The Guilty and the Dead | Altheya: The Dragon Empire #122 (Part 1)
00:03 Pickax. Calculating route to avoid seeing poverty. Turn left to bypass the unhoused youth sleeping on the street. Then keep right to skip by the lines of people waiting for food. Steer clear of the crowded shelter turning people away, then take the next exit. Let's stop looking away and get in the way of rising poverty. Your donations help the United Way fight poverty in thousands of ways, like providing food, shelter, and crisis prevention.
00:32 Donate today at United WayGT.org. And welcome back to Althea the Dragon Empire. The heroes of Ash and Rest became embroiled in a plot during an Ossian fundraiser event hosted by Sister Ophelia's old friend Varys Evernite and taking place at the draconic estate of Lady Glomeres, a black dragon noble of Erdesquia. Whilst Daisy and Rowan attempted to deal with Xantheus, who is under the influence of a story,
01:22 suggestion spell. Ophelia and Gruff discovered that Councillor Jalia Winsinger was somehow involved, creating an illusory copy of Lord Umbraxian, another Black Dragon Noble. This led to the discovery that Lord Ambraxian was missing, and Gruff deduced that he may have been transported via magic and drugged with a powerful magical alchemical solution. Lady Glomeris locks down her estate in a rage and asks the PCs to find and recover Lord Umbraxian. However, the Ossian diplomats and citizens are outraged at being held captive and their diplomatic rights being trampled on. The Ossians ask Sister Ophelia to intercede on their behalf before she goes to rescue Lord and Braxian. But Sister Ophelia decides not to, racing after her friends instead.
02:12 Things are left heated and tense as the heroes dimension door to an abandoned estate where they believe the missing draconic lord was taken. Scouting inside, they find two well-armed and armed soldiers waiting silently for them to enter. A brief combat is made easy as Xanthius rests control of one of their minds and turns it against the other, discovering in the process that these soldiers' minds have been utterly ravaged by years of magical manipulation. Defeating the guards, they discover an Ossian mirror, a modified mirror of life-trapping, which holds the missing draconic lord inside. learning the command word from the mind-controlled soldier, they free Lord Ambrexian
02:53 and are left with the decisions of what to do next. And my friends, that is where we pick back up today. You are in the extremely dim, you know, almost barely lit, abandoned estate room that you had fought these mind-controlled guards in. The mirror is sort of shrouded. and covered, in fact, you had covered it with a shroud, like a dustcloth, and this tall, nine foot tall, very immaculately well-dressed Black Dragon Noble
03:31 is still sort of coming to, still sort of recovering from what has just happened and sort of realizing what has been done. Is there anything you guys are immediately doing or anything that your characters want to do whilst this is taking place? So I quickly cast Lesser Restoration on Lorde-on-Braxian, just usual gruffy stuffy. Yeah.
03:52 Yeah, so I feel like I'm probably involved in that. Just caring, like fussing and caring and... Mm-hmm. Yeah, he's still very much in sort of, like, coming around, like, fully, not fully aware of what's going on just yet. Anything from anyone? Can Ophelia ask Daisy? Daisy, can you...
04:10 Is this in the Daisy chain? No, this is out loud. Out loud. Daisy, can you draw me a sketch of the mirror, please? Is that okay? Yeah, yeah. Thank you. I have my stuff.
04:17 I always have some of it with me. I know I have... Yeah, you pull out like a sketchbook. I imagine that Daisy's like packed a smaller little evening bag for the party tonight, but she's still kept like a little sketchbook. A clutch. Yeah.
04:30 You know, like, yeah. You've got like a little flip sketchbook and a charcoal pen and you start sketching it easily to do to create like a decent enough likeness of it. With my masterwork supplies. That's right, yeah. Zanthia, so Rowan, anything from you guys? No, not from Rowan.
04:46 He's just kind of standing to attention and making sure everything's okay a little bit taken back by the fact that's an osseous mirror but prepared to help Gruff get Lord Ombrasian to his feet. Santhius, you know you've only got maybe a few seconds like a couple of rounds. I think it's like three or four rounds I think is
05:04 which is remaining like 18, 24 seconds something like that so you don't have long? Last I think when I took over this this guy's mind he's now, I've asked him to take his helmet on he's not a skeleton man which is great. No. It's good to know. Very obviously still, Ossian Mirror, but anyway.
05:20 But I saw ORA talking with someone else, right? And when they were trapping Umbraxian in mirror, right? And as a reminder as well, like, this is not normally how this spell works. You don't get glimpses of their memories and things like that. But there is something where your magic and the magic which has been used against this person has reacted.
05:46 It has had some unusual arcane anomalous response, and you have caught these, like, glimpses. And you have had this, like, awareness that this is almost certainly aura's magic. And when you asked for the memory, you said, what is the command word? Or, like, you know, you got them to think of the command word. And that's when you got this memory.
06:08 You never saw the person that aura was speaking to. You barely see aura. Like, you see a half glimpse of her as this figure is stood at the door, is ordered to step away, but you hear her, and you hear her talking about the command words and things like that. Yeah.
06:23 I mean, I'm going to try, because I know this guard also can't speak. Yes, they physically have had their tongue removed. I will attempt, I will say to them, tell me, in your mind, who ORA was working with. There is a blank response, which would indicate that this,
06:46 particular soldier does not know. Okay. So I'll say that's about six seconds, as everybody does everything else. Yeah. Lord And Braxian sort of, he will stand up and not aggressively, but he sort of pushes Roman and Gruth sort of away. Forgive me, but I have been... Who are you? What is going on?
07:10 What has happened? My name is Knight-Erant, Griffith of Chamorro. I'm here. These are my companions. Lord, I'm Brachshin. I am Rowan, and we are from the auction, and we caught wind that something was awry, and we came to help rescue you. He looks around. I am, this is... You're Ossian?
07:35 I am, yes. I'm... What has happened? That's what we are now finding out. I saw you leave the auction. suddenly, and we've been a rather... We've been investigating a few odd things, so I went to go and check on you,
07:53 and I saw some sort of a spell cast on you. You saw someone casting a spell on me? Well, I didn't exactly see it. I was up on the balcony, but I saw magic being cast, and then you were gone. Right. Well, yes, I... Gruff, you get the sense. I think Daisy as well,
08:12 because you guys have both got pretty good passive insights. He's very wary. There's not complete trust on you guys. And there is like a wariness and a suspicion. And as he kind of steps up, he is making sure that he's putting a couple of steps of space between you and him, basically. Who do you remember the last person you saw at the party?
