? Not to interrupt this. How would Ubo be feeling right now?

I mean, Ubo's not paying a heck of a lot of attention to papers and stuff. I didn't think so, but more the orc situation. Oh, just in general? I mean, he's kind of in a weird position because he's happy he's done something good for orc kind, but also he's getting the inkling he's going to be expected to interact at some level with a series of orcs who might not be happy to see him. Maybe we should get on the road. I mean, don't rush it. Let's do it. One more thing. First, Maddie. Yeah, I was about to say, I was... Misoka's the only one we haven't checked in with.

Can I do like a perception check first to see if I see what's happening between the orcs and Aster? You know what? Sure. It's probably not very high. I don't think either of them are trying to hide it. I'd say this is pretty evident. It's pretty on the face of it. Okay. The first thing I want to do, I think when I see the hugging thing going on, whatever, Misoka will walk up to Donny and be like, "Donny, give me some of that too. We made it through another one." You'll go to give him a hug? Oh, I thought you were talking about the goldmaster. He goes over and gives you a big hug, taps you on the back, brings his mouth to your ear and goes like, "Go get her, tiger." Thanks, buddy.

While he's doing that, he's going to try to pickpocket Donny. Is this like a reoccurring thing? Oh, I said it first time. Wow. What is that? Sleight of hand? Yeah, I would say. Perception, yeah. Did I do it? Okay, so I believe this is against passive perception. Oh, cool. I believe. So let's see, what is? Oh, my passive is 12. I believe that beats it then. That beats it. It does. Yeah, that's true. Do me a favor, roll a 1d4. Well, a 1d2. Well, yes, but basically how big a handful is he grabbing? I know two is the limit. Oh, you want me to roll a d4? Yes. You have successfully stolen half of Donovan's gold.

Yes, you got one gold. Good lord. Okay, let me change that. Yeah, let's step back and hold on. Let's step back and give him a hand on the shoulder. Donnie, you're too easy. And then flick the gold coin back at him. I just needed a fix. For a long, for a long, long sake, man. Keep your hands in check. Hey, the matrons used to call me Clapto. I can't help it. He's going to give him the one coin. I'll try to get it back. All right, fair enough. I'll save this one for you. And then he's going to turn and walk towards the orcs. Hmm. So what are they just sitting there eating?

I would say, yeah, they're probably snacking here and there. Again, they've been largely starved this entire time, so it's probably eating very small in small bursts. But they're all huddled together. Yeah, definitely. Is Ubo there too? That's an excellent question. Ubo's there. He's with them? Okay. Yeah. So he'll walk up and say, orcs, Ubo. Okay, the fact that you called out distinguishing him from... Orcs? Lesser being? He wouldn't understand if he's offending. Ubo scowls. Just because he doesn't know their names. Ubo scowls at you. Okay. Oh no, Ubo's fallen in with a bad crowd.

So how's the meal? Good. Feels good to eat after a fight. Yeah, it does, doesn't it? What about you guys? Oh, he's like talking to the orcs? The crowd, yeah. I mean, they don't know much common, right? No. But this is interesting. I'd love to... So he'll look at Ubo and be like, do they understand me? About as well as you understand them. Yeah. Can you talk to them? They are fine. They eat. Do not bother. Well, I just have a little problem, that's all. I just want to sort it out. Because I see them looking at Aster and they got some food with your help. And they let him out of those cages with my help.

But they've done a lot for the orcs. Masoka, be wise. Do not try to fix this. Why? Just thought we could all be friends. One of these orcs is going to stand up and move toward Masoka. And just sort of loom over and bend down just a bit and start sniffing at Masoka. Just sort of big nostrils just taking in Masoka. And then he is going to turn his head back to the rest of the orcs. Misafakushuu. And they are going to start laughing. To Ubo, the rough translation, the quick translation is "He reeks of the fey." Now they use the word fey to essentially... Anyone who is even partially elven, to them that is an insult.

That essentially breaks down to them weakness and very tree huggy, wishy washy, that type of mentality to them. Oh, naturally, yeah. To them that is one of the biggest... That is an insult. That is like, "This guy reeks of the fey, am I right?" And they're just... Yeah. Masoka will kind of lean over to look at Ubo and say, "Did he just say he likes to fuck shoes?" (laughter) Ubo just looks perplexed. (laughter) And he says, "No. You have picked up no orcish." (laughter) "Do not bother them. They do not like you." "All right, all right. Ubo, I like you. I'm going to let this go.

This time." "I could take you or leave you." (laughter) "Yeah, Ubo." "Do not make me leave you. You will not survive." Yeah, yeah. He'll just give him a dumb grin and nod and take a sip out of his flask and head back over. When he comes back towards the fire after, he's going to raise an eyebrow at him. He's like, "You know they aren't really the talky sort, right?" "Yeah, I'm learning that pretty quick. Just the vibe. I didn't like it. You deserve better than that." "Thanks, I guess. I mean, there's a lot of bad blood. Assuming we intend to escort these folks back towards their home." "There's definitely a bit of tension when they say that.

You'll see what I mean." "Yeah, I wouldn't advise the whole conversation. I feel like generally talking to them will only end up leading to violence sooner rather than later." "Sure, yeah. But they're into some weird shit anyway, so." "I would say that the time it takes for everybody to get ready and everything, like I said, is going to be the fourth of yester when you guys finally are ready to hit the road." "It's been a terse time in this camp, but everyone's fed, everyone's bandaged up, and everyone is ready to move out." "Who would like to do me a favor and roll a flat d20?

Actually, you know what? I always ask that. Let's call on somebody, Michael." "That sounded ominous." "No!" "Nine." "Nine! Everybody out there in home, so." "Owned it." "First off, the weather is starting to cool off a bit. It was a very oppressive heat for a while, and it's starting to kind of cool off a bit, floating around that 75-80 degree mark. It's actually great for marching around outside." "Which is good, because you guys have a long trek. Again, it's about 8-9 days, depending on how fast you move, to the Mozog Ork encampment." "Now that is right below, for those of you guys out there with maps.

