WWW #42: Match My Breath and Walk in My Footsteps

This is the sound of Worlds Beyond Number.

Murmuring throughout the beer garden, soldiers lean over, excitedly asking others to explain the elements of the story that they had missed.

Peering over, huddling in groups, asking for clarification.

We even see the wizard sworn standing up to turn around and say, What do you, what do you, hold, hold on, what do you mean?

The wizard silent, the Archmage Silence appeared in the sky.

He leveled his staff and he smote the great bullfrog.

You see, someone leans and says, Well, I didn't hear that.

He smote, what did he do?

Smote him?

He said, I don't,

I'd met a sailor aboard one of the skyships who was there who saw the spirit appear.

It tried to make a noise, and you see, Sworn interrupts and says, The great bullfrog is a great spirit.

Are you sure you saw what you saw?

And in a couple places, you see that the Imperial soldiers who are talking animatedly, excitedly, are being met with looks of wonder and trepidation and awe by Citadel wizards who have some understanding of the arcane significance of this.

You see the Imperial Soldier turn up to Sworn and say, I mean,

it was incredible.

I mean, the monster was huge.

It was incredibly impressive, but it was, you know, it was a giant frog.

You see Sworn go, well,

frog or otherwise, that's not the classification that we're worried about here.

It was a great spirit.

Did you see it?

Was it bound or was it?

And you see another guild mage walks up and says,

I believe that the spell, whatever it was, bound, abjured, and cast away.

There was no injury upon the creature, though it

looked as if it was in a great deal of pain.

I don't think it was having a good day, certainly.

And you see Sworn sort of stare ahead and go

Raise a glass to the wizard's silence.

And he raises it up, and you see that the wizards cheer, he slams it back, and you see that someone else leans in and goes,

The spirit was responsible for the flooding of the rivers and everything that we had seen.

So with those rivers dry, we'll be able to circle around.

And I think the push to 12 Brooks is going to be much easier now with that spirit banished, absorbed, killed, whatever.

As this is happening, first of all, you see the wizard in those red robes make eye contact with you as someone speaks to him from across the bar.

I hold his case.

Can I make an insight check on

his inspiration?

Yes.

Natural 20.

Oh!

You are looking at one of the most evil men you have ever seen.

You are not mortal,

and

this human man

is

so

much more inhuman than you.

You look into his soul and see

a reptilian abacus of power staring back at you.

He begins to walk across the bar to you.

I stand and start to move to meet him.

He approaches and says,

Bear of Silbri, my pleasure.

What is your name?

I am called the Wizard Keen of the Glass Coronet.

The Glass Coronet?

Yes.

A Guild of Mages in service to the Crown.

I

have just been informed that we have you to thank for your heroism and guidance through Halakha Forest that saved the Wizard Silver and his Citadel and Imperial forces stationed in Abyssin, and that you are a companion true of the Wizard Sky.

Yes, I am in her service.

Marvelous.

May I ask how the Wizard Sky came into the service of such a powerful spirit to lead this Imperial Battalion through the heart of Hallacher Forest?

Childhood friends.

Is that an honest answer?

Yes.

Well,

exceptional.

And to think that your service is, I am concluding by your statement, freely given due to the true friendship of you based in childhood.

I would say earned.

A testament to the wizard sky that her friendship inspires such loyalty.

Well, a pleasure to make your acquaintance and thank you for your service to the Empire.

He turns and walks away.

I'd like to

watch him

see who he is talking to and how they hold him.

He is speaking to a few other guild mages

and the wizard Slain, that very intense war mage of the Citadel that greeted you first on your way in.

The guild mages regard Keen

with a mix of fear and

respect,

and Slain

is looking at him with a contempt

that

you take as being

Keen is a very soft man.

He's dressed in silk, his hands are soft, he's here shuttling supplies and you don't know what the glass coronet does, but you know that people are afraid of this guy and looking at Slane and the contempt he holds Keen in, you begin to feel that Keene wields a power that someone who is a combatant doesn't respect and that people that want station and authority do.

Aame, what are you doing here in the beer garden?

The second that I start hearing Great Bullfrog, banishment, abjuration, I start making my way through the crowd to Ursulan.

Ursulan, you are joined in this moment by Ahmed.

The fox comes up with a bag of coins around his neck.

Clean haul, boss.

We're looking good.

Good job, Fox.

Ursulan?

Yes.

Have you been hearing the rumors around?

Sounds like

they've banished or in some way captured the great bullfrog.

Yes.

We have to get out of here.

We

have to.

We can't be here.

We are gonna cut back into the governor's hall.

As the mirror fades,

Lady Iramin turns to you and says, Wizard Skye, I'm given leave to take you to your quarters, which are, of course, here in the Governor's Hall, but I may also

remand you to the custody of your adoring soldiers who I'm sure wish to drink your health.

Thank you.

If you wouldn't mind showing me my quarters, I would deeply appreciate it.

And I think there's a look here that is

CV is not a hardened soldier, and there's just a little bit of like,

I'm one fancy sort of fancy person looking at another fancy person, like, please feel me in this vibe.

Like, I would love a hot bath and just to clean up, please.

She looks at you and says, gladly, right this way.

And I think a bath should be drawn, yes?

Thank you.

She walks with you.

Beautifully appointed quarters.

It's fair.

This is way more rustic than Port Talon.

Bracken is like a little bit of a smaller city.

And not only that, but it's not a port city.

So there's not like a lot of trade goods that come through.

So it's like a beautiful queen bed and beautiful citadel sheets on a mattress that's a little lumpy.

Sort of like governor, this sort of like rustic governor's mantse.

But she leans you in, very white and clean.

There's a big silver tub, and you see that she comes over and taps these two little hovering crystal stones, and a small portal opens between them, and hot water begins to pour out.

Thank you so much.

And yeah, Subi will take a little bit of time

just to clean up.

I think she does that

moment in the bathtub where you like let your head sink under and screams really loudly.

Because

it's all a lot and it's been a lot.

And it's over now.

And her best friends, her true friends, asked her to keep her eyes and ears and senses open

to something foul in the citadel, in the empire, and she cannot get the stench out of her nose.

You emerge from the bath clean.

Hot water feels

like at least your body can be made pure, though your mind is filled with horrifying thoughts.

