High Rollers DnD - One Door Closes (Part 1) | Altheya: The Dragon Empire #60

Episode Date: April 22, 2025

As one door closes a new journey begins... the heroes escape the Proto-Magi Vault and must come to terms with recent events! _______________ Boost your Charisma with some HR merch! https://highrollersdnd.teemill.com/ Add official High Rollers Minis to your TTRPG collection here: https://only-games.co/collections/high-rollers Bless your table with the Clever Toad Dice Set: https://dispeldice.com/collections/high-rollers Enhance your bath time experience with the official Altheya themed DiceBombs at https://geekyclean.com/! Check out https://www.highrollersdnd.com/ for all the latest HR News! Love the podcast? Give us a glittering 5 star review! https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/high-rollers-dnd/id1401508198?see-all=reviews Support the High Rollers on Patreon and get early access to Podcast episodes, vods and more: www.patreon.com/HighRollers Music courtesy of Epidemic Sound, TCT Adventures (Solasta: Crown of the Magisters), Monument Studios and Jolene Khor! Check out Jolene Khor and all her wonderful work on High Rollers on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/1WX3ICiTmf4GpHwImnQMs6 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Pickaxe. Okay Martin, let's try one. Remember, big. You got it. The Ford It's a Big Deal event is on. How's that? A little bigger. The Ford It's a Big Deal event.

Nice. Now the offer? Lease a 2025 Escape Active All-Wheel Drive from 198 bi-weekly at 1.99% APR for 36 months with 27.55 down. Wow, that's like $99 a week. Yeah, it's a big deal. The Ford It's a Big Deal event. Visit your Toronto area Ford store or Ford.ca today. Thursday, May 8th is McHappy Day

when every menu item purchased at McDonald's helps support families with sick children. So you can feel the good that comes from doing good, just from ordering. So if I order a Big Mac, I'm helping. Yep. What about a McFlurry? 10 piece chicken McNuggets and apple pie?

You got it. Every single order helps. Join us at McDonald's for McHappy Day on Thursday, May 8. Do good, feel good. A portion of food and beverage sales will support RMHC chapters and local children's charities across Canada. Happy Hyrollers Day!

Yay! The most important holiday there could be today. Correct. It is Hyrollers Day. 420. Hi, there's balls. Quite a few little things to chat about before we get into the episode today.

And to begin with, this is actually a packed week for stuff because on Thursday the 24th, at 7pm Pacific, 2am UK time, but there will be a rebroadcast on Friday and available on YouTube, is Thresher, the episode of the brand new project I've done with Critical Role. My friend Jasper, our friend Jasper Cartwright GMing, myself and a bunch of very cool, proper, proper actors

who have been in in movies and shit. That is Thresher, it's out on Thursday over on the Critical Role channel, but like I said, you can watch it on YouTube and things like that as well. I'm excited for that one. We'll be retweeting it and stuff as it goes, so keep an eye out on socials.

Me and Hybrolds and that will probably be talking about it a lot. And also the last thing to mention, and this isn't an official fundraiser or anything like that, we're not gonna have a way to read your message or anything like that, but given the events that have taken place in the UK this week, if you're not aware with the Supreme Court

and trans rights and issues going on as well, there was a big march about it yesterday, there is a big fundraiser through the charity, not a phase that is currently going on right now to support trans folks in the UK, and it is very, very needed right now. And so we would like to just encourage you to go and participate in that fundraiser and help raise some money for a really, really prominent and good cause and give the trans folks here in the UK that support. It is obviously a very important cause to my own heart given my recent discovery

and journey this year. But also everyone at Hyroll is like we are very much a firm, trans rights are humans rights and fucktards and all of that stuff. So very big important thing. I also want to mention Switchboard, Switchboard LGBTQ, which is a great resource if you are feeling particularly affected by this event and these nerds and these events and the words that are coming out from the right-wing media and all this kind of stuff, please do reach out to Switchboard and they offer a service there to have somebody that you can speak to and talk about with all of that stuff

and get help if you need it as well, which is very, very important. There'll be a link to Switchboard as well in the chat. And yeah, just hopefully if you've got, whether it's a fiver or a couple of quid or whatever, it would be great if you can send that to Not A Face this week. And we hope that you feel like High Rollers

is a safe place for you because it is, because you are important and you matter. And you loved, yeah, we love you. So absolutely. So that's it, just like a very quick thing there, just to say, if you'd love to, we'd love to see that this week and ongoing as well. And that's it.

But yeah, let's run the intro and we'll jump into today's episode of High Rollers. High Rollers! High Rollers! High Rollers! High Rollers! High Rollers! High Rollers!

High Rollers! High Rollers! High Rollers! High Rollers! High Rollers! High Rollers! High Rollers! High Rollers!

High Rollers! High Rollers! High Rollers! High Rollers! High Rollers! High Rollers! High Rollers! High Rollers! High Rollers! High Rollers! High Rollers! A blinding radiance, crumbling smoky grey crystal stone. A desperate escape.

Our heroes entered the final chamber of the proto-majai vault known as the Prism and confronted the vault's custodian, Vermillion Oxanine. The strange creature looked down on the party, both literally and figuratively, who asked if Oxanine could remove the crown still from Xanthius Oragon's chest. Sensing the power and the value of this strange mineral, Oxanine told them it would be a very difficult thing to do without killing Xanthius, and that it would be far easier to kill him and extract the metal instead. Seeking to claim the crown still for its proto-magi master, Oxynein surrounded itself with a shield

and summoned creatures to do battle. However, Rowan, who had been identified as belonging to another proto-magi, suddenly pretended to be taken over by the Ascended One, and demanded that Oxanion cease attacking them and help Xanthius in order to prevent diplomatic difficulties between the two. Dubious at first, Oxanion was convinced by another peerless performance by Rowan, who continued the bluff, and the fighting stopped, and Ox Nian promised to try and keep Xanthius alive, whilst extracting the Crownsteel. As the strange being began its weird surgery, Xanthius saw visions of a gold-skinned figure

speaking to him. A manifestation of Sovrin, the original creator deity of Ulfea, now imprisoned by the Goddesses in the Crown. Encourage Xanthias to seek vengeance and claim power. Suddenly a burst of intense light blinded everyone in the chamber and as their vision finally returned, Oxenine had been obliterated and the vault walls damaged, breaking apart. In a hurried escape as the vault crashed down around them, the party were forced to slowly escape via the entrance, four at a time. With a number of rescued prisoners going first, Rowan, Gruff, Percival and the Dwemera called Theraval were the last to go, just as the Entrance Chamber collapsed. Gruff and Rowan managed to escape unharmed, but Percival was too slow.

His last act to pull the black necrotic heart from his chest and thrust it into Rowan's hands before being caught in the collapsing vault. And that is where we pick things up. Outside the vault, you emerge back into a large open grove, the trees almost afraid to encroach almost afraid to encroach on the area where the vault entrance began to manifest. You are gathered at the base of a large tree stump, surrounded by bones of fallen individuals brought here by the vault's constructs, waiting, starving, dying. Xanthias, you are unconscious. Even though your physical wounds and your injuries have been healed,

your mind has not yet recovered. Yes. There is panic as you alongside, I believe, nine citizens or individuals, including the Dwimera or Durgar, Theraval, as well as the Nalanari or Dark Elf, Velesa, who you had spoken to briefly. Velesa is treating Theraval's basically destroyed leg, like his leg is no longer there, it is just a bloody torn stump,

and using some minor magics to stabilize him, but otherwise he is also unconscious. Rowan, holding in your hands this blackened, oddly cold to the touch, facsimile of a heart. Those of you who had gone through the portal before see these last three reappear. Oh, good will. Everybody's all made it out. Everybody, one, two, three, four.

Percy? Percy? Percy? Percy? Yeah. He reached out and he gave me this and it was all too fast. I'm so sorry. It's okay, don't apologize, thank you. Is this, I don't know what to do with it.

No, it's okay, it's okay, we can use this, it's okay. We can bring, we can bring him back, it'll be okay. Okay. Oh, I think so. Is everybody else here, alive? Where is Antheus, where's the boy? He's here, but he's not awake. I immediately go over to his side.

