Tag: D&D

Now the 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 who 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, and welcome to Spout Lore. I'm your Game Master, Sean O'Hara. Joining me as always, playing Tacoma Dome, the Barbarian, Abdul Aziz. Hello, everybody. Playing Ving, the Half-Elf Druid, Paul Oppers. Hello, everybody. And playing Fat Billy, the Halfling Thief, Jessica Tai. Hello.

When last we left our heroes, Billy had escaped through the window of hither and yon, out into the mysterious and dangerous Gray Marshes in search of Cloud Piercer, and hoping to avoid the dangers that exist within, the threat of Mother Never Was. Billy found a gigantic dragon turtle while attempting to attract Cloud Piercer via stolen bread, while Tuck and Ving realized that Billy had escaped. And our bread was gone. And there was no bread.

The party eventually came back together, but not before attracting the attention of the massive dragon turtle which emerged from the pond. Battle was waged. Ving summoned a powerful elemental turtle spirit, which did battle with the dragon turtle, allowing them- Pretty original, I'd say. Pretty original. Is that a turtle? Making that a turtle. You explicitly said it looks like fan art of Donatello. There we go. Perfect. You said it has abs. That sounds like you, not me. No, that wasn't me.

I was doing you. The party emerged above the fogs of the marsh to find a tree piled with belongings, discovered to be a shrine to Mother Never Was, people leaving offerings for deals made in days past. Billy, observing the shrine, almost subconsciously grabbed the little lock of hair and stuffed it in his little pocket, unbeknownst to him, while the party waited in the higher branches for Cloudpiercer.

Ving attempted to commune with the spirits of the marsh and attracted the attention of Mother Never Was herself. A cryptic conversation was had with the ancient spirit of not making choices, and we kind of intimated through conversation, through some roundabout speak from Mother Never Was, that she really wants to help with what's going on, but is unable to due to her nature of not being able to interact with the world except through the making of deals.

So a deal was made, via Tuck, in exchange for their safety, that Mother Never Was can take one choice from Tuck's future when that choice is made and use it for her own benefit. We don't know what that's going to look like, but it is probably going to be scary. It's a Chekhov's gun that you now have. Yeah, I love it. Cloudpiercer showed up a little bit later, the storm and the recently betrayed Gale on his heels.

The storm came, started whipping up all manner of debris and detritus as Gale attempted to take down the party and Cloudpiercer. The waning knife was exchanged, and the party took off back towards Hitherin Yon, narrowly avoiding Gale. Examining the waning knife within Hitherin Yon, the gang was treated to a vision of Rian's birth and the creation of the waning knife, into which Lilian took a piece of the moon and a piece of her love for Rian, implanting it in the knife itself.

Now the party has what we believe to be the only weapon capable of harming the Gibbous Man. They then decided to travel to Hibernia, via Hitherin Yon, to protect one of the remaining and most vulnerable pieces of Lilian's moon, now that the grey, the magical fog which surrounds Hibernia and that part of the Sea of Graves, has begun to lift.

Then, traveling to Hibernia, a little bit of a mix-up in the placement of the bar led the group to being in the center of Hibernia's village itself, where they observed an argument between Oval members and Clade leaders, Aldus of the Empty Sky, leader of the Windwalkers, and Stoneye, king of the Selkies, during which they discovered that Grimshay, former leader of the Oval Council, is dead, and the council is in disarray.

They emerged, Tuck tried to get himself into the council with everybody else by declaring being king of the Druids, which was a big swing, and being essentially trespassers. They were brought before the council at Spearpoint. Wanted to trespass. An argument took place at the council, to say it lightly, as Stoneye demanded that the three be ejected, and he be allowed to kill Tuck for essentially sidestepping the Gesh, which he finds extremely disrespectful.

Aldus of the Empty Sky has said that the Thunderbirds which are on their way are not their enemies, but their allies, and that any aggression happened on the part of the Druids. And Ving showed off his constellation scars, the words written in the sky, the Druids' ancient knowledge, in an attempt to have the council hear them out. And Velary, the willow's daughter of the Oval Council, has asked the council to just listen. So that is where we find our heroes now. Bound to the Knowledge Tree.

The council has decided the only way they're going to listen to you is if you are absolutely the least bit of risk possible. So all of you tied arm to arm, stretched around the trunk of the Knowledge Tree. You dare bound your king? Don't I? I thought we were bros. He groans so loudly. Say your piece. Oh, whose turn is it? And I look at, I guess I look at Billy and Ving, I'm like, whose turn is it to talk now? Whose turn is it? I guess I haven't said much. I can say some things.

Billy, you have things to say. You are a fairy. They defer to you. Do they? I don't know if they like me that much. They're afraid of you, yeah. But they defer to you as a powerful being. I kind of lunge at them a little bit. And they all hoof. All right. The floor is mine. Okay, um, the Thunderbirds are on their way, and I know you know that, but they're not coming to help you. You see Aldous crosses his arms at this. Thronebreaker has been, I don't know how you say it, overtaken? Corrupted.

Corrupted by something that I'm sure you are aware of by now. And Billy looks up to the sky. And he says, when you read it, look between the stars. Nice. I don't think we should speak his name here. And you see the council members looking back and forth at each other. The campus man. Doug whispers it really quietly. Doug, that's still out loud. I heard you. Sorry. Try and make this super intense for them. Sorry. Sorry, Billy. No, it's okay. I don't think they heard you.

Noreen is like, I absolutely heard you. Her ears, her cat ears go forward. Yeah, yeah. And you will not speak his name in this place. I won't say it again. And you see, okay, so I'll say, somebody give me a discern realities. Billy. Six. I will aid you. Okay. With an eight. Okay, so that gives you one question, makes that a seven. So one question off the discern realities list. As you say this, there's like a ripple that goes through the council.

We're in a place where these are the most powerful druids on the planet. They can feel the movement of the world. They know kind of what the deal is. But it seems like they're just not in agreement on what it means. Right. Like they know what is happening and who's coming and all that, but they don't seem to be able to agree how to meet it. Okay, so maybe what here is useful or valuable to me. Yeah. Great.

Maybe what here is useful or valuable is Billy's kind of just like watching and Ving, because you guys are kind of watching together. Tuck is just like, here I am with my king. The center of all power yet again. Ready to serve. Ready to serve. The realm. The realm. The king of the north. Tuck's been reading a lot of Lust Unbound and Knights of Rodanthe and stuff like that. So he's reading a lot of knight fiction. Yeah. My king, I am your knight, and I know I must not touch.

The arm stretch back is making this like really erotic. You said we were tied like this. You said you were tied like that. No, you introduced hiding. You said touching. Yeah. You said they put a codpiece on me. No, they took it off. They tied us up butt to butt. Ass to mouth. The most secure way to bind a prisoner. A fantasy Caterpillar. What's it called? That's what the guy that made this human centipede thought he was doing, fantasy catcher Billy.

So what is useful is, Tuck is not paying attention, Mears and Victoria are also bound to the tree and you can see that there's a lot of anger that you brought not just outsiders but like seemingly fucking nobodies to the council rock. But Billy, you're noticing the eye, the glances being passed between people and you are picking out where everyone stands in terms of the council's dissension.

So what you're picking up is the Willow's daughter, Velari, the oldest druid, and Noreen of the Quiet Step seem to be, like they're looking at each other more than they're looking at anybody else. The Stone Eye seems to be apart from everyone. Oh, on his own. He's got like his huge arms crossed across his barrel chest. Bloodied knuckles, scars on his arms. He's been in a bad fight recently and he's not looking at anybody. A lone wolf just like me. Just like you.

Yeah, he's on the other side of the tree. He's facing away from everybody. He's got one whole side of the tree. They put him face against the tree. And we're facing out, having conversations with people. Guys, what's going on out there? My king. Lips to the tree. My king. My king. Face mushed against the bark. My king, what's happening? We kill her every day. My, what smooth skin you have, my king. Tell me. Tell me where my chance is and I'll release myself. Want to know my chance?

One, two, three. Here's my chance. You just let me know when it's time. One, two, yeah. And we're like, ow, ow, ow, ow. Tuck, stop it. My king, I did not mean to harm you. But there is one on the other side of the tree who's like me. A lone wolf. A man without, without heart or hum. A man like me, big guy. Big guy just like me. Stern-eyed. He only sees people at least as big as he is. Anyone smaller than Tuck is like in protect mode. Anyone bigger, fight mode. Yeah, fight or fuck.

Fight, fuck, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. He doesn't have fight or flight, he has fight or fuck, yeah. You gotta be at least six foot nine to ride this ride. The forbidden fruit, my white whale. Come to me, my whale. Wait, does he want to fuck Stern-eyed? Yeah, I think maybe he doesn't know. Who knows? He's a very, remember, he's a elephant seal. He's got shapes for days. Shapes for days. He's got lumps and bumps. Yeah, that's what's happening. All to graze. That's what's happening.

On the other side. The camera goes back there every once in a while and you'll see the wind blow and Tuck's butt is like out to the cliff. Oh, mighty wind blows from your lungs of strong. Oh, the fog tickles. I feel the breath of the world upon my taint. Oh my god. Jesus. Sorry, there's one more piece to what I was telling Billy. Sorry. No, not at all.

Billy, the last piece that you put together is that Aldous of the Empty Sky, who I believe turns into an eagle and is leader of the Windwalkers, is making a lot of eye contact with Hadar, a man eater. So boys for the boys and girls for the girls? I think I have said man in the past. Both apply. They are making a lot of eye contact with Aldous and it seems like something is about to happen. Pop off. Oh shit. Oh shit. Oh. Oh. Uh. What? Uh. Trap expert. Yeah. Do you mean shoot first? Oh wait.

Shoot first. Oh fuck. Shoot first. I'm so sorry. Shoot first. Right. So shoot first means that whenever there's a question of who acts first, the answer is Billy. But it depends on what you want to do. There is like a tension building between Aldous and Hadar. Ugh. Oh. And Stoney seems like he's just furious that you're here. Can I do connections? Oh yeah. Connections might be tough. What are you hoping for?

Like if the fairies have like intel, if they've heard like Hadar and Aldous talking in the past. Oh. Hmm. Like do they have information? Because if they're given weird glances. Interesting. Mm hmm. Yeah, I like that. So you're kind of like putting the vibe out to the fairies for this info. Yeah. So I'll whisper to them. Yeah. Because they're all around. Oh fuck. No. I think connections is with charisma. It's with charisma. So five plus two is seven. Okay. Okay. Yeah. Okay.

So I'm whispering out of the corner of my mouth. Hey. Guys. What fairy answers? Pip. Pip. Pip. Pip. Pip. Pip. Pip. Pip. Pip. Pip is what kind of fairy? Pip. Pumpkin. Oh, Pip's your pumpkin one. Yeah, yeah. So a little round gourd like fairy appears up on Billy's shoulders like, yeah what's up? What's going on Billy? What's up with Hadar and Aldous? Oh. Oh. I'm given a look and it's weirding me out.

So on a seven to nine, I believe you get something that's okay or it's got strings attached, right? Yeah. Well, they've been whispering a lot to one another after council meetings. That's shady. What are they whispering? I don't know. But the first fight with the Thunderbirds in which our friend the blubbery one over there took quite a beating, seems like those two got off pretty clean if you're asking me. They were part of the beating. They're in on it.

They've been sniffing around the old well quite a lot these days too. The old well? Do you mean that literally or figuratively? Is that a sex thing? The over-enunciation of figuratively is so funny. Figuratively. I mean it both literally and figuratively. I mean that they've been sniffing around the old well in which they've been playing their part a little too close to the chest. You know what I mean? Going back to the old-timey druid ways.

But then also, they've literally been going to the old well in the center of the island. Oh, where Ving got those snakes? No. Where the moon in pieces? There you go, tips his little pumpkin hat. He's not in the scene, but figuratively. All right. All right. I'm realizing I gave you a lot of information on a 7 to 9, so I think I've got to attach a string of some kind. What can I give you, Pip? What have you got in your pockets? And he crawls down and starts digging around in your bag.

Help yourself then, Pip. My arms are tied. What have you got in your… I have the waning… No, I don't have the waning knife. That'd be so funny. Teddy bear with a secret. With secret stuff in it. I have that black hair with the ribbon. Oh, shit. Pip reaches his long… He's got arms like pumpkin vines that are wound into little fingers. Yeah. And he reaches into your pouch and he pulls out a locket of black hair. There's hair where there wasn't hair before. What's this from, Billy?

I don't know what that is. Well, I think it looks quite fetching. And he presses it onto his face and gives himself a big black mustache. He's like, what do you think? I'm the sheriff of Pumpkin Town. Yee-haw. It actually suits you pretty well. All right, well, I'm going to take this and surely nothing will come of it. And he tips his hat. If you need anything else, just give me a call. All right. And he scuttles off into the fairy wilds. So I tell, well, I tell Vang for sure what I heard.

Tuck is so far away from here. Tuck is muttering a lot. Bing. Bing. Billy. Mirrors. Oh, mirrors. I'm also here. All right, mirrors. Victoria, can you hear this? I can hear it from where I am. Everyone is having the conversation. I don't want you to look all at the same time. They all turn their heads in different directions. All this and Hidara, apparently I've been told are in on something together. They've been working with the Thunderbirds is what I take from what I was told.

The good side or the bad side? I think the bad side. We're in trouble. Oh, my God. And I was also told the old well, they've been lingering. They know where the moon piece is. I think so. They must be looking for it. On the distance, thunder starts to roll. They're going to do something, Bing. Winds start to pick up on Council Rock. You can see darkness in the horizon. There's no time to waste. You must set us free. The fight is already here. Bing cuts the ropes with a waning knife. Oh, okay.

All right, roll. With a waning knife. I don't know why. I'm going to ask you to roll Defy Danger Dexterity because a couple things are going to happen. Oh, shit. I imagine, like, a power metal riff starts. Yeah. The storm. Yeah. Oh, this is such a cool song that just came to my mind. What song is it? Oh, fuck. Which one? I think it's Banners of Arai. Sean, this is what you wanted me to play. That's a great album, dude. These tits are out, man. Yeah, they're out. Jesus. There's so much snake.

Can we wait to see how I rolled? Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Pull up the cool songs? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Do it, do it, do it. Six! Plus dexterity? Zero! You have no dexterity? None! Wow, six. I'll help you. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You can help. Seven. Seven. Seven. Okay, so that makes it a seven. So that's a partial success. I pull the rope taut. Yeah. This is actually interesting, because this means that everything's going to happen simultaneously except Billie goes first. Oh! Why? Oh, she first?

Because of shoot first. Oh, yes. Billie acts before everybody else does. Okay. So I pull the rope taut. Okay, yeah. So your bonds get cut at the same time as Hadara goes for Noreen. Oh, shit. Aldis grabs Valarie. And he starts to toss her towards the cliff edge. The aid has gotten everybody out. So now all of this stuff is happening at the same time. It's kind of like a slow motion stuff is moving, and then Billie's going just before. So Billie, what do you do? I'm a bad guy now. Does that work?

Oh, sick. Yeah. 100%. Okay. What are you trying to do with it? I would like to freeze something in place. Oh, sick. Oh, yeah. That's rad. Cool. Freeze someone in place. Okay, great. I have to call upon my winter form. Oh, roll plus wisdom. Wisdom, yeah. Okay. So I'm going to roll plus two, six, plus one, seven. Oh, nice. So on a seven to nine, I get two holds. Yes. On a seven to nine, you get two holds. And I think on a seven to nine, you're forced into your winter. Yes. Oh.

To remain there for until. Until a sunrise comes. I can roll out. And it's the fact that we're on Hibernia. Yeah. More. Like. Oh. It's like maybe Billie's winter aspect becomes like a little bit more than it usually is. Yeah. Flurry Billie. Yeah. Okay. More than a winter. Great. That's cool. Yeah. Billie almost. It's like he almost disappears into a flurry. Oh, yeah. I don't see him anymore. So this all happens. Hadara goes for Noreen.

You can see like their fangs in their mouth bloody and glinting in the torchlight. Aldous grabs Valarie and starts hurling her towards the cliff face. Stoneye is like pounding across the stone towards them. Billie. Yeah. So Billie. Yeah. He lashes out like one of the flurries. It catches Valarie. Yeah. In this like ice arm that reaches out to catch her. Awesome. Yeah. So she's like crack, crack, crack, like frozen in place.

As you can see, if you hadn't done this, she would have been sent flying off the edge of this cliff. Yeah. And Aldous sees that ice crackle up out of the ground and catch her. Turns. Sees that you're like surrounded by flurries and snow. And the next frame jump, there's a huge eagle there. And he starts taking off into the sky. I would like to shoot him down with my bow. Oh, the bow. Yeah. Ding, ding, ding. So volley. 2d6 plus dexterity. Okay. Oh, great. I got a 10. Ooh. Okay. Natch. Yeah.

Roll your damage. Four. Four. Yeah. So you send an arrow sailing into the night sky, which slams into the chest of Aldous in his eagle form. And blood just like gouts out. But he continues flying off into the trees. Oh, no. So he is heading off deeper into Hibernia. Like, into the island? Into the island. Okay. And Hidara is taking Noreen to the ground. And you can see, like, fur sprouting up as they take on their wolf form. Stone Eye is charging across Council Rock. Tuck, what do you do?

Tuck feels the rope slacken. Mm-hmm. So he, like. Wakes up. Wakes up. Wakes up. Wakes up. He goes, ugh. My bones have been cut. My bones have been cut. And he does, like, a twist. He spins around the tree. Yes. And he sees his white whale going to save his friend. Uh-huh. And he goes, I won't give you the satisfaction of saving your friend. Oh. And I grab the axe and I throw it immediately at Hidara. Hidara. All right. Okay. Go for. This is also volley. So this is dexterity. Well, that's bad.

So, yeah. I failed. I got a four. A four, huh? The axe was flying over the cliff. Yeah, absolutely. You threw your axe toward a target. Yeah. At the edge of a cliff. Yes. You knew this was a possibility. Yep. Larry, Terry, and Chad sails right past Hidara. Off the edge. Shit. Into the darkness. Oh, fuck. The purple. The purple goes. Did you see the purple? The light? Yeah. As Stone Eye completes the task. and tackles Hidara off of Noreen, who is bleeding heavily.

Has like a chunk taken out of her neck. Oh, fuck. Yeah. I go to her. Yeah. I run to her and like bound the wounds. Great, yeah. This would probably be. A couple hands? Oh, no. I guess it's not a player thing. It's an NPC. So you could probably do wisdom. Defy danger wisdom. Oh, a 13. Oh, Jesus Christ. Yeah. That's a 13. That's a 13. That's a 13. That's a 13. That's a 13. That's a 13. That's a 13. That's a 13. That's a 13. That's a 13. That's a 13. That's a 13. That's a 13. Jesus Christ. Yeah.

So you see she's like looking at. I go still. And I use like a little bit of my life symphony to calm the moment. Mm-hmm. And to get her blood to slow down. To stop gurgling out. Yeah. And she like you can see. This is an experienced healer as well. She like reaches up and pinches off something in her own neck. Mm-hmm. As this happens, she changes before you into a powerful long-limbed panther. The blood starting to like clot around the neck and she darts off into the forest.

After the flying guy? You would assume. Okay. Yeah. So the people on the cliff are now Valari who is frozen, all of you, and Stonai is fighting Hidara Maneater. Yeah. Tuck wants to help Stonai. Okay. Great. What does their combat look like right now? Yeah. Currently. Like a Roman. Hidara is kind of halfway between. It's interesting. The druids seem to have different methods of transforming into their animal forms. Uh-huh. This was just a bird suddenly, whereas Hidara is like becoming a wolf.

Okay. So they're kind of halfway between right now where they've got long claws, fur, but still have like arms and legs. Wolf in London style. Exactly. Like the snout is lengthening as they are fighting and Stonai is just walloping them. Yeah. In his human form, just hammer blows. Yes. Okay. So they're going to do a two-on-one fight, Captain America and Bucky versus Iron Man. Yeah. Yeah. Back and slash, 2d6 plus strength. 11. Okay. Yeah. Go ahead and roll your damage. Which is a d10. Wow. 10.

Inside the leather cuff. Yes. Amazing. So Tuck, he has thrown the axe, lost it, went, fuck. But as he kept running. I'm going to make this worth it. Yeah. He goes. Jumps as Stonai is like holding Hidara and like goes, all 350 pounds of Tuck elbow on the top of Hidara's head. Crack. Oh Lord. Oh yeah. Skull like elbow, crack, skull, rock. Yes. A fracture forms underneath his skull. Yeah. Yeah.

And Hidara, you can see like the bell ringing in the eyes as he, he spins underneath away from that blow as it's hit. And you can see the changes like completing the limbs are becoming like long loping legs. And you can see them making the calculation of do they stay in fight or do they run? What are you waiting for? Nice. Oh, sure. Would you cry at a challenge to your enemies on a 10 plus they treat you like the most obvious threat to be dealt with and ignore your companions.

And so they, as they're making that calculation, I spit and I go, do it, pussy, cat, 10. So they treat you as the most obvious threat and you get a bonus on, uh, damage towards them. Yes. Yeah. So, uh, now a huge, huge slate gray furred wolf bleeding heavily from the teeth where it looks like a massive crack formed as a tooth was knocked out. Whoa. Dives at you. Shit. Teeth bear. It bears you to the ground. Can I take a shot? Yeah, absolutely. I take a shot with my bow and arrow. All right.

Volley plus dexterity, plus dexterity three. So this is a hard failure. Something bad happens. Shoot tuck in the head. I think, I think as you're, as you're shooting, you're, you're like just missing. You're rolling around too much and you've only used a bow like two or three times in your life. In your whole life. I've always had one with me though, apparently, but above your head, there's a crack, like a peel of thunder and it starts to rain. They're here. Yeah. The rain starts lashing down.

The storm is here. Billy, you have frozen Valaria in place. You see that she's trying to pull herself back to the rock. Like roots and vines are reaching up out of the cliff side and trying to wrap themselves around her body and pull her back over the edge. What do you do? Like to help? Yeah. What do you do in this situation? Tuck is fighting a giant wolf. Uh, two of the druids have run off and Stone Eye is, uh, is trying to get in the middle of the conflict between, uh, Tuck and Hadara.

Or do you comfort Ving for missing? Also, Mirrors and Victoria are kind of like standing around the edge. Mirrors is a hireling. Mirrors is a hireling. Oh, yeah. What do you want me to do? I don't know. Aren't you the hireling? They all turn into animals and stuff, but you can command him if you want to. I'm going to command him. Okay. Yeah. Mirrors, do something. Yeah. Mirrors has the sword in his hand and he's looking around like, uh, uh. Get her. Valaria, pull her to safety. Okay.

Uh, so go ahead and roll 2d6.

plus oh wait i'm i roll for me yeah yeah you do okay seven to eleven okay mirs reaches out with his metal arm and grabs valari tuck yes snap snap snap like huge wolf mouth bite what do you do help you're on your own i can i use my last hold yeah um i want to i guess terrify an enemy oh yeah yeah nice with winter billy yeah winter billy i think you just spend this hold i do yeah really because you've already taken the the downside of you are pushed into your winter form so your charisma is like now nothing you just do more damage okay and you're kind of mean now i want to like leap forward as like almost like in the shape of a liar wolf like a wintry liar wolf nice the like uh whipping like snows and winds around you are taking a wolf shape yeah that's sick okay so yeah tuck you see these like snapping jaws getting inches and inches closer to your throat holding it back and all of a sudden you see the like bloodshot wolf predator eyes like look up and see this terrifying frost visage in front of them and they pause for a moment what do you do i do the thing where i grab its top and bottom jaw and i start like ripping it open yeah yeah 12 all right roll your damage here we go fuck you wolf six okay you feel as you're pulling this druid's jaws apart yeah in his animal form you feel like part of the jaw dislocate yeah and like and uh he tumbles off and tries to back away from you and is turning and running into the trees what do you guys do i have a my glove with venom paralytic if you can get up there i'm going to say to be defy danger dexterity to get up there fast enough to put them under so then we can try and like a question possibly so defy danger dexterity to get up there quick great i got snake eyes it's called oh man i got snake eyes plus nothing dexterity yeah yeah yeah that's plus dexterity that's catastrophic that's rough yeah i just like like the thing just goes slide off the edge get my axe i'll get your axe so you slide after uh after hadara man eater as she takes off into the trees and stone eye steps in front of you also chasing after hadara and you slam into his body and you both go tumbling to the ground and as you look up you just see like the wolf tail disappear damn it and uh the rain is lashing down the thunder is rolling valari is like slumped against the tree and mirrors is holding her up and victoria is standing by moodily what do you all do i'm trying to get stone eye off of me what have you done let go of me what have you done he escaped you got in my way and they pushes himself no get your arm out of there and uh gets himself to his feet i look at the horizon rolling black clouds only lit by the light of the moon and stars crackles of lightning like veins inside can i see if the thunderbirds are coming you can rule the certain realities for sure yeah uh so that's six plus intelligence wisdom wisdom seven okay one question what is about to happen the thunderbirds are here throne breaker's flock has arrived you had less time than you thought ahead of them you don't know if the winds are helping them if the storm is pushing them along or if throne breaker is just that fast even though his massive size would make that mind-boggling to consider but you have 20 minutes before they make landfall we have to get to the well we have to get through the wall that sorry i'm just gonna in my head we said it at the same time we have to get to the well we have to get to the well is that where is that where hadara and uh aldous are going i don't know okay we gotta go uh and i tell that to stone eye i go they're gonna try and take what's in the well he wants to do it himself he doesn't want your help stone eye you were right we're on your side we know we like we know what happened you were right help us come on there's no time to be angry after this we're finishing this if there's an after this we'll deal with it and he yells at mirs you get her to safety and mirs goes okay and starts taking valari down the path back is there anyone else on the rock uh there's no one else here except for victoria okay let's go i jump off the cliff in the direction of the axe okay all right ving you're diving off the rock okay you're aiming for the ocean i suppose i imagine we're above the ocean yes you're above the ocean yeah yeah great okay roll yeah okay 2d6 plus dexterity great 10 yeah you leap off just like the silence of the air whipping past your ears the storm clouds rumbling in the distance the ink black ocean beneath you you see underneath the water the barest pinprick of amethyst light right oh and you are in the abyss the ocean the sea of graves lies around you i want to discern realities okay or commune with the whispers commune with the whispers you could commune with the whispers yeah uh six plus nine oh i will you can aid oh billy can aid from a distance great eight yep thank you so that makes it a 10 so you are communing with the spirits of the sea of graves and on the 10 plus the vision is helpful and clear to me and i like if you want to come bring in because i go down and i get the axe and i use the weight of the axe to keep me at the bottom yeah oh yeah and i'm down here for a moment in the stillness i just tell tlc to stay with bang yeah oh yeah keep him safe keep him safe so you grab onto this axe as it's like arcing down through the water and it's dragging you deeper into the depths oh cool you feel your gills open up they've been hidden for a little bit i think so they open up and you take the sea water in yeah a little uncomfortable and you are surrounded with the exception of the the surprisingly faint light from tlc by just darkness primordial darkness i hold the axe in front of my the cave where the tree is and i try and make the moonlight shine i'm trying to give a little shine through the axe okay so you sink down to the bottom you feel like gritty stone and sand underneath your feet my hair is waving like upwards yeah like a halo around your head and you see like an after image of the of the rock of hibernia like coming up out of the base of the world and the the moonlight from what must be the piece of lillian which rests in its center kind of leaking out into the ocean and this energy which is pouring out into the sea of graves as you try and connect with the spirits of it your vision goes far it follows the waters to the sea of graves to the pillars within into the tomb at the very center and you as we might recall a long time ago uh cerulean depths as seen from a great height found cracks in the bases oh yes of pillars in the sea and you see this tomb and you see deep into the water where the the tomb sticks up out of the bones of the earth cracks forming and the water carries you into the tomb and you see just for just for a second the form of a sleeping woman illuminated purple light from through the amethyst and as you're watching she stirs a small bubble rises up from the corner of her eye and you're back in your body breaking the surface with the x diving up out of the water back on the cliff what are you doing uh i've told mirs i'm like get valari back to hither and yon and then i point at victoria i'm like you're with us billy what do you want to do do you want to come with us i'm with you okay and mirs is like running ahead of you with valari like over his shoulder basically and he's like go i've got her and he's so much faster than i remember him being yeah even though he's kind of thick he's like strong legs when you met him he was but a boy yeah now he is a man yeah he's a warrior yeah and it actually where we are in the story you're kind of overcome with sort of how far mirs has come you you met him screaming at him in the streets of mudlark he was a little boy a little boy yeah and now this like capable confident warrior takes this druid down the pathway and you're like he's fine you don't have to worry about him and might i add a very fine chef a very fine chef what a fine chef huh greatest he's finally ascended thunder crack boom lightning bolt feathers slowly charred falling to the ground yeah oh charred feathers crackling with energy falling out of the sky the smell of fried chicken in the air 11 spices and herbs crackling in our nose can i uh can i reach out to the fairies can i use connections totally what are you looking for i want to ask them to make a fairy ring for us oh cool around the well yeah around the well just because that's a big move yeah this is going to be connections and then if it works then it's going to be fairy ring yes and you're not going to have as much control over the ring because you're not there i'm not there and your charisma is zero and your charisma is currently zero because you're a winter boy what do you look like right now It looked like a like a furious little storm.

Okay. Yeah. Oh, there's like wind blowing around Yeah, and there's like ice if you come too close it like slices through. Oh, yeah Okay, so six plus two is eight. So on the seven to nine I'll have to settle for something closer It comes with strings attached. Okay, what would strings attached be here? I will owe them something. Oh Okay.

So just a favor offered for a service rendered classic fairy shit Yeah, okay, the fairies want to leave and I'm asking them please this like one big favor like they're scared I want to leave hibernia.

They want to enter deep into the ground Oh, they don't want to be on the material plane at all anymore No because they don't like that the That the sky is exposed now and so they're being seen and they don't want to be seen they need to go somewhere safe They're like worms electrified on the ground. Okay, so you had one of them Literally a worm it says to you if we do this for you. Yeah, you'll help us get back. You'll send us home I'll take all of you home.

Whoever wants to come with me I'll send word and into the dirt and you see a little line go worms along in the ground So you're gonna roll fairy ring now, yes with which is it says dexterity that it is dexterity Yeah, cuz you like weave it. Yes. Yeah That's seven, okay, so this is where things get get complicated not complicated as in it's not gonna work It's just a seven to nine means that you have to be physically maintaining it the whole time So you're leaving that up to these fairies?

Yes, which means that if something happens, it's out of your control Okay, does it mean that Billy has to focus on it the whole time? No, cuz they're doing it for me, right? Yeah, that was the connection but I see what you mean where it's like Billy might have to pay something for this or the or it's just that they might not be able to hold them off for Long, you know, I could take a temporary debility. Well, the fairy ring is in operation. Yeah Should have been doing this the whole time.

That is great. I like that a lot. Yeah, take a debility to Wisdom or Dexter? I mean I used Dexterity. Oh, yeah, Dexter makes sense cuz you're like part of almost part of your body is being used. Yeah maintain it Yeah, I like there's like an AC fairy ring, too. Oh, yeah. Yeah, totally. Yeah, maybe that's how it keeps it safe It like freezes the well It's a very cool idea Okay, so you are running down the path mirrors is off Victoria's behind you.

She's got her sword drawn Is stone I with us stone? I is with you. He's thundering along next to you His big-ass legs pounding into the ground Like Paul look to you like No tux locked into the just see the big titties It's a great album so much power you would hold with tits that big. Yeah, those look uncomfortably She's about to fall over. Yeah, imagine tits this big waist this small. You're not holding anything up Holding does the one on the bottom have arms. Nope. Nope. Is she a snake lady?

Oh She might be a snake. Anyway, they're too big Listener eternal champion great band ravening iron great album. And if you look at the cover, I didn't have anything to do with that You brought to all of our attention because it's a good album, okay You're right.

I blame Abdul Yeah, I honestly didn't even know there were tits on the cover I was just listening to the music I was just listening dad I swear I was just listening for the article Yeah, so the the rain is picking up and the winds are whipping Yeah, you've got like I said 20 15 20 minutes before the Thunderbirds make landfall and ass. Yeah, absolutely hauling Can I talk to star? I well, we're absolutely yeah. Yeah, and he's running a little bit faster than you.

He's just a little bit faster My cardio sucks. How's this guy running so fast? He's so much fatter than me. Why is he running so fast? Yeah, how is he doing this? Yeah, and I go what? Sure, I what happened the last time the Thunderbirds attacked. What happened to Grimshay?

They came out of nowhere We went out into the sea to see if we could head them off or distract them Grimshay He got too bold They struck him down with a bolt of lightning from the sky and I I tell him I go they're coming here for the peace Of the moon that's under the island You guys remember the giant bear that's sleeping under the island If they were if they take that the lunar bear wakes, oh Yeah, what happens when it waited lunar bear wasn't asleep.

It was guarding the moon It was asleep It was there to guard the moon Sleep but it's like the dragon sleeping on the gold, right? the story that we had when we saw the lunar bear first is that the Druids the Hibernians believe that the moons have been a cycle of Lunar bears that are born and then grow and then go into the sky and eat the moon and become the new moon Okay, but I think but the bear is so maternal a mother bear and this is the chunk of the moon that is love Absolutely.

No eternal love. So what I think is that like that is a story, right?

The moon is not a bear this bear is real and I think that it's basically like this this animal might be kind of one of the examples of a melding between the spiritual and the material one of the consequences I was gonna say could be for the Druids that this bear waking up the spiritual giant spiritual energy bear would scare away their animal form It's like the ultimate predator oh shit it will banish them their ability to shape-shift right cuz the Druids shape-shifting is like a consensual connection between them and an animal spirit and we see a like a little bit of a Bellwether of that when like Billy talks to the fairies and they're like we're trying to get the fuck out of here Yes, this place is fucked now.

So maybe the spirits are feeling the same thing Okay. All right, and the mother bears just like no more you have nothing to do with my children. Yeah, totally.

Yeah Yeah, so stone I hear as you say they're going for the the piece of they're going for the well Yeah, and he starts running faster I Had a little bit more in me it passes Victoria If they take that the bear wakes and if the bear wakes this all ends Okay You know what you're running with someone that's more fit than you yeah, and they're trying to have a conversation I mean, I know from the other side.

Sorry when I said, yeah what I meant was no I Can imagine that might be hard for you like you? Okay Okay thing yes, you come up onto the beach Rocky Pacific Northwest Beach, we've all been there wounding up the yacht head and you you're trying to go for the well Do you know where the well is? Yes, of course. It's like my family.

Well But your family's well, it's over there I know where the well is because he's the moon in it and I am of the moon There we go defy danger wisdom to tap into that moon power Nine nine, okay Yeah, you kind of like stop on the crest of this beach and you see that the trees of hibernia above you descending to the Forest. Oh, yeah All these taught high tall pine trees are starting to bow against the winds that are galing some of them are breaking up Oh, the tops are not falling but blowing away.

Yeah, totally. Yeah, and you read Yeah Just gonna we're watching a TV show the other night that's like scary and every time something cool and scary happened I went this is awesome And Yeah, you you reach within this connection that you've had to Lillian ever since for for frost Mm-hmm. I hold the waiting knife in my hand and you feel like yeah, you're waving the blade in the trees Glint's glint's and you've got you've got a heading. Okay, you take off into the tree.

That's Yeah, I take the heading. Yeah, I can hear them running. Maybe I'm even here Yeah, you can hear them running in the trees.

And as you're like running up the beach Nobody I Think tuck is talking as if people are right next to him and they're like half a can Wow, I love doing tuck boys I Loosened it that's out now guys But as you're running along the beach you see Down down the coastline on a little abutment of earth a familiar cabin familiar hut Hmm that you spent some time in the last time you were on hibernia. Oh Oh, my mother's hut. Yeah, your mother's hut.

And it's just because you're looking in this direction that you see this You see a thundercr- like lightning lashes through the sky in the darkness You see it glint off the waters of the Sea of Graves and out in the water. You see a woman Walking on the waves. Oh my god. Holy shit The winds pick up screaming in your ear and you see off in the distance lightning flashes again massive wings in the clouds Oh What do you do? I keep running. You take into the trees or down the coast.

Do you join your friends? Or do you see this who this woman is? I want to use life symphony to it's basically I have a storm But no, no, this is captivating other people around. Yeah, you don't have I have the storm anymore. I know I don't John Is this funny because this has come up a lot so many times. Yeah. Okay. Okay. Um, I I See a path heading up into the trees towards the well It's literally like either be this way or this way.

Yeah, there's there's the path and then it's there's like a Peninsula that where there's no more land. Mm-hmm And there's the road and I turn run off the beach onto the surface of the water Oh Sprint towards her You can walk on the water I'm trying to I'm just gonna say yeah Mastering the elements. Okay, I'm making an elemental element elemental elemental form elemental mastery There's got to be something cuz then I can't fuck with you if it's bad.

Okay, great Nice 2d6 plus con for elemental form elemental form plus con. Oh snake eyes again Snake eyes again. I want to sacrifice myself so he can he can do it. No The choice and my cons too, so I got four, okay, so you you run out to the beach and you start Stepping out onto the water and you feel it like firm up under your steps and then let you go So your step you're like waiting out into the water You see this woman's silhouette on those dark waves only lit by lightning.

I try to climb on the steps again I try and keep moving as fast as I can Yeah, you're pulling yourself out into the water and you see as you get closer cuz she's approaching. Mm-hmm She's a push. She's getting closer to the island and you're at a point where you start seeing features like a dream It is it's very dreamlike. This is an extremely surreal experience for you, but you see this woman long Simple robe white robe and you see she is tall.

She's lean She has long gray hair that you remembered lightning flashes between her and I oh Through the lightning with my light sight. Yeah. Oh you see your mother When the light flashes and you make eye contact with her. Mm-hmm All you see is cold blank empty eyes. What and we're gonna cut back into the trees. Whoa You are running as quickly as you can through the forest of Hibernia. How are you navigating? Oh stone. I I guess is ahead Oh, yeah. Yeah, I'm following stone.

I had Billy knows the island. That's true. Yeah, he's barreling through the trees Billy as you're running through the forest, you see fairies all through the woods running away in the opposite direction The ring I asked you for the ring you feel the ring is held But many fairies are running off in the other direction. They're terrified of what's about to happen.

Oh Cuz the bear they know right shit and Billy you feel as you're running you kind of there's like a stutter step as You feel like a jolt go through your body. Oh Someone is attacking your ring. What do you do? Okay, can I shadow dance I'll get there faster do it. Oh my god this I will let's let's let's let's let's hold on Let's just remember this is high stakes on Hibernia. Yeah, the veil. I hate to use the word veil in a fantasy sense It's so trite.

Okay, but the barrier between here and the fairy is Incredibly thin I think we talked about how there is a risk when Billy shadow dances here of losing all through Oh, yeah, like becoming lost And he's already losing his Billy Ness in winter form. I just wanted that on the table. Okay, it's dangerous here stay. Yeah. Hi Should I do that? You should absolutely do it. It's cool as hell. It's just also dangerous. What are the odds of you rolling snake eyes?

Twice Six plus less wisdom wisdom Okay, nine ten. Fuck. Yeah So you get three holes get three holes. Yeah, okay So you fully you feel this jolt go through your body and you just leave it entirely My body because remember when you shadow dance you leave the bot the boy. Yeah. Oh, yeah, but I'm behind you So you just see Billy like hit the ground I slide Instinctively scoop him up. Yeah. Yeah. Do you realize what's do you talk realizes what's happening?

I know Billy doesn't collapse like this unless he His blood sugar is So he's either gone into a diabetic coma Or he's eaten way too much It's hard to tell but it's like usually in the high-stakes situations he's in the veil one time he didn't go into a diabetic And bail is such a fun word On the veil of insulin, yes, I scoop him up and I put him like in a pupus basically that I always have yeah Great. Oh, yeah. I love that.

Like the idea that tuck kind of wears like almost like a kilty sash all the time Yes, but it's mostly for sticking Billy in there. Yeah Yeah, and also I guess attaching all the stuff that he uses. Yeah and hiding his dick and balls Uh, there's so much wind though today. It's really flappy. So my dick is being Long fast run every once in a while you hear Every once in a while.

Yeah It just reaches him because it swings out and then back and no it swings up hits his belly Anyway, just do the cool thing We Have talked in the past about how the fairy looks different here as well. Yes So what is it Billy emergence from his body everything glows here? Yeah I think it's very bright because it's like dark forest when you leave your body. So so many fairies So it's like looking like it's so many stars. Oh, yeah Like the Milky Way here.

Yeah and further into the woods you see like a font Yeah, a geyser of energy that you assume is the well and around it like a hard icy ring that is chipping and shattering because you see oh Interesting we've never looked at them like this you see two animal spirits Attacking your fort you see a huge wolf and a huge eagle tearing at your fort in the fairy Like their reflections through the spirit world. Oh my god. I'm going to defend Okay, nice And okay, so it's with Constitution Constitution.

Yeah, or you can spend a fairy hold. No, I'm going to roll Okay, I only have one left. So you have three shadow dance hold remember So as a fairy that means that you can spend them to do things, you know, very okay Once you spend your last one, then you're back. Okay, then I will use one to defend. Okay, great Yeah, so I think that that would mean in this case that you get like a 10 on defend, you know what I mean?

Okay, I will deal damage to the attacker equal to my level Okay Wait, no nine nine. Yeah. So who are you going for Hidara or all this all this? Okay, so all this you see this Hidara is pretty fucked up But all this is all this has got no points on the board. You know what I know for Yes, all right So you see like like scarlet blood pouring from the wounds and misting off into the Oh black blood Black dust. Oh Yeah, okay.

So you expect to see scarlet blood, but what you see is a spray of black dust out of his chest corrupted huge spirit eagle wings like Flapping and a massive piercing beak slamming into your fort. How do you approach? I approach like a wind sick and you Blast into all this with this icy wind dealing.

Yeah through his the pierced and piercing part in his Oh, yeah Very cool and you Force him backwards a little bit away from it and he shrieks and screams in his eagle form It cuts more slices through his form. Yeah, and there's more black dust Emerging from this spiritual form and you're seeing beyond the form and through to the outer dark Compromised So deep tuck. Yes, Billy hit the ground you picked him up.

We're getting close to the well, you can feel it Yeah, yes, I feel like I'm getting close and I know Billy has gone and done something Things should be here. Oh, right alarming. Yeah your axe, right? You are unarmed. I'm on Forget that Tuck realizes all of this at once and he's like, okay, this is bad. Oh No Tuck takes he takes Billy off and he tosses him to Victoria. Yeah.

Yeah, she catches Billy What do you want me to do with these and I go keep him safe if anything happens to him I will fucking kill you. Okay, and then I I put, I like go faster than I've ever run. I've run so hard and fast. I don't even look at the trees. I close my eyes. Whoa. Tree, tree, tree, tree, tree. Snake eye, snake eye, snake eye, snake eye, snake eye. I close my eyes and I turn off my targeting system and I want to feel where the wolf is and I want to run full, full speed into it.

Talk. Talk. Use your sickness, doc. What? What? Use your sickness bro. Is that a move I have? No, I'm doing the Star Wars thing that you're doing. Oh cool. I'm Obi-Wan Kenobi, it's me Black Spear I'm Obi-Wan Kenobi. He's in the barn doing this. Doc, I can feel you. He's got a mouth full of hay. Yeah. Doc, something cool is happening, isn't it? Oh, and I go, Black Spire, can you hear me? I can hear you. I was just talking to you. To my eyes. Don't make it seem like a thing you're doing.

I'm doing it. The gym introduced it. I can use this now. Agency. Agency. Agency. I have closed my eyes. I have entered the realm of the beyond. No. I am still running. No, don't do it. It doesn't work, remember? No. No chess beam. No chess beam. It doesn't work. And I go to my good boy, my best friend. Don't tell him anything. And I go to my good boy, my best friend. And I go to my good boy, my best friend. And I go to my good boy, my best friend. And I go to my good boy, my best friend.

And I go to my good boy, my best friend. And I go to my good boy, my best friend. Don't tell him anything. I go, we need you now more than our greatest, hour of greatest need. Obi-Wan Kenobi, you are our only hope. We established this, and it doesn't work. It's not gonna work. It can't. It can't work. I go, please, Blacksmire, aid me in this moment. Guide me or come help. Or do the chess beam thing. Or do the chess beam thing. Hold on, you only get one of those things.

You can decide what you're doing when you try. Sean, can I legitimately try the chess beam thing? What does it do again? I don't know. We don't know. His idea is that he wants to summon Blacksmire's light through his coins in his chest. Yes. It shoots a beam of demonic beating power. Sunstone energy. Sunstone energy out of the stones in my chest. Yeah. That's cool. Let's see how it goes. Okay, yeah.

And then I tell Blacksmire, I go, I wasn't even thinking of doing this until Sean started resisting it. Oh, come on, no. And then I go, please, Blacksmire, lend me your breath. What are you rolling for this again? I roll dog. I think we've established that this is not a thing that can happen in this world, so breaking the rules of the world makes sense. Oh, breaking the law? Breaking the law, yes. You've already done breaking the law, I think, to do this. Oh, yeah. You just keep failing.

It failed, but I did. So I'm gonna make you do it again. You have to break the law again. I'm breaking the law. What are you taking a debility to? Everything. What? No, you said one thing. I take a debility to, I guess, what makes… Intelligence? I guess, yeah, intelligence. Or con. You're trying to channel energies through your body. That's hard. Yes. I make myself a conduit, and so I roll con. Yeah, for conduit. To do it. Come on, do it. Okay. Come on, do it. Take a debility.

Breaking the law. What is it? Take a debility to one stat to make an impossible thing possible. Still have to roll. Yes. So can I roll for, like, whatever this connection I have with Black Spire is? What would that be? I think we've… Oh, you know what? Maybe this is a demon of loyalty, or whatever it is. Right. Like, you're using the loyal connection between you and Black Spire to try and do this now. Yeah. So roll plus charisma to gain a boon from your demon on a seven to nine.

The demon offers the boon, but causes mental damage. I shouldn't have made it charisma. On a fail, you lose control. Okay. Please. And then I go even deeper into the void, and I reach out to the demon of loyalty, and I go, no one is more loyal to a boy than his dog. And his dog to this boy. And his dog to this boy. He crossed an ocean to be with me, and I destroyed my friendship with Sean to get him. You made a mockery of my game and a mockery of my world. Please, demon. Help me. Help me.

So, roll plus charisma. It's a five and a one. It so barely worked. Plus charisma, which I have a minus one on. So, six, seven, eight. Seven and eight. Shit. What? Jeez. And what's the seven to nine on this? On a seven to nine, the demon offers a boon, but causes mental damage. Okay. What does a seven to nine look like on this? Wait, you got it? I did. You got something. So, the light comes out. Yeah. Yeah. And it causes mental damage. Yes. Yeah.

I think we were saying it's like, is it equivalent to your damage, or is it just a D6? Oh, I do damage to myself. You're hurting yourself. Right, yeah. It is a D10. Yeah. Go ahead and roll it. Here we go. Eight. Wow. You're not getting your armor for that. Okay. Oh, boy. Holy shit. Where are these coming from? Embers. I just fully lost, like, a third of my points. Yes, that's true. Hey, those are the stakes, baby. Eighteen. So, okay, you're going to describe this. Yes.

Not exactly what it does, but you're going to describe what it looks like. Yes. So, you're running forward through the trees. You feel this energy building in front of you. You close your eyes. You close your eyes. Out on the outside world, we're seeing you just miss trees. That's awesome. So close. And you feel that building up, and then, boom, eyes open. Eyes open. Time to go. I feel heat in my chest so much. Oh, boy. And then Jack goes, oh! Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow.

Black Spider, what have you done? He did not expect it to hurt this much. It hurts so much. Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh, no. Oh, no! There's a clearing around the well. He smashes through the clearing, eyes alight, mouth alight. Light coming from your eyes. Light's coming from your mouth. This bright thing of light emanating from my chest, kind of like building a bubble off of my chest. And then I hear Black Spider go, all right, bro, I'm going to give it to you. I'm going to shoot!

And then I go, wait, no, no, no, no, no, no, no! And then silence. I try to aim it at the wolf. You're just spraying it everywhere. Everywhere. Typical talk. Just spraying it all over the place. It came sooner than I thought! It came sooner than I thought! All right. Roll your, you're going to roll your, you know what? You're going to roll your damage twice and take the highest. Oh, shit, yes! 2d6 take the highest. 2d10. Five. Oh, wait, 2d10 take the highest. 2d10 take the highest, yeah. Five.

Five damage. Okay. Not an absolute slam dunk. No. But Hidara, Maneater, in the form of a giant slate gray wolf, is caught in the blast fully. Already grievously injured. Sorry, can we just recognize that he finally did it? Yeah. I'm blown away. This is amazing. You were in Captain America against Iron Man, now you're Iron Man. Yeah, I did it. Took his, like, his chest, his, like, on fire. Yeah. Hidara is caught in the blast.

