High Rollers DnD - High Rollers: Aerois #173 | Wolflions in the Night (Part 2)

Episode Date: February 9, 2023

The Wolflion approaches in the night and threatens to devour everyone in Aelseraph! Support the High Rollers and get early access to podcast episodes and more on our Patreon: www.patreon.com/HighRollers Grab some High Rollers merch: https://freshmerch.fm/collections/high-rollers Music courtesy of Epidemic Sound & TCT Adventures (Solasta: Crown of the Magisters) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hello everybody, welcome to part two of Erois. You find the heroes, the champions of Erois are currently in the Borafolk town or village of Starwatch Rise on the continent of Alcerath, where they are enjoying a festival before their big hunt to take care of the great beast of Italicus. Fuck you call me? What did you call me? Great hunt. Very good.

Is that great hunt or great hunt? Okay. What? Great hunt. Okay. I think it's not great hunt. No, it was not that. Behave yourself, Thomas. I don't know why I- Let the man finish not great. You turnt. No, it was not that. Behave yourself, Thomas.

I don't know why... Let the man finish his intro. Finish the intro. I put Sonic in this. I know. You repay me. Sonic homing dashed me. He did.

That's what it's for. In the new games, the fact that you know that the term for that is annoying. It's not homing. That's been in there since Sonic Adventure 1, bruh.

Yeah, Sonic Adventure 1 is like the new generation. Not a dream cast. Yeah, there's new, listen, Mega Drive, Sonic the Comic,

the original cartoons, that's the OG. Okay. I was an OG Sonic fan. Anything beyond Knuckles for me is... Can we play Dungeons and Dragons,

please? No. No. This is now a Sonic the Hedgehog podcast. That's how it ends. Yes! Finally!

I told you we were going to get cancelled this year. Have we done a Sonic the Hedgehog tabletop role-playing game yet? If we didn't have a... Where you could be like animals. We could have been the Dash Hogs. We could be the Dash Hogs, yeah. The Dash Hogs. Why haven't I done a Sonic video?

I want to be Amy Rose. No, but like, you could make your own. Oh, we did Root. We did Root. You could use Root. We re-skinned. We could do a Root re-skinned as a Sonic. Oh my God, that's genius.

Yeah. You need to approach the creators of Root. Well, Boot Street Spears by Sonic the Hedgehog. Best theme song. If you don't go to YouTube. Sonic Underground goes pretty hard. No, it's not as good as that one. Oh, their mother will be found.

It's weird, though. Sonic Underground was weird. Anyway. It it's not as good as that one. Oh, their mother will be found. It's weird, though. Sonic Underground was weird. Anyway. It is weird. Anyway. Eros. You're in the first one. You've just had a chat with the wild elves.

Yeah, we know the plan. You picked up some vegetables. Do we have to carry all our vegetables up back to the absolute burrows? I have one parsnip. That's all I got. And you gave it to me. Yeah. All my other stuff got trampled and stolen instantly.

If we all donate a little bit of veg to Quill. I don't need much. Does that give him like a half of- Can I have some of my gummy veg? Listen, that's not really how it's meant to work, but maybe if you all do a big group meal, then maybe he can have bits of pieces of- Seed for you, only seed.

You told us there's a specific amount. You can't have much anyway. There was, I was picking out vegetables from the ground, but there was other stuff in that ground good eating yeah he's already killed he's like what about me guys i'm not exhausted from the war little little buggies and worms oh yeah god so many this is very fertile soil yeah yeah yeah yeah alzara pill bugs they are huge god oh quite anyway it tastes like chicken no it doesn't it tastes like pill book quill would like eat himself and be like why do i taste like pill book

why does everything taste like pill bug? Anyway. But yeah, you guys can make your way back up. It's probably kind of like, not sundown, but like it's getting into that late afternoon kind of period, right? As you guys are making your way up back into the sort of main town area, two young twin borough folks, a boy and a girl, but they're almost identical, like identical twins, just slightly dressed differently, wearing kind of that cottage corey, like the girl's got one of those like big kind of like

pinafore kind of dresses kind of thing. The boy's kind of got like a pair of like pants with the suspenders, kind of little shorts. And they sort of like have been, and they've kind of, it's been obvious that they're like nervous to come and approach you, but eventually they sort of encourage each other and they approach and they're like excuse me excuse me travelers sort of like hello hi hi hi um uh do you have anything that makes lots of noise or lots of light um because there's this evil spirit that might come around later,

and we don't have anything. Lucius takes his sword out. Both of them are looking at it like, whoa. This is like the noisiest thing I've got. No, no, no, no, Lucius, no, no, that won't do. What's wrong with this? We've been given stuff. It's like a command, right?

