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secretadventuresociety · 3 years

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Episode 28 Recap

Hail and well met, SASholes!! I’m Bren, resident SAStorian and your favorite Dungeons and Dragons fangirl. Welcome to Episode 28: In The Shadows.

Ding, Dong, the Dick is Dead

We pick back up with Kess and Pearce standing inside the bedroom of the now dead Xarus. An awkward silence tugs between our two heroes before Pearce raises his hand to Kess in the request of the highest of fives. She leaves the boy hanging (bad form, Kessandria…) and attempts to discern how long her ex-fiance has been deceased. Be it nerves, shock, or pleasure-- neither she nor Pearce can pinpoint an estimated time of death. However, Kess still begs Sienna to hand over her diamond ring, which she eventually does once the changeling reveals her plans. Kess takes the engagement jewel and casts Revivify. The gem shatters, covering a still-lifeless bag of di-- well. Too soon to speak ill of the dead? A moment passes, and no change. It has been more than the sixty seconds required to bring a soul back with this low-level incantation.

Pearce pulls Sienna aside and summons his best Poirot-- interrogating her despite her (seemingly-- we trust no one!) fragile state. She admits that she was deep in sleep until Xarus began ‘trembling’, which she later clarifies as something adjacent to choking. The writhing shook her awake, just in time for her to witness her fiance leaping off the bed and collapsing almost immediately. Being unable to recall any other details, the (SEEMINGLY) broken widow asks for her ring to be returned, not questioning its ruined state. She then promptly exits the room to hurk the awkward dinner party’s contents onto the hallway tile. Kess looks after her, consumed with guilt for being unable to bring back the son of a bi-- still too soon? You guys are no fun.

Pearce listens as Kess repeats how Xarus wasn’t acting like himself-- but as she finishes, he attempts to reassure her that he deserved it, and that he was probably a bastard his whole life. Which-- frankly-- I agree with the gunslinger here. This snaps Kess out of her spiral long enough that she casts Detect Magic and roams the bedroom. The most ominous thing that stands out is a lockbox under the bed. Pearce, after noting that Xarus’ side of the bed is still warm, takes off to the bedroom he claimed with Kü to grab his lockpicking tools. He checks in on the kobold, who (in Pearce’s own words) is resting like a ‘horrifying little angel’ as Kü ferociously tears into some dream animal or another in his sleep.

Honey, I Traumatized the Kids

As Pearce meets back up with Kess at the scene of the crime, he notices the whole fam damnily is in the threshold. He pushes past, handing off his thievery set, and watches as Kess masterfully opens the glowing (possibly enchanted?? We have no idea!) box to reveal…. PAPERWORK! While every accountant is realigning the pearls that they’ve clutched-- let me tell you the most important thing in this mound of dead trees: the deed to the Shadowmore estate. The druid then spots a bottle of wine on the nightstand on Xarus’ side of the bed, which she is easily able to tell has not been tampered with in any way. Satisfied with her search (for now!), Kess walks out of the room to greet her mother-- who steps closer to her with a noticeable limp. S U S. Norse goes into mom gear before her daughter can question the ailment; demanding a magistrate be summoned and all incriminating evidence be hidden on the family wing of the house.

As Kess moves to carry out the latter of her mother’s checklist, she grabs her mother by the elbow and asks her what happened in hushed tones. The matron changeling tries to lie at first, stating that she fell down the stairs on the way down to Xarus’ bedchambers. Kess, however, sees through this lie and presses her… almost immediately wishing she hadn’t. Her mother seethes through her clenched teeth that she and her husband were very relieved to have her back home, so they were taking advantage of their alone time. You know. Naked. Thankfully, Pearce pulls Kess out of the embarrassment bubble to be able to speak with her alone as they walk up to the fourth floor and start to hide criminal paraphernalia.

