High Rollers DnD - Academia Investigations | Altheya: The Dragon Empire #110 (Part 2)
Episode Date: July 16, 2026The party investigate the Professor's office to try to discover where he ran off to... and uncover a familiar tale along the way! Can't wait for Part 2 of each episode? Join our Patreon to get early ...access EVERY week (+ a few other bonuses)! www.patreon.com/HighRollers _______________ Boost your Charisma with some HR merch! https://highrollersdnd.teemill.com/ Add official High Rollers Minis to your TTRPG collection here: https://only-games.co/collections/high-rollers Bless your table with the Clever Toad Dice Set: https://dispeldice.com/collections/high-rollers Enhance your bath time experience with the official Altheya themed DiceBombs at https://geekyclean.com/! Check out https://www.highrollersdnd.com/ for all the latest HR News! Love the podcast? Give us a glittering 5 star review! https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/high-rollers-dnd/id1401508198?see-all=reviews Music courtesy of Epidemic Sound, TCT Adventures (Solasta: Crown of the Magisters), Monument Studios and Jolene Khor! Check out Jolene Khor and all her wonderful work on High Rollers on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/1WX3ICiTmf4GpHwImnQMs6v Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Transcript
Discussion (0)
Pickax.
My name is Peter Parker, but I'm also Spider-Man.
This July, we're faced with a threat.
I can be anyone.
The world may have forgotten Peter Parker.
I'm just a neighbor, friendly neighbor.
But he hasn't forgotten them.
Sometimes Spider-Man has to do the hard thing.
That's my responsibility.
Talk to Banner?
I didn't know you could get that big.
Spider-Man, brand-new day.
In theaters, July 31st.
to part two of Orthea, the Dragon Empire.
Our heroes have traveled to the Imperial Academia,
the finest center of learning in all of Orthea,
if their PR is to be believed.
They have met with considerate Pertwee
and have convinced him to let them inside
on a visitor's pass to meet with the authoritor,
Forks Thromlo, who is investigating Professor
Broxton Brasquell, Xantheus's arch-nemesis.
No, the professor who,
who clashed with the heroes at the Giants Wetstone
in the Azar Step.
They have just met with the authoritor
and given an accounting of everything that happened
between them and the professor,
and the authorities invited them to help him
investigate the professor's chambers, seemingly
taken by their enthusiasm for justice,
and also their awareness of their magical and different skills,
having faced against elementals
and a pretty powerful wizard from the sounds of it.
as well.
You see, as he sort of steps in, he's like, well,
I'm assuming you've all been given a visitor's pass for the
Yeah, yeah, we have, we can go through this room.
Yes, I have extra access because the professor,
you would not normally be able to access those chambers,
but I can take you in there myself.
Sure.
As long as you're with me.
If you follow me, I'll head up into the faculty accommodations.
Okay.
Please don't wander off.
No, we won't.
Once we get into the restricted areas,
if you are not within a certain radius of me,
you will probably trigger alarms and things like that.
The kind constructs and armed guards will, yes, we will warn.
Yes.
I would also advise because the professor was a very powerful mage
of the Seventh Circle,
it's very, if there is anything that he does not want disturbed,
could very easily be glyphs and magical tricks.
Okay, I can detect magic.
Perfect, I was gonna want.
I have the ability as well, but if you have that, that's fantastic.
Yes, I will cast it as well, just in case.
Excellent, we certainly wouldn't hurt to have both of us.
For the rest of you, keep your eyes and ears open.
If you have any abilities or things that can help you
investigate and search, those are very useful.
But yes, for me.
Do you know if the professor managed to get to his chambers
before he vanished?
Yes.
My accounting of the professor's movements,
he kind of flicks back.
And he's kind of walking you through these grand sort of hallways.
It's like dark wood, big arched stained glass windows,
classrooms and students coming and going.
But he just talks very casually.
D.C. sort of padding along after him.
He keeps smoking inside the academia as well.
Like he has no regard for, you know, whatever rules they may have.
And he'll say, well, so the professor teleported back in.
they have a general teleportation
circle here in the academia.
He arrived with his students.
He spoke very briefly
with the custodian of the teleportation circle
and said that they had to return for supplies.
He took the students saying that he was going to take them
and debrief them on what happened,
on their next steps, I think he said.
They then went to
an unknown part of the academia.
We don't have eyes on where they went.
The students then weren't seen
for about another 24 hours or so.
The professor
was only just spotted
leaving his chambers,
sorry, entering his chambers
because a messenger arrived
shortly after his arrival
and a messenger was
delivered a message to be delivered
to the professor and one of the apprentice considerates brought it up to his chambers for him.
It was in fact Samantha, the one that you met earlier, the apprentice considerate.
She said that he seemed flustered and in a hurry, but took the communication and said that he would be
leaving the academia shortly for a business trip, but did not give any further details.
And that was the last that he was seen.
Yeah, did it seem like he had packed bags?
She could not remember.
All she remembers is that he seemed flustered and in a hurry to get rid of her.
Right, okay.
She didn't have any knowledge of further of that.
Okay.
Well, hopefully we can find something.
Might not have ransacked the entire room.
That's certainly my hope.
At least something to give us a clue of where he may have gone.
As I understand it, he's been a citizen resident of Kelskaris for pretty much all of his life.
No current family, a distant cousin who lives in Guildyde,
but they haven't had contact for many years.
It seems he was quite the loner, mainly dedicated to his work,
didn't really leave the academia,
apart from expeditions and field trips,
where he took his students with no other real contacts.
So we don't have any good leads on where he may have gone.
I'm hoping that perhaps we can find something in his personal effects.
Okay. And just to be clear as well, obviously the writ that we examined was fake.
Their expedition was entirely unsanctioned.
It was, well, the writ was provided.
There was an official request made into the academia for this expedition.
The dean approved the expedition's budget on the basis that the professor secured.
an appropriate writ,
and then the quartermaster of the academia
provided with the approval of a budget
and then the signed, or forged in this case,
writ, they believed that the expedition
was legitimate as well.
I see. Okay, right.
As my investigation, until you had told me about the forged writ,
was operating on the understanding of this
was a genuine expedition that the professor was on,
we didn't have any knowledge of any of this, really.
Sounds like the professor did it isolated
for their own means, maybe.
From what you've told me, that seems to be the case.
The professor seemed to be particularly interested in this authorite, you said,
seemed to be a big part of their research
or something that they were keenly interested in.
And very, very keen, there have been multiple requests
throughout the last decade of Professor Brasquil
wanting to do an expedition and excavation at this giant's wetstone in the Azar Step.
But it was denied every time.
Right, okay.
It's denied by people.
hear of you and ultimately the dean's, the dean.
Found just to write loopholes then to get through?
Well, it seems to be that the forgery, you know, the, the, the, the, the request never made
it, the final request never made it to the academia's council.
The, he simply provided a forgery, it and took off, basically.
Okay.
But if we find anything in there, don't touch, leave it to you.
I would, I would recommend you don't.
Okay.
Not without letting me know and taking a proper accounting of it.
Sure.
