Episode 16 – All Nighter

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 Hello everybody and welcome to Spout Lore!

I'm Spelt, and I'm here to tell you a tale of three heroes noble and bold I'm your game master, Sean O'Hara, joining me as always playing Tacoma Dome the Barbarian Abdulaziz Hello! Playing Ving the Half-Elf Druid, Paul Oppers Hey there! And playing Fat Billy the Halfling Thief, Jessica Tai Hi!

When last we left our heroes, they spent a day in rest and relaxation in the luxurious Margani Library After some pretty dicey extraction fighting, they decided to just recuperate and study and spend their time here Shia the Garden Snake and Ving's newly found half-sister decided to leave her place at the Siddel Estate and come to stay at the library in its safety Leaving the gang's former roommate, it would seem, is now his classification He'll always be our roommate in my heart Yeah, leaving casual plates to live at the Siddel Manor Weird move on his part Yeah, maybe you could see him later Okay Maybe he fell in love with one of the servants Oooh!

Girlfriend! That'd be cute Yeah That'd be nice, yeah It'd be good for him Yeah, he's really been pining about his ex-girlfriend for too long Totally, he needs to get over that lady And after everybody decided that things were safe and sound, we found Perel the Wizard doing some yellow belt exercises with the children of the Margani Library Learning the very, very first basic forms of silent word And then we learned some stuff What did we learn from the spelt lores that we did?

Uh, we learned about how to play the game We learned about the land of Hibernia, which is the land where the Fae were originally from And also where the root of Druidism And we learned that there's some trees in Hibernia and in the Everwood Valley Which have like ancient, like super ancient carvings of Fae language on them Which might be part of the puzzle in getting Perel his magic back Yes And we also learned Uh, that Vings' mum, Ileana That was actually her last name Which is an ancestral name of an ancient race of people from Hibernia So Vings' roots might be in the island, at least from his mum's side Which lends further to her, the possibility of her being some sort of wizard or witch of the wild And we learned kind of, or we at least intuited or implied that the people of Hibernia, the source of their magic Came from the fact that some of them had faerie blood in them Yeah Which descended from faeries in some way And we also learned Uh, party subs not allowed in the atrium We knew that though, there are signs everywhere that say that No party subs There's a flashback where we're talking to a librarian who's like You knew it, because you snuck it in in a backpack They didn't say no party subs It says food, that means all food Party subs are barely food They're more party than food Doesn't say no parties, so What did Tuck learn?

Tuck asked Amma about why he couldn't see the truth demon And Amma was like, I don't know But that might mean that you're truthless There's either no truth in you, some power in you rivals that of truth Or um, yeah, you are like absent of truth Yeah, so really more questions than answers I hope that was a great payoff for you listeners This is you, Abdul, you did this Yeah, fuck you listeners Everyone that's interested in knowing Tuck's backstory I'm gonna drag it out for nine more seasons Joke's on you, we don't even know what his backstory is Because he won't tell us Ha!

Uh, and the end of that day was uh, heralded by Farah Margani, master librarian approaching the three of you And Shia, presumably, and Perel, probably To tell you that, according to her sources, the Lightguard was preparing, and is preparing for, And is preparing to march on the library And that you should prepare yourselves for a siege And that is where we find you now One question Yes What's a siege?

A siege is an assault upon a- Ving's asking her Oh, uh, uh, she looks around, do you really not know or is this a joke? I saw a play once called Under Siege Yep, what happened in that play?

Uh, there was a guy in a house, I remember he has a ponytail and he was pretty badass Okay, so no, that is not what a siege is Uh, a siege is an assault upon a fortified location So the Lightguard will be assaulting the fortified location that is the library Our initial priorities will be to ensure that the Lightguard does not find the entrance to the library And if they do, to defend the library with every possible shred of our lives How do you three believe that you would be most effective in a war?

I don't know, we're good at fucking stuff up Yeah, we're good at fights, I spear some omelet into my mouth And we're good at like, like sneaking around and Yeah Like making jokes I've almost killed Fadum before You've almost killed the chief immolator? Yeah, it happened a couple of days ago, he is half blind and very mad at me What? I don't know I don't know What state did you leave him in your fight?

Burnt Well, in that case we can only hope that he is receiving continued medical attention and will not be upon the field Do any of you have any military experience? My dad was in the military? I fought in many wars And it sounds like a joke, but it's true What wars has Billy fought? I guess Tuck is interested, what wars have you fought in, Billy? Uh, the war of… Winter Um The… The… The… The… Big…

There was a big war That was almost as big as the war of winter There was, uh, the wizard war You fought in the wizard war? I did And… I don't know, probably a few others I can't remember them right now Uh, it sounds like to me, based on your previous activities and excursions, that you fought in the wizard war? Uh, I don't know, probably a few others? I don't know, probably a few others? I don't know, probably a few others?

You know, some of these were some of the best activities and excursions that you might be best suited to hit-and-run distractions, guerilla tactics, disrupting enemy lines I mean, Ving would probably be the best to deal with the guerillas I can talk to the—if you've got guerillas that need going—I can be your guerilla in the mist I'm sure that you are all aware that guerillas are not indigenous to McCall and I'm disappointed that you would even—you would even suggest that there would be guerillas present Hey, what do you get when you have four guerillas and you get— four gorillas and you give them a gold piece, but you only ask two of them to come to, to, to return to your, to your place afterward.

