Episode 12 – The Mountain

Gather round friends, let me tell you a tale of three heroes, noble and bold A brute, a druid, and a thief who is but nine years old You know them by name, you know them by deed, their quests are famously daring So here I sit, singing to you an adventure that is worth sharing Tuck is the brute, he knows not his home, he loves to sing and fight Fingers have health, he shifts his shape, and wields a spear with great might Billy's a thief, his tiny size does mask the largest heart Best and brightest they may not be, but their friendship outweighs their smarts So gather round friends, and listen close For the tale's about to start Welcome to Spellt Lore everybody, my name is Sean O'Hara I am your Game Master And with me, playing Ving, the half-elf druid, Paul Oppers Hello!

He's back! Yeah, this might seem, depending on how release works, this might not seem like a long time to you But it has been like six months Woah Yeah, six months, half a year That is a long time Half a year We took some breaks, and we've been playing with Mark and stuff But now Paul is back, and we are going to explore the spirit realm with Ving The druid! Yeah, and so I also have… Guys, I'm introing the show, shut up Take two Do it again? No Okay Do you want me to do the whole thing again?

No, we have a lot of backup intros that we can do Oh fuck off Also heavily editable But the point is, is that Ving is going to be playing, er, Paul is going to be playing Ving, the half-elf druid But players Abdul Hey everybody Jessica Hello And Mark Hey guys Are not going to be playing their regular characters Today we are going to explore Ving's time in the spirit world and what led him into the clutches of the aggressive, not evil, just aggressive spirit wasp And joining him on his journey are going to be the spirits Polar Bear, Owl, and Elk And those folks are going to be played by these folks So now we gotta figure out a whata thata means What that means?

Yeah, it's kinda your job to tell us what that means No, it's not Because since you guys are playing spirits This is going to be a much more collaborative session Because you are embodying spirits that have existed for a long time So you know more, those characters would conceivably know more about the spirit world than the players would So I'm going to be handing the reins to you a lot and asking you guys a lot of questions So first things first, let's figure out who is playing who All the spirits are based on forms that Ving has traditionally taken quite often So we've got Owl, Polar Bear, and Elk And who would like to play?

Who would like to play Owl? Mark Yeah Yeah, Mark, you do look like an owl You're the nerdiest one Because I have the big round glasses? Yeah And big bags under my eyes? Yeah Your head turns around 170 degrees too Hey Mark, over here, over here buddy Yeah, that's me Alright, Owl, played by Mark Who is going to play Polar Bear? Well, doesn't matter, I'm fine with either one Yeah, you wanna try Polar Bear?

I don't know Rock, paper, scissors I like it Well, no, I was actually going to nominate Jessica So yeah, I'll rock, paper, scissors to see if I can nominate Jessica Okay Best two out of three No whining from the loser Abdul, scissors, Jessica, paper Okay Should we do it again? Sure Why? He already won Best two out of three Oh, tie on scissors Oh, Jessica takes it so tie it Rub around Fuck Okay Jessica won Jessica nominates Abdul Well, what does Abdul want me to play?

Polar Bear Okay, fine Alright Ooh Perfect Oh man, that's great I'm going to go with Polar Bear Okay Okay You know what?

It's just nice when somebody enters into a competition, wins, and gets what they want So, okay, Abdul's going to be Elk, Jessica's going to be Polar Bear, and Mark is going to be Owl So, in terms of moves and stuff So, the spirits will basically, you'll have access to the basic moves But when it comes to certain topics, areas of expertise, each of you is sort of the expert on that And so, I'm going to let you establish facts on those things, pretty much I'm going to ask you a lot of questions You're going to tell me a lot of things You're going to ask me questions You're going to tell me what the reality of that is And it's going to be true Because you know a lot about the spirit world, being spirits For example, like, Polar Bear is a hunter and a fighter So, when it comes to how to beat some total ass, Polar Bear is going to be the expert on that So, I'm going to ask you questions about that sort of stuff, about fighting and hunting Elk knows the ways Like, Elk walks the trails a lot So, when it comes to how to get to places, the dangers that might be found in between those locations That would be Elk's area And Owl gets a bird's eye view of a lot of stuff So, when it comes to interesting locations Like, places that might be good to know about or good to travel to Or might contain the things that you're looking for Owl is a great person on that So, I'll be asking Owl about that kind of thing Also, Owl is racist I've heard Owl is a racist So, when it comes to general stereotypes about the different ethnicities I'll be asking Owl a lot of questions about that And we will all be going, oh When he answers Jesus, why?

