Season 14: Endings 2 (for real this time)

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 Peely'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 guest, Game Master Sean O'Hara Joining me as always, Tacoma Dome the Barbarian Abdul Aziz Hello everybody Ving the Half-Elf Druid Paul Oppers Hello And Fat Billy the Halfling Thief Jessica Tai Hello We've got a brand new camera set up and we are enamored with it I'm looking right down the barrel folks What's going on?

This is so fun Yeah, Ryan's gonna be so stoked Oh good Yeah, he only uses the one shots for the socials So it's like everything that he has access to is gonna be the crispiest, most beautiful crunchiest, grimy-est lens he's ever seen And that's for you Ryan Yeah Check after this my friend We don't have to give him permission, we have to beg him to stop Please audience, help us Gotta stop looking at our videos When last we left our heroes, things had gotten a little complicated in the quest to capture and trick Callum Blackhammer Billy's position beneath the palace courtyard and the construction of his fairy fort was revealed And he sent the hordes of the congregants after the young boy Ving took off to try and catch up Tuck was unconscious?

Somewhere in the palace Being bullied by a bunch of nerds And Billy, on being pursued by the horde, disappeared into the canals beneath Blackglass Palace Uh, Tuck, a warrior? Uh, Tuck, a warrior? Tuck awoke in a chamber tied to a chair face to face with who other than Allison You have me at a disadvantage Allison the succubus tucks, uh, something? Paramore?

I guess, he does, I think he's, she's the girl he thinks about more than any other gal He is certainly at the very least obsessed with her in some fashion At the very least Yeah Um, and Allison started asking him questions about their plans What they were, what they knew Uh, pressing, prying questions Specific questions Until Tuck finally realized that he was speaking to the Medjay in possession of the icon of deception Mm-hmm Uh, and then tried to turn the tables, flipping it on the Medjay by deceiving him But, of course, with the icon of deception at your disposal, deception has no effect on you Mm-hmm So he simply left the room Uh, Billy, creeping through the canals, trying to find his family Pursued by the splashing of the congregants behind him Made a deal with the aspect of Lillian lurking deep beneath the palace, uh, for protection Uh, in exchange for carrying on the rage that she felt at her betrayal Mm-hmm And entombment Billy found himself in a tunnel directly beneath the chair at, uh, to which Tuck was tied Thankfully, hidden from view by the wooden bottom of the chair Otherwise, the loincloth Tuck would have provided quite a view I think I was still wearing the You were still wearing chaps, thank God Chaps at that point Thank God But my dick and balls were out As long as it's funny, they're out No, I Sleeve had called it your beaver In that episode I heard that the other day when I was listening and I laughed at myself It got me off guard Uh, Ving tried to head off the horde to protect Billy from, uh, the coming danger And was found face to face with Lionel Mackenzie King Mm-hmm Still on contract to take the three of you down Still trying to do his job Mm-hmm Um, and not just for the money, but for pure enjoyment He fucked up so bad though He really did There was a fight that went on, a duel of sorts Uh, during which both employed all of the tricks at their disposal But unfortunately, Lionel Mackenzie King was disarmed And then thrown into a horde of congregants Mm-hmm And left to his own devices Really kind of highlighted his weakness Yeah He's a guy He's just a guy Angry guy with a gun Yeah There was a thing where you kicked him into the horde of congregants And you were going, you went, this guy's got a fire sale on pomegranates Yeah And you just knew in his head, he was thinking Lionel Mackenzie King never forgets He will never I was so mad that I didn't say that At the end of that episode I was so mad at myself What would he impose?

Next arrived the gibbous man to speak to Tuck to try and make a deal Mm-hmm The way things are going It would behoove all three of you to join him Something that he attempted with Billy And then Tuck The gibbous man seems to fear the three of you Quite a lot And is trying to get you on his side Mm-hmm Tuck, of course, not susceptible to the manipulations of the gibbous man Just by purely being so antagonistic!

Causing the Gibbous Man to snap a little bit and reveal more than he should have, that his plan is to release Lillian from her tomb, but not before he gathers the disparate pieces of the moon that exist in various places in the world so that he can control her and ensure that she does not break her confines and immediately kill him. Yeah. But to break Lillian out of the tomb, he needed TLC. And if Tuck wasn't going to help him, then he would take it and do it himself.

Billy, hearing this in his fairy form, went to go head the Gibbous Man off and created a fairy circle around him and Black Spire, who was chained up in the chamber after very briefly helping Tuck via a powerful beam of light the episode before. Black Spire's so cool now. He's doing his best. Yeah. He looks really cool and is not cool, which I think is most of you guys too. Yeah. Like your fandom. I see heroes and just so frustrating as people. Yeah.

Tuck cut his dick when he was going down that staircase. Of course he would. Why wouldn't he? Tuck broke out of his chains after this and smashed through the door, grabbing by the throat Victoria LeBlanc, meeting up with Ving. A brief tussle ensued as Mears, now a warrior and hireling, showed up to try and hold her off as you two reunited with the fairy Billy in the chamber containing. Black Spire. From here, Black Spire was released from his chains with the help of Ving.

He then immediately splattered the Medjay that had been keeping him captive. Ew. While Billy in his fairy fort tried to protect TLC and the Gibbous Man attempted to make a deal with Billy. Let him have the axe. Everything will be fine. Billy denied these advances, threatening to call Mother Never Was. The Gibbous Man stayed, asked Billy not to, and then they had sort of a father, son conversation.

Billy revealing that he, somewhere deep in himself, considers himself a child of the Gibbous Man, as do all fairies. I've got goosebumps all over my body. Oh, cool. The Gibbous Man justified his actions. Billy asked why he lied about his involvement with the imprisonment of Lillian, revealing in his justifications of his actions that he was in fact involved directly in the imprisonment of Lillian, working with Chimes.

To entomb her in the tower so that he would have enough time to complete his other plan of controlling Lillian once she was released, to finally wipe the slate clean, get rid of the mortals, and rebuild his material plane as he saw fit. And re-assimilate his family. Yeah, return to godhood. Yeah. As he believes he and all his children deserve. Project his blame onto the weight of the world. Exactly. Yeah. I didn't cause all of this. You did. You made me do this. Look what you made me do.

Exactly. Look what you made me do. It was such a battle cry for shitty dads. It's awful. Yeah. The Gibbous Man went away. His plans momentarily foiled. Victoria and Mears showed up during their duel, and the party kind of regrouped, and Billy's still in his fairy form. Next, a bunch of really big things all happened in a row. Tuck destroyed the tattoo on Victoria, chaining the icon of vengeance to her. Billy convinced it to hunt the Gibbous Man.

After hearing the conversation about how he despises his children for their ungratefulness, Ving bound the icon to his family spear and hurled it through a cleft in reality as the Gibbous Man traveled beneath the palace. So fucking sick, dude. It was so cool. Down deep below, contemplating the piece of the moon that he had recovered. It's one more piece of the moon that the Gibbous Man has. Damn it. 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 that is where we find our heroes now. We kind of talked about this. We're not coming right back into the moment. We're sort of in a place where the immediate danger of the moment has passed. You can all feel and hear that the sounds of the congregants, their violent mob, have dimmed to almost silence from where you are. The feeling of oppressiveness that Callum's power put out has also ended.

What do we see when we first come back? It's sort of like the first Dawn of the Dead where there's just people splayed out all over the place. A lot of unconscious party goers. Or people kind of like gaunt, sobbing in a corner. You can see tear-streaked cheeks under their masks. And a title. A wave of destruction of the mob that had made it out. Yeah. Shattered furniture. Torn wallpaper. Yeah.

Like a big ice sculpture in the hallway has been tipped over and is shattered on the ground and is melting into the carpet. The country kids were here. Deep cut. Oh my God. Several blocks away. Three people take their masks off and go, that was really bad. We really fucked that up really bad. And then one of them pulls a ripcord and a balloon and floats and they all float away. Yeah. And then I think back like in the ballroom, the orchestra in the center, nowhere to be seen.

It's housing is empty, but you hear no music. Oh no. He's gone full anus loveless. Callum, I mean. And there is, yeah, there are whorls of blood on the ground from the waltzing of the congregants. Oh, the pattern of the spell that he was casting. Whoa. Yeah. Yeah. A lot of the torches that were being used as constellation stand-ins have gone out. The glittering in the glass orchard in the middle of the courtyard has dimmed. Oh. It's just dull. Gray in here. Yeah. It's just dull. It's just dull.

It's just dull. It looks more like it. Whereas before it looked like buffed pieces of the night sky. Now it looks like dirty ice. Like it's just gray lake ice. Cool. Some life has left this place and influence has ebbed away. Cool. I think once in a while we hear like emergency bells far off. Like ding, ding, ding, ding, ding. Oh, in the city. Yeah. Yeah. And then like crackling maybe. But like deep far off things are happening. They're starting up. Mm-hmm. I guess, yeah.

I want to see what each of you is doing, I guess, as you walk through. So let's see like Tuck walking through this place. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Oh, my God. Oh, my God.

Kind of archway windows and go to balconies so he's like looking at the view of the city as like the fires start yeah yeah yeah so you're looking out and you see like the fire that maybe you guys started maybe you didn't and the bakery has grown and is crawling across that part of town no right but you hear the like ding ding ding ding ding ding as uh fire crews are responding now ving I want to examine the crystal ceiling and the crystal trees yeah totally so ving is walking through kind of like running his hands down the trees and stuff like that yeah I would go over to the altar where his arm was is so this is discern realities I got uh seven plus wisdom yep yeah great ten yep three questions uh what here's useful or valuable to me did they leave any of the tattoo stuff behind yeah there's unfortunately nothing like that around what would they leave something that is you know um interesting but not necessarily vital because callum would not forget stuff that would totally ruin him oh you know what I think where his arm was maybe he did go a little bit faster than he expected to because you know he sent the congregants off after billy but near where his hand is almost like it fell underneath one of the chairs and was lost is a small um signet ring with a with a chip of black stone set in the in the setting I pick it up you have uh you now have a ring in your hands full dnd great just remember this this is this is something that you can look at later but right now is probably not the time um what should I be on the lookout for uh you are probably very curious as to where callum is and where the magi are the presence that you felt like you've walked around you have a spiritual sensitivity that few people on the planet do you are absolutely certain that both callum and the magi are gone the two remaining magi of course being the two remaining magi are gone and the two remaining magi are gone um malice and patience yeah black spire is like scraping the bottom of his like a dog like he's kicking it up against the wall I sense a smear of deception in the room now he keeps lifting his leg like a dog that has something between his legs um so wherever whatever their plan was um you assume patience and callum had something to do with this they had an out they had note yeah uh what here's not what it appears to be there was a curtain that was covering the walls creating this like interior courtyard place you know you go through the curtain and then there's the door there you see the curtains moving on the far side of the courtyard near the door to the entry hall and you see two people in masks um trying to escape but they look surprisingly hardy right now they're trying to escape they turn and they see you and they kind of look at each other and give like a oh and they take their masks off and it is um two of the brass castle boys and they're like oh my god I'm so scared I'm so scared I'm so scared oh okay I put down the ashtray I was gonna throw it it is arty and rookin uh and they're like well there you are that was quite a bust up huh yeah did uh did one two and three find you no they found us temporarily but they you know they took off it's just the way it is here you got kind of look out for number one they knew we were alive and they bounced all right so it's just me arty and rookin a reasonable manageable member amount of npcs that remain on the scene oh and then victoria wakes up yeah and rookin when he says that nods but says nothing because we can't afford to pay him union rates he's getting a day rate that's it yeah and he looks at uh victoria over your shoulder is that who I think it is yeah we got a special delivery here from mr deering a special one thousand dollar delivery coin a special one thousand coin delivery he said to go literally a thousand spout lord dollars eight years and we have never used dollars one thousand spout lord dollars this is like when your dad calls youtube the youtube it is not like that and it is the youtube I read it on the facebook okay so they decided they're going to join you on their way back to the hideout but is there anything else that we want to do here billy it is worth mentioning you kind of have the palace to yourselves yeah there was that little room what was in that little room oh that was his office yeah maybe that's what billy was doing he was looting okay rifling through totally so billy just split off and went straight to the office yeah he had to wedge himself out of the pipe but uh all the you guys were helping me along and I was like yeah I'm gonna go to the office and I'm just getting narrower I have to get to the wider spots and that took me upstairs I forgot right so we we cut back to a scene the chair's been pushed aside you guys are face to face through this great and billy's like I'm just gonna go the other way I mean you guys go upstairs the pipe gets fatter that way I have to go where the pipe is fat billy you gotta suck it okay buddy I'm doing it oh yeah we yeah!

He comes out like a can of soup like cranberry sauce yes your sound effects are pretty good today they're really good dude they're so good oh great so a few like a I don't know a few minutes later billy pops out of a toilet yeah I dumped a bunch of lube in there to help why did you have a bunch on you victoria did it was a wedding night sean wedding night and callum is famously yeah I dumped a bunch of lube in there to help you why did you have a bunch on you victoria did it was a wedding night sean it was a wedding night and callum is famously better than you and billy's like I'm gonna take you to the bathroom and I'm gonna take you to the bathroom bad at getting girls wet oh my god would be so true he would not be good at that but I'm cunning I'm cunning yeah well you're terrible at cunnilingus uh okay great so yeah billy squirts out of a toilet later on a congregate in there jesus mary and joseph trying to take a shit yeah and yeah so I imagine billy just wandered through and was like yeah he has to dry off so he's like I am going to poke around I mean there's there's there's so many rooms in this palace you walk past a couple of like chambermaids that are like sprinting out there with like a big yeah a big bag of shit yeah no it is like it's like that zombie movie thing where the only time you see a person is when they are running past you so fast yeah and you make your way back to the office where but a day or two ago uh you did combat with the magi I do want to have a look around I forget what to roll though oh this would be a discern realities yes I will do that um so yeah you can roll a 2d6 plus wisdom seven one question off the list oh what here is useful or valuable to me okay so you spend a good amount of time um poking around you like grab his garbage can and you're looking in there and you're like nope nothing in here I toss stuff around yeah great time you're throwing pillows off the little shades throwing pillows I'm I'm wrapping myself in blankets and looking in the mirror and going making little voices and stuff making little voices like what like oh I'm the king of the castle you go sit over there I'll sit over here and then I do that for a while there's a congregation of stuffed animals yeah I tell them watch me while I look at all my stuff I'm going to do a show and tell okay and I I don't know I pull drawers out and I'm like oh my god I'm gonna do a show and tell but I pull stuff off the shelves I knock one shelf over because I'm top heavy he leans out too far while on a shelf and the whole thing goes down okay I will not show and tell those things you are you know with your finely honed thief senses as you are having fun as only billy can uh you're like pulling drawers out and you're like nothing boring nothing nothing and then as you pull one drawer out you realize that the bottom of the drawer is higher than the than the lowness of the drawer would suggest oh there's a trap door in here so you press around on the bottom and click oh my god what's in there it's a bunch of letters oh I can't read any of these so then I show them to my teddy bears um what does it say what does it say and uh uh gerald the elephant takes a look at the papers and goes I don't know billy I think that might have to have a look at this that's a good idea um so I grabbed the softest scarf that's been that was hanging in there and I wrap it around myself and I go on my adventure to show you guys yeah but then as you're leaving you hear wait a second you turn back and uh courtney the crow is like you could just destroy the letters who's courtney the crow it's one of the stuffed animals in here that's scared jessica you just scared jessica you could just destroy those letters then no one will have to read them reading is boring billy's unnamed no no this is billy's play coming to life and then but then billy goes but knowing stuff is fun I guess so and then a stuffed bear comes out he's like also don't trust courtney she abuses her husband you don't know anything about our relationship and shut up jerald I leave while they fight courtney I could hear you through the walls you shouldn't talk to him like that I'm gonna go to bed I'm gonna go to bed and billy emerges oh no I hope this doesn't continue for their sake it's like toy story reverse toy story the second billy leaves the room complete silence okay thank gosh um and you emerge back into the courtyard you see your family and black spire who is kind of nosing around the discarded buffet oh yeah slurping out meatballs well he is sniffing for food but all he can find is like meats and fruits and grains isn't the whole palace made out of obsidian no the palace is made out of obsidian and the palace is made out of obsidian and the palace is not made out of obsidian it is made out of stone though but he doesn't find it very appetizing okay yeah I like that he thinks that there's a big chunk of ice that he's like shiny stuff he's made out of water I think he tried to eat some of the glass yeah he's just like eating a tree he's like I don't even like this I'm just hungry I just want the flavor and he sees billy come through the door he goes billy what's going on he's sniffing you a lot can you read let me see I've been living in a library oh yeah so you're really smart now and he spreads he spreads the papers out on the ground and you see his giant eye like tipping down to one of them and he goes this is writing I thought so all right he's actually learned a lot glad I could help he goes and chews on some more glass trees yeah there's a butterfly in here for some reason oh you hear a bunch of thundering behind you and billy has returned billy hey look what I found I'm showing you the paper whoa they were in a secret spot so they must be important where did you find it in uh kelm's drawer in the office billy we told you to come straight back to us no you said to go dry off no I didn't did you tell him to go dry off before coming back we could have dried him off did you tell him I did not say that you said ew billy you came out of the toilet I find some sanitizer and sanitize the boy yeah I'm just spritzing him yeah we do the thing that you do with a dog where you trap it in a towel for a bit and then I'm like I'm just feeding them pizza bites to keep them calm he just put some peanut butter on one of the glass trees and billy licks it so you can dry them and then he runs away and I go to beg a go I got most of it off I think I clipped some of his nails whoa that's good you didn't even notice uh so the papers seem to be corny and I'm like oh my god I'm gonna go to bed I'm gonna go to bed I'm gonna go to bed I'm gonna go to bed I'm gonna go to bed I'm gonna go to bed I'm gonna go to bed it would take some time to go through this and determine what they actually if any information if what they contain can we get some to's and from's who who are the writers to's and from's are names that you do not recognize but the writing style is very formal which leads you to believe that it is other leaders or um people of importance or perceived importance a bunch of people who think they're important let's keep their mail okay yeah yeah I'm also gonna keep this ashtray it's really crystal a It looks super heavy.

I don't smoke, but I might if I have this ashtray. If I look this cool while I do it, and I try to glint it through the light. Yeah. Try to make rainbows on the ground for Billy and Black Spire to chase. And it's working. It is working. Yeah. But yeah, unless you have anywhere else that you want to explore in here. Like the idea is endless, but I think we should go, right? Yeah. I'm hearing more like crashing outside. Yeah. And more alarms and more shouting. Oh, shit. Right. We got to.

What the fuck happens if Pither and Yon burns down? Oh, my God. I don't know. Can it burn down? I don't know. He starts rifling in his pockets for his keys. We should get out of here. You have the keys, right? Yeah. Of course, I've got my keys. Do you have your keys? Yes, I've heard. Let's go. Now, so is the plan here? Do you want to put? The pertinent people in Hither and Yon and then go meet up with Sam Deering? Or do you want to hand off Victoria?

I think that if we think that maybe we're not sure about the existence of Hither and Yon, if a fire reaches it, we would go there first. Yeah. Yeah. Well, like Mears can drag it to any door with his keys because he's got the barman's keys. And that's that takes priority over anything, basically. Cool. So he runs over to a door that, you know, this was the door that Billy went through when he was exploring and he like closes it.

And then he stands, he jams the key into the lock and turns it and boop, there's Hither and Yon. What does it look like when it transforms? The door itself does not transform, but we, you do see, cause there's always a sign. What is the sign in this case? Maybe like a curtain kind of falls off and then it's just like above it. Like a old plaque. A curtain like, yeah, comes away from it's like moorings as he puts it in and it flaps down and you see a sign above that says Hither and Yon.

I like that a lot. And you pop it. And you pop it. And you pop it. And you pop it. And you pop it. And you pop into the front room that you're all familiar with, the barrel tables and the fireplace off to the left and the bar across from the door. Do the Brass Castle gang come with us? They can. They're able to walk in as long as they have no, as long as they, all right.

So they're about to walk in and then they stop at the doorway and Artie looks around and kind of like tries to walk forward again and is unable to walk through. Hey, you have I'll intention. Oh, I was going to scam you. Yeah. What? How? I was just, I was going to wait until you were all getting comfy and cozy and then I was going to grab LeBlanc and I was going to bounce. Okay. Well, fucking meet us at Samuel Deering's place then. All right. Fine. Come on, Rookin.

And Rookin nods, but says nothing. Oh, that guy doesn't talk. What happened to him in there? Bet he got his tongue cut out or something crazy. Gibbous man did it to him. Bet you he did. Now we have a real reason to go after him. Finally, stakes. And you head in and all of like the shutters are open and you can see through into the palace through windows that you are absolutely certain are not actually outside. And then mirrors just to be safe, locks the door.

The shutters close and you are safely ensconced within hither and yon. What do you, what do you go from here? I think Black Spire is in front of the fireplace. Kind of like click clacking. Like it's like he's like, oh, I'm going to go in there. I'm going to go in there. I'm going to go in there. It's like drying off like an owl or something. All of his scales. I have a question and you guys are going to hate me for this. How does it look when he gets through the front door?

Is it more like you kind of, he, you see him walk through, but it doesn't really make sense. Is he a rhinoceros size? He is the way I have always imagined him. So maybe this is where we're coming from. Okay. From different spots. He is bare minimum as wide as this room. Okay. And honestly, probably as long as this room. No. Sort of like a huge.

