High Rollers DnD - High Rollers: Aerois #164 | Tornado (Part 1)

Episode Date: November 9, 2022

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Shot fired. Welcome back. Last time on Hyrule's Erois, our party have travelled to the Ganassi city of Vortensar. Once long ago, it was transported to Erois by accident, swapping places with an ancient elven city called Jasafir. Since then, the Ganassi have always been slightly separated from the rest of the world.

Now, those feelings have been cultivated and matured by Shansara and Harmony, the leader of Mortensar, to instill this anti-Erosian feeling and to celebrate their upcoming return to their home plane of Ganass, the elemental world. However, the party, our champions, know that this endeavor is doomed to fail and will result in devastating consequences. So they've snuck into the city in disguise and using all of their espionage skills, they've made their way inside with disguises and cover stories in place. And they have made their way to a place called Coalsmoke Street,

where they were given a cryptic message on how to reach a group called the Seekers, who are working with Norfear, an old ally of theirs, and Lucius's babyhood nanny. Babyhood? Childhood nanny. Babyhood. Babyhood. Does that make sense?

Baby. They successfully entered said safe house, avoiding the patrolling Valkyrian guards and Ganassi forces, and they have made their way into the Seeker's safe house, or at least one of them, from what you know. And that, my friends, is where we begin today, unless there is something you would like me to mention that I have forgotten or some such.

Worst members of Hyrule is best or worst. Go. Yeah. Myself. Don't. Yeah. Myself. Don't. Okay. All right. Best. Taking a little leaf out of Chris Trott's book.

Taking a lift out of Chris Trott's book. Nice. Anyway. Coolest member. Let's get to the game. Right there. You all sort of made your way independently into this safe house, having kind of given the passphrase to a restaurant,

a restaurant leader, a chef, whose son, Fuego, sort of led you down into the basement and revealed a secret passage, as well as a large, bulky earth ganassi called Goliath. And you have all independently made your way down in your various disguises. You follow the passage individually. I think it was Lucius was

first, then Aayla, then, yes, Sentry and Nova, then Quill eventually. So Lucius, you're the first one to arrive. This safe house is little more than a sort of carved out stone chamber room, perfectly sculpted, like it's been magically created deep in the earth it has a few tables a few chairs you can see basic kind of cooking supplies food stores really not much else though it's almost barren to an extent like our secret I'd very much like your secret hi now yes back in gust haven are waiting for you oh yeah is a as you, a young water ganassi woman, probably no older than sort of 17, 18.

She looks quite young, like a student. She's wearing almost like a leather apron, and you can see that she has a bag with pungent-smelling herbs and bandages and things like that at the ready. And she seems surprised to see you, but to speed it up and get you all together, she introduces herself as Stream, and basically she works with Fuego and Goliath,

and the three of them are members of the Seekers. Eventually, you all arrive, and I'll throw it over to you guys as you all sort of reconvene together. Stream nervously introduces herself to all of you. Oh, yes, I'm sorry. I'm guessing if you're here, I didn't hear Goliath fighting you, so I think you're meant to be here, but welcome.

You can take a seat if you like. I can get you some food or water or something. I don't really know who you are. Oh, well, I mean, I think we all had some food up there, to be honest. Whoa, what happened to your voice, Wisp? He doesn't remember what his voice is. He doesn't even know where he is right now.

String just looks confused. I think he needs some water. Okay. Yes. Oh, I'm so... There it is. Oh. A moment of clarity.

Okay. I mean, if you're not meant to be here, there's not really much I can do about it, because you've got Pasfuego and Goliath, so just don't hurt me if you me. We've passed the checks, don't worry. You're not with the... No, no, we're part of the rebellion. Okay, alright, well... The Seekers.

Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. Alright, well, I'll... And she sort of shuffles off without finishing her sentence. Just a quick one. Are you the only one here? In the safe house right now? In the safe house right now. Goliath's down the tunnel tunnel but I'm the only one here yes

no one else not as far as I know no one coming? I that so you're here on your own Fuego Fuego normally handles that

I think that are you are you meant to meet someone else? I think we're meant to be meeting someone here okay well Fuego will probably

contact the others Nanny is that you? Who? It's a really good disguise, if so. Fair play. I was fooled for a second there.

Well done. Stream. Very genetic. I know I'm not who you think I am. No, no. It's Lucius! No!

Oh, no. She just looks utterly confused. Nova, you would recognise this girl. Based on her age and the way that she's dressed and things that she has on her, you probably would quite quickly realize she's probably a medical student at the Atlas Academy. She probably was a medical student.

And she just looks utterly bewildered. So I'm going to go make a drink. Azuri, I think you have it wrong. Hm? Oh, so I was playing a new character. He's like this all the time. Bye. There's a little side room. You can still see her. It's like a little alcove and there's a little...

It's not even like a heater. It looks to be like maybe a piece of Valkyrian magitek. Like a smokeless heater. And she's got that arranged to be like maybe a piece of valkyrie magitek like a smokeless heater um and she's got like that arranged and she's got a pitcher of water and she starts pouring out some glasses um kind of busying herself and does not want to interact with any of you it's like i'm trying to find other things to do so she doesn't have to talk to you so in a kind of like state like whisper but stage wish was whisper so she can hear um no no no stage whisper for the audience our audience okay Okay, so, okay.

So it's not like I'm like... OC stage whisperer, IC whispering. Gotcha. Yeah. So to Lucy, I'd be like, no, you have it wrong.

That is a legit, that is stream. I know her. I know my Nanny and she's very good with disguises. That's all I'm saying. I grew up with her.

She's a medical student at Atlas Academy. Wow, Nanny Nofea is really good. I forget to use my old man voice for three seconds, and you introduce yourself as Lucius to the first person. You've lost the voice again. Because we're whispering.

You can't lose your cover until we meet Norfair or my warren brother. You're bringing her to the hidey house. No, we don't know if there's a compromise, if any of them have been compromised. Oh, you're right. They might be double agents. Sorry, yes, I messed up. Spark.

There's spark. Nope. That's spark. This one's spark. This one. The flamey one. Yeah. Yes.

Wisp. Yes. Julian. Spoon. So you guys know, you are left in this space maybe a good 20-30 minutes. Like nobody comes to check on you, stream is like running out of plates to clean and things like that. Is there, do you guys do anything in those 30 minutes?

Like you are like at least 30 minutes, like I'm gonna, you know, if there's anything you want to do, because it's a fair chunk of time, this is letting you know that you're just waiting around. Anxiety is building within you. There may be scrying devices here as well, like listing devices. Are there any other exits? Is there any one way in, one way out? From what you've seen, it's one way in, one way out. You can make an investigation check if you want to, like, pat the walls.

Or if you don't want to, like... I'll give you a choice. It's either investigation if you're doing things like knocking on the walls and, like, testing the walls. It's perception if you're, like, looking around and just trying to see if there to, like, you can, I'll give you a choice. It's either investigation if you're, like, doing things like knocking on the walls and, like, testing the walls. It's perception if you're, like, looking around and just trying to see if there's, like, cracks. Perception is harder. Whereas, like, because if you get physical, like, you can figure out things.

Yeah, I'm going to physically tap on the wall. Investigation check. I've got a minus one on my investigation, so it's a five. A five. You kind of go around. Sounds like stone. Sounds like stone. Sounds like stone. Sounds like stone.

As far as you can tell, Century, this is one way in, one way out. Seems solid. Perimeter check. I think we're clear. We're good.

Thank you. Quill, with your burgeoning possession. Yeah, I was going to do a detect. Who? Whisp. Whisp.

Can you hear those guards? Did they come to the door or anything? Can you hear that whisp? You are definitely too deep underground to hear anything else. This is like soundproof. Quill-esque. It's very soundproof. Quill was the last one.

You did notice that the restaurant that you've gone into, the Spicy Rabbit, would have been the last one they checked. They would have probably been there, like, either now or by now. Like, they're either talking to them right now, or they've already come and gone.

And there's no, because there's Goliath outside the door. Yeah, inside the kind of secret entrance. Oh, okay. Like, what are they doing this entire time?

Do you want to, you'd have to go back there. It's like a little, oh, right. It leads down. Like, you'd have to walk down there there because it's all dark.

I think I know what's happened. Especially because you don't have darkvision, do you? I could go down and... You literally just walk like 10 feet down. You can clearly see. Yeah, Goliath is stood there, just waiting by the door. No change. It's like, hmm.

Is there a problem? Is there anyone else coming here? We were supposed to meet someone. You've got to talk to Fuego about that. How often does Fuego come back? He'll come back. He's dealing with something. I think I know what's happening.

Is that the people who were checking? Right. Goliath nods at you. He's like, well, I don't know. I can't hear, but I suspect so. Okay. If you said that there was people coming down, then he's probably dealing with them.

I'll go back and tell the guys that. Lucius is like, can I do an insight check to see if Goliath is in any North here? So you would go, so Ayla comes back, tells everybody about that, and then you would go down the corridor and start looking at him.

Yeah, insight check. Like Larry Manor is there. This would be investigation, actually. It wouldn't be insight, it'd be investigation. I'm going to come back into the room, see Lucius walking back towards Goliath, and just do an immediate U-turn and keep going with him

because he's probably going to get himself clubbed in the head. Yeah. And you want to see that. And I want to see that. Yeah, sure. Maybe stop it after

maybe one or two hits. Lucius. Six. Six? I mean, what's the investigation look like? Like, is this you just kind of like peering?

