WWW #34: Something to Remember You By

This is the sound of Worlds Beyond Number.

In the keep of the world's heart, the fire crackles.

The keep is filled with wood smoke and the smell of coffee in Ursulan's hand.

Standing by the rug, blankets on the ground around you.

Side by side are Ursulan and Suvi.

The silence permeates the space.

Reflections of what has been said here.

And Ursulan, I'm going to ask you for an insight check right away.

Only a nine.

It's hard for you to see truly how Suvi is doing in this moment.

The emotions are just so raw and the experience of going through this so deeply unpleasant.

Suvi, give me an insight to check.

21.

In this moment,

the force of how you were shouting,

you feel pins and needles on your forehead.

There is some kind of buildup of acetone or some kind of acidic thing in your very dry mouth.

You can feel yourself being top heavy, almost like you want to fall over.

You are sleep deprived to a level where you can smell the inside of your own nose.

Your skull feels weightless and like it wants to kind of float away into some other realm of consciousness.

And the thin ribbon is connecting your mind through your neck to your body.

But man, your mind and body feel far away from each other in this degree of profound exhaustion.

You mechanically have two levels of exhaustion, which means that you are rolling disadvantage on ability checks as you have been.

And now, also, your speed is halved.

You've entered the point where, regardless of your dedication and focus, your body is sluggish.

Your body is in open rebellion against your mind.

Great.

Another thing I'm in a fight with.

Delightful.

Suvi

looks down at her feet and realizes she's standing and has that like vertigo pan of like, nope, this is a lot right now.

And is just going to like slowly clamber back down to sitting.

And I think it's just going to kind of watch Ursula

for a while

because,

yeah, that was big and went so wide

and there's too much happening and all of the panic of what

could be coming next

for Suvi and

her home specifically are just one of those things like if you turn your attention to it

I just don't know

where to get the energy to react or even like understand it all the way.

So it's kind of simpler to stay in standby mode and like a heliotrope, just sort of watch the sun.

That is Ursulan and his kindness.

Ursulan is fixated on making coffee.

I think it's just giving extra attention

to the task

so that to keep his mind from wandering.

The amount of emotion expressed in the space over the last couple of minutes has been too much for him, and I think he is desperately trying to find a kind of internal sense of calm.

He's gonna finish making the coffee

without making eye contact with Sufi, hand her a glass, and kind of stride over to the window near the entrance and look out.

What are you looking for?

I don't know.

Thank you for the coffee.

You're welcome.

I think

Subi can't bring herself to sip it because every time she just like swallows, it's that like burning in the back of her throat.

It's sour.

And I th

it feels like if I drink the coffee, I will throw up from the stress of all of this.

So I'm just holding it.

She's going to go talk to Marara.

And then they vote.

What happens if they say yes?

From what I understand,

when the council

moves

together as one,

they are able to enact great power on the world.

But when there is dissent,

they cannot achieve the same level of greatness.

That is why

Marara

was so displeased with Ren

because she prevented the council from achieving that

unanimity.

So, should Ahme

continue down the same path as Ren,

it will come, but it will not be as it could

had Aame been

destroyed.

I understand.

Ursulin, I want to ask you a question,

but it's okay if you don't don't want to answer it.

If the witches

march on the citadel,

if everything you heard in that meeting is true, would you fight with them?

Ursulan is going to turn to face you,

feeling the weight of the watch in his pocket.

No,

I think when I leave this place,

it will be to find those like Morrow

who seek to hurt

my brothers and sisters.

But my love for you.

I am your protector, Suvi.

And I will not raise my hand against you.

Suvi just nods.

It feels weird to thank someone for that.

I know

I am just beginning to figure out how much I don't know

and what I took for granted and what I traded away.

The spell.

And I explain as best I can remember, even with like the sort of strange imagery,

what I saw in the identify spell

and

the like blocking from the pendant

and the modify memory with the Gaus sitting behind it.

I can only assume that this magic was the doing of the Citadel,

and I can only assume that I agreed to it.

I trust them so much

because I have never known

a reason to divide my loyalty

until now.

And

it's

right that you are mad

and always mad.

But

I don't want to tear down

my home.

I want to save it.

And I think I need to go to do that.

Or at least try.

Ursula, if I stay and they vote

for war,

they won't let me leave.

I think I have to go now.

I'll escort you to your ship, and you will be on your way.

Thank you.

I put the

instructions for your bridal.

They're written down.

Oh.

You examined it?

Yeah.

I promised.

Thank you, Suvi.

Thank you, Ursulan.

And I pushed myself up to standing.

I

grab my things and

stand by the door, ready to go.

You pack up from the keep.

As you get to the door, and Ursulan's at the door waiting to escort you.

You look up and see that tower of the half-moon where that wand gleamed.

And look towards the main keep

here.

Ursulan, you feel that

watch in your pocket holding the golden bridle with Suvi's written instructions in your hand.

And

have this moment where I think, Ursulan, you feel the watch.

You look up at the tower with the wand, but time is also short.

You have won

much from this place.

Ursulan, you

saved the witch Hakeia from

betrayal amongst the spirits and her retinue.

The man, you refused an offer from the man in black.

You hold a gift from him within your pocket, and you know things about this world.

You know you have a sister that yet lives in this world of mortals.

Suvi,

you came here

with a box of mirrors and made your diagrams.

You saved the life of your true friend, followed orders you cannot even remember being given, and outwitted one of the most powerful witches in this world, and now walk to exit this place, freestanding, having done all of the things you promised you would do.

And beyond that, you now know

that even if she failed to persuade the coven,

Amay's intentions, if followed through, will spare great harm from your citadel.

Even beyond the orders you were given, you have ensured some safety for your home under your own power and cleverness.

I think, yeah,

eyes sort of at the top of the tower.

Subi who has a measure of her composure back,

but is still

just

really beaten down by the longest day.

Okay.

A couple thoughts that I have have formed

and I have no intention, but it is worth saying because I think them.

And you deserve to know the full

scope of my imagination.

I think it's important for the witches to know

that when we met Emlis,

a chalice of Ruf,

she or the thing possessing her bragged about killing witches.

And I worry that this coven is aligning themselves with someone whose intentions are not well known or understood.

If there is power in the coven

as they march to war,

The meanest part of me

says that destroying the coven could eliminate the threat.

If Ahme simply chose to leave the coven before the end of the conclave,

they would be at an even number

and the power of their group dispelled.

I don't know if the wand has any place in that, but

as we've walked here,

my mind cannot help but regard it and the power there is something, a last

chance

to stop the wholesale slaughter.

I will

do my best to find out anything I can about the antivolists' claims.

I know there's a lot kept from me,

but I think if I go home,

having done my duty

i can push to be more in a circle of trust

and please believe me

when i say

i will not allow

the wizards or any other part of the imperium

to

exploit and hurt

spirits or other people.

Whatever I have in me, I will set to that effect.

And

I don't know when I'm going to see you again, so I think I'm just delaying saying goodbye.

I'm sorry for all the ways I've hurt you.

Especially the ones that I didn't notice at the time.

I know you're not really my brother, and I know you have a family and they're here.

And in all the ways that matter,

you've been family to me, so thank you.

Ursula is going to

embrace Sufi deeply.

She hugs him back with like

all of that energy of like, I want to like remember what it feels like to hug you.

Because I think there's something inside of like the exhaustion and the fear in this moment of making it out.

She understands

intimately well and I think you can see it.

That sense of this is a trap and I got, I have to get out.

And I just want to remember this.

And I think still embracing you, but kind of pulling back so that I can see your face.

Eslana is going to go.

I believe in you, Sufi.

And I believe you.

There is so much

good in you.

And I know you will do great things

for all of us.

Thank you.

I love you so much.

And I love you.

The wind is picking up.

Snow flurries from on high.

And only faintly, through the sheets of blinding white, icy, flurrying snow, do you see the shape of the meridian, its lanterns lit, awaiting you at the end of the long pier?

Please protect her.

I will.

And if ever you have need of protection,

simply call on me.

And I will find you.

You ever need anything?

I will burn down the world

to make my way to you.

I know.

Okay.

Sue looks out.