So you hold the shaft. Don't hold the pointy end. No the shaft, don't hold the pointer. No, don't give that to them. Why not? There's a whole thing. You want something noisy. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. It makes lots of noise.

Check this out. Hello! And I summon Captain's Command. You use the voice projection thing. Hello, hello, hello, hello! Just like echoes through the valley. Everybody in the village like jumps. You hear like plates smash.

It's like big shit's rolling. The guy pushing the pumpkin up the hill. Oh God! Do it! Do it! Do it! Indiana Jones, like it scares the quack out of everybody. The little, like they like cover their, because keep in mind these are all burrow folk. They have rabbit ears.

They're all ears. They're all bleeding. And like they cover like, crunches their ears. And they sort, like, they, like, cover their, because keep in mind, these are all barf folk. They have rabbit ears. They're all ears. They're all bleeding. And, like, they cover, like, conches their ears. And they sort of, like, ah, ah. And they kind of, like, rub their ears for a bit. And then the boy's like, wow, that was so loud. There you go. No, Lucius, don't be.

And not the sword. You can't have that. There's not enough time for them to attune to it. You do see the girl is like, do drop. Mum, you know what? You're not allowed to have a sword. Mum and Dad said you're not allowed to have it. He do see the girl is like, "'Dude, drop, mom, you know what they, "'you're not allowed to have a sword. "'Mom and dad said you're not allowed to have it. "'He's not allowed to have a sword.'

"'He's like, shut up!' And like, he kind of like shoves the other one. Parents are lame. Really, I don't wanna give them a little sword. My parents aren't lame. They just think that I'm, they just think I'm too little. You should be happy you have any. Oh, God. They just like I'm too little. You should be happy you have any. Oh, God.

Give me that sword! He's a bit out of sorts. I think it's because... The little girl is nearly on the verge of tears. She's about to cry. The little boy's like, You made her cry! He kicks just a bit low. And the little boy's like, I'm sorry, I've been through it. You made her cry!

I'm sorry. Have the sword, then. He kicks Lucius in the shins. Ow! You take two points of damage. Ow! That's quite cute. You're horrible!

And then they run off. Whoa, whoa, whoa! Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no! Oh, that was bad. Do you have anything? I don't have anything that makes noise. They're gone, they're gone. We've given them a little drama.

I mean, they're running away. It's not like they're immediately. They're gone. Wait, here! Can I take one of the little things? Like, don't worry, I'll call them back. No, I just wanna, I just wanna. You want me to light the cooler?

One of the things that make noise and just make noise. We were given little toys, weren't we? We were given things to hand out by Mama. I know you asked if you could have some, but I don't know if you actually went and got them. I thought Mama gave them to us. I mean, she said that she could give you some, yeah. Did she? Did she? You didn't go and ask her for them. Okay, well gave them to us. I mean, she said that she could give you some, yeah. Did she?

You didn't go and ask her for them. Okay, well, we don't have them then. I was going to give them hand pipes. Oh. Yeah, that was the plan, yeah. I've had these for ages. Also, you were there when Mama told us how to act when the children, we were...

You've been around children before, right? Like Valor and... Yeah, but we did give her a knife. We did give her daggers, too. Yeah, we gave her a lot of knives, actually. I'm the kid. Maybe just a bit more gentle. Maybe not screaming loud and short.

He is. He's three. This three-year-old is better behaved. I mean, the sword thing really wasn't the issue. It was the, at least, like screaming at these kids, at least you have some, give me that sword. I think that was more the point where they kind of made the kids upset. And then when the little girl was crying,

her brother was like, you asshole. You're a jerk. I'm a jerk. Maybe a little more patience next time. Yeah, perhaps. I don't think any. Maybe a little more patience next time. Yeah. Perhaps. I don't think any of the children are speaking to us after that. Yeah, also everyone heard you shouting hello

across the entire... So we've done our job then. Well, the pumpkin's still rolling down there. How big are the pumpkins, like in terms of feet? The biggest ones are about 10 feet tall, and then they kind of like go down in size, like there's a couple that are like eight nine Yeah, the biggest there's two ones and it's like they're trying to like measure to see who's exactly as bigger and it's not quite clear

And there's a one of them just smashed against the wall There's probably like an eight foot one that they were like trying to push up and that's now smashed on the ground through the house We just cleaned smashed on the ground. That went through the house we just cleaned. Oh no. And are they trying to get up to the village? I mean, yeah, the big ones, they had no way of getting up.

