D&D is For Nerds - State of Grace #10 Ser Grace Displeased

Episode Date: July 12, 2025

In the dungeons beneath Fairburn Point Ser Grace, the realms most celebrated adventurer, was forcefully bonded with an entity beyond mortal comprehension. For some such an incident would spell tragedy, for Ser Grace, however, he saw only opportunity. Now the wheels are in motion for something big, something terrifying. A thousand plans, two thousand eyes, and all requiring a personal touch.Such is the State of Grace.To find out how Ser Grace bonded with the Inky Black check out Search for A’Helm. To learn the history of Ser Grace you can listen to the Fall from Grace Trilogy: The Hag, The City, The Dungeon as well as the Tieffany and Pop campaign Return to Grace. Ser Grace last appeared in The Adventures of the Greyhill Free Company and to hear more about the happenings on at Fairburn Point you can listen to Cult & Worship and The Lonely Tower. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Oi lads, did you miss out on the Jaren's Outpost Kickstarter and wish you weren't such a big doofus? Well fear not! Late pledges are now open and they'll be open for a little while, so just head to Kickstarter Search for DNDs for nerds or Jaren's Outpost and slam that late pledge button! What matters most to you? Is it unforgettable adventures? Connections with lifelong friends?

Peaceful moments of reflection? Feelings of joy and freedom you can't wait to experience again and again? Or is it the vehicles that help you make all those special moments possible? Whatever your answer is, Toyota is here to bring you closer to the things that matter to you. Because they matter to us too. Toyota. For what matters most. Blink.

Sir Grace the Barkey. Pouring drinks for a beleaguered populace. Lending a friendly ear. Overhearing. Always listening. Blink. Sir Grace the Fighter. King of the Pit.

Building strength. Banquishing foes. Preparing. Blink. Sir Grace the fighter, king of the pit, building strength, vanquishing foes, preparing. Blink, Sir Grace the blacksmith's son, tracking each order with keen eyes, taking note, remembering. Blink, two thousand eyes, a thousand plans, and all requiring a personal touch. This is the state of grace." Punchinello, his consciousness, what shard of him remains mixed with what shard of Sir Grace was in there, sits in the interrogation room of the Gallant Rider. Okay. Perhaps there's nothing to be learnt from this entity. I think there's not really much we can do here other than destroy this poor creature and its suffering.

Punchinello is lost. Punchinello is lost. Punchinello is missing. It is like the night sky. Like a puddle. Like a puddle. Stagnant and full of wiggling larvae. Wiggling larvae? Punchinello meant to be in the pool, but he is here.

Drifting Snurf Lake takes a step forward like he's gonna punch you even though you're not really there Pomp any fathering puts up a hand now now no need to violence Yes, can I? Feel as punch an aloe as punch an aloe grace. Yeah, can I feel that inky black within me? No, well you it exists within you, but it's a sliver It's a slice cut off which is kind of what so grace was already dealing with So grace was dealing with a slice of the inky black or he is dealing with a slice of the inky black You're dealing with a slice of a slice. Yes. Okay, and a small one at that as well. Mm-hmm enough enough for what for?

transformation enough enough for what for transformation you could try but you're unsure okay what do I think would be stopping me that it just it wouldn't be enough for a full conversion the magic of the room prevents you accessing Sir Grace or the wider inky black but this mirror you get the impression that if you lashed out and tried to convert someone you would bump up against it somehow The mirror does more than just cut off your connection. Yeah, it's got some other Magical properties to it that maybe aren't designed for this specific situation, but kind of like a Barrier can stop what's intended but also unintended things. Yeah, okay, interesting.

And in a way I'm still in the prison, yeah? In a weird way, okay. Punchadello is dimly aware that he's not actually sitting in the boat, he's in the mirror. Yes. But he feels like he's in the boat right now. Okay. So Grace doesn't really know much about the mirror as well, does he, unfortunately? No, so Grace doesn't...

Well, Punchadello doesn't know anything about the mirror. Yeah, no, I was just like... Oh wait, no, yeah, you did see it before Sir Grace got cut off. Yeah, Sir Grace didn't know much about the mirror either. He's maybe since learnt about the mirror, but that is not Punchinello's purview. No, no, no, no, no. Well, I was like, if Sir Grace... There's just a lot of mirror people in the Lonely Tower is all I was thinking.

