Critical Role - C3E22 Promise and Potential

Episode Date: May 12, 2022

Now returned to Jrusar, Bells Hells meet with old and new allies to catch up on the city news and determine their next mission... Due to the improv nature of Critical Role and other RPG content on our channels, some themes and situations that occur in-game may be difficult for some to handle. If certain episodes or scenes become uncomfortable, we strongly suggest taking a break or skipping that particular episode.Your health and well-being is important to us and Psycom has a great list of international mental health resources, in case it’s useful: http://bit.ly/PsycomResources Watch Critical Role Campaign 3 live Thursdays at 7pm PT on https://twitch.tv/criticalrole and https://youtube.com/criticalrole. To join our live and moderated community chat, watch the broadcast on our Twitch channel. Original Music by Omar Fadel and Hexany Audio"Welcome to Marquet" Art Theme by Colm McGuinnessAdditional Music by Universal Production Music, Epidemic Sounds, and 5 AlarmCharacter Art by Hannah Friederichs Twitch subscribers gain instant access to VODs of our shows like Critical Role, Exandria Unlimited, and 4-Sided Dive. But don't worry: Twitch broadcasts will be uploaded to YouTube about 36 hours after airing live, with audio-only podcast versions of select shows on Spotify, Apple Podcasts & Google Podcasts following a week after the initial air date. Twitch subscribers also gain access to our official custom emote set and subscriber badges and the ability to post links in Twitch chat!

Hi there, this is Matthew Mercer, resident Game Master here at Critical Role, to welcome you to this podcast version of the show. If you'd like to watch the stream as it airs, you can catch it Thursdays at 7pm Pacific on twitch.tv slash criticalrole or youtube.com slash criticalrole. Twitch subscribers can access the video on demand immediately after the broadcast and it also becomes available on YouTube Mondays at 12 p.m. Pacific. Podcast episodes land right here on the Critical Role Podcast Network

on Thursdays, a week after the initial broadcast. Okay, with that info dump out of the way, let's dive into the story. Hello, everyone, and welcome to tonight's episode of Critical Role, where a bunch of us nerdy-ass voice actors sit around and play Dungeons & Dragons. All of that. Before we get started, in our episode tonight, we do have some announcements to get through, beginning with our first sponsor tonight, which is Quip. Sam. Sam?

Hey, everybody. Good evening, ladies and germs. It's me, Ludo McGillicuddy, and welcome to the Quip Public Domain Lounge, where all the teeth are clean and all the songs are public domain. What is happening right now? Well, you're on the Quip Public Domain Lounge, my friend. Quip, the good habits company. What's your name, kiddo? Matt, I'm...

Well, Mark, Quip's smart electric toothbrushes have the guiding features of their original with a new Bluetooth smart motor that connects to their free Quip app. Speaking of free, here's a royalty-free song dedicated to you, Max. Meet me in St. Quippy, Quippy. Use their free app to track your brushing and get tips on daily coaching and earn rewards like Target gift cards! Thank you, thank you. Now, Myron, I see you're alone tonight at the club. Is that because of your vicious halitosis?

I do not have halitosis. Say it, don't spray it, Mewtwo. Your breath smells like... Your breath smells like my ex... Your breath smells like my ex- Your breath smells like my ex-wife's ashtray. God rest her soul. I'm actually really sorry about your ex-wife. Oh, she didn't pass.

I just wished to God she'd rest her soul. She doesn't sleep enough. Poor thing. And speaking of poor things, Maverick, this song with elapsed copyright was written just for you. Okay. He rocks in the treetops all day long. Marco's nasty breath smells really wrong.

If he only used Quip's anti-cavity mouthwash, the four times concentrated formula packs everything your mouth needs with none of the alcohol or artificial colors in other brands, rockin' Robin. Woo, tweet, tweet, thank you. Thank you, I do accept tips. Wrap it up, Riegel, please.

Okay, I will. On behalf of Quip, it's been Ludo McGillicuddy reminding you to start getting rewards for brushing your teeth today by going to getquip.com slash criticalrole25 and saving 25% site-wide when you use code criticalrole25, that's 25% off site-wide when you use code CRITICALROLL25. That's 25% off site-wide.

Uh-oh. Oh god. Thanks to Quip for supporting the show. Good night and good teeth. Take me out to the Quip game. Take me out to the Quip. Bring it back! Oh my goodness.

Turning character, I love him! Need to wash this shirt. Thank you, Quip, for your sponsorship. Thank you, Sam, for my nightmares. Next up, Liam, we have some announcements, I believe, in Bedford. I haven't recovered. That is the Leisure Suit Larry reboot. I didn't know, I did not want.

After a delay, Vox Machina Origins Series 3, issue six will be released this month. Be on the lookout. I am, it's really good, you should check it out at your local comic shops. For the latest updates on your comics, graphic novels, and other creations with Dark Horse, check out critrole.com slash darkhorseguide.

You better check it out. You got it. Get over here! All right, brother. You better check it out. You got it. Get over here! All right, brother. Laura, we have merch. I believe you. Okay, we got some cool merch. Dude!

This is a sprinkle hanger plush. Oh. Get ready. La-la-la. Oh! La-la-la. It's got a little cupcake charm. Is there little paws on the bottom? He's got little paws on his bottom, he's so cute. You can clip him onto your bag, take him with you.

He's just sleeping. He's just sleeping. He's so much. He's just sleeping. He's resting his soul. I shut up and bow sleeping. He's resting his soul. I shut up and passed. He's resting his soul. Check him out.

Go get him, he's in the store. Next up, oh god, oh god! Okay, wait, no! Here we go. I'm sitting on it. Are we doing it? Yeah, we're doing it. All right, we're doing it. You guys.

Yo, give me. Finally. Finally. Yeah, he's going to put it on. This is our, look at this. So We're doing this thing! We're doing collections! This is the first of a collection! The Beauty of Exandria, the Wilds. This is the first one. I can't tell you what any of the other ones are, but look out in the next coming weeks, because they will be coming. This one is our Caduceus cardigan sweater. It's so cool.

It's got beetles. It's got tea. It's got beetles, it's got tea. It's got a teapot underneath the beetle! You guys, it's so comfy and it's wonderful. Do you love it, Taliesin? I've been living in this for months now, and I have to, any time I run into somebody out in the real world because of you, I have to take off my jacket and then wave into a picture

and then put it back on. It's so wonderful. I'm so excited about this. I love it. Yeah. It was designed by Adrian Helton. Just fabulous. What are you going to do with that one?

Well. Not give it to you, punk! I already have one at home, so. Oh yeah? I have one of them, too. Okay, so if you want to keep this, it's in the safe. Wow. What about your husband over here?

Oh, are you a medium? Well, I can make it work. Yeah, for me. Right? Next up, in addition to, it's a cardigan. It's a cardigan. That's true, that's true. The Kodutsu's puzzle.

We have a Mighty Vibe series, Kudusa's puzzle. That's awesome. Oh yeah. Isn't it beautiful? Yes! It's made by our friends at the OP, The OP? I always say it wrong. The art is by Kami Areopagita and Kevin Areopagita. They are the ones that did our animated series for Mighty Nein, and they're amazing.

They're offensive. This is amazing. That's what I said. What did I say? Good series. God, I can't. You're doing so good. I don't know what to pick. You're offensive. And this is amazing. Opening. That's what I said, what did I say? It's serious. God, I can't. You're doing so good. I don't know what to pick. You're great. You're great.

It's actually the best. This is available in the Critical Role store, and it's also available anywhere the op puzzles are sold. She's the picture of composure. Look at how beautiful this puzzle is. I can't wait to put it together. I'm very excited. Also go watch Mighty Vibes. Also watch Mighty Vibes, they're very excited. Also go watch Mighty Vibes.

Also watch Mighty Vibes, they're really great. Check out Mighty Vibes. Awesome. I love 5B2. My dad and my brother did one music on that one, too. I know, I'm really excited. Thank you, Laura. Oh, you're welcome.

And by the ever-sealed lids of a tiny sprinkle toy, I think it is time Lauderdale. Oh my is time for us to go ahead and jump into tonight's episode of Critical Role. Critical. Critical. It's Thursday night! One by one we climb until we reach the top

two by two we fall will we meet our end or meet our destiny hold your breath and roll how do you want to do this it's Thursday night all ye critters

come join us it's time to continue our plight There is magic and mystery, who knows what will happen in life But one thing's for sure, we never give up on the fight From the healer to the renegade We all share the same goal Adding more allies, taking more chances Hold your breath and roll

You can certainly try It's Thursday night All ye critters come join us It's time to continue our fight. It's Thursday night. There is magic and mystery from darkness, our friendship will rise. But one thing's for sure, we never give up on the fight. Oh, get ready, it's Thursday night!

And last we left off, Bell's Hells had made their journey That's us! Made their journey! northward here in the Odirn Wilds to Heartmoor Hamlet, in search of answers about the murder of the Loomis twins and the thread of the assassins that you, Orym, have been following, as well as, it seems,

discovering some connections with the nightmare that's been haunting Imogen for a good portion of her young to current adult life. as well as, it seems, discovering some connections with the nightmare that has been haunting Imogen for a good portion of her young to current adult life. You are also here to break into the Twilight Mirror Museum at the behest of Miss Gianna Hexum to both embarrass, if possible, the proprietor of it, as well as win a wager that she had made

with Yvonne Hesroga. You manage to break in against a competitive burglary team known as the Verdict. You got caught in a lot of traps, and they got caught in some traps, too, and you give traps to each other, and then you fought some weird clay golem things, and then you repeatedly hit a button

and burned the fuck out of the other team. They sure did. They had it coming. They had it coming. It's perfect. And you won the wager. You retrieved the specific object that was notified to be waiting for you

at the end of the museum safely, more or less, and in doing so, won the arrangement for him safely, more or less. In doing so, won the arrangement for Hexum. On your way out, you delved into seemingly some sort of a shared or uniquely parallel history with one of the local carvers in the space, other crafters of fine wooden and other materials.

An MC, if you will. That was intense. Very intense. Totally the way I thought that was going to go. I love this game. It sort of kills the story. As well as running into Estani on the way out, who had been contemplating the conversations you had had and trusted you with a little more information about some sort of a troop

or a group that referred to themselves as the Grim Verity, that seemed to be heading up some of the similar research into these strange astral oddities that the Loomis twins have been looking into, themselves seemingly possibly members. Upon leaving, you mounted your horses and headed southward on a relatively safe journey back,

having, knowing the roads a little better, managed to avoid any serious conflict or issues. And we finished the last session with you stepping towards the base of the city, just as the sun had begun to set and the flame of the Prakash Pyre guided you to Jrusar. So, Bells House, what would you like to do?

Boy, that last end of the trip was just wild. Yeah, honestly, you felt a little out of it, Fearne. I did. I was just a little out of it. I'm not really sure why. That physical magnetism, though. We didn't skip a beat, baby. Never, never. We didn't skip a beat, baby. Never, never.

Right on rhythm. What time of? We've already returned the horses. Evening. Evening. That's right, we returned the horses. Oh, oh, sorry. No, no, it's okay. Nothing new, but during the journey, if I may go back in time for a second.

Yes. Yep. Not in a creepy way. Uh-oh. Oh no. But when I was on watch a night or two, I've paid careful attention to Imogen's sort of her behavior at sleep,

like what time she seemed to be in REM sleep. I watch her when she sleeps. Yeah, exactly. Not in a creepy way, just trying to figure out if she dreams every night, or if she just dreams some nights, or just trying to figure out a pattern or something. That's it. Roll an insight check before we stop her

in iPhone 9. Natural 20. Oh! Four total, huh? or just trying to figure out a pattern or something. That's it. Roll an insight check before we stop. We're going to stock her an iPhone. Natural 20. Oh! For a total of? Thursday. Insight, I'm pretty good on 26. Wow. Well, first off, Imogen,

is there anything that you think would have been noticeable during these nights of sleep? Not in a creepy way. Don't even go there. She farts a lot. Just a lot of tootings. A lot of gags. I just got them, too. This sounds weird, but my hand is in,

you notice I've been sleeping with my hand in my- Your pants? In my pants, no. In my side pouch, in like, it's not my pocket, but it's a side pouch that's on my clothes. Like in it, on it, around it? Like my hand is in.

It's a false pocket. It's in that area. Yeah. Okay. Interesting. Bull's cut out. Yeah, that's probably. I mean, that's plenty. No, yeah, that would be the most. Okay. You would probably notice I feel very uncomfortable

going to sleep, but you might've noticed that one already. I did, yes. I would say on top of that, too, at certain moments of restlessness, in which you can see, you rolled really high, you can see when the face tenses, when the body seems to be challenged in finding comfort. The hand then finds the pouch,

and then comfort seems to come quickly thereafter. Okay. To Jrusar! You're there! I'm there! I don't need to go through or anything, but I would say on the ride, Orym would have explained the Grim Verity, Ebonaltikai, and not Spyshine, Spireling Shin.

I shine. Shout out to I shine. That's right, Spireling Shin. Right, right, right, right, right. Cool. Cool, that's it. So now that we're in town again, some things on our to-do list include. Hexum. Ajit Dayal.

That's for you. That's for me. Oh yeah. Hexum for? Ashton. Just Ashton? Well, I mean, I can go solo if necessary, but we just need to turn in the stuff. Fearne also wanted that statue of... Where that? Where was that?

Well, one of her statues, Hexum. Fearne asked for a payment if we succeeded. Oh yes, that's right. If we succeeded, she was definitely going to give me that statue. That changes the shape of the face? Oh yeah, that's right. Yes. It was definitely formally agreed upon.

Yeah, yeah, definitely. Written in the contract. We made a contract. A verbal one. And we got a chicken with Lord Ixtorosh at some point. Yeah. Okay, okay. Lord Worcestershire. Or Lord Worcestershire.

Any other pressing matters? Marwa's shop? Just because it's fun. Especially once we have a little change in our pocket. That could be fucking great. Okay. Well, what's up first? It's sunset, right?

I'd say upon arriving, upon stepping into the Lantern Spire and getting into the city itself proper, I would say by now, the early night has kicked in. The oranges and reds and purples of the sunset have just begun to fade into the dark blue and eventually heading towards twilight into the dark night itself.

So the city is yours. You can see the various torches and lanterns now blazed down the ray of the roads to the Fate Walk across to the Core Spire. The city is yours. I don't know, it's kind of late. Maybe we want to just hold up and relax for a bit and then start fresh in the morning.

Sure. All right for that. Where do you want to stay? Who's liked what here? Oh yeah, where do we normally stay? How have we forgotten this? We were just not wanting to. Didn't spin and the- You stayed at the Spire by Fire.

You stayed at the Soot and Swill. I think that one's my You've stayed at the Spire by Fire. You've stayed at the Soot and Swill. I think that one's my favorite. Yeah, the Spire by Fire, let's go there. Okay. Stepping through the bustling early evening, you can see that the normal hour in which those who are finishing their shifts of work have set out into the night to find some sort of

adventure or fun, whether it be drinks and socialization is there. Some individuals that work into the night to find some sort of adventure or fun, whether it be drinks and socialization is there. Some individuals that work into the night are preparing for whatever shifts they take through the wee hours. But the long bridge that is the Fate Walk guides you towards the Core Spire until eventually the familiar sight,

the impressive inn exterior of the Spire by Fire, the bright torchlight on the very front and the now bustling interior of the front tavern space is presented before you. Are you looking to get rooms for the evening? You sure as in, yeah. Okay. The typical crowd is within, as well as the proprietor.

The rooms, are you just getting one night? Yeah, well. Well, two nights, maybe two nights. Let's do two. We can always leave. Let's call it two, and we can always book if we have to. Yeah. Yeah. Okay, two nights for two rooms, three rooms?

What do you think, Chet? Do you want to sleep alone again and hope Fearne joins you, or would you rather sleep in a room with the rest of us? I mean, I'm down for a little co-op, a little team building. So maybe two rooms? Okay.

Which room is Fearne in? Well, I'll just go into any room. I mean. I mean, it doesn't matter to me. I just want everyone else to be aware. Aware? Cool. Yep, just tracking. I think she's crashing with us, then.

I think that's fair. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Totally. Yeah, that makes sense. Thank you, Ashton. I share the male Qatari that normally takes care of the front of the tavern in this part of the night. Kind of leans forward with this orange-brown fur. Okay, yeah. Two rooms, two nights, that'll put you back.

Say, two gold pieces, and here's your keys. I'm taking this one. I'm so excited. Wow, thank you, Ashton. Yeah. Would you like drinks brought to your room at all? Oh, yes. Oh, wow.

I would, yeah, that would be wonderful. I didn't even know that was an option. Can we get food as well? No, just drinks. No. No, we can get food if you want. Yeah! It is an extra charge.

That's fine. Yeah, okay. All right, we'll say for random meals brought to this room for the night here, including, what are you going to want? Liquor, ale, beer, wine, what do you feel, Herb? Whatever an extra gold will buy. I'm going three. Very well.

It's been a good week. Big spenders! All right, get to your room. We'll get you situated here shortly. With that, you guys are able to go to your two chambers. They are modest enough, but comfortable with a divided troop. There is at least enough bed space,

though there are two beds per room, enough bed space with some coupling to, or the floor, if you prefer. Coupling, you say? We got a couple up. What? FCG, we're going to... We all heard it. Did you want to bunk up?

Yeah, me and Ashton and Fearne, I think we were going to... Yeah, we're going to bump up, yeah. Bunk up, that's going to be great. Bump up. Yeah. Well, well. Where are you going, Orym? Mezee.

I fit anywhere. There's four beds, but if y'all just want to leave a couple beds empty and sleep three, three to a couple of them, then you know. You do your thing, but. Ah! One of these is open if anybody wants to share. You want to join Chetney Island? I'm jumping right in.

Wham, Ashton impacts the side of the bed. I'm jumping right in. Wham! Ashton impacts the side of the boat. You're a stone! I warn you, I toss and turn, and I'm a snorer. Yes, really, the body is hard! I can also sleep anywhere. This is really, this is just, I can pass it. As a trained carpenter, your heart drops into your stomach at this sound, a very carpenter, your heart drops into your stomach

at this sound, a very familiar sound, of load-bearing wood cracking ever so slightly. Don't do it. Don't do it! Please! I'll sleep on the floor. All right. A short time later, there's a knock at the door,

and you see a young, campy, older than 19 or 20 boy who is currently carrying multiple trays with food that looks like it's fairly fresh, if not standard fare here in the Spire by Fire. I help him out, and he just, I don't take it from his hands, but It's hot, be careful.

food just starts levitating, the plates start levitating across the room to the Okay, you're good. Closes the door. Wait, wait, who cooked these? This food? Is this? Our cook, Janie? Why?

Oh, never mind. I think that might be somewhere else. I think it is pretty work somewhere else. Pretty work somewhere else, that's right. Okay, never mind. What's your name? Good night. Good night.

Good night. What's your name? He just picked up the event horizon. Yeah, it was too much. As soon as he saw the eyes, he's like, Nope! My name is Waiter! There's a vibe in the room. Tell me about your parents. Want some candy?

Want, want, want some candy? Oh my god. So, food and drinks are yours. The night is yours. We can, you can discuss what you wish to discuss or move on to the next morning, up to you. Yeah. Yeah.

What are we going to do in the morning? Was he part of a Mahon house? I have Mahon house next to the- Correct, yes. Mahon house, Dyle? Yes. Dyle, right here. Specifically a location referred to as the Dyle Hall is where his place of business is.

Got it. So we get Hexum out of the way. Yeah, that's a good one. I would like to go in there, I would like to put forward, because I don't think I was quite clear enough. The less personal information she gets, the better. She's fine.

She's just, she can get single-minded and you just don't want to draw too much attention to yourself, especially. Do you want to do the talking? I'd prefer to. If she wants to hear from anybody, feel free, but I don't want to put it in her head that anybody is for, you know. Sale? Available for sale, rental, or display. Oh. Ooh.

So conversations about your possible worth and value are, I'm not going to say dangerous, but I just don't like putting ideas in her head. I think I understand. We'll act accordingly. God, it makes me so nervous every time you say that. Maybe I should wear the pants and shoes. No. You should definitely not

ever do that again, ever. I mean, that way, I suppose, if she asks, you can... I mean, it can only drive the value down. It's really not bad. Just got to take it before you go in. I would also say, well, try not to steal from, I mean, I'm not going to be mad if you get away with it,

but I'll be very angry if you don't, is what I'll say. To steal from her or not to? It was very complicated, Ashton. That is the question. That is definitely always the question. To steal. I would say don't steal from her.

But if you do steal from her, don't get caught. Succeed. I mean, I don't really, I just borrow for a long time. How many things have you brought back? Oh. I haven't brought anything back just yet, but I will. You have been busy. We've had so much going on, so I just, you know,

things happen in time, but we'll get there. Think about all the adventures you're given these items. Yes, I know. Don't steal, usually, as a suggestion. Don't get caught is a rule. I would, that's my philosophy. Don't steal. You know just what I'm doing.

I remember someone once said, only steal from grumpy people. I heard that once. Who said that? Anybody can be grumpy if you work hard enough. Oh. I agree. Yeah. That was deep.

I have a agree. Yeah. That was deep. I have a question. Oh. When talking to Hexum, should we maybe, I don't know, get a gift card or something to send to Shabanas, since we almost killed the other competitors. I can pot bouquet of flowers. I mean. Nice sirloin.

