| Champions and players | BdTeej as Flynry; Ahnubyss as Toddleheim; ParallaxStella as Elianna; a fourth player as Cerys (spelling uncertain). YouTube lists Miss_Magitek as LOCKET, but the description is copy-pasted |
| Result | n/a (no combat this episode; it opens just after the dragon fight ends) |
| Arena | none (exploration episode). The dragon’s hoard / treasure cave, then a green desert in the Sands of Eternity, then a sunken library half-buried in the sand |
| Hosts | Mudcat (Mudcat), narration and all NPCs |
| Watch | YouTube |
What happens
Aftermath of the dragon fight — the white soul gem
- 0:00:01 The party is out of combat. The dragon has just been defeated in the previous session. Speaker 03 (Cerys) is still reeling from “those two nat 20s… back to back.”
- 0:00:20 Cerys makes a perception check. In the pile of snow the dragon formed into, she sees a white, gem-like glint and picks it up.
- 0:00:58 — The soul gem.
- It is a soul gem about the size of her palm: large, uncut and rough.
- It is clear white like a diamond, not green like the soul gems the party has seen “in the other places.” They have never seen a white one before.
- Inside it has an ethereal light reminiscent of the other soul gems.
- 0:01:40 Cerys flashes “this big honking gem” at the others and pockets it: “This is quite something.”
- 0:02:11 Cerys: “Well, let’s get a-lookin’ for this orrery. I command.”
- 0:02:18 — Flynry is impressed. The only other time Flynry had seen Cerys in combat, she was “on her knees and bleeding.” Watching her take the dragon on toe to toe “with such flair” impresses him. BdTeej describes it as a reputation increase with Cerys.
The hoard and the golden orrery
- 0:03:30 The party searches the hoard (investigation checks).
- Most of it is gold and gems of all sizes, and they can fill their pockets with as much as they can carry.
- There are a few run-of-the-mill pieces of armor, nothing worth swapping for.
- 0:03:30 — The orrery. In the back of the cave, perched on the largest gold pile like a pedestal, “the crown jewel of this collection,” sits a golden orrery. Flynry (16) and Cerys spot it.
- It is gyroscopic: many interwoven rings around a central orb.
- It is about half the size of a basketball, small enough to hold in two hands.
- It gives off an aura and a presence. “You don’t even have to be arcane or a wizard to know that this is magical.”
- 0:05:52 Flynry calls the others over. Cerys: “This might be our winner, our item that we’re looking for.”
- 0:07:03 — Find traps. Elianna casts find traps at 2nd level. She snaps her fingers and a wave of white light emanates out, scanning and outlining things. Nothing glows red. She explains that danger would normally show up red. No traps.
- 0:08:41 — Toddleheim takes one for the team. Flynry: “You are a wizard.” Toddleheim: “Well, you may want to hold on to me for later, but Elianna is doing a fantastic job.” He werewolf-runs up the gold, leaps onto the ledge, transforms back into Toddleheim as he lands, and grabs the orrery.
- 0:09:21 — The orrery up close.
- It is inanimate and hefty, goldish with a green, patinaed-copper speckle, and still shiny.
- With his arcane background, Toddleheim can tell it’s magical, but it does nothing.
- Its rings can be spun by hand.
- Markings run around each ring, including symbols that look like numbers. Toddleheim knows Common, Deep Speech, Dwarvish, Gnomish and Undercommon, and recognizes none of them.
- 0:10:42 Flynry asks if it’s Elvish (“I know that one”). It isn’t. It’s Celestial. Elianna can read it, and someone else says they can as well (speaker uncertain, 0:11:18). Toddleheim, “still werewolfy,” jumps down from the ledge and hands it to Elianna.
- 0:11:40 — The inscription. The text is a little faded. It seems oddly familiar and specific, and it takes her aback for a moment: “The path to dreams begins with the truth.”
The orrery meets Flynry’s sword
- 0:12:39 Elianna dashes toward Flynry’s sword, explaining the inscription to the others.
- 0:12:50 As she nears the sword, the orrery’s rings begin to spin in different directions. It levitates out of her hands and hovers, spinning mechanically. Flynry’s sword begins to glow the color of its flames, though it doesn’t ignite. The closer she gets, the faster the rings spin.
- 0:14:15 She brings them together. The two pieces become slightly magnetized and pull toward each other, and Flynry’s sword lifts a little. When the orrery’s metal scrapes the sword, a flash of light blinds them all.