After you give them the goal, if you only want, wait, what do you get? What do you get? If you let him, let him do it. What do you, what do you get? What do you get when you have business being trying to, he's trying to find a joke. No, he's trying to remember the joke. What do you get when you have, um, four gorillas and, uh, you want to sell two of them for a one gold coin. What do you get for two gorillas out of the four gorillas you sold? Oh my God.

I don't know what you get a silver back, silver back, one silver piece back. What do you get when this guy gets it? That was, uh, I'm sorry. I'm not good at jokes that I've heard from other people. It was, what is the, what is the expression? That was, uh, yeah, a long walk for a short drop. So the library will be undergoing its own preparations. And I suggest that you prepare for the coming battle in whatever way you see fit.

You will be given whatever degree of autonomy you require to be the most effective. If you could give us like a list of things to do that would, it would help us. Um, we're pretty, like if we don't have a goal, we're pretty loose. Hmm. Hmm. Hmm. Hmm. Pretty loose and hard to contain. Okay. So what do we think the things that she says you could do for preparation would be? Stretch. Uh huh. Rest. Oh, for prep. Yeah. We have to prepare, I guess. Gear up.

Any healing herbs or like medicines we can have. Yeah. Do you have any wine, wine wood? It's kind of like a weird specialty item. Yeah. That pops up here and there. So probably not. We might have to go to like the bizarre. Okay. And, and see if somebody has some of it. Yeah. Cool. Some fucking shyster that we know like Randy. Yeah, totally. He would. Cool. Okay. So yeah, that's a good idea.

Cause she would be like, yeah, we have, we do have, you know, our arboretum contains some medicinal herbs, but not anything that would be of immediate use during a fight. Okay. Let's try and find some wine wood. Good. Is there a bizarre like up above? Um, yeah. Yeah. There would be one in, in Elaine Springs, but there wouldn't be as much of a variety as there would be in McCall. Hmm. I'm fine with going to McCall.

If we, if we try and like sneak in, like wear disguises or we can get somebody, get some is, did Shia come yet? Yeah. Shia's here. Yeah. She's been here the whole time. She's definitely less, uh, noticeable than the three of you. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Even the silhouette of the three of you together would be so much more noticeable. Okay.

So if Shia is going to go to the bazaar for you and try and find this, I kind of want somebody to roll a defy danger charisma with a plus one to determine how much, she's able to get, uh, I guess it makes sense for Ving, right? Yeah. Sis, have you heard of, uh, wine wood? Uh, I know. I don't think so. And this is horrible vintage. It tastes like a lake. It's new ish to the land. We technically invented it. Um, okay. And it's a healing potion wine. It what? Yeah.

It heals and it clears you of your woes, physical and mental. We need some of that wine for the siege. Right. Two to six plus charisma and a plus one. So that, well, it doesn't matter. 12. What a great role. Holy shit. You got this. Okay. Yeah. All right. Okay. I'll, I'll be back as quick as I can. I'm going to, yeah, I'll, um, yep. And she's walking away muttering to herself like that. Like, okay. Yeah. Uh, and she's gone booze run.

And you know, I will say that an amount of time later, she comes back with enough doses for like two per. So each of you would get two healing potions, but she hasn't returned. Like she won't return for several hours and each one heals 10, he'll send. Fuck. Yeah. That's awesome. This is a moderately paced gear up. See, uh, so what else? We should probably look up stuff about the torch. Oh yeah. Oh, good idea. Yeah. We could research stuff about the torch.

Is there an autobiography of him here in the library? That would re that would require like the study thing that we've talked about. So if you wanted to roll a spell or you would have all of the possibilities of success and failures as well. Lord, but if one of you wanted to, if you wanted to commit your entire day to doing that, I'd give you the 10 plus, but you, that would be the only thing that you'd be allowed to do this day is just study. If you want the 10 plus. Oh, okay.

Also, I don't think that you've used your bardic lore on the torch. I haven't. So that's a question. You could ask a question. Yeah. God's in their servants. Yeah. Cool. What's his greatest weakness? Um, I don't know if there, there would be a text that is like, he has, he has a trick knee. You know what I mean?

But I, something that I think you would find in your studies and also comparing it to stories that you've already heard is that you find a text that describes the operations of the church of the flame and the light guard like 400 years ago. And in it, they describe somebody that sounds an awful like, like the torch of McCall. The similar description of like a man of powerful countenance and, and stern temper able to command the flames itself, et cetera. Wicked abs.

You can see them through his shirt, salt and pepper old, but making it work. Yeah. Uh, so the kind of guy you want to grow old with slash grow up to be, you want to be him or you want to be in him, you know, all the kind of stuff. Yeah. So you find a reference to what you're like. This is the, this is the, this is the torch. This is weird, but this sounds exactly like the torch and it's, it was written 400 years ago. Is there a picture? Does it look like there'd be like a drawing, right?