Antheus, Antheus. Non-responsive. You can see that there are no life-threatening injuries, but whatever it was, Antheus is not conscious yet. And Gruff will just keep, like, you know, shaking him and like, Antheus, come on. Come on, son, wake up. Wake up! No, seemingly no response. Gruff, he has a pulse. He's alive.

It's just... He's not awake just now. Maybe we just need to give him some time? I don't know. I don't know either. And presumably, has his top, like... Has he lost his top, like, has he lost his top again? It was, it would have been cut to give easier access. It's not completely gone, but it's definitely

cut where it could easily be open. Very surgically though. That's fun. I know. Yeah, or zip. Gruff will kind of- Where's the whole Velcro? Pull away Velcro, yeah. Yeah. Gruff will kind of... What's Gruff's name? Velcro. Pull away Velcro, yeah.

Yeah. Um, Gruff will look around it and then realize there's all these other people and cover it up as best. Sure, in this give me for Gruff. Oh, we should also, before we do that, let's do fate, actually, because this is something where this may be a good match.

Oh, sugar. Bring the levity while you can. because this is something where this may be a good match. Oh sugar. Bring the levity while you can. What are you planning? All right, well we look at that. Huge, a big two for you. Oh wonderful, a dice for me. A dice for you.

Oh another dice, oh thank you guys, what a lovely holiday. I offer you a three. Oh, oh even better. Yeah we're not good. I'll go to six. Hey! That's a dice for you.

A two. Oh, another one for me you shouldn't have. Oh, and then your roll. A six. I give back. Yeah, could've been worse. Could've been worse. Wonderful.

Yeah, so Gruff, do I, you kind of, I'm gonna immediately spend a point of fate. Because there is a lot of confusion going on. And most of these citizens are too focused on their current predicament. The lesser is very much tending to Theravile. You can see a lot of the farmers and the woodsmen and things like that are very focused on themselves and checking each other are right.

But you horridly cover up Xanthius' thing and you kind of bind it, almost look like you're attending to him medically. But the young teenage son of these two farmers, you look up and he is staring directly at Xanthius' chest and you're not sure if he saw anything, but he definitely was not distracted by everything else going on

and there's a chance that he saw it. I take his eyes. We didn't have ones before, we can do it again. Groff does not gouge his eyes out. I mean, what will that do anyway? He still saw it anyway. Garbage's memory areas. And what does the chest look?

So Gruff has seen what it looks like. We obviously, we know of the kind of, his magic is keeping the crown still in check. Does it look any different? Does it look like the familiar alchemist did something? The crown still, the runes still cover the crown still. When you briefly saw it just before you hit it. The runes still cover the crown steel when you briefly saw it just before you hit it. The runes still cover the crown steel.

There are two things you notice. One, the crown steel, this kind of jagged, black, gold, red metal sort of embedded in his chest, and the runes overlapping it. There is a luminosity to it, as if some of those golden veins that run through the metal have a glow to them now.

You would also notice that the spread of the corrupted flesh on Xanthius's arm is nearly up to his shoulder. Spread very rapidly. What are you fucking done do? Is that as a result, no I'm dead, I'm unconscious. Is that as a result of what just happened? Yeah, like was it say the previous hour for example,

much higher? I would say that this, because you haven't really checked in the panicked run of like the last, it's actually about being about five days since the Gallim about, like you've not really been checking your arm as medically, as you know, religiously as you have.

But it's definitely accelerated from like a week ago, like five, six days ago. It's rapidly progressed. Whether or not that is a direct result of what happened in the chamber with Oxidine, you're not sure. The glow is brand new though. And then, so at the end of the last episode,

you said that we who know about Sovereign would have recognized the spark that kind of destroyed Vermillion Orc's space. I wouldn't say you recognize it because you would have no way of doing it. What it is, is it conjures to your mind the stories that you would have been taught, anybody who went to a school in Ulfeia,

especially those of you who are religious as Gruff is, it would have brought to mind, not that you recognize it, this is not a definite thing, but it brings to mind the stories of the Bright Storm, the incredibly powerful Cataclysm that Sovrin tried to use to not just wipe out the Proto Magi, but basically wipe out everything on Orphea to start again. And I mean a blinding light, the sheer power to just obliterate something like that. There wasn't even dust of Oxanine left.

It was like an intense light just burned him away. And then that crack in the wall, you know, you'd experienced it, those walls seemed impenetrable. It just conjures to mind that sort of power, especially against the proto-magi. You can't help but make those parallels. And does the glow kind of have the same sort of like...

It's a magical glow. It's in the same way that Daisy's dagger glows. When Daisy becomes angelic, she glows. There is a, I would say that if nothing else to the glow, there is almost a celestial light to it. And that blinding radiance that you all saw, again, there is something almost angelic about that light that nearly blinded you all, basically.

As Gruff is examining this, and you were all sort of taking stock, I'd say Daisy, I feel like you're quite distracted at the moment, so maybe like Rowan and Daisy, and I think some of the farmers, some of the woodsmen, rather, Christoph, this one who's perhaps from a time before, you see him pointing, and Daisy and Rowan,

you see this as well. On the edges of the grove, about a dozen of those colored lights float into the grove, and they begin making their way towards where you are all assembled around the stump. Um, everybody? It's the lights, the lights!

Stay away from the lights, don't look at them. They're all around us, they're everywhere! And you can see that around this grove, you know, a dozen more, it's probably about two dozen in total, I've just completely surrounded this grove. And they're just hovering there, still flickering, pulsing in color.

And then all of you feel something behind you in that presence, that stump, where the vault entrance would be. You don't see anything, you don in that presence, that stump, where the vault entrance would be. You don't see anything, you don't hear anything, but in your body, in your gut, in your heart, you feel like the air itself snaps and breaks. And all of the lights flash, and then go still.

And you hear some birds. Strange birds for a bush. Think we might need to close that window. Is the window open? But you see it flash, all these lights flash and then just go completely still and just, they just vanish, they wink out of existence, there's no physicality to them, they just disappear.

Okay, is everybody all right? Does that mean that the vault's gone now? If they're not here? I feel that too. I think, are they gone, are they invisible? They were the ones that took us here. I think we should just move away from this clearing and go somewhere nearby and set up a camp.

Rest. Yes. Body system, okay? Everyone, the person to your right or to your left, you look after them, they look after you. And we make sure we all get to safety together. Okay. You look down, somebody will have to carry Xanthias. I will. And, okay, Gruff, you start picking him up.

It's gonna be tiring for you, you're not especially strong, but it's gonna be tiring. Valesse will be like, someone, I am, Thera-Val, I cannot lift him by myself, please, help me. I will help you. And then you kind of come up, Sister Ophelia, and sort of help this digger, the two of you together, sort of able to,

he's very heavy, you know, he's short and stocky and quite muscly, so the two of you together kind of have to lift him and he's completely unconscious as well. Do you want me to take the heart? It's okay, I should keep hold of it for now. It's okay. Small enough to put in like your satchel.

Thank you. He's gonna be back, right? Well... I saw the ritual and that was what... Yes, he can come back. That's the plan anyway. I have a lot of work to do to make sure I can bring him back. You know, I want to do it right and I've got a lot of eyes on me.

I've got to make sure I do it right, you know? It'll be fine. We'll make sure. We'll make sure. Yes. Has anyone got eyes on Squire Pascal? You know, it'll be fine. We'll make sure, we'll make sure. Yes. Has anyone got eyes on Squire Pascal? Valesna will say, yes, he's here, and she just gestures,

because you had entrusted them to look after him. And you can see that the two farmer husbands and their son, they're sort of next to him, and Pascal's just on the floor, sitting like he normally does, just still carving that symbol. If Brough's got Xanthius, Daisy will go up to Pascal and help him up and just probably take his hand

and guide him by the hand. Come on, we're gonna go this way. Okay, he's fine. He takes and he's just on his shoulder now. But you take the hand and he'll just follow, muttering quietly to himself. Fuck you, Daisy. That's okay, you take care of Xanthes for now. The, uh, all the woodsmen are like,

but the woods, like, some of you were injured, we're gonna be at risk, there's things, there's creatures, are you sure that that's, the lights are all gone, like what's gonna happen? I swear to you, as Gruffith of Tremoros, Sir, a knight errant, I will protect you all, and so will my friends. Take heart.