The green desert and the buried building
- 0:14:15 They find themselves once again in a desert of green, but somewhere they’ve never been. The celestial events above and the sand underfoot look familiar.
- 0:15:03 — The structure. In front of them stands a large, very old building of costly stone and marble, with ornate columns, carved gargoyles and other ornamentation. It is tilted at nearly 45 degrees, its bottom corner buried in sand, and lights glow inside.
- 0:16:05 They still have both items. The orrery has fallen lifeless into Elianna’s hands, and the sword has stopped glowing.
- 0:16:23 Toddleheim: “Well, I guess we found the aura [orrery?], right? Jesus.”
- 0:16:33 Elianna asks Cerys whether she’s been here. She hasn’t, and nothing looks familiar to her.
- 0:16:51 Flynry: “This is different from where I woke up. I’ve never seen that structure before. Something here feels… off.”
- 0:17:11 Cerys weighs heading in against trying to get back. She suggests that “if we say the name of the city, maybe it’ll work.” Flynry: “We’re in uncharted territory.” Cerys: “That orrery brought us here for a reason.” Flynry: “I haven’t had a reason to doubt my sword yet. Well, let’s go then.”
The sunken library
- 0:17:58 The doorway is half-buried, and sand spills down the entry steps. Inside is a library sunken in the sand in the middle of the desert:
- shelves full of books;
- candles and lanterns lit everywhere;
- pages pulled out and strewn across desks.
- 0:18:54 — The muttering. Coming down the steps, Flynry and Cerys hear someone muttering incessantly, and the sound of sand falling: “I don’t know what’s happening… I need to know, I need to know.” “I need to know all of this knowledge.” It repeats over and over, almost in a loop.
- 0:20:10 — The man. They find him behind a bookshelf.
- He is seven or eight feet tall, with large black wings spanning down his back.
- His hair is pulled back with the sides shaved close, and he has a large mustache.
- He wears leathers and robes of blue and black.
- He pulls books from the shelves one after another, and each one falls to dust, to sand. He is in a dismayed trance, stuck in a loop.
- 0:21:35 Flynry makes a wisdom check (with advantage, 19). When Flynry arrived in this place, he found himself in some sort of dream, trance, “some sort of hell, maybe.” It’s no large leap that this man is experiencing something similar.
- 0:22:41 Flynry: “Something about the way he is acting reminds me of my first arrival here.” The table jokes about height: next to the eight-foot man, “right now I could be his son.”
- 0:23:33 — Flynry wakes him. Flynry sheathes his sword on his back and approaches hands out, with no hostility: “My friend, greetings.” The man ignores him: “I have to know.” Flynry: “I too would like to know,” and rests a hand lightly on the man’s shoulder.
- 0:24:09 At the touch, light comes back into the man’s eyes. He reaches for another book (“I need to…”), stops himself, looks sideways at Flynry and shakes his head. His desperation turns to a joyous look, his self-confidence returning “like he had lost who he was for a moment.”
- 0:25:50 — The reveal.
- The man: “This is excellent. I know exactly what I need to do now. I know my path.”
- He grabs Flynry by the shoulder: “You can be useful to me.”
- The man looks familiar, though younger, with different facial and head hair. As his true self returns, he grows smug, with a wry smile, an air of self-importance and a little arrogance: “I can make good use of all of you. You will do nicely.”
- “This is a face you’ve all seen before. This is the face of the Arbiter.”
- 0:26:55 Elianna: “Oh!” Cerys: “No! You know I… Oh…” The episode ends at 0:27:43.
Who and what appears
Characters
Flynry (BdTeej)
- Carries a sword on his back. The sword’s flames glow in response to the orrery, and he trusts it: “I haven’t had a reason to doubt my sword yet.”
- Knows Elvish.
- Woke up somewhere else in this desert-dream realm when he first arrived, which he describes as a dream, trance or hell.
- Wary of touching arcane items (“We all know what the king looked like”).
- Newly impressed by Cerys’s combat prowess.
- Wakes the young Arbiter from his trance with a touch on the shoulder.
Toddleheim (Ahnubyss)
- Has a werewolf form. He transforms back as he lands on the ledge, and is still “werewolfy” afterward.
- Has an arcane background; Flynry calls him a wizard.
- Knows Common, Deep Speech, Dwarvish, Gnomish and Undercommon.
- Picks up the orrery first.
Elianna (ParallaxStella)
- Casts find traps as a visible wave of white light; danger normally shows up red.
- Reads Celestial and translates the inscription.