Cool.
Everyone got all their spells ready?
I've got my eyes.
I don't have anything.
Yes.
But I love it to this.
I also have eyes and antenna.
Is everyone's eyes ready?
Yeah.
Yes.
Great.
Hold on a minute.
Graphicates eyes.
It's about glasses.
Yeah, you might need those.
Pops those on.
Uh, fantastic.
Uh, you will see the authoritative.
to say, would you say that any of you are particularly skilled?
Have you, have any of you done any of this before?
Investigations or searching for clues?
We went into the Faye and looked in someone's house.
Yes. Right.
Isn't that deeply illegal for us to have done?
Are you in cahoots with?
Fine, right?
We did some investigations in WaveMeat when we were looking
for some of the villages there.
Remember?
Is that before or after we went to prison?
After?
Yeah.
We didn't go to prison.
You're a very interesting bunch.
Thank you.
No.
Didn't go to prison there.
Some more about prison in front of an author at all?
I didn't go to prison.
None of us did.
Anyway, yeah, we've had some experience.
We know some of the right stuff to look for,
some of the wrong stuff to touch.
I was going, if any of you are particularly
skilled at this sort of thing I was going to offer some assistance, but...
I'm not the best.
It's not very encouraging.
Well, I'll try my absolute best, though.
Yeah.
We'll try my best.
Cays he always tries for best, and I can always emboldened anyone to do their very best.
All right.
Well, why don't you miss, why don't you take this?
And he pulls out, it sort of looks like a magnifying glass.
It's kind of good, but it has all sorts of like sliders.
and dials and little arms with little smaller magnifying glasses on top of it.
And he kind of shows you, you know, this, you can use this to help you search.
You can, if you switch this, it actually highlights, you know, raised areas and things like that.
Kind of, it's a magical device.
He basically is casting enhanceability on intelligence for investigation for you.
Cool.
So you have advantage on any intelligence checks that you make using this.
Specifically for investigation, like searching and things like that.
Because I have plus zero.
Yeah, so he gives you that.
He eventually leads you up a grand staircase
into a secondary part of the academia,
a secondary building,
kind of along this secondary, second floor, causeway.
He leads you to a grand looking corridor, again,
with these dark wood walls, plush green carpets,
and it leads you to a sealed door
with a brass plaque beside it.
The sealed door?
That says, Professor Broxton Brassquil,
seventh circle, head of esoteric geology and magical minerals,
is the sort of title of plaque.
Did we see any other doors coming up here that said different numbers on them?
I want to know what the limit is.
If you were paying, give me a perception check.
Two hundredth century.
Yeah, he's good.
Zanzan.
So good.
I rolled an 11, minus two, so nine.
You had been too engrossed in something.
That magnifying glass is fantastic.
So cool.
Super cool.
Yep.
Like an iPad kid with that thing.
Yeah, yeah.
Just like, wow.
But he leads you to the door and it's like, right,
and I was given this to access it,
and he pulls out a small run stone,
holds it to the door that seems to unlock
whatever magical seal was on it,
and opens the door into the room.
Graff, look at this.
That's this professor's place.
It says so on the plaque.
Jesus, Chris.
Right.
Rowan's not that.
Come on, dude.
He's not.
The investigation is off to a firm start.
The door opens into, if I describe to you,
like the classic kind of professors, you know, big glass cabinet wall
with all sorts of little gems, like geodes and rocks, like collections,
massive, yeah, like a massive wall full of all sorts of different books.
Many museum.
All the different things.
You see that there is one, one thing.
thing which kind of stands out is it almost looks like a kind of dining table, but it's
been hollowed out in the middle, and it has a layer of fine looking kind of sand.
And it almost looks like...
Is he playing a D&D campaign?
No.
It's play pit.
It looks like...
It is play pit-like.
There's a sand castle.
But you can almost imagine that using magic to sculpt 3D sculptures of things and things
like that, like using the sand, like using a cantrip to like sculpt it into, to be able to
show like diagrams.
stuff. Apology.
Yeah, basically.
And you see that, you know, there's a bed
that doesn't look slept in,
a desk covered in papers, you know, writing ink parts.
It's one of those stylises.
I would say, when you step in,
it doesn't appear to be, like, ransacked.
It's not, like, obviously, torn apart
or anything like that.
But give me a perception check, Rowan.
Think about using the only fate.
Oh, yeah, definitely.
15. 15.
15.
I would say with a 15, I won't give you...
19, sorry.
19, okay.
Plus 4.
It's not 20, but I will give you something.
You definitely get the sense, like, it's not messy,
but there are definitely parts of this room
that I've obviously see a lot more foot traffic.
You know, like the desk, the writing desk, the books,
the bed, not so much, the wardrobe.
There's definitely signs that somebody has come in here
grabbed a bunch of stuff
and, like, busied themselves, like, knew exactly,
what they wanted to grab and then left.
Like, the bed's not being slept in.
You know, there's, you know, still, like, a half full bottle of whiskey and, like, a glass
that seems to have been, you know, drunk halfway down.
And, yeah, you kind of pick up on the sense that, like, he came here,
grab things that he needed and then left.
Like, he did not linger here long.
But he wasn't particularly careful with the things that he grabbed.
Like, there's definitely, like, books have fallen over.
Like, the wardrobe's being sort of, like, left a job.
A bunch of the papers have been like messed around on the desk and things like that.
So that's kind of what you notice when you first step in.
I've got three questions.
Okay.
First, are there any other footsteps that came in, not just the professors?
Ooh, footsteps.
As in, is it noticeable that there was more than one person that came back?
I'm not going to tell you that with a 15.
19.
Even in 19, I'm not going to tell you that.
If you've got like a high, like a 20 or a 25, I would have told you more.
Number two, the books that were taken off the bookshelf,
hastily, were they part of a series?
That would require further investigation.
Cool. I can't remember my third question.
Okay.
What's my name?
So basically, in this scenario,
you will have to tell me very specifically what you're searching, what you're doing,
and then that will probably lead to some sort of role,
depending on what you're doing.
Okay.
I'm not going to give you, I've kind of given you the overview.
Yeah.
you know, in Phoenix Wright, you've got to click on stuff
with magnifying glass and, like, you know,
pull it up and examine it and stuff.
You see Authorita Forks.
He whistles,
DC's eyes kind of shift
to like a blue, and he begins kind of
almost like scanning and mapping
the room. What's DC doing?
He's just taking a
illusory map of the room so that I can
review it later. If I'm in it.
He ignores
me and you guys.
Oh, that's a shame.
Well, okay.
I'm not go look at this.
Unless you guys are, you know,
if you were corpses on the ground,
I would include you, but there's no need to include you.
No, not us.
But you did die those chapters.
I'd have died, yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I wonder if Othelia would...
Would she still show up?
Shall we hear.
She's not dead.
No, if she was, would you...
Vrix will say,
I will stand guard at the door.
Thank you, Vrix.
I guess Percival could block it.
Anyway.
Daisy and Gruff, what are you guys doing?
Because these boys are talked a lot.