Elephant he's massive and maybe when he put his key in the door and the curtain fell off of above then like a panel falls away and there's a second door you know I mean like this totally oh because that's a thing that bars have is they have stables and stable doors oh so maybe he's in the stable right mirrors kind of like came out and opened the stable doors that came into existence beside it you know what I really like like the big friendly giant he walks over to a side of the room yes and there's a there's a like a barn door style window that he unlatches and he swings it open and black spire sticks his head through the wall and it's right next to the fireplace yeah he's like what's up there's so much hay in here smells like horses are there horses in there uh I wish bro I love horses the guy that carried me around for a while I was on horseback I spent a lot of my early my whelpling life in a saddlebag oh cute horses are cool man they're huge they're like 10 times as big as me oh you haven't seen a horse in a long time have you we realize he has no sense of scale horses are like 500 feet tall anyway I'm gonna be in here if you need me okay uh mirrors do you have somewhere that we can put this and then I slam victoria on the bar her head bounces off the wood I go up to uh perella and morris's room we get a bunch of handcuffs and we're like oh my god I'm gonna be in here oh hither and yon is a place of rest relaxation and repose I do not have anywhere where I can keep a prisoner that is just not part of the building yeah what if we just eat the hat the handcuffs and then we roll her up in the rug and then it's kind of like she's resting too yeah it's true it's actually not a terrible idea I mean we do know that if she wakes up and she has I'll intent she's gonna be in there and she's gonna be in there and she's gonna be in there and she's gonna be in there and she's gonna be in there and she's gonna be in there and she's gonna be in there and she's gonna be in there and she's gonna be in there and she's gonna be in there and she will be ejected which we can't let that happen because we gotta get a thousand coins I get that money is this really what you guys are worried about is money yeah it's a thousand coins after all of that we've never had that much money dude I need to know one thousand coins exists in the world yeah okay I'm just saying I just dueled a bloodthirsty pirate queen you three fought the god of the sky okay okay it's not about the money it's just there's an army coming there's a lot of people who might not want to fight on our side if we have means we could make a stand more potent okay fine that's do you want some of the money yeah you get a new chair yeah he kind of think about all this stuff in the bar that you have to pay money to fix well people come in they pay money for their food and their drink and that's mostly how I feel about it yeah I think that's a good point I think that's a good point I think that's a good point I think that's a good point I think that's a good point maintain it and then every once in a while a bunch of money shows up in a lockbox under the bar what but I guess I could use a couple extra coins goes and tries to wrench only I can open the lockbox fine and then he starts thinking about how he would steal and then billy's chair goes I just wanted to see it I just want I just wanted to see it bing's wagging his finger billy's face as he's sliding backwards towards the door bing's finger wags out of frame and slides away do we get kicked out of hither and yon no no no okay we stop as long as you realize what you're doing yeah is not cool and accept that you are not gonna do it okay but if you try to rob the innkeeper of hither and yon that's like the worst thing you can do okay let me ask jessica and paul let me ask you guys a character specific question if you knew that there was a box that just had money show up in it randomly would you be able to stop thinking how you would steal that money I would but like okay I think what billy's thinking is like it's more like this is so cool I'm very curious and he starts thinking of all the ways he could but more in like a fantasy thing because in it but because because over top of that you're not gonna he's like I would never steal from mirrors right my favorite boy yeah I think what bing is thinking is like this is a cool feature of my house yeah it is already where would I take it this is where I would take it and tuck is outside of the bar I think there is a difference between thinking about how you would do something and deciding you're going to do it starts writing a fan fiction there you go that's allowed and he's allowed back in the bar if it stays fan fiction if you want to be ejected from hither and yon you can't do that you can't do that you can't do that no no no no I would rather hesitate but it is funny that we get we slide around a couple times and by the time that you've all finally agreed to the fact that you're not going to hold mirrors at gunpoint and rob him uh he has put several rows of handcuffs on the wrists forearms and legs of victoria leblanc she ain't going nowhere okay cool he's like wow these are strong what do those guys get up to I want to chain it to the front of the bar and I'm like okay I'm gonna floor uh to a chair yeah totally you can do the like um clink clink clink yeah she's like she's chained up and she's on the ground I'm like you know you put down some stuff so it's not so inhumane like some sacks has put like pillows under her yeah he put her in a booth and we chained her to the table yeah I imagine there's one chowder yeah there's chowder it's chained to the table for some reason I imagine because I love when I think about hithering on I think it's such a mismatched place that I think there's like one diner's not actual diner style but there's a booth in one corner yeah that's like a sit down goes around the whole corner booth and she's in there um and you're realizing as he's doing this you see her him like arranging a pillow behind her unconscious head and putting some food there that 30 minutes ago she was trying to kill him I think that this I think you guys are like wow mirrors is yeah this is just it's just a really good person it's like yeah she was trying to kill him but she's in hither and yon now and I'm supposed to take care of her uh-huh so and here you are you're safe your prisoner is temporarily um restrained what is the plan I think I've laid out the letters on the big table oh yeah along the bar pull up some warm grog so this is step one is read these letters yeah okay yeah while we like just hang out wait for rookin and arty yeah to walk back yeah it's not a long way to go I see you're giving them time to get back to the hideout and the and it's also cold sharp dark piece of shit place yeah where my blonde sharp asshole wife tried to kill us I do not I want to kind of spend a little bit of time in a nice place yeah so the fire's crackling away that's what I say to mirrors I want to just spend a little bit of time in a nice place yeah that makes sense oh man I have at this point I have such a firm idea of the layout of hither and yon in my head and I just love it I just love how it looks because near the fire I'm like oh my god I'm like oh my god I'm like oh my god I'm like oh my god is what I imagine is kind of like a living room ish setup where like that's where the comfortable furniture is there's like chairs and tables or chairs and a table and a couch zone a bay window near there yeah there's and there's books in there too there's like bookshelves and then like a bench oh nice um and then there's the fireplace and now black spire's gigantic dragon head um yeah because he said you know I'll be in here but then he didn't leave and he's just kind of looking at all of you like just very happy he does the dragon equivalent of like a which is like a deep like rumble it sounds like yeah all the water glasses yeah yeah when he breathes out like smoke curls out of his nose oh cool because he's I think what that sound is is he's stoking oh the fires inside oh cool that's so sick yeah right because I I described that they use the fire that's how they digest right like they don't have stomach acid they have like a a burning organ maybe early on yeah so yeah he's kind of like uh yeah okay so the fires crackling away mirrors is in the kitchen clanking around he is doing what he needs to do to unwind which is cook some food and relate yeah yeah and the letters are laid out these are letters that have come to him but they're members of the eye right that's what you said no just just that they are important people okay I really like the idea that it is people of importance in principality society who are secretly members of the eye okay who can we reveal as an actual evil baddie what's his nuts what was wind river's dad's name uh lee masterly the masterlies are absolutely on this the masterlies are on there what was that lady in the north solaris or solara van kieran who is the current uh she is the head of like the sun peaks faction faction of the great forest and she's your aunt right thing yeah yeah so I think if you guys are going to glean any information from this letter you will it will require a role any actionable information because what you're seeing is the number the names of important people lee masterly senior industrialist very very wealthy man solara van kieran elvin noble very powerful influential woman also she it was told to you by one of her underlings that she is a warlock uh-huh she's also the reason why ving's mom is dead yes because she sold out um iliana or as we know now as we know now adernac all water and she's the reason why dathaniel was chained under the tree for a hundred years yes betrayed him yeah the letter is completely mundane it's like it was so wonderful to see you at you know this gala event I hope this summer we can play some polo like it jumps around from topic to topic a lot and you're like oh this is definitely a code of some kind yeah yeah swans on the roof are exquisite yes what the yeah lots of and like repetitions of words like the swans on the roof are exquisite the koi in the pond were exquisite like this kind of yeah weird writing so you're like they're hiding something in these letters so it would require some kind of role perhaps to discern realities to reveal any information okay I'll try to discern realities on my aunt's letter okay come on oh I got six I'll aid how is billy aiding with the reading of a letter um well ving is reading out loud what he sees and then we're kind of playing a game like well what could it mean like uh yeah that makes sense 11 wonderful so that's a seven which means you get one question from the letter what here's now what appears to be um it's a very disturbing letter to for ving to have it is and I think the disturbing thing that you are seeing as you're like playing this game and discovering the information that is hidden within it is that when you left the great forest after burning down and then replanting the heart tree at the center of the forest you thought surely this solved the problem time for us to go we don't need to worry about this oh fuck but what you are learning is that solara after that used that chaos to gain the upper hand and has turned much of the great forest to her cause there is sort of a growing sentiment amongst the isolationist elves who have for centuries millennia after since the since the golden age of wizardry despised much of mankind much of the mortal world have seemed to decide that maybe it's time they do something about it and there is um there is an army being put together an army against who mankind they're joining the side of the gibbous have they been um persuaded by the gibbous man uh that is not clear in the letter but you would guess especially considering what you just heard from the gibbous man that there is a lot of similarities in what solara is suggesting through this code and what the gibbous man says his plans are do they know about like the like the spider story and the many eyes and stuff like that so lara would because they are members of the eye these are stories that they have been told this is part of the tradition that she's been brought into and being close to adernac she would be familiar in some of the druidic lore as well yeah exactly yeah she she is a warlock of some kind at least as you were told by the assassin um that you fought beneath the tree but yeah what you come away from with this is that the elves are going to be marching on the mortal world are the dark elves aligned with them that I I am not sure would be the case because the dark elves as far as we know are in the wind like no one really sees them anymore because they're kind of aliens right they're very aliens alien beings okay um you would have to go to the dark forest the the gloomwood or whatever we called it but what we do know is that yeah a large portion you would assume not all of the great forest yeah but many of the kingdoms the elven kingdoms are going to be marching the armies of the court many of the courts of the of the great forest yeah are uniting against some cause and that cause seems to be that the mortal world has done its damage and no more shall be done to feel so strongly to leave the woods yes they're leaving the great forest to fight this war um because the thing is is that the high spear stuff that you guys know not everybody knows that that's more like it's a thing that people take for granted in that it is behind the scenes but you have to assume that solara knows right to see to most people it's just a city with a huge mall yeah yeah people come here for the mall brother not to pay homage to the radio tower people don't know that edmonton's actually the epicenter of communication of all of canada yeah but that does make sense that the promise of isolation where it's like would be appealing to the elves it's like not all the elves are like we're gonna march in an army of an ancient elder god but they're like the high spear is the reason why people can understand our language and why we have to listen to theirs totally totally we are gonna cut ourselves off oh yeah finally yeah they really feel like it's it's happening yeah this is an opportunity to shut the doors for good yeah I love that uh the thing that I was thinking is that the last time that elves left the great forest in lore is the dark elves yes they're the ones who left the forest in the dark elves and they're the ones who left the forest in the dark elves and they're the they're scattered and alien to the elf no but that it because that is that is true I wrote a thing a long time ago you did a piece is that the dark elves yeah yeah so they were basically pushed out of the great forest and forced to live in this place like in the dense canopy and then they found a fungi that they call the mother's gift whoa that changes them whoa into beings that can like live in the dark whoa so they basically kind of become bats almost like they're eyes get huge and dark right and they echolocate and yeah whoa their skin becomes so pale that they can like be warmed and receive nutrients like even in total darkness wow cool exchange with the plants around them they become like swamp people almost totally yeah yeah they're very like symbiotic um that was the first singer song oh yeah there's something about becoming part of the song yeah like the mycelium network basically yeah interchange yeah but that is why I love that song because it's so powerful and it's so powerful and it's so powerful and it's so powerful and it's so powerful and it's so powerful and it's so powerful and it's so powerful what you learned from this letter so lara is taking control of a vast swath of the great forest and is turning its soldiers against the mortal world it bursts into flames in my hand oh that's cool wait did you did you set that on fire on purpose kind of not I'm just mad I must made you really mad I'm going to lie down okay I'll come with you we'll all go just laying on the bed what's up baby that letter seemed to really upset you don't let go I'm glad to be alone right now I'm so glad we're alone right now I think we're alone now okay great yeah we can leave the rest of the letter still later too oh I thought we were all gonna look at what okay yeah do you guys want to do that yeah sure I thought so so do you take a letter when you and ving go lay down no no I don't go lay down with it I've been I've also been examining a letter oh okay examining you can't read brother why'd you say examining because I'm trying to find the code in this letter from so who is what do I find letters from so there's another letter from lee masterly senior which we do know and then I guess there's a I think if we're doing this we're doing this the way we're doing it there's a third letter and that letter is from what no the shah of mccall whoa yeah fuck this is what I'm saying I recognize this word is that too much no that's great that's perfect because we had set this up yes we did set this up yes because we said that the torch was fucking with the structure because he like declared somebody the next prophet of fire yes who was not from the place that they normally are from yeah was getting involved in the shah and the vizier the vizier yeah like two families that raise like this is the leader this is the advisor right getting involved in that and the leader and the advisor at the time that we were there were little kids right children so they had like basically adults yeah assisting them yes they are the two kids because they uh they grow up together so that you don't have like the evil vizier right yes yes yes the shah of mccall and the vizier yes is there there must be a room caretaker or somebody like their nurse there must be a steward oh it's a regent the regent yeah the regent of the shah of mccall it's writing on quote unquote on behalf of the shah of mccall they're like eight or whatever yeah totally yeah okay great that's sick so yes we did set this up yes so cool and the prophet is a false prophet because yeah like farhan set it up when he was the torch yes and this so the current prophet is a puppet of the gibbous man is sort of the idea and the true prophet is out there in the wind great so the regent of the shah of mccall name we need a name if we're gonna have this person be in the the thing let's call him mustafa mustafa isn't that your uncle's name yeah my uncle's name is mustafa mustafa does he have a last name uh shahada not your uncle uh the regent oh what about shahada yeah that's the first name yeah it could be like mustafa hamada that's great yeah yeah a letter from the regent of the shah of mccall mustafa hamada and it is the same sort of like bland plain confusing writing that is about nothing um at all uh it references parts of the city that I know don't exist exactly yeah but you could roll it to certain realities okay get ready to see a failure um do you remember what my wisdom is because my paper ran out of batteries are you kidding me I think it's one is it one his no it's it's if it's not zero it's minus one no I think I thought I min maxed on wisdom plug it in I think your paper wisdom is like one or something because then intelligence is minus I will go get my my chart that's so funny where's your charger my charger for my paper is over there it's in my knapsack I'm gonna plug my notebook in no this is the first time we've actually ever been mean to abdul it's also really hard to believe you because I see myself as way higher status this is the thing this is why this has never happened every time I bully abdul he throws a handful of money in my face yeah my paper's charged up right you were gonna roll it to certain realities yes your wisdom is is what you tell us it's one you are examining the coded letter from the regent uh so that's ted okay three questions what is what here is now what it appears to be all right so we know like I did with van kieran's letter something about the state of mccall when you left is different than it is now it should be said this process if you really especially three questions getting answered takes a long time to do twice uh victoria has woken up and we just like bam we're sitting next to her at the same table because it's the nicest booth yeah every time she wakes up you just slam her head okay so what here is not what it appears to be when you left mccall there was a gang war going on as shia attempted to unite the disparate gangs my best friend's hot sister forbidden fruit no this is just me talking about what the status quo was when you left yeah look what you did to him this is why it takes a long time I keep saying forbidden fruit and then licking his lips I slap his tongue what's he talking about you slapped me right on my tongue what I am what is coming to mind and what is coming to mind is that you're not going to be initially and might not make sense so I'm happy to be overruled on this is I think that it is the regent mentioning that whatever his goal has been in mccall is being slowed down by the fact that the gangs of mccall have united under a singular leader and also that third the jinn the sword of the god of the flame has joined them whoa cool okay cool you guys think that's cool that makes sense yeah so shia and third are the same thing yeah so shia and third are the same thing are working together third or at the very least they have the same goal which is uh releasing the grip of the overly militant light guard and then tech goes fuck nice your new boyfriend's way cooler than me he does not have a dick at all how do I compete with a guy that's so cool and he doesn't even have a dick uh third is the jinn of the people right no third is the sword of god sort of god the guy with the smashed face who killed 11 yes so that is what is not what it appears to be is that when you left mccall third was a vigilante and was fighting against the gangs and now he has seemingly joined them oh cool good job shia that's rad yeah pretty cool uh what's your next question uh what is useful or valuable to me what is useful or valuable oh maybe it's just because the library at least that we know because we spent a lot of time with the library and the librarians but they are hidden they are isolationists but they did like go out into the city and they would like teach here and there I think what is useful or valuable is that um no one has heard or seen heard from or seen the librarians at all for months they have completely disappeared it's echoing that what's happening in the deep forest uh-huh yes totally yeah to that bookend yeah some and maybe if we want to go even further with it because it has happened a few times in the library's history maybe the library has seemingly moved oh packed up and they went somewhere else I had that thought as well that yeah it's gone I like that because there was the battle of a land spring so they knew where it was they had to leave yeah because the library was breached it's like shuttered on uh impenetrable yeah it's not it's full like they filled the caverns oh cool like with the sand yeah they flooded them yeah yeah that's cool so that is what you've learned is the library has seemingly moved okay because that was probably his goal after the battle after the battle after the battle after the battle after you left as part of the eye was to wipe the library out yeah and then he went and found it like there was nobody there yeah like he's like what do I do now yeah shia basically founded jinn having an existential crisis because he had no purpose and his church collapsed kind of kind of or at least he was also uh it was also revealed to him that he was being manipulated yeah and there's a bunch of history with the jinn feeling like they have that they are tools rather than individuals that they've struggled with a lot in their past and finding out that he was being more manipulated than he thought he was would have been pretty upsetting every time they think they break free yeah they just it's they're just a pawn in a different game and then also if for for third specifically if no one's holding his leash he doesn't know what to do yeah they're into leash stuff fuck damn it uh third question what is about to happen in mccall very good question so this takes a while for you to decode and you're kind of you're kind of you're kind of you read over it a bunch of times because you're like this doesn't make sense this can't be it kind of feels like the region is losing control of what like the gangs are fighting together third has joined the gangs that's a huge loss uh the library is seemingly gone so he's got one last hail mary he is saying that he is putting together an expedition to go out into the salt flats and make contact with the god of the flame whoa holy shit what yeah and there's a lot of like he's a heretic though well he's not necessarily a heretic well I guess he's a member of the eye and he would have been involved in the manipulation of the choosing of the prophet yeah but he also knows especially if he is this deep in yeah he knows the history of the god of the flame he knows that there's a familial tie between the gibbous man and the god of the flame and between the god of the flame and lillian it's not just that they are going to make contact with the god of the flame they're going to try and kill him oh to bind him to the like they were trying to bind the gibbous man good luck yeah and then honestly the letter ends with a bunch of prayers like uh just like at like you know prayers for like uh you know may the eyes watch us like we we go now into the dark and blah blah blah like a lot of things like I don't know if we're gonna be able to do this but it's our only chance so it's not a holy expedition it's like kind of hostile and it's it's a hunt yeah yeah yeah they want to go to the like what I had a bunch of I wrote a bunch of shit about it but it's not a holy expedition it's like kind of the god of the flame say it say it they're going like they're they're going to it's called the palace of cinders one of the jinn is the architect who builds and rebuilds the palace of cinders over and over again oh cool which like the god of the flame is said to dwell but it's never right so he like tears it down and he builds it again cool um and that's where they're they're following they're reading text and trying to uncover information that's probably why they wanted the library that's why they wanted the library it's why they're so pissed that third turned on them because third would know where it is um but yeah so now this is a last ditch effort they have to go out and they have to find them find the god of the flame themselves have does that mean all the other jinn have gone to ground the jinn are yes absolutely um because they otherwise he would have tried to find them to rally yeah to find the palace of cinders yeah most of them at least for the for the more recent periods of human history are so spread out first no one's seen in forever second time uh third was very present I think ninth was the one that you guys met or eighth yeah was the historian like the traveler yeah there was one that lived in mccall I think it was sixth or seventh so yeah I think that's referenced too is that he can't find any of the other jinn they're too hard to track down um so they're they're heading out into the salt flats to the broken shores and that's that's what you learn okay cool billy I believe you wanted to look at a letter as well uh well I brought it to mirrors okay great yeah so you're in the kitchen with me I'm going to go to mirrors and mirrors is like chopping mushrooms and and I'm I'm sitting on mirrors's shoulder with like the paper in front of him billy I can't he's trying to hold on I just need to flip these he keeps almost cutting himself but it's the metal hand I can't read okay all right okay all right hold on and he kind of walks over with you on his shoulders and puts a knife down on a cutting board okay this is safer this is safer so now you can read for me okay all right mirrors so from what language there's a lot of weird stuff hiding uh-huh but I gotta know and he's kind of rubbing his chin walking around with you holding it in front of his face yeah and uh so this one is from lee masterly senior the little guy the little guy's dad the little guy's dad the rich guy yes the rich guy so the wind river the hippie that you meant yeah met and the foreman of the coal refinery that you blew up right uh are both masterlies and so the masterly family is a couple of them and they're both masterlies and they're both masterlies and they're both extremely wealthy yep and this is mirrors is going this has rich guy written all over it how can you tell because it's written by the hand of a poor man yeah right at the top it says dictated but not read and then next to his name there's a bunch of letters that mean nothing to anyone they do the gold dust when they put on the wet ink oh off the excess it's very shiny so that's actually how he discovers what is written is uh in the light you're like move it you're holding it in front of his face and he's moving around and you pass by like the light from the stove crackling underneath uh glints off the paper and he goes whoa hold on and he turns back and you can see that there are letters that are illuminated by the gold dust and letters that are not all right I'd like to roll discern realities roll it to certain realities 2d6 plus whiz 11 so many questions okay what here is useful or valuable to me what here is useful or valuable to you get with the answers and what here is not what it appears to be and ask him all at once I'm gonna ask him all at once what what who what should I be on the lookout wait what wait what happened here wait that's how billy's trying to yeah yeah billy's trying to read he's reading in the hoity-toity accent billy this is where I was gonna I was gonna get to that one okay so what here is useful or valuable to me was your first question the answer there okay so masterly has significant holdings in the principalities primarily in the firefields he lives in black glass but he is deeply involved in the war effort and he was deeply involved in the construction of a4 yeah but he's not an eye yes oh he's not oh I don't know I was putting that out there actually I do like that you can see because this one was just written kind of a shitty dude yeah he's just shitty he didn't even have to bring him into the fold he just had to give him money and masterly totally flipped I actually really like that that he's not a part of the eye he just got paid oh yeah and was like whatever you need yeah yeah so he's being a little less subtle about the secret nature of this letter we're going to get to that in a minute but first let's get to the question of the book and we're going to get to the which is why he's gold dust transactional maybe it's like more of a list yeah yeah oh yeah maybe it is a list yeah it's a lot of invoices a lot of outstanding uh fees that he's looking to get settled which you know are never going to get settled but what he what here is useful or valuable to you is maybe he's moving a bomb like maybe he's like the he's trying to be uh very subtle about it but he's like thank you for paying me for this load of coal but it's like payload is highlighted okay um so yeah he is saying that there is in transit somewhere like somewhere in the principalities somewhere in the principalities moving from black glass to high spear is a bomb holy shit how big probably pretty big and it would seem suggested in this letter that it uses similar properties that were being utilized in the construction of a4 okay so there is like a coal dust iconic you would assume billy reading this you're like oh but the smoke like possessed all these people yeah so this has to be something like that it's not necessarily that it's an explosive but it is like a it's like a bioweapon almost okay and then the next question was what here is not what it appears to be yes he has and he's not even subtle about this he's straight up proud he has people placed in the mayor's office that are agents of his the mayor of high spear of high spirit oh my god the mayor's office has people that have been paid by masterly to as spies I swear to god if it's dan I'm gonna kill him for real not before I delete the podcast if it's dan I'm gonna fucking kill him oh I had a cool idea for the what maybe for the bomb yeah which is like a fun conspiracy that it's a weather bomb oh and it brings black rain it triggers the storm like it calls this to because the storm is sort of like free now oh it brings it in it brings in the right and causes this black black storm black rain which would just possess the whole city yeah and maybe it could interfere with like the high spirit tower yeah to make it easier to destroy it yeah yeah to cut to cut the connection yeah interfere with the communication yes yeah great okay and oh and I think this is a thing that's going to be a thing that you can see you're like this fucking poor idiot is he is also talking about how to oversee this project he is relocating to high spear city masterly agrees to yeah relocate he agrees to relocate to deliver this weapon and to oversee this sort of like spy thing happening in the mayor's office not realizing that if this does happen he will also be right part of this he's a he's a total like pawn they're gonna burn hard so I think that maybe answers the last question he actually gives a lot of information about how he's going to do this he's going to do this he gives the name and location like he gives the estate that he is renting so he's like thank you so much for setting me up at like rosewood estate which is information that billy being a thief and experienced adventure files away and mirrors is like wow this guy is dumb I've met a lot of dumb people in my life this guy is just wow he's just giving it away he's giving it away I barely had to decode this it's shiny he made everything shiny that I had to learn highlighted the code okay and yeah so mirrors kind of uh takes the letter from your hands the little clipboard hands that you've been using and pops it out he goes all right well this all feels like stuff that we can address at a later date do you want to help me finish these omelets yeah I take out from my pocket fistfuls of chives whoa how long have those been in there I don't want to know yeah we haven't been anywhere where there have been wild chives in a while not that you guys know about vintage and vintage shots I got them at the thrift store and you know yeah about 30 minutes later mirrors comes out with armfuls of uh plates of omelets hands them out in the bar you hear uh rattling at the table as victoria leblanche has woken up and is kind of like straining against her chains trying to get this omelet that's in front of her here I'll help you with that here get away from me are you hungry or you're not her eyes are like you know that super wide but her pupils are like little pinpricks it's got brie in it brie sorry it has brie in it I will take one bat but if you get your finger too close I will bat it because I am a crazy and she takes a bite she chews it slowly he's got him dead no you didn't kill him you should have maybe what should we do with you you're worth a lot of money to us oh emma I am a girl of expensive taste I am glad to hear maybe we share the reward what is it who gives it up come on you can tell me and then tuck uh don't do it tuck don't kill her man don't do it you guys are telling me to completely literally angel and devil on the shoulder don't do it do a stuck don't do it do it whatever you're thinking do it now Yeah, Tuck leans in and he's like, someone's put a pretty hefty bounty on your head and we intend to collect it.

May I ask who? You can ask all you want. We're not telling you anything. Yeah. Okay. Who is it? Who is it? Ving's just eating his omelet. Who made the bounty? Who set the bounty? Who is it? It's actually pretty annoying. Who is it? Who did it? Who set the bounty? We cut forward an hour and we're about to kill her. Who is it? Who did it? Who did it? Who did it? Just shut up! This can stop any time. Just tell me who it was. Who? Who? Who? Who? Who? Who? Oh my God.

Billy keeps looking out the window like, are we there yet? You guys are going to them. Yeah. So all you got to do is open the door. I feel like there is something we can get out of her though. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. She's got information. We get you. Okay. How? Like we threaten her? No, she's too crazy to be threatened. Right. I think I need to seduce her. No, she's too beautiful for you to seduce. What? Wait. So then you have to do it. Wait. This is my nightmare.

He's like, it's happening. Send this one out, Tuck. This is what I knew was going to happen. I got to cuck you. Tuck is like, I fucking knew it. This is going to happen. No, no, no, no. Honestly, though. That's not a bad. She's too. She's too. Rye. That's a fair read. I think that the idea of trying to seduce a lunatic who uses seduction as her primary method of manipulating people would probably be really fucking hard. Yeah. Okay.

Because she just thinks that she's that is just a way for her to get what she wants. Yeah. I hold up his ring. I hold up his ring. I hold up his ring. She locks. She locks eyes on it. Oh, you've seen this before. You know, I have. I put it on my finger. Okay. So you put it on your finger. Oh, no. God damn it. Oh, no. Oh, God. What did we do? The game is going to come inside. He's going to come inside the pub. He's going to come inside the pub and he's going to fuck Victoria right in front of me.

Just like I knew he was going to do. So you you put it on your finger. Half a second later, a knock at the front door. The shutters, it should be said, are closed. Oh, what the fuck? I open the door. Who do you think is standing there? The gibbous man. It is the gibbous man. You see the kind old man in front of you and behind him, the void black immensity of the spider. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Oh, my God.

Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. And that's where we're going to end the episode for this week. I'm your game master, Sean O'Hara. Joining me as always, Tacoma Dome, the barbarian, Abdul Aziz. So long. Ving, the half elf druid, Paul Oppers. Bye-bye. And Fat Billy, the halfling thief, Jessica Tai. Goodbye. Did you guys look into the cameras when you said bye? Of course we did. Fuck. I kind of did. I didn't look into mine. Oh, we'll do it again.

We'll do it again. Bye, everybody. Okay, Paul. Ooh, no. I'm editing this, so the camera's going to stay on me for a bit. Oh, God. No. Cut. We actually legally can't show that bottle. We have to blur that bottle out. We certainly can't show you tongue fucking it. Sponsored by Stuck. This is going to be so pixelated. Oh, the noise being cut off by the liquid was surprisingly horrible. We have to censor that. Join our Patreon to find out what I'm doing. I quit the Patreon. Can we go to Paul now?

I was going to be sexy. You sucked all the sexy out of the room. Give it a go. Take care. No, you got so many bottles. Do it, Paul. Paul, hit the camera with a hard stare. Hit the camera with a hard stare. I can't. Take care. Don't put your glasses back on all sexily. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. And every now and then I fall apart. And I need you now tonight. And I need you more than ever. Adversarial engineering. You can't catch us AI. And it's only holding me tight. You hold me in your arms.

Now Jessica's got to hit the camera with a goodbye. How about this? That was my room spray. Wait. Are you spraying room spray into your mouth? No, that's her throat spray. Okay. It's really powerful. Oh, it's too much. What are you doing? Thank you to all of our Patreons and supporters around the world. Without you, this kind of shit wouldn't be able to happen and you wouldn't be seeing it.

Because of our Patreons and supporters, we're able to release our video episodes each and every week that we release shows, which is not every week. It's every two weeks. But you know what I mean. If you would like to join our Patreon and support the show, you can join us at patreon.com. Don't kiss it down like that. That's horrible. Why do you have balls? I'm so upset. Pressing it against your face like that. That any of us did this. Can you start again in the beginning? Patreon.com.

Of the episode? Of the series? Of the podcast? Patreon.com. Or spellore.com. Thank you to Aaron Reed for our intro and outro music. Aaron's an incredible musician and you can find all of his original music at aaronreed.bandcamp.com. And all of the music produced for the show on Bandcamp. No, SoundCloud. Everywhere. Everywhere. Look up Spellore Soundtrack. You'll find it. Yes. And at this point, you will have heard the absolutely fucking stunning season 13 finale song.

The night is closing in, my friends. Written by Paul Uppers. I did it. You did it. It was so good. So now everyone on the show has written songs for the show. Yeah. Thank you so much. Thank you so much, guys. Performed by Taylor Swindles. And. And. Paul. Oh, and Paul. Oh, and with a reading by Paul Uppers. Sick. Sick. Thank you. And finally, most of all, to all of you for listening. Yeah. And Jess had a good idea last time we recorded to like thank our long lasting patrons. Yeah. Right.

So that might be a thing we want to start right now. Just off the top of my head. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you. Yaki Soba. Yes. To Mads. To. To. Karen. Allison. Kai. Kai. Oh, yeah. Kai's been around for a long time. Jim. Quinn. Quinn. Quinn. Quinn and Kai. When we set up the discord and then accidentally force added everyone who was in the Patreon to a discord call that we were in. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And then Quinn and Kai joined and they were both pretty fun and cool. Yeah. Yeah.

I just remember I was sitting on it on the bed and I just heard like da ding, da ding, da ding. And Paul and Quinn was like, hello. That was so funny. That was great. Thank you to Tara. Yeah. Sean, I went to the hill of Tara and I remembered, oh, someone else's name Tara. Yeah. Like Tara. Yeah. Polar, of course. Polar. Polar. So many. And it's probably so. I know I'm missing a lot of people. Thank you to Aaron. Yeah. Thank you to Pat and Pat. Two Pats. Two Pats. No thank you to Dave.

Except for me. Yeah. And me. And thank you to Lauren. Yeah. Uh, and you know what? We're going to be thanking a lot of people. We're going to do our best, our absolute best to thank all of you by the time the show is done. You know why? Because this is probably almost certainly definitely the last season of the show. We have reached the last season of Spout Lore and that is a pretty huge thing. So, I mean, there's still a while. The season's going to have to wrap a lot up. Yeah.

It's going to be a few months. It's going to be a few months. But tell your friends, tell your friends to listen to Spout Lore. Before it's all gone. Yes. Because I am going to delete it after the last episode. We'll be deleting the podcast. Can we have a plan? To put it in the vault like a puffy case. To make it worth more later on. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Uh, yeah, man. Oh, man, we should make Spout Lore the puffy case. What is a puffy case? Oh, a VHS. Yeah. A VHS puffy case. Oh, yeah.

The puffy case VHS is that we're worth more money. That company put in the vault for a while. Um, it feels weird saying it on mic like this. Yeah. Now that we're here. It makes me kind of sad. It makes me very sad. It's going to be sad. A little sad. It's going to be hard to leave these characters in this story behind. Jessica, I've told you a lot of times. Just never be sad around me. Sorry. You're right. It's triggering. That's a boundary.

That's a boundary that I have set about your emotions and what you're allowed to feel. I'm glad you're able to laugh about it right now. Oh, cut this in here. Thank you to Beanie. Oh, my gosh, yes. Beanie's there the whole time. There's just a big convo happening that I'm looking at and Beanie's like been there since day one. If we could travel back in time, Beanie and us would have been neighbors. Absolutely. Absolutely. Oh, really? Local. Local Beanie. Oh, man. So many.

Thanks to our first ever patron, Sean Hodgins. Yeah. My friend from high school. Yeah. Yeah, Sean. He's still our patron. What? Yeah, dude. Oh, God. Sean, remember when we used to live in the same building? Sean Hodgins? Yeah. Wasn't. That's Patrick. Patrick. Patrick. Thank you, Patrick. Thank you, Patrick. Thanks, Patrick. Yeah. Which Patrick? Patrick R. I'm not going to say his last name. Yeah. From my PhD. He's the only reason why I came out of that thing in one piece. So thank you, Patrick.

Yes. Thank you, Patrick. You would have been a broken doctor. No, I would have just been broken. I would have been fucked. But Pat, you're the best. I hope Paris is great. Oh, yeah. That's so nice. Oh, how can I forget Claire and Jansen? Claire and Jansen. Claire and Jansen forever. Oh, gee, good ones. Claire and Jansen. Yeah. Higher old pals. Yeah. Oh, CJ. Are you kidding me? Oh, yes. Yeah. Yeah. We'll see you next time. Yeah. Thanks for hanging out, guys. Thanks for everything.

Thanks for everything. Goodbye. We're waving. Goodbye now. Bye-bye. Bye. Goodbye now. Bye-bye. Bye-bye. Like from Aladdin, remember? Goodbye now. Oh, yeah. At the end of the credits. Oh, yeah. Bye-bye now. And so ends the tale of Adventures 3, who tried the best they can. Though dumb and scared and lost they be. For time's abreast in revelry. And though our journey may be like a conclusion. We will not leave you without a resolution.

Return next week to hear some more whilst you commute or do your chores. And for you. To ungladly spell dawn. Oh. Oh.

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 Peely'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 Gamemaster Sean O'Hara. Joining me as always playing Tacoma Dome the Barbarian, Abdulaziz.

No no no no no none of that no you keep that thing closed join patreon to find out what's happening behind the pixelated no you can also watch it on youtube remember no no the unpixelated versions on patreon for free if you just know abdul and are subjected to his idiocy be friends with abdul for 13 years oh my gosh what could it be what could he be doing playing big the half-elf druid Paul Oppers. And playing Fat Billy the Halfling Thief, Jessica Tai. I'm not doing any of that.

Jessica has class. Yeah. She picked up a wand. No, Jessica, no. No, Jessica. Get him, get him, get him. Get him out of frame. This is so stupid. And you can find out what we just did on Patreon where the unpixelated version will be released. Chaz, your face when you're doing that is so funny. You seem like you would come back up and be like, ooh, like scandalized by yourself. Myself. Like a mime? Yeah. Kind of like a mime? Yeah, a little bit of this mime-y.

And it's a little 1950s TV house wifey. Betty Boop stuff. When last we left our heroes, they were wandering through the aftermath of the… The climactic confrontation at Blackglass Palace. Piles of exhausted and terrified congregants now freed from the tyranny of Callum Blackhammer littered the hallways and ballroom.

The party wandered, attempting to gather the remnants of their own cohort as well as newly recovered allies such as Black Spire the Dragon and a trust-up and unconscious Victoria LeBlanc, Mm-hmm. Who is about to die. About to be delivered for a bounty with the Brass Castle gang. Mm-hmm. On arriving to the ballroom, the party discovered that the influence that was creating the binding energies in the trees and the torches and the ballroom dancing had dulled.

Meanwhile, Billy emerged from a toilet far, far away and did a little bit of wandering and looting of his own. Mm-hmm. Heading to Callum's office and giving a bit of a presentation to a variety of stuffed animals that he'd recovered. Mm-hmm. Kind of weird that Callum had stuffed animals. Yeah, I didn't want to say anything at the time, but you found those there, I guess. Yes, so. I feel like they were probably just somewhere in the castle. They were somewhere. Or mementos of a childhood lost.

Oh, so. Oh. Don't humanize him. We still probably have to kill him. And in his destructive playtime, Billy discovered a hidden compartment in Callum's desk containing a number of correspondences Mm-hmm. From a variety of people of which Billy could not read. Mm-hmm. Reuniting the party used Mears' barman's keys to enter into Hither and Yon, which appeared off the courtyard of Blackglass Palace. Mm-hmm. So, everybody piled up.

Blackspire entering into stables, which apparently exist in Hither and Yon. Yeah. Heretofore unknown to the three of you. Mm-hmm. So now he's got his cozy little den. Just off of the main room. The party chained up Victoria LeBlanc in a corner booth because Mears refused to allow her to just lay on the floor without a bit of hospitality and went about gleaning information from these letters coded in a secret cipher. Mm-hmm. Examining each in turn, Ving looked at a letter from Solara Van Curen.

Cool. Queen of the Sun Peaks Mm-hmm. Region of the Great Forest and discovered through the code that Solara, a warlock of some fashion, Mm-hmm. Has turned much of the Great Forest to her cause Mm-hmm. And is putting together an army which is going to march on the mortal world, quote unquote. Mm-hmm. Which you all believe to be Highspear. Mm-hmm. Billy and Mears decoded a message from Lee Masterly. Mm-hmm.

A senior industrialist and a coal baron who determined that while Solara is a member of the Eye, a secret member of the cult that is serving the Gibbous Man, Mm-hmm. Masterly is just a rich rube Mm-hmm. That is being used. Through his transport networks, he is delivering a weapon of some kind Mm-hmm. Into Highspear City now that the invasion has failed. A bomb. A bomb of some sort. Ooh. And has placed spies within the mayor's office. Mm-hmm.

And is also relocating to Highspear to oversee this operation himself. Mm-hmm. He gave the name of the place he's staying, Rosewood Estate. Mm-hmm. And seems very pleased with this plan, the way that it's unfolding. Yeah, he alluded to maybe getting some sort of position in office or something, didn't he? Something like that. Yeah. He's upping his station. Yes. Or trying to, for sure. Mm-hmm.

And Tuck looked at a letter from the Regent of the Shah of McCall who has said that things are not going so well on his end of things, manipulating the city of McCall and its culture into the Gibbous Man's ways. The gangs of McCall have united, one would assume, under Shia the Garden Snake. Forbidden fruit. You gotta stop saying that about my sister. This is such a point of contention. And not only that, but third, the Djinn has joined forces with the gangs. So cool.

Against the Light Guard and the martial law that has been in place for probably over a year at this point. Mm-hmm. And in doing so, has dashed the Regent's plans, of finding out how to bind the God of the Flame. Woof. So he's putting together an expedition to strike out into the Salt Flats to hunt the God of the Flame down and hopefully bind or kill him.

There is like a thing that is happening within the higher echelon of the Eye where they are trying, it seems like they're trying to like lock down all the strongest entities in the world. Which is their sense of power. And their sense of self is so inflated. Mm-hmm. Yeah. You know what? It's time. After that, the party attempted to interrogate Victoria LeBlanc, who had woken up from her spot chained in a corner booth. Mm-hmm. And didn't do so well.

She is shockingly resilient to interrogation because she is a psychopath. She's, oh man, maybe I still have a chance. She's so interesting. And as a way to attempt- Are you guys open? Yeah. Are you looking for a third? This is- Regardez-toi. Don't you fucking dare. Forbidden fruit. Oh, three of us all at once. If only there was some sort of phrase for this. There is a name for what we are doing. I think if Tuck actually ever got into a relationship with someone, it would be like toxic.

Oh, brother. Are you kidding me? So upsetting. Of course it would be. I've seen him in the mirror. It's not good. Good. And, uh, Ving, in an attempt to, um, get under her skin, pulled out a ring that he had collected from the palace where Callum's dismembered arm once lay and placed it on his finger. A signet ring. A signet ring. And as he did so, a knock at the door. And at that door, the gibbous man. When the shutters were closed.

The shutters were closed behind the gibbous man standing at the door, total inky blackness, but seen in your mind's eye almost. The aspect of the spider. Can you describe it one more time? What was it? When I say the aspect of the spider, I think it is like you see the gibbous man in the way that you've seen him. The traveling clothes, the kindly old man. And then there is just, because it's not something that you're seeing, seeing, but more perceiving, but it's like sharp arcing legs. Oh.

Up over, like into infinity, basically. Attempting to enclose whatever you can see. Right. Yeah. Legs wrapped, jumping around. It could even be like that feeling where like you only see it when you're not looking at it. Oh, yeah. Try to look at it. Legs in the periphery. Yeah. That is where we find our heroes now. What is Victoria's reaction to this? Silence. Okay. She seems afraid. Come in, won't you? Or can't you? I think you know. He looks at the ring, he nods at it. Is he dead? I don't know.

To tell you the truth. Not when we last saw him. Good. Well, if that's it, you just came here to mock me. I just wanted to be sure of something. I show him the ring. Uh, hmm. Okay. Let's lay this out. He was called here because it was Callum's ring. Yeah. Okay. And it dinged. He thought that Callum put it on. Okay. Interesting. And knowing what you know about the icon of revenge, you can guess why he's trying to find Callum. To kill him. Oh. And that's why he was glad that he's not dead.

So he can kill him. Yep. Interesting. Standing in front of him, Ving, you see he has a hand to his side. Oh. And you can see, even from here, blood on the edges of his hand. And, uh, yeah, he says, well, if there's nothing else, I'm going to go kill Callum Blackhammer. Where's my spear? You're never getting that back. Please. Where would it be? Do you think he would have just tossed it? Or do you think he's holding it somewhere? Maybe it's in the back of the void.

Oh, like you can see it sort of in, in the aspect, in the, in this in-between place. Oh, it became, an aspect of his like, extra dimensional form. This spider has nine legs. Yeah. Oh, that's so cool. Oh, nine legs on the spider. Yeah, he knows what you did to him. Yeah. He knows that you infected him with this revenge. When was the last time you saw Solera? He's still, he's holding his hand, his side, and he kind of grimaces, presses his hand against the wound harder. Yeah.

Do you think this is an interrogation? I'm just having a casual conversation. I'll answer any question you want. Give me the ring. Why do you want it? It's mine. It was a gift given. By who? By me, to Callum. Why? I want my servants ready to serve. Now give me the ring. I'll answer any question you want. Better yet, and he kind of like, looks off to the side. Give me LeBlanc. He can't see her. She's around the corner. Oh, yeah. Of the door, but he can tell she's there. Oh.

We don't have to be enemies. He looks at the three of you. I've offered you this before, and I'm offering it you again. Help me. Think of the, the power I can give you. Think of the power I've given others. That could be yours. Serve me. We have the same goal. We both want a free Lillian. Tuck looks at, at Victoria. She shakes her. She's trembling. And then, Tuck, uh, he steps to the door next to Ving, and he goes, sorry, we're dealing with a domestic problem right now. And closes the door.

Yeah. Uh, he pulls the ashtray that he stole from the castle, whips it into the void. Whips it at him? I guess so, yeah, throw it at him. Cause he looks bloodied. So I guess I kind of want to hit, hit him with the ashtray. Two to six plus dexterity, I guess. Okay, here we go. Uh, yeah, eight plus dex is seven. Okay. Oh, man. So, on a volley, which is what this is, uh, I believe you either have to put yourself in a position of danger, lose your ashtray.

That's not a, that's not an option you can choose. I choose the, that one. Or you can do less damage. I guess I'll do less damage. Okay. So you roll your damage, and then I believe you roll a d6, and then you subtract that. My damage is a d10, six. Okay, roll a d6, six. Oh, no. So, oh. I guess we're in his, like, domain. It's just like, you throw it, and it passes right through him. Okay, good to know. You're a ghost. You're a fucking fool. Oh, my God. Language. This is unbelievable.

What do you think is going to happen? You think you're going to oppose, we're going to have some grand duel on a hill? You're going to strike me down? And then Tuck leans in, and he holds, he grabs the doorknob, and he goes, yeah, buddy, it will end for both of us, beneath a burning tree. And he slams the door. All right. And where next were you going to go? I guess Sam Deering. Yeah. Okay, so the door, the shutters, the door slams, and the shutters pop open.

And on the other side of the windows, you see dark brick. And then I turn to Victoria, I go, give me a reason why we shouldn't give you up. If I leave this place, the gibbous man will kill me. Why do we care? I'll, I'll, I'll, I'll help you. I'll help you. No, you won't. Yes, no, I will. You're a liar. I, I, I am a liar. That is true. I love to lie. I'm very good at it. But I, I, if, if I leave this place, and the gibbous man hunts me down, and I die, who does that help? Us.

There are things I know. Things I know about Callum's plans, about the gibbous man's plans, and if you let me leave, I can tell you these things. And I swear on my life, I will not betray you, for now. What the fuck? For now. I, look, I just know. Okay. So, and you can see, and she, she tugs up at the chain, which is like taut, because the bar is trying to eject her. Oh. I understand. Dink, dink. Now, what is happening? And watch, watch, watch, watch. Watch me. Oh, everything is fine.

And the chain slowly slackens. Billy. Oh. I was thinking that. Excuse me a second. I could do it, but she's totally going to betray us. But if she betrays us, then she'll die. That's how oath works, right? Yes, but I kind of don't want her to betray us at all. Let me, let me, let me step in for just one second. Yeah, go ahead, Sean. Mirror, mirror. Let me sit. Just hold on one second, one second.

Billy, I'm pretty sure that you can make an oath that does not result in the death of the swearing participant. Yeah, I'll know immediately. And then something bad will happen, which doesn't have to be death. I don't know. I think you should make it death. I think I should make it death. Yeah. You said you didn't want, why didn't you want to give her the gibbous, man? I would have done it. Sliding, Billy, slowly sliding. I grabbed Billy. What is that? No, she's a bad guy. She's a bad guy.

Oh, that's a very good point. It doesn't matter who the I'll intent is towards. No. Billy starts sliding towards the door. Billy, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey. I'm so mad at her. She was hurting everyone around us. And I yelled to the bar. I'm like, it's conditional I'll intent. It's conditional. Billy, she didn't hurt anybody. She hasn't yet. She hasn't right now. No. I think we should give her over. No, don't Billy. Why? Because that's not us.