Yeah. I think as Punchinello sits here interrogated and so Grace sits in the throne room, I'm going to jump to maybe some of those reinforcements and I'm going to have them investigate the mirror room for a possible entrance to the mirror that is existing on the Gallant Rider. Okay. Just as something to look into. a possible entrance to the mirror that is existing on the Gallant Rider. Just as something to look into. Meanwhile, one of those Blue Beach ships is set a sail and heads in the direction of the Gallant Rider, hopefully to intercept. Yes, fingers crossed.

Okay. Chatting to T'netta Icahica, I'd like to, with one of my feathery like arms, gesture for her to come closer. She... Panchinello is a small part of a big pool. Panchinello is a tiny patch of the night sky. Tinette Icohica thinks for a moment, looks at Pompennie Farthing, he gives a nod, a knowing nod, and Tinette and Taneta Ikahika

Drags her chair a little bit closer to you. Is she within like touching distance? Yeah. Okay. I would like to I Want to get her even closer. I want to try and if this is gonna work I don't know if it is but I want to try and guarantee it. I Gesture. She moves a little closer still close enough that your knees are nearly touching Panchinello needs to whisper truth in your ear. She leans a little closer. She's not crossed, if you could imagine like an imaginary line in between the two of you, just past where both of your knees are, she leans her head and cocks it so that her ear is close, but she doesn't cross that line. Okay. As she comes close to me, I'll cross that threshold and I'll say, here is the truth from Panchinello. And then I'd like to grab her

and fling myself back into the mirror. That's my attempt. You launch out at her, but then boom, you bounce off the mirror and settle back into the chair. I'd like to imagine my allies start to swivel in this spot, like looking at different directions. And then I like sort of, it's like I, it's like for that period of time, whatever part of Segre, whatever sliver of Segre is in Punchinello was talking and that gets knocked by the mirror and now whatever remains of Punchinello is talking.

And I just seem confused. Tenete Iko Hika sighs very sadly. Perhaps destruction is best, yes. Punchinello, you watch as Iko Hika, Pompeni Farvang, and Drifting Snowflake, well only one of them gets up, but all three of them do leave. You remain there in the Mirrorverse, as do the, not sentries, as do the scouts that Sir Grace from the Throne Room sends into the Mirrorverse,

trying to find another way to punch in Ellen Brown. Yes, absolutely. Maybe we can save this errant bit of my consciousness. You're about to revisit, as Sir Grace in the Throne Room, you're about to revisit the lonely tower when there's a knock at the door. Come in. The door opens and once again, Patrician Otfos Valen, Valen Otfos steps into the room. My liege.

Several matters. It always is. What of them? He closes the door behind him and begins walking in as he steps in as always I don't think I've mentioned This but as always he does the you know the classic number two villain thing Where he like takes a knee and looks at the ground so they get him to kiss the ring. Yeah. Yeah, that's right Yes, he that's right. No, I do remember that. Yeah, he kisses the ring takes a knee before you my liege In the night the two Marines that John Carter sent for Ada have been found dead Throat slit

Probably from behind one in the cellars another outside the castle grounds Heading towards the city, you think? Hard to say. Both of them within grounds of the castle, one only by extension. But my liege, the sellers, he looks up at you. They have access to the dungeons. The dungeons contain many people. Oh yeah.

to the dungeons. The dungeons contain many people. Oh yeah. A tour of the dungeons would be very demonstrative of what's going on here. At this point, Otvos, she knows. Maybe not the entire extent of it, but at least the edges. He nods. Additionally, John Carter, I have not informed him the fate of his guards, but he will be curious as to why an accountant was able to best two of his men. And finally, the Vist satisfied him this morning. Fabulous. Fabulous. Do I have in the gigantic treasure pile before me any magic? Slightly smaller now.

Yes. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Significantly reduced. Any kind of far-seeing or clairvoyant artifact? You would have probably several. Yeah. You have the Eye of Love. You wish you had the Eye of Hate right now.

But you have the Eye of Love, the companion item to the Eye of Hate. You're not sure who you'd see through that. Probably best that I don't look. Okay. What's my plan? Because at this point, if they have sent a Master of Masks, effectively an assassin, then they are already suspicious and so suspicious that they would send a full, like highly trained spy that's very fair burn point to investigate me and what that tells me is that there's nothing I can do and that in fact the death of Ada I guess what it's about is not starting a war okay that's the trick

really at this point they're suspicious and they're gonna be suspicious and we've done nothing to allay their suspicions and I'm being attacked from all sides. So I think it's time to go on the offensive. I will lock down Fairburn Point, the city, and I will lock down the keep as well. I know this is gonna take some time, but it's time we did it. Alright. Valen nods and says, what of the Viscount Cutter? Of Cutter, I don't know.