You see, like, a good portion of this icy wall that's been built around the well shatter and melt under this beam. Oh, fuck! Shit! Sorry, Billy! But Hidara is hit, like, kind of in the shoulder, and you see it cleave through their body. Oh, I'm dead. And as much physical damage is done to them, you see, as they hit the ground in this wolf form, black dust and smoke is pouring out of their long lupine mouth, out of their nostrils, out of their eyes. What does Billy see? Billy, you are seeing…

It's an explosion of black. Just… Oh! Massive… Like, the light beam was black in this place? No, the light beam was, like, blinding white. But hitting Hidara, just, like, poof! And then it's just, like, all these plumes of black dust blowing around. Yeah, you see them blowing around, and then in the rents that you see in Aldous' eagle form… It's being, like, sucked in. Yes, they're being sucked in through Aldous' wounds. Whoa! Yeah. And Hidara, like, he kind of, like, stumbles to his…

Smoke rising. Your chest is seared. Kentucky fried chicken. Oh, yeah. He, like, his knees get wobbly when he falls, and he's, like, Hidara, Hidara, help me! You gotta help! I did too much! And, yeah, you just, you hit the ground. But Hidara, you see, as you're, like, trying to get yourself back up to your feet, Hidara kicks a few times, and then is still. Sick! Ving. Yes. Out in the water, you're, like, chest-deep in the ocean. Mm-hmm. This woman is standing above you. Your mother. Mm-hmm.

Adernac Allwater. Dead-eyed. Empty. She looks down at you. I reach up for her. She walks right past you. She continues walking to the beach. I clamber after her and grab at her. Ilyana! Yeah, roll a Defy Danger… Let's say Charisma. Mm… Seven. Seven. Seven to nine. So at the name Ilyana, she pauses for a moment and kind of, like, looks up and to the side, and continues walking to the beach. Mother! She pauses. Again. Dithaniel. Ving.

She continues, you're like, you can see her struggling against these words. But she's moving to the beach. Now I want to use Life Symphony. Now that there's somebody else here with me. Yeah. I want to try and bring her to some calm moment. Captivate those around me in the spiritual bliss and togetherness of the natural world around me. Okay. 2d6 plus Kahn. Twelve. Twelve. Okay, so on a twelve, everything calms. And they are like brought into this moment. Yeah. So she stopped.

She's still standing on the water. She's kind of shifting a little bit, kind of shifting more and more as the winds pick up. Because remember, this is, this is, there's a storm. Yeah. Waves are almost breaking around her as she stands here and it's clear she's exerting some sort of influence on the water. But she does stop. I want to go up beside her and I take my bow off my chest and around the handle of the bow is the leather strap that's engraved with her name and Nathaniel's name.

And I want to present it to her as some sort of remembrance of her life from before. So I feel like she's just lost in this wizard state or I don't know what's going on with her. Yeah. So you hand her the bow. No, not the bow, the strap. I take it off. Oh, you take it off fully. I see. Yeah. And she takes it in her hands. And she is looking at the names engraved on the leather, feeling the time-worn feel. How many hands have passed over this? How many times over the years?

And you see like a flicker of recognition in her eyes. She looks up at you, she reaches out a hand and places it on the side of your face. And then you feel a creeping pain as she begins to drain the life force out of you. What do you do? I let her take it. She gave me the life. It's hers to take. Okay. 2d6 plus constitution. Why'd I do that? 12. Okay. I'm going to roll a d12, but you're only going to roll it once. 7. Okay. That's not bad.

You take 7 damage as your mother drains the very life energy out of you. Sounds familiar. Moms, you listening? Yeah. Do better. Yeah. Happy Mother's Day. Oh, yeah. Is that today? I think it's today. Tomorrow. Tomorrow. Sunday is Mother's Day, right? That's Mother's Day, I think. Tomorrow is Mother's Day. I thought it was today. No. Sunday, May 10th. Yeah. Tomorrow. Money. Has everybody just…

So, take 7 points of damage as she drains the very life force out of you, and as she's draining it, I want to use helpful hands. And what does helpful hands do? It allows me to heal people. Okay. Like, he can heal others. And I want to give her more. Yeah. I think that makes sense. I will say that I think, just to respect the narrative, whatever you give her, she's taking from you. Yes. Yeah. So, as she's taking, I give her more. Okay. So, you're like… Plus charisma. Plus charisma. Yep.

So, I got 7. Okay, yeah. So, I think this is a straight trade for trade. So, you're going to roll a d8. 4. Okay. So, 4 additional damage. And I think what it is, is that Ving, when she starts extracting this life energy from you, you see like a glint of like recognition. Pain. Pain and recognition in her eyes. And as you feed more of this life energy into her, that recognition grows until her eyes are meeting yours.

Well, she's like allowing something in her to open up to her I'm diving in, basically. Yeah. Go, yeah. Roll me a discern realities. Okay. 5 plus wisdom. 8. So, one question off the list. Who's really in control here? So, you are recalling a lot about what you've learned over the last couple of years. What you knew about your mother and her time as a druid. Her time on Hibernia. This cabin, this hut that she lived in. Her death here, or her supposed death.

And her life before that as the wizard Aedirnac Allwater, a magician who was dedicated to the study of life and what makes life. In the tower, you remember discovering this chamber shattered from the inside, bare footprints leading out into the snow. And you see your mom here before you, blank, but slowly recovering. And your time as an adventurer, finding all of these magical contraptions around the world that are failing as magic left the world.

And you think you're pretty sure you know what happened here. Whatever your mother set up before her death reconstituted her in her tower. But whatever memories she had, something failed along the way. And she did not recover who she was when she was reborn. And something about that drew her back here, to this hut. And now that she's here with you, and you are feeding this energy back into her.

All of my memories and everything from the trove of the Tree of Knowledge, and the tome of druidic knowledge written on my skin, I'm giving back to her. The seed that she prepared for you. Giving her own dreams back to her, that I've witnessed. And as you look at her in your feet, you can feel yourself fading a little bit. You're giving so much into this. And she's looking at you, your eyes meet. And as more of his energy is being drawn from him, by her, he says to her, Stop. Don't. You love me.

And tears start to form in her eyes and fall down her cheeks as the rain lashes both of you. She reaches up, puts her other hand on the other side of your face. And the recognition is there, and she says, My boy, you've done it. 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, playing Tacoma Dome, the Barbarian of Dulaziz. Playing Ving the Half-Elf Druid, Paul Oppers. Happy Mother's Day.

Playing Fat Billy the Halfling Thief, Jessica Tai. Oh, goodbye, everyone. Thank you to Aaron Reid for our intro and outro music. What an absolute gift. If you'd like to hear all the music produced for the show by Aaron Reid and Taylor Swindles, you can find that at Spout Lore, on Spotify, or on Bandcamp, or wherever. And if you'd like to hear… It's actually everywhere but Bandcamp. Everywhere but Bandcamp. Don't go to Bandcamp. Bandcamp's not okay with us. I don't know why.

Actually, I've been using Bandcamp a lot. I love Bandcamp. We do like Bandcamp. Bandcamp is good. Bandcamp gives all the money to the artists. Yes. Or more artists, more money than other places. But we just wanted to put it somewhere where everyone would be able to access it. So we put it up for streaming. But Aaron Reid's original music is at Bandcamp. Yes. And you should listen to that. And Taylor Swindles' band, Neighborhood Libraries.

Thank you so much to all of our Patreon supporters around the world. If you'd like to support the show, join us at patreon.com, or spoutlore.com, please. Patreon supporters like… We've got someone called the Alternatist. Alternatist. That's a cool name, and you are mysterious because of it. Yeah. And then we've got another cool name, Pat. Pat M. Oh, my God. It's Pat. Some people think the name Patrick is cool. Yeah.

Some people who one third of their names is Patrick think the name Patrick is cool. Pat M., you got a name like Shud's. Yeah. And then we've got Vilja. Vilja? Vilheim. I'm looking at the email as well. See how it says Vilja? Vilja? Vil. Vil. Vil. Another mysterious being. Oh, yeah, it is Vilja. Vilja. Thank you so much for your support. Thank you so much. Cool name. This name can't be real. Then we've got a fake name. So we can read it all.

Tevin Ticklebean whispers rich people are a scam and releases the arrow. You have creative parents. Thank you so much, Tevin. And if your name really is Tevin Ticklebean, I'm so sorry that we just doxed you. Oh, no. Tevin Ticklebean is a great name. JB. JB. We know all about it. Jane B. Jane B. What up, JB? I played a game with you for a while. It was really fun. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Me too. Yeah, I was there. Yeah, I played a couple of games with Jane over the years, actually. Yeah. JG. JG. Jim.

Jim G. Thanks so much, Jim G. Thanks, James. Dad's Jim. Jimmy? Melissa F. Melissa F. I can't help but be having a small crush on the name Melissa. My first crush. Oh, very nice. Thanks, Melissa. Thanks, Melissa. Thanks for bringing up the crush. Cool ass. The name of a guy who bullied me. Opposite of a crush. Not always. It's still a crush. Bullying is inherently tense. Yeah. Look at this elegant name, Margo. Margo. I love the name Margo. I wish I was named Margo. Margo, see?

You could change your name. It'd be weird, but you could. Good. Mike L. Mike L. Mike L. Thanks, Mike L. L, you have a name that reminds me for some reason of a friend of mine from elementary school. Maybe. Yeah. It's very similar. Martha. Martha S. Oh, Martha S. Martha Stewart. Thanks for sticking through us through all your hard times. You're in the Discord. Get out of here! What up, Martha? Hi. Jack H. Jack H.

I always wanted to name a kid Jack, but my last name's Oppers, and it sounds too much like Jack Offer. That's so funny. Do it. You guys have such good eyesight, I can't see shit. I have to squint so hard. Don't squint. Squint harder. I made him way too small. Jeffrey M. Thank you. Good squinting. Andrew W. And Bailey M. Jessica's eyeballs are working so hard right now. Bailey! Oh, Bailey! Oh, Bailey! If it's the Bailey we're thinking about, there's only one Bailey. You've been around forever.

Thanks so much for your support. It was great to meet you the one time I met you. Thank you for coming to our show. Came to fake Osteros? Mostly for us. Wow, that was… It was so fun. Did we not go to the chicken place after? I think so. Was that it with them? Chicken or ice cream? No, we went to Duffin's. We always go to Duffin's. We should go to Duffin's when I come over. We should go to Duff. We haven't been to Vancouver in like a year. What are we doing? What date? Monday. Easter Monday.

I'm out! Oh, sorry. Paul has to celebrate the day that Jesus rose from the grave. I have to. And terrorize the people of Rome. Otherwise the devil… Terrorize the poor Roman senators and soldiers. He forced their hand in that thing that they did. That was so not their fault. I've never read it. Jesus was executed by the Romans. He rose from the dead and spewed lions from his palms into the Roman court. Spoilers, everyone. If you don't celebrate him on the day of his birth…

You've been reading the Bible for like 900 years. You've got to finish it. Jeremiah. Jeremiah. Ian. I know your name. And you've been around. This one is just the word mess. Honestly, same. Al W.T. Al W.T. I love a double name. Oh, there's another Ian. Ian F. H. Elizabeth C. You seem cool. That's a cool name. Robin T. April F. Local. Local. Thank you for all your support. Filling out your hat envelope. Yeah, totally. April has been to Fatecoasters. Oh, cool.

April came to Fatecoasters at the museum. That was also how we met Dave and Casey. Oh my gosh, yeah. They came to Fatecoasters. P.R.T. Pat R.T. J.R. Jr. Who shot J.R.? Lockleaf. Also a cool name. There's no way this is your real name. Infinite Oregano. Oh my God. Infinite Oregano has been around for a long time. I live on Salt Spring or something. I feel like I have Infinite Oregano as well. If you clip it right and neuter the ground. Oh, that's a good tip. Chris C. Garrett A. Two first names.

I love cabbage. Chris C., you're also in the Discord. I recognize that email. Oh, yeah. Brian F. I recognize that name, write it all the time. Just a normal amount like everyone else. Whoa, Jess. Open your diary. It's just covered in Mrs. Brian F. Alex C. Thank you so much. Susan U. That's a cool name. You sound like you have a power suit. There's no way this is your real name. Fake Believe. Thanks for your support. Mark D. Mark D. Denton A. Thank you so much for your support. Denton Abbey?

Oh my God, thank you. Foolish Princess. Thank you. Aaron G. Aaron G. Cute. Kit W. I know who that is. Kit W. has been around so long that we've used their name in fiasco. Oh my gosh. Right. We did use it. I hope that's okay. Kit, I hope you liked it. If you didn't, what are you going to do about it? It's so cool that our show is woven with the people in the community. It's true. People would opt into that, right? They would put their names down. If you want to use your name, just hit us up.

I don't know. Yeah, we'll do it. Especially if your name is Gary. Or Jerry. Actually, I'm putting this on the books right now. Yeah? We'll say it at a certain level. Up All Night, we're going to need a lot of real people names. Right. We can start using people's names in the show. Yeah, for sure. Totally. If you want to be a part of Up All Night. Ashok, will you check yes or no? Give us permission. I'll talk to Ashok soon. Moe is also the only brown kid in town. That's kind of his whole thing.

Well, what if there's a new brown kid in town? I don't like that. He's the only brown kid? Yeah, that was the whole thing. That was his whole thing? No, but let's say Ashok is from the rich town. Oh, Clarebot. Ashok, do you want to be a rich guy? Do you want to be a rich kid from Clarebot? Ashok is feeling our brainwaves reaching him wherever it is he lives, who knows? No, I do know where he lives, but I'm not going to dox him. And he is levitating off the ground right now.

He will absolutely consent to being in Up All Night. Oh, we can make him a villain. Yes or no? Check yes or no. Do you want to be a rich asshole from Clarebot? Also, Jessica actually had a great idea for Up All Night. Where? Because we were listening to that radio show that was interviewing Mel and his giant hole. And Jessica was like, what we should do is we should have patrons send in the weird rumors from their towns. That's a great idea.

Even if it's just for my entertainment, I would love to know about your weird little town or big town. Points of interest. Points of interest, urban legends, rumors. And then we can do adventures based on that. Family lore. Ghost stories. Trauma. Doctor trauma. Intimate family trauma. Fun diner meals that exist. Or snacks that you can only get at a certain store.

I think a thing, because we did this, Abdul and I, when we were making our ghost tourist thing, is that the idea of Bushwick is every small town. It's everyone's hometown. That's why it's got so many monsters, so many legends. It's the densest small town in the world. If you live in a community in a big town, give us something specific from that. From your little neighborhood. Victoria, thankfully, is, we're lucky enough to have two monsters. That's crazy. What's the two monsters?

Cadborosaurus, a sea monster. Hugely popular in cryptozoology. And popular to a lesser degree, but one of my favorites, is the Thetis Lake fish man. Oh, cool. Some kids in the 70s, I think, called the police and said that a fish man ran out of the lake at them. To the point where the cops went down to the lake, and they were like, where's this fuckin' fish man at? I'll fuckin' fill him full of Big 38! The cops just wanted an excuse to unload a 38 into the water.

The one New Jersey cop that was transported to 1970s Vancouver Island. Yeah. Yeah. Those are two pretty good. There's also, like, the Flasher. He's a pretty good… Boss Top Masturbator? Boss Top Masturbator, pretty good urban legend. No, he's a real guy. Darth Fiddler? Nice cameraman. Darth Fiddler is a real person. Darth Fiddler, yeah. Cameraman is… I love cameramen. Oh, cameraman! Yeah. At my school. Cameraman was always… We did the… He was in the… the Christmas episode. Yeah.

Like, with the woods around my elementary school, we thought that there was someone named Cameraman, who lived there. Oh, yes. Because we were like, we swear he's taking photos of us, and if he takes your photo, I guess you die or something. Oh, that's so creepy. That's how it was phrased. Yeah. Or something. One of the other elementary schools I went to, there was a pack of coyotes, and they were like, do not go out of bounds, because there will be coyotes hasting on you. Wow.

There was also that one cougar that came into the playground when you were playing. Yeah, that was just for me. That wasn't an urban legend. But the cougar was… I mean, it was lounging, so… Yeah, you saw it, which is… It meant it… It meant it wasn't interested. It decided not to kill you. Or it was demented. Yeah, it was even more dangerous than a normal cougar. That cougar… It let me live. Sorry, that was a bit… That was a bit of a… Let's get back to it.

I like the cougar that you're on the seesaw by yourself, and then the cougar jumps on. Aw, cute! Pushes me on the swing. I'm like, well… Best friend! Let me tell you about my best friend! I love him to the very end. Which will be in about 15 seconds. V bet VI we're here. Did you say Ben V? Oh, we didn't say Ben V Alexander G Then a lot of Lana you've been around forever Lana and Cody Wow Such up all night. Yeah John John Paul a John Paul h2 out of four not bad.

Then we've got the master of outer space and clams That's not your real name sounds like somebody who likes to spend time in the water. Yeah me up Brayden G Thanks so much Braden Patrick D And the and Sawyer which I think we already thanked you yeah But now we're going through the list. Yeah. Yeah and Michael for this one Michael Michael are thank you. Thanks so much. Thank you. Thank you so much. That's up to February 3rd, 2020 2020 good lord. Nothing crazy happened right after that.

No, no, no. No, this is a normal time in our lives Much everybody I'm suppressed in Turn next week to hear some more whilst you commute or do your chores Gladly

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 who 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, and welcome to Spout Lore. I'm your game master, Sean O'Hara. Joining me as always, playing Tacoma Dome, the barbarian, Abdul Aziz. Hello. Playing Ving, the half-elf druid, Paul Oppers. Hello there. And playing Fat Billy, the halfling thief, Jessica Tye. What up?

When last we left our heroes, one Fat Billy had escaped through the window of Hither & Yon. Never before performed, perhaps by any living soul, escaping out the window of this liminal space. I blame his father for teaching him that he can break the rules of reality. I told you not to do that in front of him. You were talking too loud when we were having that conversation. I was.

And we traveled along with Billy as he made his way through the marshes of Mother Never Was, accosted by a dragon turtle, a massive turtle, out of a pond. Billy hid in the reeds and tried to perform some tricky fairy business to avoid the attention of such a fearsome foe. Tuck and Ving barreled through the marsh, entreating the aid of here-and-then-gone NPC Pierre the Firefly. The three reconvened, attempting to fight off this massive, dangerous, powerful turtle.

Eventually distracted and cast aside by a massive turtle made of mud and marshland, summoned by Ving. The party had a little heart-to-heart about the dangers that are coming down the road and the care that must be taken as we reach these final days, before traveling themselves out of this marshy territory, this hunting ground for the turtle, finding, just outside the basin, a shrine. But to who? Offerings, personal tokens, given freely to Mother Never Was in an attempt to make a deal.

Climbing up a tree, Ving communed with the whispers of this place, making contact with Mother Never Was herself. Ooh. Conversation was made. A deal was struck.

Ving, realizing that Mother Never Was might not be the cut-and-dry evil figure that we've come to assume, but instead, as many things are in our world, someone restrained by forces outside their control, Tuck made an offer, freely given, with nothing asked in return, to give Mother Never Was a choice of his that he will make in the future. Yeah, a choice that she can use at any point.

To make her own choices, which she accepted, taking the form of a young Macaulay woman that Tuck did not recognize, who referred to him as my son. That is where we find our heroes now, in the canopy of a marsh forest. What do you do? What are you doing? Was that your mom? I don't fucking know, dude. Was that your mom? I don't fucking know, dude. Yeah, fair. Very fair. I don't know, man. There's a lot I've forgotten about my life. And I guess she seemed nice, but…

So you got a feeling that she was nice? Did it provoke any sort of thing or feeling? No. I don't have… I don't remember anything from before. You heard what she said. Like, everything that was there before was wiped away. Before I woke up in that lab. I don't know. She said that something bad got put in, and then someone scooped it out, and then there was nothing before that.

I'm just trying to see if there's anything beyond thought, beyond memory, if there's any tangential tendrils of emotions there. I can't… I don't know, man. I don't know. No, I think it's what she said. I think I'm just like… I got hollowed out, and that's it. There's nothing left. So I guess I don't have a connection to whoever that was. Yeah, I suppose the only thing left to do is to wait for Cloudpiercer. So is that we're passing time in this tree, waiting for the bird to arrive?

I guess so. You know what? Maybe we gotta roll to determine whether or not Cloudpiercer was able to escape well enough to not drag anything here with him. I guess just roll 2d6 flat, somebody choose. Jessica's picking them up. A 1 and a 6. So a 7. A 7 to 9. Partial success. He's gonna get here pretty quickly, but I think there is a complicating factor. The storm follows him. Oh, yeah. The winds are whipping up around this tree.

So as you're sitting here, the branches start to blow in the breeze, Oh, that little clickety-clack of the deadwood. Yeah. And then harsher and harsher. Peter's like, holy fucking shit! Whoa! But as you're watching in the distance, you see and hear the rumble of thunder far off. And on the horizon, you see gathering dark clouds, flashes of lightning, but just the smallest little speck that grows and grows rapidly, and there is Cloudpiercer absolutely hauling through the skies.

Parting the trees as he rips. Oh, totally. A wake left behind him. Yes, Miyazaki style. Yeah. And he pulls up at the last second in front of you. You're buffeted by the winds of his flight. Fuck! We fly out of the tree. Never-ending story by the turtle. Whoa! Man in the muck. Wow. And he alights on the mother-never-was-his-tree, the tallest tree in this area. Ving! Billy! Tuck! There you are! I run up and wrap my arms around him. He's glad that he's still alive.

And he nuzzles you, you know, gets a little wing around you. I came as quickly as I can. Take the knife. I lay it across my chest. Thank you so much. I take the sheath. I wish I could get here quicker and easier, but unfortunately… And he casts a wide wing into the distance. The storm hath followed me. Oh no. What do we do? We should get back to the bar. Yeah, we should try and get back to Hylian Yon. Do you want to come with us? Into your house? I mean, yeah.

I can certainly try, but I have a war to fight, Ving. I'm sorry to have taken your weapon. Here, I want you to take this. Right, yes, there was something cool that you were going to give me. That was our agreement, right? Some cool weapon that I was going to get from you. Ving, off of his back, pulls his spear. You don't have your spear. I wish I had my spear. Why did you promise that? Do I have… Can we get the bar? Can we give him…

No, that doesn't make sense to give him the glass volcanic knife. No, no, no. Colmsword? We can't give that to him. I have… You're just going through your backpacks now. Ah, yes, your weapon here. I have this glove with… Venom. Paralytic. From the Harpsnake. I have a ghost horn. Right, a horn containing a ghost. Yeah. A glove might not be of much use to a bird. I have a bone-handled knife. Ooh. Elemental Mastery. I want to Elementum Master him a weapon. Oh, smart, yeah. You could do that.

I mean… The bone-handled knife is… There are two elements. Yeah. Bone and handle. Maybe there's a lot of things in this swamp I can draw on other bones. Ooh. Oh, scary. Spooky, creepy, cool. You can give him some kind of war form. Yeah, sort of. Like a battle cat. Yeah. And maybe the bones of the marsh… Maybe there's some sort of protection against the Gibbous Man. Potentially. Something, I don't know, it's from this land. Right, yeah. There's a potential for that. That is possible.

And because it's been soaking in the silt and in the muck, it's all black bones. They're like half-musclized. Oh, yeah, because they're in a moss bog. Yeah, they're in a peat bog. That's cool. I also want to hear how you're going to do this, because bone is not one of your classic elements. It's made out of rock, kind of. Bones is not made out of rock. What about this? They're so fossilized. I said fossilized. I said fossilized. You did say fossilized. This is what I'm talking about.

Yeah, you can justify it. Bones is kind of rock.

okay great and I think I think because of like like whatever we did with mother never was we sort of like appeased her like predatory nature so we sort of have I'm gonna say as the guy who gave her that gift feels like we have carte blanche in this situation sure amazing we could do whatever we were like a little less aggressive yeah yeah yeah I think I think I think the place is less trying to distract and destroy you now for sure okay so since Kate Blanch doesn't mind that we're here I'm gonna go ahead with this move okay elemental mastery 2d6 plus Constitution reaching out your spiritual perception into the soil and the silt yeah and the bones at the bottom of the pond mm-hmm ooh seven plus Constitution is nine nine whoa nice can I help or Billy how are you helping this I'm telling him how how sick I'm like give him fucking horns and put spikes coming out of his back yeah yeah give him a visor to help him with the Sun give him a visor and give him like a puffy vest kind of an account from 2004 yeah cloud pierces behind you going yes give me horns give me cool horns thing razor-tipped wing oh yeah like make his talons even sharper like put some put like hold on my talons are plenty sharp are they as sharp as this shushing and I make that noise makes it sharp is your weak human hand no I made the sound I'm making listen to how sharp it is okay one second listen and he tilts his head and he puts his wing up to his ear that's pretty sharp that sounds pretty sharp all right let's see what you can do okay breastplate made out of big ribs yeah on the on the breastplate it says if you can read this you're fucked okay well if this aid works yeah so you still got a seven to nine yeah that just means that all of the stuff that that tuck is describing it's just being was like this is not cool at all visor he's a bird can Billy step in today I had two people gonna head oh my god so how's Billy gonna add to this you're at like this is way too much weight for this little guy you know he's a big guy still a little guy yes like you're putting like basically like a truck on him nice let's just go bare bones I'll be aerodynamic their bones I like it the horns we keep the talons we keep maybe some sort of rib bone mask that goes up oh cool face yeah you gotta roll it six plus bond I get my feelings really said my idea was bad I go you don't know what you're fucking talking about we can't Batman I didn't want to say anything but I do have like a beak that takes up most of my skull that requires a lot of clearance to open and close so I don't know that a helmet or mask would actually help okay all that much I'll do by the way the storm is like a tree a small tree on fire yeah we should probably wrap her up so on a seven to nine I choose one of the following yeah the effect I desire comes to pass so I don't avoid paying nature's price and I don't retain control yeah so describe what you do create you're pulling these bones up out of the earth they're flying up out of the out of the out of the muck kind of the like bogs around us bones of the long dead animals stuck in it yeah and clinking together above him and kind of swirling around and clang clang clang and he's spinning around and cool yeah like a sailor moon like I'd like a metal heavy metal sailor moon situation yes it's forming on his body and then he does a pose and he's got yeah he's got like to the side he's got a visor he's got a chain with a pendant on it that's like the three of you made out of long blonde braids but what he is is he is decked out for war he is looking he's looking fearsome warbird fierce warbird yeah and he goes all right now that I am properly outfitted I will go and draw away the storm but you must get to safety as quickly as possible good luck yeah he touches talons with you three of you my friends arms spread wings on those arms when the time comes when the final battle is about to be waged I will be there boom and he takes off and the wind there's rain is starting to lash down the wind is picking up oof we're hearing lightning strikes trees splintering in the forest fires burning it's like that scene from Sherlock Holmes where they're running through the forest yeah the trees are exploding around you cool yeah yeah so you guys gotta run cuz the you got to get back to the to the hut okay shack perilous journey yeah I know this is this is more dangerous than perilous journey because as your spiritual power extends out into the marsh as these bones have been pulled up bones have begun jutting from the soil around you we have to be running with dexterity yeah dexterity would help I can lead the way everybody describe how they're doing it yes okay I'm leading the way yeah like a little like a little ballerina yeah yeah like a little Legolas dodging and turning yeah leaving big heavy footprints for you to follow me yes great do I roll first yes 2d6 plus dexterity yeah I got ten ten yeah Billy is bones are like exploding out of the soil and Billy's dodging out of the way of them as they can't grasp yeah yeah bony arms coming out of the soil and grabbing at you yeah how's Tuck doing it talks like slashing the axe through everything that's growing out of the soil and like fucking running as hard as he can yeah 2d6 plus strength that's five seven okay nice you you're slashing your axe and smashing these bones aside they're no match but as you're stepping through the soil and the muck you're going back down the hill towards where the hut was and your feet are sinking deeper and deeper into the muck you're so heavy yeah as these bones are coming out of the muck around you they're grabbing onto your legs and you find yourself immobilized temporarily you're gonna have to do something to get out of there we're gonna go to Ving first I'm just trying to run as hard as I can and also I see Tuck if if he's immobilized in front of me I'm trying to like push him and pull him out as I'm running yeah so that'll be two separate roles for sure you're either gonna make your role to get through or you're gonna make your role to help Tuck I'm gonna go to Tuck and try and help him smash off the bone sounds like 2d6 plus strength Billy's Billy's getting far ahead of you yeah great yeah eight eight okay so seven to nine it's taking some time like the bones they're trying to grab all of you but they're focusing on you at Ving as this like beacon of spiritual power they're coming up out of the marsh and you're seeing like muck covered human skeletons and like partial like animal skeletons lifting themselves out of the mud but made out of silt and moss and yeah and fossilized bone and it looks like you are on your way to getting overwhelmed having to deal with this as like a direct conflict but Tuck you are both now free to like continue moving okay but these these bone creatures are coming up out of the soil I pick Ving up and I like throw him ahead of me to like as a thank you for like getting me free 2d6 plus strength that was nine I'll aid yeah there you go I shift my weight in the in the sky like a tiger yeah nice 12 okay yeah so that's a 10 so you hurl Ving Ving does some acrobatic bullshit midair and clears himself of the the vast majority of the bones yeah that's actually pretty cool sorry some cool acrobatic bullshit as you land softly in the in the muck in the rain storm bucket slamming yes she's sideways yeah yeah and the like ripping winds are kind of making it hard to hear it's so loud here every once in a while like kind of a hundred meters down the trail where we were there'll be like a crack of lightning that like blinds us and like deafens us yeah it's a flashbang there's even branches falling off of the trees and like flying towards us oh yeah Billy so you're up ahead brain a branch of a huge tree like slams into the trail in front of you and there are more coming flying through the air what do you do what do I do I will tuck in Ving I should say are further behind you now as well you realize I'm going to stay I'm not gonna leave you because we had that conversation so I I rip out one of the tree branches from the muck and I start swinging it around batting off the And the bones, just whatever's coming at us.

Yeah, yeah. Yeah, you, uh, you pull a- you snap off a piece of the, like, the big- cuz the branch is bigger than you, but you yank a part of it off. I'm running around going, Warrior! Like a little Wade Boggs. And, as you do, like, more of these bony creatures are coming up out of the soil. And there's, like, a fossilized, muck-covered raccoon skeleton. Oh! Beared. Hollow sockets filled with muck. Sharp teeth. And the way that tar sands, like, preserve animals, so they're, like, Yeah. Preserved.

Oh, yeah, there's, like, some, like, mummified skin stuck to it. And it's kind of like, Ahhhh! And I go, Huh! And I stab it. Alright, hack and slash. Sure. Two to six plus strength. Six. I'm gonna turn it to- I'm gonna use a fairy child and turn that to a seven to nine. Okay, great. And you batter this skeleton aside. Uh, they're- they're fragile, fossilized bones. So they just disappear, but more are starting to take its place. And the seven to nine is, you hear, like, a cracking sound. Uh-huh.

And you turn back, and you can see the winds of the storm are kind of fighting with the mist of the marsh. And the mar- the mists are losing. They're getting blown aside. Whoa! And you see the shack that Hither and Yon has attached to, and you see boards start to fly off in the wind. Oh, and it's shaking on it. Yeah. Oh, no, we have to get to it. Yeah. Oh, shit! Before it gets blown away? Yeah, what do you do? Fuck! Fuck! I want to barrel over- try and get there as fast as I can.

Yeah, 2d6 plus strength or constitution if you're just, like, taking the brunt of the storm. No, I'm gonna try and, like, um, ballet my way there as fast as I can. Like, try and leap and bound. Yep, dexterity then. I'm gonna switch out one of these twos with my throw-me-a-bone from last night, which is a six. Ah! Making it an eight, plus- it's a ten. A ten. Okay, so you are able to, uh, get, like, bypassing by Billy, Tuck, who is, like, stomping through behind you.

Uh, you're able to dodge and dash your way, uh, through the reeds and the winds, dodging the branches that are flying off the trees. And the shack is ahead of you, it's within running distance. I'm stopping, like, with a hand out, offering to Billy and Tuck. More boards are flying off the shack, the stilts are shaking under the assault. I'm trying to hold it, like, hold the thing steady. Oh, yeah! That's very cool. Like Spider-Man. Yeah, Tuck, what do you do? Billy, uh, so, I try, mmm…

Billy's, like, a distance down the track from you. I'm always behind, right? But he's, like, coming towards you, it sounds like? Yeah, I'm trying to, like, meet you to help you get out of the situation. I see that, and I go, Billy, what are you doing? I'm coming to save you, just like I promised! And then Tuck, in his head, is like, oh my god, we're doing such a bad job! Bing, at that moment over time, goes, follow me, guys! I said I'd never leave you again!

Smash, skeleton, exploded under Billy's branch. Don't worry! I'm not gonna give up! Billy's fighting, like, frog skeletons and, like, possum skeletons. Awesome. Smash! This is when you listen! So, like, Tuck, he… He feels like he has to calm the storm. Can I use the lie to do that? Read the lie again? When you leverage your fundamental lack of truth to overcome a magical or metaphysical danger, On a 10+, you ignore the effect completely.

On a 7-9, you ignore the immediate danger, but choose one from below. Minus one ongoing until the threat is dealt with, suffer D10 damage, or the threat endangers an ally. Yeah, it is a living storm. I want to lie to it and tell it that it is not a living storm. It has no connection to the Thunderbirds or Lillian or Lillian's Rage. I want to tell it a lie of freedom. That it is its own thing. You can dissipate any time.

Yeah, that it is a storm that is controlled not by the will of others, but by the forces of the natural world. That it is as mundane as I am. It is worth a shot, for sure. So it's 26+, what? Constitution. Which I have a debility to. Yeah, you have a debility to everything. Please. What's new? Oh! Whoa! 10! 10, okay. So 10. That's so cool. You are, yeah, yeah. So the storm is blowing, galing. Trees are getting uprooted and tossed into the air. You say galing? Yeah. Galing. Oh. Yeah. And, and.

I see within the storm. Yeah, a flutter of wings. An hourglass figure. Absolutely snatched bird waste. And I, I, I look, I, I look as Billy is like fucking hammering through like frogs and centipedes and crickets and little ants and stuff. What? No, big, big dudes, like, like an elk head and a raccoon and a small bear cub. I am doing it. You're going full RFK, too. Yeah. So I, the thing, everything slows. The storm, the sound of the storm slows and muffles.

And I, I look up and I see the figure of one whom Sai once shared a bed with. I make eye contact with Kale. Hello, Tuck. Wolf. Wolf. Like an angel. The storm can't be stopped. A dark angel. I am now an agent of the storm. Wolf. And then Tuck looks her in the eye and goes, I have always loved you, Kale. The lie. Would, would that society could have let us be together? But so it was not allowed. And Cloud Piercer, the knave, always getting in the way.

OK, wait, now I'm lost on to what you're trying to accomplish. I guess I'm turning her against Cloud Piercer. I guess I'm trying to. The lie is that I love her. OK, so it's not to the storm. It's to Kale. But she is a representation. So as soon as you introduced Kale, I was like, yeah, oh, well, you introduced Kale. Actually, I introduced Kale. I think Jess and I did the same thing. You said Kale. But as soon as Kale showed up, I was like, oh, she's controlling the storm. I have to lie to her.

And the lie that I use is that I love her and I always have. And that if you let us go, we will be together. Would you kill one whom loves you so? She's kind of circling above, looking down at you. I knew it. That's why we did all that stuff that night. No, no, nothing happened in the nest for real. And I told everybody that that was the case. They never believed me because the sexual tension between us was so unbelievable.

It was your guitar cutter with a knife, a knife that was meant to cut through hot butter. The like of which I could spread on you. So if I turn the storm aside, you and I could be together right now. Yes. Is that what you're saying? That is what I am saying. I give myself to you to be your foul lover. Beautiful. Okay. And he's standing there like this. His wings turned out. Yeah, he's ready. Arms straight out. Yeah, just like the wings of a Thunderbird. Quake like gap.

And she can please one more circle of you in the sky and then dive. Boom. The mist parting, the storm beginning to recede, the clouds still dark and threatening above. You're not lying to me, are you, Tuck? I don't even know the meaning of the word. Then kiss me. I kiss. Quick, quick. What do you do here? Are you going to kiss a big bird? Are you going to try and get away? You said this. What are you talking about? I am not getting gas lit right now.

Before we started the recording, we were in the hallway. You said you have to kiss the bird when I give you the opportunity. I never said that. I said you have to tongue the bird. And I go, I will kiss you, girl. Close your eyes. And she begins to close her eyes. And I pick up Billy and I start running. Oh my god. Do I kiss the bird? Do I kiss the bird? Alright, how are you getting there? Ving is at the board holding Hither and Yonder. 26 plus strength. Oh, jeez. 12.

You can feel it start to crumble, but you're like grabbing it, holding it. get in place, uh, pillars of earth and soil are coming up and shoring up the platform in places. I, uh, I just run as hard as I can and then I, I, when I get there I climb over Vig and open it to the door and I do not help him. I'm so, I'm so grossed out and scared of Gale. Yeah, I rolled two sixes. Oh yeah. I got a 12. Billy in your arms, you leap up onto the platform. I smash through the door.

You do not smash through the door of Hither and Yon. Seeing it's about to be smashed, which would have unbelievable consequences, the door pops open as you run at it. Please don't. I'm hanging my branch out of the door for you to grab onto. Oh, thank you. Yeah. 2d6 plus strength. Yeah. I'll do my best. Two and a six, eight. Wow. Seven to nine. Nice. So, okay.

Seven to nine, Ving, you grab the branch, get yanked up onto the platform and the door is starting to close and through it you all hear, you betrayed me. Close the door, close the door, close the door. She swoops right at her massive Thunderbird form. I slam the door. Torpedoing, quick. 2d6 plus dexterity. Oh no, no, no, no, no, no. What? I rolled a fucking three. Oh no. So as you're closing the door.

Oh, but as you're closing the door for just a moment, the absolute potency of her rage and betrayal, her head bursts through the door, this massive Thunderbird head. And she's trying to, she opens her jaws and she's trying to slam them closed on you. And then they're forced back open and she is forced outside the door. You can see like a shimmering field in the air. She brought upon an ill intention. Yeah. Forced back outside the door.

As the door begins to close, you see her eye, her huge Thunderbird eye, her gleaming bezoar. I will never forget this betrayal. And if I can't get you, Cloudpiercer will feel my wrath. No. And then I go, baby, this joke was too much for him. And I turn around, I show her my butt, and I sit close to her. She goes, and the door closes and the winds are gone. Silent, safe. Oh, wait, can I take another read on that line? Sure. I thought of a better thing. Yeah.

I go, baby, you weren't ready for this jelly. I thought that's what you did say the first time. One more, one more. Babe, you weren't ready for this jelly. No, a different one. A different one? Okay. More tension this time. More sexual tension. Okay. Uh, baby, this, uh, you're. Oh, hold on. Wait, wait, wait. Uh-huh. I can't. Doodly doodly bird head, my pear butt. Baby, sorry. My hug is a little too wild for you. You know what? The second one was actually better.

You can't make an omelet without cracking a fuck couple of eggs. Fuck couple of eggs. And the door closes. The winds quiet, safe. The shutters close. As you can see, like, boards from the platform are getting ripped up. And as the platform is destroyed, the shutters close and you are in hither and yon. Oh, God. We turned around and mirrors in Victoria were watching that whole thing. Both of their hair is like blown back. There's a stick in the wall. Wow. So didn't go good.

It went, actually went pretty good. Yeah. For us, that was pretty good. Yeah. Yeah, it was a success. We're all here in one piece. And we got the knife. Vic. You got the knife, right? I have the knife. Uh, does everybody want tea? Yeah. I would love some tea. Cut to. We're here in hither and yon. Tea has been served. Everybody, including Victoria and Francis and Black Spire are having little bowls of tea. We're we're we're all gathered around the fire. Victoria is back at her table. Okay.

Sullen a little bit. Can we go sit with her? Feels shitty to exclude her. Not bad. Yeah. Yeah. I want to do something crazy. I want to unlock her. Yeah. I want to talk about unlocking her. Let's ask Mears. I mean. Okay, so we're sitting around the fire and we're speaking quietly. Victoria is at her table. Mears is sitting there. He's got a cup of tea and a saucer in his hand. I'm gonna be honest with you. We have been chatting and she is kind of fun to talk to. Victoria? I know. I know.

She's seen a lot of the world. She's a pretty high class lady. She's got some cool perspectives on stuff. She's also very manipulative. She's extremely manipulative and it is working on me. So immediately your opinion is suspect. Yeah. Oh boy. That's a great point. I am probably being manipulated into being her friend. You're compromised. I'm caught. I've been compromised. I'm actually going to abstain from this conversation. I'm accusing myself. What were you going to say though?

I still don't think we should unlock her. This means we shouldn't unlock her. She can't. The real risk is if we unlock her. She's got free run of the place. That's not so big a deal. She can't hurt anyone as per the rules. But she could leave. Try and cut a deal with the Gibbous man. If she gets out. But it does seem like you two are getting along. We're getting… I mean, I can get along with everybody. I can get along with anyone. He's the bartender, man. Yeah. Everybody likes me. Yeah.

Just wondering if there's a way that we can use a connection with her to kind of soften her to our way. I mean, maybe. Try and get some info out of her at some point. I think over time that might happen. But I personally, as a guy who has been stabbed by her at least three times. I have also been stabbed by her. Yeah. At least a couple of times. Yeah. I don't think we should unlock her. Not yet. But I would vote and I look over and she's like doing like the knife thing. Yeah.

I was like, I would vote that we extend her chain so she could at least come hang out by the fire with us. All right. She can borrow my leash. Your leash? Yeah, the one that you make me go on if we're going on a big walk. Oh, yeah. So you don't get lost and end up in a lake or something. Yeah. It's really powerful. Yeah. The extender leash. Yeah, yeah. Sometimes we corkscrew it in the yard outside and just let them have fun. Yeah. It's awesome. He loves it. All right.

So you approach Victoria with the extender leash? Yeah. What is that? It's a little bit of trust, Victoria. Why would you trust me? I don't know. We want to hang out with you and it feels shitty that you're over here on your own. Don't you want to sit on the couch by the fire? Yeah. Pretty warm. And we're about to talk about the knife, which it would be nice to have you in that conversation. You've seen a lot of things. You have a lot of perspective that we don't have.

Come sit by the fire with us. There's a lot of expressions rolling across her face as you're saying all this. Okay, if you insist. And we put the… So it's a harness that Billy goes into and we put it on her. And because she's so lithe and skinny, it fits, but it makes her tits look fucking… Like a bustier? Yeah. Is that what you're saying? It's like a push-up bra. Billy's like, so? Do I look cool? Kind of, buddy. Kind of. Does it do that to me? Yeah. And she adjusts it and settles in.

I think it's quite fitting. Okay, but I want the big chair. What? That's… No. I want the big chair. I don't care what you want. You just get the… She starts rushing across the room. We all run, we all run, oh my god. We run over to… Yeah, I try to get the first. All right, who's… Everybody's trying to get the big chair. I try to get the first, that's my chair. How are you trying to do it? Shoving. I lose… What? Wait, what's strength? My strength, for sure. I get three. I shove also.

Yeah. So I get seven. I got five. I try to step onto her using dexterity to step on the chain. So on a seven, Billy and Ving are left in the dust. But with a seven and nine, Victoria and Tuck get to the… You get to the chair at the same time. Yeah, we're like wedged into it. She's like trying to… Yeah, she's trying to wedge herself in next to you. I just want the chair. I've been sitting on that bench for what feels like three weeks. Is that fair? But you fucking stabbed me, dude.

You get benched for a bit. Okay, fine. Then I guess we can just be nice and close. Oh, fine. Oh, she kind of like leans against you. Stop. No, you want to share the chair. This is what sharing a chair is like. Stop wiggling around so much, okay? Oops, I'm falling over top of you. Oh my god. Does this leash do anything to me? Are you really not getting out of the chair? No. She gets up out of the chair. Bam. I will sit on the floor. Okay, good. Like a prisoner, which is what I am, I guess. Yeah.

Okay. She just kind of plops on the floor. I put a pillow on my lap. No reason. For no reason. Just because I want one. Mind your own business. Stop asking weird questions. Yeah. Oh, your lap doesn't get cold? Yeah. Oh, you don't feel self-conscious sometimes with your belly sticking out in a big chair? This is a fat boy pillow. Okay, I think we've talked about the pillow enough. So. And Mirrors is sitting on a cushion on the floor.

all right the knife is on the floor yeah or like on the i imagine there's like a little table in front of the fire you know what i mean like a little kind of coffee table and it's just sitting on this coffee table i'm looking at it spinning it so this is what killed ryan yeah and this is the last piece of lillian that the gibbous man was trying to find i think so was there another oh shit the one in hibernia we still have that one is still and cloud piercer's on his way there yes yeah and that one is vulnerable yes oh cloud piercer is going to protect it yeah he knows he told us that he was yeah because throne breaker is headed to hibernia yeah yeah so what do we need to do there they'll be warned by cloud piercer but it's not very much warning they might see it they might actually see it coming yeah because the gray is god so and the druids are powerful do you think that they could handle throne breaker and the thunderbirds on their own i mean we couldn't handle throne breaker they haven't fought for ages that's what i was thinking they're out of practice i think we should help them i can also come with if that's necessary i remember just now that i am uh now a trained warrior it's true your stats and everything yeah yeah so we can fight with you we are stronger than we were the last time we bought him and smarter yeah we know more i have more i guess control over whatever demon shit is in this coin oh and we have black spire oh black spire and throne breaker's power comes from his like obsidian or we might be able to use black spire to to help defend the island and uh like if this is the fireplace like a little bit down the wall a little double half door pops open and black spire's huge head comes popping out what's going on i heard my name like a couple times hey do you want to use your little like fire blast thing you brother you better believe it yes i've been practicing in here what i need somebody to come in here and put out some fire oh shit i'll go put it out it starts billowing out from inside crackling on the side of his head yeah you see there's a bunch of like circular scorch marks on the wall or like holes bored through like piles of hay we do like a flashback and like every once in a while like one of us will go in and like just pull sandbags up for him uh-huh because the the whole barn is this one big kind of cavernous space yeah so he'll do like these like agility dexterity moves but where he'll like hit a hit a sandbag hit another sandbag run a little further hit it does not have that kind of no he misses most of them and all his agility is like shit boom rolling he's just unfortunately the dragon that you guys know is not what one would call the prime dragon he's a basement kid dragon yeah he's a big out of shape bulldog yeah that can kind of shoot lasers out of his mouth that's better that was better uh and back in the present yeah i'm ready to help what are we doing i mean we think that this like big fat bird is gonna try to attack a bunch of druids can't have that don't know what any of that means but i can't allow it to happen black spark uh this bird it's got a big fat piece of obsidian sitting in its head i think pink that's kind of what's giving it it's weird superpowers i think it might be leading him in some way giving him power dark obsidian power if we could break it somehow yeah and then i could eat it yeah that's what we're talking about all right this is this is going to be primo black crutch for you all right ways come out of a bird's head can't come out of a bird head yeah you're gonna have to catch the bird first yeah yeah i gotta eat bird head crunch yeah oh man all right well i'm still gonna do it but i just wanted to know i want you all to know that i think it's kind of weird all right i'm gonna rest up for the fight to come eddie reaches out with his mouth and grabs like the little rope that's on the inside of the door and tugs it shut grabs the other one tugs it shut and goes to get there's a hold i'm gonna get it i'm gonna get it i i we gotta make these a little longer i think for me uh we watch this for like easily a minute and a half got it pretty cute got it and he tugs it shut and the door's closed where'd the bezoar come from again was this man put there yeah because it was a different gem before it was red yeah we shattered it yes you shattered his bezoar yeah so we did kind of fuck him up before in a big way and he's like the size of a town kind of he's really big yeah his wake span is like a kilometer yeah it's massive yeah uh and he seems to have been getting the the snatches that you've seen of him through visions it seems like he's getting bigger um okay that seems like the right thing to do morally as well as practically help the druids fight off throne breaker fingers crossed take him out for good and then could we should we try and collect that piece of the moon as well if it's no longer safe there if the gray is no longer there i think so right the gibbous man might be on his way yeah as the gray clears it'll be easier for him to get there yeah that's no good is the knife safe here oh absolutely okay by the way we don't take it we can't risk giving him two pieces of the moon we should put it in the lost and found yes the safest place the safest place behind the counter oh there's that safe yeah yeah there's a little safe under the under the bar where like the barkeeper can only open yeah that money just shows up in sometimes oh yeah can you show can you open that for us just as you can give me the knife thank you and he takes it and he goes behind the bar dang it and he kind of moves in front of the safe and looks behind him i just want to see if it's real he looks like it is real a thousand dollars a thousand spell lord dollars you want to see if a thousand spell lord dollars is a real thing i've never seen that many coins in my life clank and he opens it that's empty right now next time next time puts the knife in and he whispers to himself it's not empty sorry what was that closes the door spins the dial all right so it should be safe in there only i know the combination okay good to go i guess unless people need to rest up a bit i want to i do need to rest up a bit and i wonder now that we have the knife and we know what it is because like last time we had it we didn't really know yeah it like it killed ryan it is a piece of the moon it's like it's comprised of like all of these like fundamental elements is there like can you commune with the whispers of it or something or billy is there something in your like fairy brain that knows it yeah can we find out more about lillian and the gibbous man and or the history of this knife through spending time with it is there a piece of information that could help us supposedly could try you can certainly try perfect i will commune with the whispers set the scene for me um this is like i guess we're gonna take a hither and yon three-day break yes yeah to rest up yeah it's healing so i could clear out a debility a lot of tuck sleeping i'm imagining him like fully like massive body splayed out on one of the beds upstairs snoring away yeah no i sleep by the couch okay so everybody's trying to live around this 500 pound man yeah yeah yeah this is just the way that it is i have an inconsiderate roommate i felt like my train set on top and around yeah so you can fall asleep really yeah mirrors in uh victoria are playing uh go fish like on tuck's chest because he's covering the coffee table i'm sitting cross-legged on his crotch spinning the knife on his legs with the whispers we're just hanging out on tuck yeah table talk okay great 2d6 plus wisdom 10 10 on a 10 plus the vision is clear and helpful to you i feel like the vision must be chimes and lillian following the birth of rian like holding uh oh maybe we see chimes in lillian's home for the first time like uh i think uh uh solidly built but obviously made by them like small one two room like shack on the shore of the sea yeah stony beach coniferous trees stone chimney stone chimney smoke smoke pluming out of it the waves lapping at the shore and like a wooden half door yeah wouldn't yeah the door's kind of store propped open so the night air can can uh blow in the moon shining through the windows from from where the uh the home is you see like just an unbroken horizon so you can always see where the sea see in the sky meet yeah it's part of what like lets lillian be there well it is broken by the graves right which were brought up by chimes to even make this life for them possible right and you hear you know that the night the silent that the lapping of the waves the quiet of the night is broken by a cry of pain and then a cry of new life and lillian and chimes are kind of wrapped in one another they are enclosing this squalling baby.

