Patia Ghor Dranas

LUIS (ZERXUS): "I had a bit of a nightmare of sorts last night, I suppose. Maybe it's my anxiety for coming home. Maybe it's some nerves that I have from reuniting with my son, but it seemed to- It shook me. I didn't know what else to do, but to come and tell you about it. Evandrin was in my dream and in it there was a fight of some sort between, between, I can only say the gods."
AABRIA (LAERRYN): "Oh."
LUIS (ZERXUS): "The Father of the Dawn seemed to be trying to extinguish what I could only say was one of the Betrayers."
AABRIA (LAERRYN): "Oh. Um..."
LUIS (ZERXUS): "Does this mean anything to anybody, other than just perhaps bad dream?"
SAM (LOQUATIUS): "Sounds silly to me, frankly."
MARISHA (PATIA): "Dreams can be deeply interpretive, Zerxus. I mean, perhaps it is your anxiety of the two colliding forces of Avalir reuniting."
LUIS (ZERXUS): "It felt- I understand, and the gods don't mean much to me."
AABRIA (LAERRYN): "Good."
LUIS (ZERXUS): "But... one was begging me for help."
TRAVIS (CERRIT): "One of the gods?"
LUIS (ZERXUS): "The fallen one, the Betrayer."
AABRIA (LAERRYN): "They're all behind the- They're not here, though. Not like the others that walk around. I know you know that."
LUIS (ZERXUS): "I know that."
TRAVIS (CERRIT): "What did this Betrayer look like?"
LUIS (ZERXUS): "He was red, had a horn. And, uh..."
AABRIA (LAERRYN): "Just one?"
LUIS (ZERXUS): "I think maybe... I couldn't remember if it was because of the way he was lying down, but I just recall seeing the side of his face and maybe one horn. Maybe if there was another one, maybe it was broken off. I'm not sure. I'm not remembering it so clearly, but I do remember something that was said. 'Ghor Dranas.'"
BRENNAN: Who here speaks Draconic?
AABRIA (LAERRYN): Right here.
LOU (NYDAS): I do as well.
TRAVIS: Throw it up. Let's go.
LUIS: I knew you would.
BRENNAN: The gathering of shadows. Ghor Dranas. It doesn't mean anything to you right now. It doesn't mean anything to you right now. Anyone here who would like to may roll - you can roll history, you can roll arcana. Or if you are listening to your very troubled friend who you know is in a state of emotional turmoil and just want to roll an insight if you're not about-
MARISHA: You said it's either history or?
BRENNAN: Arcana if you're like, 'Okay, let me take him seriously.' Or insight if you're like, 'I want to-'
MARISHA (PATIA): I'll go for history.
AABRIA (LAERRYN): Got a 12 for history.
BRENNAN: 12 for history.
LOU (NYDAS): I mostly think it's emotional, but I will think about- These words feel more relevant. Which would you want from that?
BRENNAN: If you're thinking about the words themselves, any of those intelligence skills. I would take religion, arcana, or history.
LOU (NYDAS): I'll do arcana, then.
BRENNAN: Do arcana, yeah.
TRAVIS (CERRIT): 26 on insight, and I just want to glean if he's really shook by this, or if he's talking about something else.
MARISHA (PATIA): 29 on history.
AABRIA: Let's go!
SAM (LOQUATIUS): And 22 on arcana.
LOU (NYDAS): Also 22 on arcana.
BRENNAN: 29 history, 22 on arcana.
TRAVIS (CERRIT): 26 on insight.
BRENNAN: 26 insight. Okay. We'll start with the 22s on arcana. Ghor Dranas is Draconic. You would know from the arcana check there, that the term Ghor Dranas, the literal meaning is gathering of shadows. Words have connotations, right? That's one of the hardest things when you're adopting a second language is to learn the idioms. It's like, if you don't speak English, what's the difference between a hearty welcome and a cordial reception, emotionally? Those words don't land the same. Dragons aren't scared of much. Ghor Dranas, those words mean- The connotation is an intense one. It's the kind of words that dragons would use to describe something they were scared of.
SAM: Okay.
BRENNAN: With a 29 history check, an incredible history check, the name Ghor Dranas comes to you from a very specific place in history. It's an ancient text from the Schism. This is a text from when the Primordials- So there's a lot of stuff about the Schism in the Librarium Incantatum, right? Because the founding of Toramunda has its root in the Schism, right? Toramunda was founded when the Emperor of Fire and the Empress of Earth that were two mighty Primordials were laid low and sealed forever away by the Dawnfather under Mount Ygora. It was in the guise of that mountain that eventually the druids of Gau Drashari came and built Toramunda, tending to this holy place. Over time, those druids tended to it so well that other people came and sought them out. Then eventually it grew into a city and that city eventually attracted wizards. Those wizards eventually took the top of that mountain and sailed away. But the name Ghor Dranas from the early Schism, because in the Schism, there were dragons fighting on behalf of the Prime Deities, there was a threat made in the epics of one of these battles during the Schism by the Betrayer Gods. It's attributed to different ones and different texts, but the text that at least - well, who knows reliable - but the most detailed text that you remember from your encyclopedic knowledge of all of the scrolls of your library and all the tomes therein is that it's often attributed to the Lord of the Hells. Ghor Dranas is, it's just a very specific wording that he said in the battle of his defeat in the Schism when he was sealed away, where he said like, "Put me where you will. In darkness, I will gather my shadows to me."
MARISHA: Wow.
BRENNAN: Ghor Dranas, in Draconic the literal- So you're like, 'Oh, that's like specific verbiage.' Again, 29 is a super high roll. So that's you going, 'Well, that's literally where I've seen the words before.'
MARISHA: Right. Right. It's like pulling a certain phrase out of a Shakespeare.
BRENNAN: Just a keyword, yeah.
MARISHA: And not one of his popular ones.
BRENNAN: Yeah, it's just keyword search. There you go. Then for that 26 insight.

Episode 1 - Excelsior - 2:59:49