WWW #41: Peace and Quiet

This is the sound of Worlds Beyond Number.

Boots find sure footing on moss and stone, walking back up the ridge from the pond.

You are closing in on the imperial forces that you now command, Wizard Sky.

As you step side by side with Ahme, having just commanded your familiar to

place

runes and symbols of dangerous traps all around that family's home,

What is running through your head as you have commanded this deception from your familiar?

A deception

potentially aimed at the soldiers you are in command of

Suvi isn't thinking about

the sort of

oh well that's probably maybe a little bit treason.

It's just that

I have commanded deception from my familiar and I need to build deception for when I come back.

And

she's gonna look over at Ahme.

Hey, do you have any of your, like,

herps and

spices on you?

Always.

Can

you

poison

my

wound on my hand?

Yes.

Or I can at the very least make it look poisoned, even.

do you need it to actually be poisoned

can you poison it in a way that you can fix quite quickly absolutely great

i need them to believe that this is from finding that area trapped just in case someone wants to check my work copy that

and sufie is like as she sort of like hands her hand off to ame is trying to construct like the narrative of a lie and is sort of under her breath like

we walked towards the house.

I slipped in like a poorly made trap and fell and landed on a piece of metal.

The metal was tainted.

We kept going.

The house was clear.

We found symbols everywhere.

We're going to give it a wide berth.

And she's just sort of trying to build a new truth in her head.

Because she's not a good liar.

But if she can convince herself that something is true, she can believe it enough to pass it on to the rest.

You start to put a powerful mental machinery to work,

repurposed for a new task here in this time.

And I think you feel

the dormant, what we have sometimes referred to as the justification machine, now bent towards the purpose of creation.

And I think,

Suvi, on your passive investigation, you feel

how similar those machines are, and a bit of dread comes in with that.

Because fundamentally, the machine of reason and justifying, and the machine, in this case, of

your friend helping you come up with a clever deception to achieve what you believe in your heart to be an unalloyed good,

those two projects are the same because the machine tells a story.

Seepy definitely does the like, hold on, and kind of braces herself on a tree and just has to ride that out like a wave of nausea.

You're doing so good.

You're doing so good.

Thank you.

Okay.

Okay, okay.

Arriving in the clearing, you sense the first part of sort of a doubling back of the nausea, which is the complete look of

relief and certainty that you would come back from this exploratory mission from soldiers that trust you with their very life.

You see Sworn walks up to you alongside Silver.

Silver looks and says, How was quick?

Everything all right?

Yeah, quick because that area is cleared out.

It looks like they left days ago.

Silver looks and goes, your hand.

And immediately sees that you are hurt and looks at you, Amy.

I'm fiddling with my pouches of

herbs and

I'm quickly blending up a poultice for Suvi.

I,

well,

Suvi was injured.

Yeah, it's okay.

We have to be careful.

You can't go over there.

Yeah, it's...

I'm fine, but

it sucks, but I'm okay.

Looking at the very real wound on on your hand, I'm going to allow both of you to make deception with advantage here.

Dirty 20.

Ooh!

Let's go!

18 from Ahmed.

18 from Ahmed.

We do it for Alan and Johanna.

Looking at your, looking at your palm, you see Silver looks as Ahme starts to heal it and goes, it looks nasty.

Was it a trap fired off on you or it was...

No, it was...

And this is the part where, like, Suvi's gonna lean into the like, it's honestly kind of embarrassing.

I just sort of fell, which is technically true.

I just sort of fell, and there must have been some sort of bad tainted metal in the ground.

This doesn't look clever.

It looks like they tried to get out quickly and then threw up a little bit of a perimeter on the way.

Sworn says, where's Bear?

He's back trying to handle some of the traps that we found.

There's little symbols.

with us.

Let's give it a wide berth and keep going.

I don't think we're going to have a problem.

As you are walking up the hill, the Ursulan coming into view, you see the soldiers, and the fox turns to you and says,

Suvi fell.

Hurt her hand.

Poison.

We've been getting rid of traps.

Understood.

You join the rest of the group.

Sworn nods and says, well, I'm not surprised.

Probably it was a trap that got set off by some kind of animal.

I mean, these people are not, you know, necessarily tried and true soldiers, but if there's poison or some kind of irritant on there, then it makes sense that they would have done that.

It's probably just like, it's looking like a little bit of just like a folk sort of remedy thing, so.

Sworn turns to look at you, Ursuline, and says, if it was trapped, we can assume these were spies.

Or people.

I mean, sure, probably.

Makes sense.

With that deft

dismissal from the wizard's sky of instead of saying yes or no, just saying probably,

you watch your soldiers

understand the lack of importance of this situation.

Sworn sort of steps back into his own mind visibly to you, being like, I've really been running down this thread that some farmer gave me, and goes, all right, well, I'm glad you're safe.

And we'll take a wide berth.

We'll just head west and carve around the pond.

Silver looks at you, Amay, and just goes, Thank you for

healing.

It's incredible to serve with a witch.

We absolutely should be standard issue.

This is incredible.

Oh, you don't have healers that travel with you?

No.

We have doctors, but not people as proficient as you.

Oh.

Thank you.

Yes.

Standard issue Ames.

Wouldn't that be great, Suvi?

Yeah.

Silver smiles.

There is a moment of silence where the three of you are together as Silver and Swan get people to pack up and mount up on the horses to take a new tack around the other way.

Ursulan, as you approach, what is going through your mind?

Ursulan is desperately reaching for anger and rage

and cannot find it.

Whatever kind of red, molten feeling he wants to have, it is replaced by the clear white feeling of purpose.

Your breath moves with you in this space.

And I think you all feel the wind kick up a little bit.

Before he reaches

the group, he's going to turn his back so that he's facing the forest and not with his friends,

and is going to produce the watch

and before clicking it open, just hopes

that it points south.

The watch points due south.

You make your way

through Hallaker Forest.

Ursulan, you had spoken before about being concerned about going through the heart of the woods, but that is obviously the path that Silver and Sworn already seem to be discussing with Skye as the

most logical path forward.

But you are still the guide through this place.

As people set to head out, is there anything you say or do as you begin to lead the way?

I think only to like Suvi, Silver, Sworn, Arme

will pull them aside.

We may have to

take a slightly indirect route.

It is my sense that things in this forest

worship the night.

I believe those things will be dormant during the day.

That's when we should move at a pace as fast as is comfortable for you, Sky.

There is a folk saying around here.

It's

you, me, and the spirits three.

It refers to the Queen of Coins, who is a uh

spirit, a great spirit that I'm quite fond of, luck and chance and trickery, the great bullfrog, and a

spirit of night.

CV does give a little squint at not saying, like, the specific appellation of the King of Night,

and is just going to release it for a later conversation.

So, it is my intention to take us as directly as we can, but I believe that

I believe we should camp at dusk, move at dawn, and avoid the very center, the heart of the forest.

I absolutely trust your instincts on this.

We will go where you lead us.

Good.

Pushing through, I am going to ask for a

survival check in this moment from

Ursulon.

And I'll say that a DC-20

gets us all the way through Halaker Forest.

