Looking for Trouble

**"Looking for Trouble"** is the seventh episode of *Mountain of Mystery*, airing on March 28, 2023.

The session was DMed by TanisJr93 and hosted on his channel on Twitch.

## Summary

*...continued from session six*
Cash recognizes the intruder and immediately attacks the man, brawling with him in the middle of the campsite before eventually overpowering him and demanding to know where "she" is; the man admits that he last knew the woman to be in Zadash about two weeks prior, and introduces himself as Cash's father, Jean Goldcrest, who Prints then recognizes as a famous bard she has seen perform before. He then indicates that Trouble isn't who she used to be, casting *Suggestion* to compel the Druid to explain what happened: Trouble launches into a rambling diatribe describing most of the events of her life from the time she lived in the Savalirwood, through her death and resurrection in the cellar of the Western Winery, up to and including the conversation she is currently having.

Jean confirms that the item was a dragon egg, and advises the group to lay low because of the residual energy that Trouble carries. He explains that he and a group of friends defeated an Abyssal monstrosity several years ago, tearing the source of its power from it, splitting it into five shards, and storing those shards in five dragon eggs that were subsequently buried; the egg that the group encountered had recently been excavated and transported to Rexxentrum before being stolen along the Amber Road and delivered to the Western Winery. He assures the group that he will work to find a way to remove the shard from Trouble, giving the group a Sending Stone before disappearing back into the night.

Prints and Trouble take the final watch, and the party wakes the next morning, continuing eastward as Prints's Mother contacts her through her Sending Stone; Prints reveals Trouble's death and resurrection and explains that an egg was involved, after which the Stone deactivates, and Prints's uncle contacts her to tell her that "Mother is freaking out." Sado breaks from the group to scout ahead, and returns by midmorning to inform the party that he spotted several men up ahead at a ramshackle roadblock; Trouble, Cash, Grump, and Thorn drive the prison wagon ahead along the road while Prints and Sado stealth into the treeline along one side and Kahlan and Lazarus stealth into the treeline along the other.

The wagon approaches the barricade, where the bandit captain demands a payment of 50 gold to pass. As Cash speaks with the captain, Lazarus attempts to move into range to use his Psychic Blades, and is caught off-guard by a Rogue who places a poisoned shortsword to his throat; Lazarus uses his Psychic Whispers to relay his situation to Kahlan and to Trouble as Sado and Prints approach from the other side of the road. The captain pulls his blade against Cash, who promptly casts *Shatter* as Prints casts *Snilloc's Snowball Storm*. Lazarus and the assassin then watch as Trouble casts a *Moonbeam* that incinerates one of the bandits and severely injures two more; the Druid suggests that the captain accept 10 gold and let the party pass, and he accepts, ordering his men to stand down.

Lazarus disengages from the assassin, who sheaths her weapon and vanishes back into the woods while the captain and his remaining men open the barricade to allow the party through. Continuing eastward, the party spots a thunderstorm approaching and pulls off the road into a dense thicket of trees, and as they wait out the storm, Kahlan spots dozens of pairs of yellow eyes about 50 feet away; she telepathically notifies Lazarus, who telepathically notifies Trouble, who tells Prints before joining Kahlan and Lazarus. Prints recognizes the eyes as vaguely wolf-like, and Trouble calls out to the creatures before she and Lazarus both hear in their minds: "We are the Searchers, and we have found you. Come with us." Trouble refuses, and one creature steps forward to reveal itself as a shadowy cloud in wolf form, explaining that he was told to find and capture the Druid, to which Trouble responds: "And I was told to *live*, and live the way I choose, and that I shall do. And therefore: you may leave. You've found me. Congratulations! You win! Now *go*."

The yellow eyes in the forest begin to disappear as the closest creature's form sinks into the ground after warning Trouble: "You will not escape your fate." Lazarus hears Trouble think in response: "I do not believe in fate." Not long after, the storm abates and the party continues along the road, pushing into the evening in search of a campsite with Kahlan and Lazarus at the head of the group and Sado watching the rear. As darkness full falls, the Goliath advises the group to pick up the pace as he spots the yellow eyes approaching from behind them, and the party rushes forward, the prison wagon becoming momentarily stuck before Grump hauls it free; as they flee, Prints looses her footing in the mud and trips, nearly being overtaken by the wave of shadowy creatures as a javelin of light streaks past, exploding into hundreds of luminary arrows that drive back the darkness with a thunderous detonation.

Prints regains her footing and catches up with the group as a barrage of radiance assaults the wave of shadows, which slowly begins to recede as the party eventually reaches a campsite beside a large hill where they find a white-furred Tabaxi clad in green and black armor. She removes a pair of intricate goggles and approaches Prints, telling her: "I'm glad I caught up with y'all. What have you gotten into?"

*...continued in session eight*
## Notes

* Sado was played by DM TanisJr93 for the session due to FloodedBasement being unable to play.
* The events of the session occurred on 18-19 Cuersaar 839 PD.
* Alternate titles for the episode include, but are not limited to:
	+ "Consult the Grass"
	+ "Go Back and Hurt Them"
* Having escaped The Searchers, the players advanced from Level 3 to Level 4 following this session.

