The Lost Monastery | Age of Umbra Episode 2 Part 2

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Hey there, Matthew Mercer here, and you're listening to part two of this episode of Age of Umrah, a dark tale and campaign setting from our recently released tabletop RPG Dagger Heart from Darrington Press.

If you haven't checked out part one yet, pause this now and head over there first.

Otherwise, let's return to our adventurers striving against the darkness in part two.

and welcome back

so

Velk has fallen cascading down the cliffside to his doom

you

a few of you have managed to avoid crossing into the next realm

exhausted and taking a breath you find yourselves now here amongst the temple exterior ruins of the larger

monastery itself here.

The

shreds of moonlight that still push through the clouds.

Aaron kind of peeks around from the side.

Is it done?

Y'all okay?

I think so.

Are you okay?

I'm fine.

I did what she told me to do.

I just ran and hid.

You did great.

You did great.

Anyone want to fuck up a statue?

Wait.

I'm going over to the statue.

Alright.

And I...

Brixon prostrates herself onto the ground.

As you duck down, you can see there is like, on top of the fact that inside this chamber, there are like ceremonial

adornments on the ruins around here.

You can see there's like ceremonial weaponry, there's like armor set upon as decoration.

There is a what looks like a small stone case, like a reliquary case of some kind of the base of the statue as you kneel down.

Oh, should we empty the other bridge before you do that?

Yeah, I think that's it.

Sure.

We can all

together teamwork.

Even you, Aaron.

Okay.

The coals come tumbling out and the flame is

Brixton just gives a little prayer

We have punished Velk for his transgressions.

Please Uratu

grant us your favor watch over us

And I'm gonna check out this little reliquary.

Okay, you go to like rift the lid on it and it holds tight.

I'm gonna take a look to see if there's a mechanism here and just like see what kind of lock it is.

Stone.

It's a technological for me.

All right.

Stone reliquary?

Yeah.

It's like there's like a stone lid.

It's like a small case.

It's actually in the statue.

Like it's carved from the stone with a lid on top.

Twelve with fear.

Twelve with fear?

Yeah.

Looking at it,

it's

a stone case.

You can see a there's a lip where there a lid would come up.

It's not like a carved solid piece.

There is a container of some kind, but it is holding closed.

And there's a lock on it?

Uh

the best you can tell is there is like a small not even a keyhole, but like a pinhole in the stone

pin.

And you're made of stone.

Can you talk to it and tell it to open?

I got it.

The head's still attached to the statue.

It just has massive

gashes across its face.

The veiled mask that sits in front of it just has its head.

Can I just look around and look at it and see if it is

something familiar to me?

And I just sort of want to look at the god's face.

The face itself is obscured, as is the nature of the veiled gods, by the mast and veil that kind of covers it.

The visage that you carry is

an echo of the imagery of the veiled gods.

The vessel that you hold was once a messenger to them.

So, in a similar way, there is a veil, but there is a mask adorned on top of it itself that denotes something beyond humanoid, something divine and

inhuman in its design.

Beyond the scratches and gashes, of course.

Is she a relative of yours?

I don't think so, but I do believe this body was

probably sang many songs to him.

Oh?

Should it be prepared or something like that?

Any of this stuff worth anything around here?

Maybe what's in the box.

What did you have?

You need to open that?

I do.

She kind of rustles in her and pulls at her pouch and has like a couple of long metal tongs and takes and hooks and says, like,

I mean, you get around here.

Can we check it for.

I sort of did that.

You did?

Okay.

Suck.

You did.

Do you think, kiddo?

Sure.

Anyone else?

I'm going to step back.

I'm going to step up close.

I'm just close to her to protect herself.

I'm an owl flank.

Yeah.

She gets down.

Wow, Chandler

goes and starts fiddling with it, the little pinhole.

She gets two little long pieces of like thin iron.

One of them she kind of like bends a little bit, kind of tempers it, looking at it, gets it inside.

Okay, yeah.

And she finds a bit.

I think I gotta tug.

The lid kind of opens almost like a spring.

A bit of dust kind of like out of it.

She's like,

looks inside and you kind of glance over and look within, kind of from above, kind of lording over her.

And inside this little box is what looks to be a skull.

An old

skull.

Polished.

Sutures almost have a golden

coloration pushed into them.

But where the jaw is, there is an iron band bolted across its mouth, sealing it shut.

Cool.

And

is it like an art piece, like a carved

idol, or is it a

human skull or a humanoid skull?

It is a humanoid skull.

Cool.

That has been polished, prepared, and set within here for some purpose.

And its mouth sealed with iron.

There's also a very, very faint glow kind of almost emanating from underneath it, like it's underlit, even though it's within a shadowed box.

Do you think this is Marcellus Wallace's soul?

Bryn kind of backs up.

I've done my business.

Y'all picked it up.

I opened it, but this is a bit creepy for my liking.

Press the digitation up into the air.

Okay.

Turn it slowly on a couple different axes.

You lift it up, and as you do, there is...

At the base of the skull, there is a natural hole where all manner of matter of its previous owner went through.

As it lifts, something within the skull rattles, and you can see the light kind of protruding from within.

It kind of like

as you turn it, eventually it tumbles out.

It is a small orb about that big that itself is giving a faint golden glow.

And it kind of like

the skull down and I bring the orb here.

It has a faint magical ore to it.

Some sort of,

You don't know if it's an enchantment or a blessing or what, but there is something magical about this aura.

Well, life is short.

We should keep both, right?

Of course.

Would I know anything about, like, any type of

rituals from the old world and anything about like binding of

make a knowledge roll for me?

A knowledge roll.

Can I spend my one and only hope to add historically inspired?

Yes, you may, of course

okay

it's gonna be plus two here come on

oh thought it was gonna be a crit but it's not

um

uh this should actually be three

nineteen

with hope uh with fear with fear okay

not a warrior sorry about that and I fucking hit the microphone

You have seen one of these orbs before.

It is embedded in the breastplate that

your

Ember Warden has worn since the day you met her.

They are rare relics used for protection.

from the old world.

Used by generals and high clerics of Amber Reach.

Their creation, or the secrets to it, are apparently lost lost to time, but many of them that were cached at that era have since been disseminated in the post-apostasy era.

They're known as Valor Stones.

Valor stones.

You can attach this stone to armor that doesn't already have a feature on it.

I'm cool.

And then it gains a new feature.

Are you getting it for you?

She's getting it.

Sure, you're

really

going to deal with it.

Before you mark your last armor slot, roll a D6.

On the result of 6, reduce the severity by one threshold without marking an armor slot.

Wow,

so it gives you a lot.

Every time if you burn all your armor,

you have a one in six chance of just not spending that last armor.

This

is a valor stone.

Oh boy.

Is it a sign?

Everything is a sign.

I was about to say, I mean, you got when the aether weave courses through it.

But I mean, the armor, the crown, now this, it's like you keep finding blessed objects.

I think you are chosen.

It means something.

Sure.

And we know which deity this was.

Aratu.