A DC-15 gets us most of the way through Halaker Forest, and you just want to beat a 10.

But any, if you want to load up this role at all, you are welcome to do so.

Subi will

keep

enhanced ability, Owl's wisdom, on you to give you as much advantage as she can give throughout the day.

What form does that take the first time you cast owl's wisdom on Ursulan?

I think the very first time

it's a pat on the shoulder that's like, yeah, you've got this.

And it was part of our conversation of the indirect route that like

branches out into that like wood carving cross-hatched illustration of a like massive set of owl wings that like flutter out and then settle down and like are folded onto his back.

Aame takes a moment,

places a hand on the tree, feels the soil,

tastes it a tiny bit,

pulls down a massive pine cone, one of the kinds that's as large as your head, considers it for a moment,

hands it over to Ursulon,

and says,

that's a largely carnivorous forest.

There's a

really neat sort of ecosystem here.

Lots of worms.

And casts guidance.

Hell yeah.

Ahme listens to the forest with the same presence of the sacred.

I think in that moment, Russon, in this time that you have become very intact with your breath, you realize that

there's an exhale from Ahmed on handing that pine cone, and you feel

that witch's breath.

It's not you, but there's something the spirit touches all things.

And you recognize that in Ahmed as well.

With that pine cone, you have guidance.

You have advantage from the role from Owl's Wisdom.

Let's go ahead and make a survival check.

Start with a D4.

Start with a D4.

Yeah.

Four.

Yeah!

There we go.

36 away from averting.

So what are you adding with your survival skill?

another four another four okay so we just need a 12 on one of these two die for full for full victory seven or higher for getting most of the way through the forest here we go

first it's a five okay

second

twenty

seventeen hey

amazing there we go so with a 25

all of the soldiers after there's that you know days of traveling And after the first day,

I think, to give me with that heavy success, Ursuline, give me a persuasion role with the die as well.

22.

22.

A long time in this forest,

the soldiers that are traveling behind you, and you remember the people that were belligerent and terrible to you back in Stone Rill.

they're still somewhere off here as well.

But you notice as you are moving through this magical place, you pass little stacks of moss-covered stones, clearly left by people's hands in a long ago time.

And traveling here in this very sacred, very beautiful forest, you see that the soldiers, with just lots of traveling and now having rations, like Uniform jackets come off as the weather gets a little warmer and more humid, and they're sort of carrying them in their packs.

You see that one of the artificers, the person that came to you and insisted that they called you an honored friend, goes over to one of those little moss stacks and, in a moment of rest, actually kneels down in front of it.

And a couple other soldiers look over.

And there's a moment with you standing at the edge of the clearing where that sort of most belligerent soldier looks over.

People anticipate him saying something mocking.

And he just looks around at the beautiful shimmering stream and the wide forest and doesn't say anything and you see that two other Imperial soldiers who have not spoken the entire time they've been traveling have been very quiet to themselves go over and join the artificer at the little stone shrine

You see that some of the citadel wizards smile

and as you travel through that forest you get closer and closer to the edge you feel the heart of the forest as you get close you swear that sometimes the ticking of that watch in your pocket feels like boots walking on a road.

And you feel that you have made a very wise choice avoiding the heart of this forest.

You see at a certain point

there is a conversation on that high persuasion

where there are two citadel wizards talking where you kind of cannot hear them.

These are two of the the ones that were with silver that you rescued.

One of them you know as Sudden,

and the other has a, who does not appear to be a very powerful Citadel Wizard, but has the name cloak of Samovar.

Looks, and Samovar in her squeaky voice goes like, I don't know about you.

I haven't slept this good the whole war, this forest.

It's just.

And you see that Sudden goes,

I know, I feel very rested as well.

Samovar says,

you know, I never talked about this citadel, but back when I was a little kid, four or five years old, my ma had a little spirit, like an owl thing, that

I don't know.

Owls always made me sleep good, I think.

This guy bears,

I don't know.

We should count our lucky stars.

We might never be this safe again.

And

you

feel that your leadership, as silent as it is in this space,

and the echoing words of Skye back in Stone Rill saying, You're all going to be respectful when we get into this forest.

Nothing grandiose happens, nothing dramatic.

There is no sudden bolt of lightning.

But

everyone who has traveled through this space with you has perceived the spirit.

What they choose to do with that revelation is their own, but they cannot avoid having seen it under your guidance.

On the seventh day of traveling, you begin to have more sky than canopy.

The forest thins out.

As suddenly as everything else has appeared while walking through deep forest, you come to a little moss-covered wooden fence, long slats of wood, and what looks like a sheep pasture.

You have reached the edge of Hallaker Forest.

You see an abandoned little stone cottage and a wide overgrown field that should be mowed carefully by sheep and is instead wildly overgrown in this space.

But you see that a bunch of the soldiers start hooting and hollering and clapping each other on the back.

And you see that Sworn turns around and smiles.

Silver does a little pressigitation of sparks and he says, Three cheers for the strongest man in Silbury.

And the cheers go up.

And as the cheers go up,

lowering from the clouds, an imperial skyship comes into view.

Just at the edge of the field is enough visibility.

And the keel of a massive

ship of the line, a large, large war vessel, lowers out.

You see massive war staves, war cannon trained on you from the open gun ports, and a voice loudly projected with arcane magic says,

Ship of the Empire, Shrike, calls out on behalf of Captain Castway to those below.

Be you friend or foe, raise your banner!

Suvi's going to, with her pressedigitation, she like looks at the other wizards of the citadel and just tries to give like a little nod to coordinate, essentially trying to send up a like

arcane version of like a Citadel symbol or banner.

You send up a banner of the Citadel.

As you do so, your soldiers step out from the woodline.

Silver calls out, rank and file, form up!

And you see the battalion as kind of

unmade as it is imperial forces azure battalion and citadel wizards in the front artificers off to one side and you see sworn lahown

and your three citadel wizards with you form up behind you yep ame and ursulan as this sort of shoot happens where do you guys go um i i i pick up the fox and i i try to uh you know go towards and then i uh and then i i line up behind suvi

i think ursalon remains in the trade line

I think sees all of the busyness and is going to

not move forward as to be perceived and a part of this.

Give me a stealth check.

22.

22.

Okay.

Yeah.

I'm hot right now.

What's up?

I have purpose, buddy.

I have purpose.

You stay in the tree line and you can tell, like in this moment, are calling on

for the first time, like your glamour is intersecting with the forest you feel true spiritual power you feel like oh the edge of the forest is where i'm supposed to be you feel like in this moment under 22 if you wanted to have only the true of heart be able to see you if you wanted only the young to be able to see you that would be completely within your power to do so

I think acknowledging that power and not actualizing it, but just resting in it.

I think it's not like Ursulan's like behind, like peeking out.

It's just leaning against a tree and feeling comfortable here.

Anyone that would look at you without the proper reverence or camaraderie or familiarity would just see a tree.

There's just a tree.

Something about the curve of your trousers, the lean of your cape, even your eyes seem to take on their green, seems to match the shade of the tree behind you.

Amay does check behind to make sure.