I am trying to figure out if there's a creature I can world shape into that has anything that can do something.
So come back to me in Oona and Ou.
So anything Daisy wants to do?
You don't have to.
Can I see if there's, I was going to look and see if there's any books or any notes that were specific to Atherite.
Where would you be looking for those?
I think maybe around the desk.
Around the desk, okay, give me an investigation roll.
With advantage, with advantage, yeah.
And you're looking specifically for notes about Ulthrite.
Yeah.
Okay.
That was terrible. A nine.
A nine.
You find a lot of, you find a lot of like loose papers.
It looks like they're half finished notes of the professors, things that he was working on.
But on the desk itself, no like journals, no books, no books.
books, you know, nothing that contains the word all three.
The notes, I'll tell you that, like, there seems to be, it's all notes related to, like,
magical metals, ores and minerals.
It seems to be stuff that, like, he's been working on for his own published materials.
It's not, like, secret knowledge or anything like that.
It's quite boring and academic.
You know, the traits of this stone are particularly rich in Earth's magical essence and blah, blah,
blah, blah, blah.
It's very sort of, like, droll and very boring.
It doesn't look like there's anything really out of place
amongst the notes and things like that.
Yeah.
Don't really seem to find anything looking there.
Anything from anyone else?
I'm just trying to think what Gruff would do in this situation
because he doesn't have any spells.
He doesn't like, you know...
I don't think he's ever really done an investigation, right?
Sure.
I'm kind of thinking like
there's something he'd revert to like his fish.
like, you know, when you just do that thing where you stand,
you stare at the water and then you're like,
you know, you're just taking a general,
basically, I think that for Gruff, what that would be is like standing in the room
and trying to get a sense of like, is there anything out of the ordinary?
Is there anything here that like everyone's missed because it's really obvious,
but actually it's not.
Like just waiting for that, you know, like the flash of a tail or like, you know,
just in the water or something.
It'll be a hard check, but I'd say give me a perception role.
Okay.
19 plus 8.
Oh, shit.
You're not 27.
It's pretty good.
I would say, kind of standing there for a moment,
27, and looking for anything that's kind of out of place.
You don't necessarily sense anything out of place.
But what I think you do do is pick up on something that seems very obvious,
but nobody seems to be looking at.
and Daisy's like looking at the desk and checking the papers and things like that
you see Rowan heading towards the books like starting to scan through the books and things
like that the authority himself seems to just be doing a general walk around like just
kind of taking everything in we don't know what Xanthus is doing yet but I think what you
turn to is you look behind you because you've all entered the room and you're looking at
what's directly in front of you but you look round and you notice that there is like
a trash can like
a waste paper bin, like by the door, ready to be taken out.
But it doesn't look like it's been taken out.
You know, it doesn't look like it's been moved or anything just yet.
And, I mean, maybe he threw something away,
or maybe there was something in there that, like, you know, he didn't think of.
But that I think is like, that's the, with the 27, it's like,
there's nothing really out of place.
It's not like there's a broken window or, like, there's a blood stain,
or this wasn't the scene of a crime.
But when you think, like, nothing really seems out of place,
but you think to like, well, hang on a minute,
what's the one thing maybe everybody's overlooked?
And then you notice that.
Get in the bin.
Can I get in the bin?
Yeah, you start making you way over that.
Let's just check in with Xanthia and Rowan,
and then we'll come back to you.
So I, instead of investigating one specific place,
I'd like to narrow down my search with Detect Magic
and see if I can point anything.
I will need you to name because it's like,
Detect Magic is a 30-foot kind of radius.
Yes.
But what are you...
Like, are you just seeing if there's anything magical in the room?
Well, yeah, I guess...
Obviously, when I cast it, I'll see the auras of magical thing.
If they're in line of sight, yes.
If they're visible.
Good start.
Sure.
In that case, yeah.
I mean, either way, I'm casting Detect Magic.
Yeah, yeah, I knew you were casting Detach Magic.
So with the GoldSight Eye.
I would say, if you're just doing, like, a general...
You're not searching anywhere.
in particular, you're not examining anything specific.
What you would get the sense of
is that there's a couple of, like,
very, very minor magical oras
on some of the rocks and geodes in the collection,
you can see.
But it's not like there's locked cupboards or, like,
none that are, like, glowing with magic, currently.
No, I think that you would see...
Give me an Arcana check.
Okay.
Um, Arcana.
Okay, cool.
Give me an Arcana check.
Do I have advantage on this?
I don't, no.
No, it's on investigation, I think.
16.
16, I'll give you this.
You sort of examine there, and like I said,
you pick up some very weak horrors,
but that's probably like just their rich in essence
or something like that.
It's not like actually a spell's being cast there.
Again, you sort of have this knowledge of like,
well, it has to be visible.
You're not going to see-through objects with detect magic.
What you do notice, though, is on the desk,
and I would imagine that on like there's like a trunk
at the foot of the bed,
you get the sense that there were spells
of protection on those things.
Okay.
But they've faded.
Yeah.
As in they've not been upcast,
you know, they've not been fed the magical power
that they need to continually.
They're currently awaiting.
Well, they're like, they're duds, right?
They've gone dead, right?
So either they've been used
and like he's not reset them
or they've just not,
he's not recast them when he needed to.
Okay.
And so you get the sense that, yeah, those two things,
like were once probably magically trapped and locked
and things like that, but they're no longer anymore.
That was the main purpose is to make sure we don't open any traps
or something like if he has left on behind.
But even then, it's like if they're, like,
a glyph of warning, for example, is normally carefully hidden on an object.
So you would have to go up and be like,
I'm going to search this thing, but detect magic means you would find it.
Whereas if Katie, if Daisy did an investigation on like a trap thing
that was like invisible magical ruins,
no matter what she rolls,
she's never going to find that
because she can't detect the magic, right?
Got it, got it.
The other thing I would tell you is that
you see that the professor had one of those styluses
that you saw the authoritar and that used.
One of them is just sat in the, like, pen pot on the desk.
And that glows with magic.
It's a magic item.
Oh, okay.
It is, I think it would be, I can't remember.
I think transmutation is what animate objects comes under,
so it's under transmutation.
Got it.
But yeah, it's very clearly a magical item,
and you see one of these little stylises.
Yeah, okay.
Well, it's a point in the right direction anyway.
Yeah.
If I head towards that.
Cool.
I think at the end of the book.
All right, perfect.
And then Rowan.
Rowan heads up to the bookcase.
Okay.
And is looking at gaps.
Gaps specifically.
Give me an investigation.
There's a series of things.
Well, there's an organization.
Mm.
13 plus investigation on
So that's a solid 14, which is double seven.
It's double seven.
There are definitely, you examine the bookshelf,
there are books missing.
You get the sense, with a 14, I will tell you that.
Griffith, these are books.
Jesus.
The books are a mixture of, the ones that are still here
all seem to be fairly standard academic research books.
Some of them have been written by Brockston himself,
some of them by other colleagues.
They all concern magical metals or as minerals.
But I would say that you pick up on that there...
Nothing here is illegal,
but there are missing books from specific sections.
