WWW #31: The Souvenir

This is the sound of Worlds Beyond Number.

Bright and shining are the twisting arcs of the Aurora Borealis, framed in the endless starry expanse as snow billows from the distant mountain peaks.

Walking through the courtyard, led by the tapping paws of the fox, Ah and Suvi approach a tall copse of towering evergreen trees.

Approaching a bank of snow with warm light pouring from the opening of a burrow, the fox leads Ahme and Suvi, and you smell rich

verdant blossoms, deep loam, soil, vegetation, and plant life coming from through this burrow in the snow.

Hmm.

Weird smell coming from in there.

Not what I was expecting.

You mean what you got?

Uh, it smells like liquor.

Definitely expected, yes.

Oh,

okay, fine.

There's also blood.

I'm sorry, what?

And I

take it.

off.

Okay.

Okay.

I am going to need Ame and Suvi to roll initiative.

Oh my god.

When was the last time we did this?

It's a natural one for your girl.

Oh my god.

Okay.

I slip and knock myself unconscious.

Oh god, I'm at a 14.

Not too bad.

Okey dokey.

I don't like the way you said that.

You emerge from the burrow.

You sort of, it's not so small that you have to crawl, but you do have to hunker way down and kind of use your hands to get up through the burrow.

As you move in through this space, you arrive in a verdant grotto.

Enormous flowers vining up through the evergreens with fairies flitting around them.

You see Hakea's distant throne, her gown of moss and vine, as the bugs,

tiny little moths go in and out of her mouth as she snores in her sleep.

You see

out of Hakea's sight, with some massive trees obscuring it from her vision, but visible from where you are at the entrance to this place, down in elevation, there is a bubbling hot spring surrounded by mossy stones and small water blossoms.

There is a lantern spirit writhing on the ground, holding her chest and stomach, as a massive tree spirit has rooted his legs to the outside of the tub and is hacking into a frothing, boiling pool of blood as bloody, broken fangs, still attached to a working jaw surge up.

He's got one hand in the crook of the jaw with fangs sinking into the wood of his arm, trying to just chop this pool with

torn asunder parts of a massive wolf that keep reconstituting in the water together.

This is the sight that greets you.

The heavy musk and smell of verdancy, the smell of loam and soil and plant and rot and life, death and beginning, all fills the air here.

It is sleepy and confusing in this place.

I'm going to need a constitution saving throw from both of you.

14.

3.

Ooh.

Both of you are affected by one level of exhaustion in this place.

The drowsiness of this current space, Hakea's kind of aura of, you see, like the lion sleeping off in the corner, sort of like, you know, swishing its tail back and forth.

However, Ahmed, you are still first to act in this moment.

I don't see Ursulon, Aram.

You do not see Ursulan, but you see bottles littered around the side of the hot tub.

As we emerge from the burrow, I have not been expecting much other than perhaps a fresh kill from some of the wild hunt members.

Or,

you know, blood is not foreign to

a witch's retinue.

But being greeted by this horrifying sight, I

close arm Suvie

with my

arm.

And

I say,

take care, Suvie,

and cast warning bond.

So as my arm goes out, boom, it's almost a percussive feeling in the molecules of the air.

And you feel

warmed and safe, like you're being wrapped in a blanket on a cold day.

And it's not so much as

a piece of armor so much as it is you always feel like I am there beside you.

Yeah.

You see that Sakoro, who is now about 12 feet tall, towering over the pool, laying into it with this axe that has grown in comparable size to him, turns and goes, Budzi, the spirits, companions.

And I am going to need

strength saving throws from Suvi, Ame, and the Fox.

10.

I got two.

Woo!

That's a 15 on the die for Fox.

15 on the die is unfortunately not enough.

All of you feel suddenly vines and plants reach up and wrap around your ankles, rooting you to the spot as the...

As thorns and vines begin to grow up around your legs, reaching for your waist.

You are both under the restrained condition.

Your speed has become zero, and you have disadvantage on dexterity saving throws, and attack rolls against you have advantage.

And your attack rolls have disadvantage, but you already exhausted, so you knew that.

You see that the howling wolf in the water sinks its fangs into Socorro's

chest as he has turned to address Badze.

We are going to go down in order to Suvi.

All right.

Uh,

looking out in front of me,

he's wailing on bits of

aware guy,

and Bodzi just cast restraining magic on us while referencing that we are friends of Ursula.

Correct.

Is there a universe where that can't be taken as a threat?

Subi is reaching for any reason to not

pop off.

You will recall the main reason not to pop off is the promise you made to Indry.

Yeah, which in the making you realize did not have a clever escape clause.

Yeah, it actually was irrelevant to how you were treated by other witches in this place.

There was no self-defense clause

Subi looks at Ahme

Can I make a roll just to see

if there's a way I can tell.

Like, I want to protect Ahme in this moment because I know the way in which I am bound.

Will it be seen as an act of, like,

acceleration or disrespect or something I've seen in the way, like, witches and

wild ones

understand themselves and the relationship to magic if I cast mage armor on her?

Uh, no, there will not be anything, no magical force that you are aware of would prevent you from casting mage armor on the person you have come here to advocate for.

Okay, my speed is zero, but

am I restrained in a way that I cannot get off a touch spell?

No, you are side by side with each other.

Cool.

Then I'm just going to reach out, and whatever part of my hand can make contact with Amé's skin,

I'm gonna cast mage armor on her.

And I think it feels like

broken glass sliding up your arm to like wrap over you

under the vines.

And even in the way that like the vines like sort of constrict around us, like you can hear but not see that like sort of shearing of glass against glass.

Okay.

So

if Badze forced me as as

her vines come up to entangle Suvi and myself

almost reflexively

I shoot my arm out and I, as a reaction, can cast a retributive curse.

Uh, Suvi, you, ah!

Suvi had not talked, and I think there's a little bit of a flash of like,

so, Suvi, this is what that you

see the same thing.

Cute little Ame, who just made a mug of tea for a sick wizard with a cold.

Uh, the weight of all witchcraft moves in alignment with the stars and spheres behind her.

And

the bow on her cute little dress, notwithstanding, what is about to happen next is fucking nasty.

You get a spell off as a reaction.

I am going to use Witch's Grasp.

So I reach out and she has to make a

strength saving throw.

Okay,

so go ahead.

We have Witch's Grasp, which is one of our new class spells here.

Uh, does she have to make a saving throw, or does she

make a strength saving throw with disadvantage?

Bonze is sort of the spellcaster.

You've picked a good

firefly is not known particularly for their

18 would have made it, but the nine does not.

I'd high five you, but we are befined.

That's true.

Uh, okay, go ahead.

So, if the spell succeeds, this is gonna be 2d8, So go ahead and roll 2d8 damage.

Let's go.

14 damage.

So 14 damage.

Yeah, take us, take me through the whole moment of...

And by the way, take me through the whole moment of Badze sits up from the ground, still holding onto her chest with one hand, calls the plants up.

As they encircle you, what does Sufi see happen to Ahmed, and what does the spell look like as Ahme casts it?

Ah reaches out almost reflexively and from her fingertips drifts lazily a little wisp of shadow that slowly expands and accelerates in speed as it rockets towards Badze

and encircles her in a clawed grasp.