Like the freaking birds all over again. Whenever you take one thing that I've done wrong, and then times it by a million. It's like The Simpsons when Barton's like, I only assumed it was when Tom said, Tom come up with the idea of the pumpkin being smashed. I didn't have that initially, and then he said it. And it rolled over several children.

Yeah. Now they don't have parents. Yeah, yeah. Parents don't have kids. I miss your parents. You're now just like them. Slept like them. With them mangled.

Like Auberu and Uncle in Star Wars. Oh my god. Yeah. It's all mangled. Like all Beru and all Chloe and Star Wars. Oh my god. Yeah. But that doesn't happen. Could've. Are we up towards the village? Yeah, you're up in the village.

Should we go to the pumpkin? I can probably sort this, actually. I think I can do something. Okay. I'm I can do something. Okay. I'm starting to remember something. Stand back, might not work. And I'm gonna stand on the top of the village, I guess, and look down at the pumpkin field.

I'm gonna shoot this shield out. Okay. And then Nova just focuses real hard. If this is using the shield, remember that that isn't Nova's magic. That's an enchantment that's been built. She's still focusing real hard? Fine, just saying.

Are you gonna poop? Why do you look like you're gonna poop? I can't get it. Okay. The front of the shield, which has been designed to look like the original Tiangongshan shield, the front of the shield almost seems to create,

you almost see like an image on the front of it, like a doorway opening. And then, yeah, you see the familiar kind of shape of that portal that Nova used to be able to create in the past. And then another one. And you can see a couple of the very confused Borafoak farmers like, the familiar kind of shape of that portal that Nova used to be able to create in the past. Yep. And then another one. And you can see a couple of the very confused Borafoak farmers, like,

they kind of jump when they see this big, swirling kind of, like, portal appear. But how big is the portal? Ten foot in diameter. Nice, okay. So, yeah, like, this giant sort of ten-foot portal appears, and they're all like, and then they're, like, peering through it, and then they're looking out the other side. So if you're looking at it from Nova's point, where Nova is, these barfrags are almost like a window.

They're like, hello? What sort of sorcery is this? Aayla, I can cast Arcane Gate again. I genuinely thought you were just going to shake yourself. Technically, the shield that casts Arcane Gate again. I genuinely thought you were just gonna shake yourself. Technically, the shield that casts Arcane Gate, it's not actually Nubra, just... Nubra's not listening! It's technically Azaria put that. Nubra's just vibrating with like...

You need to calm down. But I'm very proud of you! Traveler, is this your doing? Yes, yes! Oh, okay. Yep. Hello! It's okay! I'm glad you can you. Traveler, is this your doing? Yes, yes. Oh, okay. Yeah. Hello! It's okay. I'm glad you can use that spell again,

but what's the plan? This is the happiest you've seen over in a couple of days, by the way. What do, purpose? Yeah, what are we doing with the gate? Are we putting the pumpkins through it? Oh, the pumpkins through it. Okay, they can get the big ones up here.

Okay, I'll go through the portal. When you step through, they're like, just like a doorway. It's a doorway, but also we could take the really big pumpkins and put them up there. The pumpkins can go through? Yeah. How big is the gate?

