Episode 11 – Speak Now…

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 Spoutlord!

I'm your game master, Sean O'Hara, and my hair looks fine Joining me as always playing Tacoma Dome, the barbarian Abdul Aziz Stop looking at Jessica on the TV I look at both of you Oh yeah yeah, take it in, take it in I look fine Oh, got a big forehead No, you have a normal sized forehead See this is why I don't let you guys look What do I look like? You look great I have terrible hair You all look great You have great hair, what are you talking about? Do you want to wear a hat?

No, I look worse My face is too round I know, your head's huge It's massive, it also doesn't fit When I wear a hat it makes me look like I have a unibrow Yeah, from the shadows Right, what if you tilt it back a little bit? What if you turn it backwards?

Oh, cool Defends the purpose Try it, try it, try it Come on, try backwards hat Not yellow Not that color on my skin In all honesty, the days that you wore a hat while we were recording, I thought you just looked cool Yeah, you look cool I was editing the video and I never thought, Jessica looks like she has a unibrow I only thought, Jessica looks like she's too cool to hang out with You look good in ball caps, you do So, if you did have a unibrow, we must have looked like such huge losers Exactly Hanging out with a girl with a unibrow We look lame against a unibrow Those are the guys that hang out with the girl with the unibrow Playing Ving the half-elf druid, Paul Oppers Hello everyone And playing Fat Billy the halfling thief, Jessica Tai Hello When last we left our heroes, they lurked within the bowels of Black Glass Palace Waiting on tenterhooks to see if their friend and companion, Tacoma Dome the Barbarian, had been possessed by the demon of servitude And the answer was, he was After a brief attempt at deception from the demon, who of course, within Tuck, knew the trigger phrase that he was going to use It was so stupid, it was such a stupid plan Just used the trigger phrase But then the plan went on as normal Okay, we're going to take the illusory Ving up to the top And how are we going to make sure that the illusion knows what to do?

Oh, we'll use the Chamberlain rings Which connect all of our minds Let's do a quick connection to make sure that it's going to work Uh oh Yeah Tuck's possessed by a demon And then a fight broke out Both physically and spiritually Yeah In which Ving found Tuck locked up in a room And Ving found Tuck locked within his sit-down pizza palace Good thing the bus was late I would never have gotten there on time And Billy tried to stop the demon in Tuck's body from shattering the glass ceiling Tuck is against breaking the glass ceiling He believes in it fully I hate women Oh, I didn't know you were talking about that Billy stopped the demon by freezing it solid for a moment And then by tapping into his winter form Ving was able to release Tuck using his mental abilities to put himself in the pizza palace And get the right key to unlock the door Billy attempted to terrify the demon of servitude into following him as the most powerful person in the room And Tuck adulterated the icon of servitude with thoughts of devotion And memories of commitment Losing his şu ni It's such a stupid scribble.

I do. I also love that Tuck absolutely says everything that's happening when he's in emergency. Like, I'm trapped. I'm fucking trapped. It's not cool at all. Don't get on that bus. No, get back here. He was on the bus just before. And the demon of loyalty asked its new focus, not master, because loyalty doesn't have masters. It just has people that it cares about. Yeah. Ask Billy what Billy would have of it. And Billy said, let him out. Tuck taking control of his body again.

Everybody back on the same page. Tuck, for now, or perhaps going forward, the threat of the demon of servitude eliminated. Now just the advantage of the demon of loyalty being at your disposal. So the plan from there went on as planned. Created an illusory Ving, which was then controlled by Billy through the chamber. Chamberlain rings once it got out of his field. And Tuck, assuming the form of someone possessed by the demon of servitude, emerged into the ballroom to a fucking horror show.

The afflicted congregants, as we've been describing them. Really cool. In their tattered and bloody clothing and their masquerade masks. Waltzing a bloody waltz around the clockwork orchestra, which is snatching people off the dance floor and dragging them into the machinery. Silently. Almost completely silently. And at the altar. Callum Blackhammer and Victoria LeBlanc.

The group, while observing, trying to gain some more information from the dance floor beneath in the catacombs, heard a great thrashing and crashing. Oh, right. In the palace. And Tuck immediately surmised that it must be our good friend Black Spire. And through his mental connection, discovered that Black Spire was basically lured into the woods, hungry and lost, and then trapped. So. And Tuck's like, you know, he's such a fool. Such a foolish boy.

And then he's like, and then I call this the fall of greed. And then, and then. But he has been assured that you are coming for him. Upon arriving at the altar, Tuck was able to use his deceptive ability to convince Callum Blackhammer that he had brought Ving beaten and bloodied under possession. Yeah. And that Billy was dead. Oh yeah. After Callum said that whatever they had planned will not work. Said that whatever they had planned will not work without all three of you.

After that, he did a little calculation using the Demon of Cunning. Oh, right. And has determined that they're going to proceed either way. Oh, yeah. Beneath, Billy and Ving went about creating a fairy circle.

Ving tapping into the ancient volcanic waters underneath Blackglass and the Blackhammer Palace, bringing up these waters, empowered as they are by a piece of the moon buried deep, deep beneath the city of Blackglass, containing the rage Lillian felt at the death of her son, and thus filling himself with a rage at the danger that his family is in. Right. Billy, meanwhile, tapped into a darker, angrier part of himself to create the fairy fort.

I think we were talking about how in the creation of the forts versus the rings, it's a much more hostile action. So it's more winter aligned. A grueling. Act. Yes. So Billy is required to constantly, painfully crawl on the ground to maintain this ring, repeating over and over an old halfling rhyme.

And up above, Victoria and Callum decided to proceed with their plan, bringing forward the illusory Ving with some cunning moves from the team to make it seem like this was the real Ving, including the creation of a elemental body within the illusion to allow it to be manipulated by Callum Blackhammer. Mm-hmm. And just as he was about to, it would seem, begin tattooing Ving's body, who arrives?

But the inevitable conclusion of the black glass story, Mumsy, the hotelier's mother, aged mother, who was convinced by Tacoma Dome a couple days ago to disrupt the proceedings by proclaiming her love for Callum Blackhammer. Oh, no. I did this. Mumsy. And that is where we find our heroes now. Tuck, what are you doing? Mumsy has stood up from the crowd. She's in a dress that goes out. It goes out. It goes out. Starts here and goes out. The slit goes all the way up. All the way up.