It squeezes her and

she can feel the cold, the

frigidness of the air outside suddenly claw its way into her and she takes, I guess was it 13 points

14 points of necrotic damage and Ame says we

have offered you no harm

badze is lifted into the air and what you can feel powering this spell that is so dissimilar from the magic of the citadel which is crisp and ordered and the nature of forces acting and being acted upon.

You feel within this shadowed hand that the reason it is crushing Badze so forcefully is with the weight of reminding Badze of her place in the tapestry of things and why she has so disappointed the order of the world.

You feel almost like Grandmother Wren's spectral countenance behind Aame, this force of all the witches of the world's heart saying, You have you have harmed me.

Why have you done this?

And Badze

is

up, takes 14 points of damage.

Badze is a powerful spirit.

You see that this hand would have to rest on her heart for a long time to drain the life out of her.

But what it does immediately is crush the spell out of her.

On a gnat one on the die, she loses concentration.

Entangle is gone.

And the fox, coming out of the violence, looks up and says, boss, what should I do?

Find Ursulon.

Found him.

He's in the lady.

Yes.

What?

Don't squeeze too tight.

Ursulan,

you are going to come back to Ursulan now.

Standing by the well

with the man in black, you suddenly...

Feel an almost nauseating amount of pain as this moment you are in this like the world in the grove

There are rips and cracks that form in it.

And in the space in between you and the man in black,

blood, bioluminescent, trickles like a sheet in between you, and suddenly you are back in Earth.

And as a seam of light opens up, all this vanishes, and you see that

you are being crushed, but also a seam of light has reopened as it did when you were swallowed by the chest of this spirit.

I will reach desperately for it.

Incredible.

I will.

So, actually, in the order of what has happened here, it is actually, this is, guys, we've seen a lot of different ass kicking happening.

Suvi had a whole moment of totally bamboozling

the Witch of the Wind and Stars.

Witches are very good because, with all of what just happened, it is actually now Ame's turn.

Let's go.

Do I see Ursulan clawing his way out?

You don't see Ursulon, but as there is a crack in the sternum of the spirit being held aloft in your spell,

you

smell rosemary and honey.

He is inside her.

See, the fox goes,

let him go.

But what do you want knowing that Ursula is inside of this spirit?

Lay of the land, the entangle is gone.

Sokoro Sokoro and the wolf are engaged in pitched combat.

Badze is facing you, but now being lifted into the air by the power of your magic.

And distantly across the grotto, you see a sleeping lion, and you see Hakeea on the far side of the space, asleep on her throne.

The fox looks up at you and also has his action on your turn.

You know, when the fox says, Let him go, I say, drop.

Use the command.

Oh shit.

Okay.

Drop it.

System save.

And your spell, DC, is

14.

Unfortunately, she saves.

You see that she

holds on.

You can feel the chest growing tighter

while this continues to happen.

But Ursulan, importantly, you hear Ame give a command and know that your friend is in the room at this moment.

Ame, what does the fox do?

I send him to go wake up Hakeia.

And you see Bodze turns to look at that and goes, no!

As the fox takes off towards Hakeea and he says, all right, boss, possibly,

he keeps like running.

And I think there's a moment where he gets to a grotto and runs over a lion, a bear, a leopard, a zip.

And you see him go like, ha ha ha ha ha.

As all these predators wake up.

He's like, no, no, no, no, no, no.

And that is going to be Ursulan, your turn again.

Another strength saving throw?

Another strength saving throw.

This one, I'm going to say you have advantage.

18.

DC was 17.

You watch Bonte look after, try to raise up a spell, and two massive claws push out through her sternum, open her chest, and Ursulon, completely naked, no sword, jumps out.

How close is Suvi or Ahmed to Wavebreaker?

Oh, they're right next to it because they just got in through the entrance.

I'm going to look

at Suvi.

Wizard Sky, my sword, and take off towards Sokoro.

Hell yes.

Okay, awesome.

You take off towards Sokoro.

You close with Sakoro.

I'm going to try and.

I have powerful build, and I don't know.

In my head, the first part of throwing is carrying.

So I'd like to try and kind of toss him or uproot him from his place over the pool.

Fuck yes.

Okay.

This is going to be opposed athletics.

You're rolling straight athletics, but because you have a powerful build, you, I'm going to say due to your powerful build, you can roll with advantage.

The number you are trying to beat is

17 is the number you're trying to beat.

Okay.

I need at least a 13.

Or I need a 14 to beat it.

Okay, here we go.

11.

Okay, this next one's got to be 14 or higher.

12.

Damn it.

Ah!

You wrap your arms around Socorro's waist.

Get under him.

You would be able to get him up in the air, but for the fact that he is rooted to the ground.

You feel the roots digging deep into the stone as you close with him and begin to grapple.

Any bonus actions?

No.

We are going to move down in initiative order.

This is going to be Socorro.

Sokoro is going to...

He has two attacks per round.

One is going to Heinrule, so he's not able to just continue.

It's like you could tell that he was moving Heinrule closer and closer to death.

Now he's just trying to keep that pot from boiling over by whacking him with the axe one time, and another one's coming straight for you.

What's your armor class?

I haven't picked up my shield, so it's 16.

He would hit you on a six or higher and just roll to two.

So he like he you see,

you're good, you're like locked in the wrestling match with him, and he can't get the axe blade to where you are.

You're too in his space.

So it whiffs past you.

You move your head to the side and stay locked in on him.

That's his turn.

Badze

raising a hand aloft, looking fundamental first and foremost at the fox.

She raises up and hisses at the plant life in between the fox and Hakea.

You can see fear in her eyes as she's getting a spell even close to the side of the room that Hakea is on.

I'm going to need an Arcana check from anyone who wants to make it.

Arcana or nature.

10.

19.

Ame, you watch as your fox races towards

ground that has been enchanted with

snares of thorn and and poison.

She has basically called the ground that the fox is racing towards to swallow up and destroy the animal should it set foot there.

Heinruhl is going to make a check to try and reconstitute.

Needs to be a six on a d6.

Five.

Now his count, though, moves to five and six.

Cool.

And that is going to go to

Suvi.

Suvi, looking at the fox charging off, you see Aame here.

You still are compelled by the promise you made.

You can tell that when it gets to Ahme's turn, the fox is going to, first thing on Ahme's turn, hit this ground.

Yeah.

Ursulan asked for something specifically.

So Suvi's going to like kind of give the fox a look, like, you got this, buddy.

And I'm going to,

I'm going to grab Wavebreaker and very specifically, sort of staring down Badze

because because of that entangle.

Just look her in the eye, walk forward, and then Misty step next to Ursulan and this fight and be like, just so you know, I could have always gotten the fuck out.

We all do magic.

And hand off Ursulan's sword to him while trying, like, it's very much like Subi can't attack.

She is bound by the promise she made upon entry.

And she's trying to match Ame's like

very like

focused but serene demeanor.

So it's a clean teleport staring down Botzi handoff wave breaker and then for my action I'm going to provide the help action to Heinruhl so that he can reconstitute.

Ooh,

I'm not fighting.

Yeah.

Respect.

Respect.

Respect.