And the drawing is like, yeah, man, that sure looks a lot like the guy that we know. So he might be 400 years old. Who can say something's going on with this guy? Yeah. He's, he was already older than you thought he would be. And he's also way, way, way potentially older than you even thought. Can I, can I, if Perel reads for me, can I study? Yeah, totally. Do you want to spend like a whole day? A whole day studying? Yeah. Perel. Okay. Yeah. Perel stick around with Billy and, and help him read.

Unless you guys want to do it. No, no, no, no. That's great. Okay. But can I ask you a question? Yeah. Or can I ask a question on your behalf? Yeah. Speak for you. So does that mean she can't gear up? Yeah. It basically means that if this is what Billy wants to do, Billy's doing this for the whole day. What? Yeah. No, you can like, you can roll your Spout Lore and hope that you succeed. But, um, if you wanted to just get the 10 plus, I'll just roll. Okay. Then yeah.

So two to six plus, uh, intelligence with a plus one. Five. Uh, you know what? Perel did his best. He read everything aloud to me and I did not retain anything. Cause there was a jar of peanut butter. Yeah. In the distance. And I was trying to like, will it towards me, but I also do want it that badly. Cause I just eaten. So that was my afternoon. Eventually Billy just wanders, away. I'm done with this. Yeah. And I'm like, sorry guys. I, I really tried to read, but I think I was too ambitious.

What was the topic that you were trying to get Perel to help you study? Yeah. It was a battle from 300 years ish ago between who is probably the torch of McCall and the orcs. Okay, cool. So you find nothing of use or interest. And Perel the whole time is like, wow, this is unbelievable. You would never believe the things that I'm reading. Billy, isn't this cool? And you're like, uh-huh. Looking at a jar of peanut butter. Billy, what'd you find out that I didn't want peanut butter that much.

So you failed that. And I will hold onto that. You know, you know, when you're reading a book for school and it's so boring that you have to like, hold your eyes open to like, cause otherwise words don't go in and you're just like fucking go inside the exams in an hour. And your eyes become so blurry. Like you literally blink. So many times you're like, I cannot make out what it says. I should go to the doctor.

Oh, uh, actually, I think if you were to learn something, it would be something stressful. Okay. And basically what Perel tells you afterwards is the account of that battle is with the torch at the lead. They wiped out that army, wiped them out off the map. Cool. Cool. Cool. Cool. Cool. Cool. Cool. Cool. Cool. Cool. Cool. Cool. Cool. Cool. Cool. Cool. Was tech still wanting to do a spell or as well? Yeah, I'll do a spell or tell me what you're, thinking about before you roll.

The thing that I was thinking is that the torch and the light guard have tried to burn the library before, which means that there's like some information in here that they are trying to get rid of. So I want to see if I can find that information. Cool. Just as fucking leverage. Yeah, totally. Seven, seven. So interesting, but not useful. Hmm. Okay. I think what you find is a handwritten book. You find a handwritten like journal basically from an old librarian. Oh, cool.

Who has since passed on describing recent changes in how the church seems to operate and the way that the light guard operates. This is maybe from, I want to say between 90 and 110 years ago. And you're trying to make sense of it. It's, it's written in a kind of weird old form of McCollin. So you're like, Oh my God, just be fucking clear about what you're trying to say. It sounds super dry as well.

But what you do find are the words, and you're not sure if this is referencing the church as a whole, the torch or the God of the flame, but you find a line that basically says demonic influences are all but assured. Oh, Oh man. Yeah. I steal that book. You don't have to steal it. It's a library. I steal it. I put it in my little backpack. There's a librarian standing right next to you. It's like, you're going to put that back, right? And I, I, I, I am about to lie.

And then I'm, I'm like, no, I'm not. You should do something about it. I'll tell far. She's not going to do anything. She owes us. She does not owe you the library itself. Look, this is important. I need this. Okay. I'm going to go tell master Margani. And he turns around and starts walking away. Get to me and Farrah's office a little while later. And she made me sit on a really little chair. Yeah. Just give the book back. I need it for things.

You can, you can study the book as much as you desire. But if it passes the walls of this library, my debt to you is paid. Farrah, I'm too dumb to study and remember the things, you know, this about me. You have done a great service to this library and to my family line. But if you attempt to steal that book, it will be on your head. Can I, this is something she can not be convinced on. Son of a bitch. Yeah, sorry. And I take the book and I slam it on her desk.

And I'd be like, I'm going to forget everything in this book and it's your fault. And I leave. It's your fault. She takes the book and she kind of, uh, just leafs through it. Like, Hmm. Yeah. He uses his own stupidity as an argument. Yeah. And when it's not an effective one, but it's certainly a way to go about it. I don't know. It got her to read the information that we need retained. What's being doing while Billy and Tucker studying?

Uh, he wants to try and learn where all the, we were talking about earlier, how there's been previous different, uh, entrances to the library. So he's trying to figure out all the different entrances over the years. Two to six plus wisdom. Well, uh, Bing is studying all these. He's like going over these books and drawing his own diagrams and like figuring it. He has them everywhere. He built a little diorama of this 3d model of all the old entrances.

