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Bard Rock Cafe Episode 1: The Ring of Fire
By BardRockCafe_Episodes Posted in (DND) Dungeons & Dragons, Bard Rock Cafe, Blog on February 2, 2021 0 Comments 41 min read
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Paul/Brock: Bard Rock Cafe is brought to you by Sassygamers.com and viewers like you! links to Sassy Gamers, our Patreon, and our social media accounts can be found in the show notes.

Kenny: All right so everyone: you all find yourselves in the Bard Rock Café. Everybody go ahead and introduce which character you are playing

Paul/Brock: I’m playing Brock Song!

Kenny: And what is Brock’s Song doing today

Paul/Brock: I’m up on the stage. As the audience joins us, they see Brock on stage he says, “Hello. Welcome to the Bard Rock Café. I’m Brock Song, the proprietor and entertainment this evening.”

Kenny: Stephie, you play Epi. What is Epi doing at the Bard Rock Cafe right now?

Stephanie / Epi: okay well Epi is here to see his fence again because, thankfully, when a certain bard is up on stage giving his performance, nobody’s paying too much attention to the Tiefling in the corner trying to shove some diamonds across over very subtly.  

Kenny: Okay and Khadeja?

Khadeja/Rook: Rook? she’s bored. She’s got some off time right now between jobs she is kind of resting, puts her feet up on the table towards the perimeter of the café and she’s throwing one of her daggers mindlessly in the air and watching it fall into her hand over and over.

Kenny: As you’re all going about your daily business, you hear a commotion outside. You hear people shouting. What are they shouting, you can’t make it out. You get the sense that it’s kind of a curious kind of awestruck sound that gradually transitions to panicked yelling.

Paul/Brock: The first thing I do is I stop playing the rocking flute solo i’ve been playing this whole time so we can hear what’s going on.

Khadeja/Rook: Even Rook’s ears prick up, but she doesn’t move.

Stephanie/Epi: Epi slips his little bag of goods back into his pocket just in case the commotion, is you know, just cuz he’s a little jumpy and kind of looks towards the window. Is there anything I can see as Epi looks out the window?

Kenny: You are meeting with Felix the fence right now, so you are actually in the second floor back room so you have a pretty good view of what’s going on outside what you see is a bunch of guards running around they’re all looking up and you see people running away… away from the Bard Rock Cafe

Stephanie/Epi: Oh I gotta look up and see.

Kenny: You look up. You can’t quite see from this vantage point. You do see what seems to be a strange cloud structure in the sky.

Stephanie/Epi: I turn to Felix and I’m like, “so um tell me something… Do you know why everybody’s freaking out outside?”

Kenny: He looks and kind of peeks out and he says, “Ah that does not bode well. we should probably…” and in the middle of a statement, one of the City Watch bursts through the front door and he says “everybody out everybody needs to get out right now! Gogogo!”

Khadeja/Rook: Rook jumps to her feet

Paul/Brock: Brock actually starts going around. He’s got a ‘captain goes down with the ship’ mentality so he’s trying to help everybody else get out before he exits himself. He’s trying to point people at tables saying “you go out, then you, and then you” to try and get them organized so they don’t trample each other.

Khadeja/Rook: Rook squeezes her tiny frame between people and pushes herself out the front door.

Kenny: Epi, you would hear this.

Stephanie/Epi: I think it’s time to grab the fence and make our way out the door. I’m going to look at them. “Quick question, quick question: is the front door the only way out of here or is there like a um… is… is there maybe a different way?”

Kenny: Felix is in the middle of sliding the window open and he has just what looks to be a bag of holding at his side he says, “please I haven’t used the front door in a long time” and he hops out the window.

Stephanie/Epi: I’m going to look down out the window and quietly say to myself “I’ve gotta learn how to do that” and I think I’m gonna book it for the front door.

Kenny: okay I need everybody to make me a Dexterity saving throw. Rook, because you already made your way outside, you can make it at advantage.

Khadeja/Rook: Advantage.

Kenny: yeah. good thing too.

Khadeja/Rook: I got 25.

Paul/Brock: I rolled a beautiful two.

Kenny: Noted.

Stephanie / Epi: I rolled a 19.