You walk back out into your quarters for the first time.

Change of clothes.

You've been traveling in the wilderness for two weeks.

What is

there anything else you do here in this chamber?

I think the last thing is as she's sort of setting her hair to rights, like, oh, you got your hair wet.

You do have to handle it.

The shrinkage will kill you.

See if you pulls out like a little brush, and it's small with like little bore bristles, but like the handle is like mother of pearl.

It's really, really nice.

And as she brushes her hair and sort of detangles it and lets the curl pattern come back, she's going to brush the color teal back into it.

So she appears as like who she thinks of as the wizard's guy when she goes back out to go rejoin her friends.

And as she sort of finishes putting herself together and puts her clothes on and like re-kits herself, when she like goes to hook her spellbook onto like the little sling on her belt, she remembers that ping

when asked about the glass spider and is going to open the book.

You open the book

and begin to thumb through it.

And in the exact placement on the front inside cover, much like where it would be positioned on the inside lid of a music box, is a little mirrored spider.

And you see, upon being observed,

you swear to God the head tilts for a second to look up and then goes still again.

CV laughs delightedly.

And then, then

balancing the book in one hand, she does half of the little like high salute and winks at it.

There's a momentary pause.

Little flat shard of mirror head looks left and right and it

skitters and does its little salute.

Its head spins in a little circle over it and you see it crawls around on the book excitedly and then looks and sort of after saluting it does a very deep little bow where it puts its little spider butt up high and its head down low and looks up expectantly at you

do you want to stay with me

it nods enthusiastically oh oh

great

where would you like to stay i so

and suvie just immediately starts speaking to it like i i don't know she's just caught in this moment of like oh little guy that understands

maybe it's best if you're not seen all the time, but wherever you would like to be most comfortable, you can, you can be.

I like that you want to stay.

And like, Sue's just doing like the little kid.

It's not like a pet in a like

pejorative way, but like, I have a little secret friend.

And it's just sort of getting very like curled around her book and like losing a lot of her like composure and decorum.

You see that the spider upon being told to stay where it likes to stay, you see it runs around the little spot on the inside cover of your spellbook, where it can once again be like a little embossment under the lid or cover of something.

And you see it sort of thinks for a second

and you see that it spins up its butt in a little circle and does the thing that you've seen it do before, which is project.

It projects

two letters.

and then a punctuation and you see that it has clearly spent time crawling around in your spellbook.

So your own handwriting comes out in these little projections, like little captures of your own writing and you see it goes, okay, question mark.

Yeah, yes, yes, yes, whatever you want, wherever you want.

It projects some more letters.

It projects the word good, and you see it skitters back and then comes back and projects sorry.

And you see it looks, it sort of runs around in a circle again.

And you see it projects the music box and an image of its recording of the music box in the library.

And then it projects a image of Rasper

from when he took the music box from you on the ship.

And you can see a recording of the spider's own memory of him walking away and it jumping off, scuttling after you, and going into your spellbook.

Never ever apologize for that.

That's what it's not the first, but it's definitely in the long list of very cool and very correct and very good things that you've done.

Do you have a name?

Little no comes out on the.

Oh,

do you want one?

You don't have to have one.

That's not necessary.

I have a friend that's just a fox, and it's just the a fox, not like nothing capitalized.

The spider sort of tilts its head back and forward and projects out

the word task.

And you see it projects the word task in front, and you see that it sort of runs, it circles around the projection, scratching its own head, confused,

and then steps back and it projects book,

not task.

I

like book

bad

to book, not task.

Question mark.

I like book, not task.

It looks up at you and projects again.

Seeing you, like trying to reason with it, it shows

task and then projects the music box.

And then it projects again, saying, task, everything.

Book, not task.

Book

new.

Book not good.

Okay, you did the task.

It's done, and you can be here.

And

the book is

the book is good, and we can

come up.

I feel like I'm dealing with an existential crisis right now, and that's fun.

So we're the same that way.

Stay in the book.

I've got an excellent set of tasks for you.

You're going to be my interface with this.

Head spins

and it projects the words:

only task.

Task good.

Name task?

Question mark?

Yes.

It salutes with its little spinning head to you.

And task the spider goes and

goes into the embossment of your book.

And as she closes it and like gives the book a little hug and her spellbook a little hug and replaces it on that like sling on her hip as she walks out, she just gives a little smile smile to herself and says,

I am always better with the task.

I just gotta go find her friend.

Ame and Ursulan.

At the beer garden, Ame, you close in on Ursulan saying

these words that you have to say.

What would you like to do at this moment?

I would lead us out.

Okay.

As you exit out into the cool night,

hearing the cheering and revelry from inside the beer garden,

walking across the plaza is Sousy.

Hey!

Hi.

Okay.

I feel like I've walked into a suboptimal vibe.

What's going on?

Amen.

They bound another great spirit.

What do you mean?

The great bullfrog.

Your mentor

silenced him.

But

now the rivers of the Shroud Mountains will run dry

and they will advance to the next point.

The Archmage Silence

did something to the Great Bullfrog.

The soldiers inside tell stories of the Arkmage Silence appearing above the Great Bullfrog,

in some way taking his voice,

and then

banishing him,

during

Oh.

Like the sorcerers did to the rock that you flew.

Possibly.

You don't know.

Do I know when they say bound and abjured,

what that might entail?

You have the words of soldiers.

You know, the people that viewed this, it's a second-hand story.

It's come from the front lines.

It's clearly being celebrated.

Because it seems to indicate that it's a turning point in the war.

And

unfortunately, not having witnessed it, you're dealing with the same fog of war and rumor as everybody else.

We just have the rumors.

We don't know for sure what happened.

I

apologize.

It's not your fault, but we need to do it.

I apologize for what will be a follow-up

slightly insensitive question.

The spirit's three:

Great Bullfrog,

the Queen of Coins,

King of Night.

Is there a world in which the Great Bullfrog is anything like

the man in black?

And perhaps

this is an event worth celebrating.

The Great Bullfrog is a spirit of music, of rivers and festivals.

He...

He, as far as I know, has no warlike intentions.

He has

only ever protected the people along the Lithwin.

I don't believe that this is a cause for celebration.

Not for all the people

for whom that river is their lifeblood.