I mean, things were different back in his time It's true You know, he's just a product of his era It was a different time And Ving, a stranger in a strange land You're telling me You're just trying to make it through Been here for six mikes Months Six mikes Six mikes Six mikes So, based on the stuff that you told me a long time ago The spirit world is a place Of fluid time and space So, physics and time don't really work the way they usually do So, there are spirits, obviously, that are Sort of the identifiers And the stand-ins for things in the natural world And so, how it works is each spirit sort of acts in accordance with their nature It's like as the embodiment of Owl or Elk or Polar Bear No people?

No people as of yet But they most recently came in contact with Wasp in a massive hive And in there they found the remains of several people And objects that have very obviously belonged to people from the material plane So, obviously, it can be intimated or implied that people have traveled to the spirit world before And they don't always go back out So, that's a very general synopsis of what has happened in the spirit world so far So, if we all remember what happened the last time we played with Ving Ving awoke in the spirit world And was greeted by the spirits of Owl, Polar Bear, and Elk Now, some time has passed after that Not a ton of time But some time has passed and you have gone to a safer location Owl, where did you take Ving after you found him?

Well, we wanted somewhere safe So, we took him to Just any location Where would an owl go? Yeah, where would an owl be like? You don't think I was trying to think of where an owl would go? I'm just trying to help, Mark You're not good at improv Have you ever met an owl?

We went to a lovely lake Lake A lake, great We went to the lake So, you took Ving to the shore of a lake in the spirit world And A lake, Mark I don't know why I'm being so antagonist Please, Owl And the lake stretches off into indeterminate distance, out of sight You're just along one beautiful, unbroken shore Some trees, some eerily clean and identical looking trees March down the shoreline And it is there that Ving, you I assume you explained to them what happened?

Yeah, I sure did Just finished explaining to them what happened Wrapped up the explanation of what happened and What do we, what do we Have you ever heard of anyone leaving this place? Elk, you kind of know how things move in the spirit world Have you, do you What would be the biggest complication for Ving to get back to the material world?

Well, um The spirit world has like this one in, one out kind of thing So, you came in, Crocodile left So, something has to trade places with you What contact do we have with the outside world? There's people like you There's like shape shifters and stuff Yeah, have you ever met anyone? Uh, yeah, there's Who? There's one guy who can pass between realms My man I need to know this guy Nobody really knows who he is People call him the Ghost Pirate Oh What? Nothing What are you upset about?

Oh, I'm nothing, I'm totally fine Maybe Ghost Pirate is a little weak Oh, okay Character's, character's great There's uh There's gotta be a better name Yeah, there's gotta be a better name There's uh That's the main problem He keeps calling me Ghost Pirate It's like, it's not Wait, wait, wait Wait, what do you call an owl? Do you know, do you know who he's talking about?

No, we don't know exactly what it is We can just make up a dumb name like Ghost Pirate It's cool, it's cool Yeah, it does something to refer to it Fuck you, owl Anyway, anyway Well, I gotta meet this What, sorry, Ghost Pirate?

No, I'll change No, no, no, no Ghost Pirate Okay, everybody Ghost Pirate is a name I was workshopping And I'm gonna go I'm gonna go I'm gonna go I'm gonna go I'm gonna go I'm gonna go I'm gonna go And I just tried it out for the first time It didn't work And it's clear you guys don't like it So we're gonna roll it back We could call him anything else. GP? What's polar bear? I like ghost pirate. Ghost pirate it is. So where… Where do pirates go?

Yeah, where would be the place that Elk has heard that ghost pirate has been seen? He sails a ship that passes through the land in the sky. It's a flying ship. It's a flying ship. Oh, God, a flying ship ghost pirate. Last time I saw him, he was past Wasp's domain. He was in the place that we don't go. What's the place that you don't go? It's the place where the patrons live. Why don't you go there? Because they're different from us. How? We're spirits of animals. They're the spirits of people.

That's where all the firsts live. That's where the core of the patronages all live. That's where we can't go. Well, we can't. We gotta… We gotta go there. The ghost pirate's pretty much the only guy that goes back and forth between the patronage and the animal spirit world. Like, does he have a pirate? Does he have a patch? What makes him a pirate? Does he have a parrot? Sorry. I mean, he's got like a boat. He's an old man. He's got some beard. He's got markings. Markings?

He's got a lot of markings. He's got like a lot of tattoos. Like these? Do I have my ghost spirit staff? Yeah, you actually… Okay, so something that the spirits… The spirits you have noticed, a lot of… If you've ever encountered a person, which most of you haven't, but you've heard that when a person is in the spirit world, they're not really there. It's sort of a mental reinforcement of their image. But Vang, this is a real physical person. Yeah, I see that. This person is here. Yeah.