And you can see everything. You can see everything. Across her mouth, she has a face mask that I believe you gave her with saffron in it. Yes. So she is yet to be infected. By the tyrannical, iconic influence. Yeah. And she's stepping forward with her arms wide, making the dress go even more out. Oh, my God. Oh, no. Barely even in now. And as she walks forward, she's going, Callum Blackhammer, I love you. I've always loved you ever since. Unappropriate age. Let's say 30. Yeah. Okay. That's fair.

Yeah. Ever since he was 30 and I was. 33. She's not that much older. She's not taking care of herself. Oh, man. She's not doing good. She's exposed her body to the elements too often. Yeah. In that dress. Yeah. And now I can't see you marry a woman you don't love. This horrible pirate woman. And Callum looks up and you can just see defuddlement. Not anger. Not anger. Not rage. Just confusion. Yeah. And he puts the needle back in the box.

And Tuck, unless you do something, he looks to Victoria who shakes her head and shrugs. Yeah. And he just goes, for fuck's sake, seize her. And other congregants get up and begin moving towards Mumsy. Okay. Well, I'll let that happen. I don't give a fuck about it. All right. I don't think I can do anything. I don't think I can do anything about that. Right? She'll be fine for now. Right? Yeah. Right? She'll be fine. Uh-huh. Right. I don't care about. So they start surrounding Mumsy. Okay.

And she is being dragged away. That's. Jess, is this okay? I feel like I don't. I was not invested in this character. I mean, Billy can't do anything. But I'm asking you. I don't know. Obviously, I don't want Mumsy to come to any harm. No. She's just being herself. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Fuck. What do I have? Anything? You don't have to do anything. Is now. Oh, is now the time? Is that? Oh. I don't want to keep bringing up Joe game. I mean, seriously. I think. Oh, yeah. Now is kind of the time.

I feel like. Oh, my God. And I guess I say to my brother. I'm like, okay, you fucking win. I'll give you a thousand dollars. Call the fucking rat. And the copy of Ving. He jumps up on that. No, that doesn't make sense. I think it all makes sense. It's an elemental body that you have created. Yeah. You can do whatever you want to it. You can roll your. It's not like. Whoa. Holy shit. I didn't mean like that. Guys, you're saying that because he has such a thick booty. He's got a fucking thick ass.

You're all projected. I just need five minutes alone with myself. It's just water in there. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Life Symphony. Yes. Connect to these people through the power of the spirit realm to free them from their iconic influence. Okay. Roll plus con on a hit. It's calm. Seven to nine. Only when I'm touching. Yeah. So I have to be within the area. In contact with them somehow. Yeah. With the floor. Yeah. Oh, maybe the water lifts you up to the glass. Oh, cool.

Okay. Well, we'll see what happens. Okay. Roll plus con. Two to six plus con. Ooh. Uh. Six plus. Do. Uh. Do. Do. Eight. Okay. So as long as you're in contact. Okay. I will do the water lift. I borrow some of the water. Yeah. And it like spirals up around your legs, creating like a pillar. It grows up like a tree made out of water. Oh, cool. Yeah. And you touch your hands to the glass and you feel the like spiritual power emanating through the floor.

And the drone of the orchestra changes into a light, you know, beautiful violin music, cello, calming. Uh-huh. It goes from a drone into a calm. Yeah. Melodic song. Beautiful air. Yeah. Uh, as the, as Mumsy is being like taken away, like, no, no, I love you, Callum. No, please love me. Uh, then the people that are dragging her away, stop and release and look like, and everyone around the room, they stopped dancing that like horrible bloody waltz that's happening around the orchestra ceases.

A lot of them start, I think dropping cause they're like, uh, exhausted. Oh yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But everyone is kind of, you can hear there's like, like people are crying, you can hear crying, but everyone is calm. This malevolent feeling lifts off the dance floor. The orchestra slows and calms to a beautiful, like lilting performance.

And Callum is looking around and he probably feels in his, like through his connection to the icons that there is spiritual power at work here. And there's only one source of spiritual power in the room. He's familiar with. Right. And he's lying on the altar. And he's lying right on the altar in front of him. So he storms up to Ving and he goes, what are you doing? And he reaches to grab Ving by the throat and water starts pouring down his arm.

And Tuck takes the opportunity because he's, remember he was close to the altar. Yeah. To grab as quickly as he can the ax off of his back and slice through. I guess I'm going to try and cut Callum's arm off. Whoa. Okay. Yeah. This is a surprise to him, I think. Yeah. So you don't have to like, you're just going to roll your attack. Okay. Yeah. 2d6 plus. 2d6 plus strength. Okay. 12. Oh, goodbye. 12. Roll your damage. Okay. Oh, d10. Oh. Oh, nine. Yeah.

Wait, do I have the thing where if I roll a 10 plus on a hack and slash, I get to put myself in harm's way to deal extra damage? I believe that is always a choice with hack and slash. You're going to kill him? I'm going to try. I'm going to try and deal as much damage as possible. Let me. Hold on. Is it an extra d6? Pull him up. Pull him up. Pull him up. I think it is an extra d6. I just need a second. This is. Oh no. Progressing in a way I did not expect. Okay.

So yes, you can at your option choose to do 1d6 additional damage to expose yourself to the enemy's attack. Oh yeah. I'll do that. I don't give a shit. Three. So I did 12 damage. 12 damage. Yeah. This is not enough to kill him. I cut his arm off. Yeah. So he, so he, when he grabbed for Ving, he like his arm was like out. So I took TLC, sliced it through his arm and then the extra damage I did, I jumped the altar and just punch him in the face. Yeah. Yeah. Where did you slice his arm? Mid bicep.

Bicep. Yeah. His arm just, it like the blade passes through his arm. Like it's nothing. Yeah. It lands in Ving and Ving becomes a blood red water. Oh yeah. Gross. Oh wait. But it pierces the illusion. It pierces the illusion. And the illusion like poof. The water spills out. The water starts to spill out, but it's now like blood red running down the altar. The arm is laying on the altar. Yeah. And as you launch yourself over the altar and punch him in the face. Arms to meet you, my friend.