Which version of Chimes is this? He is younger, shorter hair, fewer tattoos, still like strong of body, hail of spirit. He's got like fresh scars on on his wrists from where he pulled the graves out. The chains, the chains, the scars of chains. The chains wrapped around his hands and forearms. You can still see red and raw and they and you can feel through this vision Lillian looking at this baby and knowing that she would do anything for this child.

And you see like the an image of her reaching into her chest and removing like a luminous handful of light and from that forging a small blade. A weapon forged by a god for a demigod. Is the moon in the sky? No. Yes, both moons are in the sky and both are intact. Cool. I like that she like because the blade is curved and she takes the white light out and holds it out the window up to the crescent of the moon and it creates a silver crescent blade. Yeah. Out of the crescent of the moon. Yeah.

That's cool and then she as she like drags the pulls the blade down it kind of makes contact with like where the sky meets the water on the horizon and it cuts through the sea itself and quenches in it. Oh yeah. Which makes the kind of like the wavy lines of the Damascus steel. That's so cool. Yeah. Pretty sweet.

Pretty sweet and you see on his first birthday a child older but still very small kind of toddling around uneasily on short legs and her hanging around his neck with the knife inside and you know coming out of this vision that the piece of the moon the piece of Lillian contained within the blade is love and then you think let alone just losing her son that this this thing that she crafted for him from her very own heart was used to slay him and you see beyond a shadow of a doubt why she would have burned the world for that.

Blames herself in a way. Certainly. But yeah okay that is what you learn. What is Billy doing on these three days of rest? I mean playing trains. What do I do if I don't need to heal? You do whatever you want you can spout lore about stuff you can just chill. Oh I know could I is it possible from here to put to use like connections to the fairies of Hibernia to find out news? Oh yeah it certainly could be. We do have the mail slot. There is the mail slot. Yeah. Oh fun.

Okay I will use the mail that's what I've been doing playing trains and writing leaving little messages to see if I can reach out to the fairies on Hibernia for news. Okay great and what have Billy's messages look like considering he can't write? They are leaves like little pieces of like plant matter. Cute. They are they're meaningful to the fairies. Yeah very cute okay then yeah roll your connection what kind of you're looking for news in general?

Yeah because like now that we know that the gray is receding I want to know like has Thronebreaker reached Hibernia or has there been any like fighting or danger approaching? Are they aware of what's coming? Is the moon piece okay? Yeah totally. What are we walking into? If they are aware how are they prepared? Yeah. Okay great then yeah go ahead and roll your connections which I believe is with Charisma. Charisma yeah that is eight. Eight okay so on a seven to nine.

I'll have to settle for something close to it or it comes with strings attached. Okay so it's not all of the news that you want it's just some of the news. Sure. Yeah you receive a message back in the also I guess like you find a pile of leaves in the mailbox one day? Yeah there's a shell and a couple sticks and leaves. Great yeah and you pull that you pull the sticks and leaves out in the shell and you hear just drop them on the ground and you hear like a like coming from the shell.

Uh-huh I hold it up to my ear. And you contained within is the voice of a fairy of Hibernia. Echo. I hear you. I don't have long there's a council meeting and we're all gonna go and we're all gonna listen but if you must know before we go the Druids do know that something is coming. Early birds have gotten the worms. Is that code? It means that Thunderbirds have arrived ahead of the main force but not all of them. And are they have they caused any issues?

They have the Druids have been able to cast a couple of them off but more arriving every day. And what are the worms? The worms it's real worms the birds have been eating all the worms on the island. Big worms? Big worms no worms left for anybody else it's horrible. And the other thing that you should know is that not all of the council members are here one is still missing. I bet I know who that is.

Anyway this is a pre-recorded message in a shell so I'll talk to you later if you show up come find me. Then how come you answered my questions? Wow that fairy did a really good job of guessing what you were gonna say. We have a connection. He knows me too well. Yeah so some of the birds have showed up so they know that a threat is on its way and one of the council members is in the wind. Stone Eye has got to be Stone Eye. I'm gonna also send that pile of sticks and stuff in the shell to Farrah.

She might know. She needs to know this too. I like that. She's just shoving it's like compost through a mail slot. She's smart enough she'll figure it out. There's books on fairy languages and written code wherever the library is now. Yeah because they did move it. Do we have any mail from Farrah? Not for a while no. Yeah but you could always try I mean you just tried to get a message to her so maybe you'll get maybe you'll get one back. Cool. Tuck while you're resting. I'm resting.

I cleared the constitution debility. I still have two. Okay so everybody's in Hither and Yon preparing to leave. You are fully in the in-between space. The shutters have remained closed all this time and the time has come to decide where you go next. I'm getting in my final meal before we have to head out. Yeah there is kind of a final meal vibe to this. A little bit. Because we are heading into a war. Definitely a fight. Yeah. Can I look around the stores in the Lost and Found for a weapon?

Yeah what kind of weapon are you looking for? Or I could fashion a bow. After all this time have a bow? Have I never had a bow? You had one in the first episode because you said I want to be a bow guy. Yeah and then you literally never used it. And then when you when you had the opportunity to meet the interdimensional trader and get whatever weapon you want you were like I think I want this cool bow because I'm going to be a bow guy and then you never use that bow.

God damn I keep forgetting about bows. I think that Fing wants to spend a bit of my time that's not healing tuck in fashioning a bow out of the Hither and Yon. Okay now we're doing a bow. Okay yeah let's do a bow again the third time's the charm. Yeah so uh with the with time and materials which you do have you can you can make a bow. Great yeah and some arrows. Yeah I'm plucking feathers out of the pillows for your bow. Oh thank you. Absolutely got a pillow.

There's some stuck in the door from when Gale's Forster's head threw in there. Thunderbird feathers. I got Thunderbird feathers too like dark dark bird. Warbird feathers. The feathers like shimmer like they kind of like shift as they as the light hits them differently. Yeah iridescent. Yeah pretty sweet. Pillow feathers. And some pillow feathers. And some down yeah. Okay so right keep in mind you have a bow no problem and you have three ammo worth of arrows.

There's like something kind of like uh full circle about this because like the last time Nathaniel showed up at this island with a bow he killed your mom. Yeah yeah I wanted some Nathaniel um circling back. Yeah um and I want to take the leather strap that is about my mom and dad because I'm thinking about them when I'm making this bow and uh Vink uh winds it around his wrist as a as a arm guard. Oh nice. Uh okay anything else that anyone's preparing to do? Could I fashion a a weapon bindle?

A weapon bindle. Cool. Like instead of it being filled with my bindle being filled with bread I'll fill it with different weapons. With a weapon. Uh-huh. With a spike with a heavy ball. Yeah a bunch of rocks. Yeah heavy thing. A heavy like a shot put? No to be to like so I can whip it around. Oh like a bag of knives. Yeah. Oh I thought you meant like uh yeah she means like a flail like turn it into a weapon. Great yeah you can put some heavy stuff in your bindle.

Cool um I'm gonna also rifle through the lost and found. Uh-huh what are you looking for? It's just a heavy thing to fit in the blanket in my bindle. Yeah yeah you find a a big metal ball that looks like maybe it was a cannonball. It's perfect. But a small lightish cannonball. It's perfect. Like a five pin bowling ball. Yeah totally yeah. And you throw that in your bindle and now you got a heavy ass bindle. I gotta use all my core strength to keep it up but it's worth it. Great.

Tuck what about you? I uh take a shower. Perfect. A very Long show. For the first time, it's so long. I think it's the first time I've maybe done it the whole show. What, uh, what sword does Mears have? He's got the, he's got Callum's sword. Good. Yeah. Oh, right. Callum's sword. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Can you bring it with us? I don't know. He's, he's the only one that can wield it. Oh, that's true. And it's quite powerful. And I am coming with you. Yes. Yes. We need you, buddy. Okay. Yeah.

You're coming with us. You're coming with us. I was asking a question. Oh, yeah. You're coming with us. That's great. I love to hear it. So that means Victoria's in charge of the bar while we're gone? There's no way. Francis is in charge of the bar. Oh, come on. I could have done this for sure. Should we take Victoria with us? I almost don't want her in here just in case. Yeah. How can we bind her? How can we trust you? I mean, she's bound already by the oath. Yeah. If she betrays us, she's…

You'll know right away. You'll know right away. And she'll face something worse than death. That is true. That is true. I'll be honest. When you said, let's take Victoria, I was trying to imagine all the ways in which I could escape or betray you. But I realized… She's flat. Towards the door a little bit. But, but, but, but, but, but, but, I can't because of the oath that I swore to Billy. Also, if the Gibbous Man gets you, he will fuck you up, dude. Oh, yes. He will kill me.

It will not even be like a cool thing that I'll just be gone from reality probably. Yeah. I imagine he does it really slow and painful. I hope I never know. So I will need a weapon then. I guess she will. I go into the Lost and Found and I rummage around and I find a saber, which is her chosen weapon. I see a bunch of sabers in like an umbrella bucket and I go out of my way to pick the one that has like a red jewel on the pommel and like it looks the prettiest.

And I take it out and I give it to her. Oh, wow. She takes it and she kind of does a whoosh, whoosh in the air, balances it on her finger so you can see how well balanced the blade is. Ah, sheathes it. This is a beautiful weapon, Tuck. Yeah. Such a wonderful gift that you have given me. The gift to kill. A tool of death. I think in another life our marriage could have been quite exciting. All right, let's go. All right, we're opening the door. Yes.

So before you open the door, I put my hand on it and I warn you about what was in the message to me. Oh, they're convening a council. And the birds are already attacking. They are. Okay. And Thronebreaker is on its way. And there's someone missing from the council. Stoney. I can only imagine. Okay, let's try and get this opened up right onto the council rock. Oh, yeah. Where door where would be? In that tree that Billy grew. Oh, the knowledge tree that Billy grew there. I forgot about that.

Yeah, Billy and Vic. Yeah, remember? Yeah. Can we do that? Uh, there's no door there. That's the only thing. It's like it kind of needs a door. It has to have a door? Yeah, those are the rules. I mean, the closest is like… My mom's hut. Yeah, maybe. Yeah, I mean, there was a door there. Yeah, the one down the cliff. We'd have to climb a bit. That's fine. That's close enough. It would also be like more of a quiet entrance if you were like on the island and no one knew you were there. Yeah.

Yeah. Might be good to get the lay of the land first. Could be. Okay, let's do that. All right. Who's doing it? I will. 2d6 plus Korea is… Six. Do you want to help? Oh, yes. It's your island. You live there. It's my island. Yeah. Ten. Ten. I know this island so well. Yeah. Yeah. And I can already feel the vibes are okay out there. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So the vibes. Okay. So vibes are all right so far. No current attacks happening. No. Great.

However, with the seven to nine, it does not go where you want it to go. Oh. But it goes close. So where do we think it goes that is like not catastrophic? I was going to say, what's that hut that you were like pissing in? Yeah, that we all pissed and shattered. Yeah, we all started all pissed and shattered. Don't blame it just on me. You probably started. We were being held in a hut that we that they had set a guard outside of that we shat and pissed inside of. Yeah. Into a hole.

Doesn't sound like us at all. We all did it. That doesn't sound right at all. Pretty fucked up. So the shutters open, pop open, and we see a gray daylight and hear like the quiet voices of people going about their day to day life in a small out of the way isolated island village. What do you do? To certain realities. Oh. You go through the windows? Yeah. Yeah. Ten. Okay. Three questions off the list. What should we be on the lookout for?

What you should be on the lookout for is you see there are the regular old villagers of Hibernia going about their day, you know, carrying baskets of things back and forth and making meals, playing with children. But you do see there are more militant looking druids traveling, like patrolling the village basically in pairs. Eyes on the sky. Yeah. It looks like they are. And they're outfitted for war. They have like heavy clubs and thick like hide armor.

Some burnt trees and holes and huts like burnt from lightning strikes. Oh, sure. Yeah. You can see that there are some trees that have been like destroyed by lightning. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, there are graves that they have dug. Oh, sure. Yeah. You can see like. Fresh graves. Yeah. So what this tells you is that it's going to be hard to sneak around. But it could be done. But it'll be hard. Who's really in control here? So you're watching through the window and you see all this of the empty sky.

A druid from the count from the Oval Council that you met last time on Hibernia walk past on his way to where, you know, Oval Rock is where they'll be meeting. And then 15 seconds later, as you're peeking through the window, like, OK, the council is happening. You almost feel that him passing in the earth, the heaviness of his footsteps. You smell brine and seawater and kelp. Stoneye stomps past the window on his way to the Council Rock. He's here. My white whale.

So Stoneye is here, which leads you to believe that the council member that is not present could be somebody else. But also, Stoneye is a sworn enemy of Tacoma Dome. OK, so the vibes were not so good, I guess. I misread it. I misread it. I misread the vibe. No, Billy was accurate in the vibes. There's not an active attack on the village right now. And the fact that your vibe check said that it was fine and Stoneye is here maybe means that he's he has he what he's not a bad guy.

He's just a guy that hates me. Yeah. Which is different. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. A lot of good people hate me. I'd say a lot. Most on balance. If you're a good person, you probably hate me. That's fucked up. You've done. He's done a lot of fucked up shit. He hasn't. Like weird stuff to himself. Maybe. You just shoot a lot of conventions. Yeah. I did shit in that hole last time we were here. I knew it. I knew that was you. We shit in the hole. Oh, Bill, you too. Hey, too, Bill, dude.

What here's not what it appears to be. So, yeah, it sounds like you're hearing a conversation that has been in process. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. And Stoneye claps a shoulder, claps a hand on Aldus' shoulder and is like, wait. And Aldus spins around, wheels on him. And he's like, you don't know that the Thunderbirds are here to hurt us.

They have always been forces for good. They've always been protectors of the natural realm. We provoked them into the fight. So soon after the gray receded, we forced them to fight us. And Stoneye's like, look around at what they've done to our people, gesturing at the graves. Yeah, like graves piled, like a couple piled bodies, burned trees and huts. And he's like, he's got a, he's got like a lightning burn across his chest.

He's got kelp, like piled up against like the ragged edges of a burn down his chest. And he's like, you don't know what it was like out there. You weren't with him when he died. And all this is like Grimshay's gone now. The council in Hibernia have to press on without his leadership. No. We have to hear the birds out and we have to be prepared to welcome them as allies. And yeah, Stoneye just says, you're a fool. And if you won't hear a reason, maybe the council will.

And he pushes past them and they carry on up the path. I'm eating popcorn. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Whoa. That was intense. That was really intense. Grimshay's gone. They're divided. There's no leader anymore. Grimshay's gone. Hmm. They're divided. There's no leader anymore. And then Tuck goes, we have a leader. And then he looks at Bing. Bing looks in the direction that Tuck's looking at. There's a goat in the corner of the room. Who is that? Francis. You're looking at Francis. I'm looking at you.

Francis is like, okay, I'll do it. Let me at them. I can convince them. Give me a gavel. Just because I'm a pig doesn't mean I can't lead. Forescoring 45 years ago, I fought back the hordes on the halfling lands. You got one more question left, I believe. What here is useful or valuable to me? Ah. Okay, what else is useful or valuable to you? Isled up near the hut that you're in, you see a bunch of leafy cloaks that could be used as disguises if you so chose, but not necessary.

I think we should do it. Yeah. Tensions seem a little high. Mm-hmm. I agree. Okay, let's sneak out there and get cloaked up. Okay. Alright. Is one person grabbing the cloaks, or is everybody going? Billy, you grab the cloaks. You're sneakiest. I'll grab them. Alright. 2d6 plus dex. Alright. Twelve. So you have enough cloaks to cover up. Yep. Mm-hmm. Oh, because Mirs and Victoria are also coming with you. Yeah. We're all going, yeah. Victoria and I, we rip a cloak in half and share it.

Sure, yeah, perfect. Yeah. I take the smaller piece. That's good. This tuck could not handle her taking the smaller piece. Okay, great. This is such a crazy experience. Living in this inn with a woman who is a black widow spider of my life. Yeah. And you are in the main… The only woman you have carnal knowledge of. Yeah. Kind of, yeah. You've seen her unclothed. I saw her naked. Yeah. And she was the only… Except, no, I saw Ruby naked, too. Yeah. And didn't fuck either of them. Yeah.

No, I fucked Ruby. Apparently. Apparently. She said we did. I can say. She might have just been being nice. I'm kind of just whispering this thing as we're walking up the mountain. Yeah. It's a lot of this a lot of the time. Uh-huh. I heard Ruby actually fucked you. Okay. You know, whatever, man. It means I did something. Yeah. I feel like I'm going to die at the end of this whole thing. If I die as a virgin, that would have been fucking embarrassing. Wait.

Was that Tuck admitting that he was a virgin before? Oh, yeah. A hundred percent. I bet everybody knew that. No. Bing knew it. I intuited. I communed with it. Okay. You are in the village of Hibernia. The village that you remember. Sort of a long, the main drag of it is like a long, narrow, forested and rocky path with like huts and stuff on either side leading up this winding path to Council Rock. Yeah. Which you remember being a cliff on the side of the island. Yeah. Looking out at the sea.

But even from where you are walking up this path, you see the branches of a large Arbutus tree? Yeah. That Bing planted in Oval Rock and Billy channeled time itself into the seed to grow a full-grown knowledge tree there containing another fragment of the Druid's collected knowledge. Do you have any goals or wishes as you approach Oval Rock? Oh, God. I feel like I should. You're here. Billy, you feel the absolute density of fairy energy in this place? Yeah. There's a lot of chatter.

What does it say? A lot of chatter, huh? It's just, you know, little, little, little spirits in there. Little fairies asking, how's it been? What are you up to? Oh. Billy's back. Like everybody's just saying like, oh, what's up, Billy? They're not even that excited. They're just like, oh, there you are. Like they just saw me. Yeah. Right. On their timeline, they just saw me. Yeah. Yeah. So it's a lot of nods. What up? Fairy sitting on a pumpkin waves to you as you walk by.

Is there the feeling like there is more fairy presence on the island than usual? It's a good question. They're flocking here for some reason? Yes. There are more fairies than usual. It's pretty crowded. It feels crowded to Billy. He's like, what? I can't breathe around here. You climb on top of Victoria's shoulder to get a bit of air. Uh-huh. I'm just sorry Victoria is just so noisy down there.

But Billy, as you're walking through like this intense field of fairy presence, you feel yourself getting like, maybe it's just the uphill walk, but you feel yourself getting kind of flushed and warm. Mm-hmm. Like, yeah, like there's just like, you're breathing a lot. It's getting kind of warm under this cloak. Slow down, everyone. I'm kind of like winded up here. Bloody carry. You're being carried by Victoria. I brought this stupid bowling ball.

Right, you have a bowling ball in a bag over your shoulder. A cannonball in a bag. But yeah, you are, there are bodies on the track leading up to the Council Rock almost. You see some of these, sorry, human standing. Oh, okay. Jesus. There are people. There are people. There are people blocking the way, basically. Two of the armed and armored druids that you saw in the village are blocking the path. And I go up to one of them.

As I'm still shrouded in the hood, I go, we heard tell of your loss and we came to help. And then he kind of like squints and leans down. And I go, I bring back the native son, the prodigal son of the druids. We're doing this now? The once and future king. Billy, get ready. The once and future king? Of druids. That has not once been established. I lift my, I lift Ving's off. Yeah, I do that. I pull Ving's hood back. Ving, son of Iliada. Murderer of Dithaniel. Did he talk to you about this?

No, we're flying with a suit of our blues. Here to take his place, his rightful place as the head of the council on Oval Rock. Okay, so you've got, you just rolled a handful of dice. Didn't once tell me what you were going to do or what move you were trying to use. But it was, what a flourish. It was a great flourish. Didn't ask you to roll. This I suppose would be 2d6 plus charisma. Are you trying to like, what do you call it? Lie? No, I don't know. Convince? Yeah, that thing. Oh, parlay?

Parlay. Yeah. You need to have something they want to parlay. The return of their king. Don't have kings. Ving was never in line to be king. Well, let them decide. Let the people decide. Who the fuck it is? Go to the polls. Go to the polls. Ving 2026. This is an idea that Tuck had in Hither & Yon before we left where he was like, okay, man, he got really in his head about it. He was like, this is the best thing I've ever thought. They want Ving to be their king, probably.

I'm flattered, but we could have talked about it. And I would have quickly come up with a different plan with you. Yeah. So 2d6 plus charisma. All right. All right, here we go. Please. 8 plus 2, because I have an ability, is 10. So you do this whole flourish. You pull Ving's hood off. And the two druid guards just close their eyes and sigh, rub the bridge of their noses. Simultaneously, they're both doing this in sync with each other. They're twins. They're twins. They're twins.

Please come with us. They part and they gesture up the path. After you, my liege. And they lead you up the path to the council. Ving's walking really slowly and like, his hands out, trying to keep up the air. And you get to the top of the path just before you would pass through the copse of trees that leads to the rock itself. And they stop you and they go, just wait a minute. Wait a minute here. The meeting has started. They don't like being interrupted. So just wait right here.

Well, then they're going to hate this, Ving says. No, no, wait, wait, wait. That's awesome. Hear ye, hear ye. Oh, geez. Okay. Yeah. So you burst through. How does this look? Is everybody going? I guess so, yeah. Yeah. I just want to step in and see what they're talking about and then also present ourselves as why we're here. Yeah, totally. So you hear many voices talking over one another until Aldous goes, Please, please, please listen to me. They are coming one way or the other.

We can either meet them as friend or we can meet them as foe. And if we meet them as foe, all will be lost. And that is when you arrive. Not all have turned to foe, but neither friends they be. All the heads turn. All the remaining members of the council. You see all the druids that you. Ving also looks to where they're looking. Oh, they're looking at, okay. Yeah, they're looking at you.

And an old woman, Valari, the willow's daughter, with long weeping willow strands hanging out of her hair, says, What is the meaning of this? Oh, no. What? What? Why, oh, no. I believe last time you left, you were bound to leave. We did an oath that we were going to kill Dathaniel within six weeks or else. Oh, that was the gesh. That was the gesh. Oh, the gesh. Oh, and he's alive still. Yeah. No, but we did kill.

We fulfilled it by killing the version of Dathaniel that the gibbous man was trying to kill. I want to bring that then. Okay. I want to bring news of an oath fulfilled. And bowling through the rest of the druids, the council members, stone eye, massive body, huge blubbery guy, huge shoulders and arms. seawater-drenched beard, covered in kelp, eyes the color of worn ocean stone. Hell yeah. What are you doing here? Dude, you're looking fuckin' thick now. You bulked up, that's sick.

He goes in for one of these. He goes in to dab him up. He goes in for a dab. Lookin' heavy, my man. Oh, dude, have you been using Iron Neck? And unless you do something… I don't do anything. Boom! Huge fist right in the jaw. You're gonna roll 2d10 and take the highest. Jesus, that's cruel and unusual. We just rushed it. You also have unbowed, unbent, unbroken. I will do that. You love getting punched in the face. Lookin' thick, dude. Unbowed, unbent, unbroken.

When you prepare yourself to endure some hardship without fighting back, roll plus con. On a hit, you can either take half damage, or you can completely ignore one other ill effect. On a 10+, you can also defeat, expose, or frustrate your oppressor. I love that he punches you. Bam! Cheers to that. Good to see you. Roll the damage first. So 6 is the highest. So it would be 6 damage. Now I'll roll 2d6 plus con for unbowed, unbent, unbroken. So there's a 4 plus 2 is… 6? Oh, okay. Can I aid?

How would you aid? I would stay his hand. It's not being stayed. That's part of unbowed, unbent, unbroken. But you could kind of help keep Tuck upright, I suppose. Help me not fucking pass out like a bitch. I just kind of catch him. 8. Okay. So that makes it a 7. Makes it a 7. So a 7 to 9. Unbowed, unbent, unbroken. I can take half the damage. Yeah. So I take only 3. And I have armor of 3. Yeah. So I get hit, and then I go… I spit out a tooth. And I go, wow. That's sick, dude.

Feeling strong, guy. Way to go. Stone Eye steps… He pushes you away. Pushes you back. The last time you were here, you made a mockery of our ways. A mockery of our counsel. And then you made a mockery of our gesh. You wheeled your way out of our agreement. The agreement has been fulfilled. By trickery and deceit. The man you thought was Dathaniel was not Dathaniel. The gesh we were bound to was to kill the man who brought ruin to your island. We did that.

It was something older and more malicious than anything you have ever faced. And it still threatens your island. The graves we pass on the way. The trees that are burnt. The storm that gathers on the edges of the island. Uh, and at this, Aldous speaks up and says, They lie! The birds come bearing goodwill and aid in this time of darkness. The birds are split. They've been fighting for months. And if we continue to be split, we will be fighting and will lose to the birds or greater darkness.

And, uh, Noreen of the Quiet Step, the Panther Druid, says, How can we trust any of you? Ving undoes his cloak slowly and shows the Tree of Knowledge that is budding in my… that I hold there. I still hold the seed of all that is druidic knowledge within me. I come as a tome of all that is the druids and I gesture to the constellations. They see the knowledge seed. Your chest, like, parts and reveals the seed that is sprouting. And it's sprouting like it's…

Since we've gotten to the island and it's close to this druidic home, it's like really vibrant. And there's a bit of a hush that falls over them. And Noreen steps forward, quietly, absolutely silent movement from her. And she leans in and looks closely at the seed and the constellations, reading within something that even you can't see right now. And she turns back to the council and says, I think we should hear them out. And that's where we'll end it. I've been your Game Master, Sean O'Hara.

Joining me as always, playing Tacoma Dome, the Barbarian Abdulaziz. He's been, he's been, like, woozing this. I'm totally fine. I gotta stay standing so I don't look like a fucking bitch. Dibs on that tooth on the ground. Playing Ving the Half-Elf Druid, Paul Oppers. Take care, everyone. And playing Fat Billy the Halfling Thief, Jessica Dye. Thank you to all of our Patreon supporters around the world.

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And if you want Spout Lore to never end, everyone who isn't donating, continue to donate. Because we're only doing about 50 per episode or something. Yeah, we've got several pages of this left, so it's going to take us a while. And the more we read, the longer we go. Thank you so much, and we'll see you next time. We're going to do it like Dragon Ball Z, where we're just like powering up for like seven episodes. Dragon, Dragon Ball. Dragon Ball Z. Goku, Goku.

That's somebody, probably, Goku's in Dragon Ball, yeah? Yeah. Yeah. Thanks, everybody. We'll see you next time. See you later. Bye. And so ends the tale of Adventures 3, who tried the best they can, though dumb and scared and lost they've been, for times abreast in revelry. And though our journey may be like a conclusion, we will not leave you without a resolution. Return next week to hear some more whilst you commute or do your chores. And for you, I'd gladly spout more.

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. 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

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 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 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 everyone! And playing Fat Billy the Halfling Thief, Jessica Tai I have a tummy ache now Oh, did you drink too much milk too? It's full! You had one sip! It's full because it was empty Oh my god It used to be up here and then it went all the way down You're gonna get it all the way back up All the way back up Oh no!

Oh Jessica You made a mistake No, you're gonna be just fine I think the mistake is gonna be when you finish that The whole bottle I can't believe it's only five dollars It's a great deal So you can ruin your week for so cheap That's the slogan Ruin your week for cheap When last we left our heroes, their plans, well not even their plans, but the situation was interrupted by a one mumsy, the lovesick, lovesstarved mother of Rodan The hotelier Yeah, she's got borderline personality disorder For sure Drawing an incredible amount of attention to herself in an extremely tense and haunting situation Completely oblivious she was Declaring her love for Princep Callum Blackhammer On his wedding day, Tuck was primed and ready to just let her get taken away because he had a job to do Yeah Billy and Ving were able to convince him that she needed to be taken away from him Yeah And that she needed some saving Yes It was actually more Jessica and Paul being horrified That you were about to let this old woman get torn apart by a mob Like somebody with a mental illness dragged away by zombies Yeah So Ving decided to lend a helping hand by using his move Life Symphony to free those on the dance floor from the influence of the icon of tyranny while he was in contact with said floor from beneath Tuck used the opportunity The distraction that Callum felt at this to spring his own trap Drawing Terry, Larry, and Chad and striking the arm off Callum Blackhammer in one blow Yeah Tuck cut off the arm then was shot in the back Oh yeah By Lionel Mackenzie King That was so funny Performing a sort of sniper overwatch from a balcony high up the walls of the courtyard Yeah, I like to think that The reason why I was able to get the arm cut off was because he was sort of not paying attention just like eating an apple And then I cut through Callum's arm off and he was like, oh fuck Yeah Oh, God damn I'm gonna get fired for this for sure He pulled down his bandages and spat out a bunch of apple Oh man I'm on the job Ving used the water elemental creating the physical form of the illusory Ving to create some cover for Tuck Mm-hmm So Lionel was unable to get another shot off as Tuck took off While beneath this tense situation was happening, Billy was keeping the fairy circle engaged And was visited by none other than the Gibbous Man Mm-hmm Who attempted to get Billy's attention and reveal some information to him which he refused Mm-hmm Refused to engage But he did succeed momentarily and that's when Victoria LaBlanche was able to escape the fairy ring Yes Yeah!

And he was taking off after Tuck who was going to rescue his boy Black Spire from somewhere within the palace Yes At this point, Ving and Mears headed upstairs to try and get an eye on the situation up there Deal with Callum now that him and Victoria were separated Mm-hmm And found the congregants of the wedding mobbing Billy's fairy ring attempting to free Callum Mm-hmm And failing As well as the mechanical orchestra Mm-hmm Who skittered and climbed all over the room trying to free its master Mears took off after Tacoma Dome Mm-hmm Who darted through the corridors attempting to find Black Spire using his connection to the obsidian slash, uh, sunstone dragon To triangulate his position within the palace Mm-hmm Leading him below Yes Into the corridors beneath He found a torch lit chamber at the end of which he believed Black Spire to be and then emerging from that doorway The Medjay chained to him the icon of malice Mm-hmm Ready for round two The Medjay said, I see you little one And then Tuck attempted to summon, uh I tried to do a Naruto thing He tried to do a Naruto slash Iron Man chest beam again Slash You didn't do the Naruto thing I did, yeah He did a bunch of hand signals attempting to summon a beam of light from his chest coins which we have over and over established And been proven to be a And been proven to be a And been proven to be a And been proven is not possible It's a different substance It's a completely different substance It's not It's not a sunstone It's not a sunstone It's just obsidian That is white instead of black Yeah Uh, but what did happen was a chest- a beam of some kind appeared Yes As Black Spire was able to, from a distant unseen chamber, blast off some sort of iron muzzle that he was forced to wear Yeah, he blasted off He blasted a powerful beam of light into the corridor Yeah Temporarily knocking the, uh, Medjai of Malice to the side And that was the first time he ever did, like, a beam thing Yeah, up until then he's only been doing the flashes Oh, cool Yeah, but now he can summon beams of light, or he can breathe beams of light Tuck's best friend Tuck's best friend Yes Ouch And as Tuck, uh, sprinted down the corridor to save Black Spire The Medjai containing the icon of patience took his opportunity finally, stuck out a foot, and tripped Tuck Wow I feel like it was the icon of patience and deception just standing next to each other That's why I couldn't see him And he was like, hold, hold, hold Now And Tuck hit his head so hard he passed out He passed out All your momentum, all your mass Yeah Yeah While above, uh, Ving approached Callum Blackhammer, who- Called off his congregants and attempted to appeal to you to try and make a deal Uh, and revealed that his plan was to bind the Gibbous Man, but to each of you Ving, Billy, Tuck, Callum, and Victoria, using the connections of all five of you The spiritual, the fairy, the iconic Callum's power as being chained to the icons of tyranny and cunning As well as Victoria, who he suggested has been taken away from him And he's now in the hands of the Black Hammer, who, uh, called off his congregants and attempted to appeal to you To try and make a deal, uh, and revealed that his plan was to bind the Gibbous Man, but to each of you The spiritual, the iconic chained to the icon of revenge and using that power bind the gibbous man who is in some sense a god but in many ways diminished from his original power and vulnerable figuring out what you guys figured out over a number of seasons that by being chained to the mortal realm via the reign of night all those many millennia ago he is at risk Ving refused and tried to appeal to him using druidic knowledge saying look at how many geniuses have thought that they were the ones to unite the world and have failed including Rian whose hand was struck off by his very best friend and confidant much like your hand there lies on the ground struck off for your hubris but Callum refused he's too smart too cunning to listen to fools such as you and looking down at his dismembered hand Sean didn't have to say that looking down at his dismembered hand he saw through the glass Billy maintaining the fairy ring beneath him and he sent the congregants sprinting out of the room surely to tear Billy from limb from limb but Billy's still in the in the fairy circle yeah he's about to have a lot of competition though for keeping that circle up okay so that is where we find our heroes now Billy you see all of these feet pounding across the glass dance floor oh my god and you hear no voices but many bodies moving towards you some of them are pounding on the glass floor itself oh trying to get through the glass hairline cracks appearing in the floor oh yeah spooky so there are ones that are like running out of the room to get down to the lower level and there are others that are pounding on the glass floor trying to break smashing their faces into it and there are cracks forming cracks are forming it's hefty hefty strong strong glass but they're cracking it oh yeah Ving what would you you see this start to happen I have still have a my water dog that I summered yeah right with me and I want to at least send him after these ones and go start running downstairs what's the orchestra doing it's in fact it is accompanying musically the events yeah very like like you know like high high tension yeah yeah I would like to send the dog you use up my last request to try and stop those who are trying to smash through the floor while I take off and run downstairs and see what I can do okay yeah so yeah you're not going to know you're not going to be able to stop anywhere near all of them but you can stop some of the ones around you from breaking through the floor for sure the ones that are smashing the hardest whatever I can do to stop totally go ahead and roll two to six plus your request 12 12 is a success so your water dog like dissipate like puddles onto the floor and spreads just like the secret life of Alex Mack just like Alex Mack thank you I gotta see this Alex Mack and spreads a lot of water along the floor and starts to freeze in place so like it's it's freezing around their legs and like as their heads and hands are hitting the floor it's freezing around that oh cool so it's just keeping them in place but it is sick it will have to stay up here and do this if you want this to stop okay and I take off running downstairs yeah and you're following the horde of people and Callum behind you goes best hurry and Billy it's not very long before you start hearing like footsteps beneath like through the water yes that's true that's true I'm in danger true man terrifyingly shuffling through your papers gotta be something that is true I was thinking I could do escape route to run off but that would mean that Callum's no longer stuck yes I don't it's not serving us anything to have him stuck at this point really kind of what I'm feeling yeah totally I think something just because I don't I'm not a GM that wants to go like hey you didn't think about this he is in command of the icon of cunning he is a very smart person like he's not necessarily a very dangerous combatant but he's a very dangerous person to have in the wind but he is only as smart as Sean is right so that's the upper limit because I don't because I don't like being a tricky GM it's interesting because the best way to play cunning is to suddenly spring something that I just thought of on you and be like he's been planning this all along he's trying to say that like I should keep him no I'm just saying that like you can absolutely release him and that's probably the safest thing for you to do right now because you know based on the fact that Victoria was basically able to get out of your fairy ring with a combination of distraction and like strength yeah that it is not impossible that this horde will just stress you out so much that they will pound through the fairy fort at a certain point because you will have to roll constitution basically consistently especially with that kind of pressure happening like two feet from you yes yeah I guess I will use escape route when I'm in too deep and need a way out I name my escape and roll plus dexterity love it yeah 2d6 plus dexterity 11 plus 2 13 yeah you're escaping for sure I'm gone I actually follow like you know you're saying that like the the the!

Yes I go down one of those narrow pathways okay sweet so you just like drop into a canal and take off yeah and as you're you basically you drop the curtain of water and the ring that you've put up you see above Callum stroll away as you're like through the glass he just strolls off into the palace starts whistling yeah yeah twirling his keys basically and as you turn to drop into the canals into this like ancient part of the castle you're like oh my god a horde of costumed revelers boils through the door that tuck destroyed after you but you are too quick for them you drop into the corridor and you escape where exactly do you think Billy is aiming to go ideally I would like to go where tuck is where I think tuck might be okay I've been hearing the rumblings yeah so I'm trying to skirt around this large area towards where he might be okay we cut to tuck okay!

You kind of blearily come to huh Allison is that you?

Please let it be you it's never you it's never you I haven't seen you in like in like eight seasons you know what you open your eyes and on the other side of this small chamber that you're you're tied to a chair strong iron chains Allison of course and you see on the other side of the room classic Allison in chains Allison in chains you see on the other side of the room a dark-skinned woman in a long red dress long red hair Allison hi tuck what are you doing here what are you doing here what are we doing oh come on you know okay we came here cause Colm asked us to try and save his brother right yes so the smog is destroying the world yes right yes and we got invited we all right we were invited you were invited by Calum Calum to help with dinner okay you were here to help with dinner and it's got a concussion and instead you've come here to help come on tuck you know why you're here you can tell me I'm here I'm here to stop Calum Blackhammer yes from right summoning the gibbous manor right and you're he's up now he's like shit good good no don't try and don't try and break the chains you're not gonna be able to break the chains what he tries anyway okay 2d6 plus strength uh seven fuck uh so you strain and strain and strain and you feel them give a little bit but they don't break what no no no no hey hey hey hey and she steps forward and she comes up to him and she kind of like puts a hand on your arm don't fight it okay just tell me what you're doing here what do you what do you mean I just told you so you're here to stop Calum yes and you were gonna do that by uh wait and the others yeah the elf and the boy where are they they're can you get them to come here the yeah the you should call them then we can all escape together shut up you can wait for me there's nothing we can do just clued into what the fuck is going on so he's like okay Allison can you please go get Billy and Ving they're they can help me they can help me get out of here yeah yeah yeah you should call them here yeah you all seem to be able to call each other they can't no it doesn't work like walkie talkies what doesn't work like walkie talkies the thing doesn't work like walkie talkies what thing oh my god he dude they're gonna try and break out of the front gate of the palace okay 2d6 plus charisma I'm trying to get him I realize that it's the guy with the icon of deception there you go you figured it out yeah yeah okay and I'm trying to get him to like go somewhere where they're not totally yeah he's just like the brass castle gang is gonna help us get out of here they're already probably there if you go and you get them let them know that I'm down here they'll come and save me okay uh yeah so that's like a 10 a 10 okay nice yeah interesting okay so you say this like oh they're gonna try and break out and you so Allison her face like her expression changes and kind of goes flat what and she sighs what and she stands up babe what and in a wink Allison is gone replaced by a man of average height what did you do with her and uh he just leaves the room fuck and uh you Tuck are experienced enough at this point you would guess that the icon of deception would allow this would not allow this man to be deceived right himself so it did he he's you're not gonna get any he's not gonna get any information out of you but he knows that now shit so he just leaves the room okay uh but you are now alone in this chamber okay uh and it is a small uh old stone room there's like a light source like a candle on a table okay but besides that there's no windows it's a wooden steel banded door where's TLC not here shit okay and it's not the same room that Black Spire is in no absolutely not but you would guess based on the construction that it could be nearby okay can I discern realities uh absolutely 2d6 plus wisdom yep so uh yep that's a four okay five okay okay five a that's no good that's a failure for sure yeah it's a failure um so you strain and you're looking around you're straining you can't really turn all the way around I'm straining I'm making my eyes as wide as I can go come on eyes collect all the information you can be smarter maybe before light gets in I can be smarter ah ah ah and you hear behind you I don't think you're gonna be able to break the wall who is it walks around you pale skin white beard black traveling clothes oh what uh oh oh shit he kind of makes a face at you like ooh wait have I ever actually seen the gibbous man yes under the heart tree in the great forest oh right yeah fuck looks like they got you uh what does Tuck do in this situation uh and he he he almost it's like almost fourth wall breaking in that he almost hears you say what does Tuck do in this situation and he holds up a hand uh huh let's be smart about this okay you're stuck I can help you yeah we have a common foe you can't break those chains I was made to break chains as far as I know though you fucked that up pretty bad hmm funny thanks um gonna enjoy wiping this place clean people like you I'm gonna enjoy you oh I'm so sick of human humor I'm so tired of it look I'm gonna lay my cards on the table I want Callum and Victoria dead uh wow that's funny because I happen to know those two people uh he kinda does like a literally this face where he just goes oh like he closes his eyes and he raises his eyebrows and shakes his head okay alright I'm already certain that this is going to be a good time to go nowhere so I'm gonna go now oh whoa no no no no no wait wait wait wait oh what wait are you gonna play ball I'll talk to you and then we decide if we want to play ball after that what is it with you people and trying to make deals with me when I'm already trying to make deals with you you haven't stated terms you haven't set anything on the table tell me what your deal is buddy we could end this right now we're gonna cut to Ving uh Ving you are uh can we go back to Tuck I was really enjoying that you are running through the corridors uh and you are following the congregants like the party goers yeah you already said it doesn't take that long I feel like I came down I came down the chamber there's a horde of writhing people in the spot where Billy was yeah trying to get through the door and basically like I think you see Billy like whoop like drop into darkness and disappear I would like to tap into the ring and see where Tuck is okay yeah uh discern realities ooh snake eyes ooh snake eyes that's five uh I don't know maybe like the with the gibbous man it's like obscured oh back back in the room it's like oh friend's trying to call well line's busy now you're getting it yeah we cut back to Ving Ving as you're like trying to call you're like come on Tuck pick up yeah all the hairs on the back of your neck go up and you hear back from down the hallway ah black spider no unfortunately not what uh the gun that was so close to the sound you did for his I turn and as you turn like you just get nicked on the cheek by uh an arrowhead and you see at the far end of the corridor Lionel McKenzie King has taken a knee and is pointing his weapon at you I'm gonna run and try and spiral the walls as I run at him oh 2d6 plus dexterity oh sick 6 plus 0 I fail oh no Billy I'm gonna aid from a distance yeah how remember with it the aiding from a distance thing is just that Tuck and Ving are luckier for knowing you they're lucky he's lucky for knowing me yep 9 9 okay so that makes it a 7 which um means that like you get like halfway down the corridor you're kind of like dodging shots as you're running down the hallway and you leap up onto like just like and you're like a piece of wooden furniture that's in the hallway and as you jump one of Lionel's shots goes through your boot and nails you to the table and you just whoop and boom hit the ground but you roll up but he's trying to get another shot on you I guess I'll roll fight with honor there we are 10 okay so that's 3 chi uh and uh he you hear as you get close you like hit the ground after falling roll up to your feet and take like a fighting stance as you move closer to Lionel and you hear him under his voice going fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck you rang and we'll cut back to Billy that's so fucking cool that's so sick fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck uh and we'll cut to Billy Billy you are in darkness you're like pattering through ankle high water uh feeling connections to this uh real ancient like water system that was built for the original palace ooh um and you're trying to find where Tuck might be okay discernment realities I failed 5 holy shit we are rolling not great today not great at all actually can I use a fairy child to turn that to 7 to 9 oh yes absolutely smart yeah very smart alright okay so on a 7 to 9 discern realities you get one question okay I guess what here is useful or valuable to me okay yeah you're in the plumbing for the building basically for the whole palace ew it is gross it smells like poo poo and pee pee down here oh no am I in the poo poo pee pee spot yeah you can tell and this is ancient poo poo pee pee yeah oh no the poo poo pee pee man came for you and you are uh dealing with this pungent pungent smell the disgusting feeling of these pipes and places and you hear Tuck's voice going like I'm having a business I'm on a I'm having a conversation and then you hear uh another man's voice oh yeah the hairs on my neck go up yeah and you are able to like creep around and uh you are directly you find like a little grate yeah in the top of the pipe that you're in like metal bars blocking the hole and you can just see like the flicker of candlelight maybe from some part of the room and you realize you see the outline of Tuck's legs oh and the legs of a chair so I'm like behind him you are directly underneath Tuck Tuck didn't see the drain that was in the room because his chair was placed over it so cool yeah I wonder would I be able to fit through this absolutely not you would have to be able you would have to find some way okay of utilizing this information but like it's a pretty small drain and you would have you're a pretty round boy dang it the one time my size has negatively affected me you have shadow dance I know oh shit I've been thinking about that yeah yeah so I feel like I'm in a safe spot no one can really squeeze in through these areas I would say that you having seen what you've seen you wouldn't be surprised if one of the congregants tried to get in the pipe but it would be slow going can I do something weird where yeah cause like I think Billy in a way sort of I mean less so than Vang can sense the piece of the moon in this area oh cool can I ask the mother to watch over me oh very interesting hmm so like connect to the the part of Lillian that is in the moon yeah a bit yeah that's very how would we be doing that cause you would feel it in these in this like the waters in this pipe even if they are mostly pee pee and poo poo something we've only kind of talked about is that Lillian is technically a fairy yeah she is the personification of a spiritual idea can I roll connections cause when I put out word to the ragamuffins or local fairies about something you want or need roll plus charisma I like that a lot yeah cause there could be fairies in this area that are like or to Lillian like to this fragment of Lillian yeah very cool yeah go ahead and roll connections okay 2d6 plus charisma I think uh 6 I'm gonna I I will turn to a 7 to 9 I'm gonna use a fairy shell oh my god I only have one more we're burning through this wow okay so on a 7 to 9 I'll have to settle for something close or it comes with strings attached something close or strings attached so you're at you're reaching out to this like feeling you can feel this fragment of the moon you know it's down here somewhere and the water rushing around my legs like I know she's in there what string would come attached to this protection we said this piece is rage rage yeah ooh maybe it shifts you into your winter like the rage is soaking into you her rage this betrayal that mankind leveled on her son she wants me to take it with me yeah take this rage with you I can't bear this myself cause it's also like maybe it's mixed with the rage from like the reign of night like the rage against Gibbous yeah for trapping her and he's here in her home this piece of the moon is infuriating it's quivering yeah cause it can feel that he is here oh yeah you can feel you've been feeling the water getting warmer and warmer and it's a reaction to his presence yeah that's very cool at first you thought it was the pee pee poo poo I thought it was the pee pee poo poo but actually when I look down it's just water right now I don't see any pee poo poo I'm pee peeing oh that's I'm so so okay so we do know that winter is not the so winter's not the rageful season summer's the rageful season isn't it no winter is rage summer's passionate summer's passionate which could be rage which could be anger right winter is cold fury yeah yeah like some fairies can go into just like a reverie yeah and that's like you know the still coldness of winter oh okay but then you have like the flurries and the storms of winter and that's kind of what more what Billy was in that form cool yeah that's awesome yeah that's very cool so you feel the rage soaking up through this water as you reach out to the fragment of Lillian buried somewhere beneath this castle and you feel the spring ebbing away and uh I grow cold and I tell her I will I'll hold this for you I'll bring you with me and you are shifted into your winter form yeah which means that your charisma is now a plus zero mm-hmm uh I think you're but I do roll double the damage yes you roll an additional d6 when you roll damage but I do have to roll to get into shadow dance yes you do yeah yep so I roll plus wisdom and this is my last fairy child hold holy shit okay eee seven plus wisdom eight okay okay so on a seven to nine you leave your body and enter the fairy as your pure essence and take one hold yep yep great so you have one hold and you roll and as long as you retain this hold you can make rolls remember in your fairy form okay but if you spend the hold you can automatically succeed at something but it will send you back to your body okay yeah yep um and you are released from your material chains and what like float up through the grate I guess so yeah what does winter billy look like oh in the fairy I mean uh yeah flurry oh cool oh he's just like yeah just like hairs moving around yeah tossing and turning cool cool and you enter so this is let's figure this out you enter the fairy in front of the gibbous man does he is he able to see into the fairy I mean we just talked he is chained yeah he is chained to his mortal form so he kind of can't yeah he might be like he might feel it but like he might feel the cold oh yeah I think the cold comes out from under your ankles like you feel it too oh you feel yeah you feel like a cold breeze blow up from beneath your chair mm and the gibbous man kind of shifts in his robe like kind of tightens his robe around him a little bit but he doesn't have a direct perception of Billy right no cause he is chained to his mortal form I thought this was gonna be a much bigger issue yeah but it's not thank god does that mean you can see what gibbous looks like in the in the fairy realm yeah oh that's cool yeah he is a spider yeah yeah I think he's got like he's got a vaguely humanoid like I imagine kind of like draped knight yeah but the legs come out sharply from him like at different angles yeah and like like up over his back like or are we talking like spider legs like on the ground I kind of imagine him like wreathed by spider legs I think it's more like wreathed but or like spider leg chained to the oh I see spidery chain legs yeah cool very cool if that makes sense it does like he's got like you can see the chains that bind him to the earth yeah and they look like spider legs it's spider like to me and webs oh I see chain webs as well yeah yeah!