Inside the beer garden, you see Lahoun point out and go, there she is!

A group of your soldiers rush out and say, three cheers for the wizard sky

and begin to rush around as they're going to like lift you up and like carry you into the beer garden.

As they are running out, I'm going to turn to the two of you.

Is your intention to leave now?

No, I'll be leaving on the morrow.

Okay, we'll talk more later.

If you want to go get going.

And I'm going to like step back from them to try to like meet the group

and happily crowdsurf my way into my victory party.

Ame and Ursulan outside.

Where do you go in this moment?

As you see Suvi carried aloft in the arms of her adoring soldiers, Sworn raises the glasses, the first to put a tankard of ale in your hand,

people cheering.

For Ursulan and Ame.

Where do you go this night?

Can we look at that pocket watch you have?

Why, Amy?

What if they've managed to bind the great bullfrog?

What if he's out there, not far away?

Then he will wait.

I seek first the children of the Grino.

But surely he was here

at their behest.

He's important to them.

He is.

William.

He is a great spirit.

Ame,

give me

Arcana,

but I want you to use wisdom instead of intelligence.

Fifteen.

There's something here.

On a fifteen, you can't be quite sure, but there's something here.

These different points connect.

There is a connection between the gift of these children.

Alan and Johanna

were afraid because their children had the gift.

And there's something in that soldier's story which is meant to be a story of camaraderie and victory and the citadel overcoming the forces of the spirit and of nature and

the power and craft of mortal wizards.

And

there's some

connection, there's something that doesn't make sense.

Why in the story the bullfrog wasn't attacking

Twelfth Brooks?

And I think there's a moment where you wonder why did the Great Bullfrog appear?

The Great Bullfrog?

I think he appeared because the Granot asked him, because their children, the ones who have his gift, have gone missing.

We need his help,

in addition to helping him.

I do not need his his help.

I can do this.

I will do this.

I am tired of waiting.

I am tired of leaning on others.

Tonight, I will celebrate with my friend.

And tomorrow,

I will help those children.

You can help them by finding the great bullfrog.

Then Amay, you go and find the great bullfrog.

And when I have helped the children, I will come and find you.

Please be safe.

You as well.

Perhaps

may I see which way your watch points?

I feel that surely it will lead me to the great bullfrog.

I produce the watch.

The hand points

southeast.

Ursulan, you hear the shouts and cheers from inside the beer garden.

Are you leaving, Ame?

I must make some preparations and then I will go find the great bullfrog.

Have a good evening.

You as well.

Send my

love to Suvi.

I will.

As Ursulan re-enters the beer garden, the fox looks up at Ame.

What's the plan, boss?

We reprovision

and then we talk to somebody who saw what happened.

Okay.

Where do you want to go right now?

Do I know where any leadership is that

would have seen this

or

know where this went down?

Give me a

investigation check.

18.

At one of the outside tables a little quieter drinking something a little bit stiffer than ale out of a rock's glass, you see that there is a skyship pilot of an Imperial skyship, Colonel Jahira Armand.

She's about mid-40s,

kind of thin, windswept looking woman, short, kind of serious looking.

She's with with someone else who is smoking a long cigar with her, who seems to be sort of just trading small, soft stories out here.

They're getting away from sort of the hustle and muscle of the crowd.

But a soldier that you're aware of points to her as a pilot of a sky ship that was present in 12 Brooks when this happened.

What do you do as you approach?

Hail and well met, Colonel.

I'm Ame,

a friend of the wizard Skye.

Ame?

Uh, oh, you're the you're the witch that's embedded with uh Skye's unit.

Yes,

we went and retrieved the garrison.

Thank you very much for your service.

We appreciate it.

It's an incredible aid to have civilian guidance in a place like the Shroud Mountains.

Yes, um

the Wizard Silver did say it would be great to have standard issue which is in every unit

Absolutely.

I heard that you came back lately from Twelve Brooks.

Yes, yes.

Is it true what they say?

Give me a persuasion check.

18 on the die, that's a 25.

She looks at you and says, Well, I don't know what they're saying, but

the celebration is well earned.

We'll be able to make a move.

I

could already see the rivers lessening as we were flying away.

Did you see

the monster?

Saw something.

It didn't seem

like a monster

necessarily.

I mean, it was an enormous frog.

You could see it from the sky.

I could see it from the helm.

You know, it was

massive.

It took up, you know,

a good sized section of the lake just by itself.

Green wreathed in flowers and swamp grass and

the noise it made as it started to breathe in was just

enormous.

And then bright light, the Archimage Silence appeared.

I've never been present at a battle before where an Archimage of the Citadel appeared.

I of course hear stories, but that's not a resource that gets spent lightly.

And you can see why, because used sparingly, it's completely turned the tide of battle here.

And Silence, I mean, my mother was, you know, serving in the Imperial Infantry when Silence was first named to the Citadel, and she told stories about him being an incredible combatant, but in my lifetime, he's been, for all intents and purposes, retired.

Well,

one of my dear friend's duties was indeed feeding him very soft cookies.

Nothing soft about him that day.

He

appeared, leveled his staff of the Citadel

at

Spirit, breathed in.

You know, I've seen Padstone before.

I've seen 12 Brooks before, but it's right now there's been so much combat.

It's traded hands a few times.

Right now, Imperial forces have a garrison there, but they're pressed in on all sides.

They've had supply lines cut off for...

better part of a week week and a half right now so pushing through to try to get to the garrison and the imperial forces there but

yeah i don't know how gauthmai reached it or how they turned the spirit but the spirit appeared it

breathed in and it was looking

that was the funny part its eyes big buggy eyes and silence was there and all of his sort of radiant

attire

And it's hard to tell with a frog, but I swear the spirit wasn't looking at him.

It was looking right at 12 Brooks, right for the central garrison.

It's like a building in the center of town.

And it reached in and it went to croak.

And

you could see that it was scared or shocked or something that there was no noise coming out.

Silence had a staff pointed right at it and it couldn't stop croaking with no noise and it just got smaller and smaller.

Like, if you smaller, if you could only exhale, like your lungs got smaller and smaller, and you couldn't breathe in, and you couldn't stop breathing out until you'd breathed all of yourself away.

Pretty incredible magic.