As for the Viscount, invite him to the throne room. Yes, my liege. I will inform Cutter of his slain men. And perhaps the full extent of Ada's skill. I think that's a good idea. He stands up and walks away. A little while later, there's another knock at the door, but this time a guard calls out, Viscount Ignatius Puglese for you.

Let him in. The doors are opened and Viscount Puglese comes in. As soon as he steps into the throne room, there's not, like I said, there's not as much treasure as there was before, but that there are piles of gold at all is a little bit impressive, but also highly irregular. Yes, absolutely. The throne room looks like it's, it looks like a dragon's hoard essentially. And there is a dragon sleeping up the back, is a dragon sleeping up the back quote-unquote

Absolutely, I suppose as well the majority of the things behind me would be there'd be a lot of gold still Yeah, but it would also be primarily like artifacts because those are the things that I'm not giving to cutter Yeah, you know what I mean the Viscount stepping in you see he's about to say something, but then his jaw metaphorically hits the ground. He is kind of struck dumb by the sight. Take a seat. He, a bit nervously now, sits down at the table. How much do you know?

What do you mean? The exact nature of your expedition here, what is it? Well, I was to say that this, what I know, confirms it. And what's that? He looks at you with kind of that side eye. Now that the shock of it all has subsided a little bit, he's got that kind of haughtiness has returned to him a little bit, at least. Well, it is obvious, is it not? You have contracted perhaps, shall we call it the disease, a terrible affliction through your

travels, through your adventuring. This was always the rumours that Sir Grace, oh, where did these powers come from? Well, this makes it obvious, does it not? You have from, and then the Viscount gestures to the dragon up the back. You are one and the same. Are you not? You have this gold lust that the dragons have. It is infectious, no? How he looks at you, embarrassing. You know, my father was a politician.

at you embattling. You know, my father was a politician. He was very concerned with sums, numbers, that's the world he lived in. He carried this ledger, this big thick book and in it he would chart the comings and goings of grace manner, the staff, the horses, the amount of buttons that the servants had on their coats and how bright they were. He was a very meticulous man. I turn around and sit across from him.

He was a very small man. Do you know what I mean? I do not understand. To charge the buttons? This would be someone else's job. No, no. He made sure it was his job. He liked to be in control, I guess. I never liked my father very much.

I'd like to put both hands on the table and kind of expanding out from my fingers the inky black, and I would like it to sort of slowly kind of dripping over the table and onto the floor and then to clasp around the legs of the Viscount. He screams. Are you taking him? Yeah? Yes. Yeah, yeah. But slowly. He screams at first and for some time. The doors just outside the throne room, there's a guard stationed at each one.

They have been standing there since basically you took control. Since you were named Regent these two guards have stood here. They're not really guards though. They're suits of armor filled with inky black goo. Any noise that comes from them, if someone were to pay close attention, the noise does not come from behind the faceplate, but comes from actually the center, the chest, where a giant mouth wraps around them inside the armor, inside both of them. These entities, were they independent creatures, could hear screaming coming from the other side of the door, but then suddenly there's none. Rotunda your chamber, puglazy. Count your buttons. Silently, he stands up and goes.

Okay, I'm then going to check on the locking down of the keep and of Fairbone Point. You jump from entity to entity, ensuring that your orders are carried out to the letter. As you and your troop march ever upward on that staircase, you, every now and then, leap back from the troop heading upwards into infinity. You jump back to people going, searching through the mirrors, looking for Punch and Ello. You jump to side corridors of the Lonely Tower, where, once again, some of the entities know that they're fighting you, some of the entities, their nature fights you, really.

And then, jumping back one final time after another second longer infinity than the one before, you come once again to the top of the staircase. This time, at the fourth floor, you, or what you thought was the fourth floor, you realize you've come a bit higher than previously. Looking out a window, you can see that you're quite high up in the lonely tower. This room is a long corridor. It ends in a single door, and there are paintings along the walls. These paintings depict things that couldn't have happened. Past events that so grace looking upon them realizes must have been faked. You see a famous, maybe a famous event from the human pantheon, the worship of gnomes

in Pannia, you see a figure which is quite clearly meant to be Gnomes striking down Codem, who is kind of like a lawful evil god of mercenaries and assassins and that. You see him striking down Codem, but that there's no story that ever tells of this. And Codem certainly would not allow himself to be destroyed like this. It is an impossible scenario. You see another painting that depicts a horde of dire wolves slowly backing up against the edge of a cliff. And it looks like they're about to be run off the cliff by a larger, awful-looking herd of sheep.