I'm like, I'm sniffing him. I'm nuzzling him. Yeah, and he's got stuff. You know, like your staff. That's cool. I like that. The decoration looks good. I like the symbols. I like the symbols and I like the decoration. I like the staff. I like your stick. That's cool. I like your compliments. Thank you very much. The decorations, they look a lot like the ghost pirate. Yeah, right? Yeah. So maybe he's imbued with runes. I don't know if this helps, but like you can't…

Sometimes when the wind blows, you can hear him coming. It's like a song. Like wind doesn't come around that often, but whenever the ghost pirate comes into town, into town… Yeah, whenever he comes into town, that's when like he like summons wind to move his ship. If Polar Bear knows that wind is the spirit that knows most often when this traveler, this sailor arrives in the spirit world, then wind might be the spirit you want to find. So we'll do it like a perilous journey role.

So Polar Bear will be the scout because Polar Bear is always on the lookout for enemies. Elk will be the trailblazer because Elk knows the way. And Owl will be… Blocking offers. Owl will be refusing to yes and. Yes! Owl will be an indication of how accurate the traveling is. I can't tell you what the right way is, but I can sure shit tell you if we're going the wrong way. Yeah, that's Owl. Yeah. In a nutshell. Okay.

So yeah, so we'll be doing this as a classic undertake a perilous journey role. But the roles are slightly different. So 2d6 plus wisdom. I got 11. I got seven. I got 10 then. Okay, great. With 10 plus roles on undertake a perilous journey, things go better than you expect them to. So getting there doesn't take as long. Owl, you know that you're going exactly where you need to go. Since you're the one that's like, okay, this is where we need to go. We need to go to find wind.

Where do you need to go? Wind. Wind likes to hang out with fire. Okay. Wind and fire often work together for some nastiness that we don't really enjoy or talk about too much. But anyway, you sniff for fire, you sniff for smoke, and you will find wind right beside it. And you get the idea that it is in the direction of an area called the plains, which is sort of the representation of grassland in the space. In the spirit world. So what is between the lake and the plains? Ah, the mountain. Okay.

So there is the mountain in between the lake and the plains. And the mountain is a place in the spirit world that can be seen by basically anywhere else in the spirit world. Like if you're in, you look in a direction, you can see even just a bit of the peak. And you have come to the mountain, the four of you. Ving, this is the biggest mountain you've ever seen in your entire life. Yeah, it is basically just the largest peak that can be found. It's the largest peak in the entire world.

It's the largest peak in the entire world. It's the largest peak that can be found in the great forest or in the frozen north, but it is almost solitary. How are we ever going to get over that thing? So you start climbing the mountain. And with the physics, actually, so you, the three of you, owl, polar bear, and elk, you find it easy as ever. Like this is your home. This is the way that you move. And you are comfortable with this. Ving, you find this very difficult. Can I bird up? Can I try?

So the way that you're shape-shifting works in the material. World is you commune with a spirit in the spirit world and sort of trade forms almost. So now that you're in the spirit world, how does that work here? I guess I'd turn into a real life toucan. Okay, well, we can just roll it and we can see how it works based on the roll. If you want to do a 2d6 plus wisdom for your shape-shifting. Okay. Seven. Okay, so you get one. You get one hold. Okay. And what are you trying to turn into?

The hummingbird. The hummingbird. A comfortable form. So polar bear, you see a spirit that you're familiar with in the range of the mountains and they are a bird. It's not a hummingbird. But what is it? Eagle. Eagle. So you see eagle perched on like a like a bear looking tree on a rock as you approach and Ving, you're trying to climb the mountain. Yeah, a bear tree. It's like a tree, but it's covered in bears. They hang like fruit, like weighty fruit. I picked the bear tree. Tastes like berries.

Yep. You guys can all don't squeeze me Abdul. Oh, stop touching everybody. So you see eagle on a branch just preening like they do. The Vane Eagle. And Ving, you start trying to call on the powers that you have for so many years of your life. Yeah. And an eagle like looks up and starts looking at the group and then takes wing, flies over and you feel the talons of eagle dig into your shoulder Ving. Oh. And then you feel your forms merging. And it is a very unusual feeling.