Are you like, I'm looking in? No, no, no, prodding. This isn't the right character. What? Who are you playing he's playing a completely different character

who is that he's really in disguise is that his booty first D&D today that was his other D&D character that was a completely different character

probably want to load up Lucius there my dude eight eight even better so you're not prodding him you're not like you're just sort of

like peering I'm looking for mannerisms body language like any moments any moments of like where the Goliath act has dropped and Nanny Norfair comes through. In the sort of 20 seconds you're staring at him, he barely seems to move like an immovable rock. Like he doesn't, you don't even think you can see him breathing. He's just good there, arms folded, kind of resting on this heavy iron baseball bat club, and he just looks at you, utterly bored, with absolute contempt. D'argh! Damn, you're good, Norfea.

I walk back. He just looks, nods. I think I know what's happened here. Okay, okay, please. Nanny Norfea's really good. Sure. We've established that, right? Yeah, sure.

I feel like she's been tipped off that she's under investigation and she's had to divert somewhere else other than here. Right. Quill, you hear the sound of stone coming back from that tunnel where Goliath is. You hear like the... And then you hear footsteps coming down this way. Okay, well, someone's coming down. Probably Fuego. Probably Fuego.

Sorry, could I make a quick suggestion? Yes. You hear two sets of footsteps coming down. Just for now. Just north here. Don't want to give yourself away. Goliath and Fuego enter this sort of stone chamber. The Goliath just takes

a position by that tunnel entrance, just again leans against the wall, folds his hands, just like leaning on the club, same as he was before. But Fuego kind of like holds his hands up. You can see he's kind of got that cocky swaggeriness that you saw when he came down. He's very much like a kind of very punky fire ganassi, right? He's kind of got like a short cropped,

like studded leather jacket. He's wearing like the tight sort of like leather pants. He's kind of got like a short cropped, like studded leather jacket. He's wearing like the tight sort of like leather pants. He's kind of got like an open low V-neck shirt that shows off his like, you know, reddish skin. Very like spiked up fiery hair. If you've, I mentioned it before, but if you've watched the new Cyberpunk Edge Runners, he looks a lot like the main character, David.

Insight. Sure. Yeah, absolutely. Insight check. Six. Six. Could be. She's damn good.

Very good. He kind of, like, walks in. He's like, oh, hey, so sorry to keep you waiting. We had to deal with those people you mentioned. The customers that were just after you guys. They're gone. Don't worry about it. I got rid of them. Wonderful.

Nice. Well, we are very much looking forward to the meal. Oh, you actually want food? You know there's no such thing as Sky Elf style, right? Oh. I thought so. But we can bring you food, Dal. It's probably safer if we just have Stream make you something here.

That's safer. He can encode middles. Right. Okay. The meal being the reason we're here. They're trying to be really cool right now, my dude. But yeah, anyone else on their way? So who was it that mentioned Norfyr?

You mentioned Norfyr. I described her, but I didn't say her name. You described her. The elf lady that you mentioned, her name's Norfyr. I remember she gave us all, all the safe houses received a message saying if a bunch of weirdos arrive and ask for this dish to let her know.

We have to wait for some weirdos to arrive. To basically let her know that her guests had arrived, right? I'm assuming you guys are her guests. Yeah, we're the weirdos. Figured. I've sent word to her. It's going to take time. The word has to reach her and then she has to make her way here.

So it's going to take a couple of hours. You're more than welcome to stay here. We can eat some food. But it's going to be a couple of hours before she can get here. Is the actual wording weirdos? Yeah, pretty much. That checks out, honestly. Well, it's okay.

Something like strange individuals, which is basically weirdos to me. Yeah. We're given these... You sound a lot younger now. Yeah. Yeah, I do. He's just had his meds.

He actually looks at you for the first time now. He walks over to you. He's checking you out. There's something weird about you, man. You stink too much. He has an illness. That's a bit harsh. Don't you think?

You're in my safe house. I'm in charge of this. I'm going to make sure you're right. And he reaches out to grab you. Fine, whatever. Do you resist him or are you just going to let him grab you? I'm in disguise. Do you resist him or are you just going to let him grab you? I'm in disguise. I'm clearly in disguise.

Yeah. Well, he kind of is like... That's what I say to him. He's like, not really, no. I wouldn't have pegged you until you started speaking like you were 25 years younger.

We're 25? And his hand passes through... Try 57 years younger. ...that wispy hair of yours and he passes through the hair. Wait, you're playing a 60-year-old. Try 77 years younger. You feel like a feather pluck out,

and he's like, whoa, what? Okay, yeah, so I'm... Yeah, there's a whole thing. What are you guys? We don't want to... The thing is, weirdos, but also it's better if you don't actually know what we look like.

That's actually, yeah, Norfyr talks about that a lot. I mean, it kind of goes without saying what I am. Stream, what does she call it? Compartmentalizing information so that we don't give each other away. Yeah, what she said. Exactly. Cool. Sounds like something Norfyr would say. He's three.

You're like a birdman. I've heard about you. Oh, stop giving more details. That is compartmentalizing. You're a birdman. He could heard about you. Oh, stop giving more details. That is... I just said he's cool. You're a bird man. He could be a baby. Listen, we need it. Lock that down.

What? Okay. That information doesn't go further than this room. Yeah? What are you going to do about it? Punch you in the face. Oh, really? He's like, okay.

What is happening? Honestly, I'd like to see that. He turns around and he says, Goliath, don't do it to him. If he does hit me, don't do anything. Goliath's like, we see the muscles have tightened up. We've been through a lot to create these illusions so that we can get through the checkpoint.

Yeah. I hope you understand. Yeah, it makes sense. That's cool. I wish I had something like that. Well, Norfair would very much appreciate you not telling people about this. Look, you guys are working with the Seekers, right?

I'm a Seeker. Like, you're working with me. So we're friends. We're allies, right? I'm not going to cause you any trouble. Like, I want to work with you. Which is why it's probably good that you don't know anything else about us. Because if you did, a lot of people would maybe not like that.

Sure, sure. If you guys want to play it cool, play it cool. You know a little bit about me, but sure, whatever. Make yourselves comfortable. We're going to be chilling out here with you. This is our safe house. This is my squad. You met Stream, I take it.

She doesn't talk much. She's quiet. She's kind of nerdy. She's pretty smart. She patches you up good. If you get hit, we're beating up. Goliath, don't fuck with him. He'll beat you up.

I'm not planning to. Good. But I did want to mention, we have these envelopes they gave us as we went through the checkpoint. It has this magic on it that keeps track of us. The seals, right? Yeah, is there anything we can do about these?

You can get rid of them, but then if you get stopped in the street, you might get in trouble. It's pretty much a problem. I mean, stream, how do those things work again? And he kind of like scratches his head and the little water ganassi kind of sticks her head out. Well, I'm not a mage, Fuego. When they explained it to me, it's like when you go to certain parts of the city or certain places,

it like, how was it? It sort of, it like, it paints a mark on you or on the the thing and it registers where you've been but it only really matters if if you're going to certain places uh there's not really any around here coal smoke isn't an important district um there may be one in sort of like when you first came into this district but you could easily leave and not ping it again so they don't tend to check that kind of stuff around here. If you start going into some of the more higher value areas, or you go up to the upper parts of the city,

or you go to any sort of important buildings, they all have these checks, these Valkyrian things now, these machines. And do these allow us, if we had, say, guard ones, for example, would they allow us into different areas? Guards, it's only people that have only been coming into the city recently have had those. Most of the guards, people like me that have lived here all our lives, we don't have them.

Okay. So we're kind of just assumed to be chill. A lot of people know us. Guards don't tend to carry them, though. Like, if you can, I don't know, if you can use this cool thing you're doing to disguise yourselves as guards, you'd probably go a lot of places. Probably not know, if you can use this cool thing you're doing to disguise yourselves as guards, you'd probably go a lot of places.

Probably not everywhere but you could go a lot of places. You disguise yourself as some of those Valkyrian guys, the guys in the space armor or whatever,

then yeah, you're pretty golden. You can go anywhere. Okay. But trying to get all of that stuff. They have their own ID thing going on.

They're quite advanced. Oh, right. Yeah, I mean, I don't know. I don't know how any of this stuff works. Like I got this thing and he kind of shows

off the magitek and he's like super cool. Oh, yep. Yep, very cool. Yeah, it's awesome. Careful where you're pointing that. Oh, yeah, don't know. I don't know how any of this stuff works. Like, I got this thing, and he kind of shows off the magic tick, and he's like, super cool. Oh, yep, yep, very cool. Careful where you're pointing that. Oh, yeah, don't worry. I'm cool. I've got my finger on the side. Like, Norfyr told me that.

And he puts it in his, like, pants. Like, he puts it in his, like, his waistband. He's like... How long did it take for you to learn that? It's not hard. Oh, I just mean... Point, pull the little thing. Don't...

I'm this is air. I'm not holding it. I'm putting it here. I spent,... Pull the little thing. Don't... I'm Mrs. Air. I'm not holding it. I'm putting it here. I was about to say, how long did he have it before he realised trigger discipline? Ah, no.

