The Snipping of Shears | Critical Role | Campaign 4, Episode 3 | Part 2

Transcript

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Speaker 1 Hello again. It's Brennan Lee Mulligan.
You're listening to part two of this episode of Critical Role. If you haven't checked out part one yet, pause this now and head over there first.

Speaker 1 What are you doing?

Speaker 1 Otherwise, let's jump right back into this adventure and the world of Aroman.

Speaker 1 Everyone says stuff right before we come back, and they're all in trouble. and I'm keeping a tally and the tally's running TikTok all you motherfuckers

Speaker 1 and everyone's awful knowing

Speaker 1 at the very bottom of the cascading falls of Dolmakyar where the river Vrosh

Speaker 1 lets out into Lake Nadami

Speaker 1 as the city

Speaker 1 and its tall spiring towers begins to fade into the nearby woods and the highway taking off to neighboring towns deeper into the land of Kahad.

Speaker 1 We see here at the base the tall spires of Dolmakyar, this city that was

Speaker 1 the shield of Kahad during long centuries that stood as the shield to the orkish homeland against the mountain dwarves to their east, the humans to their north, at a time ruled by the Shapers.

Speaker 1 Now it beholds a metropolis, a place where all peoples united in revolution and rebellion against the gods can sing and trade,

Speaker 1 dance and perform magic.

Speaker 1 And

Speaker 1 when we speak of perform, place of performance, for at the very base of that city, surrounded by the woods at the very edge, we see an ancient place

Speaker 1 with a brand new wooden sign leaning against a massive stone entranceway.

Speaker 1 And we see some boots approaching that sign.

Speaker 1 And Liam, what does it say on that sign that now waits with so much potential there by the wall? Oh, with lumber still off to the side on a pile. The sign reads the hallowed round upon it.

Speaker 1 Before you you see an ancient dithyram, an amphitheater. This place can fit thousands.
It is truly enormous.

Speaker 1 And

Speaker 1 at its center, there is a stage.

Speaker 1 And that stage, ancient, sort of stone. You see, there's some ruins and collapse.
And around, you see various members of your theater troupe that as you approach with Taisha and Shadia

Speaker 1 call out, ah, how! As

Speaker 1 hammer, tang, tang, tang, ting, tang, wood putting stuff up. You see some tarps covering some things outside.

Speaker 1 And I'd like you to describe, if you can, any of the environs and also the stage in particular for us. It's coming along, isn't it?

Speaker 1 It is a massive place. And in

Speaker 1 Taisha and my youth, it was much wilder here. The place has been in disuse for decades.

Speaker 1 For centuries before the fall of the shapers, this was a place where

Speaker 1 our

Speaker 1 God, our Shaper, would sometimes appear in the heavens above the city to witness his

Speaker 1 people

Speaker 1 exulting in

Speaker 1 ecstatic, fervent ritual

Speaker 1 unto our Keeper.

Speaker 1 And

Speaker 1 from the vantage point that we're at, you can actually see for miles the city is surrounded by evergreen forest. And from this vantage point,

Speaker 1 and we're at the top looking down to the bottom of this amphitheater, and at the center of the amphitheater is a massive, gnarled, twisted cedar tree that is extreme looking, but beautiful in this rugged landscape.

Speaker 1 And

Speaker 1 it's hard not to come here and not imagine this massive being

Speaker 1 lording over our city, which was the purpose of this place. But again, long out of use,

Speaker 1 forbidden for decades.

Speaker 1 And only now in the last handful of years has that begun to change. Although you have heard me talking about this for many, many years.
And there it is.

Speaker 1 Still more work to do. We're getting close.

Speaker 1 I know what we're going to start with. We just have to get all our

Speaker 1 magpies in a row, and then

Speaker 1 it's almost time. This is

Speaker 1 incredible and Tysha is wrestling. We've talked about it and went back and forth in letters and correspondence.

Speaker 1 It's such a fraught place

Speaker 1 that your desire to reclaim it, well-intended though it is, I think there's just that little bit of her that like can't quite get comfortable standing here.

Speaker 1 You see that like standing here,

Speaker 1 she had no struggles like walking up, but she is going to reach towards what looks like a little dagger in her belt.

Speaker 1 It's all metal with like a little horse head at the top and she'll like wrap her hands around it and cast her druid craft into it and turn it into like a horse-headed cane to walk.

Speaker 1 down to view more of this with.

Speaker 1 There is something about this place that makes her want to sit in her power as a druid as we move through a a space that was so compelled and held by the god we destroyed.

Speaker 1 And Hal is just

Speaker 1 admiring his best friend in the world striding down this hill into the center of this ancient place.

Speaker 1 And I think by the time they get to the bottom and they're on the edge of the performance area and you can see low wooden buildings that are you've never seen before off to the sides and you can see performers and and and construction workers moving in and out.

Speaker 1 You can tell that they're going to be used as like backstage and storage. And

Speaker 1 the tree is now high above us down at this vantage point.

Speaker 1 And as we turn to look back up from where we came, I said, I say,

Speaker 1 once we came here to celebrate a god,

Speaker 1 now we come to celebrate each other.

Speaker 1 Helen deal, I should never have doubted.

Speaker 1 This is amazing.

Speaker 1 Well, don't be too hasty because

Speaker 1 the government's falling apart.

Speaker 1 I can't nail down what we're allowed to do.

Speaker 1 We've got centuries of tradition and smoke and mirrors to do everything we do. And one day we're allowed to do one thing, and then three days later, it sounds like it is off the table again.

Speaker 1 I'm not really sure whether to shit or go blind.

Speaker 1 If you need things to go a little more smoothly, I've gone over it with Olcott. I think we're in the plan.
Okay, okay. All right.
Thank you for showing me this.

Speaker 1 And I'm gonna lean over to Shadia and be like, okay, what are those buildings?

Speaker 1 You see, she looks over and says, so

Speaker 1 these are gonna be,

Speaker 1 you know, this place was a place where we had to propitiate

Speaker 1 the God of War that kept us captive and,

Speaker 1 you know.

Speaker 1 But

Speaker 1 that's going to be a concession stand. And we're going to have...

Speaker 1 We're going to have fruit leather and we're going to have

Speaker 1 the sweet

Speaker 1 that gourd, you know, that sort of squash bread. We're going to have that.

Speaker 1 Also, if you look at this and you see she starts to show you these hooks that what was a broad amphitheater is being kind of separated into boxes.

Speaker 1 They're just putting up, so like there's, there's like cool woodwork going on where the benches are still stone, but you're like looking at why they're being sort of partitioned off.

Speaker 1 And you see there's partitions because there are, you see Shadi starts to explain, because it's outdoors, but it's rainy a lot in Dolmakyar.

Speaker 1 And, you know, people used to just get wet, but that's, you get sick.

Speaker 1 So

Speaker 1 you can pull the covers up and you see she does this big fabric.

Speaker 1 You see there's like a waxed, beautiful, and they're all like multicolored, like, and you see that some of them are like a harlequin pattern.

Speaker 1 They look, some of them are tasseled that sort of come up and

Speaker 1 make this little rain roof.

Speaker 1 And she says, and, uh, and you see that she takes out, she sort of throws open a crate, and you just see like 30 little silvery filigreed, they look made of tin or something kind of cheap, but they look beautiful.

Speaker 1 It's there's a lot of like showmanship kind of like troubadour stuff where it's like, it's beautiful. It's very cheap.
It's beautiful.

Speaker 1 As she's giving that explanation, Hal wanders away from the both of you, like 50 feet away, and he's standing even further at the base of the tree now. And he doesn't shout, but using thaumaturgy,

Speaker 1 he just speaks calmly and his voice... carries all the way to you and beyond and says,

Speaker 1 it's everything we've been talking about for years.

Speaker 1 You see, the work all stops and everyone turns around. And you see, nearby, there is an ancient orcish man.
He's got one of the ugliest crocheted hats you've ever seen. He's like got patched.

Speaker 1 He looks like, he just looks like an old quilt monster that rolls out of the bed. And he's got this ancient little orcish drum that has like a triple-headed wand to play it with.

Speaker 1 And you see, he goes like, What's everything we've been, what have we been talking about?

Speaker 1 Stop the work. How are your knees today? Oh, bad as can be.
It's going to rain. Mm-hmm.

Speaker 1 Bad, bad, bad.

Speaker 1 You see, he says, is that Taisha?

Speaker 1 Oh, you have an age today.

Speaker 1 Thank you for noticing.

Speaker 1 You see, he turns. You look as youthful and vital as ever.

Speaker 1 You see, he smiles. So Uli, you know, is 85 years old, which means that Uli remembers before the war.
He's one of the few orcs who's here who remembers before the war.

Speaker 1 You see, sort of boom, thump, thump, boom, boom, hits the drum.

Speaker 1 I want to slide over to him.

Speaker 1 So, what do you think about all of this? Sorry. What do you think? How do I whisper to you?

Speaker 1 Message. Message.
What do you think of all of this? The round?

Speaker 1 Well,

Speaker 1 we wonder the root. We outgrew the rookery for a while.
That stage is best used for students anyhow.

Speaker 1 They need it to practice and grow and train. And then Bolaire has been kind enough to let us play at the Lyceum at the Arkana for quite some time, but

Speaker 1 I don't know. The folks in Caravan Hill and the Frey deserve a show too, I'd say.
But you mean, you ever think about all this?

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 1 You remember

Speaker 1 before

Speaker 1 When I was a young boy, my older brother went off to join Revolution. I whisper to Tysha as I'll in.

Speaker 1 He went off to join

Speaker 1 Aldrin.

Speaker 1 You know, he was always a

Speaker 1 whippersnapper and he

Speaker 1 had a fire in him. I mean, that's the thing.
You know.

Speaker 1 You

Speaker 1 lord over a people, tell them that we are meant to cover all of Araman and

Speaker 1 in conquest and victory.

Speaker 1 And you tell us to be brave, fear nothing, march forward, though the blood rings in your ears.

Speaker 1 How old Dead Osgra thought he was doing anything other than training us to do what we did, I'll never know.

Speaker 1 My brother, he came home one day and he told our mother,

Speaker 1 there's some...

Speaker 1 some

Speaker 1 wise old smiths up at the top of the city. They said they found a secret buried deep in the earth.

Speaker 1 We don't.

Speaker 1 We don't have to be afraid anymore. We don't have to...

Speaker 1 We don't have to coward.

Speaker 1 We don't have to feel the heat of the fire behind us

Speaker 1 and the sharpness of dwarven steel in front of us.

Speaker 1 We could be free.

Speaker 1 And my mother said, Who you've met are lunatics, and you must ignore what they've said.

Speaker 1 And he said,

Speaker 1 I think they're right. They're gonna make a sword that can kill the tyrant that dwells at the center of our land.

Speaker 1 And those were called the Lois.

Speaker 1 I don't know if you've heard.

Speaker 1 The city does a good job of reminding me, but it's nice to hear it.

Speaker 1 But but

Speaker 1 taking this place,

Speaker 1 the bad places

Speaker 1 were on the other side of those mountains.

Speaker 1 The top of the peaks, the blood running down into the valleys below.

Speaker 1 Here in this place, I remember when I was a boy

Speaker 1 propitiated the Shaper

Speaker 1 of all the shapers and all the peoples of Araman

Speaker 1 he

Speaker 1 told us to serve him which all the shapers did but we were the only people that knew we were doing it without a reward

Speaker 1 The land that was promised to us after death

Speaker 1 was the same as life, just more suffering. Endless wasteland choked by ash and fire.

Speaker 1 But what he didn't know

Speaker 1 is that there's no way to look up

Speaker 1 from this stage at the sky and not see something more beautiful.

Speaker 1 And that's our city.

Speaker 1 And you look up and see all of Dolmakyar spreading up.

Speaker 1 I know now

Speaker 1 that those who sang songs in this place, even if the words were meant to soothe his wrath and keep our lives

Speaker 1 in propitiating his fury,

Speaker 1 the melody,

Speaker 1 the dance,

Speaker 1 the fury and the passion that was...

Speaker 1 That was always for us.

Speaker 1 I step up next to him and put a hand on his shoulder and look to Shadia and say,

Speaker 1 But

Speaker 1 in the past they used this place, we knew

Speaker 1 this place was to grapple with who we were.

Speaker 1 And today we'll use it to figure out who we are

Speaker 1 and who we will be.

Speaker 1 The bins are for umbrellas.

Speaker 1 That's right, the bins are for umbrellas.

Speaker 1 And there's something

Speaker 1 and there's something something in listening to that story and listening to, especially listening to Shadia,

Speaker 1 that

Speaker 1 she feels that itch under her feet and she kind of shifts in where she's standing in just a little pulse outward under her. The grass is a little greener and the soil is a little darker.

Speaker 1 Where she stands, The earth is improved as it remembers itself.

Speaker 1 But our home is beautiful.

Speaker 1 And this gift isn't for here.

Speaker 1 So it's

Speaker 1 with a little wistful sigh that she goes back and nods about the umbrellas and asks a thousand more follow-up questions.

Speaker 1 Shadia takes your hand and says, I'm going to show you, I think, a part you'll like the most.

Speaker 1 It takes you up to the stage past this sacred cypress tree.

Speaker 1 and looks out and you see right behind the back wall. And you see they're building a backstage area and it's kind of built into the old stone and then expanding with wood and new construction.

Speaker 1 You see the Tintazi wood and there's just this beautiful Kahadi forest, this just small little wild place on the shores of this massive lake that the waterfall of the city goes out into.

Speaker 1 And she just looks out and goes

Speaker 1 I just think it's so special that

Speaker 1 through, I mean, like, I don't, you know, I've only had stories about the war. To me,

Speaker 1 you know, I was a kid when the Falconers Rebellion ended, let alone the Shapers' War. And, you know,

Speaker 1 I know they

Speaker 1 know that the ancients had to rebuild the city after the Shapers' War, but

Speaker 1 this forest survived everything.

Speaker 1 It just makes me think about.

Speaker 1 I really miss you

Speaker 1 I miss you so much

Speaker 1 and I love you so much

Speaker 1 and it's so lovely to see the per the person you're becoming

Speaker 1 I'm sorry

Speaker 1 I hope I'm becoming someone that

Speaker 1 And you see, she struggles in this moment to say what's on her heart.

Speaker 1 I don't press.

Speaker 1 I don't think I deserve to press.

Speaker 1 So I just kind of rub her back and look at the trees. Al's allowing himself to black out the last few weeks of uncertainty and anxiety and fear.

Speaker 1 Just to enjoy seeing mother and daughter together with the expanse beyond them.

Speaker 1 Give me, if you'd be so kind, an insight or a persuasion. I'll actually say, because you don't step forward, I'd ask for insight instead of persuasion as you rub her back.

Speaker 1 Oh, thank you.

Speaker 1 22.

Speaker 1 Bless you, bless you.

Speaker 1 She breathes.

Speaker 1 Energy reaches into her and she calms down. She looks up, tears streaming down her face.

Speaker 1 I know

Speaker 1 how special you are.

Speaker 1 And you can see the person I'm becoming.

Speaker 1 I feel like I can't see her at all.

Speaker 1 And I sometimes get mad at myself because I feel

Speaker 1 like I don't want you to see the person.

Speaker 1 I want you to see

Speaker 1 the becoming.

Speaker 1 I just

Speaker 1 know Uncle Theazi's dead, and every time you go, I know

Speaker 1 that

Speaker 1 I'm really scared about Alagar.

Speaker 1 I am too.

Speaker 1 But

Speaker 1 we were shaped by a god that told us not to fear and keep moving forward.

Speaker 1 And it's not fair to carry that

Speaker 1 forward.

Speaker 1 But there is subtle wisdom in it. You can't live your life afraid.

Speaker 1 And Alagar

Speaker 1 is his mother's son and made a choice to protect this world with his blade.

Speaker 1 Just as you and your father are protecting this world by protecting and creating the stories and songs of it,

Speaker 1 you make the joy that all of the wandering and all of the fighting and fear are worth.

Speaker 1 And I know that's not.

Speaker 1 I know that's not a comfort.

Speaker 1 Not really.

Speaker 1 But it's what I tell myself at night when I miss you most.

Speaker 1 She leans her head against your shoulder

Speaker 1 and goes,

Speaker 1 You make joy.

Speaker 1 You're my mom.

Speaker 1 I love you so much. I love you too.

Speaker 1 I'll keep dancing and keep juggling. And it'll all be here when the world is healed.

Speaker 1 Until then,

Speaker 1 I want to look out at the trees and in Druidic,

Speaker 1 just ask this wood to watch out for my family.

Speaker 1 And I mean those that I'm connected to by blood, but also all of the people connected to them.

Speaker 1 And all the people that come and watch them, and all the people that they go home to as I try to remind myself and remind these woods that we are all connected.

Speaker 1 And if there is

Speaker 1 magic in the asking, I ask that

Speaker 1 the trees

Speaker 1 offer shade

Speaker 1 and protection

Speaker 1 and oxygen and life

Speaker 1 so that this world is good too.