The two discuss possible culprits-- their minds going towards the supernatural. Pearce wonders about Mother and her growing presence as Kess frets about Ashe and his love of flame. Zev, having yoinked the wine from Xarus’ room, gulps it in a chill silence until the pair notice he’s there. A thread connects in Kess’ mind, and she asks her brother how long Rook had been making potions. Ever helpful, Zev shrugs and assumes about a year, then excuses himself to retire to his room. Having finished their task, Pearce and Kess decide they should do the same, probably a fantastic idea since neither of them got a long rest. For safety’s sake-- they make their way to the room where Kü is still sleeping soundly so that the whole party can be together.

That’s it, You’re all Going to Therapy

For some reason, our gunslinger decides it’s a fantastic idea to reach out and touch Kü’s faith; though the moment his finger grazes Mother’s skull, Kü awakens with a start. He mumbles in confusion about the dream he had just woken up from, then notices the darkness still blanketing the windows and asks to sleep until morning. Kess and Pearce take no time at all to wait for the kobold to get back into his REM cycle-- talking conversationally about Xarus and his fate. Kü overhears this and asks Kess which of her brothers died, not recognizing her ex-arranged-beau by name. Finally, Kü discerns that she means the ‘dickbag’ (SEE I’M NOT THE ONLY ONE WHO THINKS THAT) and promptly is uninterested. Kess asks Kü if Mother has ever come out in his sleep— he craftily avoids telling the whole truth by just admitting she is doing things she never has before. In the midst of his friends, who worry Mother may punish him for speaking out of turn, the kobold shrugs the interaction off as a dream and nods back off.

Having been newly spooked, Kess and Pearce delay their plans to rest and try to kill a little time (woof, that may be an unfortunate turn of phrase here) waiting for the magistrate. They go downstairs on a search for Pearce’s clean travelling clothes and a midnight snack. As the gunslinger dresses, Kess stares at his stained mask. She asks why there’s red marring the fabric, and he reveals that when he was first recruited into his band of bounty hunters that he attempted to make the much older members respect him by plastering the face covering with paint to simulate blood. Poor buddy. For obvious reasons, it didn’t work, but it still looks damn cool! We stan our emo king. Kess breaks off toward the kitchen and makes quite the shark coochie (if you know, you know) for the trio to share once Kü actually wakes up.

Pearce forgos any of the furniture as they make it back to the guest room, preferring to instead sleep on the floor to be alert in case of any danger. Hey-- hey buddy? Hey pal? Pearce, I hate to tell you this, but you gots some PTSD*! Our Trauma Boy (™, ™, ™,) hears footsteps with his ear resting to the floor and so is unable to really sleep. Kess builds a pillow fort around them all (while we’re diagnosing each other-- can we say arrested development?) and the overwhelming smell of raw meat (which Kess grabbed specifically for Kü) wakes up our favorite tiny terror, who digs into the offering, refusing to look a gift meat in the mouth although he was pretty sure he dreamed having a conversation with his companions. He does, however, ask if someone is truly dead-- and once confirmation is given-- he turns to Pearce and asks him how he killed Xarus, causing both indignation and amusement.

Sleeping Together

Kü tells Pearce that he would have lost a bet had he made one on who killed Xarus-- and Kess Dramatic Hamsters her gaze towards the gunslinger, having been reminded of how much money he lost her in the Underfrost. Pearce angrily replies that he left her money, but when Kess’ stare turns from intense to confused, he describes the note and the door he slipped it under. Kess recognizes the details as her parents’ room, and Pearce flies into a panic, sure that Arthur and Norse will see it and believe he is bribing them to keep quiet about his (nonexistent) part in Xarus’ murder. And what do we do when we’re upset, boys and girls? We take a Stress Nap (™, ™, ™,)!

Our bleeding heart kobold agrees to watch over his sleeping friends, and leaves Kess and Pearce safely in their pillow fort-- closing the guest room door and pacing back and forth in front of it. Energy unwavering even after two and a half hours, Kü keeps up his post even as Norse makes her way to him, looking for the dosing duo. Kü takes special care to let her know that her daughter and Pearce are in the bedroom sleeping together-- and that he heard strange sounds coming from inside. After asking her if he should check on them, Norse awkwardly murmurs that someone is asking to speak with the three of them as soon as possible. Kü interprets ‘ASAP’ as ‘As Soon As Pearceandkesswakeup’, so the three of them descend downstairs after their long rest is completed.

