Episode 14 – The Oval Council

Spout Lore is only made possible through the contributions of listeners like you. If you would like to donate, please go to Spout Lore dot com slash money, please, or Patreon dot com slash Spout Lore. And if you go there, you'll get a bunch of bonus content, too, which is nice. It's good bonus content. I work really fucking hard on it. 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. Thing is half-elf, 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 your game master, Sean O'Hara. Joining me as always, playing Tacoma Dome, the barbarian, Abdul Aziz. Hello, everybody. Playing Ving, the half-elf druid, Paul Oppers. Hello, everybody. Playing Fat Billy, the athlete thief. Jessica Tai. Hello, everybody. When last we left our heroes, they were parlaying with the Selkie king known as Stone Eye, who was explaining to them that the Ileana line owed blood.

And upon asking how much blood are we talking about, Stone Eye said, it is not for me to decide, but for the council. And you must come to Hypernia to stand before the council. We were like, yeah, okay, let's go. We were trying to go there anyways, bro. Hell yeah, we've been trying to get there for months. You know how expensive, it's so hard to get an Airbnb in Hypernia. You have a place for us? We've been wandering through the grave hoping we hit Hypernia.

And honestly, this is a real boon for us. Thank you so much, Stone Eye. I'll give you a one-star review on an Uber. An Uber. Then they were Ubered. Just because your Uber smelled like fish. Sounded like farts. They got Ubered to Hypernia by the Selkies who pushed along the Sunrunner, taking them to this mysterious, mysterious. Dusty, snowy island. Deep, deep in the gray. We arrived at Hypernia, finding a boreal, tree-covered, rocky island.

We were taken ashore up to the island village itself, where we found druids on druids on druids, shapeshifters everywhere, little kids running around. Some sort of warming or life-providing field given off by the knowledge trees, theoretically, allowing things to be… Livable and for food to grow, it seems at all times. Then you were put in a stone hut to await your judgment by the council, guarded over by two now extremely frustrated Selkies. Hell yeah.

Tuck tried to take a shit for a long time and then was able to take a shit. But he's all backed up because of the salt fish or whatever. Just dehydrated sea stuff. Yeah. God, it's coming out like wood chips. Call this move the wood chipper. Gross. Gross. Billy attempted to enter the ferry using Shadow Dance to get some information and found that Hypernia is fucking covered in fairies of all seasons. We learned a lot about the seasons of the fairies, which kicked ass.

And Billy talked to an autumn fairy named Russell, who was a pile of sleepy leaves. Yeah. And learned that the Ileana line is connected to some and blamed for a conflict of some kind. There's a ton of theories. There's a ton of theories. There's a ton of theories. There's a ton of theories. There's a ton of theories. There's a ton of theories. There's a ton of theories. There's a ton of theories. There's a ton of theories. There's a ton of theories. There's a ton of theories.

There's a ton of theories. There's a ton of theories. There's a ton of theories. There's a ton of theories. There's a ton of theories. There's a ton of theories. There's a ton of theories. There's a ton of theories. There's a ton of theories. There's a ton of theories. There's a ton of theories. There's a ton of theories. There's a ton of theories. As a direct result of this conflict. She was killed. And that is where we find our heroes now. In a stone hut. Twilight is beginning to approach.

Having realized that. You are about to stand judgment. For whatever conflict. Led to the death of Ving's mother. Dude your dad totally fucked us. We're hosed. Because your dad did some shit here. Classic. And almost. As if on cue. The door flap of the hut. Is thrown aside. And a druid of some kind. A hyperion of some fashion. Let's say a woman in her 20s. With braids. Braids and braids. And lots of tattoos. It's like it's time. And Tuck's like hey there. I shouldn't have said woman.

I shouldn't have said woman. This is great. Tuck's like oh hello. I don't believe we've met. Have we met before? Yeah. She looks around. Kind of. No. Like nose scrunched. At all of the shit. And fire. And burnt shit in here. And Tuck's like that's so weird. I feel like we've met. We must have. He's ignoring all this. Ving says that's my shit there. It's. And this is also my shit. It's our shit. Our shit. And we're like kicking it around. And putting up the fire. And our very muscular friend.

Tacoma. Had nothing to do with this. He was over there reading a book. I love books. Yeah. It was a book of poetry. That he wrote. Shit. Too far. Too far. Come with me. Okay. Yeah. Totally. And she turns around and starts walking away. I'd love to come with you. There's nothing I would love more than to come with you. I'll come with you. Like literally anywhere you want. Anywhere. Oh God. Please emphasize the word with. And not the word come. I'm emphasizing all of the words. I will.

She turns around. And starts walking away. Come. And you realize that as she's walking away. You realize that she has. Her legs are the back legs of a deer. And she starts striding up the clearing. Oh. So you're like one of the centaur people. I'm not. The centaur has. Their lower half is the entire body. Right. Of a horse. Okay. Or a camel. Or something. So you have a human butt. That's none of your business. Yeah. Where. Where. Where does the deer part start. And tuck like. Puts his.

His hand at her head. And he starts moving it down. It's like. Just say when. She keeps walking. And then it goes all the way. And it's like. Okay. You missed it. So let's start again. Let's start again at the top. And I'll move down. Just tell me when. When the human. Say when. She keeps walking. Okay. Well. And then I turn to these two. And I'm like. This might not be viable for me. I think. The thing says dibs. I just have to try a different approach. I think. Yeah.

And then tuck puts his hand at the. At the feet. And he's like. Okay. Tell me where the deer part stops. Okay. She's just not saying anything. Well. She looks so pissed off right now. Hey. Hey. Lady. What's your name? It's not so that my friend Tacoma. The. The handsome. Or Ving. The also handsome. Well. No. It's. It's just for my personal information. I'm. I'm fat. Billy. If you're curious. Our. Our. Last name isn't handsome. We're not married. My name is. Uh. My name is Savarna.

Nice to meet you. And I. I. Look at you guys. Like. Okay. Now you have the information you need. A beautiful name for a beautiful lady. She goes. And. Chuck's like. Do you ever. Drink? No. Okay. She's been walking this whole time too. She has not turned back to look at you at all. Okay. Can you slow down a bit? I. It's hard for me to keep up. I. My legs are so. So small. She ever so. Imperceptibly slows down. Please Savarna. Let's just take our time here. Really nice trees you have.

You only prolong your judgment. I see you haven't prolonged your judgment. What do you think of us? I think that you are to stand judgment before the council. Why? For. The. Blood. Debt. Against the Ileanas. These are all things you're aware of. I mean. I have an idea based on a song. If you think you'll weasel some detail out of me. You're wrong. Hmm. Hmm. Hmm. What if we roll to weasel a detail? Yeah. Sure. What are you trying to do?