At the wind and storm.

takes a deep breath

and walks to her ship.

Having given your last and most crucial thoughts

to your true friend,

the trap closing, you feel yourself escaping it.

You have left early.

Like someone who has gambled in one big, leaving the casino before

night falls on too thick.

You

know that there are some last opportunities within this place.

You know that there are some last tricks to be played, but you have won treasures too dear to risk anymore.

And as you trudge through the snow, Ursulan, you see Suvi's proud countenance diminish under exhaustion and the freezing wind

as she makes her way to the pier

of the skyship of her home.

The hatch opens and the hands of waiting wizards welcome Skye aboard her ship.

Ursulan,

as the doors close and you are separated through gates from the wizard sky

and separated through the palace by the witch Ahme,

What is Ursulan feeling?

Ursulan feels cold.

I think there's a moment where

tempers

have been

so high

that I think this moment of pause,

Ursulan really remembers where they are and

how

solemn and isolated this place is.

And I'm going to try and find the antibalist.

Give me an investigation check.

10.

It takes a long time.

You know that the antibalist is somewhere in the palace, but then remembering Ahm's words,

you end up finding a very cold trail of the fox.

You smell the fox's scent.

And follow that to a door in a hall where the fox's scent doubles back on itself.

Meaning that he walked this hallway and came back, and you find the scent suddenly stop in front of an unmarked door.

Ursulan is going to knock.

So sorry, almost ready.

I'll be one moment there.

Packing the

extra dimension.

Well,

hidden.

And you see that the door opens, and

Tefmet looks and goes, oh!

Sorry.

Hello, hello.

Ursulan.

Yes.

Tefmet.

Yes.

Uh, you're at my door.

Hello.

Hello.

Um,

I was wondering if I could look at the things you brought more closely.

You see a sight that

you actually...

Give me Arcana as you look at it.

15.

You're looking at a small...

red snake skin leather suitcase.

Big enough for someone to pick up in one hand.

It has brass handle on another sort of leather cord and it looks sort of well-made.

It's that sort of old handmade luggage.

One of the largest pieces of Keystone is being shoved into the suitcase.

It can't fit, but

it's a different size than you saw it.

And what you see is that the point of it

is small.

You are watching something that Ursulan doesn't necessarily have the language for, but

in the world of spirits, there are homes that are bigger on the inside than the outside, and that happens all the time.

But it happens with a kind of grace and fluidity that is never remarked upon.

What you're seeing here is the vulgarity of the magic of space and dimension rendered in literal magic.

So the stone is getting smaller as it's pushed into the suitcase.

So you know that it's the same size, but literally, like looking into this as it sort of rests on the edges of the suitcase where the clasps are,

its point goes into inky blackness and gets smaller, but you know that it's not actually getting smaller.

It's just that in that suitcase, eight feet is two feet wide.

And it should be graceful and poetic, but instead it just looks comical and alien.

As you can see Tefmet has been trying, like jumping on the bed, trying to get a rock in a suitcase that's bigger on the inside than the outside.

Do you need help with that?

Oh, well, the magic, um, well, the spec, the spell, the enchantment on the luggage works fine, I think.

So the, I don't know if it needs to be re-enchanted or not, um,

but normally the stone, when I place the stone,

there's sort of an asymptotic relationship to the dimensions as it approaches.

But what I'm finding is that

though the spell seems to be working,

the stone is getting caught, the edges are getting caught on the

actual material object.

And so, or is that what you're offering to help me with?

Um, I believe so.

Yes!

Oh, you've isolated the same problem that I have, um, which is fundamentally that the um the spell seems to be working, but in terms of the dimensions of the object, I believe I may have loaded it into the contraption

at an angle less than optimal.

I put the um I should have put the fat end in first,

yes,

And I don't know

how to fix it.

Has the vote happened?

I no, I've just come.

Well, perhaps by now, but the conclave is currently or about to meet.

Yes.

Um, if as a if as an honored friend you perceive any aspect of the greater binding that eludes me in this moment about how to ameliorate the uh the instance of of magical um and just begins to gesture flusteredly towards the stone.

I'm going to pat them on the shoulder.

I want to open myself up with divine sense and just kind of examine

as I kind of go to help.

Also, see if anything

comes up.

You sense powerful magic coming from the pocket watch.

You actually hear as you put, as you attune yourself to sort of your divine sense, you hear like another tick

in the pocket watch as your divine sense is activated.

But looking at the stone, yes, you see that there is some sort of residue on this.

You know, you can tell that it exists in both the spirit and the real very palpably.

But I think as the antibalist begins to describe the magical problem that's unfolding here, you look and just see that

Tefmet is not very heavy.

You just see that the stone, like, you're literally like,

okay, a very scrawny wizard is jumping on a big rock trying to get it in a suitcase and it's not quite happening.

This seems like a job for the strongest man in Silbury.

And I'm going to try and push it in.

Go ahead and give me an athletics check.

20.

Yes!

Yay!

Oh, redemption!

Redemption!

You immediately, I think on a 20, you just take the suitcase off of the bed, which is, it's like you can't get a good push on this thing on a giant bed.

So you take it off the bed and pretty easily push down.

And the suitcase is not, it's sturdy, but whatever bands kind of go around where it clasps, you just push the rock through and it and vanishes into the suitcase.

And Tav Mech goes,

my word,

that magic was so graceful, I didn't even perceive casting.

There was no casting.

it's kind of like a physical puzzle, almost.

It's like when you try to move a drawer, but you don't take the drawers out beforehand.

You just have to kind of take a step back and just look at it.

These secrets will reveal themselves.

You look in Tefmet's eyes and they panic as they remember the last time they moved a chest of drawers.

They just waved us, they waved a scepter and watched a chest of drawers dance down a hallway and are like, mm-hmm, exactly.

Yes.

Yes.

Anyway, I also wanted to speak to you

because I'm wondering if I can help.

Oh.

Yes, absolutely.

Well, so, um, oh, and sorry, I just put the stone in there.

You wanted to look at the, I'm putting these in last because they have to be carefully wrapped and points at the glass discs.

Um,

but yes, help, help in, in,

do you, do you think that the the coven

is going to move in concert with the um with the library or or

I I

don't know I'm I may

seem to believe they would but I'm um

truly I don't know exactly what I'm asking but um there's just

I

want to do something.

If there are more great spirits being held in this this way, of course, assaulting the Empire directly is one way of handling it, but

if there's a way to free or support the great spirits that are currently being held or attempt that they are attempting to hold,

I would like to do something.

Tefmet inclines their head and says,

Well, of course.

A noble and honorable aim.

To my knowledge, my library knows of no great spirits currently bound.

You have actually witnessed the closest to a true binding of a great spirit that we are aware of.

The danger comes in knowing how close

the Empire is to accomplishing this goal.

Ursulan, I was sent here by my library that has existed

hanging by a thread for some 200 years.

I was sent here

because

we believe this is our last chance.

We believe that some degree of the safety we have in hiding will become irrelevant if events are are allowed to unfold as they might.

And so we are doing something that we

have not

done in quite some time.

We are taking risks.

I am taking risks.

I have taken risks, many,

which is not in my constitution or temperament to do.

But

we do not choose the hour of our coming.

We arrive in the midst of a great and unfolding story and play the part that we must play.

I had never heard of the man in black

outside of some oblique references in text before this moment.

And my understanding was that we were to join our efforts with the coven.

And I have now discovered that the coven is joining its efforts with a much larger effort.

If I help you, um

if I help you,

which I think I should,

who am I helping?

Me.

Uh, give me a persuasion check.

Twenty

understood.

You are the guardian of

the Witch of of the Worlds Heart.

I am.

And also

the Wizard's Sky.

That is well.

The Witch of the World's Heart committed openly to a deceit in the meeting that we had and spoke in defense of the Citadel.

To what degree, if any, are you bound to

honor the compacts you have between the Wizard Sky and Amay, Witch of the World's Heart.

How do you mean?

I saw truth upon your face as well as I can recognize it when you stood to speak to me when you saw the discs.

I believe that some...

I came here to change the hearts of witches.

and believe that I may have left no heart more changed than yours.

I believe that.

