D&D is For Nerds - State of Grace #3 Ser Grace Abiding

Episode Date: May 24, 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.

ACAST powers the world's best podcasts. Here's a show that we recommend. Hi everybody, I'm Tom Tremuth of the Talk Music Podcast. I'm a multi-platinum producer and on this show I chat with fascinating musicians and top industry experts from around the globe. Steve Hackett, Bruce Coburn, Blue Rodeo, Rick Emmett from Triumph, Bare-Naked Ladies, Big Sugar, Lee Aaron. These are just a few of my guests with great music and great stories. Singer-songwriter extraordinaire Gavin Rosdale from Bush will be on next week, so don't miss it. Acast helps creators launch, grow, and monetize their podcasts everywhere. Acast.com

Blink, Sir Grace the Urchin Child. Invisible, unseen, listening to people talk, listening to people plot. Blink, Sir Grace the Bandit, attacking caravans, stealing gold, being killed. Blink blink so grace the blacksmiths son Tracking each order with keen eyes taking note remember and blink 2,000 eyes a thousand plans and all requiring a personal touch. This is the state of grace I believe it was so grace's understanding that the Necro wizard was in fact dead So Grace's understanding that the Necro Wizard was in fact dead. No. And how long has the Necro Wizard been active?

Spreading the information out across everyone you're in. Agate Shieldmold's mind pings at like, that is the exact, the same date that he just gave you is the exact date you got Inky Blacked. That was the same date. What? Nothing. That is most interesting. But you have him captured?

Yes. I see. And forgive me for my questions. This is the first Gino Kistjan I have ever attended, understandably. If he is found guilty, the consequence will be... Well we must determine this as well. That will of course be day three. Well um... We, forgive me, most of the facilities here are established for our kind.

We will take some time to... We had not expected your arrival. We will take some time to prepare space for you. We appreciate that. Thank you very much. Of course. Until then, we will just amuse ourselves amongst the cobalts. A bunch of cobalts are off to one side. This is, they were, you passed them on your way. Maybe that's where you grabbed one from. But there are a bunch of cobalts essentially on smoke breaking. And they're all smoking Reach Clove cigars. That's funny. That makes them sound like they are not prestigious. It's like anyone can

get them. It's literally just be... They just have better access. Yeah, that makes sense. It is actually a cigar brand preferred by scaled creatures. I'll say something in the leaves that they put in. Just kinda, it gives, if you're a lizard folk, a cobalt, dragonborn, it gives you a little high. Yeah.

Is it only cobalts and dragons? Are there dragonborn here? There are no dragonborn, it's just cobalts and dragons. Cool, okay. It's cobalts, a lot of kobolds. It's a big part of their religion is that they see it as like a, what's it called? Samsara? Oh yeah, yeah, Samsara, like they're returning to, yeah.

So you keep being, kobolds believe that you, well, many kobolds, not all kobolds. And some creatures that are like, hey, if some other creature is like, I kind of identify with this, some things that aren't cobbles, believe that there is a great reincarnation wheel, and eventually, if you're good, you get to be a dragon. That rocks. Yeah.

Okay, well, I guess, more luck brush and the high priest, we will. Oh, sorry, the reason I bring that up is, quote unquote, being good is serving a dragon. Okay. So that's why there's so many cobalts here. Is there like an area, like, are they gathering in like a circular way where they will gather around like a central, like, can I see where I think the Necro Wizard will be put on trial or held? You see no evidence of a jail cell anywhere.

All of the tents that are still being constructed are so early in their construction that there is nowhere that the Necro Wizard could be right now. So he must still be on his way, theoretically? Potentially, yeah. They have only like kind of just begun yes like the first tense are literally coming together right now cool okay that's some crazy news to get that and slightly concerning yeah all right but also mostly because the Necro Wizard is annoying I don't think so Grace sees him as a threat it's just like I don't deal with this on top of everything else. Okay. Well the dragons have him. Yeah

exactly. And he's never come back. Yeah but I hope there's a lot of dragons. Maybe they can just burn him to a crisp and he'll just be able to eat him or something and there'll just be no one's problem. Yeah. Well we'll find somewhere to wait until they build us like some kind of facility. Oh yes yes, the reason I brought all of the Samara stuff up is there is a quite obviously where the kobolds are is probably where you're going to feel perhaps the most comfortable in that there are a bunch of... The kobolds there aren't giving you the side eye

like a lot of the dragons are. They seem to be kind of very uninterested in who you are. Yeah, great. That's good. Is there like a kind of shanty town that's sprung up because there's so many cobbles here? I guess there fucking would be. Yeah, because then the cobbles are like, they're gonna be here for- Near where the smoking cobbles are, there's a lot of like little tents, little like one man or one cobble, I should say, tents that have kind of sprung up.