And then he didn't like, he just pans up and he's like reading this book and it just says like McCollum plumbing, which has nothing to do with the library at all. He's just been studying the wrong fucking thing. Like you go to the front door and you're like, okay, there's one. Then you go to the secret. Uh, entrance that you guys came to and you're like, okay, there's two. And then you're looking around like, I guess that's it. A good day's work for Ving Vang Zumba.

I do love the shot of him, like being like diagrams done. And then it's like a McDonald's play play. Yes. Yeah. Of a toilet done. So yeah, I'm going to say that that failure means that there might be entrances and exits that you're unaware of that the like art will be able to utilize. Sick. Great job. Everyone. Glad to write it up. But to that end, we should probably do something about the entrance that we knocked into the library. Oh yeah.

We were talking about trying to, um, recruit the jackals or convince them that they need to be on the lookout. Yeah. Can we go to the jackals? You could, it'll take you a little bit to get back to McCall and then deal with that and come back. But how are you sneaking back? Are you like do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do.

Cart merchants cart in the cart a pile of clothes yeah I guess we could go as cart people yeah oh yeah cause the Elaine Springs they are different what are they merchants or people what's the thing about them it's like a it's like a halfway merchant town like people that corral sandworms stop here people that are coming from further territories so we'll just disguise ourselves as merchants great I was basically asking if you're gonna roll defy danger charisma or dexterity think charisma with disguises yeah totally oh not bad plus 10 nice yes okay great so what do we want to talk about what the disguises look like or is it a bunch of cloaks maybe you guys are disguised as museum curators and you're like we gotta take this mummy exhibit to the town yeah I am the mummy oh I was gonna say I'm in the mummy that's funny cause I was gonna say I'm in the mummy so everybody's fighting over who gets to be the mummy yeah no I'm the mummy I wanna be the mummy like all all three of us are arguing about it cuts to like just a horse and carriage going down with three mummies and it just gets dumped in jackal territory well we're all doing our own plans then yeah a centaur that works for the library like drags you in as mummies and dumps you in jackal territory and they're just like oh my god that took forever and we're still kind of mad at each other you call that a mummy costume everybody's trying to lay a stiller on you as possible being like I'm the best mummy that happens that definitely happens and you get dumped in jackal territory like an hour and a half later you're in an alley you guys didn't make mouth holes what Jesus you've never been a mummy before says the guy with gills you had so many opportunities to breathe yeah so you're in jackal territory you're wrapped up there's a pile of linen bandages and I just call out Jake you're just gonna start yelling we're quietly yelling Jake Jake Jake yeah we're quietly yelling oh wait can I use my under my connection yeah you can probably use connections cause it works with ragamuffins but it also works with straight up the criminal element yeah yeah Billy's using connections and in the background Tuck and Bing are ineffectually scream whispering Jake Jake stop it you guys Jake I'm trying to do something 2d6 plus charisma with connections yeah okay I'm trying to do something 9 9 if anyone wants to aid yeah we aid by scream whispering 2d6 plus bond it is helping I failed fuck 5 do you get that one experience and so with a 7 to 9 you have to settle for something close or there are strings attached can we do strings attached yeah how does Billy get the attention of the jackals well I am still loosely covered in linen and there's like the teens that we beat up uh huh who are like manning a rundown saloon looking building and they see us and they're like oh fuck and I'm like hey it's cool we're not here to beat you up this time we're just looking to talk to Jake and they take you I guess into maybe the saloon that they're standing outside of yeah and there's the saloon's called the stray dog and uh they take you into the basement and lounging on a stack of crates that has been made to roughly look like a throne is a rangy young man with his face hidden behind a black painted dog mask and he thinks it's really cool yeah it's like painted black it's got like the gold lines for the eyes and all that he goes what has brought you to the the um here what so I can't understand you with a dog mask on he tilts his head up a little bit so you can see his mouth moving underneath the mask what has brought you before me Jake the jackal it's a little distracting that mask wait do you want to take it off yeah I cannot for beneath this I am disfigured from the many battles that I have fought we'll give you five coin if you take your mask off he takes it right off and he just looks like a regular like 20 year old guy underneath dark skin really short hair it looks like he cut it with a knife what's up what do you what do you want we're here with a job oh well we're always looking for new clients do you know who we are I have an idea yes Bing holds up one of the wanted posters this is us that's supposed to be you guys right I know terrible pictures right not great the light guard do not have great artists that's why I wear the dog mask because I figure they might as well just make me look like a scary dog but yeah what do you what do you what do you need well you know that big hole that we carved in your territory I do yes we need you to plug it fast because the torch mccall might be coming for that plug the what yeah there's some big things happening in the city right now and and if they get in through that hole there's gonna be like a lot of bad stuff happening for all of mccall light guard's coming for the library how does that concern me I mean light guard's hard enough to deal with now right uh-huh imagine mccall without the library the library has done nothing for me I live in a mccall without the library well I want to roll a kind of he's like he's gonna help you you're just taking the wrong tack he wants money that's the only thing he cares about he doesn't give a shit about the library the torch is bad enough already he doesn't care about that okay I'll try another tag yeah come on man you're from here right you're from the sticks yeah so so like you know how bad the light guard is up here yeah so you're just gonna roll over like a fucking dog when they come to take over your territory no if they come here we'll fight I'm just saying your war is no concern of mine should we should we just pay them or yeah we should just pay them all right how many coins do we have I'm not telling him that oh no okay one second Jake huddle I mean we have 234 okay and two wooden tokens what if we give them a hundred coins yeah a hundred coins is pretty good for this kind of a job I think what about 75 coins and we get rid of their library fees for them oh that's a good idea okay they don't have library fees okay let's go we get back into the huddle that's what Jake hears it I've never been to the library we're whispering too loud again I guess he already heard us that we he heard that we have 234 a hundred coins sounds like a good way to go okay he says so we turn back to him and Billy is our negotiator in exchange for your services to make sure that the light guard do not get in through the hole we could offer you 100 I look at them coins deal okay oh wow but when this shakes out if you make it you tell everybody you know that it went the way it went because of Jake the Jackal oh for sure yeah everybody you know what we'll write a song about you don't make me write the season end song about this dipshit nah I'll write it I drag some a little bag of a hundred coins over he starts counting it immediately all right get out of here all right no light guard in the hole right I'll do what I can nobody in the hole I'll do what I can are you able to call our carts back no what what do you mean never mind slowly wrapping mummy wraps around everyone you do have to walk out out of the Jackal territory dressed as a mummy yeah Tuck is carrying Billy like a purse with his wrappings or a backpack arms and legs swinging yeah little baby Bjorn here we go yeah so three hours basically three and a half hours after you leave you return to the library and you have the assurances of Jake the Jackal and his Jackals that they will try and keep people out of that hole okay cool which means that it will be not impossible but harder for people to get in through the secret entrance and maybe Tuck's like don't roll over for the light guard speech did something I like to think it did I like to think it cut back to him we cut back to the basement of the stray dog and he's like sharpening a knife just looking into the distance thinking nah that speech didn't do anything for me and then we go to the distance and it's a stack of a hundred gore he's just crying it's beautiful I like that you guys have finally been forced finally after all this time to just pay somebody if you can't convince him he's just like money what would convince you to help us money but what about money okay maybe not a hundred okay so yeah you return to the library is Shia back Shia's back too she's got a case of wine wood awesome wow thank you can we cut back and see her interaction with the guy that sold her this it's Randy is it Randy or is it Colonel Dan de Glat oh I was wondering if he would come over here I don't think he would have the fucking stones to cross the sea of graves not on purpose he's a fucking idiot yeah he's an idiot I was brought over in a tornado what if Randy his connection is Dan yeah that's what I was thinking yeah it's like don't worry I got a guy who will get you all covered and then he goes to some motel and Dan's sitting there with a bunch of cases of wine and Dan has a hook hand and like long Captain Hook whip oh god he's got buckles on his shoes and like short sailor pants oh god he's really pirating it up he's got that well cause he was wearing like a naval officer outfit when you saw him last with the Crystal Bay Pirates and now it's just dirty and wrecked so he just looks like he looks like the bad guy from the first Pirates of the Caribbean in the second Pirates of the Caribbean when he's all gross and scraggly Barbossa?