If you don't have a map, you can find one at dandrpodcast.com." "So, right below the Highland Mountains there, on the edge of the Evergreen, is an encampment of Orks that's getting bigger by the day." "But you gotta get there. And that means endless hours of marching." "Now, I would say the first couple of days are going to go really well for you guys." "You're going to be just north of Betrayal Ridge here. And when you hit the road, true to their word, the moles are going to take off." "But they are going to thank you as best they can, one more time.

You kind of set them free and got them going." "They're not exactly sure what they're going to do, but they've had some time to talk about it and kind of get used to the idea." "So they would thank you before hitting off one more time. And they are going to take their leave." "Now, you're going to notice the Orks get a little more comfortable after they're gone." "They've been a little stiff and reserved, and the second those moles are gone, they're going to loosen up a little bit." "Kind of puff out their chests just a tiny, tiny bit." "On the second day here, though, late into the second day, I would say you are going to hear a noise." "And let's see, who would hear this first? Let's see here." "Wow, some of you have really good perceptions.

Some of you..." "Yeah, boy!" "Honestly, I think most people would pick this up. This would not be even, I'd say even Masoka. Masoka's perception is not terrible." "At the lowest?" "Just by a little!" "Okay." "You guys are going to hear noise overhead, and it sounds like a screechy, high-pitched whistle. And craning your head up, just like, 'What is that sound?' you're going to see a cadre, a flock of smaller dragons." "Oh, no." "And they are streaking toward the north. They're actually, it looks like they were coming from the south overhead, and just, they're kind of screwing with each other, not really flying in a formation.

They're kind of like butting heads. They look younger, like really young." "Probably not even a decade old. They're pretty young. And they're not paying you any mind, and they're definitely, they're still keeping a northern trajectory, but just something to keep an eye out for. It's one of those things that could turn south pretty bad if they were to land or something, but they're really high above you." "Continuing on." "Unless anybody had some thoughts about the dragons." "I was going to say, we should keep our eyes out to see if anything bigger, maybe taking care of those, may be around.

So keep our eyes peeled." "Could be." So, passing beautiful Betrayal Bridge, heading west for the next couple of days, business as usual. You guys wake up, you eat, you kind of dig into your rations, you fill your canteens up, you head out on the road, twelve solid hours of walking, you get to a campsite, you break stuff down, you treat your blisters, you just, it's the adventuring life, right? Let's see. It is now the eighth of yes day. Now you still got a little bit of travel here. Probably another four, four and a half days. Who would like to do me a favor and roll a flat d20?

Tell us who. Tell us who. You know what? Let's go with Kelsey. Yes. It's better and better. Yeah, it's not the worst. The dragons come back. With their mother. Again, tensions are definitely there, right? There's some old prejudices here between the orcs and anyone, elven specifically, but anyone they deem kind of, you know, lesser than orc, right? So you guys will be on the road and you're, I mean, the path you're on is mostly fields and then you'll get to like little quarries and things like that. You're cutting through wilderness for the most part. Every once in a while, you'll come across an adventuring group heading in the opposite direction or in the same vein.

This time you're going to spot, and this is pretty far off in the distance, you're going to spot a hunting party. And these look to be predominantly elven. Hunting party like just... Like, are they from the Evergreen or not? That's what I'm trying to say. Maybe originally, it doesn't look like they necessarily live in the Evergreen right now. OK, gotcha. Because they're not wearing that, they're not dressed like they would be from there. They look a little different. And it looks like when I say hunting party, I mean like food, not like bounty hunting. That would be...

You'd kind of know when like adventuring parties turn to bounty hunting, that type of thing, because they're outfitted to hunt people, not animals. But they're off the distance and these orcs are going to sort of... You know when a dog hears something and they just like, "Huh?" They kind of tilt their head up and these orcs are going to start nudging each other and just look over there. And they're going to see them. They're not going to motion towards the elves or anything or necessarily Stregadrim, but they're definitely keeping an eye on them. And they're kind of talking and they're kind of talking amongst themselves.

And... Oh, I was going to say, Ubo kind of hears this and kind of caught between like his need to keep the peace, but also his need to impress orcs that are with him. He says in orcish to them something to the effect of, "It is a shame they are so weak and beneath us. I would like a worthwhile fight." Ooh, that's... Do me a favor. Let's see. You know what? I'm debating on whether to roll for that. Has Mattie been learning orca from Ubo? Yes, but like that's words. How long have you guys been together? Like six months. It's a very complicated thing. Do me a favor.

Roll a persuasion check, but I'm going to give you advantage on it. Oh yeah. I closed my character sheet. There we go. That won't help. Wow, that's a good thing you had persuasion. It's a good thing I had advantage. Yeah, advantage. So we dropped the two and we're going to take the 14. The 13 minus one. Yes. So they're going to... it's more of a like, "Yeah, I guess so." They weren't going to chase after this. Those elves were like way off in the distance. It's not worth it, but it's more like, "Oh, I wish I could kill them." Like that type of thing. It's just like, "Yeah, man, if we were over there, I'd be like, 'Oh, stab, stab.'" Like that type of thing.

It'd be so violent you'd have to get the rest of your party out of the splash zone. The first three rows would get wet, if you know what I mean. Yeah, bro. Why are they orcs Gallagher? Ew. Okay. Orcish, prop-based humor. Instead of watermelons, it's skulls. This next joke also involves skull. You are probably sensing a pattern. No refunds. We do one joke very well. So they're going to agree. They're going to go, "Okay, yeah, fine." And they're going to keep marching. Still kind of talking to themselves every once in a while. And just, you could sense that as they're kind of getting their strength back and they're kind of realizing, "Okay, we're going to have to go back to camp and this sucks." Because we got captured and that doesn't make us look great.

But, you know, I mean these things happen. It doesn't look good in the orcish hierarchy, you know what I mean? So, days are going to pass. And here's what I'd like to do. It is the 12th of Yester. Now, you have been on the road for eight full days. It is nighttime right now. Tomorrow, you are going to finish the last leg of your journey. And that Mozorg orc camp is going to be within striking distance. Over a full week of marching and spending time with these orcs, and they're getting restless. It's definitely a thing where it's a bit of anxiety and pressure having to go back.