You survived the vault. You will survive this. Can you give me a persuasion with advantage, please, Gruff? Nice one. Ooh la la. Very good. Let's see how, you know, your words are there, but will they be receptive to them?

17. 17, yeah, they sort of like, a Nigh Eryn! Oh, okay, okay. And they'll, but they'll see that you're carrying Xanthias and be like, should we take him so you can, if we need to fight, like we can carry him. I will carry him for now, but thank you. If you take, if you look to the edges of the wood,

you keep your eyes out. Right, okay, yeah, we can do that. Yeah, and they sort of like look around. And they've still got like the daggers and stuff that you gave them and a few odd sorts of weapons here and there. Kristoff's still got the bow, and he seems like quite a seasoned hunter or tracker

and something like that. He's like, I'll keep an eye out. Colville, is Colville still there? You've said some confusing things to me. It sounds like I've been gone a long time. Colville's still there and the others are like, yeah, it's still there, old man. Like, yeah, it's still there.

He's like, oh, I think I know the way. And he's like looking around and sort of starts trying to get his bearings. Those that know the woods well, the trackers, the woodsmen, you scout ahead. You know the way home. Yeah, these are like carpet, they're like lockers. They're not like woodsman the woodsmen, you scout ahead. You know the way home. Yeah, these are like carpenter-like lockers. They're not like woodsmen, woodsmen,

but some of them, you know, they've grown up in these kind of woods. They're definitely gonna be strong enough. Oh, very nice. Yeah, they will kind of try and take the lead. You know, they're not gonna go too far from you guys, though. Like, they are- I'll stand up front with them.

Yeah, they wanna make sure that they're close to the group because they're gonna rely on you for protection. Okay, and what's your plan? You just gonna start heading back to Colville? What's it looking like time of the day? Yeah. It would be, I would say, early afternoon. You were talking just afternoon-ish.

When we went in, what color were the leaves on the trees? You are in summer, so they would have been in like full bloom. And that's not changed in any way. It doesn't seem to be. You're not like looking at like autumn or winter or anything like that. Like... We haven't lost time in the vault.

Maybe you have. It's been a perfect year or 10 years. Could be. We'll see. Okay. All right. Yeah, I think we should make ways whilst we have some form of light and then settle down for a camp, see what we can do about Xanthias.

So you can't stay unconscious this long. It's not good for him. Just a bit of housekeeping. Gruff has the true potion of healing. Yes. Okay, then you can have to pass that down. You get the box. With the true potion of healing in it.

I also have written down all your loot from the dungeon, just in case. I don't know who has what, but I have recorded exactly what you've taken, so. I can leave that out, I think that's that. Yeah, all right. You begin making your way, heading back to Colville, and Rowan, you normally take the role of a guide here.

It becomes very apparent after maybe an hour or two of travel that this journey is going exceptionally well. You find that the trails that you pick are clear of debris. There's no difficult hikes, no fallen trees in your path. You don't encounter any woodland creatures or any threats. You in fact, you have at one point to cross over a river and find that there is already a fallen tree

that acts as a bridge, you know, you don't have to cross it. Like, as you are making your way, and I think Rowan and Graff, the two of you especially, you begin to sense that it's like the wood itself is giving you an easy journey. Ruffoth. Hello, Rowan. Is this all a little bit weird to you?

Like, we've been on this trail and it's all just falling into place. There's definitely something... It was harder before, right? Yes. Even the ground... You're still quite near the mountains here. The earth is soft. Carpets of thick moss

that makes physically easier on your feet and your joints. You don't remember the journey here being like that. You don't remember, you remember it being quite an arduous, difficult, you were chasing after Ophelia and Xanthias. It was tough, you're exhausted. This, yeah, there's something else going on here. It feels to me like there's some natural magic or something, maybe the spirit of the woods

guiding us home. I've... What. I've... What? I've... Are we settling down for camp any time soon? Maybe it's because the lights aren't here anymore and I hope they're not here. I could ask the land is what I'm saying. Sometimes when I've been out fishing and I've gone a bit too far and it's been arduous waters

and it's been a difficult, a difficult journey. Sometimes I've caught a glimpse of something like this, just a glimpse where the water's still and the current is going the right way. I don't know, maybe the land is thanking us. Does the land feel sorry for us? Because we've been subjected to such horrific times. I think it will.

It pities us. Thank you, land. I've been certainly found out. We've been found out. It's been pretty tough on us all, actually. God, you're right. Right, OK. As Daisy, as you say that, out of the sort of undergrowth,

a brown hair sort of hops out into the path and looks directly up at you. And sort of hops over to you and like snuffles around your feet. Hello. Trying to give it a little pet. Totally lets you pet it, like kind of rubs its head into your hand.

New friend, Rowan, Rowan, new friend. And then after it has like a little scritch, it kind of like nozzles its little nose up against your hand and then it just hops back into the undergrowth. Okay, what is happening? Oh, it's really nice. I need to commune with the land. I could really do with a little snack right now,

some kind of berries or something. No, wait, wait. I dig into my like, all dirty pockets. No, wait, wait. I dig into my like, old, dirty pockets. No, no. Here you go. Just a load of lint and seeds. I think that's an old sausage. You want that?

Oh, thanks Rowan. Really, yeah. Not what I had in mind. What's Ophelia up to? Well, he's carrying this poor lad. Yeah, you're sort of helping, yeah. Like, you've kind of got like, shoulders on with this. And for Ophelia as well,

because I think Ophelia appreciates these things, like this beautiful woman who's helping you, this priestess, I've described it before, the Nel and Ari have this supernatural allure to them, and she's one of the most beautiful women you've ever seen. And she's very delicate, very tall, and has this perfect dark purple skin covered in priestly ribs.

You can immediately tell that this is another very devoted acolyte. Has the symbol of melee around her neck. You've picked up on, you can hear her praying to her goddess for Theravol's safety and things like that as you're making your way there as well. I think Ophelia picks up on those kind of things. Because Ophelia appreciates beautiful things, right? So I think something that Ophelia would definitely pick up on, I think it's, Ophelia picks up on those kind of things. Ophelia appreciates beautiful things, right? So I think something that Ophelia would definitely pick up on, I think.

Yeah. Yeah, I think she's carrying this dwarf, but like, Lodwegar. But I feel like she's trying to distract herself, because I imagine he's kind of a mess, right? And he's covered in like... His wound has been sealed, but like the leg is like a tattered trouser,

and it's like this dried, crusted blood on the end of it. It was not a clean cut. This was like, Rock crushed it, and then he got pulled through a magic portal, leaving the leg behind, so it's like jagged and raw. It's like a hacked off bit of lamb. There's this... Dude. She's trying to fight back. It's like there's this... Ha ha! Dude. This, this, she's trying to fight that primal urge,

but she has, right, she's weak, she's, you know, she's lost Percy, she's... Yeah. And she, that little bit of blood would just be so nice right now. So she's just trying to distract herself, talk to this lady, so what's, what's Maely like? Oh my god, she is wonderful.

She very much came to the rescue of my people when we were horribly cast by creatures of the Feywild that saw us, that ran us from our homes, and she saved our kind. And our kind of in return in the Veiled City, we have repaid it by worshipping the goddess as long as I can remember. You know, I was taught it from an early age when I was a young girl. My priory that I grew up in, like we have many temples and churches to Méliaire, and

she is wonderful. She is very kind and understanding. She respects those who keep secrets and who love and care for beautiful things, and yes, she has many teachings about things. Are you religious yourself? Oh yes, yes. Here we go. My deity is the Gravefather.

The Gravefather? Yes. The Gravefather? Yes. Oh my goodness, she can see that she's quite shocked. But you are not from the Empire? No, I am from Osseus. Ah, yes.

Another continent across the sea. We have heard of this place. Oh, how curious. And you worship the Grey Father there? Oh, yes. Well, he's like a father to me. He's so caring, and he's so wise and powerful. I can understand these feelings.

Maelyr is very much like a mother to us. You know, it is a very similar thing to have a great respect for someone who has nurtured you and cared for you like that and shared their wisdom with you. Yes, he brought me back from the dead as well. It's quite a story. Truly. Yes.