An hour? Says the man who couldn't shoot a stained glass window. That's as safe as it gets. Wow. He needs to respect gun because gun shot eye out.

Yeah. Gun shot eye. And jaw. That's what Norfid told me. She told me about this guy, actually, who had... It was a bird man! I respect Gunn because Gunn shot Eye out. Yeah. Gunn shot Eye. And Jorah. That's what Norfyr told me. She told me about this guy actually who had... It was a birdman! She told me about a birdman who had his whole face blown off. How sound insulating is your safe house?

This place? It's solid. Like nobody can hear us. What about magical scrying? I don't know about that. You don't know about it? Okay. Mage?

You think I'm some nerd that went to Atlas, like the stream? Anyway... Woo! Anyway... Um, I mean, how long will we have to wait down here before... Couple of hours. Couple of hours, okay. Couple of hours. Uh, we can just, I can find like some cards, if you wanna play games,

and we can tell you some stuff about the city, if you've got any questions, I can answer them, the stream might answer them. Well, I was gonna say... Don't expect G? I can answer them. Stream might answer them. Well, I was going to say... Don't expect Goliath to answer them. He doesn't talk much. I mean, if we did lose these envelopes, then I guess if you guys don't have them,

then worst case, we could pretend that we have always been in Vortensar and don't require them? Yeah, the problem is you came in through the gate, right? So they took all your details down. Like, they've got a description of you. They've got your names. That stuff all gets filtered around.

All the guards, all the space guys, they're going to know everything about whatever you told them at the gate. They're going to know that stuff. Unless we change our disguises. Hey, if you can do that, that's awesome. Yeah, 100%. Can these be duplicated? Good question to ask Norf here.

Not really my kind of thing. We're kind of thing. We're kind of, this stream said it, like, Coal Smoke is kind of a low-priority area, so we kind of just do low-level stuff for the Seekers. We break some of those screens, we tear down posters, we occasionally, like, maybe try and bribe or beat up some of the propaganda folks uh we you know steal stuff occasionally uh you know try and get we talk to informants we pass on information

work with folks like you people that are told to come and find us and then we pass word up the chain of command that kind of stuff but like forging ids like yeah that's a bit beyond our level i'm afraid what are some of your top-level guys doing? What are they doing? I don't know. What was it again? Compartmentalizing information? Yeah, that. They don't tell us, like, that kind of stuff. But I can, you know,

if you've got specific questions, I'll try and answer them. How do you feel about this whole returning to... What, the Ganas, whatever it's called? The plane? I don't care. feel about this whole returning to what the ganass whatever it's called the plane I don't care whatever so what do you think of Shansara and all this these videos

and what harmony is saying she's pretty hot but her music is okay I don't really like the more sappy shit I kind of like the hard stuff there's some really good musicians I like around here she did a collab with one of them that was pretty cool she was kind of like a more kind of hardcore the hard stuff. There's some really good musicians I like around here. She did a collab with one of them. That was pretty cool.

She was kind of like a more kind of hardcore vibe. I like that. All of her guff about like, I'm the shining star and all this shit. I don't give a fuck about that. Interesting. I'm just wondering why, you know, returning to Wharton, Sar,

the majority of people seem to be buying into this and you don't. Well, it's a load of horse shit, isn't it? It's all mainstream. But why do you see through that? I don't see... What are you talking about? It's a bunch of people like this weirdo who came down

and then all these space cops arrive and they start telling everybody what to do. Fuck that. Like, I'm not about that. To be fair, valid. If a space cop came... By Ganassi, bro! Sure, valid. If a space cop came... By Ganassi, bro! Sure, yeah.

If a space cop comes down and starts spouting some shit... They act all nice. And yeah, sure, maybe in some of the nicer places and with the richer people, they're all buddy-buddy. But I've seen them beating up kids in the alleyways and stuff like that. They're assholes. And I don't like people telling me what to do.

Respect is earned, not commanded. Yeah, sure, that. And also it's kind of fun. I get to break stuff. I get to, like, fight people. I get to, like, sneak around. How long have you been in the Seacrest? Probably two months, three months.

Okay. And how old are you? How old? You know what? I see... 20. I had to think. About 20.

Yeah. Nova's just in her mind. She's just like, I remember when I set up the Seekers in my mum's basement. Yeah, your little club. It was a little club to talk about playing our magic. Wait, the Seekers is your thing? Yeah.

But this is internally. Nova's not saying that. Yeah, yeah. I'm just saying this is on my head. Yeah, like, this kid has clearly come in since the Valkyrians have, like, taken... Sort of, like, it's been, like, four months since this kind of was all being done in Vortensar.

And he's probably joined it, like, as that kind of kicked off and got, like, more embedded. But, yeah, you definitely... He's a punk. He's a punk kid. Like, he's just re... He's a punk. He's a punk kid. Like, he's just rebelling against this authority. He doesn't really care about the actual message. Yeah, he's, like, raging against it.

The other two, you're not sure. Like, they haven't answered those questions. But Fuego is, like, super chatty. Yeah, yeah. He's like, yeah, yeah, yeah. He loves talking. Like, he's just like, yeah, yeah. So, give us a little summary of the vibe on the street. Depends where you go.

You go to the upper city. It's all great. You go up to the top bits where all the rich folks live. They love it. Having a great time. Concerts, charity balls, all that kind of crap. Even some of the places down here. You go to the plazas.

A lot of people love all this shit. They love all the parades. They love the concerts. They love the music. It's giving them something to believe in. We're going to, we're going to go home and Eros doesn't want us here anymore. Like, like that should fucking matter. If Eros doesn't want us here, who gives a shit? We're here. But in terms of like in other places, it's difficult. You get it kind of split, but I'd say most of the city is on board with what they're saying. The Seekers, we're like a minority. We're

like nobodies at this point. We've got some good people, and they're trying to do some good stuff. Man, Tornado, god, what a fucking hero, man. Really? Yeah. Tell us more about Tornado. Dude, are you kidding? He's the reason I joined.

I heard about what he did in the protests, the Atlas Academy protests. Fucking saved a bunch of people. Really? Yeah. Like these students, right, they were like protesting something to do with all this Shansara Harmony garbage and there was a counter

protest, like a bunch of like loyalists, like the citizens who believe in all this kind of stuff. They started fighting with them. These space cops weren't doing anything. They were just kind of watching it and let it all happen. And this guy, this jouster, like, I've heard about him. He's apparently, like, a champ or something. He literally jumps over a wall,

and he's, like, shouting and screaming. He gets everybody to back down. He, like, literally takes a punch for, like, one of these students, just takes it on the face, and he calms everybody down, and he gets all the kids out before they can get arrested. Guy's awesome. He sounds incredible. He's a cool dude.

He's been ahead of the entire operation as well. Yeah, he's the leader of the Seekers, man. I wonder if we can meet him. Yeah, well, I don't know, maybe. This Norf here, I don't know much about her. I met her a couple of times. She showed me how to do some fighting. She did some basic training when we first set up the safe house.

Apparently, she works with him really well. She's pretty badass, man. She's pretty cool. You seem to know her, right? Have you met her before? You know her? She's a badass. You've run into her. Even Goliath couldn't touch her. She let Goliath go full ham at her. She couldn't even land

a hit. You just hit Goliath like, I could have hit her. Full of ham? Yeah, okay, sure you could, big man. What is ham? Like, you know, like, all the meat. He brought all the meat. You know what I mean?

Yeah, I do. I do know what you mean. He brought all the meat. All the meat. Yeah. All the muscle. So, I mean, are there other hideouts, other places? Oh, yeah, yeah.

This is like a pretty small one. Like, you know, like I said, Coal Smoke's not a big deal, but they're scattered all over the city. He kind of like rummages around. I was going to ask if you have a map. He kind of like rummages around and he pulls out, it's not really a map, it's like a piece of wood and

he's scratched a rough circle and some other circles. It's kind of like this. Kind of like this. This giant piece of wood that's really shittily drawn.

I can kind of see where we are, yeah. You are here. We're here. And like, there's a bunch of, like, here's the districts. You know, I'm not some, like, math guy. If you wanted a map of Orton, sir, I've literally got one in the 38-page pamphlet I gave you. I did not read that pamphlet.

You read the pamphlet, right? I am going to be honest with you. There might have been fire involved, and it might have disintegrated. Fire Ganassi, bro. Stuff burns. Well, I expected that of you, but Wisp... You're a scholar.

Yeah, I didn't know there was a map, though. You need to just... I didn't know I was handed a 23-page frame. Because Kim is trying to get a free map, and I have not got a better map Nova's map is not much better than this one but she thinks it is

I wouldn't say it's like detailed like coal smoke and stuff like that but it is like the rough shape and the poise and the statue

absolutely for sure in her pamphlet that she lovingly hand copied five times I have to imagine Sentry probably

looked at it. Yeah. Sentry would write it cover to cover. Scanning. I'm sorry to say I never actually received mine. Did you give your copy, my copy, to Ayla? I handed it to you. You gave it.

Who's Ayla? He's been waiting for that. Someone back from home. I put it in. You're a really shit liar. He really is. You're a really shit liar. He really is. You need some lessons from North. How did you even get in, my dude?

I almost forgot my name, like I said, but. Cool. You guys want to play some cards or something? Sure. Stop him talking. Anything. I'll talk for days. Oh, please do.