You get the sense that there is a section
which talks about the construction of Proto Maggi Valtz
and their materials, and there's a couple of books missing from that.
Again, you have no way of knowing,
like it's not like a series of books,
but from that general region,
there seem to be some missing books on that.
There is a section called History of the Empire.
It just seems to be like a generic history of the empire.
There is at least one book missing from that.
There is also a big chunk of books,
and that's the bit you can't tell what these are a part of,
because it looks like a whole collection of books
has been taken, basically.
A whole section of...
Yeah, like four or five books
like that would have formed their own section basically.
I think the other thing that Rowan would have done
is look for any minerals or cool rocks.
Oh, loads of those.
Yeah, like in the glass cabinet, loads of them.
Geodes, weird-looking rocks, you know,
things like semi-precious stones,
but also magically infused stuff, you know,
pieces of opal that have been magically,
like have a dense air essence.
magic to them and things like that.
Like not magic items per se, not quite a full essence,
but there's a hint of it, right?
And there's like little bits and pieces like that.
It's great.
Lovely stuff for Rowan, favorite thing.
Rowan is caught in this
all-shot moment.
Fully distracted by rocks.
Graph, you check the bin, there's just one thing in it.
And it's an envelope that's been torn open
and a scrumpled piece of paper that's been thrown in there.
Scrumpled is a great word.
Scrumpled. May I unscrumple the scrumpled?
Yeah, you...
So you just take the scrumpled piece of paper?
Yeah, it's going to blow up on my face.
It's fine. You unscrumple it.
So mad.
I mean, you're kind of disappointed because it seems to be a nothing.
The note basically says,
Professor Brasquil, your next appoint with us has been changed
to the ninth, first moon of Black Callow.
We apologize for the disruption, but your usual stylist has moved out of the city
and we haven't found a replacement for the same beard,
plating and trimming skills.
Erowins, Salon and Spa.
It just seems to be, and you're holding it.
Santhias, can you have a look at this, please?
Yes, why?
As soon as you look at it, Xanthius,
as it comes into your field of vision,
there is a trace of illusion magic.
Oh, secret message.
Yeah.
Secret message in the bin.
So I can't see the illusion, right?
You can't see the illusion.
You could give me an archaic.
if you'd like, to see if you can figure out what, like, this spell is and how it works and stuff.
Yeah.
Okay.
You see that the authorita has basically completed his scan of the room.
He seems to be investigating the wardrobe, and is kind of rifling through that at the moment, making a search of that.
It's illusion magic.
I roll an eight.
At just an eight?
Yeah.
You, yeah, unfortunately, you know that there is illusory magic on this.
You would know, I'd say even with an eight,
with the detect magic,
it is the writing itself that it has the illusion magic.
The paper is non-magical paper.
The paper is mundane paper,
but the writing is magical.
This is a good find graph.
There's definitely more to this magically,
Dispell Magic.
You cast Dispel Magic.
The whole message disappears.
It just like melts off the page.
Oh yeah, it's an illusion, right?
Unfortunately, this particular spell, if you cast a spell magic on you...
Can you spell myself?
Can we scrub save?
Scrubs save?
Would I allow a self-counter spell?
He would be willing.
I mean, it's an action and a reaction.
It's two stars and one there, though.
If I see that, if I see that...
It's like he's halfway through and goes, oh!
I mean, I...
So I'm throwing a letter into the fire and like...
I guess it depends how long does an action take,
can I interrupt the process of...
The thing is, what's annoying is Forks could counter spell you,
but he doesn't know that you...
He's just heard this thing.
He doesn't know what's happening just yet.
I'm going to allow it if you spend this last point of fate.
Sure.
Devil's bargain.
What I'm going to say, mark off the spell slots.
You don't need to make it the same thing.
You willingly choose to fail it.
However, what I would like you to do,
is just roll straight charisma.
Okay.
Because I want to see how much of the message you preserve
before, like, you, so you cast the spell magic
and you watch as the words begin to evaporate,
and then you sort of, as you're casting the spell magic,
you then cancel spell yourself.
Okay, well, the dice I was going to use is,
and this is like, I know that, like,
technically you can just choose to cancel a spell,
but because the way counter spells specifically stops a spell going off,
that's why I'm allowed.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
So this is going to be a straight charisma roll.
Straight, isn't it?
And it will determine how much of the spell?
17.
Total.
Total.
Okay.
You get a good chunk of this.
Not a save, right?
Not a save, no, just a straight charisma roll.
What do I want to cut off?
And the name...
Oh, well, it's got to be the ending.
It's going to be the last three words.
But the most important thing you should know.
The meaning of life is...
It is.
What I would say is, the way I'm going to rule this,
is the dispel magic, you unravel the illusory script,
but then it goes to erase the actual message.
And what Xantheus does is he sees what's about to happen.
He knows that the original writing is part of the spell,
and he's like, wait, if I can cancel it.
And this is, I think it works,
because Xenthius has been playing with magic,
and I think that maybe there's an element here of Malady's teaching,
you can feel the manner currently around you,
and it's the manner that you've cast a spell with
that's interacting with it.
And you're like, if I just pull all that manner away,
it will leave the writing where it is,
and it's kind of like how I'm going to flake it.
Manor banishment.
And so you manage to kind of cut yourself off
using your own magic to kind of interrupt yourself.
Like you're kind of like stunning the spell
and pulling the manner away,
and it leaves you with the original message
before it was transformed with illusory.
How would I have?
I'll tell you in a minute.
I'll tell you how it actually works.
The actual message reads,
Understand you've had a recent difficulty
with permits and expeditions professor.
My friends and I are happy to help a man
of your considerable skills and knowledge.
Leave a request for a Peridot sling at the Opal Lounge in Volt Watch
and we'll be in touch.
And then you see that there is a name,
but the name is.
what? You don't have...
The spell is already erased.
It's for Peredotte's sling at the Opal Lounge.
What was that?
Um, uh, I attempted to, um, dispel, there was an illusion on this message, uh, an incorrect.
You dispelled it, that, but...
Undispelled it.
And revealed it.
That's impressive work.
I'm...
That's...
Well...
I mean, foolish in the first instance, but well recovered.
Thank you.
That was my intention to begin with.
Either way, I've revealed it.
It's instructions on how to claim the false writ that they gathered.
That's not what I'm reading here.
Well...
Sorry, what was the lot?
This was sent...
I told you earlier that this...
I mean, this was...
Where did you find this?
Oh, he found it in the bin?
He like reaches in and pulls out the envelope.
This must be what the messenger delivered after Braskill returned.
to the academia.
So this was sent after he'd returned from...
Already had the writ.
Oh, right, not the writ then.
So whoever sent this
knew somehow of the troubles...
That's quick.
Very quick.
Worryingly quick.
Who was there?
Well, the students, but their memories were wiped.
Yourselves, the mercenary company.
So as possible he was being watched.
How many students did he have with him up there
that he went away with three?
Four, was it three or four?
He came back with some...
I mean, how many did you know about?
I believe it was three.
It might have been four.
I need to check my notes.