He hits the ground. Like you, you punch him and you lay him out. Like he tumbles into some of the chairs. And as you're like stepping towards him, you hear, and then you feel a sharp pain in your back. Oh fuck. Roll a D10. Oh. Seven. Seven. So you take seven damage. Is this Lion Mackenzie King? Yeah. And you look up. No way. Like you hear, you feel it dig into your shoulder. You take seven damage and you turn and you see like up on one of the high walls above the courtyard. You see like a glint.

Fuck. And I roll into like the cover that the altar provides. Yeah. Yeah. And you hear bang as one like shatters off the top of the altar and you hear a bang. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

And his dick can fall Flop onto the glass It ripped when I vaulted It just started flapping as he jumped So keep in mind, before you do anything If you release contact with the glass floor The tyranny field Is going to take control of the congregants again I know, but I want to use call of nature I have requests from my water form Yes, you still have requests from the water form I want to create a wall To protect Tuck Oh, like create some cover Some swirling Blood water Out the back of a ship Turbulent, but in a wall Blood red water Frothy So that the water can't penetrate Because it's moving so much So this is going to be 2d6 plus your current request Which is 3 12 And you hear another And as he gets these shots off The water Pounds up in this wall This blood red wall And you see them hit the water And still, just with the power of the shot It makes it through the wall But they clatter to the ground And they come out in like A V of water So they Out the end of the water Like a horizontal vortex The bullet spits out And you have More significant cover from Lionel's Line of sight And I scoop the Two bullets that came through And then I sprint out of the circle To go and find Black Spire Oh, cool So you scoop up these two things that hit the ground And even just like Picking them up, you almost cut yourself They're not bullets Like we would imagine them They are short, flat, triangular arrowheads But of a strange Like make And you just like shove them in a pouch Yeah, I put them in the pocket of my duster Yeah Yeah And you take off the bullets And you take them off into the castle Yeah And Callum is laying there fucking bleeding Yeah A lot Is he screaming or anything?

He is screaming I think he is yelling to Victoria Who was on the other side of the circle Like, get him!

And she starts to run after you And then she slams into Billy's wall Nice Good job And she just looks up You cannot run from me to Camadam We are meant to be together And then you hear Tuck in the distance Go No, I can't No thanks Thank you And then you hear him accidentally Like slam his boner into a door That he passes through Oh, wow He goes to close the door to the hall And then he slams his boner in it by accident He has like two big double doors And he's like No thanks, Victoria Things are over between us Boom Boom Boom Boom Boom Boom Boom Boom Boom Boom Boom Boom!

Boom Boom Ving is up being held up by water, hands on the glass. Billy, you're like desperately trying to keep this ring. Actually, Billy, you feel Victoria. You feel when she slams into the ring. Yeah, Billy's kind of knocked off. He's like, but he has to keep going. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, yeah, is I mean, I guess how we design the move is they are trapped until Billy releases the ring. It's not something you have to constantly make rolls for. Unless you want me to. No, no, no. It is.

It is dramatically more interesting. I mean, if you're saying it's causing him great pain, either it starts to give him damage or smash into the side, then and if that jostles him, then if they smash enough, then, you know. Yeah. Yeah. Because when it was like a safety thing, it was more like Billy would have to stay outside and like not get to go in and rest. But now it's like he's actively trying to keep people inside the ring.

It makes sense that you would have to like roll some kind of like constitution. Constitution. Yeah. To keep it up. To keep it up and to like withstand attacks. Yeah. I guess. Yeah. Yeah. I think that that does feel better than Billy just traps whoever he wants forever. So, yeah, go ahead and roll 2d6 plus constitution. It does make sense. Yeah. Nine. Oh, shit. Aid. Okay. How? Aiding aids by the water monster like wrapping around where she is.

And then I use that to like help freeze myself in place. Oh, I think he means because she. Oh, sorry. She's in Victoria. Oh, sorry. The water body goes like around. She's like slamming up against the thing and it's cause I see it's causing you distress. So I, I, I request the, yeah, the, the water wall to kind of create a buffer buffer between her and the wall. Try and like push her back. Yeah, that's cool. So 2d6 plus bond. Ooh, seven. Okay. So that makes it a 10.

So Billy retains perfect control. She is stuck in place, but it feels like this is, yeah, this is going to be a problem. And mirrors is, yeah. Mirrors is like, what's going on? What do I do? What do I do? I mean, you could go, you and mirrors could go after talk because they're trapped in there anyways. Yeah. Yeah. But you're going to have to keep keeping roles. Maybe potentially. Yeah. But I'm still like at least separated from them.

So mirrors and I are going to, yeah, go and try and get to tuck side. Okay. Hmm. What can I give Billy something? I mean, I have the ring. I know it's that I could give you like some wine wood or something to hang on to. Oh, I'll give you a wine wood to hang on to. Okay. Billy, this is for an emergency. Not for fun drinking though. No. For an emergency. Is it an emergency if I get thirsty? That is not an emergency. What if I'm hungry? Not an emergency. Okay.

Here, I'll give you regular water, regular M&Ms, and then this. That's the order. I got it. Yeah. Thirsty, hungry emergency. We give him smokes and booze today. Yeah. Okay. We're fucking. Terrible parents. Not going good. So if you release your contact with the glass floor, Tyranny is going to attempt to take control of the congregants once again. Mumsy, I think, has been spirited away by Rodney, or is at least like on her way out after the release. She's like, don't worry, Callum.

I'll never forget you. I bet Rodney's saying, Mumsy, that's why I knew it was a bad idea. Mumsy, we never should have come here, even if the buffet was delicious. Quit shoving in your dress. They're filling their pockets with canapes. It's falling out. Because it goes out. Because it goes out. One big pocket. And it goes out. It goes out. So yeah, if you are releasing your hold on the dance floor. I am. Okay. And as you drop back down, like thunk, onto the ground.

