High Rollers DnD - Fallen Flames | Altheya: The Dragon Empire #105 (Part 1)

Episode Date: June 9, 2026

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72 hours of savings. Shop now at performance.ca. 3-day sale. Driven by Performance Auto Group. Welcome trainers. My name is Luis. And I am Chris. We welcome all trainers new and all to the Purified Podcasts. We rant about Pokemon Go, a game we love just as much as everybody else.

We like to talk news, updates, and our own experience of gameplay. If you're wanting real opinions about how we play and how we love this game, this is a podcast for you. Check us out on your favorite podcast feat. Welcome back. to Althea the Dragon Empire. Rexanath Oregon, brother of Xanthius, was sent to Ash and Rest to find Xanthius and either convince him to return home or take him there by force. Under orders by their father, the powerful gold dragon, Oregonus, the pair met along with

the other heroes and their allies, Malady and Benedicta, on the outskirts of the Ash Hills, and a terrible battle took place. Overcoming the anti-magic zone protecting Rexanath, the battle continued with Rex turning his attention to the healers and allies of the party, and a dangerous back and forth was set forwards, with Rexaneth dealing tremendous damage as the party heal and protect each other.

Fate jumps between both sides, with powerful blows being struck by both sides of the conflict. Xanthias flies in to protect Malady and Benedict, pushing Rex back and managing to counter spell a powerful attack that would have likely killed one of the sisters. Daisy lands the final blow with an arrow from Lumeros, her magical weapon, which causes an overload of crown steel power to flow through Rexenath and nearly takes out Ophelia and gruff. But Xanthius manages to grab his brother and fly away from the group as they attempt to disable the crown steel weak points at range. as the power fades

Xanthius makes the choice to finish off Rex ending his suffering and fulfilling a promise made before the battle began we find ourselves in that scene still and I would like to just touch base

it has been a week but a little reminder of where everyone is what everyone's reaction to the events that have just taken place are and just kind of get yourself in that mindset and in that place. You can think about it whilst we roll fate

because I always forget. But do have to think about it. Think about a little scene that's set up. Good God. Jesus Christ, I think. He's out his entire tray. I asked him if he wanted another tray for his stuff and he went, no.

Yeah. I rolled a six because these ruin fable dice. Just love me. You always get the sixes. Guaranteed. Wait, that's all sixes. No. Oh, no, it's not.

Tom. I got seven. Oh, that's a dice for me. That is. I'm rolling our lucky toad dice available on Dispel, and I roll a three. That's another dice for me, thank you. Chris Trott.

I roll a six. Oh, lovely, a dice for you. Two. Oh, always, always got my back, thank you, Rihanna. Strong, stable. Come on, Stephen. It is even, Steven. Steven.

How is it? Stephen, Stephen, Stephen. Stephen. What are the odds of 50-50? 50. So, we... I think to start us off with, as a reminder, Rex Nath's body, there is this almost trench

that has been carved out by Xanthius's close range, sort of empowered fireball that just sort of, you know, was the finishing blow, leaving this crater of scorched earth, you know, blackened tree, broken rubble all around it. And Rex's body, Being resistant to fire is still present.

The remains have not been completely destroyed, but the lifeless body is there. Malady and Benedicta are nearby, having just recently done the speak with dead ritual, which you used to gather some answers. The air, it is a pretty warm sort of summer's evening. I imagine the sun is just beginning to set, and so the sky is lit up

by golden rays, oranges, yellows. The colors of Caldra, but mixed in with it is a shimmering gold as well. Here in the ash hills, the border between Gildai and Caldra, a more fitting background could not be set. Malady, coughing, not seemingly able to stop herself, just constantly coughing, you can see blood spatters the back of her hand. Benedicta crouching sort of protectively nearby. giving you all a little moment before any next discussions or actions take place.

And I'd like to start with Xanthius as a reminder as to where you are, Xanthius' current mindset and feeling before we jump around to everyone else. Yeah, so I think this is shortly after standing above the flame of it all, and I think, Gruff, you came up to me, and I... I turned away from it and it was fully sobbing, weeping, fell into Gruff's comforting hug with I'm sorries and he made me do this and stuff like that. Speaking without thought, really.

Yeah. And I think it's been a bit since then because there was also a discussion on... You did the speak with Dead. I was a Speak With Dead. So I think it's now not gotten over it as such, but there's enough time where he's sort of collected himself a bit more and is waiting for someone else to take the lead

to say this is what we're doing next and he will just willingly follow whatever that path is. But he's had better days. Sure. It's had worse. A little disassociative. Yeah. A little bit of Xanthias.

Yeah. Not dead. Not dead. Backseat Zanthias. Sure. All right. So as we see Xanthias just sort of staring

sort of off into the distance a little bit, almost just waiting to be told what's happening next. Just composed but distracted. Does anybody else want to go? Any volunteers for... Go on. Rowan. Rowan stopped in his tracks initially and was kind of dumbfounded by it,

But after seeing Gruff tend to Xanthius and then embrace and Xanthius feel feelings, which is quite a rare thing to see and witness, it's going to cause Rowan to kind of tear up as well. And he'll slowly walk over, I think, and just lay a gentle, if heavy hand on Zanthus's shoulder when he looks like he's collected himself somewhat and Gruff as well,

just kind of becoming a triangle of support. Sure. And I'm just going to whisper to Xantheus. A Gruff could hear it too. Yeah. You did a kindness. I hope so. It is what he wanted.

I know I maybe went a little bit too quick there, but we got what we needed, right? Did we ask the right questions? I couldn't quite hear it. I was a little further back, but I'm sure you did. Right? Is it Gruffis? I think so.

put the notebook away with all the... I wrote it down, it's fine, I wrote it down. And I'm gonna... See Daisy sort of run over. I'm gonna duck under into the middle of the hug, the triangle, and just wrap my own friend, Xanthius's waist.

So I have a question for Daisy. There is still patches of this ground that are burning. Is Daisy purposely just not looking in the direction of the body? I think she took the notes not looking at it. She was turning to She's listening, but not looking.

Never looking at that smouldering corpse, basically. So in all of Daisy's movement, just this very conscious effort of, like, making sure that she's facing away from it and sort of scuttling around. And as you scoot in, sort of weaving your way through, sort of bodies and legs into the middle and sort of wrapping your arms around.

I think it makes sense we'd also be a little bit further away from it now. Not like down the road as such, but like... Just walked away, but... Yeah. Taking a few steps. Yeah, I don't think Roan would have come. We'll just try and gently drag the whole circle of people. It would just shuffle as a circle.

Come on. Well, I think I'd like to, so as Daisy you come in, you've got the notes and you've got the questions written down. There's sort of this four group. I'd love to come to Gruff, and then I think I want to jump to Ophelia as a little bit of a, who's a bit separated for now. So I just want to jump in with Gruff and then.

I think he'd probably catch Santhius's eye just kind of, I sort of like inquisitive, like, are you okay for now? And then seeing everyone, well, Rowan and Daisy group up, would sort of head back towards the body. Are Malady and Benedicta there?

I guess they're kind of... They're just off to the side. Yeah, so Malady, but Malady, you can tell Gruff, no role needed for this. This combat, this battle, her injuries, the limits that she pushed herself

with her manners, has had a great consequence. Like, she is very unwell. She cannot stop coughing. You can see that she is somehow paler than she normally is. She is just sweat. She is glistening with sweat as if she was almost running a fever. And you can see that Benedicta has crouched next to her.

Not irreversibly so, but she is just so tapped out. You know, she has reached her absolute limit in this fight, basically. and Benedicta is sort of kneeling next to her. But you can see Malady is still trying to speak to her sister and is pointing towards the body. And you overhear a couple of words, maybe like, need to... The body...