I think it was three.
What was the specific wording again on that letter?
On the actual true letter.
Understand you've had a recent difficulty
with permits and expeditions, Professor.
My friends and I are happy to help a man
of your considerable skills and knowledge.
Leave a request for a Peredot sling
at the Opel Lounge.
Opal Lounge in Volt Watch and will be in touch.
And I'd say that the touch you can infer it's like T-O-C,
T-O-U, half of a C, and then that's where it like fades out, basically.
So Volt-Watch then.
Fort Watch, Opel Lounge.
Peridot Sling.
But that's the...
Either way, that might be where he ran off to.
I mean, it must be.
I've gone through his personal possessions here.
A few sets of clothing,
some of what looks to be, maybe some expensive.
expensive spell components have been taken.
Wait.
A few of his books, some writing, but nothing else,
like nothing that would serve him for a long journey.
I don't think he's gone far.
Authoritor.
Yes.
Would it be a crime for Xanthius to disguise himself as the professor
and wear the clothes they're in here?
I'm quite tall.
Well, if you had magic,
if you were able to magically disguise yourself.
I would say it would not,
It would normally be a crime to impersonate another imperial citizen.
That is normally, if you are performing ill deeds.
But with my sort of approval, I can...
I would not use the word deputize.
It's nothing as official as that.
But I would sign off on something like this.
We are just getting so many passes today.
It's great.
This is amazing.
Well, I feel that, I mean, left to me...
I can continue this investigation.
And you've given me a great lead here.
This Opal Lounge, it sounds like the professor, some...
I have a feeling of I know who's sent this,
or at least the organization that's involved.
Who do you think?
There is an organization that is very active in Kelskaris
and across the whole empire that has been involved in many crimes.
There are many cults, many criminal organizations,
but a man like Professor Brasquil,
who has his knowledge of
rare minerals, magical minerals,
I believe that this is an organization
called the Diabem.
Huh.
Interesting.
Not another one.
It all comes back to them.
You've had encounters with them before?
We have.
Hmm.
Can I ask what?
Or with people who are connected with them
rather than nobody
I would say that's particularly important.
right?
There was a tailor that we had in Ash and Rest
that ended up working for the diadem.
They were ousted from the town.
I wonder what...
They ended up.
They died, didn't they?
Dead, yeah.
They were captured.
So you've encountered an agent of the diadem before.
Yes, absolutely.
Not knowing to them about that at the time.
Curious, then, that this collides once more.
Yeah, we'll just keep coming across.
them.
Yeah, yeah.
Med-hing.
Well, the thing is, it might not be the diadem.
I'm making an assumption there, but they tend to be very involved with wealthy, powerful
individuals.
They like to have connections to people who have unique skills and talents.
The professor matches their sort of target.
And if they know that he's on the run, if they know that he has committed a pretty
serious crime that his academic career is over, they're going to throw up.
him a lifeline and I would suspect that the professor has taken that lifeline and has been
inducted into their organization. Oh. That would be my assumption. It would also mean the
diadem were present at the Azar Step. That's true. Or were scrying or something. Yes, I would say
it is not necessarily, this is from what we, from what the central chamber understands. And the
Diadem is a difficult topic for many authorities because, well, frankly, such a wealthy and powerful
organization, not every officer in... Not every authoritar is a champion of justice.
Many are easily swayed by coin-influenced power. But what I understand of the diadem is they
They have immense resources.
They have access to powerful majors.
So yes, scrying or some other means of magical tracking
or relaying of information.
It could be that one of the students was a spy working for the diadem.
There were so many people up there, mercenaries and academia
and the like.
It literally could have been as simple as someone in their pocket.
Even if it was one of the mercenaries who was not present
for your conversation,
simply reporting back that a group of adventurers had gone up to speak to the professor.
He then left in a hurry.
The diadem are smart enough to know that there's probably been some sort of problem.
They don't, from this letter, all they know is that there was some sort of problem with the writ and the expedition.
They might have just been trying to keep it light in the message.
They don't want to give away too much.
It's incredible that you saved as much of this message as you did.
You're so smart, zan- Thank you, thank you.
It does seem that there's a, perhaps, a name or a contact that was,
I imagine, that would have been at the end.
Well, I mean, they will be at this Rose Lounge anyway, Rose Lounge.
Opal Lounge.
Opal Lounge, Rose Peridotts, Peridot Sling.
That's correct, yes.
Minerals.
Yes, but if you're happy to sign off on a, I suppose, more clandestine operation.
Sign off is a very strong word.
If you're happy to allow a clandestine operation.
I will support your efforts in assisting me in this investigation.
Fantastic.
Then we are more than happy to dive into the Vipers Nest
and try to find Broxton there.
Dig out the diamond in the rough.
Yes.
This is...
I feel that this is definitely, perhaps bigger than just one missing professor.
Well, diadem's involved. That's when it starts getting scary.
Yes.
The other thing that scares me is, yes, they may just have a little bit of information,
but they might also know that we are intrinsically tied to this professor's expedition issue.
Why would that be of import?
Well, I don't like the diadem knowing about us.
They seem very powerful and wealthy.
You've encountered them before.
We've encountered someone that worked with them before.
Yes. They got evicted from the Ash and Rest.
Were they working for them or did they also do the professor thing
where they had to work with them?
This is this Taylor that you're talking about.
We didn't know.
We didn't know, yeah.
And they died before you were able to learn more information.
They were arrested. They were arrested.
They were apprehended.
In Ash and Rest?
Yeah.
Okay. It takes a few notes.
Good Taylor.
too annoying. Very good. Yes, very frustrating.
Well, there doesn't seem to be anything else to find here.
Like I said, there wasn't.
I've got them right here.
There's no...
You want to speak to it?
Yeah.
Ask him.
Want to speak?
There's no journals, no indications of any allies or friends even.
Seems that it be that this professor is an exceptionally lonely individual.
Makes him very vulnerable.
But with only a few pairs of clothes, some books and a few spell components, I mean,
As I understand it, he does have an account at the Oric Bank.
However, once we learned from the mercenary company
that there was some sort of wrongdoing,
there was a freeze placed on his accounts,
so he won't be able to access any of his personal wealth from the bank.
It could be that the components I saw were missing
were very valuable, rare components.
He could sell those for money,
but I think that without many options,
I think that this Opal lounge is almost certainly where he would have headed.
But we should be cautious.
If the diadem, if you've had interactions with the diadem before,
my advice to you would be to disguise your appearance
and to make sure that you are not just walking blithely in as yourselves.
If they know that you're involved, they won't engage.
They will keep themselves at distance.
From the sounds of it, you're pretty capable adventurous
fighting some giant earth elemental,
or trying to counterspell a powerful
Mage of the Seventh Circle,
heroes of Ashton's Restes, you cause yourself.
So it's clear that you're capable of individuals.
The diadem will be very aware of that.
The diadem will make sure that they are,
they will be very cautious
to make sure that they don't let anything slip.
Incognito.
All right.
Have you heard of any other potential diadem headquarters
around Helscaris?
By the Sions, or Xanthius, no.