No oh the Colonel Norrington or Commodore Norrington Randy does mention I got a guy elf real piece of shit he hooksmeup and yeah she comes back with a crate of bottles of wine wood healing elixir enough for two doses for all of you and it tastes just as gross as it's always been ugh age has done nothing for this wine just tastes like sediment ugh little bit of grape tastes a little bit like Goldstream Park so that's the that's what we've got so far some information couple failures the jackals keeping an eye on the hole and some healing potions so anything else that people want to do?

I guess gear up when you say gear up what do you mean? I mean like put on my chainmail shirt and silver greave like get into like tuck fight mode hmm Bing gets his bandolier together with all the different elements and gets his um one chainmail glove that he got from the tomb oh yeah what's Billy gearing up with?

Tons of throwing daggers rocks definitely rocks handy slingshot oh the knife that we got from last time yeah oh yeah the point is poison dagger yes ooh poison dagger yeah so Shia comes up to Billy while everybody's preparing cause she saw you fucking around with that knife yeah and she has a little vial with her that's got this like milky white liquid in it cause I've opened the knife and then all this like stuff came out and I'm like oh no I'm trying to scoop it back in no no no no leave that out Billy leave that out oh okay you can use this ooh what is this?

This is uh some of my very own venom and if you get even a little bit of that in somebody's bloodstream you'll pair up with it and it'll paralyze them sick okay I squeeze it all in there there you go cool so yeah Billy's got three doses of a paralytic poison sure okay yeah three swipes um I'm also gonna practice my sleeping spell oh yeah cool on who?

Pharrell Pharrell's just been sitting in a chair for like an hour while Billy practices this like okay yeah do it again okay his eyelids are like fluttering and he's like he's trying to keep his eyes open yeah I wave my hand over his eyes droop no I'm still awake oh dang it okay do it again more flourish and some fairy dust comes out of my hand like little lights I'm like ooh bro you've got it okay that's fun so yeah Billy does like a little twinkly thing like little twinkly lights come out when he does his fairy dust you just have to do like a little wave and then you're like nice and I'm backing up to see how far away I can do it from yeah you get it from like a pretty good distance at one point where like I'm way across the library screaming are you asleep?