10 foot. 10 foot. Oh, perfect. If you could hurry, I can only hold this for 10 minutes. Okay, but it's safe to take our pumpkins through? Yes. Okay. She says yes, it's hers, it's safe to take our pumpkins through? Yes Okay She says yes, it's hers, it's her doing Okay

I don't want to take responsibility for the pumpkin, it's loads Bring it through Bring it through, bring it through I'll, I'll If you help, if you help them, they can move it, yeah But you can't really roll it, like, they have to pick it up Yeah Because you can see that, like, when they pick it up, it almost kind of gently sags

Like, you know, this is a big pumpkin Big boy You know, it's, like, trying to hold it up But with your help, you can kind of like and like there's probably like four or five burly borough folk men and women sort of all helping you carry this thing through and then they go and get the next one um and they bring it through and then they get into the main sort of square of the village and there's big cheers kind of everyone's like oh yeah and they start like look into it um and then they build it and you can see that like large

fire pits have been sort of created and uh they get the pumpkins down and then you see a bunch of um other borough folk like uh you know people who have got like skills as cooks and things like that they come in and they start actually carving the top of this giant pumpkin off and then they start getting in and scooping all the inside in and out and it looks like they're going to basically put this on the fire and use the pumpkin itself as like a big massive stew pot basically put all the veggies and stuff in it um they begin preparing it like that yeah hell yeah I contributed well done there that's great yeah the farmers like when you the portal like as soon as they realize it like you can keep it up for 10 minutes, right? Like, all of the Borafolk are fascinated by it,

and they take, like, they're like, can I, and they, like, they have, like, yeah, they basically play around with the portal, and, like, maybe a couple of the kids, maybe once Lucius has moved away, the two that you had scared off, like, they nervously, because, like, everybody wants to,

everyone wants to have a go at the magic door and so like everybody's like i'm in them and then they look up and they can like see their friends and they wave from down below it becomes like a bit of a like little fun game that everyone plays for like 10 minutes but they like jump through um and they have a lovely time um obviously not used to this level of magic like you know magic they seem to be at least somewhat familiar with but not this they've never seen this kind of magic before so they're just like they're having a while they're just having the best time like one person is like comes over and he's like reckon if i throw a ball throw it down there do you reckon i can run out of the doorway and catch it before it lands

that guy is thinking with portals yeah yeah they turn it into a game where like he throws a ball and then he sends like a young lad who runs through it and being Borafo, they speed across the field and he jumps 10 feet up in the air and catches the ball before it lands and there's a big cheer and everyone claps. I think for Nova as well, seeing them all just so happy and laughing and stuff, it really helps her. I've used my magic in a really positive,

this spell that I've lost and I've now got back, and I'm just using magic in a really positive way. It's like, oh, yeah. If you love that spell, you'll love this. Vitriolic Sphere. Prism. Prismatic Spray. You said that in the Lucius voice,

so I'm gonna make stuff, I'm gonna, I don't know. Cannon. Prismatic Spray. Prismatic Spray. Kind of cold. You said that in the Lucius voice, so I'm going to make... Canon. Charismatic spray. Charismatic spray. Kind of cold. I wish Bunnyfolk didn't exist. Yep, could certainly do that. You've got to re-publish something here, bud.

Oh, man. Like, the part, the cruel DM part of me is like, okay, you wish that Bunnyfolk didnak didn't exist from this point onwards or is that for all time Borafoak never existed? Because if Borafoak never existed, you never would have met Santa, who I'm pretty sure

helped save some of your lives, at which point would you no longer exist? And then if you were dead, you wouldn't be able to use the wish spell. I look at a portrait of myself. Fade away.

You're going back to the future. Hold on. Hand goes transparent. Whoa. Fade away. Back to the future. Oh, Tom! Hand goes transparent. Whoa! No! Anyway, yeah, it's like this fun, for ten minutes, like, the portals become the main attraction as everyone sort of has a go. Everyone kind of quickly forgets about anything else. You see, you only caught one of their names, saw the two twins you saw doodop uh do drop uh was one of their names and uh they kind of come and have a go although they're still very nervous about lucius they want to go look i'm sorry i i had an outburst now i shouldn't have

been that way adults should be more responsible jerk i was a jerk it was it's because he's very scared he's heard that there's a monster creeping around. No, don't. There's a monster. And he's... That definitely, they're like, okay. And they sort of like, oh, yeah, yeah, that makes sense. Yeah, I'd be... And the girl's like, I'm not scared. And the boy's like, yeah, we're not scared. Oh, you're not scared.

I mean, we were hoping that someone might be able to save us from these monsters. Well, that's why we wanted something that makes light and sound, because that's the only way to make the spirit go away is you need lots of bright light and sound so that's but we don't we don't have anything ever all the other adults have given it all of all their things away century you said you had something for brave little warriors like these for the bravest warriors but this is a staff of frost. But yeah, they kind of look over at Sentry. I do, but before I give it away,

I have a riddle that you must solve before I can give it to the bravest warriors. Yeah, yeah, yeah. This is part of the game, right? It's impossible. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, yeah, we're pretty smart. Fox Club's the smart one. She'll get it.