I believe that I showed you things that you

and the world needs to know are true.

But I also know that truth,

real truth, is quickly and shatteringly ignored by the stout-hearted when the objects of their affection demand it be ignored.

What I mean to say is,

there is no way I can see to help you without exposing myself, my library, my loved ones, and the knowledge that we have worked to gain.

If that knowledge,

if that family is shared with a wizard of the citadel or a witch who may or may not have signed a contract to speak on their behalf, then regardless of the openness and honor of your own heart, I have committed a great foolishness.

If I help you, am I helping you or am I helping those you help?

You are helping me.

I

came to this world

when I was young

and have been trapped here for some time.

And my love

for Ame and for Sufi

is from a

before

they held any station,

be it Archmage Apprentice or Witch of the World's Heart.

My connection to them grows from there,

and whatever

they add to their own responsibilities

is business of their own.

You watch on that 20 persuasion.

Ursulan is so honest of intent, and the persuasiveness is not that of a honeyed tongue, but of a golden heart laid bare for people to see the purity of his intent.

You watch Tefmet

vacillate between a deep fear of a world that they have cause to believe is filled with enemies

and mutter under their breath

the hour of risk is upon us

and

go to a small leather satchel open it and remove a brilliant red piece of parchment in a shape almost like a bookmark or a

or the tag of a coat hung in a great hall as one enters a vast masquerade.

It is tall and rectangular, beautiful, rich, thick red parchment with silver ink written upon it.

The ink is in dotted lines and has a list of fares on it.

There are small signs of currency put upon it, but the numbers are not numbers you recognize.

They are not the digits zero through nine.

They are other digits in a strange numerology.

And you see that on the top, you see, Tefmet says,

when you travel,

what

appellation do you travel under?

What are you called when you make your way through the world?

Bear.

Bear.

A bear with any identifier upon it or no?

I have been known

to embellish and often describe myself as the strongest man in Silbury.

The strongest man in Silbury.

Writes the rest of it on the name portion and then goes to the destination and puts, there's a little thing that says destination and writes a glyph.

And you see the Tefmet lifts it.

puts the middle finger of their left hand and their thumb together,

kisses the space where the digits touch, and blows a gust of wind onto the sigil.

And you hear the word, Nurwara.

They hand this parchment to you, which you now recognize as a ticket.

And you see, they say,

Well,

strongest man in Silbury, have you ever seen or been on a locomotive?

No.

Make your way to the free roads, far, far, far to the south.

Board any locomotive bound for anywhere, and you need but hide this in your papers of travel.

Listen for the stop norwara when it is announced.

It will not be heard by any other passenger on the locomotive.

You may bring those with you that are in your trust, but I beg you,

beg you, beg you.

Bring only those you think I should trust as well.

I will.

Tefmet hands you a ticket.

I take it.

I hope to see you.

If your aim is to see the harm done to lost spirits in this world, know

that

great action must be taken to stop the binding of great spirits, but there are many spirits bent by empire to their will that are not of great station.

Fewer are the gifts and tools at their disposal to free themselves.

If you wish for a way to find and aid them, it would be my honor to aid you.

Ursulan's going to smile and look up at the discs from the nautomantic apparatus.

Give me another, you can give me nature arcana history or investigation.

19.

Let's go 19 arcana.

You approach them with your divine sense still active,

and as you approach and study them,

cleverness,

Study.

Attention and focus.

The power of your breath is within you always.

And in the world of spirits, it is

the strength of will and beauty, majesty and wonder alone that moves great workings.

But you are in a vulgar world.

A world of strange lines where points intersect and attention must be paid.

And yet,

are you not one who pays attention in ways that even the great and mighty wizards of this world do not?

You look at a suitcase moved to the floor so that pressure might be put upon a stone in a way that escapes one you know is probably a genius.

And you look at these discs.

You are not a lost cub.

You have learned hard lessons in this world.

And you feel

clarity, like untinted glass, come to you on a 19 arcana.

You feel the pocket watch in your pocket, feel the ticking still, and wonder, did it not have a glass covering as well?

Do you remove the watch from your pocket?

I do.

You look at it.

The glass in these discs, slightly tinted, not full transparency, instead made and changed to affect the creature underneath Naram.

The glass on this watch,

clear.

With your thumb, you feel the possibility of the glass to move, and you look now with your divine sense still active.

There is

a fourth hand on this watch that wasn't visible to you but for opening that eye of the spirit within yourself.

And this fourth hand swivels,

ticking like the hand of a compass.

As you hold it, and move it horizontal, it points faithfully in a direction.

You also see

writing on the inside, visible only to the spirit, only to one with this divine sense.

Let the hand ever point the way

to those who need

a spirit true.

Where brethren are sealed like hands beneath glass,

let a champion champion find them.

Our 19 Arcana,

you

believe and understand

that should you ever access your breath and open that divine sense with the watch in your hand,

should there be a spirit within the breadth of your divine sense that is bound or captured as if under these glass discs,

The hand will point the way to them that only you can see.

Ursula's going to finish reading and put it back in his pocket.

Tefmet bows and smiles.

We have to roll the dice, but I feel good about this one.

I hope I see you at the train station one day.

I look forward to it.

Tefmet puts their hand out a

to shake your hand.

I extend mine.

They shake your hand, and you can tell that something deeply frightened within them is set at ease by the power of your presence here.

Bootsteps up the gangplank of the meridian.

Arms and hands welcome you within.

The wizard sworn gazes at you.

Captain.

Let's go now.

Make ready the ship.

And you see wizards get to work.

Walking up to you on the so the gangplank goes up to the deck.

Up on the deck, you see Rasper walks up and goes, Captain Skye, were we successful?

Yes.

Very well.

Do you have the object that I might remit it into the inventory?

Interesting.

Just immediately.

insight?

Can I give a little insight check?

Go for it.

A 19 and 18.

21.

You rolled a 21 with disadvantage.

Yeah, I got a 19 and 18 on the dice.

This is

not something you have to accept.

And the...

The insight into this,

he is the quartermaster, and there's a degree of

forwardness in what he's asking.

But you see that he doesn't seem to be perturbed or concerned because you see he has unshakable confidence that you are going to hand the music box to him.

Suvi looks

around at everyone else moving to action and this person demanding something of me seconds after limping onto my ship.

And I just give a firm little nod and try to pull whatever venom is still in the back of my throat from a very bad day

out of my tone and just look at him and say,

Get the ship off the ground.

Give me an intimidate check with advantage.

You'll be rolling straight.

19

Rasper

looks at you,

and you see

a look of worry, doubles and then triples over on his face.

He is stunned and caught off guard.

He immediately bows and says, my mistake, my mistake, Wizard Sky.

Because this is a Citadel ship and you're a Wizard of the Citadel.

He does not outrank you here.

He was just someone...

put here on your crew by steel to to fulfill quartermaster duties and you you know you think he might be imperial he's wearing all black but there's a

a moment where you read the concern and fear in his eye.

And what you recognize is that he recognizes that you recognize that something was done to you.

And there is a moment

much

like

something that he was anticipating being smooth as the surface of mirrored glass.

Instead, it's disrupted by your own cleverness in finding a thing you were never intended to

And so your intimidation doubles not only with the weight of your command, that he has no

honest recourse.

He is not supposed to outrank you here.

He is not supposed to give you any commands or instructions.

And in front of your crew, you say this.

He is embarrassed.

And he also knows that there are suddenly things he does not know.

He bows and vanishes into the shadows.

Suvi slowly makes her way into the office, into her study.

and without the little like extra display that she normally does with her staff, like looks at it as she walks and peels back the illusion.

And it looks once again like a staff of the citadel.

And I'm going to go into my room and do my best to not immediately pass out.

You go into your room

and

there is a knock at the door almost immediately.

A wizard's guy?

Yes.

And you see the wizard Maddie opens.

The last time you saw her, she was weeping and terrified.

You see, she says, We're leaving right at once.

We've made all efforts already.

The ship is about to take off.

There were messages that there was no safe way to get to you within the palace.

We did not want them to be spied on, and we thought that any magical means might be detected.

Correct.

But I transcribed them.

They are private.

There was no other way for me to take them down.