What was done? The crown steel. And she's like coughing, trying to get these words out. And Benedicta is like, shush, shush now. Stop, stop speaking. We can deal with it. Stop. You need to stop.

Oh, sisters, sorry for interrupting. I just wanted to ask if you needed any healing or aid or anything. Benedicta looks at you with the most pleading expression, but there's a sadness. And she softly shakes her head. Malady goes to speak, and for the first time you actually see Benedicta, like, clamp her hand on her sister's shoulder and just be like, Malady, stop, just stop. Thank you, gruff.

but there's no healing that can help this. We've tried multiple times. Magical healing doesn't help restoration spells, nothing. She needs rest and fluids and to not move or speak for some time. Okay, well, I'll get Rotary in the cart round. But as I was thinking before that, well, firstly, do you need at least, you know, a little bit of healing to get you back?

I'll be all right. If anything else, I mean, you're looking worse than either of us. us, Gruffeth. Yeah, Graff is bleeding, bleeding profusely. Breeding? Breeding, yeah. I don't have any divine power left in me, but once you've seen to yourself,

there is one thing you could do, just hot water and these herbs, and she gives you, like, a pouch of herbs. It's medicine, alchemy, that will help my sister. Absolutely. I mean, I can give you water now or anything like that. It needs to be mixed, hot water,

I don't know if you have a magical means to heat water and something like that. Elementalism. Yeah, that would do, yeah. Be over to, like, heat like a little pot of water. And like, you know, there's the campfire that Rowan's got going. That would be incredibly helpful,

but please see to yourself first. Oh, I'll hold out for a little bit. The body. Yes. I am going to abide by Rex and ass wishes and I'm going to destroy it, so nothing remains. Is there anything you need to do further? You see, Malley, like, clutch the sort of, like,

robes, like, we must examine it first. Something unique. Okay, sisters, I'm going to go make this a beervy for you, and then when I come back, just know that I will be destroying the body. Malady is nodding weekly, and Benedict will say, if you need assistance, as I said to Xanthias, I'm more than happy to help. Tend to your sister. She will be all right once we get some medicine and she rests, but this will be grisly work, not for one man alone. And I'll go and I'll sort out this drink.

Ophelia, you have been, maybe a little separated, because I know at the end of the last one, you were perhaps the most cautious, or the one who was perhaps the most, not horrified, but certainly the one most disturbed, maybe, by what you had seen. And there's several things, I think, that you would almost notice being sort of separate,

to all of this. One, as you notice, like, those remains are not destroyed. You know, that, a skilled necromancer in Osceus would be able to use that body and be able to probably return it to some form of life. So, definitely work still needs to be done there if Rexnaz wishes to be followed. But you, you've been around bodies and corpses. It's not really anything that bothers you. But you can now see sort of Rexanath's body sort of stead to the side, laying on the ground, this scorched ground, you see gleams of, like, metal running through the muscles.

The bones are ridiculous, like, thick. Like, this is not a body, this is unlike a body you've ever seen. Yeah. And you would also notice, I think, before anybody, and for Xanthius, I think, that the trauma of everything that's happened and the distraction and everything else you've not picked up on this yet. Sure. But I would

say probably about now is when you would start to get that feeling because there are still two chunks in Rexanath's body. You remember the last thing you probably would have seen was him beginning to overload those four glowing points in his arms.

Two of them were destroyed. Daisy and Malady managed to destroy two of them. But two of them are still intact and you can see sort of jagged hidden almost like bound to the bone and like wrapped around it like a plate

and you can see musculature and sort of embedded deep in the body these chunks of crown steel but the other thing you notice is that running from those points those like chunks those weak points wire very thin

but it's made of crown steel the wire itself has been sort of connecting throughout the body, running like veins. And I think that's why I feel that you notice it, without needing a role or anything. It was during the fight as well, when I was raging, I picked up that he was being enhanced by something as well. Yes, absolutely.

And like, there's a mixture there. Like, you can see that there's definitely alchemical, you know, the muscles are too big. But there's also almost like acid burns on the inside and like stretch marks and things like that. But also, yeah, you could tell that there was. was a magical crown steel enhancement as well. But I think like we kind of see you separated

and you're sort of looking at this body and you pick up on some of those things. I think in, yeah, in Aphelia's mind as well, the nature of Rex and Ants death was so deeply personal and so innately destructive that it's kind of disturbing on that level where it's like too intimate that she feels like it's,

she shouldn't have seen it. You know what I mean? That's the thing that's kind of, yeah. Yeah. Because I guess for you with Osceus, like, death is not anything that's really disturbing. Like death, but it's very impersonal. It's business. It's infrastructure.

This was so emotive and emotional for both of them, and it was so personal. Yeah, I love that. I love that. So I guess, yeah, she'll be wiping the blood off veracity, cleaning up, like fussing with her hair, getting herself all sorted. And as she walks up to Rex Nath, she'll go past Stanthius and just put a hand like on your shoulder. and just like nod to you as like not really saying anything

but just like yeah I understand I get it kind of thing if she like walks past and she will like sort of crouch down and look at Rex and Anthe and just this body is

beyond anything I've ever seen there's so much crown steel and I think that Xanthius for you that sort of not Paul but that sense that you can sense that there are two pieces still in there. And that gold dragon blood

that lets you kind of gather the value of metals and things like that, you don't think that the pieces in Rex and Eth are particularly pure or, like, value. But they're good. They're like standard sort of refined crown steel. But certainly not the piece in you and the piece that you remember you found during Crown 4.

Like those were exceptionally pure, very, very high quality pieces. These are a little bit more. common, more akin to like what the reclaimers and the ash hills were gathering, like lower quality, to like standard quality. But you are getting that like sense that they are present. And if you were to maybe get too close, it might. So are there like the other two, because there were four.

There were four. Are these like the other two then, destroyable by? Certainly could be. The fireboard didn't destroy them. because they weren't targeted directly. Daisy, like, shot an arrow, and I think that you can see it now, Ophelia, they're like metal plates,

and when Daisy's arrow struck it, because it was a regular arrow, it wasn't radiant damage, it's cracked the plate, and the metal's almost gone quite dull, whereas the other one was struck by force damage, it was magic damage from Malady, and that one has just been sort of obliterated into pieces,

like inside the body, like it shattered into his muscles and, like, broke the body, that was inside and stuff. Whereas the other two are intact, basically. But certainly destroyed. One of them was heavily damaged, though, I think, isn't it? It was damaged, but still functional.

Yeah. This crown steel cannot stay in the land. It needs to be removed and disposed of. You destroyed the other two. It makes sense to smash those as well. Is that, is that okay, Santhius? I think of that or I take it. And I don't think anyone wants me doing that.

I don't mean the crown steel, I mean your brother. Is that okay that we do this? It's what he asked for. It's what I attempted to do. Then we'll finish it then. You don't need to be involved. You've done enough. I'd like to be.

You're sure? I'm the reason you're all involved. So I owe it to everyone to assist as much as I can. You've already done a lot, Santhes. You don't have to. You weren't the one who made the difficult decision to end things anyway. But there's still so much more to do.

This day is not over. This tale is not finished. It's only going to keep haunting me and, by extension, haunting you. So I'd like to help. At least for Rex. Graf, you've come back. You've given off this heated medicinal mixture

to Malady who is just almost gulping it down and Benedict's are like, stop, stop rushing, like slip it slowly, you're not supposed to drink it all at once kind of thing. But in between drinks, she sort of has Benedict to help her over. And you can see that she's now analyzing the body in the same way that her fear. It's like looking it over in between coughs, scanning it, examining it, and just seems to be taking it all in, basically. But certainly there doesn't seem to be any objection to whenever you guys want to actually.

finish the remains. Can I just suggest that if you are removing or destroying the crown seal, we do it from some distance. It's quite a volatile substance and I don't know particularly what caused that explosion at the end there, but I don't think we want to risk another. Or at least standing in the blast radius. There are scorch marks and gruff whiskers are curled. I think, gruffeth, there is no more. There is no more danger of an explosion.