They notice the mansion staff hanging around, and enter Xarus’ chambers to see a tabaxi woman smoking a pipe standing inside. Kess immediately recognizes her as Mardosta’s local private detective and fellow Xarus-hater; Brienne. Now, I really hate to say ACAB to this probably lovely catperson; but ma’am, do we really think smoking WHERE SOMEONE WAS MURDERED IS A GOOD IDEA? Ever hear of crime scene tampering??!! Where’s David Caruso when you need him?! ANYWAY. Brienne asks for a good place to interrogate the trio, and Kü offers up Kess’ greenhouse. As the changeling leads the group there-- she outlines the rules for her safe space which basically boils down to NO TOUCHY.

Who Needs Natural 1s With Brains Like These by Fall Out Boy

Pearce pushes Kü to go first, and so the kobold grabs a turkey leg for a snack and heads in with the detective. Brienne asks about Kess and Pearce-- wondering what their relation to each other is and their feelings toward Xarus. Kü explains they’ve been travelling together for ‘some amount of time’ and that Kess was mad about Xarus being in her house, but also sad for the same reason. He then moves on to Pearce, saying that the gunslinger absolutely hated him. This, of course, attracts the tabaxi’s attention-- she asks if Kü believes his friend to be violent. Kü emphatically asserts that he is the most violent man he has ever met. Brienne takes thorough notes and Kü continues through the dinner, the Underfrost, and his brutal ass-kicking that led to him going to bed almost instantly once they returned to the mansion; but he does admit that he heard Kess and Pearce talking in hushed voices about someone being dead while he was in between sleep and waking.

The detective trades Kü out for Pearce once the kobold starts to question her about the animosity between her and the deceased-- primarily asking where she was at the supposed time of his expiration. She humors him, stating that she was at home-- passed out after her own nighttime festivities. Kü leaves the room, but not before hearing Mother congratulate him for keeping the tabaxi from suspecting anything. When Pearce enters the greenhouse, Brienne reveals Kü’s accusations about his character and asks if he had any ill will toward Xarus. Pearce, having no reason to lie, lets her know he absolutely did. This brings the tabaxi to ask him outright if he killed Xarus, to which he assured her he didn’t; no matter how much he may have hated him. Brienne is curious as to why the gunslinger hated someone he just met-- and Pearce explains that Xarus treated him and his friends like shit, and he absolutely would have retaliated had the asshole tried something in order to protect them. Brienne jots more notes down as she goes through Kü’s account; adding in Pearce’s own details (the scream, the candle blowing out), and expresses curiosity regarding the kobold’s helmet and disposition.

Pearce does admit that he would describe Kü as ‘feral’, but that he was in no state to hurt anyone or anything that night. Oh, and that YES, the skull on his head is VERY real. In return for these candid answers, Pearce asks why Brienne couldn’t stand the now dead dickbag-- and she tells him his family made their fortune collecting and selling tabaxi fur, and says she wasn’t always known as Brienne; a change that Xarus refused to acknowledge. Pearce then sends Kess in, who again recounts the night’s events-- adding that Sienna (the S E E M I N G L Y upset fiance) looked disgusted with her husband-to-be, feigns ignorance as to why Xarus would have set up residence in her home, and leaves the detective speechless as she divulges that she attempted to bring her ex back to life. Before leaving Brienne to her thoughts, Kess makes sure to impress on her how her friends may seem rough around the edges, but they have good hearts. CUE THE TEARS AND CONTINUE THE INTRIGUE!

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TL;DR

Have you connected any dots yet? Please let me know who you think the killer is because I’ve got nothing.

Reminder to never dig into your parents’ business…. or under their bed. Just trust me.

*Here is a link to the article describing the coping mechanisms of children affected by trauma (cough--PEARCE--cough): https://starr.org/2013/posttraumatic-stress-disorder-ptsd-reactions/

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Come and drink the Külaid and catch the next session over at twitch.tv/lochness on August 11th at 7:30CST/8:30EST! AND if you’d like to watch THIS episode, you can find it at the link below:

https://youtu.be/tGhm_Qq0smw?t=1254…

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staggeringsmite · 3 years

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2, 4, 8, 17, 18, 24, 32, 36?