It must have been quite something to behold,

and then silence just left, and it's a

victory, I suppose.

Teleported away.

With the rivers down, we'll be able to make a push, mobilize tomorrow before dawn.

Head there, try to break through the Gauthmai forces and liberate the garrison.

Yes,

all the best to you.

I hope that our troops come home safely

to our troops coming home safely.

Cheers.

Thank you, Ami.

Amay walks away a bit.

Fox?

Yeah, boss.

I think the children may be in that garrison.

I can't be sure.

But I'm almost dead certain that we need to go to Twelve Brooks.

What we need is proof.

We'll go buy some proof.

Suvi,

you're here drinking, partying, and you see that the Wizard Keen approaches you.

The Guild Wig

puts a fresh tankard in front of you.

Courtesy of the Glass Coronet.

Oh.

Thank you.

Word has reached me that our dispelling agent has

served just fine and managed to be some small aid in the mission across enemy lines.

Oh, that's yours?

Yes.

Incredible.

Thank you.

I'm sorry.

I think you have me at a disadvantage.

Who are you?

I'm the Wizard Keen.

I wouldn't expect an Archmage Apprentice to know a humble guild such as myself.

You're very kind.

And CV is like sloshing the drink around, trying to look significantly drunker than she is.

Gotcha.

He looks at you and says,

an honored friend and a witch in your service.

Incredible.

Yes, they are

long known to me.

Very.

It was so helpful because they're so good at the woods.

Did you know

the Gauth by Forces made the birds be snitches?

I

had not been made aware, but that does seem within their perfume.

Yeah, it's good to know a witch who can be like, no, birds, don't do that.

It's great.

Yeah.

Yeah, they're my friends.

Why?

I'm merely remarking that I have never seen a wizard compel service from a spirit through loyalty alone.

There's not a lot of wizards like me.

No.

No.

I dare say there are not.

To the wizard's guy.

To the wizard Keen.

Oh!

To be toasted.

A simple purveyor of artifacts.

I slide up to Subi once that interaction has had enough time.

Or once it feels like Keen has moved on.

I do not like him.

Fuck this guy.

All guilt majors like this.

I'm going to lean in like very buddy buddy and

like gesture in his direction as he leaves in order to empty the tankard so none of that touched my lips.

He has got the like, you do the hand over the glass.

Yeah.

He is the exact guy.

You're like, hand over my glass.

Don't like that at all.

And throws her arm around you and is just in your ear.

And you hear all the slur, like, all of that go away, even though her body

is like leaning on you like a drunk friend.

What an absolute fucking cad.

And he knows that you're an honored friend.

It seems word has gotten around.

Okay, okay.

I

had

a strange conversation with Steele.

I know you want to leave soon.

I will go with you.

I just, wherever Ahme is, I am very worried about how much everyone here loves you guys and wants to use words like compel and press into service.

It feels bad here, doesn't it?

It does.

I cannot lie.

It does not surprise me what has happened with the Great bullfrog.

These things felt inevitable.

Yeah.

And I think it's the like you said, you say inevitable, and Suvi gets like a shock reaction as like things slide into place and her understanding just alights on

the end of

our time at the Citadel.

This is what you felt

in Zhao when you left.

This is why you felt this.

Yes.

I'm so sorry I didn't

know.

Couldn't tell.

It makes sense why you felt the way that you felt and the decisions that you made.

I do not hold that against you.

But I will be leaving tomorrow.

I seek to find the children of the Grineau

and to free them.

Can I help?

I would come with you if it was a help, but if it's something you can't or don't want.

I only ask if you come with me.

That you match my breath and walk in my footsteps.

We will not be seeking the ideal outcome.

Simply one in which they are free.

I understand.

And I'm with you.

Silver walks into the beer garden.

Hey.

Hey.

Hey, Joan.

I'm doing great.

My tinkard's empty and I drop it.

Oh no.

I heard they're opening up a bar in the governor's hall.

We gotta go find it.

I'm gonna go find it.

I'll find you and everything will be found.

As you begin to walk out, the wizard Slain looks over, smiles at you.

Congratulations, Wizard Sky.

Is this the first time I'm meeting Slain?

Yes, he's never at the Citadel.

Yeah.

And there's a little, just that little flash of like Subi genuinely being excited to meet someone of like import that she has heard of and then remembers that she has to be silly and drunk.

You're the wizard slain.

Slain.

Slain.

Oh.

Sloppy, this doesn't bode well.

Oh no.

This is gonna be great.

No, don't go.

You see, he looks over and claps and says, you've more than earned it.

And you see, he claps a hand on Silver's shoulder as well and says, happy to have you aboard.

Hold on.

What's this?

Silver looks over and says,

I've received a little promotion.

Of course you did.

You're a hero.

Silver looks and says, Wizard Slane, an honor to serve.

I'm excited to be a part of the team.

And you see that Slane nods.

Good luck walking off that liquor, Wizard Sky.

That's not a great energy.

This is not a great first impression.

And Silver absconds with you and runs up to the governor's hall.

He looks at you very excitedly and says,

I have been promoted and I will be joining as a war mage of Slain's circle on the front lines.

Oh, this is an enormous opportunity.

I'm so proud.

And she throws her arms around him and, like, is dropping a bit of the affectation, but is still a little drunk.

Yeah.

And gives him a kiss on the cheek.

I'm so proud of you.

Where are you going to be going?

I'm reporting to Slane tomorrow morning, but I'll find out then.

In the morning?

Yes, yes, yes, yes.

No, no, no.

This happened one time before,

and I didn't say it.

But now I'm full of drunk.

And everyone's being nice to me.

So,

till the morning, you're mine.

I am proud to serve.

Serve, you shall!

He lifts you up in his arms and flies through the air

towards your room in the governor's hall.

Oh no!

This isn't fun or hot at all!

So bad, so bad.

Ursulan, Ame, is there anything else you guys do that night?

I don't think so.

I think Ursulan finishes his drink

and then heads to the stables.

Beautiful.

Rahon Zendi.

We've come a long way, my friend.

What an insane scene.

Bye.

Pushing open the barn doors.

Now, this is where the party's at.

Look at these horses drunk.

Ame, you see across the plaza Suvi and Silver flying off together.

Good, good for them, good for them, good for them.

They need that.