Kenny: Khadeja your character, Rook, as she runs outside notices that there is a gigantic ball of flame rocketing from the west right towards the Bard Rock Cafe and you just barely make it out in time as it strikes right dead center you see it take the second floor completely out and the building is engulfed in flame. Brock, you find yourself trapped underneath rubble. Epi, you managed to find some cover kind against/beneath the staircase. You are not restrained underneath a pile of wood and stone. The building is on fire. Not everyone is out. There’s no structural integrity left. What did you all do?

Paul/Brock: Am I pinned down by the rubble or it’s just obscuring my ability to go anywhere?

Kenny: You are pinned down right now.

Pau;/Brock: I would like to cast Enhance Ability on myself with Bull’s Strength.

Kenny: All right.

Paul/Brock: And then and I would like to then try lifting the rubble off of myself so I can get out.

Kenny: Okay. Roll Athletics.

Paul/Brock: I rolled an 18 and I think I have advantage on that because of the Strength check right?

Kenny: Yes.

Paul/Brock: Let’s see if I can go for that 19 or 20. 18 again and then minus 1 because I have bad Strength so 17.

Kenny: That’s enough. You manage to dig yourself out. You see just chaos around you that’s it for your turn. Epi: what are you doing

Stephanie/Epi: How many people are still in here?

Kenny: Make a Perception check.

Stephanie/Epi: 17 plus 2: 19.

Kenny: You count about five people that are still here trapped underneath rubble. You do see a girl cowering in the far corner.  

Stephanie/Epi: I think Epi might be, you know, a little terrified of the fact that the building’s on fire but by God I’m a good person. I’m going to make a break for the door. But first, Epi pulls out of his pocket just this little twig of wood with a string tied to it and mutters something and you see it spool up around it and I cast Unseen Servant to go get the little girl out from there.

Kenny: Okay. Your Unseen Servant is making its way over to the little girl.

Stephanie/Epi: and on my way out I’m gonna say, “The butler will help you. Just go with it,” and run out the door

Kenny: Rook, what is your response to this?

Khadeja/Rook: Rook is flabbergasted by the flames in front of her, but her mind jumps to one thing: her lifeline to her job. She looks around her to see if she can see Felix’s face.

Kenny: Roll perception.

Khadeja/Rook: I received 15.

Kenny: You look over to where he would normally run and you catch a glimpse of him just peeking out of an alley. Your eyes meet just for a second. He gives you a grin and a wink and he disappears down the alleyway. You have seen Felix exit the Bard Rock Cafe in this manner before only once – the one time the guard decided to come knocking.

Khadeja/Rook: “Jerk” Rook mutters under her breath with a little smile. There’s a sense of relief.

Kenny: Things are now absolutely chaotic. The people on the street were hit by a bunch of debris. There are wounded people on the ground. Some people have been hit by entire stones or a two by four of wood. There are unconscious civilians, and a couple of guards have been injured.  The City Watch that aren’t injured are running back towards the café trying to get inside to get some people out. The unseen servant makes it to the tiny girl. She can’t really see anyway, so she doesn’t realize that this thing is invisible, which is probably good because she takes its hand and is allowing herself to be led out. Brock, you have another round. What would you like to do?

Paul/Brock: First I wanted to see if I recognize any of the people that are here like my staff or regulars.

Kenny: You see your hired muscle unconscious under some rubble, but the other staff aren’t here.

Paul/Brock: The server, the cook, and the bartender all made out okay?

Kenny: You don’t see them.

Paul/Brock: At this point I’m coming to my senses because I was kind of dazed from having that stuff drop on me and I say “what in Bahamut’s beard happened here?” and I look and see the fires and I’m trying to figure out: are the fires small enough that I can put some of them out using Prestidigitation?

Kenny: You can put out a little bit of it with Prestidigitation, but it’s to the point now it’s it is everywhere.

Paul/Brock: Okay so it would not help. I go to the nearest person trapped under rubble and I’m gonna do a Strength check to try and lift the rubble so they can get out from under it.

Kenny: This person is conscious. Go ahead and make an Athletics check at advantage because of your spell.

Paul/Brock: 13 for the first roll so that’s gonna be 12 with my strength modifier and then a nine so I will take the 12.

Kenny: You are able to start digging them out but it’s a process. There’s a lot of heavy stuff on top of them and they are freaking out and not exactly helping themselves by moving around. Go ahead and make a constitution saving throw for me.

Paul/Brock: That is a six plus two so eight.