It does not feel anything like your shape shifting usually does. And your two forms blend. Good God. Oh, my dude. What is happening to me? This is gross. Oh, fuck, dude. My Vane Eagle. So you're parts of you elongate and parts of eagle. Oh, finally. Oh. And shrink. And then you are sort of a mix between an elf, a man and a bird. Okay. But is it like doable? Is it like a toxic Avenger? Yeah. No, you look good. You look good. How do I? Yeah, you know, it looks good. Right, guys? Right? Yeah.

I feel terrible. It looks like you could fuck shit up. Look at that. Yeah. You look really good. I only have the one talent. I mean, the main thing is you got wings. So I think you can probably fly. You are able to fly. You're able to do what you hoped that you would do. But you are not a cleanly represented eagle. You are a mixture between eagle and man. You were trying to do hummingbird. I was trying. I wanted hummingbird. So you continue up the slope of the mountain.

It's steep and it's difficult. Elk and polar bear, you have no problem. Owl, eagle, Ving, you're just flying along. And you get to a cleft in the path between two smaller peaks on the side of the mountain and polar bear. That is when you see a threat. You fought this spirit many times before. Sometimes won, sometimes lost. Which spirit is it? It's avalanche. That's a big spirit? That's awesome. So the slopes of this part of mountain are covered in pristine snow.

The light from sun, it's reflecting off beautifully clean white slopes. As you approach this area under the snow, you hear a rumbling in the rocks and a rumbling in the snow. And you hear, Oh, be careful. Hey, be cool, man. It's just us coming through. I'm just saying, you might want to watch your step. I'm going to turn to Ving and just stay close with us. You don't want to get avalanche. Get a good. Look at you. And you have to cross a large part of this peak where you believe avalanche to be.

Avalanche is a weird spirit in that they imbue natural formations that are also spirits of their own. So you don't really know where avalanche is, but. The potential is everywhere. The potential is everywhere. Exactly. Owl and Ving, you're at this time not in danger of setting off avalanche in the way that it is traditionally set off. But Elkin Polar Bear, you are purely terrifying. You are a spirit of the rest of the world. You are a spirit of the rest of the world.

You are a spirit of the rest of the world. I guess I would kind of get caught in an avalanche is probably what would happen with me. I get caught in a lot of avalanches. I guess what would happen with me is I would fail and live with that. Yeah, I fail a lot. This guy has a lot of talk. Avalanche likes to just talk it up. But he doesn't even know. He doesn't even know when he's going to go. Oh, I'm not concerned. You're not concerned. Hey, hey, you guys want to shut up out there?

Kind of taunting him. He doesn't like that. It's like, oh, you think just because you're flying, I can't get you. He doesn't even know. He says that. He doesn't even know when he's going to go. He can't control himself. He just goes. So Polar Bear and Elk, how are you getting across this area? You have to pick your way very carefully. And you have to be very quiet because avalanche likes to taunt. You can't really throw any insults back. Okay, cool. You just have to take it. Yeah.

So Polar Bear is. Oh, so you just. Yeah. Can we act that out? Yeah. You just listen to avalanche talking shit and just try not to react. I'm going to need some rolls, though, so we know how you do. 2d6 plus dexterity from both of you. Six. Twelve. Okay. So Elk, you nailed it. Man, Elk is way better at rolling than Tuck is. He's very dainty, too. Yeah. So check it out. And I guess I'm showing off. Yeah. Yeah. Hey, look at me. What? June. You're in, like, dressage. Yeah. It's a lot of.

Someone hummed the Lion King or something. Oh, man. Look, I get it. I get it. Ugh. My character just changed. Oh, hey. So avalanche is like, oh, yeah, you think some fancy walking is going to trick me? I'm so ready to just crush you. You stupid. You stupid Elk. You stupid Elk. And that polar bear, I'm going to get you, too. And your fur is not as white as you think it is. Oh, snap. I do my best, you know? So maybe what it is is that something Avalanche says gets polar bear.

Polar bear is like, hey. So yeah, it's just Avalanche is like, oh, yeah, Elk, I keep hearing you're telling people you're at 20 point. You're like, maybe 16. And I'm just acquiescing. I'm just acquiescing. Because Elk is apparently like a pushover. A pushover. Or it's just like, yeah, you're right. I'm a tiny piece of shit. Look at me. I'm a tiny piece of shit. I'm a hard 16. I'm a little tiny piece of shit. I like the characterization that you guys have already put on these owls. Yeah.

Or these spirits. You know, I think it's kind of a jerk. Elk is just a wiener. And polar bear is like, hey, look, I don't know, man. Just do what you do. You just gotta do it. Polar bear is a Hufflepuff. I'm Slytherin. Yeah. Owl is a Slytherin. Polar bear is a Hufflepuff. Elk is a Gryffindor. A Weasley. Elk got expelled. Elk is Fleur Delacour. Fleur Delacour. Oh, hello. I come from Bobatom. Back then. Back then. Back then. Back then. Back then. Back then. My blue sash. Look at my cool hat.