Because like I will say that as a character, she's not interested in talking to you. So it will have to be something pretty tricky. I have berries. That's she's not interested in taking bribes either. Really? Can I use a fairy child move to to charm her? Yeah. Yes. Okay. Yeah. Yes. Okay. And your time's running out because the sun's going down. I know. Yeah. Yeah. No, you just have to spend a spend a hold. Remember, you don't have to roll. Oh, I don't. Yeah. That's good. I know. That's good.

I don't have to. Wait. What did you roll? I rolled a four. That's fine. I think I charm her by ask by asking about a particularly plush pile of moss. Uh huh. I say it's very soft. When's the last time you petted a moss? This this morning. That's great. You know, murderers don't care about moss. But we do. We love moss. I I I don't doubt that you three are not responsible, but blood debts must be paid. What can we expect at council? You can expect deliberation over what's to be done.

Consternation. Sure. Probably from some adulation. No, definitely not adulation. Preparation. Preparation for judgment. Sure. Masturbation. Definitely not. Masturbation. Masturbation. Maybe. By who? One of the. By whom? Besser. The green speaker. Clay leader is she's she frequently snacks. Oh, tell tell her. I also snack. So we have that in common. And then and therefore we would make good friends. So she probably want to keep us alive for that reason. What enclave do you entail from?

I am a member of the green speakers. Ah. Yeah. As you can tell from telling me. Oh, I didn't even know. I didn't know. No, I didn't. My hooves. Yes. Cool. I take the form of the dough. A deer. A female deer. In fact, well played. I could smell it coming a mile away. Yeah. So she, she mentioned she, she explained she's a member of the green speakers, which is a clade of ungulates is the even toed ungulates is the easiest way to kind of classify. My first shape was a caribou. Oh, first shape.

Oh yes. Of course. The spirit Walker. See, he's the spirit Walker. And then in the background, tech goes spirit Walker. He is the Druid of greatest power. He's doing this exaggerated walk. He's walking with his arms. Cause this is a play that they, I, she stops and she turns around. I shouldn't be telling you this, but if you have any hope of making it through this council alive with your hides intact, do not attempt to lean on the fact that you are the spirit Walker.

It will not be met with adulation. Why not? The spirit Walker. Is not a figure of popular renown. Yes. Not amongst us. You represent a great imbalance in the spiritual world. They will not look on you kindly. Have there been other spirit Walkers in the past stories, but none for millennia. Oh, uh, Savannah, what's something we can do to make sure that we are safe. Uh, I wish I knew. I wish I could tell you. I appreciate everything you've told me us. Thank you.

And she turns and leads you further down the clearing into the trees, a small path. And then you exit the tree line. You hear the crash of the waves as you reach what is clearly the other side. And you come out onto a huge cliff, basically bare stone that pokes out onto the ocean and near the top of the cliff. It kind of flattens out into the Stoney plateau. And then you go down the cliff and you see a huge cliff. And you're like, I can't believe this is happening.

I can't believe this is happening. And then you go down the cliff and you see a huge stoney plateau that looks like maybe it was carved into a flat surface thousands of years ago. And you see seven figures kind of in a semi-circle on the edge of the cliff. And where they're standing is worn. The rock has worn. There's been so many people standing there. Yeah. And as you get closer, you see that there is also a worn, uh, section in the middle, like of sort of the midway point of the semi-circle.

Billy does the cat thing again. He realizes how very high up he is from probably sharp rocks below. He gets really low on the ground. He's also like bursting with flowers and, uh, just pedals everywhere. He's very stressed out. Oh no. Yeah. We look like a wedding party walking to the altar. Yeah. Walking like one foot left foot. Um, yeah. And kind of around the, around the circle, they're like fires burning.

Small fires sort of light the area as the, um, the daylight begins to fade in the fog and you, what you believe to be moonlight is beginning to rise. Oh yeah. The sun sets below the horizon and like the darkness of the gray becomes pitch black. Yeah. Oh, night envelops you the blanket of dusk. Um, do we see stars above us? No. Whoa. That's very dark. Extremely dark. Um, yeah.

And you, so you see the seven people arrayed, uh, on this cliff side, uh, one very clearly empty space, uh, sort of off to the end of the right side where there is a worn patch of stone that has no one standing in it. And you are brought forward, uh, in the center facing you is a grim Shay, the man with the octopus sucker rings on his arms. He crosses his arms. He's standing in front of you and says the oval council has been destroyed.

I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, Oh, Oh, Oh, Oh, Oh, stone high I knew you were right far right kind of guy I think I said left didn't I no did I say right he said far right ah shit yeah I mean maybe but I said the right was the empty one but uh yeah next to the empty spot stone I go stone high and a woman next to him who's probably in her 40s or 50s with antlers says basara and then grim shea says grim shea next to him a woman elderly probably 70 or 80 with um it looks like weeping willow strands hanging from her hair says valari the willow's daughter oh cool um next is a young guy like surprisingly got a young guy like maybe in his early 20s with um totally like yellow eyes with uh like the black slit pupils says aldous of the empty sky next is probably a 40 year old man who looks like he's got um like he's basically got a ton of chest hair but it's uh it's like thick and gray like a pelt uh and he goes hidara man eater and uh the next one is uh a woman with um yeah like like she's got like a black kind of like pelt running down like her neck and uh some of her shoulders um she just says noreen that's her name her name's noreen she doesn't have a cool name except her clade is called the silent step which is pretty tight but grim shea who is obviously the leader of the council or at least uh the speaker says you are before this council today to stand in judgment of the past transgressions of the iliana what say you what are the charges brought before my name you trespass in conflict with an accord made long ago your presence on these islands cannot be allowed how was I supposed to know this your lack of preparation is not the concern of this council but the breaking of the accords I was told of no accord how can that be this was placed upon your family I don't know if my mother was here you could ask her but she's not mother my mother was a iliana I have just learned that it is a family name and not her first name describe this mother you describe your mother if she bears the name iliana then her kin are not allowed on these islands or in these waters why I am on trial at pain of death you will tell me why you will attempt to draw my blood blasphemy jesus christ these guys blasphemy runs in your very veins we will not stand for you now now forward and he goes that's right stone eye it is time for trial by combat I step forward as a champion of the iliana line and I demand to be fought for you know and then he this he starts losing he starts losing the threat for our freedom yeah yeah our freedom for our freedom for freedom to travel in these waters and on land and on the land and in air and in the air and in the other worlds and then tuck kneels in front of ving and he like leans his head forward and he's like give me give me the fucking tiara dude he puts a tiara on his head you are of the iliana line henceforth be known to all challengers and courts who will be challenged by you tuck stands up and he just puts his hands in the air and then he just stands there like that for a minute and no one's saying anything and uh all this of the empty sky laughs so hard this is a farce this is astounding they know nothing of our ways and then I go dude my life is a farce I that I doubt not traveler I I simply in all my days on this council and the willow's daughter goes it's not that many all this don't use that you've only been here for about a year in all my days on this council I have never seen something that brings me such mirth as this buffoon is this what you've been taught of our ways and one of your ways assaulting and capturing innocent travelers like us we're not here to steal or anything like that we were just on our way to the north and you're the ones I point at stone eyes you're the one who brought us here against our will you were trespassing trespassing where not on this land in the the waters of hibernia I explained this already to all of you and how else are we to get there council I'm not going to be there for you I'm going to be there for you I'm going to be there for you if there's not safe passage.