This is the

veiled god representative, also known as the Dawning Sorrow.

So whose skull is this?

You don't see any markings on the stone case.

I read, I could try and read it.

But there are no markings.

Oh there are no markings, never mind.

Sorry.

Clearly it was someone who needed to shut the fuck up.

Who needs a Hail Mary?

Six reduces severity by one control.

That one.

Because she's fading power for the Vale Gods.

So it's definitely Hail Mary.

You got a one-in-six chance of it even popping off.

This would be someone with low armor.

So

from this area where we are,

now that

the danger is past and we've opened the reliquary,

does the path continue on?

Are there more stairs?

So

where you stand, you can, I mean, in this night, you can barely make out the shapes of the

rest of the Grief Cleft Mountains beyond each side, kind of rising up, and there are hooked spires.

You can see the mists that hang down into the valley of the jungles that you had traveled from below.

You can just faintly see the flicker of fire from the sacred pyre of Desper Lock down below, and that kind of orients your position.

You are indeed kind of in this in the middle of the rocky outcropping.

There's the firmament's hero.

And beyond this temple, this kind of half-collapsed roof of this temple portion, the rest of the monastery sits.

There is a massive double door that is closed.

The wall sits up, and you can see there's that extremely tall,

pointed, like vaulted roof.

And you can see the edge of where the cliff had slid down and where the ruins had partially fallen from the monastery to create where Desperlock was set is kind of around the way.

But the rest of the monastery sits in front of you.

It is just the doors to it are closed.

Now it would be perfectly understandable if folks wanted to return.

Wanted to.

We've done our job.

We were here to get Velk.

Velt's gone.

We're done.

I'm going to peek over the side of the cliff and fly over and see if I can see the body.

Go ahead and roll an instinct roll for me.

Instinct.

Um.

That's 13 with hope.

13 with hope.

Take a hope.

No sign of body from up here because there is no light.

It is pitch black into the jungle below.

Actually, would I have, if it was pitch black, would I have Underborne advantage on that roll?

To

have advantage advantage on rules to hide, investigate, or perceive details when I'm

low light to heavy shadow.

I'll say, yeah, take advantage of that.

It's roller d6 because you are very well adapted to

14.

Unfortunately, no.

You do see, I will say, you do see on some of the

more ragged bits of rock along the sheer cliff face, you do see signs of bloody trail of where Velk had likely had a rough tumble.

And would I know from my Ranger's focus

if I still have a connection to him?

There is no connection.

Okay.

You're pretty certain.

Pretty certain

you have put to rest the restless spirit that was taken by some dark power here.

And you're right.

We would be well within our reason to go back and,

you know, let them know what happened to Velk.

Or...

Or we could seize on this opportunity and push further than anyone has before.

And when we return,

we would have a lot to bargain with.

That's true.

Raskello would really hate if somebody else were to push deeper into the monastery, wouldn't he?

Hmm.

He would be very upset.

I feel like he very much

wanted to be here, but that doesn't seem to matter to either of your faces at the moment.

He's kind of a dick.

Okay.

And also, we've kind of earned it.

I mean, there were half as many of us, and we've pushed further than anyone else has before.

What are you hoping to find in there?

Glory?

What do you need?

Power.

And uh, answers

to

questions that for you?

Well, yeah.

The gods have left, and

there are some of us that

have

almost divine powers or gifts that I don't understand.

And where I'm from, those powers are not welcomed.

I'm not from Desperlak, I've got

another town.

I left my mother there.

The people that see these sorts of powers, they they're hunted almost.

It's like a sign that the gods haven't left or that the power structures that have risen up since are going to be tumbled.

So I would love to know why we have the abilities that we do or how these things still exist.

And are the gods really gone?

I mean, if Elk was dead set that they were not gone, that they were hiding and still in wait or could be communed with or...

I don't know, but if there's some place that's going to have the answers we're looking for, it feels like this is it.

And I would really

love to continue going with this hall pass instead of asking for permission from a group of people that are gonna look at us like a

like a bunch of outsiders.

I mean, you know, I'll go where you go.

As long as you'll fucking have me.

All right, that's that's fair.

We've witnessed a miracle here today.

Did you not see?

Which one?

What there's the gods, that the statue of the god.

Whether you could consider that a curse or a blessing, that was an enactment of divine intervention from one of the veiled gods themselves.

Bureaucracy holds no bearing on the choice we make here and in the now.

We must push forward.

Don't you hear that?

What?

That is destiny calling.

That was mostly a sigh, I think, from...

No, you can hear it whispering in the winds.

Look, I'm not keen to keep going forward, but I'm also sort of not keen to go back by myself.

So if you guys are moving ahead,

I'll be behind you a few feet, but I'll stick around, I guess.

It's very fair.

Very wise.

Also means whatever rewards happen, get cut.

You guys keep promising me rewards.

Is there anything around here that's valuable?

We got a skull.

There's a skull.

There's a

walls of here.

There are like ornamental and ceremonial

weapons and armor, pieces of like holy decor that were put on the walls that look like they were made from fine metals and such.

In fact, while some of them have withered over time, there is one beautiful looking falchion that looks like it's pressed against the chest part of a

stone entity that is carved in the wall, like some sort of holy warrior, but it is not itself stone, it is just set within the grip of this stone

figure.

Does it have a yellow eye in the middle of it?

Weirdly, it doesn't that.

Like

it's something that could be plucked and kept.

You could certainly try.

Just because we uh we can, I have a um I have a thing I can do uh

where is it?

Adept where I can utilize an experience and mark a stress to use it.

And I have a press digitation to repair a small object.

If I have a way of using my experience to add that repair a small object to try and fix the face of this statue, would that be reasonable?

Certainly try, yeah.

Okay, I'm going to

try and I'm just going to crawl up and try and magically undo some of this damage.

Sure.

Make a spell castrol for me.

Alright, I'm going to add more hands, make less work, because I'm sort of trying to weave.

Yeah, I have a lot, and I can move the web with it.

I can burn a stress instead of a hope for that, and that also means I got to double it.

So that's.

What kind of roll would this be?

Spellcast.

So just add your knowledge.

Okay, so that's four, six.

Ooh,

six.

22 with fear.

Sorry, guys.

No, it's okay.

However, you do manage to kind of sculpt with your hands and a little bit of silk that you're pressing around it.

You kind of maneuver and almost like magically connect with the stone.

The aether weave that kind of flows ever so faintly through the realm that you've attuned yourself to enough to know how to pluck and pull it.

You kind of weave it through the stone and then just...

tug on the stone until it fills the gaps that were once carved.

Then you break away the silk that you had laid as you maneuver, and as you pull it away, the stone looks like it was unscathed.

Just picturing the nun that did the restoration on the mini page.

I was thinking it too.

I was thinking it.

If you had rolled poorly enough.

Wow, that's great.

I'm going to try to remove the falchion.

Yes.

Okay.

You can roll strength or finesse.

Finesse.

15 with fear.

15 with fear.

Because it's fun.

We're a numbra.

I'm going to take it when I can.