That's going to go back to the top of the order, and that is going to be Aame.

Ame, at the beginning of your turn, the fox continues to charge forward towards the cursed ground.

I'm going to need a dexterity saving throw for the fox.

16.

Wait, is that a 16 on the die?

On the die.

The DC is 17, and the fox adds two to his dexterity.

Oh my god,

little buddy.

Little buddy, little buddy.

I like it.

Create his poison.

He goes, what?

And as he turns to say that, he just tumbles a huge vine, grows a mouth like a Venus flycraft.

He goes, hype, and then leaps, lands on it, and begins to run up a vine as Pod appeared to try to grab him.

He goes, bad, dead, dead, dead, dead, and

leaps off and is now one movement away from Hakea past the poisoned ground.

Unbelievable.

Okay, we continue on.

Ame, what are you doing?

Okay, I

point at Sokoro and I go,

you have made a grievous error.

And you cackle.

My laugh is imbued

with

the disdain and literal cutting of witches.

I

incredible.

Make a wisdom, Zamukaru.

As you say, you have made a grievous mistake.

Hold on, let me do this.

Matt 20.

Oh, damn, man.

Oh, so sorry.

So you cackle wildly at Socorro in this moment.

The fox continues racing forward.

As the fox races forward, we're going to move on to Ursulan's.

I mean, with Ahm cackling wildly and Sufi magically appearing by his side and giving him his sword, I think Ursulon is fucking feeling himself.

Going to take this sword.

It just fucking is gonna Wrathful Smite

and give it to Sakuro.

Incredible.

Go ahead and give me your attack roll.

Does a 17 hit.

17 hits.

No.

18 points of damage.

And he has to make a wisdom saving throw or be frightened?

Describe for me what happens as you hold grasp of Wavebreaker.

Ursalon's going to hold the sword with two hands because his hand is free from bearing the shield and just say,

the witch is correct.

You have made a grave mistake.

And bring it into the roots that are embedded in the ground.

You completely sever one of Socorro's feet from the side of the pool.

Whoom!

Wavebreaker slashes through.

All of you feel mist, smell honey, and feel the thrum of distant waves crashing on rocky shores.

Boom!

As it reverberates through the space, and you see off in the distance, Hakea

and

shifts in her uneasy sleep as this rings out through space.

Sokoro moves into being bloodied.

He has lost more than half his hit points, and you see he wheels around and is now no longer bearing over Heinruhl in the pool.

Has to like reshift his balance to be away from the pool a little bit, facing you with his axe.

Incredible.

That is Ursulan's turn.

He is going to...

He's going to make the call to go after Ursulan twice.

Misses on the first attack, hits on the second.

13 points of damage to Ursulan as Sokoro whales into you with this...

Woodsman's axe.

How is Ursulan looking?

15 hit points.

Oh my god.

Not even bloodied.

All of you watch a 12-foot-tall giant of the forest, a tree spirit, raises an axe.

The blade of this axe,

it's questionable, Suvi, whether you would be able to, with both hands, lift the blade of this axe up.

And it thuds into Ursulan's chest, and he takes it, skidding backwards a few inches, still standing.

My friends are so cool.

That is Socorro's turn.

That's going to be Heinrule, and he's now rolling with advantage.

Hey.

So either one of these is a five or a six.

He knows I'm helping, right?

Like, that's important to me.

A four and a one.

Fuck up.

Dog.

What'd you call me?

That is going to go ahead and be Suvi.

Ursulon just took the craziest hit I've ever seen and is fine.

But also, Ursulan just took the craziest hit I've ever seen and I can't do anything about it but help.

Uh, Suvi like blinks and uh is like choking down panic for her friends, uh, but then is just going to calmly like,

okay, got this.

I'm gonna walk over and just pat Ursulan on the shoulder and be like, sorry, I can't help.

You've got this.

All right.

As she casts Enhanceability, she thinks about every story,

every like picture book she's ever seen about the Great Bear.

He's one of the ones that like becomes the stories we tell children at night of his adventures in the spirit world.

And there's like a cross.

like a cross-hatched, inky depiction, probably not very accurate, of what Suvi thinks the great bear looks like that gets overlaid on your form as she just gives you a pat and says, You've got this, and moves out and away.

A metaphor for what you are envelops and protects you.

With Suvi's turn, it goes to Ame.

The fox closes, runs up onto Hakea's face, and

runs up, stands on her chest, and you see for a moment, you can feel Ahme.

The fox in your mind goes, How do you wake up a witch?

Tell her to wake up.

You say the fox, so a tiny fox standing on this chest, he's like the smallest predator.

There's so many large mammal predators.

He's the smallest one, but he is still a predator.

He is still a wild animal.

He stands on her chest and yells so loud that he like arches his back and bristle brushes his tail and kind of lifts himself, levitating from the strength of his own yelling, and goes, Hey, lady!

Wake up!

Hakeia opens her eyes.

In that moment, I have a vivid flashback to Taro, who's screaming his lungs off every morning to wake us up.

Sufi, 30 feet away from the problem, is just going to give a secondary.

And now, quite critically, I'm going to roll initiative for Hakea.

You can see she's waking up.

For Ahmed and Ursuline, that go before Socorro, just as you look at the distance and see Hakea stirring and waking after the fox yells out, you get the sense that Sakoro is going to get another turn before Hakea wades into the frame, just in terms of how he's rearing up with the axe again.

So, Ahme, you're going to act first.

So, first of all, I see, I hear the fox,

see her wake up, and I shout

My sister of the woodland green there is treachery afoot in your retinue.

We have come to your space and offer no harm and yet my brother has been attacked Give me persuasion with advantage.

Oh, that's Anat 20.

She speaks nothing but facts.

The truth of what you have said is as clear as crystal.

And with that being said,

Ursulan, you're going to get a turn and Sokoro is going to get a turn as Hakea processes what May has just said.

Ursulan is going to,

with the confidence of Sufi,

blink

and disappear.

Her bonus action hidden step stand and move to the other side of Socorro and attack again.

No!

Yes!

This time with advantage.

This time with advantage, baby.

Let's do it.

That'll be a 22.

Holy shit.

Go ahead and roll damage.

Burn my last spell slot for Divine Smite.

20 points of damage.

Jeez.

Ursulan, describe for me what happens as you take Socorro out.

I think Ursulan blinks out, moves around, takes out the other route that he was kind of relying on, uh, and then is just going to, like, snarling, kind of violently get on top of whatever's left of Sokoro and just be stabbing it in the chest.

Whatever, or him in the chest.

You ride Sokoro to the ground.

Boom, boom, boom.

Uh, as you do so...

That is a four on the dot.

You ride him to the ground so that his face is staring into the bloody pool and stabbing him and pinning his chest to the ground.

A massive wolf head

snarls and decapitates him.

As this happens, Hakea enters initiative right after Sakoro was, Sakoro was going to go, but not fucking anymore.

And looks at Badze and goes,

no.

And

sucks.

She vanishes, shoots across the space, and she is holding a little gossamer orb of dragonfly wings that have been folded into a sphere, and there is a single firefly within it.

She puts her hand to the side of her throne, a hole opens up through to the center of the earth, and she drops it, and the earth swallows it.