How would everyone else be feeling though? Because you guys are getting ready to visit, you know, this orc in camp, and any orc in camp. But this one in particular has gotten a lot of, there's a lot of rumors swirling around. Like what they're like, how they treat people. Every town and city and settlement in this area is talking about these orcs because they're smack dab in the middle of everything. Where are we location wise? I would say you're in White Wolf Valley. You're well past Betrayal Ridge. I'd say you're two thirds of a days hike away from this orc encampment.

Gotcha. Matty at some point would probably approach Ubo. Probably, I don't want to throw anything out there, but he's probably getting tense. I'm guessing because more tense than usual. I don't know. He's been more quiet lately for a reason. Yeah. So Matty would approach him and do kind of a nod and then say, what should we expect once we reach the encampment? Well, I guess, Jason, is there any like standing protocol for like, oh, you know, free prisoners coming back or something like that? Is that? Well, pretty much they'd be marching in with you. That's your, that's your, oh, I know the bouncer type of thing.

So there would be standing guards outside the way in which the camp is set up. There's this ring around the entire perimeter. It is usually bits of it are on fire and like pontoons are sharpened and things like that is a very not attractive place to approach from. And there's usually some sort of standing guard outside. So you approaching with these other works are, that's your ticket in. Normally you'd either have to speak orcish or this. This camp is set up a little differently than like the big orc camp down over by Stone Sutter Mountains, just because they have to, they have to speak with people.

They have to be diplomatic. So they've had to sort of change the way they do things a bit. Okay. Ubo looks to Mattie and says, "It is hard to say. There is some shame in being captured, but also I am coming back to a place where I am not welcome. I do not know if bringing back these orcs will make it easier for me to be there." Hmm. Mattie will be nodding and then she'll look over at them and say, "Well, should we need it, you'll have my mace and I'll be at your back. But I'm sure everything will work out. We're bringing back their captured brethren. I'm sure that'll give us some leeway." Some, but they were rescued by non-orcs and a half-breed.

A dishonored half-breed. I'm sure, or I hope, this will prove your worth to them. I know that that means a lot to you. I do not expect much. Maybe small better feelings about Ubo. But I would like us to return them and not stay long. We stay long, more people who do not like me may get ideas. Okay. Well, I'll have my chest-cutting rock ready. You are going to use chest-cutting rock? Should we need it? Can you help me find a good one? No. I have many rocks. All are good for cutting chest. Well, should the need arise, I'll do that. But you'll always have a place with us or with me, so we could leave here when you want.

Whether we bleed together or not. Thank you. Should you like that bro nod? I guess that's it. I have a question. Are we still walking with the prisoner? Oh yeah, you never said you let go of the hostage. Donovan will probably be "in charge" of him the whole time, nudging him forward or whatever when he's slowing down or keeping in company. Or at least being in between him and the orcs if they like, whatever. But when he hears, when Donovan hears this conversation between Ubo and Mattie, he would just speak up. Were they talking in private or? I think it's just as long while we're walking.

I wasn't trying to... I was just making sure. And from the back Donovan would say, "Hey Rocky, if ever you need that, you can tell them you're bringing them a gift." And then he looks at the guy next to him. That would be a good way to lower the anger toward me. If we could turn him over to the orcs, let them take vengeance. You're not saying this... Okay, he's there, right? You're not saying that this isn't a secret? Oh yeah, he's going to panic. Like there's gonna be... His whole body's going to clench. I thought you were just gonna drop me off authorities.

You can't feed me to the orcs. Well, I thought we were too, but it looks like the plan changed. I hope you have something good for them. Or at least that you can fight for your life. No one will eat you. There is not enough of you to go around. Oh yeah, I'm sure they have something much worse in store. So I picture it like this. His hands have been tied behind his back for most of this journey, but he's got to walk and you're not carrying him. So I don't imagine that his legs are tied up until probably the end of the night when you guys are... ...bend down and you're like, "Okay, well we can't have you going anywhere." But yeah.

So I imagine since you guys are camped out for the evening, he's probably wrist slashed and ankles tied together. And he's going to start to wriggle. Like a lot. Say, "Hemven, where do you think you're going?" "Do you think I'm just going to lay back?" And he's going to, in mid explanation, just trying to wiggle. "Why do you think you shouldn't go there? What do you think you have to offer to Winterhaven or anywhere else? Why is this such a bad idea? Give me a reason to not let you basically get your taste of your own medicine." And while you're talking to him, Ubo will come up and clamp both hands on his shoulder to hold him in position.

Again, do you remember last time Ubo got in his face and just pure unadulterated fear? And it's like, yeah, it's very much that. These orcs are going to approach just a bit here and loom over the situation. Again, orcs are very large creatures. And they're just kind of forming a wall around this situation, just looking and kind of like grunting a couple of them. Not laughing, but there's definitely a menacing, like almost a snort coming in. It's like, yeah, yeah, threaten them. Make them, you know, that type of thing. How close are they to the party? Pretty, pretty close at this point.

Okay, yeah, when they approach Astor is gonna stand up and sort of like, not like back away, but just kind of like move to sort of have a better vantage point. And, I mean, they haven't not had their weapon ready to go at any point. So they're definitely like, "Mmh." Like, this was funny and now it's not. Yeah, Ubo, can I add some? You hurt many orcs the way you did. Mozog would love to be a part of battling you and killing you. If only our group killed the slavers. That is not as impressive as taking part in the battle themselves. Hmm. So I say again, what do you have to offer?

Why shouldn't you go into there and be given? And he's okay. Along with that panic, his eyes are just darting back and forth, like taking in this whole scenario. It's like, oh, I'm dead. Like that's basically what's going on in his mind right now. It's like, oh, I am so dead. I mean, my heart's beating and whatever, but I'm dead. And he's gonna go into full panic mode. Look, I can try to give you any information you want. If you just take me to Overdale, take me to Winterhaven. I don't care. Let them arrest me. They can even eventually hang me. That's fine. That's 10 times better than whatever the orcs are gonna do to me.