You manage to

tug, turn it, and eventually find that it was placed in and probably locked with a stone cap on top to keep it there.

Within the monastery, no one would attempt to take it, especially at this distance from the majority of the outer domain.

But here, you managed to crack that stone seal on top and pull it from underneath, and the falchion is free.

Okay, okay.

There you are.

Gilded Falcon.

Strength to use it.

It's a powerful two-handed weapon.

And it's holy.

Oh.

This feels like a you thing.

Oh.

Oh.

The gods are looking down upon us.

So

that's

very louder.

Read.

That's deep.

Glancing around, you also, the other thing that catches your eye

would be

what looks like an art piece above the double doors shows like

a sun

ray or like a

spread of various sun rays and color with a golden hue to it.

And what looks to be the image of an angelic figure kind of standing with its arms out.

But where its torso is, the armor that's there is three-dimensional.

Oh, three-dimensional armor coming out of the relief.

So like a chain.

Like a chainmail set of armor that is either so intricately carved and painted that it looks metallic, or it's real and set into it.

It's up on something?

Yeah, it's about 12 feet up.

I can leap up there

and do it.

Or you can fly.

Oh, no, no.

This is...

Far more fraught with peril.

Yes.

I'll leap up and try to pull it down.

Grab it.

And it's like embedded in in the stone.

My legs are just kicking.

You can try and kick off the wall and give it a shove if you want.

Sure, I'll try that.

Okay.

Go ahead and just roll the strength.

Uh-oh.

That's a

four with fear.

Negative one makes it a three with fear.

Oh, it's fine.

A three with fear.

All right, I'm going to take that fear and immediately spend it.

As you tug and pull, the chainmail does come free.

Yeah.

And you fall back onto the ground.

and part of the wall

tumbles out as well and comes spinning down.

Oh, I'm going to use my grapple to pull

this one out of the way if it's possible.

Right, yeah.

You grab it, the grapple and throw it around him just as the stone falls on him.

And you

pull him out like a cheese grater from the stone.

Oh, fair.

You take a stress.

Okay.

And two points of physical damage.

It wasn't enough to crush you, but definitely enough to kind of grind him windy a little bit.

That reaction isn't a thing i'm out of stress i mean i'm full my stress is

you are vulnerable oh boy

y'all think maybe we should like take a break or something then if we're feeling a little wrecked

might not be a bad idea might not be maybe what is that armor out of curiosity the arm armor i don't have armor

hold the oh oh this

uh reach of that

i'll use it for now if you change your mind Yes,

because it's a little bit better than the one that I have, but not by much.

Soft.

And it doesn't do, it doesn't slow you down or anything.

The additional damage does, though.

It's just changing.

That's amazing.

Oh, this is good.

Oh,

that's amazing.

Read it out loud.

That's so amazing.

The gods have smiled on us this day.

No,

it's happening.

I'm beginning to believe.

It's this is just this is

direct intervention from an ungar an unseen force from beyond.

This is anointed chain armor.

It's just very good armor.

Okay.

Stunningly good armor.

I mean, anyone could use this.

It doesn't slow you down.

It doesn't have any negatives.

It's just positives.

Thresholds of 11 and 20.

It's just positive.

Like, don't forget, yeah, armor in this, y'all can use any sort of armor.

Just certain armor heavier has penalties like evasion and other attributes.

Blooded by the corrupted heart of

a belt.

Yeah.

A rubble critical says to clear an armor.

Yeah, that's pretty cool.

That is very cool.

You can also just hold on to it if nobody wants to use it.

I mean, if no one else is using it, I'll

use it.

Because

that's pretty insane.

Yeah, it's pretty insane.

I'm going to clean the blood off from the splatter.

It's nice, chainmail.

I think it can go into the shirt and

it fits on.

Are y'all taking a short rest?

Are you pressing?

Yeah, can we?

You can, yeah.

You're out here in the middle of this.

Yeah.

Oh, wow.

This is about to get real crazy.

Here we go.

I'm going to clear stress.

We can do things we did last

short rest, too, right?

So I'm going to repair all my armor.

Clearing stress two plus one.

Oh my god.

All right.

So it's 1d4 plus one 1 for your armor.

What are you doing?

1d4 plus 1.

Oh, but you can do the long rest one you said?

Clear.

Yes, so my short rest can be a long rest.

Okay, so I can do...

Let me get ability again, just so.

Yes, when you take a short rest, you can choose a long rest move instead of a short rest move.

That's awesome.

Yeah.

So.

There you go.

Armor's all good.

And long rest, I get two of the following moves.

Is anybody taking watch?

I will take watch.

Alright.

And I will leave my

role.

Changing armor, do I get all my armor slots back since I'm changing the armor I'm wearing?

Or no?

No, not in this instance.

Okay, that's a good thing.

But changing thresholds have changed, and next time you want to, you can use a downtime action to replay that now.

That's fine.

What kind of a roll do you require?

Just roll a d12 for me.

Just one d12.

Yep.

And then tell me if you want to use your roll or mine.

I must have had it.

I'll use yours.

What'd you roll?

Five.

I also rolled a five.

Oh,

Roll these

air grows ever colder.

The shadows and the absence of the fiery brazers grow thicker.

You all feel the chill wash over you as the hair stands up in the back of your head.

And once more, that shrieking echo on the distant horizon

of the elemental death known as the umbra

seems to almost get louder.

Oh boy,

I gained two fear.

Also,

Aaron's now like

sorry, I just need to take a little moment to sit down here for a second.

I'm okay.

Her brow is sweaty.

How long has that cough been there?

Well, I just, I just gotta ask,

you know, from we opened it up, but shit.

From the reliquary.

I was to say she's been coughing for a while now.

May I check you?

And she kind of like vomits a little onto her chest.

It's like I'm so sorry, it's embarrassing.

Can I come over and just just out of uh panic and concern, can I use uh sparing touch to place hands on her and

like pump some divine healing into her?

Sure, yeah.

It'll clear two hit points or two stress from uh the target.

Okay, so she'll go ahead and clear stress and hit points, and she's like, oh.

Thank you.

Thank you.

I appreciate that.

You can see kind of the dark under her eyes.

Jeez.

So we're moving on.

Have you been this far before?

No one's been this far before.

Just thought I'd ask.

That's what's so exciting about it.

It's really good.

It's

Escalo

August, is she becoming an undead.

Do we have to kill her and chop off her head and burn her body?

Not

yet.

From...

I don't know.

Should we just in case?

It might be the only way.

Alright.

No, just...

That's it.

Alright, if you were going to lead us on, which way would we go?

I figured we'd probably

can try and pick through this door here.

I think it's probably too dangerous to go around the sides where it collapsed.

So if we can go through the door.

May I go over to her and sort of take the throw-up off of her shirt?

Kind of just see what it is.

I mean, it it looks like a bit of bile,

kind of a thick grayish, almost viscosity to it.

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She walks over towards the door and is like, all right, so a thing.

And walks over the stone bitch that you had kind of plucked from the top, and that part of the kind of surface wall had kind of crumpled down.