And I am am sorry if I know more of your business than I should.

And you see that there is a piece of parchment that begins with:

To the long lost, beautiful, and ever-present sky.

I write to you now in uncertainty, but in what I believe to be safety.

I am garrisoned in the town of Abison, here with Tomori, Azure Battalion, and Wizards of the Citadel.

Fort Girin has been retaken, and we now chase down the forces of Gauthmai still hidden within the Shroud Mountains.

I have thought of you often in my time here and wish that my departure had not marred a wonderful and important celebration of your name cloak.

Well chosen because I know you are ever present looking down on me.

Abyssin is a foothold for what will come next.

I cannot share in this missive as the dutiful and attentive wizard Maddie is not cleared for the information I would otherwise share with you.

However, what I can say is we are set to join our forces in two days' time at the bridge holding the river Lithwin.

Give me a history check.

And this one you can roll with advantage as well.

Rolling straight.

13.

Suvi,

you feel like you've heard the word Lithwin recently, but you don't remember where.

It does that thing of triggering memory without bringing the memory out.

It's like, Lithwin, where have I heard that?

And then blank.

The note ends.

If all goes well,

these lands will be liberated once more, returned to the banner of empire.

My hope is that I see you victorious once again, this time marching confidently down the main thoroughfare of Malakanth and beholding the wizard's sky as I now know her.

A wizard is known by their secrets.

Therefore, it would never do in the presence of a faithful transcriber to give name to the feeling I carry in my heart for you.

With honor, pride, service, and devotion, the Wizard Silver.

Suvi, oh God.

If this was

three days ago,

it would be maybe the happiest

moment in her memory.

But that little seed of doubt

that she planted in herself

when she finally asked a why

and looked for an answer

makes all the little details in his letter jump out.

And she feels the whirring of a machine that is well oiled and well practiced.

And for the first time, shuts it off.

And

as hard as it is, she silos

the tremendous love she feels for silver

from the things that she's learned

of what the citadel and empire are capable of

and doesn't have the time or bandwidth or strength to segment it and make them sit well with each other

and opens up her spellbook which is also a notebook and where she keeps all of her like errant thoughts and turns them

and a curiosity

that she is like left in hibernation for so long onto the motives and movements of the empire she serves, and starts to try to put together why,

like, where and why the troop movements would be here after Fort Kieran.

Tired beyond reckoning, the snow and storm raging outside your window, you bend your mind and ask it for more.

You cannot even feel in the depth of your focus

the power of the meridian rising from the pier as the last ropes are stored.

And only in

the back of the space left,

absent-minded by your intense focus, does some part of you hear the helmsman shouting,

Make course, make course for the citadel citadel at all haste,

as the meridian flashes south through high mountains and endless snow.

In the conclave chamber, silence rings out.

And injury which of the wind and stars stands.

It is settled.

The coven of elders moves in concert with the stranger, king of night,

against the citadel.

This coven is not unanimous in its decision.

Those sisters that have voted to move against the citadel in this way may bring their domains to bear and those gifts which are shared between us.

For those sisters that have voted no, our participation is our own, and injury makes eye contact with Ahame here.

This conclave is concluded, and it is my pleasure and honor to extend for the passing of one hour the remainder of my heartfelt hospitality.

And she removes a medallion with a sink with multiple sort of spinning rings like a gyroscope, flattens the rings so they are all in alignment, and turns a tiny hourglass of silver sand.

And as she stands up, the conclave is concluded.

You see that Hakeia stands and looks over at you, sort of grinning ear to ear in her ancient face and says,

exciting.

Grimoire and Marara both converge on Indri, who's just still standing in front of her throne.

Marara says, what is the meaning of the?

Grimoire says, you, you more than anyone wanted this to happen.

You wanted this to happen even if Marara was gone and you see that Indri looks and says sisters we were not going to achieve unanimity with Ahme a member of the coven

an extra vote in the affirmative would have only served to bind my hands if you wish for my aid you can ask for it favor by favor

Marara turns to look at Grimor, Grimor turns to look at Marara, and you can see each of them consider, as they look at the other,

should I have been working with you this whole time?

Indri looks and says, Now if you'll excuse me, I have some business to attend to.

I have been surprised perhaps one too many times within this conclave, and I think it time I

withdrew to my library.

The star's light over the past two days may hold some answers for me.

And she moves from this place.

As she opens the doors, Ursulan, up in another hallway somewhere, you see the torches flicker, and looking through a window, you see Indri's face form in the Aurora Borealis.

Suvi, in your airship, now miles away, you look and see her face,

the size of a corner of the sky, call down to her own palace.

Guests and assembled retinue of the Coven of Elders, the conclave is concluded, and I invite you with all grace to make your way at your leisure within the coming of the next hour from my sanctum.

The weather soon will turn.

Ame turns to the fox and says, You know, there was a tavern in Toma that at the end of the evening, when they wanted everyone to go, they would just dim the lights and start playing songs.

This feels a bit much.

You see, the fox looks up and goes, A wondering we will go, a wondering we will go.

As Injury leaves, you see Grimoire and Marara gazing at each other in this sudden wondering of, like,

is there something I did not see in you that I undervalued?

If I had made different choices than to trust injury, would this all have gone differently?

And you see, Hakea pats you, Aame, on the shoulder and says,

You made the right choice for your domain.

Don't second-guess yourself.

The coven should only be unanimous when it's unanimous.

And she gets up and says, Sisters, let us speak of war.

And

she,

damn, I'm on this woman's team.

I don't like that we activated Gengi in this way.

Exactly.

Go back to sleep.

Yeah, she's really awake.

Yeah, you really fucking did it.

She walks over, Marara and Grimoire turn, and you see that Marara says, Injury now will only aid us.

She says, Yes, yes, Indry will draw blood from each of us for her help, and we will need to choose it carefully.

But, Marara, you must set up a council with the man in black for each at once.

Myself and Grimoire have more than enough to give.

No tower is built so high that it is removed from the forces of the wild and the wood.

And you see that

as the fox looks up at you, you see those three witches that all voted yes begin to walk away.

And you see Marara goes, and Hakeia reaches up and pats Marara's back and goes, You had a hard conclave, it's true, but that's all right.

You'll do better next time.

And

says,

The man in black, we should meet with him sooner rather than later.

What you should ask him for first and foremost is a list of names.

Grimore can use a list of names.

And they take off walking together.

What do you do?

You are the last witch in the Conclave Chamber.

What do you do?

I exit the chamber

and I head back towards the keep of the world's heart to gather my things.

You arrive back, and it is quick work to gather your things.

And as you gather them, you have the realization that you don't know how you're getting out of here.

I know how I'm getting out of here.

I go to find Ursula.

And

if

I see Neif along the way, I'd like to speak with her.

Go ahead and give me an investigation check.

10.

I think that as you are searching for her, on a 10,

you have an hour left.

You've used, I'm going to say, 10 minutes of it to collect your things.

Not hard to collect them.

You also see that Suvi's effects are gone.

With 50 minutes left on a 10, I will allow you to spend either 5 minutes of the hour left to find Ursulan, or you can spend 15 on a 10 to find Neif.

How about Toph or any other

little spirits in the gas?

Toph, you know exactly where he is.

Okay, I'm gonna go head that way.

As you head that way, I think you find, on that 10, you do find Ursulan.

As you walk through the hallways, Ursulan, you are descending from your meeting with Tefman.

Yes.

Through one of the large icy windows in this corridor, you behold the far edge of the mountainside.

The front gates of the palace swing open, but you cannot see them.

What you do see from the great fire are the shadows cast of the witches of the Coven of Elders, Marara, Grimor, and Hakea, with their vast retinues, step

out of the palace of the Witch of the Wind and Stars.

Hakea holds her hand aloft.

The snow swirls, shadows lengthen, and all of the beasts of the wild hunt, the spirits of the woodland green, and Cross the Crow, Murar's familiar, surge forward into shadow and snow, and the witches of the Coven of Elders depart, leaving only the mistress of this palace and Ahme and her friends.

You finish descending the staircase to find your true friend Ahmed at the base of the Tower of the Half Moon outside of the Keep of the Watching Fire.