There were runes. I can see them now, etched into bone, onto the plates themselves. There's fine writing on the wire. This is incredible work, awful, abominative work, but I've never seen anything like it. This was a failsafe. Were wrecks to ever be attacked?

Was one last weapon to be used against those who managed to overcome him, would have left him alive but in enormous amounts of pain. But I don't think there's any threat of further destruction. These pieces are not particularly high quality. They are destroyable. High quality crown still can't just simply be destroyed in that manner, but these can. This is quite low quality. So I wish I could help, but I cannot any.

magic now, I can't. I wouldn't ask that of you. You've done more than enough, sister. Amen. On with Schnault, I will go and get Rodry in the wagon so we can kind of load her up. Perfect. Yeah, I think that you get a loaded up.

Benedicta sort of comes next to you all to join in if you need some assistance in whatever you're about to do. But what is the plan here? Is it literally just like hack this thing apart? Is it, you know. Rowan keeps himself very busy with Roderie. Got lots to back up, but I'll get the boring stuff done.

The stew needs to be reheated. I imagine that Benedict would actually physically carry Malady as well, against much protesting and sort of stop it, but Benedicta is just like, no picks her up and carries her and literally puts her in the wagon and then returns to you all. And so imagine Rowan and Daisy you maybe kind of go with them towards Roder and sort of pack the camp up and you pack up all your stew pot

and everything else, leaving Xanthias, gruffophilia and Benedicta. Just hear from a disson. He ate the entire stew! Good boy, who's a hungry fella? You say like gruff. Okay, how should we do this?

Boy. Should we make a pyre or something? Elizabeth. bit resistant to fire, isn't he? I mean, given enough fire over a long time, I'm sure it would do the job, but... Would a moonbeam work,

maybe? Yes. Her radiant light would probably work in a similar manner, but... Crownsteel doesn't seem too favoured radiance. I think, if

you'll allow me, I'm happy to destroy the Crownsteel. My faith in Pirates should protect me from its influence, at least. And I don't know, Sister Ophelia, perhaps you can help me with the other. Of course, yes. That would then leave the two of you to think about how you wish to do the rest. And I think that, like, Benedicta and Ophelia, you guys can just go over and, like, you know,

it's not hard to just... Yeah, get... And just plunging it into the last stone. And, like, break them down, basically. Smashing them. Which is strange, because you've definitely seen that, you know, the ecliptic order and the holy orders, they go through this big ritual, they like seal it away. But this stuff was pretty easy to destroy, at least physically.

There's definitely an element veracity as a magical weapon. You know, Benedict's sword is like enchanted. It is like a divine, you know, kind of blessed great sword, you know, magic weapon and the same style. So they do manage to destroy. It takes a bit of effort to kind of break it, but you do manage to destroy this kind of low-grade crown steel. there's almost, Xanthius, like, you get this impression that it's crown steel, but it's almost like an alloy. Like, it's been mixed with something, with steel, basically,

which has, like, reduced its durability and its strength, but also made it, you know, probably less corruptive, less mutative, but just less effective. But it's definitely, like... Is that how they were able to basically make, like, the wiring then? Okay, so it makes it more malleable, yeah. And you get the sense that, like, obviously this would take incredible skill and knowledge to do. Same with, like, the alchemy, like, the modifications to the body, things like that.

Like, this is just looking at his, like, body and, like, the scars and the cuts, the car rungs on the bones around these plates, like, and then it's clearly been, like, magically healed over. Like, Gruff, you can see that, like, tissue that's been magically healed is different to, like, natural healing. and so it looks like magic wheeling's been done to speed up the process. Like it's basically he's been tortured like for most of his life. It's pretty grim. Yeah.

Has that, the crown steel pull sort of escaped now from Zantheists? Well, I think... Or is that like a lingering... I think the arm would react to watching the... The crown still being destroyed. Even if it's just like slight sort of twitching Arthur Fist. I think because it's been... alloyed and also there's you I imagine you almost hear a voice like do not worry and there is

almost like you just don't feel that pull towards it in this moment okay and I will remind you your ruins are working and are up yeah you are hearing this voice despite that yeah and that isn't clear from the outside oh yeah is yours evil No. Can it be? Can we all get voices in our heads? I'd probably you didn't. I had that for all of campaign too.

That's true. And a little bit of Campaign 1. Yeah. So with Gruff is the, are you going to just moon beating this body basically? This is like orbital laser destruction. Yeah, I mean if there's a way to not make a pyre as such, but if they're like not an altar, but like something we can.

There's like broken stones. You have like the broken stones from the Action Citadel. You could take him into the Ashen Citadel and do it there. Yeah. Quite apt. Yeah. And there's plenty of wood from local trees and bushes, definitely enough to build a pyre 100%.

Yeah. I think Zanthius would definitely want to, rather than just the side of the road, it's just an instant thing it's done. It's a burial, really. Sure. Yeah, I love that. And I think for Zanthius in terms of his plan

is just basically just putting down like a wall of fire that will just last for a long time or as long as it will. It lasts for a minute, a wall of fire, but like... It's an intense heat. If you just surround the body with it and there's a pyre and fuel,

that's probably going to be enough. Continuous fire for like a minute is probably going to do a good job. Yeah. So that's my intention. Sure. Yeah, somewhere that it can be a proper sort of, not ceremony as such a full, complete thing like that,

just a little bit of something to honour him. Sure. Is there anything that, like, I imagine almost this is like, Return of the Jedi, we get, like, the kind of sad music and the funeral pyre. But, like, as you're watching this burn, what is going through, like, Xanthius's head? Like, looking at this thing. It's false memories, I suppose.

It's imaginations of, like, what if, you know, what would this, what would Rex look like if, it was separated away from Guildi, if they lived in Rust End with Xanthius, like... Still big and strong. Yeah, much younger Xanthius with a, what he imagines would be a much younger Rex,

like... Yeah. ...a big brother, basically. Living a ordinary, innocent life. And just, yeah, just trying to imagine what it could have possibly been like. And none of the memories are like... Could it ever possibly be correct?

because, you know, what does Rex look like when they were younger? He doesn't know. He doesn't know any of it. But this is what you imagine. Yeah. This is the imagination. So things like that. Love that.

Yeah. I love that. As, would the pyre be enough? Like, would it need a bit more? More is going to be good. Yeah. You don't have to. I mean, I'd clear it with Zanthia's first.

Because it's a bit dramatic, isn't it? Like, just moonbeam. I mean, it's all agreed on. Like, I know. know where we have to destroy the body, so whatever makes sense. So, I guess as the fire goes up and the moon being comes down, Gruff will just start almost to himself at first, but kind of as it goes on, gain confidence and sing loud.

And he will sing again the song that he sang when Ophelia was laid out, was laid out at Tyria's rest when she first died. you would recognize it. It is that lament. It is that ode to our fallen, you know, the tide going out. And it is, yeah, the funeral song that you would recognize. Yeah. Love that.

Benedict standing sort of beside you, having helped on this, we'll just say, I know you are not all believers of the silence. So I will not speak a prayer to pirates, but I will say this. The evil that did this to this young man, the light will bring it to justice. Those with blade and spell, those with strength of conviction,

such an abomination, such an evil, such a cruelty cannot go unpunished. And may the gods and the Sions and all the powers that be in this world or beyond, give us the strength to see that done. about her head and nod. Did she say anything or just stay silent? Say, if anyone deserves another chance, it's you.