That's a ninth level imprisonment spell.

The serpent

surges forward, her familiar, rushes towards Socorro's body and plunges its head into one of the open sword wounds in his back, ripping a massive acorn from the center, bringing that to Hakea, which she grabs, looks at, and goes...

A traitor.

I...

I must need

wake up.

And she hurls the seed into the ground, which once again you hear a crack of stone underneath this place that continues to crack and reverberate down as the mountain swallows the seed as well.

Before she threw that down, can I just try to figure out exactly what that firefly and those acorns are in terms...

I've never seen spirits that have like little like

stuff little guy.

What did I just see?

What did I just look at?

Give me an arcana check.

With disadvantage, because I'm sleepy.

You are not sleepy.

That exhaustion effect is gone.

22.

If you had to guess, you think that that was not spirits, that was witchcraft.

She created a

prison for some essential part of them.

Like, I'm going to seal you in an acorn.

I'm going to seal you in a globe of dragonfly wings.

And I'm going to leave you in the earth where I can find you later.

She begins to walk.

All of you notice the sort of lazy buzzing hum and the pollen that fills this space.

Hakea looks around and goes,

deep

roots,

filling the air with pollen.

Blossoms rot,

vine and growth.

And you see that

the pollen universally falls from the air as rain begins to fall inside of this place, knocking all of the musk and pollen and scent out of the air.

And you all become soaked as this rain just appears.

It's just raining from trees.

To be as a

white cat immediately.

Almighty's got her arms outstretched and has her face upturned towards the warm rain.

She continues forwards towards you both.

And as she arrives, you see the bloody pool continues to bubble, but stepping up out of the pool

is a writhing mass of tendons and muscle that begins to sprout skin and fur.

You see that, like, Heinruhl's head is down in his armpit and it's slowly growing back up his chest, moving to his neck, but the the blood and tendons are already fusing where blood touched blood.

Like it fused to the wrong wound, and now it's like traveling like a great glacier across.

And

gets up, full direwolf form.

What insult!

And you see, Hakeia looks and goes

for the injuries visited upon you in in this place,

you have my sorrow and apology, member of Grimor's retinue.

Heinruhl looks over and looks up at you, Ursulan, seeing the sword wounds all throughout Sokoro's back.

Looks at you and goes,

Brother, you saved my life.

I was glad to do it.

He leaps up, puts two massive, like serving saucer-sized paws on either of your broad shoulders, and digs his snout into the fur of your neck,

uh, and licks the fur on the side of your face, uh, and drapes the paws over your shoulders and embraces you in his wolf form like a brother.

I embrace him back,

and we share a deep, profound hug.

He uh drops off and says,

Spirits of wild things,

I know you run with the pack.

And

as he looks down, it looks and says,

your apology, Hakeia, is accepted.

He says, that was foolish of them to oppose me, and now they are dead.

The price they pay.

Ha ha ha ha ha.

I live.

I always live.

And you see the fox pads over to you, Amen, and goes, this guy is crazy.

And you see, this massive wolf looks down at the fox, and as he stands by Ursulon, this massive wolf looks at little fox and goes,

I heard your swift feet as well, little brother.

And you see, the fox looks up at the massive wolf and goes,

big guy.

Hakea regards Suvi and Ame,

and she looks at you and says,

Did any harm befall either of you?

No.

No, ma'am.

You see, she looks at you, Ahme, reaches a hand and touches your arm,

touches you and looks at you, Ursulan, and casts bless on all of you.

And you see that she

raises a knobby old finger, looks at Suvi, and goes,

Clever, clever, clever, clever.

all promises kept even with

treachery in our midst and you witch of the world's heart

it's a strong grasp on that curse

thank you get off

you see she walks over ursulan lays her hands on you and heals for

28 points of damage.

Oh my god.

Look at that.

We're back in full.

Hakea

looks at you all and says,

What do you know of what has happened here?

These two walk alongside the man in black.

Oh,

and you see, Heinruhl says,

Ursulan speaks true.

They meant to betray you.

Their loyalty lay with the King of Night.

Badze is a spirit of the Grove of the Well.

The Grove of the Level.

Yes.

Here you see Hakea.

I think you can see Hakeea is an ancient witch.

And as you say that Badze is a spirit of the Grove of the Well,

you just watch Hakea furrow her brow in what you recognize is

self-recrimination.

She

nods, her face is so wrinkled.

It's like when she squints her eyes in kind of self-reproach and grimaces and puckers her mouth, you look at her face is so lined with wrinkles that it really could,

it's like she could have like multiple mouths all frowning at the same time.

Her face is so wrinkled, and her knuckles just like it's like, ooh, it's so textured.

And she's got

her long kind of clawed hands that have this like deep green paint along the nails with moss kind of growing in the cuticles around this knobby old staff.

And you see, she goes,

oh,

not another adventure.

And I think...

She's the love of my life.

Frenden playing old people, just really not on board for being in a Dungeons and Dragons stage.

I don't want to be in a Dungeons.

Hakeea's had a home game card for 20 years.

Does not need another one.

Yeah, you saw Session Zero.

What you really feel in this moment from Hakeea is like the player who played me retired me 40 years ago.

I've been an NPC for 40 years.

I can't have more shit keep happening.

I can't.

I can't have more shit keep happening.

And what you see essentially is like this, you immediately feel

that

she is way

past the point where she should have passed this station on to somebody else because

she has had probably a dozen different lifetimes of being a witch who would have taken care of this.

And you're catching her in a state of such advanced age, but more than advanced age, it's the age and the

letting go.

And you can see an internal struggle on her face of, do I actually dig deep and wake up and get back on the ball for the hundredth or thousandth time?

And she just goes,

Heinr,

gather your companions.

Find your mistress.

Bring her to me.

Heinruhl nods, looks at you, and says,

I'm off to find Ramor.

And you see he goes and barks, or you see he just howls, and like the lions and leopards and hawks and eagles wake up and take off with him, leaving the burrow.

And now the burrow,

leaves through the burrow, and now you realize that this keep of the woodland green is now just the tiny little floral fairies running around.

That her main and then her giant serpent.

he's not gonna need that blood in the pool then i'm just gonna start presidentitating the pool a wizard's got a wizard and i see a mess

so you're presidentating the pool uh there is this is like spirit wolf blood i don't know how wizardly you want to get if you want to be like is that is that stuff important i don't know do you need that i'll turn it away are you gonna use that

what the blood Any blood that falls out of you is bad luck.

And he

and he takes off through the burrow.

Um, and the fox looks like blood.

Yeah, the fox looks at Amay and is like, honestly, I get that.

That makes sense to me.

Don't make me like like, Sue is doing the like, that was funny.

Don't make me like you.

I'm still very mad about earlier.

And it cleans the blood of the pool.

And Ursulan will put his clothes on now.

Put your clothes on.

You sheath Wave Breaker.

Hakea goes:

Sakoro and Badze,

Grove of the Well, where Ren was attacked.

They walk beside the man in black.

When I came to

did you discover them here attacking Heinru

we were

enjoying ourselves.

Amen Subi.

Yeah!

The most just the slowest turn with perfect eye contact.

Like,

for sure.