Speaker 1 The wind wind ripples.

Speaker 1 God damn it.

Speaker 1 The wind ripples.

Speaker 1 Um uh

Speaker 1 as it does so give me a nature check. You can do so with advantage.
Thank you.

Speaker 1 Oh no.

Speaker 1 Yeah, I know. Sixteen.
Sixteen.

Speaker 1 You look out. You hear the wind rustling.

Speaker 1 Flight of some nearby magpies.

Speaker 1 This forest is telling you something.

Speaker 1 Something soft and that would bring you joy.

Speaker 1 On a 16, you can't hear it

Speaker 1 because you hear the song of a nightingale calling you from the city.

Speaker 1 Trundling up to the hallowed round hall, you look and see a gray carriage arriving with the symbol of the arkanod on it uh talison uh i believe we see bolair arriving here at the hallowed round

Speaker 1 with a with a quite large carriage

Speaker 1 the very large carriage uh with uh

Speaker 1 i actually i want to check how big is the crate that i have brought uh the crate that you you've brought i brought you've brought the the shipment all fits within a single carriage okay

Speaker 1 Quite packed and heavy on its wheels. There's about six crates in total.
That's a lot. Okay.

Speaker 1 I hop out of the carriage.

Speaker 1 Clear-eyed and bushy-tailed if I had eyes or a tail.

Speaker 1 My word, it is looking lovely and everybody is working and it is just delightful. Why are not more people working right now?

Speaker 1 That's...

Speaker 1 Are they turning that into a concession stand? I see you way up at the height of the amphitheater and using thaumaturgy again. Again, I don't shout.
I just say, oh, you saved me a trip.

Speaker 1 And it comes out clear as a bell to your ear in the last row. Oh!

Speaker 1 I'm on my way! And I'm hopping up there at full speed.

Speaker 1 As you're hopping up there, Bolera,

Speaker 1 you descend, and I actually think that you have

Speaker 1 with you,

Speaker 1 I think you have Spiro and Rosadella here, who are two of your archivists, to sort of help unload the crates.

Speaker 1 Just some, you know, refining some help from the museum, looking out and saying, Master Belair, happy to help.

Speaker 1 As they start unloading it, is there anything you would like to do skill-wise that Belair would have wanted to know before arriving here at the

Speaker 1 oh, I would have tested a sample of this stuff to make sure that it is not harmless in any way and i know what i said yes yeah go ahead and give me a give me an arcana check all right

Speaker 1 did we get a liquor license um

Speaker 1 uh

Speaker 1 that's okay for me a 21.

Speaker 1 uh

Speaker 1 um

Speaker 1 on a 21 um you know thinking about like your your work today before arriving here with the sort of delivery for Hal,

Speaker 1 you have a,

Speaker 1 you know, under at your table with all of your fine tools and instruments, the magnifying glass, everything like that.

Speaker 1 All of this is,

Speaker 1 you would swear, it all looks like penteveral work.

Speaker 1 The actual substance of the materials inside. It is, uh, it

Speaker 1 has faint residue of

Speaker 1 like it's

Speaker 1 it's thick with illusion, which makes sense if it's paint,

Speaker 1 but there's a little bit of like a

Speaker 1 hint of conjuration under it.

Speaker 1 The paint itself is is a like

Speaker 1 you look confused.

Speaker 1 Deeply.

Speaker 1 It all looks like looking at it, but you're like, you're like, is this a

Speaker 1 like what like what is this? What is the spell on this? And you, you, on a 21, you double, triple check. There is no spell effect.
There's no magical aura.

Speaker 1 So you're like, where am I getting this residue from? Did a lot of magic happen around this? Did it happen? So, and I think on that 21, you're looking at it and being like, was this like

Speaker 1 the answers run all the way to the very grim, which are like, this is, it's either magic you've never seen before, or this was sitting at the back of a workshop at the Pentauvreal for too long and got weird.

Speaker 1 And he wouldn't have given it to me to give to him if it were dangerous, I assume.

Speaker 1 It's just

Speaker 1 safe and sorry. It doesn't strike you as dangerous.

Speaker 1 You can tell that everything about, there's nothing like coiled within this necessarily.

Speaker 1 I trust nothing right now.

Speaker 1 And you will say you do...

Speaker 1 Examining the amphoras, which are completely mundane, that actually is an easy one where you do get a potter's mark, like an artisan's mark, on the bottom of the amphora from a potter's gallery in the fray, which which is not too far from here.

Speaker 1 Well, that's nice. Okay, so worst case scenario there is someone to

Speaker 1 interrogate

Speaker 1 if we have to.

Speaker 1 But yeah, Howell, you see these big amphoras of paint coming down into so they're they're barren for us all to see on the back of the...

Speaker 1 Yeah, or the crates are coming down, and if you choose to open them, you see. Okay.
And I'm... Just giving some slight instruction before I go.

Speaker 1 Well, I was going to say to put them in the back of what is now the concession stand, but clearly that is a terrible idea.

Speaker 1 Let's just put them here for now and we will figure out where they're going to go. Olgood, who you've worked a lot with when you were at the Lyceum, says, what do you have against fruit leather?

Speaker 1 We gotta keep the... We have to run this place.
I mean, you know? We're running a business. Look at here.
There's two places to get money.

Speaker 1 Aristocrats and selling fruit leather. What do you want us to do?

Speaker 1 I will not put anything... that has the word leather in my mouth and swallow it.
That's disgusting. Well, you don't know how to have a good time.

Speaker 1 We were planning on. Plenty of people in this bloody city who would disagree with that.
We were planning on swinging by later to find you. You've saved us the trip.
What is all this?

Speaker 1 Well, why are you in this mood? Oh!

Speaker 1 It's so good to see you. Hi, that sounded insincere.
No, it...

Speaker 1 I always sound insincere.

Speaker 1 No, it's

Speaker 1 lovely to see you, and this place just brings out the best in me. Hey.
It's beautiful.

Speaker 1 I will at this point lift one of the lids off the crate and see. It's clearly paint when I see it.
Yeah, there's like a little bit of staining from the paint, and it's many different colors.

Speaker 1 And the amphora are huge. These big double-handed ceramic jugs that you can see have essentially within them a,

Speaker 1 I probably like multiple gallons. Like each amphora has,

Speaker 1 you know,

Speaker 1 how much we say, 30 gallons of paint within it. Yeah.
Well, as soon as I see paint,

Speaker 1 I've been thinking of Theazi's words since he said them to me, and I am seeing his words come to life in front of me. So he freezes

Speaker 1 and then puts on a smile. You know what? This will be better in the back.
Could we wheel it around past the concession stand? Less. I'll take it off the way to say that.

Speaker 1 Boys, put it back on the cot.

Speaker 1 You see, Olga looks and says,

Speaker 1 paint.

Speaker 1 I was... I hadn't put the order in yet because we're not there yet,

Speaker 1 but we're getting close. I was was going to probably order it the day.
I meant to tell you about it. Just let me.

Speaker 1 We'll discuss. Yeah, you got this? It's special paint.
It's leather. You can eat it.
What?

Speaker 1 Doesn't that sound delightful? Homie, amazing. Why don't we just...
I don't know how hard you think a museum goes, but I'll tell you what, buddy.

Speaker 1 I'm from Caravan Hill and I've seen a thing or something. That was supposed to be a gift shop, not a concession stand.

Speaker 1 Gift shop, museum ass. Oh, homie.

Speaker 1 Shadio, we're moving. Come on.
Don't eat the paint.

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Speaker 1 You head down with Bolaire to like a backstage area where you see,

Speaker 1 looking around, Hal, there is a lot of, honestly, decorative work that has to happen, primarily because

Speaker 1 for better or for worse, and probably honestly for better in a lot of ways, there was a lot of stuff here that during the Shapers War had to be defaced.

Speaker 1 There were holy holy symbols to Osgra that were easy for him to cast spells through.

Speaker 1 There were like a lot of things that had to happen to like come in and shatter a like version of his holy symbol that was like casting bane on everybody within a hundred yards.

Speaker 1 You know, like there were, but within that, so in other words, there's a lot of work that you have to do to kind of like make this place inviting and show.

Speaker 1 Right, because it was vandalized to shit in the decade or two after the gods fell.

Speaker 1 While we're we're walking, before you say that, I hip bump your hip and

Speaker 1 just smile.

Speaker 1 Do you want any help with Bolair's paint?

Speaker 1 With just enough emphasis that you mentioned that very quickly when talking about all the things that Theazzi said to you in those last moments, and she remembers. Yes, I do.
Okay.

Speaker 1 She's by your side. Okay, absolutely.
Like, you're taking point, and your

Speaker 1 baby mama, just back up right now. All right, so I'll kill them for you.

Speaker 1 I'm making sure that we've moved this cart, and I gather Bolaire's assistants are along for the ride, but we are moving away from the company, off beyond the concession stand, and several barrels of fruit leather so we can talk in private.

Speaker 1 Yeah, my archivists, my two archivists who work for me.

Speaker 1 We're to start. First, thank you for coming yesterday.
It was good to have a friendly face on my side.

Speaker 1 It felt like half the people in that room wanted to put a knife in my brother's back, and it was just good to have friends. It was somehow even more insane than I thought it would be.

Speaker 1 That said, in his final moments, my brother very freverishly told me that you had pain for me. You have pain for me.
It

Speaker 1 was... waiting for me when I got to the museum.

Speaker 1 Uh, waiting for you. I am as shocked as anyone.
I'm

Speaker 1 usually aware of everything that comes in or out of your wing.

Speaker 1 This

Speaker 1 has just appeared.

Speaker 1 Is the lid of one of these things easy enough to pop off? I've checked it. It's safe.

Speaker 1 Boy. What is it for?

Speaker 1 I don't know.

Speaker 1 Anything that comes to the museum should be checked to make sure it's safe. It wouldn't be there if it wasn't unusual, and it is unusual.
There is is a letter, if I recall.

Speaker 1 From oh, there is a note from how they said for like with love.

Speaker 1 And you've given it a once and a twice and a thrice over?

Speaker 1 Five times at this point. And I hand the note.

Speaker 1 This is highly unusual. Give me.

Speaker 1 Tal, I'll ask for persuasion or deception. Give me an insight, Hal and Tysha.

Speaker 1 I'll give guidance.

Speaker 1 What question in particular? Absolute dog shit. That's not gonna help.
The earlier statement, as well, just a sort of general vibe from Bolaire talking about how unusual all this is.

Speaker 1 The circumstances by which it showed up are definitely unusual. Sure.
That's what I will say.

Speaker 1 And I get to so

Speaker 1 guidance. Okay.

Speaker 1 I beg you do better.

Speaker 1 We're going to have to stage the setup.

Speaker 1 Yeah, now I feel it.

Speaker 1 It's all the same.

Speaker 1 So I'll say 19. 19.

Speaker 1 I rolled a two, so with the modifier and the bump from guidance, it's a nine.

Speaker 1 Your lovely friend Bolaire seems as perplexed, and I think there's a question hanging in the air about Theazi

Speaker 1 telling you in his last moments that Bolair had something for you.

Speaker 1 It's unusual. You didn't...
I don't know.

Speaker 1 What would...

Speaker 1 Does Hal know that Belair and Theazi...

Speaker 1 As far as he knows, we've met once at your house.

Speaker 1 So I think that on a nine, you don't see anything.

Speaker 1 Belair's not acting strange at all, but there's just a question hanging in the air of like, why did Theazi

Speaker 1 and just staring at the paint? Not sure what to make of it, because it is clear that you didn't ex uh that you didn't expect it. Not even a little.
So what was my brother doing?

Speaker 1 What do I get for my natural one?

Speaker 1 I think you...

Speaker 1 You're looking so good. You're looking.

Speaker 1 Bolair, I will ask you at this moment, too, as you open the paint, looking at Hal, who's looking a little bit perplexed. I'd like you to give me a perception check.
Oh, boy.

Speaker 1 And I'd also like you to give me a constitution saving throw. Yay, perception check.
That's right there. Did you taste the paint? Is there a lead in the past? Oh, I have absolutely tasted the paint.

Speaker 1 Perception check is 14.

Speaker 1 Constitution saving throw is 13.

Speaker 1 Looking around in a 14,

Speaker 1 I think you

Speaker 1 are

Speaker 1 looking at this place

Speaker 1 where a god

Speaker 1 would demand tribute.

Speaker 1 And on that perception check, I think you just feel the nascent magic in this place

Speaker 1 of

Speaker 1 something

Speaker 1 bubbling, something boiling. There's something under this city that's running hot.

Speaker 1 And on a 13 Constitution save,

Speaker 1 the feeling of that magical energy,

Speaker 1 I think you feel

Speaker 1 something

Speaker 1 turn and slither

Speaker 1 in a way that

Speaker 1 makes you feel

Speaker 1 ill at ease.

Speaker 1 Have I noticed this since specifically in this place? Do I feel that it is connected to this place?

Speaker 1 I think that you don't feel that the

Speaker 1 discomfort is due to this place. Actually,

Speaker 1 maybe the awareness of the discomfort is being caused by this place. In other words, some clarity has been added in this moment.

Speaker 1 Excuse me, I. Are you okay?

Speaker 1 Uh,

Speaker 1 just uh a bit unsettled. Do you want some fruit leather? It will soothe your stomach.

Speaker 1 No, wine, but

Speaker 1 it's morning.

Speaker 1 It's morning somewhere.

Speaker 1 Here, now.

Speaker 1 Using the theater cantrip, using the thunderg cantrip, you see that someone from the stage calls, you see Olgood gets someone to do it for him, and he says, We have wine, we sell it by the box.

Speaker 1 It's for parties. Do you like box wine?

Speaker 1 Yeah. I think you very well know the answer to that.

Speaker 1 And with that, we move from this scene to

Speaker 1 Caravan Hill, where

Speaker 1 a

Speaker 1 dwarven woman is marching down the street and turns a corner to see a group of arcane marshals

Speaker 1 walking down the road. Azune, as you've been marching, go ahead and give me a perception with advantage.

Speaker 1 Okay.

Speaker 1 Set the tone.

Speaker 1 Make it better. Make it good.
Okay. Well.
Make it good. It's not, don't say make it good.
That's the name of this episode. That's not great.

Speaker 1 13.

Speaker 1 13. 13.
On a 13, you have been patrolling the neighborhood.

Speaker 1 You, nothing on the thing onto word. No one sent up a big arcane flare.
Nothing wild has happened.

Speaker 1 You're aware of the perimeter you're keeping.

Speaker 1 And I think because you're actually successful in keeping a wider perimeter, you don't even hear like glass shattering as an elven paladin leaps through a window. Okay.

Speaker 1 However, looking around, you do see

Speaker 1 a dwarven wizard turn the corner. And Murray, you look up and see Azune in front of you.

Speaker 1 What are you doing here? Where have you been? Wait, I've been working. I didn't see you last night.
Why didn't I see you at the viewer? Who was there? Who were you?

Speaker 1 I got there late. Why got there on time?

Speaker 1 I'm sorry. We need to talk.
There were so many damn carriages from so many damn nobles

Speaker 1 crowding the streets. Yes, there was a lot of people there.
But look, we... It's it's uh it's wild running into you like this.
And my attention. It's not that wild.

Speaker 1 I work here. Where are you offended? Wait, because

Speaker 1 I need I need you.

Speaker 1 Okay.

Speaker 1 Give me a second. We need need to find somewhere to talk.
Okay, give me a second here.

Speaker 1 And my focus right now is so split because I'm running in my mind. I do still have pieces of theosity.

Speaker 1 Just like flashes of the last look on his face and his body, but I also have now this Lord Knight

Speaker 1 that came to speak to me at the Brethren Hall.

Speaker 1 And the look behind his eyes and that intent in his voice and that hunger. And

Speaker 1 also, glad to hear that I'm not picking picking up on any sort of arcane signatures

Speaker 1 leaving this place

Speaker 1 as a part of my patrol and knowing that at least those at the Caravan Hill are covered if there's any magic happening there then there's no one that's going to report it

Speaker 1 but

Speaker 1 I find that as I'm getting caught up in this I need something else that's also part of my routine when I patrol the city one of the things that I'm also looking for is I'm looking for moments between the people that live here in this city that's become my home.

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 1 The first home I've ever had.

Speaker 1 Those moments that are hiding in plain sight that pass between people, a moment of kindness, a whisper, a laugh, a joke shared, a soft touch, because that is one thing embedded in my routine and my patrol.

Speaker 1 The very thing that I'm looking for that matters to me more than any arcane signature that pops up.

Speaker 1 And whether I saw it or not, or whether I was blind to it, I find that I'm now in the presence of one of the few people in this place that I call my friend.

Speaker 1 And I reach out for your hand and I grab it.

Speaker 1 Just come with me. All right, gish.

Speaker 1 All right. Where can we go?

Speaker 1 And I just pull you.