(pick and choose if that’s too many 😅)

thank you!!! once again under the cut because this got long <3

2. what was your first time running a game like?

ohohoho it was genuinely pretty stressful bc i had been wanting to play dnd for a while and wanted my friends to like this cool fun game sooooo bad, but i Was in middle school and that time is mostly forgotten. somehow i remember this very well. the first game i ever ran was in 7th grade and was holiday themed over our school break. it was set during a winter solstice festival in this moderately sized city the party had just arrived at to see what the celebration was about. they did minigame time for a while running around the town, joining in games and celebrating winning little prizes or a few copper, which was a great way to introduce skill checks to a group that had never touched a ttrpg system before bc we were 12-13. i was fumbling around with rules everywhere, and it was suuper messy but we had a great time!! i think it culminated in a scrooge-esque character placing a nasty curse over the town and them having to go to his mansion to idk beat the nasty out of him and his little cult or something <3 the actual dm'ing part was a mess but also super rewarding, and i realized i really enjoyed doing it and cooking up a little game for everyone!

4 & 8 answered here!

17. what is your proudest improvisation moment?

dnd thoughts are like a constant background program running in my brain, so even if i don't write down every monologue or line or narrative moment i think up i'm constantly churning out these moments that make it easier to prep and/or pull out when the tone and timing is right, meaning it's not really improv. i am incredibly proud of the xarus and piper moment before they tried to stop castellane's coup because i did put some thought into what they were going to say, but obviously had to see what xarus' reaction was and couldn't really prep beyond the initiation of the scene. it turned into one of the most intense, emotionally complex scenes culminating in that forehead kiss that i will think about forever, and just, unstoppable force vs immovable object dynamic with xarus' self-sacrifical tendencies and piper's declaration of determination to see him through this fight.

other really proud improvisation moments i think mostly arise during combat. while i think i have a ways to go keeping combat interesting in terms of all the little descriptive moments that happen throughout, i don't prep anything dialogue or description wise and have to do more in the moment that creates them. some of favorites happened in the finale battle for wandering isles including xarus' divine intervention harm spell which manifested as his typical lightning (storm herald barb/tempest cleric multiclass) eye glow this time illuminating thirty feet out from him with the stormlord managing to crack into the demiplane with a huge lightning bolt across castellane's form. this and the tâm and theresa reaching out to/keeping veviri alive and the descriptions of the resurrection and tâm's twin heartbeat (honoring a previous nat 20 to allow this to even happen) were highlights of improvising and the campaign as a whole for me <3

18. funniest improvisation moment?

HOWARD SMOOTHANDS. okay i admit i should've been more prepared but school was a lot and i had spent sooo much time prepping the larger plot stuff where the party was that the simplest, most common dm thing of "hey you should put some people in this tavern in case they go in to ask questions" just sort of slipped my mind, there was a vampire cult happening at a large university you see you must understand. anyway i don't think this was entirely improv bc i remember the name coming from a generator, but i did end up having the on the spot get the atmosphere for this tavern and it was bizarre this was a very rural dilapidated community and they were all super suspicious of the party members that came in and then they met, flirted and slept with howard smoothands the barkeep so everything worked out. i think it is mostly funny because this arc was one of the darkest tone moments in the whole campaign, and it was great to break that up with thirty minutes of a halfling thieves' guild associate named howard smoothands.

24. how long does preparing for a session usually take you? do you chronically under or overprepare?

i don't have an exact number but i also know that it could take much less time than it actually does like most tasks i undertake because well, brain doesn't work great. i think it varies a lot depending on what the party is headed into if i'm running a main campaign, if i'm pulling from other modules to help supplement, running out of a book or completely from a module, etc. for my mostly homebrew stuff some sessions that i know are going to be big battles really only take 30 minutes of setup to get my balance right and everything into roll20 whereas if i'm running a highly individualized session (like one that has dream sequences or trials or highly specific character moments for each pc that i need to conceptualize and write and tweak) that could easily take me 3-4 hours to get finalized.