And Grimshay puts his hand on his forehead and goes, frankly, I am not sure the point that any of you are trying to make. And then Tuck goes, he's still got his arms raised above his head and he goes, the point I'm trying to make is, I think Stone Eyes is too scared to fight me. And then he goes, bawk, bawk, bawk, bawk! And he, uh… Hey, that's actually a friend of his. Yeah. All this of the empty sky goes, careful. And then he goes, sorry dude.

And then he turns to Stone Eyes and he goes, are you a chicken or a walrus? And I want to use what are you waiting for to try and goad him into agreeing to this trial by combat. I'll tell you the situation right now. Okay. Even off mic. Trial by combat? No precedent for that in this council. Not even one. Like, this is not a thing that they do. Uh, but what you would be doing now is goading Stone Eyes into attacking you. Okay. Like, not, I accept your challenge and adhere to the rules.

More, I'm gonna beat your ass. And then what? We'll see, I guess. It is the next thing that seems to be happening. Yeah, totally. Because you guys have used your usual tactic of annoy everybody that is even trying to cross you at all. 2d6 plus what, charisma? Constitution? Constitution. Here we go! 13. Whoa. 13. Um, yeah, so, what do you, like, all you say is what are you, a chicken or a walrus? Yeah, what are you, a chicken or a walrus?

I don't know if I should be eating you fried or with uh, surf or turf. Oh, yeah. And then tacos, that's pretty good. And Stone Eye roars and just strides forward and tries to punch you in the face. Okay. Rola, what do you, what do you do? I'll just dodge out of the way. Okay. Yeah. Five danger dexterity. Okay, well, 10. Yeah. Nice. He lumbers forward and takes, like, a massive haymaker swing at you and you just step out of the way.

Yeah, I think he's not used to fighting people who aren't, who don't, like, flinch back. Uh-huh. So he, like, overextends and tuck, like, ducks underneath his punch and gets behind him. And then, are you just trying to get him to keep trying to hit you? No, I punch him in the kidney really hard. Okay, there you go. Oh, God. Hack and slash. Nine. Okay, so, uh, yeah, roll your damage. Four. And then roll a d12. Holy shit. Remember? Two. Oh, shit. Wow. That's annoying for him.

Uh, so, yeah, you hammer him in the kidney and, um, you realize that this is a big dude, but, uh, there's a lot of muscle under there. Uh-huh. Like, it hurts when you punch him. Um, but you do, he, like, grunts. And he turns around and, like, backhand just smacks you in the face with his huge fist. And he's gonna keep trying to fight you, but, like, members of the council are stepping forward. Like, Hedara, Maneater, and Aldis are trying to grab Stoneye. Ving steps in with a fight with honor.

I wanna roll. Okay. So I can take a blow meant for somebody. Uh, yeah, sure. Roll plus con. Twelve. Okay. So I get three hold. Yep, so you got your hold now. So I block a blow meant for me or someone else, and I take half the damage. Uh… So he's gonna try and hit Tuck again. Oh, yeah, he's gonna try and hit him again. For sure. Yeah, he's, he's, like, storming towards you. He's trying to get you in a, in a bear hug. Okay. Yeah. Uh, so what do you do?

I kinda wanna, you know when someone charges, I wanna, like, wrap my arms around him and then rock bottom him, basically. Like, flip him over my head. Yeah. Full suplex. Yeah. Okay, so defy danger strength, I guess. Okay. Here we go. Thirteen. Okay. Then you go ahead and roll your hack and slash. We have monster rolls today. Eight. Okay. Okay. So again, d10 and then roll a d12. Three. Four. Goddamn. I was so excited for that huge attack.

Um, yeah, so you, uh, you know, tense all of your muscles and pick this guy up over your head. It's insane to watch. It's like Tuck is picking up a little bus, basically. Yeah, totally. The ground shakes when Stoneye hits the ground. Yeah. He, um, hits and he grunts, like, you see him bite his lip or something and blood starts to pour out of his mouth. And then he is a, uh, an elephant seal. And you realize, oh, he's not a walrus or a chicken. He's a third animal.

And, um, yeah, this is when Ving, I guess, is going to step in and take half this blow. Yeah. So you're going to take two points. You're going to take two points. So basically he is an elephant seal and he rears up to his full elephant seal height and tries to come down with like a massive chomp on Tuck. But both of you basically like catch him. Yeah. We both grab a tusk. Yeah. Elephant seals don't have tusks, but I know what you mean. Yeah. They have big floppy. Elephant nose.

We each grab a nipple. Come here. The council members get around Stoneye and like where there were six other human beings. There's now a huge caribou. There is a massive gray like dire wolf tree, a full like willow tree with arms and legs. Grim Shay has not changed form because he turns into an octopus. But then there's like, you know, an owl and a panther and they're all just like trying to break the three of you up. Can I use connections for the fairy? Oh, yeah. That's like the underworld.

Yeah. Okay. So this is what I want to do. Yeah. I want to ask the fairy to aid us basically. Yeah. And what like what so what are you asking them to do? Like age you? What do you mean? Like help fight for us or stop the council somehow like either manipulate the land or use some sort of charm to protect us or something like that. Okay. Yeah. Go ahead and roll connections. Okay. Eight. So I'll have to settle for something closer. It comes with strings attached. Okay.

I think I think this all happens like in an instant like Billy's like hyper cognition like speaking with a fairy and getting all this like information right. Yeah. Really quick. There's a lot of roots coming actually from me like, you know, like a strawberry vine in a way. Yeah. And it's basically like me reaching out for help. Yeah, totally. I like the I like the I like the you said in the Phalan to the time moves differently. It does.

So you'd be off like going to council meetings like let's have a sleepover and talk about this. Yeah, let's talk this out. Yeah. So you end up you have a little sleepover in a strawberry bush with a little strawberry fairy. Yeah. Oh, yeah, I can. Oh, yeah, we can help but you have to promise to do something for me. Okay. What would you like? I'll tell you what it is later. Later? Later. Come on. Come on. You can trust me, but you're going to do a good job, right?