Well, we were planning on doing it for a thousand dollars. We'll give it to them. No, but if we give her to Deering, the gibbous man will get her. The gibbous man is going to get her anyway. What are we going to do? Just carry her around forever. We know that she's safe in here. We could keep her in here. Nah. And she can't. So she can kill Mears. She's okay. Tuck goes, okay, I'm still crazy horny for her. So I might be fucked. I'm, I'm biased for sure.

But we can construct an oath that keeps her from ever betraying us. Lest she die. Cause she wants to keep herself alive. Us or Mears or are in like our like plans. And we, then we can use her for her. You know, information about Callum about the gibbous man about all this shit. We don't know. And she's a pretty fucking good warrior. It's true. God, she's got good hearing. I don't like her. I know she's mean. She is scary. I know. Uh, eh, if she tries to betray any of us, the bar will eject her.

The bar does not allow any violence on its grounds. So we're safe in here. She's safe in here. But it is a risk. She is one of the most dangerous people in the world. So if we're not feeling it, we can kick her out. The Gibbous Man will almost certainly track her down. Ving, what do you think? I just think we have so much history with her and she will serve her own purposes to save her life. Knowing that hot is not vain. She's so into living.

And she will at least try to save her own skin and do what she can to do that. And if her skin is in our hands, Tuck. Tuck's pupils dial it. Her in it hands. Skin. Then I think we can at least trust her to serve herself. Billy, I think, okay. I'm not going to force you to use Oath. But I. Do think that if we do this, we gain information and a powerful asset. And I kneel down in front of Billy and I go, the clock's winding down now, buddy. We have to make some hard deals.

Things are going to get uncomfortable and it's okay. Yeah, you're right. Billy pulls out a knife. And he storms over to Victoria. And she sees this happening and she starts pulling on the chains like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. And Billy drives the knife out. At her throat. Whoa. Now you say you want to give us info? We? I mean, yes. And that you're going to tell us everything? I will tell you what I can. And what else did you say you do? I said I would give you information. And you would help us?

I said I could help you. Do you think information helps people like us? We need action. What I'm saying is we're too stupid for information to have an effect on us. You have to also give smarter people information. It better be good information. Okay, all right. It better be helpful information. Okay. All right. Okay. And Mears places his metal hand on the table with a clunk. He's like, brass tacks, Victoria. The way this place works, if you try anything, you will be ejected immediately.

Any plans you have, if you think you're fast enough or tricky enough or dangerous enough to get one over on Hither and Yon and the barman, you're wrong. Yeah. And then Victoria goes, take me right now, you metal-handed freak. And he looks her in the face and goes, you're not my type. I'm not good. That makes me want to need some more. Wash. You heard what he said, Victoria. If you go back on your word, you're out of here. On the street. For the gibbous man.

That's good to know because by way of a peace offering, I will tell you now, I was going to find a way to betray you. And if you do, I'm going to know right away something really bad is going to happen to you. And you're going to wish. You're going to wish the gibbous man got you instead. Okay. I agree to your terms. But you got to do the oath. But Mears does say, Billy. And he leans down. I know you're going to hate this. Yeah.

But because of the rules of Hither and Yon, you can't make the condition of the oath death, I don't think. It has to be something else. And then Tuck goes, it's conditional violence. And then he rips the sconce off the wall and throws it through one of the windows. What? It just like loops around and attaches itself. What does she value most? Her life. 1,000% her life. I will trap you in a place that you'll never get out of. And you'll wish you've died. What does that mean?

This boy was born in the dark. I don't know the rest of the quote. He's molded by it. He's molded by it. Yeah. You thought I saw the light? I was already a man. His daddy is the dark. Oh, God. That meant nothing to me. Sorry. I've been doing that voice a lot lately. It's really funny. It's a fun voice to do. My friends and I were sending voicemails to each other in Discord. As Bane? Batman! It's Bane! Legion of Doom karaoke! Tonight! Bane, have you seen Gilmore Girls?

It's going to come off Netflix soon. Anyway, call me back. I love the Luke and Lorelei, will they, won't they? This is Bane. Batman, drive safe. So you had a couple too many cran vodkas, Batman. Okay. They got together! Okay, so yes. What were we saying? Yes, okay. You can see saying this, I'll trap you somewhere you can never get out. She believes you. All right. And she puts out a pinky. Shake on it. The lights in the bar like dim while that happens. Yeah.

Yeah, all the candles and torches or candles and lantern dim for a moment. There's a weight that falls over hither and yon as the oath is sworn. And then whoop. I think you'll see this trust will do you good. Oh, shit. Billy. What? Can you add stuff to the oath after? No, that's not how it works. What the fuck? What were you getting? What, what, what? I'm going to make her promise not to fuck me. I'm going to ask her to do that. That's weird. I promise. What are you? I'll see you soon.

Is anyone going to, uh, and she kind of jingles her manacles and not manacles, eight pairs of handcuffs. Can I, I just want to give her more links. Like we don't fully trust her. Like we'll give her. Oh, so you want to keep her chained to the table? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So she's like got one cuff on. Yeah. And then the chains attach her to the table, but she can like get to the bar.

Yeah. Yeah. She can walk around, but I'm not giving you full access yet. You have to earn our trust. I'll set up a bathroom situation for you though. Cause that's, I don't want to have to deal with that. I'm not entering, emptying chamber pots. There's a stable right here. There's a stable right there. For animals only. We make the chain long enough that she can go shit in the bar. Yeah. And Black Sparrow's like, I'm out of here. Oh, gross. No way. Oh, my manger. Fucking gross, bro. Gross.

I don't even poop. I'm a dragon. We don't poop, I guess. I don't know. Zoom, zoom. Everybody poops. Not me. Never seen it. I texted this to Sean the other day. I think Black Sparrow is like an owl where they expel waste through their mouths. I like that. And that is the, that is the function of the breath weapon. Yeah. Partially. And I bet, I bet a lot of his smoke is also destroying waste. Do you know what I mean? Where it's, he's just burning garbage. There's garbage inside his body. Yeah.

And then he like, they just puke it out basically. Yeah. So, uh, Mears is, you know, this is a while later. Victoria's kind of sleeping. She's curled up in the booth. She's asleep. Well, she's lounging very erotically, Tuck. I got her one of Perel's. I got her a bunch of Perel clothes to try and turn off. Oh, sure. Oh, yeah. But it's kind of not working. She's wearing baggy cargo shorts. And she's like wearing like a Hawaiian shirt, but she doesn't button them up all the way. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. There's a girl thing where she ties it into a belly shirt. Tuck's getting confusing, conflicting ideas about Perel. Like, no, I don't like what this is unlocking. Oh, my God. Gender swap Perel. So, she's wearing a baggy cargo shorts, a Hawaiian shirt tied up around. Oh, my God. Her midriff. Ellie Sadler from Jurassic Park 1. Oh, yeah. Yeah. She absolutely looks like Ellie Sadler. Now Paul is warning. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh.

Long chain that she's sort of like draped around her shoulder artfully and is eating the cold omelette that Mears put out for her. We get in the booth with her. Yeah. She kind of like shifts awkwardly as you all press into the booth. Put the signet ring in the middle. Tell us what the fuck this is. This is a symbol of Canem's servitude to the gibbous man. But what does it do? It contains the icon of tyranny. The icon of tyranny is in this. His brother, Colm.

And she kind of looks wistfully into the sky. God, she's so toxic. I love it! It's intoxicating! As the warrior, he received their symbol of war, the sword. His brother, a symbol of authority. She like gestures to the sword where it's like leaning up against the bar. Yes. I like that she doesn't, it's not exposed but she gestures to where it's hidden. Oh, she kind of, yeah, gestures to the storage room. She knows. How'd she know, how'd she know where it is? Ah, to be honest I'm not sure.

I can just tell. If I had to guess, it has something to do with, uh, and she gestures to Mirza's put a bandage over the wound. Your tattoos. My tattoos. I was connected to the iconic realm and I believe that, uh, there is some sort of lingering presence or perception or other magic bullshit, who knows. I'm doing the, her sarcasm is just turning. I'm doing the cigarette thing cause I'm eating a, cause I'm doing a French accent but she's got a fork in there with omelet on it.

So you can guess that what she's saying is what she knows. Her connection, her being chained to that icon has given her some, at least temporarily, some sort of ability to perceive iconic influence. Ving says, do you have any other tattoos? Not putting into this conversation, no. And then Tuck goes, what about ones that, might have you? To the conversation. I am a worldly woman with many experiences. You know this. He aspirates. He breathes in the meat that he was drinking.

I'm gonna try to pat you on the back. Thank you. All I know is, uh, I look at this ring. I know that there's something in there and it tells me that it is tyrannical. And then Tuck like taps me. He rips his chest and he's like, do you know what's in here? It's different now. I remember it from our whirlwind night together. We never, uh, turned the page on that chapter, did we? No, I ate too much cheese that night. I remember.

And I slide a little bowl of parmesan cheese across the table and Billy in his head is like, does that stop you from reading? I'm like, oh, cheese reading. Oh. No one in this conversation is on the same page. It's so funny. If he grabs a handful of parmesan, thank you. Go on, Victoria. It's like dripping in his beard. It's shaved parmesan. Before it was, uh, I can't quite remember. But now, before of course I could not see, but now it is a symbol of, um, your loyalty to your friends. Oui? Yeah.

So, that's all I know. I can see. Maybe for good, maybe for now. So, without the ring then, is Callum just walking around like… Oh, without any power? Without anything? He is still chained to the icons of cunning and tyranny, but I believe the ring amplified these powers. What else is he chained to? Those are the two. What was his original tattoo again? Cunning. Oh, it was cunning. Oh, cunning. Right. When did the gibbous man give him this ring? How long has he had it?

I came in later in the game, but I believe it was, uh, less than a year. That makes sense. Yeah. Tell us what was the game. It was quite a cunning plan. I must give him that. Tell us about it. Oh, sorry. You were about to. You were about to tell us about it, and I interrupted you. I'm so sorry. Billy also has a handful of parmesan. Billy? What? Billy. What? There's so much dairy in that. That's basically cocaine for you. For everyone. It's for all of us. Can Billy not eat cheese?

No, it's so dairy. It's so dairy. This is fermented dairy. Parmesan? Less dairy. Oh, that's true. Parmesan's probably one of the few cheeses he can safely have. It's still dairy. It's just flat toast. Way to no-but that, John. Yeah, come on. It is kind of like he's, instead of taking meth, he's on methadone. Yeah, his eyes are just really focused. Yeah. It's like instead of smoking meth, he's eating meth. Yeah. Yeah. It's kind of like he's on Zinz right now. It's fine. It's the same.

You guys have never eaten meth, have you? Of course not. We don't know anything about drugs. Yeah, man. You have done more drugs than all of us put together. Oh, fuck. Of course. Like this week. And I haven't had any drugs. Just whatever's left in my system and my fat cells. I shit more drugs than you've ever done in your life. I hear ya. Oh, those days. Paul used to be a really cool audience. Used to be so cool. I still think you're cool, Paul. Thank you. Me too. Um, what was the question?

Oh, sorry. Oh, what was the plan? It was just please keep talking. Yeah. If I may ask, what did he tell you the plan was? He told us. He never told us anything. I don't like this. Yeah. No, we asked the questions here. I very well. I just know that, uh, Callum rarely has the same conversation twice. What does that mean? He's always, he's always working an angle. He's always lying. Yeah. He's Janice faced. So you think he lied to you? No, I think I was instrumental to the plan.

So I figure that perhaps mine was the right one. Perhaps it was not, but he had quite an elaborate setup and he played each of you perfectly. Okay. Give us the play by play. From start to end. And then tell us where it was supposed to go. So he sent out his invitation. Of course you could not resist an invitation to a masked ballroom gala by your, one of your primary foes. What could possibly be hiding behind the door?

Vink audibly rolls his eyes and he knew, and he reached, she reaches out and, uh, he, she puts a hand on your shoulder. Oh, it says, Tuck has an aneurysm. Oh, I'm sorry. There's a woman. There's a woman. There's a woman. There's a woman. There's a woman. There's a woman. There's a woman. There's a woman. There's a woman. There's a woman. There's a woman. There's a woman. There's a woman. There's a woman. There's a woman. There's a woman. There's a woman. There's a woman. There's a woman.

There's a woman. There's a woman. There's a woman. There's a woman. There's a woman. There's a woman. There's a woman. There's a woman. There's a woman. There's a woman. There's a woman. And so you walked right in the front door. Is that why you guys were getting married or did you actually love each other? I loved him. Do you love him still? You must. Yes, and I'm sure that I will for a certain amount of time until some other beautiful thing wanders into my view. He looks at Mirrors.

And Mirrors is like, no. No. Absolutely not. One way mirror, sister. A mouth to a flame, I am to his indifference. His plan was to use each three of you and my desperate need for vengeance and his own cunning and tyranny to bind the Gibbous Man. And once he was bound and under Callum's control, he was going to be destroyed. Why would he destroy him? To free himself. Callum is a man that luxuriates in power. And to have power, one must have those to have power over.

If the Gibbous Man's plan was to wipe the world clean. Who then would Callum rule? I imagine he's also the kind of guy that languishes under a leash. Oh. It chaffed him to no degree to be put under the beck and call of one such as the Gibbous Man. Why do you think he took the ring off? And she nods. He would rather trade the portion of his power than risk being found by the Gibbous Man. But he called the Gibbous Man to the wedding. He did. To bind him. But now he is alone.

He could only do it if it was all of us. And without one of the eight. He's in his hole. So to speak. Weird way to say that. Cards up his sleeve. Whatever. And she kind of nods towards the stables. One of his primary weapons in his plan is out of his control as well. Black glass. Black spire? Black spire. One more time? The dog. What was… How did black spire factor into the plan? I'm sure you can guess if you think hard. He's imbued with sunstone. And black obsidian.

And one of the prominent powers of sunstone is… You're asking us a lot of questions here, lady. Doesn't it expel the darkness? It fights the outer dark. Yes. Which means? It's a power against the Gibbous Man. Against the Gibbous Man? And? Demons. Nope. The three of you are the greatest threat to the Gibbous Man's plans. Yeah, did you see the thing they did with the ashtray? Pretty cool. Saffron. Saffron. Saffron. It's the saffron inside. Oh, is he eating saffron? This is unbelievable.

I cannot believe you sunk my ship. You sunk my battleship. It was mostly Perelva. That was mostly our uncle. And she just watched the three of you give the weakest high five possible. Well, we could do the three-way… Oh, yeah. Like the wrist. Yeah, that'd be like… It was wrists that you guys grabbed. No, hold on. Wait. Wait. No. We did this once. No. Hold on. There was a thumb to thumb. We had to do a four. No, no, no. Here we go. There we go. Yeah, three-way fist grab thing.

But not the thumb. She cuts another piece off the omelet and eats it so disappointingly. We nailed it. We nailed that. We nailed that. Disappointed the shit out of her. So, okay. Do I need to step-by-step it for you? Yes. You do. Thank you. Oh, my God. I mean, we got most of the way there. Okay. I'm okay with that. I'm okay with that. I kind of followed. So, black stuff. Spire. Black Spire. That's a name. The gibbous man's semi-mortal form can be harmed. Harmed. I was going to say harmed.

Oh, yeah. You are. That's not the plan. That's just the word that I used in describing it. It's really useful to just keep reminding ourselves that he can be… We could tell he was bleeding. Yeah. The tip of my spear has found his form. Damn it, Paul. I've done so many drugs. The tip of my spear. Victoria, we're really dumb. Okay. Sean, we're really dumb. Okay. So, the three of you are also in opposition of the gibbous man. Okay. Yes. As is Callum. Yes. But for different reasons.

For different reasons. Yeah. For different reasons. He invited you hoping that… Either you would agree to help him bind the gibbous man. Long shot, of course. But an option if you fear him, which at this point you do. As do I. You bind him. He is within the control of the five of us. He is unable to leave. He is vulnerable.

Or the boy uses his power to trap the gibbous man, which is what he thought foolishly the three of you would have been cunning enough to figure out that you could use it to trap the gibbous man. Oh. We did think about it. We chose not to because we thought it would be dangerous to do it. More dangerous than leaving the gibbous man free to enact his will as he so chose. I didn't think about that. Cut, cut, cut, cut. Right. Omelet.

The choice that we made was that we would let the gibbous man roam free. Yeah. And then also expose ourselves to the dangers of Callum and Victoria. Do we knowingly make that choice? Yeah, 100%. I think we make a thought and then we stop when it sounds like it. Yeah. Yeah. That's good enough. You guys' plan was in fact to put on a costume that looked kind of like the gibbous man. I remember that. To be like, I'm here, Callum. It seemed like a cool idea. The thing that, it's me. The gibbous man.

The gibbous man. I'm here to get you. Mama mia. Pick a darker. Pick a darker. Knowing of, and already, it's already knowing that the gibbous man can see so much. Yeah. So much. It's just like a mime. Yeah. Yeah. I'm the gibbous man. I'm trapped in a box. Uh oh. The boy made a trap for me. Oh man. And then, okay. So, incredible. We thought it was a cool idea until we got here and then realized. We didn't have the fabric for the costume. Oh, that's what it was.

So, your plan came down to whether or not you had something in your tickle trunk is what you're telling me. Yeah. Yeah. How did you know about it? I didn't know about our trunk. I wouldn't have said it. You're fucking right. Did you guys just watch Batman? That's just a fun voice to do. It is a fun voice. And then, once his mortal form was captured, the thing that gives him his power is his connection to the outer dark. Because he has been separated from his aspect of the sky.

This is all stuff that Calamus told me. And your friend over there, the big one, compelled on threat of your deaths, and he's now in a state of shock. And he's now in a state of shock. And he's now in a state of shock. And he's now in a state of shock. And he's now in a state of shock. And he's now in a state of shock. And he's now in a state of shock. Oh, he was going to fucking kill the Gibbous. Oh, he was going to burn out his connection to the outer dark. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh.

Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh.

Compelled on threat of your deaths to blast the gibbous man oh he was gonna fucking kill the gibbous he was gonna burn out his connection to the outer dark yes with his breath weapon oh my gosh with the light why don't we think of that very useful to know that's a good point I mean we thought knew he was going to be useful yeah yeah but that's direct yeah and now once he gets a hold of callum he will know this he will get this information out of him and he will know this plan for himself he's gonna that makes black spire a target all I'm saying is once he finds out that this was the plan and this is a vulnerability of his yeah he will avoid contact or proximity to this dragon at all possibilities so that is unfortunately perhaps not a tool that you can use in the future unless we strike now and strike hard oh god we could have fucking done it when he was here standing right there yeah we why!!

Why! Why! He seemed to think that you were important in that way. Because we represent… Because Billy's fairy and Ving is spirit. He said you specifically. What about me? Well, the fairy, the spirit. What do you know about me? I only know what Callum told me. Is that you were instrumental to the plan. And that the gibbous man was very interested in you as well. Why? Something about the three of you and your alignment as a sort of triad of forces that he finds very disconcerting.

But, my love, and don't take this the wrong way, you seem wholly unremarkable. Tuck. His feelings are hurt by that. And he goes, okay. I mean, in a metaphysical sense, of course, physically you are a specimen. Thank you. I'm just gonna go play with my dog for a second. And then Tuck gets up and does that fast walk that happens when you're trying to not cry as you walk out of a room. And Victoria looks to Billy and Ving. I think I've given you plenty of information for now.

I've earned myself a little shut-eye. Yeah, you can have a nap. Very well. Wake me when it's dinner time. And she kind of like slumps back in the booth and closes her eyes. And we can cut to the stable if that is where Tuck wants to go. Yeah. So the stable door bangs open. There's a little corridor that you've never seen like kind of behind the stairs that leads to the door to the stables. Is Black Spire here? Yeah, where else would he be? Okay. I go over to Black Spire.

He lifts his huge head and he's like, Tuck, this is fucking crazy. I can just open my eyes and you're there. That's fucked. And he gets up and he kind of starts nudging you with his head. And then Tuck… You're here. Look. Bonk, bonk. Look at this. And then Tuck gets bonked backwards and he's like, yeah, I'm here, buddy. And he like, he hugs Black Spire. Yeah. Around his big old head. Yeah. What's going on, bro? He seemed kind of like wet. Yeah. Sorry, man.

A girl just had something truly heart-shattering to me. No way. That's crazy. What's a girl? What's a girl? Wait. How do black… How do… Dragons make more dragons? I don't know. Never came up. So you've never seen like a girl dragon? I've never seen any other dragons, bro. Bro, I just became. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I just, you know, I woke up. I cracked myself out of my old eggy and I was just a tiny little guy and I was carried around by a cool guy for a while.

And then remember, I was left in a cave for a long time. Oh, right. Oh, you mean the… Fucked up stuff those worms do. Yeah. When they squiggle around on each other. And then make more of each other. And then there's more worms. That's his only reference. Oh, my God. Do I have to do that? I got to squiggle around on a worm? No, dude. It's… A girl is like a dragon that looks like you, but you'll like her for like mysterious reasons. It's kind of… Huh. Nah. Or a guy.

You can have it with a guy. I don't know how dragons work, man. Dragon's a dragon. A dragon is a dragon. Same, bro. No idea. Anyway, doesn't sound interesting. I just want to chill with my bro. Yeah, man. And then I give him another big hug and I squeeze him like around the kind of like chest neck area really hard. I'm like, I'm so glad we have you now. I'm so glad that I am here as well, that we have each other, all of us. Yeah.

He starts kind of like spinning around and doing like this weird little hop dance. Do you want to play fetch? Yeah, I do. He was going to grab like a giant bag of like grain that is in the thing and then just like do a big like kind of like spin around tetherball toss. Yeah, totally. And just go… Yeah. And hook it as far as he can in the barn. Yeah, totally. And Black Spire runs and as he's running, it smacks him in the back of the head. Oh, shit. And then he goes, whoa.

He jumps around and then he grabs it off the ground and goes, I got it. Fuck yeah, dude. Bring it back. Yeah, brother. And he boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. And I do it again. Yeah. And we see this scene. Maybe you guys playing fetch, which is very sweet. Cute. And we cut back into the bar. Billy and Ving, what are you up to? I don't know. Victoria's sleeping. She's like napping. Yeah. Although after a while of her laying there with her eyes closed, you hear like…

Oh, so she was listening just in case. Yeah, it seems like she was wary, but she has given up some sort of vigilance to get a nap. And it's just like… Jesus Christ. Oh my God. Oh my gosh. Literally everyone in our show has sleep apnea. And if there's nothing that you need to do right now, we can always jump forward. But if there is something that you would like to achieve or even just like a conversation that you want to have. Ving's just sitting on a table in the corner like…

Spinning the ring. Oh, yeah. So now that you're like looking at the ring, Ving, you're spinning it around. When you put it on, you were overcome with this like, I can get what I want out of this. This woman. And then I'll toss her into the dogs. Oh, whoa. And you only wore it for… You wore it for such a brief period of time that you didn't even realize such was the influence that it was like wheedling its way into you. Yeah. And then you popped it off.

And now that you're sitting here, you feel that sort of ache of the absence. Oh, and it feels like almost like a pain of like feeling like you are subject to someone else instead of feeling like you have diminished. Dominion over your own life. The glut of tyranny out of a person's body. Yeah. After being overloaded by it. And like, there's like, with that certainty like that, there's a clarity of action that comes where it's like your mind was like an arrow. Yeah. Yeah. A spear. Oh, yeah.

But yeah, if we just want to hop forward, we can absolutely just cut to… Unless you want to… No. No, no, no. I'm just contemplating that. Yeah. We cut forward. The party is gathered in, in front of the door. Yeah. Or, you know, doing their thing, but like getting ready to go to move the bar. And who is transporting Hither and Yon? I could try it. You, if you want, if you feel like you're up for it, Billy, it's good for you to get practice too. Yeah. Billy's like opening, closing the door.

Okay. 2d6 plus charisma. Ooh. Nine. Nine. Very good. Okay. So seven to nine. Oh, wait. Yes. Yeah. How are you aiding? I just… Turn them around and put them on the real door. Oh, there you go. Billy doesn't notice. Nice. Nine. Okay. Which makes it a 10, which means you get where you want to go. I want to see Perel and Morris. Okay. Wait, what time of day is it? I don't know because it opens into a toilet. To a men's stall. Did I do it? Perel is on the toilet. What the fuck? Whoa. Whoa.

Close the door. Close the door. If I close the door, then you'll leave. If I close the door, then you'll leave. Just close it. I'll just turn around. Oh, my… I'll plug my ears. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. And my nose. Tuck from Perel's perspective, like leans over. He's like, ha! Close the door. No. I go, Victoria, check it out. Perel's taking a shit. Who? And he stumbles in. There's toilet paper everywhere. He's got a magazine. Wash your hands. Ew. I can't. You stole the rest of the bathroom.

You stole the rest of the bathroom. You literally… He literally opened into where the toilet is. Yeah. So he's like running around like, mirrors, where is… He's like, right over here. Ew, don't touch me. And he washes up, and he's in a bathrobe. He looks over to Victoria. She's wearing the exact same outfit. Good morning. And he… Bon matin. He turns around, and he sees her, and he drops the magazine and kind of stumbles against the bar. That's Victoria LaBlanche.

I know, but she can't hurt us. She's sworn off. Yeah. Well, well, well. And he starts sliding sideways towards the bathroom door. Whoa, whoa, whoa. Oh, right, okay. I know, it's really tempting. It is, isn't it? But she has told us a lot. You got her under oath? Yeah, I did. Nice. No perjury in this place. Yeah. Well, what's up, everybody? Why did you come in on me trying to take a dump? How have you been? What have you learned? Oh, okay. Yeah, okay. What issue of Mud Affairs is that? Oh, yeah.

It's not Mud Affairs. It's Golf Digest. And he shoves it in his… They're both pornographic magazines. Yeah, but one is worse. Ooh, which one? Billy, you'll know when you're older. This is why I can't read. No one will let me. Nobody lets me read porn or whatever that is. This is why I can't… It's so fucking… No one ever lets me look at porn, so I'm illiterate. If I knew how to read, I'd know what porn was. Yeah. And we smash cut forward.

We filled him in on everything that happened in black class. Wow. That's rough. Mm-hmm. Things have been way more chill. Way more chill in the tower, for sure. Where's Morris? He's back in the tower working. You guys popped in in the bathroom stall. I thought I did a good job getting to you. Oh, you got to me. Yeah, I don't think we've ever actually gotten that close to someone we were targeting. I was thinking about him really hard. On the toilet. It's impressive. Good job, buddy.

I really wanted to know if he went to the bathroom. I've never seen him go. It's true. Yeah, I do. I unfortunately do. Some… You know what? This is an opportunity to learn. Some wizards don't poop. What? Some of them just poop. Like Aquarius, she's fully formed as a magical being. No waste at all. Huh. I was turned into a wizard. Oh. So you have to poop. So I have to poop because I spent a long time as a mortal pooping. How many poops have you turned into frogs? Accidentally? 25.

You know the exact number. Anyways. Magic is bullshit. I'm not talking to you. And I'm not going to talk to you because you're gross. Frankly, you're tacky. Victoria, I'm not interested. Okay, so what were we talking about? Because it couldn't have just been me pooping frogs. No. So he stirs his tea. What have you learned from the tower? Oh, the tower. Yes. So it's not been going great. Okay. Um, we did initially get a response from Waleed the speaker. Oh shit. Really? Sorry.

I should have led with that. Holy shit. Yes. We received a correspondence from him. So it worked. What do we scream into that void? Unfortunately, yes. Nice. High five. High five. What's the notes say? So Perel pulls out a crumpled note that it seems like he's had for a long time. Said, this is all we got after all that information that you yelled into the thing. This is the response and he unfolds it and it says in a very beautiful, like almost calligraphy style, handwritten script. Hello.

Fuck. I thought there was going to be useful information. No, that's what it is. That's what it is. Okay. However, when we received his note, the resulting feedback from the Thalmic discharge locked us out of the room. What? What do you mean? The amount of, so this is just before I explain this and everybody gets mad at me, I want you to understand this is unprecedented. This has never happened. When the power required to send the message back through the wifi hotspot hit the material plane.

It overloaded the mechanisms in the base of the high spear tower. Oh no. And as a security lock down, it shut us out. Did you try and use the password? Yeah, I tried to use the password. What was it? Asked, stuck my nut 69 or something like that. It stuck my nut 69 69. Do you think it changed the password or destroyed the mechanism that required a password? I wish we'd been trying to figure it out. We can't quite. Uh, Morris has tried all his little tricky tricks to get in.

He's tried to bend his way around the door. He's tried to move the room somewhere else in the tower. Uh, and we just, we just, we just, we just, we just, we just, we just, we just, we just, we just, we just, we just, we just, we just, we just, we just, we just, we just, we just, we just, we just, we just, we just, we just, we just, we just, we just, we just, we just, room somewhere else in the tower and we just we can't get it to work. Do you shut it on and off?

If we shut it off, you would have known. You for sure would have known if we turned off the high spirit. So you're saying you didn't try it? I am saying we didn't try it. Well. What happens if the high spirit turns off for a second? Well, we don't know how long it takes to turn back on. Oh, okay. We don't know how to turn it off. Right. We probably need access to that room to turn it off. Unless there's another way. We found another way. Show us.

And we can cut through to the tower and he's standing. It is not in the base of the tower where you were. He brings you to a room way in the top of the high spirit. Whoa, cool. That is small, but a very well-appointed bedroom. It seems to be the study and quarters of Waleed the speaker. Whoa. Dusty is all fucking here, but you can see paths where Morris and Perel have walked, but they have not cleaned mostly to the bed. Well, the bed is really clean. I wouldn't worry about that so much.

These are like new sheets. Everything else is full of dust. Oh, that bed is not clean. We just haven't had time to clean the whole place says Morris. He's also in a bathrobe. It looks like they've both been wearing bath robes constant. What you get a taste for it? It's hard to give up the terrycloth. It's so absorbent. What? Not like that, but like you spill something on yourself like orange juice or cum. How's A4?

I mean, look for yourself and you peek out the window out of this bedroom and you see A4 lounging on the mountainside. There's so many birds on him. He's covered in birds, but he's got sort of a vigilant, despite the fact that he's lounging. It looks like he's rested his head on a fist like and the elbow is on an on a outcropping to sort of ensure that he can see all of Highspear.

I like that Ving walks up to the window just like as soon as he comes into the view of the window and A4 you see Jim's just kind of like tilt his head a little bit. Tilt his head. Yeah. Birds fly off in a huge flock. Yeah, he's just been there watching. You wave at him and it's you see dust like rocks and shit like crush off of his arm as he reaches up to wave and you hear a chorus of voices in the city go. Wow. Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding. Robot. Giant robot.

There's like people like winning bets and losing bets. If he'll move. Yeah, you hear an all you can eat ribs place absolutely freaking out, closing all the doors, boarding everything up. But this is what we found. And he like opens an armoire and inside the armoire is a big fucking switch like literally like a like a power reset like funk. I want to do it. Billy, Billy, Billy, Billy, Billy, Billy. It could blow up in your face. We have no idea what it what it could do.

If the high spear is responsible for all of mortal kind to be able to communicate and it's never been turned off. If you turn it off for the first time in centuries, maybe a millennia or more. We have no idea how long it will take to reset. And that means while it's off, no one can communicate. Also, I think it puts us at risk because this is a place of power that the gibbous man cannot enter. That's a very good point. Also to end that much power suddenly.

We don't know what kind of danger we're putting ourselves in the world in. But if we do need Waleed to help us figure out how to bring the wizards back and we can't get back into the Wi-Fi hotspot room, this might be our only opportunity. But we have to carefully measure if it's worth it. Yes. And if we were to turn it off, then Billy gets to get a point for jumping into danger without a plan. That's true.

If Billy grabs this switch and flips it right now, no one can stop him and he gets a point later. But everyone would be mad at me. And Perel steps forward and puts the clothes back in front of the switch. We're not flipping this. But you just said it's the only way. Yeah, it's… No, sorry. If we can't get back into the room, which we haven't done the password reset, I'm sure there's something we could do. And Morris looks at Perel. I mean, there is someone we could talk to.

And Perel goes, I don't know if it's ready. What? Aquaria? I don't know. I don't know. And we can cut back down to their lab and you see a brass framework of a human body. And inside in the center of the chest, a cavity seemingly designed after Ving's own chest cavity that looks like it is built to hold the little moss terrarium that you were gifted by Aquaria years ago. Cool. And it is a full framework.

It's standing in the middle of the lab and it's got a bunch of little magic-y doodads and stuff on it and it's inscribed with like Thaumic runes in different spots. I picture it as like kind of lattice work. Yes. It is like muscle. It follows the work of muscle, but there's a lot of spacing and air in it, right? Totally. It's very light in its build. It is. It almost looks like the frames that they used to… You know those like big kind of Regency French gowns?

Not Regency, but like they puff out and they have like the bone kind of like hoops and frames and stuff? Yeah. It kind of looks like something like that. Cool. What does the face look like? No features. Totally featureless. Okay. Yeah. Have you tried it yet? No. To be honest, I'm too scared. I don't know what effect it's going to have on her. That's a lot of… It's a lot of power to transfer and she's already in such a state. Well, let me talk to her. Let's ask her.

Yeah, you can totally reach out. And the three of you with your little rings and with your… The Chamberlain rings, you can absolutely reach out. He hands you the moss terrarium. Ving takes the moss and holds it up to his lips in his closed hand and then puts it in his chest cavity. Whoa, cool. Okay. That's sick. Yeah. That's so fucking… Cool. Oh, because you're connected to all knowledge kind of too. Right. Yeah. That's so sick. So does this mean… Do you think that you are in her chamber?

Even if you're not physically there? Yeah. And she is in Ving's chamber. Because he is now the armature for her as well. Okay. Yeah. So it's like an interchange. Cool. I don't know if that makes any sense. It makes sense. You're like a hologram in her chamber. And she is now present for you. She's in front of you. So that… Maybe Morris and Perel can ask her themselves. Yeah. Yeah. I want to bring her in the room.

So yeah, you connect to her through this moss which fills the chamber in the center of your chest. And… Oh. It grows really fast. Yeah. And it is like coding in around the seed of knowledge. Oh, yes. And I think that it might incur… Like there could be a pop of growth happening from this. Oh, cool. The seed. Oh, yeah. That's sick. Yeah. Do you want to sprout a little bit in there? Yeah. And appearing before you like in a wink is a woman. Okay.