Kenny: You’re going to take six points of damage from the flames around you.

Paul/Brock: Oh that knocks me down to four [EDITOR’s NOTE: Paul forgot to set his HP for his character level. He does not actually have 10 HP]

Kenny: As you try to help people get out, you see City Watch bursting through the front door.

Paul/Brock: All right then. Can I just, as a free action, yell help and to try and get someone to come over and help me lift this rubble?

Kenny: Yes

Paul/Brock: “Help! People are trapped!”

Kenny: Rook and Epi you both hear that. Epi, what are you doing?

Stephanie/Epi: Well I’m not well known for my rippling muscles, let’s just put it that way so… wait let’s see… would I be able to see from… did I make it out first of all?

Kenny: Yes. You are outside.

Stephanie/Epi: Do I see any strong people around me? I see a lot of City Watch any of them not going in to help everyone?

Kenny: There do seem to be a few that are cordoning off the area,

Stephanie/Epi: so they’re all busy. Seeing that, I am going to run back in and, from where I’m at, am I able to so basically… what do I see when I peek my head back in? or run back in a little bit?

Kenny: you see pretty much what you saw before. You do see your Unseen Servant making its way back towards the door with the girl

Stephanie/Epi: And it’s not concentration so I can still cast spells. Is anybody freaking out so much that they can’t run away or are they all pretty much pinned?

Kenny: You see three people pinned. the little girl is not pinned and is on her way out then there’s one guy that is hyperventilating like behind the bar.

Stephanie/Epi: I’m gonna go to that guy! I’m going to kneel down next to him, just as cool as a cucumber, and basically I’m just going to put a hand on his shoulder and very calmly say, while casting Charm Person”

Kenny: “Oh who are you? What do you want? The fire’s everywhere!”

Stephanie/Epi: I see this poor freaking out man and with a very subtle Charm Person, “the Raven Queen compels you: come with me. It is not your time.” I’m gonna try and lead him out if the Charm Person works.

Kenny: That is a natural one so yeah, the Charm Person works. Good. “So I don’t know who that is. Where are we going? Oh god there’s so much fire!”

Paul/Brock: “I know it’s an awful lot of fire!”

Kenny: “It is an awful lot of fire!”

Stephanie/Epi: I’m gonna see if I can drag him out. “Calm yourself. Calm yourself. There’s nothing to be afraid of. You have the blessing of a god.”

Kenny: He does take your hand and allow you to lead him towards the entrance – the charm is more powerful than his panic and he does seem to get a bit of his wits but he is still wide-eyed and shaking.

Khadeja/Rook: Rook is interested in looking at the perimeter of the building and seeing if there is another entrance into this pile of rubble that used to be the Bard Rock Café. Is there even a narrow opening that Rook could squeeze into? She just wants to be able to find it.”

Kenny: Sure, so the structure is collapsing in on itself. There is a part of the back wall that used to be, you know, whole, but there is a collapsed portion that you could probably squeeze through.

Khadeja/Rook: Okay so if I can squeeze through that, I will get my little body through and take a look at what’s inside because I haven’t seen what’s going on in there yet from that perspective.

Kenny: Go ahead and roll a Perception check.

Khadeja/Rook: I rolled a 22.

Kenny: You are looking down into a very surprisingly narrow hole into the cellar and between the plumes of smoke that are coming up everywhere, you catch a glimpse of what appears to be a structured object. It’s not just a rock; it’s not just a meteor. It looks like it’s carved and made of something that’s not just regular stone. You also see three people pinned down. You see Brock, the owner of the Bard Rock Café, trying to pull one person out and you see City Watch now coming inside to try and help out.

Khadeja/Rook: Rook would rather not get in the way just at this second and would rather investigate this structure, this mysterious stone, so I guess I would like to look at the carvings and see if I recognize anything about it.

Kenny: Sure. It is down a story in the cellar.

Khadeja/Rook: I climbed down one story. Is that a check?

Kenny: Yeah. Go ahead and make an Acrobatics check unless you want to run all the way around to the cellar entrance.

Khadeja/Rook: Sounds like a check to me. I failed. I had a critical failure. I rolled a one so it’s seven total.

Kenny:  Yeah so you start trying to make your way down in the hole and a bit of the floor gives away underneath you because, again, structural integrity not really there right now. So, you fall not very gracefully and you do take four points of damage as you hit the floor right next to the meteor.