They need, yeah, they.

Standing here in the plaza with the fox, having just spoken with Colonel Armand, the pilot of the Imperial Skyship that was present in 12 Brooks,

what do you turn to do at this point in time?

I need to find out everything about 12 Brooks.

I need to know best points of ingress and egress.

I need to find out the kind of

enemy garrisons that are stationed around it.

I need to find out about that building in the center where I believe that the Grineau children are being kept.

These desires come to your mind, swirling around you.

The hour of night is already growing late, the revelry reaching its zenith of raucousness, where it will remain for some short time time before it begins to dwindle as people head off to bunk and barracks.

How does Aame intend to gather this information?

You look at a city, mostly asleep,

celebrating the return of heroes, but also racked by the panic of distant sounds of combat in the night.

You

also

are aware of sleeping civilians, reveling soldiers, guild mages, citadel wizards, imperial forces, tomorrow constructs,

and the assembled

brick-a-brac of life here in the Shroud Mountains, small creatures, governor's hall with Suvi and silver.

Where will you gain this knowledge before the morrow?

So many doors are open to me right at this moment, but I think the door that I need, I will make myself.

I pull out the brass knob.

You pull out the brass knob.

You have your artisan's tools at the ready.

All you need to do is find a door to attach it to.

You can give me an investigation check.

Sure, yeah.

Give me an investigation check.

14.

14's not very high.

You look around.

There is a utility closet in the restroom hallway of the beer garden.

Yes,

that's the one.

No!

So

you go, you take that out.

As you open the bag, you see in your little travel knapsack that also the knocker is in there that spits out the ring and goes, Mistress has decided

I shall not be shushed like some common

handle.

Listen, we're gonna go back to the cottage.

We're gonna do it nice and quiet.

We're gonna do a bunch of research, and then you shall go back to guarding the doors.

I shall guard the doors with my very life, mistress.

Say the word of passage, and only those with it will be granted entrance.

All others will behold only whatever is normally behind the doors.

Sorry, sorry.

The fox looks up and says, Are people shushing a lot of handles?

Fox is so brave.

You see, the little dog says, Who said that?

Some Philistine, unaware of how to speak poetically.

Show him to me, that I might bite my fangs into his flesh.

You see that the fox goes,

you don't want this.

I do kind of want to see how this turns out.

But we have business to attend to.

I'm going to go inside the utility closet and make it open out

into Grandma Ren's cottage.

So, I'm going to need an artisan's tool check.

You can do a little bit of magic, and the fox can help if like.

Let's see the first roll to see if you need help, though.

A four on the die.

Dark utility closet.

You get to the well, so the utility closet is in between both restrooms that have little sort of like frosted glass and some golden letters on the two different restrooms.

And every time you kneel down to open the door, because you have to get the regular knob off to put the new knob on, every time you do, the door opens and a new bathroom, like someone needing or exiting the bathroom comes out.

And every time the fox jumps in with a different, like someone walks out and he's like, so I told her, you have to go around the garden.

And you see,

and it looks sort of surreptitiously as people walk away.

And it just happens that way.

So he's going to give you the help action.

Go ahead and roll the second tie.

14 on the die.

Okay.

So you see that the fox goes, goes, okay, I'm going to go make a distraction.

And you see that he rushes into both restrooms and you hear like,

and comes out a moment later.

Another person walks in and goes, ah, ah!

And you see that they walk out and you see one of the attendants of the beer garden takes a look in and goes, oh, goodness, and puts a little out-of-order stand up at the hallway and gets some like plungers to go in.

And the fox comes out and says, I threw a bunch of garbage and paper in there

and some poop.

Good job, little buddy.

All right, let's get to cracking.

And you take out and install the doorknobs of Common Cluster, these bright brass doorknobs there and nail the brass lion's head knocker into the wall.

So now there's just a brass ring knocker on a utility closet with a bright

inside.

Yeah, yeah.

So you're going to go in to knock on the door from the inside.

closet.

Incredible.

You stay here and watch the hallway, okay?

You got it, boss.

All right.

Oh, oh, we got to restock you just in case you need to make another distraction.

This goes right through me.

Lou just shaking his head up against the microphone.

We got to get this fox ready to shit again.

It has plot significance.

You install the knocker, and you see the brass line says, What word of passage, mistress of the world's heart?

What do people normally do?

You would like me to give you a common, more guessable password?

Whoa, I'm just curious, though.

Some extremely uncreative witches have said password.

Oh,

how about how about friendship?

Friendship?

Yes, the password is friendship.

You open the door, see the fox in the utility hallway, close the door, and the knocker looks at you, ready for the password.

Friendship.

You open the door and feel the cool air of the cottage.

You see that there is a little sputtering candlelight from inside the cottage of Grandmother Wren.

Or I should say, Ame's cottage in the village of Toma.

Neve?

And you hear a noise of someone running down the staircase and Neif in a nightgown comes running down.

Sorry to wake you.

I need to do some quick research in the library.

Okay, I'll make tea.

No, no, no, no, no, no, no.

I just wanted to wake you up so that you didn't hear somebody rustling around in the cottage and freak out.

Okay.

So you can definitely go back to bed, but how are you doing?

Things are doing okay?

Oh, once I wake up, I can't sleep.

Oh.

But I'll make tea.

Well, okay,

you may make some tea, but make yourself something nice and relaxing.

Licorice root or chamomile or something.

Yes, well, I'll make some calming tea for myself and something more studious for you.

Would you like

help researching?

I mean, if you're up anyway,

well, what say we take a little spin in the library?

Good night.

I'd love that.

It's been weeks.

I thought you were dead.

Oh, why would you assume that?

Because I'm always sad.

I just assumed it.

I just assumed it.

I assumed the worst.

And I'm not as good a witch as you.

I don't have, so people need help with medicine.

I don't know how to do that.

I don't know how to do anything but chores.

Well, first of all, you have some very good mentors here.

Second of all, you're a lot younger than me.

You got time to cook.

And third of all, it's okay.

You are having your weekly sort of discussion sessions with Dr.

Yagi, yes?

Yes.

Dr.

Yagi's done a very good job.

It seems like the main thing he's communicated to me that when I think there's a problem, actually I'm breathing and holding my body wrong.

Well, it's it's well, it's not wrong.