Speaker 1 You like pull Murray into an alley. You see the inquirer Horace goes, got a bus.

Speaker 1 And just stays on the corner.

Speaker 1 It's like,

Speaker 1 I'm going to move along. And there's one guy like 80 feet away who's like, me?

Speaker 1 Walking.

Speaker 1 Does that think you're about to get lucky?

Speaker 1 Is that what that was?

Speaker 1 Yes, that's exactly it.

Speaker 1 Now you're flustered. Why?

Speaker 1 Okay.

Speaker 1 Let's hope we are lucky, actually.

Speaker 1 Well, why are you looking for me?

Speaker 1 Why are you flustered?

Speaker 1 What news do you have? This whole god stand town has gone like cat lady crazy ever since everything. What happened to the execution?

Speaker 1 I thought you said you were gonna try and do something i was but wait look i'll catch you up on that when we

Speaker 1 and then i just start to um i'll move further away from the arcane marshals i feel so out of the loop and the uh a portion of this conversation is is actually the rest of this conversation

Speaker 1 in messaging trip yes

Speaker 1 uh

Speaker 1 yes we had a plan it went south we found out

Speaker 1 yes

Speaker 1 yes uh uh and and and we have there are people that are on it that are that are searching for the people that may have caused it to fall apart. But that's something that look that's that's not

Speaker 1 as important right now, really, because there's nothing you and I can do about that right now.

Speaker 1 He's dead. Yes, he is.

Speaker 1 You notice that.

Speaker 1 Look,

Speaker 1 the noble houses are closing in on us.

Speaker 1 And I know that they're closing on the Pentecostal as well. They're gonna be closing down...
Well, I just had a meeting with a Lord Night Einfassen.

Speaker 1 He's one of the one of the houses here.

Speaker 1 And

Speaker 1 they're gonna be

Speaker 1 choking us.

Speaker 1 And the Penteverl, I'm assuming, is under fire as well. Yeah, guess who just walked into my office?

Speaker 1 Actually, it technically wasn't my office. He was Dean Tall Barrels, but he walked in.
It was Primus. Lord Primus Taconus.
Okay.

Speaker 1 He's overthrowing. He's overthrowing Tolt Barrel.
I think he wants to overthrow me as well. I think...

Speaker 1 And I don't know who to trust anymore.

Speaker 1 I think Tolt Barrel is in his pocket.

Speaker 1 Yeah, they're trying to find the people that they can control that are in the positions that they want to have the most influence in.

Speaker 1 For now, the Arcane Marshals appear to be safe.

Speaker 1 We do things that they haven't quite figured out how to do themselves.

Speaker 1 The next thing is that they're going to install people that are going to be their puppets so that they can be in complete control, which I'm sure is what they're doing at the Pinter.

Speaker 1 You have to find that deeply disconcerting, right? Of course, I do.

Speaker 1 Of course, I do.

Speaker 1 I mean, the moment that any of us are no longer useful, we will see the bottom of their boot just like everybody else.

Speaker 1 I will never not be useful.

Speaker 1 Never.

Speaker 1 You say that now. Don't you understand? Azune, this is all connected.
They're trying to get more people into my school to train your replacements. You get that, right?

Speaker 1 Of course I get that. So what do you mean you think you won't one day be useful? Because I will find a way to always be useful.
But then you are falling into their scheme.

Speaker 1 You know the anecdote, right? About the frogs in the pot in boiling water. Do I have to explain this? I think you do.

Speaker 1 all right

Speaker 1 you know if you have a pot of boiling water throw a frog in frogs gonna jump out right cuz the frog's like oh it's hot it's boiling water it doesn't die right away no well don't get focused on the details here but if you put it's a story if you put a frog in a cold pot of water and you turn the heat on and it slowly heats up over time frog won't jump out right because like frogs their physiology they're like they're cold-blooded right so they're gonna heat up over time now i'm getting caught in the details.

Speaker 1 Look, the point is, the frog, we are those frogs in that pot right now. Right.
They're turning that heat up. Right.
It's slowly going to get hot.

Speaker 1 And the next thing you know, we're going to die because we're going to be boiled to death. Yeah.

Speaker 1 Do you get it? I do, I get it.

Speaker 1 I don't think you're looking at me like you don't get it. I just was wondering if the story was done.
No, yeah, it's.

Speaker 1 What I'm trying to say. You know what we need to do is we need to find.
Frogs? Shit. No, now you're confusing me.

Speaker 1 What do we need to find? Well, I was on my way to go to...

Speaker 1 Well,

Speaker 1 I was going to end up at Bolaire's. Yeah.
I was with him all night. I haven't slept.
You need to

Speaker 1 do something about that. Yeah, I think wine.
Wine would be good. It'll make you sleepier, wouldn't it? You need some coffee to sleep.
You don't know me here. Okay, Murray, I'm in a new.
Oh, Octus.

Speaker 1 Yes. I'm in a news.

Speaker 1 I'm not directing you. I'm not in this.
Okay.

Speaker 1 I'm a different guy. I'm on the the other side of the fourth wall.
I love it. You know what I'm saying? Thank you, Joe.

Speaker 1 Go ahead and give me a constitution savings. Difficulty 15.

Speaker 1 Why? I'm nowhere.

Speaker 1 Oh, I know why.

Speaker 1 Because I'm tired. You're fine.
No.

Speaker 1 I'm nervous for myself, but I slept. Now you're the frog.

Speaker 1 No, you were the frog. Nope.

Speaker 1 You take a level of exhaustion. Okay.
Oh, wow.

Speaker 1 You have to go to sleep.

Speaker 1 But yeah,

Speaker 1 as as you're saying Octus, you just feel the acknowledgement of your tiredness wash over you.

Speaker 1 If I start to see you sway, I will go to kind of

Speaker 1 help

Speaker 1 stabilize you.

Speaker 1 Look.

Speaker 1 Alright, there we go. Is they gonna? Okay.
It's clear we're not really getting anywhere, just the two of us.

Speaker 1 They're after Octus.

Speaker 1 Primus came in to the office looking for Octus.

Speaker 1 I know where Octus is.

Speaker 1 Do you want to find him with me? Yeah, we should find him before they do. Then let's go.

Speaker 1 And I will start to take Murray towards Caravan. I mean, we're already in Caravan Hill, but I'm going to take her towards the tavern then, assuming they're

Speaker 1 just loosens her corset a little bit. I need more oxygen in my bloodstream.
Let's go. You guys get it.

Speaker 1 As you're adjusting yourself, you get to the front and you see that Horace says, time to roll out.

Speaker 1 you're in charge now horace i'm going to begin uh the other part of my job i've got a couple of uh maintenance issues that i need to take care of uh with the penteveral as you can see i'm working with someone uh from that

Speaker 1 you look at this guy who's looking at you you guys stormed off into an alley and then silently stared into each other's eyes for about five and a half minutes

Speaker 1 and this guy's like

Speaker 1 i don't know what freaky shit this is of basically

Speaker 1 adjusting my corset I just dab a little bit of sweat off my bosom. It's just there always, though.
It's summer. Horace looks at you and goes,

Speaker 1 I also,

Speaker 1 it's interesting when you can't touch.

Speaker 1 Totally over my head. I

Speaker 1 don't pick up on any of them. Oh, boy.
He's also my son.

Speaker 1 You guys head off into Caravan Hill.

Speaker 1 We move from there to

Speaker 1 the Merconade Couturia. Oh, yeah.

Speaker 1 Teor, baby.

Speaker 1 Let's go.

Speaker 1 Teor, with a wonderful,

Speaker 1 with a wonderful

Speaker 1 sort of like a bunch of coin at your side, you walk into the marketplace. You enter this beautiful couturier, well-appointed, delightful.
You see an older man who's sort of similar to Bolaire's hair.

Speaker 1 But he has a beautiful platinum, rolling curls, a wig, a ruff around the neck, turns to you and

Speaker 1 Sir,

Speaker 1 welcome to Merconaut Couturier. How may I be of service to you?

Speaker 1 It is my first time being here, but I've been sent to

Speaker 1 acquire a bit more fashion from the candescent Creed.

Speaker 1 You've been sent by the Creed, perhaps our most notable client. Well, we are delighted to be able to serve you.
Wonderful. What time of day is it? It's like late afternoon, I think, at this point.

Speaker 1 This is

Speaker 1 establishment above my means. Typically,

Speaker 1 I am quite parched from my journey. Do you have anything that I could have to drink before we begin?

Speaker 1 I can search for something. You see, he goes over, he says, I'm afraid we don't have anything by means of water, but we do have some sherry and brandy, if you'd like.

Speaker 1 Lead the way.

Speaker 1 You walk into the back sort of fitting room

Speaker 1 fitting room.

Speaker 1 and you see that there's another

Speaker 1 walking into another area, you see that he has what looks to be a twin brother who is wearing a sort of golden shimmering long wig ruff as well.

Speaker 1 You see

Speaker 1 he looks over and says, my brother, Calastro Merconaut. And you see that the brother says, charmed.

Speaker 1 Some sherry for the guest. And you see pours a beautiful gem-cut glass and hands it over to you.
That's amazing.

Speaker 1 Twins are rare.

Speaker 1 Walking in this place, can I just do a perception check for anything else that might be standing out? And I would also like to use the thing that lets me detect Faifine or Undead in a 60-foot area.

Speaker 1 Incredible.

Speaker 1 Go ahead and give me a perception check. Perception check.

Speaker 1 Divine sense. Thank you.
I was looking for it. Can you divine sense this fucking non-hollister music?

Speaker 1 This is what they're playing at Abercrombie at Fish.

Speaker 1 The nostrils are burned out already.

Speaker 1 17. 17.
Got it.

Speaker 1 17 perception. You look around.
This place is very visually confusing. There are many different clothing racks.
There's lots of bolts of fabric. The rugs are very thick.

Speaker 1 There's incense hanging in the air. Your nostrils are filled with incense, but there's also brandy.
The fruit is a little bit old. There's a rich fruit smell nearby.

Speaker 1 And there's also some chimes ringing in a corner. It's sort of a sensory overload being in this place.

Speaker 1 As you go to Cast Divine Sense,

Speaker 1 they don't register as

Speaker 1 anything

Speaker 1 like they're not celestials or Fae or fiends.

Speaker 1 That incense.

Speaker 1 There's something about that incense

Speaker 1 that feels.

Speaker 1 The smoke. You smelled that.

Speaker 1 When did you smell that?

Speaker 1 A nine-pointed star burned onto a battlefield.

Speaker 1 Sherry?

Speaker 1 Yes.

Speaker 1 Anything for you?

Speaker 1 For me?

Speaker 1 No, of course. Not at all.
This is for our guests and clientele. Such a

Speaker 1 signature aroma.

Speaker 1 What do you call this?

Speaker 1 The incense? Yes.

Speaker 1 Well,

Speaker 1 this is none other than Sapphire Orchid. It's a beautiful scent.

Speaker 1 It is.

Speaker 1 I'll put the drink down.

Speaker 1 I have to admit that this is um

Speaker 1 unusual for me. What could someone of my station expect to get from

Speaker 1 this establishment?

Speaker 1 The

Speaker 1 s

Speaker 1 your station I'm afraid I don't have as much information as you perhaps presume. Have you been sent here by the Creed? Am I feeling weird smelling this scent?

Speaker 1 Physically. Physically.

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 1 I'm gonna... Are there any windows in the room?

Speaker 1 There's some out in the other front room. Um, where is the money

Speaker 1 on your personal? I typically would tie just a leather strap from the belt. Just loop it around real quick.

Speaker 1 Uh, so it's just on there. I'm gonna say it's a difficulty 10

Speaker 1 to observe that that satchel is on your belt. They're each going to add a plus six to their perception rolls to notice that satchel.
So they need to roll, these need to each be a three or under.

Speaker 1 14.

Speaker 1 You see that

Speaker 1 the

Speaker 1 Calastro's brother, whose name you did not get,

Speaker 1 looks and says, Ah,

Speaker 1 the Creed

Speaker 1 has sent you here to be

Speaker 1 outfitted, gesturing to the satchel in your belt.

Speaker 1 Yes, by the Photarch herself, with Sir Philonius's blessing.

Speaker 1 Well,

Speaker 1 for the Photarch, only the finest work is reserved.

Speaker 1 Lovely to see.

Speaker 1 Every time we can find white velvet, drool begins to emerge from his mouth. I'm going to need you to make two wisdom saving throws.
We have a disadvantage. Let's go and fasten.
Why are you imposing?

Speaker 1 Yeah, like every time I play, I will probably be a fish. This is normal.

Speaker 1 Oh,

Speaker 1 oh, six.

Speaker 1 That disadvantaged.

Speaker 1 Wait, no, it wasn't a disadvantage. It was just two separate rolls.
Two separate rolls, each with disadvantages. Oh, Jesus.

Speaker 1 Okay. A six, and that's two natural ones.
Oh,

Speaker 1 shit.

Speaker 1 What?

Speaker 1 Hey, what's up with this fucking table?

Speaker 1 It's bad here. I want to go home.

Speaker 1 Get it.

Speaker 1 There's not enough.

Speaker 1 I love it.

Speaker 1 A young DM and an old DM. A young DM and an an old DM.

Speaker 1 Thank you. I got you.
I got you, Mamie.

Speaker 1 You see

Speaker 1 in this moment that

Speaker 1 you are hit with two hold person spells at the same time,

Speaker 1 one of which you fail critically as your body seizes and the the divine sense still lingering powerful, fiendish magic

Speaker 1 surrounds you.

Speaker 1 You even hear one of them go

Speaker 1 as it reaches out. And as you go paralyzed,

Speaker 1 you see that

Speaker 1 the older,

Speaker 1 one of them with the sort of white hair goes,

Speaker 1 exemplary

Speaker 1 Mashias, brother.

Speaker 1 Oh my God. And we're going to leave this scene.

Speaker 1 Oh, no.

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Speaker 1 We're going to do that. Um.

Speaker 1 You're just going to get me.

Speaker 1 Some hours later,

Speaker 1 walking into the Mercenade Couturier,

Speaker 1 walking into the Mercenade Couturier is

Speaker 1 none other than Wakander, Hale of Arr. Oh.
And Tyranny. The carriage pulls up.
It is night as you arrive.

Speaker 1 You walk up, the market is closed down. You waited, it was late at night that you got down there.

Speaker 1 The market is closed by now, but you see that there's a small candle lit within the shop of the Mercanaud Couturier.

Speaker 1 Quick sidebar.

Speaker 1 Yes. Okay, so no violence, right? This is going to be on you to

Speaker 1 talk your way through this. They have to listen to you.
Violence is, I would never resort to such a thing. Absolutely agree.
No.

Speaker 1 But in this,

Speaker 1 case,

Speaker 1 remember that everyone is connected to your family. They all know what's going on, but they still have to listen to you.

Speaker 1 Of course they have to listen to me. I'm the scion of House Halovon.
I'll walk in there, demand to know what

Speaker 1 has befallen our friend Teor, and they'll tell me. And

Speaker 1 maybe you have explicit orders to deal with him yourself?

Speaker 1 Tierney, I

Speaker 1 I'm very grateful for you looking out for me, but my name carries great weight in this town. I'll be fine.
All right, Angel Boyle.

Speaker 1 I will simply ask them what they know. They'll tell me, and we'll be on our way.
It's fine.

Speaker 1 Go in ahead of me and announce me, please. Oh, God.

Speaker 1 You guys are like a grapple, and we're playing DD.

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 1 I want you to know

Speaker 1 your character's fate is no longer in my hands, right?

Speaker 1 Sam,

Speaker 1 Sam and Whitney.

Speaker 1 You walk up.

Speaker 1 There's no door. There's no door.

Speaker 1 You walk up.

Speaker 1 It's all beaded curtains here at the Mocanal de Trovier.

Speaker 1 Armand has no door. Armand has no doors.

Speaker 1 You knock on the door. There's a long pause.

Speaker 1 And you see that...

Speaker 1 Walking forward is

Speaker 1 someone I think you have maybe run into before, like doing errands in the city. This is Rulius.
Rulius. Rulius Merconod, one of the twins.

Speaker 1 You see, he walks up. As he opens the door, he looks at you.
Go ahead and just give me even just being here, persuasion with advantage.

Speaker 1 Alright. Let's fucking go!

Speaker 1 Oh, okay.

Speaker 1 Six and an 11 plus,

Speaker 1 so 11 plus 7. 18.
18. Yeah.
He opens the door. You see, he goes,

Speaker 1 Aspirant tyranny.

Speaker 1 Wulius.

Speaker 1 A pleasure to see you. You look,

Speaker 1 well, radiant. Ever bright, ever right.

Speaker 1 May the beam reach you.

Speaker 1 I have a bit of urgency for you, my dear.

Speaker 1 The House of Halevar has sent

Speaker 1 Scion Wick.

Speaker 1 I believe you have guessed.

Speaker 1 Ah.