Okay. And we see Rowan and Daisy back at the sort of wagon, sort of seeing this in the distance, but not wanting, you know, not a part of it right now. This kind of quite, quite gruesome and quite brutal scene. But what about you guys? Rowan steered Roder's head. Away.

away and it's like, oh look at this over here. And he's looking over his head at the moonbeam and the... Yeah, and the fire, like, this column of like ring of fire and then just an orbital cannon of light coming down in the middle of it. Like, it's quite a beacon from any sort of distance. Daisy, I worry about Xantheus. I think we all do.

Sorry, I've done smush his cheeks. It was very smushable. Particularly now. You saw what happened in that battle. Yeah. His arm. But we just need to focus on the things that we can do to stop the influence from happening,

because I think it's getting closer every day to just losing him to it, but we need to get... I felt we lost more of him here today. But I'm wondering if we do all of those things to... that Scarletos wanted us to do, then maybe we can reverse some of it. I hope so. But, I mean, look, what's happened?

I'm worried about the path. He's willing to go down. I have a feeling we're gonna see some more of his family. We better be there to protect him. We will be, but I don't want there to be any other influence. on him from, you know. Well, not that it's the same, but you've got voices, a voice in your mind.

Just one, though, and it's not telling me to do things. I can do what I want. I would never. I didn't mean to compare it at all, but it may be something that Xanthius could be an easy way to help him. Maybe. Help him. Maybe.

Control it, I don't know. I don't know what it would be like to have a voice that you felt like you had to, like someone that was not a friend. Because. Similar to the blacksmith from the prison. Yeah, but I think they just didn't quite get along. That's like just two people. two people who don't see eye to eye, but don't...

But I don't think that there was evil there, though. I think there was evil with, you know... I think evil is subjective, and I think that voice in Zanthias's mind doesn't think they're evil at all. And I'm worried that Xanthius might align with that, the more influence they get. That's why you have to block them.

I know. I'm just vocalizing my worries. I know, I just don't know how to do that as soon as possible, Rowan, we need to do it quick. I know, let's be the rocks that he needs, the support, the foundation. Why are rocks always the answer? They are the answer.

The song of stone. Truly. You see that comment sort of would pass back over to the crew. It's a minute or so. It goes past the wall of flame dies down, the moon beam sort of finishes. And there is nothing left. There is.

Even the crown steel wire, the crown steel itself, has been destroyed, broken, disintegrated effectively. Resilient to it, but such concentrated, ongoing damage. And there's just nothing left. Just burnt remnants of the pyre,

ash and dust. Left on the black, now blackened stone that you'd sort of constructed as this rudimentary altar and any trace of Rexenath Oregon is gone. Oregon. Oregon, sorry. Oregon is gone.

It's because I had to say the word gone and it's like, Oregon. Oro farm, Oregon. Yes, I like that. It's a good way to remember it. Thank you. So with that, you make your way back over to join your companions. And if you wish, you can return to Ash and Res. I mean, I feel like

in the quiet sort of closing moments of this ceremony I would just come clean and just say I can still hear sovereign's voice. Would you say that to everybody? Like, it's a something he just absolutely has to get off his chest, literally.

Like when everyone is around, I would just say it. Rowan shoots a look to Daisy. Daisy shoes went right back. It's happened. Even though the runes are still there, I've bolstered them, I strengthened them, I haven't dropped them at all,

except, well, in the fight, but I can still hear speaking to me. And I don't know what that means. Malady, I don't know what that means for the ceremony. I think, like, as, like, Malady is out cold. Like she, when she was put in the wagon, she just passed out, basically. So I think that, like, as you come back, like, Benedicta is awake, but Malady is just hot cold. Yeah, I miss it.

So, that's who, uh, Benedicta instead. Like, the plans we'd made, the essences we'd gathered, I don't know. I hope they do, but I don't know if they will block sovereign as strongly as we expected. more. Senthius, I, I, that is a great question for my sister when she is awake, but I'm afraid that is beyond my realm of knowledge. That sort of thing has never been my strong suit, but Malady will know what to do. When she's better and she's awake, we can speak to her about it.

You did what you had to do to survive, and if you hadn't, you wouldn't have been there to save me, to save my sister. Whatever consequence this has, the two of us will be there. Thank you. You saved me and gruff too. All I can suggest is stay true to your will. This voice, they will speak to you and promise you things, and they will make it sound so easy.

But as you've seen, there is a price. Even if one is not stated, there will all always be a price. Sovereign is mad, is gone beyond any rational thought or sanity. Everything they do now is part of some mad game. And they will attempt to make you one of their pieces. I just don't know their goal. I don't know what it wants me to do. I don't know if they know, Xantheus. Sovereign as the Sions, as the goddesses teach us, went mad, was completely just nonsensical, was no longer the god, the deity that they once were. And being imprisoned, having pieces of them break away and fall down, their power slowly being leached,

I mean, I can't imagine what it would be. I imagine I would go insane if I had been trapped away for so long. I'm not sure if they have a goal in mind. They just are what they are. And they will want you to be a part of what they are. Maybe there is a goal, maybe there's a game, but whatever they do, it's in their own interest. Certainly not for yours. I just wanted to let everyone know. It seemed like the right thing to do. Thank you. Um... If he speaks to you, can you tell us? Just... just as and when?

Yes, absolutely. Can you tell us what he says? Of course. Thank you. Uh... But... But... Only when you guys are around or I don't want to...

Oh no, no, no. Obviously, when in private matters, like obviously not in the open where everyone can hear, but as soon as you can. This is a mistake, my friend. You should not have told them. They're not happy I told you. Good, then it means that that's the right decision. Tell him I said to bugger off. Do you think, like, so... I'm trying to figure out what the communication is.

Like, does it... Yeah. I almost want to test that, right? Like, does it listen to other people? So you don't... So do you try and not have a response? Like, you try not to react to what Grafta just said? I mean, I heard it, so therefore I thought it, right?

So in that case, you were just like, ah, the beast is vulgar and foolish. I saved you. I helped you. Where was he? Where was this so-called Knight Protector when you needed him most? Not saving you. Are you sure you want to hear? hear everything he says.

Why wouldn't I? Well, Ah Go on. Being quite unkind to you, Graf. What's he saying? You want me to repeat it? Well, he called you a beast.

I am. Said you were no knight. I'm not. But you were not there to protect me like he did. And I wasn't. Okay. Be careful. Be careful.

I feel I don't like repeating what he's saying. If it causes you distress. Which is why you should not tell them anymore. But he doesn't want me to tell you, so I will. Better out than in. Write them down like Daisy does. Keep a notebook. That's a good idea.

Do you want some spare parchment? I can... Yes. Yeah? Good idea. Okay. It helps us to know what influence is being played upon you. Yes.

Okay. And if he's not being nice to us, then that's fine, because we haven't been nice to him. True. And I don't think that's going to change. Okay. I will write everything down. I will tell you, when I can, everything they say. Um...

It might help you too. To externalize it. It's not all on you. It's not my voice. Out of your head, onto a piece of paper, and then don't worry about it, because you're not going to do it. You're not gonna do what he says anyway. No. Don't make that face!

Don't make that face! Tom makes that face. Tom makes that face. But does Xanthias have doubts? In his head? I think, just like every time there's a fresh event, there's a firm stronghold

bolstering in his mind where he's like, no, I will not, I will not, I'll never drink again. And then, There's that little part of them. It's Friday, payday. And then two weeks from now, it's payday baby. I think you were just here.