Okay, well we'll kind of head over there and just try and find a small space for ourselves to sit and kind of think about all of this. You can see there's like little economies growing and stuff as well. Yeah, I was going to say, like somebody selling food. Yeah, absolutely. Eventually something like a tavern is bound to pop up. You can see, well actually it's not even bound to pop up. You can see there's already a stall where one cobalt is selling drinks to the other cobalt.

You get the impression that some of this economy stuff is Kind of got like some of these cobalts are working on behalf of a dragon Who is seeing this meeting as like an opportunity to make money? essentially Do it so there are a lot of dragons here. Mm-hmm. Six hundred and no, sorry. It's 632 but it's two gold per dragon. Yes. Okay, so there's a total of 316 dragons here, but they will vary in age as well So a lot of them are some of the younger dragons really only the size of like a horse Yeah, but they do vary up to colossal dragons. So there are some really big dragons. Do I recognize any?

Colossal dragons, so there are some really big dragons. Do I recognize any? Like as Sir Grace? Probably a handful. Yeah, Sir Grace some of the Maybe none of the evil dragons because they assume Sir Grace slew any evil dragon he encountered but some of the good dragons Yeah, do I know where their horde is? Now this is something I Now, this is something I had accounted for, but not in the way that you are currently talking about it. Um, that's a nat 20. Oh yeah, baby. Yeah.

You definitely, um, yeah, you definitely, at least one dragon here, you know, is currently, its horde is currently unguarded, presumably. From Fairburn point, probably one of the gates rises and a adventuring party of some kind with a cart would start heading down the road toward that horde. I hadn't thought that this was going to happen. This fits... too good. Just what an opportunity.

You'd be an idiot not to take advantage. A silver dragon by the name of Moim Raon is about to lose his horde. Okay. Great. Awesome. That's pretty good. I mean, it's like chump change really, but the more we get... Well, no, it won't be chump change. Oh, hot dog.

Yeah, it's not insubstantial. Like you currently have more money than this. Yeah, but it's good to. It's not insignificant. Yeah, all right, fuck yeah. Okay, well, I guess we kind of find somewhere within this cobbled group to sit down, I suppose. Sure. There's a cobbled group to sit down, I suppose.

Sure. There's a cobbled that's selling one copper a sit. Does he have chairs or is it just the ground? The ground's free. It'd be rocks. Sitting on a rock. A copper for a rock is fine. We'll pay it and we'll sit down.

Thanks, my lord. Yeah, any time. You only need to pay one as the High Priest prefers to stand. You've probably never seen her sit. You don't know and she doesn't know if she can. Yeah. I think Sir Grace kind of in this scenario with the High Priest, it just sees her as his ticket into this.

Yeah, yeah. Rather than like, he's kind of not thinking about her to be honest. She's happy to not exist. Yes, yeah, for sure. I grab one of the cobbles. Uh-huh. Cobbled, what do you know of the NecroWizard's activity? It's been stealing draconic blood.

Are there any theories as to why? Oh, many theories. Could I hear them? Wow. I give him a copper. He bites it to check that it's real. Okay. Sure, guy. He bites it maybe a few times. You get the impression that he's seen someone else do it and he assumes there's a purpose

to it, but he doesn't really know what he's doing. Save some room for dessert. He pockets the coin and says, well, perhaps this is, I don't know, can I swear? Yes, you can swear. Well, there are some saying that he, and the cobbled looks both ways, like he's about to get told off, like he's looking for someone, an authority figure who might not be happy with what he's about to say He's trying to cut in line

Cut in line become a dragon. Oh, I don't know if sir. Grace cares. He didn't swear What are we was it saying dragon? Well, okay. I don't know if sir. Grace really cares So that passes by Jackson is, what's this couple doing? But Sir Grace, it passes him by. Why would he be doing that? So he fills himself with draconic blood. Becomes a dragon.

Draconic blood, this is something, this is just a known thing. Draconic blood is a very powerful magical reagent. But he's been captured in the process Okay, he was trying to with a big syringe You don't know if that's true. I mean, it's not it's not out of character for the necro is Yeah, did he Make headway to achieving this goal. Yes. He drained a dragon dry. Where? Somewhere North.

I don't know the other dragon. Okay. A dragon was killed though, at least one. And he got caught draining a third or fourth maybe. So he's pretty full at this point. Here's the question though. And the couple does a big comical shrug. Where's the blood?

Not in him. He's all bones. Yes, he is all bones. 100% bones. Yes, go away. A Cobalt scampers off with his Cobalt. He goes and buys himself a cup of whatever the guy's selling, the liquid that the guy's selling.