Speaker 1 Yes, he won't be ready until tomorrow morning. No, no, no need.
Um, he's here imminently. In fact, I'm here to announce him.
Uh, he requires um

Speaker 1 counsel uh with Teor

Speaker 1 before he gets outfitted.

Speaker 1 Teor,

Speaker 1 the guest's name is Teor. The guest's name is Teor.

Speaker 1 And

Speaker 1 ah, well,

Speaker 1 um,

Speaker 1 you've come in the nick of time.

Speaker 1 Good, good.

Speaker 1 Um, uh, I will bound in after

Speaker 1 you walk in. Oh, you see.
The light is all. Hello.
Deep bounds. My lord Hale of Art.
Oh, please. Your radiance is fine.
Your radiance, you honor us with your presence.

Speaker 1 We are absolutely delighted to have you. As am I.
Wow. What a fine arrangement of fabrics.
Delightful. Is that

Speaker 1 satin over there or silk? Isiri satin the finest. I knew it.
I knew it.

Speaker 1 Hi, how are you?

Speaker 1 Has business been good? Is everything all right? Business is booming. Busy, busy, busy.
That's wonderful.

Speaker 1 I don't know if my aspirin told you, but we're looking for a friend of mine, a taller gentleman, hairy, rugged,

Speaker 1 quite handsome,

Speaker 1 I was told. Handsome.

Speaker 1 A friend of yours,

Speaker 1 your uncle sent him our way.

Speaker 1 I'm sure he did, yes, and we're here to retrieve him, fetch him back.

Speaker 1 Has he arrived yet? Is he around? I'm gonna just do a quick scan and see if I can see anything. Give me a perception check.
Okay, I'll not go.

Speaker 1 Three.

Speaker 1 Nine.

Speaker 1 This place is gorgeous.

Speaker 1 It is fucking beautiful.

Speaker 1 Is that a super long vest?

Speaker 1 Wow.

Speaker 1 The vestal gown. Would you like to see? I would.
I think I would. You know what? We're here on business.
But I would like to. Could you just sort of give that aside? Oh.

Speaker 1 We shall put it in the back room with with your name on it. Thank you.
It will stay there until the end of time.

Speaker 1 Wonderful. Thank you.

Speaker 1 You see that he goes and takes it. Delightful.

Speaker 1 You see, he looks and says, says, and delighted we are to have you, and the aspirant tyranny here as well.

Speaker 1 It is a marvel what the light can redeem. Yes, yes.
So true.

Speaker 1 So you see, he closes the door behind you and ushers you further in. You see he says,

Speaker 1 I

Speaker 1 want to be

Speaker 1 as clear as I can. The guest will not be ready until tomorrow morning.
We understand. I would like to suggest that.
I don't suggest.

Speaker 1 Okay.

Speaker 1 I would like to suggest

Speaker 1 that you understand.

Speaker 1 We have orders from up top to fetch our guest and deal with him ourselves. What she said.

Speaker 1 Great. I'm going to need a deception chain.

Speaker 1 And it's going to be a pose.

Speaker 1 This is it. This is it.

Speaker 1 I'm going to roll it somewhere else. I'm going to roll this.
I'm going to roll this in front of the board.

Speaker 1 And it's going to, I'm going to add a plus four to it.

Speaker 1 That's a 14 plus four for an 18.

Speaker 1 15 plus seven. Yes! Asked!

Speaker 1 Oh my god! Ask me!

Speaker 1 Ask you! This is an extremely shrewd.

Speaker 1 I'm going to say, as you look into this man's eyes, you recognize when someone

Speaker 1 is breathing

Speaker 1 and talking without a soul.

Speaker 1 You look into his eyes and the emptiness you see there,

Speaker 1 you see that

Speaker 1 the light being reflected in the room from his eyes has to be recreated with illusory magic because under normal circumstances his eyes would not reflect the light of this world. He

Speaker 1 uh

Speaker 1 um

Speaker 1 uh so looking into this soulless man's eyes and you you know where his soul is. You've seen it yourself.
He looks and says

Speaker 1 ah It appears that there's been something of a

Speaker 1 an error.

Speaker 1 Errors happen. They do.
And it is only for us humble servants to address them immediately. I am very glad that this could be caught in time.
Me as well.

Speaker 1 Um, you see, he moves from here and says,

Speaker 1 Do you

Speaker 1 wish for us to produce the guest, or would you be able to give us uh a hand? It It was quite a challenge seeing the guest to the fitting room.

Speaker 1 I understand.

Speaker 1 I believe the guest will come willingly.

Speaker 1 You'd like us to produce the guest such that he may arrive of his own volition. Yes.
Oh my god. What are we talking about?

Speaker 1 You see,

Speaker 1 you see,

Speaker 1 you see, he says,

Speaker 1 Calastro!

Speaker 1 Brother!

Speaker 1 We have business. And you see that,

Speaker 1 you see that,

Speaker 1 walking up the stairs, you see that there is a dull red glow and this sort of powdered white,

Speaker 1 sort of like rough wearing, silk shirt-wearing guy walks up, and you see that there is a light casting, a red, fiery light casting behind him that vanishes as he puts his wig on.

Speaker 1 As he walks into the room, he goes, you see that he's sweating, his silk shirt is drenched, you see that he has a pair of shears in each hand, and he goes,

Speaker 1 brother,

Speaker 1 you see that Rulius goes,

Speaker 1 there's been an oopsie.

Speaker 1 And we're done. We should go get our guest and make sure that he has returned because we're going to 86 the procedure.

Speaker 1 And you see that Calastro goes,

Speaker 1 really?

Speaker 1 We were so close to being ready. And you see that he says, yep, all done.

Speaker 1 Let's go get our guest. You see that Calastro goes back downstairs.
See, Rulius walks

Speaker 1 into a corner and you see gets a sort of

Speaker 1 thick woolen, this like red sort of sound-dampening fabric, opens it to reveal a flail, a shield.

Speaker 1 He goes over to a small box in the corner, undoes it with a key, and takes a little white pouch of coins, hands it to you, Tyranny.

Speaker 1 Can I have that flail?

Speaker 1 Oh, it is the guest. You may do it as you win.
Thank you.

Speaker 1 You see that,

Speaker 1 you see, he goes,

Speaker 1 So these are his effects that were going to be um

Speaker 1 discarded, uh, and that was on its way back to Sir Filonius. But of course, given that this is all gone higgledy-piggledy,

Speaker 1 you're doing amazing.

Speaker 1 Thank you for the compliment. I shall treasure it forever.
You see, that he uh walks out, um, and you see,

Speaker 1 um,

Speaker 1 Teor

Speaker 1 um

Speaker 1 uh You see, coming downstairs and throwing the golden wig to the side, you see, scratching a head that moves from skin into

Speaker 1 like crystal with a fire burning in the skull is this tailor who looks around and says,

Speaker 1 You're a very lucky man.

Speaker 1 And you are suspended with arms over your head in manacles in the center of a massive nine-pointed pentagram in the basement of the tailor's shop.

Speaker 1 And you see the shears

Speaker 1 were cutting your shadow into pieces.

Speaker 1 And you see that he whispers a word in fiendish. Your shadow reconstitutes.
And he says, you would have had quite a ride come sunrise. And

Speaker 1 you see he scuffs the circle. Where do I? He scuffs the circle with his foot, undoes the manacles, and says, off you go.

Speaker 1 Did they take the ball gag out?

Speaker 1 It's a stone.

Speaker 1 You are fully, by the way, under the poisoned condition. It's a disadvantage on everything.
You're poisoned, but you can move. Okay.

Speaker 1 I drop

Speaker 1 both hands and a knee and just try to.

Speaker 1 Thank you.

Speaker 1 And just start to crawl my way out of the room if I can. Crawl on your way.

Speaker 1 Not now.

Speaker 1 Teor.

Speaker 1 Teor stumbles, obviously

Speaker 1 altered by whatever this incense was. Oh, my word.

Speaker 1 Hi, big guy.

Speaker 1 Are you alright? Come here.

Speaker 1 What has happened to

Speaker 1 to this man?

Speaker 1 He had a glass of sherry.

Speaker 1 Oh

Speaker 1 oh, he's oh, he's had too much to drink, has he?

Speaker 1 Please, come come here, Teor. Please, please, give me give me your hand.

Speaker 1 Um

Speaker 1 sure, certainly, certainly.

Speaker 1 May I say thank you so much for the hospitality, and and we'll just forget this happened, and we will make sure Tayor feels very welcome. I won't forget that this happened.

Speaker 1 Okay.

Speaker 1 What do you mean?

Speaker 1 No, no.

Speaker 1 Not without.

Speaker 1 That vest. Oh, you go!

Speaker 1 And you see, he goes

Speaker 1 and tosses the vest to you and says, we have fun. We do have fun.
Thank you so much. Come, Tayor, come.
And as we walk out the door, I'm going to

Speaker 1 just say, the light is all, and pump lesser restoration into him. My hands will glow.
The tattoos on my face will glow.

Speaker 1 This should help with your drunken state.

Speaker 1 Does it help? You are no longer poisoned.

Speaker 1 Are we outside?

Speaker 1 Yes, you see that they walk to the back of the shop. Or Rulius stays to see if you need anything and looks to you.
But you are welcome to... You have all of Teor's stuff.

Speaker 1 You can walk right out the door. Thank you so much.
And I may the beam reach you.

Speaker 1 And may it reach you as well. Okay, slam the door.
Thaumaturgy, eyes black.

Speaker 1 Ground quake. What the fuck are you thinking, dude? These are your enemies now.
What are you doing?

Speaker 1 I told you we could just go in there and talk to them like nice people and they would give us tattoos. Do you remember like three hours ago when you said that your mom was going to kill this guy?

Speaker 1 My mom was. My grandma was.
But these are just friendly tapers. They were cutting my shadow into pieces.

Speaker 1 Can I make a quick, can I just make a quick I know, I know that you're the big boss, okay? I know you're the boss. Can I make a quick suggestion? Yes.

Speaker 1 You need to figure out really fucking fast who you can trust and who you can't.

Speaker 1 I'm gonna say, now that you have directly gone against your family twice, you're not gonna be able to trust them very much. So that includes everyone who your family knows.

Speaker 1 Hi! Hello, dear Eli, if I may make a suggestion,

Speaker 1 we should leave.

Speaker 1 No.

Speaker 1 Certainly. May I make a suggestion? If we're all making suggestions, you shouldn't drink that much.
Oh my god.

Speaker 1 I

Speaker 1 just

Speaker 1 quick. Yeah, thank you.

Speaker 1 Incredible. With that, you make that suggestion to Taylor.
You get up on your feet after one of the most harrowing experiences of your life.

Speaker 1 We are going to move back from this table and we need everybody else full swap. Everybody out there, everybody in.

Speaker 1 This is the Joker Harley Quinn I've always wanted. Yeah.

Speaker 1 First Willis was about to ride out on a motorcycle

Speaker 1 and say that they have chains on.

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 1 Oh my god, I'm so so sweaty.

Speaker 1 I thought you should sink up now.

Speaker 1 It looks like it's made out of steel.

Speaker 1 I'm going to sit next to Nat. Yeah, he looks too.

Speaker 1 Where are we going? Are we going three up or two up? Where are you going?

Speaker 1 Wherever.

Speaker 1 Smack that.

Speaker 1 Let's get up.

Speaker 1 Okay. Come on, let's go take an end.
Come on in.

Speaker 1 No, okay.

Speaker 1 I was thinking. Yes.

Speaker 1 Okay.

Speaker 1 So if we can do this really quick before Brandon gets back, folks, it's been fine.

Speaker 1 Welcome. Table swap.
We're back, baby. Um,

Speaker 1 uh, hell yes. Um, uh, uh,

Speaker 1 what a hoot. Um,

Speaker 1 What a hoot.

Speaker 1 Sometimes you get to get really freaky.

Speaker 1 Arriving back from Caravan Hill,

Speaker 1 it is late afternoon.

Speaker 1 Julian,

Speaker 1 waiting outside. Upon arriving at Hal's home,

Speaker 1 you find

Speaker 1 an older orcish warrior,

Speaker 1 Inez Roundtree,

Speaker 1 who

Speaker 1 is

Speaker 1 essentially just keeping watch over the home while Theazi is in sort of, you know, reverie or in Memoriam.

Speaker 1 She informs you saying,

Speaker 1 I'm sorry, my friend, Hal and Tysha are out on business. I think they're either headed to the Arcanaut or perhaps down to the the Hallowed Round, but they should be back presently, I imagine.

Speaker 1 How presently is presently?

Speaker 1 I do think it was just for a short time to go find. Can I offer you some Yargras or.

Speaker 1 No, thank you.

Speaker 1 You said they were going to.

Speaker 1 Which places? It was the... The Hallowed Round, the Arkanod.

Speaker 1 But I imagine,

Speaker 1 wending your way over here from the Palazzo Divinos,

Speaker 1 your late start to the day.

Speaker 1 You see walking up the road behind you...

Speaker 1 Does Octas still have his disguise on? If it's been less than an hour, yes.

Speaker 1 You see

Speaker 1 Thimble, chiefly among them, but Thimble, Cadogan, Valus, and Octas all returning to the home, walking up the street. For those of you here, Thimble,

Speaker 1 you see Julian DeVinos, who you have not seen in many years.

Speaker 1 This pretty boy.

Speaker 1 What are you doing here?

Speaker 1 I have business. What are you doing here?

Speaker 1 I guess I live here now.

Speaker 1 Do you know where Hal is? Or Taisha?

Speaker 1 No.

Speaker 1 You're of no use to me.

Speaker 1 It kind of acknowledges you as you approach. Um,

Speaker 1 Mistress Elf, I am sorry to hear that you've

Speaker 1 lost something important to you. Seems like a.

Speaker 1 It's been going around.

Speaker 1 Hey!

Speaker 1 What?

Speaker 1 I come up close.

Speaker 1 He didn't deserve it, you know.

Speaker 1 All the shit you gave him.

Speaker 1 Just smiles and kind of waves you off and keeps walking. Yeah, keep running, like you always do.

Speaker 1 You may have everybody else fooled. Sir Julian.

Speaker 1 He stops.

Speaker 1 I would ask you kindly to

Speaker 1 reconsider your tone in the face of your betters.

Speaker 1 I know you're not my better.

Speaker 1 I see you.

Speaker 1 The flutter of my wings is very loud against your ears as I fly away.

Speaker 1 You go to fly away, and the gauntlet in hand moves rapidly from underneath its cloak and goes to grab the back of your wings to hold you in place.

Speaker 1 Give me athletics versus acrobatics.

Speaker 1 You fucking damage my wings, you piece of a

Speaker 1 27.

Speaker 1 Hold on.

Speaker 1 The confidence.

Speaker 1 Okay. Technically, for me it's a 22,

Speaker 1 but I have my tactical mind fighter fighter ability to burn a second win to add a d10 to that roll.

Speaker 1 Okay. Which I will do right now.

Speaker 1 So we're gonna need a six or higher, so there's 50% chance.

Speaker 1 That's a 10.

Speaker 1 Um, three of you watch as a gauntleted hand clasps

Speaker 1 Thimble's wings.

Speaker 1 Absolutely not. Let her go.

Speaker 1 I will in a moment.

Speaker 1 However,

Speaker 1 society works in certain ways,

Speaker 1 and Riffraff should learn to show some respect.

Speaker 1 You're a piece of shit.

Speaker 1 You always were.

Speaker 1 At least I'm in good company. Let me flick you off.

Speaker 1 Give me perception with advantage.

Speaker 1 It's an 11. Great.

Speaker 1 On an 11 perception,

Speaker 1 what do you look like right now?

Speaker 1 If it has been less than an hour since the bar fight, then I still look the way I did.

Speaker 1 But the voice I used was Octus's.

Speaker 1 I think even on an 11, the voice doesn't match the body. And I think that

Speaker 1 Octas was...

Speaker 1 You were not at the funeral at the same time. No, because you were at the funeral at the same time, correct? I believe he saw me, yeah.

Speaker 1 You saw him, but we didn't have much of an interaction beyond that. You heard his voice in the corner, I think.
Alright.

Speaker 1 Kind of give a keen glance off of this heated exchange.

Speaker 1 Velis, was it?

Speaker 1 Yes.

Speaker 1 Have you seen the um

Speaker 1 Taconis

Speaker 1 boy

Speaker 1 from the event earlier? I can't say that I have.

Speaker 1 Well, if you do,

Speaker 1 it is of utmost importance that we speak. He,

Speaker 1 amongst many others, may be in immediate danger. Hmm, I will make sure to

Speaker 1 send him your way immediately.

Speaker 1 Julian, where do you head off to?

Speaker 1 Julian's going to go ahead and turn and go heading towards the

Speaker 1 Arcanine.

Speaker 1 As you go to head off towards the Arcanine, walking down the street, Octas.

Speaker 1 Julian DeVenos is someone that you know. He's older than you, considerably.