I will be quiet for now. But you know, my friend, I am here if you need me. Oh. Zantias. Yes. I will say, just from what you've reported back just now, there will be times whenever what this. sovereign says, rings true.

Just because they're evil or on the other side, doesn't necessarily mean that they are wrong the whole time. That's how it works, right? That's a great question. One that would, you would need to make some investigations to figure out the exact nature of it. It's how they'll get to you as well. Could be true? What Groff is saying could very well be true?

Well, because... Could not be. They are right. I already said to you, didn't I? I wasn't there in that fight. That's why what happened happened. So don't worry about hurting my feelings, because honestly, it sounds like he's saying things I was thinking already.

But that's how they get their rucks, right? Not such a bad guy. That's how they... I like the arm. It doesn't say. But they're trying to get you to not like your friends. But that's how they get their rucks in you, right? I just, it's...

I... By saying the small truths that you may necessarily think as well. Feels like a slippery slope. If I start to say, well, this time he's right, how long until I say the clearly wrong thing is also right? And that's how it works, isn't it? Okay.

That's why... Write it down. Yes? Yes. All right. We make sense of it all. Before it can be exploited. Yes.

I, the Uthosuragon, would like to go back. home of my own volition. I think we all. Sovereign didn't say that. Are you gonna start saying of my own volition after everything you want to do? Maybe, that's my code word. Z.

Yes. Maybe better to have a code word for when it's not of your own volition. It's like. Of their own volition. Maybe it shouldn't be something similar. Maybe it should be, I don't know, if you want to do,

But you wouldn't tell us. Would you tell us? I'll point at my head when it's Santhius. I'll point at my chest when it's sovereign. I don't know how this works. Ophelia, I know we've done what we did with Rex. I feel like you know better than most. No way to recover.

No way to... No. There was nothing left. Scattered to the wind. he is no longer hurting anymore. The pain is gone because he is gone. They haven't gone to the Greylands, have they? No.

I'd have to perform certain rights and rituals and the Greyfather would have to be involved. Obviously, I can't... I'm not of high enough level to... From a ceremonial standpoint, from a ranking standpoint, to perform the rights myself, I need... It would have been a whole thing.

There's paperwork and... Okay. It's a headache. Exactly. Saint Dothier has made their judgment. Yes. St. Detheir, if, I mean, Rhexanath was a citizen of Ilmera, was a child of Althea. St. De Thier hopefully has appeared, has offered to take them and make them reborn.

I can't imagine Rexeneth would have been proven worthy to ascend, but perhaps reborn as a new soul. A new life? A new life. No memories. All the pain taken away. I won't remember who they were. A fresh start. Good.

A blessing. Yes. A kindness. Yes. Of course. Um, in that case, is there any stew left? Oh, Roderie, all of that.

Well, this is the worst day ever. I'll make some more on the way. It's okay. I'm going to sit down now. Yes. Sit down would be nice. Well, you have four days of travel back to action. I guess we can't.

Sit down in four days. We can't, giants. We used the rest zone too recently, right? Yeah. Not the wet stone, sorry. The rune stone. Seven days to recharge. We staffed.

So it is four days on the road to travel. There is no danger. You're traveling on pretty well-traveled, well-protected roads. You're not too deep into the ash hills to worry about beasts and bandits. So the travel is uneventful. The weather is good and stable here in Caldra. It is the end of summer. and unless there is anything you want to do on route conversations you wish to have

malady sleeps for pretty much a solid day it's out cold is a science of improvement yes yes on the second day she awakens weak and weary not able to talk for long but is able to speak if there are questions that you want to talk or topics that you want to discuss but you have four days and you know that includes camping at night and times to reflect you may all take a long rest Yay! Yay! One hit point.

Does my temporary arm dissipate? Over those four days, the spines, almost like a lizard shedding, the spines kind of become brittle and it's quite painful for you, but it kind of breaks away.

The musculature sort of deflates and that arm is left feeling quite weak. but over the next four days it basically returns to how it was before the temporary boon was given that was my jorcan arm he's got I mean no

that was fair that was Tom that was justified that sigh that just like left field you're the fucking after just the RP we've all just had you're the fucking worst

yeah anyway the scales are once again balanced scales are balanced I'm back. But yeah, so if there is anything you want to do over those four days, otherwise I will just skip ahead to you guys are re-ariving back in Ashen's rest. But this is, if there are any checks or spells

or anything that you would like to do or conversations you would like to have, this is your opportunity to do so. How is everybody feeling? Just general, just vibes. I know the last day was rough. I just, hello. Gruff for once is lying in.

the wagon with like a handkerchief over his eyes. Because like he almost went down twice in that fight and he's like, even though he's healed and all that, he's feeling his age. Yeah. He's like, I'm fucking tired. Everything hurts. He feels a bit battered.

His whiskers have been singed. Like, and now that there's no immediate danger, he's like having a heck of knife and nice. Well deserved. For the entire duration. Yeah. At least for a couple of days. At least, he'll just, he's not necessarily sleep,

but he's just lying in the wagon with a handkerchief over his eyes. So is this like a day or two later? Yeah. You everybody feeling good? Rowan, you're feeling okay? No. No. What's wrong?

Well, Zan's... Well... Well... Everything. Everything's happened. Oh wait, it's everyone here, sorry. Yeah, we're... You guys are all travelling together.

Like, assume any conversations, unless you say it's a private conversation are happening with everyone. Just getting a set rep on the vibes, seeing how we're all getting on. Well, it's... I'm worried. Obviously. And that's about you, about the journey we must go on. It's quite important and also comes at great risk to you. Wait. Time is of the essence.

To where? To solve your issue. To... And pursue what you'd like to pursue your father. To Gildare? Yeah. Or wherever they're based now. I think we need to see this to its end.

Because there's a great evil. If they're making that of your sibling, what are they doing to someone that isn't related to your father? Does everyone want to go to Gildi? No. I don't want to at all. I'd love to visit to see you in your home place. I don't want to go there for the reason we're doing. However...

As I understand it, Santhias Gildai has never been your home. You did not grow up there. No, I just Do we want to pursue Oregonis? I think that there is forgive me, but that is too soon.

Going straight to Gildai, facing Oregonus, we cannot do this. Rex and Ath mentioned other siblings in Kelskaris, I believe. That is where we should turn our attention. Whatever plans Oregonis is working towards. There is clearly something. There is a greater plan at work. We should focus on that first. Oregonis is beyond our touch, both as a combatant as an enemy, but also politically.

Oregonis is one of the most powerful and influential gold dragons in Guildi, perhaps second only to the arch dragon themselves, who is weak and is politically unfavored. Oregonis will be a great foe. But for now, there are plans in Kelskaris, we should turn out I there. That certainly is my suggestion. And is this something we need to inform Obsidious, Duke Ignarius about?

It sounds like it could break out into war, potentially. Obsidious, absolutely. Ignarius, that will start a war. Yes. I concur with Xenthius. Ignorius is brash, is reckless. We tell him what Horrogynous is up to. He will challenge him.

He will fight him, and I do not think that is a fight. The Duke can win. But also it will perhaps cause Organis to accelerate his plans. Obsidius is more, well, thoughtful or meticulous. although I do also have my concerns. His mother was corrupted by Crownsteel. He has seen its power firsthand. He's an ambitious, powerful magician.

So Xantheus. Yeah. They're quite alike. I've been practicing, by the way, with the spell. I think I would have said that after this. I try and get some practice in, yeah. Good, good. To finish the thought.

Yes. No, I'm not okay. No. However, I can't think of a place I'd rather be amongst my closest friends. Doing what's right. I couldn't see myself just walking away from this now. I think when Rowan says that,

Malady and Benedict had definitely look at Xanthius because they remember what you said. I mean, Daisy, you also were just looking at me then. The people that heard you and were there, definitely, there's a look towards you. You love us. We love you too. Oh, we're going to get through it. It'll be fine.