The diadem, any time the authorities or the wormguard have caught
someone that we believe to be attached to the diadem,
they are either completely ignorant of any of the hierarchy.
They only know their immediate contacts,
all of whom are kept in tight cells.
There seems to be multiple levels to this organization.
The lower levels are categorized into a number of rings that they wear.
Single one rings, three rings, and five rings.
Above that, we know that there are more elite officers of the diadem.
We have no information about them.
We believe them to use code names, but also they employ magical curses.
These can sometimes destroy the mind of one of their age.
or can kill them entirely.
They seem to be very, very good at making sure their secrets do not get out.
So in terms of headquarters or operational, we have no idea.
This makes them so dangerous.
Okay.
Yes.
Skies ourselves.
Many of the lesser gangs and criminal organizations likely work for them as well.
Got it.
They use those as fodder.
Um, we've disguised ourselves before.
Yeah.
You can do it again, right?
Harry Rombrow, we did that.
I don't think we did.
In the Fayward, right?
I think we just stealthed it.
Oh, yeah.
Well, I just turned into a...
A war, right?
Yeah.
There's more different clothes.
Oh, you did, yeah.
Yeah.
Well, either way, we can disguise ourselves or find someone here.
Rowan managed to fully magically disguise himself,
but I don't think anyone else managed, other than
Gruff being a beast.
Yeah.
I will need to go to the central chamber and make a report of everything that we've learned so far.
And also send word for this Dame Vasha to confirm some of the things you've told me.
Okay.
Okay.
Do you intend to go to this Opal Lounge immediately?
Oof.
Well, Gruffath, what do you think?
Why is it down to me?
Because you also have this important game.
Well, I have other priorities, but, you know, I'm not speaking for.
for you all.
Why not?
Why don't we go talk about this afterwards?
Okay.
Yes.
That's fine, but you will need to send word to me
to let me know where your plans are.
Please do not attempt to go to this place without me.
How do we send word?
Messenger sent to the central chamber office.
Make it to the attention of authoritor Forks.
Authoritor Thromlo.
Okay, absolutely.
Or if you're passing through the Central District,
you can pop in at the front desk.
can leave a message for me there.
Yes, but there are many messengers and couriers in the city if you need them.
Well, we can figure out when we go there,
but I think it's good to go there as quick as we can
before Broxton might try to escape again.
I don't know, he doesn't think Ron on his tail,
but if he is with the diadem,
I think that he is as much imprisoned by them as he would be by us.
If once they've got their hands on somebody,
like him, they won't want to let him go.
So I don't think there's any fear of him getting away.
My fear would be that if he proves a threat to their organization
or if he proves to be a weak link,
or if they learn that we are onto him and where he's gone,
they will kill him.
Okay.
And we'll lose potentially valuable information.
Right.
So a professor of the seventh circle is unable to escape the clutches of the diadem,
but we're capable enough to go in there and get back out again unscathed.
From what I understand, this organization has access to powerful magic, powerful items, enchanted items,
elite fighters, assassins.
I think the professor, as powerful as he is of the seventh circle,
one mage against a force like that,
I wouldn't put my chances on success.
Okay.
Let's go talk and make preparation.
Yes.
Think it through.
Yes.
Let me escort you out of the restricted areas.
Like I said, I'll need to make a report of this to the dean
and to the central chambers, so let me escort you out.
If we maybe need to extend our little 24-hour passes that we have,
do you think that we would be able to if we're helping with the investigation?
I mean, frankly, Miss Daisy, I have only secured this for the purposes of this investigation.
You are not authorities. You are not members of as much as I am working with you, the academia's purview is of the academia.
That is entirely their decision. I cannot help get that authority for you, unfortunately.
We should work on that.
We're becoming authoritative.
Let's go make the best use of our time now.
Yeah.
I believe we wanted to see the library.
Thank you for your time, I thought.
Yes, of course.
Thank you for your assistance.
That is, you've proven very, very useful in this investigation.
And it has, we have tugged at a thread that has unraveled quite the tapestry.
But thank you for your assistance.
Come on, DC.
And you kind of whistled.
Hi, DC.
Woof.
And he escorts you out.
He will lead you down through the corridors.
once again, takes you out of the restricted sort of faculty areas and things like that.
And, yeah, leads you back to the entrance where the Empress Chambers is and leaves you there.
We'll kind of give you a firm nod of the head, pulls out a fresh cigar, lights it up, you know.
So once he's away, Groff will start saying something like, oh, we should head to the library now.
But he's going to look at Daisy and tap his head.
I will activate Daisy Jane.
Okay, perfect.
Just with gruff.
Oh, do you want it with...
Could you get everyone in here?
Okay. I will get everyone in.
Um...
Could I remind you all of what we were told by Lord Obsidious?
Uh, yes, absolutely.
Um, regarding there was a contact Mr. Emerald and Miss Peridot.
Mm-hmm.
I think he got the names from Nix, um...
Nixamist.
Nix-A.
Nix-Mist.
He got the names from Nix-A-Mist.
Examist as a potential contact, Willison Road as a dev-drop location.
That could be another avenue into this diadem.
True, yes.
But I think it's no coincidence that we've now found Peridot twice.
That's true. Peridot Sling.
Although, you know...
Miss Peridot, Perodot Sling.
It seems like all of these, they have, like, as the authority said, they have code names.
And I think in this case we found gems and minerals and the like.
The best.
the best kind.
Do you think I should let
Obsidious know?
Absolutely.
Okay, in 25 words.
He might have more information.
Why use many words
when a few words do trick?
You say,
Professor Brasquil taken by diadem.
Instructions,
Peridot sling at the open lounge in Voltwatch.
Is Volt Watch one word or two words?
Vot Watch is one word.
Nice.
Nice.
Nice.
Anything else?
We are doing fine.
Love you, bye?
Love you, buy. It does work.
Woo!
So that's the sending.
Yes.
Repeated to me what the message is.
My stone, the sending stone that Opsidius gave me.
Just repeat the message to me.
Son of a...
Brasquil taken by diadem.
Professor Brasquil.
Professor.
I feel like that's important.
He's already said it.
Brackets, the professor.
You've added the work.
I'm going to have to get rid of love.
Taken.
By the die.
You said.
I've already said taken by the diet.
You said.
Do you vault watch?
Left message.
Left message.
Peridot sling at the Opel lounge in Vault Watch.
Peridot Sling in the Opel lounge in Vault Watch.
We will proceed.
Bye.
Okay.
Bye.
It takes a few minutes.
To decipher.
Few words, no, do.
Only you hear this as well through the sending.
So nobody else is this.
Oh, okay.
You would hear, you would get the message.
Proceed carefully.
You have the cage.
Use it.
May have extra information.
Be cautious.
Love you, bye.
Don't let them know it's you.
Keep me informed.
Okay.
I have Obisidius's quote-unquote approval,
but told me to be safe.
Told us to be safe.
Me to be disguised, though.
And to keep them informed.
I think we'd probably all be discused.
I was going to say,
Zantius Rowan, you're rather free with your information.