And as the night went on, the conversation of the King of Night

came up and

Badze suggested that he would like to speak to me.

At which point, she

consumed me.

And I was taken...

to perhaps not the grove of the will, but a projection of it,

and spoke with the king of night.

Okay,

you see, for an ancient witch, her eyes go wide.

Yeah.

Like, she has a pretty broad sample size.

That matters.

What you just said matters.

Matters to her.

She goes, You spoke with him, the pilgrim under stars.

I did.

What did he say?

He would have me serve as his champion,

as a messenger, perhaps of sorts, and offered me his sword.

The spirits have lost their faith in us.

I must consult with my sister Gromo.

What answer gave you to the King of Night?

I told him I already had charge.

She looks at you for a long time.

You true.

True of heart.

She

turns to you, Ame.

Here,

this

warrior of the world of spirits held fast his loyalty

before the King of Night.

To you,

Witch of the World's Heart.

To

us.

Uh, as you say to us,

that little magical bobbin of thread in your pocket glows bright.

And you see that Hakea sees it.

Looks down at it.

She doesn't see the thread, but she sees your pocket glow as you say to us.

And you see she goes.

And puts a old knobby hand up, touches your cheek, and goes.

Ren chose well.

And

says, I must away.

Leave my keep.

And

we asked the follow-up questions.

Yeah.

Oh, what?

Can we?

But one last thing.

What should say first?

Okay.

Or are you going to.

A wand.

Suvie looks crazy.

Oh.

The fox clocks Suvi and says, A wandering we shall go.

A wandering we shall go.

A wandering we shall go.

And Suvi takes the water.

Thank you.

You see.

Thank you, sister.

You see, as you guys get outside, Hakeea says, I shall close up behind you.

You,

your heart is true.

You bear the station well.

But you are a fool, and I don't like it.

And you see that she

she ushers you out as the vines begin to grow and she begins to summon new plants in this space as though to invite a new energy or form to herself to move into the next part of the conclave as you guys go out the fox looks up at you suvy and goes sometimes you don't like what i do but

there's one thing that I have in common with Suvi and boss I think you should listen to both of us us because

I love to lie.

And I don't think Suvi loves to lie.

But you love to keep secrets.

And there's a part where those are the same thing.

And that's what you need to do more of, the boss.

Suvi's weeping.

Is this in regard to the song that I've never heard us sing before, but that we all knew?

Suvi's even grabby hands for the fox.

Yeah.

You see that he does his little hands up and he's like, it's really important for big, big guys not to know what you're up to.

And I sweep up to Fox and I'm just like clench petting him.

He licks your ear and your face a little bit and he says,

Way to go in there, boss.

Way to go in there, everybody.

That was nuts.

You too.

The ground was gonna kill you and then it didn't.

Hey.

Yeah.

Arsalan, are you alright?

I'm perfectly fine.

Was it a date?

What?

Was it a date?

Did I...

Between me and Heinru?

Yes.

No.

It was between Badze and

Sakuro.

Are you okay?

We gotta go somewhere private to talk.

You see the moment we hit open air and start talking, like, Suvi is doing a thing where she's petting the fox, but she is also, like, weirdly, like, hunched and clamped down, and is, like, stealing looks up overhead into the night sky.

And it looks very uncomfortable.

I nod towards the keep of the world's heart.

You had, we cut to the keep of the world's heart.

A small fire is started.

The fox is snoozing on the rug, kind of waking up every once in a while to get a little lick of some uncooked bacon.

And you see that

all of you are gathered here together.

Suvi, yeah, you've just entered.

Amay, there's some food in front of all of you.

It is now late at night.

Dinner was a while ago.

So this is probably like past, this is almost like

1 or 2 a.m.

at this point.

You're getting sleepy, but you know that the conclave reconvenes to take up the matter of Ahm's life and death tomorrow.

Okay.

I'm going to say something to you, Ursulan, and it's going to sound crazy.

And I need you to tell me if these are words, and if so, what they mean.

All right.

And I'm going to do my best to replicate whatever Hakeya said in the like vision I saw of her in her star in the library.

Give me a performance check.

Oh, no.

I'm so good at that, actually.

17.

Oh!

Amazing.

New dice, new life.

It's garbled, but

there is.

Suvi's doing a pretty good job of repeating.

You realize that I think on a 17, you realize you can't repeat what you heard from the branches of the tree.

Yeah.

But the part that Hakeia vocalized, she's a human woman, witches are humans, as wizards are.

So you can vocalize that part.

So it's a little bit garbled, but you hear in the speech of Beast and Leaf

that she is speaking to Yewola,

the tree of worlds.

And Ursulan,

this is a tree which grows in the heart of the world of spirits, but is said to be so massive that its roots and branches reach into the world of the real, that there is no realm which does not know a root of the tree of worlds.

And this tree that you see here is at the heart of a place that Hakeia is referring to as the Kaira, which is the name of a primeval forest.

That forest you do not recognize as being from the world of spirits.

You can see,

and again, this is like Suvi's repetition of these words.

She basically says,

I have traveled far through field and forest to save my people.

Long have I come to bridge from this world to yours for the spirits that come to seek our ruin.

I wish for a path.

I wish for a bridge.

I come seeking a wand of covenant that my sisters and I might

live and act together in harmony.

And the ones, the words I know are ye.

The only one I know is ye wola.

Yes.

Right.

It's a name you're familiar with.

It is a tree.

In the world, so in this memory, there is a tree that is about this.

It's comparable in size to

it's comparable in size to a sequoia or a redwood the the thing you see in in memory except for the fact that it its trunk is so fat and its branches so broad that

Hakeia actually mostly hikes up the tree.

Like the folds of its bark and the sort of ripples through it are enough that she can really kind of like like, you know, some trees will have a fold in their bark.

For her, it's like a steep curve up a hillside.

Like one ridge of bark is about eight feet wide, so she can walk up it like a ledge going up a hillside.

Yewola in the world of spirits is so tall that sometimes in the history of the world of spirits, the sun and moon have been caught in its branches.

And for the record, Suvi will enhance this story.

Like as she's explaining this to you and then giving you the translation, I'll cast Press Digitation very much in the same style of that like wood carving cross-hatched like illustration of like different points.

So you see like this is her walking.

This is her like grabbing the wand.

This is her like what she looked like when she was speaking.

It is.

You are not.

Your tongue is not so precise.

Sorry.

It's fine.

She speaks of Yewola.

She's the tree of worlds.

A tree so large that it extends into every space in both our worlds.

She seeks from it

a wand of covenant.

She took it, and it's here.

Oh, she...

She describes it as

something that brings her.

Something that will bring her sisters together.

Is this something you knew to look for?

No, I was simply looking for

any information that the stars would remember on the original covens to

help.

And then I make one more image of the tower and the light of the wand that I saw in the tower from the window I was in.

Hakeya didn't have the wand.

It's in the tower under Injury's control.

Which is maybe why I got a little

panicked when you wanted to ask her.

Anyone that wants to go ahead and give me insight,

arcana, or history?

15.

13.

19 history.

Yeah!

I think on a 19 history,

as

Suvi is recounting

what Hakeya said,

you can tell there are are gaps because there are questions posed to the tree.