Is that what it says on the banner? Whatever I'm selling? Is that what it says on the banner? Whatever I'm selling? Liquid is what it says. Um, maybe, uh, the Cobbled adds a second sign underneath that, that says for drinking. Well, that's good to know. Okay. I guess I just sit with that. I get pro probably exchange a look with the high priest to just, I kind of see if they

have any input on it, but just kind of to exchange a look with somebody. But otherwise I just high priest says, yeah, many uses for draconic blood. It would be impossible to tell from just this information. Where would he store it? It is quite curious. The start date. Yes. Can we are we being overheard? I mean, there are cobbles everywhere. Yeah, there are cobbles everywhere. If one wanted to, they could be listening. I'll just do it telepathically. Okay, that's fine.

This conversation is, even that though. Even that at this point. Well, yeah, a telepathic conversation is more difficult to overhear, but not impossible. Okay, Adam, this is what I'm gonna do. Two fishermen on the docks. Yeah. Perhaps when I, Okay, Adam, this is what I'm gonna do. Yeah. Two fishermen on the docks.

Perhaps, when I... When I got taken over by the Yankee black... Yeah! Yes. Two fishermen just on the fucking dock. Perhaps... Were there any kind of seal that I had in place that I've forgotten where, upon my death, the NecroWizard, one of the many NecroWizards, were to come back? It is very within the realm of possibility.

In fact, I would say, knowing what I know about the Necro Wizard's history I would call it near definite. Yeah, almost. That should something happen to you, the Necro Wizard would know about it. Some kind of guarantee. I could name a million different spells. You're talking to the High Priest, right? Yes, yeah, yeah, yeah, this is the High Priest. You could name a million different spells that could do that. Gods, you know what I'm thinking though. If there's one NecroWizard out there, brought back by my death, and there have been many NecroWizards or attempts and versions of this fella, who knows how many other NecroWizards are out there that need stamping out. A chillin' thought.

Yeah, indeed it is. Indeed it is. What's the plan then with this necro wizard? Leave it up to draconic justice? I wouldn't even know what that is. No, but also killing him here with all of the dragons around could be obvious. And I don't know if they'd like us making the final decision. All I can do is sit in on the meeting. I'm not allowed to speak in it. I say we hear what the draconic opinion is. We see which way the jury trends, and if it trends in our favor we stoke the flames, and if it trends away we see what

we can do about that. Aye, aye. We would need to be careful. As I said, I'm not allowed to talk in the meeting itself. But there will be breaks where we can talk. And indeed, there's a lot of lead-up to the meeting, it seems. So we've got some time to prepare. Perhaps we should look into this Ratten the Shameful as well. Yeah. He had a suspicion about him. Something certainly concerns me. He's a gold dragon, a colossal one at that. The oldest gold dragon can get his near thousands of years.

We'd have to go quite far through the records to find anything. It is also potentially possible that he's been sleeping for some time. So who knows how far back we'd have to look to even find his name. Well, let me check the records. Right, right, right. I guess, well, we don't, do we have the records in the Dwarven City?

You- Of this Dwarven City? You're still looking for the records, right? But that'll be something to check when we get there. Yeah, you know there will be one. Okay. It's now just, I guess, becoming a priority to look for this. Yeah, yeah, it's going to the top of the list. Alright, then I'll return back to Morlock Brush, and I'll buy a cup of liquid,

and we'll just wait and see what happens next. The liquid turns out to be... melted amber. Well, tip it out. It's quite gluggy. Not really edible for me, but that's okay. You don't think it's edible for Koboldsie? I don't know why they're buying it or what they're getting out of it.

They're treating it like it's beer, which I think is swell. Yeah, me too. You return from the fishermen, you return back to Morlock, and the heady smoke of the... The fucking... Incense? The inc... No, the Reachcliff cigar. Of course. Sorry. The heady scent of the Reachcliff cigar,

and right as you return, right in front of your face, damn near shaking you is the Viscount. Uh... My good friend, are you okay? Yes. That's his voice. My good friend, are you okay? Yes. That's his voice. My good friend, are you okay? Yeah, yes. Forgive me. Sorry, I was a million miles away. Your mouth did open as if you were screaming silently for a moment. I don't know what came over

me. Perhaps I'm overtired. Ah, perhaps. Yes. Perhaps it would be a good idea to retire for the night. Oh, very well, Zen, if you wish to do this. Yes, I perhaps it would be a good idea to retire for the night. Oh very well then if you wish to do this Yes, I think that would be the best move You can see the Viscount is sloshed Let me take you to your room, please Lead on lead on I would appreciate greatly I'd like to take him to his room and then I would like like to like full on help him get undressed and get into bed. And as I'm doing that, I would like to surreptitiously look through his coat for any information that might be useful to me.