Oh,

you seem packed and ready to go, Armay.

I go in to hug him.

Oh,

it's war.

We're going to war.

Well, not us.

No.

Hopefully, I look up him.

We are not going to war, Arme.

And she's gone?

Yes.

She feared that.

Yes, good.

Good.

Okay, one last stop, and then we have to leave as well.

Do you still have that saddle?

Uh, bridle, but yes.

You arrive at the base of a spiral staircase.

Through the doors at the base of the staircase is the keep of the watching fire, which is

the...

You see the small bucket of coal where you found Toph, and suddenly realize that this spiral staircase, the tower, is not the keep.

The tower is the tower of the half moon.

The tower from which the wizard sky beheld a gleam in its very highest room.

As you arrive at Toph, there are about some 40 minutes left within the hour.

Coal bucket in front of you, and

Ursulan by your side, the fox with you.

Ami, what do you do?

Toph, are you there?

And a little lump of coal sprouts up again and goes,

hello there, Army.

How goes the conclave?

Well, I wasn't destroyed, but now...

Congratulations.

Thank you.

Every day not destroyed is a good day.

But also,

I must leave soon, and the witches are joining with the man in black and marching upon the citadel.

I don't know if you have any context for any of those things, but

great war and turmoil is afoot, and I must needs leave.

But I wanted to make sure that you and the rest of the spirits, and especially the newest apprentice at the Witch of the Wind and Stars, keep is

are provided for.

That's awful kind.

Well, well, if you wanted to say goodbye, why don't I run off and fetch Neif for you?

Uh,

okay.

All right, I should be back in a few minutes.

Hold on.

You see, he gets up and goes

and just spins wildly, tucks his arms and legs into his body, and a lump of coal ricochets like a bullet through the palace of the wind,

chipping ice, and just shoots down the hallway.

Who is that?

Uh, that's tough.

He's a coal spirit.

I think he's actually a diamond spirit, but he's a little embarrassed about that.

Um, actually,

I think uh, I'm gonna go and quote unquote see if Suvi

I'm gonna go see if Suvi left anything upstairs really quickly.

Um, and you know, this is different than the Crescent Moon Tower, but because this is the tower of the half-moon, yes, I do, yes, you do.

That's what I thought.

Um, so you see, the fox looks up at you and goes,

Boss, this is not Suvi's.

Oh,

I can't read, but if I could, that sign would say there's no snakes in this river.

Ursulon, so confused.

Alright,

you all head up a spiral staircase looking for Suvi's quarters.

As you arrive at the top of the tower, you see that there is a simple wooden door

with a curved sort of latch handle and a keyhole within it.

Can you can you do the thing?

Is there some sort of a thing you can do to see if there's magic?

Or...

Yes.

I'm gonna detect magic.

You cast detect magic.

The witch of the wind and stars has placed a binding spell upon this door.

There is a lock upon it.

It does not look as though the door is trapped in any way.

You feel perhaps as though the greatest secrets of the witch of wind and stars are not left left within this place,

but that there are some effects of hers that she did not wish wanderers within the palace to be able to alight upon.

A single spell of binding rests upon the door.

I communicate that to Amer.

What I know about spells, binding spells, for oh, wait,

Arsalan.

Yes.

Did you poke that lock with Wavebreaker?

If you would like me to.

Yes, thank you.

All right.

It's a sword, not a key.

And Ursulant's going to bring out Wavebreaker, and I don't know, very similarly to just kind of the awkwardness with which when they broke Ame's curse, because it's not a being, it's just going to kind of bring the sword near the door.

As you bring the sword out, you are going to cast Dispel Magic, which is the other spell attached to the sword wavebreaker.

21.

Wielding the sword at a lock, like you're waving a kind of magic wand, that awkwardness persists for

only a second until you find your breath.

And your sword arm steadies, holding it level is effortless.

And

you can see it.

Magic is real.

The spirit is real.

And you see that this magic is the will of a mortal woman bending the spirit to a shape that touches the real.

And it's as simple as leveling the point of the sword, twisting it into the fabric of magic, and a small cut at any

place along that fabric will turn the fabric into ice and shatter it as clear as crystal.

Yeah, Ursulan finds that bit texture in the kind of in the real where magic and real touch and

applies force to snap him.

You hear a tinkling shattering noise of the spell being broken

and the door stands before you mundane.

Okay, let's go.

All right.

You walk in and behold a room of treasures, wondrous and amazing.

Hanging artifacts, the prows of a ship, tall staves, mirrored glass,

swinging ornaments in space, suspended by strings invisible over heaps of silver coins, pedestals of white ice, encased in glass upon them are artifacts displayed and under glass.

Both of you give me perception checks as the fox's tongue lolls out of his mouth and he goes,

18.

14.

Okay, on and on a 14, Ursuline, right away you clock it.

Resting

laid across a marble bowl filled with water frozen over as ice

is

the wand of covenant, the foundation of this covenant?

It is a

completely gorgeous and yet undecorated artifact that has lived in this world for a thousand years.

It is a braided wooden wand.

The braids of it in the grain of the wood itself, with different strands of wood crossing shades of deep warm brown to a bright and almost brilliant red.

Traveling along the shades of red to brown, the braided wood starts with one solid heft for the holding of a hand as the point comes together in a place where all the braids touch and spiral to a single point.

The wood itself from the tree of worlds ends with the power of the world of spirits.

The wand rests on the white marble bowl, and you can see has rested here on this marble altar that sits at the largest window in this tower room, facing out from the keep, where presumably the witch of wind and stars called conclave, where she sent ice fairies forth to find your true friends in the bathroom of the beer hall in Gavril.

And this is where when she was given leave to hold it here, she took the wand of covenant and called Conclave.

And it has rested here as the Conclave has unfolded.

Not protected, not locked up, as its use is passed from sister to sister, as Conclave is called.

And also, its use not being one of destruction necessarily.

Not something that, this is not some artifact that can be pointed at her and unravel her into component parts.

Its uses are,

simply put,

not of deep consequence to the Witch of Wind and Stars, even though it governs her coven.

And yet, how much does the Witch of Wind and Stars value her coven?

On an 18 Ame, you look around.

There are so many treasures in this room.

You see, your fox is licking his lips and sniffing around at all of the various artifacts that this place now holds.

Hundreds of years is a long time for a witch to gather things of interest.

You do see that there are six glass cases

on icy pedestals.

Each glass case appears to hold a set or a small number of artifacts.

And I will call them to you here with the knowledge now that you have probably about

30 minutes left in the hour.

And on an 18, actually, did you roll with advantage with the fox?

No.

Go ahead and roll again, Robert.

Maybe you won't be at an 18, but if you do, maybe it'll be interesting.

You can also pop off a spell with Detect Magic.

Yeah, go for it.

19.

Powerful magic exudes from these six pedestals and the things encased in glass atop them.

And you realize the reason that they

move so powerfully in your vision is that these are gifts.

And they are gifts to injury and they are gifts to injury given by six sisters.

These were gifts to injury upon her assuming the station

of the witch of the wind and stars.

I will briefly describe what you see in each class, knowing that further investigation will cost you time,

but a quick perusal.

You see, under one glass display,

there is a mighty horn with a leather thong made like a horn of drinking until you rest at the brass mouthpiece at its end.

It is a horn of blowing, and you see that it is partially scarred or defaced.

There is a setting for a gem upon the side of the horn that either a thief or some injury or accident has removed from the horn.

Under another glass, almost impossible to see, there is a large empty glass bottle with a narrow neck and opening, the type of which a sailing ship might be built within, but the glass is unfilled.

You see that under another display

are a small growth of blossoming briars growing from a small red pot.

In another case, there is a beautifully folded paper ship, deep angles and folds and lines

folded together, sitting on a book of folding paper.

Under another, grotesque and frightening, are a molting pile of feathers, bright deep red, with massive talons severed at the thigh.

And under the last, you see

what at first looks like four, but you realize is two doorknobs stacked on top of each other with some rusted metal in between them, but small brass doorknobs.

The reason they look like four is that doorknobs have two sides to them for each side of the door.

And they rest on a slightly bound and tied

lion knocker,

a lion's head knocker where its mouth holds the brass knocker of a door, and that rests on top of the pedestal.