Oh, I'm sure you are. Okay, how about this? I stalk the earth. I rule the sky. Feathers and fur make my hide. What am I? Me. You stalk the earth and you rule the sky.

Feathers and fur... They don't know. They don't know. Mark don't know they don't know Mark doesn't know actually actually I'll roll I'll make some checks what is

so for one of them what is the answer Griffin Griffin okay so the girl Fox Club is just like well okay and starts going through like,

well, it can't be any bird because they don't have fur. What has fur and feathers? I'm like standing far back like, it's Griffin. It's Griffin. It's Griffin. Come on, it's Griffin. Griffin. And she starts listing things.

It's like, oh, whatever, and blah blah blah, goes through a bunch of different things. And then eventually she's like, Griffin? But she says it like she's not sure. The sentry like, essentially like leaps on that, but like, and then she kind of is like, no, um, and like. Yeah, sentry would leap on Griffin. Okay.

Well, only a brave warrior would know what a Griffin is. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, it was Griffin, yeah. I know what those are, we've heard about them. Then you have succeeded the task, here you go. Oh, good job Fox foxglove and like you give them the pan pipes yeah and like she like takes them and you can see like she's super duper excited and like you can see the boy's a little bit miffed that he didn't get it but he's like yeah you got it like and he's like trying to be encouraging and stuff and she like takes them from you and she's like and she blows on it as hard as she can it does make like a loud shrill noise and he's like yeah we've got it now we can fight the beast and she's like yeah but you and she like takes his hand he's

like i can't do without you and he's like yeah i'll come with you like the two of them scamper off like super excited they come up to you and they're like thank you thank you thank you and then like thank you for protecting us you can't use it lucius he needs to attune to it whatever it's also it's a long sword, right? So it's like massive for him. It'd be like a massive two-handed sword. Also, you're a very special boy, and it's your sword. Yeah, I know.

How did that work? I genuinely wouldn't have got that real. I have no idea what it is. I'm terrible. Is it time? Is it time? A chair? Nothing.

It's always nothing. Sand. It's a dictionary. The moon? Yeah. So you watch as the food of the festival begins being prepared. You can see the big sort of pumpkin is being made up. But there are other... Put it in your parsnip.

No. Yeah, they take some of your vegetables and things like that but then also other things are being made you can see that one station um any fruits that you've brought up they're putting into like big fruit salads and sort of everyone's contributing and then you get like a serving of it but you have to like give some in exchange um another thing they're doing is they have like these little stands with like little tables and they've got these big clay pots full of hot oil that's being heated from a little fire underneath. And they'll take the vegetables, they dip them in a sort of wheat flour batter, and then they fry them like a tempura. And they do that, and you get a little plate with the tempuras and stuff.

And now I'm hungry. And that's a really common... Everybody's kind of like... I don't know. Oh my god. But yeah, And that's like a really like common, like everybody's kind of like getting there. I don't know. Oh my God. But yeah, so that's like another common, like that's like a communal dish where like you come along, you put whatever you want on a stick,

you like dip it in the batter and the flour, and then you fry it yourself and then you eat it tasty. And then there's like a big stir fry dish as well. They've got like wheat noodles, and then they like frying that up with all the vegetables. That's like much more, they've got like um they've got like wheat noodles and then they're like frying that up with all the vegetables that's like much more they've got like spices and things like that where they throw those into it it's quite a hot dish um okay i was just wondering are there two small uh bunny folk people that are like dancing around and throwing the ingredients to each other and at the end of it they say so tasty no like

monster hunter no okay because these are actual people these are like actual cool though rabbit men all right anyway um but yeah so the food is done just because there's a den shop after you guys doesn't mean finish we're going on a great hunt eating you notice quill would be the first one to notice but anybody with a perception past perception of 20 or higher but quill notices the first one you see uh sort of like as people have split off some people are sat around there's like these big kind of green areas on the top of the hills where people are sit like almost having like picnics. You see out the corner of your eye, you see, and they must be about nine foot tall, draped in this heavy black cloak with the head of this, a mixture of a wolf and a lion,

and the eyes glittering red, almost kind of like- Banish! And it begins stalking its way through and the sun is beginning to set, like beginning to set. And you actually kind of watch as this figure like looms out from between these two little buildings on a family who are walking.