It's just there could be suboptimal.

Suboptimal.

There could be better there there could be more comfortable ways.

For example, I made some digestive biscuits to help with a villager who was experiencing constipation, and I was worried that I had said something rude or awkward and that they hated me.

And Dr.

Yagi said that there was no way they could hate me.

And I was like, I'm certain that they hate me.

And then he said, you need to stop pressing your tongue into the top of your mouth.

And then I stopped doing that.

But now my worry is, is my understanding of other people just based on I can't move my tongue normal or well?

Well, there is a great connection between your mind and your body.

And as you progress here in your studies at the cottage, you'll be more in touch with them.

But

please don't pick at your fingernails like that.

Oh, yes, I will stop.

Another mistake.

Okay.

And you see that she rushes off to the kitchen to go make some

dark mirror.

She rushes off to go make some tea

and does seem

calm as she comes with tea to help research.

You can see that she actually seems excited to be able to do this.

This feels like a helpful thing that she's excited to do.

And she puts tea in front of you and says, I made us both green tea and

I am excited to help.

I'm really glad you're okay.

Are Ursulan and the Fox okay?

Yes, yes, they're doing well.

Fox is on the other side of the wall.

And the Wizard's Wizard's Guy, she's okay?

Yes, yes,

she's doing all right.

But we are.

I give her a little bit, a very short version of what we've been up to and what we are hoping to achieve as I start leafing through books and shuffling through correspondence.

And while I'm doing it,

I explain to Neif what I'm doing as I'm doing it so that she has the

filing system in her head and she can familiarize herself a little more with it and maybe take initiative of finding different sections on her own.

You're going to be doing this with Neif's help, so it'll be rolling with advantage.

And due to Grandmother Wren's vast, you know, books and tracks and maps and scrolls and things of that nature, you'll be able to add a D4 to whatever role you make.

What's the first role you'd like to make here?

The first role I'd like to make is an investigation check, I think.

Perfect.

So let's go ahead.

Same thing as always.

15.

So for a general role like this, 15, 20, 25 are the DCs of like good, better, best information.

That's four on the D4.

Okay, go ahead and roll investigation with advantage.

19 on the dice.

So 20 to 21.

25.

25.

Let's go.

Hey,

sometimes the dice tell a motherfucking story.

You find

a hand-drawn map

on waxy paper, almost like butcher's paper that's been dined on with wonderful greasy food.

It's a hand-drawn charcoal map.

And there is a word written in the Turoi alphabet in the language of the Grenot, which

you can take a second to decipher here, looking over like an alphabet.

It is a very steamy little romantic parting in the Gruneau language to a young grandmother wrench.

Abria's shaking my hand and Erica's shaking my hand.

Beautiful.

This is why we're here.

Lou's giving me a nod.

The nod's the funniest part.

I'm proud of you, sir.

And it is a hand-drawn waterway map.

of the city of 12 Brooks.

And it is specifically a like backwater and byways map.

It has like here's the places that you can dock a large boat, here's the places you can dock a small boat, and

12 Brooks also has a crumbling old castle up in the top of it, this sort of old ruined castle, which is originally why the town was built.

And for anyone listening who wants to know more about 12 Brooks,

there it is!

Salmon!

An in narrative pitch for the fireside world!

Why not?

Taylor, you leave this in.

God damned you.

We do have interludes where we expand the world of Umora, and you might learn more about the city of 12 Brooks by listening.

$5.

$5.

Give us $5.

Learn more about the great boom frog.

The man in black appears for five.

You see that

this letter was clearly written and you don't know what was going on in 12 Brooks like 40, 50 years ago, but this is a rum runner's map.

So it has a lot of

staircases, places to like hide a boat, and there's a lot of places that have to do with the irrigation, which is a constant struggle in 12 Brooks to move the waters either through the city.

So sewer systems, plumbing, and you basically see the honeycomb of the city under the city.

Every way to move through the city unseen and undetected.

And places that are sub-aquatic, places that are otherwise like a little cave you can get to.

The Lithwin appears, there's like another note here, though, the Lithwin is filled with smugglers' caves.

So, there are like tall river banks or places where the river curves around a hillside, that there will be entrances under the water into secret caves that will have like weapons, stashes, treasure, provisions, you know, places like if imperial forces are searching for you, places to like lay low and hide from them.

Looking at this map, this is like

you don't have a best way, you have multiple the best ways into and out of the city.

Oh,

this is,

oh, this is exactly what I needed.

This is exactly what I'm looking for.

Oh.

Oh, Grandma Ren.

What?

I can't read that.

What is it?

What do I have?

Oh, it's just

personal personal letters to Grandmother Wren from, I guess, an incredible cartographer.

Ooh, that's lovely to have a paramour with a skill.

Would you qualify that as banter?

Why, yes, I would.

Okay.

It's and it's quite good.

I took my tongue off the roof of my mouth and that thought came to me.

See?

That's wonderful when you relax.

You're well on your way to a handsome cartographer.

Oh, no.

No.

We got to get Neif and Tefmett in the same room.

They will.

It's like putting a bag of holding in a bag of holding.

Yeah, exactly.

No, it's playing.

That's how we kill the man in black.

Hold this.

Thank you so much, Neif.

That was wonderful.

And now you have a little better understanding of the library, so you can do some investigating on your own.

I.

you are so kind.

You are so kind.

I will say

I had to work at that.

You know, nothing

worth doing comes real easy all the time.

So, you know.

Well,

thank you.

And

yeah, I'll, you know,

on slower days, I'd love to come into the library and help.

You know, I know that this is all

Grandma Wren's organizational style was very different from Indri's.

And there were not many things that I enjoyed about my time as Indries apprentice, but I could

provide some organization to the cottage and to the, or not even the cottage, it's the library, if you would like me to do that.

I would love that.

Yes, absolutely.

Especially with going through it and organizing it will help you in your studies.

Is there any particular

area in which you're interested?

Um

you know, Injury said that

there would

one day be a time for a familiar,

but not while I still was an apprentice.

And I don't think I'm an apprentice right now, or at least I don't you that you know.

That is true.

I mean, not

yeah, you're not officially an apprentice.

I think...

I think I'd like...

Yeah, I think I'd like to...

You know,

we'll see.