I was expelled for inappropriate touching. Yeah, Elk is Hagrid. Yeah, I was expelled for inappropriate touching. I touched spiders in weird places. Is that why Hagrid got expelled? He had a monster spider and it killed a kid. Oh, sorry. I thought you meant inappropriate touching. In your fan fiction. Yeah. Okay. That's why he has to live 500 feet from 500 meters from the school. From Hogwarts. That's why Hagrid lives in a shack because he can't be that close to Hogwarts. Oh, that's good.

Okay, yeah, so Polar Bear, you think when you cover your nose I can't see you in the snow, but I see you because your fur's yellow. Look at men. So you get Polar Bear stopped. Yeah, you just like, okay, that's enough. That's enough. Look.

And you put your paw down in a spot that like it's hard snow and you feel the snow crack like it's that shelf over the soft powder and you feel it crunch and Avalanche goes there you are and then and Ving and Owl, you see the snow start to pick up on the slopes and it's pouring down. No. And Elk, you are able to get out of the way if you so choose. But Polar Bear, you get nailed. Your paw goes through the crust and the snow starts coming down. Slowly covers his nose. He does. Closes his eyes.

It's okay, you guys. It's just… Polar Bear covers his nose and closes his eyes and he just gets buried. Can't see Polar Bear. Gone. Can I try and help? Yeah, but you can't see Polar Bear at all. Because I cover my nose. Polar Bear, you get absolutely buried. You feel the full crush of Avalanche's weight and yeah, Elk, Polar Bear is gone. Owl, Ving, you hear this Avalanche. It's so loud. It's a combination of the rushing of the snow and the rocks and what just sounds like a triumphant shouting.

Oh man, I cannot believe you guys took the bait. The guys just all talk. Look at this. Now we're stuck. I'm keeping a really good eye on exactly the spot where Polar Bear used to be. I'm just circling around. I'm looking. I'm looking right at it. I'm like, okay, so you're acting like this is a real inconvenience, but you're also like, okay, so where'd Polar Bear go? Yeah. So give me a 2d6 plus wisdom. This will be a discern realities. 10. Dang. 10 on a 10 plus.

You get to ask the GM three questions from the list below and you take a plus one forward when acting on the answers. What happened here recently? What is about to happen? What should I be on the lookout for? What here is useful or valuable to me? Who's really in control here? What here is not what it appears to be? Whoa. All of those answers could be Avalanche. I think what here is useful.

You see Avalanche is settling in sort of the bottom of this this cleft in the rocks that you were traveling through. It's sort of like a small rock valley. It's like a steep slope and then a higher wall on the other side and the snow is starting to settle and you see a patch of snow underneath you start to shift in what looks to be about the size of what Polar Bear would probably be. I think I think I spot your friend. I want to go to it. I swooped down to Polar Bear. Okay. Yeah.

So you swoop right down and Polar Bear. What's Polar Bear doing when they get hit by the Avalanche? Oh Polar Bear just waits for it to settle down and then it's just like alright buddy and then he has to dig himself out. How does he know which way is up? He spits. Oh. He's been paying attention. So give me a 2d6 plus strength to see if you can force your way out of the snow. Nine. Nine. Okay. So yeah you can make your self known like you just start forcing your way up through the snow.

You're not able to completely dig yourself out because Avalanche really prioritized inconveniencing you. So there's quite a bit of snow on top of you. Yeah. I poke my nose out. Yeah. You see a little black nose thing. Boop. There it is. I see his nose. What do you all do? You see where Polar Bear is. They're having trouble digging themselves out. I'm going to go down and start helping Polar Bear dig out. Okay. With my horrible man talents. Elk. Owl. What are you doing?

I run over there too and I start like just jabbing into the snow with my head talents. What are they called? Antlers. Antlers. Shit. Oh. Ow. Yeah. Okay. Polar Bear give me a defy danger strength. I'll aid. I got 10. Oh I got big number 13. Whoa. You got two. You got a two? So he falls into the hole. So um you swing down and everybody starts digging trying to get Polar Bear out. Elk you're jabbing your antlers in. Polar Bear you feel some antlers jab into your and I go hey grab the antlers.