Okay, sure. You find, I mean you find a lot of different things that don't seem very relevant. Yeah, don't seem very relevant. He has a lot of artifacts and articles on him that quite clearly are just there to be impressive. Like I said, he has many different rings and necklaces and whatnot. You can tell every single individual ring

has a different signet on it. And it appears he, you don't know how often all of these signets get used you just think he likes showing off People he writes on behalf. Yes. Okay. Okay, you see but you see the Queen well, sorry the King now the Queen symbol Indicating that he speaks directly for the Queen you see for some other higher up nobility and ranked people, maybe like the Cutter family who are one of the biggest ones in Blue Beach

who have declared themselves as loyal to the Crown rather than to Blue Beach. You see some other notable names, that sort of stuff. But nothing that would be. Oh, sorry. You also see in his, among his personal effects, you see a bunch of other little baubles, odds and ends and a letter which is addressed to him and it's coded.

Oh, okay. It's written, you can't make it out. Can I source from the many people under my influence, somebody that might be able to? The skin that is wearing, sorry, the ink that is full of the skin that was once your master of masks has a, could have once done this.

There's not enough left of it, unfortunately. Yeah, there's not enough left. That's fine. Well, I'll keep, I will look at it. I will make like a mental, take a mental photograph of it, basically basically and then fold it back up and Tuck it back in you know as though I hadn't even found it Yeah, and then I'll yeah the master of masks redora can slowly work on this you have her talents

Her mind is within your your consciousness now, but it's just gonna take a lot more Yes, it's not because she has no independence whatsoever. It's like an allocation of resources thing. Yeah, essentially. You have to do it. I have to do it through her, rather than letting her do it through me. Yeah, okay. Well, I'll get her working on that. Whilst she's on the ship. She could be doing that too.

And then I'll tuck it away, fold up though you know as though a maid had done it basically Sure, and then I'll close the door on him. Where's Ada? Ada has been sent to she has a separate room Maybe a member of staff showed it to her. Okay. You are like I said, I'm sure most of the staff here Are just skin wrapped around you. Yeah. Yeah, so you're aware of the room you Cheat like I said, it didn't really drink So she's very aware of herself and she seems definitely uncomfortable about the staff member Intruding on her space. Okay, can I have to do something about her? I think but it's just a matter of what She maybe to the staff member

Good night. Good night. That's so obvious. She closed, she very slowly. Does the staff member walk away? The staff member would probably close the door. Oh, okay. I think. Yeah.

Very slowly. The staff member closes the door and then goes and takes care of what other, whatever other business needs to be taken care of. So, Grace, you don't retire to bed. No. You don't sleep. No. But as you walk back to the throne room to stand idle for tonight, you withdraw from

Punchinello, who is falling asleep on the gallant rider. You withdraw from the tendril character as they watch the, like I said, the Lonely Tower does not obey the laws of the material realm. Your people are slowly making their way through the tower, but it's an arduous process as the space inside the tower might end up being bigger than the material realm. Yeah, sure, sure. Agate Shieldmold as she watches and does not properly respond to Nailah saying goodnight to her. Yeah.

And finally, as you withdraw as a Captain Morlock brush as the tent that him and the High Priest are gonna be sleeping in is constructed. Everything, more or less less going according to plan. And then I'll probably sit at my desk, get out papers and maps, maps some geographical, some celestial, some more arcane and esoteric than that. And I'll spend this little time I have to myself pouring over everything and planning.

So Grace, where do you go at night? I think Sir Grace spreads himself out to everybody within his control. And I think he, from a million different perspectives, watches the city and the country and the continent and then to some extent the world. While the Inky Black is an unknowable creature and its consciousness could be theoretically infinite.

So Grace, you are not really human anymore, but you're- Ostensibly just a man. Your consciousness, while it flits from location to location, it is limited. You are only really aware, properly aware, or able to act when you are in that space. While you do get a great view of everything as a whole, details can escape you when you

do this. The next day, as the sun rises, distantly, you are aware of the doors to the throne room opening and closing. You know someone has entered. Well, I'll return to myself. You glance over at the giant doors and you see Patrician Valen Ottvos has entered. I wait for him to speak. Standing before you, he draws the heavy robes that he uses to cover the scars all over his body.