Last time we saw Aquaria, she was laid up in her bed. She was like under blankets of moss, basically, which were helping her breathe. But that's not how you see her now. You see her as she was before she was wounded. Oh. She is tall. She's taller than Morris and Perel. Whoa. She's very lean. She has long kind of brassy blonde hair. Very like severe features. And she's got quite a thin face. And she's wearing long layered green robes that call to mind the moss that she was blanketed under.

And she looks at everyone in the room. And I think her response is, oh, how strange. Aquaria? Bing. Hello. It's been quite some time. It's been an age. And she looks over at Morris and Perel who are like watery. I like Perel is like watery eyed. I put out a hand. It's okay. Come here to Perel. He puts a hand in yours and you can see like the hologram of her is reaching out and that connects over Perel's hand. And as you're doing that, I whisper in your ear real quick.

I go, don't tell her I stole her loot, okay? You're just whispering in her ear. That's his ancient history. Tacoma, the moss is told. Me long ago. Fuck. And she reaches out a hand like a fucking a hand and she kind of brushes Perel's cheek. It's good to see you three together.

I say, and I can feel there like you can feel the love that they have for each other and you can feel the connection as Morris comes before like kind of nervous and they hug and you can see her lean in to Morris into his ear and she whispers something and he kind of sinks into her embrace. They take a breath and they separate. When like Ving channeling her was touching Perel's face, Tuck was like ugh. It's been a confusing day. What does this mean? Real nuts and bolts of emotions.

I can only assume if you have called me here that there is something you wish to discuss. This is quite taxing. So I would request that we get on with it. We're wondering if there's any way Perel has made this body for you and wondering how we can make it less taxing for you. What can, how can I help you to embody this form? And I gesture at the brass armature. Okay, that's a great question. I think that she walks up to it and she kind of leans in and through Ving's eyes is looking closely.

This is quite impressive, but also disappointingly rudimentary, boys. And they go wow. Okay, what would you, what would you recommend? And yeah, let's, let's roll something because I think that there is something missing from this form. I like that her with Ving and elemental mastery. She threw him. She's like, let me give on to her my power to make this format. She needs it. That's great. That makes sense. And also because you're like you are born of a wizard.

Her like you're a natural kind of like extension. Yeah, I have my mom's power to yeah, she can use that. That's yes, that's great. Okay, so elemental mastery, elemental master 26 plus constitution. Okay, plus con whole nice 13. That was cool because the die was on a one and then rolled off the court. That was sick. 12. Sorry 12. Okay, so on 12 with elemental mastery, you choose to, uh, the effect I desire comes to pass and I always just do the same retain control. Yeah, I guess so. Yeah.

What is the other option? Avoid paying nature's price. Such a self sacrifice. You think I always do, but well, I think that there is a price that we could probably work in. Yeah, the effect I desire to pass and I retain control. Okay, Ving, you feel yourself kind of like moving in response to the movements of Aquaria. Um, you're like, you know, you're she reaches out for something in your hands, kind of like connect at the same point. I was thinking that this felt like ghost before this moment.

Yeah, this is so ghost. Yeah, yeah, and she reaches out and she kind of like blows on the tips of her fingers and rubs her hands together. Shameless Wister or whatever and then she starts on chain melody. Oh, it is. Yeah, it's a chain melody and she starts running her hand down like the arm of the of the brass armature as your fingers trace behind and the moss grows up your arm. Yeah, it drapes down the side. Cool. And then she drapes it down the other arm painting it from the chest out.

Yeah, and she's forming this kind of very much like the robes that she's wearing, but completely out of moss. Uh-huh. She's draping this robed form over the brass armatures and as the moss is coming out of my chest cavity so that the seed is sprouting and growing and busting. Whoa! Cool. You can feel like little roots starting to take hold inside setting into my chest. The magic that's being channeled through it is accelerating its growth. Yeah. Like fertilizer. Yeah. Yeah. It's manure.

Thalmic fertilizer. Manure. And you see as she forms for herself a face of moss, like a nose and a mouth and eyes and then her long hair. Layers of moss upon the layers of the moss of her robes. Uh-huh. And then she's like, oh, this is a chia pet. She does kind of look like a chia pet. I mean, I didn't know what else would happen, but yeah, I'm like, this is a chia pet. Yeah, this is a fucking chia pet. Oh, man.

I was thinking about this for so long and I was like, it's kind of elegant and like interesting. It is. It is. It's a fucking chia pet. There's nothing more elegant than a chia pet. It's a fucking chia pet. John, be proud of the thing you made. Also, I know now what's going in next month's box for me. Chia pets. She finishes creating a pretty impressive makes two of us.

She finishes a pretty impressive replica of herself, but now made completely of moss covering the brass armature and you think back to her chamber in the green tower and how the mosses were the only thing keeping her alive, sort of continuing her life force, using it to diffuse the magical energy that she needed to keep breathing. And you realize that that's what she's doing here.

She's creating sort of a diffuse surface through which the magical energies will be able to reverberate in a way that keeps the moss alive and also allows her to continue a safe transfer of energy between here and her form, her mortal body. You know, living physical body. Right. And she turns to all of you and looks happy. She's got a pleased smile. She's like, I'm glad I was here to correct some of the stakes in your initial prototypes. And you go, yes, we are also glad you're here, Aquaria.

I don't want to diminish that. I'm very happy that you're here. And she says, I believe with time I will be able to even perhaps fully transfer my essence from the tower to this body. But for now it will be simply a extension of myself, a prosthesis that I can temporarily and habit when needed. Oh, cool. That's awesome. This process, though, even the initial usage of the moss body will take time. So if you have anything to ask me, do it now. Do you know of any other wizards?

My flight from Torvor to the tower was swift and I was wounded. I made no contact with any others before I left. Do we have anything we want to know? Yeah, I don't know anything that I would ask Billy. Billy? Billy's not there. He snuck away before you guys got down to the room. Fuck! Oh, no. Where are you? I'm looking up at the switch. Oh. In the ongoing. No, Billy! No! No! I turned around and realized that Billy has not been in the room for some time.

Yeah, I turned around well before you guys got in the elevator. Yes. Fuck! Yes. Someone has to. This is the juiciest switch in all of Spout Lore. This is why you put a big switch in your game, folks. For your wife. That's such an aggressive read on the word wife. And Morrison Perel, I actually do like that everybody's realized that Billy's gone and what he's about to do. Morrison Perel, look at you and look around. And start like looking behind desks and go, Billy, Billy, are you in here, Billy?

Yeah. Oh, my God. He's going to flip the switch because they are so cautious when it comes to magical stuff that they start hauling ass back to the elevator. No one wanted to pull it. Are you kidding me? The answer is so simple. I'll do it if no one wants to do it. You do hear from the base of the tower. And you hear ding outside the room as someone calls the elevator. OK, so we're going to roll. Well, it wouldn't be. I mean, dexterity. I kind of want it to be a flat roll. Oh, cool.

Like a luck roll. Yeah, I can do it. No, yeah. Six. Shit. Can I fucking give you an eight? Why would you make it a flat roll, Sean? Why was everyone so on board with that flat roll? You guys said yes to this. We did. We did. We did. You absolutely did. So, Billy, you flip the switch. I flip it. I pull on it. Great. I hang off of it. And you hear. You jump up. You fall down. I did it. And all around you. It's fixed. So you wait. You only turn it off. You do not turn it back on. I did. It's fixed.

And you hear. All around you, you hear. The elevator that we're on trying to get to him stops. Yes. So there. You hear Billy from the armoire. Silence for a good 15, 20 seconds. I wonder when it turns back on. And then outside you hear. Boom. And the camera cuts outside to the high spear as the floating pieces that have surrounded this shattered ancient tower for centuries begin to fall. Oh, I run back. I'm trying to push it up. And you hear voices calling to you from the elevator.

But the words. You don't understand. I fucked up, you guys. And that's where 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, Abdul Aziz. Ma'a salama. Azdakai. Hazal podcast. Ahsan podcast. Being the half-elf druid, Paul Oppers. Thank you, Elmind. Her. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Fat Billy the Halfling Thief Jessica Tai La Poutine La Poutine Leotard Comment ça va? Ça va bien?

Sacrebleu I don't know Ghetto Ghetto Chocolat Je ne comprends pas Thank you to all of our supporters around the world If you would like to support the show Please join us at patreon.com Or spellore.com Thank you to Aaron Reed For all of our intro and outro music Aaron is an incredible musician And he has helped us produce many wonderful songs For the show And you can find those anywhere And Aaron's original music At aaronreed.bandcamp.com And you know what?

We're coming back We're coming up on the end of the show here people And for years and years you've supported us And it really means a lot to us And we just want to tell Pull the bandaid off there Sean Hey look you know We got plans after this But it cannot be overstated That this beautiful beautiful thing will come to an end Sooner than later At least this part At least this part of it This chapter And so many of you have supported us for so long Like James Thank you You know you're out there I can't tell you I can't say your last name Because I'm not going to dox you bro But you know you're out there You've been helping us out for You've been supporting the show for a long time And it really means a lot to us Thanks James Yogi?

Oh my gosh Yogi Thank you so much So many postcards I've written to all these people Yeah We're seeing on Discord Annie H Annie H Annie H You've been around forever My dad's ex-girlfriend is a Patreon supporter Yeah That's not the one There's no way Oh you never know Chris Chrissy Thank you so much for all of your support Yeah Ashok Ashok Ashok Ashok Ashok You are my favorite guy Wait wait Because you're brown Were we doing it like that? Are we separating everybody by race now?

That's what I'm doing Oh I thought that's what we were doing We've just seen Ashok so we know Yeah Yeah You're excited because you met the person One time I sent Ashok a cake for his birthday And then a few months later I saw him get absolutely trashed Which was one of the funniest things ever I do remember No yeah that's Ashok's a great Ashok Thanks a lot buddy You're a good dude Ashok was genuinely one of our first patrons Yeah I remember I remember seeing the notification of his patronage Yeah And then being like Oh cool I think this guy's like in university in Chicago or something Nice Yeah I remember someone coughed on my face And Ashok assured me I would be okay Yeah Yes yes Ashok one of our One of I've been playing games with Ashok for years now And yeah good dude He's awesome Everyone in that group is awesome Jesse and Sawyer Yes Jesse and Sawyer So wonderful I think we Another I think I've met Jesse Yes you've met Jesse Made some incredible soap maker Oh man I long for more soap I haven't used soap since Jesse If you got soap Please Get on at HMU We would all benefit From Paul using soap Yeah Lilith Yeah Yeah Thank you so much Lilith Yo Lilith has been there For a long time For forever Yeah Yeah Lilith is incredible Ricky M Shout out to Ricky M Ricky Ricky And a big shout out And this will be the last one for this one To Brandon R Brandon R I think we can say this one From Fantasy by Numbers One of the best One of the best One of the best Yes And also sorry Wizard in his own right That we still get your name wrong It is Paul's False Whoa Bold but true Hey That's ancient history Yeah dude You said his name was Brandon In 2022 Yeah And it stuck Whose fault is that?

Yours No it wasn't It was 2020 you did that You did it Cause it was It was one of the first recordings We did in that barn If you need an escape goat I could do that for you An escape goat?

He said what he said If you want us to support the show Like many of our supporters Patreon.com Slash Spout Lore Or Spout Lore.com Slash money please And thank you finally And most of all 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 time's abreast in revelry And though our journey may be long A conclusion We will not leave you without a resolution Return next week to hear some more Whilst you commute or do your chores And for you I gladly Spout Lore

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 find. Fingers have health, he shifts his shape, and wields a spear with great might. Peely'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 host, Spout. I'm your game master, Sean O'Hara. And joining me as always, playing Tacoma Dome, the Barbarian, Abdul Aziz. Hello everybody. Playing Ving, the half-elf druid, Paul Oppers. Hello. And playing Fat Billy, the halfling thief, Jessica Tai. Hello.

When last we left our heroes, they had encountered, at the threshold of hither and yon, the Gibbous Man. God of the night sky, twin of, ugh I got no more titles, uh, God of the night sky and their foe, their current foe. One in a long line of men. You guys have had a lot of foes. Yeah. A lot of enemies. Yeah. He's our CFO. Mm-hmm. Current foe, uh, operating right now. Current foe of the… Opposition. Yeah. Outer dark. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Current foe of the outer dark.

CFO as current, but foe spelled F-O is really funny. He's a current foe. Uh, there was a bit of a standoff, uh, in which the Gibbous Man said that he was going to kill Cal and Black Hammer. Right. And that Ving putting on the ring was, in fact, a signal from Callum that he was, oh, there's the ring. Oh, cool. I've been looking at that ring all day. That's why I wore it. It's so cool. It is really cool. Cool signet ring. I also have a signet ring with a black stone on it. Ooh. Yeah, yeah.

It's got a gold S on it, too. For Sean. Oh. Sinister snake. Uh. Like the snakes that were driven from Ireland. Ho-chi-cho. Wow, yeah. It's like I'm there. It's like I'm there again. St. Petersburg. Yeah. Yeah. St. Petersburg. You know what the patron saint of Ireland is, right? St. Petersburg. All right, moving on. Villain to all snakes in Ireland. The Earl of Notre Dame. Yeah. The Earl of Notre Dame. Defeater of Napoleon. Assassin who finally ended the life of Hannibal as he crossed the Alps.

The Gibbous Man said, I'm going to go kill a cow on Blackhammer, so give me the ring, or better yet, give me Victoria LeBlanc. Mm-hmm. Which she desperately, desperately signaled do not do. So after a bit of a back and forth, the door was slammed in his face, and you all decided, after Hither and Yon took you to the sewer near the hideout of the Brass Castle gang, to whom which you were about to hand over LeBlanc in exchange for 1,000 gold coins. Mm-hmm. Should have done it.

She was able to convince you to let her stay in Hither and Yon, because if she stepped foot outside, the Gibbous Man, unable to enter Hither and Yon as he is most places of power, would kill her surely. Mm-hmm. She had information about Callum and his plans, and she was willing to give that information up in exchange for her safety, which you all agreed to, and then interrogated her a bit, asking about what Callum's ultimate plans were, including his plan for the ballroom, the gala, the wedding.

What she explained was to lure the Gibbous Man in, using his understanding of the behaviors of the three of you, as well as your individual, it would seem, at her suggestion, alignments with different metaphysical forces, the spiritual, the fairy, and the iconic, she gestured at Tuck. Mm. Tuck believes because of the coins in his chest. And she said that Tuck was unremarkable. Yeah. She said that she assumed it had to be the coin, because Tuck seems wholly unremarkable. Uh-huh. So harsh.

So brutal. So mean. And his plan, once the Gibbous Man was bound, he would then use Black Spire to blast the Gibbous Man with his new Lightstone breath weapon to destroy the Gibbous Man's mortal form. Mm-hmm. As well as his connection to the Outer Dark. Yeah. That's so cool. Mm. Which, as the vessel of the Icon of Cunning, you realize Callum knew a lot. Yeah. Yeah. He knew that Black Spire was probably in the library, was being fed Sunstone, knew that he was coming over here. Right.

Knew where to find him. Which means he has spies everywhere. Mm-hmm. Oh, we also learned that he has an agent in the mayoral office of Highspear. Yes. That Lee Master Lee, Sr. Has been paying spies in the mayor's office of Highspear. Oh, an oath was sworn by which- Oh, yeah. By Billy to Victoria LeBlanc, saying that if she betrayed the crew in any way, she would be killed. Oh, yeah.

She betrayed the crew in any way, or attempted to hurt them in any way, that she would be trapped someplace only Billy could get her out of. Mm-hmm. Following this, the party transported Hither and Yon to Highspear, all the way back across the continent- Mm-hmm. To meet up with Morris and Perel, finding Perel mid-shit in a bathroom stall. That's what he was doing in there? To the absolute pinpoint accuracy of Billy's ability to steer Hither and Yon- And interrupt a ship. Billy's so good at that.

How many times have we told you? So many times. So many times. But that's where I find, it's the easiest place to find you. Yes. I just follow my nose. He's holding a book and knocking on the door, and he's just like, I'm bored, can you read to me? Every time, it's like, he knows. We keep locking the door and he keeps picking the lock. So there's nothing we can do. Yeah, we have gotten to the point of where we take shits in the same room as one another. It's just easier. Not okay.

It's so boring. I'm sinking up. But Perel explained that while they were able to receive word back from Waleed the speaker through the Wi-Fi hotspot, an unprecedented event, the magical energy released through the transportation of that note overloaded some sort of mechanism in the High Spear Tower, locking them out of the room with the Wi-Fi hotspot. And they weren't sure how to get back in.

They tried lots of little magic-y tricks, but they have found that the power of the Wi-Fi hotspot is not working. They have found, in the very top of the tower, an override switch that shuts the tower down. Basically a hard reboot, they believe. And everybody agreed, maybe not the time to touch it. Too many unknowns. Too juicy of a lever. Too juicy of a button to just keep in front of you. So everybody left the room. Too obvious a narrative offer to engage with.

Which was completely denied in the moment. The party had, Perel and Morris said that they did have one more chance to get back in the room. And they did. The party had, Perel and Morris said that they did have one person they could speak to and revealed that they have completed a sort of brass armature body to give the magical perceptions of Aquaria, the moss wizard, in her tower far, far away, an ability to interact with and contact their party on a more regular basis.

And though they were concerned that it perhaps wasn't ready and the magical transfer of energy would be too much for the wounded Aquaria. Ving used his ability to connect with the monster. There's a, I think maybe like the kind of uncomfortable situation where you're like, you're in the beginnings of a couple fight that you're like in the same room as you're just like, Oh, we should, like, I think I maybe should go.

There's a, I think maybe like the kind of uncomfortable situation where you're like, you're in the beginnings of a couple fight that you're like in the same room as, and you're just like, Oh, we should, like, I think I maybe should go. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. If I'm here, so I'm going to go. We got to get out of this room. But Aquaria used her connection to Ving and Ving's control over magical plant matter to construct a moss body over the framework, creating a simulacrum of Aquaria's own form.

While this conversation was happening and everyone was talking to Aquaria about what could be done about the High Spear, everybody then realized that Billy wasn't in the room anymore. And then immediately knew where he was. And we cut to Billy in the hidden in the armoire in which the override switch was hidden. As the party raced to the elevator to try and stop him, he flipped the switch, turning the High Spear off.

Magical shards hanging in the air, crashing to the ground for the first time in centuries. I didn't know that would happen. I didn't think that far ahead. From the elevator shaft, he could hear voices calling in words. He could not understand. Oh no. And that is where we find our heroes now. You know what? Let's cut inside the elevator. Tuck and Ving, you are there with Morris Perel and the moss form of Aquaria. And everyone is talking all at once. Yeah. Screaming at the top of our lungs.

A lot of noise is happening because it is very quickly apparent no one is speaking the same language. Morris and Perel actually can probably, they can talk to each other. Yeah. They're speaking the same language. Okay. And maybe Aquaria. Aquaria is speaking a totally different language. Oh, she's from Turvor. She's from so far north that she speaks a totally different language. And the High Spear predates all of these, all of them as wizards. Yeah. Okay.

And then, so that means you and I can't speak the same language. We cannot talk to Morris Perel or Aquaria. Morris Perel can talk to each other. Okay. Can we read the signs? Like, does it work on written? You know what? Tuck can read the signs. Why? Because Walid is Macaulay. Oh, that's sick. So, Tuck, you can read all the signs and all the written language in the tower. Is there a panel that, like an emergency panel that I can open? Yeah, there's a button that says emergency power. Okay.

I hit that. And you hear like a k-koom-koom-koom. And there is a small light that was not on before, a smaller dimmer light that comes on in the elevator. And everything goes k-koom-koom. And then starts moving up. And Morris and Perel are like, what, what? Oh. What? Oh. Yeah. Yeah. And Bing's just like, how did he know that? What is happening here? How is, we can't understand anything. And all of a sudden he's a genius. Oh my God. The tower shut off and everyone got stupider than Tuck.

We're fucked. Perel is waving his hands in front of your face. He's going, wah, wah, wah, wah, pointing at his ears. Wah, wah, wah, wah. Oh my. My God. Everyone's deaf but me. And Aquaria is just standing there like with her hand on her like mossy chin. Just like, oh, it's just that kind of shit. And Morris is like, ah, just like hands in his hair. Such a good eye. Scottish gibberish. It's going to be a lot of this. I'm so sorry. It's so great. It was so good. But the boonk.

And then the elevator starts moving. So we're going to cut inside the armoire. Yeah. Billy's panicking because he heard the shatter of the glass and, or of the crystal. And he's like, I is, I guess I broke everything. And so he ran in back to the lever and he's trying to push it back up. And he's piling stuff. Like he's pulling things. He's pulling things from the coat hangers. Yeah. To give himself some leverage to pull, to push up the lever. I roll a defy danger. Let's say dexterity.

Or it might be strength because you're trying to pull this lever back up. Yeah. So I got six. Okay. So mark a point of experience. Oh, fuck. And you. Is that McCollin? And you run, you're like reaching up. The switch is just too stuck. Okay. But you, as you are like leaving the armoire trying to find other stuff, you hear. Whoa. Oh. View of Highspear and you hear a lot of commotion. You're not sure exactly what it is.

You assume from where you are that the shards of the Highspear fell and have like boomed into the earth. Okay. And a couple probably rolled down and hit some stuff. I see trails of where the crystals fell down. And you see like giant shards kind of sticking up out of the ground in the city. Okay. Back to the elevator. The emergency power has come on and you are climbing to the top. The door opens and you see the room. You see the armoire is wide open.

There's a pile of clothes and stuff underneath it and the switch has been pulled down. What do they see Billy doing when the door is open? Billy has pulled one of like the like the those like curtain ties, you know, the like frilly ones. Yeah. And he's tied it around the lever and now and then looped it around the like, you know, the clothing bar. Yeah. Totally. Even like jump Oh my God.

He made a simple machine swinging like trying to like roll himself up thinking like, well, the higher off the ground I am, the heavier I am. The further I am the center of the earth. So Tuck walks out of the elevator and he looks at Billy and you hear him go. Yes. Come on. My wife. No. I know, you know, another language. So you are fluent in Borat. I am. Yeah. There we go.

Perel and Morris come out of the tower and Perel's just like, ah, ah, and like walks up to the switch and almost looks like he doesn't want to touch it and is just looking to all of you gesturing towards it. Yeah. And I gesture to him like pull down. Two D six plus charisma to try and explain what you're saying. We're rolling. So shit. We're rolling shit. I got six. Okay. I'll, I'll. I feel like you're good at charades. Yes. Yeah.

And so Ving walks up like Leitha Lathola Nikalothitha Arrowsmith Thamola Kinalathimobili That's 13. Wow. And Tuck hears like Ving speak Elvish for the first time. And then in his mind you hear, he hears May it be the evening light And it's like the, it's whatever fucking Arwen scene. They're like, Oh, it is like with the hair blowing. Exactly. Yeah. The one with the guy from the flight of the concords. Yeah.

The one of the windows like has like creaked open a bit and like wind nights, this wind is swirling in the four poster bed. Oh yeah. Like sheer sheets of silk are like dancing. Dancing around Ving's form. The moonlight is catching his skin and he looks like sailor moon kind of. Oh my gosh. The skin is glistening in that moonlight. I'm wearing all silver earrings and necklaces. I'm almost blinded by your beauty. No.

Look not away child Leitha Moolikala Lavaringa Vinga I try to give you something, something precious of mine. What is it? Wurrenanikola Thathimo Bukta for a terrible as the dark. Thathimo Thathimo Thathimo Thathimo Thathimo I shall retire to thou hast. We are, we are playing this for laughs 100%. Yeah. But that is a very cool thing. I think that is kind of what's happening. Yes. I like that. So Billy like, he comes down, he like hands you the pulley.

I take the pulley and I want to try and put the lever back up. It is for someone that is nearly seven feet tall and several hundred pounds of weight. It is an easy enough switch to flip. And. And then I see a little boy, a little meatball hanging on a spaghetti noodle trying to pull a full size switch. It was further away from the center of the earth, Sean. Yeah, I know right. That is pretty far away. That's true.

I do like the idea that the towers translation actually makes people like less terrifying to one another. It makes people meet in the middle. Yes. Like elves maybe have a natural aspect that is sort of scary and like kind of predatory to other. Dark elves. Yes. Yeah. Which is why the tower doesn't translate their shit because they're so alien now. Oh.

I also like that the language thing might be a secondary or tertiary effect of the tower that it was supposed to calm everybody down to get together. And it's like also it allows you to communicate, but it's to make people on an even keel. It takes the world that is a world that is kind of dangerous where it's like, like the elves have like an intrinsic like siren ability and it cartoonifies everything. It shaves off the edges. It makes human like sentient interaction. It's like abilified.

It's like abilify for the planet. Yeah. It abilifies the entire planet. Yeah. Great. Wow. Yeah. Man. So that means you look really scary. Big and muscly. Yeah. Their veins popping. Is cut. Yes. Oh my gosh. The tower was putting me in the bulk phase this whole time. The tower was making me fat. The bulk phase is less threatening for sure. Yeah. Tuck looks like the version of him. Remember that early piece of character art that a fan did where he's just got like a thorax? Yeah.

The axe is wicked sharp. Sharp features. Eyebrows. Yeah. And the switch flips very easily. Thunk. And you hear like deep in the base of the tower like a clunk and a humming. Weird. And Morris looks at everybody and goes, Hot eyes. Oh fuck. Oh no. Yes, come out. Oh no. He's a moly. He has heart. He's a moly. And Morris, Perel's just walking around with his hands on his head going, Uh, uh. No words necessary. And I gesture to bring everyone to the window. Follow me. To see. Outside.

Pick up the binoculars. And then Tuck looks outside and he sees the devastation and you hear him go, Fuck. And I go, I'm so sorry. Oh, no. Points in Ving's face and he's trying to say, this is because you're bad at setting boundaries. But what he says is, yes, come on. Ving walks into his finger with his hair blowing up in the wind. And boundaries are a two way street.

And Aquaria kneels down to where Billy is freaking out on the floor and kind of like lifts your chin and looks you in the face and, and wipes away the tears on your cheeks and just kind of shakes her head. No, but like in a, in a don't. So she is trying to roll a, roll a defy danger wisdom. Yeah. Rolling like shit. Another six. Another six. Can we help him? Oh yeah. You can try and help him. Yeah. Yeah. I want to help. Yeah. I roll a box. Guys. I roll a 13. What is the eight plus one? Yeah. 13.

Great. Yeah. So you're watching Aquaria. Aids are awesome. You're watching Aquaria interact with Billy in this way. And you see that she is acting towards him very calmly and very like, um, soothingly. And you're able to see like, this softens, like how tuck is acting and how everyone in the room is sort of freaking out. But Aquaria is acting with like calm, quiet. And you realize she's trying to tell you, this isn't your fault. You did the right thing. This is a problem to solve.

It is my fault. I pulled on it. I didn't think about it. And I, and then it fell from the sky and then it broke. And I can't put it back together. Cause I don't have any tape or glue. I ruined a poof. It landed on a poof. And she, she shakes her head again and she kind of smooths your hair and she lifts you up and puts you on your feet. And then she stands her, her moss countenance kind of rising. You hear inside the moss, the like click, click, click of like the brass body aligning. Cool.

And then she gestures towards the elevator and looks at everybody. She moves towards the elevator and ding, it opens. She ushers everyone in. I go in. Yep. Yep. And she kind of looks at everyone and goes, like, can I roll to try and understand what the fuck she's doing? Yes, totally. Yeah. 26 plus wisdom. Maybe you should roll to try and understand. Sorry. You said, can I? Okay. Uh, seven, seven. Hey, she, don't cut that out.

Hey, and, uh, the vibe, the, you're not getting her perfect message here, but you get the idea that she is asking what next. Okay. Tuck wants to first, you try and use the rings to try and get a communication to these guys. Okay. Yeah. Like that. Ooh, can I go to the, my, the pizza hut? Mine palace. Oh, can I roll demon of servitude to get to the demon of loyalty to get, uh, into the mind palace and to take these guys with me? Uh, yeah, sure. Yeah. That's a pretty good idea.

That would be the, that would be the boon that I would be asking for. Yeah, that's a good idea. Two D six plus. Let me find it. Uh, Oh, it's called full service now. Um, Oh, I was thinking the demon of broil tea. Oh, that's way better. Char broiled burger. Please guys pray for these dice. Oh, cause we have been rolling like ass. Oh, Bob, a little bone. I'm an Alvin prayer. Whoa. Holy shit. Oh, 15. Oh my God. Wait, this is 11 plus three, 14, 14. My Lord. Yeah.

So you hear the jingle jangle of walking through the door of the, uh, all sit down pizza hut in your mind, but it's not a sit down pizza. What is it? It's a husk. It's the Husky from nine, the Husky diner, the, all you can eat breakfast. So you're met by a talk at the front door. Who's got an apron around his waist and a tray in his hand, black guy and a bandaid on his face. Yeah. What's going on? Shug. We need a table for, I think for his loyalty around. Uh, Oh yeah, I know he's in the back.

Let me go grab them. Okay. And Billy and Ving with a 14, you are also in the Husky and you also understand tuck. Oh, Oh, so we can hear each other in here. Yes. Oh man. That's what I was hoping for. Guys. I'm really sorry. I messed up really bad. Tuck leans over and he notices that he has a gut again. He goes, fuck. He picks Billy up and he's like, you probably should have talked to us before he did this, but it was a good instinct and it is good for you to take risks.

And I appreciate you apologizing. You're sat down in the booth and there are menus handed out. I would like everything please. And you look down at the menu and you realize there's only one item on the menu and it says everything. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'll be back. Three. Everything's loyalty comes out of the back in the form of a BB. Hi, what's going on? We, we have a problem out in the real world. We might need your advice. Yeah.

You remember how everyone used to talk to each other and send letters back and forth and sure. It's kind of worked. Yeah. It's not like that anymore for now. Yeah. And then tuck puts his hand on Billy's a little hand and he goes, some one made a choice. Yes. And we're happy for them to feel strong in themselves to be able to make choices. Yeah.

Point the high spirit tower no longer works the translation spell that was translating everything in the world and if you didn't know that now you do wow okay I'll come clean it was me I didn't I take responsibility for my actions wow billy that's really great yeah and I and then I tried to fix it by pulling the lever down and then when we did get it down nothing happened that's not true there was a click and then a rumbling in the basement I think that we're on track okay so it wasn't not nothing but we still can't hear each other we can't understand each other the crystal shards on the high spirit tower they all fell down and I feel like that's maybe why it's not working oh yeah it also might be part of the mechanism this is talked talking to you guys now it also might be kind of part of the mechanism where like a reboot requires some kind of like something in the control room where the the wi-fi hotspot is to like happen you can Spout Lore on this I want to Spout Lore on uh crystal powers and see if there's anything I know in the druidic ancient lore like the material that the tower is made out of wow I got 14 holy shit okay so how do druids interact with crystals in their experiences in their practices and how do you think that would apply here how do you think that would take you a step because crystals is we know in this form are like solidified magical energy that like gathers in water right they grow in the medium of water yes and how druids use this in their own aquifer under the mountain that's what the mechanism is is like a giant electromagnet right there's like there is like a natural power source at this location yeah and the tower was built to focus and then transform that energy into the effect of the spell essentially it's a yes and it's like and then the tower went even higher so it could transmit as far as possible oh yeah so I like that how druids would interact with crystals is that's what the wells are you would think that the wells are to get to the water but they would put wells in near crystal deposits at the bottom of every druidic well is a giant crystal deposit to like connect the crystals to the water table that then like it's like they drink the water they use it in their cooking and then it imbues them with like some latent magical ability that allows them to be druids yeah that's just sick yeah okay so we have to get to the water at the bottom of the tower yes so that is telling you that a component of this is definitely some sort of pump that is used to like filter or pull magical water through the tower probably to help keep the crystals charged up so that feels like step one go down and then try and find a door to this place and just before you go I should let you know that once you leave this place I can't actually help you like speak to each other but I can or can't cannot okay the that the power of the high spirit translation that's beyond what I'm able to help with did you say r or r I'm I'm just a demon of loyalty I'm not a demon of translation or communication okay that's fine but I can allow you through the rings that you guys have to transmit images to each other's minds oh okay and try and communicate like that okay okay yeah I hope that helps that will yes okay well you guys eat this food or right yeah we say we finish the food and you you leave with a mind full of full bellies only a moment having passed as the wizards stare at you expectantly you've all just been like you are now back in the elevator with at least a step that you can follow I hit the lowest number great nice and you head down to the sub basement where you um found the original containing the room with the wi-fi hotspot okay and as the door opens you hear through the walls and floor like a rumbling that is much much louder down here okay uh and as you and exit the elevator into the chamber you see on your right a service door that you are certain was not there before is it locked uh it's not locked but all of the doors in this place are like powered and the power being off and not like fully back on means that you have to force the door open or find some sort of way to get in and out of the room and then you have to force the door open and then you have to force the door open and then you have to force the door open and then you have to force the sort of mechanism to get it to open without power would would tricks of the trade work on this door one million percent this is exactly the kind of thing that you use this for pick whatever locker mechanism is making it difficult to open plus dexterity I got 10 excellent I just what do you call it like you take the hinges apart oh yeah yeah yeah the door just falls down great and and you hear the once the door falls down the grinding sounds are much louder oh yeah it's like and there's stairs that go down into darkness I take a little bit of moss off of quarry and give it to billy for his use great uh and you lead the way down morris perel and aquaria stay uh up here near the door ready to interact with the wi-fi hotspot if necessary I try to mime to them what's going on I go I go us three I talk to them like an ass whole talks to foreigners yeah us three are going down and then I go there's what and then I try and mime water by by being all wavy in my body water you know and I drink I go water and I go yum yum water in my belly water you know and then I go and it's getting sucked he almost does a blowjob pushes my hand down that's not helping I'm my mestra I go sucked sucked you sucked they kind of gesture you to move on and then I go water gets sucked up and then I and then I go and then I kind of try and do like a a hand like and it powers I try and make a power side this shit and I go shit and I point at my butt I go shit and they're like the thing goes we're going you stay okay thumbs up and you head down into the darkness and you head down into the loud loud darkness uh the tower down here is much less finely wrought than the rest of it and then you head down into the loud loud darkness and then you head down into the loud loud darkness and then you head down into the loud loud darkness and then you head down into the loud loud darkness this is clearly some sort of service corridor uh and you travel down maybe like two floors of spiral staircase like a metal grate kind of stairway yeah clang clang clang into the dark and uh yeah it's just like almost raw stone on the walls like it was just hacked out and then that's it uh and then the sound grows to a powerful crescendo as you reach um a you have some sort of light source presumably yeah billy oh yeah I've got my billow the wisp great I've got the I've got the axe yeah one million light sources everything is my jewelry so there's so many shadows down here they're all being cast in different directions it's kind of making us scared it's the picture again and somebody was scared of our own shadows so many times this season and you illuminate you hear before you see it the sound of moving water and you illuminate a great cavern that is a cavern of water been carved out and found.