08:35 Counselor Jalia Winsinger. I had stepped, I had received a sending spell saying that someone wished to. to speak with me. I did not recognize the voice. They said that they wished to discuss illegal magical research that was being conducted. They said they had information about it, and that's something that I've been pushing heavily against in the councils. I stepped out into the garden, that's where they said to meet them. And then a few moments later, the counselor arrived. I questioned if it was them who sent me the sending spell. And then before I could really react,
09:15 They had cast a spell. They had cast, I believe it was perhaps a portal of some kind. Hmm. But then I remember something felt like it stung me. I brushed away, and then that's the last thing I remember. You were injected with a dart that had widow sleep in it. Widows, I don't recognize it. Some kind of tranquilizing agent.
09:42 Oh, wait. One of the guards might have had one on their belt. I saw earlier. The guard in the room. Yeah, I'd say that the one that Xanthias currently has mind control. Zanthias, your spell, you've got a couple of rounds if you want to do stuff. Why that conversation was going to be on?
09:56 Zanthias, can you grab that vial before you lose control of the thing? I think the final command I do want to give before it runs out would be one of two things. Either walk off the balcony, but that's probably considered as like, harming themselves and therefore breaks the spell. They get another saving throw, I believe. Let me change. This is Dominique Parson, right? It was either that or just drop all your weapons
10:21 and that gives us a chance to like deal with it. But if I've got another... Is it... I mean, the other thing as well is like right now, you get the impression that Lord L'Enbraxian doesn't know that this soldier is one of the people that kidnapped him. Like he thinks that this soldier is with you guys.
10:38 Like he doesn't realize that he's actually part of it. It might be useful to keep this one alive. Okay, noted. Evidence or something. Yes. Yeah, I think I would, if I have another command before, I would then ask him to drop the weapons.
10:57 Yeah. Also, telling him to jump off the balcony, actually wouldn't. It's when they take damage, they get to make the saving throw again. And this is like 60 feet, like this is quite far up. Is that not like, if they were, would have stabbed themselves. They'd immediately get to make a saving throw against it. But wouldn't it be at the point of them stabbing?
11:17 Yes. Huh. Or would it be like the decision to do that would be the saving throw? No, it was when they take damage. The spell says whenever the target takes damage, it repeats the saving throw. But I would count that as like you and your allies are fighting it, so it gets advantage on the saving throw.
11:35 Which it failed. It had advantage and still failed last time. Um, okay, with my final question, uh, I would ask them to just describe the, because when, in the vision, in the, what I saw was the aura that I saw, um, the same, you know, with the same sort of, uh, cloaks and things that the aura is wearing in the party. No. Oh, okay, so this is like a long time ago. And she, and she looks different as well.
12:03 Yeah. Um. She looks less young, less innocent. Like the hair isn't like in the, you know, swoopy curls. And like, you know, she looks like a university student right now. She looks quite young and pretty. This is, she looks older. She looks more mature.
12:22 She looks less performancy. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, it's better than nothing. I'd ask for the description of that person that ORA was working with then. There is no description. They don't know. They didn't even see them at all? No.
12:39 Oh, shit. Okay. My apologies if I didn't make that. No, no, no, it's sorry. Because I thought it was like they were just like the other side of the room and the vision didn't go that far or whatever. They just never actually saw them. A claw for Inspector Gadget.
12:53 Yeah, kind of. I'd say that that's that. Yeah. I mean, I think I'd still ask that in some kind of hope. Sure. Like, if they don't know who they are, they might have been able to describe them. If they can't describe them, then so be it.
13:04 There is no. I'd say the description would be, tall, cloaked. That's it. Never saw their face, basically. Okay. Cool, fair enough. In that case,
13:16 I will, yeah, I'll ask them to drop all their weapons. I suppose I can't do drop on all your weapons and kneel on the ground away. He already dropped his bow. You can. I'd say, like, it's not hard to say, drop all your weapons and kneel on the ground.
13:32 I have some rope. Immediately drops the Great Sword, goes to its knee. Then the spell ends. Control is about to run out. We need to deal with this guy now. I'll stand in the way of Lord Ombraxion and the guard. Okay.
13:47 Just as a blockade. Excuse me, Lordenbraxion. We just need to. Is this one of the ones who abducted me? Yes. You see his eyes alive with me. Give me a persuasion roll. Am I going to get a whole blue room?
14:03 Oh, you want to do fat. Oh yes, let's do fate before you do this now. Oh, a reminder. Bye. What are we looking at? Ah, one. One for me, one for you so far. I've got four.
14:15 At four, that's another one for you. That's another one for me. Six. That's another one for you. Looks like it's up to Stephen. Come on, Steven. Stephen? I can't see it.
14:25 One. It's a one. It's a one. It's crazy how dice work. It is. So yeah, give me a persuasion check graph as you are trying to overcome draconic rage. Are you like fating it?
14:37 One. Fate, no matter. No, why'd you roll? A natural one plus one. That's the lowest result you can get. That's two. That's the worst result. Why it's not?
14:49 You can get the negatives. You can get negatives. I'm just saying, you can roll better. I don't think that it's like, Gruff is, like, it's not that you're not convincing gruff. Like this. It's just that you don't get the words out in time. You could just roll better, Tom.
15:03 Just roll better. Just roll like this. There you go. It's one. It's a shame that that wasn't the wrong. I think that it's less that it's not that you're convincing. It's that as soon as this dragon is like, and it's like this is obviously somebody that he's been abducted by and harmed by.
15:22 There's just a very gentle, and like, Rowan, I'm not even going to have you roll strength because this is a dragon. Just a gentle push to the side. I'll literally be like, oh, okay. He steps forward, and he makes sure that none of you are in the blast, but you watch as he just as green black, black, flames completely fill the space in front of him and engulf this man as necrotic flame
15:51 basically destroys what is left of him. He'd already taken a bunch of damage and I pre-rolled this off camera. He is not completely incinerated, there is a body left that you could try and like stabilize and heal and things like that, but you just see this like, how dare you. Okay, that's the right, that's the correct response.