You see a bunch of different other such scenarios, things that just couldn't happen. How long does the corridor seem to be? Infinite as well? No, not infinite. No, it's very finite. For the first time in a little while, you see definitely a finite end

and it's maybe relieving to you. Yeah, I think so. Infinities even to Sir Grace are still taxing. Well, yeah, I think so. Infinities even to Sir Grace are still taxing. I, well, yeah, I suppose we will together, me with the ten true faithful at my side, we'll make our way through this corridor of paintings. And I think I will kind of look at the paintings to see if, I suppose any stand out or any feel like they might provide a clue as to what I'm about to come up against at the exit of the corridor. So, Grace, you don't know what these paintings could indicate.

Okay. But if you wanted to, you feel like there's some hinting at the edge, there's something magical going on behind these paintings, or the entire corridor feels altered, strange, different. And you, if you wanted to, could spend the time flipping through a bunch of different creatures or people that you control. Yeah, I'll check with Jindabine to see what Jindabine has to say. Jindabine, who's making his way back to Fairburn Point right now, he's kind of on a leisurely stroll. He's not taking even paths.

He's literally walking. As a crow would fly, he is walking back to Fairburn Point. He feels confident that nothing here is going to harm him. And with his magic, the stroll is almost pleasant. He's calmed down a lot since he ran from deep beneath the earth. Yeah. Yeah. Hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm - -?-?-?-?-?-?-?-?-?-?-?-?-?-?-?-?-?-?-? to not know you. It's Sir Grace. Sir Grace, Sir Grace. Shall I ponder, shall I ponder? Oh, Sir Grace!

But you died. You've been dead, dead a long time. Your daughter, Tiffany, controls your throne. For now, I think. I'll disconnect. Okay, well, that's of no use and it also makes me concerned as to how far I've drifted here in the Lonely Tower. Well, I guess we'll just make out, we'll try to make our way to the end of it then. I don't, I feel like there's a danger in contacting the outside world at this point.

You hear steps, footsteps from behind you, back down the infinite staircase. You turn back around and you watch as yourself You again with seven people walking behind reach the top of the staircase Okay, so grace you look at yourself already in the corridor I see I'm in two places at once no you're you're only in... No, you are... Each Sir Grace is only aware of themselves. But you are now playing two Sir Graces looking at each other. I can do that. I would like to go and approach the other Sir Grace. Alright, you are the other Sir Grace.

Okay. I welcome the other Sir Grace with open arms. Not in a hug, of course. Yeah, yeah, yeah. This is a complicated situation, but probably advantageous. And then I, as both Sir Grace's, look at the end of the corridor to see if there's any other Sir Grace's coming. No one immediately. I wait. Okay. Sometime.

A third Sir Grace, with four, comes up. This Sir Grace is very battle-worn. Okay. This Sir Grace would be a bit wary. He very nearly lost the fight with the mirror creature. I see. You're safe, I say, as one of the Sograces. Approach.

The battle-worn... Yeah, the three Sograces convene. How many of us are there? I don't know. Presumably an infinite amount, given the place that we're in. And some Sir Graces won't make it up the staircase at all. I will say actually as well, this tendril form, do you make it look like a young Sir Grace?

Yes, it looks like a young Sir Grace. After looking at yourself for some time, not some time, but after this little conversation, you realize that there are subtle differences between these three Sir Graces. They are all how you, they are all, yeah, definitely a very, as far as Sir Grace is aware, they are all very, a very accurate depiction of what Sir Grace looked like when he was younger. But all three of them, there's slight variations. Maybe one of you has slightly different eye color, different hair color, maybe slightly different skin tones, maybe even your hair slightly Parts in like a different way ever so slightly. A fourth Sir Grace, This one with ten like the original Sir Grace walks up. This Sir Grace is an elf. Now, here's the

Real conundrum I say as the original Sir Grace that was the first to come up the staircase. Are we here for the same reason the first how many so graces are there now so there's tendril, Sir Grace Yeah, there's let's call him. Let's call him a brown eyed, Sir Grace because I don't think so graces brown eyes old Sir Grace and elf, Sir Grace Now the next question that I have on my mind and I assume if you're me which in some way you are you have the same or similar question on yours is who here is real because obviously there's also a chance that this is another trick. Tendril Sir Grace looking at each of you, begins to get an understanding that each of you is real, but you're all different.