But yeah, you throw something out over to the water and the light travels out and illuminates this almost small subterranean lake. And on the other side, there's water rushing in from like subterranean rivers that then rush out another way. Cool. And in the very middle, hanging over it, almost like a metal stalactites, there's pipes and machinery hanging from the cavern ceiling, dipping into the water. It's almost like a whirlpool. A vortex. It's like a natural whirlpool. That's really cool.

And there's a system of like water wheels that go through it. Oh, I love that. Yeah. That's awesome. Yeah. So that's a very unfortunate thing that you wouldn't want to go in it because you can see that there's like a bunch of buttons and gears and stuff that are on the machinery that is far out in the water. On this side, there's nothing that seems like it's connected to that. To reset this machine, you have to go out there. That's wild. Come on. They wouldn't have done that.

They wouldn't have done that. You know the way of wizards? Wizards? Wizards could fly probably. Man. Will Lee the Speaker fly? There's no way to know. Will Lee the Speaker never thought his machine would have to be turned off. And no one will ever turn this off again. No need for off switch. Just the one in my closet, which no one will look into because I am asexual, a confirmed bachelor. I live alone. I live alone and so I will forever. Rifle through my clothes. Rifle through my clothes.

Steal that special ring I kept under my bed. Write that down on your sheet. Whoa, hold on. Oh my God, does that work like that? She's writing down special ring. No! Net what happened. Anyway, I and no one living will ever see this cavern again. We'll eat away. And then he flies away. He flies away. Dun-dun-dun. Okay. Sorry. No, that's great. That's so good. So, yeah, that is what you're guessing. Is to reset this machinery, you have to either go out into the lake or get to the machine somehow.

I want to… Please cry. Can I commune with the whispers of this lake and this area and talk to the spirits of the water, the magical waters? Yeah, yeah, yeah, totally. 2d6 plus wisdom, I think, for communion of whispers. Ooh, I will help you. Yes. Okay. I think my tears are adding to the power of the water. Seven. Great. Thank you. So that makes it a 10, which means you have a clear vision that would help you in this situation. Mm-hmm. Okay. Okay. So you flashback.

You sit down on the edge and you're reaching out to the waters of this place, these magically potent waters, for some sort of boon or vision that will help you. And you receive an image in your mind, which is transmitted to the two of you. Oh, sick. Via the rings. Stop crying. A movie. You see a time long ago where there was some sort of difficulty with the machine. It started malfunctioning or some such. And we'll lead the speaker.

A sort of perpetually 55-year-old man, salt and pepper beard, long scholar's robes, very beautifully embroidered, and a hat, a little hat. Bald. You can see that he's just got the hair on the side. And then on the back, there's just no hair on his head. Mm-hmm. He comes down and he stands at the edge of the water and he looks, hmm, thinking at the machinery. And then he flies from the edge across the water very gently, just kind of- Walking on the air. Gliding across.

Yes, walking across the water. And then walking as if on a staircase up towards the machine. Oh. Oh. And then you see the exact sequence he's using. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. And then there's a button and gear and switch that he's pulling and turning. Button, gear, switch, button, gear, switch. And then just a final punch. He kind of gives it a hmm, and then thumps it. And it goes, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom.

And the waters start flowing and the wheels start turning again. And he nods, satisfied, and glides back to the edge and walks up the stairs. Then Ving rises and says, I think I know what to do. And I want to take a step out onto the water. Okay. The leap of faith from Indiana Jones. Uh-huh.

2d6 plus wisdom the penitent man will pass the penitent man will pass 10 holy shit that's so sick so you step out you see the vision in your head and you step out onto the open air and you see ving walk out over this water where it presses like the water almost stills beneath it oh yeah that's cool to support them and you make a look back at them I do a pad beret and then he takes a step and he's gone too far off path he almost falls I climb back on the invisible pathway you see a bunch of laughing emojis in the group chat the mental group chat meanwhile this one thing puts to this one hiding you you and uh you make your way to the machine stepping up very cautiously I imagine on these invisible stairs oh I'm picking up uh water as I walk to dripping it in front of me to see the invisible that's very cool yeah and you're here in front of this huge machine hanging over this lake and you hit the button turn the gear pull the lever punch it you punch it and the wheels start turning and the water starts pumping and you're like oh my god I'm so scared I'm so scared I'm so scared I'm so scared I'm so scared and everything in this lake starts moving the way that it should like it's using the natural like whirlpool form like and it's opening ducks that like siphon water off into different areas that's rad yeah and now there's less of a discordant grinding and more of like a harmonious humming and ving you can walk back the path you came you still see your water dripping off the invisible steps leading the way you go back up the stairs and the wizards are standing there and they're none of them are talking they now know but they just kind of like put their hands up by their hands and they're like oh my god I'm so scared I'm so scared I'm so scared I'm so scared and they're not talking they now know but they just kind of like put their hands up by their shoulders and shrug I give them a thumbs up like it worked it worked and they all sigh and they're like oh and then they look at each other morrison perel kind of jabber back and forth and then they look back at the three of you and then shrug again and point at the door to the wi-fi room yeah and I go that shit it needs to turn turn on turn on and then sexy dance just sexy rub my rub my tits dance right amazing uh things like no go on yeah no go on you have agency here uh and billy you are faced with another door similar to the one that you just cracked open this is the one that we did the password reset on right yes but!

Now there this is another thing to willied's construction now billy as an experienced thief yeah um you would think the power is off which means the security reset is off so you might just be able to force this open somehow unfortunately there are no hinges so you'll have to sort out some other method um and I look at you guys and I go we have to look for a uh a hole a hole he pointed himself a round hole or a long hole or um a small hole or we or we break it down and I start like slamming on the door and in my head I'm trying to show you like beat up the door yeah you transmit an image of tuck punching the door yes yeah all right billy we'll discern realities to see how you might be able to crack the door and we'll see what happens so we're gonna go ahead and crack this thing what is it wisdom five five yeah and uh as part of this failure the camera cuts outside the tower to the city of high spear and in the distance rolling over the horizon dark clouds thunder lightning the storm has arrived oh maybe we hear a4 like going oh yeah oh just reverberating through the walls of the tower like the air raid sirens in uh england oh yeah and you know that the clock is ticking on this it would seem some some sort of danger approacheth bing's hair is like oh oh yeah as this dorm gets closer my hair is getting puffy yeah my wool sweater is getting static tux loincloth flips up whoa everything else is sticking straight out and you see it all oh my god he's forced us to see it all again you can see the seam from here the seam what is he cut oh cause everything's up cause he's cut everything's up my dick raises in the air for the embryo touching a vandercraft machine it reconnects uh yeah so for strengthening forcing your way jess if we're doing too many dick jokes please feel free to tell us that is fine fully unfazed forcing your way through this door is the only way okay okay so should I try to beat up the door yes yeah and then I send an emoji of my face and I I send a strong uh bicep emoji I flex so hard my muscles grow so big in the in my vision oh yeah and then I'm just looking at a picture like it's this little like oil portrait it's like kid drawing so like the muscles are huge yeah yeah yeah yeah but his arms are sticks yeah his arms are sticks huge muscles and then billy drew himself round but put out the door and then he's like oh my god oh my god I'm gonna have to do this I'm gonna have to do this I'm gonna have to do this I'm gonna have to do this yeah I love that great vince sends a hundred percent 100 percent underlined underlined 100 100 yeah I I I copy and paste it yeah and put it on the on the wall yeah I send a fridge emoji yeah excellent uh yes so can I take the axe off and try and like crack through the door uh yeah you can definitely try and destroy the door oh shit can I do tlc I haven't done that in a long time I go tlc I haven't done that in a long time tlc yo what's up man where's the move what's it called it's called taylor and chet it's right I can see it from here oh can you point it yes right okay yeah that's it and it says roll it only says roll plus con it's fine it's fine so what does it do so what it does is tell me yes so now how we have used it is basically like you roll plus constitution you destroy something mm-hmm and they give you a boon in return because they love wrecking stuff okay yeah I pull I pull the axe off my back and I do a couple of you know uh ragnarok style like ragnarok oh I see cool cool cool yeah you're spinning the axe around and I'm trying to wake him up I'm like tlc little little buds wake up hey we're ready man what's going on I need you to fuck up some shit bro oh you know we're always ready for that buddy there's a nerd who's trying to fuck up some shit bro he's trying to keep us out of a place we need to go absolutely fucking not dude fuck this nerd let's let her rip and I go this nerd fucking thinks he's better than us you should definitely roll before you hype us up anymore and I pop uh uh sabotage yeah you're running out of sabotage bottles bro you gotta pick another song what does it sound like to us that's so funny they can't understand it I love it oh sounds like the muslim cult yes the muslim cult this whole time fans muslim cult I'm into it I'm into it all right roll it 2d6 plus con okay here we go the offering will be the destruction of the door the permanent destruction of the door that's fine that's fine it's a consequence we need he can build himself a new door uh-huh we just gotta fucking get in there and turn this shit on oh monster holy shit oh my god oh my god what did you roll I just rolled fucking 50 there we go oh my god dlc are on goddamn sins and steroids they just woof they they're you can see them and the time freezes for a moment this must register on an emotional level and terry larry and chad are looking at each other they're each gripping each other's cheeks they do they do the uh three-way three-way three-way three-way three-way four-way four-way four-way four-way four-way anything this tougher is this cool before you're right but there's a nerd on the other side that wants us not to get into his stuff and you know what we've never let that stop us before you know what Terry Larry and me Chad being the third one I think it's time we fuck this nerd shit up what do you say Bryce and they he said broys but he meant to say Bryce because it means bro and boys at the same time and they look at each other they nod quick little peck and then cut back to present drive safe and the axe slams into the door yes cuts deep slams into the door boom metal screeching it's like a flash of light every time yes like what's that what's that magnesium no what's that stuff oh magnesium yeah yeah yeah sparks it's like every that when it when I pull away there's this like white like shining like light yeah Morris Perel and Aquaria have their hands on the door off and they're like no I'm holding them back like don't stop him yeah we're holding them back and then in the group chat what shows up is a bomb emoji and the door is rent asunder sorry it's been so much oh my god it's probably like such bright light coming out oh yeah it is the power from the wifi hotspot this is my white my light sight yes yes Ving uses his light sight which dims this to an appreciable level what do I see you see the control room that you've seen before you can roll you're grabbing dice what do you want to roll I discern realities alright 2d6 plus wisdom nice 12 3 questions um what here's not what it appears to be okay so you in the initial flash you uh close your eyes and then you open them up using your light sight to kind of dim the powerful light from the wifi hotspot and you see that it's not as bright as you the brightness had to have been partially from Tuck's axe absolutely destroying the door because it looks like some sort of shielding some sort of clear shielding has dropped down around the wifi hotspot uh um like Walid perhaps built in a failsafe when he left knowing that if this got through it would be destructive so it is currently safe for you all to be in this room oh okay uh it's just oh nice you know just put on some sunglasses or something what you're describing is like a cylinder of like shielding thick dropped down from the ceiling and created like a chamber around within the room just specifically only around like the rip in reality that is the wifi hotspot I like that it's like angled crystals held together with lead like a stained glass and it's pointing all the light up so it's giving us like it's almost like a disco ball but it's illuminating the room but drawing it away from the eye beautiful thing yeah great what's useful or valuable to us uh you see the machinery is thankfully undamaged though off uh but you see around the base of the containment cylinder uh and then also gathered inside the cylinder is a number of crumpled paper notes um uh um what should I be on the lookout for so I think while you're looking at the glass you see in the wifi hotspot the diffused light behind the shielding you see another note wiggle through and drop onto the ground yeah so if you get this shielding up you might be able to communicate with him directly okay cool okay okay how do we do that can I try and find useful information yes totally yeah in the notes 2d6 is it discern realities uh yeah this would be discern realities okay here we go plus wisdom wisdom yes okay so that's nine plus one is ten there you go three questions three questions holy shit what here is useful or valuable to me what here is useful or valuable you are uh looking around in the letters you see that one drop through and you're like oh maybe these notes they tell me how to get this open yeah and you see around the base of the little cylinder that's dropped down is like handles okay tuck does a deep squat whoa his glutes are popping oh my god and the look on that's still up so it's just the deepest squat you hear the crackle of tuck's ass hair separating electricity like runs down his hands as he grabs the handles so cool uh huh so cool so cool yeah yeah oh arcs arcs off the axe on my back oh cool so sick and you grab hold yes and you lit and it slides right up and he's like oh so you whip it into the ceiling before he says it he goes somebody draw this and then he goes and it's like you hear like a in his back yeah he like throws his back out he stumbles back totally falls out of his back out of the room whoa whoa whoa whoa still holding the the metal handles that he ripped off the thing I shocked myself the metal handles did it work clear he's lying on the ground in the other room is it did it work white light fills the room does it dissipate at all I think it does it is contained more so than it was when you first opened this door to the room this door to the room the first time you saw it there is some sort of thing that has fallen like that has engaged above the little drop down thing which means that the power is being siphoned away and you actually think Ving having taken a look at downstairs you think that the emergency power that Tuck turned on is siphoning some of the strength of the hot spot away to activate the emergency power okay to to access be able to access the machine exactly yeah cool yeah but you see a number of other notes on the ground here and then Tuck from the other room goes guys I still have two questions use my questions I can't get up for totally normal reasons I go help Tuck no use my questions don't touch me or look at me right now unfortunately they can't read the notes but that's I bring the notes to Tuck yeah and I hold up your glasses for you you fucking you loser I put them on upside down I threw my back out and I'm wearing glasses you're turning into your dad Tuck oh yeah your dad's dad was in a cut face uh yeah so what is your next question what I want you guys to pick the questions oh I asked what's useful or valuable what is about to happen what is about to happen so you actually see so one of the notes that you hold up the one that just came through uh that's it says please confirm presence and direct communication will be established confirm presence how do we do that it's a great question what should I be on the lookout for there you go uh so what you should be on the lookout for is you think about the fact that Tuck did this impossible thing where he screamed through the hotspot making connection with Waleed and then Waleed sent something back through the hotspot that suggests that you could also send something through the hotspot and he wants us to confirm our identities just that you're here okay Billy just grabs he just swipes his fingers on like the dusty corners and writes a B on it and slips it through oh okay uh 2d6 plus dexterity I guess to like work it through you are getting a plus one from the discern realities fuck you okay so nine okay okay there you go 2d6 plus bond to aid I turn his B the right way around so there's two B's now uh yeah eight eight which makes it a ten which means that this works you walk up you hold Billy up you're kind of still squinting because it's like staring into a weld spot it's just so bright I'm I'm I'm!

Looking into it and then projecting what's happening in the with the rings so they can kind of like wink blink yeah so Billy sees where the hole in reality is and pokes the note through and it does pass through like almost a solid thing and then uh 30 seconds later you see impossibly as Tuck established uh the cracks start to like lengthen and shift and cramming through and then clanking onto the ground is a can attached to a sling to a string that goes into the crack into the Wi-Fi hotspot oh my god I speak it here I go and I speak my call and yeah but I say we'll eat is that you what do we think will leads voice sounds like do your best Arabic like it is doing Arabic accent Sean I don't think I reasonably can do it Sean I mean we have done Dracula basically from a college who the fuck is these and and tacos is I a fellow son of the nation of McCall I am though I am not a wizard unfortunately unremarkable as my ex-wife told me the other day I do not need this many details please continue I am here with some of your brethren Aquaria of the green tower Morris of the infinite passages and Perel and after you hear all this names all these names he says Aquarius there is a!

There's a Can he not come through? Sending a can on a string is one thing. He will hopefully be able to get his body through at some point. I mean, what if Morris forces it open? Morris grabs the fanny pack and he just shoves it in. Oh, yeah. Shoves it through. If a can can get through, we could get a fanny pack through a can-sized hole. Jump in here and then we'll yank you back. We put a half in. Okay. All right. I like this idea. So how… Okay. This is… Somebody has this idea. Yes.

It's Morris. It's Morris. Oh, yeah. I think Morris is practical and mad. Yeah. Tuck has started trying to speak to Aquaria to explain the stuff that Walid is saying, but he keeps doing the shit emoji or the shit actor too many times and Morris just gets enraged. Totally, yeah.

So he's looking at the can and the string and he's covering his eyes to look at the crack where the Wi-Fi hotspot comes through and goes, and he runs upstairs and Perel goes, and runs after him and he comes back, you know, a few minutes later with the fanny pack in his hands. I think we need to roll something to see how well this works. Yeah, for sure. What the outcome of it is. What do we think it is? I mean, there's breaking the law. Yeah. Breaking the law is a good option.

Yeah, that's a good one. Yeah. Take an ability to one stat to make an impossible thing possible. Yeah. But I still have to roll if I am the one doing it. Yes. Yes. So Morris is doing this. So you'd be taking an ability to kind of be so psyched up about this event that you are kind of breaking the law of reality a little bit. He walks up to the hole and he like grabs the sides of it and starts like pushing it apart. Whoa.

Like trying to force the gap in reality bigger so that the tent can get through. Great. Yeah. So I think this is, this sounds like a debility to strength. Yes. Oh, it's burning your fingers. Yeah. And it's just so draining. Yeah. It is. You have to put every ounce of your strength into pulling apart reality. And I've already thrown out my back. We just see like muscles straining and veins popping. Tuck starts crying. He's farting all over the place. He's forcing all of the energy out of him.

And you see this rent in reality start to widen. And you see on the other side of it, an eye against the hole. And Morris pushes everybody to the side and shoves the fanny pack through. And he like pulls the tab that, you know, unfolds the fanny pack and starts gesturing. Tuck's still holding it open. Yeah. Straining, straining. I'm holding the can up to Tuck so he can tell Willie to get in. Yeah. Yeah. He good. That's my aid. Get inside. What? What is this thing? Just get inside.

Did Morris make it? Yes. I don't know if I want to get inside. We've lived in it for months. It's safe. Oh, no. Okay. Here we go. And he rustles around and you see Morris strain as he pulls the fanny pack through. You're all sweating, staring at the rent. I go over on top of Morris's arms and help him pull it back. And Ving is pulling with all his might, but he can't quite make it. Billy grabs onto his ankles and he's pulling with all his might.

And you're pulling and Perel goes behind Billy and starts pulling on Billy's ankles and starts pulling with all his might. I'm stretching out as far as I can. And my back is popping. It feels so good. Ving's on his front pushing his chest. Pop. And Aquaria did not get involved. No. She's just watching like, hmm. And the fanny pack flops onto the ground. And the fanny pack on the ground starts to move and then begins unfolding and stepping out from the flap is Waleed, the speaker. Tuck, you hear.

Okay. I have to do this right now. Tell him to calm down. I'm going to do this. And I send a dancing lady emergency to the group chat. And outside you guys hear thunder. Boom. Run rumbling through the sky and through the reverberations of the tower. Throne breaker. You can almost feel like wind start pouring down the stairs. Oh, wow. Towards you through the elevator shaft. There's the thunder cracks, but then there's like gales of wind that like slam the tower. Yeah. Repeated.

Talk, are you in there? Is it you? Yeah. You can hear that. You can feel the tower moving with the force of the wind that's hitting it. And you hear like. As distress is heard in the voice of A4. And Waleed is rushing around the corridor. He's like, I need a few more minutes. Is there anything you could do to stop the tower from falling down? And he's pushing buttons and pulling switches.

I wonder if I can elementor the mastery, the water that's been gathered up the magical water and just try and make it steadfast. Yeah, that might help. Yeah. A fairy ring would certainly help as well. If you want to risk going out in the storm. I do have to roll a fairy child for the day. Okay. Yeah, let's roll it. Wait on a 10 plus. Okay. Plus charisma. 11. Holy shit. I get five hold. Fuck yes. Shit. All right. Which I will use one immediately.

I tearfully send you like a little kid drawing of me sacrificing myself. What? What? Like I draw in scary thunder and sad rain and Billy like a circle around Billy in the tower. And Billy like a beautiful angel. A martyr with a lightning bolt struck through him. Okay. Tuck. Billy will starts walking towards the elevator. I wave goodbye. Okay. Tuck sends back a picture real quick. Yeah.

That is the same picture, but just Tuck is standing next to you holding an umbrella over you and a question mark. And then he sends a smiley face. Okay. So Tuck comes with me. Bing is also going, but he's going up in front to the top of the tower. So the three of you are heading out. Yes. To see what is happening. Yeah. To see what is happening. Okay. So it's just us. Yes. You go to the top of the tower. We'll go outside. We'll see if I can gather anything and pick up the piece of the crystal.

If I can affect anything magic from up here and see the storm because I can interact with it. Yeah. I don't know. Great. That's sick. Yeah. And I tell Waleed real quick. I was like, okay, we'll go protect the tower. You fix this. Yeah. And you just see him like sweating buckets. Also pressing a bunch of switches and buttons. But you hear the tower start coming to life. It's like when you download malware on your work computer and then the IT guy shows up. And then you go to the top of the tower.

And the IT guy shows up and you're like, yeah, I don't know what happened. Could have been anything. It just started open browsers, browsers. But yeah, I go out with Billy outside. Great. Yeah. So Billy and Tuck, you get off at the ground floor and Tuck, Irving, you continue to the top. Yes. Right. And Billy and Tuck, you emerge onto the hillside and you see A4 has stood up completely. There's wind just battering the tower and the surrounding hills and the town. Yeah.

He's the pounding machine calls of A4 are going out. There's like a light over his head that's like spinning. Oh, it's a little alarm. Yeah. To let everyone know to be careful. Billy, through your binoculars, you see people running around the streets, like going to cover, hiding inside. Bumping into each other because they don't speak the language. There's no excuse me now. But like shingles are coming off roofs and even smaller buildings are being like torn away. Can A4 see us? He has not.

He is kind of protecting the town right now. He's trying to. And he's looking up at the storm, which gathers dark clouds are moving in, in a massive ring closing around Highspear, swirling, swirling, swirling, lightning and thunder. The top of the tower, you see Ving and you see in the clouds, you see movement. You see figures, large winged beings. Lightning is slashing at Ving and he's trying to get away. Yeah. Ving and he's trying to like fight it off. Yeah, totally.

And you think for a moment, oh, perhaps my sweet boy Cloudpiercer has returned Gale and the flock. And then you see the immensity of one of the Thunderbirds and you know that these are not your friends. But we cut back down to the tower. I believe, Billy, you wanted to get a ring going. I do. I'm going to spend some time creating a fairy ring. Okay, great. Roll 2d6 plus dexterity. You can do it. Yes. Well, that's huge. Eight to ten. Eight, ten. Yeah. Eight plus two is ten. Perfect.

Which means the ring can be left and will remain up till the next sunrise. Yeah. And I'm dancing around, kind of like almost like bringing up the rock and the crystal to spike up from where I was dancing. Like pulling it out of the ground? Yeah. That's sick. That's pretty cool. Awesome. Tuck, you see the power of the wind has blown like a outcropping of stone off a high peak and is tumbling down towards Billy as he creates this ring. Yeah.

I'm going to take the hit for Billy as he creates this fort. I roll defend. Yeah, defend works. Yeah. Yeah, that is 12. Okay. With defend, you get a hold, remember. It is a hold-based move. Okay, defend. Redirect an attack from the thing you defend to yourself. Have the attack's effect or damage. Open up the attacker to an ally, giving that ally plus one forward. Deal damage to the attacker equal to your level. I'm going to take the hit for Billy. I'm sorry. Oh, my God.

You're rolling a D12 and then you're cutting it in half. No. Okay. No, but I have three armor. I can. No, I'm good. I can take this. I'm so strong and brave. No. No, Billy. I'm so big and strong. I know you're brave. I just need you to focus. Billy's drawing muscles on himself as he dances around. Harping the abs. Billy. I see in your hand there are two D6s. Yes. That's not the dice you're rolling right now. Of course. Okay. No, these. Is it? It's a D12. That is a D12 that Jessica's holding.

Okay. Here we go. Okay. That's gone. That one's gone forever. We can't do it anymore. Pick it up. That one's gone forever. All right. Give me another D12. Here we go. And then Tuck, after getting like basically 700 pictures of you with bigger and bigger muscles, he's just like, fine, Billy. Okay. This teaches you some kind of important lesson. Okay. I want to have the effects or damage. Roll a D12. So this is a D12 that's going to hit Billy. Yes. Okay. Please, God, help my boy. 12.

It's cool, though, because you know what? Okay. What happens is a lightning bolt comes down, cuts the boulder in half. Yeah. It generally hurts. Half of the boulder hits you. It's a small boulder. It creates like a, it turns it into gravel, and gravel just shotguns Billy. I get a bunch of little bruises. Who cares? I want to use throw me a bone, because I upgraded my thing that I can give to a friend, and I had a one on my throw me a bone. Wait. Does that work for damage?

It does not work for damage. Cool idea, though. Right, guys? That was sick. That is a very cool idea. But Billy, as you're making this thing, Tuck like steps in front of this boulder that is struck by lightning, and you get slammed with a bunch of pieces of rock and dirt that kind of just like cut your face and bruise you up. But you know what? Then he thinks like your chest. Yeah. Yeah. Like Billy has little bruises on his tummy now, too. We match. Just like Tuck. Yeah.

He tries to shoot light out of his chest. Yeah. Eh. But it is actually working. It's how you're making the fairy ring. And you continue making your ring around the tower. At the top of the tower, Ving, you see the below, far, far below, Tuck and Billy running around the tower. You just watch Tuck not take it for Billy. Billy goes flying. Shrapnel. And from the top of the tower, the wind is particularly powerful.

You basically come out on the roof of an apartment building, like of a skyscraper, the very top of the elevator lets you out here. And like Gandalf in that part of Lord of the Rings, you're on the very top in the open air and the wind whips around you and the clouds are dark and storming. You have a moth that you wake from. Yeah, totally. Yeah. I do want to like call out, reach out to A4 and get his attention. Yeah. How do you do this? I want to use my magic. Yeah.

I want to use my life symphony to try and calm the storm above me to be able to quiet the moment and reach him. So 2d6 plus con. Great. Ooh, 12. Okay. Excellent. Yeah. So you reach out and the winds around you, Billy and Tuck, you feel this as well. The winds stop whipping you as violently. Ving's hair kind of like calms and settles. A4 looks to, yeah, huge like creak as his head turns and you see him. Yeah. You see him as his head turns in your direction.

A single beam of light falls upon this silvery form of Elryd. The lights, the clouds part a finger as from the heavens touches the top of the tower finding me. Ving reaches a hand out towards A4. Keep going. A4 reaches back. Mm-hmm. Takes a big breath and you see a fours body also take a breath and it shows that we are, um, paired again. Yeah. Like Ving and a four have been bonded. Ving is responsible for a fours, uh, creation basically.

So we see this connection has reestablished in the quiet of the storm. Yeah. And then Ving, uh, looks up to the storm and so does a four and then reaches, just thrusts a hand up into the clouds above as a four does. And, and it's like a swirling, crazy windy mess. And I want to use elemental mastery to try and attack the birds who are encroaching on the city with the lightning of the storm. Awesome. Yeah, that's sick. 2d6 plus constitution, six plus two. I got eight, eight. Okay.

So on eight, you choose a couple, I think you choose one option. Uh, the effect I desire comes to pass. So I don't pay. I, I, I don't avoid paying nature's price and I don't retain control. Okay, cool. So I think nature's price in this case is straight up damage, much like Billy feeling the, the fury of the storm. You're going to be rolling a D 12 five. Uh, and you take five damage as you, uh, see a bolt of lightning from the storm descending towards you and catch it in a hand.

Oh, channel it through your body and redirect it into a, a Thunderbird that dives out of the clouds. That looks sick. That's fucking rad. And it spirals through the, and I think this is what, uh, the, the lack of control is it spirals through the sky and like slams into a building on the ground. Oh my God. The rib palace. And you can see a sign that says all you can eat ribs arcing through the air to smash on a rock. Oh, delicious smelling destruction.

And in a thousand languages, the people of high spear scream in agony as they see the rib place destroyed and the Thunderbirds see one of their own brought low by this powerful figure on top of this tower. And they turn their attention to you. He flexes his lighting bolts. No control. And down on the bottom floor, Billy, you are running, completing your circle and you see like a Thunderbird crash down in the city below you. And, uh, tuck, you see a spray of debris.

It's flying through the air towards Billy. His, his fairy rings almost complete, but he is in danger. So slow. It's a big tower. It's a big tower. Yeah. It's very rocky. It's rocky terrain. It's not even. It's rocky terrain. It's rocky terrain. It's rocky. And cardio's not the best. It's not great. Like Ireland. Yeah. At the end, you're just walking slow. Like, fuck, this looked great at the start. I have cramps and pain on the back and front. Billy's 200 meters from completing the circle.

He's like, you know what? I can't do it. All right. Here we go. Here we go. I guess I will. How many fucking hit points do you have, Billy? Oh, I have 15. I'm good. Fucking fuck, Billy. Shit. You still have defend. Yes. You got two more hold, which means you can have it and redirect it to yourself. I, wait. Oh, shit. You can do both. I did not know that. I didn't know that. You can choose as many as you want. You still don't have to do that. I want fucking, fuck, Billy.

Fine, fine, fine, fine, whatever. I just want you to get all fucking shriveled up. Don't make me fucking do that again. I just want to be a warrior for once in my life. Fine. I have the damage and I do not tank it for Billy. Roll it. D12. Fuck. You're holding the umbrella. Three. There you go. One and a half damage. 1.5 damage. But it, does that round up or down? Uh, I think it's up, unfortunately. So it is two damage. Uh, but yeah, talk. You smack a toilet out of the air.

At least you don't get hit by the toilet. I, I take the ax, slice through the, the, the toilet and it is from the rib place. Slices in half and then like the two halves separate perfectly and a ball, of shit. Billy. Cause I do damage. I do have the umbrella. So it doesn't hit me. And so Billy gets hammered by this ball of shit for two damage. But as he skids to a stop, much like a little league player going for home, he reaches out his hand, slides, and completes the circle. Safe.

And you feel the protection, uh, fall into place around the tower. And as you do so, the rumbling and mo and groaning in the tower that you've heard to this point hits a more harmonious state as will leads work below is completed. And you see, this is true because the crystals in the city, you almost see like, Oh, like almost invisible trails of ozone reaching out to the crystals. They've fallen, grabbing them and bringing them back into place. Immense.

These, these immense crystals floating back into position around the high speed. And they continue their gentle arc. There's a guy on one. Oh my God. And as you see this guy arcing through the sky, you hear what the fuck is going on. Language. But that is where we're going to end the episode for this week. I'm your game master, Sean O'Hara joining me as always Tacoma dome, the barbarian, a dual Aziz. You're going higher. Jump, jump before you get too high. I'm not jumping. What if I hurt myself?

Oh, I've heard that plenty of times before. Just look straight down. Just look straight down. I mean, they're going to have felt drew and Paul offers. It's a trust fall here. I'll throw you a lightning. Billy, the Appling thief. Jessica tie. I stretch out my body. Like just land on me, bro. Okay, here we go. Oh no, I missed. I overshot it. May it be the evening. Splat. I'm going to go. There's a woman. You'll find it. Thank you finally, and most of all, to all of you for listening.

We'll see you next time. And so ends the tale of Adventures 3 Who tried the best they can Though dumb and scared and lost they be For time's abreast in revelry And though our journey may be like a conclusion We will not leave you without a resolution Return next week to hear some more Whilst you commute or do your chores And for you I'd gladly spell dawn

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 his 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 Hello everybody I wasn't ready, I'm sorry No it's okay, we just went so fast from Good Charlotte to the Not fast enough I say Yeah I looked over while we were listening to the anthem by Good Charlotte and Paul was fixing I was finally doing my taxes He was fixing his watch You guys were thrashing about I was finishing the popsicles in the fridge like your parents said I could have Paul's been babysitting us for eight years When last we left our heroes, the High Spear, the magical tower connecting all minds across the world Had been shut down by one special little boy Fat Billy And the party, realizing that Billy had turned off the High Tower and had been unable to turn it back on Arrived at the top of the High Spear in Waleed the Speaker's palatial, quote unquote, penthouse bedroom Unable to verbally communicate with one another Tuck being Macaulay, as was Waleed, was able to follow some written directions Using his incredible ability to read, which we finally confirmed Once and for all The mystery of the podcast has been solved And then arriving at the top there was some communication working out Until we realized that the party could use the Chamberlain Rings to communicate with each other within Tuck's mind palace, the Husky Then it was decided that everyone would head downstairs to check out the machinery powering the tower Including a mysterious engine and magical water whirlpool system Meanwhile, outside the High Spear, machinery and giant chunks of crystal crashed into the city Already in chaos, causing further damage and disarray Beneath the tower, puzzles were completed, a pathway was discovered and the machine was reactivated Thus allowing the party entry into the main chamber and control room of the High Spear Within which they found a number of written notes from Waleed the Speaker having been pushed through this hole in reality For his first contact with another human mind in over a century Get in the bag Get in the bag, they said Get in the fanny pack, which they shoved through using Tuck's ability to break the laws of reality Oh man, from that battery It was from the battery you shoved into non-existence?

Yeah All those many years ago Yeah Truly Tuck's only superpower is a savage level of stubbornness That could be it Don't tell me what to do, Sean Waleed was extracted from his hole in reality, increasing the number of wizards on this plane by 25% 33% 33% repeating You won that round 33.3% repeating, idiot Yeah, that's better Master, I'm the master of math now Hand it over You're smarter than I'll ever be Who's to put that on paper?

No, I'm not Yeah, you are The party left the wizards in control of the control room and headed outside as the tower was being battered by the approaching storm Thronebreaker's storm, Lillian's storm, approaching the city of Highspear, the magical field protecting the tower down as the tower itself rebooted Billy and Tuck, down on the ground level, began to create a fairy ring around the tower itself While Tuck protected him from falling debris and rocks and such While up far up above in the sky, Ving and A4 fought off the approaching Thunderbird hordes Jaeger style Yeah, Pacific Rim What's that one with Hugh Jackman robots?