Khadeja/Rook: All righty, noted. Poor Rook. But I’m still able to walk. Rook shakes off the pain, groans, and tries to make her way towards the mysterious structure.

Kenny: The good news is smoke rises so there’s almost no smoke down here and because it’s underneath the ground and it’s mostly stone and dirt walls, there’s not really much fire down here. You’re able to see pretty clearly it is an obelisk, with the pointed top pierced about three feet into the ground. It seems like it’s made of obsidian and there are cracks running all through it and you see glowing symbols all across not the square base, but the pointed part of the obelisk all along its length going into the ground. You see golden symbols on it.

Khadeja/Rook: Does Rook recognize if the symbols are runes or if it’s a language or?

Kenny: What languages do you speak?

Khadeja/Rook: I speak Sylvan, Elvin, and Common.

Kenny: You do not recognize it. You recognize that it is a language and not runes.

Khadeja/Rook: Mysterious, mysterious.  Rook wants to look around and just make sure that there’s nobody knocked out around her.

Kenny: Nobody in the basement, just a lot of broken wine bottles. All right. I’m gonna do one more round. Brock, go ahead and do what you’re gonna do. You now have a City Watchman helping you with this person.

Paul/Brock:  I take a couple deep breaths and I go, “All right. You can do this,” and I cast Healing Word on myself as a bonus action. I rolled 1d4 and I rolled three plus three is six. I heal that six back and then I’m going to, with the help of the City Watch, do my strength check again to try and free this patron. I rolled nine minus one eight for the first roll. Come on advantage… 19! That’ll do it I bet.

Kenny: So the City Watch just gets there to try and help you, and you like snap your finger, your wounds heal up, and you just grab this guy by the scruff and yank him out. The City Watch like stops for a second. He’s like, “right” and moves on to the next person.

Paul/Brock: All right and then I guess I will firemen carry this guy out the door.

Kenny: Yeah, this guy is a little stunned at being pulled out like that. He’s got some scrapes and cuts. Go ahead and make a constitution saving throw as you make your way back out of the Bard Rock Café.

Paul/Brock: I rolled at five

Kenny: You take four points of fire damage as you make your way through the flames in the smoke.  You’re having a hard time breathing, but it’s not too bad yet. You’re outside of the Bard Rock Café. Epi?

Stephanie/Epi: Okay so I have a question: would I be able to either put out some flames or reinforce the structure by freezing it over?

Kenny: You can certainly try.

Stephanie/Epi: Okay so with the guy successfully walking out and my Unseen Servant getting the girl to leave obscured slightly by the smoke, Epi pulls just something with a glint in it out of his pocket. He seems to crumble in his hand and he just holds his fists up to his face and blows through it and you just watch as ice comes out in like this sphere and smashes into the area that looks either the most on fire the most likely to fall down trying to freeze it over. I am casting Chromatic Orb.

Kenny: Okay cool. So the way you cast it, because you are kind of over by the bar, you angle it diagonally so that it covers the most ground possible and you kind of disperse a lot of the smoke for a moment and you put out a nice clear path of fire down the center of the Bard Rock Café. I will say that you managed to avoid striking any individual with it because that is a fairly easy spell. You have created a little safer environment. The Bard Rock Cafe is still on fire. Is there anything else you would like to do with your round?

Stephanie/Epi: Then I would like to call out into the crowd, “There’s still some people in here. I’ve got the structure up just a little bit. We need your help if you can.”

Kenny: Go ahead and make a Con save as you are still inside the smoky and on fire building.

Stephanie: Ketchup dice don’t fail me now. Okay 17 plus three is a 20.

Paul/Brock: Dirty 20.

Kenny: You take no damage as you seem to be away from the flames and the smoke. Alright Rook: you’re in the basement with all the booze and the obelisk.

Khadeja/Rook: Rook’s going to try and make it back up to the main floor by climbing.

Kenny: You want to climb back up through the hole right? That’s Acrobatics again. Roll Athletics and then Acrobatics

Khadeja/Rook: Sure. My athletics was 11 and my acrobatics is 17.

Kenny: Okay so you manage to just make your way out of the basement. You have like shelves of alcohol that you are clawing your way up and you have to make a couple of awkward jumps but you’re pretty nimble. You make your way back up to the first floor.

Khadeja/Rook: Okay so where am I or like… yeah what can I see, I guess?  