One day he'll say it too, and I can't wait for that day. Melody and Benedict had just go silent and say anything. We all say things we regret. Here for a moment. Broan drop-kicks, Xanthia's off the one. Well, that's that problem, solved. Let's go home. Got him. Moving.

I suddenly feel very happy. Cool. If there is no other conversations, I will skip the head. Yeah. I mean, I will also, yeah, keep Malady apprised of the whole sovereign chat as well. Right. So, when you mention that to Malady, I think she'll be like, even with your protective ruins, you can hear them.

Yes. That's not happened before, has it? No, only when they were extinguished. Or in dreams when I imagine subconsciously your magic wanes when you are sleeping. Possibly, but all the time, no. Well, he's been silent ever since I, well, told everyone that I would repeat everything they say. I know you have developed some control about lowering your runes intentionally. Unfortunately, whilst your runes are up, I can't magically analyze the crown seal.

I can't see if it's changed or if there is a change in its power or anything like that without your ruins being disabled. But it does sound like in that moment when this aid was offered to you, when your defenses were down, something has happened, some sort of connection, some sort of I don't know. Without being able to analyze it, I couldn't say, but we know from your previous encounters, from your previous experiences, this crown steel, this crown steel in particular, and the means of your particular form of magic, the means to which it became lodged in your chest, they are unique in some way. There are no other reports of people having this sort of

connection, at least none that have been recorded. Perhaps it does happen in rare circumstances, but it is very rare and unique. So there is something, but whether this development simply means that he can bypass your roots, what I would tell you, I suspect that they cannot hear what I am saying unless you actively think about it. Now obviously when one is listening, one can't help but think about certain things being said, but there is a difference between conscious thought

and abject thought. Try your best to focus your will. Try your best to not think about specifics. Let conversation sort of wash over you. Take in the details, but... I can do that. Very easily. I think you can.

Oh dear. And... But it is likely that sovereign can only really hear your thoughts. I can't imagine it would give him some ability to hear or sense what is going on around him. Around you. Very hard to tell by think about them not listening to... By all means. You have proven that you have something of a scientific mind, Xanthia, so I've seen your workshop.

Test it. find, probe it, see the strengths and weaknesses or find ways to see what limitations there are. Can he always hear you? Is it always present? Is this connection one way, two way? You learn as much as you can. I will.

Knowledge is going to be a great weapon, a great asset. Like, the easiest test is to see if he can see what I can see. Yes. And if he can see what I can see, C, C, then... I knew it. Nothing but a great blue CCC. This must be the new tactic you're adopting, but letting it wash over you,

talking inane nonsense. Very clever, Zanthius. Simply one using humor as defense mechanism, I think. Stunning work, Santhias. Thank you. Have you given any thought to what your manner zone will be called? I have, actually. You have?

I have, yes. What is going to be called. Yes, I mean, normally, it is, perhaps it is something a little vain, but many mages will give it a personal name, something that means something to them, something that is associated with the type of power it uses. I don't think it's vain. Perhaps sometimes the circumstances into which it is developed.

I haven't yet gleamed the... In my practicing, I haven't determined what the effect is. It will come in time. I have a good. Interesting. I look forward to seeing it. One day. Great. Great. With that, unless there's anything else from anybody else,

any other conversation? No. You all return to Ashen's rest, Ashen rest, on the 10th late moon of gold harvest, the final 12-day. of what is effectively summer, the last month of summer, the autumn, really.

It is the harvest month. It is the time when you arrive after you guys keep avoiding tax day or tithing day. What a shame. A hoarding day. That's right. That's right. That's right. Mateo's made sure you're paid up.

Oh. But. I thought he's so law-abiding. No, no. Also, you. You were given the tavern so you don't have to pay tithing on it. You're Paul. Nice, nice, nice, nice, nice.

He's paying with earnings, though, right? He's not like taking a scoop out of the gold statue. No, he takes a scoop. Because he's technically employed, he does have to pay because he wasn't given the tavern. So he's now having to pay tidings. Taxes. But, no, you return, and it is near the end of gold harvest,

which is the last month of sort of autumn. It is the end of harvest season. The fields have been plucked, and as you travel on your way back, you see that really it's only the sort of last few harvests of the vineyards that are still coming in as people begin to prep for basically the two months of sort of winter that will go through. You arrive back to Ash and Rest, seemingly nothing has changed. The town is as abuzz with life as it normally is. But, Cicerofelia, something does occur to you.

as you arrive back and you begin to sort of realize how late into the month of gold harvest it is, you remember that you have an invitation to a function in Kelskaris. That event is going to happen in five days from now. It takes significantly longer than five days to get to Kelskaris by wagon.

So you will need to find some magical transport if you intend to be at the function on time. Uh-oh. Oh, Phineas double booked again. Oh, no. It is all this business, the trips to the Zars Step, you know, the matter, all the various things that have happened have quickly built up this time. And, you know, this was eight days.

If you had actually left after return from the Azar Step to go to Kalsgaris, you would have made it in plenty of time. But this matter with Rexenath has taken a significant chunk of that time. And now you only have five days until Varys ever nights. function. Yeah, imagine like we get back and Affili's rifling through her, like her bags clearing stuff out and the letter falls out. Yeah, and that's the reminder

of like, and you see the date. Oh. A letter amongst so much other joke. Like coffee cup of old slime. This is an ornate painting. No, no. The ornate painting is in

her room. It does not leave the room. It's massive. I think she could carry it around. It's like a hedgehog figure. You can put it in the bag of holding now, but you did not have that for a long time. So. You've got to take the frame off.

Roll it up. In the bag you go. Ah, friends, we have a conundrum. A what? A conundrum. A beast. We have been so busy. Yes.

I forgot that we're supposed to be going to the function in Kelscarbus. And we're not going to make it in time. What is it? He's on the third of Black Hollow. Third of Black Hollow. That's five days. Like Hallow.

Five days. That's five days? Yes. The function with your jerk friend? Yes. Okay. I don't even have a dress. I don't even have a dress.

No. You're not getting there in five days. No. We are woefully unprepared. Wait, how long does it take? To get to Kalscariswere here. By wagon. It's going to take like 12 to 13, 14.

It's like, you know, it's a long time. Two weeks. I mean, remember, it took you nearly a week to go from Bernal to actually. It takes like five days to go from Burnell. And if the road's closed, we're going to have to take a load of side roads. We're going to miss it by like 15 days. That's okay. It's just fashionably late.

I don't think we're having us just like being 15 days late for anything. Uh, okay. Okay, well, I mean, also technically it's on the fifth day, so you have four days until the day of the event. Four days. So it's like four and a bit. Four and a half days. Four and a half.

What time is it? What time is it? Well, it's probably the evening. Yes, evening. Four and three quarter days. Four and three quarter days. So it's not the worst. Not bad.

Okay, how about this? Ecliptic order. They owe us a solid. And there's probably a stronghold in Kelskaris, almost certainly. I think there is, actually. What if we ask them to teleport us there? Better than my idea.

What was your idea? moving the ruin of Hartham home, the big one, to Kelskaris, and then using the small room to get there. I didn't think of how to move the big one yet. Yeah, that would probably take two weeks. That would take two weeks. We'd be a month late. Because we'd need to move.

But it would roll. Also, by the time we're there, we're there, so we wouldn't need to use it. We also need to find the Greylands essence as well. And if my shrine is here. Oh, yeah. It may very well be a shrine in Kelskai. There will be a shrine in Kelskai.