And nods at Ursulan.

Ursulan nods back.

Yeah, when CV turns around to like see the formation and sees Ame right behind her, like the

kind of bucks you, like, okay.

Interesting.

We all kind of did

your head

right over mine,

not in line of sight.

There's like perfect, like, learned practice spacing of like arm's length, and then Ame's just kind of like, okay.

A small galathopter launches from the deck of the ship

and descends as a landing party.

And you see that there are several Citadel war mages, about three of them.

There appears to be a clockwork automaton, a sort of brass man

that has a long sort of quicksilver blade on his back.

And you see, dressed in black with gold brocade, but partially open to reveal a sort of white jerkin, you see that there is a

brightly grinning woman.

Pale skin, she's got a long braid, her hair is dyed blue on the right side and white on the left side and tied back in a braid that mixes the colors together.

You see that she's got two silver caps on lower teeth

in her mouth.

You see that she has a couple of wands on her belt, but doesn't appear appear to have a name cloak.

She walks up to you and says,

Greetings!

Strange to see Imperial soldiers wandering out of Halliker Forest.

Captain Castwain.

Sivi extends her hand.

I'm the Wizard Skye, Archmage Apprentice of the Citadel.

She does a sort of half-curtsy, half-bow, and says, as I live and breathe, Captain Skye, and goes for a full hero's handshake.

Yeah, in it, about it.

Bam.

Gives it to her.

And you see that she looks over for Silver to announce himself.

And you see Silver says, I am War Mage Silver of the Citadel.

The Wizard Sky came to our rescue in the garrison of Abison, which is now fully fallen, but we were able to escape with these soldiers.

And you see the captain says, Abison,

you were a dead man.

And you see he looks at her, looks at her and goes,

our situation was extremely dire.

And you see that Castwayne looks over at you and says, very well, resourceful Archmage apprentice, but your reputation precedes you.

Does it?

Oh, absolutely.

Word has been spread all over the Shroud Mountains to find you at any cost.

So, it seems that I have made it a bit of a name for myself as well.

You, uh, where are you headed to now?

Uh, Bracken.

Good.

Uh, there will be resources of plenty for you there, and speaking mirrors aplenty more to the point to put you in touch with the Sword of the Citadel, who will be delighted to know that you are here.

I would offer to fly you there myself, but we are currently patrolling the forest, for as you know, times are dire.

But the roads past here, you are behind lines.

The roads past here are safe.

You are half a day's march from Bracken.

That is

the best news I have heard in a very long time.

Thank you.

Do you need provisions now?

Are you all right?

We're good.

Thanks.

She smiles and says, all right, as you have it.

We're staying here patrolling the skies.

You can even see take, like, this ship could have landed in this field, but, like, the ship is staying airport.

Even within Castwayne's sort of bubbly persona, the ship is staying in the air.

They don't know what's flying over the forest.

She looks at you and says, well, I'll make the report.

You'll be expected.

And I anticipate, I'll let them know that the garrison of Abison has been saved.

Anything else?

Interesting?

We have not had much news in the last week or so.

We're attempting to make another push on Fort Kieran, but the lines right now are holding.

Right now, our orders are to patrol and hold.

The firepower along this forest is massive, but we're a little close for comfort.

We're only a few miles from Bracken, which is where headquarters, where Imperial headquarters are right now.

I would look smart when you get to Bracken, as from one soldier to another.

Prince Kamari Ulfgang Saraz is present in Bracken.

Copy that.

Thank you, Captain.

She salutes.

Civi salutes back.

Rolls your shoulders back.

Let's go.

You march out across the field, and as you do so,

you see that she gets on board the Galathopter and she takes the helm of the Galathopter herself

and buzzes you guys as you go.

You see, she says, all glory to the Empire.

May the Citadel's light ever shine and takes off towards the shrike.

And the...

Erica's face right now.

Do you look at Aame's face?

Ahme is directly behind you in a way that it's like, you know, when you're trying to be somebody's shadow.

So anytime you turn around they also move with you yeah when subi kind of goes to the side to let uh the troops pass he's like oh oh on my back you got you can take a step back

you okay

so we're almost to to the garrison garrison so we're almost to the fort

okay

ursalan are you moving from uh from the woodline

seeing the way the troops are generally headed toward Bracken, I'm going to click open the watch to see if the direction they're headed is

still in line with where it guides me.

It's starting to diverge.

So Bracken is not directly where the watch is pointing any longer.

But...

It's not far off.

It's a tiny...

In other words,

it's largely pointing in the same direction, but you're beginning to notice that the hand of the watch is pointing a little bit in a different direction.

I think Ursulan's going to reach into his pack, take out the giant pine cone that Amay gave him.

I just kind of affix it in the ground where he's standing.

Thank you.

And then step out from the line of the forest to meet his friends.

Wind rustles the pine cones,

and as the ship vanishes back into the cloud line you step through the field and your glamour covers you fully and you march with your friends towards Bracken.

Moving quickly through the field the field arrives at a little stone cottage abandoned right here at the edge of the forest past the mines.

It makes sense that this would have been abandoned.

You take a small path down from the cottage, which eventually widens out with a couple other other paths leading to other homes and farmsteads, and eventually walk down and do see a road, wagon wheels on it.

The immediacy of surge of confidence and the chatter.

These soldiers that have been weirdly silent for the days, like the two weeks you've been traveling, are suddenly cracking jokes, slapping each other on the back, excitedly talking

behind their lines once more.

Even soldiers that you thought for sure were completely walled off from the social group of their fellows, like in the other forest, come to and begin to walk over.

You see some handsome Imperial marks.

A guy who has not spoken the entire time hands some marks over and is like, you win the bet.

We're alive.

And the

you who.

Sufi goes and takes like a little rake of like, to everyone that voted that I would get you all killed.

Someone put one gold in my hand.

You see a couple of them come over and you see a guy goes, here's a copper.

Okay, thanks.

And as you march down the road, you just sense this, the bullions.

And then the road opens up into an actual town.

You see that there are stone buildings and there are some people here.

A couple of soldiers wave at you from the roof, armed with staves, calling out.

And you see that they say, I double time it if you want to get to the mess before they shut it down.

And Subi does go a little faster.

And you suddenly see that these small towns begin to become a little bit more and more frequent.

At about two hours of marching, you see that the farms are still around, and now there's almost no forest.

You're still in the mountains, but these ones are shallow enough that you actually see sort of stepped farms, like stone-walled little different patches of green up in the mountainside from different crops growing.

You see, there's a lot of vineyards here that are like crawling up the mountainside, and suddenly you turn a corner and you see below you lights and a big city.

The first city you've seen in a long time, the city of Bracken.

Bracken is a city that is sort of the feeder point for all these farm towns in this region.

And you can see there are silos and taverns and grain stores and big stone buildings.

There are like six different skyships hanging over the city.

Ships of the line.

There's four Imperial, there's two Citadel.

You see that as you turn the corner and begin begin to walk down,

you pass these sort of spooled coils of brass that have spell energy.

That is like part of this big sandbags that are put up blocking the road.

Like the road is barricaded.