I can't. I don't have thumbs. Hey big guy. And Polar Bear is just like swiping like as much strength as you can put behind the swings and Ving you get your gross half man half eagle body in there and a big old paw catches you right on the side. Oh no claws but Polar Bear smacks you hard enough that yeah you feel the spirit of eagle dislodge from your body. Oh gosh. And it's like throwing up but if you threw up like out of your flesh eagle pops out and is like oh how dare you. What?

How dare you sully the form of eagle. But you came to me. I did no such thing. I was under some sort of thrall. I would never willingly muddy myself with your disgusting human form. Yeah this guy's got a lot of opinions about eugenics. He thought I was a jerk. Listen to this guy. Sounds like Fraser. Look at me. I'm beautiful. But you are beautiful. The very vision of predatory instinct and skill. A hunter unsurpassed in sky or on land.

Ving starts crying one tear and he says but you were the Vind beneath my Vings. That makes no sense to me and you know it makes no sense to you. I will go now but no. Henceforth no eagle shall answer your call. No! An eagle spreads their wings and goes and soars off into the sky. Eagle! And this is a thing that I am committing to. From here on out you cannot take any forms that are eagle or eagle related. What? No goldens? Never. You have pissed off the core of all eagles.

For such a high brow animal you make such a dumb fucking noise. You hear off in the sky? Ah! That guy is a jerk. Once this was crazy. He grabbed a goat. He flew down and grabbed a goat off the side of a mountain. Like inappropriately? About ten flaps later dropped goat onto rocks. I never want to be him anyways. Yeah, it was gross. Was goat okay? So at this point you're back to Ving. And you know what? You actually feel like if you were to try that again with another spirit it would be harder.

I'm not into it. You didn't enjoy that experience? No, that was the worst. Thank God. I'm back. You're all on top of the snow now. Polarberry, they haul you out. You trundle out of the snow and you get back on your paws. And Avalanche sort of shot their shot with that one avalanche. How is Avalanche acting, man? They're like, dang it. You better watch your step. And then they're gone. And Snow's just like, I'm really sorry about that. I'll clean this up later. And you feel like, you know what?

If there's anything I can do to help you guys, help all of you get where you're going, just let me know. Can you clear a path for us so we can help this guy get to the other side of the mountain? Oh yeah, no problem. I can at least get you through this part of the peak. And you feel like and the snow packs back down to a comfortable walking consistency and a little footpath settles it. It settles itself up this part of the peak of mountain that you're trying to go. You guys have an ice day.

And we all laugh like, I guess. Everybody but Polar Bear is laughing. Polar Bear is laughing so hard. Polar Bear loves Snow Jones. Jessica as a player is laughing so hard she's trying not to be too loud. I don't pass out compliments very often but he's probably the best spirit at jokes. Snow? Yeah. Yeah, I guess you know when it's just got us chill out. Oh my god, classic. Classic Snow. Okay, just as the player of Duel, I resent being forced to laugh at these puns. Spirits love puns. Fuck you.

You know what you signed up for with this podcast? Everyone? Once in a while I'm going to embody the spirit of a natural formation that enjoys making puns. I love it. I love it. Snow is one of the best. Snow is one of the best. Okay, so Snow has made it a little bit easier to get up this part of mountain. And you travel further. What way would Elk suggest over mountain? I think I'd like to see what happens when we crest the peak. It's a nice day. Yeah.

I turn to Ving and I'm like, hey, there's a shortcut, but I'm not going to go up. But I want to take you over the top. Okay, well, that's cool. I'd rather get back to my body. No, but you're going to want to see this. It's amazing. And then so I take him to the top of the peak where you can see the entirety of the spirit realm. Also, Ving, to be clear, this is your body. Your real body. Oh, yes. I'm trying to impart how much of an irregularity that is for spirit travelers.

You have your real physical human body here. And if you die here, you would die. You would be dead. It could be a really bad scene. You are in a lot of danger. So how are you getting up to the peak? Because it's pretty rugged at the top. And Ving is a real physical human in a very strange place. Also, I'm punch drunk. I'm the polar bear. Yeah, polar bear really nailed Ving. Oh, sorry. No, it's okay. I had it coming. Do you want to get on my back? See what it's like to ride for once?

You know what? I would love that elk. You've always been good to me. And then I take a hoof and I stroke his face. Oh, okay. It's a tender touch. Just one. Just one tender touch. Oh, you're so tender. I jump on. Yeah, you hop on elk. Strong, rippling muscles under a silky coat of fur. I get hard. Yeah, you, when you, any time that you spent in the great forest, you saw some pretty magnificent elks. Yeah. And elk is unsurpassed. Delicious. Pure, beautiful specimen. Yeah.