I feel bad for them. I don't know if I feel bad for, well. Well, I mean, just because she's the middle man, if you will, so she could deliver the message. I mean, I had never gotten a gift for sucking at something before, you know. Oh, sure. They survived, right? And we healed them.

Yeah, you don't win, you don't get a gift for losing. I mean. That's fair. Anything you survive is kind of a win. But it might put us in their good graces, so it's a wonderful, kind gesture. I like them, the verdict. I have to word it carefully, though, because it could read like passive aggression.

Like, ah, you know, so sorry. What would you say? What would you say? How would you phrase it? Roll play, go for it. Dear Mr. Shabana. Okay, it's a good start. So sorry for

winning and torching your teammates. This is what I'm talking about. I hope you have a lovely rest of your life. Does that sound good? That sounds good to me, the way that you say it. That sounds like, that to me personally sounds

Like an insult. Like you just broke up with someone and stole all their stuff while they were out at work. I'm not against it, I'm just saying if that's what you want to put forward, that's what I'm getting. So sorry for winning, ha ha, and torching your teammates. Hope you have a good rest of your life.

Ha ha. When you read it like that. Yeah, that does sound a little funny. You shouldn't text that, though. You should say that directly to the panel. That's better. That's the tone gets lost. Maybe I could send a message.

About the tone, yeah. Yeah. If we ever run into her. We'll do it in person. We'll do it in person. You know, if the universe wills it. You buy somebody a bottle of something and you're like, you know, no hard feelings, hope to work together next time.

Oh yeah, that's a good one. Just say, no hard feelings. No hard feelings. That's a good message. Just business. Like an edible fruit bouquet or something. Oh man, yeah. I've seen those before, they look great. Yeah.

All right. I don't know. No, that's good. To Hexum's, then? Let's get this out of the way, as if the next day. Well, it's still night in your room. If you want to sleep, you can do that, and then the next day. But do we need to take a watch?

No, we're in a hotel now. Man, you guys have lived a privileged life. We're hot targets now. He's got a point. Yeah, we could have bounties on our head. We were around a guy that was worth 20 gold, 20k gold. A lot of people get murdered in hotels. That's true, we've seen it.

Very true, yeah. Should we ask the barkeep if there are any bounties on us? How would he know? Well, I assume that the people who run establishments would know the scuttlebutt around town. I think we're all right. Okay. Should I keep First Watch, just in case?

Sure. I want to stay out, go for it. Yeah. Okay. We're all going to go to sleep, except for we're going to have one more. Yeah, we're going to have one more. I could go downstairs and just ask.

Sure. Okay. I'll go after you, Chet, but I don't know if we have a third volunteer. I'm committed to this group. I'll volunteer. Oh, there we are. Okay. All right, so we have the trio of watch, and you're going to the... I was just going to run downstairs really quick

and see if, was it Caliaan? Caliaan was in there, yeah. Caliaan's the bouncer. Yeah, I was just going to find Caliaan. Just run downstairs. Okay, so as you head back down, you can see, sitting to the right right in a heavily reinforced bench slash stool, Kallian just lumbering forward,

and one hand just settled on the left knee, while her right, large, elephantine hand looks like it's clutching some sort of series of metallic balls that she's just swirling in the fingers and fumbling. One of those picks it up, puts it back, and just continues to concentrate.

As you approach, you stop, and you hear the clacking, freeze. Hi. Hi. Been a bit. Yeah. I was just curious, does anybody put out some money for me dead or alive that you heard about? I mean, that sort of thing does happen on occasion.

I mean, the last week. In small spaces, maybe. Nothing that's... What are you getting at? Insight check. Insight check. In small spaces, maybe. Nothing that's... What are you getting at? Insight check. Make an insight check. Oh wow.

16. 16. I'm going to write a whisper, since you're the only person present with this sequence. Genuinely seems a little confused as to what you're trying to g present with this sequence, genuinely seems a little confused as to what you're trying to glean or pull from her, but doesn't seem to be hiding anything necessarily. Okay, cool.

I just pissed some people off last week. I was just testing, but not that you need to know. It's all good. You want a beer? I'm on the job I can drink. Oh. Well, I'll have a beer for you. Thanks! And I run back upstairs.

What a strange one. As you step away and head back to the chamber. Are you taking first watch? I am! All right, Jenny. Make a perception check for me, please. While the rest of you rest. 14, ah, 14, no, 18!

Fortuna! Too deep in the role play there. I'm well-versed in. All right. Uneventful. You hear the occasional rowdy outburst throughout the night, or the early parts of the evening.

The energy of the tavern downstairs tends to wind down. You keep an ear out. Because my notes look like a fourth-grader's, was the Prism Emporium run by Tua T'Twani? Is that right? Okay, hold on. I'm trying to remember when I went and bought that chisel and I was overcharged for the set.

Correct, yeah, that was the Prism Emporium. Yeah, and that was Tyan or Tuanna. Tua to Tuanna, okay. Going to kill them, all right. Oh boy. Okay. Two in. A few hours go by, no major issue. Your watch comes to an end.

Who do you wake up? Orym! Orym! Sorry, pal. It's you. Okay. Coast is clear. Nothing? Nothing. Yeah. That's exactly what they want us to think.

Be vigilant! All right, roll a perception check for me, Orym. Ooh, there's a natural one. I get to reroll. That jumped up on top, but that's not as good as a natural one. I get to reroll. That jumped up on top, but that's not as good as the other one. That is a 23 total. 23? 20, nope.

Nope, 26 total. Nope. Levels. 24 total. 24 total. Give or take, let's say 23 and a half. All right. Okay. All right, good, average it out. Quiet.

At one point, you do hear some heavy out in the hall and you get a bit tense, but you listen and you hear some slurred grumbling and somebody continues lumbering down the hall, a bit trashed to their room before the door slams down the way. Beyond that, no major issue. Then your watch comes to a conclusion.

All right, well, I walk over to the witch pile and I shake awake the furry one. Hey. Yes, hello. You're up. Okay, okay. I'll take your spot and roll into the corner of the bed. Okay.

Fearne, roll a perception check for me, please. Okay. Ooh, natural 19. Please. Okay. An uneventful passage, thankfully, this early in the morning, aside from the loud snoring of Chetney across the room.

Oh, oh, I want to do something. Yay. Sure, yeah. What do you want to do? I would like to walk over to the side of Ashton while he's sleeping. Okay. And I want to

watch his head and try to see if anything's happening. Oh. Oh, cool. Inside his brain? Okay. Yeah. Want to see if anything's happening. Oh. Oh, cool. Inside his brain? Okay. Yeah. Want to see the brain? So in the low light here, you take quite a bit of time.

From a third-person perspective, this is really creepy. You are just inches from the crystal-like exposed portion of their dome. Mouth breathing. Yeah, you see the fog going in and out. The goat eyes. You don't see a brain.

It isn't a glass dome with a fleshy organ visible, but a close look, you can see the inside looks like clouded, cracked crystal. You see what looks almost like a storm of quartz frozen in place, like an odd natural ice that is just locked in time. As you focus on it, occasionally you see

a bit of red spark and a bit of purple glow and shift. There's a very, spark and a bit of purple glow and shift. There's a very subtle microcosm of chaos and energy just sparking around beyond the opaque portion of this exposed, crystalline wound. It's beautiful. So beautiful and calm in there.

I'm just going to put my finger on it and see what happens. Okay. Sorry, it's a little fucking hot. It's a fucking gun. It is a smooth... Criminal. Yes. It is a smooth, glass-like surface there. As you run your finger along it,

there's warmth to it. It has the warmth of skin, but it is a hard surface. As you move your finger along, you almost see a trail of that very faint energy across it, like those energy spheres you'd see in Sharper Image when those existed. Oh yeah. Wow.

Magazine, so that's. Yeah, there you go. But it just follows the pressure you place along it, and it's cool, and you can't stop yourself from doing it a bit. Go ahead and roll a perception check. I was going to say, because there's no feeling on the glass, but that would definitely, like, it might. But the proximity and the movement of her finger on it.

It might actually be enough to. With disadvantage, because you are asleep. Oh, that's fair. Perception check, right? Yes. Nope, I am out. Nothing above a three. You are shifting their head, like an inch one way or the other with no reaction.

They are down for the count, and you are just, they're a toy for the moment. Okay. I am going to get really close. And I am going to, up against the glass part, I'm just going to go, and then I'm going to make two dots and then a smiley face.

You've got it. Easily enough done, unnoticed, unbothered, and as the moisture from your breath begins to fade, you can just faintly still make out the ever so slight image of a smiley face upon the exterior. Touché. Touché. I'm going to go back to the bed

and move Orym a little and just keep circling like a dog until I find a comfortable spot. Okay. You eventually find it and push in and curl against your familiar friends and go to sleep for the last part of your watch. That's the best part. You watch.

You say, goodnight. Everything's good. Hot dreams. Oh my god. A good hour and a half, two hours or so without watch progress with the rest of you sleeping. The sun slowly begins to rise. The temperature of the room begins to grow warmer and warmer.

I will say, Ashton, in your night's rest, whether it be brought on by exterior physical handling of yourself that you're unaware of or not, you sleep soundly, not out of a calm rest, but out of just a physical exhaustion, still recuperating from the previous journey, but you keep having these flashes, these moments, memories of holding an adult's hand above you,

flashes of the ground itself tearing and breaking against other shelves of jagged rock. You have images of wandering through the long path from the Hellcatcher Valley northward and being mindful of the crawlers and other wandering brigands. Just moments scattered of your life, like a broken puzzle.

Fractured, but put back together, like you. And to that point, too, flashes of the climactic break-in that set this strange path. The darkly lit interior of Hexum's Manor, the whispered rushing of the nobodies around. Milo trying to get you to join, but your confidence and intent to unseat some mysteries keeping you a bit too long behind.

Flashing to that crate again, the last thing you remember from that failed burglary. Reaching into it, and then a striking white coloration. The sound like a thundercrack, but echoing into a thousand echoes from all different directions. In one moment, you are a thousand pieces,

and then back to one, and waking up in the croc house. Milo standing over you, their thick glasses upon lenses upon lenses looking down at you with the lantern lights sweat dripping off their face, dirt and grease smeared on their brow, their knitted cap pulled tightly over as their massive eyes magnified blinking.

You okay? You okay? Okay, okay, okay. The echoes progress even further. Hundreds of echoes, reversing and then colliding again. And then just dark, restful sleep. You all wake up, comfortable. Night's rest to get your long rest if you needed it.

Breakfast was not ordered to be delivered either, so you have to retrieve your meal for the morning. You got to leave that shit on the doorknob before you go to bed. But the day is yours. Food on the go as we head over. Sure, I'm fine with that. Yeah.

Let's just get this done. Okay. You go ahead and grab yourself a meal. We'll say for the troop here, a quick grab-and-go breakfast dish. Run you about, we'll say, six silver. That one, too.

I'll take care of it. Really? Oh yes, it's really not a problem. All right. She unseats a few sticky coins from the inside of her fur. Sticky coins. They're yours anyway.

You can't touch my finger. Where would you like to go? I think we should get the biggest out of the way, clear the decks, go see Hexum. Let's get some cash. Oh god, that's right. We get money for this. We get money for this.

It's hopefully what they do when you do something you weren't going to do otherwise. This is very exciting. Yeah. Well, you have lots of money. Look, I'm frugal. I wasn't born rich. I've earned this.

Bye. Selling toys? Yeah. Well, yeah. You know a lot of people that make wooden toys? Of an expert nature? I don't think so. We've met several just in the last week and a half.

Fuck, FCG. Well, I mean. Ah, you're my favorite. I thought you were a healer. You cut me deep. I'm sorry, I feel better. I take it back. I need a moment. All right, it's past.

No, I mean, you do well. You get paid well for what you do. I've looked in his wallet. It's very well stocked. No, I know. It's become far more well stocked since he started traveling with us. I'm a team player! I share, I picked up the tab for things.

Orym knows. He has been very generous. Respect. It's true. You don't see me spending on extra hotel rooms just to satisfy my carnal desires. All right. That was a lot out here in front of the hotel. The 11-year-old that's now standing to your left,

who's licking what looks to be a piece of rock Kennedy is bestowing at you, goes, What's condom mean? It's a dessert. Ask your parents. Okay. You have it for sex. Kids are cute. He's 11, it's fine. All right, are you heading to Jiana Hexum's, then? All right. Heading over to Jiana Hexum's, then?

All right. Heading over towards the Lucent Spire, where the elite live amongst their well-to-do and expensive estates. You pay each one silver for the path to via the gondola as you all step in. I'll get it, it's on me. Thanks, thanks, Chet. Carnal generosity, practically.

He's so kind. He's very generous. Am I using that right? Shut up, Ashton. End one point. As the doors close, you all rest inside it, rocks gently before. Oh no. Oh no.

She's blurry. She's got blurry. She got blurry. Oh no. Okay. I like blurry Fearne. She's got blurry! She got blurry! Oh! Okay. I like blurry Fearne. I know, I know. He's got a vision.

Blurry. Blurry. All right. It'll come back. It'll come back. It'll find its way back. Much like the gondola, as it rocks in an uncomfortable fashion for a bit at Fearne's pushing, but it does come to rest eventually.

Looking down behind you, having returned to the city, you get once more that beautiful view, especially from the height of the Aleutian Spire, this path that you have taken. In the late morning, you can see the sun has crashed through and pushed back the majority of the night fog that seemed to have choked the lower jungle bed beneath the city.

Glancing upward, you could see the familiar beautiful cobblestone streets and rising spires and the various homes and boats and courtyards that surround magnificent Mahon house homes and possible members of the Quorum. Eventually stepping off, you return to these neighborhoods and follow the familiar path to Jiana Hexum's

somewhat intense-looking, darkly colored estate. Within a moment of knocking, the door opens, and the dimly lit interior, with nary a window to be seen beyond to the back of the staircase that turns off to the left and up to the secondary floor, leaves most of the room in fair shadow.

But what you do hear immediately, suffusing the chamber, is a beautiful solo violin playing. Just gently filling the atmosphere within. It's more sentient, inanimate objects. Stay away from it! We need someone practicing. Yeah, does Yana play an instrument?

Does Yana play an instrument? You've never seen her play an instrument. I've never seen her play an instrument. I've never seen her play an instrument. Doesn't mean she can't, just I've never seen it. We don't have that kind of relationship. Actually, I take that back. We do, but it would be under very strange circumstances. Trust it.

We assume for now that it's an instrument. Playing itself. Of course. I mean, that sounds expensive. Starpoint Conservatory, they have music playing in that, who knows where it comes from. Should we follow the sound? Or do you know where we're going, Ashton?

Hello? Matt works, too. Byland just keeps playing. I brought stuff and things. The door closes behind you. We follow it. All right. Wow, this is weird.

Are we safe? Eh. Leading the path forward towards the base of the stairs, the sound of the violin seems to grow louder as you approach the stairs leading to the second floor. You pass by the familiar busts and statues, including the ones that look fairly blank in detail, but as you walk near, you can see them,

the enchantment trying to grasp your shape, failing at this distance, but just enough of a transition, like it's trying to grasp something to hold onto before you pass beyond it and it reverts back to a blank humanoid bust. Continuing up the stairs, the sound of the violin gets louder. As you head to a secondary landing that is open and overlooks the top of this foyer, you can see open, there is a double

door to a study chamber where you've been before, and this is, you know, to be one of her personal sitting rooms. Looking just past the door, you can see there are two figures. You can see one, an older human woman with a pair of spectacles on the end of her nose, wearing a very nice dress, high neck, folded up top.

Her hair is put into a high bun with a singular braid that emerges from the center of it and dangles towards the back of her shoulders. Is that what this is? No, you're not familiar with this figure. She is intently, hands clasped, looking forward, and about five feet from her, by the mantle of an unlit fireplace,

is Jiana Hexum, violin in hand, and is just playing. Playing, not even acknowledging your presence yet. The older woman glances over and notes all of you, and then goes back to listening to the music. About a minute of music continues. You listen to it. It is this haunting, beautiful melody that

you can't help but wonder, based on the atmosphere here, if it is beautiful in its own right, if this is some sort of magically enhanced skill that she is practicing. Is there an enchantment involved here? Are you being enchanted? Being in the proximity of this, is this dangerous? It's hard to tell in the presence of someone

that you've been told and sensed to not trust. But she completes the song and sets the bow to the side, gives a nod, and the old woman stands up. Well done, you've drastically improved. Yeah. She reaches into a small bundle on the side and pulls out a few sheaths. Practice these before our next lesson.

And it appears you have company. Jo. Yes, apparently it does. Thank you so much. Yes, Ashton, step inside. Bring your heddles with you, please. The old woman grabs her little leather briefcase

looking side satchel and stands up, gives you all a curtsy and a smile, and then exits out from where you came. You hear her foot's depths. Do you have a business card? I do not have a business card, but... Okay. Why are you looking?

We know how to get ahold of you, just in case any of us feel like taking lessons. Of course, I'm sure me sexam could pass on my information. What was your name? Daina. Daina? Daina Veshul. Daina Veshul. She's the killer.

Jiana goes, She was a long celebrated violinist here in the city, and she's been kind enough to give me lessons in her retirement, so thank you. She nods and exits. You hear the of her hardened shoes clattering on the stairway down to the empty and now still silent household.

As she's leaving, can I take a close look at her hands as she's leaving? Does she have the calloused fingers of someone that's worked a violin? Make a perception check. That's an absurd fancy. You see, and these hands are like ballet feet. They're terrible.

Was it ballet feet? Ballet feet. Eight. Eight. No, not at all. Way too dark. The little bit of light that comes through from that window as she passes by, it catches mostly her shoulders and the back of her head,

and it's a very strong rim light, so you can't make out much detail. Did she look like anyone we saw posters of at the theater? No, actually. Well, roll an intelligence check for me, if you don't mind. Mm-hmm. We'll do background checks on these music too. I know.

Nobody can toy for him. I'm not going to let you unveil my big bad. 14. Was it big bad. 14. Was it? 14. 14. Now that you, it's more the hairstyle, if anything, it seems familiar. You can't pinpoint specifically,

but you get the sense of, I mean, if she seemed to be that important, you might have passed by a poster or so while you were in the theater. But Jiana says, Well, friends, I've been notified that you've come to me with good news. Oh yeah, that was me.

Yes. Please. She goes ahead and reaches over and sits into a large, high-backed leather chair and scoots it over to face you, crosses her legs and places her hands on the edge of her knee. Tell me. Tell me all about it.

How long have you been taking lessons? Oh, just this past year. To pass the time. And you're already that good? I'm studious when I wish to be. Do you play anything else, or is this your first instrument? It just seems so ambitious to learn something

later in life. FC Jane. One does have to find ways of filling the time between endeavors. I've always wanted to see if I could, and while it seems that I have the aptitude. That is admirable. That's great.

Congratulations. Thank you kindly. So, please. I would wish to know that this arrangement has been left in my favor. Quite a bit. We met with more resistance than we were expecting. I think your friend was hoping to have everybody killed off in his little museum.

Mm. Certainly made a go for it. Evon is not known for his delicate touch, or ingenuity, really. Well, I didn't hit him. Although I wanted to. That is a very normal reaction to his presence. Instead, we did this,

and I pull out the papers. Minus the? Yeah, the papers we brought. Yeah, the papers that are on hand. And these are? Right, the Ordner. Oh, right! Do the little frosty frost. Oh.

Oh, quaint. What a dullard to think that would be enough to keep these hidden. Give me a moment. Which means to read through and thumb through. Didn't really give them a full look, but the couple I really took a look at were pretty funny. Indeed.

Oh, this is delicious. I knew you would. This'll send ripples through our circles, yes, yes. How long have you known him? Oh, the better part of a decade or so. It's a bit of a putz. Mm. But we've thoroughly embarrassed him based on our wager.

I've made quite a bit of coin at your success, and as such, I do owe you a bit of coin, if I recall. She stands up and walks over. You can see there's a small chest that's been placed deliberately in this room in an expectant way. And she lifts the edge and reaches within and pulls a hefty velvet pouch out

that you can see has quite a bit of weight to it. She lifts it into her arms and hands it over to you. That is the 3,500 gold pieces we agreed upon, mostly collecting in platinum. It is 500 apiece, based on which we had discussed. As to this additional information, well, you see her thumb through, and she pulls out a very, very small leather pouch

and shakes out, you can see, a cluster of gems, and picks a few out, hands over a beautifully cut ruby, and a bunch of diamonds set into a gold bracelet. These should easily fetch you well in the neighborhood of a thousand gold as a bonus. Hands it over. Just a bonus? That's very kind.

Well, you've provided me enough to keep him thoroughly embarrassed for the next year or more so with these papers, so I'm very thankful. And I want to ensure that those who work for me and do an exemplary job know that there are exemplary rewards. To that point, I, and I do not mean this the wrong way,

you are a very surprisingly effective troop, given how you initially presented yourselves. What is it you're up to in the near future? I'm always looking for diligent talent. Well, we're a little booked at the moment. We're heading out of town for a little while, but. Oh, shame. I will say that the group that we did compete against,

despite the fact that they lost to us, were impressive and talented, but as we are friends, as soon as I'm back in town, I will be happy to let you know. I appreciate that. What kind of work did you have for someone? Yeah, just in case there's a cancellation.