And as you walk through, you pass the first archway that

sort of has an old bridge connecting these two other things and what used to be like a dried riverbed and is now a road that is paved in cobblestone.

And as you come up,

the city is so large that there's no tents, but there's a lot of buildings that have been commandeered that soldiers are being quartered in.

You see that they're up on the rooftops.

You see stone colossi constructs of the empire and living spells.

And you see that there are Adenas walking around.

You see one or two zeros that wave at you up from a rooftop.

And you suddenly hear horns.

And there's a flash, and you see a citadel mage that you recognize as a guy who, in the past like four years, has spent maybe less than two weeks at the Citadel because he is so called upon as a war mage.

This is the Wizard Slain.

The Wizard Slain is a tall, muscular, ancient wizard who looks like basically if Merlin went to prison.

He looks like

he's like.

Don't talk during that.

Let us laugh.

Oh my god.

He's just got a long gray beard.

My name is the Wizard of Oz.

Yeah, he truly is.

Thank you.

Thank you.

The Wizard of Oz.

And you see, he smiles looking down.

He's got the green war mage robes on.

Tall staff.

He just dimension doors to the top of this little,

what looks like it would have been a small like cafe or an eatery here in Bracken.

A lot of the buildings in Bracken have these red tiled roofs and a sort of grayer beige like plastered side to the walls here.

There's also a lot of like the older more rustic buildings outside of the city are like stone, actual like stone and mortar like stone cottages.

But you see Slane appears on this roof on a small dais there,

smiles and calls out,

all hail the returning heroes!

And arcane confetti begins to go up around you.

It is certainly not the banner welcome that the Citadel would put out, but you see there are people that are like behind sandbags or like behind small arcane defenses that reach into, don't let go of their weapon, but reach in and throw some arcane confetti, press digitate something as you guys walk through.

People are putting in and it's

the feeling of this welcome, you've only seen it at the Citadel where it is all pomp and circumstance and glory.

And this one hits you so differently.

Fingers are in mouths, it is rowdy, people are hooting and hollering and cheering.

And you march into the center of Bracken, where in the town square, outside the sort of columned, like agora-looking building, and a

big civic imperial building that is like an imperial governor's hall, like a clerk's office put into this place.

You see that there are rows of Citadel soldiers smiling, and

you see

Prince Khamari Olfgang Saraz at the front, and about 200 Imperial soldiers.

Not only infantry, Marines, sharp, smartly dressed, decorated medals, gold, brocade.

As you walk in,

a prince of the Saraz Imperium strides forward.

You've never seen a member of the royal family.

He is sharp, handsome,

smiling broadly, gold brocade.

You see, he is bedecked by the best artifice finery that the Citadel can put out.

Magic saber at his side, rings, an enchanted amulet underneath his neck.

He steps forward as you arrive in the town square and says,

Wizard Skye, Archmage Apprentice of the Citadel, welcome to Bracken and puts forward his hand to shake yours.

Oh, fuck.

Suvi

is

absolutely like star besotted.

Like she's seeing the most famous person in

her world and trying her at her level best to remember protocol and dignity and and the weight of everything that she's done so she doesn't like

break into an excited grin.

Do I know what the correct protocol for this would be?

Like, she's gonna reach for his hand, but I think she has like a broken.

You would take it and bow in the action of doing so.

Yeah.

Yeah, Subi begins with the like hearty handshake like she gave to the captain earlier today and then remembers herself and takes his hand and goes into like as formal a bow as she can give

while not looking, she doesn't want to look like she's curtsying and simpering.

So it's, she's trying to get a lot done in a very quick action, and I don't know how effective it is.

You take the hand, you bow.

He smiles.

Your discomfort is completely second nature to him.

Like, there is nothing about you stumbling through this motion that is unusual to him or makes him.

And you see, he just says,

and with an earnestness that is so profound, he goes, Thank you.

Thank you for what you've done.

And CV

doesn't have a response.

She just sort of looks down and is blushing furiously and nods.

The prince looks out to all of the imperial infantry and everyone else in this, you know, the people that have just spent two weeks in the forest covered in their own blood and the horror and everything else like that.

He looks out at all of them and says,

Is it not possible to step lively and get these brave soldiers some drinks?

The crowd goes nuts,

and you see he smiles and says,

Revelry will have to wait for you, Wizards Guy.

I believe you have an appointment with a mirror.

Oh,

there's not.

See, he's in hell.

Why?

Why does the prince know that my mom needs to talk to me?

You see, he says, Lady Iraman will help you.

And you see that a beautiful black-clad noblewoman that you can see she is dressed in

a smart-looking, sort of like

imperial attire, but very clearly is not part of the military apparatus.

She is an attendant diplomatically to the prince.

So she's here, sort of like embedded with this military installation because she is part of the bureaucracy of the empire.

And she leans forward and says,

Lady Iremin Telniket, Wizard Skye, thank you very much for your bravery and service.

Pleasure to meet you.

I'd be happy to escort you to the Prince's speaking mirror at your nearest convenience.

And you see that stepping forward, one of the gent, there's a highly decorated general who steps out on behalf of the Prince and says, all right, open to the mess, stay with you.

And you see that he comes in and starts talking to Silver.

Slain approaches.

You see there is a...

Highly decorated sort of dressed similar to Galani in like purple.

There is a Citadel Abjur

who looks like a much older, plump woman.

She has a little bit of dye on her lower lip in a little sort of dot, some rings on her fingers.

She begins to speak to them, talking about sort of the defenses.

And you see, Silver's immediately in conversation.

You see Silver change and immediately fall into his slot.

Yeah.

And you see, he gives you a quick look like, we'll connect, like that, that like, we did it.

I love you.

We're at work.

And then he's like off on doing his own thing.

Can I throw him in like just a little message spell?

Yeah.

I'll find you later.

Please keep an eye on my friends.

We'll do.

So, and Ursulan and Amy, while all this is going on, where are you looking?

What are you looking at in all of this madness?

I think Ursulan has, as kind of, we've headed into town, kind of matched Ame's pace wherever she is in the line.

But I think as we've entered town,

I think there's been a bit of like like

we did it.

Like there is a...

I think Ursulan is able to touch joy again

in this space and is kind of

enjoying the kind of the play of light with the arcane confetti and seeing his friend be so embarrassed in front of someone who, I guess, is very important.

Standing a little ways away, you begin to, uh, uh, and you guys can give me any kind of checks you want if you're like wanting to read the environment here.

Just because as Suvi is embroiled in like a deep, like, you know,

social engagement with these people that she needs to speak to, you have a moment to kind of like get bearings if you want to.

Yeah, and I think I am interested in kind of the ratio of military to citizen.

Yes.

Kind of as we move through.

Natural one.

These confetti's crazy.

As you start doing that, you see that a just like

he'd look like a ghost if he wasn't so solid.

So instead, he just looks like a powdered doughnut of a creature.

Like white hair, white skin, kind of yellow eyes, very small pupils, which are really unsettling.

Zips up to you, and you can tell is clearly weightless, even though he looks very solid and touches you for a second and goes, What are you, a spell?

