“I understand on an intellectual level what they are, I’m just fascinated by it! The idea of something so intrinsically valuable to most of the people around you, that you cannot participate in.” 

— Cally

Watch Silver and Steel Episode 2: Noodling

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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

Safe in the back of Milly’s cart, Freely gripes about how much less power he has access to as he uses lay on hands to help fix Cally’s leg. As they chat Milly informs them that her father, Barnibus Silverbeard, is a well known inventor and is beloved for creating mining equipment that has revolutionized the industry. This intrigues Cally, who asks if Milly will introduce them so she could learn more about his inventions. The dwarf promises to try, though she warns that she doesn’t always get along with her father due to her working as a farmer instead of the family mining business. As the ride continues Avren and Freely cannot stop giving each other grief, and Sofieus explains that she’s had to cook quite a few apology meals for those that Avren has offended. As if on cue she has made butter cookies for everyone, and goes through great pains to point out the difference between her magic butter and her cooking butter.

After a few hours, Milly pulls over the cart to drop the four off, as this is as far as she can go and still arrive back to town before dark. No one is sure if the wolf-like creatures they fought earlier are the feared “weredials” they were warned about so she wants to make sure her animals are safe. She wishes them good luck and starts her journey back to Argent. Freely suggests they search off the path, thinking if the cart had stayed on the road that no one would need to search for it. The group agrees to head off road, so Freely uses his sword arm to dig a message saying, “We went that way,” into the dirt. Sofieus adds a stick of butter to help mark the spot, and while confused by what is happening Cally adds a single ball bearing to the pile. Amused by all of it, Avren pulls out a coin that has his face on both sides to also drop onto the pile. With the odd pile now created the group move into the fields.

As Freely and Cally search for signs of the caravan, Avren is nervous and wary as they move through the wilds. Eventually they discover cart tracks, about a week old, and still heading in roughly the same direction as the road in a slow and deliberate manner. Concerned about the implications, Cally activates her telepathic communication but only has the energy to connect with Freely and Sofieus. As the group follows the tracks Freely asks Cally about where her last name came from. The construct explains that Zaffrab is a family name passed down by her father as is traditional for their Svirfneblin clan. When Freely remarks that he has been to a lot of places but has never seen a warforged like Cally, she explains that she’s her father’s first successful creation. She proudly remarks how her father's designs are unique, however she resists being called a warforged. Despite her willingness to fight and even kill if necessary, she has never been in an actual war. She goes on to explain that her fascination with food comes from being surrounded by creatures who place such a high value in it while she cannot taste or digest food at all.

As they continue through an old growth forest, Sofieus delights in harvesting some moss and lichen. She even finds some poisonous mushrooms that could be refined for later use. They come out of the woods to the edge of a shallow creek, low from lack of rain, and a beautiful new bridge spanning overhead. While most take a moment to examine the bridge, Freely forges ahead through the water, arriving on the opposite bank with several large leeches attached to his legs. The halfling keeps his composure long enough to wait for Avren to enter the water before finally announcing about the leeches, and Sofieus is quick to scramble out of the river. Cally wades across without an issue, as none of the blood suckers are interested in her metal and wood frame. Activating his thunder gauntlets, Avren shocks the water around him, killing off most of the leeches and a fair number of large catfish as well. As Cally and Sofieus take a moment to gather the fish for a later meal, Avren stalks up to Freely in anger. He has no issue with the jabs and pranks between them, but warns that if the halfling hurts his wife again with his antics that there will be swift retribution.

After Sofieus secures the catfish and also a few live leeches for later, the group pick up the caravan trail to continue to follow them into a clearing and up a hill. At the top of the hill is an old ritual monument with stone plinths arranged in a circle around a center clearing. It appears to be cultural or pagan, not specifically to any organized religion, and the animal carvings are a variety of fearsome predators. Avren recognizes some of the carvings and bones as being some kind of highly dangerous catlike creature, and Sofieus is concerned this might be why there are no people around. Cally notices the silver cart has been strategically placed nearby and covered with a large dark blanket as well as moss and leaves. It’s filled with the missing chests of silver as well as rotting vegetables, and apparently has been left in this location for several days. Cally starts looking for whoever stole the cart, while Freely activates his divine sense but does not pick up anything unnatural. The five silver crates are very heavy, and the sun is already starting to set, so the group decides against attempting to transport the stolen goods at night. Instead they set up camp, figuring there is a good chance those responsible might return and could be caught and interrogated.