And you see them like raise its arms up and it got these long kind of like pointed talons. And you hear like a kind of, and the parents are like, oh, and they like cower and they turn their eyes away and then the kids are like oh and they like pull out like little firecrackers and like they've got like little kind of like sparking kind of like um like little wands of like fire and firework sparks and they do that and the creature's like and it kind of like flees out into the alleyways you can see moving through the alleyways this figure and you can immediately tell like maybe the cloak lifts up too much and there's stilts underneath it you can see like the shape of a big uh borough folks like feet underneath it as

well and it kind of drapes back over and it's making its way and it's coming around to where you guys are and you can see that there's a bunch of other borough folk and stuff nearby as well there's a bunch of other borafocan stuff nearby as well the quill is the one who sees it first oh okay i mean my performance is very bad oh no watch out everybody the wolf lion's coming please make a performance check that is a 13 13. oh sure hope it doesn't get me who could save us okay so it's enough that all the kids are pretty convinced by it but all the adults are like looking at you like come on man put a bit more effort in but the rest of you as soon as quail points it out the rest of you see this figure looms out. And now moving closer. It's behind you! There you go, there you go.

Lucius hyperventilates. Throws his plate off the table and then starts crawling away. Screaming, no, please, God, no, don't take me. God, no. Is this a performance or is this just... Take the children, don't take me. I rolled a one. On your performance.

But I imagine Aayla's just like, stop, no, don't. Oh, I'm so scared. Okay, nice. Yep, that's perfect. Yeah, Sentry just throws her arms in the air like, oh my goodness me, he's coming, everybody run! I'm so scared. What are we getting?

Nova's performance? Yeah, just eating. Make a performance for me. 17 plus four is 21. 21. Nova's very convincing performance. Forsooth, I am so scared of this dangerous creature in the night. Will anyone save me, this poor, wretched urchin?

Okay, nice. And then Sentry, performance? I got a 12. 12, okay. So you're like, ooh, kind of like you and Quill are on the same level. Like, ooh. You're just like, oh, no. It's like, no one's being dramatic, but it's like semi-believer.

You guys are just being over the top. Sentry pretends to faint. Ooh. And then one eye lights up. I go to catch Sentry pretends to faint. Oh! And then, like, one eye, like, lights up. I go to catch Sentry. I'm dead. Splat. What about Lucius?

So, I rolled a 10. Okay. So, all that stuff that I planned in my head of, like, crawling away. That's what you think you were doing. Like, here we go.

I hit the plate and just fall over. Blah, blah, blah. Knock yourself out. You're speaking so quickly, it just kind of goes, blah, blah, blah. And then you're speaking so quickly it just kind of goes and then you're knocked out there's a kind of like

the adults kind of look around and like I think like one of them but for Ayla you're like no please and then you feel like this kind of old icy hand on your shoulder and Mama Vindra is there and she's just

like do it better and like she like squeezes your shoulder and her like grip is surprisingly strong and she's got old cold people like yeah she's got like old old people like hands right now and she's just like she's like doing better you're like oh no i'm scared i can't do! I can't do that! I can't do it! I'm not scared! But you kind of get along. Then the group of kids that are kind of around you, including Foxgob and Doodrop, all kind of run along. And you can see that some of the kids are actually genuinely too scared. Some of the kids are just like, and they're just clinging to their parents. And they're like, oh, you have to go and scare them.

But the kids are just too frightened. Like they're too frightened to do anything. If there are any little kids near us that are sort of hiding near us. Foxgloves do drop. You can see they want to, but they're genuinely terrified. And you can see Foxglove, she's got the pipes, but she's got them near her mouth, but they're like cowering underneath a bench.

Maybe like the one next to Lucius where he knocked himself out and they're sort of like crouched behind it and they really you can see that they want to go and scare it off but they're like just too frightened i'll just be like young woman please play your pipes of noise! Save us! She'll make a persuasion roll. Persuasion. Plus five. Yeah, we got... I think I... 17 plus five.

17 plus five? Okay, that's enough. She kind of like, Foxcob looks over and she's like, okay, okay. And her brother sort of grabs her and they run up and they're the only kids.