The screeching of string instruments. Orchestral nails on the chalkboard. Yeah, totally. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You see the gears below here that are housing the orchestra? Like, begin to like, chug, chug, chug, chug. Stop. And you hear like, clattering and strings and plucking as it pulls itself out of its nest. Okay. Let's get up there, I guess. Mears. Okay. Yeah. All right. I'm right behind you. Mears, this way. Okay.

And he turns around and he dashes off with Ving. Tuck. Yes. You are booking it through a hallway. Yeah. You're in Blackglass Palace. You got the run of the place. He takes out the saffron cigarette and he like, puts it in his mouth and he lights it. Uh-huh. Because he's like, this probably looks so fucking cool. You do feel loyalty within you. Go, all right, I'll be here when you need me. And recede from your perception. Right. Because I don't need him anymore, right? Right? Not right now.

You can tap into it, apparently. Okay. But we don't know what that looks like. All right. And then I try and connect with Black Spire again. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Back in the darkness. And I go, buddy, can you hear me? Yeah, I can hear you. Oh, man. This fucking sucks, man. I know, bud. I'm going to get you out of there. I missed my big hole in the ground. Remember all those holes I used to live in, man? Those were fucking sweet. I know, dude.

We're going to get you back there one day. I promise. Okay. Okay. Oh, no. We dragged his ass over here. I know. It's okay. After all of this is done, I'm going to get him back to the hole in the ground. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. But I need your help to find you, okay? Okay. Can you listen to or try and figure out where you are? And I want to do a discern realities. Okay. 2D6 plus wisdom. So that's 6 plus 1, 7. Great. One question. What here is useful or valuable to me?

Bud, I need you to make some big boom booms. Some big boom booms so I can find you. So I can find your room. You got a boom boom boom. So I can be in your room. Yeah. Okay. And then we can spend the night together. Together in your room. I can try to boom boom, but I have not had that much to eat in the last couple of days. But I'm going to try to get it out. Wait, what? He starts stomping around and kind of throwing his body back and forth.

And you hear it is off the corridor that you are running down. Yeah. You're not totally sure, but you know that you're going in the right direction. Okay. But what you do notice is that as he's thrashing around, you feel him. Be. Struck. Son of a bitch. My dog. No, it's okay. I'm up. Hey, no, it's okay, man. I'm a dragon. I'm bigger, but I really just don't like when they do that. Yeah, but I'm going to make sure they don't do that again. Okay. Okay. I run to where I hear the sound. Yeah.

So you start pounding down the corridor. Very fine palace. And as you're running, you're seeing because the palace, the Blackhammer Palace is an old, old castle, basically, that over time, especially within the last, I don't know, 20 years was rapidly developed with these strange glass constructions. Okay.

So as you're running through, you're finding places that are like out of place, like almost like you're in a different building because you suddenly leave like fine old worn stone to like very angular geometric glass. And you get to like a old spiral staircase that goes down. I hop on the railing. I slide down the whole thing. Yeah. You got a cigarette in your mouth. Your ass is getting absolutely chapped by this banister. My dick and balls are hanging out. Yeah.

Every time it passes like a grommet in the wall, it's like, and you head down into the darkness. I run. Billy. Yeah. You are in the chambers, the catacombs now by yourself. You feel above prodding almost at your barrier. Like no one is currently attacking it, but like they are trying to find a way to get through it. In or out? Out. Out. Okay. Yeah. And also, you know what? In too, because we know that like the influence has been released. Yeah. Ving's calming influence.

Oh, and the orchestra got up. Maybe it's trying to get in. The orchestra. So you feel like in and out of this, there are people and things pressing against your barrier. Okay. So you're down here in the dark and the quiet by yourself. Yeah. Whispering my little tune. Whispering your little tune. And you're kind of surrounded by this sheet of water, right? It's like kind of spiraling around you. Ring around the rosy. Homes are warm and cozy. Eyes closed. Eyes closed. We'll all sleep now.

And on the other side of the sheet of water, you see a silhouette. I'm safe. It's okay. And they get closer. And then they kind of are like walking alongside you as you're crawling. And you're like, oh, my God, this is a jib man. And you're like, oh, my God, this is a jib man. And you're like, oh, my God, this is a jib man. And you're like, oh, my God, this is a jib man. What do you do? What do I do? Maybe I ask, what do you want? I just wanted to check in. Oh, my God, it's a jib man.

It's a voice that you are very familiar with at this point. It's the gibbous man. It's the gibbous man. Can I? I mean, I guess I want to find out stuff. Yeah. Yeah. To certain realities. Yep. Two to six plus wisdom. Four. Shit. Shit. Oh, no. A failure. Shit. Why? What's the failure here? Shit, dude. Fuck. What is the failure in this scenario? No. Oh, what if it's really bad? Oh, no. You're like crawling and you're trying to, you're repeating your poem. And the sheet of water breaks for a second.

And he sees that happen. And you make, you see the blue eye and the black eye. And his white face and his white beard and his dark clothes. And then the water. And then the shower continues. But you feel above. Yeah. A momentary break as someone darts through your wall. Oh, no. Yeah. So I keep going. Like, there's nothing I can do. I don't know who got out. I ignore him. But he's going to keep talking to you because he's trying to psych you out, I think. Why don't you just come out here?

I can't really hear you through this water, you know? Well, then go away then. I will. I just wanted to see if you felt like giving me a hand. With what? Did you see what they were trying to do to me up there? No. I saw what they were trying to do to my friends. It's disappointing. I'm giving you an opportunity right now. We don't have to be enemies. We have enemies in common. Like who? Who do you think? I don't know. Don't be a child. We both know you're not one. Of course I am. All right.

If you don't want to play alone, that's fine. I'll see you later, kid. And the silhouette recedes and you're alone. What the fuck? Ving. Cool. Yeah? You and Mirrors are running up into the ballroom, I guess, right? Yes. Okay. So. You get to the ballroom. It's not far. It's not far. It's not a far run. You burst through the door and, you know, skid to a halt. I imagine you're kind of hauling ass a little bit. Uh-huh.