Sure, sure, sure. Ooh. At the very moment, nothing in particular, but I'm always keeping my eyes down the road. There's always events, opportunities. We're great ball guests. So I've heard. So you saw.

Yeah. So just to be clear, we're square. We are square, Ashton. I look forward to working under slightly less duress in the future. Fair enough. Well, anything else I can do for you? Or shall I set you on your way?

What about that head? I was, oh right. What? Head? Burn? Yes, oh right. Head burned? Yes, I actually, We did, actually. I feel like we talked about maybe you were going to give me the statue that was downstairs. Didn't we talk about that?

I feel like we did. Oh, you were serious about that. Oh, very much so. I think it's beautiful. Obviously, I can't carry it with me now, but I would gladly take it off of your hands any time. Make a persuasion check. Except deliver it. Okay. Yeah.

Oh jeez, what is she rolling? Very dicey. She's cutting onions. 18. Ooh. 18. I'll tell you what. If you take it out with you right now, you can have it. Okay.

Just lift it up and take it out? Indeed. Okay. It's downstairs or it out? Indeed. Okay. It's downstairs or it's? On the way out. There's two to choose from right at the base of the stairs. Do you have a preference? Not particularly.

The enchantment is identical. Are they going to attack or is something going to trigger it? Don't spoil the surprise. I hope so. Guess you'll have to find out. Oh, this will be fun. Okay. If I might make a small request.

Might I have a few moments alone with your automaton friend here? You hear in your head, I don't think you should. I think she's dangerous. And you hear back, but Ashton gave me some good advice and I've got to take it.

All right. Would you be comfortable with me staying in the room since you know that I do not talk? If you'd like. It won't leave the room. Very well. The rest of you, just for the purpose of privacy and current curiosities, just give us a few moments, if you don't mind.

No problem, let's fucking go, Fearne. Yeah, let's go. Here. If you need anything, just holler. Just be a Mr. Sloth. And I'll come right back in. All of us will. Will you be able to hear my thoughts or not? I'll be able to, only if you want me to.

I think I'll be okay. Ashton's here. All right. As the rest of you step outside of this study chamber, the doors close and you hear a lock on them. Janna's attention drifts from you and goes directly to you. Please approach me. Approach you? Okay, sure.

I'll roll over. She adjusts to the edge of her seat, almost in a first chair musician position, chest out, knees to the front, leans forward and looks out and begins to inspect you directly. This close up, you can see the tense lines in her brow. You can see the piercing intelligence in her eyes

and the subtle cold confidence that comes with a person that is used to getting what they want. But she's not, at the moment, encroaching in a disrespectful way, if a bit forward in probing. Where were you constructed? Who was your constructor? Oh boy, I've been...

Dancer? Do you know her? She was a great gal. She was my creator. I cannot say I've worked or heard of a dancer. She was part of a group. We used to go on jobs, and she had a few, like me, mechanical-based automatons with her.

And she made them and refurbished them. She was very talented, your craftsmanship. A bit rough at first, immediate glance, but now as her hands come forward, she cups the side of your head on each side and pulls you forward. She went from connecting with you as another person and is now inspecting a device.

He's talking out loud about, at points, the metal minerals appear to be almost flexible. This is beyond just a simple enchantment. There is fine craft here, which I've only seen a few places by some extremely talented people. If I may, ma'am. Yes, I'm sorry.

The way that you're pawing me, it's not quite the way that I care to be touched. My apologies. I'm a study of the unique, so I get a bit carried away. Well, that's understandable, but, you know, the more and more folks like me I encounter in our travels, I don't think they're treated very well.

You know, there's some that move trolleys from one place to another, and we've met some that have very menial tasks. Well, this is why I find you so fascinating. The standard automaton is but a tool. It lacks sentience. It moves through enchantment like a flying weapon or a magically opening and closing door would.

As she moves her hand, you can hear the lock on the door to the chamber. Is that a mechanical thing that you've got over there? These are all very simple enchantments. Enchantments, yeah. She rubs her hand and you can see that there are all number of rings and bracelets upon her.

She is very well decked out in jewelry and all of it looks very well made. Says, I prefer to ease my tasks day to day with the powers at our disposal. So I've dealt with many other automatons and I find that your awareness is truly unique. It's nice to be called unique, but I don't know.

Have you ever talked to any of the other automatons? None of them have talked to me before. Well, maybe there's your problem. Maybe you should go up and say hi sometimes. You may be right. I appreciate that. You're welcome. You know, I don't know you very well,

but a bit of advice. Maybe don't touch people's faces and probe around them when you first meet them. I mean, I forgive you. I know you're curious about me, and to be honest with you, I'm curious, too. I haven't met many other folks just like me, and I'd like to, and I'd like to find out why.

But it's just not a good way to get to know someone. I've learned from my friends, the Hells, that you're supposed to take someone out and get a meal with them and go to the theater with them to really get to know them. And at the end of the day, if they don't like each other, then they just say, I'm not into you, and then you go your separate way. But at least that's the sort of ritual,

the social ritual that you're supposed to do, not then you go your separate way. But at least that's the sort of ritual, the social ritual that you're supposed to do, not this poking and prodding thing. Are you asking me on a date? Oh boy, I didn't intend to, but sure, if you'd like to. I mean, I think that would be real neat. I know a restaurant with a really good meal. I am continuously amused at this conversation.

I do not think I'm your type. I am. That's exactly what the other fellow said about my friends. I guess that's, we just sort of skip to the end. Well. Skip to the end. Well. Should you encounter any others of your kind with a similar awareness, sentience, personality, sense of humor,

perhaps in my way. What will you do with them? Well, I wouldn't be grabbing their face and peering any further, knowing that that is a faux pas, but call it professional curiosity. I can make it worth your while. Oh, how so? By giving some to Ashton and my friends?

You'll be paid well, of course. All right, well, I'll keep that in mind. Hey, if you have experience with other automatons or mechanical creatures, do you happen to know anyone who's an expert in building or crafting or has a history with folks like me? Or maybe a place?

A place out in, because we're going to do some traveling, so if we ever come across a city that's maybe known for that sort of stuff? I do have a few contacts, but I believe out of professional respect, I will keep them between us, me and them. As far as locations, well, really, if you look hard enough,

many of the various metropolises would probably be able to provide. There are scavengers and crafters all across the Hellcatch Valley. Eishanador in Eos has quite a diverse study of arcana and enchantment. I would not be surprised if there are specialists in automaton creation and enchantment.

In fact, I'm pretty sure a number of those that were created for the gondolas for this city were crafted there in the scent. There is also Ank'Harel in the Rumadam Desert, though I have not visited there in quite some time. I hope that's helpful. It is. I'll be honest, I can't figure you out too much.

Feeling is mutual. I guess I'm starting to learn that just because you have a soul doesn't mean you know how to use it too good. She blinks slowly. Anyway, have a smiley day. You as well, fresh cut grass. That's me.

In the interim. Is anybody else doing anything, or we cut to the end? I was waiting for that to end. I'm going to leave last, but go ahead if anybody else wants to do stuff. Well, we want to try to get this statue. Yeah. Oh yeah. Make a strength check.

She's just taking a shit. Is it a bust or is it a full? Yeah, how big is it? No, it is a, like a, maybe nearly a foot wide pillar that rises from the ground. It has almost like a spiral shape to it. And then on top there is a bust,

but it looks humanoid. It has shoulders and the upper part of a shoulder and the upper part of an arm. I'm just picturing that board bus we had on the bus. But it is plain. It is featureless beyond just the shape of a head and shoulders and chest. Disney projection map.

Yeah, I was just thinking about that on adventure. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. As. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. As you're all watching Fearne grab and pull at it, you can- Can we try to help? If someone wants to try and roll as well. I'm going to try to use my my telekinesis to help her out.

The spell of telekinesis or the? Oh, my mage hand, my telekinesis. Okay, all right. Five pounds of weight. Yep, yep. So make. Okay, all right. Five pounds of weight. Yep, yep. So what'd you roll, Fearne? Come on, we can do this. It's an extra help of 10 pounds.

All right. It'll help. That'll slightly lower the DC, all right. Fearne, what'd you roll? Eight. Oh, great. Guidance. Come on! Did you guide yourself, Fearne?

I forgot. Little goat pellet falls out. It's just so heavy! Every time she strains, I create a little opening bloom on her furry butt. And after 30 seconds, there's about eight or nine of them. While the conversation is happening, you keep having moments of that dream coming back.

Looking around the room, you remember being in this room a long ago. You remember it darker and shaded and seeing your compatriots rushing around and rummaging through things, and then you're back and you watch as Fresh Cut Grass and her are having this conversation. The bust is not moving.

Well, not today. Maybe we'll come back. It's fine. I don't know. What the fuck's up with that? Are you sure? What the fuck is up with that? What if we just take the bust part off of the top of the column? Yeah, can we do that?

That's what she's trying to do, I think. Oh, she's not trying to pull the hook off. It's a little too heavy. It's barely moving. It's like you hear the occasional as it's just shifting ever so faintly. Almost got it! It's got a steel base.

I'm going to put my face in front of it. Okay, as you glance down towards it and make pseudo eye contact with the formless face before you, you watch as it shifts and little fawn ears and horns begin to emerge from the front of it, and you see your face peering back at you with just solid eyes, no pupils or irises. Cool.

Hello? It just looks back at you. It doesn't speak, but it follows your movement, almost like it's intently mirroring your head's position. Do you want to come with me? It does the nod and head turn the same way you did. Can you make yourself lighter? Make a persuasion check.

These are the real questions. This is the real stuff. There it is. Clack. 18. 18. No, it's a bust. Nothing changes.

It's not going to work. It's not going to work. All right. Would any of us notice Ashton feeling a little? I'm not feeling it. Ashton's been up in the room the whole time. The rest of you are downstairs while they're closed off in the office.

Simultaneously. Simultaneously, yeah. We are loaded now. I don't want to hear. The rest of you are downstairs while they're closed off in the office. Simultaneously. 500 gold. We are loaded now. I don't want to hear shit for many of you. First we add 500 gold to our... Mm-hmm. Is it 500 or it's, well, we got the gems. 500 apiece. 500 apiece. Then 1,000 gold worth of gems and jewelry.

Ashton, you know. Which can't be. Taliesin, as always, take my 500 in your own stocks. Already there. Pretty good. I'm going to take a second to just try and run through the night again, as much as I can. We will run through the night. Trying to track what happened where.

Okay. Since this was the room. I just want to, while this conversation has been happening. Well, this was not the room where it happened. Okay. It was... I want to help you. I said I'm going to run. What you recall occurred in the floor upstairs,

where you found that crate in the final moments, but you can make a perception check if you want to. I'll take it. 19. 19? For me, that's really impressive. A roll or a total? Total. Total 19.

That's okay. That's really good. As you blink, as they're finishing their conversation, you look around the room and you remember distinctly seeing your friends pushing through the back bookcase and pulling back books and finding nothing and just throwing things into sacks and satchels like it was worth anything. You remember being upstairs when everything got weird.

You remember that crate. You glance over to the far side of the room underneath a table with their candelabras placed onto the left of the door. There is a dark blue, almost like a carpet or a decorative tapestry that's half folded that is draped over a wooden container approximately the same size

of the one that you had gotten into that night. Different room, different place, and it's hard to tell at this distance, but it has a similar shape. With a 19 perception, it catches your attention. I look away. And I wait for this conversation to be over. Okay.

The conversation comes to a close as she goes, Thank you for your time, both of you, and for your diligence. Not everyone can keep a promise these days. I appreciate that. As do I. Shall I? I'll meet you outside just one second. Oh, okay.

Bye. I apologize, I was trying to warn you. It's all right. Thank you. It's been an interesting arrangement, and I look forward to seeing you when I'm back in town. And thank you for the violin. That was beautifully unsettling.

Good. I'm hoping to achieve such an effect, hopefully, so that is high marks in my mind. Everyone loves to be seen. And I head my way out, shut the door. We're going to head downstairs. Okay. Having a mild heart attack. All right. You guys watch as Ashton returns to the troop,

looking a bit wide-eyed and... Are we still having trouble with the... Was I okay in there? Was that all right? That went well. We'll go over notes, but well done. Okay, thank you. Well done. How's it going down here? We can't get the bust. I think we're about done.

I'm going to make a quick try to just grab it and sling it. Is it being magically held down? Make a strength check. Strength check? Yes. 23. Uh, 23. With just one arm, pretty much,

you just like, fireman's carry the bus onto your shoulder. Oh, snap! Start heading towards the door. Oh, snap! Start heading towards the door. Oh wow, that worked? Oh wait, do you need help? Mine now, I'm going. Okay, where are we going to put it? The doors open as you exit.

As you all, one by one, leave the estate, the door closes behind. What was that all about, FCG? I don't like that woman. I just don't like her. One leave the estate, the door closes behind. What was that all about, FCG? I don't like that woman. I just don't like her. I don't think I do either. Let's get to the gondola before we talk.

Oh, okay. All right. Also, do you mind doing me a favor? What's up? Once we're on the gondola? What's up? Let's get to the gondola. Okay. I will say yes to the favor, regardless of what it is.

Sorry, having a bit of a time. I know, you look a little pale, flushed, both. I don't know. It doesn't work on me anymore. I was curious because this is very, I'm aware something happens, but every time someone's tried to describe it, it just gets very muddled.

There's more, something more light comes from your head a little bit. Well, that's normal, yeah. It's just this that doesn't make any sense. I don't know. You do tense your jaw. Maybe that's what it is. Well, there's reasons for that, yeah.

It's very like the EMJ situation. Do you grind your teeth when you sleep? Yes. I can make you a wooden mouthpiece. It'll be easier on your... That's a great idea. Yeah, that's supposed to help. Like a mouth guard? Yeah!

Try it, because I just want to show you what happens when someone made of rock puts a wooden mouth guard in their mouth. I mean, now it has to happen. No, I'm serious. Can you unhinge your jaw? Wait, you're going to make that before you finish making the rest of our toys? Listen, I can multitask, all right?

Also, it's on a sliding scale of who's being nice. Okay? Yeah, that's right. Gee, Chet, you're so talented. I can't. I can't believe it's just got a little farther from that house. Start whittling on the gondola. Should we be worried? Do we need to? You all return back to the gondola.

I do not respond to the thought. Wait, what did you say? I don't even know what you thought. A small crowd steps off the gondola. Okay, wait, wait. I do not respond to the thought. Wait, what did you say? I already thought. A small crowd steps off the gondola, well-dressed. A perfumed smell emerges, and it is just your troop stepping into the gondola. There's one silver apiece as well. Just traverse it.

That's a lot of perfumes. Identify object and detect magic, please. On what? The statue and all of us. Oh, okay. What are we doing? They want me to detect magic to see if we have any magical enchantments

been placed on us by maybe the violin music or something. Then also just to see what this thing is. I don't know if I can necessarily detect charms or something. Let's give it a shot. No, it'll just be. I cast Detect Magic and I look around the room. Okay.

Beyond all the various enchanted items you are all carrying, you can see all the different weak or strong auras they give off in the space. Of course, the bust that you're carrying over your shoulder gives off a very faint magical aura of the illusory school specifically. But nothing catches your eye in the realm

of any wayward enchantments, marks, or sigils. Okay. Okay, I'm good. You want me to identify the bust? If you said it's just a gentle illusionary. It has a little gentle magic on it. Then that's fine. Should we be worried? Should we be worried?

How to put this? You know how some people are nice? Yeah. Well, and there's also some people who are nice because they choose to be nice. Yeah. She chooses to be nice. So it's just best to help her keep choosing that. Okay.

Is everything all right, Ashton? Uh. I don't normally see you this flustered. Yeah, I don't know. I'm just thinking a lot about the past. It's interesting to be out of this contract, and I... Congratulations, by the way. Thank you, it genuinely doesn't feel real.

Do you think it is? Ah. I don't know, there's been... There's been some things that are bothering me. I don't know, I'm having... What are you worried about? I'm having trouble remembering some things. I don't know. It's...

Like what? Like... Oh, what was I even going to grab? I don't even, I haven't thought about it in so long. I don't. What are you talking about, Ashton? I'm going to need a drink. Hmm? I have an idea. What's that? Question. I'm going to need a drink. Hmm? I have an idea. What's up?

What if, I mean, I know that it's deeply personal and if it's uncomfortable for you in any way, just say so. But yeah, FCG and I, we did a thing where it's like we can dive deeper into thoughts and memories and maybe recover something. We could try it with you. You'd have to be willing. Yeah. Maybe if both of us are helping you at the same time, we might actually be able

to help you piece things together. Do you think it forgot on purpose? Or I guess not on purpose, but like, you know. I mean, it was a very complicated day. Some weapon action. Are you sure you would? Are you sure this isn't dangerous in here? There is a lot happening in here.

It's true. What if you guys go in there and you get lost or something? I don't know. I've never been lost in anyone's head. You have someone literally standing here who got lost in a water fountain. Well, that's true.

Water fountains can be very complicated. I feel like this is much more complicated. There's a lot going on there. There's a lot going on in your brain, but trust me when I say that some other people have a lot going on, too, you know? I'll do what I normally do when I'm unsure. I pull out a coin and flip it.

Okay. Yeah, fuck it. Oh, okay. I have a question that- We don't have to do it now. Oh, thank god, I didn't want to do it now. These things make me a little sick. Not here. I would definitely not want to dive that deep fuck it. Okay. We don't have to do it now. Oh, thank god, I didn't want to do it now. These things make me a little sick. Not here. I would definitely not want to dive that deep in it. Although I've always wanted to be in a fight on a gondola.

We can do that sometime, right? I want to knock someone off one of these things. I bet Chet would be down for it. It's just us on here. Please don't get in a fight right now. I think that the conversation that you two had went well. Okay. What was the conversation you two had?

Get to that in a second. Chetney had a question. Could you open your mouth for just a second? Ah! Ah! Just for a second. Ah, I just need to see your molars. Ah, just for real quick. You say, fuck you. There we go.

You have an overbite. You know this. I was very, god, it feels like this gondola ride's been going on forever. Normally we take the carpool gondola. Yeah, the wind's picking up a lot. I lift up Orym so he can see out the window. Thank you.

Thanks for letting us know. Eshteross? Eshteross, I thought. Next. Uh-huh. We're going to carry the bust around all the way? I think we can leave it at Eshteross's. I think that's a good place to be.

That's a great idea. That's a really good idea. We've got another night here, so let's get our errands done, and then maybe when we park our butts tonight, you guys can try that trick. What was the conversation about? Conversation was about, she seemed really interested in me.

Like, sexually? I thought so at first, but it was not true. She seems to have some sort of a... Not a kink, just a... She's really into automatons. She said for convenience, but she seemed just extra fascinated by the way I was constructed and created, and she...

Their uniqueness. Yeah, she said unique, and she wanted to know where and why and how. I know that a lot of people have said that about me. You are quite unique. At this point, and I'm wondering if maybe, maybe Dancer didn't tell me everything. Maybe the parts that she used to put me together

were from something else. I don't know. I mean, FCG, amongst a lot of us, we've done a lot of traveling. I've never met anyone like you. Ever. Mm-hmm. Built you from other, how do you mean?

Well, she would salvage parts from all over the place to help construct the others. What if you were a dead person, and now their soul has been transferred inside of you, but you can't remember? Like you? Well, I'd remember. Oh, okay. I think you have a kink now.

Jesus. I'm a dead girl. People definitely have kinks. How well do you know her? Like, has she ever been married? Does she have a partner? Does she have any children? I don't know, I don't know, and I don't.

I'll say probably not. Probably not. Very probably not. It's not the sort of relationship we have. I mean, was she admiring you when she looked at you, or was it like? Yeah, but it wasn't in like a... I don't know, it didn't make me feel good. It was more like a butcher inspecting a piece of meat. Oh, she was all up on you,

like you could smell her lunch? I can't smell. They would have been able to, yes. The gondola comes to rest at the bottom. To the Core Spire, and as the door is open, you can see, waiting behind, a few individuals that are looking for you to exit The gondola comes to rest at the bottom to the Core Spire and as the door is open, you can see, waiting behind, a few individuals that are looking for you to exit

so they can go ahead and make their way further up. That smell's not from us, that's from the people before us. So you step in and you're like, Oh, that smells from us. Yeah, I mean. So you continue your conversation. Oh, sure. I mean, yeah, she seemed real into me.

I don't know why I didn't love it, but I understand, I guess. I don't know. What do y'all think? How did you leave it with her? Well, she wanted me to go find others like me or other peculiar automatons and report back to her. If I shared that information,

she would reward you with, I don't know, gold? Well, that feels like if you can find other people like you, why would you want to sell them out to her if she seems so... Grabby. I think you might be right. Maybe, yeah.

The way that you all treat me is wonderful. Maybe other folks should treat other automatons with more respect. If we ever meet one. I mean, one like you. We've tried talking to other automatons. They're not like you, FCG. Well, maybe we're just not speaking their language.

Maybe we're not trying hard enough. Or maybe there's something missing in them. A switch that needs to be flipped, or a light that needs to be added that will turn them on. All I know is that if I reach out, and you can feel it, too, I don't get the same thoughts from them

that I get from you, you know? I can feel you there. I can't feel them. Maybe we have to understand more about you before we can do anything about them. That's a good idea. It makes me also feel a little bit guilty for being mean about that horse the other day.

I appreciate that. I appreciate that. Which one? Heart. And all of them, all of them. Sure, but that's the one you care about most. I cared about all of them. Okay. But yeah, Heart most of them.

