Ep. 16 Darkness Rising Chapter Three

## Listen

Ep. 16 Darkness Rising Chapter Three

—John Locke, *Vegas Moon*

Having captured three of the Swords of Liberty, the party finds their base and investigates. When they find the Red Owl, however, it's not quite what they expect.

## Synopsis

### Swords of Liberty Ideologies vs. Beric Rowan

The party has taken three members of the Swords of Liberty prisoner. Crast has walked off in a huff after Therudak and Dex stopped him from beating one of them senseless, and the other two are lying on the ground, tied up and unconscious next to Beric.

Not knowing how to handle his boss, Therudak approaches Beric, concerned about the conversation he seemingly had with himself. Beric assures him there's nothing to worry about. He wasn't talking to himself; he was talking to the voice in his head, that comes from his sword. Dak gives an uncertain nod and leaves it at that.

Beric starts his interrogation of the Sword tied to the tree. After some resistance the man starts talking, and he and Beric debate politics and if blowing up a building with everyday people in it constitutes as terrorism.

While Beric debates with the Sword, Dex leaves to catch up with Crast. He finds him facing away and leaning up against a tree, recomposing himself. Dex admits that he wouldn't have stopped him physically like he threatened, but he needed Crast to back off and didn't have any other way of doing it. After a pep talk and a warning to stay level headed, Crast turns to Dex with a rage in his eyes. He swings with his gauntlet at the tree and bark goes flying. Clutching his now hurt fist, he nods and they return to the prisoner.

On the ground in front of the Sword, Beric is crouching on one knee and is discussing the importance of the monarchy.

*"Look, if you read Locke, you'll see that the mandate of the masses is what justifies the government and the evidence clearly shows that the people support the monarchy."
"Are you wanting Crast to step into the interrogation or do you want to continue having a political debate that I have not prepared for?"
—Beric and Eric*
The Sword tenses at Crast's approach, the beating he just got fresh in his mind. However, when Crast starts his questions it's almost begrudgingly, like his heart isn't in it. It becomes clear that he's not getting anywhere.

### Prisoner's Dilemma

Beric pulls Dex to the side and suggests they create a Prisoner's Dilemma, except with Dex being the other prisoner. The changeling could shift into one of the guy's friends and pretend to have given up information. Therudak bounces back and forth with a confused expression until Beric and Dex realize he has no idea what they're talking about, and Dex confides in him about his changeling abilities.

Beric casts Cure Wounds on one of the unconscious prisoners to wake him up and hauls him to his feet. They lead him out of sight of Crast and the other Sword. Beric asks him some questions, in part hoping they can get some real information out of him but mostly so Dex can hear his voice. Through some trickery they're pretty confident they've gotten a general idea of where their base is located. All the while Dex is standing behind the guy, perfecting his voice.

After some prodding the Sword starts opening up about the shadows. They've had some run-ins with them before. A couple of items were found in the Dhakaani ruins across the river that they've been using to fight back against them and that's worked quite well, but the druids in the Eldeen Reaches don't like Brelish citizens operating in their nation and they're been trying to put a stop to it.

*"See, that wasn't very hard. That was really helpful, we appreciate it. Dak, come sit on this guy."
—Dex*
Having perfected his disguise, Dex has Therudak walk him back towards the Sword tied up to the tree. When he hears Dex begin explaining where they found the items he stops them and asks what's going on. Dex tells him he cut a deal, and if he wants in on it he's welcome to it. The man hangs his head, frustrated and confused, and asks Crast what he wants to know.

Dex and Therudak continue walking away, and once out of sight Dex starts changing back into Lyle. From behind they hear angry stomping, and Crast demands to know why they've cut a deal with these monsters. Dak starts explaining, but Dex interrupts and using his own voice tells Crast they've pulled one over on the guy. Crast doesn't like the trickery but stomps back to the prisoner.

Dak goes with Crast, who crouches in front of the prisoner and starts asking questions. Their base is in the Dhakaani Ruins and someone known as the Red Owl runs their operations, though they always wear masks when they meet so they don't know each other's names or faces in case their in a situation just like this one. Dak asks for the items used to fight the shadows, but this is just a foot soldier and he doesn't have any.

Dex returns, looking like Lyle again, and asks him what's happening next with the Swords. The man doesn't know; they were told just the morning of the bombing what was going to happen. Dex pulls out his Speaking Stone and calls Commander Bala to tell her they've apprehended three Swords. There's a blacksmith in Xandrar who they can bring the prisoners to, and he'll extradite them. The prisoner looks at them in shock, saying he thought they were being let go. Just to mess with him Dex changes into his friend and says, *"No deal."* The Sword is flabbergasted and Dex changed back, saying he was tricked; no one's letting him go.