So, in 19 history, you know that Yoilla can speak.

So, in other words, I think Ursulan, see it from being a wild one, being a spirit, is like, well, what did the tree say?

That, to you, that's the critical part.

It's like, yeah, the human, of course, made a pilgrimage as this one of the first great witches of the world to make a request of the spirit.

What did the spirit say?

It certainly didn't say, here you go, and then toss an incredibly significant want.

It would have come with something.

The spirit would not have given something profound without there being direction or guidance.

Like, Ewola is fundamentally a spirit of connection.

It connects the worlds.

And just like trees hold the earth so that the rain doesn't wash them away, Ewola is a force of stability and togetherness in the world of spirits.

So coming to it for a wand of covenant, you're like, oh, the binding together of roots in the earth the binding together of things right um on that 19 history i think you're like

i think you you would go if i knew what yewola said in response

i would there was something there for the 15 insight check i think ame

you

are wondering about the thing of like why did it move from Hakea's control to injuries and on a 15 you don't know anything for certain but

there can,

if that wand represents the covenant of actually

this coven,

it couldn't or shouldn't belong to any one witch.

And therefore, you wonder if the reason it's in that tower is because Indri is hosting the conclave.

And on a 13 arcana, the tree talked back.

Wild.

Yeah, so the, I think, Suvi, you like, depending on what you share on a 13 arcana, yeah, the tree talked back, yeah.

Didn't pick it up.

What the tree was saying?

No idea.

It kind of just occurred to me that that was a conversation and not sort of just a I'm gonna ask and then yank a bit.

So I'm so I'm sorry.

That's all I've got.

Trees can be very talkative.

Really?

Where I'm from, yes.

Especially willows.

Huh.

Who's the most gossipy?

Elms

or Willows, depending on where you are.

Um, would I know anything about

any of these?

Is this something Grandma Wren would have discussed,

or perhaps a time in the history of witches wherein

there was

a need for such a

bridging?

Uh, ooh, give me history with advantage.

Let's go.

Come on,

dirty 20.

Let's go.

Let's go.

You go back to something in your head.

You're at the cottage.

Taro's out on the fence.

Nicholas has gotten out of the pen again.

You and Grandma Wren are in boots because it's really, it's raining cats and dogs.

And so you're out trying to find Nicholas hiding in the woods in the rain.

And Grandma Wren is so peeved.

You're talking about inheriting the station of the witch of the

heart.

And you see,

so it's after that conversation with Marara where she first tells you about the covenant of elders.

You see, she is speaking to you in this memory, going, no, well, there's not, of course, you're going to have the.

It's just going to happen.

When we don't, I don't want to be morbid, but when I pass on, you will become the Witch of the World's Heart.

You will inherit the station, you will inherit my home, and

we'll have to seek a conclave with my sisters at some point but you know it's it's not i'm i've named you my successor it's not like it's the first witch of the world's heart ever where you gotta sit down and have the wand tapped on your shoulders and all everything like that it's just the beginning of the you know the is there a wand that you can just tap somebody with and like suddenly they're the witch of the world's heart or the witch of the wobbling willows or something.

Well, my understanding is wobbling willow would be easier than World's Heart because World's Heart already exists.

Oh, Nicholas!

And she kicks off.

And she's something about that would be easier to do Wobbling Willow than World's Heart is the last thing she says.

And then you're off chasing Nicholas.

And you remember that little tidbit, which none of the proper nouns got said, but suddenly you realize

tapping a wand, a covenant wand, something like it's gotta be, there's something there.

And you remember her specifically saying something like, I've named you my successor.

It's not like you're the first.

And I think you think about the numbers 5, 7, and 13.

And that there have been many stations on this coven.

Sufi, give me an Arcana check.

18.

So, Sufi, sitting here amongst your friends,

looking at Ursulan talk about and knowing the response of the tree,

it occurs to you in this moment that Suvi

does have the tree's response, just not committed to memory.

Oh no.

I sit with that for a minute by myself.

But then mostly, I remember the mud.

The mud when he came back, he went back into the cottage and tracked it all over before he went out back to his goat cage.

Hmm.

Fox sort of looks up and says,

So, what?

There's a big tree, and

we gotta bring the stick back to the tree and throw it into the middle of the tree, and then everything's better.

Is that

I don't believe so.

Unless that is what the tree asked.

I made that up.

Yeah, no,

unless he has some sort of knowledge, unless he heard it somewhere else, he has no basis upon which to make these

plans.

I just thought if there's something special that came from a place, then, you know, not knowing anything else, take it back,

take it back, and probably you fixed everything.

Yeah.

Hold.

I'll be right back.

All right.

Okay.

As Suvi leaves the room, Ursulan doesn't want to make a big deal about it, or is going to try and hide it, but I would like to feel my pockets or anywhere for if the pocket watch is on my person.

Uh, the pocket watch is on your person.

Uh, do you produce it?

No,

hell yeah.

Um,

Sufi, you exit the room.

Where do you go to?

I'm gonna go back to my room.

Uh, I think it would have made sense

to put the music box deep into my belongings.

So I'm gonna go back

and

under the guise of running, you know, just some of my stuff or something that was maybe left by

my, like the rest of my retinue out to the whip.

I, God, I don't want to open it in here.

Oh, God.

It feels risky to like reopen this.

And again, there's that sense of like, what?

I don't know

why,

why I did this.

But I also, it feels so good that it was done.

And I think there's enough of me that's like throwing up red flags about like, watch out.

You're like, you're getting comfortable because you're close to a finish line on something that I think she's just sort of like panicking panicking and trying to figure out what the best thing to do is.

I want to cast Identify on the music box.

Describe for me: are you ritually casting it or casting it in the moment?

Uh, not a ritual.

Uh, are you going to pull a spell slot from the Aerith?

I will.

In casting it,

do you cast it in the expedited manner of your mother's mending can trip?

Or do you cast it as you were trained to cast the identify spell?

I think I start.

This is a spell for whatever reason I don't use very often.

Because

everything around me and my world has been so well cataloged and understood.

Why would I need to cast magic about something when it's in a book and I can remember what I've learned?

So, as I like go back to a thing I don't know very well, I think I start casting it the way I was taught and get a little distracted thinking about how cool my friends are.

And then when I have to like restart, it's the idea of like, oh, I've lost a little time.

And then I remember my mother's casting and my father's notes.

And I do it faster.

My way.

You cast identify, pulling a spell slot from the Aerith,

and leave out the reflexive indicative note.

The purpose of this box is made clear to you.

Crafted carefully by a series of artificers compartmentalized across the citadel.

Some making mirrors, others breaking them carefully, exactingly.

The crafting of a spider of glass made of mirror shards and the figurine dancing in the middle.

Song, song, memory.

Nothing is easier to remember than song, and a spider hidden behind a dancer, a spirit.

You see the visage of Pomeroy consulting on this device within the Kassov collection.

You see

moving out to diviners and abjurers, the two colleges that your mother belonged to, coming together in this space.

And you see

a

exacting understanding and council of abjurers discussing the nature of times that the Citadel has come into conflict with witches.

You see that there is a board written up with every definition in every language known on the planet of stealing.