16:11 You wanted me to get something off the belt? Well, the other one might have something. Okay. I would say that because this is like necrotic fire, the glass vial and the metal armor and anything that's inorganic, is fine. The body is like with it. It's like all the moisture or life has been like, and it's like this,
16:32 kind of desiccated one. Which that would make. Like a film, Tuxedo? I don't think I record that scene. I'm telling you, that's a fantastic reference. Are you talking about? Jackie Chan's the Toxedo. Yeah.
16:45 Oh, sorry. No, I still haven't seen it. I was talking about a Toxedo. There could be another film called Toxedo. My brain is instantly went to Toxedo Cat. The bad guys made nanobots that could suck all the moisture out of you. Oh, okay. This is kind of, yeah, it leaves them like a dissected corpse.
17:02 So there is still life, but yeah, completely just drains the life force out of this. this soldier. As you see him just staring with glowing green eyes. Lord And Brexian is quite pale, kind of similar to Lady Glomiric and he has these sleek, glossy black dragon horns cropped sort of black short hair.
17:26 He's very, very handsome. He's kind of got like... Mara, he's a dragon in your world. They're all sexy. They're all hot. They're all sexy. In their own way. Come on. But he is just staring down.
17:38 And you saw a similar expression on Lady Glomiris, like when she discovered that, like, she'd been passed. Shenanigans were had. Yes. And, like, this is abducting a dragon. He's obviously a huge thing. And he's just sort of staring there for a moment as he looks at this thing on the ground.
17:55 Can anyone send a sending spell to Lady Blamiris? I think I used my scroll. I think we should maybe get back there. I think we should go back there. Also, Ophelia, you did leave and everyone was kind of a bit mad. I did, yes. About, you know, having to stay. Lorden, um, yes.
18:15 Lady Blumeris is aware of what's going on and has sectioned off everybody in the estate, so no one could leave. One of those people, and investigation is underway. Being one of the culprits in this. Uh, who? We are...
18:31 Or... The counsellor. Jahlia Winsinger. Yes, she was the one who... the spell that allowed this to happen. We've apprehended her. Good. Well, also, they were working for. Or the mirror.
18:45 There are definitely several members of the auction who are involved in this, but we're trying to figure that out. We could have probably used with a, just Groff's kind of pointing at the body. There's another one. And it didn't incinerate both. We have, there is spells that can allow the dead to speak. Oh, that's, um, do you happen to have?
19:06 any on you? I myself can cost a spell. That's kind of... Oh, excellent. And your testimony would be very powerful. My testimony, he looks, and why are you all involved? Why, how did you find me? How did you come to rescue me?
19:23 We just fall into problems. Well, it was more that Gruff did see the spell that took you away from the party, and then also that there was a, visage of him? Yes, a illusion. To make it look like you left the party, but Graff identified that it wasn't you.
19:47 And from there, we were able to, well, Graff figured out what the spell was that took you there, and it has a certain distance, and this place just sort of seemed like the most logical. And you all just came to rescue me? Yes. Well, we... I am a knight-errant. It is my daughter.
20:06 Forgive me, I have been manipulated once this evening already. I am perhaps being a little over the cautious. No, completely understandable. Our intention is to get you back into the ball. Then let us return there. Even our friend Zanthi is here. Someone put a spell on him and we had to get that broken too because they tried to make him leave the party.
20:31 We don't know who yet, but... Oh, that was aura. This aura, who is this? You've said that name several times now, you know. Yes, I saw... when I controlled this creature, I saw a vision of them using the mirror. That's how I discovered the code word in order to get you out. Get you out of the mirror.
20:54 I am not very familiar with spells like that. Dominating their mind. Is that common that one receives visions of things like that? One is able to identify things. It's unfortunately the first time I've succeeded on that spell, so I can't see. I see it. Glomeres is more of a mage than I am. She may know more about this, but you are right.
21:14 We should return immediately and let them know that you've recovered me. To answer your question, the reason that we came is because it was a matter of urgency and the longer that we waited, and us being with Lady Glomeris, she just said to do what we can. But we should report back to her immediately.
21:31 And you are quite the heroes, and you have my thanks. Let us return now. Rowan, can we put this mirror in your bag? It weren't fit through the hole. It's very big. It should be taken with us. I can carry it, though.
21:44 Very well. As long as the curtain, don't take the material off of it. How big is it? It's quite large. It's about, I would say, it's like five feet wide and about... It's a Kim. You know... Kim.
21:57 Yeah, it's like, and it's probably like three foot wide, so it's a bit slimmer. You know, it's... Kim. Kim's... Not as slimmer than Kim, Slimer than its height. It's one. It's five feet tall and about three foot wide. If you put your arms out there.
22:12 Put your arms out a little bit. That's five. No, no, five feet tall. About three wide. Three feet wide. There it is. There's a podcast listeners. There it is.
22:22 Ron picks that up. That actually helps. Yeah, if you can keep the shroud on it, that's fine. You're aware of the dangers of it, so you're going to be very cautious not to expose it and things like that. There's a chance for being overly cautious.
22:34 We don't necessarily need to be covering it. I am. But I don't want to be talking about it. I don't want to be stuck in a mirror, so we're going to keep the coming. I don't want to Superman. There's a little element of that, yeah, phantom zoning. Why make a tuxedo reference, and that's weird, but phantom... I didn't say it was weird. Now, Tom Hazel, that is very defensive and very projecting.
22:55 I didn't say it was weird. I just said I didn't know it. I've not seen that film. I've heard of it as a film. I've not seen it. You need to work on yourself, love. I do. You need to work on that. You know what?
23:06 I'm all right. You're alright. He's alright, everybody. It was a good reference. I didn't know it, but that doesn't mean it wasn't a great reference, right? Superman, two, one I know. I'm old.
23:19 Take another hit. Just go chew on the leaves. Yeah, there you go. Get it out of your mouth. That's worse. It's not a mouth. Sorry. I was eating leaves again.