Real steel Just like real steel Just like Hugh Jackman's real steel Jessica, you've seen real steel, I'm sure I haven't You're a jerker I'll have to believe you We'll watch it tonight This isn't so much immediate pain This is me pointing out that we're just talking about boy movies and Jessica's not a game I've seen some boy movies Have you seen Pacific Rim?

I actually think you might have seen it in theaters There's no way to know Big robots I don't know And the party was, after some difficulty, successful The tower protected, the storm fought off, the wizards reactivated the Highspear And a man was trapped on a crystal as he was careened back into the air Oh no, he's still up there He is, yeah And that is where we find our heroes now Or rather, where do we find our heroes now? Back inside the tower, I imagine?

I thought we were doing a rescue mission for the guy stuck on the crystal It's just literally you guys helping the guy down onto the top of the tower Catch the rope! He keeps just barely missing it It's too high, I'm scared! And after some difficulty, you recover this man Okay, I guess back inside?

Yeah, I'd say so We would go back down to the control room Yeah, so Billy and Tuck meet Ving outside the elevator on the main floor Yes And head down into the control room Yeah So we see the three of you in an elevator It's just silence and Girl from Ipanema is walking And then there's like a moment of like How do we address this thing with Billy? Where we're like, as parents, we're like So, Billy Yeah? Remember the conversation we had just before pulling the big switch?

It rings a bell Your instinct, like it usually is, it was really good And I think it's important that we start there, right? Yeah Ving? Yes, I think that we trust you But for us to keep trusting you, trust is earned Trust is earned And I earned it, didn't I?

I knew that's what you were going to say I got scared that I was going to get in trouble But it sounds like I did the right thing You're not in trouble, that's not what we're doing here That's what I thought, yeah This family doesn't operate on trouble So we can all agree, I'm not in trouble You're not in trouble, Billy You're absolutely not in trouble Nice But, in the future And Tuck gets really mad for a second He's like, I'm approaching this in such a reasonable way, okay?

You literally just shut down all of communication for the whole world You were approaching it in a reasonable way And then it got fixed, so like, what is the deal?

No, no, no, Billy, we had to fix it You couldn't have fixed it if I didn't shut it down That's what I'm getting He does have a point Billy, ultimately, it moved us in the direction that we wanted Which is what we appreciate about you And we love that you got a point for jumping into danger without a plan It's going to help us out in the long run, it really will But in the future But let us help you grow Yes, but please, if you're doing something that big, just tell us Fine Here, and I kneel down and I go And I feel like you probably did it because it felt like we weren't listening to you About wanting to flip the switch You guys were just coming up with other ideas, and I was like, it's right there Yeah And then you walked away So I was like, someone's got to take care of that Totally So in the future, just tell us And then we'll do the thing And then you'll flip the switch with me We will consider it We'll decide as a family Alright, well I'll consider it next time Thank you, that's all we're asking for Thank you That's all we can do That's as good as we're going to get Yes I'm glad we all agree The elevator door is open, and I hang back for a second and I go I fucking hate Gentle Parrot, it takes so much This is the worst This is the worst Can we just hit him?

Can we just hit him? Can we just bounce his head off the side of this elevator?

That's Nathaniel talking, man Sorry, you're right, you're right Sorry You don't That's not right either Do not do that Okay, okay You cannot Gentle Parrot as a thousand year old fairy And he's walking away going And try to hit other light switches They're too high up It makes us, it makes Tuck so mad Yeah I see you flick as many switches as you can I like that Billy gets off at the right floor And then the door is closed because we're talking And then we look over and Billy has hit all the other buttons in the elevator So we're just on the elevator for the next three hours Going to every floor in different orders This is what Gentle Parroting has gotten us And as you reach the doors I guess Billy reaches the doors long before you do And I'm running around the halls going I'm ungovernable Carved it into the wallpaper And as you reach the control room, Billy You are met, the door to the control room slides open And you are met with the sound of people screaming at each other And Morris, Perel, and Waleed the Speaker Are having it out You just see Waleed pointing in people's faces Being like, you broke my tower And Morris is like, we wouldn't have to break your tower If it didn't break itself so often If it did what it was supposed to And Morris, or Perel's trying to stand between the two of them But is also yelling in Waleed's face Like, don't you yell at him, he did the best that he could do And Aquarius just cries It's too much You don't get to yell at him And you don't get to yell at me And Aquarius off to the side just watching What do you do?

Well one, I feel bad that they're getting yelled at Because he's taking the brunt of the trouble I'm supposed to be in But also I'm getting kind of jealous Because he's getting the credit that I deserve So Billy goes in waving his hands like Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, stop what you're doing Everyone They're still tumultuously yelling at each other Hey, hey Little kid trying to scream into the middle of these three adults You see him, like, just the top of his afro Pop up over the table How do I get their attention?

How do you get their attention?

Yellin's not doing it They're yelling louder than you are I don't know, I pull on Waleed's clothes Oh, yeah, so he's wearing pretty loose basketball shorts Yeah, they are really loose Because he was in, like, an eternal heaven They come down He's wearing So everyone's dressed like Adam Sandler All the wizards They're in bathrobes Yeah, yeah, yeah I imagined him, I did imagine Waleed wearing like a Like a smoking jacket almost Like a big, like, embroidered silk jacket And basketball shorts Yeah, with shorts Boo-boo basketball shorts underneath And then just a tank top Gut hanging out Amazing And he, like, starts and looks down at you Oh!

I'm the one who did it I fixed the tower And Morris and Perel both look down at you And kind of sigh And they Perel goes, yeah, he pulled the switch Yeah, so if you want to yell at anyone for breaking And then fixing the tower That would be me Listener, you might have recalled that for the brief period of time That Waleed was on screen last time I was doing the Dracula voice That I do sometimes for McCollins But I remembered that that is the accent of dwarves in McCollins Not humans Tuck is McCollins He doesn't have a noticeable accent Yeah, neither does Shia Shia doesn't, yeah Because I remembered that at the time So Waleed looks down at you Goes, and who are you?

Well, I'm Billy I've been wandering around with Perel and Morris And Tuck and Ving And they're the ones that got you out of wherever you were And he kneels down Very uncle-like A faggot where he is like, oh He puts a hand on his hip and kneels down And you're the one that found my reset switch I did Well, I had pulled it Because no one else was brave enough to I did it He closes his eyes for a second Wale said, no, don't do it Something bad will happen But now look at us all together That was very bold of you Yes, thank you He sighs and he kind of like brushes himself off Takes a breath Perhaps I was a little hasty in my anger And he looks to Morris and Perel And he apologizes He bows to Aquaria My deepest apologies, Aquaria And she nods It's quite alright I also assume Morris and Perel Are at the center of any chaos I find in the world And they kind of go, well that's, I don't know I don't know that that's totally fair And at this moment, Tuck and Ving You arrive back on the control room floor Just as long as nobody apologizes to them We'll be okay Yeah, as long as nobody praises him in any way For doing this I think the lesson he'll take away from it Is that he made a mistake And that maybe he'll think twice next time I think he's going to use this as consultation Parental high five?

Yeah, totally We did it Guys, Waleed said it's okay God damn it Everyone's happy now We look over and Billy's like He's sucking a lollipop Waleed took it out of his pocket and came We're like, what the fuck just happened?

Number one kid in the world on the stick Quite a spirited boy you have here Yeah, he's our little boy It's kind of like he has us, actually And I go forward And I think, because Waleed is like Macaulay Tuck has this instinct to not be a shit to him Immediately It's like an elder Yeah Respecting an elder kind of thing He remembers being a kid And then guys like this being around And he goes forward And he goes, hey, I'm Tuck I'm from Macaul Shakes your hand Waleed, also from Macaul I know, I saw your signs around, man Where did you grow up?

I grew up in the upper ward Which side? Step side or the sticks? Sticks I also grew up in the sticks You grew up in the sticks? I did Whoa Yes, it's a hard life How old are you? Oh, who's counting? I don't know how long I was in there But before I became a wizard I'd lived there for He kind of looks in his reflection I'd say 60-something years How long since you were a wizard?

It's hard to tell A few hundred Whoa, holy shit You know all about the library And the librarians And the light guard and stuff? Oh, yes The library was just getting started When I was a young man Whoa, so you knew Amma Margani?

I heard the name We didn't have many direct dealings But you can understand one So interested in information and communication And a gatherer of knowledge such as Amma Margani We crossed paths once or twice He's still around No shit Hi, I'm Ving I've been to Macaul too Nice to meet you, Ving Sorry, this is my life partner, Vic Nice to meet you Beautiful, beautiful family you have here I was just getting to know young Billy here And he kind of shuffles Billy's hair Yeah, Billy's been around for a while too Yeah Yeah, what are you?

Seven, eight years old? Do I have to tell him? You don't have to tell him anything you don't want to Yeah, at least that Very good, very good At least seven years ago Now, and he claps his hands Why don't you all tell me What the hell is going on?

And we can smash cut to like A sitting area Yes We've got a big tea spread Yeah He's opened up a room that is like A library Kind of like Fireplace-y Kind of leather-y Sort of room I imagine that there's like Because Morris and Perel have been Kind of having the run of the tower While they've lived here And I imagine that Walid goes to sit in a chair That Morris is also going to sit in And sits in it first And Morris is like What the fuck?

It's horrible And then he kind of like Sits on the arm of a chair And Perel is sitting in very uncomfortably It feels like he's cheating on his library Aquaria is sitting in a throne That is just in the room Aquaria like goes to sit in her moss body Like forms a chair Oh, cool And everybody's just having tea Out of these beautiful brass teapots Ring notices on the A beautiful desk Like a roll-top desk that's opened up The crystal that's made The spire is made out of And it's a sort of a Sort of a weird strange box Mechanical thing that you put books in And will translate them into its language Oh Yeah, it's sort of an initial prototype For the transcription Spell that is constantly running For all the translations Yeah, it's what he uses to feed in the Texts Yeah, that's sick Cool And you guys, I guess, fill him in Yes, we tell him Tuck has a big bowl of popcorn Of course While he's eating olives by the bowl Yeah Wow, so the exodus All of that was a trick It was a big old grift That's disappointing I'm also embarrassed to say That I didn't figure it out earlier It's not quite alright, Waleed It took some of us Much less time, of course To figure out we've been had And then we worked for untold decades Attempting to escape But I understand you had books to read Didn't you kind of go crazy, Morris?

And he's like, shoves a bunch of popcorn In his mouth It's none of your business, Tacoma Dome We found you living at Addernack All Waters Tower Addernack All Water Did Addernack survive? Ving perks up Just to listen to what the answer is Yeah, why do Morris and Perel know that she's Ving's mom, right?

No, nobody knows that Oh, shit Ving figured that out Okay, so you're the only one that knows I'm the only one that knows Ving hasn't shared that with anybody Ving perks up and stays quiet And Perel says We have some theories We spent some time in her tower And there was evidence that someone Had left But that's all we know so far Ving clutches his hand to the Knowledge tree And his roots growing into his chest Feels his own heartbeat underneath the tree Aquaria, yeah She kind of turns her head Quietly She know?

If she knows, she's not saying anything But she's aware of something Tacos Well, the thing that Morris and Perel had been Trying to figure out forever is if they could Use the tower to get in touch With all the wizards that are locked in their realms Well, he kind of scratches his beard Because the- Effectively, the wizards leaving Is what opened the door for the Gibbous Man To be able to try and like Crash the spheres together Bring about the end of days, essentially So them coming back would at least like It would A, give us People to help And then B, probably bring some Uh, like An opposing force That would slow him down Interesting I think there is some merit to that As much as I hate to say it I think Morris is on to something He kind of throws his hands up Like I also contributed to this idea I have to assume Because there weren't quite as many Amphibians involved That Perel didn't have much to do But I think I can help, I think Using the tower as a broadcast point We should be able to reach through Some of the hot spots Using the techniques that you used To contact me Perhaps something a bit more Sophisticated, but yes Screaming in practice Uh, to bring some of our comrades Back through to the material plane Well great!

I've got something to do, I've got some magical work To accomplish Aquaria speaks up and goes That is work that the four of us Can attempt on our own We are four magical minds Four wizards of some great experience Two wizards of great Rebute and two others That can help in various But limited ways Two others who are also here Who are also here And try so hard They try But I believe the three of you may have More pressing matters to attend to Foes on the horizon so to speak Yeah I think we've just been nervous to face them Yeah I think the time has come You three have accomplished much in your lives Wait, are you gonna kill us?

She reaches into her coat Pulls out her gun Oh no Not like this, not like this Chuck grabs the axe No, you have accomplished much Even if If we trace back sort of The chain of events You might also be the cause of all of this That's what I was thinking But the end of the road may be in sight So I think it is time That the three of you consider What your first final steps will be We look at each other I think she's right I think the magic stuff is up to them Yeah It feels like all the pieces are on the board now We know what the Gibbous man wants He's planning on Gathering up all the pieces of Lillian That he can find and putting her back together He said in the right way Which we know for everyone here Is the wrong way For the wrong reasons Yeah I think I've just been nervous To go up against him I think I've been nervous to make the decision And know that the next steps Do rely on us For real, for real Yeah, we've been running for a long time It feels like And I think we just proved That while there is stuff for us To be scared of from him He needs to be scared of us too And I think we have to start running in the other direction If he's looking for Pieces of light To bring about the dark Then we need to find them first And make sure he can't cast that shadow And I think there is something about the three of us That it's gotta be us that does it Just based on what Callum said And then Victoria reiterated Because we didn't remember when Callum said it That was really handy I love when people do that That was really helpful I'm glad we kept her around I wonder what she's doing right now Tattoo We're back in the fanny pack Stabbing a knife in between her fingers at the table And Mears is like, at my table She does the thing Where she's got like a Toothpick in her mouth And then she looks up at him watching her With her tongue And he just goes Ugh I think We know that the Gibbous man is going for pieces of the moon We can hunt them down We can try and find them first We know that some of them are safe So we can let them be for now Yeah, so Port Forfrost, that one's safe That's the aspect of her that is despair Then there's the one underneath Addernax Tower We know he can't get to that one Yeah, because when he was Tithaniel he couldn't go in there So then what else did we find?

The one that's under Hibernia Right Nurturing He can't get that That one should be safe And the druids will keep it safe Hopefully And then he got the piece of her that was under black glass Her anger So the question is Are there any more that are gettable I'm going to turn to the wizards and ask Are there more? Do you know of any?

Aquaria shakes her head Says the realm of the fairies And of Lillian and the gods Is beyond the ken of wizardkind We are magical minds But if the three of you Are as connected to these realms As the Gibbous man seems to assume I believe that you will be able to Suss out if there is anything else Should we spell lore?

Yeah I was also thinking of Maybe using night moves Because I have A piece of the moon I'm imbued with Lillian's moon I don't have a piece of the moon No but you are imbued with the despair Basically from Fort Forfrost In that temple You can almost like Pull strings out I just want to see if there is some sort of kinship Or a way that they are aware Of each other The shattered shards Okay so night moves Is it night time now?

No you would have to wait for it to be night Can you only do night moves at night? Yes it requires the night sky Okay well I have like three debilities So if we want to just chill out away So a debility requires three days of rest Or two days under a healer's care Which thing is a healer now? Okay so we're going to spend two days Chilling in the tower But can we use hither and yon As a time accelerator thing that it does?

Yeah so you can spend two days And have it be just about one day So we can spend six days And heal all three of your debilities Theoretically But let's do one at a time Just in case So we'll go hang out in hither and yon for the day I'll clear one of these And you can try and do the night moves thing Okay great And as you're leaving Like you're heading out To hither and yon Perel kind of chases after you And is like hey wait wait wait Because you guys are going back into the bathroom The three of you are going into the bathroom Did you forget to flush?

No no no no Don't flush And he like peeks out the doorway To where Waleed, Morris, and Aquarius Still are in the sitting room And he goes if you're leaving I just wanted to you know Take a second And be like Thank you I know that this all kind of started Because you wanted to Protect me You could have just let me get locked up And the gibbous man Still would have destroyed But I know that The three of you Despite all appearances always Try to do the right thing And you've given me a lot You gave me my physical form back You gave me my magic back And he kind of like gestures in the direction Of the sitting room And you gave me my family back So I just want to if this is it And he gathers all three of you up into a hug Yeah Billy's crying so much This isn't it This isn't all I'll see you again No no no Just stay safe you know Just stay safe in this cozy tower Yeah you too Be careful If you don't bring the wizards back So they can help us out Okay come back here I'm gonna kick you in the butt I'm gonna kick you in both of your butts Okay yeah no you can kick You can kick both of my butts if I don't do it We're gonna do it I hug him and I go Hey buddy you're a good guy okay Yeah yeah you too Just remember that And it's really cool that you're bald Thank you I also think so Did I ever tell you that I lost my hair Yeah I think you did Jesus I have so much hair It was red it was really cool And he hugs Hugs Ving as well I just wanted to let you know that I think frogs are really cool Thank you That really means a lot That really means a lot And I just I don't know if it's gonna be useful I don't know if we've ever talked about it If it comes up Once we start bringing back the wizards The thaumic field is gonna start Reconstituting and that's gonna bring a lot of stuff back You're gonna probably start Seeing signs of what we're doing Once it starts working And if you find yourself near mudlark again I had a tower It's under the river There might be something useful in there It's been a long time I don't know what's left But if you need an ace in the hole That's somewhere you can go Okay I'm gonna get back to work But uh Bryl I love you I love you too I clap him on the shoulder I bring him into a hug And I say I think you're okay I love you too Do I still have Amma's teapot?

I believe so I would like to give it to Bryl You Bryl you're my favorite uncle I love you You could have this for when you guys were studying It was Amma's He kneels down and takes it from you And gathers you into like a one-armed hug Okay let me go Or I'm gonna keep crying You're my favorite too Okay alright good luck out there You're gonna want to flush that before you go See you later Closes the bathroom door And we're at Heather and Ian And Tuck pulls out the copy of Mud Affairs he stole back from That was what he was doing with the second hug You see Bryl being like God dammit Pat his pants Yeah hours later Hours later Perel goes back into the bathroom stall Locks it, starts unzipping What?

No! I have to use my Imagination? I let it die Uh yeah and you're back You're back in Heather and Ian Mirs and Victoria Are in the room Are you sad?

It's a little sad I was thinking I was like whoa this is when he would say this And I was thinking about how much you guys Sacrificed for Perel specifically Years of your life Life and death situations He was worth it You did it just to do the right thing to stop someone from being imprisoned forever Back in Heather and Ian You come in through the back door Or I guess the front door And you see uh Victoria's line of Chains and handcuffs Is absolutely taut Whoa why?

Because she's sitting at the bar She's got one hand All the way back to give herself enough Room to sit on a stool And her and Mirs are laughing And then the door opens and Mirs looks up And goes oh hey everybody And he moves away down the bar What are you guys talking about? What's so funny? Oh nothing at all, just having a little chat Wait a second No secrets around here Wait are you guys secret friends? How long were we gone?

Secret friends and also it's been about three days It gets boring around here It's nice to have somebody to talk to Even if she is an Absolute unrepentant psychopath And uh Victoria goes oh you You know one way to make me repent But you do notice that Mirs' hair looks like it's been Styled a little bit What happened to your hair?

Oh and he reaches up and shakes his hair Like it looked cool No it's just you know something that I was trying that Victoria Maybe thought would look good Is that a slit in your shorts?

This is for mobility I did this for mobility reasons It's really making your quads pop Yeah it looks really good Thank you, Billy you shouldn't look at my quads You two though, thank you No I kind of want slits in my shorts You're allowed You are allowed to and also you have a lot of holes in your shorts Because you refuse to let us change your pants Billy's We have to add slits from the top Because of his tummy There's like all these slits Where his tummy's hanging over Billy's clothes are mostly slits now Honestly Because he just accidentally keeps cutting them with his knife We need to get that boy a sheath And you fill in Mirs and Victoria also hears about what happened With the tower so that's all filled in Yeah so what we think is we're going to try And head the gibbous man off at the pass And grab What remains of Lillian So that he can't get her Because that's clearly a key part Of her plan, of his plan And you know where These last pieces are?

We will I have faith As long as the die go my way Based on the small amount I know of the gibbous man's plans I think you are right on the money If he has less ability to bend Lillian To his ways It will prove a thorn in his side Is there What do you know about Lillian?

Yeah Because we know something about her Like we know her and Chimes were together We know that Rian died Which brought about the reign of night Which made her into the blood moon And then Chimes had to lock her away We just learned that the gibbous man helped with that And now the gibbous man is trying to like Bring her shattered ass back together In his own way So that he can probably lay waste to reality About 70% of what you just said Is news to me And yours is like Yeah I think it's I think the three of you are pretty well traveled You find yourself in incredible situations Quite often But I think it's important for you to remember That worship of the moon Has always been Out of vogue for centuries So the history of Lillian At this point For most people Is distant myth That you would find in like a textbook Or like hear about in class Or a song or something like that My greatest enemies Books in school And teachers So the three of you know more about Lillian The moon goddess Than just about anybody on the planet Ving can feel his skin And his hairs Humming as the sun is setting outside Oh yeah Time is rapidly moving outside Hither and yon So this is a great opportunity for those that need to rest Ving will not be able to rest tonight Because he will be going and communing Can I do a may camp then?

You can recover So after these three days pass You just get your debility healed But you have to choose between Healing my debility or refilling your hit points Healing my debility for sure So you get to clear debility I have a debility and an intelligence Constitution and strength Constitution and strength That's up to you brother I guess I will do Wait what was it? Constitution, strength and Intelligence I do need these Is your intelligence not currently at a minus two?

Yes Fine And then I go Can you give me something that will fix my broken brain?

Absolutely And he reaches He goes into the back and he comes back with a bowl of stew Sick Yeah so this is what Tuck is going to be doing For these two days passing He's resting And you can like talk to people and shit But anything that takes a significant amount of body or brain power You will not be able to do And then I turn to Ving And I go I'm not allowed to think And then I walk over to the couch And I lean back And I fall asleep In front of the fire Takes his loincloth off I'm not allowed to think That's not what that means I get totally naked I imagine when Tuck lays on the couch In front of the fire It just goes like The whatever the outsides of the couch go out The arms The arms The leg rests automatically pop up Oh yeah Put a drink on it And what about Billy?

Billy I would like to recover my hit points Oh great yeah so you With recovery you just heal back up to Well let me confirm Yeah when you do nothing but rest and comfort and safety After a day you recover all your hit points Yeah So making camp you only recover up to half your hit points Because you are Rough in it but when you are in safety Like Hither and Yon you can heal fully Hey Mirrors I need something to heal me I've got just the thing Billy And he goes back Into the back and he comes back with a bowl of stew Nice Good for the brain and the body Here you go buddy This stew is like four days old he's trying to get rid of it I'm really pushing this stew Billy takes it He takes it away And he puts it on the floor And he drinks it like a dog That's peak soupy For Billy Okay yeah and Francis comes out And tries to lick up some of Billy's stew as well And he goes And Black Spire has his head Through the hole He's like come on man look at this That's some stew in me No Billy don't If you're going to give stew to anyone it should be me Not that boor of a man Don't listen to the pig man Give me some stew I would like to steal the pot of stew Yes yes Billy Steal the stew Okay 2d6 plus dexterity Oh boy I have my first roll Ten Touch yeah you creep into the back I fucking do it I slop it everywhere No problem because Francis licks it up And I bring it over to Black Spire While you're doing it He's got his rollers in his hair And his fingers are wet His nails are wet He's just like wait no Billy come back Wait Stop These are still wet I can't touch anything Put that back And Billy Francis and Black Spire Enjoy a cauldron of stew together Black Spire eats the cauldron Like a bread bowl He drinks all the soup and then he eats the cauldron He tears up chunks Wow that was fortifying Thank you so much little guy Ving is healing Tuck While he's passed out on the couch And he's got him full of like needles Like acupuncture Yeah acupuncture needles And he's just like shut the fuck up Then he accidentally kicks the couch And wakes him up His tongue lols out And you stick one in his tongue The tongue shocker is the hardest one to get to Putting them in his eyelids Sorry it's too gross And Ving you feel the moon rising On the other side of the door It's time And you emerge into Waleed's penthouse And there through the Spiraled glass design in the ceiling You see the full moon I want to get up onto the very top Okay So you head out onto the balcony And kip up onto the Stone and metal work and onto the roof And the city of Highspear is arrayed beneath you Glittering lights An ocean of life I look up to A4 and give him a little Gentle salute And you see his head incline He knows it's quiet time He knows that if he speaks at night no one gets sleep But the birds Flutter off into the sky briefly And then settle back on his head In the distance do you see the storm like circling or something?

Yeah there's flashing Oh yeah like flashes of lightning Are in the distance And you look around and you see that the storm is almost Completely wringing the horizon But Within the field of the Highspear things are calm And safe for now We are in the butt of the storm We are in the butthole of the storm The butthole of the storm is upon us The butthole of the storm Is pressing against us We are deep in the butt of the storm And one thing will stop it A mighty wind From within A mighty wind from within will push back this storm A mighty wind from within Will part the butthole of this storm If only briefly I would like to use night moves to spend time contemplating The movement of the stars at night And specifically the moon Yes so it is plus Plus wisdom on a plus ten GM will answer one question The GM will ask you a question In return Very well The seven plus whiz ten A ten So yeah here beneath the moon Ringed as it is by the shattered coronet Like Ving is looking up at the moon Breathing in a deep breath And then he closes his eyes And in his vision The shattered coronet is still there And then as he lets go of his breath The pieces come together In his mind's eye Of a whole moon again Oh yeah seeing the pieces of the moon Coming up from the earth Coming up from the earth So I see one come up from Forfrost I see one come up from Addernax I see one come up from under Hibernia I see one come up from under the palace And then I see one come up from You see in your mind's eye You should have realized it So much sooner than this You think to the conflicts And the people that you've met The forces that you've befriended One in particular A bird, a powerful creature One like yourself And you think of a gift given A tool lended And you think of a well-worn But well-made handle A waning knife Black and white in the hilt Oh shit!

What? And the knife, I see the knife Around Cloud Piercer's neck Shimmer A water-marked blade Black bone and horn And then a piece of white stone And in my mind's eye It lifts from his neck His feathers aloft in the storm And it shoots towards the moon And shatters the coronet again As it pierces through it And then I wake up That's pretty sick So that is what you know That a piece of Lillian's moon Is contained within the hilt of the waning knife Where is Cloud Piercer?

I didn't ask That's very useful I'm sorry for cutting you off Where was he? The war against Thronebreaker Has been raging Across the continent Across the face of the world You can always try And contact Cloud Piercer As you have in the past Basically, this last piece of Lillian's moon Is in the middle of a war With the Thunderbirds Which you will have to address If you want to do anything about this How did I reach out to him before?

I just called out because we have the connection You have like a pendant That is marked with his presence So yeah, you can reach out to him through that I'd like to try I close my eyes Same process, I don't know You close your eyes And as you're doing it in your head You're like Is everything I do look the same? Does this look cool? Should no one draw this? Is it just me sitting cross-legged Doing the Llama Llama fingers?

Yeah, you close your eyes And in your mind Your eyes reopen And you are soaring There's like rumbling in the distance When I'm closing my eyes Yeah And you are soaring, wheeling Through flocks of violent birds That transition is sick Sorry I didn't mean to cut you off But that transition is so sick Winds whipping, light flashing Lightning lashing across the sky Hitting a bird right in front of you Feathers and explosions Sparks spinning down the ground 13 herbs and spices Fried chicken Your nose filled with the scent of delicious fried chicken I lick my fingers so good And you hear in your head Ving, what is it?

I'm kind of busy And he tucks his wings in And dives through the clouds I feel it in my stomach, I'm diving with him And he pulls back up Quickly, what do you need? CP, it's me, Ving, you knew that I did, you're the only person that can Enter my thoughts in this manner Um, where's the knife? Here, look He does a barrel roll Yeah, look, check it out, see?

It's around my neck I'm sorry to do this, buddy, but I think I need the knife Ah, well that's going to be kind of difficult And he turns onto his Like he flips over and he Locks talons with a thunderbird that's like Snapping at his face Yeah, they're doing that like wheeling spin Through the skies Like it's the horizon, you can see it Like whipping all around them And he throws the bird off And then takes off So maybe this is a discern realities?

I will roll A discern realities Ah, ten again What happened here recently? What happened here recently, okay Ving, I'll be honest with you, things are not going well For us Ducks, dives, yeah, he's constantly fighting While this is, he's running from thunderbirds He's ducking and diving Thronebreakers forces grow in power every day Even members of our own flock Turn against us Dive, slash, slash, slash Uh, Gale Is Gale okay?

Gale is Turned against us Oh, evil Gale Typhoon Gale The Gale has turned Gale has turned against me My most trusted lieutenant And At one time, my lover Flashback Flashback to the betrayal We come in mid bird sex Quakela on Quakela What does this betrayal look like?

Okay, so it's like Cloudpiercer and Gale And they're like winging around each other Swooping in like far in the distance Peals of lightning and thunder And you see Displacing the clouds with every flap Oh, Thronebreaker The size of a city The obsidian bezoar In the center of his forehead Crackling with like purple Unlight And he turns to Gale And he, Gale Now is our time We will strike this blow against Thronebreaker Directly and turn the tide of the war And she goes Yes, the tide of the turn Hold on, what's The tide of the war will turn But not for you And they start to peck at each other Wow And you can feel Cloudpiercer's heart breaking in that moment But he escapes Dashing off into the skies Wow Yeah, it was pretty rough I'm so sorry I want to be clear that I said love her earlier but you kind of flustered I meant I love her like a sister It's not, it's totally platonic between us I believe you You can tell Tuck that it's totally platonic He's got nothing to worry about He'll be relieved You cut back to Tuck Who's like He's got a million needles in his body Hold on, he wakes up Pushes his arms together and drives the needles AHHHHH AHHHHH Oh my god And he turns to Billy I just had a horrible dream that I was married to Gale Oh, that's awful You should go back to sleep and try to marry someone else Oh, yeah Uh, uh, Allison Is that you?

Immediately asleep and dreaming It's like his mantra when he falls asleep Allison, is that you? Allison, is that you? Allison, is that you?

Oh yeah, I would love to get married to you today Right, because Tuck doesn't dream So he's just talking to himself So his dreams are like whatever Black Spire is doing Yeah, totally And yeah, it kind of just whatever Shifts into like the void Yeah Okay, yeah, so that is the update on the war Things are not going well It feels like I am being targeted specifically by Thronebreaker Though I know not why I think I do And I send my essence out to the knife It's the knife Holy shit The knife that hangs around your neck That aids you in your battle Contains a piece of the moon Of Lillian herself Ah, that is most troubling He dives and spins as a bird tries to peck his eyes out But it would explain why Thronebreaker And his forces harry me at every turn They must be drawn to the knife Even if only subconsciously What should I be on the lookout for?

I fear you may be right, Ving The winds have changed The fog over the Sea of Graves The grey has begun to recede The island of Hibernia is becoming uncloaked Oh no We don't know what this means But much of Thronebreaker's flock Has become very interested in that small island My mother's home Our mother's home The motherland That's right The trees The knowledge trees There is much at risk if Thronebreaker makes landfall there My flock has been split We must defend the druids and their island home There is something there that Thronebreaker seeks Most viciously The moon It's exposed, it's not safe What is about to happen?

I like to be like Take a dive and see where he is So yeah, he dives down Below the cloud cover And woof Pops out What do we see?

Still night Lights in the distance Fog on the ground As he gets closer You realize the lights are torches Being carried by an army Marching south from the great forest Oh no Swoop over He dives down We see rank upon rank of elven soldier Resplendent in their armor Carrying vicious weapons With them A group of dark elves In the night In the darkness, their bandages removed You see distended, strange Vicious looking Almost bat-like faces Wide, dark, pitch-black eyes Long, sharp ears They're the forward scouts at night Creeping through the woodlands Nobody else looks their way But the dark elves shoot up to the sky And see They see A rush of feathers Above We hear like some shouts Or it's not even shouts It's like high-pitched squeals From the dark elves And a hail of arrows starts to come up Oh my gosh I imagine he picks back up He flies back up into the cloud cover An arrow pierces the very tip of his wing Oh yeah Just before he re-enters the clouds You see From within their ranks An explosion And you hear Walter Wick go Take that, you fucking freaks!

The rangers harry them from the woods No!

And he heads back up into the clouds I know this is hard But we need the knife I need you to bring it to me Blood and feathers fill your vision Showing you the difficulty of such a task Don't worry, Ving That was a bad guy He was racist That was a very racist bird He was morally indefensible He will not be missed He did the thing where he pulled his eyes back one time I saw it It was gross I hated it Well if I bring you the knife How can I deliver it to you?

Won't the city of Highspear be in danger? Won't your friend's work be at risk? We'll need to meet somewhere Neutral ground that is safe Is there any way that he could drop the knife and let us know And we can go get it?

We could, ooh, because we know places that the Gibbous Man cannot tread Yes, the safe places Yeah, so we could Try and get him to meet us in one of those places And take Hither and Yon there Isn't the only place we know that's like that is Atternac All-Waters Tower Oh, I was going to say Andmother never was a swamp Oh! That would be the safest by far Yeah, that's true The Gibbous Man would never Yeah, he's terrified of her For a good reason Yeah Should we risk it?

Ooh Yeah I feel like yes, for sure That's the move, also just from a narrative perspective It's really cool It's cool we've never seen it The Marshes of Mother never was The Gibbous Man won't cross into her land Meet me there That might work I'll bring you another weapon I'll replace it with something Okay, it better be pretty cool Damn it Why would you make that fucking promise? That's my bird, I can promise him whatever I want Oh my god, a new weapon? A present of sufficient coolness?

I'll be there right away, Ving Sure, I just gotta stop off at the store first Unrelated Yeah I'll see you there Be safe, Ving I will meet you where you must Meet me Where needs must this knife be delivered I see you where knife be delivered Must meet there on the morrow night Marsh, yes?

Marsh Very well, I will be there I'll see you soon Be safe, Ving I miss you I miss you as well Come to you on the tower Tuck is sitting next to you Sorry, did you say- He's got needles Jesus Christ Did you say, like, needs must where on morrow night?