And you see that someone, uh, you see that there's literally tests of wizards in a laboratory in the citadel pickpocketing stealing, and every time they do, there is a collar of obsidian around their throat that shocks them slightly.

And then you see that eventually an illusionist is brought in to consult, bringing with them a mirror.

The mirror is held up to the panel of objurers and diviners, and you see that there is a small honey cake, much like the ones that you've seen Ame make before.

On a table, the collar there, there is a young, it looks like a kid from Haverward that like is the thief, like like is like pretending to be a thief essentially.

The illusionist puts a mirror in his hand, points it towards the honey cake,

reaches a hand in,

pulls a honey cake out of the mirror, leaving the original, bites it, and they watch as nobody gets shocked and cheers go up from the assembled group here.

The box begins to be fabricated.

You see that there is a silent piano that is played.

Hammers hit strings that produce no notes.

Those strings are collected, melted down, and formed into the figurine of a dancer.

That dancer is placed into a music box.

The box is assembled, brought to the artificers.

The artificers make the finishing touches blindfolded as

of the Ark Magi of the Pyrran Dome, Silence and Sabre, place the spells on it and Steel takes the box away.

She hands it to a man you know as Rasper, who was aboard the ship with you.

Suvi is

shaking.

And zooming out for all, there's just all because that's the identify spell comes to you as those visions.

What you leave with is an understanding that this is unique.

This is powerful on a level that was not explained to you.

This represents an apex of magical achievement by the Wizards of the Citadel.

And it was given to you.

And you suddenly feel

your own justification machine touching this and being like your confusion by this,

you are able to

cognate that it is protecting you and it.

That there is something in in the fog of this that is protecting you.

But fundamentally, what this is: is

how do you steal something without stealing it if you are not allowed to steal?

And you steal it by copying it.

There's something weird that happens when you realize it's not just how much Suvi didn't know about this and the like gap in, like, why didn't I understand what this was?

And feeling like around a loose tooth, something wiggly, and

her mind has been avoiding, I think she's aware for the first time

of how much she's missed because she's never cared to think or identify anything around her.

And

there's something inside the way that spell felt

skipping over something that was taught,

that she got more.

And I think this is where the secret of the Warpin Weft comes from.

Hell yeah.

That she holds it now.

She understands not just what it is and how it works,

but its weak points.

She feels a sense of control over it, not just understanding.

And she could break it in exactly the right ways if she wanted to.

But there's something inside of this that I think she's still a little scared of.

She loves her friends.

But I don't know.

Something's writing on this.

It was handed steel and handed to Rasper and handed to her.

I'm going to keep the secret

and I'm going to run it, if I can, to the airship.

Okay.

You're going to make for the airship.

As you move out through the palace, go ahead and give me a stealth check.

Nine.

Suvi, walking swiftly through the palace of the witch of the wind and stars.

You arrive in the great hall.

The fire in the fireplace as you enter is burning bright.

And with each step towards the double doors at the edge of the great hall, which you know will open to the exterior, the pier, your skyship,

the fire dwindles.

About halfway through the great hall, the fire goes out.

Quite close to you.

Are you on your way out?

I

don't turn my head.

Is that injury's voice?

You believe it to be Marara's.

Oh,

witch of the Waning Moon.

I must confer with my associates

before getting rest for the next day of your conclave.

Of course.

As you should,

I'm gonna try to turn.

Can I see her?

Uh, give me a perception check.

15.

It's so dark in this empty, freezing hall.

Your eyes are trying to

acclimate to the sudden darkness.

But you

could be wrong.

Her mask is so bone white, and her gown is so

jet black that you.

You're trying.

Either you have spots in your eyes from the sudden change in the quality of light, or maybe that lightness in the center of your vision is her mask inches from your face.

Subi hops back and then tries to regain some composure.

Marara speaks.

Don't let me stop you.

You should know

the mistress of this place

is aghast

that you and your companions were attacked.

First, your companion from the citadel,

and then

your protector.

You heard.

I did.

You may

be on your way.

You should know

that

once you leave the palace,

the doors will close.

Can I make an insight check?

Yeah, go for it.

Do it with disadvantage.

Yeah.

Let me read this mask real good.

11.

You

sense that what she is saying is true.

Very well.

I thought it would be

impolite to communicate with magic,

and I would not dream of offending your sisters further.

But

this is of little import,

and

it's a cold night.

Thank you.

No response echoes from Marara's masked face.

I think there is something

furious in Suvi.

I'm not going to do...

It feels like a mistake to turn my back and leave.

So I'm gonna start

a weird stare-off with a mask and just wait politely.

You stand here face to face with Marara.

Is your intention

to leave and go to the skyship knowing that you will be not allowed to re-enter?

It is not.

Suvi has like literally turned her sort of back and her heart on the door.

She'll keep this with her and move back to her room,

but not turn her back on Marara.

Uh, you see that as you do this, Marara looks at your body language and alters her body language, gesturing to the door out of the palace, and says,

Do you

wish for me to open the door for you?

It's incredibly kind, thank you.

No,

I wouldn't want to put anyone out having to let me back in when my business was concluded.

So

I will confer with my associates later.

And I step away from like a little bit.

Like if she's not like a half an inch from my face, like I'll step away from the door and toward her.

But I think there is still something very weird about like, I don't want to turn tail.

It's not running.

I'm not worried about Grimoire, but there is something in her strangeness and like the vibe she's putting out that Suvi doesn't want to like walk away from.

Every kid who's ever been like in a house with the lights off or out on a street that you're supposed to be on knows that there's the scary place.

And when you turn your back to it, you will have to run as fast as you can.

High knees,

get back into bed.

But also if you run, you'll become a gusher for another sister.

You move from the space and return walking down the hall once again.

It is not until you turn the corner that you hear the crackle of the great fire in the hall.

They're all fucking terrible.

And you know what?

I hope one of you can overhear me.

You did it.

You did it.

I'm just as freaked out about you as you wanted me to be.

Just walk back to my room.

Okay, so you walk back to your

quarters again.

You still have the music box, and Ahmed and Ursulan are back at Worlds Keep.

It is now two o'clock in the morning.

Ahme will argue for her life in less than eight hours.

She's gotten no.

Brandon, stop.

It's fine if she doesn't know this one thing, probably.

Fuck.

Then yeah, let me walk it back.

Or you can find some other clever solution that that I have not foreseen.

No, fuck you.

Suvi gets to the tower of the crescent moon.

And then I think there is something in that like paranoia of like Marara's around every corner.

And if you like trip and speed up it all, Grimoire will show up and eat you.

And the thing that she is holding feels like the most important thing in the world, if only because she now, like Subi now knows everything that was put into making it, and she doesn't want to let it out of her grip or out of her sight because she's on enemy territory.

So she'll walk back to the keep of the world's heart.

About 20 minutes after she left, Suvi returns, perhaps with a little flush of

the chill, the fear sweat that has turned to ice in the frozen courtyard.

She's kind of funky about it.

Like, you know, fear sweat smells a little worse.

Like,

I don't like your sisters.

Oh, yeah, another

hair on her.

Yeah, fucking Marara.

She's just.

Oh, did you run into her at night?

Yeah.

She made it dark and then her face was by my face.