My Lord. A-Cast powers the world's best podcasts. Here's a show that we recommend. Hi, everybody. I'm Tom Tremuth of the Talk Music Podcast. I'm a multi-platinum producer and on this show I chat with fascinating musicians and top industry experts from around the globe. Steve Hackett, Bruce Coburn, Blue Rodeo, Rick Emmett from Triumph, Bare-Naked Ladies, Big Sugar, Lee Aaron, these are just a few of my guests with great music and great stories. Singer-songwriter extraordinaire Gavin Rosdale from Bush will be on next week so don't miss it. Acast helps creators launch, grow, and monetize their podcasts everywhere.

Acast.com. I have news of the Viscount and Ada. Speak then. This morning the Viscount called for a servant. He was demanding. The patrician has a mixed opinion on this. I think I might have said this already, but the patrician is a very ordered person in all things.

He believes very highly in hierarchy. We today might call him a fascist Yeah, I see you might not necessarily have that terminal. Yes. Yes, but that's yeah cool. Good to know You can see Patricia not false is a little torn While he appreciates that the Viscount is a step above him And so he he willingly shows deference. He believes that the Viscount is too, you can see he believes the Viscount is a little too frugal. He doesn't like people who are very outspoken, loud,

boisterous in any way. He prefers everything, as I said, to be very ordered and, yeah, okay, ordered, neat. He believes people should be seen, not heard. Yes. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Viscount Puglese has asked, demanded for several things. He wishes for his pre-breakfast to be served in bed. He asks for a violinist to play while he gets ready this morning. A chamberlain to assist with getting dressed. A groom of the bed chamber to assist with getting dressed. A groom of the bedchamber to assist with grooming.

A page for errands and random tasks. A barber for his shave. And a scullion to clean away his pre-breakfast. Oh, I don't see why we kind of accommodate him. It's a lot of eyes to have on him. Yes. Our problem may be, uh, the Viscount is a discerning fellow and I'm afraid we haven't a violinist or a scullion and I'm sure he'll know. I see.

Can I extend my consciousness and search for one? In the town? In the town or, and in yeah in Fairburn Point and you know in surrounds but within enough distance that they could make their way here within the day. There's no one that would be here within a timely fashion. Do I know anybody? So there are people though within that can play the violin and can can I act as a bridge?

Can I take somebody who does not have these skills and then give them the skills from someone else? Highs or lows? Highs. The Scullion is a bit more esoteric. It's a very specific, dedicated role. Someone who literally their job is to just clean plates. Not even at like a sink, just to take them off a table.

There is, as there are with all things when it comes to royalty, there is, and the nobility. There is- There's like a specific way to do this. Yeah, there's a very specific, like how you eat with certain pieces of cutlery, certain pieces of cutlery and glassware and whatnot are collected in a very particular manner. You know that much and you're sure the Viscount is someone who would notice if it was done wrong You don't have any knowledge as to whether or not anyone has those abilities Yeah, sure there is as you're letting your is you're throwing your awareness around to different people you jump into a

This is so sad. You jump into somewhere in a small settlement just outside of Fairburn Point, close but still far enough away that they wouldn't arrive in time. You jump into a what was once but is now you, but what was once a mother watching her son learn the violin. He's quite good. Yeah, great

He is not however Inky well Inking are as as his mother you are alone with him. Okay, come here and I get down on my one knee Come to me darling. The child stands up. I'm uh, I need you for a moment Come to me, darling. The child stands up. Mama? I need you for a moment. The child awkwardly approaches you.

Come closer. The child gets closer. Are they within like reaching distance? Yeah. I, with the mother's hand, place it on the child's head and I consume them. And then I send their knowledge of how to play the violin from myself as the mother into me Sir Grace very briefly and then out to somebody some member of staff within the castle grounds and then I send them to the uh uh uh uh Inglisius and then I will say to the Viscount uh just

tell him we don't have a scullion. It might serve us for him to think that we're understaffed slightly. He's already of that opinion, so. My lord, the patrician Bowslow and Ada, she has been up since dawn. She has been at work for some time now. Is there a possibility we could provide her with an aid? Somebody from within the castle? I could see that it is attempted. Whether she accepts or not is not within my control.

Yeah. I think it would not be out of the question that we might want to have some say in what is said about us in our financial situation. I don't think it's a completely absurd request for us to have somebody representing us. It will be done, my lord. Good. Breakfast shall be served within the hour. Knowing that you don't actually- Yeah, I won't be eating. But the Viscount will be there, so you'll probably

need to make a showing. The Viscount, I'm assuming, will want to look at our affairs today. Do you haveount. I'm assuming we'll want to look at our affairs today Do you have any idea of what specifically he'll want to see I have not yet? No, well, we'll speak to him. I suppose very good The patrician standing says I have in the meantime attempted to conceal as much as possible But without further knowledge, it might be, it is difficult. I am spreading as best as I can my liege.