Speaker 1 And I think as he says, Octas is in grave danger,

Speaker 1 you see him walking off. The coldness

Speaker 1 and

Speaker 1 casual cruelty in his demeanor

Speaker 1 makes what he's saying seem very true.

Speaker 1 These were not honeyed words by a long shot.

Speaker 1 Did he say I'm in danger? That's what I heard.

Speaker 1 Okay.

Speaker 1 Great, good. Um,

Speaker 1 don't know what that's about.

Speaker 1 Other than the fact that my family did all of this and I've been actively working against them, but other than that, I can't imagine why they would be mad at me. Do they know

Speaker 1 that I didn't think they did?

Speaker 1 But I'm gonna take that as a guess that they do. I've rounded the corner and attempted to

Speaker 1 kind of square around the other side, unseen. Uh, give me stuff.

Speaker 1 I mean, I kind of figured they might figure it out, which is why I've been kinda, you know. And then I hears the wrong voice when you got grabbed and all.
Oh, I'm sorry about that. Look,

Speaker 1 he's nothing but a liar. He lies about everything.

Speaker 1 You don't have to believe him. Maybe.
Maybe you're not in danger. I mean, why would he say it?

Speaker 1 I don't know. Okay, well, but we got it.
We got it. We got it.
We got it.

Speaker 1 We have a job to do. We gotta finish that first.
We can deal with me later.

Speaker 1 Octus, do you want to talk to him? Who? Him?

Speaker 1 Oh, God. No.

Speaker 1 I will too. Yeah, go on, do it.
Everybody's in danger all the time. And I give him a slap on the ass.

Speaker 1 Pushing him toward where he took off to.

Speaker 1 Okay, weird.

Speaker 1 And I'll start heading down the street.

Speaker 1 You begin to head down the street. Julian sort of vanished because they put Julian, you hear Octas heading off on his own.

Speaker 1 I begin to block back in the path where I took so I can kind of head him off at the pass. Hopefully unseen by the rest of this troop.

Speaker 1 You head off. As you do,

Speaker 1 Cadigan, you look and see Thimble here outside the home. where Theazzi still lies.

Speaker 1 You have no idea, Thimble, and neither do you, Cadigan, where Teor is.

Speaker 1 And Valus,

Speaker 1 you,

Speaker 1 as you have for long centuries putting one foot in front of the other,

Speaker 1 now know that the stone of Night Song has passed

Speaker 1 beyond the reach of the thief who took it from you.

Speaker 1 I don't know what to do.

Speaker 1 You watch Octus walking away,

Speaker 1 and you see

Speaker 1 that little dead fox

Speaker 1 with its button eyes walking behind him.

Speaker 1 Now that I'm getting a better look

Speaker 1 at this creature,

Speaker 1 um

Speaker 1 can I sort of walk up to it and get a closer look? Yeah, give me investigation.

Speaker 1 Investigation or religion.

Speaker 1 Okay.

Speaker 1 Great. Uh 21.
So definitely

Speaker 1 21 on religion investigation. Religion.

Speaker 1 That little thing with button eyes is unnatural.

Speaker 1 It's a spirit of undeath.

Speaker 1 You are one who, but for injury or catastrophe, will never die.

Speaker 1 You see, that fox turns around, looks at you,

Speaker 1 cocks its head.

Speaker 1 I cock my head.

Speaker 1 Smiles. Little

Speaker 1 twitches its whiskers.

Speaker 1 And heads off.

Speaker 1 The young Taconis boy who walks away from you is of a family that for

Speaker 1 generations, even when the god of the sun still lived, they were a family of shadow.

Speaker 1 The Hale of ours were the priestly family of flame. The Taconis, the priestly family of shadow, of the journey through night to the next day.

Speaker 1 They were

Speaker 1 gifted with the rites of funeral, cremation, of moving from one realm to the other.

Speaker 1 And though that

Speaker 1 young man is not a sorcerer,

Speaker 1 He has wielded a strange gift to make a little dead creature that regarded you with kindness.

Speaker 1 Is it possible that dead things can still love us?

Speaker 1 Octus.

Speaker 1 And he looks down and goes, Penn, I told you you're supposed to stay out.

Speaker 1 Yes.

Speaker 1 I made him, and he has a hard time staying in the dimensional packet that I put him in. It's something to do with with the fact that he's made out of different pieces.
It doesn't really wait.

Speaker 1 It's coated to one part of him, but the other part can't get his hand out.

Speaker 1 Sorry, yes, I did make him.

Speaker 1 How did you do such a thing?

Speaker 1 I got a, you know, there was most of a fox, and then I.

Speaker 1 I talked to some people, and I got some pieces of other fox, and I just kind of put him back together.

Speaker 1 And

Speaker 1 brought it back to life. Yeah, that was the part with the magic that brought him back to life.
Yes, I did do that.

Speaker 1 And then, you know, it was kind of a thing where I was supposed to be making, like, a fearsome thing that would fight. And then he did.
Have you done it before or since?

Speaker 1 He...

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 1 All the time.

Speaker 1 Insight, yeah. Insight versus deception.

Speaker 1 I think at this point. No, not for one.

Speaker 1 As you get.

Speaker 1 Hey, Valus, this kid does this all the fucking time. And I think at this point, you're just in terms of how long it takes to get from Caravan Hill, I think your disguised self fades.
And

Speaker 1 Julian, you emerge, sort of intersecting with Octus. Valus, you've moved a little bit away from Thimble and Cadigan.
Wait.

Speaker 1 Octus, I'll fly up.

Speaker 1 Valus, are you going with him?

Speaker 1 I will go with you. Okay.
Yeah, sure. I mean, I just guess I'm talking to the guy.
She's a total badass. She'll keep you safe.
Yeah, I saw earlier. She destroyed that man.

Speaker 1 Hey.

Speaker 1 I gotta go find Tayor.

Speaker 1 Okay. Yeah.
Now that makes sense.

Speaker 1 It's good to see you.

Speaker 1 I'll talk to you again. Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1 I will protect him.

Speaker 1 Okay.

Speaker 1 I'll see you soon. Yeah?

Speaker 1 Don't take any shit from Julian. I'm not gonna- I mean, I'm absolutely going to.

Speaker 1 He's scary. I'll fly up, bite.
Pat your cheek. Okay.

Speaker 1 I'll see you later.

Speaker 1 You gotta be super excited. It's just you and me now.

Speaker 1 Come on, Cadigan.

Speaker 1 As Thimble and Cadigan walk into Hal and Tysha's home, you see Inez herself, or Inez, herself, a veteran of the Falcons Rebellion, looks up to you. Cat,

Speaker 1 it's good to see you again.

Speaker 1 You want to sit in a room with a dead friend? I've been doing it all morning.

Speaker 1 She passes out some yard grass.

Speaker 1 And

Speaker 1 Thimble

Speaker 1 and

Speaker 1 Cat again walk inside. Octus, he walks outside with Velis.

Speaker 1 Looking at this little undead creature you've made and you are talking to someone who again just

Speaker 1 every

Speaker 1 step is so purposeful.

Speaker 1 Everything's so graceful.

Speaker 1 And I just put him back in the pocket imagine

Speaker 1 he's supposed to stay in there.

Speaker 1 I

Speaker 1 just think it's

Speaker 1 beautiful and fascinating that you were able to build such a thing.

Speaker 1 I can honestly tell you that is not the response I thought you were going to give.

Speaker 1 A lot of people don't like him, they get weird about it, and I just thought.

Speaker 1 Can you bring him back out?

Speaker 1 He just popped him to the shoulder.

Speaker 1 Yeah, he was supposed to be like, you know, scary, and then I made him, and he absolutely was terrible at it. And so I just...

Speaker 1 bent some things and you know you know

Speaker 1 we have familiars and you know spellcasters and whatnot, and I was like, yeah, that guy can do that. And so I did that and made him that.
So many bits and pieces to him.

Speaker 1 Yeah, yeah, I had to work with what I had.

Speaker 1 It's easier when you have like a whole thing,

Speaker 1 apparently.

Speaker 1 Like a whole body? Yeah.

Speaker 1 Could you do it with a whole body? Octis taconus. Shit.

Speaker 1 Hello. Hi, yes? I unclicked my sensor.
You keep strange company these days.

Speaker 1 I mean, look at me.

Speaker 1 I guess it is one in the family. I've been looking for you, and I do not believe I'm the only one.

Speaker 1 That sounds terrible. Why?

Speaker 1 It seems there are a number of roiling advances of late, and

Speaker 1 there are quite a few interests

Speaker 1 beginning to crumble.

Speaker 1 Okay.

Speaker 1 You are a name that has come up as of late, possibly tied to a dangerous crux.

Speaker 1 Your family.

Speaker 1 You have not spoken with them recently, have you?

Speaker 1 I.

Speaker 1 I haven't seen my family in at least five years.

Speaker 1 I was at the Penteveral, and then the last six months I've been traveling.

Speaker 1 So you got out.

Speaker 1 Yeah, I just didn't say anything, just kind of walked out a door, and

Speaker 1 Strange that you know what that's like. Um,

Speaker 1 perhaps we should speak someone more private. I have some uh

Speaker 1 questions to ask. If you would um

Speaker 1 be so kind as to do me the honor.

Speaker 1 Sure, you're being weirdly nice, but sure.

Speaker 1 I will come along as well.

Speaker 1 Certainly.

Speaker 1 I'm gonna find the nearest kind of just side alley or shaded corner to have just a very quick and close conversation.

Speaker 1 It has come to

Speaker 1 the attention

Speaker 1 of House Devinos and House Royce above it from Eranessa, Lady Aranessa herself,

Speaker 1 that a plot had been hatched to rescue Theasi. Do you know anything of this?

Speaker 1 No?

Speaker 1 Do I believe him? Insight versus deception. Hell yeah, let's go.
I'm bad at this. I'm not terrible.
That's okay. I'm really bad at this.
Ah, that would be 21. That's a three.

Speaker 1 For the best, because it seems many individuals are looking for those involved. Apparently, it did not work, of course.
Yeah, he's dead. Indeed.

Speaker 1 But from people I trust implicitly, you seem to...

Speaker 1 be tethered into this.

Speaker 1 I mean, I d I my family did want him dead, um, and I guess that's what they got. But, I mean, I did know him, and I, um, he was nice to me when I was a kid.

Speaker 1 Your family is searching for you.

Speaker 1 Okay.

Speaker 1 Um, right.

Speaker 1 The worst of your family is what I I can gather.

Speaker 1 Right. Um, okay.

Speaker 1 Is there any reason why there would be? And why this has come to the attention of my lady?

Speaker 1 I honestly couldn't tell you. I d I

Speaker 1 don't know why they would want to see me. They

Speaker 1 sent me away.

Speaker 1 They didn't have any use for me. Then would you be so kind as to speak with the Diaranessa?

Speaker 1 We need to get you somewhere safe.

Speaker 1 They can't find you. And when we can figure out what your place is in this before it ends up costing you or other lives.

Speaker 1 Okay, yeah. Um, I can go talk to her.
Good, come with me. Oh my god, okay.

Speaker 1 Uh,

Speaker 1 Julian, you take off with

Speaker 1 Octus and Valus.

Speaker 1 Do you follow along? I follow along, and if Pan is still out, I'm sort of just

Speaker 1 I've picked him up at this point and I'm just petting it.

Speaker 1 And I think too feeling Pin in Valus's arms you know that even if there's some distance created you'll have that connection.

Speaker 1 As you head to the Palazzo Divinos I'm gonna ask

Speaker 1 Matt, Alex, and Ashley to step out. And I'm gonna ask Sam, Whitney, and Travis to step in.

Speaker 1 I'm just sorry about that. You asked me.

Speaker 1 You know, I was supposed to be hard to catch.

Speaker 1 It happened twice.

Speaker 1 Don't have to be a present. Actually, let me get

Speaker 1 Liam and Debria here as well.

Speaker 1 You got some?

Speaker 1 Anybody else?

Speaker 1 Some kind of.

Speaker 1 I'll thank you guys, Jimmy, for the beer.

Speaker 1 I think we're going forsies because Robbie's supposed to come to the bottom. Robbie's four on that side, three on this side.
Do you want to go to the end? Thank you.

Speaker 1 Hell yeah. Oh my god.

Speaker 1 She ran my ear, too.

Speaker 1 Um,

Speaker 1 hell yeah.

Speaker 1 Um

Speaker 1 uh

Speaker 1 Hal and Tysha, I think you arrive back.

Speaker 1 Um

Speaker 1 you arrive back

Speaker 1 from the hallowed round and a lovely day there.

Speaker 1 You depart from Bolaire and the paint is all set up and safe and the work continues and there'll be people there all night watching and, you know.

Speaker 1 But

Speaker 1 you know sunset comes and you arrive back at the house to find Cadogan and Thimble at the the house, uh, waiting. And I think, you know, in the hours since then, having no idea where Teor could be.

Speaker 1 You've flown around, you've asked people, there's just no clue where

Speaker 1 you know that he had a meeting at the Via Aurora, but

Speaker 1 after that, he's in the wind. Uh, but I think by the time you guys have circled back to Hal and Tysha, or to Hal's house, as Hal and Tysha come back.

Speaker 1 Oh,

Speaker 1 are you taking up

Speaker 1 me up on my offer? Stay a while?

Speaker 1 Maybe, probably not. Maybe.

Speaker 1 Have you seen Tayor anywhere?

Speaker 1 No, he's hard to miss.

Speaker 1 Have not.

Speaker 1 You could.

Speaker 1 Thank for the steak. And

Speaker 1 Cadigan has pilfered a bone in ribeye from their cellar. He's got it over his shiner that he's nursing from the bar fight, but he's also eating it at the same time.
Oh,

Speaker 1 gross. I'm all right.
I'm feeling good.

Speaker 1 Fresh and young, yeah. Is he gonna die of this?

Speaker 1 That's just a black eye.

Speaker 1 I think your sense for nature

Speaker 1 of him eating this raw steak is that the immune system is being so bolstered by the yar grass that the

Speaker 1 alcohol

Speaker 1 filter doesn't know to kill you for this. Got it.

Speaker 1 Arriving back. How, there's some people you can reach out to to see if anyone's got a bead on Teor.

Speaker 1 Hold on.

Speaker 1 You left with two.

Speaker 1 Yeah. Where's Octis?

Speaker 1 Um,

Speaker 1 the piece of shit, Sir Julian

Speaker 1 came searching for him. He said that, um...

Speaker 1 And you let him go? No, because Valis went with him. She is.
Why do you think that's better? No, because she came and saved us. So listen, we went to the Crow Keepers.
It went so bad. Look at his eye.

Speaker 1 Yeah. Um, and Valis came in, cracked the brace.
She fucking killed people. Pretty sweet.
We just wanted to talk.

Speaker 1 Um,

Speaker 1 uh, there's so much happening. It looks like political intriguing.

Speaker 1 Every piece of metal on her is beginning to go red hot. I'm really sorry.
Um.

Speaker 1 Is he safe? Yeah. Yeah.
Are you sure? Yeah, of course. Maybe.
Totally. Sorta.

Speaker 1 Now, leaves rustle. The trees, like branches sway, and there is a wolf in front of you now.
Before you go crazy, like you always do,

Speaker 1 Sir Julian said he needed to talk to him. He said that, well, this is kind of worse.

Speaker 1 He said that Octus wasn't. I'm gonna jump up and snap at you, not trying to hit you.
I'm gonna dart out. I am so sick of people trying to grab me today.
I mean, I might be able to. Everyone else out.

Speaker 1 Why do they want the boy? I don't know.

Speaker 1 They said he was in trouble. Julian said he wanted to talk to him.
Julian never wants to talk to anybody. I figured it.

Speaker 1 And what's the ta-or of it all?

Speaker 1 We were betrayed, right? You know that?

Speaker 1 Right? I've taken off. I'm gonna go find Octas's scent.

Speaker 1 So

Speaker 1 you

Speaker 1 take off. Give me survival.
You can do so with advantage because you are in a form that has scent.

Speaker 1 And she wonders why I didn't want her to come with us. Not that it would have mattered.
Actually, she probably would have helped. Yeah, you think.

Speaker 1 I'm a wolf.

Speaker 1 19. 19.
You pick up a cent

Speaker 1 and take off into the city as fast as you can.

Speaker 1 As you take off,

Speaker 1 I think, Abria, thank you very much. Yeah, sweet.

Speaker 1 We're going to clear. Bye.

Speaker 1 Wolves don't have metal centers.

Speaker 1 How?

Speaker 1 Working as best you can't. There are people you can reach out to.
I mean, I know a third of the people in this neighborhood, so I can send a runner. You send a runner just word for Tayor.

Speaker 1 Has anyone seen anything?

Speaker 1 As night falls,

Speaker 1 a runner comes back saying,

Speaker 1 I haven't heard much,

Speaker 1 but there are some people on their way here.

Speaker 1 And I would like Luis and Marisha to come back.