Tell us more. Any other I'll talk for days. Oh, please do. Tell us more. Any other interesting things about the city? How often do people come here and investigate? Is there any near misses? Yeah, so I think, to cut this short, because I don't want to waste too much time on this, Fuego will basically give you the rough overview. And yeah, like I said,

Coal Smoke isn't a high priority. He says that that was the first time they've actually come actively looking for this place. But he's pretty good and like the locals all kind of know him and his mum and they kind of all look out for each other. Like they'll kind of like play each other off. For your guys' benefit, mechanically,

this is what I'm going to call a secure area. So this is an area where the Seekers have influence. This is one of very very few in the city. For now, this is the only place you guys can really feel relatively safe. That doesn't mean it's always going to be

safe, but it's relatively secure. During your conversation, in the two hours that you have to wait, Fuego and Goliath will actually teach you guys one thing, which is a way to improve your incognito score if it goes down. Oh, good. Okay. They tell you that

basically... What was that? If it goes down? If it goes down. They basically taught you about how, you know, the information about suspicious individuals gets spread around the city via the crystal screens, via loudspeakers, like magical speakers and things like that. And if you spend time, you can disable

them. You can make a check. You can disable them in an area, and that will help you improve your incognito score. Only up to, this is mechanically, only up to a certain point, because once your identity has been revealed or if you've kind of been exposed in some way, obviously it doesn't help even if you keep destroying stuff. There is also a risk that if you fail

on some of those capability checks, you might end up in an encounter because people will see you breaking stuff and sabotaging things and all that kind of good stuff. But they'll basically teach you like, yeah, if you go around, you can actually disable them by doing this. They kind of teach you the ins and outs of very punk,

rough breaking of this stuff to sabotage it. It's not very efficient, but it's a way that you can do it. And it takes time. You have to basically spend time segments to go into an area, and it has to be an unsecure area as well that you do it in okay um all right and mechanically what sort of i mean i i guess we won't know what sort of it will increase your incognito in terms of the the the ability check you have to make yeah it will either be stealth sleight of hand athletics or athletics, or arcana. You have to make. Okay. And the more of you that do it,

the better chance that you have of being successful. Sure. Okay, so it's not just in Aayla Smash situation. No, yeah. You can find different ways to do things and stuff like that. Also, those are just four skills I'm putting down. If you come up with a creative way or if you have a spell where you're like, well, couldn't I use this spell to do it?

Then we'll figure that out. Yeah, like try and do that. Oh, look over there. What I would probably do is be like, rather than you making an attack roll, I'd be like, yeah, you're using Eldritch Blast, make an Arcana check. And then that would represent you, almost like a skill challenge, right?

After about two hours, a piece of stone wall opens up. I did a check. You did a check? No! Wrong! We're doomed! Three figures enter this room.

The first is one you all recognise. A middle-aged half-elf woman. She is wearing a pretty tight leather catsuit with belts and gadgets and gizmos and hand crossbows and darts and daggers, looking like a primo fantasy assassin. Not me. Female, like, black widow, middle-aged half-elf, basically.

Hell yeah, nice. Except her hair is now all buzzed pretty short. Like, she has it, like, cropped all at the back, kind of Captain Marvel style, kind of like front quiffed kind of thing. You can see she has a lot of new scars, like on her face and neck and on, you know, some of her hands and things like that.

Looks like she's been, you know, in some fights and things like that. But she kind of enters and she's grinning when she enters. And before you kind of see the other two, she kind of like looks around and give her advantage on this. And she actually is like, I'm impressed.

I know who some of you are, but I certainly can't, I wouldn't have picked you. And she immediately picks you out, Lucius, and comes over and just gives you a soft hug. I was already running. Yeah. It's me, Lucius.

For anybody who knows you, it's not hard to figure out who you are, Lucius. It's good to see you. Good to see you. And she kind of like squeezes you, it's not hard to figure out who you are, Lucius. It's good to see you. Good to see you. And she kind of, like, squeezes you, like, a little tightly. Are you okay? Is everything all right here? A dagger kind of pokes into you. She's like, sorry, sorry.

Yes, let's let the others come through. And she, like, looks and says, good to see you all again. I'm pretty sure I know who is who, but we'll figure it out. The next person who enters is, you see a young um this is a air and fire ganassi like a mixed lineage ganassi um lightning almost like rather than fire their hair is almost like lightning that's kind of like coiling and sort of like crackling through their hair um kind of yeah basically like fire bender who's mastered lightning bending. Wearing sort of like red and blues. They look probably about Nova's age.

Spectacles, but they're tinted like sunglasses. And they're wearing kind of loose clothing. You can see a Seeker badge. We have badges now. Nova, this is... Well, these badges were something you created. This is where I get to make Kim and be like, this is actually somebody you know.

This was one of the very first Seekers that joined you when it was just a little club investigating Planar magic. Their name is Bolt. And they are basically a very talented mage who was obsessed with Planar magic. And they enter and they sort of like, but they very quietly just kind of stand behind Norfyr, don't engage, they don't seem to know who you guys are.

And then another figure kind of emerges. Like six foot tall, buff as fuck, broad shoulders with this almost Californian surfer wispy cloud hair. You can see that they are wearing a, like a kind of blue leather jacket with a suit of chain mail underneath it. They're wearing, like,

they're wearing leather sort of trousers with knee pads, but the trousers stop just under the knee and is actually a pair of sandals underneath it, even though the rest of him is actually armoured like a warrior. And you can see that slung on his back is a shield and what appears to be a hand lance, kind of similar to Starbreaker, but a kind of smaller version of it. Nice.

And he enters and looks around and he has this statuesque, Herculean kind of vibe to him, right? No, he doesn't. He looks around, very regal, and Fuego's like, it's him! And he's like, whoa! He's super excited. And even Stream is like, oh my God,

kind of places their hands together. And he looks around at you all, like, nods. And North is like, well, pretty good disguises, aren't they? He just sort of, like, nods his head. So? He's looking around at all of you, and he's kind of, like, looking at you all individually.

He's like... I'm still hugging Nanny Norf here. No, no, you're too big. I mean, look at Kim's face right now. I imagine that's Nova's face. Nova's face is like... He has no idea. Right.

Because he's a moron! And it takes him a second, and then Norfyr kind of goes like, and gestures towards you, Nova, and he kind of looks. He's like, little Novi! And he towards you, Nova. And he kind of looks. He's like, little Novi! And he grabs you and bear hugs you and lifts you up. I hate you!

He's like, oh! And he's crying. He's like crying in his eyes. He's like, I missed you so much! I hate you, I hate you, I hate you, I hate you! I love you, I missed you so much! I hate you, I hate you, I hate you! No, you don't! I love you! I missed you! Oh, I...

Are you bro now? Should I call you bro? Is this like a new thing? Are you doing... You look old, but kind of cool, bro. Squeeze me, squeeze me! And he kind of lets you go, he puts you down like, hey, that beard makes you look really cool, bro. Yeah, it makes me look really smart, don't it? So is this like a new thing? Should I even call you Nova anymore?

Oh, well, this is a disguise. We're in disguise. Oh, this isn't like a permanent thing? No, well, no. Uh, no. Brova? Uh, maybe. Brova?

This old man's super cool. He's so smart. Yeah. Not old. Actually, quite young, as it turns out. So ignore the smell. That's not me. Not old, actually quite young, as it turns out. So ignore the smell. That's not me, that's not actually me. You sound really young.

But I look. But you look so old and gross, bro! Thank you, thank you. And he comes over and he's like, this massive hand, he's like, tornado! Nice to meet you, bro! Okay, he's like, tornado! Nice to meet you, bro! Stop! Handshakes?

High fives? Fist bump? I'll give him a handshake, but... I'll give him a handshake, but I'll squeeze his hand a bit so that he knows that I'm... Make a strength check. Do you have 20 plus strength? I got a natural 20.

You're not going to beat me there. Wait. I might do. 20. Yeah. So it's like the scene in Predator. Good grip, bro! And he just is like...

And he releases and he's like, hell yeah. Hell yeah Hell yeah Hi Should we do the same? Can I give you a hug? I hug the rest of your family Yeah bro Yeah

It's lovely to meet you Bro hug Yeah bro hug Yeah It's so good to meet you You met my mom And my dad And my other sister

Yeah they're amazing Nice bro Hey brover Brover Brover I like it I like this guy Who's this guy? And my other sister? Yeah, they're amazing. Nice, bro. Hey, brova. Brova. Brova! I like you. It's fun. I like this guy.

Who's this guy? Wait, sorry. Guy or not guy? Don't you dare hug me. Okay, bro. We're going to shake hands, okay? Absolutely, bro. Consent's a big thing, bro.

No, if you crush my hand, I'm going to... I'll be gentle, bro. Pleasure to meet you. Yeah, he's like really like delicately... Tornado, right? like really like delicate ornate all right tornado cloud you can also call me cloud people like tornado that's my jousting name I'm a sky jouster me too my my birth name is cloud but most people know me as tornado okay well as you to meet you tornadoes what was I mean are we using disguise names? Or are we going to use... Because Tornado's my real name.