Beric tries asking this guy the same questions as the other, but doesn't get any clearer answers and ends up debating politics some more. Eventually Dex and Dak interrupt him and Dak starts searching the man's pockets. He's carrying 5 gold, a sword, and traveling papers identifying him as Malar Kurk. Dak hands the papers to Crast and ignores the rest. Dex searches the one he changed into and he's carrying the same things, his papers naming him Borahn Prum. The last person, unconscious, is Seran Dorron.

### Dinner and Morning Puns

It's about a five to ten minute walk back to town, and there's still a lot of commotion going on from the attacks. When they get to the blacksmith's it's rather quiet around his door, and a very large half-orc with long graying hair tight up in a knot opens the door. Beric tells him they're sent from Commander Bala and the half-orc rushes them inside. When he gets a good look at the captured Swords, he's astonished and disappointed; they're all people from around town that he knows. Beric tells him all of the information they learned from interrogating them and the party sets off once again.

Crast suggests taking the fight to the Swords now that they know where their base is. They can take up lodging and explore in the morning when the shadows are gone. Beric wants to talk to the druids, and Dex just wants a rest. Beric agrees with this wholeheartedly, as he's bleeding profusely from his wounds and has only three hitpoints left. There's lodging for them with the blacksmith, but before that they grab some dinner at an inn.

Before leaving Beric sits down with Curse-Bringer and has a quick discussion about the shadows. As soon as the sword suggests that a dozen, even a hundred innocent lives are worth sacrificing, Beric let's go and it disappears.

At dinner Beric is solemn and silent and terrible company. Dex walks in and demands the finest bagels and muffins in all the land, for he has drunk from the keg of glory. Therudak is just upset that he could have cooked something better. The only one who has a good time is Dex.

Everyone wakes up, Dex being the only one pun-free, and they're ready to head off to the woods. An attack like this has never happened in Xandrar before, and the city is still reeling from it. There have been a few casualties.

### More Goblin Riddles

This time when they cross the bridge there are no shadows. The Dhakaani Ruins over here are much different than the ones in the Faded Forest, being made for goblins instead of hobgoblins. It's mostly stonework that's left behind. Throughout the city there are signs of people living there, but no immediate evidence of anyone being there at that moment. They check around the city, making sure there aren't any lurkers hiding in some buildings or anything of that sort. Therudak finds some tracks between two buildings that suddenly end, as if the person disappeared. He calls Dex and Beric over, but before pointing them out he stops and looks down at the ground. He bends over and picks up a shiny rock with a blue luminescence to it and drops it in his pouch, then points out the tracks.

There's an archway that goes over the buildings with some writing in goblin. Crast rolls his eyes and scolds them for not knowing goblin, and then takes a closer look. He grumbles that it's an old dialect, and Dex gets misty eyed over their old friend Acko, who also used to complain about translating for them.

Therudak pulls out his rock collection to show Beric, who's mildly interested. Dak gasps and shakes his head; twenty-one rocks, this won't do. He picks out the least shiniest one(though no one but him can tell the difference) and throws it over his shoulder. Crast finishes his translation.

*When I am needed I am thrown away, when you are done with me I am brought back.*
The group sigh as they realize they have yet another riddle to solve. They throw some guesses out, getting more irritable as they go. After trying for a good amount of time, Dex asks Crast if he's not any ideas. Crast points out that they're near the docks, so maybe anchor? When he says it the ground begins to rumble and the section where the tracks disappeared becomes a staircase leading down.

### Inside the Red Owl's Lair

They "crack open a daylight wand" and cast *Daylight* on Dak's armor, who leads the way down the stairs. They notice as they go down that the air doesn't seem stale and undisturbed like some abandoned ruins might be. They come across a door with light coming from underneath and sneak closer, listening in. There are two voices, one feminine and one low and rumbly, having a tense conversation.

They agree to have two of them stay outside the door while the third makes a distraction, and the two will burst in and get a surprise round. Beric concentrates and his eyes go black, then his whole form turns black before vanishing altogether, having cast *Invisibility* on himself. He opens the door, steps inside, and slams it shut. Inside a woman was sitting with her feet propped up on a desk, but at the noise she pulls them down and sits alert. A large figure turns, confused, and Beric recognizes Trant, the blacksmith from Mistmarsh. The Red Owl, later to be revealed as Haydith ir'Wynarn, tells him to go check it out, and as he walks over to the door Beric sneaks behind her and places Curse-Bringer at her throat.