Speaker 1 Whoa.

Speaker 1 We're running it hot and hot. I'm out of here.

Speaker 1 Murray Man!

Speaker 1 I'm unprepared. I'm prepared.
I'm prepared. Hot swapping.
Hot swapping.

Speaker 1 Weakest gooch. When are we ever prepared?

Speaker 1 The writers are just going crazy.

Speaker 1 You got heliproctors? Helipters got all right.

Speaker 1 Going crazy, going crazy, crazy.

Speaker 1 A moment later,

Speaker 1 Murray and Azune

Speaker 1 visiting the guard tower. You found the place deserted, but a quick survey of the neighborhood.

Speaker 1 Valis

Speaker 1 killed two people in there.

Speaker 1 She killed the guild master, and she killed one of the journeyman thieves there.

Speaker 1 You know for a fact

Speaker 1 that

Speaker 1 the thieves guild's not going to make a move on someone that had that much arcane potency, but they're just going to go either

Speaker 1 they know how to use the systems of actual control and authority against people.

Speaker 1 So they're going to go to whatever remains of the Revolutionary Guard or the Council and let them know that there's a dangerous elven murderer.

Speaker 1 All that it needs to be is that she's wearing garb of like or if she has any sign of being religiously affiliated with the dead shapers, that's all the Revolutionary Council is going to need to be like, there's a dangerous

Speaker 1 immortal walking our streets.

Speaker 1 Okay, uh, and gather that from canvassing, gotcha, like talking to people in the neighborhood that, like, this words all the crow keepers are in the neighborhood, uh, and they'll they'll do they describe Valus to a T.

Speaker 1 Uh, any sense of where they left headed to every she's so hoffy, Hal and Taisha's great. And I think you guys arrive 100%.

Speaker 1 Uh, so killed Salaman, Sarama, Salaman, Salaman, Salaman, Sarama, kill Salomon, Saramon, Saraman, Sarama,

Speaker 1 Too much of the Huffwheels.

Speaker 1 Finally.

Speaker 1 I'm just saying.

Speaker 1 It makes you paranoid.

Speaker 1 I don't even know who you guys are, and I don't know if I want to.

Speaker 1 So Azune and

Speaker 1 Azune and Murray arrive at the house

Speaker 1 as you see this sort of people from the neighborhood are coming and like Thimble, Cadogan, Hal, you're like corroborating stories. Someone says they saw him get to the Via Aurora.

Speaker 1 Someone else says that they saw him leave. He was headed maybe back for your house, but he was taking the bridge, like he was taking the mid-city bridge from the marketplace.

Speaker 1 That's like the last place you've kind of gotten that maybe he was in the marketplace when Ozane and Maria are. Wait, sorry, that's the bead on Teor.
Teor. Yeah.
Not Octus Tayor.

Speaker 1 This is a lot to keep up with. I feel like my brother's death has set off a lot of dominoes falling and I can't see the board.

Speaker 1 I mean,

Speaker 1 I come in and I. What's the atmosphere in the space?

Speaker 1 Who at the table is there?

Speaker 1 Not us. Not the two.
Okay. Justice.

Speaker 1 And Travis is here. Teora's not here.
Liberal.

Speaker 1 I think I'll go to

Speaker 1 Thimble

Speaker 1 and I'll say,

Speaker 1 well, I saw the work that was done over there. It was Casimir.

Speaker 1 It was.

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 1 It was Casimir. And Sid walked in, and Casimir chased him.
I don't know.

Speaker 1 Sid wasn't involved.

Speaker 1 That's a relief. Yeah.

Speaker 1 It seems like it's a very down atmosphere here. What have we missed?

Speaker 1 We're trying to find Teor.

Speaker 1 I want to get out of town. I want to to chase.

Speaker 1 I want to chase him down. You have a lady done then? Yeah, they're going to

Speaker 1 some new stronghold in Gourmalay.

Speaker 1 He used.

Speaker 1 He sold everything.

Speaker 1 All of the shit the Ozzy and I had.

Speaker 1 He sold it all.

Speaker 1 So you had a plan in place,

Speaker 1 and one weak link sank the whole affair. Yeah.

Speaker 1 It was a small chain.

Speaker 1 You hear

Speaker 1 noise of footsteps approaching.

Speaker 1 It's gotten to later hour. It's been night for maybe a little more than two hours at this point.

Speaker 1 And you see Teor's frame

Speaker 1 stumble into the home.

Speaker 1 Along with the Lord Wikander Halevar and the Aspirant Tyranny.

Speaker 1 Do you have anything to drink?

Speaker 1 Maybe not, Sherry.

Speaker 1 Hilarious.

Speaker 1 Hey, uh, uh, just looking around. Does anybody here like you?

Speaker 1 Yes, Hal does.

Speaker 1 Sure.

Speaker 1 Oh, look at that.

Speaker 1 I'll fly down. Is Tayor walking? Is he stumbling? What's happening? He's sort of wobbling side to side, though.
The poison's been removed, but, you know, getting in your shadow cup will fuck you up.

Speaker 1 Fly, and I'm gonna grab his two braids in front of him and like steer him like a as I'm flying backwards and like try to get him to a chair and sit down. I take a knee by the chair.

Speaker 1 Uh, I'm sorry, we have either Yargraz or I have some wine. It was in a box, but don't you have water? I have water.

Speaker 1 I brought it in in a flask. Hello.
What are you doing here? You remember Rigander and Tyranny. I don't remember,

Speaker 1 actually. Wait, having that.
Hi, you're so little.

Speaker 1 Hi, I'm Tyranny.

Speaker 1 We just rescued you. No!

Speaker 1 I don't know. I'm sorry.
Okay.

Speaker 1 Well, we just brought your friend back from Imminent Doom.

Speaker 1 So. You didn't do this to him?

Speaker 1 No.

Speaker 1 I went to their house to try and follow up on how he was reacting last night. I was sent, thank you.

Speaker 1 That's very good water. I thought he'd lap it up.
I kind of wanted him to lap it up.

Speaker 1 I was sent to go

Speaker 1 collect something for the Candescent Creed. I tried to learn any information I could.

Speaker 1 I was sent to go get vestments and clothes. And I was drugged and almost tortured within an inch of my life.
And these two...

Speaker 1 These two came and saved me. You know he's with the Candescent Creed, right? Yes, I'm

Speaker 1 horrifically aware of it.

Speaker 1 How many life pets are you out at this point? It's a long list. I'm afraid to ask, but do you know if you were followed?

Speaker 1 Oh.

Speaker 1 I didn't look. Did you look?

Speaker 1 I looked. Give me a perception.

Speaker 1 Give me a perception check. A what? A perception check.
Yes, sir. Perception! God damn it.
Roll hi, roll hi.

Speaker 1 Seven.

Speaker 1 Hey, Tierney, you were not followed.

Speaker 1 This may be very well known, but the Candescent Creed is not what it appears. The people in that house, the people that worked for them, are

Speaker 1 some of the darkest people I've ever met. Dude, what are they doing here? I...

Speaker 1 What he says true? Hal, I'm so sorry about your brother. I'm so sorry I couldn't do more.
And

Speaker 1 I've learned some things in the last few hours that I um

Speaker 1 he's right. I thought this was common knowledge, by the way.
Are you guys all just getting up to speed on all this?

Speaker 1 My.

Speaker 1 Well, there wasn't common knowledge to me.

Speaker 1 I mean, I'm not sure.

Speaker 1 What's your name?

Speaker 1 I don't remember him. Keep going.
I'll put a pin in that.

Speaker 1 I have recently learned that

Speaker 1 my entire life's a lie, and everything I've believed since childhood has been a string of

Speaker 1 delusions and manipulations.

Speaker 1 I'm having a very bad day.

Speaker 1 Okay, so yeah, that's why we... Hey, I'm going to ask for a little compassion here.

Speaker 1 This guy, this nobleman, just really risked his own hide to save you.

Speaker 1 I do not know why his family is trying to kill you, but that has put us on a list of persona non grata to his very powerful and very scary family, and also my very scary demon family.

Speaker 1 So I would love to hear why you think they want to kill you. Well, I came looking for information for my brother, Sid.

Speaker 1 We have that! You do? Yeah.

Speaker 1 Casimir betrayed everybody. He's the one that broke into the hideout.
Kazimir? Yeah.

Speaker 1 Sid. chased him down.
Sid wanted to know why he didn't show up and

Speaker 1 he he stole a deed. He stole a deed to a stronghold and Casimir chased him out.
I think Sid is on the run from him.

Speaker 1 My brother stole the deed and is being chased by Casimir. Yeah, and all of his crew, I guess.

Speaker 1 We have to chase him down. Yeah, objectively, she's got

Speaker 1 a tiny brain, but she's super smart.

Speaker 1 It's really big for my size. Yeah.
Maybe it feels proportional. It cannot be overstated that these two risked their lives for me.

Speaker 1 So, wherever we go next,

Speaker 1 they are not safe here in Dolnakjar any longer. I have been told several times in the last few hours that I'm in very, very bad danger, and I'm starting to believe that to be true.
What has changed?

Speaker 1 Um,

Speaker 1 well, I guess if you

Speaker 1 anger my family, they try to kill you, and

Speaker 1 I think I'm probably angering them a bit.

Speaker 1 Hal

Speaker 1 spins around, goes up the stairs, leaves. I'm gonna make my way up to the roof and look around the neighborhood.
Yes, I've made my way.

Speaker 1 Do I see anybody that looks like a problem in the vicinity of the building? If I walk around the top of the roof, give me a perception check. Guess it wasn't that interesting to him.

Speaker 1 How have you been, by the way? Awful. Yeah, that's fair.

Speaker 1 You look great. 13.

Speaker 1 13.

Speaker 1 You look

Speaker 1 shadows on the city.

Speaker 1 Downstairs.

Speaker 1 There's Cadogan Vale, who has an open shiner on his face from a bar fight where two people were murdered.

Speaker 1 There's Thimble, who is a wanted criminal accomplice who was left for dead in Theazzi's hideout.

Speaker 1 Teor,

Speaker 1 whose mentor just headed west this morning and who himself was marked for death by the Halevar family, who are here in the city knowing that they did that.

Speaker 1 And then there's Wick, someone that you knew had a reputation for straight dealing in a family that had a reputation for love of power.

Speaker 1 Now you're hearing that there's a a malevolent, magical dimension to the Hale of Ars, previously just corrupt, noble

Speaker 1 evil, you know, malevolence.

Speaker 1 And you also know that according to Tyranny,

Speaker 1 if they have already moved, it was already bad before he moved against his family, and they just went and lied. or did whatever they did to free Teor in contradiction to the family's wishes.

Speaker 1 And then there's Murray and Azune, who, to everyone else's knowledge, have just yelled at a noble and

Speaker 1 put his subordinate officer in an awkward position vis-a-vis patrol. So you got two friends downstairs that have day jobs and are okay, and everybody else stinks to high heaven.

Speaker 1 Uh-huh. Okay, Shadia is with her friends with the company.
Hero is with her mother in the best part of town.

Speaker 1 I'm gonna go to my study and

Speaker 1 stare at my brother's sword on the desk while they all mull this over.

Speaker 1 You look at that sword.

Speaker 1 It's a small symbol where the fuller of the blade ends right before the tang enters into the hilt of the sword, where it goes from having the sort of indentation.

Speaker 1 And there's a maker's mark there, but you see it's

Speaker 1 it sort of looks like a

Speaker 1 half of a mask, but that half, the middle line where the other half is not there, is broken by a smirking kind of tongue that comes out of it.

Speaker 1 I'm looking at the deed for the land that my business venture and the hallowed round is on, and it's everything I've worked at for years.

Speaker 1 And it is not important right now. Everything is, it just feels like the world is tilting sideways and going down an incline.
I haven't held a sword, a real sword with purpose since I was a young man.

Speaker 1 The only blades I've held in my hand have been stage props for several decades.

Speaker 1 I pick up the weapon and it is heavier than a stage prop.

Speaker 1 And I

Speaker 1 heft it and

Speaker 1 hold it in my hand and take a couple of practice swings with it, which I can do believably. I don't know about effectively, but believably.

Speaker 1 And I just think of my brother, and I'm

Speaker 1 staring at that face on the sword.

Speaker 1 What the fuck

Speaker 1 have you gotten us all into?

Speaker 1 And I'll just stay there with it and

Speaker 1 do it.

Speaker 1 You focus on the sword.

Speaker 1 You The sword. Does the sword.
Yeah.

Speaker 1 You begin to focus on the sword.

Speaker 1 And as you do... Has you never fucked a sword before?

Speaker 1 You see, from another angle, that sinister thing of a half-mask with a tongue coming out the side of the mouth. Oh no, no, no.
That's a face in profile. And it's someone smiling.

Speaker 1 And sticking their tongue out a little bit like playfully. It's not actually that bad when you look at it that way.

Speaker 1 And you begin to look at a sword forged for a long-ago war

Speaker 1 by the Loy family.

Speaker 1 This is the liar's blade.

Speaker 1 Your brother wielded it well.

Speaker 1 If you're lucky, maybe you can too.

Speaker 1 Downstairs,

Speaker 1 all of you

Speaker 1 begin to

Speaker 1 feel movement in this space. I think,

Speaker 1 Cadogan,

Speaker 1 you know that this, if it had happened weeks ago, it would be a foregone conclusion. But it seems like this happened yesterday.

Speaker 1 If Casimir headed north towards Timini,

Speaker 1 that's the direction you've just come from. Yeah.

Speaker 1 Those of you gathered here,

Speaker 1 I think, look in this moment.

Speaker 1 Azene, I think you also are looking at the events that have been described. You know that words gotten out from the crow keepers.

Speaker 1 No longer safe in the city.

Speaker 1 No longer safe in the city. No longer safe in the city.
And for these two, though you don't know them well, what they're describing paints a very clear picture to you.

Speaker 1 This is a very interesting gathering of people that don't seem to belong here anymore.

Speaker 1 Did you have a lead on

Speaker 1 where Casimir was heading? Yeah, north.

Speaker 1 You know, I've got some contacts still in the Thieves Guild.

Speaker 1 I know, well, you killed some good ones. I'm not gonna lie.
I didn't do it. I didn't do it.
I was just gonna chop somebody's balls off. Okay, it doesn't matter.

Speaker 1 You're implicated in all of this, clearly. So you were there anyway.

Speaker 1 But I could still like chat around a little bit and see where the money maybe flowed. You know, you gotta follow the money, but honestly, I don't think it really matters at this point.

Speaker 1 I think you guys know where you gotta go.

Speaker 1 Dimbo.

Speaker 1 Where else have we to go?

Speaker 1 I told Daz I would make him pay.

Speaker 1 Let's go make him pay. Damn, he was another good contact, too.
He had the best skulls.

Speaker 1 Assholes. I'm starting to think that

Speaker 1 we might not be able to sleep in the villa tonight.

Speaker 1 We might have to find a hotel or some sort of... Oh, no, fuck that.

Speaker 1 Cadogan has sort of been...

Speaker 1 Above table, this is not a good look.

Speaker 1 He's on the outskirts of the party, sort of wandering around the perimeter of the group meeting, just kind of like dancing quietly to himself.

Speaker 1 Sort of like step-touching around, but watching, and what you think you're seeing is a fool, and maybe a part of him is.

Speaker 1 But he's listening to them all and listening to where they have to go.

Speaker 1 And

Speaker 1 that foolishness starts to fade away. And instead of being on on the outside of the group he slowly folds himself back into the circle and at the mention of sleeping in a hotel he just says

Speaker 1 camping camping

Speaker 1 hi I'm Tyranny

Speaker 1 Lovely to meet you. Oh, everybody has really big and rough hands except for you.
Touch us. There's there's

Speaker 1 a touch.

Speaker 1 Oh my god. Salt is a lamb's ear and I wouldn't know.
I feel it. I feel it.
It's just a little chilly in here.

Speaker 1 I don't. Up north, I'm not familiar with that area.
Oh, you're gonna fuck off, Ryan. I'm sorry? You're gonna fuck off out of the city.
We're gonna fuck off. Fuck off with us.

Speaker 1 Oh, all you two like new friends is something.

Speaker 1 We all know.

Speaker 1 Oh, really?

Speaker 1 Of course.

Speaker 1 Wait,

Speaker 1 I think now would be a really good time to exhibit one of your teachings, which is humility.

Speaker 1 I think it would be a really great time to extend

Speaker 1 a thanks for listening and a plea, because now

Speaker 1 we are in trouble and we're going to have to keep this act up. Maybe we need to find a way to

Speaker 1 say that we killed this guy. I don't know.
People are gonna be after us and we need help from friends. Right.
So if you have anything going on in there. Right.
Yeah. Yes.

Speaker 1 Yes, if we need...

Speaker 1 If we need help, there are people in this room who could extend it. Yeah.

Speaker 1 Maybe you should ask. Yes.

Speaker 1 Well, um...