Just turn me over to the proper authorities. Please, just please. Astor's gonna kind of like clap their Instagram and just go like, haha. Okay. Yeah. Funny joke. Great job, guys. Okay. Let's stop with that. Maybe we don't want anyone to get all worked up over stuff. And they're kind of, they're, I mean, they have been taking their eyes off the orcs this entire time. The orcs are very much paying attention to this scene. And one of them, Gruun, you may remember, is going to approach Ubo and just sort of lean over and essentially just ask him like, what's he saying?

Because now it's starting to be, it doesn't look like you're, they thought you were threatening, like bullying. Like it's like, yeah, let's, let's, yeah, we're getting close now, huh? Yeah. Then they're starting to interpret it as like, you're talking a lot more than needs to for bullying. Why, what's he saying? He does not want Mozog to have part of the glory of killing those who captured you. Okay. Yeah. And Ubo tells them in Orcish, basically like, hey, wouldn't it be cool if Mozog, if the Mozog clan got to take part in like killing the people who hurt you?

Yeah, gotcha. Right. And Gruun is essentially going to communicate to Ubo, I thought that's what we were doing. I thought we were, I thought we were taking him with us. And we were going to, we're going to deal with this. And he's going to go into graphic detail of what he, if Gruun were to get to decide, go into graphic detail of what he would personally do to this individual up until the light fades from his eyes. Hmm. Ubo nods at Gruun and looks back to the party and switches over to Common again and says, these orcs very much want to see Mozog do to him 10 times what he did to Mozog.

Oh, I'm so shocked. Is that audible for the, is that, is that like an under the breath thing or is that audible? It's like, they're not like talking loudly, but it was, yeah, it was audible. The thing is, Ubo doesn't like, Ubo doesn't process, like he's not fluent enough in Common to process sarcasm. He's just like, see, Astor gets it, you know. This guy. Oh god, sorry. So, Eben looks up at Ubo, yours is right behind him with your like hands clap over his shoulder, right? So Eben looks up to you and says, question, does, would it be a bigger bounty if maybe there was a, I mean, he's just one tiny slaver.

I wonder if there's any way he can offer a bigger bounty and bigger glory. And that's what I'm trying to get out. At that, Ubo kind of frowns. And he says to Amven, can you be sure we would bring more slavers to kill? Not just, we will look into seeing what he knows and then forget about this. We would have to bring many for Mozog to wait for glory. Well, we know there's probably gonna be more slavers out there, more camps. There's probably a bigger one than the one we hit. I'm sure it could be a, maybe a way to get Mozog, Winterhaven and maybe Evergreen to work together to improve ties if we could all hit them together instead of us just doing it for them.

Okay. Go ahead. Okay. As I say, Ubo kind of shakes his head and he says, if we take him away from Mozog, we go and get Mozog more slavers because we are stopping them from taking him now. It is our job if we do not hand him over. Guys, can we talk about this, maybe away from the green wall? Emmett sees the hint and like, oh, we're all totally surrounded, aren't we? Yeah, you idiot. And I'd say that we try to form a little huddle group, but I definitely don't want him left alone with the green wall. So... Okay, so we're kind of separating away from Gotcha.

But as long as- Oh, they don't, they're not gonna hurt him. Not yet. Yeah. Okay. So once we're a bit further away from them, Astra's gonna be like, okay, we're gonna go and get him. Okay, so, um, yeah, the whole handing someone over to be tortured kind of thing. Are we like really discussing that? Because, I mean, don't get me wrong, he's obviously not a great kind. He probably does deserve to be jailed and hanged or whatever, but torture. And treating him for more people to be tortured. I'm not really seeing the where this is getting us. Mattie will nod but then look to Ubo and be like, will it be torture or will it be combat?

Hard to say. Sometimes both. Yeah, I don't really think there's gonna be much of a difference with this guy and them. I mean, we'll look at- Slavers should be afraid to take slaves. He can be an example, or many can be an example later. Are you gonna like take them to show others? How is he going to be an example? You lost me. He can be on a pike. Right out. Okay. There has to be a way to- this is an opportunity to, as it stands, there's not a very good ties between Mazog, Winterhaven, or even the Evergreen and Mazog. I've watched them, but I don't think we should throw away this opportunity.

We defined with that opportunity. I don't think it's as simple as throwing them in there and getting killed and then tomorrow is another day and they forget all about it. There has to be a way that we can turn this into some way to improve the relationship between all of us without just senseless death. I think you might be overthinking it. I mean, I'm not seeing any way the orcs are going to be happy unless we do one of those two things and even the whole trading for more people to do horrendous things to. That's even a tough one to say. So, yeah. Okay, look, I wasn't really planning on going near the camp anyways, that wouldn't really be a great idea.

Probably wouldn't be a great idea for most of us. I'll be honest, they're not really friendly. I mean, the ones we've had for the past while, this whole walk thing, they're actually pretty tame in comparison to what I've seen but I don't know, like maybe we could just hang back or something with him. Ubo kind of frowns at the party and he says, "Why you all talk so much about this? When we fought them to free these orcs in the first place, none of you lost sleep when we killed them where they stood. Killed in battle, killed by orcs in the camp, killed by torture.

He is worse than scum under toenail. Why do you care?" I mean, listen, if it's between giving him up for torture and killing him now, I'd do it if I wasn't afraid that would start something else with your pals. And then Maddie's going to look to Ubo and say, "I can condone death by combat because if he showed true remorse, the gods may grant him life. But I cannot condone torture. My god won't allow it." You must know that death by combat is the best way to go. We can ask for him to be able to fight. Do you really think they're going to listen to us? I mean, really?