32. do you have any dice/other mechanic rituals? do you feel like you roll abnormally well (or the opposite)?

i cook my dice for a bit before my games <3 (leaving them on the highest numbers) i also Will Only use the dice or color of dice i associate with an npc when i roll for them. i feel like i roll decently well if not average but there have been Some Nights where it has been insane (double nat 20 for castellane at the dock fight with nyx for example).

36. how do you gear up to run a session? any pregame getting into character/setting moments?

i must admit when school is in i am probably prepping down to the wire on session days, but if i have some time i'll just read over my notes, open my stuff, and maybe listen through the campaign or character playlists

#thanks again andromeda!!#ask #asimovsideburns

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swarmkeepers · 3 years

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tâm, in the after (wandering isles epilogue thoughts, to say goodbye for real)

the tl;dr: tâm stays on the delrose. ari stays too, for years of travel and study, before finding their footing on an island to grow on their own. xarus leaves shortly after the fall of castellane to open his dancing hall on solid ground, and before they go he trains tâm to take over their position as quartermaster. lian teleports back on board for weekends playing go fish. but tâm will spend the rest of her life on its decks with thalia and eris and vesper and a family bigger than she ever thought possible.

it’s hard to tell if tâm got a little taller (even at 19) or if she just stands a little straighter. either way, she’s not making herself look small. she’s gotten her legs on the cloudsea and stands a little steadier; her eyes aren’t darting around all the time so much as scanning a familiar horizon.

smiles so much more, is so much more tactile—leaning her head in towards lian or eris or ari or nyx’s to hear what they’re saying, laughing at thalia and eris bickering on deck, looping her arm around someone else’s as they walk, bodily scooping up some of the delrose’s younger crew and slinging them over her shoulder like a sack of flour as they shriek with laughter. she's learned she's allowed to love her family like this; she's learned it's enough (it's everything, really)

tâm isn’t really a letter writing person (she’s not even really a words person), but “i. uh. please can you help” comes easily, if nothing else does. she sends some of the first letters of her life to xarus and is both surprised and delighted when they write back, lots. there’s quartermaster advice and life advice and mutual commiseration over paperwork when all your cargo is illegal and the WORSE paperwork when your pirate ship is starting to become less illegal in the pillaging-for-profit sense but still illegal in the mutual-aid-via-piracy sense. eventually tâm will ask xarus to tell the story of how he became quartermaster with a genuine curiosity, and maybe xarus will tell her

in the process of managing the continual chaos that is the delrose’s inventory as quartermaster, she gets herself a bag of holding and, among other things, keeps her pike in it. it’s always near at hand, still, but she’s not towered over by her own ten foot weapon all the time. also, she thinks it’s funny to surprise the new crewmates the first time they see her pull a ten foot long weapon, magical aura and all, like scarves out of a hat out of the bag that usually holds paperwork and snacks

she mostly uses her bag for snacks, makes herself the first person to greet new crew, size them up for clean clothes, and ask them their favorite food. she grew up hungry, and no one on this boat is going to do the same—for tâm, this is what makes working as quartermaster worth it far more than the raiding parties or the paperwork. when eris shows the younger crewmates and kids the delrose takes in up to the teen zone, tâm usually won’t be there to greet them (she’s still. not the best with new people) but their favorite snacks will be.

“well, thalia gave me this crisp $20 bill” was dead serious but especially now that thalia is her first mate and not her captain Going Thru Some Shit i think. that she and tâm both learn to laugh more, figure out they share the same kind of sense of humor. tâm will continue finding thalia and vesper being extremely cute on deck and/or conducting captain business without thalia ever leaving vesper’s lap and fake-roll her eyes for months once she feels comfortable enough to get away with it.

she still loses game after game of go fish to lian. eventually she’ll win one. i don’t think they bet anything, but these two thieves might make a variant game out of both playing go fish and trying to pickpocket the other at the same time. winning is based both on who won the game of go fish and who got the most stuff.

when nyx steps off the delrose with intent to leave, and eris is standing on deck unsure how much space to give her, tâm will find a deck of cards and then go find eris and ask if eris wants to be distracted by winning game after game of go fish.

the teen zone grows. the teen zone is enabled by the fact that technically tâm does the budgeting on board. things tâm and eris consider adding to the teen zone: more blankets, cannons so eris can be the ship’s gunner, better wine than that blueberry stuff they keep on board for pirate ceremonies, extra snacks

with incredible confusion, for the five long years that eris and tyche are being incredibly homoerotic rivals: “i don’t do romance but i thought YOU do romance so. uh. ARE you trying to do romance right now?”