I'm sorry, zero

your zero.

Uh-huh.

Ursulan.

Oh, Ursulan.

You Tomori?

No.

No.

Oh, I can tell Tomori.

Tomorrow gotta watch out for me.

For you, Zero.

Yeah, that's right.

Ursulan kind of chuckles.

Have you.

How long have you been here, Zero?

How long have I been here?

I've been here for...

18 days, 4 hours, 36 minutes, 12 seconds.

13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26.

Amy, we got over to you.

You see?

What kind of...

Are you making a skill check to take in?

First Lon seems gripped in a tense conversation.

Oh my God.

Yeah, that's what that was.

I think there was a there's just a sheer moment of panic where it's like, is this guy about to tell everyone I'm a spirit and now I've got him counting and that's better than whatever the other thing we were doing was

As I entered Ame was nervous both for Ursulan and for what it meant coming back to an imperial presence in a town

and squeezed Ursulan's hand a little too tightly perhaps but as the confetti went and she saw the imperial officers and the citadel mages and Suvi all

so joyful it was impossible not to get caught up in it.

So she trots along with the fox at her side taking it all in

and

as she watches

Suvi greet this royal family member.

Ame has met with royal royalty before in her time with Grandmother Wren, but she's never met one of the Saraz family

and

she studies him

and with a 26

she wants to know everything about him.

On a 26 insight you want to know everything about him.

26 is pretty remarkable.

Watching him in this moment,

the best thing you can relate this to is watching a dancer or watching a

singer.

The prince is engaged in performance

and it is a performance that he is excellent at and that he is very good at.

And

when you look at a dance or a song and you try to determine whether it's true true or false, that sort of misses the point of what it is.

Like, when the prince is thanking these soldiers and thanking the wizard Skye,

it is

something he has to do.

It's his, in the way that it was Skye's job to save these wizards, it's his job to honor these people.

And you sense a deep earnestness in the carrying out of his duties and responsibilities, responsibilities.

If that makes sense.

That this is an execution.

In other words, it's not like he was the first guy who was like, well, I should probably go thank her.

Like, you know, that it's there's a, there is a dance here.

And you sense a deep arrogance and pride at someone who is literally the most to the manner born a person can be.

This is a prince of an empire.

He is excited to be loved and adored.

And he is excited to adore those who serve the Empire.

He is excited.

Like when he called for drinks, he felt a joy just like the joy that everyone else felt in that moment.

That was not false.

And I think that there is.

I think that the only thing you would see that's not being that's being like under the surface for him is all the other things there are to worry about here, right?

Like he very immediately, after the soldiers have drinks, after this guy has been handed off to the lady Iramin, he's very quickly talking with the highly decorated general next to him and is on to the next thing.

So in other words, if you're relating him to like a common folk person who would have taken longer with Suvi being like, you're really incredible.

Oh my God, you saved all those people.

He gave that one earnest moment of sincere thanks, which was expected of him, but also meant.

And now he is off off to his next responsibility, as he assumes everyone else here will be too.

Walking past you over to join, you know, we uh

18 minutes.

One, two,

three, yes, four.

Um,

you see that walking up behind Zero, there is a massive translucent Minotaur.

There is like a 12-foot-tall

bull-headed.

You recognize this as a Tamori, but it's not one you've seen before.

Suvi, do you see there like gallithopters flying past, some of which are being piloted by the unnamed, numbered fireball and lightning bolt tomorrow?

Which to you were the scariest you had seen.

You recognize zero being on kind of a similar level to them.

There are two Tamori in this square that you see that just in terms of how

resonatingly magical they are, put those lightning bolts and fireballs and put the zeros to shame.

There is a 12-foot glassy Minotaur, mostly translucent, mostly you can see through it, except that it has some sort of twirling deep in its chest and in its head.

There are iridescences of like rainbow or prismatic light.

And you see it walks up and farther you see shadowing the prince at all times.

Very clearly, a bodyguard.

You see a Tamori woman who is partially glowing.

You can tell that she's dampening it down to its lowest, like the lowest setting on a dimmer, but has rich blue skin,

deep

red hair in an asymmetric bob, and gem-like purple freckles all over her skin.

Gorgeous Tomori woman who is, you see, like clearly has some spell that can go off that means she is within arm's reach of the prince at all times.

This Minotaur, this translucent Minotaur, walks up, looks down at you, uh, Ursulan, and says, Hello.

Hello,

is

Zero bothering you?

No, it's simply letting me know how long he's been here.

You feel a very powerful detect magic go over you.

Give me an Arcana check.

Anyone who wants to.

Sure.

16.

25.

15.

You guys are looking at a wild Tamori.

This is the first Tamori that you're looking at, and you're like, and you're not a spirit.

Like, you know, like, it's very impressive.

This is the True Sight spell.

Yeah.

And you see, he goes, I am Ox.

And Ox is actually spelled O O-C-S.

You are resplendent in artifacts.

Indeed, I am.

Very special.

I do not know them all.

Yes?

As in you are.

Where were they produced?

I do not know.

They are gifts from friends and family.

Do you have the names and locations of these friends and family?

At this point, Ahme walks up and says, Hello, I am Ame, the Witch of Toma.

I am Os.

You feel a very powerful detect magic go over you.

You are resplendent in artifacts.

Well, I have a couple of nice things.

Um, this is my jewel hopper, Rien.

I hold up the little cage.

Beautiful.

Reen comes from the citadel.

Ring is a dangerous vermin.

May I have that?

And you see, as Ox says that, the lady Iramin comes over and puts a hand on Ox and says,

Ox, darling, the prince requires your assistance.

Please help him if you'd be so kind.

There are many anomalous artifacts on these travelers.

They do not wear symbols of.

And you see, Irmin says, Ox, it's all right.

He turns and says,

Unresolved questions.

And walks away.

I like him so much.

The lady Irmin says,

Good evening.

Would you like to join the soldiers in the mess hall, or would you like to accompany the Wizard Sky?

Well, I imagine that Skye has some very important conversations to have with her commanding officer,

mother.

With

well,

where would you like to go, Ursulan?

Drinks in the mess hall.

Drinks in the mess hall.

Thank you kindly.

Sworn looks over at you, winks, and says, Let's go get you all fed in the mess hall.

All right, I'll stay right behind you.

And you see that he walks over, and as he Sworn is walking with you both, over to what was a big sort of like beer garten looking place, you see there's bright lights and clinking glasses and tankards and shouts and cheers coming from inside.

And Ursulan, now at this point, past the edges, you actually see that the streets were blocked off, but a lot of civilians gathered at the barricades to see you here.

So you see this is clearly green zone where all of the surrounding people, like whoever lived at that first cottage, took their sheep and came here.

And the city is actually quite bustling.

But you can just see that during the daytime, it's very clearly like

a little bit locked down.

Like, yeah, there's partying and people have to eat, people have to work.

We still need people to get food and make food and do this stuff.

But there's a lot of barricades.

There's a lot of people stationed on rooftops.

There's gallopters flying overhead.

It's that weird thing of trying to live life and do the work of living life in a war zone.