We did just bring back their group. And I don't know if it's a way, if this may help Ubo get back into the graces if he were to do trial by combat with him in front of the group. Can they do what they want with him after he is dead? As long as I could send him afterwards. Perform funeral rites. Nothing. Just words. Oh, and I do want to say that Maddie did that for everyone at the camp that died. Okay, sorry, I know that's backtracking. No! That's fine. That's her thing. She was a priest before she was a cleric. Okay, how about, I mean... So, I'm gonna be honest, I don't think trying to even get them to listen to us about the trial of combat thing is gonna work.

I mean, Ubo, you were talking earlier, none of us exactly have an in with the orcs. And from what I know, your people aren't really prone to listen, especially when it comes to a chance at violence. I mean, I don't see if we walk up there to an entire encampment of orcs, they're not just gonna take them and do whatever. I mean, what are we gonna be able to do to stop them? Ubo just kinda grunts annoyed and says, "I just tell you the way of things for Mozog. For all orcs. This group is my home now. I will not fight your decision because I have to be with this group.

But know that it will be easier for all of the orcs captured and the Mozog back at the camp if we hand him over and let orcs do orc ways." Easier may not be right. Question again, Ubo. What happens if we don't bring him? The orcs we say no of him, but what if we want to say have him for Winterhaven to get more information about other places, other parties, and maybe ourselves could raid to free more people. But how would that go over? Let's think about all of the options. Mozog will at least be annoyed. He is not worth starting a fight with Winterhaven over.

But Mozog will remember that you did not let them have part of the fight that freed their brothers. Would say when friend pals over there and they'll kind of motion towards the orcs, when they notice that we're not bringing this guy with us, would they start a fight with us over it? I can ask them. I do not think they will. I do not think they will fight us because we saved them. If you think so, what if he just happens to strangle himself in his sleep with his ropes? What if he just dies accidentally? Would that be an option? I still do not understand how that comforts you any more than handing him over for orc ways.

Because torture is bad. All death is death. I'm clearly not going to get through with you. I don't know what I expected, honestly, but... Aster, I am not fighting you. I am just telling you how things are, Mozog. Is there any other option besides that? Because I can arrange that. From the back, Donovan will say, "Oh yeah, killer, there's one other option." He turns around to Masoka and says, "Hey, Masoka, I'm going to cash in on that coin. Give me your flask." My flask? He'll say, "It's just the dearest thing to him in life, but... Alright, Donnie, just because it's you." He takes it and then tosses it to Aster and says, "Sometimes it's just not to your table." What?

I don't... Have a swig. Have a swig, everything's going to take more sense. Make more sense. So you're suggesting I just get drunk and forget that we're handing over someone to be mercilessly tortured? Well, I'm not drunk, we still need you to defend us. We don't actually think that if we brought him over to Winterhaven, they weren't going to do anything to him. I mean, it's probably not going to be anywhere near brutal as Mozog. Yeah, the orcs are a different level. Ubo just kind of grunts again and says, "I am tired of this. I have told you what you need to know about Mozog." And then he looks at Mattie and says, "I will obey whatever you decide." And he basically just walks back over to the orcs and just kind of hangs out with them and grumbles in orcish to them about talky chatty pink skins.

Very important. Let's sidebar for just a moment. Because they're going to be curious, because that's a long conversation. So soon after this pathetic puny man is begging for his life. So they're starting to get a little concerned with the arrangement. What exactly would Ubo tell them? Ubo tells the orcs, well, I guess, do they ask him something when he comes over? Do they like start the conversation? They're essentially like, "Is there a problem? Because again, we were under the impression we're taking this guy back with us. That's like our consolation prize.

That's why we were under the impression." Ubo tells them, "I told my group what you want, what Mozog want. To be part of the fight. To hurt the slavers. They want to take this scum, this garbage who does not deserve to live another day and try to get information from him. Find more slavers." So again, this is Grun. And Grun's going to give this some thought. Ubo. And he's going to get very close to Ubo here. And then place a hand on Ubo's shoulder. "We will be in Mozog Cam tomorrow. There are things that we are not proud of." And he's going to point down to this guy.

"We could use him. Bringing him back. You." And he's going to touch Ubo's chest. "Could make amends. You." And he's going to insinuate that, "Hey, man, this is an inn for you. He's speaking a lot with body language right now." "You are half breed. You know this." Ubo kind of looks away as he says that. "But you can still help the orc." And he's going to continue with the pitch. "The Mozog are new. We need time to grow. Grow strong. How can we do that with things like this?" And he's going to point down to the guy. "And bartering. Talking. With people outside of our camp." And then he's going to look over to Astor.

"And fighting them." "This is your chance. Show us that you stand with us." "We can get information out. You speak common. You speak his language." "We can make him talk." (groans) (laughter) MARY and TALIESIN (laugh) (groans) (laughter) (applause) "Well listen, when I take a job I try to be as professional as I can be to the employer. Now I know Winteraven's paying, but the way I see it now, the Mozog seem to be the highest bidder. So I would move along toward the direction that this new found employer is leading us." "As far as the contract goes, we were just ordered to get the orcs returned.

The slaver is a bonus. I just don't know if there's an addition that maybe we're not seeing everything that's possible, which is why we're chatting." "If I may, you're going to look at Maddie and give her a wink?" "I don't give a shit what we do with the slaver. My concern is these guys clearly hate us. I don't know what the elf orc thing is, but I don't feel comfortable going to this camp. Who's to say they won't turn on us?" "Well you can't camp outside if that makes you feel more comfortable." "I'm not planning on going anywhere near that place." "So you want to split the group and go in on your own?" "I have to go in.

I was present when this group was founded. I wasn't actually part of the negotiations, but I was there. They may or may not remember me. Probably not, honestly. We have to fulfill this contract and I have to go in. It can't just be Ubo alone. I don't want them to convince him to stay. He's been a valuable member as well." "Even if the rest of you all go in there, trust me, you're better off if I hang back." "You can be our scout." "Yeah, it wouldn't be good, trust me." "Alright, well I'll hang back with Astor and make sure nothing fishy is going on." "I'll make sure to-- oh sorry." "Maddy, I assume you're joining?" "Yes, I will be sticking with Ubo." "Donovan?" "Yeah, I'm going to put a hand on the Mesoka shoulder.