- Brings the orrery to Flynry’s sword, which triggers the transport.
Cerys (speaker 03; player uncertain)
- Killed or finished the dragon with two back-to-back nat 20s.
- Found the white soul gem and keeps it.
- Directs the search for the orrery (“I command”).
- Has never been to the new location.
The muttering man / the Arbiter (younger) (Drew)
- Found trapped in a knowledge-seeking loop in the sunken library. The books he touches turn to sand.
- Seven to eight feet tall, black wings, hair pulled back with shaved sides, large mustache, blue and black leathers and robes.
- He looks younger than the Arbiter the party knows, with different facial and head hair.
- On waking he becomes confident and smug, and intends to “make good use” of the party.
- The episode is titled “The Scholar.”
The dragon (defeated before this episode). It formed into or left a pile of snow, guarded the hoard, and showed no prior wounds.
Places
- The dragon’s hoard: a treasure cave full of gold, gems and ordinary armor.
- The green desert: a new location within the Sands of Eternity (the blurb’s name for the setting), with familiar celestial events and sand.
- The sunken library: an ancient, ornate marble building tilted in the sand, with columns, gargoyles, lit candles and lanterns, and strewn pages. Its books crumble to sand when the man pulls them.
- “The city”: referenced by Cerys, who suggests saying its name might take them back. Not named.
Items
- The white soul gem: palm-sized, uncut, clear white with an inner ethereal light, unlike the green soul gems seen elsewhere. Cerys has it.
- The golden orrery:
- gyroscopic rings around a central orb, gold with a green patina;
- Celestial inscription “The path to dreams begins with the truth,” plus number-like symbols;
- reacts to Flynry’s sword by spinning and levitating; contact between the two transported the party.
- The party was looking for it (“our item that we’re looking for”).
- Flynry’s sword: flame-glowing, drawn to the orrery.
Lore statements
- Soul gems are normally green; a white one is unprecedented to the party.
- The orrery plus Flynry’s sword act as a means of travel within the desert-dream realm.
- Being trapped in this realm can put people into dream or trance-like loops (Flynry’s arrival; the young Arbiter in the library).
- A younger version of the Arbiter exists or is trapped in this realm (stated by the narration: “the face of the Arbiter”).
Quotes by character
Flynry
- 0:05:52 “You two might want to come up here and have a look at this.”
- 0:06:11 “I might have seen it, but I’m not going to touch it. We all know what the king looked like.”
- 0:16:51 “This is different from where I woke up. I’ve never seen that structure before. Something here feels… off.”
- 0:17:36 “We’re in uncharted territory.”
- 0:17:48 “I haven’t had a reason to doubt my sword yet. Well, let’s go then.”
- 0:22:41 “Something about the way he is acting reminds me of my first arrival here.”
- 0:23:33 “My friend, greetings.”
- 0:23:57 “I too would like to know.”
Toddleheim
- 0:08:41 “Well, I guess I’ll take one for the team.”
- 0:08:56 “Well, you may want to hold on to me for later, but Elianna is doing a fantastic job.”
- 0:16:23 “Well, I guess we found the aura, right? Jesus.”
- 0:16:48 “Flynry, anything?”
Elianna
- 0:06:31 “I mean, the dragon didn’t look like it had any wounds on it from before.”
- 0:16:33 “Cerys, have you ever been here?”
Cerys
- 0:01:40 “This is quite something.”
- 0:02:11 “Well, let’s get a-lookin’ for this orrery. I command.”
- 0:06:06 “This might be our winner, our item that we’re looking for.”
- 0:17:11 “If we say the name of the city, maybe it’ll work. I don’t know.”
- 0:17:38 “That orrery brought us here for a reason, I guess. So maybe we should go.”
The young Arbiter (muttering man)
- 0:19:xx “I don’t know what’s happening… I need to know, I need to know.”
- 0:20:10 “I need to know all of this knowledge.”
- 0:25:50 “This is excellent. I know exactly what I need to do now. I know my path.”
- 0:25:50 “You can be useful to me.”
- 0:25:50 “I can make good use of all of you. You will do nicely.”
Narration (Drew)
- 0:11:40 (the inscription) “The path to dreams begins with the truth.”
- 0:25:50 “This is a face you’ve all seen before. This is the face of the Arbiter.”
Canon notes
- Tracy (Miss_Magitek) plays Cerys.
- Soul gems: the bigger the gem, the younger the creature was when it died (more life left). The colors mean something too, but that’s not recorded. Leave the white gem’s meaning open.