This is definitely locked by some key.

I'm.

Wait.

Can I say a prayer or something?

I don't know.

Take her to, what's his name?

Two?

Truval.

Truval.

Truval.

Truval.

Truval the hedge.

What is the keyhole that she's operating on?

What does it look like?

It's about an inch and a half tall, thin.

It's just like a small opening.

And she's currently trying to bend that kind of long, thin piece of iron by looking inside to kind of match what she imagines the interior mechanism is.

She's kind of taking in, it has like a small like hand tongue that kind of bends it and it's like

Can I reach over and grab her arm that she's working on it and can I just take my two fingers and wrap it around her wrist and feel what her heart rate and pulse feels like.

First thing you notice is her skin is burning hot to the touch.

Shit.

The second thing you notice is her pulse is.

Aaron.

Yeah.

I know this is the last thing that you want to hear.

We have to go back.

Your heart is running a million miles a second.

Your skin is hot to the touch.

You are burning up.

We're so close.

Can you imagine what's inside

inside there?

I can't.

It's not worth putting you at risk, though.

And everyone will know that you were with us when we made it this far.

I am sure

the scholars and the vigils will all be clamoring over themselves to recruit you to their service.

You promise you're gonna tell them how much I help?

I promise.

Okay.

Maybe we don't tell them when we get

back and we can come back tomorrow and pick up.

Sure?

I think that sounds like a great plan.

I could also take you back home.

Alone?

Well, I don't know.

I.

I do not think that she should continue.

I'm sorry.

Yeah, I'm I'm definitely gonna take her back.

If if you wanna push on you can I'm good

We know how to get back to this place

We might as well all go back

rest recover

I don't hate the idea of

Letting them know that we need further investigation into Velk maybe

keep some of what we found here to ourselves

So that we can just come back after we've dropped her off

I agree.

How's stress HP?

Like,

how's she looking?

Like, just, like, is this just beyond that?

This isn't damage.

Okay, this is something else.

This is

infection or disease at this point.

Yeah.

Some poison.

You're uncertain.

Like, you can see

the eyes are getting dark around there.

the sweat, the high temperature.

It's like she's running a fever.

So something's causing a fever.

We said it.

Let's go.

She's beyond our care.

Let's go.

I'm sorry.

No, nothing to be sorry for.

We wouldn't have gotten into the reliquary with you or found this place or done any of these things.

We'll just keep the skull with us, at least.

That's worth something.

Of course.

Let's go.

Would you like me to carry you?

Yes, please carry her.

Don't, don't, don't.

I'm fine.

Just a little piggyback.

I'm fine.

Piggyback?

Thank you.

Okay.

And she like climbs up onto the wings and kind of drapes her hands over and you kind of hold on.

And you all

delve back

down the stairs into the caves of the Luzal Vaults.

Kind of quietly keeping watch in case anything else still lurking here in the darkness decides to assail you unexpectedly.

Blue torch is still aglow.

Blue torch is still aglow.

The door, the gate itself still openable.

The gate guardian seemingly thoroughly destroyed by your second about and the final boomerang blow that was dealt.

Its crown missing, its blade taken.

You asshole.

Where?

Where did you get that?

The boomerang store.

I gotta see if it actually works.

Is it really?

Boomerang.

Boomerangs are awesome.

Boomerang.

Stealth.

Come back soon.

Challenged

by the heavy cough that echoes through the hall about every 30-40 seconds.

That only seems to get more and more thick.

Can we put an iron clamp on her jaw?

Yeah.

Right now,

touch her forehead to the skull.

Every few moments.

She keeps apologizing, keeps apologizing, until she can't.

Because she passes out.

Can we dump a healing potion in her mouth just to try and stave off whatever is happening with her?

Sure, if you want to spend one.

Yeah, I've got a magic thing.

Okay.

I'm going to use Mending Touch and

just try and add a hit point.

Actually, if we want to do both.

Well, I'll just try and put a hit point into.

You put a hit point into origin.

Actually, I can even do.

I'm sorry.

I can even do two.

Don't fall asleep.

Okay.

Okay.

I'm good.

I'm good.

And she just keeps holding on and kind of holds a little tighter, too.

You did give a little more strength to her, and she's now kind of holding onto your wings.

I'm going to need you to protect us when things get bad.

Of course, of course.

Your pace quickens again, and you exit the vaults back into the jungle.

Is there a reason why the iron band is over the mouth of the skull?

Like, was it coughing and spreading something?

Like, Like, could we put the band over her mouth?

Or

it's on a skull, so clearly, whoever's the band's on did not do well, you know?

It's uh

maybe we can get the band off and look at it or something.

Not yet.

You do have an interesting point, though.

Perhaps we should

maybe

wait outside of the walls, and someone should go and bring Truvo out

just in case there's any type of plague or sickness that could spread to the rest of the world.

The little gold orb that was like a ward or a protection, right?

We shouldn't be like putting that on her, right?

Or like have her hold on to it until we get to armor.

But I mean,

we could, but it seems like it does stuff to armor.

Maybe she can just hold it till we get there and see if it helps at all.

Can you link with Truvo or Norin, or you have to be able to see them?

Okay.

I can, on the other hand,

cast telepathy so I can

as long as they're awake, I can hear their their thoughts.

So.

Oh, of of Aaron's?

Yeah, of Aaron's.

Sure, yeah.

Actually, I must make sure I can do that.

As you step out into the night jungle, again,

the direction of the flame, the sacred pyre that denotes Desperlock's position, pushing through the heavy sound of nearby jungle insects and creatures, you can hear Eren's inner monologue just going,

Just don't blow this, don't blow this, don't blow this.

You can sense she's scared.

But you can also sense that she's like

holding herself strong.

She doesn't want to embarrass herself in front of idols.

She doesn't want to embarrass herself in front of the rest of you.

And she just really wants her dad.

I'm going to tell you a secret.

I say in her head.

We didn't find you.

We didn't find your father.

We were running.

We ran from something

scary, Misty and I.

Sometimes.

Sometimes you have to run.

I think each and every one of us is running from something scary from the day we're born to the day we die.

So let's keep running together.

It's gonna be okay.

I'm gonna move her to the front.

Okay, she does not

give any resistance at this point.

You're just gonna get away from the microphone.

Just so she doesn't have to hold on anymore.

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As we're getting closer, can I take the skull and just kind of look at the band closer?

Like, is there anything other than just...

markings, engravings?

It is very well made.

The band itself has no markings on it, but if you pull it back with a little bit of light, you can see on the inside of the skull, the interior of the bone, the inside, uh, like open space where the stone was is just completely covered in script.

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

And the iron band is attached to the skull, like can it be pried off?

You can certainly try.

I will definitely try.

Make a strength check for me.

Well, I spend a hoke to sure give advantage on that.

Awesome.

May have to have you around the head.

Sure, I can run kick ass.

12, 9, 21, 26,

You dislodge the metal band and it is like

it is bolted into the skull.

As it breaks, the bone of the jaw shatters with it.