Speaker 1 In this wonderful house owned by a great man,

Speaker 1 in the shadow of the the death of another man, I

Speaker 1 I humbly

Speaker 1 I humbly ask for um protection, shelter, friendship,

Speaker 1 loyalty, love,

Speaker 1 and uh

Speaker 1 I don't know where to go or what to do. I don't have anyone, and I'm very scared.
And could someone take care of me for a while?

Speaker 1 You're so good, Craig. That is a noble list.
I can tell you that my life will be in service of yours until my debt is paid. Howls at the base of the uh

Speaker 1 stairs now. Really? Is that true? Is that true? But the love and the cuddling and all that shit no.
I don't care about that, but that's a huge thing. Thank you.
That's a huge thing, Teor.

Speaker 1 He saved my life.

Speaker 1 They were cutting my shadow into pieces. What does that even mean? I don't know what you mean.
Can I just um I'm trying to get your attention.

Speaker 1 You're flitting around so fast. Can I just say something? He's a full idiot, okay?

Speaker 1 He is the only one in his family who has actual ethics. He's the only one who gives a shit and does not want to be

Speaker 1 manipulating the masses. Okay,

Speaker 1 you can trust us. Hal's at the bottom of the stairs.
There's a sword strapped to his back now, a scimitar.

Speaker 1 Are we even safe here?

Speaker 1 Is my family safe here?

Speaker 1 Nothing I did.

Speaker 1 Everyone in the city knows that

Speaker 1 the Aussie kept you safe, Hal.

Speaker 1 What about now?

Speaker 1 You might make some good use out of that sword.

Speaker 1 You can't go, Hal.

Speaker 1 We got work to do.

Speaker 1 We gotta stay here.

Speaker 1 And here is becoming a lot more dangerous. And my young lord, if you are fleeing, because your family now is what is putting you in danger,

Speaker 1 We must know what that is. Because the houses of the lords,

Speaker 1 they're taking advantage of Theazi's death and they are taking action. And quickly.
I feel like it might just... It might be more than taking advantage, right?

Speaker 1 My family was directly responsible for this death and possibly responsible for this...

Speaker 1 Casimir person. Yeah, so you know, it might just make me feel better.

Speaker 1 So if you want to just humor me, maybe humor her, maybe adding an apology to that long list of yours that you just rattled off might make a lot of us feel better.

Speaker 1 Cause look, I'm uh, I'm a little new here to all this information dump going on, so um, I'm not entirely sure why we're protecting this little one.

Speaker 1 But you know what?

Speaker 1 Good luck on the road, baby boy.

Speaker 1 I

Speaker 1 I believe that there is good and there is evil in this world

Speaker 1 and if my family has contributed

Speaker 1 to the darkness take out that if right now and then we'll be square

Speaker 1 my family

Speaker 1 cast as much shadow as it has light and

Speaker 1 I must

Speaker 1 I must burn it away and rectify it

Speaker 1 And I will not stop until I do so. I apologize to you,

Speaker 1 for your brother,

Speaker 1 and all of you for the danger you've been placed in.

Speaker 1 And you for.

Speaker 1 Well, I don't know what, but you hate me and that's not good.

Speaker 1 So I'm sorry.

Speaker 1 But mostly I'm sorry to you.

Speaker 1 Tyranny.

Speaker 1 To me?

Speaker 1 Why?

Speaker 1 You've been stuck with me.

Speaker 1 Oh boy. This is not your choice, and

Speaker 1 I'm sorry.

Speaker 1 Listen, I hate my family too. Alright?

Speaker 1 We'll get into it on the road.

Speaker 1 I think that we, so you guys are aware, we're gonna keep this act up. Pious demon, charming leader.
It's not really an act. Give me a history check.
With advantage.

Speaker 1 History? History. My grade.
Eight. Eight.

Speaker 1 Do you read with advantage? Oh, with advantage. With advantage.

Speaker 1 Even worse. Even worse.

Speaker 1 There was something that Thimble said before,

Speaker 1 some word that she said about a place that just sounded familiar to you.

Speaker 1 You see place names all the time, paperwork, the holdings of the Hale of Ar family, and there's just something she said that sounded familiar.

Speaker 1 Was it in the north? What did you say before?

Speaker 1 Stronghold in Gourmole.

Speaker 1 Gourmole. I think I actually did write that down.

Speaker 1 We have.

Speaker 1 The Halavars have

Speaker 1 temples all over the place, and we ship

Speaker 1 filament.

Speaker 1 In our faith, we believe that the universe is a river of light, and we are all

Speaker 1 there is a treasured

Speaker 1 liquid that we uh ship around and what kind of liquid

Speaker 1 you might not believe me if I told you, but it's very uh powerful, uh magical, um,

Speaker 1 and it's some of it has been shipped up there, and we we may have so you have a place there. So you have a strong hold in Gourmalay?

Speaker 1 I don't know if it's a stronghold, but we do have because Casimir had a brand new deed for a stormhold in Gourmalay.

Speaker 1 Did he sell of all of our shit to your family?

Speaker 1 Oh dear.

Speaker 1 I mean,

Speaker 1 we do buy things a lot and sell things.

Speaker 1 How can it be so evil and you have no idea? Insight, check. I don't believe him.
Give me insight.

Speaker 1 Hey, wait, give me.

Speaker 1 Laura, give me up with an advantage.

Speaker 1 17.

Speaker 1 Give me persuasion.

Speaker 1 That's very good. 20.

Speaker 1 I think, Thimble, you look

Speaker 1 and see

Speaker 1 behind Wick,

Speaker 1 the person you loved is laid out on a table covered in treasure.

Speaker 1 The Aussie believed in two things.

Speaker 1 He believed, above all,

Speaker 1 that despite all of the darkness in the world,

Speaker 1 there was always hope

Speaker 1 that people

Speaker 1 might turn and choose a better path,

Speaker 1 even if it was hard.

Speaker 1 And he also believed

Speaker 1 If you had a rich kid in your pocket to help pave the way, that is not a ticket you throw out.

Speaker 1 Teor's one of the most honorable people I know.

Speaker 1 And if he says he's got your back,

Speaker 1 then I do too.

Speaker 1 What about you, big boy? You got my back?

Speaker 1 With that voice. Oh, Jesus.

Speaker 1 Your back, your front, your side. So you want to go take care of business before we head out of town.

Speaker 1 Azune,

Speaker 1 if these guys need to get out of town tonight,

Speaker 1 you know where you can get them horses to get out of here.

Speaker 1 The question that's running in my mind right now is whether I choose to go with them.

Speaker 1 I'm watching the three people from the Falconers Rebellion that I just reunited with, and now they're getting out of town. I'm

Speaker 1 just started remembering all of this time that we spent together, and now they're leaving.

Speaker 1 And I haven't had much time with you, even though we were in the same city, working for the same person in a way. But I didn't.

Speaker 1 But if you need to leave tonight, then

Speaker 1 I can help.

Speaker 1 Hasn't it?

Speaker 1 We're gonna make them all pay, yeah?

Speaker 1 I wanna go.

Speaker 1 You have more pull in this city than any of us combined. Well, except for maybe that shit.

Speaker 1 Doesn't seem like he has much pull anymore.

Speaker 1 And as I look over,

Speaker 1 I see how who I realize maybe a part of me subconsciously in the last 24 hours I've been avoiding.

Speaker 1 And I see you with a scimitar.

Speaker 1 Oh,

Speaker 1 a visage of a warrior that was never meant to be

Speaker 1 and

Speaker 1 I turn back to you Thimble and I say

Speaker 1 make them pay for me too

Speaker 1 you need to hunt down everybody in this city that had a hand in it

Speaker 1 and you know who they are

Speaker 1 seek them out

Speaker 1 And take them down.

Speaker 1 Yeah,

Speaker 1 yeah, Listen, duh.

Speaker 1 That armor looks so big and sturdy. I bet your balls finally dropped, haven't they?

Speaker 1 Boy.

Speaker 1 I puff up my chest a little bit at that,

Speaker 1 but I see the glint in your eyes and that smirk on your face. Just like I remember when I first met you.

Speaker 1 Some of you hasn't changed at all.

Speaker 1 I will do what I can here,

Speaker 1 and I will look after the rest of the people here that I care about.

Speaker 1 Cadogan settles in by the fire,

Speaker 1 knowing we're going and wanting to grab this last little moment of comfort. It's so rare in the wild.

Speaker 1 And he lights up a little hand-rolled cigarette, and it's probably not anything that should be smoked.

Speaker 1 So you're gonna go up north?

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 1 All the mirth and good humor that's been in him in this evening fades away and it becomes deadly serious.

Speaker 1 City folk,

Speaker 1 all your drama,

Speaker 1 all your interpersonal workings,

Speaker 1 if any of you have been in the wild

Speaker 1 lately.

Speaker 1 Cause let me tell you something.

Speaker 1 It's not what you think

Speaker 1 I just came from Timani

Speaker 1 Not but three nights ago

Speaker 1 Then you had better prepare yourselves

Speaker 1 I'm so excited to find out what your deal is man

Speaker 1 Can I just say really quick, um, Hal, I don't know if you remember me or not, but I'm such a big fan you gave me some fruit leather one time when when you were helping him with his diction and his public speaking, and it was so good.

Speaker 1 Do you have any more of that? And could you also say, why do people pretend to be other people? It's so crazy to me. To find the truth,

Speaker 1 how

Speaker 1 you have some costumes here, right? You have a couple cloaks at least for Brennan.

Speaker 1 You should cover them up.

Speaker 1 Your uh, your robes are pretty noticeable. Oh,

Speaker 1 Costume cloaks are easy enough to acquire here in the home of veteran actor and thespian.

Speaker 1 Your final moments are shared here in Hal's home. He wears Theazi's sword on his back.

Speaker 1 Your final moments with Theazi,

Speaker 1 who, if

Speaker 1 you ever return to Dolmakyar,

Speaker 1 will be in his final resting place.

Speaker 1 Are there any final words shared here before the knight welcomes you?

Speaker 1 Ah.

Speaker 1 As they're about to leave,

Speaker 1 I catch Thimble by the door.

Speaker 1 And lo,

Speaker 1 with reverberation to his voice, he says,

Speaker 1 find

Speaker 1 him

Speaker 1 for our brother.

Speaker 1 And take a bardic inspiration with you as you leave.

Speaker 1 I'm gonna say, with...

Speaker 1 I'm gonna say

Speaker 1 with The Aussie's sword on your back at the threshold of your house,

Speaker 1 the iron nail of the Loy family overhead,

Speaker 1 that bardic inspiration that you take in that moment will not diminish no matter any amount of time

Speaker 1 and will increase even if you hold on to it

Speaker 1 as

Speaker 1 Hal

Speaker 1 works

Speaker 1 for the goals set before him here in this city.

Speaker 1 You bid farewell.

Speaker 1 Parting is that Shui Saro.

Speaker 1 I think the

Speaker 1 silence says more than any words could.

Speaker 1 At the top of the city,

Speaker 1 bidding farewell to Theazi,

Speaker 1 Cadogan,

Speaker 1 the

Speaker 1 stables of the Grey Tower

Speaker 1 stand beside an open balcony high above the waterfall.

Speaker 1 And you look and see a falcon's nest nearby.

Speaker 1 You draw five horses out here at the falcon's rest.

Speaker 1 I don't need one.

Speaker 1 Is there a carriage of some sort?

Speaker 1 I'm afraid not.

Speaker 1 You can ride side saddle. I will.
Yes. I, uh...

Speaker 1 They don't know what the falcon's rest is.

Speaker 1 I take my Falconer's Rebellion, folks, and I point out

Speaker 1 Falcon's Rest.

Speaker 1 This monument to those fallen

Speaker 1 of Dol Makyar in the Falconer's Rebellion.

Speaker 1 Around the pillars by the balustrade.

Speaker 1 No names written on where the hands rest.

Speaker 1 The names here in this monument seem almost hidden under shadow.

Speaker 1 As though in remembering them, Dolmakyar still had to hide

Speaker 1 some shame that they did not lend their full support when the Falcon's cry rang out across these lands.

Speaker 1 There's one thing I would like to do as I

Speaker 1 as they start getting ready to leave.

Speaker 1 I will start to recite the names of those that fought alongside us in the Falconers Rebellion that did not make it through.

Speaker 1 And I will keep that going

Speaker 1 as they ride off.

Speaker 1 Five.

Speaker 1 Brought together, head north.

Speaker 1 A brother in danger.

Speaker 1 A life turned into chaos.

Speaker 1 And maybe, if you're lucky, vengeance.

Speaker 1 We'll see you five at the soldier's table.

Speaker 1 Farewell.

Speaker 1 Farewell. And for the rest of you, I'll say farewell as well.
Although we will be seeing you next week, I need Matt, Alex, and Ashley back here.

Speaker 1 Soldiers.

Speaker 1 Yes, I am.

Speaker 1 I wonder if I should settle on that ring.

Speaker 1 That's your decision. Whatever you want to see.

Speaker 1 Yeah, you two probably have a better energy energy shoulder to shoulder. I'm all alone.

Speaker 1 The

Speaker 1 Palazzo divinos.

Speaker 1 Gorgeous, lit with fairy light, dancing wisps of magic

Speaker 1 as

Speaker 1 Julian,

Speaker 1 Velis, Octus arrives. Velus,

Speaker 1 I believe you were trailing some distance behind with pincushion in your arms.

Speaker 1 As you walk through the gardens here at the Palazzo Divinos, you hear the rushing of the river. The Palazzo abuts the river Vrosch on the far side.

Speaker 1 Gardens here are beautiful.

Speaker 1 Some of these trees

Speaker 1 aren't from this world.

Speaker 1 Seeds

Speaker 1 from far fairy Teotrislu.

Speaker 1 Lands beyond grow in this place.

Speaker 1 Trailing vines. As you arrive, the doors open.
Your father, General Raymond.

Speaker 1 Julian, I.

Speaker 1 Well done,

Speaker 1 my son.

Speaker 1 I am General Raymond Davinos.

Speaker 1 You are Octis Takonis.

Speaker 1 Yes, pleasure to meet you.

Speaker 1 I believe we have

Speaker 1 some things

Speaker 1 to discuss.

Speaker 1 I've been told.

Speaker 1 He enters in.

Speaker 1 Velus, do you approach with him to enter the manor or do you remain in the garden?

Speaker 1 I lean over to Octus.

Speaker 1 Would you like me to come with you?

Speaker 1 I mean, you I have no objection, but also

Speaker 1 we don't know each other, so that's up to you. Um, you can come if you like.
With all due respect, Velis.

Speaker 1 It is a bit disquieting to leave you to your own devices on our personal grounds, and we are not fully understood of how tethered you might be to this plot either.

Speaker 1 I would humbly request your presence in this conversation as well.

Speaker 1 So, yeah, come on.

Speaker 1 You enter,

Speaker 1 Cordy is abound.

Speaker 1 They're getting ready for a big gala tomorrow night.

Speaker 1 So you see that there's sort of some festivities around. People are decorating garlands of flowers on the gardens.
You enter and see the lady Aranessa Royce,

Speaker 1 who you saw yesterday at at the funeral.

Speaker 1 She says, Julian, thank you.

Speaker 1 Octus.

Speaker 1 Good evening. Good evening.

Speaker 1 Maybe there's a good quiet place for us to

Speaker 1 discuss.

Speaker 1 There's a room higher in the keep, or if you prefer an additional layer of privacy, we have a bedroom that you're welcome to stay in while we're figuring out

Speaker 1 whatever you prefer. I'm here at your disposal.

Speaker 1 Up to you. There's a drawing room with a fire just up there on the upper balustrade, or if you'd like

Speaker 1 a place to

Speaker 1 show you to a room, because we think it might be good for you to

Speaker 1 sleep in a place that nobody knows you stay. I understand you're a student at the Penteverl.
You should know that your father visited the Penteveral earlier today.

Speaker 1 Okay.

Speaker 1 Um, then

Speaker 1 I accept your generous hospitality. I will

Speaker 1 stay here for the time being.

Speaker 1 What is going on?

Speaker 1 Well, I believe General Raymond wishes to speak with you, Julian. Um you see that Aranessa looks and says,

Speaker 1 My lady,

Speaker 1 I am Lady Aranessa Royce.

Speaker 1 Welcome to the Palazzo Divinos. This is the house of my vassal lord,

Speaker 1 Raymond.

Speaker 1 I'm Velus.

Speaker 1 Velus.

Speaker 1 Apologies for how we met earlier.

Speaker 1 You see that she looks to you and says, I'll show you to your chambers and we can discuss.

Speaker 1 You're studying.

Speaker 1 I know that your family is gifted with sorceress ability as mine is, but.

Speaker 1 Yeah, um,

Speaker 1 you know, uh, I uh

Speaker 1 being the eighth kid and all it didn't quite get to me,

Speaker 1 you know.

Speaker 1 She looks at Penn in Vales' arms and says,

Speaker 1 or it did in its own way.