Well, I didn't want to mention the alpha thing.
It's an authority.
Yes.
Zanthias has been arrested by authorities.
He did just say that not all authorities are...
And the authorities in his last step were attacked from within.
Yeah.
There are bad authorities.
There are bad authorities.
And there are authorities after Zanthius.
But Mr. Thrumlow said that he's good.
He did say he's good.
Oh, right, that makes it okay then.
And the other ones.
Well, you say you're good.
Is that a lie?
You don't know though, do you?
Oh my God, Graf's bad.
Okay, that solves it. We're killing gruff.
I'd like to see you try.
Well, either way, I think we have a pretty good read on people.
Right, Rowan as well, please stop telling people about Perporea, please.
Yeah, I will, yes.
Please, no mention at all of it.
What did I say?
You don't want anyone, you said underwater.
There's a lot of underwater, to be there.
There's a lot of underwater.
Yes, but it's quite, yes.
easy for people to track where we've been.
That's true. We do have a huge golden figurehead.
Zanthiaski's telling everyone who he is, everywhere we go.
Wait, am I at the golden figurehead?
I mean, it's that classic thing, right, of a determined investigator or person
could go like, oh, you were in Wave Me, you got arrested.
Oh, she'll wave me as well.
Go to Wave Me.
Where did these guys head? Do you know where these guys?
Oh, I think that they went down the coast towards Netting on Sea.
They go to Netting on Sea. Do you recognize these?
Oh, yeah, they came and saved us from a beach.
bunch of creatures that came out of the ocean.
They actually went into the ocean,
dived underwater to go fight the creatures for us.
Yeah, and they'll be like, oh, great, perfect.
And then they-
Hang back with this giant gold dragon figurehead
from this historical shipwreck.
It is not hard for people to back trace you.
Well, you make waves.
You make waves, you make waves,
as adventures are want to do.
That's fine, but with the diadem,
who absolutely have a file on us.
Oh, 100% yes.
That's probably now book thick.
I would never say any of that to a member of the diadem.
No.
But how do you know who's the diadem?
Never.
That authority we just fucked out could be the diadem.
Mix and miss turned out to be diadem.
We thought they were just a nice tailor.
I thought they were a bit off.
What if all tailors are spies in our sis series also?
And now she has our measurements as well.
Oh no.
They can make a perfect cage for us.
Perfect prison atop.
Yeah.
Cage.
I will keep stum like a rock.
So my question is, are you having that conversation in the library?
Are you having that like outside the academia?
In our heads in the library.
In our heads, yeah.
We're just staring blank.
When you, stepping into the library by the way, it is, you know, it is this enormous colossal,
like you know, proper British library, like huge space.
Massive front desk with a huge sort of grand staircase.
leading up into the upper wings.
The Titus officially Tome Warden,
the sort of head librarian of this part of the academia,
and you see that it is ruled over
by a very powerfully built, bespectacled orc woman.
She looks like Evie...
She looks like Evie from the mummy
if she was jacked as fuck.
So she has like bunched up hair
She has the little glasses
But also her blouse is sleeveless
And you just see these like rippling
Slightly Greenish muscular arms
With loads of criss-crossed glowing scars
All the way up both arms
Her heritage, her markings
And when you all enter
She's like properly like
Gives you the dirty eye
Of like you better not cause trouble in my library
Look at a book.
Yeah.
And you're keeping the conversation in your head.
So once she sits that you just all sit down and quietly are sort of not being loud or unnoxious,
she goes back to her other work and kind of leaves you to it.
You see that there are scurrying around the shelves, loads of cobalds or wearing a similar uniform to her.
And they seem to be like the kind of apprentice librarians who are looking after the place.
But yeah, you have this kind of momentary conversation.
Do you stay in the library or do you want to...
I wish to look for books on Hatchball,
specifically finding out famous defenders.
Okay, sure.
Ooh, nice.
Yeah, absolutely.
Evidence.
Yeah, absolutely.
I have an angry mother to speak to.
Famous.
Okay, what's everyone else doing while Graff is doing that?
I think Ron's going to go into the kind of deity slash god sense.
of the library and start looking up Althe and maybe looking into the song of
Stone or any mythological books or past evidence of songs like that.
I don't know how...
Magic related to music and things like that.
There are any CRTs nearby with like a library lookup.
No, sadly not.
I'll ask a receptionist like where's the...
Yeah, so that's what the cobalds are there for, basically.
They'll direct you to sections.
They can also try and help you find books on specific topics as well,
if you ask for them.
What about Daisy and Xanthias?
Anything for you guys?
Taking Xanthes' advice,
going to look for something to do with Yeagers
or just anything about humans who are bonded with celestial spirits,
anything along that line?
And, like, maybe some...
If there's, like, known people who might still be around...
Yeah.
who are famous Deva.
You know the term Deva because I think the Argos
and the others have mentioned it.
So you start looking for that stuff, perfect.
I think Xanthius will probably start
trying to read up on runic magic
and discover, try to uncover just origins or usage of it.
Yeah, just to learn more about that.
Specifically about runic magic.
Yeah, I think so.
Because it's relatively rare, isn't it?
Or is it among the Bronze Dragons?
It is rare amongst the Bronze Dragons.
Bronze Dragons are the ones who use it,
but it is not a common thing.
Okay.
So it is a Bronze Dragon-specific thing.
So I feel like there would probably be something worthwhile knowing then
inside that to try and uncover why I have it.
Yeah, perfect.
All right.
Or at least what we can do with it?
And how long do you want to stay to?
Are we staying until late evening?
Are we staying till, like, dinner time?
How long do you think you're staying here?
Until the knowledge is gained.
Until we have that.
I mean, the problem is, like, for everybody except really gruff,
you could probably spend hours in here, like, looking up.
I don't know, there's a lot to learn about Hatchball.
Yeah, there is, but you specifically, like, the famous defenders thing.
You can probably find that quite quickly.
Yeah.
Well, that is something that would take multiple visits and, like, research and stuff like that.
I think for Zanty, it's a question of, uh,
willpower.
ADHD.
Just trying to stay focused on
what is ultimately
probably quite boring.
Yeah, it's very dry and...
Yeah, like,
how long can he bear to do research?
Let's go set things on fire.
Yeah, I could set a book on fire.
Do a constitution save.
A bit more wisdom save for attention.
A wisdom save.
Do you want me to do one?
Yeah, I mean, if you want to.
Minus two.
That one.
Oh, there we go.
First book.
First book, first sentence, first word.
Minus one is what I got.
Yeah, it's almost instantaneous.
An investigation into runic.
An investigation into runic magic.
We've all been there.
An investigation, oh, science.
Oh, this is not your field.
So we're looking at like, I mean,
Xenthius is out almost immediately.
But like graph the famous defendant thing is probably an hour.
Roman and Daisy, you spend some time.
You find some books, but you're going to have to dig in a bit more, right, to get some results.
But it's not long.
It's probably like about dinner time.
Xanthius is done.
Like this guy, he's like kicking the tables.