I like that and then throughout his body it's um like not like like eyes like in your chest but they're empty oh yeah are they the parts that are connected to the coins that he's put around the world oh cause he's been removing his eyes yeah maybe you see little clips of the world of what they're seeing oh maybe oh that'd be cool that is cool where the coins are you see very like you see kind of flashes of different faces in different places around the world none of them make any sense to you at this time no but like it's clear that he has agents and he has eyes all over the planet cool but that also means he can't see me yeah yeah he's been blinded um sick we will then cut into the room tuck you feel this cold breeze blow up from the grate beneath you and the gibbous man shifts it's really fucking drafty in here there's a dungeon my dick and balls are usually yeah they're bigger than this they're barely in my pants they're exposed yeah yeah!

I split my pants when I slid down the stairs you humans are disgusting some more than others I'm aware so we don't have to be enemies we don't have to be at odds I'm sure you're sick of looking over your shoulder wondering when I'm gonna pop up again oh yeah I'm sick having the three of you crop up everywhere some thorn digs into my side I'm sick of that I'm sick of that I'm sick of that I'm sick of that I'm sick of that so why don't we work together you gotta understand that there's no way that your end game fits with ours right?

Oh come on what makes you think that? You're trying to destroy everything I'm not trying to destroy everything I'm trying to start again who survives what you're planning? Does anyone? Strong I suppose tell me what your end looks like the end to this game that you're playing what does it look like?

Uh you're gonna have to say you're gonna have to roll a defi- you're gonna have to roll something here to get him to give you any information yeah but it might be it might have to be a straight charisma to even get him to continue talking yeah to lead to something like it to certain realities you know what this is?

This is the first time that he's ever had reason to tell us what his plan is yeah what the end game for him looks like mhm like what cause we are like oh yeah he's crashing spheres together he's trying to re-assimilate mhm these are all theories that we've had yeah this is the first chance we have to get confirmation mhm and we're in a negotiation right now and he's trying to convince me that I should help him because his ends align with mine mhm so what I want from him is tell me what your ends are right to convince me to do this mhm 2d6 plus charisma okay here we go okay yeah so that's uh 12 okay yes oh yeah wow big rolls from Tuck yeah bow time rolling powerfully yeah did you fall?

No okay sounds like a fart John I never fart in public because I'm scared I'm gonna shit myself give a smit give a smit that's one of the things I hate most about my mortal form I have to shit sometimes I have to shit all the time mhm okay so you're asking what his ends are yeah Tuck is just like you just told me that our ends don't have to not align with mine mhm I'm trying to keep people from dying tell me how your ends are not that tell me how what you have imagined for the end of the world and the beginning of your new one has any survivors in it you don't you really don't get it we're in the end of the world right now the wizards are gone the thaumic realm is in disarray the spheres are crashing together that's because of you dude you tricked the wizards you think I tricked the wizards?

Yeah man you tricked the wizards you got them out of here so the spheres would crash together who told you this?

We put it together we talked to a couple of wizards one who was in wizards first one who wasn't Aternac Allwater too we found her notes she knew what you were doing so the wizards told you that I trapped the wizards yeah the wizards told you that I am trying to destroy the world mostly yeah I think we put some stuff together from other stuff and you believed them yeah hmm do you think maybe the wizards famously duplicitous famously manipulative beings that attempted to control the entire world with their technology and their power might have a vested interest in stopping the one being attempting to stop them how blind can you be?

I want to free the world from everything that the wizards built everything everything that the corruption of mankind brought about and you can help me do that can I get him to be more specific?

Um you can certainly try yeah I need information uh oh you're trying to get information 2d6 discern realities 2d6 plus wisdom fuck okay please please make this a good roll yeah so nine nine Billy I'd Billy's in the room yeah yeah cool three questions sick what here is not what it appears to be he's lying to you fuck yeah I knew it Billy you can see it in the fairy yeah as he starts to weave this story like the wizards mhm are manipulating you just like they manipulated everybody else you can see the spider arms start to move in their chains and they're like weaving this web kind of around Tuck yeah around his mind yeah and Tuck's mind in the fairy is so small it's so small and it's trying you can see the spider's trying so hard to get him to get anything to attach to it it's like that fruit fly it's moving all over it's tiny nobody can touch it I wanna I wanna uh cut the web yeah so you move forward and you clear the webs mhm around Tuck's mind yeah I blow wait I'll let cold wind around it oh cool oh yeah they freeze and shatter fall yeah brittle fall away he's lying to you okay can the truth be seen in the fairy world not right now okay he's obscuring it quite heavily mhm I'm gonna do those too okay so knowing that he is lying to you yeah how do you try and poke him into telling you what he's really planning uh so when he says how can you be so blind mhm I want all the coins in my chest to like form eyes yeah and I wanna go how can you be and he looks into the eyes of the demon of loyalty seeing that you are not going to betray the people that you are most loyal to yeah and he looks into the eyes of the demon and he uh starts to his face starts to flush in a very human reaction mhm his face flushes with anger and he gets really close to you and you see like the mortal form taking over yeah and he just starts breathing very heavily and he says they locked my daughter in a fucking box you did that no the first time I tried to save her she didn't listen then she fell in love with a filthy fucking mortal she had a life she had a chance to save her and she did and she did and she did and she did and she did and she did and she did and she did she had a life she had a child with one then they killed him and she sought the revenge she rightfully deserved as a god and they locked her in a fucking box for it and I am going to get her out and if you are not going to help me I'm going to take your fucking axe and I'm going to do it myself oh shit mhm oh shit oh shit that was a pretty good action shot and you that was really good yeah I got super scared now I'm all stressed out I'm all stressed out not cause I this time Anytime I've ever made fun of you, I take it back.

Because of this stuff. Because of scare around mad dads. Yeah. Oh my God. Holy shit. And you hear a key rattle in the door. And the gibbous man looks to the lock and he looks at you. He says, you fucked up. And he disappears. Fuck. No. Tuck tries to break the chains again. Let's cut back to Ving real quick. Oh yeah. Ving. You are face to face with Lionel McKenzie King who's backing up and kind of like pulling a slide on the side of his weapon. Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck.

What's his gun made out of? Metal. I take it. Nice. With your spiritual elemental mastery. Yeah. Oh, four plus con. That is a six. Oh, okay. Oh, shit. You can help. I can help. Cause you know me. Cause you know me. I don't. Wait, hold on. It says, it says right here. You may aid your allies no matter the distance between you. But do you? Okay. Here's the question. To be fair to Sean. Do you have to know that he's in trouble or are you just always latently aided?

The thing that Sean set up was like, just by knowing Billy. Well, it's that you guys are just, you guys are lucky. It's like a thing I made for the fairy child slash changeling is that it alters aid for this character to just be a bit cooler. Yeah. Okay. Then do it. I think if it works, fucking do it. Cause this is pure fairy right now. Is that okay? Or would you rather not? No, I would rather have passed. I think he wants this thing to happen.

I mean, maybe I made you guys like little friendship bracelets ages ago. Yeah. Yeah. All right. So, uh, yeah. Yeah. Flashback to when Billy was making friendship bracelets. Uh, he was, uh, cutting threads, like little pieces from, uh, Ving's clothes, making friendship bracelets out of that, braiding them. Yeah. Your shirt's very. My pants kept falling down. Yeah. Your shirt got really short. Yeah. All of his pants are capris now. Guys, I think I'm getting taller. Do I look taller to you?

Uh, all right. Two to six plus bond. What? What? Uh, six. Oh, no. Two failures. Fuck. Fuck. Two points of experience. Shit. I guess because I'm in the fairy realm. Yeah. And I'm busy. Fuck. No, it's you try to reach out. And I think, uh, you like reach out with elemental mastery and you just yank, try to yank the gun out of his hand. And he feels that you see like, uh, the lenses on his glasses start like flipping really fast. Oh, sick. And he sees, he feels the gun pull and he goes, whoop.

And he, uh, releases. He uses a clasp on a little capsule on his, uh, bandolier, which is also made of metal. Yeah. And it flies towards you and boom, creates this like cloud of smoke between you and him on a misc. A catastrophe occurs as a result of your calling. A catastrophe for occurs, right? This is a failure, not a seven to nine. Yeah. So what? Maybe it's a explosion. Yeah. Maybe it's an explosive instead of a smoke grenade. Yeah. Gun explode. Gun explode. No. Like the thing that he gets.

The thing to pull trickily is not a smoke grenade, but a grenade grenade. He releases like a clip that is like explosive charges. Oh yeah. You grab that. Yeah. Yeah. Oh yeah. It's like ammunition and it blows up in your hand. Uh, okay. Roll a D10. Oh geez. One. That's a one. Yep. Great. Yeah. So you are able to protect yourself in some way from the worst of this. Oh yeah. Like, uh, using the deferring of energy. Yeah. In the same way, but it's an explosion. Uh huh.

So I'm able to kind of duck around. I found it. Oh cool. Yeah. Yeah. You like, see like deflect the charges and they explode behind you and you move away from the explosion. Yeah. Yeah. Cool. But you still take one damage. So I have two, uh, armors. Yeah. So you don't actually take any damage from that. It's just, it throws you like off balance and, uh, Lionel tries to run. I cross a distance between myself and an enemy.

Oh, so you're just in front of him as he tries to run away below in the chamber, Billy and, and talk. You hear an explosion. And I just have his casings. Yeah. In my hand. Ting, ting, ting, ting, ting. So what, what is your next move? I'm going to ask him to step aside or I will put him aside. Okay. I think him seeing you tank an explosion is probably a good basis for being able to roll a defy danger charisma to try and get him to back off. Nine. Seven to nine. Billy. Billy. Billy. Great.

I hear the explosion. 10. Okay. So yeah. What do you say? I'm like, these are very impressive toys you have, but they are just toys. I know we wronged you in the past, but this is about your future. Our future. Get out of my way or I will put you out of my way. And he wrapped in his bandages and his, his weird tactical clothing pouches and his gun just leans heavily against the wall and start. Okay. Okay. There. There. Yes, for now. Because you did ruin my life. And I am under contract.

So, Lionel McKenzie King never forgets. And Lionel McKenzie King never breaks a contract. I'm going to give you a 30-second head start. I kick him into the middle of the horde. Oh, okay. I deal my damage to him. Yeah, go ahead and deal your damage. Five. The horde is there. And what, you just plant a foot on him and push him into the horde? Yeah. And they grab him and they drag him inside. And you hear him going like, oh, fuck. Oh, my God. And he's like grabbing. I won't forget your face.

And I won't forget your face. I'll never forget. As you kick him, you go, hey, this guy's selling pomegranates. This guy's giving away weapons. No, not again. But he has been immobilized by the horde. This might not kill him right away. But he is taking. He's taken care of. Okay, great. Spread down the hallway towards Tuck. Great. Back to the room. Tuck. The key is rattling. Yeah. So Tuck is, his brain is on fire because he's like, the gibbous man said he was going to take my axe.

And that has my friends in it. So he tries to break out of the chains that he's in first. What was I? What did you want me to roll? You should probably wait until I say. I'll wait. I'll wait. Next. It's okay. Two to six plus strength. I got 12. Okay. So you are going to break the chains as soon as these doors open. Okay. Yeah. Can I punch through the door before it opens and grab whoever's on the other side? You can definitely try. Yeah.

You feel the chains break as the door is starting to creak open. Yeah. Go for it. 13. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Amazing. The door is opening. You are welcome to try and punch through it. I punched through it and grab whoever's on the other side by whatever. And then I pull them either through the door or the door off the hinges. Yeah. And slam whoever it is against the wall. Okay. Yeah. It is Victoria LaBlanche. Where's my fucking ass? And she has the breath pushed out of her. Yeah.

So she takes a very deep breath, right? And like. Out of command. I slam her against the wall again really hard. Yeah. Okay. Two to six plus strength. Yeah. That's 10. Uh, she drops all pretext. Give me my fucking ax back now. It's down the hallway. Okay. Can I slam her against the wall one more time before I go to try and knock her out? Oh, this is a, you're attacking her now? Yes. This is a hack and slash. Yep. Uh, yep. So 13 again. Strong boy. Yeah. Okay. So you can roll your damage. One.

Fuck. Yeah. Uh, you, you slam her into the wall. Yeah. She makes a grunting sound. It sounds like she's been hurt. I throw her down. I run to get my ax. Okay. Yeah. Okay. Uh, Billy, you see tuck in the spirit realm, yank Victoria LaBlanche. Oh, threw into the room and you see the icon that she is tethered to. Yeah. But, um, you see this icon like pulling against the tethers that are so newly tied between it and Victoria.

The structure, the physical structure of this place means nothing to you in this form. And you see across this level of the castle, uh, the. The, the fairy like glittering reflection of TLC as well as Terry, Larry and Chad, the fairies that are attached to it. I want to go after TLC. Okay. I want to get there before the gibbous man gets there. 2d6 plus dexterity. Okay. Come on, please, please. Five plus two is seven. Okay. So seven to nine. I think maybe you get there at a very similar time.

Sure. With the mixed success. Yeah. And I always imagine fairies moving. It's not like physical movement very much at all. You're like, I'd like to be there. And then like that space is kind of where you are. Is that, does that kind of track? Yeah. Like there, it is like a plane, but we cross it. Like the time just moves a little different. Yeah.

So you get to Terry, Larry and Chad passing through the old ancient stone walls of the castle and you are in another chamber that you see the shadowy reflection of in the material. The ax is leaning against a wall along with tucks. Tucks, a little backpack and his cowboy hat, which they took off of him. I wasn't even wearing a cowboy hat during that scene. I must've looked like such a fucking idiot.

And in this room you see, uh, as the gibbous man is like arriving basically, cause he is moving much like Billy is moving. He's not physically moving through the spaces. Yeah. Imagine he flits like a shadow. Oh yeah. You could see the spider legs kind of like creeping along. This like ethereal plane. Yeah. The shadow comes and then it like pulls him toward it. Oh, it's like, yeah, the legs coming out of the shadows, pulling him along. That's gross. That's cool. Yeah. It's so gross.

It's really gross. And in this room, um, you also see, um, a hulking figure like lashed and chained to one side of the room on a big metal like plate built into the ground. What does it look like to you? It's a large stone plates, black and white scales covering its massive reptile. And black Spire is in this room and you can see him like kind of kind of like chomping on big metal bands that are on his feet and on his arms and legs. Well, they're just legs cause he's an animal.

And you see that there is another Medjai in this room who has like a big metal bell shaped cap and is like moving closer to Black Spire but every time he gets too close Black Spire goes and like chomps a big chomp at him is it like kind of a bridle that's meant to go back into his mouth it looks like it covers his whole head like they wanted to block his eye they wanted to block his sight and his mouth because they know dragons breathe whatever whatever something dangerous am I able to defend Black Spire yes I think that you would be able to I think that what you are risking is the gibbous man getting TLC because we know that he is like you're kind of you can all in the like space between the material yeah you can kind of feel yeah like the flitting shadow you know what he's not quite here yet but he's on his way okay actually you know what I'm gonna do a fairy ring oh smart around the axe around the axe and Black Spire oh keep him out of this room they're in the same room right yeah you can do them in the realm that's so cool I can do it in the realm do it in the realm 2d6 plus dexterity okay so that's 6 plus 2 8 okay 8 cool yes which means I have to it requires my constant attention uh okay you kind of I imagine because you're like a flurry I imagine it's like yeah yeah and you create this like circle of winter air that is blowing around the room and you see the medjay kind of like oh what the fuck like it starts papers start blowing off tables and Black Spire goes like oh I think it's freezing some of the condensate like just like the water the moisture dampness on the walls that's cool frost is building on the on the stones from the ceiling yeah yeah and I feel like there is like more moisture in the air right now because the water in the is like sort of starting to boil the water in the tunnels oh from the rage yeah from the rage of like the gibbous man being so close is so it's like sort of getting like steamy and humid yeah okay so you create this fairy ring um which means that you get to control who comes in but not who goes out and I imagine that tuck and ving kind of like bump into each other yeah in the hallway as you're running down you both kind of hit a t intersection and slam into each other yeah yeah tuck is behind he's dragging the door so you don't see him right away you just look like a door yeah I just look like an arm you look like a dashing door totally uh great and yeah you so you run into each other in the hallway uh and I go the gibbous man is here he's trying to get TLC oh my god where is he where's TLC he's down the hall where's Billy what he was with you I know he jumped into the river what the fuck are you talking about you had Billy right I'm gonna try and reach out to him I can't do this when you're yelling at me you were supposed to keep eyes on him I can't keep eyes on him he jumped in the other realm you know what he's like jumping into realms we're gonna have a talk about this afterwards we're having a talk about it right now all right so you're trying to reach out to Billy do we know where he is we don't you have no clue where Billy is okay I'm gonna try again okay discern realities 14 Jesus nice three four questions holy shit what's about to happen you because you're trying to contact Billy you reach out with the Chamberlain ring and you see through his very still eyes that he is in a pipe of some kind just like looking up at the grave yeah I see a chair you see a chair broken chains because we have the rings on tuxes at two and knows that's his chair those are his broken chain oh yeah totally yeah yeah so you know that he is directly beneath the room that you were just in and you also like around Billy is projected this feeling of protection like there is something watching over him and he is his physical body you get the sensation that he is safe in this in this tube it's a small tube no one's getting in it's a tiny little tube he's like a fresh loaf of bread in a bread maker he hasn't come out yet he hasn't come out yet not quite done doesn't have to come out yet nice and warm in there yeah I'm gonna sit over the tube and do this yeah ah anticipation uh okay what's useful or valuable oh maybe at the at the end of the corridor you can see frost like crawling out of the room and crawling like up the walls so I point that out to Tuck that he's at the end of the hallway okay so Billy is kind of in two places I think that's what we're yeah so that's what we're talking about yeah yeah yeah the boy is in the pipe the wind is in the room yeah the fair is in the room what should I be on the lookout for uh there are two things so you can feel that strange feeling that you have gotten in your face-to-face encounters with uh a one god of the sky that there are shadows moving and shifting and uh he is like at the end of the room there's like flickers that feel like something's coming through like this is the first time you've ever seen the mechanism of the gibbous man appearing oh cool and he's like stepping through whatever it is he's stepping through the room and he's like oh I'm gonna be on the lookout for you and he's like stepping through whatever it is he's like stepping through the room and he's like oh I'm gonna be on the lookout for you oh we can see sort of like fractures in almost like like seams yeah that he that the spider legs like pull him through uh-huh yeah yeah and shattered seams yeah he's about to step into the realm and then the other thing you should be on the lookout for is you hear uh oh darling husband oh fuck like storming out of the room and as she's coming down the hallway her wedding gown is like torn oh uh well yeah we're like this uh and as she uh she's like a fucking black widow spider it's just like you know you're in so much tension she's the red spot on the spider oh yeah yeah the hourglass the red hourglass on the spider she's like man she's gonna kill me and so she comes like charging out of the room and she's like oh my god I'm gonna be on the lookout for you and so she's like oh my god I'm gonna be on the lookout for you and so she's like oh my god I'm gonna be on the lookout for you and uh as she's coming towards you skidding out of a doorway just between you and her is mirrors oh with the sword and he fucking clang like knocks her sword aside and goes go quick quick mirrors you're not susceptible to her charms cause you're gay I actually don't like to label myself in a specific way just go you're gay Oh, you're gay.

Not like that. Like how he means it. And Mears is immediately outmatched. But you can see he is going to be able to hold her off momentarily. But you got to. There's a time limit on this. Does he have to roll a loyalty for this to work? Yes, he does. 2d6 plus three. He's at three loyalty of a possible four just to keep things above board. Come on, Mears. That's a four. Okay. And that's a two, six, eight. So he does lose a loyalty. He's down to two.

But you can see he's like, it's a lot of him backing up and deflecting sword strokes. But as she kind of takes wax at him, chunks of wax and fabric are coming off of the sword. Even the first one reveals obsidian beneath. Yeah. And you see her eyes narrow. And she kind of with a renewed vigor goes at Mears. But she's temporarily held at bay. What do you do? So then we run to the room where Billy is. So you arrive at a room covered in frost.

And you feel like the winter winds as you cross the threshold of the room. Familiar in the way that fairy rings have felt. So you know that Billy's kind of got this room wrapped in a fairy ring. And Billy, you see Tuck and Ving enter. Yeah. I've been getting more. I've been getting more pissed off, though. Oh. About this dude with the mask. So it's really cold in here. Yeah. The guy holding the mask is being kind of blown back. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Very cool. That's sick.

So you walk into a winter gale, basically. I walk up to him. I take the mask from him because I'm unaffected by the gale. Oh, yeah. Walking along the top of the snow. Take the mask from him. Right. As he's fighting against this wind. His hands are slightly stuck to it. Yeah. And there's snow is building in the room around Blackstone. Spire's feet as well. He's going. Oh, my God. He's lifting a paw each back and forth. And you see Black Spire. Tacoma Dome. Buddy. Oh, my God. No way.

We're going to get you out of there, buddy. We're going to get you out of these fucking chains, man. I'm losing it. I'm going to try and elemental mastery these chains off of him. Oh, fuck yeah. 2d6 plus constitution. Seven. Okay. The effect I desire comes to pass. Okay, great. So you just reach out. And sort of melt the chains off of him. Yank him off. And Black Spire feels these chains come off of him. And he rises up like because he was kind of lashed down in almost like a frog crouch.

And he shakes his huge reptilian body. I imagine is he kind of shakes like a dog and all of his scales. Scales clack. Yeah. His little wings. And like the large like obsidian plates on his shoulders clack in unison. And then he sees. The Medjai who was trying to muzzle him. And he raises all of his scales in the huge crest that he creates. Oh, shit. And he honestly doesn't even say anything. He's got a fucking. No, he pulls a paw back. Oh, and he just fucking slams this guy against the wall.

Oh, my God. Yeah. Is he dead? He kind of like hits and then does like. Oh, like tumbles to the side. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's for sure. Lie your way out of that motherfucker. And he stomps his massive legs. All right, let's get the fuck out of this place. Where's the axe?

The axe is leaning against a wall. Basically, as you walk in, they kind of piled all your stuff up. It seems like the Medjai, at the very least, didn't understand the potency of the axe. Okay. I snagged the axe. Yeah. Yeah. And Larry, Terry, and Chad are like, oh, man, that was a lot closer than you think it was. A lot closer than you think it was. I don't know if you can see what's going on on the other side of the mortal realm, but it is not chill. Yeah.

Billy and TLC have been having big chats. I kind of imagine Billy and TLC on the other side of a fence, basically, from the gibbous man. Like, yeah, fuck you, loser. Yeah, basically. Suck on this. Suck it. Suck it. You can't come in. You can't fucking touch me. You can't touch me. Oh, no. Maybe. Maybe you can touch me. You see, every time you do that, you see the spider form of the gibbous man.

Like, I had an image in my head where it was a sphere, and he's, like, kind of crawling all the way around what is kind of like a glass sphere. Yeah. And it's like, you see it probing. Yeah. Yeah. And we're like, oh, oh, oh, get away, get away. Yeah, when he's on your side of the sphere, like, oh, oh, oh. Yeah. And I think maybe the gibbous man tries to talk to Billy from the other side of this spider fence. He's skittering around. Yeah. And I go, I don't talk to strangers.

Oh, I'm not a stranger. You know me. Yes, you are. You know me. No, I don't. I don't know you the way you think I do. Your keeper has already denied my offer, but I have a feeling that you're a little bit smarter. No, I don't think I'm smarter. That's where you're wrong, gibbous man. The gibbous man, I think, is realizing that Billy's memory is a strange thing. He's like, oh, but Billy. Billy. Billy. Billy. Billy. Billy. Billy. Billy. Billy. Billy. Billy. And why? Whoa.

So then you know why I want what I want, my child. Skitter, skitter. But you don't like when we ask questions, so that's why I need it out. That was always the problem. I let you ask questions, hoping you would make the right choice, and you disappointed me. And then you left, and you created your own realm. You and the rest of the fairies, and look what it brought you. It brought me a good family. Well, hold them close. And he disappears. He disappears. Wait. Wait, come back.

Oh, why does he want him to come back? I don't know. I actually kind of like that he leaves, and then Billy says come back, but he doesn't come back. But I have questions. Now I want to know what you're going to ask. I don't know what I'm going to ask. No, that's fine. So I think he is about to, like, he's trying to leave. That mechanism is beginning where he is taking off, and you're like, I have questions. And if you won't answer, I'll ask mother. And he comes back. Whoa, don't do that.

What do you want to know? What? Why did you lie to me, father, about Lillian when I knew you locked her up? I didn't. He's very placating right now because you threatened to call mother never was basically, and he is freaked out about that. I didn't lie. I. They locked her up. The humans locked her up. That fucking disgusting sailor locked her up. You know what I mean? Yes. I told them how to do it, but I needed more time. I hate that. They made me do that. No one made you do that.

They made me do that. No one made you do that. I couldn't control her. You couldn't control her. So I needed time. I told them how to lock her away. We sealed her up so I could get the pieces of her back and build her back the way I need her to be. I just need time. I'm almost done. That's not a lie. You're not a good father. And that's why we all left you. You can see in the ferry. This wounds him deeply. It's hard to be a good father to such ungrateful children. And he disappears.

That was sick. That was very good. That was so cool. Holy shit. And Billy, through the shadow of the ferry, you see Black Spire kind of like hopping around. Like, yeah. Oh, my God. I'm so fucking happy to see you guys. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And he kind of like piles on. Scruffle. Scruffle. Scruffle. Yeah. Oh, Tuck. Oh, my God. And you cut back to the material realm. And it's just him screaming so loud. And it's going, stop. Stop. You're huge. Easy. Easy. Easy. Easy. Heal. Heal.

He starts going, oh, my God. I'm so hungry. And he starts digging into the stone floor. He's pulling up piles of rock. Oh, my God. This is like a little buffet for him. Tuck is like frantically smashing. Through the walls with the axe. No, no, no. Fuck. Okay. All right. All right. Okay. Cool. Yum, yum, yum. Yum, yum, yum. So what's your plan now? We got to get the fuck out of here. Better grab Billy first. Oh, shit. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. B-R-B. You forgot about our boy. What about Mears?

Oh, shit. Mears. Mears like comes fucking sailing past the door. Slams into the wall outside the door and goes, ah, and swings the sword up. And Victoria LeBlanc clang sword off the stone. Shit. Can I roll for an annulment? Is that possible? You know what? You don't have to roll for an annulment. Your marriage to her. Tuck, I'm going to be honest with you. This is the GM speaking. Your marriage to her. I connect. Tuck connects with another round. I think we can all guess. Yes.

The marriage to her. So unimportant in Victoria's plans. She used. She used it as a way to manipulate you. And guess what, brother? It fucking works in the fairy realm. You could see that wound. It's so deep. But yeah, Victoria is out here. She's trying to kill Mears right now. And so what? Okay. What do we think her goal in this scene is? She wants revenge. She's got the icon of revenge. She wants revenge on the people. That sunk her fucking ship. Oh, yeah. And she is.

And she wants to kill the only husband. She never. She never fucked. The only man she ever truly loved. Me. That's what Tuck says. And she grabs Mears by the front of the shirt. And hurls him down the hallway out of sight. Let's finish this. Finally. And she kind of starts sauntering back into the hallway. Gesturing with the tip of her sword. I tuck grabs the front of the duster and rips it off. Cool. I thought you're still wearing that. He's wearing a duster and pants with the crotch gone.

Yeah. Then he grabs the pants and then rips them off and goes, if I'm going to go out of this world, I'm going to leave how I came in. In a loincloth. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah Please help me fight my wife I would love to Oh You're all a part of this You all sank my sheep Your sheep?

Hold on Hold on Let me get the voice My voice is feeling I'm a little tired No you're doing great It's very French She's kind of like One of these right She's like a really French jerk Yeah A jerk of a French person A French person listening to me Do this voice Surely filled with rage Rage And she looks at all three of you All two of you And Mirs is there as well You To come at them You Ving Get that out of my face It will be in your face All three of you And the boy And then she And she goes And also the nameless Background character You hang out with sometimes Yeah It was that red haired lady At the time She was also involved I will have my revenge But I must have my revenge On all of you Where's the boy?

He sunk my ship as well Oh Billy right now is tantruming Oh Oh What's this look like?

Cause he's so mad Yeah Like how dare His dad Show up like that Oh yeah Also I kind of And walk out of an argument And leave again And fucking gaslight him Yeah I imagine like the wind Is picking up the wind Yeah As the gale The tantrum gale Is engaging Yeah And like he promised Lily And he's funneling Her anger as well Oh So it's just both Yeah that's pouring through Billy and Ving This like Spiritual rage And anger And she feels the wind Start picking up And she kind of spreads her arms As the wind whips her hair around Can I Like damage The demon that's attached to her Can I use my hold for that?

Oh That would be sick To try and detach it Or like Unhide it Because the tattoos are very new Yeah I did say that didn't I? Yeah The tattoos are very new Um You can use your hold It will send you back into your body Yeah But you can destabilize it for sure Yeah Okay yeah So what does this look like? You see hanging Basically like in the fairy Hanging above her Yeah Is the constellation for revenge Mmhmm And I want to implore it To Seek a greater revenge Ooh Yeah Cool Yeah Revenge on who?

The gibbous man To our father Oh Because it's It's It's father too Yeah The demon's father Yeah And I tell it You heard what he said Oh So sick Yeah Cool cool cool Cool cool cool Okay alright And you just spend the hold on this Yeah Okay so you Say like you heard what he said Yeah So you feel the The demon of revenge Start like Pulling against the chains Mmhmm That are lashing it to Victoria with the tattoos Oh Not quite breaking them But like trying really hard And you can see her kind of like Twitching Yeah Yeah She's spasming with the Force of like The metaphysical strain And you hear it say The last thing he knows Will be my gratitude Oh Oh So cool And uh She is You can see her like She's Her eyes start darting All over the place With the feeling of This decoupling Oh And it will not Uh I I have a move called Fuck off demon Where I can defend Objects or people from Demonic influence Mmhmm So I can help you Somehow You could defend Victoria Yeah Yeah So Billy Cause I was This is actually works out great Cause Billy is not So sufficiently powerful That he can completely Detach the demon Yeah But you can destabilize it For sure Yeah So you're gonna roll defend To uh Try and defend against Demonic influence Oh Yeah you're like saving her From this demon Okay yeah go ahead and roll it It my The way that I do it Is like I'm gonna roll Breaking the law To try and use TLC Mmhmm To I guess Kind of compel them To be corporeal Enough within the iconic And like fairy realms Mmhmm To sever the connection Between The demon of revenge And Victoria Gotcha yeah So what you're doing Is using breaking the law To make this thing possible Yes And then you are rolling A different roll Yeah And the debility The stat Do you have a preference Where would I take the debility to No not at all Okay I'll just Take another one to intelligence No you can't No you can only take One debility per Okay Fucking I mean a few I feel like constitution Cause you're reaching Into a realm Yeah You don't know You're overreaching Yeah Okay Yeah you're using Your physical power To overcome something Yeah Spiritual So there we go Minus one Tuck takes the axe He wants to like Slash it To like get her to move away Mmhmm And then spin So that he's facing her back And then slash the axe Like across the tattoos On her back Oh yeah Like cut the skin Yeah So then roll Strength I guess Mmhmm Here we go Please Twelve Oh my god Yeah Okay You Yeah you spin around Like she Kind of lunges forward With her sword As you start moving You do a spin around her Yes And you slice down her back Cutting in a very Jaunty way Her dress down To like one shoulder Basically Keeping it on But you But the The spiritually Crafted axe That is Larry Terry And Chad Cuts through these Magi tattoos The blade like Turns night black Like the same color As the rips in the world That like the gibbous man makes When he's like Traveling between places Yeah Cool Yeah So you're like Cutting through the realms Yeah And it's just along the edge It feels like It's like something Where it's just The metal is being like Corroded almost Yeah Yeah And Billy in the ferry You see the like Disconnection of the Icon of revenge Yeah I mean I'm back in my Human form Oh right So you don't see shit I don't see shit Yeah Ving would feel it And the constellation Oh yeah And because he's Susceptible to the rage I feel like Oh right Oh And I've also I'm covered in constellations I feel like There's some Opportunity here To be affected by this Or soak it up Yeah Or bind it To the right thing Whatever you wanna do I know it's I was like Ooh if you fail I have a great Yeah It's well I mean Succeed or fail There's a fucking Demon in play right now Yeah You can feel this Icon Loose In sort of like Your extra Sensory perception And this Feeling of revenge Is looking for a place To land And you feel it Kind of center in On the feeling of rage That you've been carrying Yeah From Lillian I feel like I want to convince The icon The demon of revenge To bind itself To the gibbous man Somehow To like his mortal form To his mortal form Because I I know that This This!

Comes at the cost of Sight It is rash Oh It is a weakness Oh So then it would Blind Like not let the gibbous man See In some way Yeah It would cut off A sense Because It'll make him act And he's like Primed for it now Because of the interaction With Billy He's like Very much so So angry And his His act of revenge With chimes Yeah He's He's open to The revenge Yeah So what What is your next move?

Ving goes on his back And grabs his spear Off his back Which is Covered in runes And I Seeing Billy In the Realm with The demon of revenge I Carve The Constellation of revenge Into my spear Oh And in the folding Realms As the Gibbous man Is leaving I reach back And I throw my spear Into the realms Tethered with the Demon of revenge I I I I I I I I I!

I In hopes That it will Find He who Was seeking The biggest Revenge Oh You throw it Through like The slits In reality That he creates When he leaves I use my Night moves To track Where the Embodied sky Is traveling Through the realms Okay 2d6 plus Wisdom To attempt This like Binding of the Demon of revenge To your spear That's a very Cool idea Never been done Before so We gotta roll To make sure That it works The way you Want it to Oh I got 13. It works the way you want it to.

It makes sense that yeah, I'm embodying this revenge. It's kind of like the first time you've done something like that. Yeah. But it makes sense because you've got the tree, knowledge, it's all over you. The knowledge of what that constellation means. You can read the constellation. You got exposed to the outer dark and the entirety of the constellations when we were in the tower. Like shot into your head. Yeah. It's a printout of the entire pinpricks of the cosmos. Sorry. You go ahead.

No, I was just going to say that like you carry with you all the instructions. Yeah. And as a keeper of pieces of Lillian, as a moon boy, I know that where I throw this tip of the spear, it will find it's true. Yeah, absolutely. So you very quickly, I even think it's like with your… It's just like a thumb. Yeah, with your thumb, you carve into the wood. With your thumb. The constellation. It's next to like the carving of your mom's name. It's your dad's spear.

So there's like an intrinsic feeling of revenge you have for this object. It's like all of the families he's had that weren't you. And they are separation in revenge. Yeah. Yeah. Very cool. And I mean, do I make you roll to throw? I think you're… I think this is going to… It's going to pass into this place. Okay. What happens after that will be determined by the roll. Okay. So my night moves, we're doing 2d6 plus… Wisdom. Wisdom. 10. 10. Fuck yeah. On a 10 plus with night moves.

The GM will answer one question. Okay. Ask me a question. Paul, I don't know if you're doing a gag or you don't know what the question is because to me it seems so obvious. What? I mean, like, will it go in there? What the fuck? Wait, I don't think I know what the obvious question is. Where is the gibbous, man? Oh. Like, where do I throw this so that it hits him? Oh, I thought I already knew that, but this is what I did this move for.

Yeah, because we've determined that it did go through the crack here. Yeah. Yeah. I know that it's going to find him. I ask of the spear to show me the movement of the knight. Oh, cool. So you follow the spear between the realms to the starlit void that is the outer dark. The gibbous man passes through the night sky that holds all of the spheres in its hands as he moves between the material realm. The spear emerges in a place deep, deep underground.

Lit by crystals embedded in the walls of this ancient cavern, reflecting the light of a piece of the moon. That sits in a cradle of stone being washed by an ancient river that falls into the canals and caves that form an ancient waterway that was many centuries ago harnessed by the people that built the city of Blackglass and the castle that you stand in now. He stands before this piece of the moon, this fragment of his daughter's spiritual form.

A piece in the puzzle required to complete his ultimate plan, which is to finally release her. And as he reaches out to take this piece of the stone, the spear finds his side and pierces deep. He is in the middle of the cavern, and the! The spear is in the cavern. The spider sweeps across the glass, a sphere against the buried past. The prophecy, a broken man, a burning tree, the final stand. With the doom upon our backs, I look to you who matter most.

For if the sky unveils a new light, it will be the light of the new day. There's a woman's scent. Together we stand, ghost to ghost. We stand, ghost to ghost. Many eyes returning, the strands of midnight's open fold. Born in dawn's first burning, we walk the road to journey's end. Lost at time's last turning, the night is closing in my friends. And if we fall, together us we'll die. And if we fall, together us we'll die. And if we fall, together us we'll die.

And if we fall, together us we'll die. And if we fall, together us we'll die. And if we fall together, not one of us will die alone. © transcript Emily Beynon

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

We will not leave you without a resolution. Return next week to hear some more whilst you commute or do your chores. And for you I gladly spell dawn.

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 Spoutlord!

I'm your game master Sean O'Hara, joining me as always playing Tacoma Dome the Barbarian, Abdul Aziz Hello! Where were you?

All I saw was Abdul move the curtain aside and then Jessica on the TV And then Abdul sheepishly whipped around when I said his name Nothing Playing Ving the half-elf druid, Paul Oppers Hello Sean And playing Fat Billy the halfling thief, Jessica Tai Hello Paul When last we left our heroes, they were being pursued by the orchestra A terrifying mechanical construct made up of any number of self-playing instruments Patrolling the streets of Blackglass and coordinating the capture of the various wedding attendees in the city They, through a cunning series of maneuvers, tricked the orchestra into falling into a disused building and escaped Down onto the street level Where the orchestra continued its mag- uh, its magical, terrible pursuit Ving the half-elf druid summoning a horse out of I believe it was a- I believe it was a Clydesdale?

It was a powerful Clydesdale made out of building rubble and cobblestones to fight off the orchestra You also made the horse cock That does not sound like me I said it, I said it Thank you, thank you very much There we go!

It all becomes clear Uh, and escaped into the tunnels, the sewers beneath Blackglass with the help of Billy's lockpicking skill Once in the tunnels, Billy found a number of thief signs leading you to a safe house controlled by the Brass Castle Gang Containing, uh, crates and crates of I'll-gotten goods And within, Brass Castle Gang leader, the aforementioned Samuel Deering A squat Imagine Bob Hoskins Looking guy Who, along with his crew, sat kind of hiding out, waiting out the entire affair Smoking tobacco laced with saffron That was the vibe, was he was just down there waiting for the world to finish ending Yeah, and then he was gonna come out and start selling stuff to people that needed it That was his plan Uh, but a deal was struck between our crew and the Brass Castle Gang in which Deering would offer Uh, three of his Uh, three of his Uh, three of his boys To help you infiltrate Blackhammer Palace To find his already lost crew The party agreed And took some of Deering's saffron-laced tobacco into the palace Emerging from a hidden grate in the floor of the palace that the Brass Castle Boys led you to Ving then negotiated with so many rats You mock my rat negotiations They will help I assume At some point I'll bet you one thousand dollars that it won't come back up Watch your man, I have the biggest shoehorn in my mind right now Just gonna make a note real quick To lose Abdul a thousand dollars Sean?

To lose Abdul A thousand dollars Uh, Billy That's a clock Billy Switcherood a bad day Billy Switcherood a bag of grain into delicious cheeses Helping with the negotiations In which the rats then agreed to allow you passage into their chamber of the palace And also to help With pandemonium Unbridled chaos at the giving of a signal Which also was not Decided on, I don't believe You said when we say the word Unleash chaos The good word, the good word I meant I think all rats are born knowing the word The word, yeah I think if I scream now rats now Go get it He looks like a man but he screams He speaks the rat tongues Screams like a rat Uh, in the lower levels of the palace They found a disused Bricked up chamber Leading to aquifers and Channels beneath The courtyard One, two and three headed off into the palace on their own To try and track down their lost members While Mears, Ving, Billy and Tuck Coalesced their plan Using the waters beneath Billy and Ving are going to create a fairy ring To trap Callum and Victoria Before they summon the Gibbous Man to keep him out of the picture While Tuck will use the icon of servitude in his chest To make the appearance of being possessed And bring up an illusory version of Ving Pretending to be betraying the party And delivering Ving to Callum and Victoria Yeah And then the rats swoop in and save the day Sounds like a plan boys Let's go And…

Rats Uh, everybody took a drag off a saffron cigarette Billy being made to smoke for the first time Being made to And immediately taking a shine to it Cause I mean It's so cool It's simply too cool That's right And to begin the plan Tuck took a trip within To the sit down pizza hut in his heart Yes To speak with the demon of servitude In the form of Habibi Margani They made their deal Habibi letting Tuck know that for this to work He had to be let through just a little bit Uh huh Tuck agreed Before he went in letting the party know that he would Return to his one liner about classical music If it was him Uh huh He closed his eyes Opened them Eyes white Chest eyes open And said I said I don't like classical music Yes Oh my gosh Do I look fucked up?

Do I look super weird and fucked up? Yeah, a little bit Mears is just kind of staring at you wide-eyed Mears, here, check it out Oh no no no no no no I'm okay I make the eyes like look in different directions Like flexing your pecs? Yeah, I think I'm doing it by flexing my abs Can you get them to do cross-eyes? Yeah, here, check it out Oh Oh Stop looking at your dick Gross So gross Yeah yeah You look great You look horrible Thanks Can you see with those? I can't Can I?

Uh, that's a good question Cause aren't my eyes also white?

Yeah, I think that's We've talked about how they're um They roll back Yeah, I feel like it's like How Daredevil sees Right, it's like a perception Yeah, of like Rather than sight It's sort of like the shadow realm But the opposite Like where Billy can see the Fae And it kind of looks like a shadow It's sort of the opposite of that Yeah Where everything's like Maybe everything's super bright Yeah, like Yeah, it's like the world on fire thing Or whatever they describe it as Yes Where it's like outlines of light On everything Yeah Instead of the actual things Totally So Mears is uh Looking kind of jumpy And he's kind of like Looking at you with his eyes squinting Yeah And he's like He's like He's like He's like He's like He's looking at you with his eyes squinting It's like We're really taking this Classical music thing At face value, huh I mean, yeah Okay Alright Well he said he has control So he has at least enough control Yeah To remember that Okay Alright Very Sure Yeah Okay So Anything else we need to figure out Before we engage With the plan Yeah I don't think so No Well I think we're running out of time soon The shuffling is quieting Yeah We can see that they're gathering a circle Mm-hmm So, Billie, I think you have to make the illusion, right?

Yes. And then I can take it up top and you can start working on the fairy circle. Okay. So I will use fairy child then. What season are you in right now? I'm in a spring. Oh. So with my spring season, I can create a convincing illusion without spending a hold. I guess I just don't have to use a fairy child for this. Yep. The spring form is very tricky. So they are able to make their illusions just at will. Yeah. Great.

I would like to do a sort of like a bit of like a Cinderella fairy godmother thing. I'm like walking around Vang and I'm doing the like. But more like Gus doing it. Yeah. Like Gus doing it. Gus, Gus. Yeah. I fall over a few times because I'm not looking. This dress is a lot of corn. It's mostly corn. Giant corn kernels. But I got to get him just right. Sometimes I don't get your proportions right. That's true. His ass is huge. His ass. Huge. Legs really skinny. It's like when a kid draws it.

Yeah. Arms like no joints. Stick arms. Fingers straight out. Eyelashes like this. I look like a house. Yeah. There's always like a little corner sun following me around. Uh-huh. Uh-huh. That's very funny. Yeah. It looks like a drawing all the time. Yeah. So I'm like, I got to erase it. I'm like, no, no, no. I got to make this real life. Oh, God. That feels weird. That feels weird. Be careful. Those little like V birds are just floating around his head. A flower with a smiley face. Yeah. Okay.

So does the, well, it says convincing illusion. So it does the illusion after some editing. Yeah. Looks like Ving. Yeah. Yeah. And then I teach the illusion. Like I mimic a lot of Ving's moves and I'll watch you. Yeah. Yeah. So actually I want to try and clear this up. The illusion will be away from Billy. Yeah. Out of sight. Mm-hmm. How does it act when it is not within view? Because he's creating a convincing illusion. He's not necessarily creating a set, like a living thing.

You know what I mean? Yeah. What if I like do like a communion of whispers down here with Billy? Oh. I have to tap him in to what's going on up there. Yeah. Yeah. Does that make sense? That does make sense. Yeah. Yeah. Billy can make illusions, but basically like once they get too far away from him or if he can't like perceive them, they're not in his control anymore. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

That makes sense and then a community of whispers could also be a way to make that happen yeah yeah I would think the ring I think the chamberlain ring because I feel like you and I could like watch each other really closely for this okay so we're connecting through the rings to be able to like use tuck as a way to keep the illusion going I like that staying connected with the illusion through tuck so how are we establishing that now like what does that look like like tapping in through the rings to make sure that it works waiting until tuck is up there and then like trying to keep it going yeah I think it's a community of whispers role on using the rings in this space okay great yeah go ahead and 2d6 plus wisdom for communion of whispers I got 10 okay so you all you get a boon or a vision that is pertinent to your current situation clear clear clear clear Communion of whispers.

I got 10. Okay, so you all, you get a boon or a vision that is pertinent to your current situation. Clear and helpful. Clear and helpful. So we're all looking inside each other's minds using the Chamberlain rings for a moment. Yeah. What do they see? You guys see Tuck trapped in the pizza hut in his head, fists bloody, trying to punch his way out the front door. Whoa. So what is the reaction once the Demon of Servitude realizes that Billy and Ving have seen this?

The Demon of Servitude would try to break through the floor above them using TLC to expose Billy and Ving. This was a trap? The Demon hates classical music too? I turn on Tuck and I'm going to make… I'm going to do a ring around the Rosie. Oh, shit. So what we're going to do is a defy danger. Okay. Because I think the second you make this connection, the Demon starts moving. Okay. Okay. Like you see Tuck draw TLC and start swinging, like start trying to swing at the ceiling.

Sorry I had to lie to you. No, it's very cool. I noticed you didn't apologize to me. Because we're not friends, Paul. Jesus Christ. Oh. Take that back. I like to assume only friends can make that kind of joke. That's true. That's true. That's true. But it did hurt. I'm sorry. It stings just like when you lie to us. So many betrayals. I am so glad. Because the… Oh, man. All right. We'll talk about it after. Okay.

So Billy is doing a defy danger to act quick enough to do this before the Demon can do what it's trying to do. Right. Because you have shoot first. Right. I do. I do. Billy, Billy. If the question is ever who acts first, the answer is Billy. Yeah. So what I was going to say was that the defy danger was to see if you can act first. Oh, okay. But shoot first says that you act first. Yes. Yeah. So you can just try and make your ring around him.

Maybe instead of the ring, I will do I'm a bad guy now. Oh. Oh. And just fucking gloves off. Yeah. Because I'm pissed. I'm pissed. Like how did this Demon know? And your dad lied to you. And he lied to me. All right. I'm sorry. He said he never lied to me. I know. I'm sorry. Can you read out how I'm a bad guy now works? Okay. So I call upon my winter form to fight in a flurry. I'll roll plus wisdom. Okay. Great. So 2d6 plus wisdom. Please. Nine plus one is 10. Okay. Okay.

So on a 10 plus, I get three holds. I can terrify an enemy, deal damage to an enemy within reach and freeze someone or something in place. Oh, God. This move is so powerful. I really. I really fucked up with this one. To be totally honest, the freezing thing's insane. So yeah. What do you do? I'm going to freeze him in place. Okay. Yeah. Tuck draws TLC. As you're coming out of the connection into the pizza hut, he's drawing the axe. He's going to throw it at the ceiling.

I spring on to talk and I clamp down on his hand, like wrapping it tight around the blade. Oh, yeah. Oh, and then it just like ice surrounds the hand and the blade. And I'm angry. So it's like the ice shoots down. It pierces like into the floor. Oh, yeah. It's like sharp. Oh, yeah. Yeah. And what is the reaction from the demon? Shit. Okay. What is this guy like? So all it wants to be right now is the perfect servant. Right? Yeah. So he, as in Habibi, it, as in the demon. Yes.

Is probably recognizing Callum as the most powerful person here and is like, I am going to serve that Callum Blackhammer. And the reason that it wanted to take control because it wasn't trying to serve you. It wanted control. It wanted control of your body so it could engage in its programming. Right. So there's like icicles going through my legs into the ground. Not through your legs, but like it's like anchoring your upper body to the ground. Okay.

So when, when you do that, the eyes look at you, but Tuck's head doesn't move and Tuck doesn't speak, but you hear in your mind, my master is not ready to see you yet, little boy. Yeah. Creepy. Very creepy. Hmm. Great. Can I try and break out of this? Absolutely. Yeah. Okay. So this would be 2d6 plus strength. Okay. Uh, so that's, yeah. 10. Sorry. So, um. Do I have a debility? You're trying to act against the wishes of the dice. Fuck.

Uh, so you, yeah, Billy, you'd launch onto Tuck who you now know is not Tuck. This ice encases him. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Massive body. Mm-hmm. Just strain against the ice and shatter it. And it bends the axe Because he was holding the axe That handle's made of stone Is it?

Yeah, it's always been made of stone Oh Yeah, the demon doesn't care about TLC Would it be able to break TLC?

I don't know You tell me Okay, I don't think so Okay Because the reason that Tuck has been able to break stuff in the past Is because of his inherent nature Okay This is not his nature acting It is a demon Okay So it can't tap into that part of him Okay Yet Okay But it's still figuring out Tuck's situation Okay So it tries to snap TLC Okay But fails Yes But the ice is broken And that gives Ving You have a moment to act here I want to go within the Mind Pizza Palace Yeah And charge at the door Yeah, so you're in the parking lot Outside the Mind Pizza Palace Just so many, many minutes Like a 1965 Bluebird bus pulls up And Ving gets off and is like Tuck!