And as you pull it off, you can see all the teeth were already removed.

And the areas where it was pushed in and bolted,

there's also a script carved into the bone above where the teeth were.

So it looks like the skull was heavily treated with some sort of a ritual, some sort of a holy means.

You're not certain necessarily what the script is, though you have had, I will say, if you'd want to, if you'd like to mark a stress, you could delve into whatever power touches you to try and see if you could suss the nature of this.

I'll take that stress.

Alright.

And close your eyes.

and try and reach into those visions, those dreams, these strange little moments where you feel feel like

some divinity out there that still lingers in the domain has found you.

And when you can't read it,

you sense that this skull belonged to something

heretical

and it was placed there to seal it away.

It doesn't mean that it held power necessarily.

But

this skull is not a saint.

This skull is not

of

a martyred figure of renowned.

It was put there to be forgotten and protected.

Cool.

The inside of the band that's covered in the runes and the markings.

Do I recognize any of it, know anything about any of it?

The inside of the band, as you look at it, is also covered in script.

Like every part of this was designed to,

whether it be symbolically contain or actually magically contain whatever was there, you sense no power in the skull anymore.

Like there's nothing like, it doesn't, it isn't a charged relic.

Make a knowledge roll for me.

I'm just gonna make this a reaction roll.

No hope or fear gained on this one.

This is just a 17.

17.

17.

the best you can tell even just from the little bit of scraps of research you've pulled from the scholars in your hope to dis to figure out the nature of what is found you through the aether weave or divinity um

these were

funeral rites to seal away some somebody who was deemed evil by the church.

You're uncertain if this wasn't something that was put on them in life.

This was definitely a final rites.

You come to the outside of the slag walls, and you can see the burning glow of the sacred pyre just above in the distance as you approach.

The vigil shout out from atop the hill.

Halt!

It's us.

We've returned.

Let

Roscalo know that we've

returned.

We need a healer.

They look to each other.

They glance glance over.

They kind of hold their torches free.

The horns come blow for a second.

The front gate, kind of not far from where you are, pulls open.

They need to come out.

I'll go get them.

Please.

Yeah, quickly.

Alright.

So you go ahead and dart off inside,

heading towards the interior of...

Desperalock charging through at this point in the evening.

It's it's you know midnight-ish at this moment, and a lot of the village is going about its business.

That would be up this light.

There are shifts of people,

vigil, firekeepers, and other folks who just can't sleep due to the nature of a challenged life.

But you push through over until eventually you find the exterior of Truvo's tent.

And as you kind of push inside, you see his massive galapiform sitting on a chair, currently pouring himself a cup of tea into a small like stone mug, and kind of looks up to you quickly.

Oh, well, hey.

I need you.

We need you.

Sorry, there's someone who's very hurt, sick, poisoned.

We're not sure.

Oh, no.

We don't know if it's contagious, though.

So, could you come out to the gates to make sure that this?

Have you been in contact with this individual?

I kind of stayed away from her.

She kind of was kind of gross and we covered your face.

I did.

Yeah, I did.

I just reaches over and grabs a big bundle of cloth and wraps his face and head around it until it's just his eyes peering over, his

turtle head kind of just barely coming through the top of it.

It's like a reverse ninja turtle.

He takes his bag and sets it onto that long table where he had initially treated you and starts plucking all manner of small vials and herbs and ointments and is just like kind of grabbing anything that could possibly help.

Some medicinal cloth and like kind of stitched gauze and wherever he can, puts it in the satchel.

All right, take me to them.

Are you?

can you run?

Do you run?

I can run.

All right.

Keep up.

You.

And Truzh.

I look back.

Oh my goodness.

He's older.

But keeping up decently.

Other folks kind of watching this commotion and starting to whisper and ask, like, what's happening?

What's going on?

You start by and Truvoj kind of raises a hand.

Don't worry, it's going to be fine.

Go back to business.

Don't worry.

Until eventually you come to where the gates are still open and you you see the vigil.

Now, the vigil have come tight to watch because they to leave the gates open is incredibly dangerous.

So, right now, as the gates are only open wide enough to let a person or two through, the vigil is kind of congregated to keep watch.

They have crossbows, they have weapons that they're ready, and they're all just torches free, looking out into the shadow beyond you.

So, nobody is opportunistic in this moment.

Um,

as you rush up, and while you're waiting for this point, like Eren is like eye-lulling a little bit and wake up,

I'm gonna fall asleep.

Eventually you see Snyx and behind Truva approach.

Oh goodness, it's Aaron, isn't it?

Oh, poor girl.

Kind of takes her and sets her down on the ground, lays her out and starts inspecting her, taking her pulse, and kind of takes a small wineskin of water and kind of

pours it over a cloth and puts it over her head to try and cool her down.

And more or less starts like going through a book and checking things.

And there's about a good 10 minutes or so before he kind of like.

and we say like there was a we open something, there was a aerosol that came out.

This is likely some sort of infection.

If indeed this was from a

long untouched patch of

sealed air or a space, various molds, various

things can grow in there that can be very dangerous to younger lungs, especially.

So, but, however, such infections are treatable.

They just take some time to recover with proper materials.

I can definitely treat her.

You just have to, someone will have to keep an eye on her overnight.

But I'm glad you took her here immediately.

This is rapidly growing, so if you hadn't have done so, it's likely she wouldn't have survived the night.

So you've done good.

Glad you're here.

I will watch over her, for sure.

It is not infectious either, from what I can tell.

It looks like this is just an

inhaled spore or some form of infection.

So

would one of you want to keep keep an eye while she stays in my tent for the evening?

You want to keep an eye on all that?

I can keep an eye.

Yes.

Alright, I'll

stay with you.

As you pick her up, he goes ahead and says, all right, dear, I need you to just open your mouth a little bit.

I'm going to pour you a little sour-tasting liquid here.

She's like, her breath's starting to get a little labored, and he kind of pops this vial and kind of puts this kind of thicker herbal liquid in.

She kind of like coughs a bit.

He's like, you did good.

You did good.

And he wipes her brow.

And then she kind of swallows it and kind of just kind of sinks into you a little bit as you hold her.

And Troubo kind of smiles through his, you know, pulls his cloth back now that he's like noted that it's not contagious looks and says,

get her to my place.

Come on.

At which point,

you all step into the settlement and the rest of the vigil look down upon you.

Do you all stay outside or do you return to Desperock as well?

Well, we're gonna stay and watch, I think.

Are you taking her to Truvo's place or to just staying outside?

No, taking to Truvo's tent.

Okay, so everybody's gonna run out scrutinizing the colours.

I'll go to the garricks and let him know that we're back and she's back.

Okay.

Well, you all step inside.

People looking about, a little bit of whispering and some panic, some people curious as word gets around that.

I'm covering her with the wings so no one can

gossip and gawk at her.

And in doing so, the curiosity spreads, but confirmation of who or what does not.

But people also instinctually keep a distance.

from the eight-winged angel that walks among them.

