“I anoint you the very last of my warlocks, and the first among them.”

—Avren

Watch Silver and Steel Episode 4: Of Ladies and Knights

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The cast of Silver and Steel:

• Jasmine "ThatBronzeGirl" Bhullar as the Dungeon Master
• Avren - Human Armorer Artificer played by Todd Kenreck
• Sofieus - Elf Alchemist Artificer played by Meagan Kenreck
• Freely - Halfling Lore Bard/Oath of Heroism Paladin/Warlock played by B. Dave Walters
• Cally Zaffrab - Warforged Soulknife Rogue played by Lauren Urban

Full Summary

The fight continues with the horrific crocodile-like monstrosity draped in streamers of gore. Seriously wounded by it’s most recent attack, Freely disengages to get to a safe distance as he drops his hexblades curse. Cally continues to sink psychic knives into the creature's hide, but it ignores her to try and crunch down on Avren in his jaws. The artificer is forced to cast shield to protect himself from the sharp teeth as the weredial attempts to bite down. As Sofieus rushes to Freely’s side and casts healing word on his wounds, she tries to distract it by creating the minor illusion of a dragon in the sky, but the beast is not fooled. Avren charges up his thunder gauntlets again, attempting to keep the creatures attention with a fierce punch, even as he’s gagging from the putrid stench inside this beast's maw. Freely slams another eldritch blast at the beast, pieces of it’s flesh flying off and leaving behind a dead patch of earth as the chunks melt into the ground. This causes the halfling to take a quick look around for anyone nearby that might be controlling the creature, and he notices a small figure hiding around a corner nearby.

Hearing Freely in the telepathic link warn of someone watching, Cally moves a bit closer as she continues to create and throw psychic daggers. Everyone winces as the weredial responds with similar psychic screams as it tries to clamp down on Avren a second time, but once again his shield saves him from the nasty teeth. It slips on Sofieus’ grease to tumble prone, but takes Avren with it. The alchemist continues to heal Freely with a cure wounds, and the armorer shoots magic missiles out of his gauntlet to finish it off in an explosion of viscera. The destroyed flesh sizzles against his armor, fortunately missing any open skin, and Avren can tell the remains of this beast are riddled with disease.

With the weredial dispatched, both Cally and Freely run for the figure hiding nearby. The rogue manages to get there first and corners a small goblin child who looks up terrified at the warforged. Cally asks the child if she’s unharmed, and when she responds that she’s fine the warforged backs off to let Freely continue to talk with her. The halfling uses his Divine Sense to see if there are any further dangers nearby, and getting an all clear he asks the goblin’s name. This is Daisy, the missing child they were asked to find, and she runs to hug Freely in relief as she recounts the story of playing nearby with her friends and getting lost. She wanted to return home but the smelly creature kept her in hiding for safety. She’s covered in dirt and snot, but otherwise appears uninjured, and everyone is relieved she’s been found.

Sofieus gathers some of the slithering guts of the creature to put in one of her jars with a leach she’d collected earlier, but needs Avren’s gauntleted help to remain safe. The leech latches onto the chunk of weredial, so the artificer stashes the vial to examine later. They discuss using a bonfire to destroy the body, but Cally requests a few minutes to closely examine the remains as she is immune to disease, and she wades into the guts of the weredial to begin her investigation as the rest talk to the child to keep her distracted. Daisy has calmed down and warmed up to the halfling, and insists on offering a reward for being rescued. From her backpack she pulls out a wand of smiles, and when Freely asks for a demonstration of the magic item she points it at Avren. While he resists the effects, he notices it was the little girl casting the spell, so not only does he smile at her but he uses his shield of expression to cause it to smile back as well.

Freely brings Daisy over to his horse, Buttermillk, so she can continue to be distracted while he casts cure wounds to heal the injured animal. Since the kid is familiar with the area he asks if she knows anything about where this monster came from, and she is happy to give details about a smelly hole at the back of a dried up lake towards the end of the river. Because of the drought the water is mostly gone, and she knows the weredial came crawling out of the exposed sinkhole in the ground. Avren asks Daisy if she is royalty, and when the child says that her mother calls her a princess, he asks if she will bestow upon him knighthood. Daisy is honored and overcome with joy, and immediately knights him  “The Knight of Smiles and Sometimes Stink”. She then dubs Freely “The Knight of Ponies”, Sofieus “The Knight of Bacon” and Cally “The Knight of Metal, Shiny Metal Like Gold”. Then she pulls some walloping ammunition out of her backpack to give to Avren to help keep her new knight safe.