Well, Cloud's my real name, but everyone knows him as Tornado. Sure, let's go with Tornado. I mean, I feel like we've already said... Bro, you've already jumped on Norfear with your actual name. Just so you know, yeah, Fuego, Goliath, and Stream are all here as well. They've heard all this exchange. Yeah, it's blown sky high. I mean, Norfear, where do we stand on these disguises?

And she'll sort of look and say, well, these three, and she points at the three of the safe house. They are new, but they're members of the Seekers and they've been very useful. I think that you are amongst friends here and we can all trust each other, right? And she kind of looks at Fuego and Goliath.

I remember the two of you, actually. You should know what will happen if anything... other right and she kind of looks at fuego and goliath i remember the two of you actually you should know what will happen if anything if you say anything you shouldn't right uh and goliath kind of like glares at norfair but fuego's like it's cool i i remember miss i remember ma'am and he's like yeah you'll kill us or like beat us up and throw us in the river or something scary right you're a scary lady, I get it. He's like, man, I can't believe you're here. He's looking at Tony and he's like, hey, little bro, fire bro.

And he's like, nice to meet you. And he's just like, hell yeah. And so he fist bumps with him. I told you, he's such a moron. He's so happy, it's infectious, I love it. You say the M word one more time, you know what's going to happen. Say it. Damn you, bro's going to happen. Say it. Damn you, brover.

You're a moron. He runs over, he grabs Nova in a headlock, and he begins rubbing the top of her hair to the point where it becomes static, and he begins sculpting it. I hate you so much! Who's the whisp head? I hate you so much! Who's the whisp head? He lets her go so much! Who's the whiz-pad?

And he lets her go. He's like, that's what happens when you call me a moron. I'm learning so much. It's me, you should insult people. How are you in charge of the secrets? This is amazing. Man, did they say that I'm in charge? I keep telling people I'm not in charge.

Norfair, you need to tell people I'm not in charge. People believe in you, Tornado. It's good morale that they think you're a leader. I mean, yeah, we heard of some of your heroic exploits, saving people in the protests. No, I just saw people who needed help. That's it. Hey, I sacrificed my hand to save all your lives on that space station.

What? You've got a hand. Look, we are all on the same page that you're a hero, but you can't discredit. We didn't say you weren't. I'm more of a hero than he is. We never... Ooh, the sibling rivalry is intense right now.

Bro, are you kidding? Like, I heard a little bit from Mom and Dad that you were off, like, saving the world and stuff, man. Brova, you're a mega hero. You're my hero. Oh! I love you! I love you! I love you, too.

He, like, leans you down. He's massive compared to Nova. He's, like... The thing is, is you've seen... You've met Nova's parents. There is... You do not see the genetic... Where did that come from?

Where did that come from? This is, like, a great, great, great... Some freak genetic just came in. And he's definitely... Yeah, I mean, like, yeah. He's not the sharpest tool in the tent, you know? In the tent? In the tent?

What's wrong with my husband? It's hilarious. He's not the sharpest tool in the tent. Somehow a tornado's in him. That's true. I'm down for that. But yeah, he's just like, well, thank you guys so much for coming to help us.

We could really use your help. I don't really know a lot of this strategy stuff. That's what Northview's for, and we've got a lot of smart people in the different safe houses who've been giving me advice and things. But, I mean, I knew that Nova was coming, so I had to come and say hi.

You need to know, everyone in this room Oh, hi Bolt, by the way, hi He just sort of like, nods He's like, hello Nova That's fine, I'm not here for the theatrics I'm here for advice and knowledge Bolt was one of the original members of the Seekers I was the first

I was the first, he's the second Back when we were more concerned with Actual research into Planar magic Rather than all of this politics Well, here's the first. He's the second. Back when we were more concerned with actual research into planar magic rather than all of this politics. Well, here's the thing. Some of that research might come in handy because we've discovered that if they activate those teleportation rings, this entire city's going to implode.

Bro! Tornado is so surprised. He's like, what? Norfear and Bolt do not look surprised. Quill? Exactly that. I had a vision of the statues activating, runestones covering their bodies

and then collapsing in on themselves and the city begins to, it almost teleports, but then it comes back, teleports again, comes back until it all just turns to dust. So, I mean, I don't know with that information. He's like, bro, how did you see this? He's here.

I had a vision. Whoa. Yeah. You can see the future? Potential futures. Whoa. Yeah. Bro.

And it could change. Anyway, anyway. It's like, it just becomes like a dial tone. But anyway, I don't know what we can do with the information there. I don't know what you've potentially learned about what we could do to even begin to stop this. Nor fear, we'll sort of say, there are some things. We'll get to that momentarily.

I'm honestly not that surprised by what you've seen, though. Harmony and Shansara have been rushing this. From everything we've witnessed, they are desperate to make this happen and they want it to happen as soon as possible. I'm not entirely sure why. It's hard to get insight into them. They've been keeping away from a lot of people beyond these concerts and public appearances.

Even I've struggled to infiltrate into this sort of central district. But they are, I knew that they were accelerating their plans massively, and we all know that when you rush things, you make mistakes and things happen. Bolt will say, I have some theories. You should all know as I've earned Tornado and Norfyr's trust I was actually initially helping Shansara

and Harmony back when this all began we thought it was a genuine way of learning new planar magic like the Seekers were initially established to do. We thought that returning to our home plane would be a good thing. But the more that I spent around them, the more that I began to realize that there was more to it than simply knowledge-seeking. There was

ego here involved. It all sounds similar to someone else, actually. What? Who? I'll let you deal with your personal matters later but the fact of the matter is is that I saw many theories and I didn't like what I saw. This magic that they're using is highly experimental. Never before done. Which means that it's untested and therefore dangerous. It shouldn't be tested on an entire city.

Indeed. I don't even know if they've conducted smaller preliminary tests. We don't know how far along they are. We don't know what they've been doing these last few months. But it does not surprise me that if they do activate it, it would be disastrous. I didn't need to gift a foresight to envision that, but it does not surprise me. Fucking all right.

He's definitely like a Barbie guy, like edgy guy. There's two props. Sentry? Why are they so keen to leave? What's the rush? Is something happening? Well, Nova can probably sort of fill in a little bit more, but what I've come to learn in my short time here, the Ganassi have always felt quite separated from Oroes, isolated.

Newer generations are more at home here, but stories have passed through the older generations. There's this nostalgia for what could have been a place that they should have been called home. for what could have been a place that they should have been called home. And I have to hand it to her as another... Somebody who uses manipulation. Shansara is very good at what she does. She immediately, quickly discovered... She capitalised on the fact that music is such an important cultural element here. Performance, theatre, opera, drama.

But also harmony. The leader of this city, they embody many of the desires and wishes of the people here, and nobody is a bigger proponent for this journey home than harmony themselves. Shansara is certainly pushing it and leading it, but harmony has backed her from day one. And people are excited. People want it.

I could not tell you why Harmony and Shansara are so desperate to do this so quickly. That's something I've been trying to figure out. But I can see why it's affected the people here so much and why it's built up into the storm it has become. Harmony, as I mentioned before, Harmony is the leader of the council. They are a rare entity born of all four elements. I've said before that we're not particularly religious,

but they are probably akin to what you would call a god here. They represent the best interests, the best of us, but I guess also the worst of us. They represent unity in all four elements, and if they were on board with this from the word go, that would have had a huge sway in the public opinion. When Nova was saying that, I think Quill might be the only one that picks up on this.

Especially when Nova said, like, harmony is akin to a god. You just see Bolt just, like, softly shake his head and sneer. And you immediately can tell he's just, like, utter garbage. Like, he hates that idea. I mean, that's not necessarily what Nova...

No, no, no. But, like, even just you mentioning it, it's like somebody talking about something that you're just like, oh, for fuck's sake, I hate this. Yeah. Like, it's that kind of thing. He's like rolling his eyes and stuff.

Um, Tornado's just kind of like sitting there listening, like not saying anything, but like trying to listen in and trying to like, you know, get the vibe of everything that's going on. Um, but yeah, Norfeel will say, but you're here now. Uh, and that is a much needed relief. We have a few people here, but we are on the back foot in this city, and we don't have much time left. Hopefully you receive my communication, I think, by tomorrow.

Six days, but it could be more, it could be less. It's hard to say. You did good. Did good to enter the city as you've done, and I've not heard of any major alarm bells or anything like that. There's a bit more of a heightened alert in the city just for strangers in general but I don't think that that's necessarily your fault.

Okay, good to know. Is there a way to... probably not, but... Say, ask. Now's the time for thinking out loud. It's a big thought but is there a way to secretly evacuate citizens, like-minded ones, that... Just in case, just in case we can't stop this in time. No, but the truth is, is that there's really not that many people that are like-minded. It's a handful of the Seekers. That's one of the things that Norfyr and I wanted to talk with you. It's one of our objectives that we're trying to work towards, but I mean, it's mostly kids, students, the occasional laborers and workers, people that don't have

magic powers or high educations. It's kind of regular folks, right? So we don't, North here has been the main person that's been doing a lot of stuff. And then I guess I've been helping a little bit, but we got kids like this guy, and he points at Fuego and stuff like that. But we're limited on actual people who can get stuff done. But now that you're here, we may be able to change that. How close are the festivals? How many days?