There have been some tales, great champions of the Nalunari and Dwemera, those who proved themselves in their service to Melee, who have been blessed with similar gifts before. Ooh, do tell me more. I love that kind of thing. And just, she'll start telling you about some of the religious practices and things like that,

and you get the sense that unlike the Church of the Sirens where you've been in Ashen's Rest, and I think Ophelia, you would pick up on this as somebody who's very favored by the Gravefather yourself in the House of Blood especially, you get the sense that these dark elves, these Nelunari and Dwemera, they are favored by this goddess.

And she does give them boons and rewards kind of similar to you. And she tells you of knights who have like, well they wouldn't call them, they have not necessarily knights. She would tell you, I am what's made people call a sunwalker. Long ago when we first established the Veiled City,

the Empire and the Dragon Empress was not very fond of this. And they initially sought to attack our city and to claim it for their own but Melia managed to convince the Empress to bargain with us and to reach a peace treaty and as part of that treaty every year volunteers from the Nalunari and the Veiled City we are sent up here to the Empire to work and live in amongst your cities and provinces. And in doing so, that is sort of a service that we provide to the Empire,

along with the Gloomguard, whom Sweet Theravall once was, who protects the Empire from threats from below, from the Stygian Abyss. Stygian depths, sorry. And so it is my duty, I go, I travel many temples and churches and I teach our beliefs of Melir and some of our rites and rituals and we tell of stories and I could tell you some stories of of shadow sworn like Theravall who are bound to protect us who have died in service of their ward

and have been returned to life and things like that. Like Percy. Oh, Percival is your skeleton. Yes, yes. Oh, not quite the same. More like what happened with you, returned to life in flesh and blood. Oh, I see, yes.

Yes, necromancy is, well, Malia is not against necromancy necessarily, but some consider it a little, well, it is not always very clean and beautiful in a way. What, what, I'm clean and beautiful? Oh, no, of course, but you are familiar with necromancy, yes, you know that sometimes a corpse who is not cleaned, not skeletal, I mean.

Oh, I see. Well, we have a house, an osseous, that kind of deals with the, yes, I know what you mean, yes. Yes, not. The ones that kind of, they smell a bit foul. Yes, yes. I think that necromancy is, there is a part of necromancy which is very much about giving life as well as taking it.

Melia lives in this sort of exchange between the two. It is funny, the great father is spoken of, Melia speaks of the great father not necessarily as a great enemy as the Church of the Scion teaches. To us in our teachings, the great father is a sort of, I guess in a way, a sort of estranged uncle, almost. Oh, that's fascinating.

Yes. And the two of you continue this kind of theological discussion as you guys make your way. But yeah, you definitely can sense that this, whatever her religious teachings seem very different to the faith of the Dragon Empire, it seems. They seem to have a much more close relationship with their goddess, much more akin to

what the Great Father has in Osseous. Very cool. Yeah. Yeah, you kind of have that conversation. The rest of you as you are traveling, the sun begins to set. You've been traveling for several hours now, and it has gone remarkably well.

There have been no signs of threats, the journey has been easy. You don't even really need to worry about getting lost. Like, there is just something, Rowan, that you're pretty confident you're on the right track. And almost if you go to like, divert, like if you start heading too far one way, the trees become thicker and you're sort of urged back

into a path almost. I see what you're doing trees. I'm gonna be speaking with you as soon as we settle down for camp. I know you're helping and we're very thankful, thank you. I just wanna check in with you and see if everything's all right. Sure.

Gruff or Daisy, anything from you guys? I think you guys want to do. I think so. Just. Carry on. I think Daisy will just every now and then just walk over and have a look at Xanthias, see if he's stirring at all, and then kind of.

No. No. No. He is... Have a nice nap there, bro. I'm having a great nap. It is a very, like, the breathing is very gentle. Slow, but gentle. Like, there is not a peace to him,

but this is like a deep, deep slumber. And for Xanthius, just to, as a very, to make it clear, this is that kind of black dreamless sleep, like you are just out there, there's no visions or anything. Time has paused. The moment I wake up, the last thing I saw was that vision, yeah. As the sun is beginning to set,

you start thinking about trying to make camp and stopping for food and things like that. Gruff, with your perception, up ahead, sort of emerging onto the trail, you see an enormous fox. It is easily the size of a wolf. And this very, its brown and orangey fur matches the kind of brown and orangey trees

of the Rustwale woods from which they get their names. Kind of russet colored, coppery fox. And these eyes lock with yours. Sort of turns itself. So for podcast listeners. I am gesturing with my head, yes, thank you. I was about to say, this way, buddy.

Yes, yeah, it's kind of giving you this kind of very intelligent look of like follow me. Right, does anyone else see the giant fox up ahead? Once it's pointed out, you all see it. It seems to want us to follow it. Oh, I don't know about that, we've always needed, you can't trust these things in these woods. It might be some sort of shapeshifter or something beast.

I guaranteed you my protection. I'm, I've got a good feeling about this one. Oh, I don't know about that, but if you think so, Mr. Knight, sir. All right. How big is Fox? This is like the size of a wolf. It's huge.

For a fox, it's massive. If you say so, Gruffydd. It like cocks its head, it like looks at you, Daisy. He's saying it to me too. Look at the little face, the giant face. Can I try and read this animal's body language? It's very raw. With its tails positioned, et cetera.

Can I speak with animals? Do you have to cast? Yeah, you can cast Speak with Animals? It's tails positioned, et cetera. Can I speak with animals? Ooh! Do you have to cast? Yeah. You can cast Speak with Animals? It's a druid, yeah. Yeah? They changed it up.

I'll hold off my roll. You can roll, yeah, but you still roll. Yeah, let's do that first. 50? Total Insight. So you... 18. Okay, 18.

And then you start gesturing and casting spells. So in the time that it takes, because it does take you a few seconds to cast a spell and stuff, Gruff. If it's good body language, I would encourage Gruff to like. Yeah, so like you, it's not looking at you like a predator. Seems right. If this was a predator,

it would not have revealed itself so openly. It would have stalked you. You get the sense that this creature probably could have moved very quietly if it wants to, but it's appeared directly in front of you and it doesn't show any aggressive signs. It's not territorial in any way. No, no. Not holding its stance.

No, no, it's very relaxed, very relaxed. I think that's a friendly fox. Hey Gruff, you finish the incantation, you feel that sort of energy, your ears, your little leon ears kind of pick up on the sounds. And you can maybe hear like muttering from all around you, like as in like the little birds. Oh, it's really noisy.

No, it's like a crowd murmur, right? Like in the distance, you can see a couple of birds. What the fuck? Yeah, yeah. That's all they're doing. I wanna fuck, I wanna fuck, I wanna fuck. Yeah, there's a little bit. That's what we're hearing in the woods every day. But yeah, you definitely hear some of this kind of going on.

Hello, friend. It cocks its head and it smiles, like it's an unmistakable this fox smiles at you. But it doesn't speak. Avatar of the woods, are we? Smiles back, looks at you, gestures. All right, come on everyone, it's safe. Graf, can you tell if I think it looks really cool?

And nice. I think it understands you itself. You look really cool! It smiles at you as well. Yay, friend. Graf is just doing fox screams, what does it all mean? Ah! Ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah! Yes, so yeah, you start following this thing What does it all mean? Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah!

Yes. So yeah, you start following this thing and it leads you very, like, off the trail that you're kind of following, like these kind of rough woods trails that you're kind of following. It takes you off of that. And within maybe just under an hour,

you find yourselves entering this little pocket of woodland. There's a gentle, clear stream running through it. There are all sorts of fruit bushes and berry bushes, a couple of wild vegetables kind of dotted around, like garlic and things like that. I didn't ask. I did say I was hungry. And it's very clearly enough space,

very soft, mossy, cushioned earth. It's like the most perfect resting spot you could imagine. And the fox kind of leads you into the middle of it, then sort of looks, grins, bobs its head, and then disappears into the tree line. What's happening? This is really weird. This is really strange.

I did say out loud that I was feeling a bit peckish, didn't I? You did? Maybe this is... Oh, we were told not to eat anything from strange forest folk. What if it turns us into foxes? Not the worst, honestly.