I'm going to make sure that we're fine. Mm-hmm. Are other fairies going to help you or is it just you? Oh, yeah. Okay. Well, then you have a deal and we wrap our little vines together. Yeah. Pinky promise. Oh, oh shit. Fuck you. No. And the little strawberry fairy is like, oh, how'd you get me? I always do. Fairies are so fucking stupid. And Billy, you like that only took like half a second in reality.

And then all of these from the edges, like up around the cliff through the cracks in the rock and from the edge of the forest, like vines, like blackberry vines, strawberry vines start shooting out. They're like snapping at the council and they're like coming up, like breaking through the rock and they wrap around tuck thing. Stone.

I everybody that's fighting, they try and get all this, but he's flapping around in the air and there's like a great like straining sound as they all get pulled apart. And now they're all just like struggling against these vines. Stone. I told you, leave my friends alone. He's a he's in his lion form. He's like, you change back so we can have an actual conversation. Yeah, he's in it.

He's a guy again, like he his body changes and now he's just this like huge like he I have a lot more power than any of you. So you listen to us. The Willow's daughter looks at you and goes, Who are you? I'm Billy and I am one of the spring fairies and I am a I am from here and I have been here millennia before any of you guys were roll 26 plus charisma. Okay, please nine. Okay, can we aid? Oh, yeah.

Yeah, so how I was thinking of somehow using something to bring you out more fairiness like to bring out the plant like to like like I'm do not take me for a conjurer of cheap tricks. Yeah, he's like my God like I bring you up and like build what you into his winter war. I was going to say like the wood mechanism. Yeah, you bring me bring me through like the stages of my life cycles with the snow and I swirling lifetime.

Yeah, so I'm you know, like one of the trees and I'm like oaky and strong and tall and then I'm the wind. This is what he's saying to oh, yeah, I am the oak. I am the wind and the wind and then I'm the ice. I'm the ice under your feet and like all this ice comes up under them and I am the dreams that visit you in your sleep and the memories that your grandfather's and your mother's and all those that came before you remember pretty sick. So sick.

I also remember I didn't yeah, so hopefully that works. Yeah. Hell yeah, seven. Yeah, it just works it. So yeah, it's it's more being kind of tips Billy over the edge with this influence and this in this energy starts to overtake Billy. So like his from what you can see his body like his form is changing. He's becoming the summer and the autumn and the winter. Yeah, shifting through all these forms. He's taken over the over the eons. Yeah, and my winter form is frightening. Oh, yeah.

Yeah, it's a warrior. Yeah, you know, I'm like a I'm like a wood sort of like a wooden man, but like with stone and ice and I'm like so angry looking fucking made to kill yeah, me like what weapon ax my advice, but I've also got like a huge bow and arrow, but I also have like arrows through me. I'll fight anyway. Yeah, like so so you're like fraud like horror frost. Yeah, and all my scars are iced over cool.

Yeah, I like the idea of having your ice ax so you can like as like a punctuation to what you're saying. Yeah, like slam it down and shatter it on there like yeah, you like slam it into the rock and the ice shoots out under their feet. Cool. Yeah, it smashes the X and if you do anything to harm my friends all the fairies behind me on this land will destroy you and we'll take back our home because we let you live here in our good graces and one by one the members of the Oval Council clap.

No, they they take their human forms and the vines. I imagine recede. Yeah, as they've all calmed down and take back their steps, but they're all looking at Billy with this like quiet. Oh, and fear. Yeah, I'm a child again, but I'm furious walk over and put the tear on your head. Thanks Hadara Maneater says what have you brought to us? No one has brought anything. I have come home. That's a fucking cool line. Sorry sorry that got me really psyched Grim Shay turns to stone.

I and says that is not how a member of this council comports themselves control your urge is stone. I or we will find another for your place and then tuck goes. Yes, don't I? Don't I burn and he goes burn and he just goes like and a bunch of like salt spray like comes out of his nostrils like mist like he's just like sinus infections there. They'll fucking do you and man Grim Shay holds up his hand says enough.

Okay, Bessara steps forward says you must understand you represent a great challenge for our community. This Accord was laid long ago by whom by this council this very cancel this council as an entity. You must understand that this is not something that we can overlook. We must come to a conclusion. Well, the conclusion doesn't have to be blood innocent blood. What do you suggest? I'm not sure. I mean, I can't account for everything that all my relatives have done.

There's a name that I'm coming to later in life and I can vouch for one of the people who held it and I would like to do so on her behalf in her memory. Yeah, so they're basically like what are you? What is your I will tell you the history that I know about myself. And then you tell me what you know about myself what you assume to know about me in this name that is attached to my life. My mother Ileana raised me in the north in old sheer.

She's the one who taught me how to harness my Druid abilities. She taught me how to live off the land. She taught me how to believe in myself and trust myself. She taught me that I was thinking of let's stop me dead. I was like that love is conditional.

That's obviously what she taught me because she's the one who raised me so she didn't do a good job of not doing that and so after she died I went to stay with my father who was a Ranger King in the great forest and I lived with him in the court of the woods and I left there with only memories of her and her name and this song that she sang me in my heart. And then he sings the lullaby. Oh yeah.

If your bones start to feel the cold, snuggle up with me and be told and when you're all warm in bed mama will tell you when the snow turned red. And when the U-Strong arrows fly, remember the words of this lullaby. As the birds pluck arrows from the sky, rally behind those with stones for eyes. And if your loved one raises arms, hold them close while they do you harm. For bringing love across on ships and the kiss from death upon my lips.

You Grim Shay says you are the son of an Illyana and a Ranger? I am the son of Illyana my mother and the Ranger King. Then you are twice damned. Go on. I don't think I had to try. I told you all my stuff. Are you saying that your mother was the Defiler? I maybe. I never knew her to defile. That's not possible. She was killed on these islands. She was killed at the hands of my father. What do you know of the Rangers?

I know that the Illyana's brought death to these islands at the hands of the Rangers. They came to this island seeking the Defiler. The false Illyana. And they brought their armies with them. What does false Illyana mean? An outsider. A traveler. Someone that works the foul energies. They took her in. And she brought death in her wake. Are you saying that my mother wasn't an Illyana? That she adopted the name? Is that what you mean?

And then Tuck leans in and he's like, hey, uh, QQ, uh, just, some of us are a little behind, uh, what did the Defiler do? She used her foul magics to create life. Whole cloth. She bore an unnatural child. What are you saying? If you are her son, then you were not born of woman, but of darkness. And of witchcraft. Watch where you're pointing that finger. I point it where it needs to be pointed. Well, you might see that there's three more pointing at you.