As in, like, the big festival that is going to be transported? That's the main thing. North is saying she thinks that tomorrow it'll be about six days oh i see okay yeah uh but are you do you mean like the little concerts and festivals and things like that yeah i guess i was because they pretty much happen every day yeah i was guessing like the time that we were walking around for and saw to get to the brazen pit and all these other places is there like there's probably just a ton of buzz like yeah oh yeah yeah it's like you like, banners were being hung. People were, like, buying outfits and celebrating.

Everybody's talking about it. Like, they can't wait. But they don't know. They know that the plan is to transport Vortensar back to Ganas. They don't know exactly what's going to happen in six days. They just know that a big event is coming. Shansara and Harmony have been teasing this, like, we're going to have big news for you soon and like you should be prepared and like you occasionally

those crystal screens it might just be like seven days you know that kind of stuff like right all the big yeah marketing yeah yeah it really like and like out of character like this is shansara is like marketing genius seo i can't be that because I'm Mark Humes, but like in the fantasy, she is really controlling this in a really clever way. And you can see why it's like built so many people in, but it's because she's also been unopposed. She's not really had anybody really actively pushing against her, right?

And that might change now that you guys are here. So I think that the, also I realized like, is that how much time... I'm trying to keep an eye on, like, times for breaks. Is it break time now? No, we've got, like, 25 minutes? Yeah. 25 minutes, nice, OK.

So, Norfear, you can see she kind of, like, takes off a scroll case that she was kind of carrying on her shoulder and she replaces... She looks at Fuego's map and just, like, Fuego, come on, and throws it to the side. So, hey! And she pulls out a bunch of more detailed maps and just like, Fuego, come on, and throws it to the side. So, hey! And she pulls out a bunch of more detailed maps and documents and images.

She pulls out a couple of the Valkyrian slates, like the little crystal screens. She puts those down and they've kind of got information and images and stuff on them, like pictures, like still illusions of buildings and things like that. So, let's talk about what we can do. We'll have to start tomorrow. I imagine you've had a long day and you'll need to get some rest after this, but we'll need to

start things tomorrow. The Seekers and I, we've established two primary objectives before whatever is going to happen happens. The first one is to find out where these planar transport devices are being built and sabotage them. The second is to influence the city to push back against Shansara and Harmony's ideals. Make them realize that Aroes isn't against them. Make them realize that they don't have to go back to Ganass, that this could be dangerous. Those are our two main objectives. We can talk about how to achieve those, but keep those in mind. Alongside those, there are also three other things achieve those, but keep those in mind. Alongside those,

there are also three other things that we think will help immensely in those. The first is that the Valkyrian army, well, the forces that are supporting Shansari here, are very well equipped. They've got supply houses, warehouses, and those two transport ships you saw. They're keeping everybody supplied, and they're a powerful military force. Some of them I don't think I could take care of. Taking care of those would be a huge help and it would make our future endeavors much easier. The next is to escort. There are a number of students who are currently being held at Atlas Academy. Officially, they are being isolated and quarantined for a potential illness, but we know that they're being kept there

because they stumbled onto some research involving the planar transportation magic. They're not being allowed to leave. The Atlas Academy is very busy and it's very well guarded. We need a team to escort them to one of our safe houses so we can disperse them into the city, get them hidden, hide them away. The last one is a number of the council members went missing. Official sources are suggesting that I assassinated them. I was unfortunate to get caught and a description of me and several of my other disguises have been passed around the city. It's making it harder for me to get my job done, but they're implying that Erosians assassinated

them to try and stop this happening. We believe they're actually just being held somewhere until the city is transported. If we can find those council members, if we can rescue them, that would do a huge blow to this idea that they've been killed by Erosians and would do a lot to counteract Shansara and Harmony's claims. Those are three things that we could do to try and assist the others. But there are going to be many other ways. Just generally influencing the populace, trying to locate these planar devices.

There are lots of different things we can be doing around the city to aid in this. Okay. Okay. Understood. Is there any way that we could navigate the city more freely than we currently are in these disguises, I suppose? We're going to have to stay here, obviously, in the disguises, but... Well, I mean, you can move around the city. You are Ganassi. You can travel anywhere you want to. You just need to be careful of your IDs. I'm guessing that you got given at the gate. They will flag you at certain points.

Now, it's just a piece of leather you're carrying around with you. If you can find clever ways to store them or hide them somewhere and then retrieve them later, you can pretty much go anywhere you need to. My understanding as well is that Rain was going to equip you with a specialist who could help you create disguises and personas if you need to.

I already have. Good. Well, then you might be able to change those and you might be able to use those to find other disguises. You may also, if you can access Valkyrian barracks, if you can make your way into an elite Ganassi's, a wealthy Ganassi's home and find some of their clothing or a disguise that may also help you. You'll be able to acquire things that your tailor, shall we call them, isn't able to provide you. Those will make your disguises a

lot more impressive and give you access to other areas in the city. These sorts of things will take time. This isn't a case of we don't know where these devices are being stored or built or where we can even sabotage them. We don't know where the council members are. We don't know exactly where the students are being held in the Atlas Academy. We don't know which are the best barracks and warehouses for the Valkyrians to hit. So it will involve spending time to research it and maybe performing a few light tasks before you can unlock those opportunities and go on actual missions. Now you can do this individually, in fact I would recommend that you divide your time, you don't need to all do the same things together, and I would also think that

you should work with this safehouse team and she'll gesture to Fuego, Goliath, and Stream. This should be your base of operations, and I'm happy to put you in command and put them at your service. They are skilled enough. They know what they're doing. They're not as powerful as you, but they would be useful, at least in getting some of the legwork done if you need to.

And Stream's a pretty capable medic. She can help look after you and keep your energy topped up as you're doing these things, if you encounter any problems. I would recommend that with the planar devices, we should locate all four of them, and then we all strike in a coordinated attack. We have enough Seekers that if you can find them, and you can take care of at least one, we'll take care of the other three. That way, if we strike one at a time, my fear is that the Valkyrians will reinforce their defenses and make it much harder for us in the future.

We need to hit all four of those devices at the same time. So we need to locate all four, make our preparations, and everything else. You'll also have time in the city to go and make your own preparations. Buy equipment, pay off bribes, make preparations, flashback token mechanic, don't forget you can spend time segments to earn flashback tokens. That's pretty much it. Are you able to pinpoint on the map other safe houses if any of these operations do fail in some way and we need to hide out for a while. Absolutely. We'll give you a detailed list of safe houses in each district. Just keep in mind

that if you are engaged in an encounter, if you end up having to fight guards, you can't go to a safe house. You'll expose it. Or if you do, that safe house is burnt. You won't be able to use it again. We'll have to basically destroy it and make sure our people never go back there but yeah absolutely yeah we'll provide you whatever support we can and assistance that we can think of it as a network of people we have informants we have people that give us information that can perform small tasks for us all of those are at your disposal and ours as well i'll do my best to advise you think of me as a sort of advisor and as a specialist i can't really get out too much into the city at the moment my identity is too compromised ours as well. I'll do my best to advise you. Think of me as a sort of advisor and as a specialist. I can't really get out too much into the city at the moment. My identity is too compromised.

So is Tornado's. We'll be there when you need us for things, big things, but I don't want to risk it until then. Okay. Well, one of us, or a team of us, goes to find new outfits for us to gain better access to the whole town. Perhaps we could find some alternative disguises for you as well that can be made in time. Possible, I've considered that. I could probably have acquired those myself. The difficulty is that the Valkyrians have mages and people who are capable of scrying, seeing through disguises. The safe houses are the only places I'm really safe. If I step outside, even in disguise,

they're keeping a pretty close eye for me and using magic to try and track me. This is why I'm sort of benched for now. But when it comes down to it, for our battle against for the planar devices or any big operations, I'll be there. You can count on that. All right. For the most part,

I'm the only one who has an active kill-on-sight order. Tornado, the other Ganassi, the Valkyrians and Harmony would prefer to capture them. So even if you do get caught, there's a chance that if you're on your own or if you're separated, your companions may be able to rescue you. We may be able to rescue you. I'm the only one who they're quite happy to kill on sight. They do think that I've killed many of their council members, so... I do think it's important as well that we follow the brain.

Oh, no. Follow the brain. I'm becoming like Tornado. I don't know what's going to happen. Hey. Follow the bro. Just feel it, bro. You think too hard, that's the bro. Just feel it, bro.

You think too hard, that's the problem. You just got to let it come. Get out of my head! We need to be careful about injuring and killing Ganassi. If it's seen that Erotians kill Ganassi, especially if it's civilians through, I don't know, collateral damage or things like that, that's going to tank our cause. No one's going to listen to us.

That's true. I definitely recommend using non-lethal methods wherever you can. Obviously, some magic cannot be done in such a way. But if you have to, fight. Killing, especially civilians, absolutely. But the soldiers, Valkyrian or Ganassi, I mean, it's part of their job and it will happen. I can't promise you that you might not be put into a situation

where you might have to choose life or death. But if you can avoid killing them, if you can knock them out, render them unconscious, disable them in any way, that's preferred. I know very few of you are particularly skilled in stealthy arts. But stealth is not the only option. Deception, trickery, those things I think you can do, even if you can't be quiet.

That's actually Mark having a really dry throat. That's not Norfolk. But do your best. There are other ways. Many of you are talented at talking and speaking, and that will have its uses as well. Influence in the city is not a quick task. It will need to be something that we constantly work out.