And you see on the far side of the room, the congregation has surrounded the altar. And they are like mobbing it. Oh, just like World War Z. Just like World War Z with Brad Pitt. World War Z. And they're mobbing this thing. And you can see they're like pounding against Billy's barrier. Uh-huh. Uh-huh. Uh-huh. Uh-huh. Uh-huh. Uh-huh. Uh-huh. And the orchestra is like crawling over top of them. Uh-huh. And slamming on top of it.

And you see that Billy's created this like, oh, I wonder because it's below and above. I wonder if it's like a straight up column. That's what I was imagining. So it's like, you can see it's being buffeted around this column. It can't get above it. It's like trying to crawl over and it's like slamming people down into the ground trying to climb over them. Whoa. What do you do? I want to use the request from my call of nature. Oh, yeah. My thing to go and douse the orchestra.

Oh, to try and like get it. I want to fill it with water. To try and slow it down or temporarily disable it. Yes. Okay, great. 2d6 plus request. Okay. Fucking do it, dude. Oh, 12. Jesus Christ. That's sick. So with a 12, you still retain your request. This water elemental spirit form is happy to continue aiding you in your task. It flows like up and over. Yeah, up and over and like up its legs. It's got all the legs and fills it all over.

Pouring into the machinery, trying to disrupt whatever's going on in there. And then I want to freeze it. Okay. Like solid. Yeah. Expand all the water and try and blow it apart. That's very cool. That would be two requests for sure. So you're doing this again. It might be like the freezing and then the blowing apart are two different things. Yeah, okay. So this would be a request and then the blowing apart might be an elemental mastery. Okay. So yeah, go ahead and roll 2d6 plus request.

Come on, request. Oh. Oh boy. Oh boy. Oh, that's naked. Oh, holy shit, dude. No. So I lose a request. Oh. Okay. So you're down to two requests. And this just doesn't work. The water is flowing up into the machinery. Machinery is a broad, vague description because it is very unclear to all of you how this thing actually works. Yeah. It honestly doesn't look like it should be able to move, but it is moving. And the water flows up and starts like trying to get inside the gears.

And it looks like the orchestra is fighting it off. Like strings are playing, like drums are pounding. It's moving its legs in a very… Jittery spider-like fashion. And it starts like kind of tumbling around the room, fighting this water off. So it is not… Climbing at itself with its legs. Exactly. So it is not incapacitated, but it is temporarily distracted at least. Well, at least in a way. It's off of the pile of people.

But it is like crashing into furniture, trying to get this water out of it. And as the water moves out of Billy's fairy fort, you see at the other end of the hall, a flash of a red gown go around a corner. Mears! LaBanche! Oh, God. Okay. Books. He starts sprinting across the room. Oh, shit. That's sick. Remember all you were taught. Okay. Don't you forget about me. I want Ving to see what Billy saw, that the Gibbous Man was here. Oh. That he's here right now. So you get a flash in your mind.

Like when Billy looks up at the Gibbous Man's face. Yeah. The eyes through the water. Yeah. Oh, sick. I must go. Oh, shit. You say that to a waiter that's like bleeding from the eyes. He's got, yeah, he's just got like an empty tray in his hand that he's handing out to you. No, thank you. I'm full. I have to go. My son's in danger. Backflip, backflip, backflip, backflip. Backflips. You see Mears like do a sick joke.

Like he runs up the pile of people, jumps through the fairy ring and then to the other side. Soaking wet hair, slick back. Yeah. That's so cool. You see Cal. He goes, draw this. Draw this. Draw this. I get to say it now because I'm a hireling. And you, oh, wait, maybe Mears has to roll for this. Oh, yeah. Yeah, he does. You roll his loyalty. Okay. So Mears' loyalty is four. And remember, his loyalty is both his hit points and his ability to do things. Okay.

So to get him through the ballroom safely, it's going to be a 2d6 plus four. Okay. Yeah. You commanded him. So you're making the roll. Ooh, nine. Oh. Is that good or? Being aid? You don't have a bond with Mears. So you can't aid him. What do you mean? Oh, I don't know. Yeah, it's a mechanical bond. Yeah. Okay. You could later on build a bond with him. So I think it just… Lowers his loyalty to three. Okay. I want to say, I kind of hurt when you told me I don't have a bond with Mears.

You guys would feel the same way. You are deeply bonded with Mears. Mechanically, you have no bond points. Wow, I didn't know that we could. I've told you guys that you can build bonds. You can increase your bonds. You can build whatever. Who cares? You know what? I gave up probably two years ago is what it was. Two. But you see Mears. So Mears, it's not quite as clean as we described it. He like runs. He sprints around and a couple of the congregants like see him coming.

And he has to like, he slams into one, shoulders them to the ground, does like a cool spin and like pushes another one into the crowd. So cool. Sick. And then runs up the pile, jumps over the fairy fort. As he goes through the fairy ring, comes through the water. Oh, yeah. He goes to the other side. Callum sees his sword ensconced in wax and feels the pull beneath the saffron wax. Yes. He has his brother's sword. Yeah. So he gets up like you see him get up and his arm is fucking gone. Yeah.

And he is no longer bleeding. Whoa. Whoa. Whoa. Because of the fucking demon. But the arm, but his arm is gone. And he looks the worst for wear. Absolutely. And he sees the sword and he turns and he sees you, Ving. And he gestures for you to come to him. Uh, tuck. Flap, flap, flap, flap, flap, flap, flap, flap, flap. Oh, fuck. My second ball. And you hit the ground. Oh. Oh. Okay. A floor below. I tuck my dick back into the split pants. I'm wearing. You hit the ground. Yeah.

You see an even like an old stone corridor. This is the old palace for sure. Uh-huh. There are torches on the walls guttering. And this looks like it is a level below where the nobility would live. It's like servants quarters and passageways and storage rooms, that kind of stuff. You even hear further down another slam reverberates through the walls and you assume must be Black Spire. But I don't know exactly where it is. You don't know exactly where. All right. I do. What are you waiting for?

Oh. Yeah. To draw out like whoever the fuck is, is hurting my dog. Yeah. Piece of shit. What the fuck? Uh, when you cry at a challenge roll plus con at a 10 plus your enemies. Treat you like the most obvious threat to be dealt with. Okay. So that's three. So six. Yeah. So six. A total failure, huh? Can anyone, can I aid? You can aid from any distance with Luck of the Fair Folk. Yes. Please help me. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay.