Kenny: You’re in the café so you see that the city guard has pulled everyone mostly out. One of the people is a woman. She is standing. There is a man that is lying on the ground not moving. You do see the bouncer for the Bard Rock Café; he is also on the ground not moving. If you glance outside, you do see a group of City Watch is keeping people from getting close to the Bard Rock Café. There’s some dwarves with buckets running up towards the café. It seems like whatever emergency response Waterdeep has, it has been activated. People are trying to get this under control.

Khadeja/Rook: Rook knows the bouncer from being in and out of the café so many times so she’s going to check and see if he’s alive or if they can be dragged out somehow. Let’s just first see if he’s alive.

Kenny: It will probably take the rest of your round to get to him and check. Roll a quick Medicine check.

Khadeja/Rook: All right. 11.

Kenny: Before you even get to him, you see his chest is rising and falling. It looks like he just took a really hard hit to the head. I mean, this is a pretty beefy guy, but you know he got hit so he’s just out cold but he’s okay.

Khadeja/Rook: I think the act of physically moving him from this spot might be a task so is that the end of my turn?

Kenny: Yeah. So as all this is happening, you’re all stuck in the Bard Rock Café.  Actually, go ahead and give me a con save since you are still inside.

Khadeja/Rook: Oh yes. Another 11.

Kenny: That’s enough. You do not take any damage this round. What you all see and feel looks like an explosion… but it doesn’t have any of the concussive force behind an explosion. Does that make sense? Like you know how the air kind of ripples when there’s a blast?

Paul/Brock: Kind of like a big flash?

Kenny: Yeah, but like you definitely can watch it coming towards you very quickly. Does that make sense? Like you’re high on adrenaline right now so you can see things kind of semi in slow motion. It’s originating around the meteor and it just expands outward and it doesn’t have any influence on the physical world but you watch this wave of energy just burst out.

Stephanie/Epi: Does it look like magic?

Kenny: Roll Arcana.

Stephanie/Epi: Okay. Oh… nat one. That plus six pulls it up to a seven but…

Kenny: it’s still a nat one.

Paul/Brock:  Can I roll Arcana? I am also of magical influence.

Kenny: Are you proficient?

Paul/Brock: In Arcana? …No.

Kenny: Go ahead and Roll.

Paul/Brock: I roll 15 plus zero… 15.

Kenny: You are fairly certain this is something magical, just based off the fact nothing physical that you can think of has this effect. Epi you don’t even know.

Paul/Brock: Also, I meant to say plus one. I was looking at my Wisdom and my intelligence should be this so it’s 16 total. I don’t think that changes it but I do want to be clear I do not have a plus zero to Intelligence.

Kenny: Sure. Same response. It’s magical, you have no idea what kind of magic, but it’s magical. Okay… the events play out. Everyone is brought outside. There are firefighters trying to get the flames under control. It is a fairly large fire so it’s taking a minute.

Stephanie/Epi: While we’re all standing out there and it’s being engulfed in flames… I walk up to Brock, who I know is the owner, just kind of pat him on the shoulder and say, “That’s a tough break. I hope you had insurance.”

Paul/Brock: Brock does not have words. He’s actually like feeling very anxious and has been looking around to see if his staff got out okay. They didn’t have time to verify if they were still all in the building when he was trying to get out.

Kenny:  You do see Melody and Harmony kind of over with some City Watch. You see the cook over with another group of City Watch. It looks like the City Watch is, you know, as they are verifying that people are uninjured, they are moving them off to the side. You do see what looks to be some clerics of Lathander making their way to tend to the wounded.

Paul/Brock: But I don’t see DJ?

Kenny: You do see him. He’s over kind of by himself.

Brock: Okay all right. “Well yeah, this is a rough day but I think that as long as my staff are okay, that’s the most important thing. They’re my best friends.”

Stephanie/Epi: I kind of look around to see if I can see all of them. “Well then, I’ll count you a lucky man. looks like they all made it out.”

Paul/Brock: “Well I mean if you think about it… bad luck is still a KIND of lucky.”

Stephanie/Epi: “…You’re a very positive person. I admire your outlook that when everything’s in flames around you, your thought is, ‘well I still count that as lucky’. Have to admit it’s a very… I suppose I could call it bright in you know, the second definition.”

Kenny: Epi specifically, roll Perception.