And you just see like Boom, boom, boom, boom There's a sign on the front that says Closed, we'll be back in five minutes And behind that Call tomorrow And behind that Tuck is just pounding this door Bloody fists Ving, the door is fucking jammed or something He shoved a bunch of gum into the lock, I think It's just locked We need to find the right key I want to manifest a key to the door Oh, interesting You try to break it down maybe And you can see that this is just not happening Yeah, you can see that this is just not happening So, 2d6 plus wisdom to summon this key Okay Ooh Plus wisdom?

Yeah Ooh, 12 12 Oh, sick So you find You pull a zip You have a big like ring of keys on your belt Yes You look down, you're actually dressed like a janitor Yeah And you're going through this ring of keys The other tucks in the place are like freaking out They're like The fryer's is broken Is that the maintenance guy?

There's a fire in the kitchen There's one of the tucks has a big dishcloth And he's waving at a fire The soft serve is too soft It's just cream Cushing out of the nozzle Slipping and falling all over, covered in cream And you find the key And click into the door Open the door Fly it open Back to the real world, Billy You're hanging on to Tuck, the demon shatters this ice Mirrors is kind of moving around the outside Trying to get an answer to that question He's here to help If you attack, he can help you with that But what do you do?

I'd like to try to terrify an enemy I want to try to terrify the demon of servitude Oh, sick That's so cool Hell yeah, what does this look like?

Billy's in like full winter rage mode And he's screaming at the demon like You're obeying the wrong master Whoa Sick, that's so fucking cool I am the strongest one here Okay, you will terrify it By spending a hold Sure I want you to roll this though Because if Billy presents himself As significantly powerful The demon's allegiance might change Yeah Right That's wild Sick 2d6 plus charisma, I guess To like force of personality Nine Can I aid?

You have been released from the pizza palace So you're trying to get out Yeah What does this look like?

I think it's sort of like what happened At the battle for Lance Springs When The icon of Zealotry Zealotry Like showed everyone what they believed in the most Like what Oh yeah Yeah It kind of showed everybody Like their Yeah, what they're devoted to Yeah Yeah Tux was just memories of Billy and Bing Because there's like nothing else in there So I'm trying to like line up the thing that Billy is doing Where he's trying to like tap into the servitude thing And then line it up with what my personal allegiance is Yeah So Ving gets the door open And all of the Tux come running out They're like Oh They're freaking out That's like That is an expression of Tux internal repressed anxiety Yes Yes He's Released from a pizza hut And One of them is like a dark wet stain on his pants Front and back Front and back Front and back And Tux prime Yeah You come out with Ving And as you're like Hands bloody and torn Yeah Outside the pizza palace It starts to snow Whoa Billy Yeah You can feel the winter fairy Being impressed upon this place Is Billy here or no?

No, not right now No, not in the mind palace Okay But his presence is known Okay So Tux He wants to take the memory From when we went to the To the pool And we had to like Fight through that snow storm Cause we were going to the pool To like dunk Billy, right?

Oh yeah Yeah To T-Bag him Yeah You always laugh when you say that Yeah I don't get it There So there is this memory that Tux has Of him holding on to The polar bear version of Ving And like holding Billy In the crook of his arm And fighting through The winter storm That he's just gonna like Bring him back Yeah To this place And like feed it into This like It's almost like A framework for devotion Is being created inside of the mind Of the icon Yeah So he's like He's trying to nest These like feelings of like Familial devotion Inside of it Interesting Yeah This, oh okay This is cool Cause like metaphysically In our world What does that do to an icon?

Does it shift the icon? Does it become a different icon?

I don't Oh maybe yeah Cause it's Could do Well cause I think the way I've always thought about it Is like certain icons Are like mixtures of other Baser icons Right That create like more complex ideas Yeah So I can see the Servitude and Devotion Devotion So what happens when you combine Servitude with like Devotion I mean that's very Very powerful Loyalty Because it gives purpose to Loyalty Like the Like maybe Okay let's just Let's roll in See what happens That's cool Wait is this not your aid?

This is my aid Yeah Right This was Just an aid I haven't rolled anything No This is just the aid This was just a description of an aid It's very cool Okay I wanted to highlight that Wow We're good at telling stories Someone's really fucking Chewing up the landscape in here Or whatever Scenery or whatever Yeah it's 14 tux Yeah so that says Seven Plus one Eight Oh thank god Yeah That would have been So embarrassing Oh god The memory gets deleted From tux head Okay so Tux Thinks about All of the times that He has lived his life In service Of Ving and Billy Uh huh Familial bond Familial bond The strength of that bond The strength of your devotion And how that informs your service Mmhmm Then we'll jump back out Billy you're like On tux head But you're like Holding his face And screaming at him Tux body is like Starting to kneel Oh Almost like against his will Oh Six Fucking awesome That's so crazy Yeah Oh that's And Billy's just screaming Obey me Yeah Yeah It's kind of like Do you think I am a conjurer Of cheap tricks Where like Yeah Oh I think so The perspective changes And Billy seems huge Yeah Yeah Though it could be also ice Yeah Physically is like All like lifting Billy Off the ground Yeah Like sheathed in ice Yeah And with a heavy Thud Yeah!

Tux body Kneels On the stones In this ancient Castle complex Mmhmm And you can feel Whatever iconic power Is Inhabiting Tux body Shifts its allegiance From whatever is going on Above Mmhmm To you And I'm very curious If we think This has changed it From the icon of servitude To the icon of loyalty Yeah Cause you When we Shifted the bar Like the Coins Kind of came loose Mmhmm And the coins In his chest Are always Have always been like The constellation Oh Of servitude So they're shifting Yeah I think so So it's like fresh Fresh cuts Scars Yeah So the Yeah the power The power of Billy's Personality In this Moment Is shifting the coin chunks In Tux chest As they form a new Constellation Representing The icon of loyalty Do I take any damage For any of this?

I guess You're asking No! What do you think You're rolling? I'm so sorry Is it my damage? Or Billy's?

I guess it might be mine D6 I guess it would be a D6 Because this is something That Billy's Fairy power Is doing to you But you get extra damage When you get 2 D6 When you're in winter I do That means it could be 2 Or it could be 12 Maybe it's Maybe it's snake eyes No it could be So we're rolling 2 D6 here No And this makes sense As a price to pay For changing the icon In Tux chest Yeah I'm gonna roll Shittier dice Not your magic lucky dice Find the virginity dice Where are they?

This is Sean's Why are we still Calling him that? Virginity dice Let's go 6 Okay Sounds like bad Yeah 6 damage Ooh all the eyes Look at me now Oh yeah That's so fucking gross Yeah So nasty So the demon And I can just Feed this to you Because now This is a different Situation entirely Yeah It looks at It looks at Billy And it asks What would you have of me?

Let him out And then tuck his back So every Mears is now looking Mears has got his sword out Still in the wax case Still in the wax case Yeah But he's still He's holding it I like that he's like Ah And he's kind of like He swings it at Ving a little bit Like ah Whoa whoa whoa No no no He swings it at Billy Put it down Put it down Okay It's fine Boo He drops the sword What? What? What? What? What? What? What? What? What? What? What? What? What? What? What? What? What? What? What? What? What?

Okay Everything's okay It's fine Right Tuck? Yes I'm okay I'm better now How do we know?

Mears point the sword at him He picks up the sword He points it in your direction Okay okay okay Ask me a thing That you That you think I would only know How cool was that jump You did off the roof The other day Dude I was a fucking Night spider He's back It's him It's him He's back And Tuck is bleeding heavily out of his chest Yeah But the eyes are still there Oh yeah The demon of loyalty fulfilled the deal that I tried to make Which was to make me look possessed Right yes he honored the deal Yeah I'm really sorry It's okay buddy it's not your fault Tempers happen Yeah Sometimes people get mad and that's okay And sometimes your dad gets possessed by the demon of servitude By accident right And it's an accident And when stuff is an accident it's nobody's fault That's right Right Sometimes your other dad just stands there and does nothing And things work out You did nothing You did stuff You just didn't You didn't do the last thing I didn't do the last thing And it kills me We can wreck on everything you do the last thing Let's do it Let's do it So perfect Let's do it We'll do a What are they called when we have to do a pickup We'll do a pickup where Ving actually solves Yeah Yeah!

What happens is like Ving comes in and he does like the thing that like a boyfriend does Where he like drapes over my arms Yeah As I'm holding Billy and asking if he's okay He's like yeah Yeah Are you though big guy?

I do like that he just kind of comes behind Billy like Shh Mm-hmm Like wipes the Yeah Like tries to brush the icicles off of him Get a little schmutz there Yeah Yeah Crackle crackle as the ice hits the ground Yeah Okay Says Mears So plan is then the plan is the plan again I think so I think I have control of this thing now And can I check in with it?

Yeah you guys can all pop into the memory palace now Oh sure yeah Yeah Let's see how he's doing Yeah Ding ding We're in the pizza hut It's kind of smoldering inside a little bit Oh Help wanted signs everywhere It's a big help wanted sign It's just like the manager left like mopping everything up Yeah Yeah It's just a tuck in one of those Still the loincloth is in there It's a loincloth but tucked into the loincloth is like a button down short sleeve shirt With a clip on tie Yeah Yeah I feel like I might have lost a lot of my subcruise Just leave your resume on the counter Just take a seat wherever you want We sit in a booth And uh Habibi comes out From the back All sooty Whoa Hello Hi Hey How's it going?

Much better I'm good I'm good Um I just want to say And he like slides into the booth across from you I imagine you're all crammed into the Yeah we One side of the booth Yes Yeah We have three giant cokes in red In the red plastic cups Plastic cups Yeah He's eating a sundae Like a Like an old school In the glass bowl Yeah I just want to say I'm so sorry For the deception My loyalty Now Lies with you Wait is it just Billy or is it Ving and Billy?

I guess it would be Billy and Ving You are my priority now I will do anything that I can do To protect you How do we maintain your loyalty? Who's to say it won't just Go to the next person? That's a great question What makes you feel loyal to us?

Specifically He There's like a TV in the corner Oh It's like playing family video Yes Style memories Yeah With like the VHS like scan lines Yeah yeah yeah And stuff like that On the wrong date You know how there's lots of Oh yeah The wrong date It's all 1990 Well it's like whatever It's like September 1st 1991 Like whatever it all is All resets too Yeah All the pictures on the wall Have been replaced with family photos Oh yeah The menu Is like little That's all your favorite items It's like all Tuck's favorite I mean Ving's favorite items And all Billy's favorite items Yeah Do not accept checks From these people It's all pictures of Ving And Billy What?

What? Wall Dine and Dash Wall of Fame It's all Billy It's all Billy It's all Billy It's all Billy It's all Billy It's all Billy It's all Billy It's all Billy It's all Billy It's all Billy It's all Billy It's all him running away With different foods Blurry Is it running?

Those blurry photos Where he's moving too fast They're kind of in order He's like he's got a cookie And he's got a cookie And a banana He's got a cookie And a banana And a pizza He's got a cookie And a banana And a pizza And a sundae It feels like he just Kept coming back And stealing I kind of like This is maybe too big a change But it's thematically I think makes sense That it's no longer Like a sit down pizza hut But it's like a family style restaurant Oh yeah Where it's like now Like a family style buffet Yeah Really nice The jello The jello buffet Yeah The jello's in the buffet It's the all you can eat Husky breakfast place Oh it's changed To the husky diner That's different It's still winter outside Yeah Cause like the Like the winter aspect Maintained And it's the It is the all you can eat diner The truck stop On Christmas Eve Yeah Family dinner And you can see that Oleg in the back Oh yeah He's like Cooking It's now just fully a memory That Tuck has Of a really wonderful time At a diner Yeah While you were A fugitive on the run I tried to fuck that cop Tried to blow a cop At a truck stop Didn't you try something With like a cucumber I did I did a thing where I I think I sucked on Yeah You did You sucked on a cucumber Yeah The cucumber Yeah I'm still unclear Where the line was In terms of A trick And a genuine Attempt At seduction But yeah On the TV It's like Billy in the ocean At Crystal Bay Yeah What else What are other memories That we've had together Oh uh All of us in our like Dress up costumes Oh yeah Undercover Right You on my shoulder For chickens Yeah Oh yeah You guys in the pool At the Crystal Bay Hotel Right A lot of Crystal Bay stuff It's a lot of Crystal Bay That was honestly One of the times That you guys Got to like Kind of relax for a while Right Instead of being like Constantly on the job There's probably a lot of memories From like the time You all lived together In McCall In the library too For like a year In the library Yeah There's a huge oil painting Of Ving Writing the Thunderbirds The Thunderbirds Yeah That's great That's so good A metal style Oil portrait of Ving On the wall I like that Letters from Gale Put up on the fridge In the back Yep Explicit bird drawings Explicit Oh my god She included them Full cloaca Oh my god Holy shit Holy shit Shit Um So yeah Habibi The name now makes Much more sense Right For this situation Yeah I would not do anything To betray you And I'm so sorry That I was forced to It was just my nature I understand Okay buddy We all have I pat him on the On the shoulder Kind of like In a way that Sexually repressed Stepdads Pat each other Sure yeah Like You just had an off day But I am Prepared To aid you In your current plan Okay I think the plan Is the same then If you can make it look Like I'm possessed And stop Callum From detecting That I'm not Then I think I can go up And be the distraction And you guys can do The fairy ring thing Do you mind if we Just stay here For a little bit longer I like it here It's nice in here It's cozy Yeah time Passes very very slowly In the pizza palace So you guys You know you guys Spend like a nice meal Getting some Imaginary pizzas And imaginary fried chicken We're all sitting around Going like My eyes got Yeah Yours is not in here Yours is just out there like Oh my god Are they having canapes now Yours is like Pulling and sorting Slowly pulling and sorting Just kind of Drawing back A rat A rat skitter Spying He goes Oh Drops his sword again King king Bling bling bling Looks up at the glass roof To make sure no one heard And after a nice Calming meal Does this count as a make camp Can we recover some Hit points from this You said time moves differently I like that a lot So Yes I'd say This time And this time only Yes Okay Yeah So you can all heal Up to half your hit points Yeah it's fine I'm at full hit points That brings me back up to full Yes Great Uh Which is perfect For what's coming Well that doesn't sound ominous I think you said it by accident At the restaurant Billy was eating all the The little jam The individual jam things Peeling them open Did you have the Also the individual creamers as well Um I tried And you guys were like No no no no Right He's getting you drunk No no Yeah Creaming your mouth Creaming your mouth Your mind is worse Yes I love that the individual creamers Are just like shooters For half way Exactly God damn Keep them coming Keep them coming Uh what in What is your complimentary sir?

What did Ming have in the In the mind husky?

Um He ate a A full Salad Nice Yeah with a With a grilled Arctic char Oh nice On it A nice A nice meal And uh A poutine Oh Oh Nice For dessert And he had a Cutlet A pork cutlet He kept ordering Where Every time the server Would try and give us The bill He would just be like I'll ask him If you don't mind I guess he realizes It's a million moments On my lips Zero on my hips This is amazing I'm gonna stuff my Face in this place Sorry for not cursing You guys spent Eight years In the mind husky Meanwhile 30 seconds Passes in real life Yeah Uh what did Tuck have?

A bowl of malteasers Oh cool Mmm How big are we talking? Oh like a Like a salad bowl Like a wooden 70's salad bowl Yeah Specifically full of malteasers Got a big ladle He was eating He keeps mixing them up Like it's a salad Mmm Uh and you Your eyes Flutter back open You feel rejuvenated Okay What Are you Are we good now?

No Oh my god He jumps when you jump I just haven't seen you In a long time years I forgot what you look like Oh you've aged So horribly He bats your hand away From his Shitty mustache Time is rabbit You young Once beautiful And yet he's still here He waited for us He waited for us Your loyalty Will not go unnoticed This is We're all gonna die here Might be true We're all gonna die Right there's like an Eldritch ceremony Yeah Do you think we could Get back on track perhaps?

Yeah Okay Can we roll for something To kind of like get a A sense of what What stage they're at up there? Oh Discern realities 2d6 plus whiz Uh 12 Okay Three questions off Discern realities Okay What happened here recently?

Uh yeah totally So There is a Aren't so many people You're like watching The feet Uh the shadows up above And um You're not really seeing So many people being Dragged in anymore Okay It seems like Whoever is here Are the ones that are Gonna be here for this You do notice that the Feet have multiplied Quite significantly It's hard to get a close Like an actual accurate count Without taking the time to count You would say there's Upwards of a hundred people Upstairs And they seem to have Stopped their shuffling Like their walk Or waiting for something And I imagine I can see Like a spot Where they're surrounding An altar Yeah so you can see From before Where the circle of chairs is With a heavy Shadow in the center That you would assume Is the altar Around the edges of the shadow Is flickering of light Filtering through Like candles have been lit Oh Oh sweet Yeah Very cool Oh can we hear Chanting at all?

You can hear string music Oh the string music Is the music The orchestra Haunted Melodies Like droning Yeah It's almost got a beautiful Yeah Quality to it But not quite What is about to happen?

Now that you've watched it For a bit And you've seen Sort of the people Up above Like in the streets You've got a good idea Of what the Afflicted Congregants Look like When they move And you see Two pairs of feet That are not moving In the same way So it would appear That two people That are not afflicted In the same way Have arrived I gotta try and see What I can see Whatever they're wearing Stand right below Not helpful Can I see anything? Can I see anything? Can we have flashlights?

We're still doing That would be A discern reality Which we are in the middle of It's okay You can do it after Yeah Okay Can I see beef? Oh my god You can barely see feet We talked about this You can barely see the shoes Okay but if they were Sitting on the floor Yeah Horrible people Oh so what can I see? What kind of feet Are we talking here? No Is she wearing shoes?

Found the line Found the line Don't wanna do that So the vibe That you're getting Based off those Last two questions The fact that all the Afflicted congregants Are kind of standing around And that Callum and Victoria Have arrived What is about to happen Is They hope The ceremony Okay But it is clear That they are waiting Okay Okay Okay What here Is the ceremony Is not what it appears To be So you're standing down here You're looking up You're trying to just kind of Glean any information About what is going on There's the music There's music There's the droning Of the strings And you feel A reverberation Through the stone Whoa Like a Whoa And it like Rumbles through The palace And then you hear like Like a thrashing Almost somewhere Like Boom boom boom boom Boom boom boom Upstairs or Up somewhere That's the only thing That you're not really Getting is exactly Where this is But it is somewhere And you would assume Somewhere within the palace Can I Connect with Black Spire?

Uh sure yeah Do I have to roll to do it? Uh I can't remember It should be on your sheet I don't think I do actually It's not a move It's the You just tap in now? Cause I have the Pick The pick still Right yeah Did we just do this as like a It's basically Eye of the Tiger It's Eye of the Tiger Yeah Yeah you tap in To Black Spire And You see darkness Like you can't You can't You can't see But you do feel That Black Spire Is thrashing around And slamming against Restraints Buddy is that you?

Oh my god Fucking dog Oh my god Oh my god Oh my god But you hear it In your mind Okay You don't hear him Speaking these words Okay Do we hear anything In the Space of the palace? You just hear thrashing And slamming Buddy can you Make a big roar For me? I can't They got a fucking Muzzle on me dude Oh no They got a fucking Muzzle on me man Are you in a place That's all black Black glass? They got a Big thing on my head I can't see Where did they get you bud?

I was on the beach And And I was Scared Oh no And then a bunch Of whales Came and helped me And then I was on the beach And then I just Started wandering around And then I was trying to Find you guys And then And then I found I was so hungry And I found a bunch of Shiny crunch in the woods And I ate it And then I fell asleep And then when I woke up I had a big thing on my head And I was like Oh my god I'm so sorry I'm so sorry I'm so sorry I'm so sorry I'm so sorry I'm so sorry I'm so sorry I'm so sorry I'm so sorry I'm so sorry I'm so sorry Oh my god Okay Okay We're gonna get you Out of this buddy Okay Can you do like a big whip With your tail for me?

Okay Here we go Oh I got my tail too And he just Just a second And he You hear him thinking The sound of exertion The sound of exertion And then you hear like a big Boom And do we hear it in the Palace where we are? It is in the palace Okay Oh my god I see her Okay I come We're gonna get you bud Okay Okay What should I do?

Just hang tight We'll find you Okay I love you I hung up before Say it back Say it back Say it back Oh fuck Talk I said I like you And the thrashing stops Fuck Fuck Fuck Fuck They have Black Spire Fuck He must be Part of the ceremony Yeah it makes It kind of makes sense I was thinking about this A few months ago And then I texted Sean But Black Spire You texted me? About this?

A few months ago Wait let me check I think you actually did I did I Cause it was I was listening to the episodes Where We were talking about How he was turning into Um Oh the like a Like patchy white And stuff like that Yeah Yeah Yeah! The converted Obsidian And he had Like there's like An element now Of Black Spire Where he's like Part of both worlds Oh yep Where he Kind of represents Sort of both sides Of the Gibbous Man Cause the shiny crunch Is the sun Distilled Sort of right?

Yeah that's kind of What it's become Obsidian is the dark Outer dark Representative Yeah cause yeah Obsidian we've discovered Is If the stories are to be Believed Which many stories That we've told Are true in this world Is the night sky That fell to earth Yeah Um Sunstone But Sunstone's the stuff That he eats It's not what he's Turning into No he was He used to eat Obsidian when he was In the cave And then he found Shiny crunch Where we gave him Shiny crunch Yeah He ate Giant bones Yes Which has Obsidian Which are made of Obsidian They're made of obsidian But they also have The capacity to connect With Oh yeah The iconic realm Yeah And Blackspire's kind of Becoming like a Metaphysical analog For a coin Cause he's like Part Like he's both Types of coin He's the white coin That contains a demon And then Both sides He's both sides And he has like An intrinsic connection To the iconic realm So the only thing Is He is in fact Turning white Because of the Sunstone Uh huh He is Because dragons Metabolize whatever Minerals they primarily Consume And that just gets Like worked Into their body He's He's an obsidian dragon Who is kind of Morphing into a Sunstone dragon Okay Which is why His breath weapon Has changed From the like Molten obsidian That it used to be To beams of light Because he is He is becoming More sunstone Than he is obsidian Have we really Established the Makeup of The Coins when they Turn white It's just white It's a white obsidian That's all we know Do you think What changes Is that Cause obsidian Is a Conduit to The outer dark Uh huh That allows Icons to Basically hone in On them and come through Uh huh White obsidian Traps them Yeah It'd be like Close It's what happens When you close the door That obsidian Creates It loses that darkness Either way You would assume That Black spire Being in the palace Means Callum has Some sort of Designs Yeah What those are You don't know But you do know That he is here Yeah I think That the That black spire The fact that black spire Was being studied By the library Is like an indication That he is kind of Important to whatever The end game is here And I think The fact that he is Sort of both kinds Of obsidian Is important Very much so So that's what I'm saying Is he's not both kinds Of obsidian He's not He's obsidian and sunstone Right Oh I didn't know that But the fact that he's Obsidian and sunstone Is important Yeah It is Cause they are like Almost like Uh conflicting Yeah Materials Obsidian and white obsidian Are functionally The same substance Right Obsidian and sunstone Are antithesis to each other Right And there is some I feel like there is some Connection to the gibbous man Maybe Cause the gibbous man We We only see the one aspect Of him Right Like we only see The dark version of him Yeah He's been cut off from The what His day The day sky Yeah Right So it makes sense That he would be Interested And maybe we don't know why In something that is Combining The day and the dark Because he is trying To re-assimilate himself Right He might need to use Whatever that weirdness is That is in dragons Yeah When we first met Black Spire In the cave Didn't he tell us That like he once Had a human Yeah He said he was Carried around by a guy And we saw We found him in A church of the Black flame Right And we saw One of the coins There This is true Do you think he might Have been left there Intentionally To like Turn him into Maybe Maybe And maybe it was like The gibbous man Who carried him Yeah Or a servant of The gibbous man Oh yep And left with a store Of obsidian to feed on And turn into This obsidian thing Uh huh That's a great Those are lots of good thoughts Well whatever we gotta do It feels like Black Spire Is an important part of this plan We gotta get him out of here Yeah And even if he wasn't He's just our boy He's our boy We can't let him Yeah Be part of this In this way Sean finally let him Get onto this side of the world I'll be damned If we let Sean Take him away from us now So does that change The plan at all The other Ving Comes up and says You bet it does Holy shit He's been down here The whole time Look how you were here You're so convincing Billy that's a really good I've been talking to this one I thought this was The real Ving I guess it's working I'm getting really good at it The Ving says Now I'm over here I guess The only difference is His ass does look A little fatter What My ass My ass or his Hey what's He's wearing Little lemon pants So what's it like Do the little Contour They go into the butt Into the crack Those have gotta be Uncomfortable right No They don't have to be I'll dare say I'll dare say I'm gonna be the one To say it I don't think so I don't think they have To be uncomfortable I'll dare say Okay but real Real talk Says Mears Does that change the plan Yeah No It I don't Does it Do you guys think It changes the plan I'm trying to think Of how it would I mean Then this is gonna be my Mears is my window Into discussing the plan I mean if the plan Is to trap Callum and Victoria And also Rescue Blackspire One could be achieved By the other Cause then I mean I mean there's I guess there's the Magi And then whoever Whatever else But like If they're trapped In the circle They can't stop us From freeing Blackspire Okay Then we'll do that We can do this We can save you We can save our boy We can save him So What is the first step I go up with the Illusion The illusion version of it No I'm the real one That's the illusion He starts grabbing No no no no I'm gonna take this one up Look at my ass Look at my ass Look at my ass Look at this ass It's so flat Where's the other one No mine's the big one It's big right That's the fake thing Yeah And then I go I go over to the fake thing And I'm like Come on Bring your junk over here Buddy Come on Back it up Beep beep Let me check out That wagon you're dragging Let's go And then I have a hard sex scene But only with the all Yeah yeah yeah Amazing It's so But it's a lot of like Just looking at each other And the moment The moment you're about to It disappears Oh man Oof Just colored smoke And reveals Tuck's penis And jizz He's just It's true He jizzes He jizzes Damn So dumb How horrible It's such a close up It's just the head of his dick Paul's crying No I'll grow up I'll grow up That's fine That's fine I'll grow up Okay Okay So you Get close enough To the illusion Without touching it Yeah That it looks like You're leading it Without touching it Well because if he touches it It'll be If he can't touch it He'll be clear He'll come He'll finally get to Enterving in some way He'll come immediately Yeah And you Take the path That the You go back out Through the The broken Doorway Yeah And you take the path That the brass castle's Laid out to you Yeah And you're going up Tuck Take this I want to give him The saffron cigarette Just in case Yeah Something weird happens With the demon He's loyal now I don't trust a demon I tuck it into the Band of my cowboy hat Right Because I'm still Dressing You're wearing a cowboy hat Okay cowboy I forgot Yeah And you head up Into the ballroom Yep And You open the door And it creaks In that way That doors Creak in a big Open area Ooh Like so loudly Echoey As the droning Of the orchestra Continues You see its long Spidery arms Playing Instrument after Instrument There's a crescendo As he enters the room Every once in a while A little like Snag someone From the crowd Oh Yeah If they get If they wander too close It just drags The end of the orchestra Yeah To eat?

Yeah Question mark Question mark I think they are They are out of sight And because they're so Take Like they're The people are afflicted It's just silent And there are a number of Very ragged looking people In finery And masquerade masks Identities Disguised from you Torn Suits And gowns Covered in blood And dirt Yeah Milling about And they're kind of like Some of them are still Slowly dancing With one another They're sort of like A spinning waltz That's happening Around The orchestra And that's what it is When a dancing partner Gets too close To the orchestra It snatches them out Drags them into the machinery You can see some of them Have like Their nails Are like bleeding Yeah And like broken And like the bottoms Of their feet Because they've been Dancing so long Arcing like designs Of blood on the floor Oh That are mirroring Like the constellations Above Oh They're drawing a pattern With the way that they walk And dance And you see On the far side of the room Because if we remember It's like If this is If we're looking sideways At the room From here It's like the entrance hall And the food And then like a dance floor Uh huh And then on the far end The congregation And as soon as the door opens The orchestra changes it To like The marriage waltz Oh yeah And The illusory vang And like tuck Mmhmm Are like walking Down the aisle Yeah To like the tune of the waltz Perfect And at the Altar On the other end In their wedding finery Are Callum Blackhammer And Victoria LeBlanc Callum This is the first time You're seeing him I think Face to face Yeah He is Shorter Than Colm He's a little bit leaner Still very handsome Still the same like Dark Skin of someone Of like Macaulayne descent But a bit of a Oh a bit of like A curled mustache Not too much Just a little bit Yeah just a touch of it Mmhmm And then the goatee underneath He's wearing like a black suit In sort of I can't I don't know how to describe Like Victoria Like old Timey clothes But it's not a suit Like we would imagine Of course It's one of those like Full breasted Doublet things With like the vest And like the shirt underneath Yeah He's got a cravat And like some ruffles Yes Yes Mmhmm And Victoria Is next to him Taller than She's quite tall Mmhmm Whip lean Like razor sharp In like a wet A red Wedding gown Wet Red In a Wet Wet from what?

Yeah Sorry In a red Baseball Baseball Baseball Think about baseball Baseball If you get a boner now They'll know you're not possessed Come on Tetherball Tetherball Tetherball Think about tetherball Tetherball Come on I try not to look at Ving's illusory ass Yeah Oh no the ass Oh no Victoria Just ping ponging Between the two Demon Why do you tempt me?

This is what you want Master Loyalty to that ass Oh my god Um Yeah Victoria's wearing A red wedding gown She's got long Straight blonde hair Very straightened Uh she's wearing Her saber on her side In sort of a ceremonial capacity And you can see Even like Cause her It goes up to The you know Shoulders And then the shoulders Are bare and you can see Marks from fresh tattoos Mmhmm Yeah And Callum has his hands Kind of clasped Behind his back Yeah And he sees you approaching And I I think that like The ass is The action of this Ceremony Is very much like I'm giving away Thing Yeah In the way that a father Of a bride Would give away a bride And I Uh I go Your quarry is waiting For you master And I I have like My eyes are like White Yeah And the coin Bits in my chest All look like Gross disgusting eyes Yeah Um And I don't have a boner The demon of loyalty Straight Reigning to suppress The boner Using all of his Iconic All the strength Of the outer dark Bent towards This task And Callum's eyes Or his eyebrows Raise Well This is quite a surprise He gestures you forward What is the Illusion doing?

I think the illusion Is acting Because of the Like Billy's kind of Watching through The chamberlain rings It is acting It's like It's like Exactly as it needs to So what does it sound like It's saying Because this is your voice I mean I think I think that we Roughed We roughed him up a lot To make it look like He's weakened And bloodied Oh right Yeah Quite significantly Yeah So he's got like A swollen Eye And blood Leaking from his mouth He's limping Yeah His My uh Rope is like Tying his hands together Maybe something is torn We made him crying So it's like He's true defeated That dark is turning Him in It may We made it look like The uh The seed within your chest Is gone And there's just a hollow there Oh Yeah Oh yeah I like that a lot Truly defeated Yeah And Yeah He looks At you And sort of You feel Through the demon of loyalty Like uh Harmonizing Almost as if he's Like connecting With the demon Uh huh Who puts up the Display of Servitude Servitude Yeah And then he looks At you and says Where's the boy It won't work Without all three of you And we'll cut back Downstairs So Billy and Ving And Mears Are down here And the The ring making Is beginning So what does this look like We need the water first I imagine Yeah Ving is Bringing in The water from the aquifer Okay Uh which is condensed In drips And atmospheric Drips in In this old Uh underground Area Pulling water From the ceiling And Seeping it up Through the ground So it's like Foaming almost Like coming through The rock in the ground Cool And Dripping from the ceiling In a ring All around us The drips are Coming Almost like a cage Of drips from the ceiling As it comes Seeps up From the ground That's so sick To bring to Billy Creating like a shower Like a ring of Showering water Around you That's so fucking cool So you're gonna have to Roll elemental mastery For this 2d6 plus con Institution Oh A one and a Three Oh no What's your con My cons plus two So that's six I'd like to use Throw me a bone To use my Five that I had rolled From the previous day And replace the one With a five Excellent Saving This current situation Quite handily Thank god So That it happens As you described Water wells up From this ancient aquifer These old old canals Drips down from the ceiling Creating this Large ring That encompasses What are we trying to do The whole of the ballroom Just the Altar area The altar area And I want to contain Where Tuck is standing If it's possible If he's standing close enough He's very close To the altar Yeah He's not like Right up on it But he's within the ring Of chairs Right So just that area Yeah So Billy This power Yes Contained within this water You can feel As a fairy You can feel the power Moving through this water And this is Prime Circle making I will say That I have to I have to pick two Remember Correct So What two are you choosing I will choose the effect I desire comes to pass And I will retain control Okay So you are paying Nature's price What do we think Nature's price is In this situation You're summoning Ancient water What part of Lillian Is it connected to Yeah part of the moon Oh right The moon chunk Down here Yeah We have talked about Other moon chunks That we know The one Under Adonach's tower Was sacrifice Mmhmm The one In port For frost Was Betrayal Like the sense of betrayal Yeah Those are the only ones That we've discussed so far Cause there's one In Hibernia That we talked about Yeah And There's one down here So what do we think this is It's all aspects Of Lillian's Basically I mean I don't know if we Explicitly described it Like this They are all aspects Of what Lillian was feeling Mmhmm When Rian was killed Her shattered psyche Yeah And what I guess Is a part of The clue to what it is The type of City City That built on top of it I guess so Ooh It's a steamy city It is a steamy city You know what I mean There's a lot of pressure Yeah So there's a lot of activity Cause what happened when it When he died One of the things that Of course Came from that Was the grieving Mmhmm Where she decided Alright I'm wiping this place clean Yeah They killed my son This world doesn't deserve To live anymore Great I like anger and rage Yeah it could be rage Yeah Ving you tap into this water And you start pulling it up And it's you know And it's It comes up Like it's easy Once I let it Oh yeah Oh yeah You're pulling water up From these ancient hot springs Like from these ancient Thermal vents beneath The firefield's principality The vents that give it its name Mmhmm Old volcanic activity Mmhmm And so the room is like Filling with this Pungent steam As you're pulling this water out And you feel the steam Entering your lungs And filling you with this like Hot Burning energy Mmhmm And then you're thinking about The people above you Mmhmm And you're like Mmhmm Mmhmm Mmhmm Callum Blackhammer And Victoria LaBlanche All of these people That have threatened your family Mmhmm Threatened the people That you care most about And I'm imagining the bad things That they're about to do to Tuck Yeah Possibly to us Mmhmm And the best way That you could stop that Is if you beat them bloody And they don't get back up I like thinking about the steam Condensing above the glass ceiling Yeah And then that's where The water's coming down Oh yeah It's dripping off of the glass Like and collecting maybe Some of that energy That's up there Yeah Yeah That's great And as you're trying to like Control this rage That's building inside you Billy You are Doing some fairy stuff Yeah Billy is Kind of doing his little like Dance Like Making the ring But it's in like a So his fairy ring Like the first kind Where it just protects us Is like a fun easy thing And this one Because I'm trapping people Mmhmm Is he has to like Pull from like this like Rageful Like winter energy for it Oh cool So he's like Almost like hunched over And like Angry as he does it Uh huh And he almost looks like In pain too Ooh Yeah Like it's really uncomfortable For him to tap into this And build these things Yeah Is it still a dance But you're kind of in pain Yeah like maybe he It was like Easy at first And now he's on like His however many Rounds of it And he's like crawling And it's painful Oh yeah Yeah Okay That sucks It does suck Fuck Yeah So uh I believe it is 2d6 plus dexterity Yeah To build a ring Yes And then you And then I do pay A fairy child for this And you have enough To pay for it Yes I do I still I have three left now Okay So I had five to start Excellent Wow It's also like so hot in here too It's so hot Yeah Oh I'm so sweaty Oh yeah An eight Okay Yeah So this is why Billy's doing it like Repeatedly Cause it It requires my Constant attention To maintain this You can't stop I can't stop And he's also repeating Is it Is it allowed If he says The ring around the rosy Pumper Oh yeah Oh yeah Okay yeah But I'm like Trying to think If I can make it cool Yeah you can Yeah I would love if you wrote Like a kind of spooky Spout Lore one Ring around the rosy House is warm And cozy Eyes closed Eyes closed We'll all sleep now And so he just repeats it Cause that's the song They used to sing In the halfling Lands When they would have Their autumn festival Yep I like it I picture him sleeping Under a A pile of leaves Outside of a Window of A child's room Where the mother Is singing that to them Just basically Yeah Yeah Yeah So fucking sad But the As Billy is crawling And weaving And Repeating this poem Over and over The water does Start to swirl In a circle And the dripping Starts to like Wave Whoa Kind of in this Circular motion I think like As Parts of it Are completing You can see Parts of the mist Kind of Get trapped Within the boundary Of the ring Like It becomes Instead of just like Mist moving It freezes Yeah And so mirrors Is just kind of Like a bystander In a magical Situation In all of them He's kind of Looking around At everything That's happening But silently observing Yeah he's got This sword out Yeah it's just In front of him Like he's kind of Got it rested The tip resting On the ground And you can hear His metal hand Kind of like Creaking On the handle Is it still in the He's still got it Wrapped in the wax Yeah okay But he's just You can hear it creaking On the leather wrap Cool On the handle And we cut back upstairs To the ballroom What was the last thing I was asked?

Where's the boy It doesn't work Without all three Oh Shit Okay I'm gonna try something Okay He's dead 2d6 plus charisma 11 Callum Closes his eyes Damn I'm sorry I had him cornered But he looks like He looks like He looks like He left And the boy's body died He grunts And you see him like Clench his fist And look up And his eyes Kind of like how tux are His eyes roll back A second And then he comes back We'll proceed Bring him forward And uh Victoria like Looks over And she's kind of Got herself like Draped On Callum's shoulder My love is this Wise He is very powerful And even with one such With one sir Patent Estacomadon Doug is trying sir Not to get a bar Oh my god I still have a chance Still Technically Married I fear that even Your great mind Will not be able to Outfox A god And he like Reaches over And kind of Like brushes Her cheek He's like Don't worry my love All will be well soon Now go And she kind of Just like Walks around The altar She's slinking Around the altar Long legs Clacking Boots Tapping on the stone floor Tetherball Tetherball Tetherball Tetherball Tetherball Tetherball And she's approaching Tacoma Dome Oh my god Oh my god Oh my god Oh my god And The illusory Ving And she says Standing in front of The Ving illusion She stays far enough And she kind of Leans back Against the altar Hands on the altar Oh my god And she's looking Up and down I suppose If we add a couple tattoos To this one We'll make things A bit faster Him first And she gets up And Moves to the side And gets you to Or gestures for you To put Ving on the altar And Tuck Goes Oh man I hope Billy's paying attention Oh man He goes He goes to like Pick up Like the illusory Ving Oh Oh Okay Billy has to Uh huh Pay constant attention To the ring now Right So now you're gonna have to roll To make sure That the illusion Is doing what you want What do I roll with?

Charisma Do do do do do Twelve Yes So you freak out For a second Realizing what you're Gonna have to do Uh huh But the Illusion Moves to the altar And lays down And uh See this is gonna get Really tough Because Callum Like turns to like a A side table That is kind of Arrayed next to the chair That has a box on it And he lifts the lid Of the box And he removes Ink And a needle He's Unquestionably About to touch This illusion Okay I have a plan Is it rats?

Cause I have a plan too We can put our rats together Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah I'm so close To screaming rats Yeah The rats are just Waiting in the wings Going They're in They're in those little Like cartoon Like holes Yeah On the wall But they're like Hold Hold I was wondering If I could create An elemental form In place of my Fake Ving Cause you and I Are very much in tune Right now Like we're like Really in each other's minds I feel like you could do this Yeah man Do it Okay I'm gonna use elemental form To create a form For myself Oh Sorry So this elemental form Is the one that creates A suit around you Yeah You're thinking So the one that you're Actually wanting to use Is call of nature Cause you're creating An elemental body That is not yours Oh sorry sorry Yes Sorry I just wanted to Just so we weren't Looking at the wrong move Great Yes That's exactly what I want Okay So you're like Watching through the ring And at the like Trying to At the last moment Make like a physical Thing underneath The illusion So it feels tangible Yes Yeah Okay This is interesting I like this I wanna use Call of nature And call upon the aid Of a spirit In place of where The fake Ving is Yeah To um Prolong the illusion Great And I'll use Rats Well well!

Well well Unleash the rats Let loose the rats of all You will never take Our not rats Okay I'm gonna use Call of nature To call upon the aid Of a spirit And I'm gonna put it In place Where Ving's Illusion is So I'm gonna use The water that I'm uh Gathered for Billy In the ring And uh Ving casts his hand up As the water That's in the ceiling Seeps up through the floor Up through the glass And runs through All the cracks in the floor We see it Coiling up through The cracks in the altar And filling in place Around the illusionary Ving Great So now it's a Hopefully It's a spiritual body Made of water That is wreathed in an illusion So it looks like the real Ving Interesting Cool It's made it somewhat corporeal So you're rolling 2d6 plus Con Con Nine So on a seven to nine Can I aid?

Uh ooh I don't know You're pretty well I can roll two aid He's up there Though Tuck can aid too Oh true I can also aid Oh yeah Cause I'm I've been trying to like Facilitate the illusion Yeah so you see Tuck You see the water start creeping up The edges of the altar Yeah Like running Flowing to the top And I I go Stop And then I Smash Like Ving's hand Oh Like the illusion's hand And I go He was getting ready To make a move Okay Oh to distract them Yeah Yeah To like give Ving Enough time to like Fill the body with water Alright Yeah 2d6 plus bond Yeah Oh shit Six Oh no Billy Plus a bond Plus a bond Can I aid?

Can I aid?

Okay I do think Billy can aid He's under a lot of pressure right now I am but I'm also like Really tuned in I can see everything You can kind of do two things at once Oh you can aid from any distance Right Cause they're just lucky Okay yeah So 2d6 plus bond Okay Help me help me Come on Seven Okay So that seven Just Makes that a six Seven Seven Makes that a ten Yes So that's two partial successes Yep Which do complicate things in some way Yeah And then a success The body gets made So there is a seven to nine here In play And I think what happens So the body fills in Tuck you see the water filling up Like coming up the altar Yeah Through the glass Running to the edge And you can kind of tell What's happening You can see the water forming This solid-ish body underneath Yeah And you punch this hand Yeah Boom Yeah!

And then your fist creates Like a massive Thud Yeah Through the strength of the punch A bunch of the rock of the altar Shatters off Yeah And like This was how Billy helped me He made like It looked like I basically broke Ving's Forearms Yeah Screamed and pained And writhing and grabbing Totally Yeah It's like broken backwards And like bleeding And you can see the bones Billy did that like By like Yeah freezing his fist up And then like Breaking through the ice Oh yeah Smart That's sick And as he As Callum Is about to He like reaches down And he Opens The illusory Ving's chest Uh huh Not chest But like the shirt On his chest To expose the flesh Uh huh The flesh Quote unquote Yeah And you can see that his hands connect And he does not seem Any the wiser Uh huh With his illusory body And as the needle is about to connect Just as it's about to be Touch The illusory Ving's skin Uh huh You hear from the crowd Callum!

Onky white no longer! Oh! Oh! Mumsy!

And with her saffron face mask Mumsy Who's been sitting in the congregation This whole time Stands up Dressed Showing everything Cause it goes out It goes out Barely Barely a dress And she says Callum Blackhammer I love you And that's where we're gonna end it For this week Oh my god Oh god I mean You're a game master Sean O'Hara Joining me as always Tacoma Dome The Barbarian Abdul Aziz Ving the Half-Elf Druid Paul Oppers Take care And Fat Billy The Halfling Thief Jessica Tai Bye everyone Thank you to all of our Patreon supporters Around the world If you would like to Support the show And get access to The up-to-date Mall Brats feed Merchandise Gift boxes I just started doing A choose your own adventure Novel I guess Uh And A whole bunch of other shit You can find us at Patreon.com Slash Spoutlore Or Spoutlore.com Slash Money please Thank you to Aaron Reed For our intro and outro music If you would like Aaron's original music You can check that out At AaronReed.Bandcamp.com And all of the music Produced for the show Is on Spotify And other places 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 could Though don't you know That some are 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 something To your chores And for you I gladly Spoutlore

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 Spoutlord!

I'm your Game Master Sean O'Hara, joining me as always Tacoma Dome the Barbarian, Abdul Aziz Hello everybody Ving the Half-Elf Druid, Paul Oppers Hi, how you doing?

And Fat Billy the Halfling Thief, Jessica Tai Hi everyone When last we left our heroes, they were taking refuge in Hither and Yon Hidden away on a street in Black Glass's Steamhaven district To prepare themselves for the next step of their plan In releasing Hither and Yon from the influence Of Callum Blackhammer And the icon of tyranny Miers, humble barkeep, good friend Offered his services in the fight to release his beloved bar And we did a little training montage bringing Miers well and truly into the game As the party's first, seven years in, official hireling Wow Miers now has mechanics, he's a fighter He's got some skills, he's a warrior He's loyal That's what we know about Miers Oh and he is also good at helping you heal When you make camp This does seem like a thing that Miers would do Yeah, this is all Miers Yeah, Miers Following the Mulan-style Be a Man montage We headed out onto the streets of Black Glass And found a city Silent, foggy, terrifying Figures clad in finery From some sort of wedding celebration in Black Glass Leather masquerade masks Shuffled among the streets Dragging people out of their homes Taking them, against their will To the Black Glass Palace Really creepy It had Nope vibes Yeah, totally Nope vibes?

Yeah, it's a horror movie Oh Are you thinking Us?

Nope is the alien one Oh, it had Jordan Peterson Ditch Jordan Peel Jordan Peel vibes Yeah, and Jordan Peterson Also Jordan Peterson Jordan Peterson was there He had his throat slit We walked by him, he had his throat slit Yeah, they were like, we don't want the throat slit Yeah, they were like, we don't want this one I don't know why somebody cut that guy's dick off Yeah Whoa, he looks so sick from just eating meat I think you will find That it is actually a sign of weakness To attack me, a much more alpha male Oh, he's trying to sound smart Kill him Kill Nah, he'll die Kill him Being dragged towards Blackhammer Hall The party followed quietly, watching Trying to join the flow towards the palace Before being spotted by a black-haired man The black-haired man was a little bit scared He was a little bit scared He was a little bit scared He was a little bit scared He was a little bit scared He was a little bit scared He was a little bit scared He was a little bit scared He was a little bit scared He was a little bit scared Started by one of the masked masquerade zombies Mmm And attempting to flee into a nearby bakery Things got bad from there Yeah A fire started A bit of a tussle began The party escaped onto the rooftops Attempting to parkour across an alleyway Kind of succeeding, mostly failing A human chain connecting Tacoma Dome the Barbarian To the rooftop Saving him from the three-story drop below Yeah, but the jump is cool though, right guys?

Yeah, the jump looked cool. At first. Midway through. Yeah. Yeah. Maybe the landing. Honestly, it could have been cool, but. It was cool though, right? And while hanging from the roof, the party drew the attention of clattering legs of brass and wood, bone white stringed instruments playing terrifying staccato tunes, the mechanical clockwork orchestra crawling along the rooftops. That is where we find our heroes now. You can just hear the strings. You can't see it so far.

All you see is rooftops around you, steam pouring up out of chimneys, smoke from the burning building across the way. You're slowly, you know, winching Tuck up. Arm over arm, the music getting louder and louder. Tuck, you flop over onto the rooftop. They look cool, right guys? They look really cool. Okay, cool. What do you do? You just hear music. I want to discern realities. All right. 2d6 plus wisdom. I got a 13. Good Lord. What here is useful or valuable to us?

You can hear the music's kind of echoing all over strings reverberating through pipes and off buildings. It's hard to figure out where it's coming from. Exactly. It does not know where we are still, right? It, the sound of you clattering a bunch of roof shingles onto the street and also the bright beacon of purple light that you decided surrounded you has alerted it to your general direction. Okay. The light made you look really cool. Yeah. Yeah. I forgot about the light. That does look good.

It's very bright. Yeah. Beacon. If you will. Everyone else in town thought you looked cool. A bunch of, it's a thing where it's like everyone on the streets looked up. Wow. We hear from Victoria La Blanche. Oh wow. Wow. Actually. Pretty, pretty key. Everybody saw it. Yeah. Yeah. Because you decided to surround it. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You decided to surround yourself with a bright purple beam of light. Okay. So what would your plan be here? Are you fleeing?

Are you laying in wait, attempting to ambush it? Are you just hiding and waiting for it to go by? It is coming here though, right? It is coming. Okay. I would, I want to move fast and try to, yeah, get out of it's like line of sight. Yeah. If we book it and try and find somewhere to hide, because it knows where we are right now because this building is on fire, Texas and points behind. There's a ton of smoke. There's a ton of smoke. There's a ton of smoke. There's a ton of smoke.

There's a ton of smoke.