What are the statistics on gondola deaths every year? Probably looked that up. What are the statistics on gondola deaths every year? Probably look that up. I blanked out of this conversation five minutes ago and I'm just obsessed with that. Yeah, okay. I don't know, maybe she wants to become you. Whoa, what? Well, I don't know, right?

She picked up the violin later in life, which is a fucking thing to say, let me tell you. Oh my gosh, SDGs, don't ever, don't know, right? She picked up the violin later in life, which was a fucking thing to say, let me tell you. Oh my gosh, SDG, don't ever say something like that. But maybe she's fascinated with like- She's later in her life. You don't actually know that. She's closer to death than we were born. No, it was great.

It was the most subtle, fuck you, right on the way in. You set the tone. I didn't know. I was just saying, it's a fact. 400 years. Most people do not like hearing that they're close to death. But maybe she wants to transfer her consciousness

into something that'll never fade. You could do that? I don't know, how do you exist? Doesn't really strike me as... You think I'm the consciousness of a dead person? I just said that to you. What are you saying? I just said it.

I took your idea, I made it my own. I stole your shit and you took it because, I made it my own. I stole your shit and you took it because I changed it. Jenny, you're a genius, Jenny. I heard you say it. I totally did. You know what, it was such a wild concept. You didn't say anything.

Next time you have an idea, just tell me and I'll make sure to filter it through. Okay, you're in management. I still think it's a bad idea. I haven't changed my mind. He uses simple language. I thought it was pretty simple. Approaching the exterior of the Eshteross estate.

Open up, Eshteross! Wait, wait, FCG. Yeah? Do you know, I don't know how to ask this question, but, well, do you know how long you've existed? Like, how old you are? Dancer built me a couple years ago. I don't know the exact date.

Would you say a couple or a few? How have we not had this conversation before? Maybe we have, how do you measure that? The number of days that the sun rises? You remember, okay. Yeah. Do I remember how long ago I started sort of experiencing

her and the world? Yeah, I'd say it was probably maybe about four years ago. Four years ago, okay. Yeah, three to four years ago? Four years ago. That's okay. Yeah, three to four years. That goes from your beginning consciousness to learning things about the world around you. There was a subtle period of finishing repairs.

You came to consciousness before Dancer was finished. Kind of a small project. Then with each completion of construction and repair, you eventually became more useful, and then eventually proved that you would be able to come out on various jobs with the rest of Dancer's troop. So yeah, I'd say three to four years. There you go.

And Dancer, Dancer was not one of the people that you were with when you were attacked. Yes. Dancer and all of the rest of her? Yeah, they're all gone. I don't know why I thought it was a different group and Dancer was still somewhere to be found.

I'm sorry. Are you sure? I mean, yeah. Ashton came upon us and saw the bodies as well. It was a lot. I'm glad you found a new group. I am, too. This is a sensitive question, but do you know how she was killed?

Could you tell? You were on a job. Yeah, we were on a job. I mean, they all seemed to be eviscerated. A very large, one-eyed creature. That's right. Beast. So including Dancer was eviscerated.

When you say you were on a job, what does that mean? We had been hired to go into a mine, I believe. That's correct. I got to look it up. Yeah, you're on. It was a silver mine to the east of Vishi. Thank you. Silver mine to the east of Vishi. I beat you.

Hey! I beat you. Brother. About a week later, I was paid to go find out what the fuck happened. And... Came upon me and a bunch of blood. Yes. Who were you paid by, Ashton?

That's right. Ashton, who paid you? Oh god, I don't have that on me. It's in your file somewhere! It's not in my file. Getting to the bottom of it now. Yeah, yeah, yeah, we are. Nobody particularly interesting, I'm trying to find, remember.

That you know of. That I know of. That you know of, Matt might know. That's in my session. My group, the Division, was hired by the Rai'a family. Thank you. The Rai'a family. The Rai'a? That's right. Yep, but I don't know who did they hire you to. family. Thank you. The Rai'a family? That's right.

Yep, but I don't know who did they hire you to? I believe they did. Okay. Yes. Get our story straight here. It's been a while. It's been a while. Okay. The Rai'a family, were they here in town? Yes. No.

No? Well, I don't know. Wait, no. The Rai'a family was in Avishi. They were they here in town? Yes. No. No? Well, I don't know. Wait, no. The Raya family was in Avishi. They were the ones that had the mine. In Avishi. Okay. They ran the mine that was being overrun, and so they hired your troop to clear out the mine from the indigenous creatures

that hold up in there. Infested with all sorts of giant creatures. Were the creatures cleared out? No, we didn't. It was harder than we expected when we got into the mines. We retreated back to rest, recuperate, heal. I did a lot of healing that day. Everyone was busted up real bad,

and that was it. In the night when we were resting, I don't know who was on watch, but I was shut down, and that's when we were taken out. They were taken out. Mm-hmm. Shut down?

Resting? Did someone shut you down, or did you do it yourself? No, no, I mean, I was asleep. I was in stasis mode. He always does it. Oh, okay. Well, that statue's got to be heavy. Jesus.

I literally can barely feel it. It's as if it isn't there. You're so strong, Ab. I should have you carry me around all the time. Cheers, Yasha. Asterisk, oh my god, open up! Thank you. Literally nothing.

I could carry you around. The door nothing. I could carry you around. The door opens. I could carry you around. Ever so slightly. And Evelyn stands there. Hello, are you here to see the master? Yeah, we brought a statue. Very well, he is, well,

perhaps he'll speak with you. Come with me. And he opens the door and looks past you carefully. You all right? What's going on? You seem on edge. I'm just looking out for, make sure you're not being followed. General protocol for the Lord.

He closes the door. For the Lord. Not the door. For the lord. Not the lord. Oh wow. Speak through me. Evelyn, extremely religious. Stormlord. Hello. Stormlord.

The lord. If you didn't do it for the lord, who would you do it for? Rocks fall, everyone dies. Jus'ah, I've read of rock fall. No. You move past the study where you first encountered and fought Lord Eshteross. Further down the hall past it,

you can see there's a partially open door and you can hear a sound. SAM and LAURA, SAM and LAURA, It's draining. We're having sex. Oh! Both! Within the next room,

there is a small, somewhat circular-shaped chamber. You can see there are weapon racks on different walls situated with spears and halberds and all of a sudden. You can see in the middle of it, there is a small circular sandpit and there are two wooden combat dummies essentially in the center,

these long wooden pillars that have all these offshoots to them. They have all these dings and gashes in them. Some of them have been wrapped in hard leather that are themselves wrecked with all manner of blows and wounds that have carved across them. You see off to the side and behind it, just a little low lantern light of an oil lantern

that's hung on the wall to the left, you see Lord Eryx Eshteross wearing a sleeveless vest and his almost dress pants. It feels almost incongruent with no shoes and his arms wrapped, just beads of sweat all across the forehead and dripping off the side as he's punching the sides of this wooden testami repeatedly over and over again for about the next 20 or so seconds

before he stops for a second and notices you all out of the side. Oh, oh. You applauding? Yeah, I feel good. That's extremely awkward. I apologize, I was not expecting you here.

Goes and grabs a towel off of a small rack to the other side of the chamber and begins wiping his face down and gets his robe and puts it on. It is good to see that you have all stayed alive. That is a positive thing, I think. You all right? It's catching my breath.

What can I do for you? Well, we brought you something to start with. Yeah, do you have a pedestal or something? Yeah, we have a present. Spare? I mean, technically, it belongs to Fearne. Life is snow. Just storage, if you don't mind, but you can use it. You brought this? Maybe on your mantle in the other room. Just storage, if you don't mind, but you can use it.

You brought this. Maybe on your mantle in the other room, that would be really nice. Somewhere more private if you. Look. The whole pillar? Look into the statue. I'm going to have to roll it. I'm going to have to roll it.

Ah, that's not okay. Okay. You pull it down and goes over and helps hold the bottom of it and glances at it. You watch as the plain visage of the bus begins to shift into the intense and strong tusked jaw of Eshteross. Withdraws a bit.

It is extremely creepy. We'll place it in my study facing the wall. You know, maybe you could put it on top of your training dummy, so you're fighting yourself and your inner demons as you train for sex. Yeah. It's like therapy, in a way.

Is that what you think this room is? It has been nearly two weeks and I have forgotten how extremely strange you are. But indeed, there is much to get you up to speed on. Yeah. Set that, then. He walks over to it and turns it to make sure it's facing the wall,

takes his towel and throws it over it. You might want to have it looked at. Anyway. Come into my study, please. Before we leave the room. You saw those pecs before he put his robe on? Before we leave the room, I'm just going to go up to the training wooden dummy

and just say, hello? Are you a person? Are you a thing? Hello? Can you a person? Are you a thing? Hello? Can you hear me? No response. Okay. Keep trying. Roll for support, Jett. He just glanced to the side.

Eshteross walks past you to the front door, reaches over to one of the racks on the side, and you can see there's these ragged-looking spears, there's some staves, you can see what looks to be an awesome quarterstaff, and there is some beautiful curved silver scythe with this thin, long, curved blade. It reaches up and grabs and says,

We're done. You watch as it shifts and transforms into the silver ball-topped cane that he carries with him. What? Hot! Scythe? That's cool. Hot! Do you train with all of the weapons in here, or?

Depends on the day of the week. Holy shit. It is important to be ready for anything. Sir. Come, walk with me. How old are you? Just for the show, just for reference. We just scolded FCG for doing that. Oh no, oh no, you're right, I'm sorry.

You got it, it's all good. I'm old enough to be accomplished at these weapons and not quite old enough to be retiring them. Accomplished, yet not retired. Yeah. Yes. Thank you. He keeps walking with the heavy sound of the cane leading forward into the steps.

As you follow in after him, he goes and walks towards his chair that was facing the fireplace, scoots it a bit to the side and sits down, sets the cane across his lap, and looks back at the rest of you. Some interesting movement has transpired in your absence. Some of it you may be keenly interested to hear about.

Evelyn, if you could close the door. As he leans forward. We're going to take a break. Oh! Son of a break. Oh! Instead of that. Partially because we're over an hour and a half and we have to change these batteries to here, Ashley, for the second half of the game.

We love you, Ashley. Love you. Thanks, friends. Of course. So yeah, we'll pick up at the start of this next conversation with Eshteross in just a few minutes. Hang tight. We'll see you guys here in a little bit. Oh, hey there.

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So, as you all have gathered here in the familiar study of Eshteross, he has finished his afternoon exercise routine, sits down, his robopon's turning towards you all in his high-back sits down, his robe upon, turning towards you all in his high-backed chair, leans forward. Interesting time since you left. It seems Lady Emoth's capture and subsequent interrogation

has pinpointed our friend, Armand Treshi, as a conspirator. The other three masters of the Mahon house, Treshi pulled back their support for Arman. Wallana Seshadri has personally taken charge of this investigation, and his push for Paragon's calls in statement within the city has been put on hold

during the inquiry into his business practices. However, Armand's home has been cleaned out and Armand has since gone missing these past four days. Oh shit. But thanks to your successful mission at the Ball, I was able to track his movements through the city. He reaches down to the side of the chair and pulls up this small, somewhat cloudy crystal

with a base on it and holds it in his hand. It seems we have found his movements, watching him smuggle out to Drusar, heading southeast, likely out of the wilds. Southeast. In pulling some of my contacts at the Elder's Post, it seems he is off to Basaras in a hurry. Basaras.

Which is also the home of the Paragon's Call. How do I see it on here? Oh, oh. Where? Yes, I'm on here. It's hard, isn't it? That job sucks. Bas- Oh, it's okay. Uh-huh.

Does Basaras have two S's? It does. Bas- But, okay, but what about- Oh, you reach your nose. Basaras, that's true. Does Basuras have two S's? It does. Yes. But okay, but whatever. Only you reach for those. Basuras, that's true. Now, time is of the essence if we are to try and find him before he vanishes entirely off-continent. Unfortunately, this device has a limitation

to the proximity. Once he had left the city, I had lost my tracking, but if this were brought to Bessaras while he's still there, we should lead it to you. So I ask you, as our business had previously concluded, are you interested in pursuing this and to continue this thread, or should I look for other employment?

Sure. Yeah, let's get him. Fuck this guy. Sorry, it's weird. Let us confer amongst ourselves, but for a moment. Fuck this guy. Yeah, we got to finish this. I mean, that's also, that's in the area where all my shit happened to. Oh, wow.

Yeah. Basuras? Yeah, yeah. We were hired out of Basuras, or out of? Avicii. No, out of Basuras. Avicii. To go to Avicii, which is nearby. I think.

You look apprehensive. How far from here? On main roads, Vassaras is about nearly 900 miles to the southeast of here. Good God. It is a lengthy journey through the Hellcatch Valley. It will be broken ravines of the Badlands there. But if indeed you wish to take this endeavor, I can offer a better means of travel.

As it seems, my skyship has returned from its journey to Whitestone. Oh. A skyship. Oh. That's very sad. What a sky. Well, that's great.

Was Bertrand's delivered successfully? Actually, there was a letter that was given to me to bring over to you. Oh shit! was Bertrand's delivered successfully? There was a letter that was given to me to bring over. Whoa! Somebody take it away. Which one of us can read? What do you mean? I can read, but obviously I'll give it to one of you.

Fine material. Who is this from? What is this? What is happening? Keep it. I'm going to keep the ribbon. You're going to keep it? Yes, I'm going to tie it around my wrist. Okay. You can add a ribbon to your inventory. Okay.

I, you know, I just feel like You can't read it? Imogen, no. She's just such a better dictator. Orator? Dictator? Dictator? Dictator. What? What? You're a dictator.

Your Freudian slip is showing. Can we say Freudian in Exandria? Your Freudian slip is showing. It's not really a, you know what I mean. You, yes. What does it say, Amogen? You're keeping us in suspense. Ahem.

Wow, really? I don't know how I should read this. Well, in your natural voice, and not another one, that's for sure. Like, right? I shouldn't read it in a voice that's taking over my body. Just do some interpretive, how do you think this? How I would imagine she would sound.

Just for, you know. Oh, she? Who's she? That's really amazing right there. Okay. I'm just imagining this is what she would sound like. I'm going to die. How are you with voices? I don't know, we'll find out.

Okay. I'll cast Guidance. Thank you. I am ever appreciative for delivering our friend across the sea to us for proper remembrance and burial. We are deeply saddened at Bertrand's passing, and thank you for being compatriots of his until his honored end.

He was a man of deep integrity, courageous heart, and boundless generosity. You have my gratitude and the gratitude of the entire Chamber of Whitestone, darling. Vex'olya de Rolo. Lady Vex'olya de Rolo, Baroness of the First House of Whitestone, Grand Mistress of the Grey Hunt,

Coin Mistress of the Council of Tal'Dorei. You know, that sounds pretty impressive, actually. That entire. She sounds loaded. Coin Mistress of the Council of Tal'Dorei. You know, that sounds pretty impressive, actually, that entire thing. She sounds loaded. Kind of tricky to be on Magnificent Ring. Wow. She sounds important. She sounds like much shit after the game.

She seems really important. She seems cool. It's actually not that far from how she sounds. You met her? Oh shit. You met her? I've seen her, I've heard her. Wow. You used to run with some pretty established, high-powered people.

I stood in the corner. Wow, with Lady Vax'ahlia? Say the whole thing, the whole thing. Lady Vax'ahlia, Mistress of the Grey Hunt and the Second House of Whitestone's Corn Master? My god. Corn master? There's something like 17 more names, too.

Wow. Um. Corn master. Okay, wait, refresh me. She's in Whitestone? I thought we, wait, where did we send his? We sent Bertrand to Whitestone. To Whitestone on the same airship that took Dorian to? No, no, no, different airship.

Two airships. Left the train station at the same time. Different times. Dorian left long after Bertrand did. Oh, that's right. They were different episodes. Yeah. Okay, I was a little confused here. Okay.

Very good handwriting. How much does an airship normally cost to travel with? To hire one, or? I'm actually uncertain. This was part of the Prudaj's estate when I acquired it, so. This was previously owned by the mistress before. But you paid to maintain it?

Or the estate pays to maintain it? Indeed, to keep it up to scale, to pay the crew atop it. What is it used for normally when you're not using it for personal business? Black ops. No, it is primarily used for personal business, for the various textiles that are delivered.

We also rent space out to other businesses, pardon me, that require the very limited skyship space and traversing different continents and with rapid turnaround. We could use this to travel to Bassuras? Yeah, he pulls a small booklet and looks it over and fits his glasses. I'm about a month before our next shipment

is to be put out, so there is about four weeks in which it would just be remaining in the Skyport, unused. Have you ever sent your skyship to Eos? It has gone there before, yes. Is it a long journey? It's a bit further than Baciris. Straight shot, without using the roads, it's about 700 miles to Baciris from here.

You'll take no more than maybe four or five days. Two years, maybe three. Probably three days beyond that, even further. Wow. Roughly the same direction, or? Roughly. A bit more south, southeastern, but yes.

Maybe after, if we do this for him, he'd allow us access? And a crew would pilot? A bare- bones crew. This is not a paid endeavor. It'd be much safer. I mean, nothing can attack you in the sky. That's true.

You have allergies? He sits up for a second, grabs his cane and walks across the room, bit of that hunch to his lower back, looks at one of the upper shelves, across a bunch of books, and pushes past, and takes a couple things down and sets them aside, then reaches up and pulls back.

We see a bunch of these large rolls of paper and pushes through him a bit, and his arm pulls one out and goes, There we go. Oh! Yes! Is this an upgraded map? Upgrade, upgrade, upgrade! Zoomed out map.

Oops, I'm sorry. Well, I'm not. Oops. Oh, it's gorgeous. Oh my gosh. Vasa'ras, look at the zoom in. Okay, so. Vasa'ras. But wait a second. The rift.

Where has this thing come to this? Right away, I want But wait a second. The rift. Where does this sync up to this? Right away, I want to go to there. O'Deeran Wild. Guys, there's notes on it. How does this sync up to this? Is this your own personal map? This is where we are now. Look at this little O'Deeran Wild.

Hold on. Help. Fresh grass. Send me a picture. Yeah, oh, yeah. I'll do it. No rush, no rush. Just look at it, figure it out.

I'm going to send it to you, Ashley. How does this work? How does it link? This looks like water. That's a mountain. That doesn't link up. How does this? This corner goes in. Oh, well.

You never linked up maps. The same scale? Okay. These are different cartographers. The scale is not. I sent it as a freaking live photo again. My apologies. Okay, we're up there.

All the way to Basra's. Look at this thing called the Deadman's Crate. I know. That looks fun. The Drowned City. Rajarma. Hey, oh, Talon Talon, that's where I'm from. A red X. Wait, what are those red marks?

And there's triangles. I know what that means. What does this mean? You left the body there. Oh lord, please tell us. How was there Mara Jones to bed? The Hellcatch Valley is one of the various lands that was heavily scarred in the Calamity.

Much of its broken, dust-filled badlands are prone to sinkholes outside the various ravines that you see carved through it. That's it. Known sinkholes. Nope. Nope. That's not heavy enough. Triangle of the Known Sinkholes. You almost cracked them, bro. No, don't do that with those.

There's a weenie there. We had weights. Just use all of Ashley's shit. We did have weights. We lost them. Here, let me give you a hand. Yeah, hey. Oh no. Asshole.

Where's the thumb, you dick? Yeah, you broke it, Ashton. Is this even showing up on camera? Wait, wait, wait. Ah, there we are. Ashton was getting put to good use. Yeah, no, it's keeping me comfy. And Eos is in which direction? Eos is in Hashanador Eos is in Heishanador,

which is further southeast of there. Heishanador. This is so silly. So we're heading here. Wait, did we ask what the triangles are? Yeah, they're sinkholes. They're known sinkholes. Sinkhole? What does that mean?

Is that a thing that people worry about? Maybe this is a scary sinkhole. There are some regions there that just fall into the subterranean tunnels that go deep, deep beneath the lands. Subterranean tunnels that run across this whole land? It's why regions here are called the Hungry Valley. It just sometimes opens up.

Do you know what's down below? I'm not a person well-traveled in that vicinity, but as far as I know, there are various individuals that are studying such a thing. Wow. Okay. So Treshi fled to Bosporus. If we go there and arrest him, kill him, what's the ask?

I would recommend arresting him, bring him back to deal with the justice that awaits him in Jrusar. What if he accidentally dies? Then bring his body back. Is this something that the Greensleeves, what were they called? Seekers, the Green Seekers.

The Green Seekers would be interested in? Green sects. Is this part of their deal? I forget what their mission was. No, they were hired. They probably know about all this. I mean, they've been in town, you know? Sergeant Shashadri has put them on this same trail,

but I have no idea what their business and or travel has placed them on. If they're still within the city or if they have the same information that I do. All right. They probably need to be rescued. This is so exciting. We are technically deputies.

We're in, by the way. We're not hiding it very well, but this is definitely something we're interested in. Very well. Yes, but. I would not want to assume, but. No, I don't like leaving loose ends. And we have some pretty concrete details for Treshi, so let's wrap it up, and then we can go on from there.

Mm-hmm. If indeed, if you can conclude this with enough time that it's not an issue with our coming shipping schedule at the next month, the ship could take you to Eos of Ed as well. You are seeking as well. That would be wonderful. Certainly beats trying to

ford the valley on foot. It is a long way and quite treacherous. Well, it looks like it. Sounds awesome. I agree. But I do want to, what is the rift? And what is the Dead Man's Crater? I know not what the crater is.