I'm going to make sure to put a good word for you to them. I'll make sure that once we're out, they're going to like you guys. You look sad, Astor, as well." "Okay. You know who's going?" And then I motion over to the slaver. "What are we going to do about him?" "Well, he's our ticket in." "So, okay. This is actually going to pivot back to the party pretty quickly. Because Ubo, after thinking a bit about what to say to the orcs, and he says, we still have like two days until we reach the Mosok camp." "It's actually you're set to get there by tomorrow evening." "Right.

Okay, so like a day." "Yeah." "So Ubo says to the orcs, I will make them understand while we walk. For now, let me talk to them." "And unless they try to stop him, he actually goes back to the party. Do they try to stop Ubo?" "No." "No? Okay. So Ubo comes up to the party. And he looks to Astor and Maddie. And he looks mad. And he looks at both of them. And he says, "Why must you two make this so hard? We were sent out, not just to get them back." And he points to the orcs. "But to make things better between Winterhaven and Mosog. Winterhaven must show Mosog that Winterhaven will not interrupt orc ways.

Especially for something as insignificant as this snot." And he points at the slaver as he says that. Astor is going to cross their arms and say, "If you really think that there's going to be any sort of peace without some of your orc ways being adjusted, that's just not going to happen. I'm sorry." "If your people want vengeance on this slaver, then take it. Have these orcs fight him here. I do not want to submit him to torture or interrogation. If you want your vengeance, have them take it here with an honorable fight. Show their strength against him.

Have one of the orcs fight him." "Yeah, then you can do the whole head on a pike thing to bring them back to..." "They deserve this vengeance." "Have them prove their strength that they were able to defeat the slavers." I was just thinking to myself, that probably kills a lot of the ability for Ubo to get back into good graces. Oh yeah. It's not quite the spectacle that he needs to get his leverage. I love this game. It's a thing. I'd say that Emon looks at you, Ubo, and says, "This is your group, your clan. You can tell us anything." "You would all be at peace with this adjustment.

This would be members of Mozog getting to fight him. Getting to have vengeance. To write Mozog's story in his blood." It's the best solution I've heard so far. Works for me. As long as it's an honorable fight, I am okay. They would say stories that would hopefully improve the relationship between our groups and our towns. I'm for it. I will tell them that you allowed Mozog to do this. This is not what the leaders of Mozog will hope for. But, and he looks at Astor, "This is what you called adjustment, isn't it?" Yeah, something like that. It's a good start.

I will talk- Oh no, go ahead. I will talk to the orcs here. One moment. Before he walks away, Mattie's gonna put her hand on his shoulder and nod and say, "Thank you." Ubo looks like he's about to add something and then he goes back to the orcs and says- Sorry, that's it. As you walk away, I'm like, "Hey, Masoka, do you still have that flask?" This is being fast around right now. Where is that thing? Okay, so Ubo goes back to the orcs and in orcish says, "I told my group it is important for Mozog to write the slaver's defeat with our own hands in his blood.

They say that one-on-one combat with one of you here would be a way that still lets us have our ways and still lets them have their ways. If one of you fights him here, then Mozog have taken his blood. One of you gets the glory of having fought and won against the people who shamed Mozog." Hmm. Hmm. I know, right? So here's what's gonna happen. They're gonna look at each other. You can tell they're deliberating and stuff. On the one hand, they're worried that this guy is gonna get to walk. To them, it's like, "Oh, he's gonna get all scot-free and that's it.

You just get to leave." But on the other hand, they really want to bring him back to--taking his life would be amazing. However, bringing him back and having him stand trial isn't the word, but you know what I mean. That spectacle of, "Oh, we're gonna take one of theirs because they took one of ours." And Grun is going to approach Ubo. He is going to, once again, place a hand on Ubo's shoulder. Stand him up. And Grun is going to take a few steps back and draw his weapon. Now, he's got this almost like a scimitar type of blade and this makeshift shield.

You can tell it's cobbled together from a couple different pieces. The slavers didn't have great gear. But the orc has modified it a bit to have it curl around his arm. And he is going to hold up his left arm. This orc is pretty damn big. He's gonna hold up his left arm and just bang the blade against it. This guy on the ground, whose name is Bran, by the way, is going to proceed to pierce himself. And just, again, start to wriggle. What are you doing? What's going on? What's happening? So Ubo just wants to say back in orcish to Grun and to all the other orcs there in orcish, just so that we're clear on the terms.

Grun fights slaver Scum. Grun wins. Mozog has had his blood. Scum wins. And he just kind of like snorts a laugh just looking at him real quick. We do let him walk. Scum will not win. But Ubo still looks to them for agreement. And Grun is going to look at the rest of the party. Specifically, Aster. You don't say. Because he is going to start to get the gist. It's like, this wasn't Ubo's idea. And he's going to take a deep breath and his eyes are going to be sort of cast down, but then look up and stare directly at Ubo and give one solemn nod. Yes. Okay, Ubo goes back to the party and says, it points at the slaver and says, he fights here.

He fights Grun. Grun kills him. Grun has honored Mozog. Slaver wins. We let slaver walk. Does this satisfy? And he looks at Aster, your morals, and looks at Mattie and says, your God. Aster will nod at him and then also at Mattie and just say, thanks for the compromise. Mattie will nod back and then look to Ubo as long as he has a weapon. Anybody have an extra? And then she looks at the group. Yeah, Donovan is going to head towards Bren. If that is your real name. Mine is not half bad. It's going to go and help Bren on his feet, like by the shoulders or by under the shoulders.

Or kind of like, yeah, just hoisting him. And then giving him a double pat on the chest going like, good news, bad news. The plan keeps changing, but you got your chance. And he hands him his pick and his shield. Oh my God. And Ubo makes sure to yell at him, you run, your life is forfeit. Did you untie him or did you just? Well, yeah. I just want to make sure. Right. OK. Or after Ubo says that, actually. Right. And OK, Bren is very confused. Just, I got to fight him one on one. Just me. That's the deal we got you. Then Mattie's going to say from the distance, is that or torture?