We'll, um...

I just really appreciate this safe place.

And

you know so many kind people, and it's so

obvious now

that the kind people find each other just like the cold people push them all away.

And I'm really glad that you knocked me unconscious and kidnapped me.

Yeah.

I'm really, really glad that we

managed to knock you out multiple times and twice.

Yeah.

Bring you back here to a place of safety.

She gets sort of teary-eyed and gives you a giant hug.

I hug her back.

And you can feel her actually relax and a few vertebrae audibly pop in her back.

And she goes, oh, that felt good.

Yeah.

I stand there with her, breathing a little bit so she can feel the movement of my chest.

Neith bids you adieu.

You take your greasy,

you know, butchered paper charcoal map and stow it in your bag and walk back through the door

to the beer garden.

And you see the fox twitching his little tail And you see that the out-of-order sign is gone.

Took you about like an hour and a half to do all that research and find everything.

And the fox looks up and says, Everything good, boss?

Better than good.

They're great.

Really?

Yes.

What'd you find?

The goods?

Oh, yeah, I got the goods.

You jam the knocker and the doorknobs off.

Do you take the time to replace the old doorknob?

No,

I kind of put it, I just stick it back in there

so that if somebody gets to the point where you see the fox to me, you are perfect.

The fox goes, to me, you are perfect.

The fox runs out, jumps up on the bar.

One of the bartenders turns around, and the fox says, One of the customers rudely smashed the doorknob off your utility closet, and my mistress, Ame of Toma, tried her best to fix it.

You might want to take a look at it.

And you see, he

jumps off and I look over and shrug.

And you, where are you off to now?

Ooh, what time is it?

I think I gotta.

You see, the party's thinning out.

It's like one o'clock in the morning.

Oh, that means I still have some time for sleeps.

I go find the stables.

You see Rahon and Zendi, and they're sleeping on the hay as Ursulan with his glamour.

I go over and I

kind of

snuggle up to Ursula.

Get some rest.

Good night.

Good night.

You cuddle up next to each other and go to sleep.

Some very different cuddling up is happening over in the governor's hall.

Tangled in white sheets, looking up at stone ceiling,

the gilded bedpost and canopy, and looking at the vanity mirror and a beautiful marble top desk,

Silver turns to you and says, it's incredible.

The magical, I mean, the soldiers are excited, but the...

the magical potential, you know, I would have believed that for silence to be able to, I mean, he's an an Archmage, but for Silence to be able to pull that off is

incredible.

I mean, this changes everything.

Suvi's doing the sort of like, mm-hmms at the right time and is,

I guess, is sort of hoping that, like, her distraction reads as like,

like, blissed out and not

sad at his enthusiasm.

Are you sad that uh

that I'm I'm heading out again tomorrow?

Yeah,

yeah,

I

I know.

I know who we are

and what we have to do

and

yeah,

I'm sad.

I'll say,

look,

Slain's circle obviously is a frontline circle.

It's dangerous.

But

the honest truth is,

my

safety, even in the thick of combat, fighting side by side with Slain is far greater than it was with me on the front lines at Abyssin.

Yeah.

And

Suvi is just running a fully different program.

Like she's looking

at Aza.

For him, she's risked her life and offered her name.

And she knows that

she sees a whole future when she looks at him that she is closing a door on

inside of her heart in real time.

And she wants to give herself just one little chance

at not having to.

It was so good.

One really nice week.

And

mid whatever sentence he's talking about, trying to allay sort of a different fear,

she just puts her hand on his chest.

If I asked you not to go,

would you do it?

What?

You know, Suvi,

I would want you to ask me not to go.

I'm.

That's...

That's how this has to be.

I didn't want you to come save me.

I wanted you safe.

I wanted you at the citadel.

I wanted you a million miles from danger.

We all learn paradox.

You know, first year at banners

concept, how things mirror each other, how two things that can't both be true at the same time can be true at the same time.

And

I never want anything to happen to you.

I want you to be who you are.

And I know that you being who you are will bring you to danger.

Just like me me being who I am will bring me to danger.

We're not the sheep.

We're not the people who need protecting.

We're the people who protect.

Yeah.

You're right.

I love you so much.

I love you, Suvi.

I want to live a whole life with you.

You will.

The gear they're going to strap me up with, this new detail?

I mean, you're going to...

I know, I know.

Every time we walk out the door, you should feel like maybe you're saying goodbye.

That's the right thing to do.

You need to be clear-eyed about that.

But I...

I'm going to do everything in my power to come home to you.

I want to see you when your title is the Archmage Sky, and I want to march down that main avenue in Malacanth and look up and see the woman I love.

Can I do

one

just one big insight check?

I don't want to lie to him.

I will

to protect my friends and the thing that we are going to do.

There is nothing inside of Suvi

that

is hesitating to leave in the morning with Ursulan

and

Ahmed, probably, though she's not quite sure about that.

That's beyond discussion.

It is simply true.

But if she can leave

knowing that she has been true to him,

that will be okay.

I'm going to ask you to roll this inside check, and I'm going to ask you to roll it here where I can see it, and you cannot.

Okay.

I think in the intimacy of this moment,

Silver looks at you.

He gave you his name.

There is nothing

within him

that

is kept from you.

He is completely open

and smiles looking at you.

When we were walking, when we first entered

the forest,

the Grineau family

was not gone.

We spoke with them the terms

of

them not going to

Gauthmai

was to make them believe,

to make us believe,

to make the rest of the Imperial forces believe that they were gone and fled in order to protect their children

who are taken for reasons I don't understand,

advantage or leverage or

something

worse.

My lie was to protect them, but I won't lie to you.

You're going to leave in the morning for Twelve Brooks.

And so will I.

At the end of speaking, you turn to make eye contact

and see a look of wide-eyed horror on Silver's face.

You

you lied

to

Suvi,

I don't understand.

Why did you

why are you you're headed to 12 Brooks?

Spell this out for me.

What happened?

If there was a Gruneau family there, why did you

use your hand?

There was poison.

The task

was to secure the Grineau family's cooperation to keep them

from giving our enemies our whereabouts.

And in lieu of taking them from their home to keep them from doing so,

I figured out a path

to allow all parties to move forward with our goal intact.

But learning

that we were taking their children.