Whose map was this? This was a map that I acquired from a traveling merchant. I just have, you know, spent some time passing through the valley before, but I'd like to make sure that I'm up to date with, well, Sinqal as best that I can be, but also just to know where things are. And what is the Troll Fairy?

Is that like a fairy that's moved by a bunch of trolls? Where's that? The Troll Fairy? Is that like a fairy that's moved by a bunch of trolls? Where's that? The Troll Fairy? It was a, it's on the upper left part of the map. Very hidden, and I got excited when I saw it. Yeah. If you'd like to make a stop on the way out, you could probably convince Captain Xandas to take you there. Captain Xandas. Captain Xandas.

Captain Xandas. Zandas. She's the captain of the Silver Sun, my skyship. The Silver Sun, that's a beautiful, wait. Second son, that was what Dorian's name, Silver Sun. Captain what, Zandas? Zandas. Gosh, but I do love a good map. Huh. Okay.

Look, success or failure of this endeavor, the trip will take you where you need to go in Marquet for the time it is required for us to see through our business together. I'm not using it in the interim, and you've done enough for me. I think it's the least I could do. It's an extremely generous gift.

Yeah, thank you. These are, oh, sorry. No, you go ahead. No, no, it's you. I was just going to see if we could take your little crystal ball so that Yes, yes, my apologies. Oh, really? If indeed he is still within Besoros when you get there,

that should at least give you an inkling of his proximity, the direction of where he would be. You'll know if you look at the sphere and you follow a bright white glow within it. Wherever you hold the sphere, the glow will be in the direction of Armand. But you have to be within a couple miles. Ooh. Oh, all right.

That's pretty good. So we have to get to Basuras. Am I saying that right? Yes. As fast as we can in the hopes that we pick up a ping, get his trail once we arrive. And if that does not happen, either he has not made it there yet,

or he's already moved on, ask around. See if anybody has seen an individual like Arm around, see if anybody has seen an individual like Armand, or if anybody has had business with him. I thought he's expected. So while we're flying. I mean, yeah. In case we buzz over him and it's like, whee!

Indeed. And then you have to jump off. I would not recommend that. These don't land. How many days? I think they have to land. They said four days. Oh, since he fled. Oh, since he fled? No, no, that's how long it would take to get there.

How long ago did he leave town? We're uncertain where he left in particular. I lost directional sight on him about a week ago. Oh jeez. So he could have gone on foot, or do you think he's been on an airship? You don't know. I do not know the means in which he was

smuggled out of the city. I do not know with him losing access to his family's estate if he would be able to. No. I don't know if a skyship has left in the recent days towards the direction of Bassuras. Not many skyships stop there. Most of the trade there is through caravanseries

and other... other sort of travel. And how do you know that's where he's heading? My contacts in the Elder's Post said that that was where he was looking to go when he acquired passage out of the city. Do we all know what the Elder's Post is, except for me? Uh-huh. It sounds like it was a post.

What is the Elder's Post, Lord Eshterow? Maybe we've learned about this before. The Elder's Post is an underground market in the Lantern Spire. Yes. Mm. That's where it is. Sounds so familiar.

Thank you. I imagine Laudna, I mean, out of character, we traveled through this because this is the direction we came. Yeah, you've been. We had to come from Talon Highlands up through to get to Jusar. You'd have some familiarity with the valley, though you probably would,

you didn't probably travel just the two of you, at points of it, you probably, for safety reasons and for not having a lot of experience in this space, traveled with caravans that were already passing through and for a little bit of money, allowed you to come along and sit under their bed. Yeah. Ooh.

Exciting, though. In the last, since all this shakeup has happened, I do want to try and find Ajit Dayal at the Daya Hall. I am familiar with the Daya Hall, yes. Has he been involved in any way or anything, any rumors about the Daya Hall? Mohan House? Not that I'm aware of.

They're primarily a family house focused in education. Mm. Oh yes, he was at the ball with Professor Greers. Oh, yes. They were searching. The Shade Creepers, they were in his room. That's right. Mm-hmm. Oh, yes. They were searching the Shadecreepers. They were in his room. That's right. Mm-hmm. I liked him.

Which one, Ajit or Professor Greers? Professor Greers. Did we meet him? Yeah. I remember. Indeed, it seems like a number of the rooms were impacted during the bomb. A number? Oh, oh. Do you happen to know which rooms in particular? There could be a bog. A number. Oh, oh.

Do you happen to know which rooms in particular? There could be a connection. I do not, actually. From what I've heard, the investigation has been, as I mentioned before, taken over by Shashadri. And the dial hall is located on which spire? That would be here on the Core Spire. Okay.

You may have noticed there is a series of tall sandstone arches that sit in what looks like an arrangement of three large stout towers, open air, almost Colosseum-like. You've passed by it without paying much mind. It's just one of the various structures that you had no personal point of interest to necessarily inspect, but as soon as he starts

mentioning it, you're like, yeah, I feel like we've walked past that a number of times. Sure, Sandstone, it all just blends together. Now, if you make that shit out of wood, people stop and stare. Go ahead. That would be the Dayal Hall. Excellent.

How soon can the skyship be prepared to leave? I would say at least give me till tomorrow to let them know of your interest. They can go ahead and get the materials to shove out and make sure they have food and tools and everything they need on the journey, and give you time to prepare as well. Is there anything that you would recommend?

Any way we prepare? Anything we should bring for Basuras and beyond? I would say maybe... grab a ragged cloak. Try not to stand up too much. We're not very good at that. I think I've got plenty. Okay.

Yeah. Is Berserkerk like a rougher place? Or is there some wealth in the town? It's... It's kind of a shithole. Have you been? Yeah. Oh, that's right! We keep going back and forth with this shit.

It's okay, you were dead once. It's all right, you're fine. Kind of. I haven't been there in decades. It doesn't say that I was there. Just says that we worked in a Vishi near Basuras. So I don't know that we were ever in Basuras. I haven't been there in a very long time.

I used to shit all that much. I have, okay. I have a little shit on now. Okay. I've been there. I remember well! I'll send you all the stuff again, no worries. Again, like a badger. Yeah.

There are a number of various smaller governments that rule over different, look over different portions of the valley. Bassuras is one of the largest trade centers, as it does tend to be a pass-through for many of the various other regions of Marquet. It is also a... Lawless isn't the right term.

The local military likes to keep things fluid when it comes to law. There are many of factions that like to think that they are in charge. Would that be the Paragon's call? They are one of them. They have grown their influence in other regions of Marquet, and as such, have lost favor with some of the other factions in Bussaros.

Just watch your coin purse, and if someone looks shifty, it's because they are. It's a dangerous place. I have been there. I just remember. That's where I first woke up. You had a spinning beach ball on your face for a little bit.

Yeah, that's where I was born, yeah. Wow. Yeah. Maybe something was blocking your memory again. Could be, it's definitely that. It's definitely because of a reason. There's probably a software update. Because you used to know that. I definitely know, we've had this conversation.

For sure. It's been a while, but yeah, we've had this conversation. On this map, are these ravines, roads, valleys? Those are ravines, roads, valleys? Those are ravines. Many portions of this valley have fallen deeper into the ground beneath. That's awesome. Yes. Come on, we got to walk that ship.

Just in general, I've seen them float away. How high do skyships go? Like, is it higher than a bird can fly? They can fly about as high as a bird can. Oh, okay. Maybe a bit higher at times. Then winds get stronger at higher altitudes. They can be challenged to maintain course.

Oh, okay. Well, then we should keep it safe. These sails are important, and they do require gentler weather to stay on course. Many skyships do not ride in storms, and there have been skyships that have fallen or vanished in testier weather. Good one.

Also, it gets really cold higher up, and also some of us have to breathe. Oh, okay. It gets a little thinner up there. I crossed a couple of mountains on my way over. You get out of breath. Also, the gondolas are a little dicey for you. How are you going to be?

Airships, I imagine, are fine. They're awesome. Gondolas are shaky and held aloft by a single little cable. I have more faith in the brumestone than I do in those shaky little cables. I bet Fearne could shake the ship somehow. I'll also say,

You bet. Isn't the brumestone held on by shaky little cables. I bet Fearne could shake the ship somehow. I'll also say, You bet. isn't the broomstone held on by shaky little cables? Don't, why would you, why? But there's so many of them, so if one fails, it's probably Fearne. I imagine the airship is like the mother that we saw, and you know how we took out a couple of those little things and she was still floating.

Actually, Orym, I've heard if you take out one of them, it just spins on its way down to a fiery death. Yeah, like a leaf falling from a tree. I bet we could survive an airship crash. We should test it. It's the safest way to travel, statistically. Statistically. Do we need to get food, or is food provided on the ship?

There is a ship, Chef, but I would recommend bringing rations as they are primarily there to feed the rest of the crew. Would you be willing to maybe also send us along with some of those delightful little ginger snap cookies. I've thought about those every damn day of my life. It's true. I can feel and hear her thoughts,

and a lot of it is dominated by the thought of cookies. They were a little citrusy. It was just superb. Are you blowing smoke up my tusks? Of course not. Is that possible? No, this is... This is a thing that has happened, apparently. Evelyn.

When the door opens. Yes? Go to the market. Get me my supplies. Tonight I bake. You're so generous. He's probably not going to put any sleeves on either. He's just going to be in there, guns out, baking.

Fearne, stay away, a copy race! Do you bake without a shirt on and just an apron? Just for visual reference. I'm just trying to do a little hat. Imogen. What? Is it in a?

Do not crush my skyship, please. Sorry, the last week and a half was hard. We're a little punchy still. Well, that is all right, I understand. Nevertheless, I appreciate you putting yourself on this path with me, continued. At any point you wish to diverge, understand I respect and understand that.

I do not wish to consume your time or direction. I suppose I'm just excited to have individuals who are capable and of like heart. Is that us? That's us. Probably most of us. One more question about Arman Treshi.

Yes? Was anyone injured in their escape, and what did their injuries look like? I do not recall there being any injuries, just that he was found having fled with most of his important things. Curious. I shall ponder this. You're such a good detective, Chetney.

I see what this was going for. Is there anything else unrelated to this I shall ponder this. You're such a good detective, Chetney. I suppose I'm fine. Is there anything else unrelated to this that we needed to check with Eric about? I know at some point that there was secret invisible papers that we left with you, but I feel, did we tick that box off already? Those were passed along to Shashadri as part of the investigation.

Okay. I can cross that off. I have a question. Yes. Have you heard anything about the Grim Verity? Yeah. Oh, good idea. I feel like I've heard the name before,

but it is not ringing a bell. All right. Wouldn't roll high enough. What about, have him check the signature thing. You know, the S and the P. I don't know why I'm whispering. The S and the P. Did we already solve that?

Oh, yes, yes, yes. We gave them to you. Oh yeah, you recognized that. Sorry, I just was so out of it, I didn't remember. Yes, yes. Yeah, you were out of it a little bit. Yeah. All right, so we'll check back in tomorrow.

Do we meet here? Do we meet at the docks? Do we? I can have this guy ship ready to go and they will be expecting you. Lest you have other business to stop by. We need to stop by to get the cookie? You do need to stop by, yes. So yes.

Come get the cookies. Come get the cookies before you leave. Do not forget. I... Forget. I mean, if you do, it's just more for me. She won't forget. Very well.

Laudna will remember this. I'm glad I was there. I thought my training was over for the day. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you for your diligence and good luck. I wouldn't mind going to the Diah Hall. Yeah, here on the course plan. We're right here.

We're here! So the hall, Marwa's? Yeah, we should get some supplies. Yep. Marwa's? We should bring her a croissant. Not that I would, would I know that? Oh, to Marwa. Oh, you mean, you said you would bring her a croissant.

I remember you saying you brought her a croissant. Wow, that's the first thing you thought of. You love croissants. Croissants. Something new about me. Okay, so to Arespire. Yes. Arespire. No, to Dialhall.

Okay, got you. All right. So following the direction of your memory to this space, you step beyond the neighborhood where the estate of Eryx Eshteross is, the Prudaj estate, head further down the spiral around the core, and come upon the exterior where you can see this

massive open home constructed of these squat tower arches. They are these... Teacher's watching. You can see these 20-foot tall pinnacled archways where these intricate carvings match this beautiful hand-sculpted latticework

that comes to the gradual point around it, and these pillar striations that rise up before it meets an outcropping of spire rock above, almost like it was carved from the rock itself. But the texture of it leads you to believe this was either different material that was brought here, or they found a unique material within the rock and then carved the space from it.

So where you see this almost alcove, this slight alcove of the spire rock itself, it was built into the side of it. But it is open windows, open halls, and even just glancing beyond the archways within, you can see there are all manner of tables and cushions on the floor for sitting. There are pits, like step pits, in various areas

where you can see there are groups of a dozen or more children of different ages that are sitting in groups with books in front of them, and what looks to be various tutors and teachers that are holding either books or notes in their hands and are in the process of engaging these children and young adults in some sort of a lecture. You can see four distinct groups already

that are currently focused in different areas of here. There's just a gentler air here than other areas of the city. Usually the bustle and the push of people just surviving or following that goal-driven existence that draws them day to day. In here, there's almost an exhale that is welcome. As you step through the initial archway into the space, you can smell a fine, almost lavender incense in the air

that immediately strikes your noses. There are a number of torches embedded in the nearby walls that have a very faint glimmer, but no smoke. Where the alcove itself creates a continuous shade at this time of day as the sun itself has passed over into the direction and cast it all into its shadow, the torches give just enough light to give a warm,

almost studious interior feel. But, what was I acting in? Is there a front desk or a clerk, some sort of information center that looks like anyone is attending? At the moment, there doesn't appear to be a desk from where you're entering. There are two wardens,

there are two of the guards of the city that are sitting and keeping watch. They have simple chairs at the back, having the cloaks and the shoulder pauldrons and holding spears at their side. They're both watching and eyeing you as you enter, as you obviously do not look like you are of the current student body.

Did you say all those groupings of young people listening to little TED Talks and whatnot, is that beyond us inside or is that surrounding the place? That is beyond you inside. Though on the outside, you do see some kids walking by and you see some groups of friends. Some of them eye you suspiciously, some of them eye you curiously.

It definitely has an open forum schooling sense within. Is there like... Rollies. Is there like... Rollies. Is there an academic uniform that's shared or we just stand out because of the fame? Because we have a dead person and a robot and a gem guy. You stand out. Got it.

You don't sense that there is a uniform. You can see that the ones that are teaching have a beautiful, almost like a soft lavender shawl that wraps around their shoulders and then drops long in the front past their knees. That is the most uniform you see. Beyond that, the rest of their clothing

is all different styles of casual wear or even slightly formal wear. You see one of them wearing this beautiful shawani coat. It's dark black with gold bits along where the breast comes together in the front, and they themselves then have the lavender shawl over it that drops in the front. Oh, I want it.

It's not like Starfleet Academy. Oh, excuse me, warden? The guard, that The guard stands up. Yes? Nice to see you this fine day. Fuck, I suck at this. I am looking for Ajit Dayal. Dayal.

Your reasoning is? We met at the ball previously. We engaged in intellectual dialogue, and I wish to further our discussion. He said to meet him here upon my convenience, and convenienced I am. I'm sweating so much. Thank you. Go ahead and make a persuasion check. I'm sweating so much.

Thank you. Go ahead and make a persuasion check. Oh no, a troll. I was told there would be no one. Come on. Natural one! Oh no! Oh no. The guard definitively stands up out of the chair and says, Are you supposed to be here?

Are you enrolled with the Hall? No, no. I figured my credentials from across the sea would allow me entry into such a place of higher learning. I'm afraid you'll have to wait outside. Oh, that's fair. Come this way. And the guard begins to usher your group back towards the... Are you going to let Mr.

I wish I could remember his name was. What is your name? Dyle? Chetney, but I'm known as Seapock. Are you going to let Seapock speak to Mr. Dyle? I'm going to speak with Mr. Dial and see if he's expecting anyone. If not, good day.

He continues to push you out towards the entrance. Will you please let him know it's from a group he met at the Quorum Ball? The Shandek Quorum Ball. I will relay this information and make no promises. So look, I think we should promise. I should have the energy of talking until we get in there.

You're right, I'm sorry. I just got carried away. I thought you were great. I don't know why I didn't. I think it was the sweat more than anything that made him a little bit freaked out. It's usually absorbed by the beating, but man, I was feeling it.

It was really just, normally you carry yourself with confidence, but maybe this isn't your forum. It's not my arena. But just transfer over. The way you feel about wood, just bring it with you. Treat him like wood. Yeah, imagine that he's a block of wood

and you're just chipping away. Going to go to town. Or we just let Imogen do the talking, just here. Or carve him up real good. Yeah, just whittle him down. You can see the guard has been just eyeing you as he walks away, and then goes and then sits back down in his chair.

That's how I arrived at my thesis. He didn't go ask? Oh, he didn't go fucking do anything. Not in a one. He didn't even try? I might have to go invisible. You know what? No, I'm going to. I'm going to. You can keep pushing if you want.

No. I'm going to send a message. I'm going to cast Sending. To who? To Mr. Dyle. Did you meet him? I think I did. He was standing over with Eshteross

when we met him. I feel like you, as the servant girl, were across the room. Oh, really? You want to bring that back up? You largely spoke with his compatriot, who was the? Headmaster Grease. Yes, Grease. Wow. I was over there with you

because I was making the rounds of the party. Oh, that's right, we didn't actually speak to him. No, you were at a table by yourself. Yes, it was. Headmaster Grease is the name of the man that sent you to him? Well, no, I was talking with, no, wait. I was talking with Professor Grease

and I was trying to meet Ajit Dayal. Right. All right. I'm going to head in and go talk to the guard. Okay. The guard watches you as you approach and stands up again. Guidance. I told you to wait.

I understand that, sir. Unfortunately, we're in a bit of a rush. We were sent here by Professor Greaves. We're working for some very important people. Great persuasion check. I guided her. Come on, come on, come on, come on, face. 16. 16. That, okay, that's better.

And one. And one. Professor Grease was here not but a couple weeks ago. I will take this up with Mr. Dyle. Thank you. Please wait at the front with your friends.

Of course. Mr. Dyle. Thank you. Please wait at the front with your friends. Of course. He seems to have resonated with the name and walks away, and you see as he approaches the figure you saw earlier with the dark shamanic coat who is off currently having a conversation with one of the other teachers here. The guard approaches and you see them talking a bit.

The figure turns and looks over your way, smiles, nods, and then starts walking towards the archway where you guys have been waiting beyond. Do we recognize the figure that was walking towards us? This figure is Ajit Dayal. Oh. And you did see this figure at the ball, though you saw them at a distance.

At least you saw this figure before without being able to really put a name to the face, but based on the fact that the guard went to them and as they approached, they put their hands out. Come, come. You say you are friends of Grylls, yes? Not me personally, but this gentleman here. Indeed. I apologize for the gruff nature of our protectors here.

They want to make sure this is a safe environment for the children. As it should be. My apologies. I am Nigel Dyle, and I am one of the house Dyle and one of the overseers of this fantastic place of learning. I'm not from here. What do you teach?

You see, many of the children of the city cannot afford proper tutelage. School and schooling tends to be geared towards those who have either the means or the influence. Many parents teach at home for this reason. We of House Nialyal for quite some time have felt that that is not enough,

especially for the children who may not have a home or family to go to, or wish to push past the limitations of their social status to achieve higher learning. And so we've, well, it was before we established the Dyal Hall and I have taken it upon myself to continue that particular inspiration. Anyway. It's so noble.

It's just what needs to be done. You are, if I might ask, I have not made your acquaintance, but you seem to have mutual friends, so I would like to know, who are you? We're Bells Hells. We're a group associated with, are we allowed to say now? I don't know.

I say in my head to the future. Oh no, he knows Lord Eshteross. They were talking. He did. Well, Greys was talking to Eshteross, so they're probably pals. We work alongside. Yes. talking to Eshteroth, so they're probably pals. We work alongside Mr. Eshteroth. Oh. Hmm.

I know he is. Oh, can I run? Oh god. Yeah, do it. Get an owl and set check him. How was that? I wanted to take thoughts on that. I wanted to take thoughts on that. I wanted to know what that's. Yeah, just that surface thought. I wanted to feel what that was. Okay, the immediate surface thought you get,

and you're doing an insight check, is that it? Yeah. What'd you get? 17. 17, okay. We'll share in this information a little bit, because the surface thought, you glean that this isn't off-put, is more unexpected. The first thought you read off this is like, huh, didn't realize he had individuals he worked with.

Shit. Do you want to keep pushing? No, I'll just keep it up. Okay. He goes, Eshteross is an upstanding individual, a bit of a recluse. I'm glad to see that he's branching out. So how do you know the professor, the headmaster?

We had a moment to speak with him at the Chande Quorum event, Paul. It was wonderful just being able to chat for a little bit. Might there be a place that we could speak a little bit more in private? Certainly, and he smiles back at you. You see that he has this very warm smile, short, dark hair, dark brown skin,

these very, very kind eyes, but definitely holds himself with a posture of not import, but wanting to engage with a good impression. If you feel this is of particular challenged information, we can speak in a more private space. Come with me, come with me. I like him. Yeah.