Right as Trant flings the door open, Beric tells Dex through the speaking stones, *"Dex, it's Trant,"* but just a little too late as Dex brings his cane straight down on Trant's dead and he falls to the ground, unconscious. Dex enters the room and brings the ribbonweave out. Beric drops his spell and suddenly a black blade is at the woman's throat, and she's clearly terrified. Beric warns her to hold still. When he assumes she's the Red Owl she denies it, saying she's just helping an associate find his missing son. Dex gets Crast to wake Trant up. They tell the woman they're looking for Jacob, just like Trant is.

*"Did you just knock this guy out and he's supposed to be your friend?"
—Therudak*
Through some discussion they learn that the woman heard through contacts in Mistmarsh that a boy had been taken by shadows, and they deal with shadows so she reached out to Trant, offering her help. Beric is very smug when he thinks he's tricked her into giving herself up as a Sword of Liberty, and she goes on the defensive, asking why they came here to threaten and mock her. Beric is saucy to her and she eventually tells them to bring her to the blacksmith then.

Beric moves her out from behind the desk and Dex goes over, checking for anything of interest. In one of the drawers is a red mask. The woman sighs and tells them they've now got about three minutes to get out. Beric scoffs and Dex asks uncertainly what will happen in three minutes. She ignores him, and after he talks to Trant for about thirty seconds Dak interrupts, *"Why three minutes please?"* Haydith says that would spoil the fun, but they need to be about fifty to a hundred feet from the building in that time. Everyone sighs, realizing she's hidden a bomb somewhere, and they hoof it, grabbing the mask as they go.

Therudak lingers and makes a more thorough investigation on the desk. He finds a hidden compartment with a mass of diamonds balled together with a pulsing light that seems to be getting quicker. He admits there *is* a bomb and gets out of there.

As they flee, Beric, holding Haydith by the arm and completely willing to kill her if she tries to escape, mocks the her for putting a bomb in her own desk. She defends herself and they have a back and forth, but they all make it out of the blast radius in time. Across the bridge there's an explosion, and the only thing left of the Dhakaani Ruins is rubble.

They bring her to the blacksmith and tell him they've caught the Red Owl. Dex checks her pockets but doesn't find any papers or anything, just a little bit of gold. Dex asks her how they can find Jacob, but she just shrugs and says she'll still be able to help Trant better than they can. Beric points out how she's very concerned with the well-being of children, what with blowing up a building in Sharn. She references his mother and calls him Rowan, despite having only been told his first name, but Beric is too worked up to notice.

*"Listen, you may delude yourself to the point of thinking that the war is over, and if you think that nobody that you're related to was ever responsible for the death of innocent civilians, well, that would be a foolish thought then, Mr. Rowan."
"Yeah, well, when my mother talked about it she used a different tone."
—Haydith and Beric*
Dex pulls out his Speaking Stone and calls up Commander Bala. He makes sure the other prisoners have arrived and tells her they've captured the Red Owl, but she seems pretty confident that she will not stay detained. Bala assures him that she'll stay in custody. Beric turns towards *The Red Owl* (making sure to use all three words because it's a stupid name) and warns her that if she escapes, the next time he sees her he's going to kill her. She's an evil, heartless, terrible person and he will happily rid the world of her. She's unphased, with a simple, *"Good luck."*

End of episode.

## Locations

* Xandrar, Breland
* Dhakaani Ruins, the Sword of Liberty base of operations

## Spells

* **Beric**
	+ Cure Wounds
	+ Invisibility
	+ Light

## Quotes

"This is probably not going to help assuage your concerns, but I'm not talking to myself, I'm talking to a voice I hear in my head that comes from my sword.
*—Beric*

"You killed a *dog*?"
"A shadow dog. Look, chill out buddy. You killed people, with a bomb, so…"
"I didn't kill a dog…"
"How do you know that?"
*—Malar, Dex, and Beric*

"Crast is up and ready to go at the crack of dawn."
"At the Crast of dawn."
"He Wott at the Crast of dawn."
"Oookay… I mean, you know what, I deserved that."
"Whereas Therudak is up at the dak of kawn."
Dex just woke up at some point. Pun free, but ready to go."
*—Eric, Jeff, and Philip*

"Dex starts to get a little misty eyed thinking of Acko. *He always used to complain about translating for us, too.*"
*—Jeff*

"The Red Owl—god, I hate it. I'm gonna call her Leslie."
*—Jeff*

## Trivia

* Therudak finds out Dex is a changeling.
* Dex reveals himself as a changeling to Crast.
* Beric's guesses to the riddle are arrow, spear, "your heart," ball, a boat, food, a plan, love, and very small rocks. Dex guesses boomerang, fishing lure, fishing net, discipline, self-control, and racquetball.