All the other kids are too frightened and so they're the only two and you see other kids are too frightened. And so they're the only two. And you see Big Jack in this costume just sort of like, I'm going to eat you, little ones. And there's a moment where she just doesn't do it. And then the brother kind of squeezes her arms. And she just brings it up and goes, and it's this incredibly loud shrill noise,

enough to make actual Jack startle back, like, bloody hell, okay. And then he's just like, back to the forest I go. And he makes a big show of running off. And then as soon as he starts running, all of the kids who were too scared, suddenly they become braver and they start chasing after him and they're letting off their fireworks

and blowing instruments and making noise. And they chase him all the way to down the steps to the edge of the woods basically. And then you see all of the kids basically go chasing after him. And as soon as the kids are all out of the way, the parents will kind of like clap everybody like, oh, well done, like, yeah, good job.

I think we all did wonderful. We all saved. Where's Lucius? You see like a big red mark. Yeah. It's swelling. You've got a little egg on your head. What happened? What happened?

The wolf get me? Yes, the wolf. Yeah, the wolf got you. That's a less embarrassing story than what's actually happened. I think we did fantastically. I personally think Sentry did the best. Her acting was incredible. Very believable.

Yours was very good. Thank you. Thank you. Oh, did you notice that bit where I started yelling, that took my arm, and started waving my mechanical wing around? Yeah, I thought that would be too much, but... I mean, I was just, you know,

reeling off quoted works of a famous Gnersi playwright, you know. It sounded too scripted, to be honest. No, I thought it was very good. Matriarch Vindra would just be like, well, I would say don't give up your day jobs. The theatre perhaps is not one... Performances are not for all. Your skills are elsewhere.

Some exceptions. And she'll sort of like nod, sort of in Nova's direction. But do, I do... I'm leaning behind Nova. Just put your hand on your face. But the effort is greatly appreciated. It's a fun little thing, and it's good to see,

especially the young twins making that first move. I think that shows great courage. We'll make sure that they get some extra treats when they come back. I think the last thing is as the sun comes down, we're going to finish up any lanterns and that will be the last part of the festival. So enjoy, relax. If any of you do have any people that have recently been lost,

in the last, it doesn't even have to really be anyone recent. If you have anyone that you want to say goodbye to, and she gestures and you can see that there's basically like a bunch of materials to make these lanterns, and there's somebody sat there making them who can kind of show you how to do it, you're more than welcome to.

Yeah, I'm going over. Sure. I think we're probably all Will, right? Are you going? Lucius Will. Yep. Yeah, I think Sentry Will. A lantern for Bim.

Or Smeet, or both. It just gets stuck on my head. It pulls into my head. Sends fire to a thatch. Goes up. Oh, a field of cross. For me, the whole thing with the Bim and the Imp, it's just the slow rotation in like a spaceship

and it just hits the cockpit and you hear like a thunk and then it just floats up. In my head, that's the visual image in my head. It's so slow as well. It's like incredible, just this dead Imp. If anything, he's the biggest image in my head. It's so slow as well. It's incredible. It's just this dead end. If anything, he was the original oscillator. Yeah, he was. He was the original, the OG oscillator.

Such a dumb moment. But yeah, you make your way over. And the Burr folk who sat there is the lady who asked you to help their parents clean out the house, Talia, the kind of big, curvy, ara ara woman. And she'll sit down and show you how to make the lanterns that they make them here and like you kind of helps construct it and there are little tiny candles that you put in the middle um and then but she says don't don't like them just yet don't like them just yet time we take them to the edge of the village and then we sort of launch them all at once um it doesn't take long it's not

particularly hard to make them but there are also materials to decorate them and dedicate them to people. So Nova, what do you do to decorate your lantern if you're making one? I would cover it in stars. And I think actually the constellation I would mark out in stars is the shape of the original Tiangong.

The blade. Yeah, I mean, not statistically. If you've ever seen the Nova's Atlas Academy t-shirt, on the back of that is a constellation that marks out Tiangong's outline, so yeah. You mean that? Yeah, pretty much. Okay, yeah.

Is anybody else making a lantern and decorating it with somebody in particular in mind? Right, Lucius. Lucius is making two little lanterns that are linked together with a little string. And one's going to have an orange gem on it and one will have a blue gem. And one will be for Viren and one for Elowen.