23:30 You can tell. Well, this is it. So, this is it. So, umbraxian, he's definitely still a little, like, and also he's just used his breath weapon. He's a little bit sort of, like, out of it. You've got two options. If you have spells or ways to get you back over the rooftops
23:47 and things like that, like flight or anything like that, you could do that. If you just want to go out of the building and through the streets, it is going to take you a bit more time. It's going to probably take you a minute, maybe a couple of minutes to get back to where you need to go. What's going to happen in a couple minutes? I miss being Nova.
24:03 I can't cast on the hallway of Glomeris's estate to us dimensioning door, fighting the guards, and now to present day, how long has that been? I would say with this conversation that you've just been having, I'm going to say it's been... Two seconds. Minimum, I'm going to say it's two minutes. It's like two, two and a half minutes that it's being far.
24:28 So Rowan's still large form. You're going to Hulk it? I already had. No, like, Hulk back. Jump down and catch us. Well, it's easier for me to carry the mirror. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, you can carry it. Like, it's not heavy.
24:41 Yeah. It's just bulky. It's not very heavy. It's an annoying. It's an annoying shape. Yeah. Hopefully it reduces the chances of something bad happening. I will tell you now, there will not be anything bad with the mirror. Right, stop splitting it.
24:52 You're not going to, like spinning it like a sign. Like a sign spinner. If you're not doing that and you're being quite careful with it, there's no risk of anything happening with the mirror. So when we were standing on the balcony of this abandoned building. He was huge, large form. You were large form there.
25:05 Rowan was being very stealthy. You were. He was crouched down like this. And hanging off the side so the rest of you could be on it. We're going to pretend, we're going to retcon and say that it was just big enough for Rowan, but yes. Okay. Cool.
25:20 Can I be rifling the bodies while? Oh yeah, we didn't want to take a thing off. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I'd say that there is one of these files remaining. Okay. They both had, they're kind of like, modified hand crossbows. It looks like they're hand crossbows,
25:36 but they've been strengthened, so the arm strength of the bow, the shot would be fired with greater velocity and penetrating power. The vials themselves have very thick, like steel needles, basically, billetons. They look designed that if they needed to, they could puncture dragon hide, potentially.
25:54 Apart from that, the only other thing they have on them is their armor, which is full plate armor, and then they're great swords and their long bows. No markers and no like piece of paper that says, I've been hired by ORA. So give me a medicine check as well actually. There's, I can tell you, you can make an investigation check and a medicine check.
26:13 Let's go medicine. Well, you'll need to do both. You're rifling through the pockets and I want to do the medicine check for the state. I rifle on the non. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. We're fating. Jafite.
26:27 One fate, okay, so far. I will fate, investigation. Okay. I was gonna do investigation. Yeah, you can both do investigation. There's no harm in both of you doing it. 16. Yes, so I got exactly that.
26:40 I got 15 on investigation. 15 on investigation. What I would say for both of you with an investigation is it becomes, you don't find anything, but what the check tells you is that is very, very intentional. No signet rings, no markers, no papers,
26:59 there's no identification. There's nothing. that could hint as to who these people are. Now do a medicine check for me, Graf. Check the foot, aura. By Andy. 21.
27:15 21. The medicine check, as you're kind of investigating and you're kind of pointing through things, you do things that you take off their gauntlets to see if they've got anything like wrist or like a tattoo or anything. You then notice their fingertips completely scorched, like burnt with like acid.
27:31 You can see that, like, like any tattoos that they, like some of them look like they did once have tattoos, maybe like soldiers tattoos or criminal tattoos, those have been bleached away with acid as well. They have been, their hair, their eyebrows, like they're completely bottled under their helmets. Their teeth have been removed. Like, almost anything that could identify these two men
27:57 has been completely erased. I don't like your sister. I don't know. I'm not fan. And this is so clearly intentional and well thought out and well planned out. Like nothing has been left to chance. Their tongues
28:15 have been surgically removed. Do we want to take the bodies with us? We should take at least one. Maybe the non-smushi one. I've got the mirror so I can't possibly carry a stinky corpse. I'll take a corpse. I can carry something if need be as well.
28:31 That's why I took the mirror. Pick a body, your lordship. Don't want to get anything on this action. He just grabs it by the collar of its armor and throws it over his shoulder. Very well, shall we make haste? Yes, please. I would transform to my draconic form,
28:48 but I think at best I'm still quite groggy and dazed. Perhaps we should just take to the streets. I'm afraid I don't have any, I could fly ahead or something and let them know. I guess you could also sprint ahead out the window. Yeah. What's the point? Tell me if that's what you do.
29:08 I'll just run ahead then. Yeah. Safe, say smells, lots and stuff. Yeah. So you can get there faster. It's going to take, Ophelia, it'll take you about, I would say it's going to take you half a minute
29:19 if you literally like run down. I'll rage as well. And you get the boost of movement, you can jump and all of that kind of stuff. So you're going to leap there. For the rest of you, it's going to be about two, two and a half, three minutes to like go all the way down.
29:30 out the building, through the streets, and then make your way there. Unless you're going to join Aphelia. I'll let Fifi go first. I don't know why I just called you that. It felt cute. I like it. I like you.
29:43 What about Owee, woey? As important as that conversation is, I'm going to move things on. I like fluffers. So, everybody but Ophelia, you begin to make your way out. You begin making your way down through this abandoned estate. The doors are locked, but you can open them from the inside,
30:04 break the chains and make your way outside. Ophelia, you make your way fastest, and within a few moments, as you draw closer to the embassy, you can hear the sounds of fighting. Oh, good. You arrive at sort of landing back into the gardens from where you came, and rushing back into that cross-junction, That cross-junction, yeah, he's just been waiting in the gardens,
30:36 and he will say to you, it is quite bad, Mother, there is fighting inside. I did not know what I should do. Thank you, thank you for saying me, Percy. I kind of half-expected this, to be honest. They weren't in a good mood before I left. It is quite bad. Is it bad? Okay.
30:49 You arrive into that cross-junction room that connected to the ballroom, the stairs, and then the entranceway, and there is currently a battle in process. Oh, good. Oh, no, sure. Okay. Yes. It's not a food fight, is it? No.