I mean, as someone who turns into other animals. Yeah, one of the other woodsmen, a little halfling, was like, I wouldn't mind being a fox. That sounds pretty cool. Yeah, that sounds great. You got a problem with being a fox? No. No, Sir Knight, no, I can't imagine,

no, I'd love to be a big lion man. I'd love to, I'd love that. There's nothing I need more. Um, but yeah. Well, if this isn't some sort of strange shared hallucination after coming back from the vault and everything's all picturesque and wonderful, then I say thank you. You can see, Valessa will look up and where the tree line is, there's enough of an open thing where the moon is almost shining into this place.

And she'll be like, no, this place is blessed by Melia. I'm certain of it. I think I feel good about it. I feel that this is a gift from the goddess. We should be safe here, I think. Rowan just blushes as he makes eye contact with this woman for the first time. Yeah, this incredibly...

And I think it's something about her hair, right? She's like, in terms of face and stuff, it's not like she has this glamorous face, but her hair is just so captivating. There's something about it where it's just so voluminous and silky, it almost seems to shine in the light, and almost like it's never needed to be washed, because it's always perfect.

God damn. Yeah, it's gifts of the gods, man. Anyway, I'm gonna go commune with the ground and the rocks and see what's going on. Sure. Get some answers. Okay. How long does that take to remind me?

10 minutes. 10 minutes, okay. What are the rest of you doing? Does Antiochus assume he's laid out? I'll drop him on the ground. Bomb. Step on him as I walk her. Sure. No, I will gently place him somewhere safe, make sure he's warm. Starts clipping in the ground. Step on him as a walker. No, I will gently place him somewhere safe.

Make sure he's warm. He starts clipping in the ground. There's a log too close to his body, you have to move him away from that. Tuck him in with a little blanket, make sure he's all right. Recovery position so he's not dribbling or choking to death. Yeah.

How could you say that? You've really set her up. How could you say that? You've really set her up. How could you say that? I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Oh. It's like not. To give you a few minutes to wind down, I think like Christoph and some of the other woodsmen,

they start like foraging and like kind of checking which berries they can have and which they can't. Turns out it's all of them, they're great. Yeah, pretty much like they're all, this is all safe to eat stuff, like they begin picking up like the wild vegetables and garlic and things like that, start getting like a campfire going.

Yeah, these are travelers who are used to being in this space and they, yeah, very quickly kind of spend some doing that. 10 minutes, so you are using your... Harmonious. Harmonious recall. The main thing with this power, what you've done in the past is you've witnessed like, significant events or things connected,

significant things that are connected to this space. You, Rowan, get a sense of serene calm and relief. There is a sense of gratitude in this place and like a creature that's shaken, like a, that's shaken some sort of parasite free. Like a tiger with an infected tooth. It's finally been pulled free and relieved of its pain. You also, your mind, you get visions of like swarms of,

you get this vision of a fox chasing a rabbit. And it's kind of, it's dark, but it's not in this place. The trees are too bright. The sky is not the Ulthayan sky. It's vivid and purple and blue and green. And it is not this place. It's almost like a fairy tale. It like, something like your grandma or your parents

might have told you when you were younger, like you would, you know, seen in a picture book maybe. And it's utterly unreal and this fox is playfully chasing a rabbit, not in a hunter way, but in a sort of playful way as they go amongst the forest and the trees and things like that. And yeah, you get this.

I bet no one's near Rune, he's just giggling to himself. Rowan, why are you giggling? Rowan's laughing. I think it's probably a good sign, right? He's not crying. He just said, get him. Okay.

Yeah, and that's, the vision ends with that. That's all we get from the homo-dry call. You wake up and Daisy's writing for you. What did the lens say? Nothing. You said, get him. You giggled. Oh yeah, get him. You get him. Oh yeah, there was a little,

there was a fox chasing a rabbit. Oh, it was beautiful. I think the land is very happy with us. And it's a relief. Oh. Like we've cleansed a bad wound. Because of the vault? Yeah.

Because we stopped the, do you think the lights are gone for good then? Well, they got. Maybe because we really broke it on the way out. Quite bad. Because we stopped it. Do you think the lights are gone for good then? Well, they got. Maybe because we really broke it on the way out. Quite bad. Can we, I've not processed that at the moment. Oh.

But I think we probably should. I think we might have done something good for here. So, before we speak to the others. Oh. Santheus was up in the air and... Yeah, and then he like... And lied, and it really hurt my eyes, and then all of a sudden...

Body gone. Yeah, kind of terrifying. And then everything collapsed, and then we're here. I'm actually really scared. What happened? I don't... Is it dangerous? Feels like...

Xanthius? I feel like his chest is actually way more dangerous than we thought it was. Way more. Before we thought it was dangerous, but now I think it's even more dangerous because he went to... Yeah.

Yeah. When someone tried to get at it, it was like... So I don't think we should ever touch it ever, ever, ever again. I wasn't intending to, but I'm worried about him controlling that. But he seems okay now. Yeah, because he's not awake.

The rune things are back. So that means it's protected, right? I guess. Maybe it's just if you go to do anything bad, it defends itself. Yeah. I don't know. It's kind of terrifying.

I don't know what to say to him. I've purposely kept Xanthias unconscious because I know he's killing Tom. He's like, oh, oh, oh. Yeah, you have this conversation. Maybe we should talk as a team before he wakes up to make sure that we're all, we wanna make sure he's okay.

And Gruff will know what to do, maybe, hopefully. I don't think any of us really do, but maybe we can make a plan. Yeah, I'll find Gruff and Ophelia and we can have a little plan together. Yeah. When he rises. Yeah, I'll go find Ophelia and Gruff

and just like subtly encourage them away from the campfire or away from the other people. Yeah, you can see that all the woodsfolk in the farm, they've basically settled in, like they seem comforted, like with Gruff's reassurance. They are like, attended to things like food and cap beer and finding nice spots to sit down. You can see they're not exhausted,

but they're still bewildered. They're kind of talking amongst themselves, like what happened? The three woodsmen are talking to Kristoff and trying to catch him up on stuff that's happened and are just amazed that he still is here and he's the age that he is. There's that kind of thing.

You can see the two farmers, the two husbands and their son just huddled together, just in shock almost of everything that's been happening. And Valessa is tending to Theravol. So yeah, you can easily gather everybody up. Everybody, please sit by the fire. You've earned this rest. Right. Relax, earned this rest.

Relax, it's okay. We're going to just do a perimeter scout of the area. You're sure we're safe? Absolutely. Rowan can connect with the land and he's done some checks and we should be fine. The land is happy now. The blight on the land is no longer there. Okay.

So it's no longer a threat. Okay. So we're all safe here. But we will go right now and just have a little scout around just to be absolutely sure. Okay. But tend to each other, make sure everyone is rested and has some food.

Yeah, of course, yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely. And you can see that they're sort of just like, nodding, yeah, yeah, yeah. And yeah, they're going and getting cupping water. They don't know how to play. And I take Sostenuto off my back. Maybe a nice song whilst we're gone, one of you could play.

I think they would look at this like incredibly beautiful on an instrument, they're like, no, we couldn't, no, no, we'll be all right, we'll be fine, like we can tell stories or sing, we'll be fine, please, we couldn't, this is, we can't take this from you, like even borrow it, I wouldn't want to sully it, like none of us can play something like that. Oh, come on, look at my fingernails,

they're all like dirty and horrible. We saw the kind of things you could do, like please, no, it's fine. We'll be all right. I'll come back and play. He stores snacks in it and they're probably moldy, just so you know. Tips, crumb.

See? But yeah, that'll be fine. Nice, yeah, I mean if you guys wanna have a chat, you absolutely can. But before we go, can I go to Lady Velessa? Yeah, Sister Velessa, in fact, actually. Also a sister of her Priory. I don't know what these...

Sister Ophelia? Is it okay if I give you these? I'll give her two bars of this lightning metal that I found. I'm not sure what they do, but you might be able to sell them and get some supplies. Please, no, it is fine, honestly. I will be provided for by the Church of Mary. Please, no, it is fine, honestly. I will be provided for by the Church of Melia. No, no, please, you saved us.

You should not be giving, we should be giving something to you, Sister Ophelia. If it were not for you and your friends, I do not know what would have happened to Thera Valhennai. Thank Melia, thank the mood maiden that you came along. No, please, please. And she like, doesn't take them. She's like, no, no, no.