It is quite large in the streets especially in steve have steam haven are quite narrow yeah so it might be difficult for it to maneuver on the street level what should I be on the lookout for you see you're like looking over the side of the building and it's everything is pretty dark although brighter now because there's a building on fire right next to you and you see like um a little bit further down the road at street level you see a bridge like over um like a canal kind of a small canal and you see like a barred portal which you would assume is into some sort of sewer system like old london yeah all right let's head for that okay so we're going down the street level all right uh then you're is this with speed are you going are you just finding a door to another building and going down or how would you get down speedily speedily shimmy down the outside yeah yeah the fastest way would be go down the side fire ladder or one of the pipes oh yeah okay yeah I'll shimmy down a pipe this sounds like whatever we're doing so all right mirrors is right behind you come on seven seven seven oh okay three sevens whoa number of the angel okay beautiful number of the angel beautiful chris angel the mind the most beautiful of all the number of the mind freak and so you uh hustle down to a different building a little bit further away from the conflagration across the way and uh find you know you either find a pipe or a fire escape whatever you need to find and with a seven to nine as you are uh easing yourself over the edges of these quite high narrow buildings you hear um a crescendo building on the other side of the uh of the street and crawling up over the side wooden brass legs yuck instruments pulling themselves over the edge uh you see the dais that it was connected to in the concert hall and the the courtyard has been like broken and snapped in places creating this sort of angular jagged wooden thorax and it seems like the music kind of as it sees you like that maybe all the horn the horn section is like and it pulls it so it starts clattering across the rooftops in your direction shit what here's not what it appears to be the buildings that you're climbing down in this area of town this one seems old and almost abandoned it looks like a building that would potentially collapse you!

Under a significant amount of weight like a giant mechanical orchestra so if you wanted to slow this thing down you could potentially lure it to a rickety building oh I could use what are you waiting for yeah okay and collapse it into this building and then it won't see where we go yeah as long as you survive we'll be okay yeah yeah you guys get going I'll try and what are you waiting for perfect when you grind a challenge to your enemies roll plus con on a 10 plus they treat you like the most obvious threat to be dealt with here we go plus constitution uh 11 okay so on the 10 plus they treat you as the most obvious threat yes and you get a plus two to the damage on yes okay yeah billy ving and mirrors are like climbing over the edge lowering yourselves down yes and tuck stays up at the top and to call it in your direction yes how do you get its attention I wait until these guys get down to the to street level and then I take the axe off my back and I go I am the night spider and I I activate the the crystal on the back of the axe yeah yeah so how do you get its attention with the crystal yes okay I make it so bright you cry out a threat by whispering to yourself you call it by its name yeah uh I am the night you take its power yeah so it sees the crystal light up well it doesn't really have eyes but it's like it's like it's like but you notice it kind of like everything that could be perceptive tilts in your direction as the crystal activates probably senses by vibration yeah oh it feels the vibration of the crystal in the air oh yeah strings yes yeah and it starts uh charging across this thing is 20 feet wide like it's very large yeah and it is uh dragging itself across the rooftops knocking clay chimneys over in the process as soon as tuck sees it go for him he turns and starts running uh so that he can jump to the top of the roof and he can jump to the top of the roof and he can jump to the top of the roof to the other roof as it lands on this one cool yeah yeah great 2d6 plus strength it's 10 okay awesome your mighty shanks bulge yeah as the muscles carry you across the way it looks so sick and just at that exact moment the the orchestra's limbs tense and release as it shoots itself over to the building yeah and its massive weight like punches through the old uh rooftop wood splintering and crashing yeah as its legs like flail looking for purchase but it disappears in a cloud of dust and plaster sorry I'm not a fan of classical music great and then he goes to the door on the roof and he tries to get it it's locked okay back down on the street level guys uh billy and ving mirrors touches down on the cobbles behind you you hear a huge crash window shattering on the top level orchestra falling down the stairs exactly oh yeah that's fucking loud as hell yeah it's every instrument oh my god you you climb down into the canal there's like muddy banks of river that your feet are splashing around in and there's a locked gate into the sewer system I would like to pick it sounds great huge oh 12 holy shit yeah you pick this lock no problem sick this lock is is as like as old as the city is it basically crumbles as you're trying to yeah I I am holding it and it breaks nice perfect I did it another perfectly picked lock before we go in can I use trap expert absolutely right 2d6 plus dexterity uh 13 cheese louise yeah yeah okay um is there a trap here uh there is a trap here what activates it so you hear um splashing like deep in the the tunnel kind of echoing through the the tunnels and you hear someone humming like a orchestral orchestral waltz okay what what does the trap do you would assume that members of the masquerade have made their way into the sewers but probably not as many this is a harder place most of them even in their tyranny adult state wouldn't think to come down here but there's probably a few stragglers okay uh what else is hidden in here oh what else is hidden in here um you see a uh thief's mark carved into the stones just inside the tunnel and you see a thief's mark carved into the stones just inside the tunnel and you see a entrance and the thief's mark denotes like a safe house so you would think that somewhere in this tunnel system fairly nearby if you were to follow these marks you would find like some sort of hide out tuck yes uh that you've smashed through the door at the top of this building he's going down the stairs he has the door in his hand he's running with a full-size door under his arm I smashed the door out of the building and I grabbed that one too and as you're running down the street with the door under your arm the camera above sees through the second level wooden brass arms smashing through the exterior of the building pulling itself onto the street the legs clattering after you can I run even harder you can certainly try it's right behind you okay okay okay I don't want to drive them towards you I'm going to try to drive them towards you I'm going to try to drive them towards my friends okay so what was I really close uh so yeah I guess strength okay that's eight okay so that's an eight that's pretty good uh does it see me yeah 100 you're making so much noise your axe is literally a beacon of light shit I forgot to turn it off you're smashing everything that you touch okay so billy and you're carrying two doors with you billy and ving you're like looking in the tunnel like okay I think this might go and you hear me mirrors go uh guys and he directs your attention to tuck sprinting down the street with two arms the orchestra clattering after him smashing like grabbing the sides of buildings pulling itself along it looks like it's getting kind of caught because it's not wide enough here for it to sort of maneuver fully but tuck is on his way uh I've if I notice that it's behind me I probably won't run straight for these guys sure just a heads up yeah yeah I see the doors to block its way oh yeah I hide behind it and then I shimmy over and it goes it goes like a looney tuna little spider arms like knock knock knock yeah yeah and then waits it's like tapping its foot I'm doing it yeah checking the watch okay fingernails on the desk totally but they're all violin bows uh you would get you would think that the narrowness of the chamber as well though big enough to admit all of you if you were to like getting in this door the orchestra would not be able to follow you but tuck it is behind you what do you do or billy and ving if you can think of a way to aid tuck in his escape I mean I was thinking of using call of nature it's been a long time to gather stones and send a rock horse its way hell yeah that's cool middle of the orchestra that's really cool okay roll plus con get to seven okay great so you have two requests which means whatever roll you do is plus seven and you're in the middle of the orchestra that's really cool okay roll plus two so what is the what is the spiritual body that you summon I want to gather up stones from the bridge you kind of like sends the bridge forward and it falls into like a giant clydesdale cool oh sick trample forward tuck coming at you yeah and right heads up horse up as tucks running he does a thing where he like he runs at the horse and then slides underneath between it's legs yeah sick and you see him like from tucks perspective that's like yeah yeah and then tuck goes why do you give it all a dick all right 2d6 plus two for the favor I got nine okay so it is a partial success and you I believe lose one favor yes I lose one favor one request yeah uh so this yeah this horse forms out of the cobbles and stones of the bridge incredibly heavy hooves slamming into the street pounding down the road leaping over the bridge and then he's like oh my god I'm gonna die I'm gonna die I'm gonna die stuck stuck stuck stuck stuck stuck stuck stuck stuck stuck stuck stuck stuck stuck stuck stuck stuck!

Stuck stuck tunnels right yeah splash splash clang door behind yeah door sealed and now we're in the darkness yes oh quiet splash splash I guess I guess something to for us to talk about what was why did we come to the sewers this gives us a way to kind of move around the city yeah and potentially get to the palace yeah without going through the very dangerous streets great or the incredibly dangerous rooftops yes because it's where our goal is still to sever callum from tyranny yeah so that we can release hither and yon that's what we need and also doing that takes him off the board for the gibbous man totally which is what and we keep our promise to colm and also he doesn't marry my wife yeah that is a that is another thing that happens if he's dead it's a fourfold bolt yeah yeah okay I guess what I want to do is vibe with the shadows of the night sense out I mean this is just um um!!

Um! Stepping through like ankle deep water. Yeah. Which is a little bit, it's more like knee or thigh deep for Billy. It's pretty deep, but I'm matching the pace of like the, the creepy people coming to us. Can I aid and just pull thing? Just wants to pull back the water a little bit. Oh, cool. Nope. I failed. I got five. That's okay. The water rises. Oh yeah. Billy's bobbing around. Yeah. Swimming. It's okay. I'm, I'm still very capable even when bobbing around. Yeah. Yeah.

So that is the, yeah. Ving tries to pull the water back, but you feel water from the river side, like come down the pipe and the water level starts to rise a little bit. And we're like being pulled away. He has to reach out and grab you so you don't float away. I don't think I understand fluid dynamics as much as I thought I did. But in the darkness ahead of you, you hear splashing and humming.

They haven't spotted you yet, but mirrors has gotten you close enough that you could potentially do something about this. All right. Strike. Well, the iron's hot. It's hot or whatever they say. Whatever you say in the kitchen. That's what they say. That's all right. Yeah. You said it. Nice. High five. Clang. And then I lean over to Ving. I'm like, everyone's saying such cool stuff this episode. Hey, you know some cool stuff last episode. I said, everybody's been saying such cool stuff.

You know some really good one about an orchestra or something? Yeah. It was really cool. It was pretty good. I said I didn't like classical music. Yeah, that's what it was. I like that. It's pretty good. It's pretty good. We're just. We're all just like, it was pretty good. It was pretty good. It was pretty good. I have some alts. I have some alts. We can punch it up a little. No. I mean, no, you can't. No. I think we can. I think that was really the best it could have been.

I think you're right. It was good. It was good. I think it was good. Okay, Billy, you are, what is the striking you choose to do while the iron is hot? I'm at like knee level, so get them in the knees. Okay. Yeah. I'm going to do the knees. Mears is going to do the face. Okay. So Mears is like, so are these like, evil people or just people? They're just, I don't know. I mean, they're people, but. All right. But they are kind of evil. Okay. I'm going to leave the sword on my back for this one.

Sure, sure. We'll just knock them out. Give them a good sleep. They might sleep it off, actually. Great. Yeah. Okay, cool. All right, Billy, roll your hack and slash. Sure. And this will, Mears' warrior man-at-arms thing will increase the damage you do. Whoa, that's sick. That's intense. Man, by how much? By four. That's his, that's his warrior. Holy. Holy shit. Amount. Three. Plus strength. Is three. You know what? I'm going to use my last fairy child. I'm going to turn that to a seven to nine.

Okay, great. Yeah. So that means you're going to take some damage as well. That's fine. I think we're looking at a D6 here. Okay. But then you roll your damage. Two. So you're taking two damage here and now roll yours. Six. Okay. Much higher. So that's a plus four. So that's a 10. Okay. Two damage. Holy shit. So yeah, you don't have to worry too much. Like they're just kind of scattered throughout the sewers. My knees. My knees. My face. That's absolutely devastating. Yeah.

You, uh, so you sneak up and like hit this person in the knees. Yeah. I just, I just use the blunt part of the knife to tap his knees or whatever. Wait, is that bad? No, you cap his knees. Yeah, you're hitting his knees. You're not like shattering his kneecaps or anything. You're shattering them? No. No, he's just getting knocked down. I bop him in the knees pretty hard. There you go.

He gets bopped in the knees and there's like a, and he turns and just like claws at you and kind of, scratches your face a little bit and you lose two, damn it. Or you lose two health. And then mirrors comes in with his metal fist and just clang and splash into the water. Knocked out. That was awesome. Oh, that was so cool. That was so cool. All right, let's keep it up. Let's go. Yeah. We should be. All right. And he just reaches down and flips the person over.

So their face is facing out of the water. All right. And he pats them on the cheek. You'll be okay. They start drifting down. I'm straight floating down into the sewers. He's facing up. He'll be okay. He's being in touch. Okay. So you, the way forward is clear for now. Are we trying to orient ourselves towards the palace? Are we looking for the safe house? What do we think? Safe house. Oh, for the castle, the brass castle. Yeah. The thieves mark that was leading to a safe house. Yes. Yeah.

I think that is a good idea. It was a good, just to like explore. Yes. And also to get information on what the fuck happened after we left the wedding. Okay. Yeah. So I'm going to set, I'm going to make a little, uh, below the whisk. Oh, perfect. Yeah. Yeah.

So, uh, the little, the way the little jingling bell sound, uh, rings is the, the cat pops into view, padding along the surface of the water, little light ripples forming as it walks, uh, illuminating the slick walls of this like ancient sewer system. And you can, as long as you take your time, you can probably very quietly walk your way, following the marks to the safe house. You find a, an old, wooden door set into the side of this sewer chamber.

There's a little lock on it, but there's a thief's mark next to it. Billy. I will use tricks of the trade to try to open the lock. 2d6 plus dexterity. Nine. Okay. Yes. Perfect. The door is kind of high up. I like thinking it's like above. Oh yeah. On ground level. Totally. Yeah. Lift them up on the platform. Yep. Great. Okay. That makes it a 10 plus. Yeah. There's like that sort of Mason outline of like where there used to be a staircase that has since been like smashed away.

And Ving lifts you up onto that thing so you can actually pick the lock. Yeah. And click. The door creeps open and there is darkness beyond in a pretty smallish chain or like a medium sized like storeroom. It seems like. Yeah. And drink. Bill of the wisp jumps up into the storehouse with you, illuminating crates, barrels, sacks in various stacks and piles along with tables, chairs, that kind of thing. Yeah. I pushed the two doors. I've been carrying it to the room.

And everyone hops up into the chamber. Now there's three doors here. I know. Super secure. One's getting through. In case we lose this door. I know. Yeah. Yeah. There's this is a, it looks like this might be a place where a gang, you would presume the brass castle gang. This is where they have stored some of their illicit materials, smuggled goods and whatnot. And then there's a door that opens up and there's a door that opens up and there's a can we have a look around? Oh, absolutely.

Discern realities. Okay. 2d six plus wisdom six. Uh, okay. A lantern in the back of the chamber between some rows of barrels flares to life. And you hear like, well, well, well, and there is a squat older man, maybe in his fifties or sixties, uh, dressed in a mode, very similar to the brass castle gang members that you've already dealt with. He's got like gray stubble and a bowler hat standing in the back, smoking a cigarette. Oh, a finery beast. His hideous mask. Get him. Now hold on.

Holds up a hand. Oh, oh wait, he's talking like a normal person. You're all talking like normal people as well. Well, there's a lot of not normal people wandering around out there. Oh, oh no. How'd you find your way in my old hidey hole here? Whoa. He's really talking so normally. Well, you left, you left a bunch of notes all over the way here. You know how to read the signs. I do. Yeah. I mean, I know how to spot a fellow thief. You'd think you'd be able to spot one as well.

Mears is like, yeah, why don't you close that door back there and we can have ourselves a little meeting to close the door and then puts two other doors on top of it. And he walks over with his lantern, plops it on the table, pulls up a chair, and he's like, I'm going to go and get my own lantern. And he's like, why don't you? I joined him. All right. So use the ones that I had me boys hired. Not really. Sorry. Use the ones that were hired by me boys. That's right.

They sort of informed me before they ran off to the palace. What have you heard from me boys? That's just the trouble. Young man. I ain't heard nothing from me boys. Oh, shit. Oh, yeah. I don't say. Oh, yeah. I don't say. You haven't heard anything. I fucking lost it. He's like, shit, I fucking lost it. He lost it. I think I might have done Chinese by accident. I accidentally did. Don't do Chinese. I know. I know. You're fitting, skating on very thin fucking ice. I know. Don't do Chinese.

I fucking, I know, dude. I know. Yeah. We, it's really hard to not do Chinese though. Billy says, it's so hard. It's so hard. Sometimes Canada day. You buy one of those hats from China. I can't say a word. He takes another drag off his cigarette ashes. It just on the ground. You hear anything from Artie or Rookin? No, that's just the trouble. They said they was breaking into the black hammer hole with a few freelancers. Yeah, we got them in. We didn't see them on our way out.

They came in, but they didn't leave. So you're telling me my boys is missing, presumed dead. And you three was supposed to have their backs. Whoa, no, that's not how it worked out, man. We were doing them a favor by getting them in. Yeah, we promised them that we would get them in. And if we needed them, they would have our backs. Yeah, plus it was all we could do to get out ourselves.

Billy, because of your shoot first in your danger sense, there are several more individuals in the shadows in this room hidden away. Why don't you tell your boys to come out? I ain't scared. And he takes a long drag off. You can't do Chinese, Billy. What? I thought it was too British accent. And he takes a long drag off his cigarette as Billy says that. And he goes, very good, my boy. All right, boys, you can come out now.

And a bunch of suited three piece tweed suit individuals emerge cartwheeling. Oh, wow. Oh, wow. Swinging golf clubs. Yeah. So you was in the parasite and you escaped just barely. So maybe you can tell me what the fuck is going on up there to something in the air. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. It's got a hold on people's minds. I don't know if you've noticed. Have you been up to the street level? Oh, yeah. Barely escaped. Yeah. Made our way down here.

It's even worse than the palace. He takes a nervous drag off the cigarette, which is now down to the stub, flicks it over his shoulder. Can we get to the palace from here? Yeah. Underground? Oh, yeah. Can you take us? No. Huh? What one might say sort of a management type. So a coward? I know, boy.

You don't know what I'm saying I spit on the ground I was part of the Cog street walls I'll have you know That means nothing to me He pulls open his shirt he's covered in scars underneath I rip open my shirt And I've got the big wounds fresh From Callum's knife Oh shit we were supposed to be changing those dresses Oh my god There's so much sand in his wounds Oh shit Oh my god Why it is happening to me I'm sitting there like Come on you think I'm not a hard ass too Roll I'm not allowed to say that 2d6 plus charisma 8 8 yeah pretty good Alright you've seen a tussle or two I've seen a tussle or two Smells like almonds It's so bad And Billy starts going Sorry I just Oh I think I had a fever or something I wouldn't worry about it Good god Fuck Ving you were supposed to change his fucking dress I know I'm so stupid Alright well if You are the three He points at Tuck, Ving and Muse Or half as tough as this one I think we might be able to help you And Tuck goes tough And then he picks up one of the doors he tries to break Okay You don't have to roll the break in an inanimate door That's not attached to anything Is it an ironwood door?

The door splinters easily under your hands You're a very strong man So yeah Ving puts the door back together Using his Elemental They meld back into one piece Oh that impresses him And Mears rolls up a sleeve And flexes his bicep Is that a bicep? Is that a bicep? Is that a bicep? Is that a bicep? Is that a bicep? Is that a bicep? Is that a bicep? Is that a bicep? Is that a bicep? Is that a bicep? Is that a bicep? Is that a bicep? Is that a bicep? Is that a bicep?

There's so much stuff in his cuts We gotta clean out those wounds Mears using his new Mechanical ability to perform first aid Begins changing Billy's bandages While I'm talking You cut my crass man You're welcome to do this These are just gross I can smell them from here There's gummy worms in them Those are for later You can't eat those Billy we've told you so many times Wounds aren't pockets You can't eat those The old man pulls out another cigarette Puts it in his mouth One of the boys leans in with a lighter Lights it for him Before he lights it I grab the guy's wrist And I go What are you smoking?

Cigarette How are you resisting the effects of the smog? What do you mean? The air out there is full of some bad shit That's making everyone These weirdo fucking zombies That just fucking follow Callum's instructions And you guys are somehow resistant to it Yeah Discern realities Seven Alright Great One question What here is useful or valuable to me?

I grab the cigarette And I smell it So And then I take the lighter And smell the fire Alright So all these people watch you do this ridiculous shit That's so rude And unnecessary You just start taking stuff out of people's hands And you smell the unmistakable scent of saffron Mixed with tobacco Oh It's these cigarettes He gestures to Tuck to give his fucking cigarette back There you go He takes it Lights it So you would assume That smoking these cigarettes has inoculated him in some way To the smog I guess they're all smoking it Him and his guys Or they're at least like getting second hand smoke from this dude Hot boxing this man Yeah totally And yeah whatever he has It's kind of like a Seems like a Macallan tobacco mixture Do you know?

Do I know what? Do you know about the smog? Is that why you're smoking that? No I smoked these because I started smoking when I was nine years old Oh The smog Has made this city nigh unbearable Got people on edge But you're a little bit less on edge I'd say I'm making heaps of cash friend People stressed out They look for places to relax Have a drink Play a game or two And I've been making good money What's your name? Me?

Mm-hmm Samuel Deering Maybe you've heard of me And if I remember correctly Deering I believe is the last name of the man already said is the leader of the Brass Castle Oh okay Call me Deering Yes dear He kind of laughs He laughs loudly at that actually Ha!

Haven't heard that in quite some time Ever since me missus walked out on me For the sixteenth time But she's gonna see She's gonna see reason She'll be back And one of the guys goes She'll be back boss Don't you worry You'll be off me couch in no time sir Looks like we have something in common friend Oh yeah what's that? My old lady stepped out on me too Oh yeah? Yeah You ever heard of a lady named Victoria LeBlanc? Knives Come out You married a Victoria LeBlanc?

Yeah And she's absolutely cucking the shit out of me right now Oh I see Knives back under coats That's right Oh that's a shame Victoria LeBlanc you know I've had somewhat of an antagonistic relationship for the last several years In fact and he points to one of the scars On his still red shirt Ripped open shirt You see kind of like Chubby old man Man boobs With some like grey chest hair And he points to a scar Under his collarbone She gave me this And then Tuck Uh Opens his duster And he points at the The stab wound that she gave him on their wedding day Yeah It's like A wedding gift Huh Were you married to her as well?

No And then Tuck You hear all of his knuckles crack No Only one woman's got my eye Me too Mildred Dearing Lover my life She gave me my first cigarette Sounds like a beautiful lady Oh she is Calves as thick as the day is long Built like a motor carriage Built like a motor carriage She is She carried me across the threshold On our wedding day And she made me see stars my boy I watched her Punch a police horse Straight in the face Killed it on the spot And then he goes It was a racist horse She roasted that horse for our wedding And ate the whole fucking thing Just roast Rotating it on a spit I can still see her there You boys like a strong woman eh?

Or man Or person whatever Yeah Oh yeah Yeah Oh yeah He's now looking kinda into the darkness Dude Do you still hold her in high regard in your heart, my boy? No. I just got a weird possessive thing about her. Okay. It's truly maybe the most toxic part of my personality. All right. Very well. Then allow me to make you a bit of a proposition, eh? What do you say? We'll hear it. You're trying to get into the palace, I understand. Yeah. You save me boys. Make it worth your while. Okay.

I'll make it even more worth your while if you kill Victoria LeBlanc for me. That's not the sort of guarantee that we make. But we can save the boys. We might be able to get you an audience with LeBlanc. Yeah. An audience? What if we deliver LeBlanc to you? So you're saying you won't kill her, but you'll deliver her to me to be killed? I feel like yes. I'm checking my internal morality. I feel like that. That is actually kind of okay. I mean, that's kind of between you and her at that point.

Yeah. Right? Yeah. I agree. So you save me boys. 200 coin. Oh. That's the most coins we've ever had. That's not true. We've had way more than that. You bring Victoria LeBlanc to me. Her grip on this city's illicit goods falls to me. 1,000 coins. That would be the most. That's the most coins. That would be the most we've ever had. What do you say? Puts his hand out. Spits in it. We all spit on his hand. Yes, I spit. You're not from around here, are you? Wipes his hand on his jacket. All right.

Very well. Do you need any support in terms of manpower? We need everyone you can give us. All right. And a few of the smokes. Mm-hmm. All right. He pulls out a hat of three. I'm not giving a boy a cigarette. Mears? He's 18. He can smoke. The little one. Oh. I smoke all the time. Yeah. I smoked when I was your age, and let me tell you. You don't want these, boy? Yeah, I do. All right. Fine. Billy, this is the only time we will ever let you smoke. Don't smoke. It's bad.

But what if it's really fun? Well, it's not. Is it really fun? It's really fun. No. And also, all right, it's not fun, but it makes you look really cool. He's not kidding about that. He's not. He takes a drag, and he looks so cool. Billy's just contemplating what it'd be like to be cool. Billy, this is the only time you can ever smoke. Uh-huh. Fine. Billy. Stop projecting into the future, you smoking. You can't tell me what to do. How about future, Billy? In the future, I'll be grown. All right.

All right. So he is willing to give you… So there were four other Brass Castle boys hiding in the shadows. Yeah. You can take three. He wants one to stay behind with him. Okay. Yeah. Do you need to know our names, or are we going to be kind of like window dressing for you? We'll just call you one, two, three. Yeah. One, two, three is perfect. Those are our names. I'm one. That's two. And the third one is going to blow your mind. That's three. Hello. Boy. Boy. I'm number three.

And you're welcome to stay here and rest up if you choose, Sir Samuel. Oh, should we try and heal up for a minute? We should try to heal up. Yeah. It is. Yeah. You can definitely… You can heal up to half your hit points if you choose to chill here and have a bite to eat, rest up for several hours. Yeah. I think we need to. Oh, actually, you know what? Let me just make sure that we understand the stakes here. You can absolutely make camp and rest.

While that happens, what is going on up top will continue. Yeah. That's fine. Okay. Cool. So there are people being dragged to the palace and who knows what's happening. Yeah. We don't care. That's going to take a while. Great. There's a lot of people in the city. Yeah. What's he going to do? The whole city in a couple hours? Nah. Yeah. Can't save everybody. Yeah. You don't even… You shouldn't even try, honestly. Most of these people are racist. Yeah. It's true. And that party can't…

It's mostly masterlies. In all honesty, I feel like the city is mostly masterlies. Yeah. I feel like things are just evening out up there. Yeah. Yeah. Capitalism is just being dismantled. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And I feel like the party can't kick off without us. No. So… These are just appetizers. Yeah. The mousse bouche, if you will. Yeah. Great. And you are… You wake up a few hours later, groggy in the dark. Samuel is leaned back in the chair.

He's got his booted feet up on the table and he is snoring like a sawhorse. Oh my God. Just… He's clearly got some sort of apnea situation. You guys should be familiar with this sound. Yeah. You're all familiar with everyone's snoring patterns. Because of Francis. Yeah. Not anyone else. No. Yeah. There's a point where Tuck and Samuel's snoring harmonizes. And it starts… He shakes the tunnel. Dust starts falling from the ceiling. Oh my God. Rats are scuttling.

When you wake up, one of the Brass Castle boys, dead. Oh my God. No. Just give him a stroke. Just killed from the sound waves alone. His eyes are bleeding. He's been liquefied. But you are awake and the boy… One, two, and three are ready to go. Oh. Should we just… Debrief on the plan? Mm-hmm. Because we are making the final approach now. Yeah. So the cigarettes, Tuck says, and he tucks it behind his ear. Because he thinks it looks cool. Billy's already lighting it up. No, Billy.

Billy didn't put that out. Put that out. Not yet. Not inside. Not yet. I feel like let's light up when we get into the castle. Because then they'll last longer. It'll be weird for him. It'll be intimidating and strange. Right. We'll look so casual. Right. Because we'll look really cool. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. How are you guys going to hold your cigarettes? I'll probably… Like… Like… The normal way. The classic way like this? I don't know. Unless maybe I do it a different way like this.

Tuck's going to do it… Tuck's like, I'm going to do it like this. I feel like I've seen a lot of cool guys. Cool. So… Real hard boys. I do whatever you do. I'm going to smoke mine out of this. So we're talking like kind of pinched finger. Yeah. But like inside the hand. Yeah. Like a World War I vet. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Things gutted between his pinky and his ring finger. I like it. I'm going to smoke it like the Penusians do. Yeah. Cool. Cool. Yeah.

One, two, and three are standing around watching you do this and they're just kind of nodding to themselves. What do you guys think? Is this cool? Yeah. Yeah. It's really cool. Is this the most intimidating way we can smoke this? We're all pretending to smoke a cigarette. Can you drop it so I can see it? This is the most intimidating way to have a cigarette. Okay. And he pulls a cigarette out and he eats it right in front of you. Whoa. Yeah. Pretty scary, right? Does it work still? No.

It's really bad. It tastes so bad. It's in his teeth. Yeah. It's all over his face. It's like brown saliva dripping down his mouth. Don't do it like that. Don't do it like that. Okay. Yucky. Donald Puff. Can we have a different tune? Mom, number two. I'm ready to go. Just close your mouth. So we got the approach. We're going to smoke these cigarettes. They're going to try and grab Ving or us to do whatever the fuck they need to do to chain the Gibbous Man to Callum and Victoria. Yeah.

What do we do? Two. Two. Other than just flat out fighting them. Do we have a plan? You don't have any more fairy child? No. But we slept. Is it the next day? Yeah. When is morning? Um, it might be day. I'm going to roll what the bones know. Oh, I got a five. Holy shit. Yes. Nice. Plus charisma. Oh, a 12. Oh, shit. So I get five hold. God damn. I'm ready. Ready to go. Loaded up. Loaded. So we might. What about a convincing Ving illusion? Oh, yeah, we could do that. Right. Send fake Ving in.

But if they grab your illusions, do they feel real? No. No. No. They are convincing to see and hear. But if they were to touch them, they would be illusory. Okay. That still might work. It might. It buys time. Yes. Time. To sneak around and sneak up on them, maybe. Wait, what about your new fairy child move? Can that sever connections too? Could that sever his connection to the icon? I can't. Trap him in a ring? My fairy trap? Your fairy trap. Maybe. Maybe.

I feel like we got to use your fairy trap. Yeah. So fairy trap is basically the same as fairy ring, except it's only passable to those I choose. So it would hold an enemy within the trap overnight. Could you potentially trap the Gibbous Man? Because he can't get into your fairy rings. Potentially. Stands to reason. Okay. This might be a wild swing. But do we let them summon the Gibbous Man and then trap him in your ring? Could. I'd have to make a ring before. Yeah. They can't see me do it. Yeah.

We could use the distraction while I'm giving myself over. Oh, yeah. You can make the ring. I'd make the ring. While I'm readying myself. That could work. What would, they wouldn't believe that I would just give myself up. No. What if we give Tuckover as a, like, he allows himself to get caught. Hmm. And then I step in there and like, no, no, no, wait. Don't hurt him. Oh, yeah. That's a good idea. Yeah. So we're thinking that. I get caught. You come in to, quote unquote, save me.

And then you sneak in with the Brass Castle gang and Mears set up that fairy circle. Okay. I have a thing also that I can add to this. Oh. So ever since the fight at the Anvil, I think I can actually control the Demon of Servitude. What? Yeah. Whoa. The demon that's in the corner of my chest, I think I can actually control it. And I have a new move for it. I say. I have a new move. Yeah. The Demon of Servitude. It's basically TLC, but with the Demon.

Roll plus charisma to gain a boon from your Demon. On a seven to nine, the Demon offers the boon, but causes mental anguish. On a fail, you lose control. So it risks the Demon taking control of me, but I might be able to, like, you remember how, like, I looked fucked up and crazy when it had taken over me before? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. To make me look like it again. Mm-hmm. So it's like, oh, the influence of Callum activated the Demon in me.

Like, potentially convince Servitude to make it seem like, in the metaphysical perception of Callum, that you have been possessed? Yeah. Interesting. So then my eyes would go white, and then the coins in my chest would all turn into eyes. Yeah. And I would look really fucked up and crazy, like you guys said. I looked at that place. Bing shudders. To do that though, would you be unable to smoke the cigarette? Oh yeah. Yeah, if you smoke the cigarette, it might not let servitude through. Yeah.

So you'd have to go smokeless. I'd have to go without the cigarette. Mears says, wait, so if you are using servitude to make it look like you're possessed by servitude, how do we know if it works or not? You don't. That's the thing. Okay. If I get possessed by servitude, it will look exactly the same. Except he'll come at us with his axe. Yeah. So you'll try to kill us if it doesn't work. Yeah, we'll know then. Okay. Okay, great.

Or you guys, I'll just, there's an, I don't think servitude hears everything that I know. So I'll just say something that only I know. Like, oh, like that cool line that I said on top of the building. Kiss me quick? No. What? From several episodes ago? No. The thing I said about how I prefer, I don't like classical music. Oh yeah. Yeah. Okay. Okay. Yeah. All right. Guys, remember that really cool line? We all remember. What the fuck? What? You said it, you thought it was cool.

You said you thought it was cool. And then we all went, oh yeah. Yeah. I did think it was cool. I just have some alts. We were also all on the ground. You were on the top of the building. We actually had nothing to do with that. Yeah. I told you about it afterwards though. I won't take your word for it. But this is also the thing that I am wondering. Because we have an opportunity to fuck up Callum. And Victoria's plan. Yes. But is that what we should go for?

Or should we try to let them win and capture the Gibbous Man so that we can trap him? I can't imagine that he is such a passive part of this plan. You think he's in on it? Or something. I feel like it's them operating independently. They want, they're trying to fuck him over. He feels like a… He feels like a little finger. Yeah, maybe. Yeah, I think if this is your plan, you're going in without all the pieces. Okay. For sure. My instinct is to not allow the God of the Sky into the room. Yeah.

Because then we go, our enemies go from two to three. Yeah. So we got to just stop it. Whatever it is, whatever opportunity we're giving up here to like trap or influence the Gibbous Man. It's worth it to not be in their thrall. I think that makes sense. Okay. So stop. Stop the plan. However you can. What if you, as the agent of servitude, hand me over to them? Oh, that's smart. Fucking smart. No. I thought we were in love. Yeah. We made a vow. We made a vow.

And then Tuck goes, no, I only love Victoria LeBlanc. She's my wife. Wink. Wink, blink. But I did the dishes, Vink will say. Yeah. Both nights in a row. In sickness and in health. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Tuck goes, have you seen her tits? They're amazing. What about my tits? So is it going to be you or is it going to be the illusion that Billy makes? Yeah, I think it's the illusion. I think it's the illusion. Okay. So I'll go in with the illusion.

Pretend I've captured him. So it doesn't matter that I'm the one holding him. And then you guys- I will life symphony as they approach to stall and woo them when they're about to destroy the illusion. Yes. And then that'll give you time. That'll give me time to make the ring. The fairy ring. Yeah. And trap them in it. Okay. And cut them off from like whatever the fuck they're doing. Yeah. And then, yeah. Life symphony and your fairy ring work in tandem. Yeah. I think so. Interesting. Okay.

All right. So step one is get through the sewers. I think with the Brass Castle Gang and four skilled, experienced adventurers, creeping through the sewers is not a problem. And you make your way to a section of the sewers that is filled with sewer water and I think just goes straight up and then manhole cover. And one, two, and three stand around it in a triangle shape and point up and in unison say, it's up there. The castle? That close? Yeah. This is the palace. All right.

We've been walking for quite a while. Sorry. I think I just blacked out a little bit. Just thinking about smoking that cigarette. Yeah. That cigarette. It's just. It's like. It's like a siren whispering in my ear. You're going to be so cool, Billy. You're going to be so cool when you smoke me. You're going to be a real boy now. We zoom into Billy's brain and there's like an image of him smoking like with a cowboy hat and spurs. Yeah. Pretty cool. Arabian music for some reason.

Can't imagine the things I'd be seeing. All the places I'm going. All the places I've been. Wow. This character is wild. I've been traveling. Fortnite. Fortnite in a day. Watching the sunset every night. A lone wolf. Me and my lone wolf. Two lone wolves. Two lone wolves. How do you party? Billy comes to in a sewer. And one, two, and three have formed a sort of human ladder. Mm-hmm. Up to the sewer entrance above you. All right. This is the way. Now it's time for stealth. Shh. Okay.

Should you guys light up so that Callum can't find you? It's time. Yeah. Okay. Mears pops a cigarette in his mouth as well. I don't know if I'm ready to do this. Mears is freaking out. It'll be okay. Okay. Don't inhale. Wait, no. Do inhale. Do not inhale. Yeah. Inhale. Inhale. He puts it in his mouth. Woof. You gotta hold it in, Mears. Yeah. It's so loud. There's so much coughing and we're in such a smile. Guys. Guys. Be. That's fucking dank. It tastes like a petting zoo. Oh, my God.

Everybody smoke more. Smoke more. Okay. Sorry. Sorry. Don't waste the smoke. Oh, my God. Blow it in my face. I know. Blow it in my face. Blow it in your face. Oh, God. Oh, my God. It smells like spaghetti. Keep smoking. Okay. Okay. It smells like the taste of last night's spaghetti. Oh, God. Oh, my God. I feel like I'll never get an erection again. Oh, my God. It smells like spaghetti, but if the spaghetti was just herbs. Okay. All right. Okay. I'm just not gonna. I'm gonna put it in.

I'm gonna hold it in my mouth, but I'm not gonna smoke it. It's like a whole mouth. It's like my whole mouth is a chimney. It's like a chimney. It's just like a bunch of ovens in my mouth. Are my teeth orange? I feel like my teeth are orange. I think they might be orange. I feel shorter. Does that make sense? It's getting you guys a little bit high. I feel taller. How tall am I? Did I grow? Oh, my God. Bill, you're huge now. He's standing on Mears' shoulders. Oh, my God. You're taller than me.

Oh, my God. Several minutes later. Yeah. Everyone's calmed down a little bit, and camera cuts to a lower, lower level room. Manhole cover pops up, squeak, turns, slides over to the side, quietly grinding on the stone floor. Billow is of smoke. Yes. Saffron scented smoke curls up from the manhole cover. And who goes first? I will do a trap expert. Ah, very smart. Yes. 2d6 plus dexterity. I suck in a bit of that air, the smoky air. Plus dexterity. Eight. Great. One question. Okay.

Well, is there a trap here? There is. Okay. What? I mean, what activates it? You hear a bunch of shuffling and scrabbling in the room above you. You haven't completely peeked your head out, but you look up and filling this chamber, like the floor is just covered in fat, dark gray rats. Oh, gross. How big are these rats? Like, uh, like the size of… Like, half the size of a cat. A muskrat. Holy shit. But there's like dozens of them. What the fuck? Yeah. Are we in like a cellar?

You're in a cellar. Absolutely. You see like there's maybe like, like burlap sacks and stuff that have been long since chewed through. But there are just rats wall to wall in this room. Friends! Rodents! Countrymen! Whoa, yeah, do it! Lend me your ears! All the rats start poking their heads up. Hark! What voice calls from the darkness? It's a rat. It is I, the Rat King from below. All right, roll a TD6 plus charisma, I guess. Hell yeah! Oh no! Seven… Eight? Eight? Oh! No, I said six!

No, no, you gotta say it. I was like, what the… This is gonna be awesome. I'm using this five to talk to the rats. It's a four to a five. Worth it. Again. Show yourself, so-called king. I come up. I bring the, um, my, um, gray furs up. I'm like, what the fuck? I'm like, what the fuck? I'm like, what the fuck? I'm like, what the fuck?

There's a widz widz widz widz widz widz widz widz widz widz widz widz widz widz widz widz widz widz widz widz widz widz widz widz widz widz Will you rise to his call? Lend me your tales tonight. We call no man king, but any that speaks the rattish tongue may be our ally. I parlay with thee. Parlay. He speaks parlay. Parlay. Parlay. He speaks of parlay. And all the rats separate and one aged rat walks forward. Whoa. Wow. What parlay offer you, man? He's old.

He's grizzled around his muzzle is light gray fur. Finn takes a knee, bows his head. I am the patriarch of this rat horde. And I take you on parlay. Yes. What offer you the rattish hordes? Shit. I offer thee a bounty outside even your wildest wants. Ask of it and it shall be thine. There's only one thing we seek. Yes. The return of our kingdom. This palace has been the home of rats for generations. Generation after generation. Easily 12, 13 years. Have we slept in these halls?

Eating of these grains? The darkness that infects these halls has forced us into the lowest levels. We've seen the light. And we will not be forced back into the sewers. Help us spread amongst these halls. Reclaim our grains. Reclaim our holds. You shall feast on cheese. Yes. You speak of cheese. You speak of cheeses, eh? I am no spring rat. I have known a parlay or two. How can we take your assurances? Mmm. Perhaps a taste of cheese? Perhaps a taste of cheese? Oh, Billy. Switcheroo.

Oh, I can switcheroo. Yeah, I'll crawl out. I have my raccoon thing over my head. And I bow to the paper. Raccoon! They all scatter. Wait. No, no, no. He is a friend. Wait, wait. Competitors. That's no raccoon. That's a boy. Show yourself, boycoon. He merely smells and looks like a raccoon. He takes his hood down. Boy raccoon. Boy raccoon. The evil raccoon. The evil raccoon. The evil raccoon. The evil raccoon. The evil raccoon. The evil raccoon. The evil raccoon. The evil raccoon.

The evil raccoon. The evil raccoon. The evil raccoon. The evil raccoon. The evil raccoon. The evil raccoon. The evil raccoon. The evil raccoon. The evil raccoon. The evil raccoon. The evil raccoon. The evil raccoon. The evil raccoon. The evil raccoon. The evil raccoon. The evil raccoon. The evil raccoon. The evil raccoon. The evil raccoon. The evil raccoon. The evil raccoon. The evil raccoon. The evil raccoon. The evil raccoon. The evil raccoon. The evil raccoon. The evil raccoon.

The evil raccoon. The evil raccoon. The evil raccoon. The evil raccoon. The evil raccoon.

The grain sack the rats uh give way creating a a path to the sack and billy shields the view until he steps back and it appears like crumbles of cheese coming out of the bag ving wafts the cheese smell forward like vape from a smoker's mouth circles of cheese fill the room guys I can smell cheese is there cheese up there tug is still in the sewer ving gives a thumb up down the sewer that is a smell that my nose hath not lain on in many moons ving hands him a large chunk he reaches forward with his little ratty paws picks it up my assurance is your liege wrath kind feast upon the cheeses that wait us in the future and they all descend on this bag and they eat all this grain that looks like crumbles of cheese it goes down their gullets so smooth you there's a bunch of squeaking and then soon the whole sack is gone they ate the cloth and everything oh my god and they all uh are kissing their little paws very well you have given us assurances that the cheeses will be ours you can ask one favor of the rats and we shall deliver oh when we make the call you run rat havoc this we can do on your signal we shall unleash the rats of war now be gone from my chambers be gone yeah we're going we just gotta go be gone yeah be gone as everyone comes out of the one by one that he goes doing through we're going we're going okay close the door and I turned to ving and I'm like should we have maybe asked them to like steal the ink or the knife or anything I probably should have done a lot more than just just yeah I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm okay and you closed the door on that storeroom the sort of like offshoot a little closet that clearly was just kind of like a garbage room and you are now in what you would assume are the lower levels of blackhammer hall okay should we discern realities oh yeah yes okay 12 okay three questions what here's useful or valuable yeah you you brought along the brass castle boys specifically because they're like guiding and helping Okay.

Yeah. So the brat two leads you down the hallway. He's like, be quiet now. Be very quiet. Yes. And he's creeping through the halls and he leads you to a section that he leads you to a staircase, like a door beyond here. Awesome stairs that leads you to the main level of the hall. If you're trying to get to the courtyard, this is the way to go. So that's how I'm going. That's where you go. I have to go the obvious way. And then three leads you a little bit further down. And he goes, all right.

So this behind this part of the wall, this part, we never really, we didn't finish in time. But if you go through here, you get to the old castle and there's a big room underneath the courtyard. But apparently, according to one of the servants, they said that they've been messing around under there. Callum's been messing around? Or his people, you know, building stuff down there. Oh, yeah. Yeah. We should be looking at that first, maybe. Yeah. Before I go. Okay. Who's really in control here?

You think that whatever is going on in the palace at large, what you saw in the courtyard, that is the focal point. The glass orchard that they made, the glass trees and the tapestries and the lanterns that made that reflection. That is the focal point. So down here, you think that unless you were to really fuck something up, you are probably safe to operate quietly down here. Cool. Yeah. Well, here's not what it appears to be. Um. Yeah. Well. What would be not what it appears to be here?

Oh, maybe in the big where the big old ballroom used to be. Maybe the floor above, like the new floor. Like maybe that's glass, too. Hmm. Oh, so like you can move about quietly underneath, but you can still see what's going on above. Yeah. Maybe. Unless there's something cooler. Yeah. That's pretty cool. Or like there's like the like Rian's castle was built like on the lake or whatever. Mm hmm. Like maybe there are underground tunnels. There's an aquifer underneath the castle. Oh, yeah.

Oh, and maybe there's a piece of the moon down there. Sure. There's a piece of the moon down there. Oh, my God. Please, Sean. Yeah, Sean, please. There can't be a piece of the moon everywhere. Sean, there's a. Sean, this is Rian's house. This isn't Rian's house. This is not Rian's house. Oh, never mind. This is the Blackhammer. This is the Blackhammer Hall. This is the Blackhammer. You didn't think this was Rian's house, did you? I did. Okay. Okay. But I still think it's cool.

I think it is cool. I also think. This is Rian's house. I also think. I think that it's cool that Ving puts his hand up on a wall and is like, wait. And he hears water running under the castle, through the walls, to the point where there has to be some sort of old aquifer that connects right through a section of the castle. Yeah. Okay, cool. But it would be like, based on what you've seen of the city, it's long since blocked off.

It's running through sealed off chambers, which might mean, especially the nature of water, that using that water might be a good way to get water. It's a good way to propagate Billy's fairy circle. Like, maybe it kind of runs in a way that you can use that to create the circuit. You turn the waterways into a fairy circle. Oh, yeah. And then the water, like the current of the water will keep it going. That would be sick. That would be sick. Yeah. So that's what you know.

There is a chamber that is like bricked over, but you can hear water on the other side of it somewhere. And you think that you can operate down here pretty well, but there is a staircase nearby that will lead you up. To the main courtyard. Okay. Sounds good. Okay. So I think one, two, and three, they got you here. Yeah. They're like, we got to go look for our boys. Yeah. Go look for them. Okay. You go find Artie and Rookin. All right. We're going to split. We're going to split up.

And if they seem like they're like weird pod people, just get them to smoke a bunch. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Sounds good. And if they were not going to smoke, then you smoke and blow it in their mouth. Okay. Sounds weird, but it works. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. All right. Yeah. All right, boys. Let's practice. And they just start blowing into each other's mouths. We watch it. And then they start having a bunch of sexual tension between each other. Their eyes are like meeting really hard. All right.

We got to go. Get out of here. We got to go. And they're just blowing into each other's faces. Ving's lingering. All right. So remind me of your plan. Tuck is going up with an illusion of Ving. Yes. Pretending to be Ving. Pretending to be possessed by servitude. Yes. The next step of the plan is Tuck tries to make a deal with servitude. That would be the next thing. Do we do it in like, do we do this in the big ballroom underground? Yeah. Oh, sure. Yeah. Okay.

So that would mean we're breaking through first through this like fake wall because you need to break through the wall to get to the fake, the old ballroom. Sure. Yeah. Let's do it. Okay. Okay. So who's, how are we breaking this wall down? Do you want me to do it? I have TLC. Oh yeah. That's true. I can just push them against it. Here we go. Uh, nine. Oh, eight. All right. I'm catching bricks as they fall out. Beautiful. Yep. Seven. Seven. So that makes that a 10.

So Tuck's just kind of like building a wall beside it, like popping sections out. He's just like putting the blade against it and because they can smash any stone, he just like pushes them into the wall. Yeah. Cool. Like Jenga. Yeah. He's Jenga-ing the wall.

And as you're like pushing into these old stone, you're looking at these solidly looking, these, these, these, these, these, these, these, these, these, these, these, these, these, these, these, these, these, these, these, these, these, these, these, these, these, these, these, these, these, solid looking walls all around you. Yeah. This section of wall comes down piece by piece revealing like a darkened corridor on the other side of much older stone worn dusty.

There's like a layer of dust on the ground. And we can smell like musty water running. Yeah. You can hear it rushing. Yeah. It's rushing like right through here. Yeah. Totally. Yeah. Just, just on the other side of this passage is where the waterways begin. The sound of water. Yeah. So you see light filtering above from the courtyard. Yeah. Like the, the myriad. The myriad lanterns that they'd lit for the wedding illuminating old archways and like buttressed channels.

And you see the water running through. It looks like maybe this was part of the castle's waste system once upon a time used to just like shuttle shit from like privies and bath chambers to just like out into the ocean. Well, yeah, we're in the steam district. We're near it. Yeah. Oh yeah. So there's probably like steam, old steam pipes that are connected to this that have been used to like cool stuff or suck water up to different boilers. Yeah.

And the water's filtering down and you see like the shadows, the moving shadows of like feet on the glass shuffling and then like kicking, pounding heels as someone's dragged into the, into the courtyard. Oh, and then they always like still. Yeah. And then they join the kind of like shuffling. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, can we hear any music from. Yeah. You hear music moving around the corridor and you hear like clattering above on the tiles. You assume the orchestra must be up there. Okay.

But this does seem to be the section that you would need to be under to perform your fairy trap move. And you see kind of further in like near where the center of the courtyard would be what you assume the brass castle boys were talking about. There's new mechanical construction directly under the center, like gears and cogs and pistons that you assume that was where the orchestra rested. So they built it there. Yeah. And then through whatever means it kind of became something else.

Like a giant, like kind of like the inside of a music box. Yeah. Sort of. Exactly. But like giant and built underground. Yeah. So that's further in. But, but regardless, it seems like now that it is whatever it is now, it has not been maintained since. Okay. So you're still kind of alone down here. Okay. What that does suggest is that there are entrances and exits to this area you are unaware of. Okay. Can we see the altar? You can see what you assume are that ring of chairs. Right.

And then like a larger shadow. That must be the altar. All right. So you definitely didn't want to catch the fairy ring around that. Okay. I can't put this off any longer. Okay. Okay. It's time to go. Good luck. Inside. If I come out and I don't say that thing about how I don't like classical music. Okay. Then you guys have to fight me and put me down. Mears reaches up and puts his hand on the hilt of the sword. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Knock me out with that thing. Yeah.