He puts his hand up to the wardens as they lean forward to check and make sure everything's fine. He leads you past two of the lecturing pits to the sides. You see some of these go down a good 10 or so feet, about 30 feet across, these continuous gradual steps and slopes. You can see to the right of you,

this group of about 22 or so children, between the ages of five and probably 10 or so. They're all enraptured with this older woman of white hair, reddish-brown, sun-baked skin, deep-seated wrinkles in the corner of her eyes, hair, reddish-brown, sun-baked skin, deep-seated wrinkles in the corner of her eyes, and a bright white smile, who is in the process of loudly talking about the philosophies of

how to contribute to a culture and the people around you versus the important, you're like, okay, that's some good speaking points, versus the challenges of those that wish to abuse society around you. And you first, you're like, that seems like an advanced conversation

for children of the age of five or over, but they all, she's not using extensive, detailed words, but just trying to impart some of these concepts in, and they seem to be engaged in listening. Laying the groundwork. Traveling beyond this, you round the corner to one of three doors that head further into the actual bedrock of the spire.

You can see around here, it looks like a large part of the hall itself is within the spire rock, and the exterior has been carved to match the aesthetics of the perimeter archways, but continue into a darker, cooler interior. You follow within the first chamber, and this is a very simple office, if not a waiting space.

You can see there's a silver platter set out with a tea set, and he goes and sits over and checks the temperature on the outside of a small cauldron that's sitting over a magical fire set that's just licking the bottom of it, and he touches it. He goes and runs his hand over it in a circular motion. You watch the flames get brighter.

As it does, it crushes the bottom of it and you can get a little bit of steam beginning to quickly rise off of it. Turns, Whitney, have you given us some tea? I won't say no. I give it just a few moments to steam. He goes and takes one of these four different small satchels.

He goes into two of them and, bless you, grabs a few handfuls of loose leaves and making an improvised mixture on the moment and feeling them out, tosses them into the cauldron, leaves them there, turns around and finds a simple stool, sits on it, and leans in. Is that silver? Yes.

Lovely. I'm sorry, I came to Jussar to meet with a man named Gurge, his Greek. Huh. How have you come to know Gurge? We share a condition. Ah.

I understand of what you speak. I hope we can trust on your confidence. Of course. He mentioned your name. I met Gurge when he first trekked here, when he and his, he looks past the door. Gorgine compatriots.

Oh, you said it. Saved me and my wife's lives as we were attacked by a monstrous jungle vine creature while we were returning from Avishi. Me and Gurge became friends and began to help provide him and his equally afflicted compatriots with equipment and supplies

that they couldn't find for themselves in the wilds when they worked within this space. And for a good number of years, we were just happy to help them where they needed it. If we needed to travel beyond, they would likely keep an eye out for us on our journey to help keep things safe. Eventually, Gurge split from the troop

and stayed here while the rest of them roamed further southeast. So yeah, Gurge is a good man, if a bit brusque. A bit short of word and unrefined, but not in a way that is bothersome. Just takes some folks a bit getting used to. He's told us to stay away going forward. That sounds about right. Yeah.

We've encountered some strange things in this city. He was involved with, it's not important, this group of Gorgine. I would be very interested in an introduction, if you might be able to arrange one. I am new to this affliction and would be very interested to hear about the experiences anyone else could share.

Understood. And you're certain you would wish to... There are ways to be rid of this affliction, if you so wish. There are ways to be rid of this affliction, if you so wish. Oh, uh... No, no, well, one step at a time. I feel it's best to understand one's existence before you try and alter it.

Very well. I do not judge. The Gogine, as eccentric as some may think for their means of thinking about such an existence, they have made it work and have done many misunderstood but good things for the people and societies around them that shun them. So I see the worth in what you speak of.

It's also part of an arrangement. I have to find a way to really harness it. Those that would follow that. Understood. And I hope you do. And if at all it becomes too much, don't be afraid to let me or any of my compatriots here know we do have contacts with individuals

that could alleviate you of this curse. Oh, yes. Yes. It's good to know. But given this is the path you've chosen to walk and in hopes of wrangling the beast, as Gurge has, the Gorgine exist within the gloomed jungles of Veishanador.

They left the wilds, and last I heard, didn't fare as well in the wide open landscapes of the Hellcatch. The Gloomjungle definitely befits their skill set and gives them enough space and shaded nature to avoid hunters and those who would wish to make coin off the hides

of such afflicted. Whoa. The hides? That's horrible. Yes, there are many horrible people in this world, and individuals that do not look far enough to understand that behind every beast, there may be a story. Behind every poor lot in life,

there's a chance for redemption. Behind every wolf, a prince. I know, there's a chance for redemption. Behind every wolf a prince. I know, I was thinking it, too. These Gorgine, what are their number? Are there dozens of them, hundreds? When we had encountered in the wilds, there were about two dozen. The numbers may have grown or shrunk.

It is not since me and Gurge went our separate ways a couple of years back that I have not heard much about them beyond just that was where they went to settle. How often does your kind reproduce? I don't know. Do you know much about, do you know much about the reproductive capabilities of?

You see his complexion blush slightly as he sits back in a stool and goes, I mean, it's the same as whoever else. The curse itself is hosted through bite, it's spread. They don't have litters? Has it passed through birth? That is beyond my purview of understanding. I could be wrong.

Are there people that just live exclusively as in their wolf form? From as I understand it, and this comes from many conversations with the Gorgine, to wrestle the beast within is a very difficult road. It is fraught with danger. It is fraught with regret. It is fought with regret.

It is fraught with mistakes you must live with, for the beast cannot always be controlled. And it is through the Gorgine that they have somehow utilizing some techniques, some arcana I don't understand, have managed to use it, to come to an arrangement with the beast, then letting it overtake.

I can say that they are the exception. For many that acquire this affliction cannot. They give in and they hunt and they kill and they eat indiscriminately. It's terrible. That's not you, that's not Chetney. Have you felt that way before? No.

No. You know, I've had a, I don't want to say it's beginner's luck, but I've always found the beast rides, you know, second position. Told Chet, I'm calling the shots. Now, I don't know if it'll always be that way,

because I figure with each passing moon, I'll get stronger. But for now, it's all gravy. All right. Yeah. You've never had a moment where the beast was in control? You know. Maybe you wouldn't remember or something.

I know, I've slipped up a couple times. It's happened. You don't do anything that you regret? Sure, I mean, who doesn't live without regret? Me. You. Me. Me. You. Me. Yeah. That's exceptional. I have some. I have some.

I do want to meet these people because I enjoy the rush. Sorry, I'm just going to say it. It's fucking exciting. But I know it comes with responsibility. Yes, it does. This kind of raw magnetism has consequences, so I have to make sure I don't attract asteroids that would then kill the planet of me.

Well, the thing about asteroids, too, is that they have an area of effect. They hit other things around them as well. So I just think that that might be what... of effect, they hit other things around them as well. So I just think that that might be what... Damage the whole area? Yeah, you don't want to attract a global killer. That would be game over, right? Right, yes. Armageddon.

I mean, Chetney is like, you're so powerful, you know, he's, yeah. I trust. You have such control. I trust, and I hope you're right. And I genuinely hope that you find them and they can help you. Because if you don't and they can't, there are many out there that won't,

won't give the time to know that you have control. And in time, you may not. Ugh. And there are many who make a good amount of coin hunting those like you. So just, just be careful. Wise words. Definitely. Do you need to, so we know sort of where they are.

Do you need to know any of the members of the group in case we do encounter them? Oh, right. The Gloom Jungles of Eishenador. Do you know of a contact? I didn't get to know many of them well. Gurge was my primary contact when I went and spoke with them. They tend to keep to themselves,

and they're a bit skittish when it comes to city folk. Sure. But beyond Gurge, there was Devaas. Oh, Devaas. We've heard that before, right? But beyond Gurge, there was Devas. Wait, we've heard that before, right? Oh, nice. That's going to be a weird deal. There are similar names you're thinking of,

but this is not quite what you've been looking for. Not it? Okay. Not it. Tevas. Devas Sheila is the entire name. Devas Sheila? the entire name. Tevas Sheila? Tevas Sheila. Tevas Sheila.

She seemed to be holding a more leadership position within the Gorgini at the time. If she still travels with them, you could likely speak on mine and Gurge's name, You could likely speak on mine and Gurge's name, though I know not how they parted ways. Mm. Regardless, I do not know specifically

where in the jungle they would reside, but I do know as how Gurge would find them whenever he came into the city to get supplies for them and meet with me. And he would wait until dusk, get far away from the city, and howl as loud as he could once the sun touched the mountains.

They would come find him. Now mind you, they have good hearing. So do many other creatures in the Gloomed Jungle. Like a raging jungle vine creature? They may be indigenous to that jungle as well. My encounter, I mean, my wife's encounter with that was here in the Oedipal Coffin. I believe we ran into a raging vine creature.

Is that why you bring it up? As well. It has a stinger, right? It swallows people. Yep. Strange little glowing appendage. Fairy on the end, yeah. Strange little glowing thing. Indeed. So I do owe them that, thanks to this day.

So just be aware of the dangers of drawing out the Gorgine in such a space. Hopefully they get to you before anything else does. Ooh. But that's as far as my knowledge goes. You've been very kind. This is very helpful. I had run into a bit of a dead end until this,

so thank you so much. If we can be of any assistance, by the way, we're going to be traveling southeast out of Jrusar. If you need anything looked after or checked up on or brought back, we'd be happy to accommodate as an exchange. Yeah. I suppose if you're going to, if you're going so far as the Gloom Jungles

to meet these individuals, if you come back, just let me know how they're doing. Oh no, I love him. He's very great. That would be a pleasure. And extend my offer that if any of them are still struggling with their curse, then we can help them.

Curse? Their condition. Sure. Yeah. My apologies, I do not mean to offend. No, no, don't take it. There's nothing wrong with you. No, it's all about reeducation, education as well, and just awareness.

Yeah. Honestly, you're so kind and accepting of misfits. Good as in all of us, not everyone's given the chance to let it shine. That is true. Insight check. I do love him, I just want an insight check, just in case. Make an insight check.

Do you think he's a mass murderer? I don't know. He wears people's faces. He's so nice, and I'm used to seeing, you know, people that seem not 20. We're very jaded. Oh my gosh, you're doing a whisper? We were doing not 20. We're very jaded. Oh my gosh, we're doing a whisper? We were doing so great.

We're doing a whisper? He's like, the purple's one's skin. This whisper is brought to you by our tool set for today, D&D Beyond. D&D Beyond. D&D Beyond. D&D Beyond. It's on our generic tablet.

Yep. I love you. Non-identifiable. Non-identifiable tablets. Shut up. Thank you so much. Does anybody else have any questions for? Nope. Well, I mean, just in case we have to go undercover,

how much would a pelt like that go for? What the fuck, man? It's good to know, so if we get- What are you talking about? I mean, just in case we have to go undercover, how much would a pelt like that go for? What the fuck, man? It's good to know, so if we get- What are you talking about? I mean, just in case. You talking about currency? Just in caseies. This is good knowledge to have

if we have to go underground. Or if we need to outbid somebody to let somebody go. It's really not to draw attention. In all due respect, I have no idea. That's good that you don't. Yeah, okay, he's all right. Just a double check. Yeah. Anyway, I do have to get back to my things.

Of course, yeah. Are you teaching right now? Do you have a class? Not today, but I am training a new. Oh yeah, do you teach violin? Apparently that was a thing. I do not, but we do have some musicians that occasionally come and volunteer.

You're welcome. You know, I'm a big fan of the- Do you want to watch? What? Go ahead, Chet. No, please, you. I was just going to see if we could ever watch one of your teachings.

Like audit a class? Yes. Are we too old? No, no, never too old. I would perhaps need to ensure that the students present would be comfortable with your presence, as I say, once again, with all due respect,

you're a bit frightening. And I say this just unknowing how the students can, you know, take a moment to warm up. I'm fun scary. I'm sure you are. I'm sure you are. I need to make sure that such students would be prepared for somebody who is fun scary. Kids love scary shit. I was going to say, I'm a big fan of the moon, obviously, it's of interest. somebody who is fun scary. Kids love scary shit.

I was going to say, I'm a big fan of the moon, obviously. It's of interest. Imogen happens to have a particular interest in the lunar stuff as well. Ruidus, right? Yeah. Yes. Quite an interest, actually. You're not an astrologer.

I am not. We are. Astronomer. I know that, too. That I'm not. We've just been looking into different effects that Ruitous has on people different effects that Ruitous has on people and whatnot.

I don't know if that's anything y'all teach here, though. Not so much teaching, but I mean, many are familiar with the superstitions. The Flares, those born beneath them. Historically, and this is just my opinion, I think it's an excuse to find a way or a place to put your frustrations on others who don't deserve it.

Culturally, through history, when people feel like they lack control, they try and find somebody they can exert that control upon. I've taught and met many wonderful people who were born under the flare of Ruedas. So you believe the faults are not in our moons, but in ourselves. We believe a lot of faults are in ourselves

and not the superstitions we push and teach. So yes. Oh, then you're free and clear. Do you know any professors at the university in Eos? I do, I do. Professor Tyron actually started here at the hall before moving over to Eos about 15 years ago

and themselves became a professor there, so they're an ex-student. Oh, wow. Hold on, I'm just going to check. Professor Tyros, you said? Tyron? Yeah, I'm just trying to find my notes on, and I'm so sorry to find my notes on, I'm so sorry.

You can take your time. The only other one we know is Professor Cadisha Sumal. You already have that pulled up. How do you pull that up so fast? In my EO section. Like, four font, it's crazy. Wow. Who does? I don't know, I can't find it.

Marisha's looking enviously at someone's notes. You know they've got to be good. He's got it. It's a very good system, different than mine. Caduceus Seymour wrote an essay about dreams affecting powers. Are you? I'm not familiar with her, no, but if you're ever in the area and you want to meet a tyrant,

you're welcome to see so you are acquaintances of mine, perhaps you could be them. Wonderful, I really appreciate that. Of course, of course. I really do have to get back to my place, unfortunately. You said you were married, correct, with children? I am married. Do not have children as of yet, but...

You did work with a man. Sorry. Sorry. Anyway. Sorry. We will leave. Thank you. We will leave. Thank you for all of your help.

Yeah. It was a pleasure. Good luck. We can find a way out. Thank you. We're leaving. We are going. Okay. Well. Bye. Tea, at least?

Oh, sure. He goes and pours you all. Beer and drink. Yeah, he pours you all tea and puts it back. He says, Take your time. Thank you. He nods and exits off into the open air of the hall.

Shit, the reason I didn't want to talk about it is because after what we learned about the Grim Verity, I feel like those people are coming after anybody that's looking into Ruidus too much. So I'm starting to get a little worried about digging deeper. We broke our heads up too high asking questions. Sorry, I just figured. He's such a sweetheart.

Yeah, he seemed wonderful. Right, but he could very sweetly mention it to someone, the wrong person. That's true. It's your thing. I shouldn't have tossed it out there. Not at all, not at all. It's just a thought that came up in my head and I didn't know if it was something to be aware of. That's all.

We got a name out of it, Professor Tyran. Yeah, that's wonderful. Fuck yeah. And a name of your gorgonay, a person in the gorgonay. Oh, that was a score. I mean, I didn't even know. But he seemed very concerned about your stability

and your emotional health. Should we be concerned? Are you bottling up rage and fury of the wolf? Not of the wolf. I mean, I had plenty of that before, but... I mean, there was a moment in the heist where Orym came down to help me.

I got stuck in the room with the big jelly monster and... You haven't even talked to it. Oh, jelly monster? It was real shitty down there. It was almost curtains. Oh, that thing. I saw something disappear into the floor. We were at the end of the chain. We didn't see. I was in the middle. I saw a little piece. There was a big disappeared into the floor? We were at the end of the chain. We didn't see.

I was in the middle. I saw a little piece. There was a big thing, like the floor was jelly, and these arms came up and grabbed me, and it would burn. Yeah, it was no good. But Orym came to the rescue, but I was a little punchy,

and I was in my better form. Unfortunately, there was an instinct to just let the wolf do his thing. I regrettably, I slashed it. Did you apologize? I did, I did. Did you accept? I did.

But he thought it was important to raise in front of the group, which I appreciate. Is that something that could happen again, Chet? I don't know. I've never done that before, but I usually don't travel with friends. Yes, I check. Not bad. 17.

I've never slashed a friend before. Uh-huh, okay. That you remember. You don't really have control over it, then? I mean, I do a large percentage of the time. That was the first time that it peeked through and it didn't really matter who was in front of me. It was game time.

All right. But you... Something to be aware of. Yeah. Yeah. Just keep an eye on it. Well, keep an eye on it. That's the thing to climb up on, and you put your foot on its throat, and then you hold onto them shits for eight seconds.

And then it's... You hold onto them shits. Yeah. Now, what do you think it was that triggered the outburst? I can't talk too much because my voice will start changing, so go ahead. Well, here, just talk to me then. Do you think it was the danger you were in,

the mental state you were in, the damage you were taking. Yeah, I was real hurt. It wasn't going good for me. I think the beast has a feral reaction when it gets cornered, you know? Like they say, a cornered animal is a dangerous one. Fight or flight, sort of. Yeah!

But Chet, we're traveling together. To be honest, do you think that'll happen again? No. Maybe it's just important to keep me, you know, healthy. That no had a question mark at the end of it. That no definitely had a question mark. I don't think so, but I think until we meet with the Gorgine,

there's a chance when shit gets a little hairy, I get a little, you know. Mortals planning, gods planning. So stay clear of Chet when he's taking some damage. Yeah, maybe give him some space. Or give him some healing. Yeah, or that. Perhaps this is something you can work towards.

You know, you have a goal. For sure. I mean, I would love to just walk around wolfed out all the fucking time. So you would exist as a wolf 24-7? You've seen it, wouldn't you? 20 years, eight, nine, I'm not sure. I'm pretty attractive the way I am now,

but if I was just walking around like that all the time, I think I could just get anybody to do what I wanted to. What were your woodworking skills when you were in that condition? I don't need instruments. I just use my nails. Do you have toys you've made like that? Yeah.

They were a little rough. You have toys in your wolf suit? Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know. I was trying to remember. Yeah, I tried. It's like doing it when you've had nine drinks, because there's just a little bit of focus that's needed, and that's a little wishy-washy, but for the detail work, I would just shift back.

I can't wait to see the toy you make in the Drill Wolf form. I'm very excited about this. It's kind of abstract. Yeah, I had that vibe. Well, I'm glad you told us. I'm glad you told the group, because we want to trust each other,

and as long as you're up front, we can accommodate, I think. Yeah, I mean, in all honesty, I haven't traveled with friends since I've been like this. It's just been myself, even after I met up with Gurge. So if we are in the thick of it and it's going south, you know, I'm like a heat-seeking missile,

so maybe just give me a little room. Okay. If it's dire, but otherwise I'm in control. I can talk. I can do other things. From what he was describing about the Gorgonai, it sounds like they have mastered their bodies and they've controlled,

the Gorgonai have controlled their wolf form, so maybe that's something that you could work on with meditation or maybe some self-actualizing. Like tantric exercises. Yeah, like prolonging that sort of climactic. Yeah, just holding it. Holding it. Holding!

For hours or days, even. Yeah. It's all about mind over. You need to put yourself in a situation Holding it, holding! For hours or days, even. Yeah. It's all about mind over. You need to put yourself in a situation where there needs to be a release and you have to delay that release as long as possible. And if you edge.

You have to edge it. So the next time you want to slice my forearm to ribbons, just creep along the edge of that desire for as long as possible, but don't actually do it because. Toy with it, but don't get too close, because then the party's over. Hold on loosely, but don't let go. You got to wait a while before it's party time.

We have a vice contest here. It's really amazing. You got to ride that wave, Chetney. Can't tell who's winning. I got to, maybe I should build a board. Next time you get in trouble, just try to do some exercise to try to keep that edge. Think about baseball.

Think about baseball. Just look at my eyes, right? Like if you. Sometimes you count the days of the week. Come on. Okay. If you look at me and I'm not quite there, you know, just... She would just say something. We got to have a word.

Yeah, just like, you know, Babe Ruth. Babe Ruth, all right. Babe Ruth. Carrying the leper is getting me. All right. Oh, got it. The lapper is getting me. All right. Oh, good job. We had this conversation at this school for children.

That's great. Let's go. You've said a lot of inappropriate things in front of kids this last couple hours. No, no, we're in a private office. We're in a private room of tea. The door is open and there's a small child. No! No, no, no.

That's got to go. That is a dwarf who's 400 years old. Is the tea that he brought in on a silver platter and that's it, or are the cups also silver? The cups are not silver. Just the platter. Just the bladder. Just the bladder. I have a thing with silver. Oh, for real? Yeah, but that's what friends disclose to each other, right?

I'm a little sensitive to silver. I feel like you super like it. No, it's a little itchy. Oh, no, we're getting you for Winter's Crest. That's cool. Swim time, yeah, you know. That's cool. Yeah. Sometimes, yeah. Which is cool, because I keep paying for the fucking gondola rides,

and every time I'm like, Ah! If you want someone else to hold all those silver coins for you, or... Or wear a glove or something, I don't know. You just want to hold the silver? I could give you the copper, too. No, that's fine.