Oh,

gosh.

Okay.

I'm going to tell you guys something.

Ursulan is

lightly snoozing on whatever chair he was on when Sufi left.

Up, up, up.

Ursulan.

I have to show you something.

And I think there's going to be follow-up questions.

And I don't think I am capable of answering them.

You're let to have your secrets.

Fun.

We have fun.

You see the fox goes, oh!

There's snakes in the river.

So when you have a secret, it's like the river's muddy.

And when you're lying, it's like the river's muddy.

And you have a sign floating on the river saying there's no snakes here.

That passed through my brain in a way.

It didn't hit anything.

It was nothing but

high fives.

You hit this little furry paw high fives.

Extending a metaphor.

And Sevi's gonna pull out the music box.

And I think at this point, she's like not making eye contact with either of you or blinking very much and that flush has uh sort of drained away and she looks a little pale and i'm going to open the music box

and try to find the memory itself i don't know how to go about that in this opening it you go to your secret of warp and weft

Is knowledge more

than simply the gift you are given by the banner you serve under?

Is knowledge also the treasure you give yourself by paying attention even to those things that you have not been instructed to believe matter?

The cracks along the glass in the image of a spider.

What is in this music box does not belong to Suvi.

Yet,

she did give one command to record something special.

And is that not in some ways hers?

And the same image of your mark, the sky, the wizard's sky, does not call the full music box to act, nor the figurine to dance, nor the music to replay.

But you feel that if you speak your name aloud, what you caused to pass will come to your aid again.

And Subi like holds it up and looks at the like spider sort of articulated across the mirror.

The Wizard Sky demands her secret.

And you watch this mirrored spider break itself off the mirror.

And where there should be shattered glass, you see as it breaks, the mirror becomes whole.

The pane of glass is unbroken as the spider lifts itself off.

It leaps to the floor, lifts the largest shard of its abdomen, and you see reflected not you or the fire or this room,

but a tree tall and broad.

Ursulan, everything in your body tingles as you behold the tree of worlds.

Your hackles raise, your eyes narrow, you feel all of your primal senses from the world of spirits as a wild one on edge in this place.

Ame, you are hit with the most potent emotional sorrow of just the weight of ages watching the moment that is the genesis of your coven.

And

Subi, you have the complex emotions that relate to how this image is being viewed.

You watch the perspective of the stars, which have watched this world eternal, gazing down.

But as they watch,

from everywhere, they move in so that even at their distance, this moment is intimate.

Akea has crawled into the branches of the tree.

They sway in the wind.

The branches move and she shifts mightily from side to side swaying as though a ship on the ocean high above in the branches the tree of worlds speaks to her

young witch

you have moved

long

across the face of umura

She weeps in this moment and you can tell that she has lost

things you cannot imagine to be here in this place.

There

is a brother, a mother, a father, something she has lost and you suddenly recognize that this is in a different age and that Hakeia has lived some lifetimes since this moment.

How many people has she lost?

How many families has she started that withered away in time and space?

Who has she been?

What what has she seen

time

and i think ursalon you feel that pocket watch all of a sudden and i think that there is a feeling of

maybe even gratitude to be small to have a life that matters because it's yours and it takes up the space that a life should take

Hakea looks at the tree and in the image of stars sees that if if she succeeds in her quest in this moment, her life will be forever changed.

She will depart.

She is sacrificing something profound to be here.

Ewola.

I have come here across vast plains and fought my way

through worlds of men and spirits.

I have shed my blood

and given much to be here.

Our world

is dying.

And you wonder how many times Hakea has said that over eons and how many times it's been true?

The witches of our world are scattered.

Great monsters roam the land.

Demons of shadows, spirits that mean us ill.

And beyond the sea, the sorcerer king rises up.

Please,

please help.

The witches are scattered.

There is nothing left to bind us.

No way to trust one another.

But if we do not stand together, we

this world cannot survive.

I have come here

seeking covenant,

Some sign that the world of spirits would bless us and give us

a symbol of the strength we could have together.

Like many roots leading to a single tree.

Here, Ursulan, you hear what to Suvi and Ahmed just sounds like the rustling of branches and leaves, but Ursulan, you hear

a covenant

binds.

The roots and branches intertwine.

The chalice holds.

The basket weaves.

The web connects.

These things hold.

But what would they hold?

A covenant.

You see, in here, the tree sort of shakes, and you can see different branches of the tree kind of gleaming as though there are opportunities for different things here.

You see, it says like

bound together in celebration of life's strength and joys.

You see, one branch gleams,

bound together in fury and in storm, and another branch gleams,

bound together in shadow and sorrow, And another branch gleams.

Many wands of covenant there are.

What covenant would you make?

And here you see Hakea

looks up at the moon in the sky and sees that the moon is starting to eclipse.

It's just a sliver of a crescent moon here.

And you see she looks and says,

When the witches of this world are at odds, all is lost.

We are meant to be a bridge between the spirit and the world of mortals.

And if we are at each other's throats, how can we possibly

connect what is

so far removed?

We cannot fight one another if we are to survive, if we are to bring these worlds together.

And yet, many witches there are

who do not share

their hearts, though their spirits may be threaded in the same tapestry.

You are all of one breath,

but your hearts do not desire the same ends.

Akea stands up tall.

Tree of Worlds, that is the covenant I seek.

If we will be at odds, then let us be at odds, but let us be at odds together.

I seek a wand of covenant that the greatest stations,

the highest truths, most potent of this world may be bound as sisters.

If we oppose one another, let that opposition be of one spirit.

That we will not destroy or ruin one another nor our stations.

That the world might have some chance that its vast and farthest corners come together,

even when their magics are so opposed that witchcraft itself will stay and remain true and bent to the purpose of seeing a world connected.

This that you have asked, I can provide a covenant of greatness.

Stations high,

reserved for those whose truths are vast and mighty,

marked

by the distance between their truths.

And you see the gleam that you recognize in the far tower.

And this wand of covenant is taken by a young Hakea.

How will I know

of great station?

How will I know the witch that

it is left to you to find your sisters that you deem worthy of covenant?

Address them, name their station,

and on the acceptance of this invitation to ascend to covenant with you,

they will enter into the promise made.

The promise that binds you, the agreement of covenant, rests within the wand.

Should the time come where this covenant has outlived its use,

A sister of your covenant need but snap the wand in two.

And the agreement is released.

You and your sisters bade free from the promises made to one another.

What number might I pick to sit upon the council?

Boundless.

But know that there are seats of strength.

Covenants of three and five,

seven and nine, and thirteen and on.

Numbers of the old ways.

Do not let it come to pass that in conclave,

either in beginning or in ending,

the number of your covenant

should have even the possibility of impasse.

Should the number of your sisters be opposed in symmetry,

The covenant will be ended.

Rent asunder.

Three, five,

seven, nine, thirteen.

No amounts in even sides.

I understand.

Good.

You have been warned.

The gift given.

It is my hope

that you have chosen well.

And you see, Hakea looks at the wand,

acknowledging the power that she will determine

who to induct into this coven.

And Hakeia descends from the tree, and you are all in the keep of the world's heart

with the memory of the stars that will save

your true friend.

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

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

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