31:02 You can see that Glamyrus's houseguard, and Glamyrus herself, are currently, basically, very aggressively trying to keep the Ossians in. The Ossians, you can see Zithos, Mordecai, commanding, like, pointing and shouting, like, breakthrough, break through, we must be allowed back to the embassy. You see the death knights and the whites,
31:29 and all of the sort of conjured undead, as well as a couple of Osian, you know, just citizens who, you know, have armed themselves with whatever they either didn't bring with them or whatever they can find. And they are clashing against a wall of the estate guard. Right. As you can see that it is a furious battle.
31:47 Glamyrus is not, it doesn't look like she's used any of her breath weapon, but she is using her magic to try and disable the soldiers. To count, and you can see Varis and Zithos are desperately, like counterspelling her as like she is trying to like paralyze, as she's trying to like conjure walls of freezing mist and they're desperately like counterspelling, launching their own spells back. Varys is praying to the grave father
32:12 to lend the soldiers' haste and flight to break through as you arrive hearing all of this. Yeah, I think Ophelia will, imagine she's got the body of one of the guys on her shoulder and she just steps in, just throws the body on the floor and holds up the drawing that Daisy did of the mirror and just shouts,
32:38 in the name of the Gravefather, I order you all to stop now. Give me, intimidate or intimidate with advantage. Fate, fate, fate. Sure. Bah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Oh, mommy's getting attention. 28.
33:00 I'm going to spend a point of fate to add a complication. You fart. Varis. Varis is the first to notice you. And before you speak, there is a moment where he looks to you and he looks relieved
33:21 and he lights up and he starts to say like, Sister Raffirio, come and join us, help. And then you make that declaration. And you watch this. look fall upon Varus, taken aback, offended, what do you mean? Like, you should be helping us. And you do feel that like you have, there's been a negative to that relationship where he now doesn't understand. Mordecai looks around, looks confused at the body and the sketch. And there is a pause at least amongst those two and Lady Glomeres.
34:00 The melee, even your voice, the soldiers are lost in the ring of combat. And they're not trying to kill each other, but it's like shoving against shields, trying to clobber the guards, trying to clobber the Osseans to knock them down. You can see that a couple of the honored dead, you know, whites and zombies and skeletons, they have been destroyed in this melee. A couple of the guards, the house guards, look injured and have been pulled away and are being tended to by cobalds. like injuries have been sustained, losses have been sustained.
34:33 But there's this moment where glomerus, Varus, Zithos, poximus, the sort of leaders all look in your direction, and you have everyone's attention. None of you are leaving. As far as I'm concerned, this is a matter of treason. And until we find out who caused this and someone from Osseus is behind this, None of you get to leave.
35:01 You have disgraced me. You have disgraced your house. Now stop. There is a look on Zithos's face. Even he can't hide it. He recognizes the mirror. He recognizes what it is. Varis, you're not sure.
35:24 He looks at it, raises an eyebrow. Does he recognize it? Is he confused? You're not quite sure. sure. Poxomus certainly doesn't. There is a brief moment where now with that second projection, the fighting does allay for a moment. Glomiris, sister Aphelia, did you find him? He has been found. He is safe. Guards, stand down for a moment. Do not let any of them pass, but cease engagement.
35:57 And you see all of the house guards, like step back. basically pulling themselves back to the entranceway. And now you can see further out. And you can see a small spectral force out at the front gate who are also now not fighting but are preventing what seems to be maybe wormguard or reinforcements coming in as well. Zithos will just say, Sistrophilia, what is the meaning of this?
36:26 What do you mean? What do you mean? What are you talking about? What do you what am I talking about? Are you saying an Ossean is behind this? An Osian has been involved. Yes, this mirror is clearly of Ossean creation. Yes, it is, it is.
36:46 It is not a very used device, but it is one of Oscean creation. Tell me more about it. Why? Why? Why? What has happened? There was a kidnapping. Lord Ambraxian was trapped within this mirror. Huh? Gosh, and until we find out the reason why,
37:11 no one gets to leave. That is not how things are done. This investigation should be conducted once we are in the safety of the embassy. They do not have a right to keep us here. And no one from Osceus has a right to kidnap dragons. Well said, Sister Ophelia. You understand, Speaker,
37:32 that one of your people has committed one of the greatest crimes, second only perhaps to assassination of a draconic noble, you are not leaving my estate. I suggest you work with the sister here and we come to an agreement. Thank you, ladies glomissa.
37:57 Varys, you're taking their side. I'm taking the side of reason, Varus. surely you must see that this is wrong. Yes, whatever has been done is wrong, but we should not have been kept here. There is, if this should have been handled properly, we could have done a proper investigation, looked into this inside, this could have been an internal matter.
38:23 You've made this, by bringing this now, you've made things worse. We could have handled this. You understand the consequences of this, don't you? Yes, I do, and it is deadly, serious, which is why I'm bringing it to everybody equally. He just shakes his head. You can shake your head all you like, Lord Varus.
38:45 I'm in control of this situation now, not you. So be it. The Osseans pull their forces back. Meanwhile, the rest of you making your way with Lord and Braxian. Who's that girl, huh? Damn. Oh, she. You, as you begin to draw closer, notice,
39:11 at the gates to the estate of Lady Glamyrus. A small spectral force led by the Shadowwalker Delilah Forrester have formed a barrier at the estate entrance. A platoon or a squadron of Wormgard of this district, of the Nightwalk District, are basically squared up against them. neither side willing to be the ones to make the first move. And you can overhear an argument as they draw closer. The Worm Guard captain is shouting, like,
39:50 there have been reports that a draconic noble that's been abducted. How dare it, like, you cannot stand in our way. Our people are inside and are being not allowed to leave. We are not allowing you in there to make things worse. We, as far as we know, you've been sent here to silence us. we must be allowed to leave, and this is happening outside as well. We have to get through that to go.
40:16 Well, I mean, you're approaching it. You decide how you want to deal with that. Lord Ambraxian, we might need a bit of your help to get back into the estate. Oh, I have no fear of that. Very well. Let me lead the way. If anyone, give me any problems, I can just marry them. No, no.
40:35 Suck me in you go. Well, you don't know the command word to activate the mirror. I think it's, shh, shh, sh. Get in the mirror! As you approach, Lord and Braxton does indeed stride ahead. Enough of this. Commander, I was the one who was abducted and I have been rescued by these fine adventurers.