So you see, though, that Swarn starts taking you off to the beer garden, looks over at you, Ursulan, and goes, Tomori,

you're a little blunt.

Yes.

Seems

these Tomori are not as socialized as, say, Mr.

Callum.

Well,

they were born yesterday, so.

Ursulan, are you a betting man?

I've been known to

wager here and there.

Given that it's very likely you and I will be sleeping in a bed tonight, I would love to bet that I can put you under the table.

Well, let's see some money.

Uh, incredible.

The lady Iramin turns to you and says, right this way, Wizardsgaard.

Thank you.

Walking side by side with the lady Iramin Telniket,

your boots tapping on the stone floors of easily the most imperious, glorious building in bracket.

This was built by the Empire here in the center of town as a governor's hall, as a place of record-keeping and of imperial glory to remind the people of this place that they were not simply the mountain shepherd vineyard farmers of their ancestors, but were a part of something much greater than that.

And the Lady Iraman smiles at you as she walks and says,

A belated congratulations on your ascension to the Tower of the Glove and on your name cloaking.

Oh, that's very kind of you.

Uh, thank you.

And you watch this woman who you've never heard of just know this

kind of personal fact about you.

Can I do

insight or history?

Like, yeah, can I insight check her?

I just give me a little insight.

What is her deal?

17.

She's like smiling in a very friendly way.

I think if there's, like, is there a base assumption you would make about why she knows that?

No, I think it's just the chat.

Like, it's just trying to catch the tone of, like, is this someone who is sort of reciting a fact

in order to like do the cursory, like, I read your brief and your three bullet points.

here is one of them or is there like

enough polish that she's like she's just trying to do like a slickness check yes on her

there's no like weird intentions you get I think you get slickness I think you get a moment of

this woman is letting me know that she is not

just someone showing me a room, that she is a part of the princess apparatus.

And there's a little bit of flex here of someone who's just put a lot of work into knowing everything and maybe wants you to know that she knows everything, but also a little bit of: I am more than a servant.

If you need something, I'm someone you can come talk to.

She walks forward with you and says,

Word reached us earlier today from Captain Castwain, and we have the mirror set up in the great hall.

And you walk out into this marble floor place with tall columns.

Standing there in the center is a tall golden speaking mirror.

You see there are several Citadel wizards to each side.

And as you approach it, the lady bows, steps in front of you, addresses the mirror, and says,

presenting Her Excellency, Archmage Apprentice of the Citadel, the Wizard Sky.

And steps to the side, the mirror shimmers.

And you see a room that appears to be partially subterranean with dirt walls in it.

There's a hanging gas lamp kind of sputtering, and sitting in a chair in her golden armor, sweat on her face, and a little bit of dirt on her face is the wizard Steele,

who looks at you

with a give me an insight check.

Five.

She looks mad.

She looks at you.

So,

tasked with

a mission

of utmost significance, having secured resources for the Citadel beyond measure,

the ship you were given

was instead charted for an active war zone, Fort Marlon.

And you and your crew disembark.

Do I have that correct, Wizard Sky?

You do.

And Suvi, like, just with each of those bullet points, like, Suvi's getting a little more like straight and rigid.

She looks at you and says,

and

upon discovering that that ship had been commandeered so that that resource could be secured to the citadel, you left Fort Marlon, knowing that the ship would return in two days to strike out with no speaking mirror deep into enemy territory and through reliance on resources outside of Imperial control

rescued a war mage of the Citadel and over 30 Imperial soldiers from the mission that had been labeled completely impossible by every Imperial strategist familiar with that situation.

Kid,

you are something.

Oh, there's no hiding the like Suvi about to pop off and being cut off at the exact right time.

Huh.

Huh?

And just realizes that she like misread the situation and went into her little kid like defensive mode and then releases it and was like, I heard what you were saying.

Got it.

Got.

And

she sees that you're about to pop off and feels, you can see that she has a, I mean, she has a similar abrasiveness and a similar feeling of like, I'm going to say all the fucking ill-advised shit.

It's, you're going to hear all of that.

And you see, she looks at you and says,

Wizard Skye,

of all the ill-advised, uninformed, off-the-cuff, answering to no one loose cannon bullshit I have seen in my time at the Citadel.

I cannot recall being so grateful as I am in this moment.

Subi's just ear-to-ear grinning.

Like, no, it's still straight and formal because there are other like wizards in here.

Yeah.

But she's fully grinning.

Like, just that part she cannot stop.

Learned it from the best.

Aw, kid.

You see that she's, she smiles and says, well, it's an awful lesson to learn firsthand that when it works, you're a hero.

Yeah, I haven't learned to be more cautious, I think.

Just send me with more mirrors.

She smiles and shakes her head and she's like, one of these days, you're going to catch a consequence.

I have to believe.

I have to believe in my heart.

Everyone has to believe something a little crazy.

She laughs full-throatedly.

Wizard Skye, well done.

On firstly, the mission which was your charge, which I have many questions about, which the resources that have been delivered cannot answer for me.

So a debrief in full is much needed.

I can wrap up affairs here in probably the next day or two and make my way directly to Bracken if you remain embedded there with your troops.

If you have anything more pressing, feel free to attend to that.

And if you've spoken with Rasper or are still in contact with him, please extend to him my sincerest thanks for completing the mission.

And I look forward to debriefing with him at his earliest convenience.

For that to happen, he would have to be welcome in the Citadel.

And there's just a little look on her face that's fully, I love my mommy.

That's all it is.

But even inside of that,

that like stiffness and rigidness that she carries, that is pride and the leaving of

her defensiveness before she knew she wasn't going to be shoot out publicly in a mirror again,

she remembers herself and just

wizard skill.

I know you're on your way, but I really,

I have to mention the other business.

I have to mention the other business of the coven

was a vote.

They voted to go to war with the Citadel.

It wasn't unanimous.

The Witch of the World's Heart prevented an exponential leap in power that would have come with unanimity, but the vote passed and

they're going to join with a host of great spirits and Ruve and march to attack us.

Okay.

Understood.

The unanimity, which of the coven voted to go to war?

Um, uh, Hekea, Woodland Green, uh, Grimoire, Wild Hunt, and

Marara, Waning Moon.

Fascinating.

All right.

Noted, uh,

this we will discuss more in person, and accommodations and plans must be set in motion at once.

Uh, thank you.

We will pick that up.

I am glad that if the Witch of the World's Heart has abstained or voted against that war, you may have done an immeasurable service in protecting the Citadel.

Well done, Skye.

Returning to the issue of the resource, there were other ways to accomplish what Rasper needed to accomplish.

Now,

absolutely, and I am very grateful that you did what you did, but had this resource made its way into the Shroud Mountains, we would be having a very different tenor of conversation right now.

Understood.

But debriefing about the manner of your mission's execution will be necessary, but you must understand that this is an enormous victory for the Empire and an enormous boon for the Citadel.

You also notice that she keeps calling it the resource, and there is a little bit, like even with the other, it's all citadel mages here, but there's an imperial.

You see that actually, you see that this, the lady Iramin sort of smiles.

She clearly knows Rasper.

There's like something here.