None of you, there's no connection between your energies. Yes, yeah, yeah. For sure. Brown Eyed Sergrace is less certain of that, but does think the same thing. Old Sergrace is beginning to get suspicious. He thinks this is a trick. Elf Sir Grace is a lot more magically versed than the other three Sir Graces. And had you been able to, or had you remained in contact with Jindabine for longer, Elf Sir Grace comes to a conclusion that he might have come to, which is you are, each of you, Sir Grace from an alternate reality or timeline. Are any other sir grace is coming up the stairs or has it stopped?

Oh God yeah a sir grace. Let's call him war grace Fuck yeah, so grace comes up with 24 hosts This is going to be a problem war sir grace Imagine if sir grace's aggression was dialed to 11. Okay, okay. He's maybe missing an arm as well. Okay. What matters most to you?

Is it unforgettable adventures? Connections with lifelong friends? Peaceful moments of reflection? Feelings of joy and freedom you can't wait to experience again and again. Or is it the vehicles that help you make all those special moments possible? Whatever your answer is, Toyota is here to bring you closer to the things that matter to you. Because they matter to us too. Toyota. For what matters most.

The problem is that obviously Sir Grace is like, I don't want to deal with these guys. what matters most. The problem is that obviously Sir Grace is like, I don't want to deal with these guys. But every Sir Grace is thinking the same thing. He's thinking the exact same thing, yeah. We all are probably here not for the same goal, but to go to the same place. So well, I turn to the Sir Grace's. For the moment, it's probably worthwhile to make allies of one another.

I assume Brown Eye, Grace, Old Grace, Elf Grace are probably, well, maybe old, not so much Old Grace because he was very suspicious. But Brown Eye and Elf Grace, I assume, kind of amicable to this. Elf Grace may be the most for... He's kind of the one who is like, oh, I think this is alternate reality. Or alternate timeline sort of stuff. Oldgrace, who is suspicious... Who probably believes... Is starting to believe this is a trick. And Wargrace, who could believe whatever you think Wargrace would believe.

But, like I said, aggression dialed to 11. Those two might be the ones causing a problem here. Okay. Wargrace has 24 men. Together we could probably... Okay. As Tendrilgrace, I turn to Brown Eyed Grace. Old Grace and Wargrace, they're not gonna let this stand. I know me and you know you. We're all the same person, more or less. And we are all gonna

be fighting for the same goal, even if our motives are different. I think we're gonna need to stop them ourselves. Together we have enough men to do it. Brown Eyed Grace probably would be in a agreeance. Yes, I say we make a stand. Some of us have lost more than others, but I say we make a stand. Some of us have lost more than others, but I say we make a stand. And then I'd like to begin trying to make a stand against the other Graces. Are you enlisting Elfgrace as well?

Yes, Elfgrace and Brown Eyed Grace to make a stand against Wargrace and Oldgrace. Well, on the bright side, Oldgrace is not teaming up with war grace. Yeah, I don't think so It's more of a three-way fight. Mm-hmm. Then I pull back I Take my men and leave would brown eyed grace and elf grace fall for that I think elf grace might brown eyed grace. I don't know. Okay, I leave that in your hands I think brown eyed grace will fall for it. If you leave your men. Sure I think Brown Eyed Grace will fall for it if you leave your men. Sure. I'll leave my men behind. You leaving your men behind, you back up a little bit as if you were to engage from afar,

but then you just turn. It's a finite space this time. And I'm out of there. And you leave. And presumably, this is also part of my thinking. Any future Grace that ascends those stairs comes upon a battle between graces. I am a ghost. At the cost, of course, of my men, so be it. You turn around, sprint to that door, grab the handle, open it up, stepping through the

threshold and closing the door behind you. You hear the sounds of battle echoing and then dying behind you and you are standing in a meadow, a green beautiful meadow which none of the plants here look familiar to you, but you hopefully are back in your time and space. Yes. I reach out to see where not my 10 true faithful that are in the, what will become exponentially a bigger and bigger battle as time goes by. But to the ones that are like exploring the mirror realms

and stuff like that, and any other reinforcements in the lonely tower, which it feels like we're infesting like ants at this point. Yeah. Yeah, I reach out to see where they've got to now that I'm back on my own home reality. If you extend yourself out, you are able to slowly come to the realization that this meadow is not a meadow,

it's a corridor with many doors in it. It looks like a meadow, but it's not a meadow actually. It's a corridor with doors in it, but it looks like a meadow and it is kind of also a meadow. And it is a meadow. But it's a corridor with doors in it. Sure, sure, sure, sure. Behind those doors, some of your reinforcements

have managed to snake their way up here. Okay, can I try and open those doors? You open some of those doors and a total of, you were going to get 5d6, but because you have scattered your reinforcements doing other things You will only get 3d6. That's fine. I'll take it you Get 14 new fighters. Hell yes hot off the presses Okay, okay you and your 14 fighters they came from so so this corridor that's actually a meadow, don't forget. It's a meadow I'm in, but it is a corridor.