You come near the

kind of comforting hearth of the sacred pyre beyond the forum to the tent where Truvo runs his herbalistic skills.

Set her upon the table.

He takes her big gray cloak and kind of swaddles her with it and sets her down, renews his cloth and sets it upon her brow and begins to

begins to progress his development of whatever treatment he'll have to apply to her throughout the night.

You go ahead and retrieve Garrick, who immediately is like, well, what happened to my girl?

We were out trying to find Velk.

We told Erin to stay, but she followed us.

You know how she can be, and she got into something.

Troubo has her name.

Why don't you come with me and

we'll go be by her side.

All right.

And he puts his coat on and kind of follows up after you.

But

Trubo finishes his treatments for the night.

The people begin to die down, their curiosity, as it seems the tension begins to subside.

And eventually,

with a bit of conversation, a bit of cool water renewed upon her brow and body,

she goes to sleep and settles into a rest.

Troubo kind of nods and.

Oh, you've got it too.

And

He kind of nods and then wipes his brow after he's been kind of focused on all this and says,

If you don't mind, I'm gonna

go get myself a drink and then return to keep watch.

You're staying to keep an eye?

Yeah, absolutely.

I think a few of us will be.

Very good.

If anything happens, I'll be at my hovel in the back.

You know where he lives.

It's off and Aaron's asleep.

Every now and then, like kind of a cough comes through, but it's not as bad as it was as you were getting close to Desperlock, which is

comforting.

People are gonna want to know what we found, what we have,

what came of Velk.

Should we

try and hold on to some of that information until we can venture out again?

Should we share with the scholars?

If the scholars see what we have gathered, they will assuredly take everything off of us.

They will claim it as

importance to the Luzon.

But might they have information?

I mean, shouldn't we share this knowledge with them?

We can hide the stuff.

I can just go take it and stash it somewhere if you're worried about losing it.

We should definitely hide what we have.

They'll take it one way or another, and they'll tell us nothing, you know.

They don't trust them.

They might.

Maybe if we leverage it like there's more that we could share, and that this is just an initial offering of our findings.

If we ask for a partnership of sorts, that we'd be part of the next wave, we can lead them to the things that we've found and help them avoid the things that have been perilous.

We could ingratiate ourselves to their efforts.

Even though Velt's dead, we can still go up and try and get the body.

Well, if we're worried about talking to the scholars, I mean, I'm friendly with one of them, with Halloran.

He's not one of the current scholars.

He's retired, but

he wouldn't take any of this stuff.

But would he know maybe some of it?

The script on the inside of the mouth plate?

I think if he would know everything.

As far as I know,

he knows as much as the others, but he just doesn't care about it.

He's retired.

He's drunk.

He's a drunk.

Oh, okay.

And

I carry hooch.

I pull out two bottles of

sort of vinegary wine.

I deliver this to him about once every couple weeks.

And

he's a nice fella.

Just

he wouldn't care about stuff.

He just wants booze.

That might be a great place to start.

If you ask him if the scholars would care or be willing to share, he could also say, whatever you do, don't tell them.

They'll never let you.

He might not even remember, honestly.

I don't even remember.

You have a sense of their desposition, at least.

Do you know where he is?

Sure.

I mean,

I've got a delivery that I'm supposed to do.

I mean, we probably have until sunup.

Just me or are you guys coming?

You tell us.

He's your guy.

Knowing him, he's probably awake, still.

Sure.

Yeah, come, or some of us can come.

Somebody's got to stay.

I can stay.

And I'll give you the skull and the mountain.

I'm not going to touch that stuff.

You take it.

I'll take it.

I'll come with you.

And then

I also take out my robes, my investments of the Pyrekeeper, cover my armor, cover the swords, cover everything that we have, and then

I'll go with Snyx.

Are you coming, or are you going to stay with the kid?

I'll come with you for this ring.

Goodbye, August.

Steve.

I'll be right back.

Okay.

Please be staying far.

Good night.

If you're not back by sunup, you're dead to us.

us.

And probably the rest of the world.

Yes, yes.

We're just going to an old guy's house.

I've already grown attached.

I've already grown attached.

Yes, Godspeed.

Godspeed.

Alright.

So you two are staying behind.

Yeah, we'll stay with them.

And you three head off with Snyx leading them.

Alright, so

a little ways off from where the Praxis Collective does the majority of its research work here in Desperlock, the homestead of Halloran.

It was at one time a nice, quaint homestead for a very vigilant researcher.

But you know, it's fallen into a bit of disarray and he's become a bit of a hoarder.

This home, as you begin to approach, you can see the windows are completely blocked.

And outside in the front, you can see all manner of broken junk that he's amassed.

Things that were discovered to be of no necessary use to the scholars, relics of the old world that were just discarded pieces of garbage that he has snatched up and kind of built this little junkyard around this little hovel that he lives in.

You can see just the faintest little flicker of lantern light from what segment of his window is still not fully plugged.

And you can hear a hum coming from within.

Hmm.

I will go up to the door and knock four times.

Boop, boop, boop, boop, and go, hoo-hoo!

I was wondering when you were going to come around here.

All these locks get like,

down the door before.

And you see this

old.

It's rare to see somebody this old and haggard who survived this long here in the Halcyon halcyon domain these days.

Um, you're not sure if he is very old or just life has been hard enough to where he looks that way, but he is just missing a majority of his teeth, uh, patchy, scraggly, chin-white hair that uh looks like parts of it have either stopped growing or burned off at some point.

Um,

long, matted, curly hair that kind of pushes past his shoulders, like a like a really down on his luck gandal.

Um,

as soon as he speaks through the door it says hey

snicks glad you made it

this the smell of thick alcohol is just it it clears anything that might have been caught in your sinuses

I sure did.

Yeah,

they're cool.

They're with me.

We've been...

They're cool.

They're cool.

They're

messengers in training.

You might have to.

I always bring drink, friend.

And I pull out

two bottles of

offerings coming.

And he kind of pulls back into the room.

When you sit down, just watch where you sit because there might be some trash or food or...

something alive.

And as you kind of step inside the interior here, it is indeed stacked like wall to ceiling with maybe some old books, bits of like oiled rags.

You can see clusters of boxes and crates that may or may not be full.

Indeed, the smell of kind of rotten food and refuse kind of sits all throughout the chamber.

You can see there are paths in this hall.

It's only about maybe like 15 by 20 feet, this entire homestead, but there's only maybe about 10 feet of actual walkable space.

And it's very much, you know, how like Scroogeman Duck has worked that loop and around his number one dime?

Like, that's how you have to walk through the house, like where he's kind of created these grooves where you can just barely get around to where like this pile of cloth and rag where he sleeps, a little table in the center, and the rest is just stacked garbage.

What was his name again?

Halloran the Sot.

Halloran the Sot.

SOTT.

S-O-T.

Halloran.

And he pops open a bottle immediately and starts

pushing through one of the piles, like, ah, where are my, where are my cups?

Yeah.

And pulls out like a a few cups that look like they haven't been washed in a while.