You heard me That doesn't mean anything There, there, ouch You should be resting You actually should be resting Okay, fine I was at the bottom of your feet before you stood up What needles Uh-oh Yeah, back in hither and yon Are we taking another couple days to heal Tuck's other debilities? I don't know that we have time We don't have time He cleared the one Ving, you relay the information to the others?

Yeah, I lay it out In not-so-plain English So the place where no one goes Let me go pack my stuff Wait, Billy, we're taking the bar But it makes me feel better Okay, okay, okay, okay You can do whatever you need Bring everything We'll bring everything Bring it all I'm so sorry about Gale Wait, what? What do you mean?

She's betrayed us She's betrayed Cloudpiercer She's turned against you Okay I feel like there's been this thing of people have really thought that I've been invested in Gale and that relationship and I've been so clear about all of the dozens of other male-female relationships that I have been invested in That's the only one I haven't pursued and for some reason everyone is fixated on the fact that I slept in a nest with her one time And Mirrors reaches out and puts a hand on your shoulder and says It's hard when the people we care about hurt us I'm going fucking crazy I know the feeling Ugh, crazy I do not want to have sex with a bird No one's saying that I turn to Victoria and go I never had sex with a bird I'm not touching this one I'm not interested And we are heading off now Yeah While Billy has gone to pack up his things What are your things?

He's using his blanket as a little bindle and in it is several loaves of bread That's it Several loaves of bread Steaming loaves And then I've got my freshly sharpened knives in my belt and every outfit I own, which is two On And I've wrapped a scarf around my neck in case she wants to suck my blood That's a thing she does, right?

So while you're doing that, I turn to Ving and I go We gotta talk about Billy This is really dangerous More so than probably anything we've done I don't know that it's a good idea for us to keep bringing him Well, we can't leave him. He won't let us Well, he's safe here.

If we can find a way to keep him in here, he would be safe In hither and yon, while we go to the marshes Yeah You know as well as I do that he wouldn't stand for that The rest of this is gonna get really bad And it's all fun and games because for him it has to be But if anything happens to him it's on us Yeah, I know Do I have a move where I can spy? Yeah, you can roll your defy danger dexterity.

You're done packing up, you're coming back down You hear Tuck and Ving talking to each other Alright, alright. Nine So on a seven to nine So there is a part that you're hearing and a part that you're not hearing Maybe the part that he's hearing is the we have to keep him in here Like we have to find a way to keep him in here Oh They're not going anywhere without me I'm gonna get there first then Oh yeah Okay, this is great Okay, so then what? Billy rushes to the front door?

He goes to a window To a window? Is that allowed? We've never seen someone travel through a window before Cool Okay, so the shutters are currently closed Can I use like escape route for it? Yes! So instead of the usual charisma roll you're doing escape route Okay, great. Two to six plus dexterity?

Yes Uh It's a ten And on a ten plus I'm gone And from there we'll cut back downstairs to Tuck and Ving's conversation Obviously I know, I get what you're saying Like we can't force him to do anything No one can We need to talk to him about this Because we can't let anything happen to him I know, I know Alright, let's go talk to him I think we're down here, you guys are like alright, let's go talk to Billy And uh, you're like going up the stairs And as you're going up the stairs all the shutters slam Oh And then pop back open We run up the stairs Billy!

Slam open the door You burst into Billy's room He's blowing in a humid marshy breeze The smell of freshly baked bread The sheets are missing from his bed He broke off the curtain rod God Damn it And I think that's where we're gonna end today's episode Uh, I've been your Game Master Sean O'Hara, joining me as always playing Tacoma Dome, the Barbarian, Abdul Aziz So long Take care Jessica Tai Goodbye everyone Thank you so much to all of our supporters Uh, we wanted to name some of our supporters Yes And some of those people are This is, we're back in 2019 2019, wow This is where we started The world was such a different place in 2019 Holy shit As different as it will be in 3019 You mean in a thousand years?

In a thousand years from now the world will barely be as different as it was Everything will be exactly the same Seven years ago Okay 2019, very fine chef, Tony Tony, thank you so much Thank you so much for being in this home with us Monarch, Rachel Rachel, you've been sticking around for a long time Thank you so much for your support Rachy, you know we love you I'm gonna squint and I'm gonna read Rowan Thank you so much Rowan, thank you so much Andrew Andrew I can't, okay Andrew's fine That's fine, I like the formality What about Drew?

Andrew's fine Josh L Josh L Thank you so much Joshua Joshua Joshua L Mender Hunter Hunter, oh yeah I remember when Hunter This is so stupid When Hunter subscribed I went Hunter, cool name Won't ever forget Jax, we already said Jax Oh Jax, yeah Jax, I already made a video for you We got Michael B Michael B Very fine chef Dan H, Dan H has been around forever Dan H, shout out I'm gonna thank another Jessica We're the best Jessica J Jessica J, you're the best Uh, Elan That's the name of that place Elan Springs Oh that's, we named a thing after you Yeah, wow Uh, Zeke W Zeke, what up Zeke Thank you so much Zed's dead John R I've been seeing that name John, been seeing you around for a long time Thanks so much John On the Facebook Like, fan group Even before we had a Discord Yeah, the Facebook fan group, which still Exists And there's still people out there that are on the Facebook group And they're like, liking stuff and commenting on stuff John R might be one of those Thank you so much for being on Facebook See me on Facebook I'm gonna say this really fancy Andres I bet you hated that But thanks for your support Andres Greg H Greg, thank you so much Greg Anybody watching the video right now Sees us just looking at the screen At least looking at the camera once in a while Yeah, what's up everybody Uh, Isabelle A Isabelle, thank you so much Isabelle Someone's anonymous It's Ashok Oh my gosh Oh, cause he made his name so it, I see Ashok Yeah Thank you again Whoa, whoa, whoa He's a buddy of mine Maddie Maddie, thank you so much Ryan B Ryan B Thanks Ryan Cesar Oh, I've written you so many postcards And every time I'm like, I better spell it all right Cesar, the man with four names Yes Uh, Tara Tara T-Bone, what's up Hannah B Hannah B Our friend Dave Dave, you piece of shit He's a piece of shit Stop trying to get me to follow you back on Instagram I think that's you personally I will He won't I think I just did Josh Oh, we lost our place Josh B Josh B Tom H Tom H Willis P We're gonna do a rapid fire now Brian T Robert E Claire E Nathaniel G Lilith, David, Chris Abby M, Randall, Samuel Q Ed Starbuck They eat all these people Kelly Corey Stewart The speed with which we're still going The speed with which we're saying it has nothing to do with how much we care about you No, no, yeah Scroll We made a song out of that last little bit That's true Tom and Reese Just get to do a little dance Reese G Cool last name, we're not gonna say it Oh yeah, that is a cool name That's a sick name Kelly M M S Kelly M S Corey K Corey K, thank you so much Stewart L You're the best Stewart Little Thank you for being a support Rory, Tom and Reese Fox, Richard, Megan Or Megan Megan But it's Megan Megan or Megan Put it in the comments Everyone vote in the comments Ainsley, thank you so much for your support What was second Zeke?

Zeke G Two Zekes What are the odds Zeke and Destroy We'll do that for now Thank you so much to all of those Patreons All of you, you guys are the best Thank you If it weren't for you, we would have stopped doing the show a long time ago Back then, you were buying us chicken wings And now, you're buying us Fatburger And you're buying yourself Continuation of the podcast Thank you so much All of those supporters For all of their support And all of your support And we will see you next time Bye-bye And so ends the tale of Adventures 3 Who tried the best they can Though dumb and dumb Though dumb and scared And lost they be For time's a breast in revelry And though our journey May be like A conclusion We will not leave you Without a resolution Return next week to hear Some more whilst you commute Or do your chores And for you I'd gladly Spout more Me Meet Brenda Bentley A dogged detective with a case she can't let go Nobody came closer Than I did And that's why I was kicked off the force Together, they solved the cold cases No one else can That's when things got weird And we haven't even gotten To the torso yet If they don't kill each other first That is Well, you've got another thing coming You know, I think it's You've got another thing coming Or perhaps there's something Else between them Well, if the feeling's mutual Call it a mutual feeling Arden, a podcast about Crime, romance, and everything else Season 1 and 2 now available Brought to you by Wayface Industries, the good people A podcast for best friends By best friends

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. Tucker's the brute who knows not his home, he loves to sing and fight. Vigors have health, he shifts his shape, and wields his 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. Every time I say that I'm realizing there are fewer times that I'm going to get to say that. Stop! We already all cried. You're already crying. If you want to see me cry, patrons, or listeners, you gotta subscribe to the Patreon. I'm just blaring this out right now because I'm crying so hard.

Oh my god, our subscriptions are going through the roof. Your people are fucking freaks. 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. Playing Fat Billy, the Halfling Thief, Jessica Tai. Hello.

When last we left our heroes, they were recovering from the re-ignition of the High Spear Tower and the return of communication to the world, or at least whatever part of the world is nearest the tower and matters to us. Whatever the part of the world still exists. Yeah, that's true. Who knows? The fire's burning at the edges of the world. The party reconvened in the tower, Tuck and Ving attempting to impart some sort of disciplinary knowledge on Billy, who was not having it.

Really fumbled it in a big way. You blew that one for sure. And then meeting up with the four wizards now in this tower, the largest concentration of wizards in a hundred years. Almost 34% more wizards. Yeah. Yeah. Almost 34, but not quite. Morris Wadge, Perel of the Blue Tower, Aquaria, and Waleed the Speaker, all in one place.

Conversation began in which Waleed was updated to the situation regarding the Gibbous Man and the conflict therewith, and also your plan for, hopefully, reconnecting with all of the wizards trapped inside their hotspots. Yeah, and he said that the tower should be able to do that. Yeah. Not to something I just realized, that would be all the wizards' first wizards. Yes.

Because, sadly, any of the other wizards either perished or were locked away by other means, but we can't do anything about those guys. Yep. Waleed agreed to the plan and said that he could very well make this work using his expertise of the tower. Paul, I'm so sorry, I just, it was a realization that I made. It was a throwaway realization that all the other wizards are gone or dead. Yeah, unfortunately, the ones that are left- What? I zoned out for a bit.

Not all the wizards went through the hotspots. Yeah. Some of them got, remember, like Perel got hunted. Oh. Or trapped. Aquaria was almost killed. There was a wizard genocide. Yeah. Yeah, there was a war on the remaining wizards, unfortunately. A wizard-cide. Yeah. Yeah, Perel was locked away. All the other wizards, I believe, were locked in boxes. Yeah. But, that's not our problem. God damn, there you go. Yeah. Jeez, hotter cold, Sean.

This is exactly what you said about the- Whoa, hold on, hold on, hold on. You're kind of misquoting it, to be fair. Tough. Which part are they misquoting? So the party realized- Would you like some of my drink? Is that what you're looking at? No. It's a low- I- Do you want a sip of my mocha? No, it's caffeine. No, it's caffeine. No, it's caffeine. No, it's caffeine. No, it's caffeine. No, it's caffeine. No, it's caffeine. No, it's caffeine.

Jessica gets three sips of all of my caffeinated drinks. That's a compact we made long ago. Not all at once? Two. You crazy? You only have one more now. There's one more sip left. Sean. It's because I chugged my drink. It's already done. It's just water. Okay. Yeah. That's going to hit her like a truck in about 45 minutes. We gotta go fast. Go, go, go, go, go. The party then decided that it was time for them to go.

Time for them to enact their plan, which was to track down the final remaining piece of the moon and rest up a little bit because everybody's pretty fucked up. So they headed back to Hither and Yon, but not before saying a tearful goodbye to Perel, their dear friend and comrade. They have spent a good portion of the podcast protecting and defending. Yeah. It's like when your uncle that lives in the basement finally gets his own apartment. Yeah. After years of being divorced at your house.

And you're like, man, this kind of sucked a lot of the time, but I'm going to miss you. Yeah. Wait a second. Yeah. It's like losing a piece of me. Yeah. Like a toenail that's under the sink. I don't want to let it go. You said that to him when we were leaving. You're like a toenail under the sink, bro. For some reason, I'm going to miss you. This was Billy and I had already left and you kept talking and then he's like, maybe you should go now.

And the party hung out in hither and yon for a little bit. Mears and Victoria LaBlanche kind of chatting a little bit, bonding a touch. But Mears, though his hair has never looked fuller or fresher. He knows that he knows a dangerous person when he sees one. It's got the vibe now of like, you know, like the seventeen hundred pirates. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Like, like Jeffrey Rush's wig in the fourth Pirates of the Caribbean movie. Yes. Or the beast from Beauty and the Beast. Yeah. Bedazzled nails.

No. Totally. He's doing a lot of this on his drinks. Yeah. Yeah. And whenever he shows you guys a new piece of cutlery, he does that where he puts it in front of his hand. Like it's a TikTok makeup tutorial. Ving, while the party rested, headed up to the roof of the High Spear and communed with the moon. Oh, yeah. Discovering through his connection to Lillian's own lunar power that the final piece of the moon in the wind is contained within the hilt of the waning knife. Oh, big revelation. Cool.

Which I realized last time we were recording and I looked at the knife and I went, whoa, it's kind of white too. Cool. No, I've been planning that for years. Yeah. And Ving connected with Cloud Piercer, who he had given the knife to a long time ago, and got an update on the war with Thronebreaker. Thronebreaker is winning. He is slowly destroying Cloud Piercer's flock and has corrupted in some way or convinced Cloud Piercer's closest friend and confidant, Gale the Thunderbird, to turn on him.

A horrible betrayal. I form a love. Now that she's no longer interested, Tuck's starting to become interested. Wait a second. What does Thronebreaker have that I don't? A bezoar? A cloaca? I could get one of those. I could get both of those if I wanted to. Ving tries to take the knife away from Tuck, when he had his forehead.

Cloud Piercer also let Ving know that the grey, the magical spiritual fog surrounding Hibernia and the northern part of the Sea of Graves has begun to recede, revealing the island and lessening its protection, which Thronebreaker's flock has become interested in. For the piece of the moon that lies underneath. For the piece of the moon that lies underneath.

And upon knowing that the knife that Cloud Piercer carries contains a piece of the moon, he agreed to deliver it to Ving in a place that the Gibbous Man would not be able to recover it easily. In the Marsh of Mother Neverwas. Not great. No. Not ideal. Ving, returning, imparted this knowledge to the rest, and a plan was made to get going. Billy went to go pack his stuff, and while doing so, Tuck and Ving continued their conversation about how to protect Billy from the coming dangers.

Trying to find a way, think of a way, to keep him in Hither & Yon where he is safe and protected. Billy overheard them wanting to trap him in Hither & Yon and decided that he was going to get out first. Billy ran away. Billy ran away. It is the plot of like easily four or five movies from the 90s. He wanted to steal me, I don't know what to say. I had to get out of there. Yep.

So Billy hopped out a window, something we've never seen done in Hither & Yon before, transporting the bar on his own to the Marsh. The Gray Marsh. The home of Mother Neverwas. That is where we find our heroes now. I imagine we cut to Billy. Ooh. Like, padding through him. Like, what was Billy's plan when he hit the ground here? I guess he's just, he's thinking like, well, I'll just wait for, I'll just walk around until I find a cloud piercer.

You know, he'll probably want to land somewhere, you know, wide and open or maybe in the trees for hiding. I don't know, but it's kind of scary in here. So maybe I'll just make myself feel better while I walk around. What did you learn in school today? You're a good boy of mine. What did you learn in school today? You're a good boy of mine. Just singing seriously. Growing. on the ground. Oh, right. You have a bundle full of bread. Full of bread.

Oh, I'm leaving little bread crumbs for Cloud Piercer. Uh-huh. Oh, smart. Yeah. Uh, okay. So, Bill, you're wandering around. You're throwing bread on the ground. Uh, the marsh here is, as we… Well, this is the first time we're seeing the marsh. Oh. Should I have a looky-loo around and describe? Yeah, you could discern some realities. 2D6 plus wisdom. 2, 5, 7, 8. So… You get one question off the list. Um, what here is useful or valuable to me? Okay. Okay, so…

This is the first rumblings of what Jessica's slammed drink are gonna do to her. Billy, are you okay? Yeah. Are you allergic to bread, Billy? No, he had too much stew before he left. Oh, yeah, and it was old. Bread for a cauldron of stew and, honestly, half of these loaves already. Uh, yeah, so the marsh… I mean, you're walking through the reeds. There's high grasses. Because you're so small, it's, like, tough to see. Mm-hmm. Um, and you part the grasses and you are on the edge of a wide pond.

There's still water bugs, like, flitting over top of it. You see big, fat dragonflies as big as your forearm. Mm-hmm. Zipping across the water. Light bugs. Yeah. Light bugs glinting at the edges of your sight. Up the hill or where the trees start getting thick. Yeah, there's some thicker trees up this hillside. And, uh, in the distance, you can see, like, off to what would be the west for you.

You can see, like, the peaks of a far distant mountain range that you know is the range that you just left. Oh, cool. Minutes ago. And as you're like, oh, this is a great open spot that is visible from the sky. I'll throw some bread in here and then Cloud Piercer will see the bread from the sky. This is perfect. Cloud Piercer loves bread. All birds love bread. All birds love bread. Yeah. Birds love bread. I gotta make them big chunks, though. Yeah. Just, like, whole loaves. Loaf. Perfect spiral.

Yeah, so you're throwing these loaves of bread out into the water. This silent marsh throwing splash, splash. Any moment, he's gonna show up. And the camera sees, off to the side, reeds further down the pond starting to shift and move. Oh. And we'll cut to Tuck and Ving. We're, uh, we're, uh, running. We cut back. Door bursts open. Yeah. Where does the door come out? So would it be in a different place than the window? Uh, no, I think it's, maybe it's one structure. Oh, I see. I think so, too.

Like, maybe it's like an old shack. Okay. Like, it's like on stilts. A kind of rotting wood shack on stilts. Oh, like where they would farm peat moss? You know how they had, like, they would do that on, like, stilts? And then they would pull the moss up and dry it out within the shack? Yeah, totally, yeah. So, uh, you come out of the door of this shack that looks like it hasn't been inhabited in years. Fall nine feet. Splash, splash. Splash! Fuck! Face first.

Because you're, like, 600 pounds, you sink two feet into the mud. Fuck! And then I land on him. Ving, watch out! Watch your step! What's that? Tuck? Where are you, Tuck? Uh, and yeah, we gotta, we need to find Billy. That's all we care about right now. Yeah, totally. Can I discern realities? Yeah, absolutely. Can I yell out loud? You can, yeah. Billy! Do we hear him? I don't know. Do I hear him? Oh, you know what? I think he- I think I do, and I go, I'm not letting them find me.

And then they're gonna put me back in there and leave me be while they have an adventure? I don't think so. Okay. Here we go. Discern realities. 2d6+. Wisdom. It's a nine. Okay, I'll aid. Okay. Head out of the mud. Scoopin' mud out of his ears. Uh, six. Failure, unfortunately. Mark a point of experience. Cool. And you get one question off the list. What happened here recently?

You see in the mud, coming around one side of the shack from an open window, uh, that you see, like, the curtains of Hither & Yon's bedrooms blowing through. Uh-huh. You see little feet off into the swamp. And I do the Aragorn thing. Crawl across the ground. A hobbit lander. A hobbit lander. A hobbit lander. A hobbit lander. A hobbit lander. A hobbit lander. A hobbit lander. A hobbit lander. A hobbit lander. off into the swamp. And I do the Aragorn thing. Crawl across the ground.

A hobbit landed here. A hoveling landed here. He had- He dragged behind him a sack of bread. The ropes were cut. A fart beckoned. A fart beckoned. A fart beckoned. A fart beckoned. A fart beckoned. A fart beckoned. A fart beckoned. A fart beckoned. A fart beckoned. A fart beckoned. A fart beckoned. And, uh, as your- the sun has been going down for quite some time and sinks- begins to sink further behind the- the distant horizon and a mist begins to rise from the ground. Oh no. Thick. Dense.

Mist. And the sound around- around you begins to deaden. Even your own voice is traveling only a few meters before dying away. As we kind of follow the trail, I try and scream for Billy to make my voice- can I make a roll to make- try and make my voice reach? Say constitution. Six. Okay. I will aid. Okay. How are you- how are you aiding? I'm screaming. I'm screaming. Yeah. That makes sense. I'm putting my hands up to his face. I failed again. Wow. Wow. Oh my gosh. Interesting.

I'm getting the vibe that this marsh is much more dangerous than I thought it might be. No. Yeah. Billy! Oh, it's the lonely marshes in that way. Like, it- it drives people apart. It puts distance. It makes you get lost. It's hard to find your loved ones. Right. Hard to connect. Yes. Maybe there's something like that. Well, I mean, yeah, I think like the marsh is the domain of Mother Never Was. Yeah. It has agency. Yeah. Yeah. Like the negative space is what's powerful here. Yeah.

Oh, interesting. So the marsh is like creating distance between you. Yeah. Okay. The fog. That's the fog. Yeah. And the fog is like wrapping around us. It feels like it's tendrils grabbing us and like muffling our voices. Ooh. Yeah. That's really cool. As you're screaming like next to each other, you start- it becomes harder to hear each other's voices even. Ugh. Talk! And now- Can you see each other? You can see each other for now, but your visions are starting to cloud a little bit. Ugh.

So you gotta move fast. Shit! Uh, we'll cut back to Billy. Um, the voices are sounding weird now. Mm-hmm. And so now I'm like, oh, maybe it's not even them. Maybe it's something else. And then he like really hides. Oh, sure. Okay. Yeah, that may- okay. So give me a Defy Danger Dexterity unless you have a different move to like hide hide. I don't. Ten. Ten. Okay. Yeah. So how do you hide in this marsh?

I do the thing where I grab a reed and I go underwater with just my eyes poking up and I'm breathing through it. A cartoon shark. Just your eyes poking out? Yeah. Yeah. And, uh, at the edge of the pond where you really- you creep into the water, little reeds sticking out, blub blub blub blub blub, you see your bread chunks floating in the water in the middle of the pond. And as you're watching, like looking around, listening, the bread chunks bob for a moment and then get sucked under the water.

And as- because you hid so well, you've masked yourself. As you're bobbing here, you feel something pass under you in the water. Spooky. A shape seen only momentarily. What do you do? Oh, oh, I'm scared. I shouldn't have left first. Uh, could I, uh, could I do, um, could I do Who Goes There? Yeah. What's that one? I would sort of billow the wisp, and I would roll plus wisdom to lure, trick, or distract something. Oh, yeah. Okay, so you- I want to find a- now I want to get out of there. Right.

So you're trying to distract whatever this thing is. Distract it while I leave. Okay, cool. I like that. Okay. Okay, so first you're, like, creating a little billow the wisp light to lure this thing- to lure whatever this is away. Okay. Great. Like a couple fireflies. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Fun. Uh, six plus wisdom, seven. Yeah, so on a seven to nine, it's, like, you can distract one thing temporarily. Okay, yeah. Okay. So it would be, I guess, that one thing. Okay, great.

I don't know if there's more in there. Uh, so, yeah, what are you- like, where- which direction are you trying to send it? Just, like, away. I don't know. Like, opposite direction of the side of the pond? Yeah. Yeah. So you- Well, I back out of the side that I climbed into. Yeah, makes sense. Okay, so you're- you're backing away.

You see your billow the wisp, like, the little cat kind of jumping around on the other side of the pond, jingling and jangling, trying to make- make a- make a- make a distraction for you. Mm-hmm. And- It's batting at the fireflies. Yeah. Oh, cute. And as the mist becomes denser and grows, you hear the sound of the bells, like, deaden a little bit, just as a massive form breaks the surface of the pond. How big? Big. Like a horse-drawn cart. Get out of the fucking water, Billy. God damn it.

And, uh- Yeah, I can't get out of there, for sure. Yeah. I can't get out of there. I'm as tall as these reeds. Surely, it won't see me. And you're in the- in- in the swamp now. Cut back to Tuck and Ving. Shit. What do we do? Fuck. Paul, what do we do? Uh, I don't want to mark an animal close to me. I want to grab a firefly and send it out into the air and see if I can see from it or something. Like, just grab a bug near me and throw it as far as I can. Quick, mark me. Yeah. Mark and throw me.

Mark and throw me. Okay. So, yeah. Roll it to fight danger. How are you- how are you getting a bug? Just grabbing one? Yeah. I just want to grab one. Yeah. Dexterity, for sure. Seven. And then, okay. So, you grab the- you snatch a firefly out of the air. Spirit tongue him. Please. You got to do something for me. Hey! Hey! Hey! Get your heads off me! I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Open up! I'm opening. I'm opening. Hey! No, he hasn't yelled yet. Hey, whoa, whoa, whoa!

We barely know each other. Oh my god. Tell me a little bit about yourself. I'm Vang. This is Tak. We're looking for our friend Billy. He's small. He's round. He's around here somewhere. I don't feel safe. Vang, how'd you guys meet? Huh? It was… How did we meet? We met at a ski chalet. Ski chalet? Now what is that? Okay, okay. It's very nice to meet you. I have some… Aren't you going to ask my name? What's your name? What's your name? Pierre. Nice to meet you. Nice to meet you.

Nice to meet you. Nice to meet you. Enchanté, Pierre. Hello. Good to meet you. Whatever that means. Okay. Dude. Seriously. I grabbed him by the wings. Whoa, whoa, whoa. I only got four more of those. Okay. Look. Our kid is missing in this swamp. Uh huh. We're pretty sure some fucked up witch lives here. Oh yeah. Wait. What? Oh yeah. You know about the witch? Oh yeah. What do you know about the witch? Uh uh uh. Can I parlay with you? Fuck you, dude. Fuck you, dude. Oh my god. Pierre.

Pierre, our kid is missing and I'm so fucking scared. What's in it for Pierre? What do you want, Pierre? What do you like? What do I want? Yes. I want to be a star. I can make you glow. I can make you stand out. Oh. I can make you the brightest bug in all the swamp. Oh. Can you actually do… Can you actually do it? Shut the fuck up, dog. What the fuck. Now we're talking. You can roll a parlay with that. Okay. I'm rolling a parlay with that. Alright. Two to six plus charisma. Seven. Seven.

So on a seven, he wants concrete assurance of your plan right now. Okay. You can make Pierre glow, huh? I think so. Let me see it. Um. Shh. I have this. Wow. I don't know what I got. Oh my god. Do you know how to make stuff glow? I have… No, not really. I have… Elemental mastery? Yeah, you're connected to the moon. Oh my god, I can give him a piece of my shine. Yeah, you can give him a little moonshine. I want to give him a little moonshine. Oh. Not the drink. Oh. Hit me.

I'm gonna roll elemental mastery. Two d6 plus constitution. Uh, 13. 13. Wow. Okay. I choose the effect I desire comes to pass and I retain control. Okay. So I don't avoid paying nature's price. Okay. Nature's price in this case is being seen. Yeah, I was thinking that. Oh, yeah. And then, you know, whatever's out there, we'll see you. The moon, like the radiance off of Bing just grows and grows and grows. Yeah. Yeah. That's a good idea. I mean like, uh, and I'm like, what? What?

Yeah, that's great. So you start to, you imbue Pierre with this glow of the moon which pours over him and he's like, wow, I'm beautiful. You're beaming. Thank you. And so are you. And so are you. Wait, am I? Yeah. Both of you. Fuck. Glowing. Please. Looking for the smallest roundest boy. Please help us. You promise. Okay. I, you know what? And he gives you a salute. All right. Pierre is at your service. I'm on it.

And he gets up and he flies off into the swamp and you see the like glow of a, of a bright, bright firefly zip off into the mist. Okay. Should we drive home? Yes. Okay. Yeah. Here we go. If anything, he's lighting the way so we can see better. Yeah. But hold my hand because I feel like the swamp is trying to separate us. It's not because I'm scared. Ow. Ow. Ow. Ow. Uh, what would this be? Defy danger. The danger of being separated. And I'm trying to run as hard as I can.

And you're carrying me with strength. Yeah. Strength it is. Eight. Okay. So on a seven to nine, you retain a hold on Ving's hand. You two are not separated. But even as you step, it feels like every step in this place is so exhausting. Almost like it's, it's, you're stepping further than you think you are. Um, you're becoming tired and it is slowing your progress to a crawl and the mist is becoming denser around you. Almost choking. You can smell it in your lungs. Fuck. Taste it in your mouth.

Getting all pruney. Because of how wet it is. Prunifying me. Fuck. I'm not meant for this climate. I'm a desert boy. Oh, my hair is straightening. And you continue head on into the mists. And, uh, just off in the mist, a light bouncing and dancing. Billy, you are among the reeds. I'm watching this figure rise up. Yes. Out of the swamp. It stomped, stomped into the, uh, the reeds on the other side of the pond, displacing water as it goes and pushing reeds aside with its great bulk.

Can I, like, spout lore about it or? Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. 2d6 plus intelligence 6. Oh, God, we're fucked, dude. No! We're so fucked. No! Wait, okay, I'm using a fairy child. This is important. Okay. To turn into a 7 to 9. Okay, great. So, a 7 to 9, you get something interesting, but not necessarily useful. What? That's how the move works. Come on. Don't give me what. That's not even Sean's thing. That's the game. What? It's the name of the show. Fine. Let's hear this really interesting thing.

Yeah. So, Billy has spent a lot of, he's been on the earth for quite a, quite an amount of time. He's been to places such as the Gray Marsh or the Everwood Valley. Sometimes, you know, you're aware of this world and the fact that sometimes there are animals and sometimes those animals get really big. This is an animal? To the point. But big. But big. To the point where some animals become so unusual and so large that they develop a singular reputation. And, uh, this creature you've heard of.

A bullywug? No, unfortunately not. A bear? Somewhere in between. The name that you've heard from people that have, that have whispered about it. Mm-hmm. Fishermen and reed farmers and peat gatherers that have lost their lives. Mm-hmm. And also Alec's roommate. Alec's roommate. The screaming old man. Stetton Walden. Yeah. This is a dragon turtle. They are enormous turtles. They're slow but they're very powerful and they are carnivorous. Carnivorous?

And their size means that occasionally they are man-eaters. Eee. Yeah. Okay. Are they related to dragons? It's just, as far as Billy knows, it's more of an analogy than it is a direct relation. Okay. It's a turtle that is so fearsome it may as well be a dragon. Mm-hmm. Like a tiger shark. Like a tiger shark. Yeah. Not really a shark. Yeah. Exactly. But a sad, wet tiger. Yeah. 80% tiger. Actually, wait. If I heard thing and tuck behind me, that means that this thing might see them. Mm-hmm.

I have to shoot first. I have to try to attack it. Oh. Try and draw it away. I can't let it hurt them. Yup. God, Billy. Just let us know where you are. I'm sorry. So you're trying to track it down now, trying to find it. Because it's moved into the reeds following the Bill of the West. It's huge. Yeah. I mean, if you're not being cautious, if you're trying to just follow its trail. Yeah. I'm just following it because I've got to protect my parents.

Just for me, how many tip points do you have, just so I know? I have loads. Just tell me. I have my full hit point. Okay. 20. 21. Okay. Yeah. That should be enough. Okay. And I'm very strong. Excuse me. At zero. Fuck. I'm very charisma. I'm really charismatic and dexterous. Okay. So, which are good things? Do your thing, buddy. All right. I'm throwing a huge rock. Oh, you're going to just follow? Well, hold on. Because it's on the other side of the pond, remember? Yeah. I don't know.

I'm not that far from it. Like 10 feet away. This extremely dangerous creature is way closer to you than it was when I was thinking about it. Okay, fine. Probably like 15 feet away. That's really close. It's like not that close. From here to there. Yeah. That might be 15 feet. The whole room. The whole room is like 22 feet. Okay. So, about the whole room. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. It's about 22 feet. I'm only five feet. Five feet. I can't see over a fridge. I don't know. I can't see over a fridge.

I can't see over a fridge. I don't know. I'm not that small. I'm five foot six. I'm pretty actually above it. Yeah, you're tall for a woman, yeah. But I still can't see over the fridge. No, you can't. Wait, this is an explanation for why you don't know how far 15 feet is? Yeah, because you can't see over fridges. Yeah. I don't know, man. Just fridges as far as you can see. It's pretty funny. Okay. 22 feet away from Billy. Yeah. Like child's play for this kid. Sure.

Like he can whip a rock, no problem. I'm whippin' it. Two to three feet. I'm whippin' it. I'm whippin' it. Six feet away from Billy. Yeah. Okay, that's an explanation. 26 plus dexterity for Volley. Throw your shit. Eight plus dexterity is … Wow. … ten. Is 10. So I fucking, I get it. I fucking go for it. Yeah. I get it. So, with Volley, you deal your damage. Awesome. Yep. Three. Three. That's not much, but that's all right. Yeah. So you pull your little arm back. Whack.

Whip this rock across the pond, and you hear it clack really hard against this thing's shell. Does it chip it? No. It's like a clang. Like it hits it. It's like it's hitting a shield. Okay, I'm going to do that again. But you have got its attention. Uh-huh. You hear it stop moving. Uh-huh. Yeah. He starts turning around. I'm gonna whip another one. Okay, this is… Alright, yeah, go for it. 2d6 plus dexterity. You did pick knives, just so you know. I did, but I'm not there yet. Okay.

Can I keep that one? Do I have to roll again? What happened? It was a 6, but it landed on the ground. If it was a failure, would you have kept it? No. Reroll it. I see it in your eyes. 6! There we go. See, that's what you get for being honest. Yeah, you're right. Okay, and then plus… Dexterity. …is 11. Great, roll your damage again. You get another hit. It's easy to hit this thing. It's huge. Yeah. 2.

Yeah, it turns, and it's slowly plodding around in a circle, and you see its giant snapping head swing to the side, and you glance it off its shell again, but it sees you. Okay. Through the mist, you can see some sort of animal perception. Piercing eye. Yeah. Oh, and it's only got the one. The other you can see from here is like a mass of scar tissue. Ew. And it starts moving in your direction. Starts sinking back into the pond. Where it can move faster. Uh-oh. Tuck and Ving.

We're walking, holding hands, and Tuck's like, Billy's lived in the wilderness forever, right? He knows to be careful in the wilderness, right? This is not the wilderness. What does that mean? I'm so scared. I should be making, now I have to make you feel better? So you did see a light, remember? Yeah. We're heading for the light. I want to hear the crack. Can I try and hear the crack? Uh, you can roll to discern realities. I will discern realities. Wisdom. I got 12. 12, three questions.