I just know how important guards and wards and things are. And I want you to be able to help him in any way. Oh, we will be all right. The Dwemera are, they are very clever people and there are many who have lost limbs in their battles in the abyssal depths, and they will construct him a new leg. They are experts with metal and wood and stone,

and they will make something for him. In the Veiled City, they will make sure that he is provided for. He has done his duty as a shadow swan. They will honor him for this. This will be an honored wound. Okay. Please, please, do not worry. You are very kind to think of him, though. And she just smiles at you.

OK, I do the same for mine. Of course. I do not know much necromancy, but if there is anything I can do to help you with the loss of your companion, please, I will try. It's OK. It's probably something you wouldn't want to do anyway, to help you with the loss of your companion. Please, I will try. It's okay, it's probably something you wouldn't want to do anyway, given the religious conflicts and all.

If nothing else, if you need to speak to someone of the loss, I'm happy to listen. Oh, thank you. It's very appreciated. She was not, of course. If you need anything, come find me. I will be all right, please, with your friends. Okay, you want to go off? Yeah, sure. We will be all right, please, with your friends. Okay, you and she will go off.

Yeah, sure. Just sort of a little tear. Yeah, like she watches you go for a long time as well. Like sort of just sits next to her friend, this Dwayne, the Dwayne Mirror, and yeah, she just watches you and you kind of walk away. And yeah, you guys all join back up. So yeah, if you guys wanna have a conversation

without Xanthias right now, you absolutely can. You're not in the group chat again! Oh no! And we wonder why he's turning to the dark side. Wake up, wake up! I included him in the group call last time. You will wake up soon. Oh no, I'm chill, I'm enjoying watching this.

Nice. Hello. Hello. It's Rowan. My name is Gareth. It's quite dark at the moment, so I'm making sure. It's okay. First of all... It's okay. Go on. What?

I can see in the dark. Yeah, same. I turn my head to... It's kind of in my face. Okay. Okay. I think it's important that we all just take a minute right now to process what just happened in the last like two hours, maybe less. I'm worried. About Xanthias? Yeah.

You see this extra white hair I've got in my mane. Is he called Xanthias? I think it is, you know. I spotted it in the last day. And that's new. This is new. Does he have some sort of cold spells or something? No, I think he's turning my main grave with Warri.

Oh, right. And also, you've stupidly... Don't worry about it. Don't look at it. Don't worry about it. All right. We've got enough going on right now. We've got a lot going on. I took up the... Don't worry about it. Okay. Don't look at it, don't worry about it. All right. We've got enough going on right now. We've got a lot going on.

Are you all right, Ophelia? I think I'll be okay. I think, I don't know, I miss him. I know he'll be okay. We spoke about it all when we did it in the first place, and we spoke about if we were ever in a situation where we need to find, then we will find something, and we spoke about if we were ever in a situation where we need to find, then we will find something,

and we will make sure that we can get Percy back. And your followers will be super impressed. Yes, I just, I feel like I failed him in a way. I know he'll be okay. I just, I want to feel like... I want to feel like he'll be okay whether I'm there regardless. I don't know what I'm trying to say.

I just... There's a lot of pressure on me right now. I want to make sure I'm doing a good job. And I want to make sure that Percy's doing a great job. He was the best skeleton. He still is. I love him. Daisy's gonna give Ophelia a hug. Oh, thank you. Ophelia.

I miss his little voice and his little pitter-patter feet of him behind me, and it's just really weird when he's not behind me and I don't feel like I'm at home when I'm not looking at him, you know what I mean? He's got such a lovely face. But Percival would have wanted you to be okay, and he would want you to know that he did what he was supposed to do.

And he's not gone. It's just a little temporary holiday separation, and we'll get him back, and then everything will be even better. Yes. You know what we should do? We should reward Percy. Yeah!

With a better skeleton. Oh, oh, oh, oh! For his efforts. Well, Felina, we're gonna go home, we're gonna find a way to fix it and make Percival whole again, and then we're gonna have a birthday celebration for Percival, and then we're gonna make him feel special,

and hopefully he'll be really happy. I don't think Percy's ever had a birthday. Well, we should give him one. Yes, we should give him a birthday, I agree. He deserves a birthday. Yes, he does deserve a birthday. He will be born again, and yes, yeah. I like this idea.

But Ophelia, he would never have, he did what he did because he wanted us to go on and to do important things. And I don't think he would want you to feel sad. I think he, you know him, he would be happy to serve. And he did, and he will again. Yes. And then we'll raise all the armies in Osseous,

and then we'll give revenge on the proto-Magi. This is a lot of steps, that's more than I was thinking. Okay. Anyway, right through the- I think they should pay. I just- I think the proto-Magi should pay. Okay. Did you not see what they were doing in there? Yeah.

Yeah. Oh, such a disrespectful life, and all living things tearing it apart and making new things, and oh, it was disgraceful, such an affront to life itself. Let it out, let it out. It's disgraceful, disgusting. Oh.

Sister Ophelia, I understand your anger and I understand your loss. They took from me as well. They did and they will pay. Doubly so. You were there for me when I lost my temper. I am here for you. I don't have the words that you have, but Percival died honorably. He did.

We will honor that. And, actually, no. Died is the wrong word, because he will be back with us. And I don't quite understand your religion. I don't quite understand the Great Father. I don't quite understand Percival, but I will do what it takes to bring him back for you. Okay? And don't you ever doubt what you have done for him. You hear me?

Don't you ever doubt yourself. He would say, Sister Ophelia, everything is fine. In his skeleton way. You are doing really well. Oh, you're all too nice to me. I'm not used to this. Normally the grandfather would come down and tell me off and say that I need to do better and I need to pull myself up and I need to rest. I don't know how to feel. Ophelia, we just got all of these people out of a situation where they would probably never be back from. I think the great father would be pleased with the fact that you have done well for the lives that you have saved. You didn't waste lives, they were wasting lives.

And these lives are now not wasted. Because of what you did. Peravald lost more than his leg, if it weren't for Percy. That is very true. Oh, well thank you guys, I'm so glad I'm not here on my own. And we have, he gave the heart, so we have the tools that we need. We'll be fine.

He wanted to come back. Yeah. And he knew what to do. He was smart. Very, very smart. And that's because of you. So now, we will get him back, because that's what he wanted.

I know this might be very weird of me to ask, but can I have a hug from everybody, please? Yes. Yes, you may have a hug. Thank you very much. I wasn't sure how to go about it. Do you ask first, or do you just do it? It's usually good to ask.

It's good to ask. Okay. Just stand for one side. Hug? Oh, come on, everybody! Yes! Yes! Everybody!

Xanthius is lying unconsciously by. Oh, yes. That! Xanthius. Yeah. That's why I brought you all here. Quite scared by what happened to the familiar oxen line, but I mean, deserved, but not maybe quite that horrific

and horrible, because that was a new thing. And now what do we do, because Xanthius needs the crown still taken out of him so that he can live, but then if you try and take the crown steel out of him, then it, I don't even know what to do. Yeah, we can't, no one can take it out. If a vault proto-magi can't succeed and gets obliterated. Well, the proto-magi might not be as strong

as they think they are though, just saying. Well, they make the Galowack and all sorts of really powerful horrific things. But. Maybe they're not good at surgery, maybe. But either way, it defended itself, the crowns deal I assume, unless it was Hard Xanthius that did it.

Oh, it was just light, I couldn't see specific things. All I know is one minute the body was there and then the body was gone and that's just not good. My biggest worry is, is it so powerful that even though we were in a vault, Obsidius is tracking him. Oh. I didn't even think about Obsidius is tracking him. Oh. I didn't even think about Obsidius.

And the aware of that power is more than we've ever seen before. Oh, Obsidius, it's gonna be peace. It's a danger. It's terrifying, that's what it is. I'll be honest, after the Reclaimers incident, I've been terrified of Xanthius. It's...I don't...I can't...I don't know. I just...

He's been very angry. Yes. And every time we bring him back from the brink, it's getting harder to do. This Crownsteel is becoming an anomaly. An anomaly that we still don't really know anything about. Not even the proto-magi knew. I think we were so close to having it removed and then that happened. I just don't... I'm worried about him because I just want him to be okay.