40:56 I must be allowed to speak with the lady. You see, the commander is just like, thank goodness you're safe, my lord. We had heard that you would potentially be an abducted. They look around and kind of give you nod. These Oscians are not permitting us to enter. Apparently they might be involved in this in some way. Perhaps indeed, he turns and looks at Delilah Forrester.
41:18 Allow me, I am the one who is abducted. Allow me to speak with Lady Glomiris. And perhaps we can resolve your people being allowed to retreat to the embassy. Once we determine who is responsible. Commander, you and your men are to stay here. You and your warriors. You and your warriors are to stay here. You and your worries are to stay here.
41:38 Wait for this. Do not enter with us. Good spirit. You would allow me and these adventurers to enter. I believe that you know that they are companions of one of your own. I am aware of them, yes. Very well, Lord Dragon, you and these adventurers may head inside. Please bring whatever is happening to a close swiftly.
42:01 I do expect all of my people to be allowed to leave. I will do what I can. That's what she says. I'll just give a really open wave to her as we walk past. She just watches you with absolute cold. I mean, I'll ask. All of them? Yes, all of them.
42:25 If someone is guilty of some trespass against the empire, we will deliver them to you for justice, as is part of the diplomatic agreements, Mr. Xanthia. So be it. I'm glad to have your agreement. Thank you. The spirits pass, like gates opening. Their cold, dead stairs.
42:54 Not all of them are completely humanoid forms, like Delilah Forrester. Many of them are ragged, wraith-like things that do not have full corporealness or full substance to them. Their cold, dead eyes. And as you move between them, you can't help but feel this understanding.
43:12 natural, persuasive, cold as you step through. This will happen several minutes after the arrival of Sister Ophelia. So Sister Ophia, what do you do in this time? Yeah, I think Sister Ophelia would be sitting with lady. I guess, are we going to be sitting? So basically, no. No. The forces have split apart.
43:33 The fighting has stopped. And now, you know, the process, the undead that were struck down are in the process of being reanimated. The guards who were injured are in the process. process of being healed, but there is a very firm two lines of forces. Yeah. And then there's like now a no man's zone in the middle, right? Lady Glamyrrhus' forces are blockading the doorway out.
43:57 The Ossians are sort of in the hallway, sort of gathered together defensively. And it's crazy, at some point in the brawl, someone broke the frame to our ornate painting. Oh, I'm good. It's gone. It's just gone. How did that happen? The biggest crime of all. Okay, I feel like, where is the tome?
44:19 Has it left? Who are you asking that? I guess you'd like, maybe I'd ask Lord Varys. As far as I know, all of the items of the auction were taken to be sent on to their purchases, as far as I know. They would have been delivered to where they needed to be. So it's no longer in the building? I don't be imagined so.
44:40 There would be no reason to halt them. Now incredibly worried. As you say that, as you're talking to Various, you look past to the ballroom and the stage where everything is. There's no one else there. All of the citizens that weren't Ossian, the adventurers, Vizana the merchant, the students. Well, shit. None of them are there. Oh, oh no.
45:12 Yeah, Aphelis is just going to start then just making a mental list of everyone that she can remember that is no longer there. Anybody that is not Ossian is not there. Right. The adventurers, we want to franchise. We can meet him again. That's what you notice, anyway, as you do that. Are we there now?
45:35 I'm going to give Afia a little bit more time and then we'll have everyone arrive. Yes, I guess you're, I think, yeah, Phile's anger. This is like a couple of minutes. So you look in, you go to Asfar as that, you see that they're missing. You've got like a mirror left. I'll start scanning the ballroom just to see if she can just find anything like any, just any traces of whoever was there, like where they might have gone, where they've... Yeah, you don't really see any traces of it, but there are a couple of cobbolds who are like
45:58 nervously trying to clear things up and like clear things away. They're like, we're just going to pretend that that fight isn't happening. Clear away all the plates. Excuse me, excuse me. I'm sorry, don't worry. Please don't kill us. I won't kill you. My goodness.
46:11 me, no, I would not kill you. You're far too cute. Thank you, my lady. So, do you, who is, do you, do you, do you see, I'm trying, I'm so frazzled. Would you like a drink? No, no, no, I'm trying to, do you remember the people who have left? How many people that were here are no longer here? Do you have any memory of?
46:36 Well, yeah, uh, yes, um, well, several of the citizens, when the fighting started, they became very panicked and afraid. and they were begging us, asking us for a way out. They were so scared. So we evacuated them through our service tunnels out into the gardens, and then I imagine they've made their way out into the city. Can you show me the way? Show me the way, leave me out.
46:58 Yes, yes, thank you. Kind of, like, looks around nervously. Takes you back to the stage, and this is what Gruff had discovered earlier. Leading away from the stage are these short, cobald-sized corridors and hallways. For you, you'd probably have to, like, really hunker down, sort of like crawl, crouch, crawl your way through. But they lead you in almost the exact same path that Gruff took earlier when he was investigating this.
47:23 And these tunnels lead you into kitchens. Those kitchens then attach to the gardens. And from the gardens, one can go to a side gate and simply leave that way. It looks like the Osseans only didn't go out this way because they didn't know about it. And they thought that there was only one way in and out of the ballroom.
47:39 So who came with you? Do you remember who would? Yes. pretty much everyone who wasn't in fighting, who wasn't fighting. There was the, Miss Vizana, the merchant, there was, there was a group of students from the academia.
47:56 Let's see here. Mr. Golden Thread, Davian Golden Threads. There was Councillor Riotto. There was the adventurer couple. I believe that that, and then obviously a few of the other guests, minor merchants and things like that, there was a lot of guests.
48:20 Of the people that you guys are interested in, those are the ones that they list. Okay, well, thank you for a diligent service. It's incredibly appreciated. I think by the time you make your way back to the main room, that's when the rest of the party are going to arrive, because that takes quite a bit of time to go through those corridors. So at this point, you all walk in, and see this temporary kind of pause,
48:46 like these two camps, Glomeres will turn round. Ambraxian! Thank the Empress, thank Mother that you are. Thank the great mother that you are all right. Are you all right? Is everything all right? They found you. I'm a little shaken and still a little groggy
49:02 from whatever they use to subdue me. But yes, Glamyrus, I'm all right, thanks to your thinking. And these fine adventurers who came to my rescue, We have brought bodies of those who abducted me, as well as the device they held me in this mirror. You are more of a mage than I. I am afraid that it may be more of something of your knowledge, perhaps, as well. But yes, we have brought this with them, but I am safer now. You hear Zethorus?