Stephanie/Epi: Oh boy. Oh wow okay so that was my first nat 20! With a plus two.

Kenny: So, you see everything. Here’s what you see: you are watching the clerics get to work, which you’ve seen before. Clerics healing people is not an uncommon sight. It’s a little different because this is a crisis situation, but it’s not working. You see them going through the motions to cast their spells and their spells just aren’t working. You see one of the people that was down seems to have passed away and the clerics aren’t able to do anything. There is a growing commotion as they start talking to each other. With a nat 20, you’re able to hear that none of them are able to cast any of their spells.

Stephanie/Epi: Oh no, that’s not… “Um… excuse me, excuse me! Just a moment,” and I’m going to run over there to this recently deceased person, “I’m sorry, I couldn’t help but overhear. Here allow me, allow me. Do you do you have the necessary components? I can probably try casting Revivify. I’m sure it’s fine.”

Kenny: One of the clerics is like “We’ve tried that. it’s not working! Go ahead, try. Here” and he hands you, just immediately hands over, some diamonds.

Stephanie/Epi: “Thank you. Thank you for your generosity. Um… just a moment. I will pray to the Raven Queen”. I take out my book and open it up to a page with lots of inscriptions on it and if you guys are looking what you see is essentially Epi holds one of the diamonds up in his hand and sets another 300-gold diamond onto the book and you can see him muttering what looks to be a prayer as the ink on the page starts to sort of broil up, actually it starts smoking and you see the diamond that’s on the page. It starts to glow and then cracks a little bit and the diamond in his hand he glows a little bit I guess and so he crosses his arms in front of him tucks his hands into his very long sleeves and the diamond and all of its glowing glory just tucks away into it too. Smoke billows up from this book in front of him and he just leans forward and blows and you watch as this smoke wafts over this dead person and seeps in and their eyes open.

Kenny: He gasps and goes, “Where am I? What’s going on?” While all the clerics are like, “Wonderful! Oh he’s back! He’s back!”

Stephanie/Epi: I nod. “With the blessings of the Raven Queen, it is not your time good sir. Welcome back to Waterdeep.”

Kenny: There’s no real time for any celebration. The clerics kind of clap you on the shoulder and go back to tending to the wounded, just with healer’s kits and healing potions. This man is alive. Rook: while you’re seeing all this, you have been accosted by one of the City Watch and are being shuffled over to one of the groups of survivors.

Khadeja/Rook: So, Rook is just being herded in front of a café?

Kenny: Yeah, so anybody that’s not down and in need of immediate treatment is being basically grouped together with the rest of the survivors

Paul/Brock: Do I see this?

Kenny: Yeah, and before long you and Epi are also taken that way.

Khadeja/Rook: Do I hear any interesting snippets of conversation between the group of people that are around me?

Kenny: Everybody seems very confused about what’s happening. A few people are mentioning that the clerics are having trouble but nobody’s really sure what’s going on. Everybody’s kind of pointing up at the sky. You see the pattern where the meteor entered the atmosphere and came through it because the clouds are in a circular wavy pattern around that so where it was a sunny day like a minute ago, it’s overcast now because of the disruption and everybody’s just very traumatized and confused. That’s what you hear.

Khadeja/Rook: But I have heard about the healers not being able to heal?

Kenny: Yes

Khadeja/Rook: I’m curious about that. I find that very interesting, so I want to try and sneak away from the group and kind of get towards them.

Paul/Brock: Actually, I think I can help you out with this actually.  When I see them trying to shuffle you off, I actually I say “Um excuse me. I actually I think I can help with the healing. I actually have some healing magic, but my staff, if I could actually have them stay and help me… and her as well she’s with me.” Because I’m a of noble birth I’m kind of trying to flex my noble muscles to influence the guards to let those close to me stay with me while I help heal.

Kenny: Because this is a crisis situation, who you are actually doesn’t matter. But what you’re offering does and so the guards look to the clerics. The clerics look to the guards. They just like put their hands up like, “We don’t know what’s going on right now but yeah come on if he can help let him help.”

Paul/Brock: Now that they’re letting her through, I’m just going to demonstrate that I can help. I’m going to pull to pull out my flute and play some music and use it to cast Healing Word on one of the people. Do I need to roll or like… I don’t know what their HP is.