## Quotes

* "Well, I guess if you really *must* know… Um, I was in the forest hiding from all the demons of my past, uh, and, you know, uh, talking to some birds and some elk and some friends, and, um, some creatures that are quite terrifying in all honesty. Um, but, you know, we became good friends; I learned how to speak to them. And then, all of a sudden, uh, I was standing in front of this, like, cat-person who I’ve never seen before. It was wild; it was so fascinating. I was really intrigued, but I couldn’t speak for myself mind you, because– as you all do. Um, and then, so, we bec– we started to hang around; I followed her, because quite frankly, I didn’t even know where I was. Um, I had never seen a map before, so I was really unsure where the hell I was, what was going on. Um, but I had made a new friend, and I had never had one of those before. Well, I had, but it had been a while and I hadn’t really seen him often, so, you know, it– um, it’s what it is. He was the first one to really talk to me: my name was Friend, and then it became Trouble, um, and then– well, it *was* something else before that, and then it became Friend, and then it became Trouble. And then, um– so I traveled around with Prints for a while, and then we met these fools at a bar. It was fascinating! There was a little fight ring: I bet on everybody, and won every time. It was fabulous, because I pitted them against each other, and it was very clear who was going to win, but they *did!* And then we got hired for some job that I didn’t fully understand; I don’t think we were supposed to be there, but we just kind of followed in, and then they said, “Okay. Sure. You can come too.” So we went on this little job, and then, you know, it was kind of fun. We went into the forest, I turned into an elk, *impaled* a man on my horns, and *then* we came through, we went into, like, some weird, like, winery, but it wasn’t even open, and I had never tried wine before, so that was quite fun. And so I wanted to burn the roof down, but then they said no, so I crashed through the roof as a giant lizard, and then we found all of these things! We found the thing we were supposed to be looking for. I died! And then, somehow, a *terrifying* smoke monster showed up, um, Prints made a deal with it although she didn’t realize she made a deal with it. I came back! But I was no longer a bird! But, like, how do you even do that? Like: all of a sudden, I’m just— I’ve got stubby little fingers, my beak is gone, but I can speak again, and I’ve never been able to speak before in my life. I’ve been using the voice of others, and there are a few phrases I think I can still do. I think my favorite is *ne’er-do-wells*! That one is superfun, by the way, and I will hold onto that forever. Um, and then we went back, and we were like, “Ooh, maybe we don’t show the not-bird anymore to people,” and then they were like, “Oh, but maybe we *should* show the bird to people.” And then, so, like, we showed the bird to people, and it was fine, but then, uh, we fought a man who I don’t know where he came from; he was *disgustingly* strong, um, but he wouldn’t really fault any of our things. He hit people to find out information. It didn’t work very well because he wasn’t very good at it, um, and then, we started traveling again. I don’t know why. Um, escorting this woman to— this prisoner somewhere else, and now we’re here talking to you, a person I also don’t know." – Trouble
* "A long time ago, me and some friends buried something. That something was apparently dug up, and was being delivered to Rexxentrum. In the middle of that happening, other people wanted to get ahold of it. A shitstorm later, that item resurrected you. Now: that item is still inside you, and while it is, you and anyone around you is not safe. People are gonna come looking for it." – Jean Goldcrest
* "Some years ago, some friends of mine and I dealt with a threat to the world. Couldn’t find a way to kill it, so instead, we ripped its power from it; split it in five pieces. The only thing powerful enough that we could find to put that power inside were some dragon eggs given to us freely by each of the color of the metallic dragons. So, to answer your question of how many there are: there are five. I don’t know where the others are hidden. We each took one, and we hid them. We never told either of any of us where we hid our own. That way, if one of us gets captured, or if one of ours gets found, all the others will at least be somewhat safe. The thing we fought wasn’t from this world. It was from a different plane of existence. Somewhere deep in the Abyss. Things that’ll be coming after you guys… They used to be people. Now they’re… corrupted. I don’t really know how to explain it. I can’t even read their minds. It shouldn’t be too much for you to handle, at least for a while, but if they find out that it’s not *on* your person and instead *in* your person, then they’ll send a little harsher things after you to capture you. I doubt they’d try to kill you for fear of what it could do to the item inside you. So: with that being said, I will go and, as I said before, try and find a way to get it out of you. `Til then, try and keep a low profile, stay amongst your friends, and you all do you best to make sure no one gets her. I’ll try and be back as quickly as possible. I’ll be able to find you. Is there any other questions?" – Jean Goldcrest
* "Kid: I don’t know what you did, but Mother is freaking out. Way to go; hope you’re safe." – Prints's uncle
* "Don’t worry: I live for danger. Get them close to me, and I’ll take care of `em. I’ll take care of every single of them on my own. I’ll tear `em—" – Clopp
* "I don't know if you're the, uh, musically-inclined sort, but you might want to listen to the words of a bard– uh, I believe he was William the Smith: Don't start nothin', won't be nothin'." – Cash Goldcrest
* "Storms always remind me of my dad; he said Kord was pissed off." – Lazarus Oldman
* "We are the Searchers, and we have found you. Come with us." – The Searchers
* "Go willingly; get taken forcibly; be brought back to life against my will. I don't have much choice these days." – Trouble
* "I was told to *live*, and live the way I choose, and that I shall do. And therefore: you may leave. You've found me. Congratulations! You win! Now go." – Trouble (immediately before rolling a Nat-20 Intimidation check)

## Episode

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