Probably, you know, because it's the elk. Capital T, capital E, the elk. And yeah, and I talk like this. Yeah, I know, right? And that's the thing is like most people that, if people can talk to animals and they talk to an elk, they do hear that that's what most people talk about. Yeah. Yeah. That's what most of them sound like. Yeah. We have, we all have sinus infections. That's why they're snorting so much. They snort all the time.

But when you talk to them, they're just like, there's just a lot of pollen. All pollen all the time. So Ving, you're riding on the back of elk, polar bear. Oh, I plod along. Yeah, plodding along. Owl, this is just, are you still? Another dense guy. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Anyway, it's pretty cool up here. Yeah. Flapping around. And you get to the peak of mountain. The way up seems like it was shorter than the way down would be. At least that's the way it looks from here.

It comes to a very, very narrow peak. Like it's this massive, massive mountain with this incredibly strong and sturdy base. So rugged going up. Different parts of mountain are different. There's a part that's volcanic. There's a part that's like forested hillside. There's a part that's deep snow. But up here, it's just a tiny little peak with a little area to stand. And the spirit world is laid out before you.

This is the first time you're seeing the entirety of the spirit world and you see just how strange it is. There's forest as far as the eye can see in one direction. Different kinds of trees. There's an area that is, it looks like it's steps, like the Mongolian steps, how it's like areas of a mountain like marching down from mountain sides. But they go up. They go up. They go down. They go up. They go up. They go up. They go up. They go up. They also go around. Like they twist.

There's areas that are rocky desert and there are mountains that aren't attached to anything that are just rocky outcroppings. There's an ocean that seems to go down at an angle. But you see islands in this sea just poking out at right angles in strange directions. And you see down far, far away is the grasslands. You see smoke billowing up from an area of the plains. And you see a lot of water and you see the flickers of fire in the distance.

And you hear the howling of what you believe to be wind. Boom. Guys, that's it. By the way, I should point out, what a view from up here, huh? It's pretty nice. Nice vista, mister. Yeah. And then I turned to him and I'm like, everything that the light touches will be yours one day. Everything the light touches? Yeah. Except for the elephant's graveyard. And then I'm like, no, never mind. That's something else. What about that shadow? No. Nothing. Yeah. And you actually, yeah, you see…

But it is a real fucking acid trip up here. This is very trippy. There are a lot of spirits that you can see from this, from the peak of mountain. You see sun and moon chasing each other through the sky. You see clouds moving of their own accord. Sixty-nining across the night and day. Beautiful. Yeah, where sun and moon go, the sky changes. There are… Whales. Something that looks like… Where? Like just off in the distance through the ocean. You see whale… Riding unicycles.

You see a whale in the ocean from a far distance and you see them come up and take off into the sky and move to another body of water. I saw one jump into the sand. Yeah, you did. Whale is just about moving through places that other people can't. I want to call upon the whale so bad right now. Just like, uh… No. No. No. I can wait. I could be a whale man. Oh, I could be a whale man. You're lucky. Sometimes people come up here and be like six, seven hours and won't see any whales. Really? Yeah.

You get your money back if that happens. Yeah. And sometimes lunch. There's a whale guarantee? Yeah, there's a whale sighting guarantee. We guide someone up here and we take a coin and like sometimes we don't take anything. I do like your staff, by the way. But anyway, sometimes… We bring them up here and then… No way. And they don't see anything. We'll take them back down and give them their coin back if they're going to be like that about it.

That's actually a great point because we have established that there are spirit guides. Is Owl a guide? I mean, it's a little side gig he's got going on. Yeah. He's got, you know, he's got some other… He can pretty much hook you up with anything you're looking for. But if you're not… Like, definitely whale watching. If he's too busy to take you out, he's got some friends. Yeah. Yeah. Who can do that. But his eyesight's so much better than everyone else. He's like, yeah, there's the whales.

And like, what? I don't see any whales. Yeah, they're right there. There's whales right there. No money back, guarantee. What that implies is two things to me, at least based on what we've established. That means that Owl has guided other people through the spirit world before and also that Owl expects payment. Yeah. Staff's nice, man. Yeah, the staff that I… I've had in my family for generations. Yeah, your unbreakable taped up staff. It's awesome. Yeah. Thank you for calling it that.

I like… I like the symbols. I like the shape. I just like it. It looks good. Look, I don't know what you're getting at. You're not getting the staff, man. Thanks for bringing me here. I see the whales. I guess… I guess, you know, traditionally… Mm-hmm. Are you going to leave me up here to die? No, it's… Again? You know, like a tip or something might be nice. I'll get you a tip. I'll give you the tip of my spear. How about that? That's what I thought. Now let's get down this mountain.