But it is also a corridor. Yes, yes, yes. There is six doors in total in this meadow, but out of those doors, only three of them are not places that your guys have already been in the corridor. Okay, cool. Three of the doors in the corridor. So there's three new exits basically yeah three new potential places to go one of the groups though looks pretty battle-weary and When you're like kind of jumping into them They give you a kind of a mental report that the doorway they came through mm-hmm came directly from the mirror area,

but they found a fortress almost made out of mirrors in the mirror area that seemed to have passageways to all parts of the tower. There was, sorry, the reason they're battle worn is because they had to fight their way in as mirror people kept streaming in from those mirrors. But you could access all sorts of parts of the tower from that fort if you were to brave the fighters there. I would like to, now that I'm on...

I don't know if he'll have any help here, but now that I am on firmer ground, I would like to reach out to Jinderbine again. You contact, this time, your Jinderbine, though he is... Because you were contacting Brown... You didn't realize this though he is, because you were contacting Brown, you didn't realize this at the time, but you're contacting Brown Eyed Grace's Jinderbine, who was very, no sorry, that Jinderbine in that universe, you were dead. I'm so sorry, that wasn't Brown Eyed Grace's Jinderbine. But this Jinderbine is doing a very similar thing, maybe in a slightly different spot, but this time when you contact him, well, well, well, back again.

Still suspicious of that voice. I'm in the Lillie Tower. I have 14 men with me. How possible and what would it take to, there are many passageways here, many tunnels. What would it take to make my own tunnel? Ooh, now that's a question, a very good question. Mm-hmm. There is magic to be done there.

Certainly a skilled wizard could perform this magic. If you could get me there, I could do it no problem, no problem at all. The problem, of course, being that I aren't there. But, hmm, could be done, could be done, could be done. If you can get a tendril to me, I can step through the tendrils, and then I can be where you are, where you need me to be, and I can cast the spell, or I can show you how to cast the spell, of course. But if I show you how to cast the spell, there is always chance for error.

You don't know the spell, not like I do. But the option is yours, my liege. Where are you now? In the forests. I... Hmm. He looks around. Where is the nearest grace?

Where's the nearest grace? The nearest grace, the nearest grace. Ooh, farmhouse, not far. He gives you some basic instructions, a basic direction. You reach out and sure enough, there's a farm there where, well, let's say you're controlling a cow. Why am I doing that? I'm controlling the whole farm, I guess.

No, it's more like a spy. Oh, I see, that makes sense. Okay. I was just the most convenient thing at the time I assume as a great suspicious to for sure I mean you know once they're inky black It doesn't matter if they're a human a cow or whatever. It's all the same to you. Okay, I Find myself in the cow mm-hmm, and I will like approach the edge of the sort of Pen that I'm in or the field that I'm in. Oh Bessie The farm is there. I know the farmer and I just start walking You you as the cow there's a fence but as the cat the you can hop it. Yeah, actually

I clamber over it. Yeah for sure. Oh best. Whoa, what you up to there girl? I'll start running I'll start galloping. Excuse me He the farmer chases you for a little while, but you're faster than a farmer. Yeah. Yeah. Let me check that Yeah, how fast is it? Okay, I said that very confidently, but I actually don't know if that's true how speed Same as a human. All right, so it becomes a chase. Yeah, it becomes a chase. Oh My god, yeah, Bessie is Bessie is old The farmer catches you pretty quickly I trample him Adam I

Rotate around and slam him with my head and my horns. Absolutely buddy. And then I try and do it with the death He's not expecting this so I'll give you advantage you hit him. Absolutely, buddy. And then I try and trample him to death. He's not expecting this, so I'll give you advantage. You hit him. Surprise attack. Yeah, you get a surprise attack. Fuck yeah. You turn around. Farmer Clyde, slam. You crush him under your hooves.

You mince his face and body. Good, okay. His last words are less words and more a strangled cry. And I will turn around and I will leave his corpse behind and try and find Jinderbind. After like a minute of continuing into the forest, you hear screams from behind you? That's fine. No one's gonna be suspicious of me. No one's gonna think this is anything to do with Sir Grace.