49:36 The dragon lord has been recovered. As such, I am still requesting that we are releasing. to our embassy, and then if there is evidence of Ossian involvement, we will ensure that the culprit is handed over to the Dragon Empire, as is the code and creed by which our countries have agreed. The two dragons look at each other, unsure of what to say. May I ask High Priest Er Zithos? Yes.
50:08 Do you know of this mirror? I know of mirrors like it. I cannot say that I know this one in particular, but it is a device that is created in Osce. Where would one such device be stored? It could be stored anywhere. Parsons residence. It could be stored anywhere. Do you have a catalogue of, like, a register or something of such artefacts?
50:37 No, not at all. Do you keep a register of all artifacts held by the empire? Well, it just strikes me as rather a rather powerful and unusual artifact to lose... Not especially, innocuous. No, it is not especially unusual. They are used frequently. When spirits or undead become unstable or cannot be controlled, these mirrors are often used for housing them until proper controls can be reasserted.
51:06 It is not especially remarkable in this regard. Would it be unusual to someone who is not of all? to use one or be in possession of one. Yes, most certainly. It is not an item, I believe, that you have here in the empire, at least. So the Austrian embassy isn't loaning artifacts? Of course not. Absolutely not. Are you absolutely certain?
51:31 What if someone was to come to you and request such an object? Would you have kept a record of that? Firstly, no one has made such a request. I can assure you of that personally, I have not handed. any such request of that nature. As... I cannot guarantee you that an individual within the embassy who has access
51:53 to this mirror or an item of its ilk has not given it out to a citizen of the empire. I cannot guarantee you of that. We do not spy on our own in such a way. That's
52:09 not true, and you would know that Delilah Forrest absolutely does that. Oh, yeah. It's like hot shit. But you literally have a whole house dedicated to it. He is, he is just like, but no, we do not have, we do not, we do not catalog every individual member of the embassy's personal belongings. It is also, dare I say it, a skilled artificer or magician would be able to construct something of this nature if they had the knowledge.
52:39 Would you be able to look at this mirror and tell me if this has been a bit of, recently constructed. I can attempt to, yes. It would be greatly appreciated. On, but I must make the insistence that if I am willing to remain here, I want my people to go back to the embassy. I will remain and I will take full accountability,
53:05 if need be. But my people should be allowed back to the embassy, Orsean ground. I will help you, but this is my demand. Sister Rifilia, this is your domain. I'm aware. Until we know for sure who is responsible for this, I don't know if I can trust everyone to leave, my lord.
53:30 What if we confine them to the embassy? A daisy chain? I would say, Sister Rophilia, I have suspicions that the one who is responsible has already left. Abbott Lorkin was seen causing a scene. Yes. And Orra's not here anymore.
53:51 No. It might be best for peace. The only other thing I would interrogate is you saw Oura speak in Tavares, did you not? I did. She was trying to gain knowledge. Maybe this is the item she was trying to get. Maybe we can ask them who she spoke to. He might not be the only one.
54:13 Perhaps you could ask Val. to stay as well. Okay. High priest, Lithos, may I request you remain here as well as Lord Varus as he was the one in charge of organizing the event.
54:32 Me? Are you accusing me, Aphelia, of being involved in this? Not involved, but you have spoken to people that we suspect. Then come and speak with me to the embassy. Why are you treating me like I'm a criminal?
54:46 Everybody here is a criminal until we can prove them otherwise. Can I ask in a daisy chain? I want to ask a failure, is there a means by which people can escape back to Osseus in the embassy? Hmm. Almost certainly a way to teleport or something, but like...
55:02 There's not going to be a way to communicate at least, I imagine. Hmm. Because once they get back to the embassy, that's like they're gone, right? Yeah. If they have the means. If they have the means. Well, they have the means. They're very powerful.
55:19 I mean, you have the means to speak to the way. I will. say this, Aphelia, you have not been to the embassy, so you don't know for sure. No. It would not be inconceivable for somebody, oh, this is a very minor thing. We've been working on the book. We're changing the name of the House of Shrouds again.
55:43 We enroll and play, because we were like, having two houses with S, S's. They're back to the House of Roons now. House of Roos. For the Mummies. Mummy House is now House of Rooms. Got it. Why not House of Mummies?
55:57 The House of Rooms of very, very skilled magicians. You know that obsidious can create teleport circles. It would not be inconceivable that they have a teleportation circle. Because it would need to be, because a teleportation circle,
56:16 you can't bring armies through it. No. It's too, like, it's too many people. Like, it would be very obvious. Right, so. But if it was one suspicious person who wanted to escape from the hill. Yeah.
56:25 Most certainly, all group of suspicious people. Yeah. One of Abbott who left early in a flint. Could be. What does it feel? What do you might say? I mean, she won't. Put variance in the mirror.
56:41 But you don't know for sure. No. No. Again, you guys don't know the command word. Someone does. No, he knows the command word to release someone. To release someone. It could never.
56:51 It's different command. Backwards. Could be. What are thinking? I'm thinking of just outright asking the entire group of people here and having everyone just like look at the lock eyes of everybody in
57:07 like try and figure out if anyone freaks out just asking if anyone is working with host Oregon because they would know we're working with aura well host Oregon like hearing the name last name Oregon whether they're working with or they're working with Oroganis.
57:29 Are you gonna preempt us with that? I don't think Stanthius would. I mean, it's like, it's also like playing the hand, right? It is a big play of the hand. It's also, keep in mind, you would also be making the accusation in front of two dragons. I know, that's the other thing, because I'm really weighing the weight of this.
57:52 There was an accusation levied against me just by claiming them. if I then go ahead and then say, Mm, a bunch of bastards. Oregonis is involved in this. Oh, you mean your family? Well, yeah, Glamyrus at least knows I've claimed that last name. But also, I'm making an accusation against a dragon lord.
