Ep. 84 Resk You

## Watch

Resk You | Khyber Shards #84 | D&D 5e Actual Play

—River

Nardalee and the Moonspears experience River breaking through the hedge. Esri manages to convince her to drink his sleeping tea, and the Moonspears escort her out.

Esri invites Nardalee with them to face whatever is in Blackbriar, and they come to a path that leads to a small house. On the path stands Falko and five of his people. He activates something on his gauntlet, and a half-scorrow jumps from the water and attacks Nardalee, beginning their fight.

## Synopsis

Years ago, before Nardalee left home, she was on a hunt with other young members of her tribe, outside Blackbriar. The dare each other closer to the edge, where the adults have warned them not to go, until they get too close. The hedge lashes out and grabs one of the young drow, and pulls her into the hedge, screaming in terror. She was never seen again.

Now, Nardalee sits outside the hedge, waiting for the exit of Stryke Force from Blackbriar. Suddenly, River appears from the undergrowth. She asks Nardalee if her friends have been here. Nardalee points her towards the hedge, and River goes straight for it. When she gets near it, the vines start writhing in a threatening way, and Zenaida and Solei sprint towards her. Nardalee gets between them and the hedge, concerned for their safety. River grabs one of the vines wrapped around her arm, and a florescent blue is running from her arm down the vine, and it's starting to infect the wall of thorns in front of her. Her eyes have gone the same shade of blue, and some of her garb has taken on the same tint. She pulls the vines, and the wall tears open. She walks through.

Nardalee goes in after her, and sees the shambling mound and the Stryke Force. The vines are floating around River like snakes standing up. River has that scary look in her eyes, but Esri manages to convince her to drink his sleeping potion. The blue fades away, and the vines fall away, and the light in her eyes dims.

In the distance, past the wall, is an open field with a with terraces lawn and a long path that leads up to a simple wooden house on a hill, surrounded by flooded fields growing marsh plants. Esri asks Solei and Zenaida to get River out, and Shade makes them wait for introductions. The Moonspears give them some healing potions before they leave. Shade hands out berries from her staff. Esri invites Nardalee to join their fight. They take a moment to rest.

The path to the house has occasional wooden steps, and at the house there are five creatures. One of them steps out and they see Falko d'Deneith. He touches something on his gauntlet, and the water in the field next to the group explodes. A chitinous, shimmering black figure launches itself out of the water towards Shade and Pog. There's something familiar about the creature to Nardalee; it's shape, and it's barbed scorpion-looking tail. It looks like a twisted version of a scorrow, a creature considered to be blessed by Vulkoor and become half-drow, half-scorpion. It looks like someone saw a scorrow and tried creating one. Nardalee rages and lashes it with her whip, and the barbs at the end dig into the creature.

Shade moves away from the creature and shoots at Falko, but he deflects it with his mark. Pog gets angry and starts swinging, and the people with Falko shoot at Shade. Falko presses his hand to his chest and there's a slight shimmer from his mark. Ari incapacitates some of them with his mind.

## Spells

* **Ari**
	+ Hypnotic Pattern
* **Esri**
	+ Faerie Fire

## Quotes

"They brought me from the feywild. It was not kid's napping. They resk me."
"Resk. Do you mean rescued?"
"But it was me. They resk me. Not you."
*—River and Nardalee*

"That's not nearly enough beard for it to be s0rry."
*—Philip*