I have no reaction to gold or platinum. Maybe we just switch and I'll hold yours. Let's see what happens with copper. Okay, I'll give you silver. I need some silver for some spell components and stuff. Do we need to prep for this trip? Yeah, we should. How much time we got left?

A couple more shops, where are we going? Marwa's. I feel like we've been edging this one for quite a while. You guys see Marwa. I would love to go to Marwa's. This is your chance to finish up anything you want to do before you head out the next day. What a rabbit hole. Couple, couple, couple.

Yep. Couple quick things, and then we'll be good to go. Nothing quick about it. Nothing quick. So we're going to go to Lanternspire? Is that where she is? Correct, the Trove of Maruahs and the Lanternspire. Lanternspire. Are we going to go straight to her?

Yes. She sells tools and shit, right? And quirky items. It's where we got the rope. Okay, okay. That rope we got so much use out of. Yep. And, okay, great. It's where we got the rope. Okay, okay. That rope we got so much use out of. And, okay, great. It's been a minute. Let's go.

We're there, boom, bam. Tell her that we lost the rope. No. Okay. You travel on through the city, away from the Daryl Hall, across the Fate Walk, back to the Lantern Spire, to the quirky exterior of the Trove of Marwa.

Stepping into the dark interior, the familiar odd mixture of scents, like the musty dust, oil, and partially molded carpet meets you, along with bits of orange spice. We got our croissant on the way. Yes. All right, mark off a cup of copper.

I got this one. As you enter, the place is fairly empty and you see Marwa's back is to you. She's hunched over what looks to be a back table beyond the front central bar clerk area. Just this tension, this silent tension beyond the front central bar clerk area. Just this tension, this silent tension before you hear, come on, come on, come on, come on.

Ting, and something goes flying, breaks a pot that's hanging from the ceiling. The plan from the side just shatters. I catch it before it falls on the ground. Surfers in the air. Ah! Oh, oh, great, thank you, awesome. I pull it back over to her. So sorry, that was weird. I float back over her.

That was embarrassing. It's fine. Meant to do it. It's great, hate that plan. Throw it away. What can I get for you? It floats out the door. Does he remember us? Appreciate that. All right.

Hi again! Hi! Hi! Sorry, took me a second. See so many customers here, day in, day out. Just faces just become a blur. I'm sure. It's a whole blur. We specifically get that a lot. She's saying that it's like she tips her foot back

and scoops everything on the back table off of it into a basket and then pushes it under the table. So, uh... What are we making? Hmm? Stuff? What are you looking for? Are you looking for stuff? That's crazy, that's wild.

Also looking for stuff. We've got plants, a hole broken. We have curtains. There are curtains, three colors. Three colors. There are... Are you not? I got a lot of things, give me some guidance. What are you There are... Are you not? I got a lot of things. Give me some guidance.

What are you looking for? Do you have any magical items that you have acquired as of recent? There... I don't have that large of a stock right now. Sold a number of things I had last time we spoke. Did get a quick grab bag offloaded by some wanderer yesterday. Didn't finish time pricing them or throw them away yet.

I might have murdered someone for it. I don't know. I was going to turn them in. You murdered someone? No, no! Oh. No. They murdered something. Did I murder someone? Oh. No. They might have. I don't know. I don't know what they did.

They walked in, they gave me stuff. I paid them for it, they pawned it, they walked away. Do you want to go through it while we're standing here? You know what? Sure, why not? Maybe we can do this for good. Goes and pulls out this milk crate up onto the table. Starts picking through it,

and you can see there's bits of cotton, and you can notice there's a cushion that's partially eaten. She opens it up and pulls a rat out of it. The rat's like. She goes, Stay. Oh. Well.

Do you have a pet rat? Yes. This is Jay. Say hi to Jay. Hi, Jay. Jay, ruin this pillow. Can you throw this away for me, too? Yeah. Thank you. Hi, J. Hi, J. J, ruin this pillow. Can you throw this away for me, too? Yeah. Thank you. We have this.

It pulls up. It's this curved ivory horn. It looks like it's ivory, but the way the design on it appears to be too perfect to have been carved. It curves outward and widens. This is a horn. This is a horn of, wait, I wrote this down, I wrote this down, pulled up some notes from underneath.

Horn of Silent Alarm. This, if you blow it and think of somebody within a certain range, they'll hear it, and only they will. Oh. Really helpful for pissing off your neighbors. This one had an estimated 30 gold. Puts it on the front there.

There is, this one's a little weird. I didn't get around to this one. Pulls up from the bottom and slaps it. You can see it is a large, dark gray, almost black leather something. She pulls it out, it unfolds, and there is red on it. Like wet red.

Now she flaps it outward. It sprays a whole stream and spatters of crimson liquid across the front of the table and the ground and catches you a little bit on the right, Imogen. It's like a... See, I think it might have murdered somebody, right? This is like an apron.

It's a murder apron. It's a murder apron. Wow. I do know. Does it smell like iron? Yeah. Oh god. It's blood.

Is it blood? I've cleaned it twice. That's the weird thing. What? What? Yeah, right? Oh god. What blood is it? Where's the blood coming from? I don't know! They must have really murdered them.

May I take a look? I can sometimes identify things that others can't. Sure. Yeah, please. If I identify it, will you give my friends a discount if we wanted to purchase it? If you want to get a murder apron. What if it's, I don't know. Can you tell me if they murdered someone?

Maybe. Then maybe. Okay, I will. Press a Digitation. Okay. Press a Digitation. I will identify it with. Squeegee that thing. Check the mapper. All right. It is indeed magical. Good.

In fact, glancing at the... This is particularly a magical item that is utilized for those who like to hurt things a lot. Warriors, hunters, killers. It is referred to as the Butcher's Bib. The Butcher's Bib. Does it give fresh blood or something

for spell or something? It continuously bleeds. That's the only thing it does? No, it has other benefits, too. But it doesn't, it's not a whole lot, but it is always damp with blood. That is really fucking cool. How much is it? It's not a whole lot, but it is always damp with blood. Oh. That's really fucking good.

How much is it? I know, I'm already curious. You tell her? Yes, Zane. What it does? Yeah, it says, once per turn, you roll damage for a, yeah, I tell her, once per turn, you roll damage for a melee attack with a weapon.

You can reroll the weapon's damage dice. If you do so, you must use the second total. Your weapon attacks that deal slashing damage score a crit on a 19. Oh, okay. Or 20. Or 20. And you just drip blood the whole time. So, did somebody murder it with this?

I don't, do I know? Yes. I assume that, yes, it has been used to kill. Yes, it's a murder apron. Then I didn't see it, I didn't touch it, 350 gold. 300. I paid for it. Oh, you did? He pawned it to me.

I thought I'd just clean it off. Then it just kept bleeding. How much did you buy it for? That is a business secret. Oh. I thought we were doing favors for each other. We are, I'm still making a profit, but a far smaller profit than I would have had otherwise. Well, I mean, I could,

although I don't do the cutty-cutty. She doesn't realize that she's doing this. It's best for Orym. She's got hip blood on her hands. Yeah, she doesn't realize she's got blood on her hands. She's doing this while looking at you and it's smeared all over her cheeks. She's got hip blood on her hand. Yeah, yeah, she doesn't realize she's got blood on her hand and she's doing this while looking at you and it's smeared all over her cheeks. She's like, oh. Looks like Hannibal Lecter.

Maybe there's a way to undo the blood part, but keep the bib part? I don't think so, not without losing the... But I feel like that's part of the appeal. I agree with that. We would never go into anywhere. No, I don't believe that. It's clearly bleeding even when you don't wear it,

which actually is a problem. If it stopped bleeding when you don't wear it, which actually is a problem. If it stopped bleeding when you weren't wearing it, does it? Just keep it in the bag. I'm just out of curiosity, I'm going to put it on and feel like, does it feel right? Is this something that you have to wear for a while

to actually... Attune to it? Yeah, is there an attunement to this, or is it just a... Look at the item. Search Butcher's Bib. Require attunement. It, or is it just a? Look at the item. Search Butcher's Bib. Requires attunement. It's from The Explorer's Guide to Wildemount. Oh. Oh.

I remember the picture. Oh my goodness. Quick book plug. It's always covered in blood. Requires attunement. Yes. Yes. Fuck. So you just have to be wet with blood the entire time that you're wearing it.

Yeah, it'll never not look like it's covered in blood, even if you wash it off. It definitely won't wear a coat. It won't. You'll have blood all over the inside of that coat. I will continually cast Prestidigitation on you. It won't help. Out of curiosity. It will help for a minute

before it bleeds back through. You just hit it with Prestidigitation, how bad is it again? It's actually probably good for us because we're going to, you know, rough town. It's like beginning of Amityville Walls. It's like, there's just a few mild streaks beginning. It doesn't drip like long trails, but it's just always wet.

All right, forget it. What else is in your crate, oh murder? Okay, then I'm going to give it to the wardens. For free? If it's a murder thing, I don't want to deal with it. Oh wait, I can sell it to them, I can ask. Yeah, I mean, if you're going to sell it, you should sell it to them, at least.

I just took a hard left. Well, if you're going to get rid of it, I mean, also we'll take it. It's true, could you do that? We'll take it to the wardens. With 350 gold? Ah, nice try. No, but seriously. We could try to sell it

for you to somebody who's like... You could try and take it and sell it for more than 350 gold and then make a profit. All right, I see where you're going with this. Look, I have a business to run. You understand that, right? Sure, sure. Cool, great. Do you want it or not?

It's in the murder bag. Did you give her the croissant already? Okay, she puts her hands up. Oh yes, I gave her. So she smears it on her face again without noticing. Oh god. Oh my goodness, thank you so much. Grabs it and starts eating it,

and you can see the blood marks. Ugh! Yeah. Anything else in that box? Oh, oh god. There is, reaches in this odd piece of folded black silk. It's about this big, almost like a pocket square. It was like, this is, wait, I had this written down.

This is, this one's weird. This is a hole. A horrible hole. Well, that's a cool one. What? You mean it's a hole? Hole what? Watch this. Stand back, stand back, stand back. Well, that's a cool hole. What? You mean it's a hole. Hole what? Watch this. Stand back, stand back, stand back. Yeah, I have fun.

You all stand back and she goes, I found enough room. She gets up and walks around and starts pushing some things out of the way to make space, unfolds it, and lays it out onto the ground. You watch as it lays down, and it just looks like she laid it down.

She goes, puts her hand in, and you watch her hand vanish into darkness. What the actual fuck? Where does it go? I don't know, but it's pretty cool. You don't know where it goes? The person who handed this to me had a murder. There might be a body in there. I don't know.

Can we look inside? How wide is the hole? The hole would be... Let me look. Give us a diameter. Indeed. About six feet. This is amazing. Wow.

Should we look? How deep is the hole? How deep is your hole? How deep is your hole? I mean, it seems a little strange. How much do you want for it? I'd say put it back, 1,500. 1,500! Fuck! 1,500? Ew, I want it, though!

What? Does it go somewhere? Yes, well, kind of. Store things in it? Sure. You don't go through it, though, too. You don't slap it on a wall and go through that wall. I don't think it creates doorways or anything,

but you can put something in it and then pick it up and take it with you. Can you reach the bottom of the hole? Can you put your hand? Fearne jumps into the hole. Vanishes into darkness. Fearne, you fall about 10 feet or so before you land onto what sounds like a hard surface.

That's promising. Are you okay, Fearne? Can she hear us? Can you all give me just a moment? before you land onto what sounds like a hard surface. That's promising. Are you okay, Fearne? Can she hear us? Give me just a moment. Okay. Flame. Caleb's produced flame. Okay.

I have some lights. Okay. As you produce flame, it lights up the space around you, and it was in darkness previously. That's not really the right, whatever. Produced flame. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, previously. That's not really the right, whatever. Produce Flame. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

It's Caleb's now. That was Caleb's Produce Flame. Yeah. Yeah, so within the space, you create the fire. Looking around you, it's this, it's almost like you're just sitting in a large 10-foot cylinder, about six feet wide. On the ground around you, you can see

there's a shirt thrown there. It looks see there's a shirt thrown in there. It looks like there's a couple of short swords. It looks like there is a broken wooden chest. The lid is off and there's a couple copper inside of it. Looks like a bunch of stuff was just thrown in here or the important stuff was emptied before it was shucked off onto this shop. Fearne, stay in there.

Now, what happens if we fold it up again? Watch, she pulls it and drags it off the ground and just becomes silk. Cool. Fearne's in there. Can't she breathe? I don't know. Put her back in there! You said you'd show me! You said you'd show me!

I didn't know! I didn't know! I can't get my mind! Put her in! Ha! Fearne, are you alive? There is no answer. Ah! There it is. What happened when we folded it up?

Come out of there! I don't know. I was just, I was just. Could you breathe? I think so. I didn't even notice. Did I notice? I mean, everything went quiet for a second, and then it came back. You could breathe. You guys see me? No. Nope.

No. Can you see us? No. You actually, looking up, you can see through the hole and can see them above looking down. But we can't see her? Yes. You can't see her. I can see you guys. So will my mirror.

This seems both intensely useful and intensely dangerous at the same time. I love this. Think about if we're ever in a bind or one of us is in trouble or... Or we have a lot of stuff to carry. Any of it. You can't stay in there forever.

No, but you'd be able to be in there for a couple minutes. Think how easy it would have been to carry that statue. I was just thinking that. All right, let's get you out of there. She just jumped out, actually. Oh, wow, yeah, wow. Mirthfully. 1500, huh?

How much gold does everybody have? Shout it out. You start, Ashton. Seven gold. You start, Chet. Me? You have more than seven gold. We just got paid. You have a thousand from the gig. Exactly. I was just curious if anyone seven gold. We just got paid. You have a thousand from the gig. Exactly. I was just curious if anyone was paying attention.

800. 500. 500. A little over. 1,000-something. 700. What about you? He gives all of his money to Ashton. I have no money. Oh. Yeah.

That's why Ashton's got it down. We could get it. Do we have a bag of holy? We don't. No. We don't. I wonder if we could cut this.hton's got it down. We could get it. Do we have a bag of holding? We don't. We don't. I wonder if we could cut this and make him put it into me. And then we could drop stuff into me for him. I think you drop it in there, pull it up, and then you just hold it.

You swallow too hard, and it doesn't change the weight. It's going to get very weird. Yeah, I don't want to. What if it disintegrates? What if we put all that stuff in there? 1500, huh? Yeah. I think it will.

All right. I feel like we could just fold it up and put it in a coffin. I think we need it. Two, four. I love the idea of you shoving stuff down my gullet. How much does everybody want to put in? If everybody throws in 215, that'll get us there.

All right. So you double that. I'll double that. Will you throw in that $30 horn? 30 gold horn? Yeah, for freezies. Especially since we identified the bloody butcher bib. And jumped into the hole. Plus croissant! Or you throw in the butcher bib.

Make a persuasion check, Fearne. Okay. Come on. Going big, going big. This is it. It's the one. Jesus. Go, yes.

Okay, wait, hold up. That was a sound. Uh, 22. Whoa. Okay. Mara goes, Yeah. Under the condition that you don't tell anybody where you got it, because I don't want to be attached

to anybody who got murdered, okay? Of course. Deal, here. She goes ahead and takes the bib and throws it into the hole. Then folds it up. That's a deal, y'all. Awesome. All right.

That's a deal. All right, good. Do we want the horn? Did you also want the horn? Did we also get the horn? No. Horn's 30 gold. Oh, okay. Do we want the horn? Did you also want the horn? Did we also get the horn? No. Horn's 30 gold. Oh, okay. Why would we ever need it? What's the range?

Do you know how far you can blow? I mean. No. 530 gold. Oh. 215 each, you said? Yeah, 215. 530 for me, which means Within 600 feet.

Oh, 600 feet. 600 feet's pretty good. I know what the creatures hear the sound. I'll get it myself. Okay. I'll get it myself. Smart. Okay, great. And, oh. Clean me out, great.

Do you happen to have, I'm just going to run through it, a gem worth 50 gold, powdered silver worth 100 gold, a jeweled horn, any of these things. Oh, how about a propeller? Here. I'll tell you. Like a fan sort of a thing.

I do not. Or a telescope. Telescope, I can get you. Like a looking glass. You probably know somebody who can get the propeller. Yeah. Like, I can get you. Like a looking glass. You probably know somebody who can get the propeller. Yeah. Like, I can get you a telescope. I can get you, I can glue gems to that horn I just sold you.

Don't know if that'll work. And silver powder, I can do. You can do silver powder. Oh, and health potions. I suppose if there's any healing potions, anything like that you got. I got two regular healing potions. How much? there's any healing potions, anything like that you got? I got two regular healing potions. How much?

100 gold for the lot. I'll take it. All right. There you go. Excellent. Marwa, we should get a free subway card or something. We shop here so often. You shop here twice.

Yeah, but we bought a whole lot each time. You have, I'm very appreciative. Yeah. I'll remember that. Yeah. I'm good. So come back next week, come back week after that, come back week after that. Maybe we'll have some more things, maybe I won't. Maybe we'll break some more plants

and hide some more murder stuff, who knows? Exciting times. Love a murder. Can someone buy me 100 gold worth of powdered silver? Do you have that? Look at Ashton. Yeah. You? Got a big old batch of it. What do you need powdered silver for?

Why don't you ask Ashton to use your money to buy you silver? Ashton? Yes? Do you mind? Do I mind what? Buying me some powdered silver. I forget what spell it's for. What?

Some powdered silver? Yeah. Please. Of course, pretty please with silver on top. I'm just trying to be a dick. Yeah, of course, you can have 10 hundred gold worth of powdered silver. It's your money, shit. I just spend it. 100 gold worth of powdered silver. It's your money, shit. I just spend it.

100 gold worth of powdered silver. All righty, I'll grab back. Here's 10 platinum. She goes into a back side room and you hear her rummaging and pushing past some things and hits her foot and it's like. While she's back there, can I peek over the desk and see what's in that box that she shoved?

She's scooped off there. Make a perception check. All assist. A human head. Who wants to guide me? Anybody? All guidance. I'm trying to figure out what the powder silver I wanted was for. Wow.

Wow. Well, now you got it. So I hope you're happy. I am. Wow. Is that us? Yeah, I am. Wow. Tylos? Yeah, I want to know. How bad is it? Nine. With Guidance. Is that what it said? With Guidance.

I rolled a one and a seven. Yeah, so no clue. Right as you're like, I think it's, she comes around the corner and is like, okay, here we go. Got you. Like, something there, 100 gold worth of powdered silver right there for you. Thank you.

Little tin person. That was pretty good. Pretty good. I think we're good. That's good. Super good. Great. Orange dice? Ooh, yes. Oh, citrus. Thank you.

No, it was just one. Thank you, guys. I think I'm going to have to go. Always a pleasure. Thank you, guys. Always a pleasure. Good job. See you next week. Jumped on that ship. I can't remember. I'll bring you a croissant. Love Marwa. Look at me. She loved it, it was worth it.

Did she love it? We got a good deal because of the croissant. All right. You did good. I hope so, I was trying to... All right. What's left other than I'm going to want to stop at home to apparently pick up a propeller. What?

Oh yeah. I think that's it. Oh, we need tattered cloaks. We need to get some tattered cloaks. Might have that back at home, right? Tattered cloaks can be acquired relatively easy. It's not a huge issue, especially over in your part of town. Yeah. All right. I'm ready to get out of town at of town. Yeah.

All right. Then I'm ready to get out of town at that point. Yeah, we'll get that and then head out. We're doing an airship! Mm-hmm. We're doing a skyship. Okay. Oh.

Is it a skyship? I think it's a skyship. Ska. It's skyship. Skyship. There you go. You know. MATT and LAURA and LAURA and SAM and LAURA and SAM. Oh shit.

So what else? Anyone do anything? No, I think we were just getting cloaks. Oh, we do need to get some food. I mean, we don't have to look. We can deal with that. Crashings, food. If we walk by Shadana's place. Yeah, we should just drop off

another bag of 10 gold to Shadonna. Okay. She's blown away at the generosity. She's like, I just don't know how to express how thankful I am. Thank you both so much. I feel like she gets older sounding every time we stop by.

Well, I mean, most of don't know. She might die. That is literally how it works. How it works. How is Shadana looking? It's fine, she looks the same. She looks the same? She looks the same, it's fine. I just look into her eyes,

and I tell her, goodbye. Shadana? What's wrong? I just wanted to have this moment before we leave. What? Just so you never know. Goodbye for a while.

We're heading out of town for a little bit, but I'm sure we'll be back. Both of you travel safe. I look forward to us crossing paths again. Now you're old and you're going to die. I look forward to us crossing paths again as well. Very well.

Somewhere, somehow, someday. Yes. You never know. Roll the percentile die. You guys are so awful. All right, you say your goodbyes to Shadana. That's all. Keep your door locked.

Anything else? I'm good. I'm good. I'm good. This is my place, and then I'm good. Okay, so you head into the Crook House? Mm-hmm. Okay. You all clambered back down into the Fon'Cy Hollow, traveling through the continuously dark interior

of the Core Spire, walking down somewhat ramshackle rope ladders, wood ladders, the rickety structures that twist and head further, deeper, deeper, until you come to the carful exterior of the Patchwork Crook House. You step inside and you can see Aniata is currently half-napping

on one of these tattered side couches. When you enter, you watch as she goes ahead and sits up and is, What? What is it? Oh, hi. Hi. Where you been? Out.

You? In. Fair. Cool. Back to sleep on the couch. Thank you for that. The most punk conversation I've ever had. Oh, so good.