You scream are you asleep and you see him just fall sideways out of the chair that he's in yes what's Ving doing?

I want to do something with the spear I want to make it siege ready maybe change it from wood to ironwood I was thinking oh yeah oh so sick flame proof so wood to ironwood do we mean that you are making an ironwood spear or you're trying to convince your spear to change itself to ironwood I think I'm going to try and convince my spear commune with the whispers of my spear all the spirits therein oh so communion of whispers is that what you're trying to do?

Yeah right because you just want to change it to ironwood because it could also be a kind of thing where we have the potential opportunity here to like awaken the spear in some fashion yeah potentially giving you some kind of magic item like quality to it yeah I don't know what maybe it strengthens the familiar bond that I have with the spirits contained within the wood mmhmm thus making the family tree stronger yeah and more sturdy totally like further strengthening your bond with the weapon itself like I think that's a great idea yeah yeah makes sense too since there's all those runes carved onto the spear that you would have like more of a connection with it mmhmm also now that my sister and I basically share this spear it's become the family is being more I'm bringing the family back together totally yeah strengthening the family tree mmhmm mmhmm okay I'm gonna use communion of whispers to hang out with the spear yeah nice plus my wisdom is 10 perfect so what happens on a 10 plus with communion of whispers the vision will be clear and helpful to me okay yeah cool!

So what does this look like for Ving?

Like I imagine he's just sitting in a room spear across his lap mmhmm trying to commune like he has a million times before and when he got it back from Shia when she brought it back she had repaired it mmhmm like the broken sword of Kramagran so it being broken and brought together like a kintsugi mmhmm ooo yeah situation to show that our family has been mmhmm yeah broken up but now they come back together and we don't hide from those cracks mmhmm we show them and there's um veins of iron wood going through all throughout this wood cool of the spear cool cool yeah and you feel your spirit like reaching out in a way that it has so many times feeling this like loneliness as you're like I am the spirit walker it is just me and I'm connecting with these spirits that I am familiar with and comfortable with but they are not me and now you feel like you feel the spirit of Shia in the distance you connect with that you feel the spirit of you presume other members of your family you can feel these points of light across the planet in the back way up in the back back of my feeling the spirit I feel the spirit of Cloudpiercer yeah wow circling yeah you feel that your spirit is connected with other living people for the first time in a really long time and your bond with this weapon has grown as a result my bond with those people has grown stronger and with the spear and maybe he feels he can feel Billy and oh yeah absolutely and Tuck too yeah I would love to oh that can I add yes please add in this community of whispers Ving takes an iron wood because only iron wood could affect iron wood and carves in common Tuck and Billy onto the spear oh and then when he does that he feels he hears like two more rhythms added to like yeah this like spirit connection and that's like Tuck and Billy yeah and the same way we were talking about our silhouette was just this lone skinny silhouette and now it fills out into the family silhouette mm-hmm you feel the spirit connection reach out to Perel momentarily before going maybe not oh maybe just just at Christmas maybe you feel the pulsing of Perel's spirit in the distance as well no don't cheapen the connection that we have I mean obviously not as strongly Sean nothing personal Perel's not in this family Perel please uh cool so I think that there is mechanically a thing that we can we can do to give you that benefit because that's a really cool idea and I like the idea that your spear has sort of been added to over time and now this is another addition to it I think that we can either add like the forceful tag which means that when you fight people you can narrate like bashing them away I like forceful cool thank you yeah no problem great idea the triumvirate of Billy Tuck and Ving has been strengthened spiritually cool anything else that people want to prepare well I don't have a weapon really I kind of just have the waning knife they have weapons here you could ask for one but it's not going to be Terry Larry and Chad I guess that's fine I'll I'll just grab an axe from like the armory mm-hmm it's kind of lame it's like the haft is metal and then the head is like really too like cleanly moon-shaped and it's got a little spike on the top and you're like ah fuck this and he talks like this and then he talks like this and he tosses it this is stupid and he just grabs a giant hammer cool he grabs a war hammer he's just like I'm not gonna be with a different axe I just feel so wrong yeah it felt gross when he picked it up yeah so you just have a huge hammer with like a big stone head on it yeah cool but he has the waning knife so he's put the chainmail half shirt on mm-hmm and he's got this silver grieve on his forearm cool that he got at the end of season six and he's tucked the waning knife into the armory and he's tucked the waning knife into the strap of the grieve cool uh yeah is that sort of the end of preparations for people like that is more that is a day's worth of shit for sure yeah totally uh so the sun sets on your first day of preparations the first of two the first of one days before the light guard actually marches on the city no one's quite sure yet you go to sleep I suppose what are people doing like are people able to sleep comfortably uh Billy is gonna sleep under one of the lights on the city he's gonna sleep under one of the study desks mm-hmm uh but he has a very fitful sleep yeah lots of lots of old dreams mm-hmm memories coming back ooh such as wars oh yeah whoa having little war flashbacks war flashbacks whoa I wanna see a flashback from the war of winter I don't know what that is that's so cool war of winter is really cool oh um I was thinking this is like a millennia ago mm-hmm war between the elves and the druids mm-hmm awesome that's fucking cool when the druids were leaving the everwood valley and heading up north was Billy fighting on the side of the druids or the elves on the druid side what was going on the druids uh were smaller folk and they were being pushed out of the lands by the halflings and so they were migrating up north and they didn't really know what was up there so they just followed through the trees and that's where you will find some of the markings of the druids on their way up mm-hmm whoa and they thought they could take cover in the forest but they ran into I guess like the dark elves up yeah like up high north in the in the land of the midnight sun yeah in the land of the midnight sun oh and the elves didn't want anything to do with any practice like that so there was a huge war and it went for the entirety of the winter in darkness cool maybe the winter lasted longer than any winter before or after yeah so cool oh god so does that mean that the druids originated in the everwood valley before migrating to like hibernia no they came from hibernia oh okay and they came down like to the everwood valley oh and then they were pushed out of the everwood valley yeah cool but they were always like in the trees like in the woods of the higher elevations of the everwood the halflings don't like anyone yeah coming so eventually they're forced out cool cool so cool oh I really like the idea too that the the runes and the carvings in the trees that are found in and the everwood valley and up through harbor on the way to harbour are all mostly magic of protection yeah like some of them are booby traps but lots of them are a lot of protection a lot of hiding the fairies and druids from hibernia like they were able to shift between like their physical beings into like the nature that surrounded it which also the halflings did not like they didn't trust that but they wanted to live freely so they went up north and the elves didn't like them at all that's classic elf like they're 100 just about them elves yeah that's really cool and I like the idea that the elves the dark elves are called that because their forest is dense and it's hard for light to get through but they also live so far north that it's dark for a long time sometimes yeah they're basically snow elves yeah and they the elves they like really relied on nature for their like well-being and their practices and stuff and they thought that the druids were like an abomination of nature how they manipulated it seemingly rather than they didn't understand how much a part of it they were yeah yeah yeah like I was thinking that I don't think in I don't think there are cities in the great forest you know what I mean like I don't think the elves build in there it's just like we live where we live yeah we live where the forest allows I also this what you're saying makes sense that we're saying like druids haven't been known in modern times to be half elf so that speaks to me of a union there was a marriage and an initial like a treaty was struck between an elf princess and a druid prince that came together in union and then they would be able to shift shape shift from there yeah that's how the war ended yeah it was like neither side could win cool so it had to be it was set up as a war and I like a treaty a shaky treaty yeah marriage whoa so that's why like a lot of like the elves still don't really get along with that part of like druidism yeah because some of the elves were alive for that they remember that true yeah yeah that's cool that would have been right before shithane was born yeah yeah yeah so there's like maybe some people still alive or it's only like one or two generations removed yeah that's so cool okay yeah so billy's had a fitful sleep with his flashbacks it also doesn't help that the library is still alive so it's like a little bit more of a like destabilizing yeah so there is a bit of that yeah what are tuck and ving doing as billy sleeps underneath the table somewhere I was just gonna go to sleep yeah no that's fine that's yeah that's a great like billy's having fitful war flashbacks ving is communing with his spear and tuck just fell asleep yeah yeah oh communing with my spirit is a euphemism and he ving's been standing up jerking off all night oh yeah yeah oh wait I have this demon book that's got demons k to n oh so cool yeah I mean I'm not a şu Yeah, the Couturche of…