I'll knock you out. Okay. Yeah. All right. Here we go. Here we go. Good luck, Tuck. Thank you. You can do this. And Tuck closes his eyes and then opens him and he's in the pizza hut in his mind. So you close your eyes. You prepare for the void. Yeah. The void that you have spent every night in since. Yeah. And you hear ding, ding. You're in the doorway of a pizza hut. Yeah. Full of Tucks. Yeah. Just for one. Yeah. And there's a new server at the front. What? What? Does not look like Tuck. Whoa.

What does he look like? It's the old man. Yeah. The old man. The old man. Oh. Habibi. Yeah. Habibi Maraghani. Yeah. And Tuck, he has like full body goosebumps because he's only seen this guy twice. Yeah. Once it was like its first memory. Yeah. And the other time was he killed him. Yeah. In his mind. In his mind. Yeah. Yeah. Just for one? For two, please. And he turns around and he goes, hey, boss. I'm taking my 15. And then the Tuck behind the counter goes. Good thing.

And he comes and he sits at a booth with you. There is a long, long table full of pizzas. Oh, sick. All you can eat. Oh, it's an all you can eat lunch buffet? Yeah, man. And there are several versions of you going to town. Okay. He goes, wait here. I'll be right back. And he goes quick because he knows everyone's waiting. Outside of his brain. It's your brain. Take your time. Here we go. And then I call from the buffet. Do you want anything? No, I'm, you know, I'm okay. Okay.

I bring back a little pasta salad for him. Here you go. Thank you. I actually do like this. I like the, it's got bits of ham in it. Yeah, it's great. What can I do for you? Let's let's drop the pretext. Very well. How may I serve? Um, I need your help. He nods. I need you to make it look like I'm possessed. Oh, I actually know a way. I can do it. I can do it. I can do it. I can do that quite easily. Oh, really fucking funny. Really fucking funny. Oh, I didn't see that coming. Can't blame.

Really fucking funny. Can't blame a demon for trying. Look, man, you're stuck in here with me and I got your fucking number now. So you either play a ball or you never get let out of the box. He shivers a little bit. Fuck you. So what do you need? I need you to make it look like I am possessed. You know, to make this happen, you gotta let me through just a little. A little bit. I know. Just a little tiny touch. I know. You're okay with that? Yeah. Okay. Okay. All right.

So you're rolling 2d6 plus charisma here. Yeah. Oh, your charisma is quite high. I'll keep it secret. Okay. So here's what we're going to do. What? Okay. Don't, you're not going to tell me. Okay. We cut back to the chamber underneath the courtyard. Hmm. Tuck's eyes open. All the eyes on his chest open. He looks at the three of you. He looks at the three of you. Tuck. Tuck. Tuck. 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, Abdulaziz. So long. Ving, the Half-Elf Druid, Paul Oppers. Goosebumps. And Fat Billy, the Halfling Thief, Jessica Tai. What's going to happen? Thank you to all of our supporters around the world. If you want us to support the show and get access to bonus content, like the up-to-date Mall Brats feed, gift boxes, merchandise, and a whole lot of other stuff, you can check us out at patreon.com slash speltlore or speltlore.com slash money, please.

Thank you also to Aaron Reed for our intro and outro music, which you can find anywhere online, including all of the music produced for the show and Aaron's original music, which is incredible, at aaronreed.bandcamp.com. 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 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 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 Outlawr I'm your game master Sean O'Hara And joining me as always playing Tacoma Dome the Barbarian Abdulaziz Hello everybody Can you see better now?

Nah they're pretty foggy I really greased them up last night What? How?

Don't ask him No it's too late Sean we have to know I greased them up so hard last night I was rough and ready tonight Rough and ready So you needed your glasses to be greasy Yeah You never know when you need to sneak them in Yeah we were flippin' and flappin' all over the place it was rough and ready there was grease all over Alright Yeah Playing Ving the Half Elf Druid Paul Oppers Hi And playing Fat Billy the Halfling Thief Jessica Tai Hi we're so ready These are also quite greasy actually Rough and ready Yeah mine are greasy too I do want to talk about it on mic Do you want a microfiber cloth?

No I wipe mine pretty good I think on my shirt I honestly think I just scratched it so much it's permanently like ooooh Yeah you need different lenses for that Yeah you need different lenses for sure I do Do you want to try? Finally people see me without my glasses Yeah Look at the bags that I've developed There's no zero bags on your eyes I know What?

I don't see bags Oh my god Oh my god Before this we couldn't tell Oh my god Oh my god I'm telling you Oh my god you were holy shit you were a nerd before but now you're caught Now you're beautiful Oh my god Oh my god Oh my god Oh my god Oh no Oh Oh Oh my god Oh my god Oh my god Oh my god Oh my god They're literally the same amount of greasy. Nerds! He's fucking nerd! Surfboard in the shot! What? Yeah.

A big thing that happens at our house is Jessica's not wearing her glasses, so she can't find her glasses. Oh, I love this. Like Velma. Yeah. From Scooby-Doo. They're shaped like this, Sean. Help! Or if Sean brings… Like, you do this all the time. You want to show me something on your phone, and you hold it so far away. I'm like, well, I'm not wearing my glasses. I do that a lot. It's a real power move. That's why I do it, is to manipulate her. Yeah. Oh, babe. Your eyes are getting worse.

Better stick with me. That's crazy. You can't see them there. That's crazy. I'll just rip up these divorce papers. Man, if you ever divorced me, you wouldn't be able to find anything. You wouldn't be able to find the papers. They're all in your safety deposit box. Sean, you monster. I've been slowly scratching Jess's glass. Sean on a live stream is like, all right, step three for us. Happy marriage.

Just you take 200 grit sandpaper, and when she's asleep, rub them on her glasses, so she thinks she's going blind. She stays with you. At least you don't need rubbing on her glasses. It's like those people that poison their spouses, so they have to take care of them. Yeah. Wow. It's a great idea. Honestly, I've never thought about it until now. When last we left our heroes, they were deep in the belly of the beast.

The beast being a wedding reception for Callum Blackhammer, Princep, surviving Princep of the Firefields Principality, and his soon-to-be wife, Pirate Queen Victoria LaBlanche. Tuck had just put together that Callum and Victoria's plan could very well involve the binding of the Gibbous Man using magi tattoo techniques, just as Billy was sneaking back from his spy session on the two… Co-lovers? Co-lovers? What? Co-lovers? They're just called lovers, Sean.

Billy was escaping from his spying session and ran right into one such magi, who snatched him up and dashed away. Sensing trouble, Tuck and Ving headed to the corridor to save Billy, who released the grip of the magi by chomping down hard, doing what he does best, and biting something. And then a battle was waged against the magi, who was incapacitated. With some use of ice powers, the party went right to the office of Callum Blackhammer, where Billy had spied the two.

But sensing a trap, they hid in a linen closet across the hall. And trap there was, as the magi, which we believe possessed in his tattoos a binding for the icon of malice, due to his resemblance to an efreet from the streets of McCall, something Tuck has a lot of experience with. Mm-hmm. As a boy from such streets. Yeah. The other magi emerged from the shadows and found the party eating spaghetti in the closet. Ha ha ha!

They fought, seeing through the door, in one of the closets, a hither and yon, captured by Callum Blackhammer and held in the office of his palace. Evil. Evil, evil boy. They waged battle against these magi, who then retreated, and into hither and yon they went. Tuck then used his ability to get to the lie at the heart of his being, his essence, to convince hither and yon that Callum Blackhammer was not possessed of the icon of tyranny. Mm-hmm.

Allowing him to temporarily loosen Callum's hold on hither and yon and take the bar to a safer place, still within Blackglass City, unable to leave the confines, but feeling a great amount of damage in his chest as the coins, for a moment, were locked. Locked in place. Ugh. Uh, tearing through his chest. Yeah. Hither and yon traveled to the Steamhaven District, and we found safety, heralded by a very drunken man walking through the door, asking if you were open.

And that is where we find our heroes now. Tuck has just, uh, released a bunch of blood from his body. Yeah. In various forms. Ugh! Quick, heal me with your new move! Oh my god. Quick, Tuck! Oh my god. Tuck, please! There's blood all over the place. You're spitting blood! Spitting blood! Spitting blood! Spitting blood! What in my face? Quick, heal me! He is really, really hurting. Is Steamhaven basically where we were?

It is a sizable district that I think is a bit away from the palace, but not super far away. Okay. It's probably more of a working class neighborhood, like there's a lot of, uh, Steam rights. Mm-hmm. Uh, but it has become, you know, in the way that working class neighborhoods often do, has become trendy. Yeah. Okay. That's the Haven part. And is Tuck, like, zero points or something? I'm at ten hit points. Oh, okay. He good? So, I've lost… I've lost sixteen. Quartz of blood? Yeah.

Stop touching me with your bloody hands. Tell me! So Tuck doesn't know. Please. I just dry cleaned my merino. Give me a voltage. Okay. Uh, I'm gonna, I guess I'm gonna try… Tuck puts his hand on the bar and slips on his own blood. Bam! His teeth, his nose, spangs right off the bar. More blood out of the nose. As your head ricochets off, Nier starts wiping the bar where you're breathing. Your bloody face print is. But then he steps in his pile of blood. I slip. And smack your head on the…

It's like a one-man band of blood. I smash a table. Take a big bite. Yeah. You guys, I roll over and you guys see a bunch of splinters are embedded in my back. More blood. This is horrible. Tuck, help me. Yeah. So you can just give him seven points or whatever. With, uh, whatever it is with the poultice. I'll slap a poultice on him. All right. So that's seven hit points. Assuming that we're going to spend some time with tucking bandages resting. I don't think any of us want to leave. Yeah. Yeah.

I keep cracking open the door, like going. Yeah. So you, so you're cracking open the door and you see, like, I think Steamhaven is a lot of winding cobbled roads, narrow streets with like tall brick buildings. And they're all kind of laced through. Most of Blackglass has like, you know, like a lot of, you know, like a lot of, you know, Blackglass has like steam pipes running along buildings and like overhead.

But Steamhaven is, uh, is like crisscrossed all like, there's basically a ceiling that is a canopy of steam pipes that are all kind of winding together. It's a foggy place. It's very foggy. There's fog. There's like raining in here because it's all condensing. Yeah. There's a lot of, a lot of people here have like umbrellas and like a waxed canvas raincoats. Oh, cool. And you were saying it's quite working class. It's weird. You see a lot of people with like.

Like tool bags kind of going to and from there are people up on scaffolding, like working on pipes. But then you also see some younger guys who are wearing the work wear, but like it's pristine and they're holding little lattes in their hands. You got soft hands, brother. They got tags on them still to show that it's new. There's, they'll, they'll walk up with a cup of just like regular milk and there'll be like a steam wand that they just put the milk in and then it makes a latte automatically.

There's totally, there's like a little booth. Yeah. There's like a cart. There's a cart where someone is making lattes with a pipe that's just coming down from a conduit somewhere. Yeah. And there's, I feel like there's just a lot of guys like looking at cages and being like, it's good. Just turning around and going, steam's good over here. We're not going to explode today. Some pipe fitters like, get the fuck out of here. Get the fuck away from the conduit. Oh my God.

Where'd you get those shoes? He's just covered in burns from all the hot pipes that he accidentally bumps into. But yeah. Yeah. So Billy, you're like. Peeking out. And it seems safe. You don't see anybody that seems to be looking for you. A couple of Jack the Rippers in that fog though. Yeah. There's a couple. People keep shooing them away. Oh, they be ripping. Get out of here, Ripper. So like basically like we've run away from the wedding.

We know that there's like shit going on with Callum who wants to. Find the Gibbous man. Find the Gibbous man. Yeah. So, and then you also learned from the, um, the, the, the like. Patron memories of hither and yon that if Callum kept hither and yon here, he's probably the only one that can release it. Right. So hither and yon is still stuck in the, in the fire fields. Specifically in Blacklass. Blacklass. You don't, it's not able to leave the boundaries of the city.

So like we have to make it so that Callum releases it. Yeah. Somehow. So we kind of have to go back. Yeah. Or confront him. Somehow. Yeah. Or come up with a plan of some sort. Yeah. Yeah. I feel like we do. We can take, we have a minute. We can take a minute to like come up with a plan and chill out for a second. Yeah. I mean, you can also leave hither and yon. Like you can leave the city full on. It's just, you wouldn't be able to bring the bar with you. I want to leave it here though. Yeah.

Feels fucked up. Yeah. We're not going to do that. Yeah. Hither and yon's looked up for us. We're going to look out for it this time. That's right. Yeah. And Mears, uh, puts his both hands on the bar when you say that and leans forward and is like, I really appreciate it. I really appreciate that. I really appreciate that. I want to help. If you need me to leave the bar to help you with this, I will. Ooh. Mears. I'm ready. Are you sure? We have the sword. Maybe the sword can help.

We do have the sword. Mears, you could, you could use the sword. Right. Cause it wouldn't touch your skin. Cause you have a metal hand. I do. Do we know if that has, is enough distance? What we, yeah. So that's why we think that what he was able to give Colm the sword, without it influencing him was his metal hand allowed him to touch it. Oh. Um. And also the hand is made out of magic, which is like. Yeah. It's magically animated. It doesn't really. Magic sort of like is a lube basically. Yeah.

It's like a, it separates the different demonic or spiritual demonic. Yeah. Iconic energies. Yeah. Like lube. Yeah. Like lube does. You know when you're greasing up your glasses and you need to. Yeah. For a rough and ready night. Yeah. For a rough and double night. It was a nitro cold brew kind of night. Yeah. It was just a nitro cold brew kind of night. Man, we have different nights.

Uh, Mears does say, okay, the one downside with that is my mechanical hand is my left hand and I am right handed. Mm-hmm. All right. Time for a montage. Are we doing like a Mulan training thing? Yes. Totally. Yeah. I was thinking an 80s kind of montage, but. 80s Mulan. Okay. So we're going to see Mears. Okay. Mears is going to get some. Fight training from tuck. Is that what we're thinking about here? I think it could be from all of us. All of us. Okay. Yeah. We're all pretty. Okay. War heavy.

So tables get pushed out of the middle. Yeah. Space is cleared. Screw. The drunk guy is still there, but he's just hanging out in the back. Yeah. Yeah. Way to go. He's got a big like wooden tankard of ale. You have a genius sitting with him. She hasn't left. They're betting. Yeah. Who's going to win. That's fun. They're betting. They're betting. The rules are so simple. Yeah. Just passing little coins back and forth. Okay. Mears drags the giant sword out from the back room. Yeah.

And it's encased in wax and then wrapped in saffron rope. So are we cracking it open? Not yet. Just the handle. Okay. Great. Oh, smart. Yeah. Very smart. Yes. Okay. Because also if we take it somewhere, we don't want anyone to see it. That's true. Oh, that's a good point. Yeah. Like don't reveal it until it's ready to be used. Yeah. Yeah. Very smart. That's a training sword. That's perfect. What does it look like? The sword? Does it look like a big old buster sword from Final Fantasy?

Is it one of those double blades that's got the gap inside? Oh, shit. That's cool. Double blade sword. It's kind of like a spawn style jagged edge on one side. Oh, sure. Yeah. Just because I pictured it so gross. Yeah. We've only described it as being a long two-handed sword. It is a long sword that you use with two hands. It's got cum gutters down the middle. Yeah, totally. Or whatever you call them on a sword.

It's got a double blade, and then it's got another blade that's serrated that goes out the other way. Oh, fuck. What? Where's that other blade go? It goes out. It goes out. Turkey blade. Yeah. I like the idea that it's got the separation between the two blades. I like that they're joined at the top. Yeah. Joined at the top for sure. For strength. Touching tips. Yeah. Yeah. So is it two of them? This? Like it's sharp? And then there's like the channel is missing. Yes. Totally.

The channel is negative. Yeah. The part where the blood- Come up with a sentence to describe this. Yeah. The part where it's designed for blood to run off of it is missing. Yeah. Yeah. And then it is an obsidian blade, so the edge is like snapped. So it's like razor sharp. It's like flinted. Oh, so it looks kind of pre-Stone Age kind of fucked up. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And the thing with obsidian- I've said this before. The thing with obsidian blades- Is they chip.

They're not as long-term strong, but they always keep an edge, because when they break, there's just another molecular edge on the other end. And when Colm would fight with it, the gap would make like- Oh, like a- Yeah. It's kind of- It's almost like a tuning fork. Yes. Like when he would hit something with it, it would be like- Yeah. So you could always tell where he was. What's the guard look like? Yeah. Good question. What- A wrought iron. Like rough- Sure, yeah. Rough old iron. Like pocked.

Yeah. Yeah. So maybe it's like a- You know when they just take iron and they twist it, so it has that kind of like- Ooh, yeah. Almost like a horn? Oh, yeah. So it's like two kind of horns. Yeah. I like that. Yeah. I pictured it with like a not straight top. Yeah, same. Oh, like an angled tip at the blade? Yeah. A hundred percent. That's cool. And you could always kind of tell where Colm was, because it was like- Yeah. You could hear the very unique sound of him fighting. Fighting.

Swinging it around. Yeah. And then a long handle with a big like iron weight. Oh, yeah. Maybe, and it's wrapped with something. Yeah, like a dark old worn leather wrapped around the handle, the hilt. Like black. Runes. Black leather. Runes in the leather. Sure. Worn. Worn. I think the pommel, I like that it's an iron weight, and I think there is an eye etched into it. Oh, so sick. So sick. But this, of course, is all concealed under- Yeah, exactly. Like the eye.

Or like bone inlay to make the whites of the eye. Oh, a bone inlay. Bone inlay in the engraving, so it's a white eye. White eye. That's really cool. White eye. Beautiful. Oh, yeah. Look how cool you look. This, of course, you cannot see because the sword is encased in a bed sheet. But we know it's there. Yeah. And then it's covered in like dripped wax, like orange tinted dripped wax. It looks like a big creamsicle.

Yeah, we're looking at it, and we're like, fuck, that thing looks so cool under all that cream. We're trying to tell Mirrors about how cool it looks underneath, and you wouldn't believe it. Just wait until we take it out of its wrappings. I'm going to- I'll trust you, I guess. I did hold it when it was a sword, but I didn't look at it, though. What did it feel like? Oh, really heavy. Cool. But you didn't feel an immense feeling of rage within you? No, no, no, no. Like a little bit of rage?

Well, actually, at the time, when Colm told me that it wasn't my sword and that I had to return it to him, I felt a sense of rage at myself. Whoa. Hmm. For having dishonored myself by stealing the sword. That was the honor. Yeah. It didn't feel good. I'm an honorable guy, I think. Yeah, look at this place. Yeah. I take honor in the quality of my bar, the comfortableness, the satisfying nature of my drinks. Francis is like, certainly good more.

Francis shoves himself out of the door in the back, squeezing through. Never. Never. Never. Never. Never. Never. Never. Never. Never. Never. Never. Never. There's a more honorable barkeep in all of the lands. He's wearing a bucket as a helmet. Ha ha ha ha. He's red. Are we going to battle? I would follow you to war at any day, provided it's not too far. Ha ha ha ha. He loses steam halfway to the fire. Yeah. He sits down. Yeah. It's quite warm here, I think. We'll all agree.

Victor comes and waits. Yeah. I would follow you to war. Yeah. Victor's looking outside the door. It's raining. He's going. Hmm.

I'm not going out there but not because I don't like it but because I choose not to if I were to go out which I could I would be fine it's just you're all in here and what if someone comes to kill you I'm going to uh sleep now and he lays his head on francis and starts snoozing away does the thing that dogs do where they put their chin up on something high yeah so cute his little tongue starts lolling out the side of his mouth oh yeah it's the size of a paperback book uh all right so a little montage for mirrors yes mirrors has barely left hither and yon in the time that he has been the barkeep yes um so mirrors and I are warming up by doing push-ups okay great jumping jacks and other activities billy sucks yeah I don't know why I did this to myself I think that billy's doing like his belly's always on the ground but he's doing doing this like out the ground up yeah like my smears yeah do a side plank and then he's like his belly's on the ground he's like it's just like a little it's like just a squish billy's just tilting back and forth do it like this yeah do a chin up and mirrors is like uh he mirrors is doing pretty good with the push-ups he's like ah but you hear like the all right and he like lifts his meat hand up and he's like check it out like jack palance and then he tries it with his other arm and he immediately face plants okay all right no that's fine that's good we're watching uh billy kind of like roll around and ving and I are like we gotta get his his sugar consumption under control I'm just like worried about his kidneys I feel like he's fatter than he's ever been do fairies have kidneys I don't know I don't know I don't know I don't know if billy's keeping that the body from getting diabetes or what I don't know I've never considered his organs before oh my god I'm terrified a parrot first I love the idea that throughout the show billy's just been like getting getting rounder and rounder I like to think he kind of goes yeah oh yeah yeah depending on his season and his mood yeah summer billy is like the call the skinniest he's ever been because he was sweating it all off yeah he's like the moon you know he goes through phases okay so push-ups complete he's warmed up what next do we see sword training okay so he's got the wax sword the waxed sword that's what we're using for mirrors is training yeah it's a two-handed sword you gotta grab it one-handed though you cannot put your meat hand on the sword oh I think you know what I think we might have said it's a bastard sword so it is like the hand and a half okay so he can use it one-handed but it is heavier than a normal sword uh so he's got it gripped in his metal fingers you hear the like clinking and creaking as they tighten around the hilt do you feel anything I feel powerful okay no no no just like normal sword power do you guys not feel this when you hold a sword oh oh yeah yeah yeah I just feel fucking ready to go okay good not slaughter power no just regular like and he starts like having around yeah yeah he smashes a sconce I'm gonna have to fix that later billy has laid up a few like empty barrels with little pumpkin heads oh yeah okay so okay what we're gonna do is some rolls that are your guys's tutelage you're gonna roll for the tutelage and that's gonna determine how well mirrors does in his training is it gonna make stats for him that's pretty fun I kind of want to make mirrors is in my head has always been the fighter so I kind of want to make him the fighter I think that would involve me having a character which is insane I I think it's fine yeah if we use it in a way that makes sense what hirelings there are there have always been things in this game called hirelings which are like people that you can have with you that have stats that can do stuff yeah man uh okay so how hirelings work is they have they have a loyalty stat and then they have a main skill and like secondary skills you start with a number which is like the spend between these things that is determined based on where you found them hirelings and villages start with two to five points that can be used for skills all the way up to city hirelings which are six to ten what do we think mirrors would be I think at this point six to ten six to ten okay and then so you separate those points between their skills and loyalty loyalty usually starts at around two I feel like mirrors is very loyal very loyal so maybe what do you want of those is it six or ten what do we think what's the what's the range for points and then you have maybe depending on our roles in this training that determines whether it's six seven eight nine or ten okay great oh yeah maybe it can go up or down yeah depending on how how well we trade okay so we're starting at six yes okay minimum minimum six yes okay so we have done the push-ups that was just a warm-up that was a warm did not count no did not count okay so mirrors is standing before three barrels with pumpkin heads on them have the pumpkin heads been made to look like yeah the black hammer twins callum yeah black hammer yep black hammer black hammer I I think one of the pumpkin heads I make into the gibbous man so I put like a little hat on him a little hat and a cape okay beautiful what's the tuck dressed one up yeah it's it's got lipstick yeah red long red hair yeah a red dress two smaller pumpkins below mirrors has to be ready to kill allison at a moment's notice yeah and then tuck goes if she ever tries to fuck ving you have to kill whoa what's the big thing turns around like what and whose pumpkin looks exactly like ving oh well now I regret making this there's just like a mop leaning up that's supposed to be vague and the third one looks like yeah okay great okay ving is leading mirrors through the this combat portion I feel like it would be because you're better at like weaponry yeah yeah so mirrors is swinging the sword experimentally in like a figure eight arc trying to you see him like kind of rolling his shoulders out and it's you're looking at mirrors who's like now 17 18 years old and you're like he's grown up into a fine young man you can see he's like getting kind of muscled he's got a little bit of weight on him because he spends most of his time in a pub eating chowder eating chowder but he's got some biceps on him yeah yeah and he's seen he looks like he's getting more comfortable so ving what are you how are you directing mirrors um I'm trying to tell him to be like water oh cool sword forms yeah going through his sword forms be like water and be like wood wood and water oh um the two things that we have most of in this bar yeah be flowy but strong and bend but not break beautiful so cool yeah that sounds like a wisdom roll yeah defy danger wisdom okay here we go I got five plus my wisdom is eight okay so that's a partial success which I think means one point increased is this a new day yeah I'd say yeah oh yeah you guys like rested up and now you're you're you've woken you can just roll your bones now it's a four oh nice beautiful so you got a four in reserve and for the next one you're going to be like a listener ving now has a move called throw me a bone which allows him to give someone else his what the bones know it's a good name yeah I like it that's a great name throw me a bone uh okay so mirrors listens to the yeah give me give me a bit of the speech here that be like water be like wood speech yes uh it's soft flowing turbulent calm deep when as you're doing that we're trying to make water noises so we're going I flush a toilet splashing water on him and we've got the the barrels on wheels so like we're kind of pushing them around like like waves a bit and he's like the water forms to the environment but also creates its environment spend too long in an environment and you will make it deeper worn to your experiences and mirrors is going through different movie he's swinging the sword preparing himself stealing himself for the strike and he lunges forward just a little off target but he like clips the side of the pumpkin like cleaves off kind of an angled piece of the first one of the gibbous man the hat goes flying across the room and be rigid like the woods and he uh stabs again he kind of turns and thrusts once more gets a little more in the center kind of stabs the allison pumpkin through the eye how dare you but as he as he pulls it back no allison you had so little time he's trying to put the seeds back in and you can see like the the obsidian of the blade is like starting to cut through the waxed canvas as he swings it around and he spins to the last pumpkin the ving one hold and he stops waiting be like the woods he breathes in he breathes out let the water the movement nourish your moves the woods cannot be separated you see him start to tense up his legs his a And he stands there.

Pretty good. That was great. We all clap. Remember. Thank you. Remember my words. Oh, I will. And he kind of slumps onto a stool at the bar and leans back. Yeah, I grab a rag and I'm wiping his forehead. You're standing on the bar next to him wiping his forehead. That's great. Great. So now because of Ving's tutelage, Mears now has seven points to distribute as a hireling. So what's the next step in Mears' training? How does Tuck try and get Mears? So we single spotlight. The bar's in blackout.

Yeah, yeah. There's steam on the ground. Okay, yeah. The door's cracked open, so there's steam from outside pouring in. Steam from outside getting inside. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Outside steam is now inside. Outside steam is inside now. Wow. Wow. Yeah. You're letting all the steam in. There's a guy outside like, you gotta pay for that steam. Shut up. What are you, born in a spa? What were you, born in a spa? Close that door. I'm not trying to steam the inside. I slam the door.

I gotta wear clothes right now. The only light is single spotlight. Yeah. We establish the spotlight. On who? On Mears. Okay. Okay. Yeah. Tuck's like, it's mine. No, it's not your head. Sword nearby? Is it like sword gripped in two hands in front of him? I smack his hands. One hand. Okay. All right. All right. Right, right, right. Never hold the sword with the second hand. Okay. And I disappear into the darkness. Now I'm over here. That's what I do. I come up behind him. Now I'm over here.

I love now I'm over here so much. You can just hear Tuck like. Table creaks like a vase falls. Bunch of stools. Fucking move. Watch it, my boy. You stepped in my tail. Now here. Yeah, you're over there. And I go, one hand. Hold it out. And I make him hold it out straight. Oh, I like this. Yeah. Horizontal. And I go, that sword is a bastard sword. And I disappear into the darkness again. And then from echoing you here, like you. What? What? You met my dad. But not your mom. Yeah, they were.

All right. Now your mom's over here. Marriage is a more malleable thing in the in the in Mudlark. It's not. All right. A bastard wields a sword two handed because it's his arm is not strong enough to hold it one handed. You do not have the benefit of the two handed grip. You have to be strong. Strong enough to hold it with one hand. His eyes narrow. Yeah. With effort. You see his hand kind of shaking a little bit. It's quivering. A bead of sweat starts to fall down from his hairline.

And then I go, Mirs, what is the secret to my strength? Your strength? You're huge. And then I pop out from underneath him and I go, nah. And I sleep back into the darkness. And the tip of the sword falls for a moment. He lifts it back up. I go, tell me, what is the secret to my strength? Yeah. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. Your fearlessness? Closer. You don't care what anybody says or thinks about you? Closer. Your arm.

And I go, okay, I'm going to stop making you guess. I would appreciate that. I go, the secret to strength, all strength, is not letting the world tell you what you can and cannot do. Strength of arm and strength of mind are the same thing. Cool. That sword won't drop because you will not let it drop. And his arm is like. Still shaking. Yeah. It shakes less. It shakes a little bit less. Yeah. This feels like charisma. Yeah. This feels like a rousing speech. Yeah.

And Tuck is basically telling him, you choose how strong you are. Yeah. When a battle gets hard, you get harder. When evil comes, you come harder. When the enemy is huge, you get bigger. You don't need two hands. You get hard with one hand. You get hard with one hand. And you'll get it done with just one hand. Mirrors is nodding, sweat pouring down his face. Please let this work. Is nine. Nine. Ooh. Ooh. I'll help you. Yes. Um. Oops. How are you helping? Okay, seven. Ooh. Okay, great.

Mirrors, your mind must bend like wood, but your will must be strong like iron. He sees like a little. Billy in his head. Say that. Yeah. Billy appears. Yeah. In the spotlight. And then I drift away. It's just being holding. It's pretty amazing. I'm holding. Be strong like iron. Vig is in the rigging at the. Yeah. Is dangerous. And you see slowly. The shaking hand ceases shaking the blade straight and strong. How heavy is the sword? The sword is as heavy as I decide it is.

The tip rests on the horizon. Oh, that's so cool. That's so fucking cool. Vig. That was really cool. Guys, all three of the stuff that you, the stuff that all three of you said was really cool. It's really fucking cool. It's really cool. Can I, can I put this down now? Oh, I don't know. Fuck. I was going to say that. He comes in with a flying elbow. And slams his hard as he can on his wrist. Oh yeah. Oh, and what happens? The arm is unmoved. Whoa. Now you can put it down. Oh, thank God.

He slumps on the stool again. Oh, thank you. Yeah. Uh, Effie and the drunk guy start clapping. Yeah. Way to go. My boy. You're looking fine. Now I'll have another one. The drunk guy is clapping for service. He's crying. Yeah. Oh. What's going on? I'm thirsty over here. You're about done with your little thing. But he's also crying. Yeah. He's crying. He's just like me dad. He's like watching me dad train. When I was just a boy. Which is like me dad.

He was the finest bad-knuckle boxer in all of black class. He was the strongest man I ever seen. He was killed in one punch. In his first fight. The strongest man I've ever known. Killed in a single punch. He was a good guy. He was a good guy. He was a good guy. He was a good guy. He was a good guy. He was a good guy. He was a good guy. He was a good guy. He was a good guy. He was the strongest man I've ever known. Killed in a single punch. That was my dad.

Never did anything by half measures, including dying. Okay. So we're going to sit with a 10 plus. That's two points. Two points. Fuck yeah. Rudy, cool. So the thing is that Mears is now at nine points to be distributed. Nine points. Wow. Nine good points. Shit. Fuck yeah. That was really sick. That was super sick. Thank you guys for your help. Yeah. Well done everybody. That was gorgeous. It's dark. Only spots lit by a few candles. Ooh. The spot goes out. Flames flicker around.

Yeah, the spotlight goes out and all the candles woof. This time, Mears, you must learn when to move, when to run. I drift in and out of the candles. Cool. Is that a song? Did you just blow that out? You just hear me try to light a match? Okay. It is cool to be like, when to fight and when to run.

Disappears yeah and so this this training session is to get mirrors to learn how like dodge in the dark oh cool oh sick you must mirrors you must always be one step ahead of your enemy okay and then I I bring down a big broom oh and he like tries to jump to the side but he gets he's clipped on the shoulder yeah one step ahead mirrors and he's you can see billy can see him in the in the kind of half darkness of the the candles he's like stepping slowly but clumsily it's been a while so you're like still your breath still it okay do you need a break my cardio's not so good billy's also breathing everyone's breathing like tuck around the fuck dude is everybody in this room asleep wait does everyone have apnea except for me it's all the steam in the room yeah close your eyes mirrors and trust your ears and I bring the broom down again where's it coming we got horizontal vertical from below below so he he hears like the shuff of the the bristles on the the bottom of the broom that you're swinging touch the ground and leaps up but it kind of clips his right ankle oh okay I can do this and that yeah so we're gonna do I think this sounds like dexterity to me I think so 2d6 plus dexterity seven plus two is nine all eight yes okay so what's this last one he's starting you can see him like he's got the sword up it's in like a fighting stance kind of horizontally across his body and he is closed his eyes yeah and now he's relying purely on on hearing oh maybe that's what you do you blow the rest of the candles oh it causes a little gust around the room this circles the room puts all the candles out I got nine okay that makes sense makes this a 10 this makes this a 10 makes it a 10 so what's this last total darkness yeah billy's well used to moving in pitch black it is silent remember before there was like the bristle oh the bristles on the ground yeah now it's totally quiet and I as quiet as I can try to like hit mirrors in the back with like the non-brush and yeah totally oh and billy feels the sword like the blunt end of the sword touch his face oh as billy's going in for the stab yeah you hear like a the the rustle of fabric and you feel the this flat of the blade touch your cheek he flows like water yeah arms strung his eye yeah bending like wood there you are and you just hear you've done it mirrors you've done it my boy oh my god I did it and he reaches down he picks billy up and all the candles candles light back up and the the bar is illuminated it's so bright but mirrors has uh mirrors has billy under one arm and then has the sword in the other hand you're the best okay you know what I said that a 10 plus is two points that means mirrors has 11 points 11 points to distribute we put in a lot of work into this npc you did absolutely it's been seven years this is payoff this is 100 payoff man mirrors was introduced seven years ago wow yeah it's just a ragamuffin on the streets of mudlark he was like third episode yeah I picked him up as soon as we got into town and screamed in his face you sure did you sure did I was trying to think it was like when it was the first scene yeah that's the scream in the face kid yeah so now mirrors is officially a hireling your first ever hireling wow which means you have points to distribute as we discussed yes the first thing you got to consider is loyalty loyalty it goes from zero to around four probably anything higher than that and then you have to distribute it to the next person that is probably quite rare well five loyalty would mean we would never fail yeah because we could always get it yeah that's not allowed yeah I think four is the max uh and his loyalty will go up and down depending on events okay yeah four is really high I shouldn't be allowing this but I'm going to we have seven points you can take stuff back if you want no four four because it's still possible to fail yeah and it's possible to get a seven to nine but it also makes sense because mirrors would never abandon no he would never abandon it if he didn't he would never abandon it just turn tail and run from you guys yeah uh so with that that means that you have seven more points to distribute amongst the various skills four more in loyalty the remaining three in loyalty in warrior and we could do like three in protector or something is it what's up what are the stars are there skills within warrior some of them do have multiple things they're used for but it's just the stat so it's like you're putting it in warrior or tracker or priest oh like for tracker for example there's track and guide which are both things they can do I think it's warrior and protector would make would be the two that makes sense to me yeah so you have you have seven points so it's what four in warrior and three in protector yeah okay what is priest can you just read that yeah totally um like would it work for a patron what would a priest a good barkeep is kind of like a priest yeah yeah so priests are the the skills they have are ministry when you make camp with a priest if you heal you heal plus that skill so like hither and yanni you have a higher amount of sense yeah you get a higher amount of hp and then first aid when a priest staunches your wounds heal two times that skill oh you know what I do like priest better than protector yeah it does make more sense warrior priest too that's cool all right so mirrors now is a hireling with loyalty four what he which he rolls whenever he's like asked to go help in a dangerous situation to see if he does warrior four which means when he is helping you fight you deal additional four or he deals at four damage while he's helping you and priest which means that he can heal an additional amount based on his skill cool so mirrors is there we see him he's now got like I've seen maybe I've seen art of this or maybe it's just what I'm thinking but I like the idea that his metal hand like he's got armor plates that go up the rest of his arm so he's got one arm that's like covered in armor and that's the arm that he uses the sword in are we cracking it open no we're leaving it covered so we can get out I think we're leaving it covered so we can get out of it covered for now because also like uh it's probably basically like a beacon of demonic energy right and might help callum track you down right yeah okay cool yeah how does mirrors carry it I think it's over his back yeah it's over his back so mirrors has like the sword is leaning up against the bar he's pouring drinks for everybody and and ladling out some food all right all right he holds up his hands thank you everybody thank you okay what's the plan then so the plan now is to go find callum and make him either release the bar or remove whatever iconic influence he has so that he does not have like remove the icon of tyranny yeah he cannot keep the bar here that's priority number one right yeah that sounds sounds about right okay should we reach out to the gang to the gang the brass castle oh right good yeah what's going on with them what if they're still trapped in the hospital I mean trapped in the castle yeah we could go by uh the what is it the yawning goat the yawning goat yeah the yawning goat hub we could go by there great so mirrors puts on a cloak he's got a his old traveling cloak that it looks like he's um altered quite a bit as he's gotten taller and bigger so there's like there's a whole panel that's added along the bottom um he straps that on he's got his armor down one arm he puts his hair down and he's like oh my god I'm gonna be like oh my god I'm gonna be like a little like kind of small ponytail because it's quite long now so he's got the little like bob of uh the little ball of curly hair tied up at the back and he takes a deep breath shoes that drunk guy out and remember the hither and yon is here and he taps on his chest okay you are the hither and yon it goes where you go mirrors you're right you're right you're right and he takes a deep breath and he steps through the door you you can hear him on the other side you have passed the test the fourth test amazing reflexes amazing reflexes mirrors you've passed jesus christ I was waiting outside for like 40 minutes it took you guys so long to leave fuck what I'm missing totally soaked it's so steamy out here my duster is soaked your beard is like frizzed up from the steam and it's so full of drips yeah and it's like the water's gotten underneath the leather duster so it's all and I walk you here creak creak so chafey under there okay and he opens the door slowly peeking out all right he's looking at tuck expectantly time to get going okay and he steps out onto the street closes the door locks and you feel like you're in a room where there's no one in the room you feel like you're in a room where there's no one in the room for like your proximity to the door you feel like a like a thunk kind of through the air yeah as the door locks and it's it all of a sudden becomes hard to focus on hither and yon yeah like that yeah our attention like slips off of it tuck tries to read the sign and it's just like it's like the second you read it you just forget what it said yeah yeah yeah beautiful and he puts his hood up and kind of closed like closes his cloak around the front you can see the sword sticking out of like the folded back he's trying to keep it out of sight a little bit yeah we put um cloth around the handle because it's a very distinct it is yeah the eye pommel yeah oh you gotta cover that thing yeah yeah uh and he puts a little pumpkin on it nothing draws attention away from a sword like a little pumpkin sitting on it you know what makes sense here it's kind of spooky yeah uh and you you head out into the eerily quiet streets of black glass city it's gentrified so all the like pubs and stuff that used to be here closed down they're closing down and even then like the day that you have spent in hither and yon off the streets you you are walking through the uh the narrow cobbled roads of steam haven and your footsteps are like echoing more kind of like click click and there's not that very many people on the street is it quieter than it was earlier absolutely but to certain realities yeah go ahead 2d6 plus wisdom uh yeah 11 11 three questions off the list uh which would be on the lookout for you are walking around like the mist and the steam from the conduits is like filling the streets everything's still lit by gas lamps the smog over the city blocks out the sun um but you see like a a figure at the intersection of the road up ahead one of the main thoroughfares cutting off the street that hither and yon has layered within and they're kind of shuffling a little bit hunched over you hear the sound of fine heeled shoes clattering on the cobbles and as you get closer you see very fine party wear and a black leather masquerade mask oh and they're just kind of lurching down the street oh fuck looking around it's the zombies from the wedding it's the weird effect it's still it's still persisting yeah what's about to happen uh you hear like from an alley ahead you kind of like duck behind a pile of crates you hear from an alley ahead like a struggle you hear like shouting screaming and then you see someone you see a group of figures dragging another out of an alleyway all of the people doing the dragging fine dark party wear leather masquerade masks and they take them down the street and they're struggling and shouting like help no help me what's useful or valuable here above on a like the street is a little bit and a gas lamp illuminates written on a brick wall in a mixture of like dark red almost like wine and a sort of sweet smelling paste almost like a wedding cake you see written on the walls you are cordially invited oh fuck dragging everyone to the wedding oh fuck is that you think they're going they're taking them to the wedding they must be can we quietly follow down that alleyway like out of sight oh yeah you can follow this happening yeah totally health yeah yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes We can all sneak.

We've got the element of distance. There's something really wrong with this town. Usually I'd let you go, but I am really scared of this town. But what if I'm really chill about it? Really? What if I promise I won't follow more than the end of the alley? I'll just take a look at what's going on. Buddy, this isn't about you. This is about us. We're too afraid to let you go alone. Fine. Is this a situation in which we might be rolling Mirrors' loyalty? Yes.

Asking him to follow these terrifying masquerade zombies. Screaming person being dragged away. Do I roll it? Yeah, you do it. You roll. Sean, roll. Your dice. My dice. I never get to use my dice. Here we go. These are mine, baby. Okay, 2d6 plus 4. So on a 7 to 9, they do it for now, but come back with serious demands later. And I think we'll figure out what that means. Because it says meet them or the hireling quits. On the worst terms, which I don't think.

Mirrors isn't going to walk out on you guys. First time out of the box. No. Unless he's like, I'm staying here until you come back. Yeah, it could just be he's unwilling to do it. Yeah, he just like turns and picks a random door and opens it and hither and yon is there. See ya. And he slams the door. Yeah, exactly. All right. I'm rolling dice. Yay. This feels weird. I don't like it. Ooh, 7. Or 8. So that is an 8. Good. So Mirrors, this makes sense. His first time out of the box.

He takes a deep breath. Are we? We're going to roll. We're going to follow whatever this is. This is outside the box, man. Okay. Remember, the world doesn't tell you how scared you are. You decide how scared you are. I'm so fucking scared. I'm so fucking scared right now. You made that decision. That's okay, though. Okay. All right. We're all scared. We're all a little bit scared. Except for me. Except for Tarkin. Except for Tarkin. I'm going to do this. I'm just going to hang back a little bit.

That's what I'm going to do. I'm going to hang back. Good. You watch our butts. I'll watch the butt. I'll watch your butts. Okay. Okay. And he starts creeping along. All right. So we're rolling 2D6 plus dexterity because everybody's going together. I got nine. Oh, I got also nine because I have a negative one. Excellent. I'm going to switch out my two with a four. So I got 10. Okay. Great. So I think the 10. Okay. So what do we think the nines here are? Because they are partial successes.

Unless you guys are aiding each other to try and. Oh, yes. Let's aid each other. Oh, yeah. You guys can aid each other. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Let's aid each other. We've never done it like this. Please. Eight. Seven. Okay. We're pep talking ourselves. It's okay if you're a little scared, Tuck. You can just admit it. You know what, Pilly? If that's what you need to hear for you to feel okay, that's fine. I admit I'm scared all the time. It's time for you to be brave and admit you're scared.

You're a little scared. You're on my shoulder and then quietly in the fog I go, I'm a little bit scared. Good job. Good job. I'm proud of you. Thank you. And you steal each other's nerves in this horrifying moment. So you follow. You're just straight up following this like struggling and which is honestly probably a smart move. You realize as you creep down these cobbled streets and as we walk, we hear echoing through the steam pipes. The like. Yeah. The. The like orchestra. Oh, creepy.

The clockwork orchestra. Oh, okay. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. There's a steam. There's a scream, but it's also covered by a howling steam and you can't tell if it's steam or scream. This city is an organism. Yeah. This is. I like this. So as you're following, you see more people coming out of alleys and homes and shops, all masked and in fine clothes, dragging people with them. Some of them unconscious.

Some of them a little worse for wear and all moving towards the palace at the center of the city. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

And as you're creeping along you hear that like near near like beautiful string orchestra music but then you hear it like getting louder and you hear a clattering like wood and brass on stone and you glance up for just a moment and you see like a flurry of limbs and music creep across skitter across the rooftops what the mechanical dais it's moving it's like turned into a full like mechanical spider piping everyone home it's just like the the strings will gather like the bone white violins we see like flashes of them oh yeah yeah and you glance up as there is a crescendo of strings above you and between the gaps in the buildings clattering across the rooftop you see a tangle of wooden and brass limbs and bone white instruments and the clockwork orchestra crawls from roof to roof and you see like a clattering of strings and music creep across the roof like some sort of horrid spider oh that's so creepy like that it passes over like steam vents and they they like oh yeah it captures the music and sends it through the streets oh yeah but you see these masked people the the member the uh participants in the masquerade ball are taking people to the palace you know that's the direction they're going before you even have the palace in sight what do you do what do we do stay out of sight do we join the party and we're going to the palace and we're going to the palace and we're going to the in the floor do we break off from it we should put our masks on we yeah we should do that should put something on yeah yeah so you're putting the masks that you wore uh to the ball back on and trying to just do the like walking dead like yeah we drag part of this okay oh pretend like you're scared okay no problem act scared uh okay this might also be a role to not uh get the attention of the masquerade participants yeah I think so yeah it's like a play you're performing yeah uh-oh uh-oh 11 8 5 so how does this look you're like putting all your masks on and going like yeah and then mirrors is like getting on the ground like getting dragged oh no you gotta stop please actually I think maybe we should stop maybe we should maybe stop maybe stop and you turn back and mirrors is looking at a with the figure that you saw in the movie 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 I'm so scared I'm so scared I'm so scared I'm so scared I'm so scared at the intersection who's like emerged from an alley nearby because you see it's the same like it's like a horse like a black leather horse mask and he's looking at us he's looking right at you from the side yeah yeah totally you see like the head tilted yeah like some sort of horrible animal and you see this like bulging eye you peeking out from the mask and they start lurching towards you what do you do we should try to get into one of these doors tuck kicks a door behind him and then like wraps the duster around everyone and then like shuffles the ball yeah totally uh 2d6 plus strength to kick this door open uh yeah so it's 15 so you can kick this door off the hinges if you want uh I don't want to draw attention to us I want to kicking the door open so you're drawing attention I want to silently and strongly okay so what we're seeing is tuck like he you move up against the door yeah and like just shove it really quick you know like kind of a one inch punch kind of thing yes and you feel the lock shatter on the inside yes and the door opens up uh into what what do we think this is bakery a bakery it's like a big mill inside yeah like the old style bakeries yeah yeah you grind your own flour yeah there's like wheels that are just still moving yeah yeah so there and there's a smell of like fresh milled flour in the air footprints and drag marks and flour on the floor oh yeah yeah that's great and the like cake is smeared on the walls in here and it it still says you are cordially invited and there's an rsvp check yes or no yeah we should move these like I start trying to move the flour sacks up against the door I help billy push them push them up against the door yeah grinder up against a big stone grinder yeah and as you kind of pile all this stuff against the door you hear like rattling on the other side and then like slamming into the door and through the window like you know the it's got the old-timey victorian style glass with like the bull's eyes so it's not super clear yeah but you see this distorted horse face poke out of the glass the eye bulging through up up up on the roof okay uh you move up the staircase this like rickety wooden staircase there's a baker would have lived yes the loft oh yeah and this door is like off the hinges and you see like a tossed room inside yeah signs of a clear struggle yeah the mattress has been pulled off the bed yeah you can see like nail gouges in the ground oh you know what and I think just to add a little bit of urgency to the scene there's like flickering flames from a lantern that was knocked over there is a fire in this room you start feeling the smoke in your eyes and your lungs can we put it out you can try for sure I want to try and put the fire out uh this would be what do we think dexterity yeah sure I got three oh god holy shit so you are putting you're trying to put out this fire you're like summoning moisture which is really tough from this area because there's already a fire oh it's the flower the flower dried out the flower when you know when air aerate flower and then it engulfs yeah totally oh so the shit you hear like a downstairs is like there's a shattering window um and it opens up a gust of wind a flower on the floor and you hear like a wolf from downstairs and you see like the light grow in flames is the fire coming is it like an explosion where the fire's coming up I think it's starting to climb up the staircase for sure this building's now on fire flower is explosive can we get up under the roof let's try it okay okay yeah you see so yeah roll dexterity for speed because you see at the base of the stairs a figure engulfed in flame black leather horse mask burning holy shit it's like a horse of the apocalypse yeah holy crap this is this is like death billy throws a chair through a window we're going up there you threw it through this window there's like a little balcony and billy's already climbing onto it like let's go all right 2d6 plus dexterity for everyone I rolled a 10 great yeah that chair's through a window billy summons an ungodly strength it was a it was like a full-size chair it was huge yeah how the fuck did he do that uh seven okay I got six oh shit nine okay thank you beautiful I think like things like I can fix it I can put the fire out yeah and I just like grab your hem I'm like no we gotta go yeah yeah and you just you you climb through the window that billy smashed with the chair onto like a balcony you know those like enclosed balconies where it's like a balcony but then like brick walls that go like up to the roof yeah it's like a little uh courtyard kind of thing but you cut your hand on the on the glass of the window I rolled a d4 two two damages you you cut your hand on the glass and tuck you are like coming back down the stairs as you realize that's just not the way up mirrors kind of gets tangled in you as because he was falling you pretty close yeah he was in my dust and he turns and the uh flaming burning masquerade dancer grabs mirrors at the top of the stairs back is on fire and yeah and mirrors is like ah I grab mirrors all right 2d6 plus strength yeah nine okay yeah so I aid okay yeah how do you aid I'll throw uh the chair back in at the horse hell yeah the chair back in eight okay great so that makes that a 10 you're like struggling with this burning man strangely strong and uh you're pulling mirrors away you get mirrors out of the guy's grip and he's like kind of pulling you back into the fire like he's trying to drag you outside I like the thing says mirrors you are water yeah he like just drops and drifts out of this guy's grip and he's yeah but it feels like this guy's trying to drag you outside not realizing that the lower level is engulfed in flames right and you see more figures coming through the fire and then a chair out of left frame just smashes into the guy and sends him down the stairs yeah and then tuck goes chairs to meet you friend and billy ving and mirrors are all on the balcony outside the window like come on yeah he he does he does a cool barrel roll over the window still cuts up his shoulder and you you know boost you know getting up to the roof is not a challenge yeah you boost yourselves up I push everyone up and then just pull myself up smoke is starting to pour out of the broken window but you're now on the rooftops of black glass yeah should we should we run yeah try and get to the next building parkour you guys are jumping across I think we have to all right you said they're all very cool I think we have to all right I think we have to all right I think we have to all right they're very close they're quite close yeah who knows what can happen for sure yeah totally you said that that you said that an orchestra you said that a mechanical orchestra could get across yeah giant mechanical spider so it's kind of pretty much like that we have the same jumping ability as a giant mechanical orchestra yeah made of metal and wood we could do all right we could do this how are you guys doing this you're just running and jumping parkouring yeah yeah parkour billy do you want me to throw you yeah probably okay uh okay so strength yes I'm gonna run and jump so strength strength and billy's getting thrown so maybe dexterity to like land here we go 12 9 7 I footballed yeah okay so yeah billy sails across perfect spiral yeah hits like a like a clay um chimney pipe and just like slams right onto it like one of those garfields in the back window of a car in the 90s yeah hell yeah buddy so what are your partial successes here as you leap through the window of a car in the 90s yeah I'm gonna run and jump I'm like fearful of that like the fire is licking at my back yeah and I like I'm a little too quick so maybe I don't land right or something sure yeah yeah do you and do you hurt yourself or do you think you lose something yeah I'll take some pain all right uh d4 it's a partial success two again two yeah you roll your ankle pretty bad dang uh tuck what about you uh I don't know what do you think I think either the fire continues to spread or the orchestra knows you're up here yeah I will let it be dealer's choice okay so I jump do you land cool I don't know do I land cool I think you do I try to I I jump and I fan the fucking yeah the the duster out and you land in like a cool like batman pose and I have tlc on my back yeah and I'm like terry let it ride and then it and then the crystal on the back just goes like so bright purple light wow stealth pierces the night absolutely I am the night spider absolute perfect stealth he's never called himself the night spider once I don't know why he's doing it now doesn't even really I mean that other thing is the night spider clearly you got that idea from that other thing he saw the other thing and then he had spider in his head and you land on the other side in a perfect stance somebody draw this and you start as you're standing there everybody sees things or tuck start sliding back as the shingles that he landed on come loose I grab them just strings I try and hold on yeah 2d6 plus strength oh no no totally miss five okay oh can I use my plus one from acting on my discerning realities from a thousand moves okay yeah but let's try and keep them in life and I can aid okay yeah yeah 2d6 plus bond let's try and keep these timely next time seven okay seven so seven to nine okay so as tuck is falling I go thing get tough hold on and then hold on to billy yeah I'm already wrapped around the chimney yeah yeah and mirrors his metal hand like locks around billy's belt and grabs onto ving and you like like all of you like funk funk funk your arms are outstretched and you grab the the back of the duster so I'm hanging like a cat yeah and as you're all hanging here narrowly escaping the flames are beginning to fully engulf the bakery across the across the alley I look into the windows of the bakery as I hang here and you see figures in masks and finery burning looking around finding no one and then heading back downstairs and as you're hanging here you hear the noise of the bakery and you hear the strings the orchestra has arrived text rights try to scrabble and that's where we're gonna end it that's where we're gonna end it for this episode I'm your game master Sean O'Hara joining me as always tacoma dome the barbarian abdulaziz pull me up being the half-elf druid Paul Oppers you're so heavy and fat billy the halfling thief just could die right now everyone knows we're here thank you so much to all of our supporters around the world uh if you want us to support the show and get access to bonus audio content like outtakes and level ups and all of the end of session questions uh we're releasing those in a deluge now so you're gonna love them uh or the up-to-date mall breaths feed with everything that we've recorded and released thus far you can find us at patreon.com slash Spout Lore or speller.com slash money please and thank you to aaron reed for our intro and outro music aaron for my money is one of my favorite people in the world and I'm my favorite performers just in general including music and if you want to listen to his original music you can find that at aaronreed.bandcamp.com and the music produced for the show composed by aaron written by the cast in general you can just find that you know what google spout lord soundtrack it's available everywhere available everywhere everywhere yeah we just released the little baby song yes yeah as a single yep beautiful music which you can find online 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 times of rest in revelry and though our journey may be like a conclusion we will not leave you without a resolution return next week to hear some more whilst you commute or do your chores and for you I gladly spelt

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 half-elf, he shifts his shape and wields a spear with great might. Billy's a thief, his tiny size does mask the largest heart.