And if I win. If you win, you walk. OK. Fine. And he's going to have these he's going to have these weapons and just. He's going to he's going to stomp on the ground, you could tell that some of it's about a blood flow, like a circulation type thing, like he's been tied up and just like he's just trying to just limber up. He's going to stretch. Meanwhile, this orc is just standing here the entire time. After the initial like slamming on the shield, making a show of it, he is going to stand there and he's got he's got his head lowered and he is staring directly, just watching this guy.

Once this is all settled and Bunnaster is going to kind of not go like out of sight distance from the group, or they're going to kind of just walk a bit away, just take a breather. And they don't really want to be around for whatever is about to happen. Right. Are they going to watch you in from a distance? I mean, they're going to like keep an ear out in case something goes horribly wrong and you guys need their help for anything, but they're not going to watch the event. Gotcha. Yeah. And Anven is studying everybody, but also looking at the mainly Ubo, trying to do any like sensing of like Arcana checks basically to see if this is a moment in which his power might be increasing or anything like that related to his study, of course.

But just just trying to see if this moment is important. Meanwhile, Donovan is going to stand between the two of them, like waiting for the guy to get ready. And once everybody's cleared off, like kind of as a referee, kind of with his thumbs in his belt, just waiting to see whatever the guys basically up to orc readiness as much as possible. And then unless anyone else has something to do, he he'd like take off one of his gloves and indicates to both like tells the guy when the glove hits the ground, it's go time. And then he looks at the orc and like points at the glove and go like points at the ground and then points at the other guy.

Right. Raising an eyebrow. Thank you. Got that. Hold up, hold up. Where's that flask? I want to say Matty has it now. And she actually takes a swig and then caps it and throws it towards you. Thanks. Well, a big smile on his face because her lips touched it. Like a kiss. And then he'll go up to a brand and they'll take a sip first because you don't want to you don't want to kiss Brad. That's practically first base. That's that's Matty doesn't notice any of this. He'll offer it to a brand here, a little liquid courage. Yeah, he'll definitely yeah, he'll take a nice big swig out of this.

All right. All right. Not too much. All right. Don't worry. Big tough slaver like you. You got this. I'm rooting for you, but. And he can he's got that nervous energy, just like he's going to crack his neck and just like he's he keeps flexing his shoulders and trying to jump up and down, get limber. And he's he is ready. All right. Ceremoniously, Donovan is going to raise the glove in the air, then walk backwards to get out of the way. Look at both and then just drop the glove. This slaver is going to streak screaming weapon raised in the air towards a groom, and he is going to run head.

Into this shield wrapped around groons arm, it is essentially like watching someone run into a brick wall, but the wall reaches out and with all of his force, just body checks the hell out of brew. Braun is immediately going to have his bell rung. It is this this clang, this this you're going to hear screaming, then slam silence. And Brian is going to stumble backwards and both arms kind of spread. Groon is going to raise the sword of his head, slash down and cut brand shield hand off. That that shield is going to clatter onto the dirt and brand is going to start to scream.

And thus begins. The most one sided ass beating any member of this party has seen as grown circles, stomps and breaks as many bones as he can on brands body. And then walks away brand almost immediately loses the pike right after the shield and blood is pouring out of the out of the arm missing a hand. And after what can't be any more than a minute and a half, two minutes, brands brands leg has a has a compound fracture. There is a bone sticking out and he is on his back. And Groon is going to raise his booted foot and slam it down on brands chest and he is going to lean down and just scream just bellow roar into brands face spill such just flying.

And then he is going to take a deep breath, look up at Ubo and shout, ask him, ask him where they are. Okay, sure. Ubo says, where are the new fall? Oh my God. So here's what's going to happen. I'm going to have, oh boy, brand is, he has lost a lot of blood. He has had several bones, but he's going into shock. And you could tell he's, he's just, he's laying there just completely out of it and just, and he is gasping for air trying and, and, and groon is just sort of got this boot clamped down on, on him, making sure that he can't get away. And brand is just scratching, scraping at this boot, just trying, but there's no, like he's got no strength like that.

It's not happening. And eventually his hand is just going to sort of shake and fall away. And he's going to struggle for breath a few more times and then just pass out. And groon is going to raise his boot and slam down on brands chest one more time and momentarily brand is going to sort of flex almost like a, like a fish out of water type of thing. Just, just his whole body is going to reflexively jerk, but nothing more. What would be the party's response here? Donovan extend his arm towards groon says we have a winner. Groon looks to be almost angry at himself.

It's like, Oh, I should have, I should have dragged this out. I should have, I hit him too hard. Because getting, getting information about exactly where they are and like, I don't know, information about weaknesses, things like that. Like what's the camp like? What's that? That would have been great, but it did feel really satisfying to kill this guy. Ubo says Ubo shots an orcish. Vengeance for Mozog. Glory for Mozog. After a momentary anger sort of subsides, like it's that first of all, it's bloodlust and then it's just like, Oh, dammit, I, I killed him.

Crap. He is going to, he's going to let that wash over him and then he's going to raise his hands in victory and sort of shout alongside Ubo and just repeat the sentiment. Um, Maddie, do me a favor and roll perception. Nope. Let's do, let's do something really quickly. Grun is going to again, just, just like cheer alongside of Ubo and just like, yeah, fuck that guy. And then he is going to sort of gesture for Ubo to join the other orcs for a moment for some sort of, sort of a victory drink. Ubo's down. Okay. At this point, Maddie would approach the body because funeral rates.

Right. Yeah, me too. Cause my shield with an arm in it. Right. Yeah. Just imagine if you, you know, shields like strapped to your forearm, that type of thing. Oh yeah. The forearm is still there. It's like, it's been protected. Right. It's fine. That's the only thing that wasn't broken on this poor guy. It's a good shield. And, um, yeah, as you're, as you're getting this stuff together, this, there's going to be just the slightest, like, this guy ain't dead yet. Kind of what, kill him without people noticing. It'd be a mercy at this point. I'm going to let you stew on that for just a minute.