And he'll set them both off at the right time. Anyone else? Yeah. Sentry's going to do one for Commander Hotshot I think hers would be decorated in sort of like trails of gold to like signify the Matrix River since they never got to go

so it would be their own little golden river to take them Yeah, perfect How are you going to bring this down, Tom? You do not have to make one. I'm just trying to figure out. Just make one and write Alfheim on it. It's the planet.

I'm trying to figure out how to decorate a lantern for Hesper. Thank you, motherfuckers. No one died close to Quill, just his god. For you. Sure. For a lot of people, too. Okay. Most for you. I for a lot of people too okay most of you i would decorate one yeah you don't have to yeah if you don't have an idea you can just say that calls me one dedicated to us i'll put the book in it okay bye right you make it out of the book it just says a plumbus on the

side but it's written with my left my non-dominant hand so it's a mess nice yeah sure no i genuinely don't i don't know that's fine you don't have to little fuego maybe you do not have to make one if ayla would not make one i don't know i feel like she might make one, not like, elf home, a whole planet, but just the fact that she's actually found some wild elves that are part of the same kind of, they have the same abilities and they have the same kind of story as her. So she might send one up with just like terribly drawn

like lightning bolts and some frost and just elemental type symbols on it for the wild elves that are no longer with us. Perfect. The whole village gathers, all of Starwatch Rise gathers just basically on the crest of the tallest hill the central one where um the mama's uh kind of like main chambers are um everyone gathers up on the hill people still eating it's a lively atmosphere it's not a somber sad atmosphere

uh you know people are still eating and the kids are being given rewards for like scaring off the dark spirit and things like that um But as they kind of get there, Mama sort of quietens everyone down. It's just like, everyone has their lanterns? And you hear people like, yeah, and they kind of cheer. And it's like, well, let's send everyone off to create new stars and Kalara guide them into their new lives. And so she lights the first one and she says a name,

probably of some Burr folk in the village, and it kind of begins to gently drift. And then, yeah, everyone else does the same, and follows Sue. And soon you have this kind of cresting wave of lanterns just slowly drifting up into the sky, this beautiful, clear sky of Al-Saraf. You know, the wilderness, the sort of big forests and hills

and mountains kind of curving around you, creating this very picturesque scene as it drifts up into the sky. And I think it's very, very early, but I think that's probably where we'll end the episode. It's gonna be a bit of a quicker one today, because I don't really have anything else today. Could Nova say one last thing?

Sure, yeah. So I think as we were all sat together and the lanterns go up, I think Nova would look up and look around at everyone, staring up and things like that. You know, I wasn't entirely convinced that I'd made the right decision in coming back. It was very peaceful up there. But right here, right now, after today, sat with you all in this moment, I am happy and I'm so proud to call you all my friends and my family.

So thank you, all of you. It's good to have you back, Nova. Whatever comes next, at least we've had this moment. Yeah. Welcome back. And as Nova sort of finishes saying that, the Bar of Folk musical instruments, sort of little stringed banjos and sort of little drums and things are brought out.

Fires are lit. More food drums and things are brought out. Fires are lit. More food and treats are all brought out. Kind of like the ending of Return of the Jedi. Lovely little fire lit sort of like nighttime sort of party. Do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do No, I'm just... No, the celebration continues into the night and it is this moment of sort of, yeah, peaceful but lively and simple enjoyment of this festival. And that's, yeah, where we're going to end today's episode, I think. I know it's not a super long one,

but I want to kind of save it so that we can come straight in next week with The Hunt. What's really nice is I know you were kind of like, I'm really sorry Kim because we didn't manage to get this kind of thing on the first week of Chinese New Year, Lunar New Year, so today is actually the last day of Chinese New Year. It's Chuk Go Me today, which is also known as the Lantern Festival. So it's kind of really sweet that we have ended with our own

Lantern Festival today nice well I'm glad I'm glad I did get to work I did want to wrap some things in because I know it's a

special time of year so cool but that's going to be it thank you guys so much for joining us we will see you next week where yeah things are going to kick off

with a battle a monster hunt oh yeah oh yeah a lot of stuff to do where things are going to kick off with a battle, a monster hunt. Oh yeah! We've got a lot of stuff to do before that happens. Hell yeah. Alright, take care everybody. Bye everyone.

Bye bye.