You see that its mouth, in addition to holding the brass ring of the knocker, also appears to be tied down to the pedestal with black ribbon.

These six treasures do you see in this moment, Ursulan, Ursulan, as you behold the wand before you on the altar?

As Ursulan looks at the wand, it's the first time he maybe realizes what we're here to do.

Armé?

Yes.

What are we doing here?

Well,

there is the wand there.

Yes.

And, uh.

It's.

I mean, it's not injuries.

I do not know the rules of your coven.

You see, the fox looks at you and says, boss,

I don't know a lot of what people are saying, but I pay attention when people talk about what stuff belongs to them, and this is not injuries.

Make sure that there is no magic preventing you from taking it.

With Digital Magic, the wand is just seated there.

The conclave is concluded.

The wand rests on the marble bowl in a room.

It is an artifact of incredible potency and power with no binding spell attaching it to

the marble.

Ame, not to Ursulan.

As Ursulan has to determine, as gets the nod from Ame, Aame, on that 19 perception, that little bonus from the fox, see the fox says, I can't see what's in that glass.

It looks like good stuff.

And with that one little extra point from the fox, which of those six items do you give a closer look to?

Looking at them with

my heightened awareness of the magic inside, do I see any that is directly tied to the spirit?

All six of them are deeply tied to the spirit.

Oh my God.

Do I see any that

feel

like they

have an energy

from

what would have been

a prior witch of the world's heart?

The fox leaps up on a pedestal and you see a heart held in hands on the pedestal containing the doorknobs and the lion knocker.

The fox looks up and says, that little thing,

that's not a letter, that's like a picture.

It's a picture of a heart, right?

Yes.

So that's yours.

Seems that way.

And I look over.

There's no, also nothing binding it there except for the black ribbon.

Except for the black ribbon.

Well, you have your detect magic on, and you see that,

you see another lock spell on the display glass as you are looking there.

And as you are gazing at it, you hear steps on the staircase coming up.

And as you do, you hear a voice say,

They were at the bottom, I promise, but she wanted to say goodbye.

She's a nice kid, a witch, witches, a witch, I mean.

And you see that you hear, I, well, if you say so, but my mistress is not in a pleasant mood at this point in time.

You hear Neif and Toph approaching up the staircase.

Ursulan, Ame, do you want me to stall?

Yes.

All right.

Leave me.

Give me.

Can I have wait for her?

You oh,

yeah, you're gonna get it.

I give her my sword.

All right.

Ursula gives away his sword and

moves down toward the stairs.

You get down the stairs.

It's they are just around the corner from being able to see the door, which should have a magical lock spell on it.

But you walk down and you arrive and see Neif and Toph.

You see Neif goes to this.

Oh, uh, Ursulan.

Neith!

Toph!

The bathroom's not upstairs.

What?

The bathroom is not upstairs.

Neith goes, oh, I, oh, are you looking for a bathroom?

I was.

It's all good.

We're waiting for Ahmed to come back.

Go ahead and give me deception, Ursulan.

Natural 20.

Yeah.

Put the dice away, Brennan.

Brendan, put the dice away.

I just rolled a natural one.

Um, Neith goes, oh my goodness, have you been waiting a long time?

There's a locked door.

You see that she starts looking and just gets a leather satchel with tools.

If you need to go in this, I can dump out my belongings.

I'm so sorry.

Please don't tell my mistress that you weren't able to use the bathroom.

Please don't tell her.

Neith, you have done nothing wrong.

We are going to descend the stairs and wait for Ahmed to return.

On a Nat 20 and her rolling a Nat 1, I do unfortunately have to honor this role.

She goes, um, there, I, I, there are, oh, what's the one for this tower?

I, and you see that she takes a ring of keys out and drops them on the ground, and keys scatter everywhere, some bouncing down the staircase.

And she goes, Ah!

Oh, oh, no, uh, uh, so I'm so sorry.

Oh, some of these are the bathroom keys.

Um, and you see, she goes and starts to collect keys.

Um, your detect magic is still active.

Yes, some of these keys are magical.

Neith,

just give me all the keys.

I will use the bathroom and immediately return to the room at the bottom of the stairs.

You see, she says, she says, oh, um, well, that, there, the bat, the, that, the room up here is not a bathroom room, but, but, who, who am I?

Now, give me, you roll net 20, she're rolling that one.

You're gonna give me persuasion with advantage.

Okay,

21.

Um, you see, you see,

she looks at you and says, Um,

if that makes sense, I think some have landed quite far below.

I'll go find the nearest uh restroom and

keep the keys.

You see that uh, she she rushes down and says, I'll come collect the keys from you in a moment, but I need to find the ones that bounce down there.

There are so many things in this palace that shouldn't be able to find those keys.

And you see that she rushes down, completely ruling you out from the things that should not find the keys in this place.

And you see, Toph stays here.

There's a moment of silence as Toph goes, She's a nervous girl.

It's hard up here.

A lot of people like her have been killed.

I like you, Toph.

You're direct.

I like you, too.

There's enough friddle-faddle and fumfering around.

Gee, here.

You should say it like it is.

Also, I'm a cold spirit.

You are a cold spirit.

So you see, he's everywhere.

Toph Toph is still here with you.

I'm going to grab...

I'm going to...

Toph, would you join me for a second?

I'd be delighted.

I'm going to put Toph in

a pocket.

You put him in a pocket?

He says, yippee.

I'm going to scoop up as many keys as I can and walk back up the stairs.

So, Amy, you thought Ursulan was buying you some time.

There are now about 25 minutes left in the hour.

You thought Ursulan was buying you some time.

As you and the fox look at this pedestal with these doorknobs and lion knocker under it.

You've had probably 90 seconds to case it as you're trying to figure out what can you do to interact with the spell on this.

And Ursulan, who you thought was buying you a minute of time, walks in with a double fist full of magic keys.

Will one of these open the lock?

Oh, you're incredible.

I

scoop up the handful of keys, hand him Wavebreaker, and I take a look, take a quick look of them.

Are there any that have like a heart on them?

Give me an investigation with advantage.

Dirty 20.

You scatter the keys out, and with the fox's help and Ursula standing here with you as well, you quickly scatter the keys, and you find a very small one, not as big as a room key because you're not trying to open a room.

And you suddenly see that there are a set of six of them.

Oh, amazing!

Give me two.

Okay.

Yeah, yeah.

Incredible.

You get two.

The fox says, give me two.

Okay,

wait a minute.

Here, you can, here, have one.

You can hold that.

He swallows it.

We don't have time for this.

I'm going to grab the fox and just kind of start trying to massage it out.

Off in the corner,

you hear a

dome.

You hear a dome opening and you begin to see starlight descending into the library of stars as Injury is summoning the Starlight to her.

Aame, we have to do this.

Yes.

Okay, I am going to need

sleight of hands from,

this is going to be a DC-10 sleight of hands from Ahmed Ursulan.

You spend time getting this other last key out of the fox.

Go ahead and give me a DC-10 sleight of hand as well.

Dirty 21.

Let's go.

Woo!

Only a fox.

Only a fox.

The fox is like,

I don't feel good.

I don't feel good.

I don't feel good.

A almost invisible keyhole emerges in the side of the glass as the key approaches it, opening wherever the key is placed upon its surface.

And the case slowly floats off to be grabbed and set to the side for a moment.

The doorknobs are in front of you, and the knocker with the ribbon tied around it.

The ribbon is set into the pedestal, so to remove the knocker, you will have to undo the ribbon.

You get the sensation that you don't have to take the knocker.

You could just take the doorknobs.

I take the doorknobs, I shove them into my bag,

and then I undo the ribbon.

I hate Quest Fever.

Give me one more sleight of hand, Ursulan.

13.

The fox spits it up.

You have five other keys sitting on the floor.

You have about 22 minutes left in the hour as you undo the black ribbon.

And as you undo it,

the loudest roar you have ever heard in your life echoes from the knocker, announcing your presence in this chamber to the entire palace of the witch of wind and stars.

The lion spits the ring out and goes,

To once again be beheld by the witch of the world's heart and her companion, a wild one of the world of spirits, and a fox and another's gonna shove his fist in the lion's mouth.