I don't want to use Varys's shrine. It's probably way nice for the line. But if you steal essence from them, then that would... I could steal his essence. He's probably got tons. No, because that suggests that he's better than me and he's not better than me. He's so much worse than me, actually. He stinks.

Well, we might not have to see him unless we figure out how to get there. You could well be, actually. Yes, I like that. Good joke. I'm sorry. Unfortunately, Ophelia, you would know that he is also of the House of Blood. He is not of the House of Rock. I was joking.

No, no, no. I'm just making sure that it's clear. He is very much, he serves a count in the House of Blood. He's a good to. Do you have the science to know blood types? No, I don't think so. Don't think that's really a known thing. Would... I'll reserve that joke.

Before I start a thread of thought of a possibility. I know what you're going to ask me. Would gruff remember a tree, a plant? There's definitely, I mean, you would have visited a park in Kelskare's 100%. Oh! And you can certainly remember enough. You can visualize it enough for the spell that you're thinking of. A little tiny blade of grass.

Hell so, I might be able to help out. I've been talking to spring art and thinking about, you know, how I can use my druidic magic some more. But if it comes to it, I think I might be able to link up two trees and transport us between the two of them. Wait. That would be amazing. That sounds fantastic.

You can teleport from trees. Well, I've never done it before, but I've been talking a lot to Spring Art and learning some things from her and their connection to nature. Because every single tree is connected. Oh, yeah, that's what she says. Are they? Everything's connected to what she says.

Springhard. That's what Springhard. That's what Springard says. That is certainly what Springhardt said about the Faywheel. Every tree is connected, is that true? I don't know. I suppose I have roots that connect to the ground and then the ground connects the roots to themselves. What about trees that are in tree like plant?

Like big pots. Like surrounded by concrete or anything like that. What's concrete? The spell might not work for those. Althee connects us all. Althee connects us all. Maybe I say it doesn't work on parted plants. That connection is emotional.

Maybe it only works on natural planted in the ground plants. So anyway... If you're bringing by the rules, it's just it has to be big enough for a person to go. Here's the lovely thing, though. I get to change the rules. I get to say, fuck that. It doesn't work if it's in a big pot on concrete. It has to be in the ground.

I would like to work very closely with you on this. So we've got a bit of... I also have a thing of like, I have a good justification on why it works on trees in the ground. Great, I want to hear it. Because also I don't, like, oh, we just put a tree in a plant and then carry it around on a wagon or on an airship. I'm like, no, fuck that.

Yeah, but I am... Why is that one spell more... troubling than any of the other magic. I mean, I think that just allowing non-potted ones is more than fine. Exactly. Yeah, that's fine. Non-potting. That's what I mean.

Althea is a world filled with essence as fail with us as being one of them. If that's how we travel, that's okay. Well, luckily for you, Tom, it's all prepared and ready to go. Well, that's how I learned it from Spring Ops. Yeah, great. Don't worry. I love that. I've got your covered, boo. We've got a whacking great tree out the back.

It is a whacking, yeah. Whacked me. Yeah. And you. Yeah, twice. I do remember from my time in Kelskaris, although I didn't really enjoy it that much, too noisy. Very loud. So loud.

Unbelievably loud. Yeah. And so I remember a tree in the park that they had there because I'd never seen anything of its kind before. Okay. Do you know what? I'm trying to remember. Killscarus is in like a wheel.

A wheel. A wheel. So here's my question for you, Graf. Hello. When you traveled through Kalscarus, because obviously you were just passing through on your way down from ice car. A big smoke type.

Would you, I guess, like, would you think you would have visited the Il Maren district? Because each of the provinces has a district. It would have probably been the nicest place for you to stay. It would have had, like, foods that you're familiar with, like, things like that.

But also, you could have visited some of the other districts, like the Mr. River district or some of the districts. Or would you think that Guff probably mostly spent his time in the Frosthill. Frosty. Yeah, frosty district. A bit home from home, you know.

That's what I was thinking. Climate's like magically altered there and things like that. Sounds perfect. Cool. Yeah, so I imagine that there would have been a very beautiful, not wintery, it doesn't snow in Frost Hill, but it's like things are magically kept cooler. Like they kind of have like the opposite of like caldron

where they keep everything a bit warmer. But there would have been a beautiful park with sort of, you know, ash trees and things like that that would have been decorated around. Yeah, I think as well, like he would have looked. looked for nature because he's like, oh, God, buildings, blah, br- It's like, when you go to a big city, you're just like.

I'm like, take me back to Scotland immediately. Yeah. So yeah, that's. Definitely, you can remember. The only, um, little snaffle is, um, I need an evening. I need to, I need to go sleep and, and prepare my magical reserves. Three and three, we have, we have, we have, we still have three, that's dress shopping.

Might be time for shopping. Perfect. Okay, thank you, Groffin. I know just, just, just, just, just, Perfect. Oh. What? Oh, yes. Oh.

Poor one else. Affilii, I went to the shops here. Oh, the remaining shops. Yeah. It's not very good. Oh, don't say that. Look at it. Gruff made me buy five shirts.

Look at this. I bought them for you. Oh, they're fraying already. Using the party fund. Oh, I have an idea. The print on this one is washed away immediately. What's wrong with it? It looks on you very functional shirt.

It's got a funky pattern on it. It's got a good as this. It's a good color. You can. We could go to Kelskaris a few days early and go shopping in Kelskaris where there might be more shops. Then people might see me. Failing that, right? Performance of creation, right?

Daisy designs a dress. I create it and it lasts four hours. So it could just pop off after four hours. I don't want to make that look at the spectacle. It's quite a risk to take it. Yes, okay, what's the goal here? Also, you can't make accessories. It has to just be the wanderer.

It's four days, three and a quarters away from now. Mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm. We are at the entrance to this function. Probably shabby doors. Gross and hysteria. It's called to be beautiful. There's rubbish everywhere. People are leaving saying that was probably one of the most

unexciting and boring places I've ever been in my entire life. You're about to cross that threshold to go into this function, if that's what we're allowed to call this, sham, to meet. Varus. I forgot the name. Varris. Evernight. It's a hell of a name.

I know. Don't remind me. How do you want to be dressed? What's the entrance you want to make? You want to slam those doors open wide and say, it's me, Ophelia, sister, Ophelia Deleroce of the House of Blood. That's also, that's a very name. It's got a whole title.

I want to look nice. Okay. I want to really nice. But like, heads turning nice? Give us a vibe. Powerful, beautiful. Powerful is good. Powerful, beautiful, spectacular,

mistress of the undead and all the beyond. You look like that. Already, Sister Amelia. Thank you. But more. But more. But also not too much. Not too much.

Right. But why not too much? Because. I don't know, actually. I think I feel a bit nervous. Does it need to look effortless? Like you always are at this? I don't want to look how I'm trying too hard. Right.

You know, because this is Osseus. This is the house of blood. So, you know, this is my home, essentially represented in a building that isn't in Osseus. So a blood-colored dress? Most likely. Yes. Grape father effigies all over it. But how do you represent yourself in your shirt? trying. A house of blood.

You see my robes? Have you seen my robes? I have, yes. Beautiful, silver trim. Is that, so why not just the robes? That's how you represent the house of blood here. I think that's more work, okay. Okay, fair enough, that makes sense. I think your armor is very, very dramatic.

Dramatic. Oh, thank you. I love this. I love this. It's very nice. Or maybe we could go shopping and kill Scaris. Maybe they'll have more shop options. They might do. For you? They most likely do.

Shopptions. Shopptions. I do like shopptions. Okay, that sounds like a plan. And I could get my hair done at the spa. Beforehand. So my hair is all done. And I just don't touch it for three days.