The Couturche of Nicole. The Couturche of… Oh, so fast. Oh, man. Okay, let me look up. Don't look over here, please. I'm not. Anybody. Well, I mean, the Tuck's motivation is that, like, he found that book that said demonic influences assured about the torch. And then when he gave it back to Farrah, he looked in his backpack at the stolen book, and then he was like, right.

And then he closed, he cinched it up, put it on his back and walked out, and then tried to find a hidey hole to read this book in to see if he could find… Can I just stop you for a second? Maybe something Tuck would think about is the rest of those books are also here. True. You don't just have to go, like, if you're like, man, I really hope the thing I need is in this one. They're all under lock, though. Okay, fine. No. Oh, what? Jess, no. Oh, no. Oh, sorry. No, that's fine. She's right.

They're all getting locked down. No, we do have full… Tuck's trying to do it before the lockdown happens. He's running through the library. Stop, stop. There could be a librarian just, like, standing there waiting for you to study, like… Please. Yeah, and Tuck's just like, I'm sorry, I'm a slow reader. I will say that since I said you've already done a day's worth of shit, if you do this, it means Tuck's gonna be underslept tomorrow. That's fine. Yeah.

So he's, like, he remembers the thing from the notebook that he gave back to Farrah about, the… Demonic influence all but assured. All but assured. So he's trying to find the demon that is influencing the Torch of McCall in his encyclopedias. Yeah, he's reading, going through all these books, being like, does any of this make sense? Yeah. Yeah. Okay, 2d6 plus intelligence. Fuck. That dice is cursed. This one? The white one. I'm gonna do it anyway. Okay, well, then it's blessed.