Best and brightest they may not be, but their friendship outweighs their smarts. So gather round friends and listen close, for the tale's about to start. Hello everybody and welcome to Spout Lore. I'm your Game Master, Sean O'Hara. Joining me as always, playing Tacoma Dome the Barbarian. Abdul Aziz. Hello. Playing Ving the Half-Elf Druid, Paul Oppers. Hi. And playing Fat Billy, the Halfling Thief, Jessica Tai. Hello. When last we left our heroes, they were doing a little spying. Mm-hmm.

In preparation for the wedding between Callum Blackhammer and Victoria LeBlanc, so-called, quote, quote-unquote. Someone farted really loud outside. Someone farted. It wasn't me this time. It was really loud. Do you think it's that same person who farts in our hallway? No, that's Paul. That's me. No, no. There was… It's Paul, but also, we've heard it before from someone. We have heard it before. There's all those moms and dads in there. Somebody's got to come over here to fart.

Someone's coming over here to fart. Yeah. Walking around the corner thinking there's nobody here, ripping a fart. Maybe they know we're recording and they're like, this is great. I'm going to get on that podcast. I just love that Paul saw the room full of people and was like, I'll wait until I'm in the hallway before I fart. And then farted so loud. I came in and you were all looking at me. You had headphones on. Yeah, we heard it. Through the mic. We just heard that. That's what we heard.

Through the mic. Oh, my tummy. Sorry, I ate so much pizza really fast. Okay. What if you get pizzeria? I probably will. Do you need Tums? No, never. As part of those preparations, Tacoma Dome, the barbarian, decided to spy upon the chambers of Victoria LaBlanche simply in an attempt for her to see him. Looking cool, I guess. Yes. I was trying to wrong foot her. Yeah, because Tuck's plan was if she sees me and I look hot enough, I'll ruin their wedding. Yeah.

She won't be able to hold it together, I think. Yeah, totally. Because everybody gets cold feet on their wedding day. Everyone's looking to bolt. He keeps saying that. Everyone's looking to bolt and then they just don't because someone blocked their truck in. They got double parked so they couldn't do it. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Everyone's looking to do it. And then they got double parked that one time. Black Tacoma got double parked.

They got double parked by Aaron's shitty cousin. You had three weddings. Yeah. That happened to you three times? I got double parked every time. Every time. He's going to run. He's got a runner written all over his face. Yeah. Oh, cool. Leave that in. I dare you. I will. Double parked. I will. I will. This had questionable effect, but what we did learn. Is that Victoria LaBlanche was getting changed in front of the window. Yeah. Deliberately. Yeah.

But also kind of showing it, but kind of not showing it because we're a family podcast. Totally. Sort of. Doink. Oh, Ving saw that Callum Blackhammer's demonic presence is sort of orchestrating slash puppet mastering the weird tension that lies over Black Glass. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Carrying a container with inks and also a very ancient tooth and bone knife. From there, we jumped to the party itself where the crew immediately began causing trouble in their attempt to create a distraction as part of their deal with the Brass Castle gang. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. And then Billy slipped off into the darkness, doing a little bit of sneaking and spying himself.

Billy ran into a member of the Brass Castle gang who directed him to Callum's office on the second floor. Tuck and Vang headed themselves to the ballroom and spied the grand, grand decorations of the place. Yeah. Tuck became overwhelmed by the presence of Callum Blackhammer, who appeared to zero in on Tuck. Sexually overwhelmed. Sexually pretty overwhelmed. Yeah, Tuck was sexually overwhelmed by Callum Blackhammer.

And Vang realized that the ceremony that had been set up uses an altar that the Medjay used in the ritual in which they stole his shapeshifting away. And that the decorations themselves were arranged in a reflection of the constellations of the Outer Dark and also of the Spirit Realm. Billy overheard a conversation between Callum. And Victoria LaBlanche in which they described something that would be taking place very soon. A ceremony after the wedding. Yeah.

And that after that, they would be like gods. Yeah. Tuck took a peek around and realized that if they were to attempt to bind something both iconic and spiritual of significant power, the only thing Tuck could think of that made sense was the Gibbous Man himself. And that is where we find our heroes now. So bad. This is really bad. This is really bad. Tuck is saying it to Vang. He's like grabbing him. Do you know what they're doing? Vang, this is really bad.

I think they're trying to bind the Gibbous Man. What can we do? What do we… We have to stop this. We can't let this happen. If he gets hold of this power, this party, this union, we're screwed. There's no stopping him. Can we hypothetically destroy the altar or the ink or the knives that they use? Yes. I don't think there's anything in this world that we can't destroy. Okay. That's a very good point. Fucking love you so much. You look really good tonight. Thanks. You look beautiful. Thank you.

All right. Let's go fuck up some stuff. We just run over and we smash the altar. Is that your plan? I think we probably want to get to it kind of slowly. Sure, yeah. Creep slowly towards it. Oh, yeah. We don't have anything that we can smash that with. Yes. Yeah, that's true. Yeah. Yeah, so we'll cut back to Billy. What is Billy doing? Can you remind me what they were talking about in there? So they're like, Victoria's got beef with Tuck still. Yep.

Seems like she's interested in settling a score. They're going to do their wedding first and then this ceremony. Yes. And then he said, and then we will be like gods. Yes. And then you notice because Billy peeked through the keyhole slash under the door and noticed that Victoria had fresh tattoos. Right. Her back of tattoos. Yeah. Okay. So Billy is like, wow, I've heard enough. I know exactly what's going on here. Goodbye. I don't know if I still have these on me, but I had to blow darts.

So your plan here was to try and paralyze Victoria and. I just thought I was like, they're right there. Yeah. They're still making out. They're vulnerable. Yeah. They're not expecting this. Because they're making out. Kind of makes you sick. Yeah. It's gross to look at. For sure. They're bumping around in there now. They're clanging into some stuff. Yeah. They're like, oh, I'm going to do this. I'm going to do this. I'm going to do this.

They're like slamming into the desk and like moving across the room, slamming into a bookshelf, rubbing up against, rubbing butts against different stuff. Are they coming near the door? I could try and get their heels. Oh, you're good. So you're going to try and poison these guys. Yeah. So you'd have to, you'd have to roll some sort of defy danger to get close enough that you could do this. With death poison? No. The, the, the blow darts were the, the snake one. Harp snake venom. Yeah.

Ah, yes, yes, yes. Which I think you might've said you gave back to Ving. I think you did. I did. I just have a dart. I just have a dart. That's okay. So Billy's been pacing back and forth. Pacing is not what I'm doing. Billy's been rolling back and forth, watching this happening, going back and forth in his thoughts. Like I could kill him right now, but I can't really kill them. This is Callum Blackhammer. Billy, come on.

And then I remember I, I gave my dreamless sleep to Tuck and I gave my harp snake venom to Ving and I am unarmed except for this big bag of coins I stole. So. So. So. So. So. So. So. So. So. So. So. So. So. So. So. So. So. So. Danger. Dexterity for you to get back to the party. Yes. Yeah. For sneaking. Five. Oh no. Oh no. So you are creeping back down the hallway. Sneak. Sneak. Sneak. The darkness. The dimness. The black flames glittering off the walls casting long spooky shadows.

And you basically bump right into a dark robed figure. Oh shit. Who turns around. Who. And looks down. Shadowed face. Under the hood, but just like a chin peeking out of the hood and you see tattoos along the chin. A magi. They reach down. They're trying to grab you. Oh, I try to back away. And on a failure, unfortunately, they get you by the cloak. What are you wearing underneath your dog costume? Oh, I'm not wearing my dog costume. I'm just wearing my regular clothes. Just regular clothes.

A raccoon costume. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So they grab you, lift you up off the ground, I'm like kicking and shouting, let me go, let me go. You're a weird, you're a gross zombie. Get your zombie hands off of me. What are you doing sneaking around here, little rat? I was going to the bathroom. And if you don't let me go, I'm gonna go to the bathroom all over you. You know the guest bathrooms are in the front lobby. I don't know that. There was a big lineup.

If you were looking for secrets, little boy, you found them. What secrets? And he runs. He whisks you down the hallway. Like he's carrying me? He's carrying you. Oh my god. I'm yelling for you guys. Oh yeah. I don't know if you can hear me. Yeah, you are, Tuck and Ving, you're in the ballroom as you're connecting these dots and you hear kind of on the wind. Tuck! Ving! Happy Kidney! And there's these kids, this kid's screaming. I'm being dognapped! A zombie! Aspie's gonna eat me!

And with these screams, you notice that the guests around you are not reacting at all. So we can hear Billy screaming from like whatever room he's in? Yeah, from like a corridor off the side of the courtyard and there is no reaction from the crowd. They're like looking at each other, kind of murmuring to one another. Yeah, Tuck and Vig are immediately on high alert. Yeah. Can you start sprinting? Towards the voices? Do we need to roll discern reality to see where it is?

No, you can hear where it's coming from. Okay, let's go. Say dexterity to get like there fast enough. Imagine you guys like doing the thing with curtains where you're like, where's the opening? What the hell? I had my finger in it, I had my finger in it like a second ago. Right, because is it curtains that are covering the walkways? It's curtains like a ton of areas. There's so many velvet curtains here. It's the horniest room I've ever been in.

One of those things where they just, you know, they don't want you to see the door out of the room because you're supposed to hang out in here. Okay, here we go. I am going to find my son because I am the superior father. Uh, yeah, so I got an eight. Alright, so it's a dexterity? It's a dexterity. I'm not running super hard. No. Okay, so I got five. Oh, no. It's because I pushed Bing to the ground when I ran. Because you said I'm the superior father. So you got a five and you got a what?

I got eight. Eight, okay. So I think that you, uh. I have a discern realities. Oh. Okay, so you get a plus one. So I get a plus one. That makes it a six. I can aid. Yeah, I aid him. Push him down and then pick me up again. You son of a bitch. Uh, that's six. Shit. So I try to aid him, but I push him. Can we aid from a distance? By saying I'm a distance. He actually can aid from a distance. I can. I can. I'm here. But he only has one. Oh, no. You can just aid.

You don't have to spend a fairy point on it. Okay. You do have to roll. You don't have to spend a fairy child. Yes. Come on. Please, please. Oh, God. No. I got four. Holy shit. Oh, my God. You know what's happening is like I'm yelling. I'm saying like I'm trying to give directions, but it's echoing off. Everything is bouncing off. Yeah. Totally. Yeah. So you get a sweet. Yeah, you get a point as well. Oh, shit. Do I also get a point? Yeah, I get a point of experience. We all do for that.

Yeah, you all do. Wow. Look at us. Holy shit. We're gonna level up four times next. And I'm gonna have to make a all the fucking move. Yes, you are. I promise I'll think about it. John, this is your job. I know it is. But anyway, yes, I start running and I try to grab Ving and I think I have you, but I only have your cape and I'm dragging you behind me and the cape has caught on a ice sculpture. That's why it feels like you're with me. Dragging an ice sculpture across the floor.

It's like close up shot of just tuck and he's like, Ving, I'll take you with me. And I grab him and I pull. It knocks him to the… Don't worry, Ving. We're gonna find Billy. And I look back and it's a swan. Yeah, it's a mostly shattered ice swan. Ving's on the ground picking himself up. And you get through the door, but all you're hearing is like the echoings of Billy's voice. Billy, you're kind of being like jostled around like a bag of apples. And you have no idea what direction you're going.

I am biting the hand of the Medjay. All right. Defy Danger's strength. I can do this. I got heavy chompers. Holy shit. Eleven. Just naturally. Just a natural eleven. Natural teeth. Look at these. I'm a dog. Like Victor showed me. Oh, yeah. You bite him hard. He drops you. I run. I run back. I'm running. Dexterity. Nine. Nine. Okay, so you start.

Yeah, you hear Ving and Tuck yelling down the corridor and you start booking it and you hear like as the Medjay's hand is chomped hard and you hear you're like you little creature and you turn and you see like darkness enveloping the Medjay. I try to run harder, but I'm already running as fast as I can. But you like with the seven to nine. Yes. He is in pursuit. Darkness is enveloping him like shifting his form. The shadows are gathering into the man. I'm like throwing illusions behind me. Yeah.

What kind of illusions are you throwing at him? Just light and whatever comes to his mind. So like light balls, a cat. So like you're throwing these illusions back, but you just know that he is pursuing you. Yeah. And Tuck and Ving you emerge into the corridor. You hear Billy shouting, crashing, and then you see him like skidding around the corner. Keep running. Follow me. Don't run that way. There's a Medjay. I'm trying. Fuck!

And you guys look down the corridor and you see like the shadows like pulling into place around a figure. Do I recognize this? Yeah. Okay. That's an Efreet. It's an Efreet. Billy, run! It's an Efreet! I'm running as fast as I can! Okay. So what are the rules of an Efreet? What are the rules? It can't run on stone. It's saffron. It's weak to saffron. I have one saffron. Okay. You should use that. Don't you have saffron around your neck and the thousand cloths?

No, I gave it to that guy and his mom. Oh my god. To the mom! Rodney and Mumsy are just like at the buffet table like, oh, this is quite lovely! We run by, grab their masks. No. They immediately just… Billy runs down the corridor. I skid in between the Efreet and Billy. And I… You don't have anything on you. I'm holding an ice swan, so I throw it at the Efreet. Alright, fair enough. Here we go. 2d6 plus dexterity I get? No, this is strength. Like, heave it. Yeah.

And Tuck goes, sorry, I'm putting you on ice. Oh my god. Okay, so that's a four. You deserve that. Wait, no. What is it plus? Strength. Strength. Seven? Seven. Seven. Okay. You deserve that. What a prick. I'm putting you on ice. So seven to nine here, because it was a defy danger, not a hack and slash. Oh, was it a fight? Yeah, because hack and slash is like up close. It's kind of a volley. It is kind of a volley. Oh, so then it's dexterity. Then I got three. What? Thanks, Paul.

I was gonna say strength or dexterity, but then I said strength because he's like heaving it. You're not trying to hit him. You're trying to like disrupt. Yeah. I'm trying to put him on ice. Come on. That time was a little bit better. That was much better. You heave this giant ice swan at this ifreet or whatever it is. Shadow cloaked man. I'm not a freet of you. They like lash out at the ice and just shatter it.

But the way that it shatters creates kind of like a field of chips of ice that disorients the ifreet long enough that you have a moment to act. I chase after Billy. Okay. I want to bring the ice down onto him in a rain of sharp shards now that we have ice elementals in the room. Oh, sick. I'm going to use elemental form to create a solid wall around me. 2d6 plus constitution. Oh, yeah. Oh, wow. What? 13. I believe you get three hold. Yes, I have three hold. Cool.

So what do you so you're I guess spending one hold to like create this wall that's holding it back. Great. So it's slant. It's throwing itself against this ice wall. Shadowy claws tearing, but you're holding it back momentarily. Billy is booking it down the corridor. I run after him. I go Billy. I'm right behind you and I go to scoop you up, I guess. Yeah, where's Ving? He's turned back and Ving's like part of a giant ice wall like boom, boom. Let me know when you guys are here.

We're going to go help him. Okay, fuck. No, wait, I can do this. I've got this. You could spend a hold, try and freeze them in place while you run away. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm going to try and what are the rules of the Freed? I forget. It's they're weak to saffron. They're weak to the light of sunstone and they're they can't run on stones. Oh, wait, no, they can only run on stone. Oh, only run stone. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Like they can't take the wooden roads. You have to take the wooden road.

Sorry. So that is part of, you know, if they weren't able to run on stone like they wouldn't be able to be in this or it wouldn't be able to be in this castle because it's all made of stone. Yeah. Okay, so I'm going to start back. Picking up with keeping the way all ice. Yeah, totally. Yep. You can spend a whole spend a hold there to get back off and keeping it ice to put some distance between us. Yeah, totally.

So are you making a thicker and thicker ice wall between my walls getting thinner, but it's going down on the ground and making it so he can't step on the ground because it's not stone. Oh, I see. Yeah. So then it's it kind of starts like pacing back and forth in the hallway in front of the ice after it tests the floor.

Yeah, but you're all standing on the other side of this ice corridor being you've got like one hold left whenever if you want to use that, but you do have some safety and it sounds like there's a bit of commotion on the other end of the castle like down past this Medjay in the hallway this, you know, there's a it they heard a fight taking place. It sounds like so people are starting to become aware that something's going on really. What did you see?

I mean, I saw I saw them kissing who Victoria and Callum. I'm sorry. I probably didn't know it. It probably didn't mean anything. I mean, to be fair, you've been cheating on her with me this whole time. I can't believe it. I'm sorry. I probably should have left that one for last. My wedding day. This is the worst thing that's happened to me today. That might be true. I did see. Okay, so they are talking. So hard to remember.

They are talking about like there's going to be the wedding and then there's going to be a ceremony and after the ceremony they're going to be powerful like gods. That's what Callum said. And then I saw on Victoria's back. She's got all the weird Medjay tattoos tattoos. Okay. Well, you know what? She's pretty toxic. I feel like me trying to disrupt the wedding is maybe let us down a blind alley. Or you can be like this is the ultimate Yeah, you're right, Billy. This is the ultimate betrayal.

This is the ultimate betrayal. Yeah, because I would never ever get involved with someone who is, you know, so tainted by the iconic realm except for Alice. Yeah, you've only got room for one iconic girlfriend. I know. Staring off the distance thinking about Allison's taint. Tuck's girlfriends are iconic. Hashtag 2020. 25 summer. They're also very toxic. Okay, so we should should we try and get out of here then? Yes.

No, I know, but I just what if the ceremony is focused on them and they become like you said, gods. We can't let that happen. Right, because we do know one thing that we saw in the ballroom was that just based on how the ballroom was laid out it felt like they were trying to get out of the ballroom. They were trying to summon and bind the gibbous man. What if we go and replace the ink and create a fairy circle around the ceremony stone? He can't break through the circle. Right.

You wouldn't be able to get in a fairy circle. Do you still have a fairy hold? I have one left. Okay. Shit. That's a good call. So we would put the fairy circle around the altar that they would be doing and the ink and the ink which is what they need. Right. They can't bind without the ink or the knife. That's true. Let's just take the ink. So we're assuming that the ink is with the altar I think is something that we're that we are making an assumption about.

Maybe the magi would never leave the ink. They would never leave the ink. So if you want that ink you gotta find the magi. And you see the you look back down the corridor at the efreet. We all three of us like look back and he's like oh he sees you looking and he stops pacing and kind of beckons you towards him. How strong are they? I've never fought an efreet. I've never known anyone who survived a conflict with an efreet. Efreet.

So something to consider is that this appears to be a person who has bound the icon of malice to themselves. Right. Not necessarily a pure efreet. Whether that makes them weaker or stronger you don't know. Okay I'm gonna use my last hold to try and bind them against the wall in a cage of ice. Sure yeah. That's great. So you spend your hold and you like scoop the ice up off the ground and slam them against the wall.

It was when like if we're gonna find we need to find the magi and then we look down and then he motions us and then we're like okay. And then he's like he's just stuck and you all trot past him as he's struggling against the ice. I'm gonna mark him. Oh. Put the eye of the beast on him. Eye of the tiger. Yeah. That's sick. And it's the shadowy heads like two pinpricks of light for eyes struggling in the ice as you mark him. Yeah. And then take off into the castle. Yeah. Okay.

So you make it down several corridors. This place isn't as labyrinthine as you would expect. It's laid out fairly logically. Like it's just a big cube basically with corridors and then there's the new construction glass that comes off of it. That's where it gets kind of hard to navigate because there's like weird greenhouses basically sticking out of different parts of the building. The only other room that you know for sure where it is is Callum's office. We could face Callum. Yeah.

If they're there. Yeah. Let's go. You get there and the door is closed. You see the light flickering from underneath the door jam like you did before. There's a sock on the door. Yeah. There's painting shaking on the wall. Is there actually? No. Can I check under the door? Yeah, absolutely. Okay. Maybe trap expert? Sure. Nine plus two, eleven. So I get three questions. Okay. Is there a trap here? There is a trap here. What activates it? Going into this room. What does the trap do?

You are realizing that if Callum is a vessel for the icon of cunning, you could be playing into his hand right now. Gosh. This might be where he wants you to be. What else is hidden here? So you see a closet door and you see like a cane, like a finely wrought cane, metal and wood like brass head leaning against the door and on the cane head you see etched with your binocular vision hither and yon. Hither and yon. And are they in the office? There's nobody in there. It's a trap though.

We know it's a trap. Okay. I would like to do tricks of the trade to try to disable the trap. Okay. So disabling the trap in this sense would be because what you consider the trap is is Callum's ability to make plans for eventualities would be doing something in a way unexpected enough that he wouldn't have planned for that. So this is, I like this a lot. This is very interesting but I'm just curious how Billy is doing this. He would expect us to do something to rush after mirrors.

What if we don't run in there? What if we open the door and we don't step in? Ooh. What? Well, I mean, that Freit fellow. Yes. Is going to be following us. That's true. What if we open the door and make it look like we went in? When he comes up I'll eye the tiger room and see what's going on in the hither and yon. Maybe they'll set the trap off. Smart. Send him in there. Yeah. Yeah. Sweet. Okay. And we'll hide in the linen closet next door. Yeah. Which one? Oh, that one.

There's a million thread count blanket in there that you found earlier. Gotta feel this fabric, Billy. I love the idea of a magic item being a one million thread count blanket. You touch it and it's so soft you cum. Okay. So this is I'm happy this being tricks of the trade. Okay. Trying to outthink the icon for the vessel of cunning. Yeah. Plus 630. Seven. So I believe that with that you get a choice between suspicion, danger, or cost. Okay. So danger. Okay.

So the danger, of course, being found and attacked by the Afrit and the cost being leaving hither and yon there without being able to get in. I think danger. What do you think? Yeah. Okay. So you are hiding in the linen closet. Yeah. Everybody's crowded around the keyhole. Yeah. You open the door. Yeah. Oh, you open the door to the office. Make it see like, you know, leave it open a crack so they're not sure. Yeah.

Tuck throws a plate of spaghetti that he was holding in there so that it looks like he was in. Yeah. They're like, oh, we all know he's had spaghetti this whole time. Yeah. Tuck looks at you guys. He says, everybody knows I love spaghetti, right? Everyone saw you take the spaghetti. We all saw it. We cut back to the scenes previously and Tuck is running down the hallway with a plate of spaghetti. I did not notice. He's fighting Afrit. He's got a plate of spaghetti in his hand.

He's feeding a stuffed ocelot yogurt, but he's got a plate of spaghetti in the hand. That's why when he threw the swan, he said, that's a cold meatball. Yeah. All those hilarious spaghetti puns that he made. Oh, that makes way more sense. Okay, I could take off Allison's scarf and then leave it across the door sill and would never leave this behind. It's a huge sacrifice. But it is in Hither and Yon.

Well, no, Hither and Yon is on the other side of the door, so I leave it across the sill of Callum's office. Okay. And then Tuck to comfort himself because he's so sad about losing the scarf, he eats the plate of spaghetti that he has. That he's had. So we flash back and we see we're back in the finest hotel in town. Tuck's on the penthouse looking through a telescope eating a plate of spaghetti. So we're pushing a cart to a hot dog festival. There is spaghetti in Tuck's hand.

There's a plate of spaghetti in my hand. There's always spaghetti everywhere. I can't. So you're hiding in the linen closet. The spaghetti is being eaten. And you hear like a cracking crash as you assume the ifrit breaks out of the ice. And, um. Bing, look into his eyes. He's there in a flash. Yeah, he's woof. And you see him standing in front of the doorway and as he steps into the door I'm sharing with them. Yeah.

You feel like the rage, the rage from malice that exists within the mind of someone who is connected to. Yeah. Bing's hand is on like your wrist and you feel him like. And I feel your fingernails getting longer and digging into my. Oh. So, actually, looking through his eyes, having marked him with the eye of the tiger, um, something that you do feel is that rageful malice but the strain that the Medjay is under maintaining it. Oh.

And as they step through the door and see that you aren't there the shadows kind of melt off of them back into the corners of the room, back into the corridor revealing, you know, the dark robed figure exhausted, like hunched over kind of hand on the door jam. Can we push him in the closet? Oh. With Hither and Yonder? I don't know. I don't know. I just don't. So we know that he can't get into Hither and Yonder at least. But he is in Callum's office. He's in Callum's office.

And what has he triggered in terms of the trap? I think the other Medjay show up. Oh, that's what it is. So like kind of gliding into view out of the darkness two further robed figures step out of the darkness in Callum's office. Oh, shit! And then they confer quietly and then, Bing, you see, through the eyes of this Medjay, the eyes turn towards the linen closet. They know we're here. I'm going to roll a fight with honor. Fuck. Plus? Constitution, I think, for fight with honor? Eight. Plus con.

Great. Okay, so you get what? One chi, two chi? I think two. Two. And you, what, you kick open the door and you get ready for this fight? I kick the doorframe out of the wall and I try and hit one of them. That's cool. Two D6 plus strike. Thanks. Thanks for saying it was cool, Sean. I feel like you've been really not on board with most of the things that I've thought of. Well, only the dumb stuff. Okay. I'm joking. I'm joking. I'm joking. Okay, so that's plus strength? Yeah. Eight.

Yeah, so I think you're able to, like, the door kicks off the hinges and flies across the room as one of the Medjay is stepping out and they stumble back as the door hits them. But even as you're watching, you can see them, like, throw their hands up and catch it. Uh-huh. And they are smashing through it. Okay. But you have a moment to act. Billy, do you want to do something or I'm going to fight with honor if you do? I was going to do I'm a bad guy now. Yeah. Oh, fuck yeah, do it.

Okay, I will call upon my winter form. Holy shit. Very nice. Eleven. Oh, shit. Yeah, so I get three hold. My thing didn't work very well, so I feel like I did. Could it possibly be that you wolfed a play of spaghetti in there? Chuck's so cool. Is that what gave us away? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Oregano. He's in there. There's a noodle rolling out from under the door. A meatball. A meatball rolls into the room.

A noodle's slowly sticking back into the linen closet. They can hear me going, yum yum yum. Stop twirling it around the fork. I love spaghetti. It's so good. It's literally just Doug being like, yum yum yum yum. And he's like kind of nestling into the million thread count linen. He's getting spaghetti sauce all over him. Just pour linen. Callum's majordomo is gonna kill you. His butler is gonna cut your head off.

Okay, so Billy's got three hold for I'm a bad guy now, which he can spend on a variety of cool moves. Ving has two hold for his fight with honor, which he can spend on a variety of cool moves. Tuck, has a half-eaten plate of spaghetti. No, I finished it. Okay, so he's getting sleepy. I take a debility to his dexterity. Take a debility. Okay, Ving, what's your plan with your hold? I'm gonna deal a damage to a foe within reach. Okay, great, yeah.

The three magi are literally five feet from you, so you can definitely deal your damage to one of them. And what state are they in? Are they like all efreet? Is only one of them an efreet? So, the one that had summoned malice is there, but is not in his malice form and looks very haggard. The other two have different tattoos. Okay. But they're still in human form? They're still in human form, but it looks like they're kind of gearing up for a fight.

But it almost looks like, if you had to guess, they're like hesitant to do it almost. Because, well, that was a thing we saw with the magi. It was like every time Roth summoned a spirit, it tore his body apart. Yeah. It's not good for you. You don't have to do this. It doesn't have to end this way. Oh, that's a good question. I think the one in the front, there's one that's like older, maybe 50s, 60s, but still ropey muscle under their McCollin robes and then the hood.

Like Ralph Fiennes in the new movie? Yeah. Exactly like Ralph Fiennes in that movie where he plays Odysseus. He looks sick in that movie. He does. What does he say? There's only pain. There is only pain. But we will do this. And we need you. Whoa. Confirmed. They need the spirit walker to do this fucking thing. Mm-hmm. Puts his hands up and emotions come towards him. Tuck gets a little bit hard when he sees me. Whoa. Whoa. Vink's so fucking cool.

Glad Jessica looked away for all the crassest hand gestures. Yeah, that was like a thought for me. I see what's going on here. You guys' privacy. Something that you notice as they point at you, Vink, is you're not sure that they're just pointing at you. Ugh. But they rush forward. What do you do? Deal your damage to a foe within sight? I'm gonna try and take one of these guys out. Yeah. With a leg sweep. Four. Four. Pretty good. You clock the old man in the front who stumbles back.

So he kind of goes down on one knee. Slams his knee into the ground. And then one of the other guys goes, whoa, you hit an old man. My boom knee. Whoa, dude. What the fuck? What the fuck, man? Yeah, what's wrong with you? Gramps, are you okay? He goes, oh, my fucking knee. I was in the war. But he is, you know, swiftly regaining his composure. The two younger Medjay are like spreading out on either side, trying to move in on Tuck and Billy. Can I freeze someone, one of them in place?

Oh, yeah, totally. Like, oh, because you're tapping into your winter form. Yep. Yes. Oh, sick. So the frost is like climbing across the floor, like up Billy. Up the powerful one. Yeah. Fuck yes. Oh, up the Afrit one? Well, up both of us at the same time. Oh, yeah. Nice. Cool, yes. I'm like, I keep pushing the frost back down way, like, and it goes in like waves and up the Medjay. Cool, yeah. And as he's like taking steps, like the ice is climbing up his legs.

He's shattering it as he's moving towards you. But then he is eventually unable to continue forward. Wow. Tuck. There's another guy coming for me, right? Yes. Okay. So, Tuck, he's in his duster. Right. Dressed like a cowboy. Anime. Yeah. Covered in spaghetti sauce. Yes. Fuck! Noodles in his beard. I want it to look cool. What? He rubbed his face all over the linens, remember? Oh, right. Yeah, the million. Yeah. Yeah. Million thread count blanket. Yeah. Spaghetti all over. Sure. Yeah.

He walks up to the one of them that's squaring up with him. What does he look like? This one is lean, younger, hair, shaved, like in the way that Fatim shaved his hair, like shaved on the sides, kind of like the braid on the top. Right. Dark hair covered in tattoos. You know, the eye in the middle for the iconic Medjay. Yeah. The demonic Medjay. And then a constellation across his upper chest down his arms. Do I recognize what the constellation? Is? You would have to guess. Yeah.

You'd have to read it for a second. Spout Lore, I guess. Yeah. So that's I rolled six and I have negative two. So it's how do you man? I know how you have a negative two. It's insane. You have a negative two to intelligence. So I think what it is, is you all this is going to if we're talking anime. Yeah. You've got you know, your coat is flapping. Yeah. The spaghetti sauce is flapping off the blanket you have wrapped around your shoulders. Yeah. And I took he doesn't have any weapons.

So he just like raises his fist. Yeah. And there's a leather sound. Yeah. The leather's creaking on the coat that he's wearing. Yeah. And then he squeezes his fist really tight and all of his knuckles pop. Pretty sick. And then he has a little like X-Vane popping. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. X-Vane's on the back. Talks fucking straight edge, bro. What's an X-Vane? You know in anime when they're like really furious and then this little vein popping shows up. Oh, yeah. The like the forehead one. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. And the Medjay across from you kind of bounces on his heels a little bit. Yeah. And then gone. What? He like his like his image almost flickers and then he's gone. And then with a failure rocketing in from the side. Boom. Punch to the jaw. Oh, shit. Shit. Spaghetti splattered against the wall. Give me the ball. For a second, you guys think Tuck got his brain punched out. Oh, my God. His tiny little brain. Tuck had a mouth full of spaghetti. Spaghetti. That's a spicy brain.

He was saving for later. He was in your beard. He was saving for later. You've got deadly poison in one cheek and a meatball in the other. Thank God he punched the meatball and not the vial. This is why you get COVID. Get your hands out of your fucking mouth. I haven't left the office in 18 hours. It wouldn't survive that long. That's true. That's probably true. Yeah, it's all in there. It's all in there. Yeah, it looks like my teeth got shot out of my face.

I really like that it's a slow motion, like hard punch. And then just a normal motion meatball against a wall. Oh, wow. D8? D8, yeah. Here we go. Six. Oh, man. Inhale. You're not sure that there wasn't an actual tooth in that. I think that might have actually been his brain. I mean, Vincent, a tooth in there. I smile. I smile. I smile at Billy and I give him a thumbs up and there's like a missing tooth. Oh, no. A bird flying around your head. Your cap. Teamwork. Caving. I love spaghetti.

Spaghetti. Did you see that? Oh, man. Okay, so he's down on the knee. I'm in a sweet position. I'm just going to lunge forward off of my back arm and headbutt him in the head. Great. Are you spending a hold to deal your damage? Yeah. Hell yeah. Three. Yeah, you crack. Yeah, and you crack him and he reels back and you give him a good smack right in the jaw and he stumbles back onto his feet, like uses that momentum to stand back up, but like slumps against the wall and kind of shakes himself off.

It'll be easier for everyone if the three of you just submit. Okay. I'll never submit. And then I want to deal damage to him. Oh, hell yeah. Oh, fuck yeah. I think you just spend a hold. I do spend a hold, but my damage when I'm in my winter form, I use 2d6. Oh, yes. Okay, yeah. Holy shit. Ten! Holy fuck. Okay, how does Billy deal this damage in his winter form? Oh, I, because I packed those kitchen knives from the hotel. Oh, nice.

So I take a big one and I spin it around and straight into his chest. Yeah, totally. Whip it into his chest. Yeah, you whip this kitchen knife into this old man's chest. Oh, it's the old guy? Yeah. Yeah, that was the one that, yeah, that Ving was talking to. And he takes the knife right in the chest. Blood coughs up through his mouth and he steps back and looks at the other two and shakes his head, says, not yet, and books down the corridor. What? He runs? Yeah.

Okay, what's going on with the other two guys? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. They're trying to disengage. They're trying to listen to their leader. Oh. Uh. Oh, I don't want them to go. Yeah. Tuck tries to sucker punch the one that hit him in the face. Okay, yeah. Okay. Hack and slash. He's not paying attention to it for a second. Here we go. Uh, fuck. What is going on with my rolls? I got an eight. Okay. Yeah. Not bad.

That's a seven to nine. Okay. Four. I do four damage. Okay, yeah. Uh, roll a d8. Two. Okay, great. Yeah. Which, uh, is negated by your armor. Yes. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. So you swing at him. Yes. And it's almost like you're swinging where he was. Oh, fuck. But you feel your hand, like, clip something to the point where it throws him off just a little bit, and he catches you with, like, a tiny little uppercut under the chin. Yeah. And you feel yourself, like, bite your lip. Fuck.

But it's not enough of a punch to really, like, rattle you. Yeah. But yeah, you spit out a little blood. And a little spaghetti, too. There's still some in there. Still some spaghetti in there. And it looks like he is trying to back off. A bunch of ravioli's falling. It's all the ravioli that was in my beard. Where are you getting all this, man? All dude. Passes from around the world. But he's that, like, as you're looking at him, he's, like, flickering out of sight.

And it looks like he's moving away from you. The third one is also, uh, is also there. The mallet. It's frozen, right? Oh, he's, yeah, he's trying to break out of the ice that has frozen him in place. And, uh, seemingly get away. But he's wrapped up in this sheet that Billy has around his legs. So you can see him reach out. Like, pause for a second. Think. And then reach out and start drawing shadows towards him. What do you do? You can either. So here's what I think the. Oh, here.

There are three choices, I think. Let him do this. And then have to face, uh, malice-infused magi. Let him go. And let him do whatever it is his plan is to do. Run to Hither and Yon. I have a fourth option. Okay. That I want to do. As he gathers. Shadows around him. Tuck pushes his hands into the shade that is gathering around the guy. And he wants to grab him and rip him into Hither and Yon. Because I want to keep him as a hostage.

I don't know that Tuck would be able to drag a hostage into Hither and Yon. I couldn't. I don't think Hither and Yon would allow it. So Tuck goes to grab him. And then goes to be like, you're coming with us, buddy. And he kicks Hither and Yon open behind him. And he steps into it. And his hands let go of the guy. Fuck. He just feels his hands release. And then the guy's just standing there. Kind of like, what was that supposed to do? Fuck.

So Tuck runs into the office and drags the guy into Hither and Yon. But it does not work. But Tuck goes through the door. And Mears is behind the bar. What's happening? Mears, what the fuck? Where did you go? What do you mean? Where did you go? We were in the street. We went to a sub shop. And we came back and you were gone. He's standing there with like a frown. He's got a frying pan over his head. I don't know what's going on. I've been stuck here for two days. Where are the others?

They're outside. Yeah. I have one hold. Can I deal damage to him then? Yeah, totally. He's facing away from me. Yep. Six. So six is pretty serious. That's pretty solid damage. How are you dealing damage to him? I am going to run into Hither and Yon. But I throw another kitchen knife. Yeah, totally. So as you're like running past, you whip a knife into his arm. Sure. And it cuts right into the meat of his shoulder.

And he kind of like falls back against Callum's desk with a like, and you through the door. I'm going to use the knife, the element of steel. Ooh. That's the knife in his arm to launch him across the room. Oh, cool. And try and stick him in the wall to make room for me. 2d6 plus dexterity. Okay. Great. Yeah. 12. Oh, yeah. Totally. Yeah. You yank this dude across the room with the knife in his arm. Mm-hmm. And it's like kind of comes out of his shoulder. A little bit and pins him into the wall.

Yeah. And that's that amount of damage is more than enough that he's like hanging there. Oh, kind of. Does he have anything on him? He's got clothes and, you know, pockets and pouches. Pouch. Knife. Ink. Knife in his arm. He doesn't have the stuff on him. In fact, if any of them did, you would guess it was probably the older one. Dang it. But he took off. Mm-hmm. Remember what happened here. I take the. Knife out and get back in there. And he flumps to the ground. Yeah.

And you're in hither and yon. Close the door. Yep. Is it. Does it leave? Do the shutters close? No. Fuck. Absolutely not. What? The shutters are closed, but the bar is not moving. Okay. Like you can tell. They don't reopen. And Mears is just like sitting at the bar. Mears, how can he do this? I don't know. Think. I don't know. This shouldn't be possible. Ask the bar to move. Don't you think I tried? I mean, yeah, I guess. But I thought if we were at back. In here, it would go. No, you.

You all left with that mummy guy. Right. And then the shutters closed. And then I was here. And you couldn't get. What could you get out? Or did you open the. I opened the door and I saw I was in an office. And I. And I saw who I assume was Callum Blackhammer. Did he see you? Yeah, he saw me. He talked to me. What did he say? He said, get comfortable. You're going to be here for a while. And now I'm stuck. I'm stuck. I'm stuck.

Do we have enough time to do a communion whispers with Hither and Yon to try and find out the hold that he has on it? I mean, the only deadline that we have is the ritual. Yeah. So you got all the time you need. But they've definitely suggested that they need one or all of you to complete it. Right. So we might be able to disrupt their plan by just getting Hither and Yon unstuck. Okay. I'd like to spend time here and commune with the whispers of Hither and Yon. That makes sense. Yeah.

To figure out what the fuck's going on. Yeah. Roll plus wisdom. Nine. Oh. Oh. Eight. Do it. Six plus seven. Seven. Seven. Makes it a 10. So a clear vision related to your current situation. That's helpful. How the fuck did Callum do this? Yeah. And how do we undo this? So how Callum did this? And how do you receive this image, I guess, this information? It's the spirits of the land. So maybe it's the collective voice of everyone who's ever used this. Oh, sure. Yeah.

It's manifesting as all of the guests. Yeah. That have taken refuge here. I like that a lot. Yeah. That's cool. That it's like a chorus of all the people who have been in the pub. Oh, like old pub songs. Yeah. Almost. Oh, yeah. It's like, it tells the tale of it. Yeah. You see like an old man, like with a pipe sitting, like in your mind's eye, you see an old man with a pipe sitting in one of the booths, like, whoa, hither and yon's a place that's always been there for them. What needed it?

And it comes to those who need it most when they need it most. And then like a mom with her kids. That are like running around or like coloring on the table. But you know, there are some forces that even hither and yon. Put that down. Put that down, please. Put that down. Put that down. Take it out of your nose. Get that out of there. That's not for, that's not for in your mouth. That's for on the table.

Some forces that even hither and yon couldn't predict, like the icon of tyranny, for example. And then, you know, one of the barkeepers from long ago, a dwarf standing at like a dwarf steps up on a box. Behind the bar and starts like wiping it down. One would assume that in a place like a black glass city where the smog gives power to the icon of tyranny, that the want of hither and yon's guests is secondary to the power of the outer dark. Oh, shit. Then we see chimes coming down the stairs.

A memory of chimes in a younger time. With a towel around his waist. Yes. I was going to say. In a towel. In a towel. And we go, ooh. In a towel. His beard's a little shorter. His hair's a little darker. Tattoos? Yeah, tattoos. Oh, he's always had his tattoos as long as he's, you know, ever since he was a young, young man, he's had these tattoos. And he's kind of folding the towel in that way, you know, where you wrap it around and then you fold it down so it doesn't come off.

And he kind of jumps up and down a couple times to make sure it's not going to come loose. And then, but you see his cum gutters when he rolls it down. Cum gutters? What are those? Is that what you guys are calling it now? Balls? It's the muscles? Oh, jeez. We used to call those sex muscles. Cum gutters. Filthy. Filthy boys. Did you know this? Did you know this? I didn't know this. It's fine. Wow. I take it upon myself to not say cum gutters very often to my lovely wife.

So there's a reason you don't. I gotta get on these brazers. I'm sorry. Brazers on my free site. Gotta get on your free brazer site. No, no, no. Ryan and I have a password to my free pay site.com. So one would assume if Callum was the one that brought it here, holding Tyranny as he does over this place, that he's the only one that could release it. As long as you're here, you're safe. But for how long?

And then all those guests, the din of voices like rises is rising as these hallucinations take flight. They transform and then back to silence as they disappear. And we, I feel like we would have all seen like these total visions, these spectral visions in the bar. Uh, so Tuck has a few moves that actually might be able to disrupt Callum's hold over the bar. Yeah. So I have the lie, which is when you leverage your fundamental lack of truth to overcome a magical or metaphysical danger.

Roll plus con on a 10 plus you ignore the effect completely on a seven to nine. You ignore the immediate danger. But choose one from below minus one ongoing until the threat is dealt with, suffer a D10 damage or threaten or endanger an ally. Yeah. Yeah. So that, I mean, as I wrote that move, that should work. Okay. Yeah. So I want to use the lie.

I, and I'm lying to the bar that Callum does not possess the icon of tyranny and he has no purchase over the bar's ability to respond to the wants of others. Okay. Yeah. Excellent. So I'm going to roll plus con on a 10 plus you ignore the effect completely on a seven going. I'll take D10 damage. That's crazy. Do you even have enough? Yeah. I have 18 left. And he has three armor. Oh, it ignores armor. Oh yeah. It ignores armor for sure. Did it? Yeah. Yeah. Here we go.

Two, two, two, one, one, one, one, one, one, one, one, one, one, one, one, one, one, one, eight. Eight. Holy shit. So this is like, I, so I imagine that the metaphysical focal point of Hither and Yon is the bar itself. Uh huh. Whoever laid this bar. However, many years ago. Yeah. This is where it all. Started. Started. This is where all of the power like emanates from is this bar.

All the people that have sat at it, that have taken refuge, that have made friends, that have met loved ones, that have forged relationships, their life infuses the bar in this way. And you kind of like place your hand on the ancient scuffed wood and you tell this lie. Callum Blackhammer does not possess the icon of tyranny and holds no power over you. Yeah. And you feel. You feel the power of the weight of trying to deny the existence of the icon of tyranny in Blackglass City. Yeah.

Tear through you. Oh yeah. Something inside is just ripped apart. I can feel like the coins in my chest. Oh like. Like rejecting the lie. Oh yeah. And kind of getting ripped like. Oh maybe they start like tink, tink, tink like out of your chest. I was thinking ripped backwards into my body. So they start. You start bleeding. Yeah. Yes. As they tear into your flesh. Cause the, it's almost like the icon of tyranny is holding them in place. Yeah. As I command the bar to move. Away from it. Yeah.

And it's the bar starts shifting, but the coins stay in place. Oh yeah. Yeah. Until you break that metaphysical seal. Yes. And then the shutters open. You see the gas lamp streets of the night market district and somebody like the door bangs open. And a guy. Immediately. A guy in like a patch. Tweed suits. Like are you open? And then tuck turns around. He goes. Yup. And then immediately pukes a bunch of blood. And he goes, don't worry. It's just spaghetti. And then he passes out.

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 playing Tacoma dome. The barbarian Abdul Aziz. Playing Ving the half elf druid Paul Oppers. Take care. And playing fat. Billy the halfling thief. Jessica tie. Goodbye. Thank you to all of our supporters from around the world for supporting the show. If you would like to support Spout Lore, you can join us on patreon at patreon.com slash Spout Lore or Spout Lore.com slash money, please.

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