Let's go over to Ubo. So these orcs are pretty happy about this because that is, that is a measure of release, right? First of all, they were captured for weeks by these dickholes who got the jump on them and then probably did not treat them very well. Obviously they, they, they nearly starved them and they were, they were, they knew that they were being taken somewhere against their will. Then they had to travel with this guy for another week and not do anything to them. So this is, this is a pretty big deal. So they're still, they're, they're, they're having a drink.

They're, they're having this celebratory thing. And, um, and Grun is going to, to, again, like slam a hand down on Ubo's shoulder. "You have done well this day. Tomorrow, we will go into Mozark camp and we will speak to Aurag and we will tell him what you have done." Something of note, this, this particular band, I mentioned, I mentioned before in a session, but I really wanted to get it across. Ubo and this particular group of hunting orcs really didn't know one another. This is sort of a, sort of a satellite group. They go out, they get food, they bring it back.

And Aurag is sort of the, sort of the right hand man to, to Gorgol. Aurag has had a run in with Ubo before. And I think you know what I'm getting at. Would he be, say, perhaps a person I attempted to unseat from a position of power? Yes. Yeah. Um, so... Let's come back to Matti for a moment. Ugh. Oh, God. And this is like the closest she's been to this slavery the entire time. Um, okay, so he's gonna hear this and immediately freeze. Look over to the orcs. Oh, God, I don't even think she has a dagger. Okay, well, I think, uh, Mazoka would probably be hovering as his new thing to do.

Would he, uh, would he catch a vibe here? What you doing there? Ooh, your hair smells nice. Oh, no, don't be that guy. Don't be hair sniff guy. Would he be able to catch on the vibe that, you know, she may want to help this man pass? Uh, she freezes when she hears, "Ugh, did he hear?" Mazoka, why don't you roll perception for me? Because Matti's close enough now that if you're there to do... Oh, yep. Yep. So it's like a "Ugh," like it is a pained breath. I need to stress that... Okay, the one arm is severed and still bleeding. The other arm is broken. His leg, again, compound fracture, like probably several ribs cracked, if not outright broken.

This man is in tremendous pain. However, not unsavable. Oh, god damn it. There would be a very long road of recovery, and he'd probably never walk the same again, but he wouldn't be dead. But he's also a slaver. Mm-hmm. Um... Mm. Okay, and honestly, Mazoka being there, Matti probably doesn't even notice at this point. [laughs] Because he's been hovering so much that she's just like, "I..." Um, well, he would probably look at her and... And just whisper, so no one else can hear him. "I... I can do this. If you want to walk away, I can do this." So Matti froze, and then you said that, and then she's actually gonna clench her fists and say, "Give me your dagger." Ooh.

Are you sure? Yes. He will flip over a dagger and hand it to her. And then she's gonna lean in close to this guy, and not whisper, but talk softly and say to him, "Uh, what would she say?" Mm. Oh, God. Should I...? Okay. She can lean in close, bring the dagger up to his neck, and say to him, "You nouval her blight on Theria." And then she'll slit his throat. There is going to be a momentary gasp, just a... And then you're gonna hear his throat fill up with liquid as he tries to gasp, and it just sort of turns into a gurgle partway through. And then after a few moments, that's gonna subside.

And he's going to die. Guys, I think that's a pretty good time for us to stop for the evening. Boy, Matti! I didn't see that coming. Aw, man. Oh, God. I love this so much, guys. I just, I do. I love it. That's getting warm in this office. Oh, God damn it. God. So the next time we play, you guys are gonna walk into a... you're gonna walk into an orc camp. Some of us are, yeah. Some of you are. I really don't like the position I put Matti in. I feel so bad. Like, Ubo is totally okay with it, but Rob is like having a conniption over here. Well, it's Jason's fault. He threw in a lot.

Never mind. Blame me. That's fine. Dude, this worked out so well. You guys, I really love the way these characters are interacting with each other. You guys are doing a fantastic job. And I don't know, it's something about the way these characters were fit together from the beginning. And just you guys sticking to decisions and character quirks and everything. It's just, it's really fun. I'm really, really happy with this. I'm having a good time. Yeah. Love you guys. Yeah, I can't wait to play more where, like, Ammon was cool with the idea, but then seeing it happen, he's gotta live with that, and so he had to walk away.

I really want to play into that more. We hope you guys enjoyed today's episode. Again, this has been sponsored by patreon.com/dandr That is our lifeblood. That's how we pay bills. That is how the show expands. And that's how we get to do more and more as the months go by. So as promised, here's a clip from Living in Theria. We just did one all about magic. We took all of your questions, we answered all of them that we could. Essentially, where's the source of magic? Where does it come from? How is it channeled? All that stuff. So here's a question quickly about the different races in Theria and how they tie to magic.

Technically, the longer you live, obviously the more time you have to plug away at it. So, like, that's a leg up. Right. There are races like the Eladrin. Like, okay, an Eladrin is probably going to be much more magically predisposed than a dwarf. Just because it's how they're born and, again, it's all about interpretation and connection to it. Are there dwarves that use magic? Absolutely. Are the amount of dwarves that use magic, percentage-wise, far lower than like the Eladrin or elves or even drow? God yes. Elves just having natural... they can tap into it a little easier.

Something like that. So if that sounds like something you might be interested in, head on over to patreon.com/dandr and you can support us for as little as a dollar. There's tons and tons of shows over there and extra content for if you get bored during the week or a run or out for a drive or whatever. You can also support the show by going to iTunes and giving us a five-star review. That stuff helps immensely. Can't tell you how much that helps us. You can also follow us on Facebook at facebook.com/dungeons and randomness all spelled out. You can go to Twitter @dandrpodcast and, of course, you can send us an email with your opinions, questions, concerns, anything like that at dandrpodcast@gmail.com.

That's dandrpodcast@gmail.com. Thank you guys so much. We can't wait to see you for extended rest. That's the 30th at 9 p.m. Eastern on Twitch. Until then, everybody out there, take care, and we'll see you next time.