I don't want him to be angry. I don just want him to be okay. I don't want him to be angry. I don't want him to be upset. I want him to just be Xanthius. Well. As you are having this conversation, it's been about an hour since you arrived in this place. Xanthius groggily, like, waking up from a long rest. You, almost like the vision was like a dream.

Not a kind of sudden, you know, waking up, but more of like a blinking as you feel soft grass beneath you. You can hear the sort of murmuring of chatter, crackling of a fire, a pleasant cool breeze, and almost having to convince yourself that it wasn't a dream. You know it wasn't, you know it was real.

But it's that dreamlike quality to it as your eyes blink and you begin to sort of awaken. Oh! I... You guys are still in conversation, you haven't seen this or any of this. I mean, I can hear them talking. You maybe hear like,

I just want Xanthias to be happy is maybe the thing. Aw. You know, I want to... Before I properly stir and process the sort of dream reality vision that I just went through, I still want to listen in more on this conversation without fully waking up properly. Without people knowing.

Yeah, like, I hear that first line, it's still almost this mist-like fog that's just like waving over me still though, that I'm still not sure really... I imagine I also don't have the energy to just bolt up and be like, oh, hey guys. You're physically healthy, but yeah, you don't feel great. Yeah.

So I don't get up just yet. I do want to hear more of this conversation. Okay. What do you think, Gruffus? It sure as hell does. The podcast listener's got made of face. Very happy, spiked little face. Good luck.

You now don't know that I'm awake. Unless you roll off. I do have a plus seven, so perception. Yeah, let's pass this off. I have a passive perception of 17. Yeah, we'll do it on your passive perception, because you're not active. 17.

I would say this would be a deception check from Xanthius. You also have fate on your side. Yeah, we need fate. Great also have the fate on your side. Yeah, I'm gonna use fate. Great. I have good deception as well. Oh my fucking Christ. 23, 25? Deception.

Neither of you two notice Xanthius. Not quite that. Okay, now he's awake. Yeah, neither of you two notice. You do not know who Xanthius is conscious. You've known him the longest. You found him on the road, infirm. He's what set you on your path.

When I found him on the road, he was terrified. And he was running from something. I've never found out what that was. But I know, and I know even without my night's tenets, whatever that thing is, I will protect him from it because he needs it. And the longer I known him, the longer he's travelled with us, I see him. I see him getting angrier.

I see him getting prideful. He says things to me. He told me in the vault. Didn't he? He said, oh, I thought you were going to tell me that I was worthless. I never said that. Those are the words of a boy who thinks of something of himself. So, I don't know what to do.

I don't know what happened in the vault. But I will walk beside him. And I will see him to the end of vault. But I will walk beside him. And I will see him to the end of this, no matter what way it goes. He needs us. He may be difficult. He may say unkind things. He may shout at us when we have his best interests at heart.

But we cannot abandon him. I don't want to abandon him. And I never suggested you would. I never would. I never suggested you would. But how do we... How do we help when... If the Crown Stealers was... hurting him... but he also wants the crown still,

like he was in the previous, but we can't remove it and something really powerful with magic can remove it. So what's our next step? That was the vaults where what our plan was. We need a new plan. There's gotta be something right, Graf. We'll find someone more powerful. Well, maybe we need to find out a bit more about it.

I don't know. Maybe we can find out why he was on the road, Graf. Maybe there's something there? Go back to where it began. And then, then, I just, I hope that that's what he wants too. I suspect it's something to do with his father. He's not mentioned much, but I get the impression that it was not happy.

Well, we'll do this together, right? Feel you? Yes. Well, then at what point does Xanthias stop being Xanthias and start becoming Crownsteel? What do we do then when the connection grows too close and we start losing him? I don't want to say that we will,

but what do we do if that should happen? We'll make the right decision, but only when it happens. Until then, we'll do everything we can to stop that from happening. To get Xanthius back. As you say those words, you hear... ...Valessa, the Nelonarian. Friends, good night, Sister Ophelia,

there's something you need to see. Sort of calling to you back to where everyone is. All clear out here. Good save. No, you really, hello? You should come back now. Okay. Okay.

I'll pick up Xanthias. Sure. Here comes a forklift. I think with a 25 it's still pretty impressive. Baby flip. Playing death. I mean, I think if you go close to Xanthias, you'll... I mean, I think if you go close to Xanthius, you'll...

I don't think you need a perception check to see that he's not awake, but there are tears going down the sides of his face from a series of different things that people have said. But, like, it's enough for you to see that he would have heard some of it. His wet cheeks. Yeah.

I'll gently pick him up, but, uh... So you're not gonna say you don't reveal to the others? I do not reveal it. But I make it clear that I know that you know. It's almost like you can tell, like, the breathing is different now. Like, he's almost- Yeah, now that you know. It's almost like you can tell the breathing is different now. He's almost progressing this kind of like... You know, yeah.

Sure. I love that. Love that. Excellent stuff. You guys make your way back into the Glade with everyone else, and yeah, you immediately see what Sister Velesa has called you for, because around the edge of this glade, you see like 20 hares, eight foxes watching, sat down, just looking at everyone. And then they sort of look at you all, beady eyes, the rabbits turn in their heads,

the foxes kind of looking at you all. The rabbits turn in their heads, the fox is kind of looking at you all. And then you begin to see from the trees themselves, masculine and feminine forms pull themselves out of the trees. Their leaf-like hair falling over their body, very sort of delicately covering their naked forms as they very gentle soft faces kind of like look on to you all. The villagers have all sort of huddled together now sort of like oh god what's happening now as you then see fireflies and little glow bugs begin to kind of filter in almost becoming like lights above you like strings of lights framing this place,

as music begins to drift through the woods and you hear harps and you hear little pan flutes as a song begins to kind of echo through. And you hear, oh hear the song of our lady, And her slyest lover too. She leaps over moon and stars alike, And comes dancing here to you. In a castle made of willow,

She spied a knight so true. But he was a fox and she was a hare, So she was his to pursue. Through glade and wood they capered, Watched by Harley, Oak and you, As they chase each day drew weary, They fell asleep and a hunt anew. And you see Satyr and Pixies playing these instruments

begin to filter through as a line of hares and foxes, almost form like a corridor out into the woods. And emerging from the tree line come two figures, almost like royalty, like nobles of a draconic court. She is very tall, very thin and willowy, with two great hair-like ears, like a wild heart might look, but dressed in this gown of green,

looking a little old fashioned for like a cardinal, something like that, like more like a fairy tale princess or like a queen in this kind of green, long sleeved, very Arthurian, Guinevere style robe, decorated with jewelry, very sort of trim, a little rabbit nose kind of like tilted up and like very delicate features,

blonde golden hair spilling down her back as she walks. And beside her, sort of holding her hand, is a knight dressed in this kind of russet coppery red armor. You don't see much of like his body except a big bushy fox tail sticking out the back and a red tabard. He carries a shield which has the emblem of a fox

with a dagger in its teeth emblazoned on the front, and his helm is like a fox's face with the ears. And you see like red, sort of very Irish-y, gingery red hair kind of spilling down his shoulders. And the two of them walk like a court, like a king and a queen come down the court. And you hear like these, you see these little fairies and sprites like, do-do-do-do!

As they sort of announce them arriving and you see this little satyr just like, the Lord and Lady. Sort of like bows their heads as these two, all the villagers are just like, what is happening? Are we on drugs? They're like looking at the berries like, did we eat something?

As these two figures stride in. And there is an immediate sense of like an etherealness. This is, these are not, oh, this is not a wild heart. This is not a pair of wild hearts here. There is an immediate otherworldly sense. Nim. Daisy.

Faye. They are from the Fae Weald. Oh. And she, like, I recognize this feeling. These are creatures of the Fae. Like, black women. Are they nice people? They good? We shall have to see.

Okay. Gruff would have immediately taken a knee as soon as he saw them. Okay, yeah, yeah. So like, there's, immediately there's like a look of like, the Fox Knight bows his head to you, like another knight would. And you see this guy, taken a knee as soon as he saw them. Yeah, yeah. So like there's, immediately there's like a look of like the Fox Knight bows his head to you like another knight would,

and you see this kind of very, not haughty, but just very graceful like bunny queen, this hair queen sort of smiles and like inclines her head in your direction. As yeah, they sort of enter and you would hear the woman will sort of speak in this kind of lilting voice. Greetings.