We should probably think about fail safes, just in case they leave without the best opinion. Can I cost my mind to bandit camps on the road between here and Kandor? Four. How's it Lowe's? Lowe's. Regretfully. Yeah, probably cleaned out a lot of them out.

Yeah. There's really two types of bandits that exist. Well, there's one type of bandit that exists, but any bandit that could be caught has been caught and the matter has been pretty swiftly dealt with. I don't assume you're the sort of person who's leaving a lot of evidence behind. No, no, no. Yeah. So anyone, any bandits that are still in operation are so secretive, so good at hiding themselves that you don't know where or how, where they are or how they operate.

Check the prisons. If we have any bandits, reestablish some camps. I will see that it is done. He leaves. I guess probably. Well, I guess I'll wait the hour till breakfast. No, that's yeah, there's nothing else to do. You there's a, I believe we established in Greyhill that there are stained glass windows here. One of them has is a little boarded over from where several adventurers launched themselves through it. Yeah. You turning to one of the stained glass windows, or maybe you were always facing it. I don't imagine you're moving much.

No, no, no. I'm very still. Yeah. Standing in front of one of the stained glass windows, the warmth of the sun begins to creep through and it bathes you. The warmth though is so kind of distant for you as you begin casting your awareness out again, that you're not really aware of it. It's just your body is getting warm. It's getting almost hot, Punchinello.

It is sweltering on the deck of the Gallant Rider. Okay. There is no, there is little to no shade as you sail steadily ever closer to Fairburn Point's docks. You over the night, or would you have done anything in the night? I would have probably just tried to keep an eye on these Knights of Corsairay. Okay. I think the plan is probably to

Thinking about it now bog them down in as much bureaucracy as we can before they get here. Okay. Yeah Well, you would know standing on the deck you Probably if you weren't doing much in or if that's all you were really planning on doing Yeah in the night you probably didn't do much just because you didn't want to attract too much attention to yourself. So standing up on the deck, it's the first time since yesterday that you've seen the ship you arrived in, the Stormcaller. The Stormcaller and the Gallant Rider, I will remind you, the Gallant Rider, the whole reason that this is an encounter at all is that the Gallant Rider could very easily get away if

it needs to. Yes, absolutely. We kind of need to keep it contained, yeah. Yeah. You can see that the Gallant Rider and the Stormcaller are close, but the Gallant Rider is maintaining enough of a distance, possibly on purpose, that if it needed to pull away, it could pull away. Through the Master of Masks, Radora, you are aware that Yearning, the member of the Knights of Castery who was on your ship, Yearning spent a lot of the night moving around the ship, not going anywhere

he wasn't allowed, talking with people. There's an obvious visage of just trying to be nonchalant about it, but Yearning does not have... No. There's clearly some fact-finding happening here. Yeah, absolutely. Do I think that by their, I mean, from what I can tell, by their fact-finding, they've uncovered anything?

No. Your Master of Masks, Redora, her abilities as a Spymaster are pretty substantial. Yeah. Despite the fact that she is just goo stretched over, goo with skin stretched over. Her skill still remains, it's just now been kind of consumed by the inky black. She is good enough at her job to know that there is nothing that yearning has discovered that could possibly make him suspicious, but she feels uneasy. Something about the gut that you absorbed tells you that there's a piece to this puzzle that you're missing.

Okay. Can I, as Punchinello, would it be suspicious for me to explore the ship? The Gallant Rider? There are parts that you aren't allowed to go. Am I allowed in the, I'm assuming there would be like a store room of food? There is a store room you're not allowed. Okay. That'd be in the bowels of the ship.

Where is everybody on the ship right now? Most people are, as morning hits, most people are heading to the mess to get something to eat. Okay. That's probably where you're expected to be as well. Well yeah, that's kind of where I'll probably head. Can I... I guess I don't know what time everybody's gonna get there.

I'm trying to think if I can poison their food with Inky Black. That's my kind of current strategy. Punchinello... Oh good, yeah. The Master of Masks would probably not need to roll for this, but Punchinello does need to roll for this. Punchinello, you can tell that since arriving on the ship, the guard has been doubled everywhere.

Okay, yeah, sure. They're on high alert. Okay. Well, I'll just join them in the mess, then. Okay. You enter into the mess room. It's two tables, one table for the crew and another table for officers.

They're set up in like a T formation with the officer table being the cross. Yeah, yeah, the top of the T as well. And as you enter, Tenete, the captain, the person in charge here, she from the officer table gestures for Punchinello to join her. Great. That's she's exactly who I wanted to talk to. All right.