I think we've described Luck of the Fair Folk as being basically like they are luckier for knowing you. That's good enough for me. I got an eight. Okay. Okay. So that makes it. A seven. Yes. Which means only the weakest and most foolhardy. Yeah. You're standing in this torch lit corridor. Yes. Shadows moving on the walls as the flames gutter. Who are you? I punch a torch and burn my hand. It's clearly a shadow of yourself.

You hear at the end of the hallway a door creak open and you hear like inside like something with its jaws restricted. It is trying to make a lot of noise. Oh. And you see a figure enter the corridor. You hear the door close and the shadows in the room start to pool towards the figure. Oh, fuck. Oh, no. It's in a free. Oh, no. Fuck. Oh, no. And you hear from the end of the corridor directed at you. I see you, little one. And, uh, Tucker's. He.

Cause he's, he's got the, the saffron cigarette in his mouth. He does like a dirt bag thing where he takes like a huge huff on it. Uh-huh. And then he like, I don't like choose it. Awesome. Yeah. And, uh, and spits it out. He's extinguishing it because he needs the demon of loyalty back. Okay. Roll plus charisma to gain a boon from your demon on a seven to nine. The demon offers the boon, but causes mental damage on a failure. You lose control. Okay. So yeah, this.

This move is very different now that the demon is not so hostile towards you. Yes. But I think that we can still make it work. Yes. Um, so what boon are you hoping for? Like, Tuck is intrinsically quite terrified of Ifrit. Of course. Yeah. Because he grew up on the streets of McCall. Yeah. All McCall and Zerfrid. And he also just wants, he wants light. Yeah. That's the thing that he. Oh, shit. Okay. He wants. So the, he. So you know how, uh, like Black Spire has sunstone. Sun breath. Yeah.

And I was trying to do that chest beam thing that was not working. Yeah, totally. So I want to try and do it. Oh. Cause that's the thing is the, the Ifrit are weak to the light of. I know they're weak to light. Okay. The chest beam thing makes no sense. But now it makes a little more sense. It's not sunstone. It's white obsidian. Oh, shit. It's also unprecedented in any. But Black Spire is just right there. All right. So, okay. So what we're trying to do here is you're rolling.

Demon of servitude. Yeah. Which is now demon of loyalty. Yes. Two to six plus charisma. Yeah. Uh, to gain a boon. To gain a boon. And in Tuck's head, I guess he's like, all right. And he does all the Naruto like. Yeah. Like, like. Tai Chi moves. Tai Chi moves is from Naruto. Yeah. What you're thinking is like the hand signals or whatever. Whatever. They do like that. I've never watched Naruto. Yeah. Cool. Yeah. This thing. Yeah. Sure. He does a bunch of these hands. These Tai Chi hand signals.

And then he does a bunch of Dr. Strange things. I think this is all part of his. Then he does Inky Binky Spider. Crawl up this boat again. This is all part of what are you waiting for? Inky Binky Spider. And then he does that. Yeah. And then he does the Napoleon Dynamite Butterfly. Yeah. The ones where he's really like. Yeah. Absolutely. All right. Yeah. All of the millennial references. He does the. The thumb and half magic trick. Yeah. Spout Lore.

Your destination for millennial Canadian podcast humor. But yeah. In his mind, he's like, please, demon of loyalty. Help me channel my dog's breath weapon through my chest. I cannot fight it. Yeah. All right. Two D six plus charisma. Okay. Charisma. Right. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. So I rolled a five. That's charisma. That's eight. Yeah. Okay. So it happens. Yes. But not Sean. So something happens. You get to decide. You are trying. You're standing there. You're doing all of these hand signals.

The Afrit is standing at the other side of the corridor outside the door. He just said, I see you, little one. I see you, little one. And as you're standing there doing, come on, loyalty. Help me do my dog's breath weapon. Here we go. You hear like slamming as you're like connecting. You feel this like great reverberation. Through the floor. And then a beam of powerful light comes out of the door. He's standing next to and slams the Afrit into the opposite wall. And you hear fuck. Yeah.

And like clattering into the hallway is like a huge metal cap with chains on it. And it's broken. And it comes like slamming into the hallway. Oh shit. The Afrit starts picking itself up. And you hear from the other side of the corridor. Tuck, I cannot do that again. Please hurry. Okay. I want to run to try and like free. I want to try and get past. Can I try? Yeah, you can run. Defy danger dexterity to try and get past the Afrit. But what if I run as hard as I can? Strength wise. Come on, man.

Be real. What if he really flexes all of his core muscles? I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. He flexes all of his quads and hamstrings at the same time. I mean, if your goal. Okay. So if we're describing you trying to run quickly past the Afrit. Yes. That's dexterity. If we describe you trying to like bowl past the Afrit, opening yourself up to potentially being attacked. That's strength. I know I'm trying to get through quick. All right.

Dexterity. Okay. Here we go. Fuck. Yeah. So three. I'm coming, buddy. So, I'm coming, buddy. I'm coming, buddy. I'm coming, buddy. I'm coming, buddy. I'm coming, buddy. Are you ready to all your failures? Oh, right. I forgot. You two. Two at least. Did I fail twice? Isn't it? Okay. So as you're running in this very darkened corridor, like the shadows hide many things in this place, you are running full tilt down the corridor. The Afrit is picking itself up.

The shadows are pooling back around its human form and the Medjay containing the icon of patience finally takes his opportunity to step out of a door. To step out of a doorway and trip you. Fuck! And you slam face first into the ground so hard your vision goes black. Oh, no! And Billy, we're going to cut back to you. Fuck, okay. You're also watching through the glass above you. You see pools of blood in the room above. You see that it's just Callum up there now. Victoria's gone.

And you see that the orchestra is slamming around the room. But Callum is no longer railing against the barriers and neither are the congregants. They've all kind of stopped fighting it. Okay. And you see, I mean, depending. Well, I guess before that you see, and then you see, Mears! And he runs off. I'm like, yay! Hooray, Mears! And you see, depending on what Ving's reaction was to being beckoned forward. Yeah. What do you do? I think we need to keep him trapped.