Do you wanna hear the funniest fucking thing? What if I did a random encounter for you right now? Make me fight it as a Sir Grace cow, dude. I'll fucking do it. Think I'm scared of you. Let me get a random forest encounter. Oh my god. Let me get random forest in My god Yeah, you come across a large ancient temple You'll need to make a religion check so grace What the hell? You'll need to make a religion check, Sir Graves.

Yeah, alright, you recognize the symbology here. It's a old and abandoned temple to Gulliver. Gulliver is a very, the antithesis of the dead, undead I should say. This probably would have formed a series of small, it's not a very large temple, it'd be like a one room space, but it would have formed a series of temples along a, some sort of ley line or magical barrier, which then would have been used as kind of like a, what do you call it, like a large alarm network for if undead passed through a certain area.

Okay, interesting. You could probably find, I mean, Gulliver is is long Gulliver was slain a long yeah Yeah, this is why the temple is probably unused But you might be able to find some maybe some little a tiny little Peasants amount of treasure in this temple if you were curious. It's probably not worth my time, especially as a cow Investigate this temple this is a big temple it's a one-room space okay up but I'm a cat you know what look I'll go investigate I'll just go check it on the way you fool as you get closer, you hear a dog. Seven. Rabid dogs have been using,

because there is an aura of gentle peace about this place, the rabid dogs were probably slightly attracted to this as a Feels safe to rest here for them Maybe for you less so seven dogs of random breeds That are just escaped from nearby villages make their way out the pack smells meat Okay, okay That's fine. You got cast out there buddy. Yeah, brother You go first, okay I would like to use the ability charge I move in 20 feet straight toward a target hit it with a gore attack

And I deal an extra 2d6 piercing damage you pick up a corgi throwing it over your horns The corgi strikes a tree strikes a rock hits the ground It's dead. The corgi is dead. Okay You maybe issue a grunt and a bellow as part of that the remaining six dogs flee Okay, I rotate on this spot and I see it's safe now. I Guess I'll have a look Random treasure The adventures of cow grace

You know, it's so funny, yeah, he can't help himself You know what's so funny? He can't help himself. That's true. He fucking can't help himself. No matter what form he's in. All right. Inside, you find there's a little, what do you call it? Not an altar, a small altar.

What are they called? Like a podium or a... Something like that. Like a little... What are they called? I think the name is the same as when you hang, it's a really fucking creepy thing to do, you hang like a bunch of pictures of a person, a shrine. There's a little shrine inside, long disused, covered in moss and dust. There is on the shrine a little collection bowl. Inside the collection bowl, you can see there's some trinkets,

a bunch of different rings and things, like rings and things just offerings basically and Next to it as well. There is do you know what a karma is? No, it's a weapon It's kind of like a like a little site. Oh cool. Okay. There is a masterwork karma Mm-hmm, and the trinkets would add up to about 300 gold. I I have no way Collecting, but I mark it for later, you know, so grace of some kind to come and collect. And I'll turn around, I'll try and... Is it cows that can't go backwards?

Because that would be so funny. Don't! No! No, cows are capable of walking backwards. Okay. Thank god. Cow adventures is so funny. Sir Grace the Cow stuck in a tunnel.

What a very strange aside. Okay, I turn around from inside and I'll keep heading toward Jindabine. You reach Jindabine. Okay, then I will, I guess... Jindabine giggling, speaking to the cow, says, do you mind if I destroy this form? In the lonely tower speaking to Jindabine, I say no, not at all.

Jindabine gently places a hand, both hands, sorry, on the cow and then grabbing, he, even if you weren't Inky Black, he would still be doing this to the form of a cow, but he stretches the cow out like it's made out of rubber. And then he, giving it a little flip and with some magical energy saying the right words, doing the right incantations, the center part of the cow becomes a black mirror. Stepping through the black mirror, Jindabine kind of explosively appears out of your chest. So, Grace, he's now in the lonely tower with you.

Okay. The cow is destroyed as part of the spell. It's done its job. I Say to jindaby there is a fortress Back in the I give him a say I'm assuming he's been kind of kept up to date about what's happening in the in the lonely Tower, but I I give him a better explanation and then I say in the mirror Floor of the lonely tower There is a fortress and in that fortress there are entrances to many other parts of the tower and perhaps if we were to take the fortress we would be

able to make a beeline straight for the top. However, the enforcements that exist in the fortress, the mirror people that are there, I don't know if we'd be able to take them out without heavy losses. I indicate to my like battle weary, true faithful. However, in the room below us, there is a battle, a battle that I think is growing exponentially with every passing minute. And if we could punch from that floor to the mirror fortress, then we could cause enough chaos that we would be able to escape into any mirror. We want it to that's my current thinking