Go out, meet people, make connections, give speeches, rally against this kind of idea that's being presented. give speeches, rally against this kind of idea that's being presented. For the more violent, breaking screens and intimidating propaganda artists and things like that is an also apt way of making that sort of influence in the city. There'll be many ways that you can do these kinds of things. If you have any questions, I'm here to help. If you have any questions, I'm here to help. I can help as much as I can, but I'm not, you know, I'm the first to admit it. I'm not the brains of this operation.

I don't want to be in charge. I'm just a guy who thought he was doing the right thing, and now suddenly everybody's saying that I'm in charge. That's what we do. Hey, you know in... Seems to be okay so far. You know in Skyjousting, how important the mascot is. Oh man, am I a mascot?

I was at least hoping that I was like, I don't know, like the Herald or something. But yeah, sure, it's good for morale. I get it. We need the mascot. And there's no ego. I'm not in this for this. I just want to help people, you know, bro?

When did you get back into Vortenstahl? We've been looking for you. Mum is worried sick. I already spoke to Mum. How? I sent her a letter when I first got back in the city. Just before she came to the place. She said she was going to the Sky Place.

She didn't mention that. Did she? I don't know. Anyway, she's worried. When did you... Why? What? How... I came back for a match. And then that's... I was here for a Joust match. And that's when I saw these... the students at your school. They were in trouble. They were like... the people were beating them up. And so I jumped in to help. And then they told me about this club that you set up or something.

Or a bunch of people set up me I set it up it was all me me and Bolt nice good job and my club

yeah and then they just needed you know they were all like scrawny nerdy kinds like Nova oh my gosh so they needed a guy

who could protect them so I started protecting them and then people just started I don't know hearing about it I guess well it's a great thing thanks bro that you are the leader thanks bro the figureheads and then people just started, I don't know, hearing about it, I guess. Well, it's a great thing. Thanks, bro. That you are the leader.

Thanks, bro. The figurehead, shall we say. Sure, I'll take it. Do you even know anything about Planar Magic? Nope. Don't know anything about magic, bro. Technically, then, on the Charter, you shouldn't be in the Seekers.

Okay. I mean, I'm still going to help people. It's my club! It's my club! Are you okay, Brova? Are you okay? I feel like you're mad at me. I only know about it because I got flown into space by accident once. Do I still get to be in the club? Fine. I imagine Bolt just in the corner.

I think we can all agree that we all want to save Vortenstar Fine. I imagine Bolt just in the corner. That's a valid reason. I think we can all agree that we all want to save Vortensar from complete doom. So I think Tornado is very much on Bolt's end. I'll write an addendum into the charter that in times of severe emergency, when the greater good of Vortensar is in danger, anyone can join.

Do they get kicked out again when it's over? I will take it into consideration. Quite frankly, Nova, if you're worrying about the charter of this little club we started in school, I don't think now's really the time. The city's in danger. It's not a little club, Bob. It's not a little club at all. And notice you're still wearing the badge? Yes. Good.

But if your major concern is badges and charters, I think your intentions are misplaced. This one's fun. I like this guy. Nova looks like they're about to go on a big old ramp. He's kind of grumpy, but he's pretty smart. Oh, yeah, no. Smarry pants.

We're making you more fun, though. Much more fun. Still smart, but fun. That was me being fun, by Much more fun Still smart That was me being fun by the way But fun That was me being fun Trust me I have a lot of things in my head About the seriousness of our situation

And you know We've been through a lot Since I've been out Thank you very much But I'm trying to Put that aside with humour Oh I don't really get jokes

No I know I know He doesn't look fazed He doesn't seem fazed That you're angry He's just sort of like Oh I don't know I should limit it a little bit Brova I know. I know. He doesn't look fazed. He doesn't seem fazed that you're angry. He's just sort of like, oh. Do his shades glint a little bit?

Brova! You're more fun! Great. I think. Fuego will basically be, so we work for these guys now? Yes, you work for these guys, Fuego. Okay.

Sure. We had you go in there for a minute that we were just some weirdos without any plan or anyone you are weirdos yeah and you didn't have a plan until no one nanny what what you call a nanny that's kind of weird like a kink thing, you should know about that. No. No, I'm like 15. Oh, oh.

Man, big. Yeah. Okay. Well, I feed you in the... Wait, you're in disguise. Are you even Ganassi? You're not a... I know you're...

So, none of you Ganassi? No. I am. You are? Yeah, it figures you're not. No. What? Yeah, you're not.

No. No, you don't... You're too, like... Guilty. Yeah. I'm going're not. No. What? Yeah, you're not. No. No, you don't. You're too, like... Guilty. Yeah. I'm going to bear elf. Sky elf. Yes.

You're like an orc or something, right? Yeah. Sure. Nice. I love orcs. They're cool. You're a bird man. You know what I am, yeah.

What are you? Your worst nightmare. Oh, whoa. Cool. I'm going to guess. You'd never guess. No, I probably... He starts thinking. Hey, whoa. Cool. I'm gonna guess. You'd never guess. No, I probably... He starts thinking.

Hey, listen to this. And I'll, like, knock on your shoulder. Dong, dong, dong. Wait, that could be armor. You're really tall. Oh, I'm gonna have to think. Who's tall?

Goliath? No. Mm, Goliath.'s tall? Goliath? No. Mm, Goliath. You're a Goliath. No. Damn. Wait. Same letter, though.

Okay, I'll figure that out later, but yeah, well, I guess Mikasa, Sukasa, this is your safe house now. Me and Goliath are on the squad. We can do stuff. All right. Okay. We can do stuff.

We've got six days as of tomorrow. So I think we need to get down to it. We need to spend tonight formulating who's going to go where and do what. Right, Nova? Does anyone feel like six days is not enough? I would recommend you sleep. You will need to sleep at some point. Oh, we will.

I've got a really tight chest. How can we sleep when I've got a really tight chest? I have interest. Have we got any herbal teas or anything like that? It's a lot. It's a lot. It's a lot. It's like,

I can, yeah, I can bring some nice tea. Sure, yeah, I'll get some tea. Cedric, could you,

as morale officer, you know how to, you're really good with Nova. And there's not very many of us and we have to be disguised and we don't have to. It's just the whole thing. I just know that.

He just wraps my arms around Nova and just like. And then Tornado comes over and he wraps his arm around Nova and engulfs from the other side. It's okay, bro. We're all here, bro. I'm so glad you've got friends like this. Ayla will just go up and play with the hair that he really messed up.

No. Into a point. It's like a point at this point. Like, my hekin. Yeah. Shh. Shh. You know what, yeah, it's like a point at this point. Like, Mohican. Yeah. Shh. Shh. Are you not wise, Tornado?

Shh. Six A's. I guess, like, okay, so, bro, when you joust, right? Oh, no. You can't be thinking about what's going on in the crowd or what Cindy's thinking about you right now. You've got to just focus on the shield and the helm in the crowd or what Cindy's thinking about you right now. You've gotta just focus on the shield

and the helm of the other knight. And you focus in because that's what matters, bro. In that moment, that one strike, all of this doesn't matter. You got a job to do, bro. God, he's so inspiring. Third place. He's not wrong third place. What do you with that place? Hey, I was third place, but you'd weren't there for my last one, bro. I was champion I was saving the world the sword competition, but it was close See bro, you'd be no, so this is like nothing. Bolt is like, what?

When he hears that. I've been beyond the cradle. I have tons of research to give you, Bolt. He seems to believe you and is stunned to silence. Like he's genuinely taken back. Let me give you a data pad. Spoiler. We'll do that.

It sucks up there. It's great up there. Tom, I'm pretty sure you were about to ask me an OC mechanics question. I was. Oh, here we go. Let's do that. It was a question. It's not exciting.

No, but it's going to be important. So the four quadrants of time that we have, is long rest going to be one of those quadrants, or is that like a free thing? Yes, long rest is one of those quadrants. I mean, you can not long rest, but then you'll be doing things like gaining exhaustion and stuff like that. So we're basically going to be operating on three out of four quadrants a day.

Yes, but that time can be split up individually. Like you can split the party and you can go and do things separately. I will also tell you that you can also Goliath and fuego you can use them they have their own time segments time units we're gonna call them okay you can use them as well and things like tasks might not take that much it's just that they'll need to be you know you need to decide how much time you want to spend. The more time you spend on stuff, the easier it will be. But also, there's lots of different things you can do, right? So I am going to assume that you are going to sleep and long rest tonight

or you want to push through now? Save it and... Yeah, I think we're going to make plans and then, yeah. Yeah, you can make plans. That's fine. So I'm going to mark off. That is now yeah, Yeah, we'll need to make plans. Yeah, you can make plans, that's fine. Right, so I'm gonna mark off. That is now a complete day. You have finished one full day. We jump into the next day, and the countdown is now six days.

But we got into the city, which is quite miraculous for us. You met my bro. You are in the city. I won't tell you what your incognito score is, but as far as you know, you are not in any danger. I feel like it might have lowered because of us all going one by one into this place, but possibly.

Possibly. It was 21 before, whatever that means. So I guess before we kind of make plans and wrap up, like as I guess... Before we take a break, yeah. Yeah, I imagine it's like we start to kind of maybe devolve into little think groups and all that.