And he goes sits down and goes, Oh, excuse me, gets another rag and like starts cleaning them.

He poured a lot more in his than yours, and he kind of slides him forward on the one table and is like,

To your health.

To my health.

He's got drinking breath.

Downs it, goes to Phil's other one.

Oh, oh,

sorry.

Reaches back and like his arm vanishes into one of the nearby piles and pulls out a small satchel, like

a hand bag, and kind of opens it up a little bit, rides into it.

And what would he have traded that alcohol for you?

What would you have asked for?

Sure.

I mean,

probably not.

I don't think he has money per se

is there money in this world I mean there is money but it only matters to a handful of chunks of society this day most people it's just for trade abuse I I do trade uh with um

uh some of the what is the people at the works uh barrel spearboard oh yeah I trade um supplies and stuff nails and screws bits of leather if he has any building materials anything like that I also trade

books scrolls scrolls.

People seem to like that stuff.

So anything he has that might be of interest.

Being a scholar, he has books, but he does not let them go.

But he does indeed bring within this thing a large cluster of what looks to be old iron materials,

things that were probably used in construction and then have been since scavenged and recovered that can be remelted down and reused, much like they do for the slag walls on the outside of the city.

All manner of nails.

There's actually a pretty decently kept, like thick band of leather that's like wrapped on itself that can be used for all manner of straps.

And basically, just like gives you a few things in trade.

That enough.

Oh, plenty, plenty.

You know what?

It's plenty because something we would want from you tonight is actually not

things, but

information, if you got it.

And

if you do, I can bring twice as much hooch next time.

I'll see what I can help with.

You see like one of the one of the teeth in his lower jaw, it looks like it's a little loose and as he talks, it kind of flaps a little bit against the lip.

No, no, no, no!

Do you?

No, no, no, no, no, no,

no,

do you.

An extra arm comes out and slaps your hand out.

Let me just.

Is that a true lives moment where like you envision the whole scene in your head and then it cuts back and you've just been sitting there the whole time.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

I know you don't like to talk about the vaults too much.

I don't know anything about them.

Well, I mean,

of course not, but if you did,

we hate to pry, but

we need help.

We need your help.

His hands start shaking as he refills his glass.

Like.

Perhaps.

I don't need to show him.

You just might be more informed about some of the ritualistic rites from the old world.

You don't need to tell us much about the vaults, just

maybe some information about the past that you may have come across.

If we show you some things that might have come from the vaults,

would you be able to tell us their origin, what they mean, where they're from?

Maybe.

I have a little bit more alcohol in my pouch.

Show me.

Pull out the skull.

It's okay.

He's dead.

Long dead.

He points to the table.

I press the digitation head over.

You bring these two eavers into my home.

I

is that a bad is that is that a bad

I was almost killed in the vaults and they saved me.

I take my wand

and I stab it very gently into the table and I let go

you gonna fix that?

Yes, of course.

As soon as we leave, I can literally fix it.

There's no problem.

I have to do it.

No expensive wood.

And I'll owe you favors of any kind, you know.

Okay.

He takes the wand and starts prodding around the skull and starts giving it a look over.

While this is happening, we're gonna come to the two of you.

Is there any conversation you wanted to

do?

Any sort of

elements, or you just want to wait for them to return?

I think we're just kind of

yeah, I think just waiting to return.

I think I'm gonna just kneel before her

at the table and just hold just hold her head, and I'm just watching her.

Okay, guilt, amok over here, guilt amok

and just making sure she's breathing, okay, and just watching her.

Breathing, okay.

Okay,

well that's how he kind of looks.

Best I can tell

a lot of these markings represents the uh

many of the ordinance

binding rituals.

The use here seems to be against the underlying shadow currents of the domain.

Spirits that would transfer

dark powers and enduring

wills and intent that would

lock themselves into a relic or a person or a place and these shields would keep them there.

So, this

entity,

this person,

was infected by some sort of darkness, either a spirit or

some sort of dark

umbra.

Even we saw somebro was unleashed.

And there are all manner of dark spirits that were

anathema to the veiled gods in the ordinance, so they

they had ways of dealing with them,

but not anymore.

This is um

I don't know if these seals kept after the apostasy, hence why so much has run amok since they went away.

We saw um blobs, shadow blobs, sort of uh moving from darkness into living creatures and making them empowered like liquid shadow.

Not in any of you.

No, no, no, no.

We killed one of them.

Its mouth was banded closed.

Why isn't it anymore?

We were curious.

And there was a

stone.

I was curious once.

What happened?

He pulls back the cloth on Juverveil's peg leg.

I don't go prying anymore

drinks again.

Whatever that is, get rid of it.

Or sell it to the scholars, even make it their problem.

They'll buy it.

Maybe.

Oh,

whatever was in there's not been held for a long time.

And if you killed this thing, there ain't nothing to worry about anymore.

Well,

it was

it was glowing,

wasn't it?

Well, you said it was a darkness, though.

I'm assuming that darkness is what came out of the statue.

That's I don't know, that's a lot of assumption.

Do we have the crown?

Yeah, it's on my head.

Oh, wanna show him that?

It's my crown.

Sure, just show him back.

He doesn't kill me.

This came from the vault.

The Aether bestowed this crown upon me.

Of course he did.

You are the chosen one.

I am.

I believe it.

It also, if I'm not overstepping, makes you look very nice.

That is very kind of you to say.

Do you want to see my crown?

Is it also a bearer of shadow of ancient curses?

You tell me.

Someone was wearing it who was infected with darkness, but again, we killed that one too.

We did a lot of killing.

This is of holy make

this is a protective element empowered by the divine.

This, um,

this bears the mark of a rock, too.

This is quite the relic.

Oh, okay.

Scholars would make quite a bad impress.

I'm gonna unbutton my shirt since since we seem to be doing this.

We're not that close of friends.

This chain mail underneath.

This came from the same temple.

Where'd you find all this?

In the vault.

In the vault?

We made it all the way to the doorway to the

from its hollow.

No, past the Firmament's Hollow doorway to the.

What was next?

The Observatory.

The monastery.

I mean...

We almost.

We almost made it to the monastery.

What are they gonna do if they knew?

What would they do?

How would they react?

They would be ecstatic.

But and shower us with rewards and praise?

Perhaps strike a deal.

Maybe.

Allow us to keep exploring them.

I'll just everything.

Maybe.

Or would they take everything we have?

What

if you were

would you trust them?

Some of them.

Who?

Uncorks the second bottle.

Were there any consonants in that word?

Yeah.

Thalia, if any.

Willing to do what is necessary for their

means.

Falia seems

clear of mind and heart, young as she might be.

And if you were us, would you keep pressing further in into the

push the skull?

That's even put too far.

And for a copper.

I just hope you truly did kill what held that shadow you speak of.

I think so.

I mean, wasn't moving.

Use the other two bottles here.

I have not touched my cup, so I'm just gonna slide it back.

I pour

it into his cup.

I pour my cup into

August.

Yeah.

And that rag did not look clean.

I want to scan the books on the shelf to see if there's anything that catches a young scholar's eye.

