C2 E8

Sometimes you need to have a slight panic attack and hash out what it means to completely go against something as trivial as “The Empire”. Our heroes stare deep into their own fears and hopefully learn something from it.

## **Story**

### Long Story

T'Chuck and Selene head out into the dense, dark, and treacherous forest, to find R'Oarc and (to a lesser extent) Screech. Right off the bat, they find evidence of a fight between one large creature, and two smaller creatures. T'Chuck, worried about R'Oarc, warns Selene that there might be some weirdness with him and Reya. There might be some magical channeling, or whatever, it's fine, don't worry about it. Selene doesn't worry about it, but does take note. He's acting strangely, but she lets it go.

They follow the trail, finding some blood on nearby tree leaves, and eventually come up on a small cabin in the woods. Not that Cabin in the Woods. This, T'Chuck suspects, may belong to a local family of bear-folk that doesn't live in either village. He decides to approach loudly, in peace, so he steps up to the cabin, calling out to whoever is in there.

Out steps a tall Bear-folk man, standing up on his hind legs, a tunic atop his bear head. He introduces himself as Beary, and welcomes T'Chuck and Selene into his home, where he has R'Oarc and Screech lying unconscious. He rescued them, he says, from the ogre who ran off. R'Oarc had actually died, but he was able to resurrect her by channeling the divine magic of his god, the god of the forest, Regnier(?). Selene is not happy to hear this, and so she decides not to. Actually, she refuses to believe that Beary was able to channel Regnier's magic, because, she believes, Regnier's not real. Or, more likely (seeing as how Beary casts *Bless*, and it actually works), it could be that Beary is channeling Reya's magic, and only thinks it's Regnier. Yeah, that must be it!

Screech, meanwhile, is back in his Screech get up, having quickly removed his costume before passing out. He too, is none too happy about Beary using magic (remember, his parents were killed using magic), although Beary tries to assuage him that not all magic is good. He doesn't use any evil fancy words, or cast *Magic Missile*, or anything like that. He's just a simple man, trying to do some good in this messed up world. I feel like Beary should be sitting backward on a chair, youth pastor-style.

There's a long discussion between all parties about the nature of magic, and gods, etc. It's pretty interesting, because it's all character driven. Selene was raised to believe that all magic is Reya's magic, and before everyone had to legally worship Reya, the gods they claimed to worship were just aspects of Reya. Neat idea, but Beary is insistent that Reya and Regnier are NOT the same, and that he's going to continue to work Regnier's will, despite Selene encouraging him not to do that. T'Chuck, too, doesn't believe in Regnier, or their power, but does acknowledge that R'Oarc is alive and safe because of Beary, and for that, he is grateful. He warns Beary not to do too much magic in front of Selene, or anyone else for that matter. Beary doesn't listen to his warnings.

Basically, everyone's chatting and catching up, and doing character work. Some of the things that come out of this:

* Beary is going to find the ogre in the woods, and either kill it, or be killed by it.
* Screech is a useless piece of shit who never helps anyone with anything. The Koala Man, however, is great, and everyone loves him, especially Screech.
	+ Despite Screech's useless-piece-of-shit-ness, T'Chuck takes pity on him, and asks him to become part of the Rimeford family. He refuses, because he's rich, and doesn't need them.
* Beary makes dinner for everyone with the help of a team of woodland creatures. He also insists everyone stay the night, as the forest is too dangerous, especially after dark.
	+ One of these woodland creatures turns out to be Koala Man. Screech has vanished.

Suddenly, there's a blast of a war-horn that sounds from outside. Beary's ears perk up. "They're coming," he says, ominously...

### Short

T'Chuck and Selene go out into the woods in search of R'Oarc and Screech. They find them at Beary's cabin, a cordial, simple Bear-folk who found the two unconscious after their ogre fight. R'Oarc had died, but Beary resurrected both of them. Everyone catches up, and there's a lot of talk of gods and religion. Beary worships Regnier, which is a no-no to Selene. It all ends with a war-horn sounding outside, and Beary saying ominously, "They're coming..."

## **Trivia**

* Day 3 of the campaign.
* Selene's eyes flash when she looks at a torch. I think it's a Darkvision thing? Or it's a joke. One or the other.
* Screech has brittle, light, bird bones.
* Beary used to live with his family, but "they're gone now".
* Selene was taught that when others in the past would worship their gods, they were really worshiping Reya.

## **In This Episode...**

### **Cast and Player Characters**

* Michael DiMauro - *Dungeon Master*
* Tim Lanning - T'Chuck
* Jennifer Cheek - Selene von Esper
* Nika Howard - R'Oarc
* Mike Bachmann - Screech Echo / Koala Man (Screech)

### **Locations**

* Drunkeros
	+ Whispering Peaks
		- Beary's cabin

### **Quest Log Updates**

* [Active] - Investigate the mysterious goings-on in Rimeford
	+ [On-Hold] - Investigate the mines, eliminate the Knocker threat
	+ [Everyone] - Speak with the Grizzly-folk
	+ [Selene & T'Chuck] - ~~Rescue Screech and R'Oarc~~
* [Selene] - Investigate the light in the window of the White Spire
* [Selene] - Kill Professor Devin Decacog

### **Quotes**

* **"Screech wakes up with a start, screaming, stands up, takes a swing at something that's not there, spins around, falls over, hits his head on the table. He's unconscious again."** ~ *Mike Bachmann*

* **"He was cute, but in a scary way."** ~ *Screech Echo, on the Koala Man*

* **"The thing you have to know about Selene is that she's a coward."** ~ *Jennifer Cheek*

## **Rolls**

* T'Chuck and Selene make *Survival* rolls to track R'Oarc
	+ **Selene** - 8
	+ **T'Chuck** - 22
		- He finds evidence of a fight nearby

* **Selene** does a *Perception* check when T'Chuck is talking about Reya - 15
	+ He's acting strange, but she can't put her finger on it

* **T'Chuck** rolls *Perception* to see if there's a way to approach the cabin - 11
	+ He can see the entrance, and some tracks on the ground that look like bear tracks

* **T'Chuck** rolls *Medicine* checks on R'Oarc and Screech - 12
	+ He can tell they're both alive

* **Selene** rolls *Deception* to lie to herself that Reya and Regnier are the same - 22
	+ She's buyin' what she's sellin'