Yeah, like, this is definitely like, yeah, it kind of, like, winds down either think groups or, like, little conversations if you want to have conversations and stuff as well. Absolutely. I think, like, I'll just, like,

you know, get Tornado into a corner and be like... Yeah, he comes over. What's up, bro? Mum misses you. I miss her too. I miss Dad. Dad misses you.

I miss her more. Aurora misses you. I know. I'd love to see him. I'd love to have gone with him to that Sky Place and stuff, bro, but people need me here. Look. I'm really around you.

What? I genuinely can't hear you. I said I'm really around you. I mean, I'm not trying to be... I can't hear you. I said I'm really proud of you. Thanks, bro. I'm proud of you too. And he just, like, picks you up. I'm not trying to be, I can't hear you. I said I'm really proud of you. Thanks, bro. I'm proud of you, too.

And he just, like, picks you up. I'm happy you're safe. Mom gave me this to give to you. And I take out a bundle that's wrapped up and pass it to him. Nope. Opens it. It's a scarf. Knitted in all the colors.

Puts it straight on. Throws it over his shoulder. Is it the same as Nova's a scarf. Knitted in all the colors. Puts it straight on. Throws it over his shoulder. Is it the same as Nova's? Yeah. Oh. Fucking nice, bro. Fucking nice. Fucking nice, bro.

He doesn't say fucking. Yeah, yeah. He goes, nice, bro. Nice scarf, bro. She says it's to keep you safe and warm. Like, I did. It did me. It's cute.

I love it. Thanks, bro. Little sis bro. Brova. Sis. I don't know. You've got a beard. It's weird. I know. It's like really, I can't. Can you not Wait. Are you a bro bro? Like bro. Oh, bro.

I am bro. Bro! How can you concentrate with this thing just wobbling around? It's pretty tough, man. That's why I had it removed. Can you not grow? Why are you here? Can you not grow? I'm like, Dad, it comes really patchy.

I get rid of it. It looks lame. Does it look good on me? It looks good on you, but you don't look like you, you know? You look like a guy, like a random dude. That's the idea. Yeah, so it doesn't look like you. So it looks good on the guy you're pretending to be, bro.

Okay. Right. But it looks good, bro. Thanks, bro. Nice, bro. Nice. It's infectious. I love this guy.

Yeah. I love him. It's Tornado. Yeah. He's amazing. He's so good. I fucking hate you, Tornado. I was prepping today

and as I was doing a lot of stuff, I was like, can't wait for tonight. He literally messaged me going, I cannot wait for you to meet Tornado. And I was prepping today, and as I was doing a lot of stuff, I was like, can't wait for tonight. He literally messaged me going, I cannot wait for you to meet Tornado. And I was like, I'm going to take some painkillers just to preempt this. In my head, 100% Disney's Hercules. It's the style of the adult Hercules.

It's like, that's it. See, I've just been thinking about that big turtle from Finding Nemo. Yeah, that checks out. The California. Ride the wave, that checks out the voice. Ride the wave, bro. Ride the wave, bro. There was one thing that if anybody

pointed out him crying or made a big deal out of him crying, he was going to be like, nothing more manly than being in touch with your emotions, bro. Such an inspiration to us all. Hell yeah, bro. I'm allergic to jerks. He's such an inspiration to us all hell yeah bro I'm allergic to jerks he's such an open

hearted oh bro he's a himbo I hate him this is like I've increased the himbo gaze it's at 11 right now

it's like 12 but yeah I love him I hate him so splitting off into different teams and stuff like that is there anything

before we go on break is there anything you want to ask is there anything go on break, is there anything you want to ask? Is there anything you want to clarify? Is there anything you want to do? You can take a long rest if you want to take it on sheets. Or are we going to do the big plan? When we get back. So, this is like, you don't need to make, like, one big plan.

Like, one quarter. Like, yeah, this is going to be, we're going to take each day. I'm going to ask you how you're spending your days. Like, you can figure it all out. And I'll go back over, like, if you you're like remind me what are the objectives or remind you what the projects are stuff first you don't have to i mean you know what you can work towards so um and then when you start working on one i'll reveal exactly how these things are going to work uh the general concept is you have to spend time to discover an opportunity, then you will do a sort of,

like you'll use your skills to unlock that opportunity as an actual like mission that you can go on. Right. And then that mission will be like normal D&D, like with us like, you know, doing all the normal stuff, right? Might not necessarily be a combat, but it will just be like a normal kind of play session, right? This is rad.

The unlocking, it's going to be a bit more abstract, and that's where it'll be more like a skill challenge where i'll be like yeah well you're going to go around you're going to talk to people make a skill check but it's representing lots of things but like you can use creative ways of doing it because i know like ayla mainly has like athletics and like strength based and like hitting stuff but there might be a creative way of using that to do more kind of mission-y stuff, right? In those kind of skill challenges. Breaking open jail cells. Yeah, like, absolutely. Or, like, carrying stuff.

Or, like, using survival to, like, follow some dude and, like, do, like, a surveillance kind of thing or something like that, right? Follow mission. So, definitely. Well, that would be just a skill check. That wouldn't be, like, an actual mission mission. The walking animation is a bit slower than you're writing. And then they stop. And then they just keep, like, running off. just a skill check that won't be like an actual mission mission the walking animation is a bit slower than your ride and then they stop

and then they just keep like running off for you guys benefit obviously this is D&D and things have consequences when you do these

skill challenges you go on these events if you guys fuck up if you roll bad if you make mistakes when when

yeah it will probably cost you in some sort of resource, and those resources will be your incognito score, your time units, so you might have to spend more time to do something than you were expecting because you fucked up. It might also cost you hit dice,

and if you run out of hit dice, you begin getting exhaustion levels. Okay. Right? So rather than me doing like hit dice, I know, it's because it's a massively underused mechanic. Rather than,

because it wouldn't make sense that like, oh, like we're abstracting Quill following a guy through the streets, right? It doesn't make sense for me to do damage to him in terms of normal hit points. But I could be like, well, lose four hit dice to represent you being tired and like having to run around

and like pushing yourself to do it, right? So that's the idea behind that. I like that. And then there's also a thing with Stream, hit dice to represent you being tired and like having to run around and like pushing yourself to do it right so that's the idea behind that I like that and then there's also a thing with stream who is a medic

she can replenish a certain amount of hit dice but it's limited and it has to be spread amongst the whole team oh it's a pool

yeah and then you also have your two scrubs you and your bloody I love mechanics man I love mechanics

I love it like if I just wanted to if we just wanted to tell a story, we wouldn't play D&D. We would just make a story out together. So I like mechanics and I like rules. Yeah. I love them.

And yeah, Cold Smoke Street, Safe House, is your base of operations. Cool. It's yours. It's secure. Do what you want. It's in a good location. Unless you fuck up.

Unless we burn it. It gets busted. It gets busted. For those of you as well, Fuego and Goliath, if you do go on like a normal D&D mission, like an encounter, you can take them with you. And they have sidekick stats that you can actually add to your extras tab.

And I'll have you guys run them. I'm not going to run them. You guys have to remember them. You've got an initiative forum and all that kind of stuff. But if you go into your extras, and then you go to add a new thing, and then it's sidekicks or something like that, you should be able to search for them. Oh, I see them.

Yeah, so it should be Fuego and Goliath in there. Oh, not bad. Yeah, they're equivalent to a level seven-ish character. Yeah. And they've got unique skills and things like that. Goliath is basically just a bruiser. He's really good at fighting, and that's pretty much what he's good at, being strong.

Fuego's more like a rogue. He's like an expert. He can do a bunch of different stuff. Okay. All right. Cool. We'll sort that out in the back. Yeah, that's something to have a look at.

And again, we can always check back in and catch up on it. Yeah. I made a to-do list. Good. Very good. See? That's OC. Ayla can't make a to-do list, but Katie can.

Atlas Nerds is the top one. The last one is Break Shit. Okay, so it is Ayla's to-do list. I thought it was Katie. I mean, it is. It's on a nice to-do list format. Atlas Nerds, locate devices, find counsel, influence normies, and break shit. And then I wrote Fuego Goliath and Stream next to it, just so you remember.

I'm proud of you, Ailers. So with the influencing the city one, all of the other ones, you basically need to complete missions to earn points to complete them, right? The influence the city one doesn't have a completion amount. It's just the more points you get,

the more the city is influenced. All these sub-objectives. Yeah. Yeah, and it means that, like, you know, if you have that final push, if you have a high influence with the city, they're going to rally behind you. If you have a low influence with the city, they're going to be like, no, we don't want you. We want to go with them.

So that's the thing to keep in mind. So in terms of priority, that might be one to just keep in the back of your mind as, like, you know, if you've got time, work towards, you know, pushing that. Smash a camera. Yeah. Or speaking to people or, you know. Smash a camera. Putting on a concert.

You could be like, we're going to start a band and do our own music concert. Oh, it could be Fuego's like punk band. Yeah, he's not a singer. Well, most punk singers aren't singers. That's true. He's not a good performer. Can we get my alchemical romance you maybe could

when I was young boy with that though that dawn of the first day six days remain six days remain that's going to be

the end of part one you know the sound effect we're thinking of here on High Rollers take care we'll see you for part two goodbye Majora's Mask

Majora's Mask. Goodbye. Majora's Mask. Thank you.