Kenny: For the sake of this, don’t worry about it. You are helping to heal. Rook, you have access to everyone.

Khadeja/Rook: Okay. Is there any member of the clergy or the clerics that looks like they’re higher ranking than the rest?

Kenny: Oh sure. There is a head cleric that is kind of supervising where everyone’s going and looking very distraught.

Khadeja/Rook: Okay I’m going to approach the head cleric. I’m going to say, “Excuse me. Quick word?”

Kenny: “Yes. Hello. How can I help?”

Khadeja/Rook: “It’s more like I think well… I’m not sure if it helps but I went inside and I saw what crashed into the café. I don’t recognize what it is though. Maybe you religious types would understand. It’s in the basement. What crashed… it wasn’t a meteor. It’s an obelisk. it doesn’t look like a meteor at all to me.”

Kenny: “An obelisk?”

Khadeja/Rook: “Right and it’s got some… I don’t know what written on it” she shrugs, “thought it would help.”

Kenny: You feel a hand on your shoulder and you turn around you have no idea when this woman got here but you do recognize her. She’s a young woman carrying a large black staff. This is the head mage of the city. Her name is Vajra; her title is the Black Staff. She is in charge of Force Gray, which is the special forces of Waterdeep, and she is the head mage. She says, “Why don’t you tell me about it and let the clerics do their work?”

Khadeja/Rook: Rook shrugs, “I’ll tell you the same thing I just told him. I saw an obelisk down there. I know it’s what fell from the sky and it’s got some stuff written on it that well… I don’t know what it is.”

Kenny: “I see. Please stay in the area. I need to have everyone here interviewed and checked out but thank you.” She kind of motions for you to join Brock and Epi and everybody that’s helping out and she turns to take in the Bard Rock Café.

Stephanie/Epi: Am I able to pull my cloak hood over so that you know my face is at least slightly obscured?

Kenny: Sure.

Stephanie / Epi: Cool.

Khadeja/Rook: Rook makes her way over and that’s it.

Kenny: All right so clerics are not able to do anything at all. Rook you do notice as very smoothly Felix is making his way into the crowd from another alleyway completely different outfit from what he had on before his hairstyle is now slicked back instead of kind of bed head looking. He just almost doesn’t look like the same person. He makes his way into the crowd of survivors that seems to be just hanging out there and you all see the Black Staff slam the black staff into the ground and the flames extinguish.

Stephanie/Epi: That is so cool! Epi cannot help but stare.

Paul/Brock:  I actually approach her and say “I don’t suppose you can uh you know… fix… that… while you’re at it, can you?”

Kenny: “That’s going to take a bit more work I’m afraid.”

Paul/Brock: “Yeah that’s what I was afraid of… I thought it couldn’t hurt to ask. Thanks.” I go back to healing.

Kenny: The events unfold. You’re all one by one taken to the side by one of the magisters and asked for your account of the events. Brock, what do you tell them? Is there anything you would hold from them?

Paul/Brock: “All right well you see I was actually in the middle of one of my best flute solos when it happened and I stopped because I heard the commotion outside and the next thing I knew there was like… something came crashing through the ceiling and I was buried in rubble and everything else from there was just a mess.”

Kenny: You see the magister is writing your account down. “Okay.”

Paul/Brock: “But I want the record to reflect it was a very good flute solo.”

Kenny: “Right” and he pauses and scratches a little bit on the paper and you see him writing very tiny in the margins. “Anything else?”

Paul/Brock: “No I’m sorry that’s all I remember. I just remember at that point there was fire and structural damage, you know… did everybody get out okay? Did there end like, I know that there was that one person my friend revived. Did everybody who was left when I got out… did they all get out okay?”

Kenny: He kind of pauses and looks up to take an account and says, “it seems most people are all right. Until we get a better handle on the situation, we won’t know for sure.”

Paul/Brock: “All right and is there anything that the city can do to help me with the loss of my building or the repairs in my building?”

Kenny:  “Did you have insurance through one of the guilds?”

Paul/Brock: Did I?

Kenny: You imagine you probably did.

Paul/Brock: “Oh yes… yes I did.”

Kenny: “Then I would get in touch with the guild in charge of constructing your inn.”

Paul/Brock: “Oh all right. Thank you.”

Kenny: He just moves on to the next person.