I am Sylvilia. This is my companion. You may call him Sir Volpes. Sir Volpe. Can you spell them both? Yes. S-Y-L-V-I-L-I-A, Sylvilia. And then Sir Volpez, or Sir Volpe. V-U-L-P-E-S. I'm going to say Volpe.

Because I think that sounds cooler. Can you spell the first one again, sorry? S-Y-L-V-I-L-I-A, Sylvilia. V-I-L-I-A, Sylvilia. And she will say, Is this place to your liking? Have you, you have fed upon the berries and food here, drunk from the stream? Oh, it's very comfortable.

Thank you. Yes, thank you. Good. Yes, thank you, sorry. There is a look with you, Ophelia. Not a dislike, but there is a sort of, not coldness, but like a, a sort of, more of a hesitation than with Gruff, for example. Very similar to how you remember Black Queen was a little off with you as well.

These are, if they are fey, they are the sort of prime enemy of the Greylands. But there is a, thank you, we are pleased that it brings you comfort. The berries, they look pretty. Do you have anything more crimson in flavor? You see Sir Volpe, like, takes a step and puts a hand on like a sword at his side,

and then is sort of held back by his partner. If that is what you ask, If that is what you ask, we could have one of our servants sacrifice themselves for you. I think that is only fair of you to ask. We seek to provide you nourishment as thanks. Child of the grave. There's almost this kind of like, oh yes, of course you would ask for this.

There's almost this kind of like, mm, yes. Well, I would be most hospitable of you to provide. She will turn to the foxes and hares. Happy Easter, everybody. Who amongst you, our kind and loving servants, would offer themselves to provide sustenance? I want to see if I'm caught up on a thought. I was bluffing, I didn't think that would be bluffing.

You opened up so strong with these guys. You see. Maybe we can these guys. You see. Maybe we can do that. I'll just cut my arm. I don't need to do that. They're just gonna. I cut my arm. Yeah, Ron cuts his arms right in front of you.

There's no need. Just please, no sacrifices. No sacrifices. No needed. So freely Robin. You were so kind to provide us with. We've done it before. Everything we needed.

She looks and gestures, and it looks like, she was literally, you see that one of the rabbits was about to step forward, and he's like, and then Rowan does that, and he speaks with a voice, and then Rowan does that, and then he stops this little hair, quite big hair, actually, and you see this little hair looks at you Rowan, he goes, thank you. But Afina, do you feed on Rowan?

Are you sure Rowan? I'd rather this than that poor little hair. Rowan's offering freely, then Afina will take. Okay, how much of Rowan do you drink? No, just enough to just... Satiate? Satiate, yeah. 10 HP, please, Rowan.

Can you give me a wisdom saving throw, Ophelia? Did you not come down? Very close. Can you make a wisdom saving throw, please, Ophelia? 11. I'm gonna say that's just barely a success as you manage to stop yourself from drinking more. Again, this is addictive, it's like this thirst.

You nearly bleed him dry. As you see, and you see Sir Volpes is watching this. Sir Volpes, he takes another step forward and the blade comes free as you eventually pull yourself off and he slots the sword back in and takes a step back. But Rowan, you feel very weak as Afina finishes feeding. I'm sorry, Rowan, I haven't drunk for a while. It's okay, it's all right.

It's just very nice. I understand. I'm sorry. I hope that for the rest of you, a bounty of the woods will be enough. Delightful, thank you. There's no need for all this ceremony on our behalf. Oh, oh, my gentle friend, of course there is.

What a gift you have given us. Long have we watched that place. We have seen it take our friends, travelers like these. We have watched it steal them away. And we, to our shame, were too frightened to do anything about it. Now that evil, that blight is gone. Is it gone permanently?

We sense that it will never trouble these woods, our home, our new home, again. That's good. But in your defense, it's quite right to be wary of them because it was not a pleasant time. We feared, we had heard of these. You call them the Proto Magi. We have heard of them.

We saw it was taking beasts and people. We feared what it might do with, and she looks to the Fox Knight. Our power. We dared not interfere. To know that that blight is gone, it brings us immense relief. She locks eyes on you, Gruff,

and Sir Volpe steps forward, and he hasn't spoken a word this whole time. He steps up to you. Are you still kneeling, or have you stood? I think I'd probably stay kneeling until, right, yeah. He will kneel next to you. I saw what you did, the boy, the one who is unwell. Which one?

Points at, he points at Pascal. I'm on Which one? He points at Pascal. He points at Pascal. I watched. The others were taken. You hesitated. You remained with him. Of course, there was no other way. I would not leave him.

There is, for others who have less of a will of steel. I say this, fellow knight, t'was a knightly thing to do. Oh, I... Thank you, Sir Knight. I'm... I'm not a knight yet. By what court? Your mortal realm? Ah, the Order of the Loyal Hands. I'm a knight errant. I'm trying, I'm trying.

You misunderstand me. I am saying, you may not be a knight by the laws of this land. I see a knight in your heart. That is all I care for. In this place amongst us, you are a knight. I couldn't agree more, Groff! A tear starts going down Groff's muzzle. I can't agree more, Groth.

A tear starts going down Groth's muzzle. Puts like an armored fist on your shoulder, sort of like nods. You don't see his face is covered by this metallic fox helm. He just gives you that kind of squeeze and a nod. He says, now, please rest. We promise that no harm will come to you in this place or trouble you on your journey back to the village from whence these ones came.

We cannot offer you much more than that, but it is the least we can do to provide you good rest, safe passage through outwards. Tonight you honor me, and it may be improper for me to ask, and for that I apologize. Is there anything you can do for our two, for Xanthius and for Squire Pascal? Not I, but my beloved, perhaps.

I am but a knight, but she has great power. And he will take a step back, and you see Sylvia will step forward, and she looks between the two, and she knows, Xanthius, she knows that you're awake. You can just tell this. You hear in your mind, directly to you, your friends wish you to awaken,

but I can feel strong emotions within you. If you wish it, it could put you back to slumber. Let you rest. Tell them that you will be all right. And come the morning, you will awaken. I would agree, I think. I think Zansias doesn't have the words or the capacity to approach the situation right now. I think he's a little overwhelmed by,

because he can still feel it, right? And he really didn't want to still be able to feel it. Also, some of the words that everyone was saying when they were talking about Zemthias. It's overwhelmed him a little bit. She doesn't even need you to respond. She just kind of senses your answer. Rest. The words that we speak, our gratitude, extends to you as well.

I know you carry a great burden, but rest in peace. No dreams will trouble you here. She kneels down next to Xanthias. She places a hand on his forehead. You immediately fall asleep. And she says, this one, he is fine. He will be well. He needs rest. Slumber.

He will be safe. Thank the Scions. Thank you. I have done very little. But he will dream a dreamless sleep. He will awaken. have done very little, but he will dream a dreamless sleep. He will awaken. This one, something, she goes over to Pascal,

like copse his face, oh, something terrible, lingers in this one. I can heal him. It will take much of my power, but I would... We are beings of the Feywield. Life is very much in who we are, but there are rules and boundaries to our power. I would need something from you. A favour.

A favour? What are the terms of the favor? I promise that you wouldn't do no harm to an innocent creature. I promise that you will do nothing that would go against your moral obligations. But that is all I can promise. For the boy to be restored? Yes. You have my favor, my lady.

Bounds her head, and she comes up to you and she puts a green ribbon, ties it to your armor, and you know that that's never gonna go. Like, even if you try to take it off or lose it, it will come, like, magically, this is now bound to you. But she goes over to Pascal, and she casts Greater Restoration on him. And that, I think, is where we're gonna take our first break.

Cool. Very cool. That's a lot. That was a lot. Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy. That was a good one, though. That was a good one. We will see you in part two, everybody.

See you then. See you in a bit. Bye. ["Picnic of the Year"] Hi, this is Michelle Madison. And I'm Jon Jacobson. And we're the Video Game Outsiders podcast, and we just joined the Pickaxe Network.

That's right, we've been covering video game news and reviews for the past 20 years. On everything from Xbox, PC, Switch, and PlayStation. Sony's dead. They're not dead. PC Master Race. Anyway, if you want to hear us, if you want to know more about the show and listen to John and I argue every week, you can do that on VideoGameOutsiders.com or anywhere podcasts

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