I've never thought about it like that before. I'm not my mother's son. She created me. So you mean? She did. She carried you. She birthed you. But there was no father. There was only her magic. She was a wizard. They all spit on the ground. Alright, so, can you come into a huddle with Bill here, please? I could use a hug, actually. Alright. We hug him. Thanks, guys. And we're like, okay, so. This is, he's really, really cryptic, right? I know he's super beaten around the bush.

Can't really tell what he's saying, but is he saying that your mom is a wizard? Yeah. And that your dad is not your dad? I think that's what it sounds like. Excuse me, Grimshaw. Grimshay. We didn't see that Billy, oh. Billy left the huddle. I just turn around. Sorry, Grimshay. Are you saying that Ving's mom is a wizard? I know that you don't like the word. Yes. Pretty cool.

And the Illianas harbored her while she did her dark work, betrayed everything that we on these islands hold dear, and brought death in her wake. But not by any fault of her own? By her very existence. But did she choose to be that way? I don't think so. Existence is not a damnation. Her choice is irrelevant. How is it irrelevant? Lives were lost because she came here. Her life was lost! Druid, you know more than anyone the laws of life and nature. It just happens sometimes.

Or have you forgotten? Yeah. Yeah, I think you forgot too. Yeah. I mean, as much as we know, magic is bestowed upon us by nature. Um, I mean, you're not making a, you're not making a… Can I roll for it? You can make it, yeah. Defy Danger Charisma. Seven. Seven. Nice. Okay, so they're not gonna just kill the three of you.

Um, but uh, Hedara Maneater has been like literally growling where he stands, like, you can hear him growling in his throat, and he spits on the ground and goes, We may have came from a single source, but we work with the energies of life. The wizards bend them to their will. And do you not bend the spirits to your will? We work in conjunction with the spirits. I don't know about that. You know nothing of our ways, fairy. Oh! Holy shit!

He really explodes into bloom, and he's like, I know everything. Oh fuck. What are you, what are you gonna, is there some show of force that you're gonna attempt? Like, let me know how this feels. I take the knowledge, the Tree of Knowledge seed, and I plunge it, like, with my like, stone fist from my winter fairy body, into the ground. Sick. And I wanna see if that does anything. Yeah, what, what, what, what do you try, what do you think it would do? I kinda think it would grow right there.

Yeah? Is that stupid? No. Here, here's my, here's my suggestion. Yeah? Cause you can make the immaterial material. Yeah? Time is immaterial. So you could just take time and pour it into the seed, and make it grow into a full tree. Yeah, maybe I'll do that. That's intense. Watch the rocks, like, The divot where we're, where like, you know, the judged would stand, like, that's where I'm gonna grow that tree. Oh, cool. And it will hold a lot of my memories. Oh, cool. Yeah.

Okay, then you are gonna roll for lightning in a bottle. Is that okay? Yeah. Nine. It's nine. Eight. How so? Yeah. I bring in the elements to the, for the, for the tree. Yeah? Yeah. Oh, to feed it. To feed it, water it, light, create a hole, use the weather weaver move that I didn't take to make a hole in the fog for sunlight to get in. Yeah, totally. Two to six plus bond. Nice. Nine. Okay. Yeah, so ten.

So this terrifying figure of ice and stone plunges their fist into the ground with this tree of knowledge, and it begins to grow. What does it look like? What kind of tree is it? Um, it is an oak tree. And the bark is like a very shiny reddish brown color. Mm-hmm. Kinda like my hair. Nice. Yeah. And it's, is it like just enormous? Yeah. Or is it just like a full grown? It's pretty big. Yeah. Um. Picture, it looks like an Arbutus in my head because of the red bark. Oh, actually, you know what?

Yeah, it is like an Arbutus. And it's on the, like a cliff on the rocks. Yeah. Cool. Oh, yeah. Exactly. So it's an Arbutus, and a lot of the knowledge is on the leaves, but it's also on the bark, and the bark peels. Yeah. There's so many peelings that are coming off this tree because of so many memories. Mm-hmm. Oh, cool. So beautiful. Um. Layers and layers. Yeah.

And this all happens, you know, centuries pass in a heartbeat as this tree bursts from the rock, cracking the stone around it, uh, its trunk growing, arcing off in wildly twisting shapes until a towering Arbutus tree canopies this entire cliffside, and the council is dumbfounded. Yeah. They're just staring at the tree, mouth agape. You are welcome to read through my lifetimes. And you'll find that I and we and the wizards all come from one place. Ooh, nice.

Grimshay gathers himself, looks to the three of you, but seems to be addressing Billy in a very respectful way. And I'm a kid again. Yeah. Uh, and he says, we must deliberate. Yeah, do you mind if I, like, go get a snack? Please. But I request, and he says request, not demand, I request that you remain in the village until we come to a decision. Yeah, I saw some really good fish being cooked. Um, I think I'm gonna go there. Very well. Can I bring my friends? Please.

A bunch of members of the council try and make eye, like, they make eye contact with you, Ving, as you're leaving. And they don't look happy. Um, maybe the willow's daughter is a little softer in how she looks at you. Stone-Eye is staring Tuck dead in the face. And Tuck gives him a thumbs up. I can't tell where you're looking. You don't have pupils, man. Our time is not done. And Tuck's like, okay, well, we could settle it, lay it here, man. And we will. Okay.

Here on this island, or out in the sea, you and I will meet again. Okay. And if you don't show up, I'll tell everyone that you're scared again. And Tuck is like, leaving, he's like, that's totally cool, we will meet again. I'll be down in the village. Okay, I'm going. And he waves you away. And then I I'll see you later. And then Tuck is like, do you know where Servana went? Or… He asks Stonai. And you're leaving. Stonai has completely turned his back on you. He's not interested. Cool. Okay.

And Servana meets you at the edge of the forest. Hey! You're alive. That's more than I would have expected, to be honest. Yeah, they're gonna discuss stuff. And we're allowed to get a snack if you want to come. And she looks over and sees the knowledge tree that's grown out of the cliffside. And she like, steps back. Goes, wha… Oh, I had… It was pretty cool. We found one of the seeds a long time ago. Yeah. And it's just been waiting for somewhere to grow, so I just put it there.

It's a perfect spot, really. Yeah. Um, I I'll… Okay. And I wrote you a poem while I was back there. Let's get back to the village. And she turns around and starts walking away. And as she's walking away, I'm following her, I was like, to the beautiful Servana. I would like to see your bra. I should tell you, I've taken a vow of celibacy. So, I don't know what to… You know what? Me too, in a lot of ways. I've kinda taken an… I've kinda taken an involuntary vow of celibacy.