I come and I sort of flop with my kind of semi-broken wings down at the table and Yeah, sit across from her sit next to her. Did you sleep well? Yes, Panchinello slept good. I'm glad to hear that. It's Many people find the rocking of this ship to be disconcerting. Not Panchinello. I'm glad I'm glad to hear that Very glad to hear that. Tell Panchinello about Corsere. What would you like to know? Is it nice? Corsere? No. Very... I would describe it as harsh. It's, if you can imagine, it's a rock out in the middle of the sea that the sea wishes desperately to reclaim.

There is not much of a beach to be said not a beach really at all it's basically rock meets sea and As I said, the sea is trying to reclaim it. Mmm as a child I didn't get much in the way of beach time activities just a lot of salt spray and Well Sun I suppose. Yeah and well, Sun, I suppose. Yeah. Maybe not Punchinello, maybe Sir Grace knows this. This is something that I feel like Sir Grace

would know better than Punchinello. You are aware, Punchinello through Sir Grace, that Carceré is not, to say that you're from, she seems to be implying that she's from Carceré, it would mean there are maybe five, six families that actually live on Carceray. They're not typically members of the actual order of knights that operate out of there. They're more just families who are trusted to maintain operations, do all the things that a knight doesn't know how to do.

Okay. Things like growing food and crops, tending to animals, keeping castle, that sort of things. It sounds like she's maybe a member of one of these families, or comes from. Okay, that's interesting. Well, what would that imply? Like, what would be the implication of that? These families are specifically selected because they are very,

they're very trusted, they come from very trusted lineages, and it would mean that this person, she might literally have a, just an innate ability to resist being inkied blacked. Okay, okay, but also- It's not a guarantee, but it might mean that you actually can't control her. I'm also assuming if she dies, that would be equally as- like, obviously- like, because I can't inky black her to just send her back with, you know, no suspicion raised. But if I kill her, then suspicion will be raised, right?

Yeah, it's- I mean, I don't want to kill any of them, because then Knights of Kasseray go to a place and they don't come back I'm assuming nobody that's not a blip on the radar the rest of the Knights of Kasseray are like Oh fuck something's going down. All Knights of Kasseray have special training in resisting magical influence You don't know how good any of these people would be at it There's you know varying levels of quality. The tenete Iko Hika, the combination of being a high ranking knight of Karsari and also coming from one of these families, you could try it, could try Inki blacking her, but you're pretty confident

it just won't work. And yes, because her family is so trusted, she has such deep roots in Karsari, it is very unlikely that she would not come back for any reason other than she died. Okay. Now, this was my first thought. Within my range of consciousness, do I have anyone that has access to like an illithid slug. I'm just thinking if there's a barrier to break down, that we can't do with Inky Black

because we can't do it magically, perhaps we could do it organically. Highs or lows? Highs. Casting your consciousness about. Give Punchinella one second for power nap. Well, it's funny you should say that. Casting your consciousness around. You jump into a member of the Greyhill Free Company,

somewhere deep under the earth, a single sleeper cell, if you will, in a group of eight in total adventurers. And you watch as through the eyes of this halfling, you watch as in, well, what was once horror, but you don't care. Yeah. The halfling once felt horror, but now feels a gentle nothingness. As one of their companions, an elf, is having its brain sucked out by an illithid. Okay.

You see just a flash of that, and then, whoomp, you're back in Punchinello. The tinette, her hand is on your shoulder and she's shaking you gently. Sorry, I say Punchinello, not Calepsy. What is your deception, Punchinello? It's a negative one. Icohica looks at you a little suspiciously. I was...

Big question. Yes, it's a real serious condition. Punchinello has had ever since orphan in city. Okay. Well, I... Let me repeat then. Please do. Are you... You are with an adventuring company?

What lie have I had for Punchinello? None yet. Punchinello's not really spoken much. Yeah. What, what, uh, what, so the Master of Masks, what is she known as to these members of the Knights of Kassaray? She's very new in her job. What do you mean by-

So like, do they see, and they're like, oh, this is Sir Grace's Master of Masks? Or do they see her and they're like, oh, this is Sir Grace's Master of Masks? Or do they see her and they're like, oh, this is like somebody in the... Right. The, you know... She's very new to the job, so they might not know who she is yet. Okay. You don't know. Just a, just, okay, so possibly just a...