Yeah, this is what I'm wondering, is if Billy needs to continue to maintain the ring. It feels like it would be a bad idea to have Callum out, especially with the Gibbous Man around. Like, he feels like he needs to keep him separate. Okay, maybe we pop back up to the ballroom right now to figure out. Because Billy, you are just, like currently, your plan is continue to maintain the ring. The Gibbous Man is out there. You're safe down here. Yeah. Yeah, okay.

So I think Callum in the ballroom stands up in the ring. Okay. Okay. He gestures you forward, and he kind of looks around at the congregants and waves his remaining hand very dismissively, and they back off. And they go and they sit in the chairs surrounding him. I slowly walk up to the water circle. And he kind of, he looks at his arm on the altar. And I think the face, if this was a man who wasn't attempting to obliterate some aspect of the civilized world, you'd feel kind of bad for this.

He, like, brushes his arm. Off the altar. And it just, like, thuds onto the ground. And he sits. On it. He sits on the altar. He sits on the altar. Kind of, like, casually. On it, one leg still on the ground. What's the orchestra doing? You can see that it's still struggling against the water. So Callum says, if you're worried about that, you can call it off if you want to talk. I think you have me at a disadvantage. Okay, stand down.

And he nods to the orchestra, which shakes the water elemental off it like a dog coming out of a lake. I gather it like a dog at my side. Oh, and then it's like a little water dog. And the orchestra goes back to its carriage and settles in and then like pulls all its legs in like a spider receding into its den. Gross. Ving says. It's one of my more impressive inventions, I'd say. Cunning. He laughs, nods. So I see you answered my invitation. We're here, aren't we? You are.

Though I wish you'd come as guests instead of foes. I was going to make you an offer. All three of you. I assume the rest of you are here. I assume the boy is still alive. I was going to, I crossed my arms. I realized he can't do that. But he tries to cross his arms and is unable to. And he, you see, I'm sure what we were attempting here. Any gestures to the ballroom, to the glass trees and the lanterns hung in the constellations. You think you could control the gibbous man? Yes. Me? No.

All of us? Maybe. Us? You three? Myself? Victoria? She has her uses. The spiritual? The fairy? The iconic? My cunning? Her wish for revenge? That power split between five people. We would have had a chance. We still can. It's not too late. Okay, say we were going to help you. Say I believed you that you wanted to bring down the gibbous man. What would you have us do? How would you use us together? You're familiar with the rituals.

The old magi ways of taking power from one and giving it to another. Ving shudders with traumas of the past. I know you're familiar. The ways of my people, the ways of binding the icons, those are ways that I've been well-schooled in. And I've developed, I believe, a method by which the power of one figure, one being, can be spread amongst many. To increase both their ability to control it and their ability to survive that inhabitation.

Between the five of us, me, a son of the magi, Victoria, one of the most blood thirsty people I've ever met, and you three, I think we could bind him. You know his plans. He wants to be whole again. And in becoming whole, he reduces the world to dust. You foolish, proud man. How do you not see that you're playing into his hand? Everything you're enacting is only serving to make him stronger.

The black sky that you are raining down on the people, giving influence, his influence, to everyone in the land. Not his. His influence. My influence. He may have been a god once, but he is not anymore. He is mortal. He is chained to the material realm. Everywhere my smog reaches, every lung that it fills, is another soldier in the fight against the gibbous man. I am not playing into his hand, he is playing into mine. I see everything. I am cunning incarnate. I am tyranny incarnate.

I will not be overthrown by an old wretch like the gibbous man. You are acquired cunning. You are acquired tyranny. These ideas, and as Ving is talking about the capital T tyranny, I want him to kind of like, as he's talking about his runes are dancing and constellations, and he's kind of displaying some of this ancient, ancient druidic, like I want to use druidic lore to consult the trove of ancient knowledge within me to examine the events of the world. That's cool. That's cool.

It's a way for you to validate whether he's right. Yeah. Like if what he thinks is true is true. If he truly has like the upper hand and he, or if he has, like you said, been played. Because we still don't know. Yeah. He's, he's. Convinced. He's convinced because he is tyranny and cunning. He thinks he's the smartest, most powerful guy in the world. And he's also a little fucking prince. I was going to say, bet many men have thought this in the past. Yeah.

And I want to use my ancient knowledge of all of the tyrannical geniuses that have come before him. Okay. Roll plus wisdom on a hit. The GM will ask you a question about the subject. Whatever you say is true. Wisdom. Ooh. Oh boy. Whoa. 13. Okay. Holy shit. So you are, I am asking you a question about this. Who, what is a time in history where a quote unquote tyrannical genius has thought I will be the one to unify and save the world? And how have they been torn down? The Gibbous man. Well, yeah.

The Gibbous man, Rhian and his friend. Yep. Yep. Oh, Rhian's friend. Yeah. I mean, this is like a descendant of Rhian. Yes. Is, wait. Isn't he? They are kind of because the, the princeps are adopted children of Rhian's line. Right. So like they're not blood related, but they are by tradition descended from Rhian. Cool. Good enough for me. Yeah. That's sick. Well, that's a good thing. We're not, this, this game is not a game of blood lines.

Who you are blood related to is not as important as who you are tied to. Yeah. Cut to, cut to Tuck. He's like pissing blood right now. Literal blood lines. He's just laid out on the floor just. Oh no. He, no one can own Tuck as hard as he can own himself. Yeah. From being tripped. Pussy. What a pussy. His own dead weight onto his own face. Yeah. Tuck's downstairs getting bullied. It's a high school cafeteria. They're drawing dicks on his forehead for sure. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Um, so Rhian's friend. Aemon the betrayer. And what was his story? He was the one who betrayed. Yeah. He was Rhian's. I mean, I don't know if we've told this story like on Mike. No. Go for it. But he was Rhian's closest friend and confidant. Stories suggest that they may have been more, but the details have been lost to time. Um, and Aemon was from what the tales suggest, tied in some way to the I and was compelled or convinced to betray Rhian. The I being the organization that.