Make an instinct rule for me if you don't know what it is.

Instinct.

Not a knowledge.

Okay, that's fair.

No, there's an interest between getting a good look and perusing and analyzing the material and just looking about and seeing if you can make out details.

Very fair.

And I'm so sorry, everybody, if I scroll this.

Hey!

11 with hope.

11 with homes.

Take it home.

You're hard pressed in this low lantern light, in this cluttered-ass mess of a homestead, to make out anything beyond the occasional letter that isn't covered by rags, dirt, or spider webs.

What else can we glean from this gentleman?

We've got a name.

We've got a name.

Anything that we can say to Thalia to butter her, she

up?

I don't know.

My friend.

I never got close.

She came

I don't know.

She's got a soft spot for Alzcast, so she might like you just how you are.

And if you don't mind, what did you see in there that made you not want to go back?

But I know that you were injured, but what did it to you?

His eyes start going wide and distant.

In the vaults down there, there are a great many beautiful things.

Bronzed halls of worship,

catacombs of holy warriors of old,

those that fought beside the greatest of ordnance

and fetaled the most dangerous of evils in the old world

to bask in their glory and learn of their

true color as something astonishing.

But with the gods gone,

the devils play in those shadows

and dance on the graves of those that nearly cut them down before.

And there they cackle,

there they feast,

there they wait, and tear, And tease.

And bite.

Okay.

I can't go back.

I can't go back.

I can't go back.

And he starts like pushing back into the various clusters in his room.

I can't.

I can't.

I can't.

I can't.

And he's just like going into a full panic attack, pulling away from you.

Stop.

You never have to.

You never have to.

Ever.

Go.

Get out.

Get out of here.

Go.

And he grabs the bottle that's still open and like starts tugging it and starts pushing and shooing you out of everything.

I grab my wand on the way out and just fix the table as I

And it's going to be a door behind you.

Okay.

That could have gone a bit better.

Could have gone worse.

The two of you, while this is happening,

Troubo comes back.

You see, he's like, has a glass vial, and he's like,

you don't mind if I talk to you for a second?

I just don't want her to hear.

Of course not.

Absolutely.

Yes.

Pulls you outside of the tent and holds the vial and he's like, like,

I'll run a few tests back in my bowl here.

And you know, she has

an infection from what I can tell.

And while the treatment's kind of staunched it briefly, this is something more than just a standard mold infection.

Um, it's

well look.

And he holds it up, and you can see the the liquid has like a faint pale blue to it, and there is kind of a a red droplet of blood that kind of sits on it and you watch as the red

is slowly turning brown

then black

and then the blue liquid just turns black around it

that's not natural

I'm afraid that whatever's got

Erin is

I'm afraid she's got a bit of the umbra in her.

What, um.

Have you seen this before?

I'm not like this kind.

Um.

I mean, we all carry a bit of this old black within us.

That's just the curse of the enduring, but like.

This acts like a disease, but it is...

It's more of a curse.

Something...

placed upon her.

Something that...

Found its way.

I'll continue to do my best, what I can, but

this is...

This might be beyond my capabilities.

Have you ever heard of anybody being

uh healed from something like this?

I mean, the

the umbrella itself is

it is the final death.

It is the the judgment from the gods upon us when they left.

But there are rumors.

There are rumors

that in the fanes that still hold against the dark, the places across the domain that

even the umra can't step,

that there can be

healers capable.

Nothing I have seen.

And

as with my

pursuit of what's real and tangible as a healer,

I can't guarantee anything.

But I don't know anything in Desperlock that can help her.

How much time does she have?

I don't know.

Days.

And then what?

Then

we do the honor of not letting her be desecrated by the Umbra when she passes.

But she is my friend.

This is also part of just

how things are.

You said in the in the veins of the

umbra we'd be looking for

healers that have had success or or or areas outside of Desperlock where a remedy might exist.

There are a great many secrets that were kept by the Grand Ordinance.

In the cathedrals of Amber Reach, there are scriptures that were scattered and lost across the domain.

From the old world and beyond, there is what

our very scholars are hoping to ascertain.

A way to turn the tides against this

trodden path to oblivion we all just slowly step towards.

Do you think they are on to something?

Anything?

Maybe.

I hear tale from those who have traveled from beyond.

There are places where nature still stands untouched.

There are spirits of the wilds that

still keep the dark at bay.

And

there are miracles still, though perhaps not sourced by the veiled gods themselves.

So

there's always hope.

I just don't know if it's here.

Thank you, uh, for telling us, of course.

Smoke begins to fill the forum

around

the tense

black smoke

just begins to billow and swallow

the central forum and

just sort of you snip back into the tent and Eren is gone.

Fucking fuck

The three of you begin to return just as you see

this black smoke begin to billow and just completely envelop the center of Desperlock.

You can't see the pyre.

The smoke is like completely obfuscated the center of town.

We shouldn't have brought her in here.

What are you doing?

I'm going to run to the pyre.

The pyre is what's supposed to keep us safe.

What can I see above?

You fly up, and there's just a cloud of smoke that filled this.

Around a central point?

Around like the forum, the center of Desper Lock.

Which is where the pyre is?

Correct.

Okay.

So I can't see the pyre.

Where the pyre is?

Does it feel like it's emanating from the pyre?

It feels like it's in that kind of general vicinity.

We're rushing towards it.

You all kind of charge in as the smoke begins to kind of dissipate a little bit.

Here, amongst the nearby homesteads and the

northern portion of where the forum sits, there is the massive column of black smoke

where the sacred pyre once was.

Oh, shit.

It extinguished the pyre.

Is it out?

It's out.

Across the ground of where the pyre once stood, you see the bodies of Desperlock folk and two

robe-adorned pyre keepers bisected and their blood spilled across one of the only things that can quell the flame of these sacred flames.

And there, standing facing the smoke,

a small teenage girl

who turns

and smiles.

And that's Romania.

I have ghostbooks.

Me too.

Never trust a teenager.

No!

We'll come back later.

No, shit!

Shit.

To quote Ashley Johnson, I'm already attached.

Yes!

It's only been two episodes.

Oh.

No.

We're so fucked up.

We brought her in.

We're so fucked up.

So, we'll see you guys next time.

We love you very much.

And is it Thursday at the end?

No, it's not.

And we finished up this episode.

Thanks for coming along on this wild journey with us.

If you liked the adventure, consider leaving a review on your podcast platform of choice.

We're always looking for new critters to share our stories with, and your review may help a new batch of wayward adventurers discover the show.

See you next time.

So, um, I was just parking my car, and then I saw you.

A Gecko!

Huge fan.

I'm always honored to meet fans out in the wild.

The honor is mine.

I just love being able to file a claim in under two minutes with the Geico app.

Well, the Geico app is top-notch.

I know you get asked this all the time, but could you sign it?

Sign what?

The app?

Yeah, sure.

Oh, that means so much.

Oh, it rubbed off the screen when I touched it.

Could you sign it again?

Anything to help, I suppose.

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