A fire is started and Sofieus begins to cook the catfish for dinner. Before the food is ready, though, three figures approach. Cally hears them approaching and manages to psychically alert her companions and warns them before the strangers appear. The leader is a human wearing the skinned hide of a beast like a cloak, flanked by two other men with crossbows. They say they saw the "witchcraft" that was done down the road, describing the butter ball bearing coin message combo the group created earlier in the day. The leader goes on to accuse the group of performing some kind of ritual in their sacred space, stating that fires are not allowed, and announcing that the four will be beaten before they are kicked off the property. Cally calmly replies that while then men are mistaken about many things they will be happy to leave the area, however if any hostile actions are taken she will be forced to kill them. The leader scoffs and growls, "I would like to see you try." Then a knife appears in his chest, thrown directly from Cally's metal hand. 

The leader immediately charges at Cally with a brutal-looking hook and with three vicious attacks almost cuts the construct to pieces. Freely places his hexblade curse on the leader and blasts him with an eldritch blast, while one of the crossbow wielding men named Georgie hits the halfling with a bolt. In retaliation the warlock hellish rebukes Georgie, burning him almost to death. As Sofieus runs over to Cally to heal her with an elixir, Avren charges up and hits the leader with his thunder gauntlets while ducking to avoid a second crossbow bolt. Cally slices into the leader, then throws a second blade to finish off Georgie, which causes the leader to once again wail on the construct with his wicked blade. Avren manages to interpose himself between Cally and the blade, taking some of the damage and saving her life, as Freely lights him up with another eldritch blast. Once again Sofieus heals Cally, this time casting healing word, while Avren casts magic missile directly into the leader's face. The rogue plunges another blade into her attacker's side before disengaging to get clear of his meat-hook, so the leader turns on Avren. However, the human is much more heavily armored and casts shield, deflecting all three slashes. Freely finally finishes the leader off with another eldritch blast, and with that the remaining crossbow wielding local, Paul, throws down his weapon and surrenders.

Paul angrily announces that the group could have simply left and admonishes them to put the fire out. Sofieus douses the cooking fire as Avren decides that the right thing to do would be to save the leader’s life, despite his inclination to let him die, and so casts cure wounds on him just before he can bleed out. The leader, whose name they finally learn is Cricket, comes back to consciousness angry and yelling about how the robot is bloodthirsty and evil. Cally clarifies that she only attacked when they were informed they were about to being beaten, and while Paul concedes that point and apologies he still insists the strange cairn of butter and other objects they left on the road must have been some kind of summoning witchcraft. In the end the men are simply upset that they started a fire in the middle of their sacred circle during a drought, and things escalated quickly.

As Paul and Cricket gather Georgie to head back to their homes they answer a few questions. They are from Henge, a town about three miles away, filled with people who had been kicked out of Port Argent. This sacred place is where they come to prepare for a hunt that they have been hired to take part in. About a week ago two men in uniforms matching the descriptions of Argent guard left the cart just outside their sacred place and have been hanging out in the woods nearby since. The guards admitted they were paid to go on “vacation” for two weeks. The locals haven’t disturbed the cart as it isn’t theirs, but would appreciate it if it was taken away, and offer to lead the group to where the guards are camped. Cally would rather not travel with men who have already attacked her once, and also needs time to repair her injuries, while Avren is barely containing his urge to kill Paul and Cricket on the spot. So the locals head off under the rogue’s watchful eyes, while Freely buries the silver bars and replaces the inside of the boxes with rocks.

Finally safe again, the four make camp without a fire. Sofieus compliments Avren on his actions, Freely even calling him a hero, while Cally thanks all three of them for keeping her alive during the fight. Exhausted from the day, the group settle in for a long rest inside the silver cart.

Find out what is behind the plot to steal the silver cart on the next episode of Silver and Steel! Episode 3 airs Tuesday April 28th 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!