Milo comes around the corner, looks like having a small mug of hot water and is currently scratching their head. Oh, hi. Hi. What's going on? I didn't realize we had a lot of company. Hi, everybody.

Hey, Milo. Hi, good to see you again. What's up? Hi. Couple things. It's hot, see you again. What's up? Hi. Couple things. It's hot, it's hot. That's hot. FCG is looking for a propeller.

You don't happen to know if you have something propeller-ish hanging around? I can fashion something. Give me like 30 minutes? Sure, anyone else need stuff before? Well, I figure we're also going to do a little rummaging through the clothing box, see if we can come up with some cloaks and stuff like that.

We're going out of town for a little while, again. Oh, now you see, we wouldn't have traveled this much in succession. Well, the- It's good for you. You need to get out and- Contract's up, so I'm going to take a little vacation. Contract's up? Contract's up. Well, it's about dang time.

It's about damn time. Yeah, yeah. So. Look at this. Making an honest rock out of him. Yeah, go and gather what you need. Don't take any of my stuff. Yeah, I'm going to stay in my little section of bullshit.

Or maybe Annie's, too. If you didn't take my stuff, just let me know. I'm going to, in my little section of bullshit. Maybe Annie's, too. I'm going to, about how big? This big? I was thinking in some circumstances, I might be able to take off the saw blade and maybe have a gear that changes the direction and have it spin this way instead. So about the same size as the saw blade,

but it's more of a propeller. What are you going to do with the propeller? Well, in case I'm ever floating or something, I need to go somewhere. A propeller's like a windmill, right? Yeah, it's like a reverse windmill. Like a boat propeller type of thing? So this is for locomotion?

Yes, it's for locomotion. Or maybe if I'm in water, I could use it to, because otherwise, in water, I'm a sinker. I'm a sinker, yeah. Aren't we all? This might help me move around a bit. Milo goes back and grabs their work goggles, sets them up, gets the hooded lantern up above,

gets the wiglet, laying down into their workspace, and they start pulling out all their tools and implements and starting to stretch, heat, bend, twist, stretch, heat, and is in the process now of doing localized forging with this small tool that they have that has a very, very bright, very intense, almost like a handheld forge for small pieces of metal to heat.

You gather the materials you need. Some cloaks. They work on it. Yeah. What you guys want. You got any fruit around here? We've been at this a while. I'm hungry. We should get dinner after this before we hit the hay.

I'm good with dinner after this. If you could use a drink. Some casual bet. When are you going to be gone? I don't know, a little while. Vasturus. All right. Yeah. Hey.

What's up? I've been thinking, it's been a long time, and maybe I'm just going a little soft. Who hired us for that job? And what the fuck were we supposed to be stealing? I don't know why I've never even, I haven't really given it a thought in a very long time and I don't know why.

That one? I think it was just a vengeful smash and grab. We weren't given specific directions. We were just told to go in there and make a mess, grab things that were worth. That's what I was told. Insight check. I'm on Milo.

Milo? Not like this. Not like this. 20. 20? Not like this. Oh my goodness. Oh, Milo! A D&D Beyond Presents whisper. Interesting insight check.

What? Friends. Milo, no. Insighting each other. Maybe they're trying to protect. Whatever you do, don't look at Taliesin's face right now. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Is he pretty perfect?

Huh. I'm trying to remember. I mean, whatever it is, it didn't go well. Yeah. How long was I under, by the way? I mean, I was very out of it, I know. That I remember, but like, how long did this take? That, oh, that's a whole nother story.

Or I mean, you know, roughly, I get it. Well, after you fell out, we... I can't show that. Jesus. Why? Please put that away before we're in trouble. I can't show that. Jesus. Please put that away before we're in trouble. Please put that away before we're in trouble. What's happening?

Too good. Sorry. It went poorly. I think Jetto was the one who was helming that particular job, wherever the fuck they are now, but... I think we were after something. They knew what it was. I wasn't in the know at the time. I was just there playing support, really. You sure?

It feels weirdly fuzzy. Yeah. What I do remember, I feel like we were all partially into this and then something, I don't know if we set off a trap, or something just hit us with a wave of... It felt like it became a dream briefly. And we all just ran.

And we all didn't realize until we got outside that you had fallen and you were busted up pretty bad. Yeah. So we grabbed you and we ran back here and we didn't know what to do. At the time, it was hard to tell if you were better suited for flesh and blood stitching and healing or...

You know, I'm a builder. I don't know. We weren't going to let you die there, so I did what I thought I could do, with meager understanding of whatever the hell you are. And I'm grateful for it. But you just took some gold, some brass, whatever metals I could find.

I found some heavy bit of glass that I had been amassing for a separate project and just heated and melted it down. You were clutching something at the time, something that you wouldn't let go of, and I had to pry it from your hands. It was like a crystal vial, about that long. What the fuck?

I couldn't figure out what it was, but it looked magical. It was this weird grayish liquid. It had a nod sheen to it. When nothing else was working, I didn't know what else to do, so I just threw it in the gumbo, if you will, and poured the glass and sealed it up.

And that's when you started to spark again. That's when something pulled you back. So it must've worked, whatever it was. I just think whatever weird gods were looking down on you that day. We'll be out of town for a little bit. Be extra careful for a little while. I've got a bad feeling.

Okay. Just... Yes, be careful. You too. Not that you're going to, but if you hear from any of the old gang, I know you won't, but I don't know, something's weird. All right, we'll lock it down.

We'll play easy. We're used to laying low when we need to, so we'll just lay low. Lay real low. Lay underground. I'll see lay low. Lay real low. Lay underground. I'll see you soon. Yeah. Yeah. Don't fly out any of the windows.

And? Any more of those, whatever that was, anymore. Well, get close every now and then. Hey, Letters. Finished. Whoa! You catch it there in front. Looks like a solid function.

You have no idea if it'll work or not, but you got a propeller. Awesome. Thank you, Milo. Want anything in return? Keep this one alive. Oh, so far, so good. So far.

So good. So far. So good. Yeah. All right. We were supposed to pick up some stuff from Milo before? Like bits and pieces. They had asked us to look for... Didn't you ask us to look for things for you? Just keep an eye out for anything

that seems interesting and fun to tinker with. All right, all right. It hasn't been a few years since I've been here. If you're going to the bathroom, there's plenty of for things for you? Just keep an eye out for anything that seems interesting and fun to tinker with. All right, all right. It hasn't been interesting. If you're going to the bathroom, there's plenty of shit there for you to pull back. So just, you know what I like. You know what I like. Just, I do, I do.

I pay you back. Let's, ooh, ooh. That's a lot of money. That's a lot. Let's move on. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. All right. Great. Bye, everybody.

Thank you. See you, Milo! You all leave and he just goes like, Bye. Dinner at the Soot and Swill, Sit and Spin? We're in the Lantern Spire. It's a bit of a journey. We're going to like, you know. The Weary Way? Go across town. The Weary Way is here. That's where we are a journey. We're going to like, you know. The Weary Way?

Go across town. The Weary Way is here. That's where we are, yeah. Yeah, let's go to the Weary Way. All right. That'll do. Maybe we can get a table upstairs or outside or something. I just love being back in the city, let me tell you. Yeah, how are you doing with that?

I'm glad we'll be on a skyship soon. You know what's funny about that, though, is how good you are with people. Reading them and talking to them, and I understand the problem that presents, but it's a shame. I've spent a decent amount of time listening to some pretty good songs.

I'm not a speaker, but I've heard one or three. And you got it. Thanks, Orym. She's very capable. Yeah? Yeah. Thank you. So how about that apron full of blood? Who's wearing that?

Maybe Chet. I wish I could. Oh, maybe you. It's for melee. Yeah. Slicing weapons. It would be pretty cool, though. Just drip blood. Chet's not a bad idea. Ilicing weapons. It would be pretty cool, though. Just shed some blood. That's not a bad idea.

I know. Maybe we could do, you know, a little show. Don't! You bastard! He peeked! He peeked at it. He peeked! Oh my god!

He's coming. Oh my god! Goddamn it! Too bad. She's a cheater. Shat's a fox. Yeah. So gather up. Yeah. Gather up again in a nearby tavern, get yourselves

a memorably mediocre dinner. Yeah. We should do the, if you want. Yeah, we could do the little mind search into you. Fuck it, let's do it. I mean, I don't know if, you know. You want to take some shots first? Yes.

You take some shots and we can run. Is that how it works? Is this weird to do? I don't think that's how it works for me. Do we want to take our food to go up to the rooms? Well, we're not in the- We're just doing it at the pub. We're, I mean. We can stay here. We got rooms at the Spire.

Oh, okay. What else? Well, then we eat and go back to the Spire. Okay, we're back at the Spire. Okay, you finish your meal. Good enough. A nice full belly, back past the Feywalk, back to the Spire by fire. The hearth inside is roaring and tall.

The music and rabble and singing along to bad bardic music is comfortable when you arrive. You saddle up to your two rooms that you rented and the rest of the evening is yours. I'm going to put my hammer in the other room. All right. Maybe sit down between us.

Uh-huh. And then. Uh-huh. I'm seeing if I have anything that can boost this. Maybe one of us can help stabilize his thoughts while the other one dives deeper and deeper. Let's figure this out before I start to sober up. Wait, so you're putting your hammer in the other room?

We're not all in the second room, right? I don't want anyone near me for this. I'll wait out in the hallway and just keep an eye out in case we're being followed. At least keep it in the corner of the Brayley Center. Okay. I'm going to stand in front of the door, then. That'll do. Okay. Or if you're keeping the hammer in here, I'll stand in front of the Brayley Center. Okay. I'm going to stand in front of the door, then. That'll do. Okay.

Or if you're keeping the hammer in here, I'll stand in front of the hammer. Perfect. Yeah, I just keep a hand on it. Okay, then I'm on the side. And Imogen, Guidance. Oh, thank you. I will also bond with you. I'll bond with both of you.

Ooh, that's wise. Just to connect and check in, and I will also grant you an extra bit of guidance that way. Whoa. It's a d6, I believe. It is a d6, yeah. It's going to be great. Yeah.

Yeah, this is great, this is great. If it gets uncomfortable, all you have to do is just say something. It's uncomfortable, I'm saying it. Okay, well, I mean, to an intolerable level. All right. That's just a bonus action. Is there anything I can do? To bolster her,

but then I can also guide myself on the next turn? Yeah. Okay. Do I need to make an environment? Do I need to just think good thoughts? Do I need to, well, oh, I can make a happy yarn circle around you to symbolize. Maybe we could just hold hands.

Yeah, yarn circle sounds good. I was literally kidding, but now that that's happening, I fucking. Fair enough. I hate this. All right, so do you want me to stabilize while you delve? You're good at delving. Sure, and you're really good at stabilizing.

Should I use Calm Emotions or should I? I'll still use Detect Thoughts, but I'll just be. Yeah, maybe you can, I bet you can, hold on, one is, oh, they're both Concentration Vials. It's all right. Okay. We're going to double up our Detect Thoughts. And if it goes south, then you do Calm Emotion and I'll keep it. Sure, sure.

Okay. You can. Should we all hold hands? Yeah, I'm holding his hand. All right, I'll hold your hand, too. I'm holding your hand, I'm holding your hand. I'm all holding hands. All right. Fine.

I'm going to Summon Mister. Throw a Poo-Pow? You can have him there. Sure. Okay. He really brings a calm in. Yes. I was not feeling uncomfortable enough.

Thank you, this is great. All right, let's just do this shit. You can run the hammer out of the room if you need. No, no, no, no. All right. Let's get over with. All right, so what are you doing? So we're casting Detect Thoughts.

Okay. At the same time. Okay. Pushing as deep as we can. And asking him questions about what happened that night. Tell us anything you remember. Well, yeah, we'll see what we get and then we'll follow the thread. Yeah. Okay. They're really going. Okay.

You're not resisting. No. Okay. No. We have to see. Hmm? No. Because he's not resisting. He's not resisting. Okay. So you push beyond

just a naturally strong barrier towards the complicated personality that is Ashton. The sense of almost like rusted gates opening before you, shaking as they let you in. That's the sort of emotional ride that you feel yourself being brought on as you begin to delve with Ineshton.

What questions do you ask? What were you looking for in her house? I don't know. What was the last thing you remember? I don't know. You don't know. No, yeah. But you start to get flashes of memory. Little like,

coming up. Shit. Yeah. But you start to get flashes of memory. Little like,, coming up. Shit. Yeah. Just little flickers. You catch one image of a dark corner of a tavern with a bunch of figures around a table, and you can just barely see the glasses of Milo glinting off some nearby lantern light,

and there's somebody else there in the group that you don't recognize being like, These shipments she's getting are timed. There's something to it. I think tonight's our chance. More running through the streets. Where did? Back to darkness.

Quietly creeping the wood. Footsteps in a dark interior. To the right, you see the shape of a familiar white bust. Back to darkness. You want to push deeper? Yeah. You begin to sense, empathically from Ashton,

a brewing anxiety as you see empathically from Ashton, a brewing anxiety. As you see in a room that you don't recognize, what looks to be runes on the ground beginning to light up and glow. There's an instinct run. Then it blinks back before that, and you see a crate hidden off to the side.

The wooden structure of it is pushed into a small store corner. And the anxiety is lessened. It's more of a quickened state of hurriedness. You see Ashton taking the hammer and using the edge of it to crowbar open the top of this crate as a voice behind is going, Quick, quick, go!

We don't have time! Back to darkness. You see Ashton's perspective looking over his shoulder and you see a woman with wild, tangled hair and what looks to be really dark makeup smeared across the eyes and the cheeks, wearing a ragged hide, who's currently going, Quick, quick, quick, quick!

Did you find it? Then he looks down and the top of the crate is open and Ashton's hand reaches in and rummages. You hear the sound of many glass things clinking. Pulls free and there is a singular glass vial in his hand, not enough light to make out more details of it. This memory now begins to feed

into the one you saw previously, as these dull red runes begin to glow in the chamber, back to darkness. The next flash is the sky and the edge of the balcony getting further and further away. Calm him, calm him. Okay, I'll zoom out and I'll cast Calm Emotions.

Okay. I don't want him to experience this again. Darkness, and then flashes. Oh god. Go, go, go, go! Shit, shit, shit. You fucked it up! Stop it, let him!

He's dead, just leave him. Chug. Come on, come on, come on, come on, come on. You're just seeing shapes and movement and blurred states shifting in and out. And then a bright light, unfocused. Large flickering shapes drifting in the air from the perspective, like dust particles out of focus,

just lightly glary-eyed. A dark shape steps in front of it. The glasses pull away. You okay? No way. And a smile. And the spell ends.

Are you all right? I mean, hard to gauge. I'm still under calm emotions. You are for a minute, but I can, if you're feeling all right, I can just get rid of it so you can be clear-headed. I mean, I don't know. I feel fine at the moment. Yeah. I'll drop it.

I immediately run to the fucking wall and start pounding it and pounding right into it. I can recast it. I'll just recast it. Yeah. Just let him do it. Let him do it. Yeah. All right. What'd you roll? I rolled a...

That's a good 14. What's your spell DC? I used the single use one, so it's a 13. So yeah, the... 20, yeah. The spell takes no effect, so you continue to do what you want to do. Yeah, I'm just going to give the wall

a couple real good hits. He watches the wood panel set up on this side of the tavern, which already is old, begins to crack and splinter, and splinter further in, and you can see the fist marks, where it's leaving behind, where the wood is buckling inward,

and you begin to see little smears of red left behind with each hit. Like a dark red-purple. And I sit down. Yeah, I'm fine. That's interesting. That's a lot to take in. Did you recognize anything that you hadn't remembered before?

Yeah. She had one of those crates in her office. When? Today. I pull out the papers. Things have been just, last week, things just keep, I don't know. Make any more sense with the details that we know?

The details about the shipment she's been getting? I suppose about that. I mean, the most you can make out with it, roll an investigation check. Oh god, I'm not good at this. I'll fist you. No, I'm just kidding.

Oh, 19! 19, very good. What you can best ascertain from this bit here, and I'm pulling up my notes here just to make sure I don't miss anything. The crate that you saw and the crate that was in there

with the previous encounter, likely not the same crate. Okay. Separate shipments? because the paperwork says that there are three shipments months apart that have been noticed to go through Hexum's Manor. Crates are always the same size, and they stay with her for a short while

before being picked up by an unrecognized figure. A courier, someone else. Wasn't Lady Haxum also shipping a giant automaton? She had ordered one. That's what Sylas got in trouble with. Cyrus, yeah. Cyrus.

Different guy. Okay, okay. The woman in those visions you just had, the wild-haired woman, do you recognize her? Is that Sally? Sally? Yeah, I recognize, I know everybody. Milo brought you back.

Yeah. I mean, fully. Yeah. I mean, that's not a surprise. I had a quick talk with Milo before we headed out, and they... I mean, they weren't lying, they weren't right. There's a hole. There's a hole. Somebody did something. I don't know.

What were those runes? I don't know. Fuck, I'm going to have to find everybody, won't I? Uh-huh. Fuck! Are you all right leaving? Yeah, for now, I'm going to think about what to do. I don't want to do anything stupid. All right. Yeah, I'm going to

get out of town and clear my head. Fucking bosser. Bosser is bullshit. Yeah, yeah, why not? Fucking bosser. Bosser is bullshit. Yeah, yeah, why not? Fucking bosser us. Well, I mean, whenever you need help, we can do that again. Or if you wanted to reach out to any of your friends,

maybe that's something that you could do at some point. They're fucking gone. Well, I know what Sally looks like now. Yeah. Potentially try to contact her, yeah. Well, the group of us met in Bostrus. Maybe some of them are there. Oh, yeah.

That was a long time ago, but yeah. This is a good lead. Let's just get the fuck out of here. All right. While all that has been happening, I just went over and started mending the wall that he punched in a little bit. Okay.

It takes about a minute each casting, so you're focusing and bringing it up. Bring the hammer over. Good? Oh yeah. Yeah. Thank you. Did that help?

Are you? Yeah. Is that information you wanted? Yeah, I don't like not knowing things. All right. Better to know things. Me neither. Let's, yeah, got to know some more. Yeah. We'll figure it out.

But yeah. Yeah, I'm pretty fucking angry. Let's figure out what the fuck happened. I'm putting it on the list. Good job. Oh, hey the list. Good job. Oh, okay, yeah. Thank you. Yeah.

If you want to learn more about yourself, just look more. I'm kind of curious. You know, we've gone several days on an airship to and fro, so. Yeah, you can do all kinds of stuff. Let me tell you, we are going to a boring place. I mean, it sounds quite exciting. I don't know. It sounds quite exciting. I don't know.

I don't know about y'all, but I am exhausted. That was a long-ass day. Yeah, it was. We got a lot accomplished. Yeah. All right, you guys can go ahead and fear a long rest for the night. Yes. Okay. If you haven't already marked it,

you can go ahead and mark Ashton as a trusted companion. Oh! Ooh, you've gothton as a trusted companion. Oh! Ooh, you've got another one. Trusted companion. I'll catch them all. Quickity quick. Go ahead. I was going to say, you should take the apron

if you haven't thought about it. Yeah, I haven't thought about the apron. I think the apron would really suit you, and look good. That mean? Oh my gosh, little Shed with a bleeding apron on in addition to his fucking chisels. He looks like a nightmare. White werewolf, stained red.

With the speed that I work, you know, it would protect from splinters. Which could be a bitch. Yeah. I mean, I'll hold it for now in case anybody changes their mind. Well, it's in the bag thing. I'll go sleep in the bag with it.

No, don't, no, don't. Don't sleep in there. You don't know where it's been. You don't know how to go'll go sleep in the bag with it. No, don't sleep in there. You don't know where it's been. You don't know how to go. You're not the boss of me. Oh, then please sleep in there. Do you sleep in the portable hole? No.

No, you die. No, you die. You go home and you die. I was going to say, quickity quick, when everyone has passed out, in the crook of Fearne's knee, I will, yep, in the folds of Fearne's pouch. Your superior pouch?

No, in the crook of her knee, everyone's asleep, I'll pull out the Sending Stone. Okay. And say, we're leaving Jressar. Heading southeast, following the Treshi thread further. You've been missed.

Hope you're well. There's a brief pause before you get a little, hey, sorry, I was sleeping. Thanks. Miss you guys, too. Shit got kind of crazy here, too. Floating bar, I'll tell you later. Zzz.

As you all eventually drift to sleep with a lot to think about, a lot to look forward to, and a skyship journey waiting for you in the morrow. And more importantly, a batch of fresh Eshteross cookies. Yes, batshit fresh. We're going to go ahead and finish there tonight. Yeah! We'll get there next week.

New map, baby, new map, it's new map! Yeah! New map. We going. Got to start uncovering. Yeah, yeah, yeah, too far, it's there, shit! Oh yeah. New map. Where we going? Got to start uncovering. Yeah. This section. Tufong, Tufong. This section. Oh, random encounter, no.

This is a big continent. Yeah. Hopefully next time we'll have Ashley back. Yeah. Yeah. Who knows? We should. We should. Let's go, let's go. Come home, Fearne.

Come home, Fearne. Thank you all Fearne. Thank y'all so much. Thank you for joining us. We love you very much, and is it Thursday yet? Good night. Good night. Good night. Not yet. Thank you for listening to this episode of Critical Role.

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