Some people would call me an involuntary celibate, or an incel. But not… With all the negative connotations. Not the way that you're thinking about it. Just the fact that nobody fucks me. It's not like a… It's not like a thing. It's just I personally have taken a vow of celibacy to greater connect with the spiritual energies of blah blah blah blah. Me too. All the green speakers are celibate. Yet, up top, Ving, high fives. She high fives Ving. She clop clop clop. Heads back to the village.

So, celibacy, like, does that include mouth and hand stuff? Oh my god. Billy covers his ears for this. And she leads you back to town. And you go back to… Mouth and hand stuff. You go back to the hut that you were in before and someone has thrown three bedrolls in there. And, yep, you're led back to the hut. The two selkies that were guarding you are gone, but you've been asked by Grimshay not to leave the island until they come to a conclusion. Great. Is there poo still in the hut?

There is, yep. I clean it out. Ving clings it out. I'll help you. That's fine. It's just, guys, it's one shit. Most of my piss mostly washed away, so, yeah. It's really on me now. There's no drainage in here, so the piss is just also everywhere. Servana looks… Squeegeeing the floor. Servana's at the doorway and she looks around and goes, well, have a good night. It smells like piss and shit in here. It does. And she walks away. Thank you for letting us sleep in your toilet. Uh… Uh… Uh…

So gross. Uh… Can… After we clean the poo, can we go get some fish? Oh, yeah. Okay. Yeah, let's do that. Yeah, no one's guarding you, but you've just been asked not to leave the island. Let's go get some fish and some seaweed wrap. Scallops. Yeah. And there is a… There are, you know… It's pretty late now, but there is… There are some people that have made some fish for you. There's 24-hour fish fry. Yeah. And you know what else I bet it is? Uh… The nocturnal druids. Oh.

Because some of them take nocturnal forms. Oh, yeah. So they're up at night and they sleep during the day. So there's like, uh… One that has like, uh… Like raccoon rings around his eyes. Like straight up just… He turns into a raccoon. Oh, hi! Welcome. Are you hungry? Yes. Thank you. Alright. Well, I've got some, um… I got some fish here. I got, uh… It's like a sliced thin vegetables. He's basically like a diner cook, but like on a hot rock. Yeah.

He's got a little apron on, but it's like made out of leather and he's got raccoon rings around his eyes. Hi, I'm Ving. I'm, uh… Uh, you could… Oh, uh… Wow, what a lame name. What? You can call me Shadow Snout. It's a new name I'm working on. It's because when I take my form, I'm quite… It's dark and I have a snout and I keep to the shadows. So you're, like, really good at smelling things at night. Oh, I got a keen sense of smell all times of day.

Must suck to have to work with fish all the time, man. Oh, it's amazing. Oh. You ever smelled fish? I don't. Smelled. And he kinda, like, wafts his hands in front of the fish. It smells pretty good. It's really fresh. Billy floats towards… Like a little buddy with a pie. Yeah. Caught fresh this morning just by me. I went down and I turned into a raccoon. I grabbed him with me little hands and I brought him back up here to cook. Cool. Wow. Cute. So good. Thank you. Thank you. It is cute.

Compliments to the chef. Hey, thanks little boy. Wow. Hey, are you… Are you… And he leans… He leans way down and goes, are you a… A fairy? Me? Yeah. Yeah. Wow. He stands back up and goes, wow. I mean, there's a lot here, you know. I've always thought there must be. Do you not know where you are? Yeah, is it not part of what you… I mean, like, it's part of… How you live here? Yeah, well, no, it's part of the… Part of the history of the island, sure, but not part of my everyday life.

I mean, I mean, there's a fairy right there. I point to the bush I jumped in to earlier. That bush there? Yeah. That's a fairy. That's a… Wow. That's a fairy. And the tree over there, that's a winter fairy. Whoa! So they have seen a lot. Don't say, don't say, don't say. Huh. There could be fairies everywhere. Oh, no! Yeah. He's like a really polite waiter, basically. Wow. Yeah, flipping his fish. Wow, you don't say. Yeah, they see…

They see you when you're sleeping, they know when you're awake. They know if you're being battered. And they watch you in the toilet, too. No, we don't! Yeah, and then Tuck's like, yeah, they do. Not always. Just if I also have to go to the toilet, and you're taking a long time. So I have to make sure you're okay. Yeah. So be good. So be quick for goodness sake. Yeah. Flashback to, like, Tuck sitting on the toilet, and Billy just opening the door, and Tuck's like, Billy, privacy.

This, we've talked about this so many times. I like that Billy's shadow walks through the door. Billy, you can't use the shadow! Like, he's banging on the door, and he's like, Tuck, you can't walk. Let me in! I leave the door open, and like, Cash walks by, and he's like, Tuck, what's wrong with you? Are you fucking kidding me? Gross! Just imagining… He trips over Billy's sleeping body, lands an open door of shit shitting.

I'm just imagining the door swinging open, and Billy standing there, just like, arms at his sides, no expression on his face, staring at Tuck. Billy, close the door! Sorry. Just making sure you're okay. I'm okay. It smells like somebody died in there. I'm taking a shit. I just… You just take a long time. Yeah. Sorry. He's like, dishes. Billy, close the door, honey! Vinging that. Cooking me a frilly apron. Yeah. Uh… We just did a flashback to an extended scene of Tuck taking a shit. Yeah.

Four different times of Billy walking in the… Yeah, those were four separate incidents. Yeah. Him shadow walking through, him standing there with no expression on his face. And the cash one. Yeah, cash walking by, Ving making dinner. Happened a lot. So funny. Uh, yeah, so Shadow Snout is like, yeah, wow, fairy, huh? Chup, chup, chup, flip, flip, flip, flip, flip. Well, fairies like fish. I love fish. Well, here you go. And he puts it on a little bark plate, hands it over. Thank you.

You're welcome. Thank you so much. You too, here you go. Thank you. Thank you very much. Enjoy. Can I have some more fish? Yeah, yeah, yeah, here you go. I can't really eat the vegetables. Oh, that's fine. Oh, fine. I'll take… I'm on a keto diet. Oh, hey, you know what? Honestly, a lot of the people on this island are technically on a keto diet, so… I myself eat garbage, so it doesn't really make a difference to me. I eat anything. What's your favorite garbage? Oh, like a banana peel. Oh.

Delicious. Really? Yeah, I love them. Oh, cool. You must not get them a lot up here. No, so rare. Oh, I had a banana peel once, oh, I want to say six or seven years ago, and I still think about it. I still have a piece of it. It's because everybody thinks that the flavor's in the banana, but the flavor leaches into the peel. That's why bananas are so soft and gross. But the peel is firm and vibrant. So you think that flavor makes things harder? Yeah. That's all the best foods are hard.