Speaker 1 I kind of had to force it.

Speaker 1 She smiles and says, let's

Speaker 1 discuss.

Speaker 1 She walks with you.

Speaker 1 You see Raymond looks at you, Julian, and says,

Speaker 1 we have some things to discuss, my son. And they walk up to the side.

Speaker 1 They get up. as they start heading up.
Bayless, I think you,

Speaker 1 as you're walking up, Aranessa sort of takes Octus's hand. Um,

Speaker 1 I can stay. I don't need to,

Speaker 1 uh, I don't need a rope.

Speaker 1 Um, you see, she smiles and says,

Speaker 1 Uh, and you sort of remain down here in the hall, looking at sort of courtiers gathering around. Um, go ahead and give me a perception check if you'd be so kind.

Speaker 1 21.

Speaker 1 Looking out, this palazzo is beautifully appointed. You see, there's a lot of open,

Speaker 1 sort of like bay doors to the gardens. You look out and see servants moving in from kitchens elsewhere.
It's just beautiful and very open.

Speaker 1 Wind sort of moves through the palace.

Speaker 1 You hear a

Speaker 1 noise on a 21

Speaker 1 distantly.

Speaker 1 You hear a wolf moving swiftly.

Speaker 1 Somewhere far away, your ears are powerful enough to detect it. It's not even on the ground, but it is approaching distantly.

Speaker 1 Something wild and magical is moving on the face of the world.

Speaker 1 And you almost hear the call of a nightingale.

Speaker 1 I look around

Speaker 1 and just anywhere to try to see if

Speaker 1 I am actually hearing this or if this is just in my head. None of the humans here in this room are reacting or can hear what you can hear, but you hear it coming from the gardens.

Speaker 1 I watch Octas as he goes up

Speaker 1 with Lady Iranessa and I will.

Speaker 1 Am I still able to hold on to Pincushion? Yeah.

Speaker 1 Okay, so I'm gonna put Pincushion on my shoulder

Speaker 1 and I'm gonna walk out to the gardens. You walk out.

Speaker 1 You see a distant bridge.

Speaker 1 A wolf running across a bridge, crossing the river.

Speaker 1 You hear Nightingale song.

Speaker 1 As you walk through the gardens,

Speaker 1 you see

Speaker 1 Jasmine growing.

Speaker 1 That wolf needs to get into this garden. The walls of the palazzo are closed.
You need to make sure that that wolf can get in.

Speaker 1 And when I see the wolf, do I sense?

Speaker 1 Bria, you want to come out?

Speaker 1 No.

Speaker 1 Shit! Shit! It's the wrong wolf. It's the wrong wolf.
Wolf down. Wolf down.

Speaker 1 All right, I... So

Speaker 1 coming over the bridge towards us. Yes.
Okay, so I am going to.

Speaker 1 You look, and I think, Tysha,

Speaker 1 you hear the song. It's powerful.
Beautiful, but it's a word of warning.

Speaker 1 Something magical is happening, and you look across the bridge as you are crossing it. You can feel Jasmine heralding your approach.

Speaker 1 You look across at what can only be described as one dedicated to the memory of a shaper that took the world of nature for her own and bent it to her will.

Speaker 1 And you look across, and in this moment,

Speaker 1 know

Speaker 1 that doom will befall your world

Speaker 1 if you cannot find her spirit in your own and she yours.

Speaker 1 There is a moment of eye contact

Speaker 1 and just unbidden a howl rips from her

Speaker 1 and it is long and mourning

Speaker 1 and then she just returns her gaze to you and she is stopped and gets low. It's something between a pounce, but it's not submission.
It is what is about to happen next.

Speaker 1 And she just waits and watches you.

Speaker 1 I think hearing that, Valis

Speaker 1 hasn't had this feeling in a long time, almost as if

Speaker 1 her heart

Speaker 1 has.

Speaker 1 It's beating again for the first time.

Speaker 1 And hearing that morning howl,

Speaker 1 something gets caught in her throat, an emotion, something.

Speaker 1 I will start briskly walking towards the wolf.

Speaker 1 I approach at the same speed.

Speaker 1 The wolf vanishes. You are separated by so much distance, but in this starlight here, it's an unusually clear night for Dolmakyar.

Speaker 1 Connecting over this vast distance, the wolf continues into the city, and you walk forward, seeing multiple small gates in the walls of the palazzo, manned by guards of the Divinos.

Speaker 1 By whatever measure necessary, you know that a door must be left open for that wolf, as certain as you have ever been about the magic workings of this world. Um, I will cast command.

Speaker 1 You walk up, and you see a guard looks over and says,

Speaker 1 My lady, open the gate.

Speaker 1 Goes, yes,

Speaker 1 and you see that just opens it as the other guard says,

Speaker 1 Devin, do you... And he goes, yes, my lady.
And you just see is crying without knowing why. Just opens it.
And

Speaker 1 you open the gate and stand in the open doorway. I stand in the open doorway and I put a hand out.

Speaker 1 We move from there. You wait.
You can hear the wolf approaching. It will take time for the wolf to go through the city.
but this door will be open when that wolf arrives.

Speaker 1 We move back into the palazzo. Um

Speaker 1 uh

Speaker 1 uh Aranessa arrives up at your rooms, beautiful little appointed. There's a table in the center of the room, off to a doorway.
There's a little bedchamber. She looks and says,

Speaker 1 Octus,

Speaker 1 have you done anything

Speaker 1 that you should not have?

Speaker 1 Um

Speaker 1 to what are you referring? I'm sure sure I have your family believes that you were involved with an attempt to rescue my husband. My late husband.

Speaker 1 Oh

Speaker 1 Why would they believe that?

Speaker 1 Can I insight check? Yeah, I know she was at the funeral and I know she knows people that I know

Speaker 1 I'm terrible at this.

Speaker 1 Absolutely not a two.

Speaker 1 Our

Speaker 1 processional caravan behind us was stopped at the eastern edge of the Tvalmar Pass. Do you know why?

Speaker 1 Um

Speaker 1 look, I'm just

Speaker 1 I've been out of town for the last six months. I only came back because we heard he was being executed

Speaker 1 Octis.

Speaker 1 The doors to fairy

Speaker 1 closed

Speaker 1 because the realm of death is so choked with souls that cannot move to an afterlife because we killed the gods

Speaker 1 that that energy

Speaker 1 burst into our world and almost struck the heart of fairy, killing it forever.

Speaker 1 Your family and my family each have a castle, not in this world.

Speaker 1 And I don't think many common folk know that.

Speaker 1 My family has a castle in the golden orchard halfway between our world and fairy, and it is dying.

Speaker 1 Your family has a castle in death. It's

Speaker 1 doing both, honestly. It's getting more powerful, and

Speaker 1 with every death.

Speaker 1 I know.

Speaker 1 Your family's looking for you.

Speaker 1 Theazi was collecting things towards the end.

Speaker 1 I I believe he was collecting he asked Taisha

Speaker 1 and by extension you to collect something. Yes.
What was it? A box.

Speaker 1 Did it have any connection to

Speaker 1 I was not able to be granted audience either by your family or the Halo Var. Do you know anything about what his intentions were with the box?

Speaker 1 I do not.

Speaker 1 I only know know that we were supposed to bring it back here to him.

Speaker 1 Obviously, that didn't happen. I believe, to the extent of my knowledge, Tysha still has the box.

Speaker 1 Octis.

Speaker 1 Why is there an elven warrior downstairs? That is so complicated.

Speaker 1 I don't know. She

Speaker 1 apparently your

Speaker 1 late husband stole something from her and she's here to find it. That is the literal reason why she's here, but the reason why she followed me here, I can't say.
She's very confusing.

Speaker 1 But she's here to protect me.

Speaker 1 What did he steal?

Speaker 1 A stone.

Speaker 1 Yes? You see that she goes and says, uh, your bedclothes, and goes to move to the door. We move downstairs.
Uh, General Raymond is down there.

Speaker 1 No word from the carriages at uh the eastern edge of the pass.

Speaker 1 The Chicones are moving.

Speaker 1 Their forces in the city are

Speaker 1 maybe triple what we imagined they would be. Oh, so this is

Speaker 1 fairly grave, then.

Speaker 1 What is going on for her?

Speaker 1 I don't know why the Lady Arenessa was not met.

Speaker 1 Do you know anything about a...

Speaker 1 A stone.

Speaker 1 A missing stone.

Speaker 1 Julian's kind of head flicks over his left shoulder almost in the direction of the

Speaker 1 entryway to the

Speaker 1 Palazzo.

Speaker 1 Looks at his father.

Speaker 1 No, I don't.

Speaker 1 I suppose I owe you some thanks for

Speaker 1 retrieving Octus. At least you can follow that direction.

Speaker 1 Some of your

Speaker 1 courtiers, your consorts,

Speaker 1 I believe, are

Speaker 1 waiting upstairs. If you wish to help yourself to some of the

Speaker 1 cormorant wine.

Speaker 1 He goes to speak up for a second, his body kind of tensing before deflating a bit.

Speaker 1 Gives his father one more look and just kind of leaves the chamber and heads out to where he last saw Valis.

Speaker 1 You head out.

Speaker 1 As you approach, you see Valis, or where she must have walked out to the gardens. You see some

Speaker 1 friends of yours back from the Golden Orchard.

Speaker 1 Jahar,

Speaker 1 a broad-shouldered, muscular man, goatee, shaven head,

Speaker 1 Elandria, who looks as ravishing as ever, her hair tied up in a

Speaker 1 massive, messy pile with golden chains and small glowing jewels, and Mardanis, who is his impressive

Speaker 1 shoulders bare for all to see, wearing only a vest and breeches with seven league boots. Look to you and say, you see, Jahar goes,

Speaker 1 Julian, I can't believe it. You had work today.

Speaker 1 Jahar,

Speaker 1 it does happen on occasion.

Speaker 1 We've cracked into some of the finer stuff, not that cormorant garbage, but the real Gavinos.

Speaker 1 Save some for me if you don't mind. My work day is not yet complete, believe it or not.

Speaker 1 Alandrea says, you break my heart. Oh, don't let me break it for too long.
It won't be

Speaker 1 the entirety of the evening, my dear. But

Speaker 1 there are things afoot. If you just give me a bit of patience, please.
That's all I ask.

Speaker 1 You see that he,

Speaker 1 the three of them say, have a doorway, Julian.

Speaker 1 You walk out and see Valus out in the garden standing in the doorway.

Speaker 1 Still standing there, and I just am waiting with a hand out.

Speaker 1 Valis,

Speaker 1 what are you doing?

Speaker 1 Waiting. For?

Speaker 1 You'll see.

Speaker 1 His

Speaker 1 bravado crumbles a bit as he gets lost in thought and approaches and kind of steps up beside you, just shoulder to shoulder.

Speaker 1 I don't like the feeling of being overwhelmed.

Speaker 1 But I feel like the tide is rising and I don't know why or how.

Speaker 1 I have

Speaker 1 I have a bad feeling about tonight.

Speaker 1 Do you get bad feelings often?

Speaker 1 Yes, but it's usually easy to drink them away.

Speaker 1 But now this is, um.

Speaker 1 Something's happening, and.

Speaker 1 I haven't grown up

Speaker 1 under the.

Speaker 1 the golden flicker of

Speaker 1 the house of a magic to not

Speaker 1 recognize shifts

Speaker 1 his ethereal winds as women

Speaker 1 you've come here looking for something

Speaker 1 this boy is being hunted

Speaker 1 My lady is shaken

Speaker 1 And from what I can tell a bit in his eyes, I think my father is too

Speaker 1 And I don't know why

Speaker 1 But the part me part of me feels like I can trust you

Speaker 1 I believe you can too

Speaker 1 And even though you seem...

Speaker 1 a little bit of an asshole,

Speaker 1 I feel I can trust you.

Speaker 1 What are you waiting for?

Speaker 1 A wolf.

Speaker 1 Bayless,

Speaker 1 you feel your divine sense pulsing within you in this moment.

Speaker 1 As Julian says, he has a terrible feeling.

Speaker 1 You have an ability,

Speaker 1 based on your connection

Speaker 1 to something profound and magical,

Speaker 1 to reach out a supernatural awareness in this moment. Your divine sensibility.

Speaker 1 You feel it pulsing within your chest as you await the wolf.

Speaker 1 Give me a perception check.

Speaker 1 Oh, that was almost so good.

Speaker 1 Um

Speaker 1 14. 14.

Speaker 1 Without, unless you use your divine sense on that perception, all you get is

Speaker 1 there's something deep about Julian's shadow.

Speaker 1 Something a little bit

Speaker 1 thicker and more obscure about it. You have the ability to reach out to your divine sense if you so.
I would love to,

Speaker 1 Julian.

Speaker 1 As you reach out,

Speaker 1 Julian's cursed.

Speaker 1 And as your divine sense reaches out,

Speaker 1 that curse is not the most troubling thing here.

Speaker 1 This garden beyond Julian

Speaker 1 is filled

Speaker 1 with hundreds and hundreds of specters of the restless dead just on the other side of the veil from the living world.

Speaker 1 Walking out on the steps to the garden,

Speaker 1 you see

Speaker 1 General Raymond

Speaker 1 looks out at you.

Speaker 1 Julian,

Speaker 1 I wanted to say

Speaker 1 that

Speaker 1 a hand from an invisible figure reaches forward as the invisibility is dropped, and a black clad member of House Taconis reaches their hand up immaterially through the skin

Speaker 1 under his jaw, reaches inside his head and pulls his skull out of his head immaterially.

Speaker 1 Letting go, it becomes corporeal again, and suddenly the upper half of his spinal cord and skull is out in front of the flesh of his head and he dies instantly collapsing to the ground.

Speaker 1 Upstairs.

Speaker 1 With a knock on the door,

Speaker 1 stone.

Speaker 1 Aranessa opens for the servant to bring the bedclothes. The door creaks and suddenly stops creaking as a silence spell fills the room.

Speaker 1 You see

Speaker 1 six

Speaker 1 black-clad figures wearing Taconis symbols.

Speaker 1 As their heads rise, you see the vacancy of six ghouls.

Speaker 1 full undead

Speaker 1 gazing out at you and in the midst,

Speaker 1 you see here

Speaker 1 your

Speaker 1 brother

Speaker 1 Ethrand

Speaker 1 casting a silent spell, holding in his hand

Speaker 1 a perfectly spherical black stone, wings surrounding it.

Speaker 1 He looks,

Speaker 1 speaking in silence.

Speaker 1 No sound travels, but his lips mouth the words which is enough for the undead that he commands.

Speaker 1 Put him on the table. Open him up.

Speaker 1 And we'll put the stone where it belongs.

Speaker 1 And that's all for this episode.

Speaker 1 No, whoa. Actually, no, no.

Speaker 1 No. That's all.
Don't turn the camera off. And that's all for this episode.
A critical role.

Speaker 1 We'll see you all next week.

Speaker 1 We'll see you all. No, like, Jimmy's dad's head is gone.
What? Whoa, whoa, whoa. And we'll see you all next week.

Speaker 1 For another episode of Critical Roll.

Speaker 1 No, no. South.
We don't say it. We have to keep playing.

Speaker 1 And I'm sorry for not saying it last week. Huge faux pas on my part.
I won't forget this time because Matt's right here.

Speaker 1 Is it Thursday?

Speaker 1 Thanks for listening to this episode of Critical Roll. If you're enjoying this story, consider leaving a review on your podcast platform of choice.

Speaker 1 We're always looking for new critters to share our adventures with, and your review may help a new batch of wayward souls find their way to Araman, Xandria, and beyond.

Speaker 1 Or if you want to hear what the cast discussed after the episode, head to beacon.tv and check out our exclusive show, Critical Roll Cooldown.

Speaker 1 You'll be right there at the table immediately after we say, is it Thursday yet, and experience our our cast's post-show reactions. We'll see you next time.

Speaker 2 This podcast is brought to you with Holiday Cheer by Ulta Beauty.

Speaker 4 Don't miss out on Ulta Beauty's Early Black Friday event, happening now through November 22nd.

Speaker 5 Shop $10 beauty minis from brands like Mac and Too Faced.

Speaker 7 Take 30% off Lancome and Touchline fragrances and body mists.

Speaker 3 To shop our early Black Friday event, head to your local Ulta Beauty in Abilene.

Speaker 1 Are you ready to get spicy? These Doritos Golden Sriracha aren't that spicy.

Speaker 1 Sriracha? Sounds pretty spicy to me. Um, a little spicy, but also tangy and sweet.
Maybe it's time to turn up the heat. Or turn it down.

Speaker 1 It's time for something that's not too spicy. Try Dorito's Golden Sriracha.
Spicy.

Speaker 1 But not too spicy.

The Snipping of Shears | Critical Role | Campaign 4, Episode 3 | Part 2

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Transcript

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Stone-Faced | Critical Role | Campaign 4, Episode 4 | Part 2