As the group prepare to leave, Cally finishes her investigation of the weredial. She’s unable to determine much about the origins of the creature, but anywhere the body touches the ground it looks like it was burnt with acid and the vegetation has withered and died. On the suggestion that they return with proof that the creature was killed, the warforged removes the heavy, huge skull of the weredial to place in Sofieus’ bag of holding. Daisy recommends saving cool monster parts to give to her Uncle Sal in Port Argent, as he can craft things with the bones. After taking a moment to clean up, they mount the horses and head back towards Henge to deliver the child to safety.

Along the ride as Freely and Avren share jabs about the rankings of all of his warlocks, Daisy insists that she’s his most favorite. Enamored with the small goblin child, Avren reaches deep into what’s left of his magic and offers it to her, giving her the last of his powers. As he grows weaker, Daisy is suddenly bolstered with new powers as he becomes her patron, and with glee begins to fire off eldritch blasts! As the kid continues to ramble in joy about her new powers, Freely casts message to Avren and compliments him on his choice, even as Avren is reaching out to take his wife’s hand as he grows a bit pale and thin. Then he starts to teach Daisy how to use her powers, explaining how a long time ago he made a similar deal to gain his power, and insists that she earned this gift. Daisy understands the responsibility she suddenly has, and makes a deal that she will use her powers to protect those without any magic. 

Arriving back in Henge they quickly find the captain of the guard to deliver Daisy to safety. As the captain takes responsibility for her, they also hand over the skull of the weredial to prove the beast was real and destroyed. Before Daisy runs off, Avren tosses her a gold coin with his face on both sides, and she promises to keep the townspeople safe. The four head back out of town, at first intending to head for the collapsed mine, but agreeing that it’s worth taking a detour to check on the location Daisy described to make sure no other creatures are lurking ready to strike. Knowing that another battle might happen, the group stops along the route for a short rest to heal and recover some of their strength. Freely begins to remember some of the abilities he lost when he was transported to this new world, and shows off his freshly re-learned magic missile. In confusion he asks Avren if giving some of his power to Daisy has actually increased the abilities of all the warlocks under his patronage. The former god explains that they need more help, hinting that there is a reason they will need more help in the future, but avoids explaining more until the tasks at hand are complete.

As Cally refreshes the mental links she had created, she adds connections to the horses as well in an effort to communicate with them. While the horses only whinny and snort, Cally is happy to include them in the conversation. The group follow the creek west along the bank, watching as it grows wider and lazier until it turns into a dry lake bed. Dismounting and heading into the mud, Cally notices drag marks of a large creature and starts to follow them. Before anyone is prepared, Freely casts thaumaturgy to project his voice and call out loudly to try and draw out any more creatures that are nearby. The group chide him, as some wanted to have more time to prepare or be stealthy in their approach, but the halfling insists that the direct route always gets him results. Nothing immediately appears, so as the warforged continue to follow the tracks Freely investigates the side of the lake to find a childlike fort built out of rocks. This appears to be a play-space for Daisy, and as the halfling searches around he finds that she’s smart enough to set traps for her stash of treasures. He avoids the bear trap, discovering a collection of gems and a magic scroll. The group are all very impressed at the ingenuity of this child, and while Freely does not take her stuff he does rearm the trap. Between his investigation of the fort and Avren’s connection to his newest warlock, they are able to figure out where else Daisy has hidden traps to set up a defensive perimeter, directing Cally around them to discover a sinkhole wafting with putrefaction.

As the group assembles around the hole, they can see it descends almost directly down into darkness. The three magic users bemoan the lack of a light spell, but Cally pulls a hooded lantern out of her backpack to light the way. Freely uses thaumaturgy to increase the amount of light it can produce, Cally hands some rope to Sofieus to hold, and then she begins to carefully descend down the hole to scout ahead. However Freely jumps fearless into the tunnel, sliding down the mud with agility, to land at the bottom in silent darkness. As he looks around, two large eyes open up to focus on the halfling as a voice echoes in the chamber, “Well this is a morsel I have not seen before.”

What have they encountered deep under the dried up lake? Find out on Tuesday May 12th at 6pm PT on twitch.tv/dndbeyond!

Lauren "Oboe" Urban is the Community Manager for D&D Beyond, as well as a professional classical musician on oboe and English Horn. When she's not playing a Bard in real life she's a prolific Dungeon Master and player on a variety of livestreams and podcasts. She lives in Seattle, Washington with her husband Luke where they spend their free time playing video games and drinking tea. The best way to keep up with Lauren's busy schedule is to follow her on Twitter @OboeLauren!