You hear that reverberating, several small avalanches start in the mountain

around.

You shove your fist.

You see that the lion, go ahead.

You're gonna, you take eight points of damage.

And the lion bites down on your fist.

I'm gonna rip.

I'm just gonna keep it on, not try and dislodge it.

Yeah, look at Ame, we gotta go.

We gotta go!

Uh, you all

spurred over, I slide over, I snatch the wand on the way out.

Boom!

Stuff it in my bag.

Uh, a barrel down the stairs.

So you run out.

There are five other keys, there's five other treasures.

You don't have the fucking time.

You gotta get while the getting's good.

You are fucking out of here.

And fill it with a lion.

You see, he goes,

start running uh top looking out of your pocket keeps going

uh the fox the fox barrels behind you and goes huh i ate a bunch of the other keys and you see you see that you get to the bottom and go ahead make a dexterity savings who wait who's in the lead here ursulan or ame uh Ame.

Ame.

Ame, give me a dexterity savings, bro.

12.

12.

12 is not high enough, but it's okay.

You get to the bottom of the staircase and bam!

Barrel into Neath.

A chamber pot flies through her hand, lands on her head.

She is knocked unconscious.

Bam.

Neith.

Oh.

Neith, Neif.

I'm going to cast Leon hands.

Five hit points.

She comes up now wearing this chamber pot like a helmet, looks at you and says,

What?

What's that?

She looks and sees the knocker on your hand, sees the doorknobs and goes,

Are you stealing?

We are simply taking back control of items that have been once a gift and are now

being returned to the possession of the realm of the world's heart.

Neif, I need you to listen very closely.

Here, Toph and the spirits will protect you.

I need you to work on

your.

Give me an inside check.

21.

Neif is dead.

Neif will be killed by the Witch of Wind and Stars after what has happened here.

She dropped keys that have then been used and left a guest of another witch's retinue to collect those keys.

You may have done what you needed to do.

Is Neif going to pay the price for it?

Pull the bridle out.

I removed the bridle with my free hand.

Neif goes, what's going on?

You're coming with us.

What?

You're coming with us.

I, what?

I...

Oh.

Ursulan, you look, you look around.

You see, Toph looks over and says, is something really dangerous and bad happening?

No.

No, it's not going to.

We're leaving, Neif.

You're coming.

Oh, I'm afraid.

If I were to do that, Toph leaps from your pocket, rises up, the soot leaves his body, Diamond light glows everywhere, and he descends like a comet radiating sparks to smash into the chamber pot and immediately knock Neif unconscious again.

Pops back in your pocket.

Get the girl.

Let's go.

Oh, God.

Oh, God.

Oh, God.

I'll throw her on my shoulder.

You throw her on my shoulder.

You take off.

So now what's happening is this.

You are sprinting through the courtyards.

An unconscious girl whose head is in a chamber pot over your shoulder.

A coal spirit in your pocket.

You have a brass lion chewing on your fist.

A wave breaker in your pocket.

Amy, you are running with a fox burping and almost vomiting because his stomach is full of keys.

You are sprinting through the courtyard, realizing that this picture represents 20% of the great stations of witchcraft.

You sprint through the courtyard.

I need both of you to make investigation checks for me.

Or perception checks, actually.

18.

21

on an 18 and 21 fleeing through the courtyards of the witch of wind and stars as fast as you can snow barreling down the last retinue of a great witch left in this palace aside from injury you are looking somewhere anywhere you know you have the bridal but you have no idea what you could

ask to carry you aloft from this place the meridian is gone and suddenly ursulan you feel it on those rolls in your pocket ticking the watch

The compass pointing in a faithful direction to some bound spirit in this place.

What do you do?

I'm going to open myself up with divine sense and take the watch out.

It points faithfully, and you see through the open courtyards here, it points faithfully in the direction of the keep of the world's heart.

This way.

What is that?

Oh, yes.

See, holding your jangling fox, you ask a question, think better of it, charge through the snow.

When quest fever takes hold, there is no point in asking questions.

The plan will unveil itself like a path through tangled woods.

You surge through the snow and arrive at the keep, the world's heart, but more specifically, at the courtyard filled with icy statues.

As you approach Ursula, that tower of snow-covered ice with the craggy promontory, the overhang at its front, curving almost like a beak,

hanging overhead, you see that this in fact is one of the largest statues and the watch pointing faithfully towards it lets you know from this gift of the man in black that this is a bound spirit frozen in ice by the mistress of this palace

amend we need a fire

produce flame You produce flame, and you see, you hear a voice say, oh, that's not gonna be hot enough.

Toph salutes, leaps into the fire.

He looks at you.

Brother Ursulan!

If I don't see you again in this world, I'll see you in the one beyond.

A pure diamond spirit set to light.

Toph, in the moment of diamond flame,

burns hotter than he has ever burned before,

dispelling the massive frozen bird of prey before you.

Glittering there in diamond fire, you see Toph

re-emerge in true diamond spirit form.

An honor,

Witch of the World's Heart, and Brother Ursula.

Toph, thank the brother.

The fire, whoo!

The bird,

the ice cracks and crumbles, and suddenly

a massive bird of prey, a rock of legends, opens massive, warm brown wings, an eagle of vast expanses.

Its wings encircle the keep of the Witch of the World's heart.

As this happens, you hear crying aloud from the library of stars.

Thief,

thief,

Thief!

And

you

think Indry

is not referring to either of you.

The Aurora Borealis quickly starts to vanish as above the library of stars, spinning clouds begin to form, covering the sky, and snow begins to fall.

in sheets vaster and more broad than the waves of an ocean in squall.

The bird looks at this and looks to you, Ursulan, with the eye of a predator, maybe to make a meal of you in this moment.

I'm gonna hold the bridle aloft

and commune with beast and leaf.

Activate.

Speak with animals.

Go ahead.

Give me animal handling with advantage.

Dirty 20 from Ursulon.

24.

24 from AMI.

Each of you,

there are not better heroes to wield this bridle.

You stand here in the keep of the world's heart, and what you suddenly realize in this moment is if this creature was turned into ice, it is a former foe of the witch of wind and stars.

And so seeing the storm come, each of you adjusts your body, makes soothing noises to this creature that it knows its task is to escape with you through the storm.

Hoisting Neif on your back, the fox jumps on your shoulder, the storm barrels down.

Aboard the meridian, looking out in your sorrow and exhaustion, Suhi, you look back and begin to see the northern lights disappear behind you as a wave of snow is rocketing towards the meridian like an outstretched hand of a god of storm and cloud.

I'll watch the storm.

In the same way and with the same energy that I watched Grimoire.

The like

fury

of these witches, these supposed like bridges between the real and spirit, and yet are wilder and more unpredictable and more violent and more terrible than even Arima who choked me half to death in her fury and fear for her husband.

And again I watched their fury

and I know I'm going to see that again.

So if there's something to be learned, I will learn it.

At the stern of your ship, you behold the storm barreling towards you as the entire sky becomes blotted by snow and ice, the stars disappearing.

Near the palace, astride a massive bird whose wingspan is as wide and broad as a castle rampart.

takes to the wing with Ursulon, the bridle around its massive beak, expanding in size to fit this enormous bird.

You sit on its neck, Ursulan, your hands on the rope here, Neif

coiled in your lap, Ahme and the fox beside you here in this place, holding on to these brass doorknobs taken from that tower and holding the wand of covenant in your hand as well.

As wind whips past you and this bird

moves, you look behind you and see as soon as one icy cloud of death manifests, another overtakes it in its eagerness to come after you.

Your steed, as broad as a house, is nonetheless a speck in the vast horizon of ice, barreling south towards the world of Umora in all of its wintry rage.

Where does this steed now fly, sharing in the panic of its riders to avoid this fate?

To Toma.

Racing south as fast as possible, the ice cascading, the snow rolling faster than an ocean, covering from the top of the sky to the Arctic floor below.

This massive winged steed makes its way towards Toma and elsewhere across the sky, farther ahead, more distant from the storm, having left

an hour previous, the meridian races south, the storm barreling after you.