So… And just to give you some background on what has happened before, tuck paid koi with a coin and a bottle of music. Just so you know the kinds of things. They basically take anything but… I'm acting really cheap here. But it seems like… But it seems like owl is fixated on the staff. Yeah. So that's something to consider. So you start making your way down the peak of the mountain and… You get to a point where you cross into a very rocky trail.

Whereas the area that you came up with was sort of a deep, snowy… Like a ski hill looking side of the mountain. This is like… You know when you see really dense mountains at like the edge of the Himalayas where it's like the path goes like straight down and then it hooks around and then it goes back down this like cliff face? It's like that. There are a lot of really treacherous zones. Elk, you're used to walking in rocky mountains. Rocky areas. Polar bear, you've done this a billion times.

Doesn't really matter to you. Owl, you're flying. Ving, I assume you're still chilling on the back of owl? Yeah. Or elk? Hey, give me a lift. Yeah. Yeah, we'll see that happen. And you get to an area of the cliff side that has a lot of caves, a lot of places to hide, a lot of tumbles of stone that could potentially conceal things. And you start to feel like you're being watched. To certain realities. To certain those realities. 2D6 plus wisdom. Eight. On a seven to nine, you ask one question.

What's about to happen? So as you are on the back of elk and coming down an area between two large tumbled piles of rock, you hear some movement behind the stones and you hear a long, deep howl. Go ahead. You hear a long, deep howl. And you hear a long, deep howl. Yeah, let's jump in one of the caves. What do you guys think? We should not run into the cave.

Yeah, Polar Bear is sort of like the general, you know what I mean, of this group where it's like you know when a fight is coming and what you should do. So what does Polar Bear think you should do? Polar Bear says down the mountain, quick as he can. Oh, you're just going to haul ass? Yeah. Okay. It's the only thing you can do. You don't want to corner yourself. Yeah. Yeah. Smart. Is everybody just like moving? Yeah. So 2d6 plus dexterity. I only got six. Oh, I got 11. I got nine. I'm eight.

Eight. Okay. So elk just takes off. It's a wolf. It's a wolf. It's a wolf. It's a wolf. It's wolf. It's wolf. If there's something that elk's good at, it's running away from threats. And so are you still on the back? Yeah. So you're just going to stay there? I think so. Okay. No, that makes sense. Because I mean like even though, like you're, you could still be in a little bit of danger, but for the most part, elk success means that you're taking off. I pulled my bow and arrow. Just in case.

Oh yeah. You got weapons. Do you have a bow and arrow? Yeah, I do. Oh yeah. He got one a long time ago. He doesn't use it much. Yeah. And owl starts flapping away as well. And polar bear, not as fast as everybody else, especially like downhill is a very uncomfortable. I'm so bottom heavy. Polar bears running down and their butt starts, like keeps coming up a little bit. They're like, Oh, like just on their front feet. Yeah. And elk is gone. Vings on the back, pulling out a bow.

Owl is flying ahead, but not too far ahead. And you see coming up over to stand on a pile of rocks. It's wolf. It is wolf. And wolf stands up on top of the rock, gives another howl. Oh, that one wasn't as good as the first one. And sniffs the air and looks right at you. That's what wolf says to himself. Yeah. Wolf is like, Oh, Nope. Not that one. Let's, uh, let's do, do, do over, do over, do over on that second howl. Uh, and you see wolf lock eyes with you, polar bear.

And from either side of the trail, more wolves make themselves seen. They come out of caves. They come out from behind rocks. And as someone who has faced off with these individuals before, you know that this is capital T capital P the pack. Thanks for listening, everybody. This has been Spout Lore. I'm your game. Master Sean O'Hara. And with me playing Ving, the half elf druid, Paul offers. Hello. Playing elk. Abdul disease. I'll see you later. Everybody. Oh, geez. Playing polar bear.

Jessica tie. Yeah. Bye guys. And playing owl. Mark Robertson. Yeah. I guess I'll see you guys later. Thanks to Aaron Reed of Vancouver Sunday service for our intro and outro music. Thanks to MP Mark Carter and will for letting us record in their beautiful home. And thank you to you for listening. This has been Spout Lore. We'll see you next time. And so ends the tale of adventures. Three. The bear. There's a.

And lost they be For time's abreast in revelry And though our journey May be like a conclusion We will not leave you Without a resolution Return next week to hear some more Whilst you commute Or do your chores And for you I'd gladly Spout no