The, like, the big old Tome warden, she, like, looks over and, like, he drops a book,
and he's just like, she walks over.
If you keep making noise in my library, I will be forced to read.
remove you. Oh, what a shame. Okay, I'll stay here, sorry, I'll be quiet, and then I start yelling in the chat.
Be respectful to the knowledge that is present, of course. I'm respectful, I'm a respectful guy.
She takes the book. Takes it back. Sorry. And in the daisy chain, come on.
How did you go do your budget training or whatever it was? Okay. You only have a
Care moves.
You knock the table.
Yeah, I slap over some books.
Fuck these pages.
So Xanthius is going to go magical training
while the rest of you stay here.
I guess, yeah.
I'm going to be cool instead.
Nudds or losers.
What's the range?
A mile.
A mile was probably still in range.
No, I know.
That's a much fun.
That's a problem.
Oh, I see.
We are watching.
Yeah, it's fun over here, guys.
I'm going to...
Exclude him from my chat.
Do you make the fireball sounds?
I'm going to disconnect.
Woo, woo, woo!
Daisy chain equivalent of sending gifts.
I guess he sounds like he's being very annoying.
You could drop it and then recast it.
No, she has to be able to see him to reach him.
That's what I mean.
No, but I can recast it without him, isn't it?
I'm not being that.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
He's not going to be that.
He's not going to be that.
If he moves on somewhere, I imagine he'd stop.
being. Zanthias. Prick.
Xanthius.
Hello?
You begin, you start training, you find
one of these magical training rooms.
Kind of like the danger room from X-Men.
A kind of like blank space has like
self-repairing, like mending spells
casting the walls, so any external damage.
Still atherically charged?
Yeah, it's definitely like the room is
atherically charged manner and things like that.
You are there for a few,
for a good sort of 30 minutes.
you begin practicing, you know, trying to remember what systemality taught you in the manner zone
and practicing all your spells and things like that.
You are not a very observant person.
And I think that what you don't know, that I'm going to tell the audience and the people at this table,
that's all right, I play ball.
Is you are not alone as two figures have snuck into this room, undetected.
I mean, the thing is, I'd be hard focusing on, like, the magics and stuff, like, eyes closed, like, it would make sense.
We, as an audience, one is invisible cloaked by magic.
The other one is just very adept at clinging to shadows.
And we see that the one who is stealthed, who kind of sneaks in, waits, you know, these big blasts of fire as you're concentrating and uses that.
to move, steps with the shadows,
always stays in a blind spot from you.
We see that there are five rings on his hand.
Oh God, okay.
And that's like the 15th circle.
The thing that they have, this pair
that who have been following you
and you have not spotted.
Oh shit.
The moment I get separated.
Oh, God.
And that's where we're gonna-
I'm gonna-
send you there, no!
That is where we're going to wait.
And the last thing I said to you was,
Nurtz!
Oh no!
That's what libraries do to you.
Yeah.
It's, I...
It's like a perfect storm.
I was going to have these guys do something
when you were all left.
I was going to have a whole thing.
They had a plan to try and separate Xanthias.
And then he just...
What out?
I mean, I was aiming to go to this kind of room
anyway. Plus we're in like
the academia. You are in the academia
and there are, there are defences
here. But the fact that they have
got in means that they have some
form of access, but
what's your needs.
I ring, boy.
I don't even make progress on, A, the book
I was reading. That's the highest level before you get into
the code name. I didn't even read the title of the book.
And B, I didn't make any progress on the spell.
Well, I would say you have had
some, because I'm also assuming
that in your days of traveling,
you are always, like, when you get a spare moment,
you're focusing on that manner in the room.
You're trying to, like, do miniature versions
to build up your practice.
So you had some practice,
so you're definitely going to be better at doing it,
but it's still not, like, a locked-in ability just yet.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
But I would say, like, yeah, like, you could certainly try.
But I'm afraid that is where we're going to have to leave it.
Fuck!
Literally my notes, I was like, yep, these guys,
like, I have their stealth checks.
they've got like, you know, ongoing invisibility spells.
They've been kind of they followed you guys to the academia.
They've been sort of lingering, waiting around to see what happened.
They see Xanthius come out of the library and head off into the thing.
Gross and he literally told him to go.
And Daisy's cut the Daisy chain on it.
Well, I did say if he left and he said he was calming down.
I wasn't acting.
That was a bit.
I wasn't being that annoying.
In that case, we can say the Daisy chain is still.
threatened to do it but not actually done it.
And I would have said, do it, Coward.
Do it, do it now.
If he calms down, I'd let him stay in the group.
And that's fine.
And I think with him concentrating on the thing,
he has been quite safe.
He would be quiet, yeah.
Hey, tell you about the next word you're reading.
No, no, no, no, no, no, no, I don't care.
Fucking he's gone, I'm out.
We will say, I'm not looking for him,
I'm not coming after him.
Daisy Chainsdale to give you something of a lifeline.
I do.
I've got an immediate.
Okay, good.
I do want to make it, Tom, for your benefit,
and for the audience and for everyone that's able
to be prepared for next time,
these guys are no fucking joke.
And they were expecting to have to, like, separate you from your friends.
And we're prepared to, like, deal with them if they have to as well.
Don't deal with.
So this is going to be, like, I would maybe suggest you don't try and fight them both.
Like, this may be a runaway.
Like, fight them and run.
You've got a friend.
And that's not me trying to, like, lead things.
like you do what Xanthus is gonna do,
but like, I just wanna make it clear
that like these guys were prepared
for like a group of you.
So. Don't fucking sass them.
We were warned about fifth.
Well, yeah.
I might even get a chance to sass them.
Like they've just stealthed up onto me.
Don't open your little mouth.
And also with your wisdom it's like so bad.
Minutes two.
Their stealth and invisibility
makes them so hard to detect.
Like not even Gruff has seen them following.
I mean even if I did make a check,
I would expect it to be at disadvantage
and it'd be very, very difficult as well.
Because, like I said, I'm hard focusing
on trying to cast this spell.
Well, like, one of them has, like, a plus 13 to stealth.
So why?
Yeah.
So, like, there is skill as...
Are you in the room?
You better.
In the room?
I'm with you.
That's going to be it.
We're going to end the episode there.
Hoo! It's the spicy one.
Cool.
Crazy.
Spicy.
We will see you next time.
That's going to be it for today's episode.
Take care of everybody.
Goodbye.
Ho!
How are we, wow we.
I want to do it.
What do you want to do it?
Go on, do it.
Go on, you do it.
It's pre-recorded.
I would imagine that most people have figured that out.
Trott and I are both at men as this weekend.
I imagine most people worked out that it's probably going to be pre-recorded this weekend.
Also, Riann's already posted that she went to the black parade.
So it's fine.
But yeah, it is pre-recorded.
So we won't be reading our messages.
We will save them up for the next live episode.
Which, yeah, it will be for the next live episode is.
Yeah.
But that's it.
for this week. Thank you all so, so, so much. Take care, look after yourselves. Have a lovely week,
weekend, and we will see you next time. Don't let the dietam get you.
See you. Bye. Bye.