I just don't touch it. I don't touch it. Have you been to Kelskaris before? No. You're going to get, there's a lot of people. I can get Percy to hold his hands around my head like this. Okay. In Kelskaris.

Yes. Is there a determination on how the people of Kelskaris react to Osce? Well, I mean, there's an embassy. There's an Austrian embassy, so... I'm sure they're quite open to it. They must see people from Osceus all the time.

Okay, including people like Percy? One would assume if there's an embassy, right? We can cross that bridge. We can just... It's jazz, you know? What does that mean? It's jazz. It's improv. We've figured out as we go.

Improv, I know. I don't know jazz. You did say that you didn't know what the shrine there would be like. No, because... It's probably really big. But that's what you're assuming. It might not be. You might have sent a really fancy invitation and then it's just awful, tiny, minuscule.

Taki. Yes. Oh, shit. I hope it's so tacky. That. That would be amazing. There's going to be an auction. Bring money.

What, we've got that. What are they selling, though? What are you going to buy? What are raising funds? For? Because of the fundraiser. It's a fundraiser for a temple.

It's a fundraiser for a temple. But if it says temple. Wait, I don't want to put our money, yes. I want to put our money into your auction. Spending money is fun. Your auction. Spending money is fun, but we can. and spend it on not his temple.

True. Oh, speaking of, I was thinking of spending some money. Yes, on what? Like a mirror or a cup or a fork. That's about 1,000 G.P. I approve, do it. Spend the money. You whispered that graph, but why?

Why? A water cup. For what? It's a thousand GP cup. Oh. What's in the cup for? Well, I'll put some water in it Is there $999 gold in the cup?

No. Well, I was just thinking I might, I might, remember when we were looking for Ojania, no, it was Ojania. All these bad guys, they merge into one. Agamox and all that, and we found that cave and had the font in it that we could scry through. Oh, yes.

I've been thinking about that a lot, but turns out in my research, you need a very expensive cup. Oh, you should get a better. Or a mirror. Or a mirror. Or a font that you can fill away. I think you should get it.

Funt's very difficult to take with you. Oh, well, I feel like water is very much, I feel like water is very much part of Gruff's aesthetic, so if it is a cup, he's filling in water. I would allow a very, a thousand GP bowl, a bowl. A bowl. Can it be a bowl?

That is encrusted in gems. Well, that feels rather ostentatious, isn't it? They cannot be used for the same thing. Can they not? No. What if one uses it first? Then that's the spell that it's locked in. So they have to be separate.

I'm ruling that they have to be separate to bowls. Separate purchases. Because he needs it for heroes. Hopefully they come as a pair. One's encrusted and the other one is quite simple. Plain, yeah. Also, I do need to buy another diamond. Just in case.

But we can't get any here. It'll be in Kitts Karas. Carus is a huge city. Pretty much anything you want to buy should be available there. Is there something that you can enter into the auction? yourself. That's quite the way to make a splash, right? And then it does really well. But Santhius, my room, on the wall,

a painting, you may say it's ornate and quite beautiful. You've ripped it from the frame and stuffed it into a bag. It's creased. It's pretty bad now, actually. Okay, it reframed? But... Just a little bit smaller. Okay, how much is that? What I come about, I think it was about 300 gold. What I remember. Is it written in your invention?

I'm pretty sure it was about 300 gold. Okay. Being pretty sure and having it written down are different things. What if we... Okay. That's a custom item right there without a cost on it. It's not a good cost. Wait, wait, wait, it's in here.

It's somewhere in here I wrote it down. I would have done... Ophelia's like on the ground, scrabbling through her. It's here somewhere. I've got a receipt. Okay. If you don't recognise the bag a bit better, then you probably wouldn't be running late for the event

because the invitation... That's true, that's true. But I'm so busy as I've gone off. We can get the golden dragon statue there. Now imagine if you entered that into the auction. Recovered, recovered from the bottom of the ocean, the glory of pallidact. This would fund their temple, though.

Yes. Fulia's entry into the- What, 10,000 gold, I think I said. But everyone will know that Ophelia is the one that put this into the auction, not Varys Ember Wind or whatever his name is. Is that it? No.

It's fine. Ever night. It's not. Who cares? I'm learning it to wash over me. It's canonical now when I do these things. That's literally,

it is literally like, no, no, no, this is the Xantheist technique so that sovereign doesn't hear. I'm surprised you're gonna want to spend that money on yourself, Santhius. I've been very good with money. Well, that wasn't in doubt,

but I thought you wanted to spend the money from the Statuum Tireeus and clothes. And clothes. We did want to upgrade Tyria's Rest, that would be a fantastic point to do. We already determined it was like five gold for... We did not determine that, that's what Roman thinks. Five gold per person.

I, yes, I know that's not true. But we've got the funds to put towards Tyrio's Rest even outside of the statue. I'm just trying to think of how do we make the biggest splash. But I don't think we should be donating to his temple. We can hear them out, but I think we should donate to Ophelia's. I think I feel his presence alone will be enough of a splash. Okay.

Should we, should we look like we are on theme with you? You know what that one? No. As your friends? No? Yes. You look great. It won't.

What about just a little red? Just like a little like neckerchief of red or like a little like, uh, maybe. Maybe. I mean, I won't force you because, you know, we're all different. A couple of things. Also, if you would like to get new equipment for Percy, I would like you to pick out and sort that out now

because I want to get a mini-made for Percy and I need to know where he's equipment. He's got the master hook staff. Yes, but that's not the best weapon. He can use martial weapons. There's probably better weapons for him to use. Can we add limbs to Percy? No.

Imagine a different weapon per. Lim. You can't, so he has to remain a humanoid shape, and that means two arms, two legs, basically. Vricks is a humanoid shape. Vricks is very different. Dynastian. We also need to bring...

If you had a Dynastian skeleton and corpse... Interesting. Could be very different. Very interesting. Yeah. If you find, like, a Dynastian corpse and put the heart in it... What if we just get a giant caterpillar? Don't they have an exoskeleton?

And by that I mean... Millipede people. Huh. I also, we need to bring Vricks as well I hired them as a bodyguard For what is now going to be a teleport journey Yeah but they're getting bodyguard as Frank Kelskaris Oh yes, that's a good idea

You might just need to discuss the terms with Fricks And like, no no you're a bodyguard for the next four days As opposed to the 12 days, whatever it was going to take to travel there The other thing I'm going to mention because I do want to cut to a break is Gruff, obviously, the last part of your test is in Kelskaris as well. That is something to keep in mind.

Oh, I know. But also, do keep in mind that the last things that you learned from Rhexanath means that there are the siblings and there are plans. You know Xanthius, because Sovereign had told you that there is a powerful piece of crowns deal

in Kelskaris. The diadem is involved. You knew, I believe, that Nixir, Obsidious had told you a little bit of information that they'd learnt from Nixir. And you may wish to go and speak to Obsidious as well before you head out.

But yeah, it is all fun and games thinking about Ophelia's function, but don't forget that there will be perhaps threats, perhaps dangers, but... I want to bury my head in the sand. I know you do. Unfortunately, the world does not always do what you want.

And to make it clear as well, I didn't mean Gildai straight away. I meant in the... You know, that's the goal. after that whole thing. But I think that it was more, the implication in what was said was we go to Gildae.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. With that, we're going to take our first break. We're going to take a five-minute break here, everybody, and we'll see you in part two. See you in a bit. Spotify, it's Jay Shetty. Are you one of those media strategy people scrolling through spreadsheets,

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They're not a demographic group. They're fans. Spotify advertising. You're among fans. Hey y'all's Kelly Clarkson with Wayfair. Ever order furniture online and wonder, what if? Like, what if it doesn't hold up? That sofa was four days old.

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