(by the time tyche joins the crew, there have been a lot more crew coming and going on board the delrose, but. tâm is reminded of something specific when there’s now a rogue/cleric bickering stubbornly with eris on board again, different person notwithstanding. she’s absolutely NOT telling either ari or eris about the similarity.)

tâm grows up. ari grows up. there are things that are undefinable but there is family, and there is love, and that’s never been the hard part between them

there are also care packages, and most of them have bread. tâm learns she likes exploring new cities as the delrose crisscrosses the isles and tries to send ari some new kind of bread every time she finds it in a new marketplace. sometimes, if they have time, she’ll teleport right to their apartment from the bakery to give it to them still warm

eventually the delrose comes back from a long trip through the outer isles and docks in geline for a long stretch of time. tâm wanders the capital’s streets and realizes she’s unsteady. under constance’s new government the city is developing in a new way that she doesn’t intuitively know like she knows the back of her hand (she no longer knows these streets, and she no longer knows blood and hunger here either). she balances now like she’s ready for the deck of the ship to toss in the wind, not like she’s ready to sprint across rooftops on the run. it feels weird. it feels like growing pains. it feels good.

at ari and nyx’s wedding: your vows were very nice, tâm tells ari seriously, slinging an arm around their shoulders to wrinkle their clothes but also to let them preen a little about what they wrote. she hugs them so, so tight and says, i’m SO proud of you for saying them

a few weeks after ari and nyx get married, tâm will look at eris for a long time while they’re both working on the rigging and tip her head to the side and ask, very confused, “are we. siblings?” (the consensus is not siblings, but yes family. it doesn’t make sense. that’s fine)

sometimes you grow closer to people when you’re not living out of each other’s pockets all the time, and that’s tâm with much of the crew that killed prynne castellane. they’re family, tied together by tragedies and victories and magic and letters and visits and love

what’s important to her, when she can’t be the one leading her crew into fights, is training someone new. tâm goes to miles’s magical community school and earnestly asks if they have any accounting classes suitable for one of the younger crew members and gets a weird look, but it’s important to her that they come into this job better than xarus had to, than she had to. that they know how, but they also know why—so they can feed and clothe and take care of and protect this crew, in the big ways in and the small

she still mostly thinks one day at a time, in a better way. tâm will keep putting her body and her weapon in front of her family to fight for them until she can’t anymore. she’s done being scared, and she’s learning to like being scary when she wants to. wherever the bow faces that day is where she’s facing too, and she’ll stand at the hand of her captains and first mates as the positions change hands over the years. tâm will spend the rest of her life on deck, in the storm and the cloudsea. she gets to help people feel safe, at her side and behind her guard.

#i will not promise to stop wandering islesposting but yknow. it's almost hollow lands time but i just wanted to get all of my tâm thoughts #out somewhere as a kind of goodbye. my girl will always take up her space in my brain but we are now shifting out of wandering isles mode #:')#honestly these are less epilogue/lifetime and more like 1-25 years out from final session at most #i really do think that for tâm growth includes #no longer having to be the one who has to think farther into the future and constantly be worrying like #are we safe will we be safe tomorrow do we need help who is hunting for us who are we hunting #growth is. tâm plays support now for her whole crew. she grows up and she keeps fighting but she gets to be safe. and not alone and not just #with ari and no one else #friends. family. siblings. crew. she's never had that and now she does #dumb jokes. sea legs. little things. that's what matters and she gets to have that #wandering isles #tâm tag #long post #sola said

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