Suvi, you stand on the deck, looking out, still exhausted, having read Silver's letter.

You can hear calling from the prow of the ship.

We're nearing it!

We're nearing it!

Faster!

Put everything we've got into it!

If we hit the parallel, we'll be past the Arctic point!

Move!

Knowing that a moment is coming where you will have entered the northernmost reaches of Imperial space.

The storm and the Empire reaching to touch, with the Meridian hanging in air, flying as swiftly as it can between them.

Moments before you reach Imperial space, you hear a call from below decks, the storm so close to touching that chunks of ice are thudding like knives into the back of your ship.

One thuds

sharper than razors in the wood an inch from your foot.

The wizard Maddie calls to you, Captain!

Below decks!

I immediately run.

Well, hobble.

You hobble down as fast as you can.

Adult, still no sleep.

You look at the mirror.

Gathered there are sworn.

Maddie, you see Rasper is here as well, although he removes himself from your vision as you enter.

And a mirror flickers at the edge of Imperial Space, and you see a familiar visage.

Silver.

His face covered in blood.

This is the Wizard Silver.

I am stationed at the garrison at Abyssin in the Shroud Mountains.

I am calling out a bulletin to all Imperial ships.

We are under attack.

There has been a surprise attack.

We are under attack.

All Imperial ships that can, please make your way to Abyssin at once.

I do not know how much time.

The mirror on his end cracks and your mirror reflects the room.

Change course now!

Rasper looks at you and goes, Captain, we bear cargo for the Citadel.

Is there not.

He looks at all the other withers look at him, and on your successful intimidation before

recoils, though he maintains eye contact with you in this moment.

You see, Sworn and Maddie look in this moment of tension.

What does Suvi do?

Rasper has not given a command to any of them, but they hang on your words to see what your reaction reaction will be.

Unblinking, locked on Rasper alone.

That was two.

Sworn says, change of course.

Make for the Shroud Mountains.

As Sworn and Maddie move away, you see Rasper turns to look at you and says,

Captain.

Do what you will with me.

What we carry is of grave significance to the Empire.

The storm outside should let you know that I have a pretty good idea of just how important that is.

And I will close with him, not in a way to like intimidate him or push him back into shadow, but just to have a little cover from any other eyes and pull the music box out from like under my cloak.

It is warm with the heat of my body.

I have not let it physically leave my touch and put it in his hands.

He takes it and bows.

Understood, Wizard Sky.

You move to the deck.

Snow and ice follow the ship.

Buffeted by winds, predictable, natural, and orderly.

The storm will spread.

but past the will of the one who made it.

As you journey, the wizard sworn goes to your side and says, Captain,

is Rasper going to be a problem for us?

And you see that your accomplishment echoes in his eye as inspiration?

He is well handled.

We have wizards at the ready, two guns on our ship.

But well you know the Meridian is not the most fearsome vessel in the Citadel's fleet.

If there is is any other strength you can call to our aid as we make for the Shroud Mountains, I do not imagine there will be many free vessels.

If there are any other captains that we can make a call to.

Let me think.

We will provide what support we can, but we do carry precious cargo.

He nods and says, the Empire's strength is made thin here with the presence of Gauthmai.

If there are any that you can think to contact within the Empire, and you see he hands you a scroll of sending.

He would never flinch, but knows that there are not a lot of people that Silver is going to be able to contact, and that the punch of the Meridian is pretty light.

Yeah.

And hands you this sending scroll.

Stay by my side.

Of course, Captain.

From the heights of the sky to the ground below, does the wall of snow and wind break and burst against the edge of the witch of wind and star's domain.

And fleeing from the barreling winter storm behind it, Ah and Ursulan astride this great bird of spirit fly towards the sea and beyond it the village of Toma.

Far away distant, though united in fleeing the same storm, is the Meridian, and aboard it the Wizard Sky, headed to war.

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 designs on Michael Dillon's story.

Osmond!

Osmond, wake up!

Wake up!

Coming to in his bed, Aside from his wife, Tabella, Osmond awakes.

An older fellow, tall with broad shoulders, but less muscular and rotund than he once was, age having started its work of thinning out the old man, long gray beard, Osmond

sits up in his bed and beholds his wife.

What is it?

What is it?

They said there was a man outside.

Ruth just came by to speak to us.

They said there's a man who walked to the middle of of the village.

Getting to his feet and opening the shutters of their tiny rustic cottage, Osmond beholds moonlit village square.

No sign of anyone now, but the tiny hamlet of Brockvale before him.

He and his wife's home amongst the cluster of small cottages that make up the center of this rustic village on the Isle of Akam.

Turning back to his wife, Osmond speaks.

What?

Who's who said it?

The the a man in town?

It's it's

almost three o'clock in the morning.

Who would be exactly?

It sounded like a highwayman, tall boots, who walked with a uh a horse and a and a falcon of he was armed, he had a sword.

Alright, all right.

I'm I'm getting dressed.

I'm putting my boots on.

Let me uh let me get my lantern and my my walking stick.

Osmond begins to dress himself, putting on a coat, trousers, boots, taking his watchman's lantern.

And

no

official post of the Empire here, but still in each town, by Imperial law, must need appoint a watchman.

And the best that Brockville can do is this aging warrior Osmond, who

throwing on his coat, steps out the door, looks from side to side.

Where

darling, where did he head to?

Where was he coming from?

Well, they said that he was first spotted coming on the road from Starling's Ford, and I think he's headed up the road to the old Hollyhill ruins.

Alright, all right.

Probably just walking at this time of night.

It's probably just a, I don't know, someone lost on their way to Port Talon.

I'll make sure that there's no tomb raiders or robbers or anything like that.

Alright, you rest, darling.

I'll be back

in a half hour at the most.

Rushing as quickly as his old feet will take him, Osmond alights through the town, up the winding dirt pathways and gravel strewn from here and yon through little tufts of grass on the side of the road where the banks rise up to meet the forest.

An eerily quiet night.

No peeping of frogs, no chirping of crickets,

no lost nightingales past the shadows,

only wind in the trees.

Holding his lantern aloft, Osmond rounds the corner to see

the old gates

of Hollyhill.

At one time

a proud castle castle of stone, now overtaken by vine and green, gates of iron,

fallen long ago, now held up only by planks of moss-covered wood to keep out livestock and the occasional rustler looking to comb the castle for ill-gotten goods.

Lantern high over his head, Osmond speaks, Hello there.

Any young folk would do well to get back to their cottages?

You know, this is a forbidden place.

A light touches the edge

of sleek black boots, seven league in a long cloak, dark as night.

Tied up by the gate, a massive destrier, war horse,

and on its saddle, perched perched a sleeping falcon.

Stranger?

A voice responds from the shadow.

Exactly right, friend.

I'll have to ask you to leave

this threshold.

Manor's not safe.

Stones crumbling.

Where are you traveling from, friend?

Friend,

I travel here from Starling's Ford.

I seek

the castle of Hollyhill.

Well,

well, you found it, Traveler, but

there's no one here.

The family

all live in Port Talon now.

They maintain a keep there.

This place has fallen to ruin.

So none dwell within that might invite me to walk the grounds.

Well

as watchman, I serve as groundskeeper for all.

Then you

have charge

to give pilgrims leave to pay their respects.

Are you a pilgrim, sir, traveling so late at night?

I

walk the roads of this land

at night.

I have not come to wake you from your slumber, my friend.

What have you come here for?

The black-clad stranger

lifts a shield

from the saddles of the horse.

Knicked and chipped with

use in war, the shield bears the image of a hawthorn tree.

Much like

the mighty hawthorn atop the hill, framed in moonlight, its shadows dancing across the stone exterior of a mausoleum.

I have come here to pay my

I understand this castle

has had the nimble fingers of cutthroats and grave robbers cover it many times.

I have come to return

some belongings to this place

to honor the dead interred

within.

I have come here to make an offer.

You've come here to make an offering.

If you say so,

will you give me leave to enter?

Here, Hosman sees the hilt of a sword at the man's hip.

White pommel, black leather, silver cross guard,

and thinks to himself

that the wisest course of action

to see him return to his bed and his wife

may be to give the stranger what he wants.