You see that she looks at you and says,

the only thing I will ask, because it is a pressing concern,

the embossment on the lid of the resource.

Was that destroyed during your mission?

And here, there is an open question for Suvi here.

You know, she's referring to the spider, which was in the music box when it went back.

Is it not?

Oh, okay.

Implication from that sentence,

because my brain spiraled immediately, that it's the spider's no longer there.

Do you say that bluntly?

No.

I'm just trying to glean.

Sorry.

Going back and regleaning the sentence.

Yeah, she sees you stunned for a moment.

That seems to be what she's implying.

She's seeing your face, she says, because the embossment is not present.

Nothing that, to our knowledge, has been compromised within the resource itself, but

I had assumed there were certain security contingencies in the embossment that meant that it may at some point not make it back, and there were contingencies within that to make that something that would not compromise the overall mission.

But

do you.

I can see from your face that this is news to you.

Really quick, my little spider-bro, bro, is there

something I can

roll to see if this sounds like

Rasper tampering or the little magic spider that had a super special moment with me is doing some like fun, funky spider thing?

Give me a

perception check unless you want to do magic about it.

I want to do magic about it, and I'll be overt about it.

Cool.

What are you casting in this moment?

I think the

most obvious version of something would be

a detect

magic, but

pointed

at herself to try to like touch the interaction.

Like the little vibe she had between it.

Like, I don't know if that makes sense.

Like going back into her own memory of the like nod and salute between the spider and trying to like detect magic on that.

So you cast detect magic and you're looking for a reading similar to the magic you observed in that room.

Yeah.

An emanation comes from your spellbook that sounds like the rainbow playing in reverse.

A bit of music and a tinkling of glass that the spell reveals to you emanating from your spellbook at your side.

Okay.

To my mind and my recollection, I don't know what happened there, but

as far as I'm aware,

the resource

worked as

hoped.

Steel nods, and you can see her face goes to a dark place.

Give me an insight check with advantage because it's stealing.

Yeah.

Dirty 20.

She's thinking about Rasper.

Yeah.

Suvi will see that

and do her best to mirror that dark expression.

Also, I want to spin this up.

Fuck Rasper.

I hope he gets lit the fuck up for this.

She goes, Noden,

thank you.

I thank you.

The Citadel thanks you.

The Empire thanks you for the mission that it was your duty to accomplish and you did exceptionally, and for the one you, with no input from anyone who knew better, took upon yourself.

There are a lot of loyal soldiers that owe their lives to you.

Every one of them might go on to save a brother, a sister, a sibling of their own.

And that won't be possible without the choice you made to do that.

I think that's the point where, like, a little dam breaks inside of Suvi, and she can't stop herself.

Like, it's the like red nose and like unshed tears in her eyes of, like, yeah, yeah, that did it.

I'm gonna cry.

And it's just trying to do the little like shallow breathing to try to pull it back.

You see, she looks at you and says,

It's my understanding that you were traveling with Ame and Bear once again.

Yes, after concluding the events in the north.

Well, congrats also on your presence, presumably saving your friend.

We did it.

Are they present with you in Bracken right now?

They are.

All right.

Let's broach this.

So, the last time that Amé and Bear

were in Imperial territory,

they committed some crimes.

And it's my understanding that it is due to their aid

that these soldiers were saved.

We would not,

and I mean this with no false modesty, we would not have survived to even make it to Abbason, let alone passing through

Hallaker Forest to be here now.

All right.

Time served?

Well, that's probably the conversation we should have.

And I'd like you, I think it's appropriate for that to come from you because you obviously have developed that relationship and there's trust there.

Yes.

The opportunities that open up for us on this front with the aid of an honored friend and a witch are pretty substantial.

I appreciate the line of logic you are walking down.

This was

a

settling of debt between us.

And when I say time served, I mean they are released from

future service to the Empire.

I hear you.

I'm going to explain in company here.

And you see that she actually moves and begins to,

a telemet is wheeled out and she asks and says, I think this conversation should just be between us, if that's okay.

Fair enough.

Sufi's hand's already on it.

She puts hers on a telemet next to her and begins to cast the message can't trip through the telemet to you.

And just speaking into your mind, says,

And you see that the lady, Yuramin, sort of starts twiddling her fingers,

looking away.

And Steele just goes,

The Shroud Mountains right now are

overtaken.

Two other houses of Gauthamai are moving on the Shroud Mountains, and they're going to make a push.

And

Bahadi is being joined by Kashif and Rounza,

which you would know.

Rounza is sometimes called the House of Light.

And you realize that you have already seen it.

The rock.

That was.

Kashif is

a

transmuter

flesh craft construct maker house.

She says,

Not only are two other houses of Gauthmai pushing forward into the Shroud Mountains,

that redoubling of effort confirms for us that Yorin is still here.

There are two or three

attacks that fit a pattern.

There's a possibility that this is not a

land grab, that this entire mobilization effort of Gauthmai is covering something very pointed that we think Yorin might be doing here.

I don't need to get into that with you, but if that's true and if the pattern holds out, Yorin knows far more than he should about what we are doing here in the Shroud Mountains.

Brandon?

Yeah.

Can I make an insight check on Steel right now?

Yeah.

Kasuvi feels all of the like fury

at Yorin being mentioned, but has seen to some extent the scale of this war.

Why is one shifter being brought into conversation?

Is she doing that because he is actually quite important to the war?

Or is she doing that because he's important to

steal?

Or is she saying that because it's important to me?

Give me an insight, check.

19.

She's saying it because it's important to you.

She knows that you care.

Yorin has a deep significance to her,

unrelated to you.

Maybe not fully unrelated, but they knew each other for years before you were born.

And I think that you also see in her face

that

Yorin may not be what this war hinges on,

but there's something in how she talks about him that does view him as a threat.

That's genuine.

Suvi's expression darkens.

She looks to you and says,

orders are set to be given at Bracken.

There's going to be a large mobilization.

There's some events that have happened in the Shroud Mountains earlier today that

are going to necessitate quick mobilization and movement.

There's going to be a push to 12 Brooks, and

we're going to need to drop the supply lines for Gautamite.

They're just the forces that are coming.

Ame's help

will save countless lives.

I don't disagree,

but her time and her focus are otherwise accounted for,

as is Bears.

They came to my aid at great personal cost,

and there is no way

anyone here, myself included,

can convince them to further commit their time to our cause.

And that's okay.

We will be fine.

With time, we win.

I hear you.

Will you ask?

Of course.

Thank you, Skye.

I'm proud of you.

And I'll see you in Bracken in three to four days.

Oh, okay.

Okay.

And then leans in before taking her hand off the telemetry.

Can you bring some of Saunders, like the little lemon, those like chewy lemon things?

You want

you see that she

looks and reaches into a bag and pulls out a packet of them?

Oh gosh.

I know exactly how many is in that bag right now.

If not that many shows up,

that's your ass.

I'm a full wizard of the Citadel.

The prince touched my arm.

I'll kill you.

Why did you say it like that?

The prince touched your arm.

Why are you...

What?

Why?

And I took my hand off.

You see, she says, don't get any bright ideas.