Epi: If at all possible, while they’re talking to everyone, would I be able to very subtly cast Alter Self so that my facial structure was a lot different, maybe rather than my little hooves I have actual feet, and just little small details like that?

Kenny: You can certainly try. Would you like to roll a Sleight of Hand and a Stealth role for that matter?

Stephanie/Epi: No… no I don’t think I could get away with that.

Kenny: You might.

Stephanie: I might… I might…

Paul/Brock:  Are they gonna recognize you as the miracle healer though?

Kenny:  Yeah so there are eyes on you right now. You would know that in the middle of a crisis where no other cleric was able to successfully heal or revive someone, you brought someone back from the dead.

Stephanie/Epi: Okay then I’m just gonna swallow hard and be like, ‘Okay this is fine. This is fine.’

Kenny: One of the magisters makes their way over to you. “Are you the one who raised that man from the dead?”

Stephanie/Epi: “With the blessings of the raven queen anything is possible.” I still have my hood up.

Kenny: “I am here to record your telling of these events.” He takes out a very large feather quill and a very large book and seems to be waiting on you.

Stephanie/Epi: “Of course, of course! I would be happy to recount my tale. I had been here, of course, when the meteor hit. I was upstairs. I was looking out over the crowd and well, um, everyone seemed a little panicked. I looked up and, sure enough, I saw what was happening. I made a break for it downstairs. I managed to duck underneath the stairs that are um currently not… there… anymore. Did my good duty trying to help people get out. I helped a young lady make her way out and then I came back and there was a young man – he was… he was just terrified, hiding beneath the bar and I, with the blessing of the Raven Queen, helped him outside. He was a little panicked and after that I stopped the spread of the fire by icing over the roof a little and after that I was lending my assistance. As an acolyte of the Raven Queen, I am able to uh help stabilize some of these that are more injured.”

Kenny: He writes down everything and he says, “Anything else?”

Stephanie/Epi: If it’s all possible, let me know if I can lend my assistance anywhere else.

Kenny: “Thank you,” and he just moves on to the next person.

Stephanie/Epi: Epi lets out a breath that he’s been holding and just kind of shuffles off.

Kenny: Yeah, so the guy didn’t seem very interested in you or anything. He seemed to be doing his job and it was, while noteworthy, ultimately just another day of responding to some problem. Rook, what is your account that you give to the magister that comes up to you?

Khadeja/Rook: “I was sitting inside when I heard it coming and the guard screaming for us to get out. I got out and that’s what happened.”

Kenny: “Very well.”

Khadeja/Rook: “It’s pretty simple.”

Kenny: “Anything else?”

Khadeja/Rook: “I looked inside. It’s a mess in there.”

Kenny: “Yes, it is. Very Well. Thank you for your testimony. Please remain with the group.” It moves on and you see Felix over there giving his account. That magister seems equally uninterested and the day comes to a close. Vajra does come up to the survivors and asks if anybody needs somewhere to stay or if anybody needs further assistance.

Paul/Brock: “Uh… so I kind of lived… upstairs…”

Kenny: Vajra kind of cocks her eyebrows.

Paul/Brock: “I’m somewhat homeless right now.”

Kenny: Yeah, she cocks an eyebrow and looks at the Bard Rock Café, what’s left of it. There is no second floor anymore. “Very well. I can make accommodations for you in the Castle District, at least until all this is sorted out.”

Paul/Brock: “That would be much appreciated. Thank you.”

Kenny:  “Would your staff also need accommodations?”

Paul/Brock:  “I actually I think the rest of them just live nearby in town. I don’t know if any of them live close enough nearby that they were also affected by the strike, but I’m the only person who lives in the café.”

Kenny: “Very well… Come with me.” A few other people are coming along. It seems like the fire spread a little bit past the café, so there was some surrounding damage but the day comes to a close. And that is day one of our campaign.

Stephanie/Epi: Oh boy. Nobody died! Nobody died!

Kenny: Well, one guy did.

Stephanie/Epi: Yeah he’s fine

Paul/Brock: I mean… he got better.

Paul/Brock: Thank you for listening to Bard Rock Café. You can find more episodes on sassy gamers.com Have you considered becoming a patron? You can get WILD rewards like access to our patrons only discord, tarot readings from Rook, and access to exclusive one-shot campaigns set in the Bard Rock universe led by our DM, Kenny. visit patreon.com/BardRockCafe to find out more. Until next time, rock on!

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