That the secret, uh, order that has all that for all these years has worshiped the spider. Okay. Um, has held the spider as the highest deity and the one that will both make and unmake the world and blah, blah, blah. So it was the exact situation. Well, not quite. It's quite close though. Yeah. Um. A lot of the other black churches evolved from the I. Yeah. Like including Callum's family, Coleman Callum's family, their tradition.

Like, and, and through that tradition as the I and like this dark church and the, and the Medj I, I realize Coleman Callum are both descended by tradition from Rhian as well as Aemon. Mm-hmm. Because he was, he was a member of the I and he, uh, killed Rhian, struck off his hand as proof and was then betrayed for his betrayal. Um, yeah. So how do we, um, relay that? It's, uh, the visions that Colm gave us. Mm-hmm. The last one was the, the hand. Remember? Yeah.

The hand in the castle that he saw as a kid. Yeah. Oh, and it moved. Yeah. Yeah. I'm supposed to tell him the tale of Aemon, right? Or a tale of a, of, of a, a G, like a someone, a capital G great person who thought that they were the one that was going to unify everything and then was brought low. Well, isn't that also the story of the Gibbous? It is. And he doesn't know the story of the spider and the hummingbird. No. Mm-hmm. So that is also a good one to tell.

And he's also a capital G, you know. Yeah. God. Because that was, that's not the version, that's not the version of the Gibbous man he is now. That is like, that's the version of him that created the universe and the spirit realm and all that stuff. Mm-hmm. Yeah. This Gibbous man is technically a different person. Yeah. It's a different being. Mm-hmm. And the Gibbous man remind me was destroyed and, uh, I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know.

I don't know. It's a different kind of a woman. It's a different kind of a woman. It's a different kind of a woman. It's a different kind of a woman. It's a different kind of a woman. It's a different kind of a woman. It's a different kind of a woman. It's a different kind of a woman. It's a different kind of a woman. It's a different kind of a woman. It's a different kind of a woman. It's a different kind of a woman. It's a different kind of a woman. It's a different kind of a woman.

It's a different kind of a woman. It's a different kind of a woman. It's a different kind of a woman. It's a different kind of a woman. It's a different kind of a woman. It's a different kind of a woman.

Kind of created the garden that is the spirit realm then one day hummingbird kind of came back and she said she was sick because she ate seeds that were bad and then they but they weren't they were spider's eyes that he like put around the garden to make sure that they were safe so like it is very much a thing of like his cunning his cunning like led to his own demise because it killed the thing that he loved the most and then gave birth to something that then the eyes that walked like men destroyed the world that he then created and like chained him to it and callum's machinations uh and his like working on that with his brother led to the death of his brother yeah so he has yeah he has in many ways like enacted the retold the story of the spider and his main weapon is a giant spider yeah yeah that's true yeah make a big spider orchestra so for the druidic lore I think ving displays for him in his rune like a very rudimentary constellation like a simple play sort of thing in his runes they play out and they They dance across his skin and show him the story of the spider and the hummingbird.

The story in which, yeah, spider attempts to protect the entire garden by placing his eyes around. And hummingbird, his best friend, eats those eyes thinking they're seeds and is killed. Despite his cunning, the spider's, you know, machinations came back to haunt him and destroy those who he loved. And it goes on to show the gibbous men being brought down by Lillian being chained to the earth and the hubris that he had.

I do imagine that you show him images of Colm at the end of the battle, like being brought low by the three of you because of his involvement in Callum's plans. And I think there is something quite powerful in like bringing him back to that, like that speech that his mom gave. Yeah, I like the idea of also the correlation between. The severed hand of Rhian and his severed arm. Yeah. Oh yeah. Yeah. That Luke Vader moment.

He sees the hand, like the image of the hand in the runes and like looks down at his own hand lying on the ground. His hand on the ground twitches. Yeah. Just like Rhian's did in the memory of his brother. And I tell him that your brother told us to come here and save you. And he wasn't talking about from us and he wasn't talking about from the gibbous men. It was from yourself. 2d6 plus. Chris. Charisma. I got a five. Oh no. Fuck. No. That's such a good line. Oh, come on.

It's a great line and it makes perfect sense that it does not work. He's a tyrant. He's a tyrant. No one knows better than he does. Right. Yeah. You can't tell a tyrant. So he looks down at his hand, which twitches on the ground and you can see he's like clouding over. Like it almost looks like a, for a second, like there's some sort of empathy breaking through. So we're not. Not empathy, but some sort of feeling breaking through a sadness. And then he clenches his remaining hand.

My brother was a fool. Thought with his sword, never with his head. And if you aren't willing to join me in this, you're a fool too. This is your last chance. I don't believe that you ever had a chance and I want to wrap them in the water. Okay. Remaining request. I think another part of this horrible failure because you, because it was a straight up, it didn't work. And also as, oh, as. As he's looking down at his hand, he looks down through the glass that Ving cleared. Oh no.

And he sees Billy building the fairy circle. Oh no. Yep. And he, you just feel the boom, like the emanation of his power and the congregants start sprinting out of the room. And Billy from beneath, you hear hundreds of footsteps slamming on the glass in all directions and you know, they're coming for you. And that's where we're going to end up. We're going to end it for this week. I'm your game master, Sean O'Hara. Joining me as always Tacoma Dome, the Barbarian, Abdulaziz. So long.

Ving the half elf druid, Paul Oppers. Take care. Fat Billy, the halfling thief, Jessica Tai. Goodbye everyone. Thank you so much to all of our Patreon supporters around the world. If you would like to support the show and get access to a whole bunch of cool bonus stuff, like the up-to-date Mall Brats feed, art, merchandise, writing, curated gift boxes, even games run by Abdul and myself. You can find me on Twitter. I'm Sean O'Hara.

You can find us at patreon.com slash Spout Lore or Spout Lore.com slash money, please. Thank you so much to Aaron Charles Reed for our intro and outro music. What a joy and a gift it is. I'm sure you'll agree. If you want to hear more of Aaron's original music, which I love, you can check him out at aaronreid.bandcamp.com and you can hear all of the music thus far produced for the show on Spotify. Thank you finally. And most of all to all of you for listening. We'll be back.

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 spell dawn.