An excellent plan my leash Of course of course of course it can be done it shall be done of course of course of course Please lead the way I turn around and I go into the previous area, the previous finite corridor to see kind of what carnage is occurring there at the moment. You step through and you see a battle, a flurry, a truly like messy fight. No one, rules have been completely abandoned. There's no, I mean, not that obviously,

cobalts really care much for the rules of combat. But these cobalts are tearing each other limb from limb. You have never seen more people die over a, ultimately, a necklace that you know is not made with diamonds, but was made with zirconiums. But the cobalts, I I suppose don't know that better than a piece of chicken But yeah, you watch maybe 20 cobalts in total die for this necklace before a dragon life is cheap

Life is cheap for Cobble. A dragon makes its way over, gives a huge bellow, breathes some flames, and the rest of the Cobble's kind of die down. The dragon picks up the necklace, takes one look at it, realizes its worth, throws it back to them, and the fight resumes. Oh my god. Okay. I remain just kind of watching the Cobble fight and also keeping an eye on the Necro Wizard in his slowly spinning cage.

Does he continue to lock eyes with me every time he spins? It's been a night. There was like bed. Oh, okay. Would you have gone to sleep? How guarded is the Necro Wizard? There's a bunch of cobbles in kind of like uniforms and armor. It's all a bit comically oversized or mismatched.

It looks like the arms and armor came from dragon's hoards. So it's not necessarily sized for these kobolds. But they seem, these kobolds seem disciplined, unlike the ones you're watching tear into each other. I guess, Sir Grace, I suspect that the Necro Wizard can see through the form that I'm currently taking of Morelock Brush. But I also, some part of Sir Grace wonders

if the Necro Wizard, if that's just a hunch that the Necro Wizard has. So I might, again, under the guise of just being a visiting kind of person from Fairbent Point, who's just here to watch the proceedings, I casually, probably with the High Priest as well, I will casually stroll over, not really engaging the Necro Wizard, more like looking at him like he's just a thing to be kind of idly observed with a, hmm, I'll kind of go and have a look at him to get it kind of one to gauge

if he locks clocks me immediately, but to to gauge just how he's doing. As you approach the Necro is becomes he stops passively just standing there and he starts moving so that he can keep an eye on you the entire time as you approach. Two of the Cobolds, when you get to a certain range, like a close enough range that you could theoretically sprint up and reach out. Do something, yeah, sure. The two Halberds, once again mismatched, both to the Cobolds who are wielding them, but also mismatched to each other. Two Halberds crossover, preventing you from getting any closer.

Oh, I'm close enough, I say. I'm just coming over to have a look. You hear heavy footfalls behind you, and before you're able to say or do anything, you hear a... I turn around. Ratten the Shameful is standing there. Hello, good evening. A word, please. Of course. He gestures for you and the high priest to follow him.

Okay. You go to his private quarters? As we approach his private quarters, I would like to jump into the fisherman that me and the high priest have been using. Yeah, yeah, yeah. To have a little conversation. What are we to do if things go wrong? There's a chance that he's clued in to what's happening.

They were talking about Vercingetorix, so maybe they know something, and I've already been accused. If things are to go south, is the plan to escape, or is your magic powerful enough that you think we could fight our way out? There are 316 dragons present, so I don't like our odds. I don't like our odds either I don't like our odds either I don't think we're gonna be fighting our way out But certainly my magic's enough that the two of us can escape maybe just not unscathed Okay, regardless. I don't mean to be cavalier with your forms But at the very least I'm confident that I can get out even if you can't.

No, no. If more luck brushes to die, so be it. Papa? Go back to bed! No, he was just helping. Oh, I see. You're on the docks. Fishermen have to get up quite early, right? Yes, that's true. You're on the docks fishing with the other fishermen,

and your son was maybe ferrying fish guts and whatnot, or just when you catch a fish, put it in the bucket, he takes the bucket back sort of stuff. Was there anything else you wanted to say? No, that's it, that's it. Yeah, you end with a... Huh? And then you're a Morlock and the High Priest following Ratan into his quarters. I'm sorry. What matters most to you?

Is it unforgettable adventures? Connections with lifelong friends? Peaceful moments of reflection? Feelings of joy and freedom you can't wait to experience again and again. Or is it the vehicles that help you make all those special moments possible? Whatever your answer is, Toyota is here to bring you closer to the things that matter to you. Because they matter to us too.

Toyota. For what matters most.