There's no uniform that a Master of Masks wears, so when she appeared on their ship, they just knew that she was in charge. She in some way represented Fairburn Point. Whether or not they know that she is the master of masks depends on how good their Information network is which you are aware they sent an informatore a spy Basically to infiltrate you earlier. You found him and as I said, you've dealt with him Yeah, he might not be the only one and he might have found something that he managed to send. Yes So they they might know what yeah, I'm unclear. I'm just I'm trying to figure out what they I would say

So Grace is about as unclear as Jackson. Okay. Okay. What would be in a situation like this from a city? to What kind of a person or what rank or what role would you send onto a ship as like somebody to monitor or to just pay attention or to even like induct these people into the city, if you know what I mean? Like is Punchinello, would it be reasonable for him to say that he's like immigration basically? You know what I mean? It's not real. There's no... Part of the reason why, maybe part of the reason why they're so suspicious, is that this is very unusual. There is no real role that would do this. The Knights of Castery are so implicitly trusted by Pandor,

and they have such a great track record that this might be literally the first time this has ever happened to a night in living memory. Yeah, okay, okay. You were originally intending or hoping to be able to... Just kind of... Your original hope was that this would have been over yesterday. Yes, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely. Yes, Punch and Nello come from adventuring company once, but now work for City of Fairburn Point. Oh, you... what adventuring company specifically?

It wasn't the Greyhill Free Company, was it? Once, yes. Oh, I just heard that there were some problems with the Greyhill Free Company. We didn't get anything specific, I don't think, but some issues perhaps with evil sorceries. This is news to Grace. You thought you had the Greyhill Free Company on the walk. Yeah. What the fuck? This is very disconcerting news. Evil sorceries? Pancinello has not worked with Free Company for a long time. What kind

of sorceress? Punchinello? Yeah? You are about... oh sorry, you say that and as you say that you feel something brush against your shoulder and you realize you've been pretty focused on the tenete and you've been pretty focused on trying to fight. You briefly... when you briefly left as well. So much is happening. You didn't even notice, but you turn around and one of the other Knights of Casterly the dwarf Pompenny Farthing is sitting next to you and has probably been sitting next to you for a while. Mm-hmm. You catch him

Finishing a spell meanwhile, okay fuck Okay The words that he says are ancient and arcane but his hand gestures are obscured to you as he is on the other side of your tent. You hear though, as I said, you hear the unmistakable noise of Jindabind the Howling Mad casting a spell. It's Sir Grace, you recognize it as a silence spell. Jindabind clearly wishes to speak with you privately. I, I, are they coming into my tent? Yeah, he steps into your tent. Jindabind, oh yeah, of course you know, Jindabind knows that uh, shieldold is you.

Absolutely. Hello. Speak, speak. Divinations I cast last night have bared fruition. I think I have found the Kuhulu Urfu Koruku. You know this as the Hall of Records, it's dwarfish. Is it far from here? Oh no, very close. We had nearly uncovered it ourselves.

But not yet. Not yet, not yet, not yet. You don't recall giving Jindabind the Mad this information, but this is not necessarily unusual. Jindabind the Mad sometimes just comes to you with a problem. Stuff that I've already been planning. Yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure. So it's still yet to be uncovered.

Yes. Right. A snag, but also perhaps an opportunity. Out with it. So the Hall of Records will be guarded, but, but, but, but, but, but, if we were to tell the director about this place, they will insist on slowly peeling back the defences. This could take weeks, months, perhaps longer than a year. If you were to go while they were perhaps distracted by something else, you could do it on your own and then

anything that happens there could simply be passed off as the work of those damn adventurers. When he says like it could take a year, I flash briefly back into Sir Grace and like look at the big map that I have of Ognot and all of the various factions and forces. Obviously some labeled Kandor, some labeled even probably Blue Beach, various adventuring companies. It's probably like a big question mark for like Sir Hector the Beautiful and Tiffany and then flash back in. I don't have that long.

Well then perhaps less surgical solution. Yes, yes. So a distraction, and while they're distracted, I sneak away and search this hall of records. Yes. Could we manufacture such as a landslide or some kind of enemy, some kind of distraction that way, some way to separate me from them for about half a day. You watch as silently, because of the spell, the flap to the tent is pulled aside and standing in its space is Professor Nyla Breakbone.

She looks at you and Jindabine having your silent, magically silent conversation, and you see immediately she is quizzical and, well, she was already a bit suspicious that something was wrong. Her suspicion seems to be deepening. Nyla, come in, come in. Can I?

Jindabine with a quick gesture ends the spell. Yeah, yeah. Uh, sorry to be interrupting oh you're not interrupting at all the director wishes to speak to jinda bind then to you I exchange a glance with jinda bind jinda bind all right yeah of course lead the way leave that lead the way Naila I'm sorry. ACAS powers the world's best podcasts. Here's a show that we recommend. Hi everybody. I'm Tom Tremuth of the Talk Music Podcast. I'm a multi-platinum producer and on this show I chat with fascinating musicians and top industry experts from around the globe.

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