What do you mean?

What do you mean we were taking their children?

Did they provide you any proof of that?

Were they

Suvi?

If they were in fact Gauthmai spies, don't you think that Gauthmai is clever enough to create propaganda to sow amongst a people that have never felt full loyalty to the Empire?

Did they provide anything?

Did you not think think to ask that there was some way that this might?

I mean, walk me through this.

Why would you take their word?

Obviously, they're incentivized to want to besmirch the Empire.

And

even if they were of pure heart, who's to say that they were not themselves the victim of propaganda?

You didn't think to ask any follow-up questions?

And Suvi,

absolutely battered

by

the weapon that she wields so well,

understands perfectly every time her friends were made silent in her presence under the assault of something they know is true and cannot stand up to the burden of proof that she herself has demanded of them.

And even here and now,

With all of her faculties and intellect,

she doesn't have a better answer than they ever gave

but silence and sureness.

Suvi, I.

You're right.

I don't have proof.

I don't know for sure.

Which is why I'm going to go and find out, if I can, for myself.

Sufi, I'm completely lost.

You have every resource at your disposal to find the truth.

You could talk to the sword on a speaking mirror in a minute.

You could speak to the...

But there's a prince of the Imperium is here.

And I mean, the Prince probably wouldn't know, but

there's as many...

What doors are not open to you?

Going to 12.

Are you going with a detail?

Are you going with escort or security?

This is, we need to wait.

We need to.

I, and you see, he sits up, he sort of realizes that he's like naked and post-coidal and like sits up in bed and just goes like, the, the,

you were the commander.

You were the commander, and you could have told us that in your judgment, the Grenot family was not an issue.

And what could anyone there have done but obey you?

Why did you lie to us?

We would have followed your orders.

And Suvi like circles around.

The biggest cobout of an answer.

I don't know.

But she does know.

And she promised not to lie.

Because I don't trust

everyone

around me.

Not all the time.

Not past the point.

Past the

of a command.

We were all trained to see and seize advantage.

And I don't trust that that advantage will not destroy that family as soon as my back

and

the command that I walk with and the authority that I wield is turned away from their care.

Understood.

Wizard Sky.

Silver

swings his legs over the edge of the bed, exposing his back and spine, and leans over, resting his elbows on his thighs and hangs his head,

not wanting to be in this moment,

not wanting to leave it.

I'm so sorry.

I'm so sorry.

I.

I love you.

We've given each other our names.

And

we don't.

If there's not trust here, I don't know how I can find it.

I trust you

with my heart and my life and my name.

I wouldn't have said any of this

if I didn't believe.

I don't know what I believe.

What is.

What does the sword of the citadel think of all this?

Have you asked for any advice or counsel?

No.

No, not in this.

This is

a fact-finding mission.

Quiet and quick.

If there's a way to help,

I will.

I can.

But no.

The Sword of the Citadel

preaches caution.

And she's not wrong to do it.

But I know that you're going in the morning.

And I don't want you to walk into something that

maybe later you won't be able to take back.

We're very different.

Most

of us who come up

in

the citadel

are unburdened by what has come before.

We are

there with a chance to become great and to affect greatness and to be a part of something that is the pinnacle of mortal achievement.

And I have often felt a great sorrow

because

everywhere you go, there are roots.

The legacy of your parents and of your birth.

The honor and protection of the sword.

I remember hearing

Subi's gone to a calm because there's a witch that's like an ant or something.

I don't know how you can keep a clear head with

all of that attachment.

I'm grateful that I have not had to burden that.

I don't make those calls, Suvi.

I am proud to serve,

and I am proud to follow the orders of those I serve.

We were trained

from a very young age

to serve,

and in the heat of battle

to rely on our training to make hard calls and execute them.

I don't think we're that different.

I think I'm still doing

everything the Citadel trained me to do,

even if it sometimes

doesn't quite look like it

above my pay grade doesn't make sense to me.

And

you see, Silver stands up and turns and says,

I'd really love to see you in the morning.

And he waits for a moment and then

dresses, walks to the door, and leaves.

I don't think there's.

I don't think there's any chance of sleep.

But he was right.

So many roots.

Maybe it's better that I pulled one up before it got too deep.

I will pack what things I have

and go try to find Ursulan.

On your passive investigation, you know where the horses are stabled.

Your packs made up.

You

enter and see Ursulan, Amay, and the fox nestled up in the hay.

It's about two o'clock in the morning.

I don't want to go over there.

I find some other corner, not disruptive, not having to pass them.

The last thing I want

is to wake them.

We have so much to do.

Thank God heartbreak is quiet, and I can do it on my own.

And I'll sit

and rest and wait for them and for morning.

You fall asleep,

watching over them.

them.

Ame

about 2:30 in the morning,

you

open your eyes, behold another shape in the stable, a little ways off from you.

Teal hair, travel clothes, smart pack, fresh provisions.

You see your true friend, Sugi.

Subi,

you can go back to sleep.

What are you doing here?

It's over here.

Oh,

oh,

I'm up.

I'm up.

My eyes go open and I crawl over.

Suvi just

curls into you and sobs

for the first time in a long time.

The same

of you friends

in

Suvi's old apartment in Alabast Hall.

Sack full of potatoes

on a ship bound for Port Talon.

And that first night that Suvie cried as a little girl after she had seen her parents for the last time, and Amay cast her first spell for good dreams for her new friend.

You curl up beside her.

At some later point, hearing the shuffle, the fox goes and nestles up in Suvi's chest.

Ursulan, I think you wake at this moment too.

Seeing Ahme and Suvi gathered up in Suvi

with what you recognize as a traveling pack, sleeping in a stable on the ground when a governor's hall waits across a plaza.

I'll move to them and

take off my cape and drape it over all three of us.

The three of you sleep, get the few good hours you need, not as many as you'd like,

and at the pre-dawn light,

three horses,

three friends,

and a fox

gallop out of bracken before the rooster crows.

That was Lou Wilson as Ursulan, Erika Ishii as Ahme, Abria Iyengar as Suvi, and Brennan Lee Mulligan as Everyone and Everything Else.

Worlds Beyond Numbered is edited, designed, and scored by Taylor Moore at Fortunate Horse with additional sound design from Michael Gelfie Studios.

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