Uh, what here is useful or valuable to me? Okay, yeah. Through the mist, though deadening sound as it is, you hear a faint clack. And then a few seconds later, clack. He's over there. He's throwing rocks at whatever something is. Oh God, he's throwing rocks at something. Oh my God, this sounds like a very big turtle. We started running, uh, who's really in control here?

Yeah, so as you're rushing through the reeds, following the sound of the clack, you stumble over an otter, or rather, half an otter. Whoa! A big, like, mean-looking river otter, like those huge, huge giant otters. And you are like, hearing the clack and seeing this and the bite pattern of what chomped this thing in half, you realize that you are in the hunting territory of a large predator. What here is useful or valuable to me? Maybe I grab half the otter. It seems to like or hate otters. Yeah.

Ving, why'd you pick up that wig? That's a wig, right? Ving, is that a wig? Ving, please tell me that's a wig. Why is that wig all red on one side? Allison, is that you? But that does help, so you realize, oh, this is like a predator's hunting ground. Yeah. You grab the otter because whatever this thing is, as an expert in the natural world, it is motivated by food and safety.

So you think that, like, whatever it is, if Billy's throwing rocks at it, it's probably going to do something because it's pissed off, but not because it has some sort of, like, malign intelligence. Mm-hmm. Okay, that's all my questions, I believe? That's all your questions? That's good. Okay, I have a plan. I saw a documentary about this once. A guy named Bear Grylls shoved his way into a seal to distract a shark. So when you say, in this fantasy world, I saw a documentary.

He heard a song about it. By that. So that… He saw a play? I saw… The library… The librarians would come and, like, give, like, demonstrate… Like, natural history demonstrations. So it was the Natural History Channel. Uh-huh. The National… It was National Geographic. And he… And it was… He… It was… Fantasy name for National Geographic. It was a compendium of mythical beasts. Yeah. Yes. And it happened to be seal week. Yeah. It was seal week. The… And the librarian…

It was one of those wandering librarians. Sure, yeah. He had… He had said he did this. Mm-hmm. He talked a lot about drinking his own piss. Yeah. A lot. Uh-huh. And… And then also he talked about, like, he skinned a seal and put it on. Yeah. So I'm gonna do that. With the otter? Yeah. And I'll distract it so that Billy's safe. I mean, it could work. I'll look like it's prey. Uh-huh. But underneath, you're a big, strong boy. Yeah. So seven-foot-tall Tacoma Dome is putting on half of an otter.

Yeah. And you can go into the water. Yes. It just seems… It's… Do you… And… This is the best idea we have. I have no other ideas. And then Tacoma says… He leans over, he grabs your shoulder, because we're still holding hands. Yeah. He looks into your eyes and he says, Do you trust me? I mean… Yes. Okay. Vink tells him with a sincerity. And I… Sincerity in his eyes. I gently take the otter from his hands. He slips out of it. And I… And trails onto my hands.

I shove my hand into it. And I start working its mouth like a puppet. Sure, yeah. I'm not bad. No, I'm good either. Okay. And now you're trying to make it to wherever this thing is. Yes. Okay. This is going to require a roll, too, just because of the mist. We can get a plus one from the discerned realities. Okay, here we go. We both roll, yeah? Oh, yeah, you can both roll, sure. Defy danger… Say… Wisdom this time, probably. Thirteen. Seven. Success? Partial success. Vink leading the way.

You hustle through the reeds, splashing through the marsh. You hear another couple clacks, but you are making it to the pond. Billy, you are watching as this thing descends into the water. Yeah, it's knife time. I have to whip a knife before this guy goes under the water. Oh, okay, so you're throwing it from the other side of the pond. Great. Defy danger dexterity. Fuckin' do it. Nice. Okay, five plus six plus two is thirteen. Oh, wow, and another d6. Three. Yeah, you, uh, as it, like…

Can it hit, not its shell? Unfortunately, no, it's got… Come on! It's significantly armored. Yeah. And as it's, like, plodding into the pond, it slips under the water and your knife just clanks off the back of its shell. Alright, I give up, let's go. You see, like, light growing on the other side of the pond, and Tuck and Ving come popping out of the reeds. And you see Tuck has a big, dead otter on his hand. Billy screams. And Tuck goes, Billy, is that you? And he moves the mouth of the otter.

And with Tuck's seven to nine, you turn around, and this giant turtle head breaks the surface of the water, and you see its nostrils open wide. Oh, no. As it zeroes in on the dead otter. And then Tuck turns the otter towards the turtle and continues to work the otter's mouth and goes, you leave my kid alone, you fuck. Uh, don't, you don't have to worry about that, because it's coming after you. Okay, cool. What do you do? I, I wanna punch it with the otter.

Okay, so you're gonna wait for it to come out of the water. I'm gonna, yeah, I'm waiting for it to come for the otter, and then I'm gonna try and punch down its throat. Uh, okay, so it's coming out of the water at you. This thing's huge. Like, again, like a carriage size, all the way across, massive, spiny-looking shell. Dark, dark plates that look iron-hard. And a huge, scaly head with a, a beak that is razor-sharp. Okay. What's Bing doing?

I'll, I mean, I'll, I'll get Pierre to go fly by and get in his eyes while he's coming out of the water and kind of, like, dazzle him a little bit while Tuck's trying to do something. Okay, yeah, uh, give it a two to six plus charisma. Okay. Uh, thirteen. Oh, yeah, okay. Pierre puts on a show. Yeah, Pierre's like, oh, I've been waiting for this. Razzle and dazzle. He flies in front of him, like, da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da, doing, like, kicks and dances. It's the light of life.

And the turtle's, uh, one eye is blinking rapidly. I'm gonna just punch it. Alright. Yeah. Hack and slash, two to six plus strength. Fuck you, turtle. So that's, uh, a roll to five? Oh, my lord. And then my strength is two, so seven. Okay, so it's gonna hit you, too. That's fine. Alright, so roll your damage. Two. Fuck. Uh, two.

Okay, going forward, if you guys can come up with a way to bypass the fact that it's got this big shell, you can roll a defy danger and then not have to deal with its armor. Okay. But, yeah, this one doesn't work, unfortunately, as it, like, pulls its head into the shell as you punch at it. When it ducks, I get embarrassed because a turtle dodged me. And I pull my arm back and I go, fuck, it's snacking so fast! I skitter away. I'm like, what the fuck was that? How was it so fast?

And it starts plodding after you. That's gonna be the seven to nine on this one. Usually you would, if it wasn't for Pierre, you would have taken a pretty bad bite there. Shit, Vig, do something! I'm gonna use call of nature and call upon the spirit of the swamp. And bring out a swamp turtle on my own. The only thing that can fight this turtle is a turtle. Yeah, that's the only weapon. That's imagination full of running away with itself. Jesus. Okay, roll plus con.

I'm gonna use eager beaver, so I have a plus one request. Yeah, great. Oh, wow. Holy shit. Man, I'm rolling hot. Tonight, 13 again. Holy moly. This is gonna be a hot turtle. This is gonna be such a hot turtle. Abs, front, and back. Whoa. Yeah, it's like fan fiction ninja turtle. Sure, yeah. Just hum like a whore. Okay. Spirit performs a task for you. Oh, we got three requests. And remember, the way the move works is you basically roll plus request to get the spirit to do something.

So you're summoning this swamp turtle. What does it look like when you do this? It's like there's the reeds on the other side. It just kind of like comes up with that.

big whole area of reeds, and trees, like little trees are growing on the side of the swamp, so it's got like a whole island on its back, and it is like a black mud turtle, almost snake-slithering, like it's, it looks like it's slopping forward, doesn't really have a form, but the mud is vaguely turtle-like, or reptilian, and then just an earthen shell. That's cool, that's really cool.

Okay, so you're gonna use roll 2d6 plus 3 for the request to, what, get it to scare the turtle away, or seduce it? Yeah, just engage it. Yeah, totally. Oh, wow. 15. Holy moly, yeah. The dragon turtle, like, opens its mouth wide when it sees the earth turtle, and your earth turtle opens its, like, mud mouth that kind of, like, slops open, and big globs of mud fly off, and they slam into each other, and are just snapping and pressing against one another.

Yeah, and you know, like, in T-1000, when it's, like, head over head, like, because it's just made out of mud, it can, like, be, like, splashes, and heads over on this side, snapping and slamming at it. Uh, yeah, so this thing is engaged currently, and it's a big turtle, so it's quite slow. If you wanted to leave this, you hear that, Tuck? I fucked it, the fucking bog was slowing me down, or something. Their necks are really fast, but they don't move fast. Their necks are fast.

Their neck stinks, Joey. I didn't even see it move, it was so fast. Thanks, man. Don't run away from, uh, we, as we're walking, uh, we'll start walking away. Yeah, we just walk away. Behind you, it's like, boom, pow. I feel embarrassed, I was embarrassed in front of my son, he ran away because he heard a thing I said, because fucking thing is too loud, when he talks. No, it's because you said you were going to, like, just leave me there and lock me up, and I didn't want to be locked up.

We didn't want to fuck, fucking, fuck Billy. Billy, you didn't hear the whole conversation, you're picking and choosing what you want to hear. No, it's not fair if you leave me behind. Billy, we're not talking about leaving you behind, we just wanted to make sure that you were safe. You can't always guarantee that. I know, but- But in this case, Billy, and while being gestures at the wild turtle- I could have done it if you hadn't sent your fly after me. You got in my way.

How much damage did you do? You know, more than you did. Okay, fuck, fuck Billy. Guys, guys, please. Billy, I, you said their necks were fast. Yeah, and I didn't say that it was so fast that I couldn't hit it. I got it a couple times, and no one says, good job Billy, we're glad we took you on. Billy, you ran away. Because I had to. Okay, we stop, we stop, and I sit down on the moss in the path that we're on. There's just a titanic battle happening behind you.

Just turtle getting flipped over, slam, mud flying into the air. Like an elbow drop. Yeah, it does look like a ninja turtle sometimes. Yeah, exactly. And I cross my legs, and I put you in the middle of my legs, and I just look eye to eye with you. Yeah, I cross my arms and my legs. Be defensive. I try to pick you back up so I can see you in the eyes. Too sturdy. Ving holds Billy at your eye level. Billy, look. What? It's, I know you're old.

Like, I know that you're a thousand years old or whatever. And you can take care of yourself, but you still look like a boy to us. Well, what do you want me to do about that? Do you want me to just go in my gross form, and then you'll be scared of me, and I'll prove to you I'm big and strong? No, Billy. At the same time that you are a thousand, you are still a little boy, and it is still our job as your parents to keep you safe.

So we have to have the conversation of whether we should bring you into dangerous situations. Billy, as you're having this conversation, as you're hearing him say, you're just a little boy. You're a thousand, but you're just a little boy. You feel the tension growing in you as your seasons are starting. Like, the change is near. Yeah. You remember under the tree snatches of memory of your winter form saying that they could have a little more time with you. Right.

But that time is coming to an end. I don't have long. I don't have long, you guys. You can't treat me like a little boy forever. I can't stay this way for that long. What do you mean? I just feel like the next season coming, and if you keep me locked up, I'm not going to be ready for it. Wait, what does that mean? What happens when the next season comes? I don't know. I just feel it picking up in me. I need you guys to trust me that I can take care of myself. What does it feel like?

It feels like time catching up to me. Billy, no matter what happens to you next, we will still be here with you, okay? Mm-hmm. We'll see. We will. Hey, look at me. Look. Bing's got the side of his head, like, quivering. Billy, look at me. I will be here no matter what happens next, okay? We'll see. And it was wrong of us to have that conversation without you. Mm-hmm. Yeah.

We won't exclude you from anything that we're doing, but in the same way that we promise not to leave you behind, don't leave us behind, okay? Fine. It's a three-way promise, deal? Deal. Deal. Three-way. Three-way. Three-way. And as you make this promise to each other, knowing that the end of the road only happens if all three of you are there, behind you a turtle gets picked up and thrown into a pond. And then he goes, And the giant mud turtle slops back over to you.

So are we, like, good or what? You are released. Ah, wonderful. The oblivious void. It lifts its turtle hands, bloop, back into the swamp. The spirit returns to the spirit world. I didn't even get his name. It was Gordon. And now you're in the swamp. The threat of the turtle has been eliminated for now. But I will say that, because all creatures, I don't even know if I've ever said this, they have a list of instincts and behaviors. And I will describe this to Ving.

Ving, you can hear with your elf senses, after a little bit of silence, you hear, like, the water splash, and the reeds start to, like, be pressed aside again. One of the behaviors of the dragon turtle is move forward implacably. We need to get out of here. So this thing is slow, but it's just going to keep coming as long as you're in its territory. We should get up the banks, into the trees. High ground. Somewhere where Cloud Piercer can find us. Yeah. We need to get above the fog.

What is your plan for getting above the fog? Knowing it is dangerous creates distance and deadens your senses. I guess, like, I mean, these trees, I imagine the trees are pretty tall. We could try to climb up. Yeah. Over the tree line. Let's do that. All right. How are you, who is guiding the way out of here? Oh, is this a perilous journey roll? Oh, maybe. That's fun. We haven't done one of those in a while. We could do that. We don't need rations, do we? No. Quartermaster won't factor in.

Oh, God, I lost all the bread. So who is scouting ahead and who is navigating? What are the things you roll with it? Scout ahead is wisdom and navigate is intelligence. I'll scout ahead. You should navigate. What's your intelligence? Negative one. Okay, I have zero. Oh, yeah, you should scout ahead. Okay. What's your intelligence? Minus one. Follow me, I know the way. Backwards on a horse. Just back into its mouth. Oh, in here, for safety. Clomp.

Yeah, like he's parting the fog in front of him using a little elemental. Yeah, a little like… Cool. So you're scouting ahead? Yeah. Okay. And Billy's navigating. I'll navigate. Okay. I'm chasing the dirt. I'm chasing more like dirt, so we're going the right way. This way, this way. All right, 2d6 plus wisdom, 2d6 plus intelligence. It tastes less like turtle piss over here. That's 11. Oh, my Lord. Holy moly. That's a straight 11. It's beautiful. And I'm holding onto the back of Ving's shirt.

It's just like mud skiing. Just follow it. All right, guide me out of here, Ving. The fog seems to be affecting me more than most. Can you please put that otter down? No way. Sorry. Tuck's so bad at navigating and the fog's messing him up that he just keeps tugging you guys in different directions. We should go this way. Okay, so scout ahead. Take two from the list below. You get the drop on whatever lies ahead. You discern a beneficial aspect of the terrain.

You make a capital D discovery, or you note a sign of a capital D danger. Oh, the second one? You discern a beneficial aspect of the terrain. Yes. A shortcut shelter or tactical advantage. Yep. We're trying to get up high. Excellent. And then a discovery. Great. So Billy's going to be navigating the shit out of this. You guys are getting out of this swamp. My mouth is full of pine needles, so we're in the forest. We're in the forest now. We are getting there. He can't see anything.

So you're just scooping stuff up. It's like every scout. Yeah, this feels more like forest.

I can see the dirt's dry now great job everyone way to go so you are moving the fog aside he's doing like like like McCall and like when he was in McCall doing his tai chi yeah totally for a while yeah the mist is parting at your movements satisfying and Billy is eating handfuls of dirt underneath you spitting them back out like a like a sommelier yeah and tuck is functionally useless right now carrying the otter I'm care I think it's you we're gonna find your legs Billy I really feel like we should go that way and you start climbing up this hillside the the fog is definitely even as you're navigating you can tell it is trying to lead you astray you feel it tugging you in different directions and you're like no no no fog not today folks tugging me off over here you're getting yanked off by this fog and he yanked off is so dismissive yeah it's just like oh my god get out of here and Billy leads you up the hillside into the denser marshy trees and you find at the edge of the mist as it like reaches the top of this hill and and stays below in the bowl of the the hunting grounds that you were in you see that the mist does continue into the distance that this marsh is large this is a wide and and dangerous place and right at the edge of where the mist ends and the forest begins you find piles of dried flowers and carven idols it seems like hand-drawn pictures and portraits massed against the roots of an old gnarled tree whoa and there's just this thing is festooned I have a look yeah you can discern realities yeah two six plus wisdom try and figure out what this is for oh you I kind of like the idea that like you're looking at this pile of stuff and if there's anything that Billy loves in life it's a pile of stuff pile of garbage and I think as you're looking you know there's like yeah there's dried flowers there's carving idols pictures letters in some cases well there's like a doll like a stuffed like sack doll like from Mulan kind of yeah like the top of Mulan yep and before you even really realize what you're doing like Jessica is aware of this Billy might not be your little hand snakes out and grab something and puts it away in a pouch mine does yeah my hand puts it about that your hand puts it in one of your pouches let's grab something off this pile Billy the choice yeah here I'll tell you I'll tell you three things and what do you think Billy instinctually goes for there is a bent and twisted copper spoon the neck of it has been spun into a spiral all right next love it next there is a wooden carved duck okay cool next about the size of a thumb oh like it and there is a bundle of black hair tied with a red ribbon that's the one all right take this black hair pop it into a pouch don't even realize that you did it and you guys are just standing here in front of this shrine okay look at it yeah totally yeah discern realities okay here we go let's take a look at this thing six plus wisdom wisdom seven okay one question my ear is not what it appears to be you are from a country from a nation mm-hmm that is steeped in ritual McCall is a place that was built by humans under the direction of a god mm-hmm and in many ways in honor of a god mm-hmm and you know the difference between a shrine built to honor someone and a shrine built to implore the favor of someone and you would guess that this is a pile of offerings made to mother never was oh fuck to ask for favors okay guys and I tell you guys I was like this is a these are a bunch of deals and I take a step back nobody touch anything yeah oh yeah no I didn't yeah this is these are a bunch of deals these I these are deals that I think have already been made with mother never was this is what was traded what kind of stuff is in this pile it's nothing of like value value but it seems like a lot of items of personal value whoa should we leave something well we want to enter a pact with her just yet I don't think I think we don't have to I feel like we don't even want her to notice that we're here I think we should probably go yeah we're well we got away for we got climb this tree and make contact history well whatever the fucking tree we got the tallest tree by far yeah by far okay let's climb this tree wait for cloud piercer and then get the fuck out of here before she realizes that we're here I hate this is the tree giving you bad vibes and there's a bunch of hair at the bottom of it sorry sorry man yeah I'm just scared and I want to get scared to get ornery it talks like yeah someone dropped a weird wet wig over there he's like waving his hand off I don't like the smell of the base of this tree at all I think that you've got time enough to climb the tree without rolling you're climbing up this tree would you say we're spending time in this place yeah oh I can I commune the whispers you can commune with the whispers here if you'd like I also don't want to open it up to yeah the visions upsetting frightening or traumatizing that makes sense the worst that could happen here I want to use commuter whispers while we're up in this tree of never was okay so you're climbing the tree you're all sitting you're seated in the boughs of this tree as you climb up out of the like small canopy all the trees in the swamp up here like weirdly stunted yeah small but this tree is tall and gnarled and twisting and as you emerge from the canopy the branches up here become it's almost like they've been stripped bare and what is left is like a skeletal grasping hand of branches it's like it's almost like the wood is dead but it's still growing yeah weird and you're all just kind of nestled in the basket of the of the branches up here and I like that we get above maybe the fog a little bit yeah and the the night sky that which is silent but is almost deafening and it's like ambient sound told sound of the wind and the creatures and the birds is like whoa it's shocking you can see you're facing kind of like southerly in this tree you can see far off to your right the peaks of the mountains that High Spear City is nestled in far to the south you can see glinting on the edge of the Bay of Pinoose remember that Bay that you named yeah after I tried to draw a map I did a pretty good job really good you did a great Pinoose you can see the lights of what you can only assume to be vert grass and then off off to your left the east the black tree principality which you've spent absolutely no time in but you see a dense dense forest marching off into the distance like that primeval like a Sleeping Beauty style yeah primeval like yeah thank god yeah I like the stars above that part of the sky are brighter because there's no like oh I was actually gonna say the opposite oh that's cool yeah where it was like because the gibbous man does not look here oh there should be more stars there should be more yeah there should be more but there isn't oh there should be more but there's yeah and thing you have some time while you wait to commune with the whispers here okay I'm gonna come you with whispers role plus wisdom whoo six plus three is nine okay oh I can help how is Billy helping I am being quiet I was having a sing-along by myself and you said Billy Billy I need to concentrate in a moment of or before right but then you do start driving on Tuck's belly all right 2d6 plus bond 7 okay 7 makes it a 10 great thank you and on a 10 plus you what the vision will be clear and helpful to you okay so you're communing with the whispers of the gray marshes in this shrine tree the shrine tree okay so you who commune with this area the tree the marsh surrounding it and you see in the branches of the tree beneath you you see eyes see the faces of people right Yeah, like in the canopy or on the ground the canopy on the ground.

They're in the trees They're they're standing on the ground only Ving can see them. You can't see anything. You can't see anything Billy and I are playing thumb war. Yeah quietly. Yeah, and you're hearing like What do you wish for what do I wish for are you speaking to me? Yes, who are you? The deals that have been made we are that which never was The choices that you have made in your life the choices the choices the choices the choices that you have made Have left other choices unmade.

Have you ever wished to know the choices you never made?

Choices and he hears his own voice echoing through the trees choices choices and choices And you see like a child climb like a small child climb up out of the can Shadow child Now delete the podcast Usually like I wish to know a mother's love mother never was became my mother and shouting up from the bottom I wish to know a life where I was better than my brother and she took my brother from me She could do the same for you and an old woman who an old halfling woman with long Disjointed limbs.

Oh, yeah, then becomes a sweet small woman. I wish to know the way of the herbs She taught me the ways and asked me a little in return What have you come here for? Oh, yeah. What did I want out of this? What did I want to commune? Yeah, I need help. I think a little bit. What did we want?

I guess This is something I would like to know how Communing with the lands of mother never was can help us in defeating The gibbous man or maybe can give us a boon Because that is the thing is like we are we are in her territory and he fears her Because of the early deal because of the the first deal the deal that made sky the deal that made Lillian like that was that?

Was their bargain is of long ago before the world was ever made the gibbous man wanted children And so he made a deal with mother never was the woman who her dominion is everything that doesn't exist To help bring into the world the moon like a daughter for him and their contract was the sky I want her to honor her deal That is sick.

That is so sick that the fact that Lillian's not here It means her contract is void It is the contract that she is unable to fulfill must be driving her insane as well Or like must be a very motivating for her or whatnot. Yeah, so that's what you say Yeah I want for mother never was to honor her the original deal She made the first deal she made and then you hear whispers in the trees a deal I think all the eyes look in one direction it at once.

Yeah at one of the figures in the trees Okay, what is this yes all of the eyes turn to the child to the child Yet all the eyes lock on the child who then Begins to take another form Melting away to a woman with long braided graying hair your mother Ileana or rather Adernac all water as she looks older older than you ever saw her wrinkles in the eyes grit more gray in the hair mother my son You've returned to me and the voice is different You get the sense that this is the voice that she had always spoken before she was your mother You've come to make a choice The choice was made for me long ago.

I See the purpose you've laid out for me And I don't know if I can fulfill it, but I now here can help you make the choice that you have not made What do you see is that choice? and she reaches out a Long thin arm and a long thin finger and pokes you in the chest where the knowledge seed lies Shivers you look over at tuck and Billy and we're frozen like oh Billy's thumb is over top of tux and tux like I Gently cast her hand a finger aside.

She tended you as a garden The seed has been planted the tree takes root how long until it blooms This isn't up to me. It can be I can make it happen. I Feel like I Have been your son my whole life thinking that I Was a boy and a man created to walk his own path but in learning What I was created for when you say that the moon glow kind of like radiating. Yeah Created in your image, and it lights up her face and it's sag like really.

Oh, yeah version I Feel like I am NOT the son that is born of you. I feel something different I feel like I am The son that never was You see her she smiles and she nods That I can work with and she kind of is like her head is twisting as she's looking into your eyes Kind of like like how a snake's head kind of like moves from side to side. Yeah yeah, she's sizing you up every living creature on this planet looks up to the night sky and Is witness to the original deal that you made?

unfulfilled a Deal to make to make a daughter a deal to make a daughter and Every deal this tree points at the tree gestures that the tree is full of deals Every deal you've made since that original Negotiation has been in service of chasing that original deal that has gone unfulfilled Unfinished the original covenant still broken As the coronet this guy broken as the coronet in the sky just like I said Just like I you know flawed up on all my own my poetic self And with great knowledge of the podcast and it's lore All the things I remember all the things I remember unto myself You've already chosen sides in the past with chimes you made a deal in his attempt to save Lillian gestures at the moon as He's saying this thing is putting his arms out and tracing through the constellations on his skin Correlate with the story.

I am a record of your deals unfulfilled We know you feel the responsibility you have a place in this fight, where do you stand? Mmm-hmm You see that? Keep in mind with all that's about to be said that you see this land with her even in this this aspect this form of Adirnak all water of your mother Ileana you see like the face shifting and turning though She stared she she looks directly at you. Mm-hmm. She shifts and moves and turns.

I choose no sides I Cannot choose I make deals with all who come My covenant was fulfilled the child was made the moon hung in the sky What happens after that our choices made and beyond like n? What of the deal you made with chimes?

He came he offered I made the deal and you see she's still like shifting like she's Straining against something she's shifting and moving and turning away from you while still looking dead-on The black ink on my skin turns to bright moonlight and I shine the constellations as Bright as they are in the sky. Hmm. Oh Cuz you can't you like this the night sky is like blocked out. She's not confronting you Like blocked out. She's not confronted with her broken deal ever. She's blocked it out.

Perhaps. Oh, yeah Yeah, that could be part of the deal that she made with us. She doesn't have to understand. Yeah Yeah, she's you can it's she's like roiling almost like a like a boiling pot of water Yeah, like when t1000 falls into the magma exactly. I've never actually seen the Terminator movies Yeah They're great T2. Oh, I gotta watch it.

Oh, yeah Robots and people running around those are the two things I love in movies Yeah, so you you illuminate these constellations on your skin and though she is again mother never was as hard to look at Even though she is staring directly at you. You see that she see that she is turning away and shielding your eyes and almost recoiling from the Recognition of something that is represented on your skin.

She's like I cannot help My realm is the things that are not done the choices that are not made I cannot act but if you want to roll something you can try and try and glean something out of this situation Because you're dealing with a with a very Strange entity right now I will use druidic lore consult the trove of ancient knowledge within me to examine the events of the world all wisdom you have the contracted you. That's so sick. 2d6 plus wisdom, 11. Okay, and on a 10 plus with druidic lore?

On a hit the GM will ask you a question about the subject, whatever you say is true. Okay, so I'm asking you and then you're just telling me how things are. Okay. Do you think that, based on what you know about the the turnings of the world through the eyes of the druids and their peoples throughout time, mother never was his role in the creation of the world and her role in the creation of of the moon and the sky.

Does Ving think that mother never was is a pure and cold entity or do you think that she is a woman bound by the rules that were placed on her? I think that she is a matriarch that is crippled by the guilt of not being able to nurture. Okay, yeah, that makes sense. So you can see in what she is fighting against is that this is a mother. She is mother never was. She has created so many children and by the laws of her reality she has been denied the ability to be there for them. Well, that's sad.

Yeah, like the rules of her are that she cannot interact with the world. She can only make the deal to make the thing, but she cannot be part of the world itself. And she also can't do anything about what people do with the gifts that she gives. That's such a sad thing to think about parents.

You think about people like Nana, this old woman who came back, like she asked for this gift and mother never was tried to give it to her, but she returned and so much time had passed that the people that Nana cared about were gone. Right. So did mother never was turn Nana into this twisted bitter thing or did she use her gifts to become that in anger? Yeah. Oh, and then all this blame put on mother never was. She's the boogeyman. She has made choices. Yeah.

She has made choices that have hurt a lot of people, but nothing in the world is purely good or purely bad. Even the gibbous man. Yeah. Honestly, in mother never was you're seeing an aspect of the gibbous man. He has been cut off from an aspect of himself due to choices that he made out of fear and he has been living with the consequences of that fear for centuries. So what you're seeing in this is that mother never was wants to help you, but she is bound to laws that she cannot break.

So you need to find a way to get her aid in a way that she is able to aid you. She can only make a deal. You have to make a deal with mother never was if you want her help. Okay, what is our deal with mother never was? And we can bring Tuck and Billy into this as well. That's what I was thinking. I was also thinking about your ability to push beyond reality. Right. Oh shit. Yeah. You might be able to break these laws. Right. The unbreakable law. Yeah. The unbreakable deal. Mm-hmm.

That we can get something from her without having to make a deal. Perhaps. Potentially. So I have breaking the law, which is if I take a debility to one stat, I can make an impossible thing possible. Would it give, like if you broke the law, would it give then Ving like room to make a deal that's not possible? Or would it give like mother never was a chance to do something, to like to make a choice for herself?

Yeah, I think that's the latter where it's like, yeah, because it's like she wants, she, the only thing she can do right now is make a deal, which her deals tend to go sour, which is basically Ving signing up for a curse. But if like, if Tuck can use breaking the law, we can break the rules of her realm, of her like constriction and say, like basically. Maybe she can give us a boon. Yeah. With us having to give anything for it. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Yes. Yeah, I'm down for that. That's really cool.

That's very cool. Yeah. Okay. The deal, Ving says, is not mine alone. I have a lot to consider in this world, and I gesture at them. I have my own family. I need to make this decision with them. Grant me at least this. I welcome all who come to make a deal. And Billy and Tuck, you suddenly come to, you are surrounded in this canopy. We're distracted by the thumb, and I'm like, ah, Billy, oh! I can't always win. You're too strong! I'm not even touching you. Oh, your thumb is so strong!

I don't play anymore. Okay, fine. And you are, you look around, and there are faces in the canopy. Holy shit! Where, where are we? Where is that? They're the deals. These, these are the faces of the deals. Of all the stuff on the ground? Guys, I've been doing a lot of things. You've been frozen for, like, half an hour, it feels like. I knew it. And you see this shifting. Each of you sees a face looking at you. I knew it. I don't know. You've been frozen for half an hour. I knew it.

I would never play a game that long. This is Mother Never Was. Mother Never Was, this is my family. Hi. Please don't eat me. I come in peace. I could not if I wanted to. Thank goodness. Your friend has come to make a deal. And Tuck is like, Ving, what the fuck are you, what are you talking about? What are you doing? Mother Never Was wants to help. I do not. I cannot. And you see her form roiling as she says this. Yeah. She has as much pain invested in the Gibbous Man as he does. Deals are made.

They cannot be broken. Royal turn twist. She lives by a law that I'm hoping you can help break. Um, uh, yeah. She's willing to help if she could. I cannot and I will not. And royal twist turn. Tuck takes this. The canopy's starting to shake around you. The tree, the branches and the marsh are starting to twist and turn. Hey, hey, hey. And then Tuck kind of like, he, he moves like kind of towards her on the canopy, like climbs a little bit out. And he's like, what do you see in me?

As you walk out, the branches are turning up and around your legs and the trees are starting to bind you in place. What do I see in you? Choices unmade. Deals broken. I can give you something else. I can help you find what was lost. Wait, what do you mean? A life, a family, a past hollowed out, filled up with something foul and dark and then emptied out and tossed aside. Emptied out by who? I'll tell you nothing else until you give me a gift. Make a deal.

I'll tell you everything you want to know. Tuck goes, I, he reaches forward and he like extends his hand to her. She looks at it. The tree binds his wrist. Oh yeah, you get locked in this imploring pose. Yeah, I, I don't need anything from you. I lost something. I can tell. There's something important that is missing. But I don't think I need it anymore.

And it's like in, in this like space, this liminal space that we're in, Tuck like tries to conjure like, like the images of the Battle of Olan Spring, the Husky, like the shores of Crystal Bay. He's like, I don't think I need whatever it was that got taken away. And he kind of like against the, the strength of the branch that's holding him, like pushes his hand out further. But I do have a gift for you, given freely, with no need for repayment. What is it? It's a choice for you.

Okay, so I want to be clear here, because what we talked about has kind of changed. You're offering her this choice. She will make her choice and you will get nothing in return. Yes, I do not want to make a deal. I want to use breaking the law to give her the chance to make one choice. Oh, what choice would she make? I give you one of the choices of my life. You can use it freely for whatever you want. Hmm, what is a choice that Tuck made? Oh, in the past?

I meant in the future, choices unmade as well. Hmm, choices yet to happen. I see, I see, I see. But it's, I guess it could be something in the past, but he, his intention was for the future. Oh, so what you're saying, let me know if I'm on the right track, is that there will be a choice at some point in the future that Tuck is going to make that will be taken from him. Yes. I like that a lot. That's a, that's quite a, that's quite a weapon to have.

A choice is a powerful thing and by my understanding of what you are, you don't get to make any. You are bound by the choices that we make. So, I think I can give you one of mine. And, uh, her form turns and twists and then you see before you, Habibi, a kind-faced Macaulan elder man. And then it shifts again to, like, a Macaulan.

woman I do not recognize oh oh didn't mean to make that sound oh what oh what what if I say something and it turns into another form of Macaulay woman that you don't recognize a young adult maybe a bit a bit weather-worn a bit harried like she's lived a bit of a hard life and she the branches recede from your arms and legs and she reaches forward and she takes the hand she places another hand over the side over the other side of your hand and says this gift I accept from you my son and I I take the debility she takes the choice she melts away into the canopy you don't have to roll for it yeah I don't it's a good ability what do I take an ability to uh what do you have left dexterity intelligence charisma charisma yeah you feel as as this image departs you feel a part of you leave with it and that's where we're gonna end it for this week I'm your game master Sean O'Hara joining me as always Tacoma Dome the barbarian Abdul Aziz so Ving the half-elf druid Paul offers take care that Billy the halfling thief Jessica tie hi everyone thank you to all of our patreon supporters around the world without you this show simply would not have been possible if you want us to support the show in this these last few months of spelt lore and get ready for our brand new campaign which we hope you'll love you can join us at patreon.com slash spelt lore or spelt lore comm slash money please thank you to Aaron Reid for our intro and outro music and all of the music produced for the show also Taylor Swindles for producing music for the show and as we come into the last stretch the home stretch of spelt lore we are feeling just so grateful for all the people that have stuck around or this big long journey that we've been on and some of those people are this is we're back in 2019 2019 yeah Wow this is where it was such a different place in 2019 holy shit different as it will be in 3019 yeah you mean in a thousand years in a thousand years from now the world will barely be as different as it 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