Break the curse. 2d6 plus intelligence. Oh! Broken curse! Yes! That was good! That felt good because we said it was cursed. Ooh, baby. Okay. Ooh, baby. Yeah. Ba-ba-ba-baby. You got a 10. Ooh, baby. Baby. So, let's talk about some things that Tuck thinks could be happening, and then I will tell you one that I think could be happening. Okay. So he's looking through all these kinds of demons. He's wearing his nerd, glasses. Yeah. He doesn't care anymore. This is too important. Yeah.

So he's got his little bifocals on the end of his nose. They're bifocal? Yeah. He's near and far-sighted. Oh, no! And they've got, like, a chain that is, like, a beaded chain hanging down the back. Totally. He's been borderline blind this entire time. That's why sometimes when he goes to hit somebody and it's a really easy roll, he'll totally fail. He just goes right in front of their face because he has no depth perception. Wait a second. I should have hit you. Ooh, you are quick. Okay.

So what are some icons? Because we know that that's what demons are. Mm-hmm. Are icons possessing people. What are some icons that Tuck thinks they could be? Like, the torch might be passion, law. Fuck, help me out, guys. Power. Mm-hmm. Force. Monarchy. Force. Like, destruction. Like, destruction. Like, war. Withering. Like, when fire burns. Mm-hmm. Consumption. Consumption. Maybe even just fire. All the fires in the natural world. Right. Yeah. It's all human concepts. Yeah. Yeah.

So, passion, destruction, power. Fear. Fear. That's a little strange. Stretch. And you spend hours going through these books. It's like four in the morning. You're blinking sleep out of your eyes and you get to the end of the volumes and one word sticks in your head. The. The. The first. The first. Word in the book. And that is, that is what you get from your result on a spellboard. What? No. You're fine. You just had to jump on what I was saying. So, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap.

And we're done for this week. Thanks, everybody. See you in eight months. Oh, no. Tuck's dead. Tuck died. Oh, shit. One word sticks in your head. Zealotry. What does that mean? Zealotry. Fanatical and uncompromising pursuit of religious, political, or other ideals. Fanaticism. So, he flips to the end. The end of the last volume. Yeah. To find the demon of, the icon of zealotry. Yeah. Is there, so can I glean useful information out of this section? Because it was a 10 plus on a spellboard.

It's true. Yeah. I would say that you think about, because what your theories have been that like the god of the flame is a demon and maybe the Torch of McCall is a warlock. Yeah. Connected to him. You think about all of the things that you've heard about the history of the Torch of McCall and the history of the light guard under the Torch of McCall. And the environment that he has stoked in the city through the light guard and through his unit.

And you think, if he's not a warlock, then the Torch of McCall might be a demon of zealotry. And through his connection to the idea of fanatical religiosity might have connected himself to the god of the flame and so on. Stoked zealotry through his work. So the city of McCall has become more fanatically religious over the last 60, 70 years. So what we thought it was the god of the flame working through the Torch taking over the city, it's the other way around.

It's the Torch's zealotry feeding off of the godhood of the god of the flame. Like a parasite. Yeah. So maybe the god of flame can be called upon in some way. Ooh. Oh. Or has the demon of zealotry affected the god of the flame in such a way that he has become this zealous icon? Like, has the power of zealotry affected the god of the flame as well? It's corrupt. It's potentially corrupt. And that makes sense because the demon of zealotry has been gathering all the other demons.

Because he knows that as a demon, his only weakness is other demons. Yeah. And in being this demon of zealotry and having to connect himself to a god, that demon has made its vessel the perfect tool for that religion. Yeah. So he is this, like, right hand of the god of the flame through his connection to his zealousness. Yeah. Just like a sweet old man would be a good vessel for truth. Yeah.

And that would explain, to Tuck at least, where this power of fire comes from because it would make sense for the servant of the god of the flame to have this power. Mm-hmm. So you don't think the power would be connected to the fact that he could be a demon. Mm-hmm. It's connected to the fact that he is a demon of zealotry for the god of the flame. And in his mind, when Tuck reads all of that, he's like, I'm gonna fucking kill this guy. And that's where we're gonna end it for this week.

I'm your Game Master, Sean O'Hara. Joining me as always, playing Tacoma Dome, the Barbarian, Abdulaziz. So long. Playing Ving, the Half-Elf Druid, Paul Oppers. Take care. And playing Fat Billy, the Halfling Thief, Jessica Tai. Goodbye. Thank you to Aaron Reed for our intro and outro music. Incredible, as always.

And thank you to all of our amazing supporters, you folks around the world, supporting us online at Spout Lore in most places, including patreon.com slash Spout Lore or Spout Lore dot com. Spout Lore dot com. We have a new website? Spout Lore dot com. I had to pay. It's cheaper, but it's more confusing. Slash money, please. Catch you next time.

And so ends the tale of adventures three who tried the best they can Though dumb and scared 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 gladly Spout Lore I'm gonna just take one more read on that last line. Sure. Feels like too wordy. I'm gonna kill him. I will kill him. I will kill him. That's just Tuck in the room.

I will kill him. Yeah, he's starting to say it a lot now. He's like, I will kill him. I will kill him. And then he's like, Wham. I will kill you. And then he's starting to do his like last confrontation. End of the road, Torch. It's time to put this fire out. This sound's not big enough for both of us. Clink. Clink. He's making the clink sound with his mouth. Yeah.