You got nuts, you got… Salt? Salt. You got jerkies, hard meat, soft meat? Gross. Hard meat? Delicious. Servana gave me some hard meat earlier. I don't understand if that is a joke or if she actually gave you some jerky. She did give me jerky. Okay. All right, well, I mean, we could keep, we could keep gobbing away, shooting the breeze, but I'll just be, you know, up. I'm gonna, I'm probably gonna go fuck around in the woods in a little bit. This is prime nighttime, prime nighttime.

Sleep in a tree, dig around in a hole, find something to smell. Oh, I love those activities. Yeah, I love it. I love being a raccoon. That's a great… That sounds fun. Billy's wearing the skin, right? I am. And he's like, hey. What? Are you, are you like a… Oh, this. Yeah. It's really old. I found it a long time ago. Oh, okay. Don't worry. Just wanted to make sure it wasn't anyone I knew. Oh, don't worry about it. Oh, oh, anyway. Probably not.

My granddad got turned into a hat, so I decided I'd check. Um, Billy… Billy's like, oh, shit. Oh, no, no, no, no, no. It's not, it's not a weird thing here. Okay. You know, we understand we're part of the cycle of life, and animals are part of the circle as well. People hunt animals. I eat meat. A lot of people on this island, you know, are predators. Mm-hmm, mm-hmm. It just happens. Part of the way things go. Yeah, definitely nothing unnatural here on this island.

Everything's just as it is everywhere else in nature. He's thinking about maybe being a mermaid instead of born. Right on, brother. Oh, no. Right, yeah, we totally forgot about that. Yeah, we look at Bing like, hey, are you okay? And you hear a in the distance. Yeah. Yeah, you know what? He looks up at the sky. I'm gonna go fuck around in the woods. And he takes his apron off, walks three feet, turns into a raccoon, and scurries off into the shadows. I love that guy. I love him. I love that guy.

I love him. Yeah, Billy's got tears in his eyes. His eyes, because the fish's so good. He cooked so much of it. He did, and it is excellent. But yeah, you guys are just kind of standing around the fire. It's pretty quiet. Seems like most of the nocturnal druids are going about their days. Is there anything we should find out while we're… Yeah. I wanna know more about what the fuck they're talking about. About your mom being a wizard? Yeah. Do you think that's why my dad killed her? Maybe.

Oh shit, right. Remember Shathane told us that the rangers hunted wizards? Yeah. Also, like, does that mean that your dad is not your dad? I mean, where do I get all these from? Well, like I have… Like your elf ears? I'm elf ears and I have the tail of a druid? Yeah. I don't know what's going on. Can we, like, Spout Lore or something? Yeah. Or you could um… I mean, Perel is down on the boat. That's what I was thinking. We could maybe go talk to Perel. I was hoping that Perel we could go…

Yeah. So you head back down to the boat. Yeah. And there are Selkie guards, um, in their seal forms. Asleep, for sure. Look how cute they are. Like that laying full on their back. Yeah. Their fins stretch sometimes. Yeah. Well, some… A couple of them have done that thing where they pull their heads, like, into their bodies so they just look like a sausage. Cute. Um, but you get the idea. You've been asked not to leave. If you try to leave, the Selkies will try to stop you.

We're too captivated. Billy's home. This is… Yeah. You got a cool fight coming up. I feel like we're here to stop. Oh, yeah. I'm looking forward to that for sure. You're the one who asked for it, though. I know, but I thought there was, like, a lot more on the… I thought I could just fix this whole situation by beating him up. And that was not the case. It was not at all the case. I misread that whole situation wildly. I misread that whole situation wildly. They were really confusing and…

I get it. Such a cryptic group. I'm sorry I took that from you, but it's so much funnier for Trial by Combat to just not be a thing. I challenge you to a fight. Okay. That's not a thing. If you want a fight, we'll fight. But yeah, the boat is there. Hardcore beached. Um… Oh, right. Yeah. You actually see Ollie is leaned up against the hull. It looks like he's been trying to patch up, uh… Patch up the scratches, like maybe paint over some stuff or father shit or whatever. Yeah.

But it looks like everybody on the boat is asleep. It's the middle of the night. Pirello, I think my mom was a wizard. So you're like in the hull, like waking… Like inside the boat, waking Pirello. Yeah, I lost it. I'm standing over… What? Standing over him saying that. What? Hey, he's got a little butter knife. And he holds it and goes, what? I like push it back into his forehead. Ah, fuck. Oh, hi guys. Hi. I think my mom was a wizard. What? What do you… What? What do you mean?

That's what the druids up there were saying. Mm-hmm. Can you… Can you guys give me like 30 seconds? Alright. One, two, three. Oh my god. He's like rubbing his eyes. He's pat… Like pawing around for his glasses. He's wearing a long shirt, like just a night shirt, and that's it. Like he's like one of the kids from Peter Pan? Exactly. Okay. Yeah. I go get his pants. Yeah, thanks. He might want these. I imagine he puts his pants on, but then he tucks his incredibly long shirt into the…

Into the pants. It takes forever, and then he's just got like a poo around his waist. They're not pants, they're shorts, and they're… Yeah. …coming out of the bottoms. Let me just get some shorts on. Uh, so like five, ten minutes later, you guys are down the beach. You've built a little fire, and you filled Perel in on the whole situation. Yeah. And Perel is just like, like he's resting his chin on his fist, looking at the fire and going, wow. That can't be true, right? Uh, I mean…

I mean, my ears, my tail… I mean, there were… There was a lot of talk about the creation of sentient life via Thaumaturgy, but it was like pie in the sky, maybe one day, hopefully soon, we'll see kind of thing. Can wizards have kids? Like once you kind of like become a wizard, can you have a kid? Um… What do we think? I guess probably not. Maybe like the process of becoming… Like the biological change of being a wizard. Right, your physiology totally changes.

Yeah, so maybe you become incapable of reproduction. Yeah. Cause there's always the chance that you would create a wizard, which would unbalance the whole point of… Right. Yeah. So she must have been… She must have got pregnant before she became a wizard, if that's what happened. Or she figured out how to make herself pregnant, like cause she wanted to have a child. Yeah. So she was trying to solve this problem. Holy shit. If that's true, one, your mom… Wait, how long ago were you born?

Um… In around 80 years, I don't know. So that means, one, that your mom survived the Exodus, somehow. I guess the druids took her in, the Ilianas took her in for some reason, and she was able to give birth to you. She hid her wizardry in with the druids. And she learned to be a druid. Yeah. With them. She was able to, yeah, become a druid, make herself a druid, and then make you a druid. Mm-hmm.