If anything were to happen there, you'd become a guild mage.

He wouldn't move to the citadel.

All right?

So.

My love can change universes.

She says, I know it can.

I know it can.

And she says, thank you, Wizard Sky.

You're dismissed.

CB gives a curt nod, turns.

We cut over to the beer garden here in Bracken.

Yeah, got it.

And where, Amy Ursulan, where are you at, like after an hour of throwing down in the beer garden?

Ursulan is, I think, next to the keg and is just kind of

filling it, drinking it down, and filling it again.

Sworn is shaking with a hand on the table, going,

he's not human.

He's not human.

I never had a chance.

Would you like another?

Why didn't anyone stop me?

All of you betrayed me.

Every other person, every mortal betrayed me in this room

swan you should eat something you just he spits just coming out of his mouth

okay i need to go to bed right now but i can't lie down

someone hold my head i'm gonna put my hand on the back of his head uh and use lay-on hand

you touch the back of his head you use a full five points i use a full five points um you see he goes

and a smell of pine and fresh wind, and his eyes go full bloodshot for a second and quickly start to fade, but his eyes go like red as he goes,

cold,

and like his, you know, hairs on his arms stand up.

He goes,

and looks at you and goes, I'm completely sober.

What did you do?

Can you do that more?

That's incredible.

Let's go again.

Let's go again.

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

Ahme has given the fox a little pouch around his neck for him to collect coin from all of the rest of the infantry that she has had side bets with.

You see, yeah, he's skittering around on the table, snapping up little sausages and fritters and things like that.

You see, there's a lot of like

plum jam fritters around here that he keeps.

And you see, he's writing down.

Plum jam fritters.

You see, he walks up to someone and says, pay up, pay up.

And you see, someone's like, well,

he didn't actually fall down under the.

And you see, the fox says, that's not what was written on the bed.

I can't keep a track of every single verbal thing.

And I can't read this, but I remember what Ame told me she wrote down.

And

Ame has not been drinking.

She's been appearing to drink and either has something in her glass at all times or has been drinking the non-alcoholic beverage of the beer garten.

Oh, yes, they have a lovely, just a fresh cider.

You have a beautiful, a beautiful crisp cider that sweet and cold and clears the palate.

And as the night wears on, you see there's sort of mixed company here.

It's mostly, you know, Imperial soldiers, Imperial Marines.

There's a lot of citadel, a lot of Azure Battalion are in here.

And you see that there are a few Tamori

outside.

There are some constructs moving around.

You see that there are these constructs that appear to be like almost animated wagons, if that makes sense, that are sort of moving around.

See, they have these wheels, and at the front, you see that there are these figureheads as if on ships.

At the front of the wagons are keeled like boats.

And you see that these sort of wooden jointed automata at the front of the wagons appear to be their like sensory apparatus as these keeled wagons move to and fro, carrying supplies through the city, big crates of imperial goods.

And

as the night falls, your singing commences, you see a couple people get sort of like relieved and go out, some patrols shift, uh, and you hear distantly, way, way far away,

and the joy subsides.

And there's a moment where everyone pauses,

holds off.

Long pause.

A few squeaks as people look around.

People reach for things.

Some of the people that got a little bit too drunk, feeling suddenly scared or stupid that their wits have gotten away from them.

Two wizards walk in from the front door.

One leans in and looks around very solemnly.

him

and you see people cheer uh and you see everyone goes back to drinking again but there's that the moment of panic is like the celebration is almost very forced to come back in that moment after whatever those noises were on the horizon of combat and explosion and you see that uh the drinking commences once again

a few minutes after that you see lights on the road as a squadron wheels in and it looks like a newly arrived squadron redeployed to Bracken comes in, and a couple people recognize friends in this other division and begin to share and cheer.

And you see they come in, and you see that excited gossip begins to spread throughout the beer garden of these soldiers that are bringing news from some other part of the front and kind of excitedly talking.

Ursulan and Ahme can give me insight or perception.

17 perception.

25 insight.

In this moment, are you guys directing your attention, and you can choose different things?

Directing your attention to the leadership present in the beer garden or to the scuttle, butt, and lively conversation of the newly arrived soldiers.

I'm looking at the leadership.

On a 17 perception, Ursulan, you look up, walking in with this new division.

is a

and these are all imperial soldiers arriving and you see that some of them appear almost like Captain Castwane to be

somewhat mages.

They're not just soldiers.

They're like some kind of guild mage, like, you know, in DD terms, maybe like Eldritch Knights, right?

Like people that have more casting than normal, even though they didn't study at the Citadel, right?

But you see that walking in from there is

decorated in fine red satin robes with bindings almost like a boxer's like hand wrappings in red silk that go all the way up leaving fingers and thumb exposed.

Sort of wave of deep auburn hair that gets tied in a long ponytail is a thin-looking, very

sort of like raptor-looking man, bird of prey almost.

He's a guild mage.

You see, he walks up with some of these soldiers, walks directly over to the bar to speak with someone else else there and gets approached by a few other guild mages.

At his

side

are a few little potions and bottles.

Some of them are sort of the white dispelling agent that you've seen Subi have.

And you see that the emblem hanging around an amulet from him is a glass crown, a glass coronet.

Which you guys have heard about before.

Ahme, you hear the scuttle butt

in the room and you see a soldier going like

a soldier excitedly talking to everyone and be like, we heard it from the ship that passed by.

They're already on their way back to Fort Guerin, but

they said that, you know, it's been the riverways.

The riverways have been the giveaway.

I mean, straight changes can swim through them.

There's ships moving up through.

And we know that the Grenot have been ferrying them back and forth up and down through the Shroud Mountains.

But With that gone, they'll be able to dry the rivers.

We can march wherever we need to go.

And you see that someone says, Wait, no, start the story at the beginning.

What happened?

He says, I wouldn't be surprised if we push on 12 Brooks tomorrow, late.

I'm telling you right now, it was wild.

So there they were, you know, crawling shape changes, Baha'i constructs.

And suddenly, a bolt of light.

And he appeared in the sky overhead.

The Archmage standing there by himself in the sky.

Silence.

The water rippled and this thing, this monster, surged out from the water.

Eyes bulging out of its great head, a size of a titan, this thing.

And

drew in breath.

Pouch expanded.

This thing...

And this great fucking bullfrog mate went to croak.

like it was gonna blast him out of the sky.

And he held his staff

and it opened its mouth and not a sound came out.

And it just kept breathing out its eyes, bugging out of its great big head

until every last bit of it went away in a whisper.

And Silence smiled and he vanished like that.

It's turning the tide.

We're gonna go home, boys.

We're going home.

That was Lou Wilson as Ursulan, Eriki Ishi-e as Ame, Abria Iyengar as Suvi, and Brennan Lee Mulligan as Everyone and Everything Else.

Worlds Beyond Number is produced and scored by Taylor Moore and edited and designed by Taylor Moore and Jared Olson at Fortunate Horse, with additional sound design by Michael Gelfie Studios.

If you'd like to support the show and hear even more wonderful things, come and join us on the Worlds Beyond Number Patreon.

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