So if your dad isn't your dad, maybe the fact that you were raised to believe that he was your dad is why you became half-elf. Oh shit. And as she's saying this, Ving's, like, countenance is, like, softens in the points of his ears, like Whoa! Holy shit! What? And his, uh, his, uh, his gills close. What the fuck? Whoa, whoa, whoa.

And he comes down to his hands, and then he holds them in front of, in front of him, puts them together, and puts them back against his chest, and my gills open, and my ears go back. What? What the fuck? Have you done that before? No. But somehow I I knew I could. I don't know how to explain that. What am I? Who am I? Well, well, now hold on, hold on, hold on. And he, Perel's, like, put his hands up, like, whoa, whoa, whoa, dude.

If what your mother achieved is what she achieved, you are yourself. You're a person. You're Ving. You're not a trick. You're not a creature. A replicate. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. You bleed. You breathe. You eat. You sleep. You drink. She created life. You've died before. The only things that can die are things that are alive. I didn't really die, did I? This is a lot. This is a, this is a quite a head scratcher. Perel's basically like, just give me some time.

I'm gonna try and see if I can't remember anything about anyone that would have been involved in this. This line of work. This school of magic that disappeared around the time of the Exodus. I'll see what I can figure out. What do you, do you know anything about the Ilianas? Can you find out about them too? The druids? Like, you keep talking about it like it's, but are all the druids up here called Ilianas? Or is there different families? No, there, no, this is Sean.

There are different families for sure, but you know that the Ilianas were a family line from Hibernia that were cast out. Yeah. I wonder if, because there's runes everywhere on this island. Oh, right. There are on the tree, like there's knowledge trees. Yeah. And there's runes all on the cliffs and rocks. We could go look and see if there's anything we can read. Oh, yeah. The tree of some, some tree of knowledge has to know this. You can go ask the trees. Yeah, we should definitely do that.

We should go look at the trees. But also, this raises another big question, which is, why the fuck did your dad try to convince you that you were his son? Yeah, why? Like… Well, maybe he… I mean, I don't want to presume too much about your family, but there must have been a time, did your… Your father loved your mother, right? I mean, why would he kill her? He killed her. But why would he take you as his son? Just out of guilt? Maybe, but…

I feel like there's, there's something that's not lining up here. There's some piece that we're missing. Well, I guess there's, uh, only one person who could line this up for us. And then Tuck is like, is it possible that your dad kept you as a weapon? The only child born of a wizard. Like, you can shape-shift into any animal. Or anything, maybe. Yeah. You think you wanted to use me? I mean, he was grooming me to be a ranger. Like him. But, I don't know. It's possible.

Yeah, like you said, I think the only person that knows for sure is him. Yeah. Okay. I'm gonna, and he does that thing where he, uh, puts, he pats his hands on his knees and goes, alright! And stands up and goes, I'm gonna go back to the boat, I'm gonna see if I can, uh, figure something out in regards to your mom. Uh, to, uh, let me know how the tree thing goes. Thanks. See ya. Bye. Bye. Hey, Perel. I mean it, thank you. Hey, I'm, I gotta say, I'm, uh, overjoyed to learn more about this.

This is, you, you represent an incredible breakthrough in the thaumaturgical arts. Uh, and, uh, I just, I can't, you know, this isn't the time, I'm sorry. He's been, like, eyes squinting and getting wider at the same time. No, no, no, this isn't the time. You're right. I'll, I'll see, I'll talk to you guys later. Pat, pat, pat, pat. That's him walking down the beach. I just remembered, we have those bookworms. Oh, shit, right. Oh. I always ask a question. Yeah. Uh-huh.

Ask a question of the library. Mm-hmm. Yeah. I mean, we kinda should at least let Farrah know some of this stuff. Great. Let's send out a bookworm. I love that idea. Okay. Okay. Yeah. Yeah, so what do you, what's the bookworm gonna say? We don't have a lot of space, right? Yeah. Cause we only have two of these and we probably don't wanna waste both of them on this thing, right? Yeah. You probably just wanna send one. Ving writes up, unfurls the wings and writes, Farrah, you up?

Starts folding them in. Okay, no, no, no, no, no. You think some more information? Okay, yeah, yeah, yeah. It's probably a bit more information. I mean, there's another wing. We could write something on there. Oh, yeah. Sorry, he told us that question mark. It's gone. Uh, yeah, what do we wanna know? We'd let her know. We write in the tiny little lettering. Ving Mom Wizard. We can, we can use like apostrophes and S's and stuff, I think. Oh, sorry. We could use conjunctions. Ving Mom Wizard.

Booking freaks? I freak nature. Um, well, I don't know how to write, so whatever. I guess I'll go kick rocks then. Well, you know how to talk. Barely. I guess. Billy talked good. Billy's gonna go kick rocks. Okay, Ving's mom is a wizard. Yeah. We found, what do you know of wizards creating life? Right. Have you heard of the Ilianas? Yeah. She possibly made me? And then also that she survived the Exodus by being harbored by a druidic family.

What, and then also what do they know of the ranger attack on the Ilianas? And the druid island of Hibernia? Right on both sides of both wings. Yeah. You can see the bookworm's like rolling his eyes, like, come on, hurry up. It's like getting a really long tattoo. Yeah. And yeah, he writes himself, extends his little parchment wings, and flies away. Good luck. And Billy, you're kicking rocks down the beach, and you hear, uh, hey. What? Hey. Ooh, what's up? Where? And you see a little strawberry.

Oh. Walk out of the grass. Look at you. I pick, pick up the strawberry. We had a deal. Yeah, what's, yeah? What? But you wouldn't tell me what it was. Well, I'm about to tell you now. Fine, what is it? That's where we're gonna end it for this week. What the fuck? That's fine, that's fine. 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, question mark? Paul Oppers. Whoa. Take care, everybody.

And playing Fat Billy, the Halfling Thief, Jessica Tai. Bye. Thank you to Aaron Reid of Vancouver Sunday Service for the incredible intro and outro music that he has performed for us live two times a month for six years, really doing us a huge service. Uh, you can find all of the music performed on the show at soundcloud.com slash Spout Lore. Yeah, man. I think. It's a, it just starts out, Spout Lore soundcloud. Yeah. Let Google do the heavy lifting for you there.

Uh, thank you to all of our Patreons who support us. Around the world, you can support us on Patreon for a whack of bonus content at patreon.com slash Spout Lore or Spout Lore dot com slash money, please. Uh, and thank you to all of you for listening. We'll see 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 times abreast in revelry and the though our journey may be like a conclusion we will not leave you without a resolution return next week to hear some more whilst you commute or do your chores and for you I'd gladly Spout Lore and you may be able to read the lore and the lore and the lore and the lore