58:11 Right? Like, it's, it's a big play. It's a big play. Right now, though, you can say whatever you like, but sister Ophelia has got directed. Can Roan say one more thing in the Daisy Chain? Yeah. Ophelia Rowan
58:26 Just one more thing Yes Like I said before Let's focus on us What makes the right decision To best suit you right now Honestly Rowan I don't I don't know anymore
58:44 Do what's easy then Well Sister Ophelia I would have your counsel on this Can I entrust The Speaker and this Varys to remain and let the others go. Whether they remain in the embassy, when they leave,
59:05 well, I can't stop. He's swarming. What others decide to do, and I can't make them keep promises. They are their own people. They have their own free will, I suppose, but... Sister Ophelia. Yes.
59:22 I have been the speaker of the Sepulchre for many decades. I have poured much of my life into my relations and the diplomacy here with the drag. I give you my word and I swear upon the Grave father himself, I will not allow anyone to return to Osceus or to leave the embassy. If a crime has been committed by an Ossian, I would see them punished too. Thank you. Thank you, my good. Was that a little role at the other?
59:54 It was a little role. It was an honesty role. Varys is disgusted by this. Varis is so, like he is so insulting. He likes. Yeah. I'm telling you what you pick up on. I'm not saying that you have to feel anything.
01:00:13 Only giving you the facts to which you can make your own opinions. So yeah, he said that's what Mordecai, that's what Zithos says. Well Ziphorst is, if that is your word. It is. I can't see the cogs turning right now. Is it turning? I will trust your word. Glomeres.
01:00:33 Maris will say, very well, I trust you, Cisoravilia. If you trust the speaker's words, then I will trust yours. Let all but Varys and the speaker leave. But, and then you hear, Zethos will say, May I speak with the Shadow Walker, Delilah Forrester. I will go up to the gates and then return, as she cannot enter here. I will be watching you, Speaker. Very well.
01:01:00 He goes out leading the rest. You see that the skeletons and the ghouls that were destroyed earlier have been reanimated. One ghoul is like holding its own arm, like ready to be stitched on. Poximus is probably stitching the arm back as they move. They make their way to the front.
01:01:17 And you see Zithos has a few words with Shadow Walker Delilah, who nods and spectrally goes with the rest. And then Zithos returns. So Delahs seems okay with that. Yeah. It seems that like he, as Zithos comes back, he says,
01:01:32 I have instructed the Shadowwalker to ensure, and the Maharajat as well, to ensure that teleportation is denied and that no one is to leave the embassy. Thank you. I put my mind at ease. It's not an accusation to anyone in particular right now, but I think that... It is an accusation against Osseus, young lady. Well, at the moment, it's better if we try... and figure things out sooner rather than later. And if an artifact is involved,
01:02:07 then it leads to a certain assumption, but that might not be correct. I agree. And that is why I've agreed to this statement. I don't know if I can. I'm like weighing the pros and cons, and I think it's too. All cons.
01:02:24 Proes. Just say the words, I'll mirror the shit out of him. Sterlaport, like, world politics and chaos, potentially. If I can verify which I can. Cannot. Yeah. This is one of the great problems.
01:02:39 Except I do have some hard evidence on me, but cannot play Xanthius ever again. Yeah, yeah. And also, I mean, in terms of crown seal, it's not evidence. It's not evidence. No. It doesn't prove any.
01:02:54 But. It doesn't say love from organis on it. I mean, if I just like, yeah. It just puts you in the shit. It puts me in the shit. But at my cost, I'm like adding weight to my accusation. right? What's the end result ultimately
01:03:09 and what does Xanthius care about? The end result is the treaty between Osceus and... No, I don't want to break that treaty but if a plot is happening between or is obviously involved how dare? There's no proof of that.
01:03:24 There's no proof of that. I saw it in my mind. Oh, anyone could claim they saw it in their minds. Therefore, likely Oregon is involved. I want to... massively disrupt Oregonis, and if his position on the world stage is massively diminished
01:03:41 as a result of, like, oh, you were involved in the plot to kidnap a dragon, that's a big deal. It is. I am going to say this, and I think Santhos Pick up on this, you would need very strong. Yeah, that's the thing. I don't...
01:03:57 And, like, more than just, like, oh, cast a zone of truth on me and I'll say, you know, like a good authorita will dismantle that as evidence, right? Because it's like, there are many ways to get around that. There's many ways to lie and cheat and manipulate it. So you would need something concrete, solid, really, like, directly points the finger
01:04:19 and not just Aura, but Aragonus. Because remember, as far as the world is concerned, aura does not exist and is certainly not related to Aragonus. They've got the same name, though. Orra. Well, no. Orra. Yeah, well, okay.
01:04:32 You know. If I'm to offer something to... help with the two devils on your shoulder. Which one are you? I'm the slightly beefy or butted one. They're both niches. Are you pain or you panic? Good or bad?
01:04:46 Panic. Okay. Oh, hi. That's me. We're all playing this. Okay, hey, how's you going? We are words. We are not words.
01:04:57 We are not working. I'm not going to do that. Gee, Mr. Lister, you're strong. This is Amtheus is going to now. I think time and place, right? I don't think. the players to try and out Oroganus now. I think it is the target's already painted on your bank now
01:05:14 for intercepting a kidnapping, and we're gonna use that down the line to get in. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, that's where I'm at. That's where I'm at. If you want more pondering time, I have a thing I can do. I don't think I can use it now. I think I'm gonna bring up ORA in a quieter manner to like Glamyrus.
01:05:37 Like, I think. Well, Ophelia saw her meeting with. Mm-hmm. She also was speaking to Ambraxian at the party. Yeah. Like, I think I have enough, like, stuff to basically say, you should hear my opinion for more than two minutes before you arrest me or kill me,
01:05:57 but I don't have anything that's like... Concrete. Yeah. I'm correct, and you should believe me. Cool. Well, would anybody like to say or do anything? I reckon it's all down to Ophelia. Yeah.
01:06:10 Sounds like Graf had something. I wanted to speak to Loran Braxian. Yeah? I guess while Ophelia is dealing with various Ossians. Lauren Braxian, if you don't mind me... Yes, my friend. I was just wondering, is there a reason you think you'd be kidnapped? Well, this Ossian involvement is confusing.
01:06:33 I'm very outspoken about many things. I am a young dragon, and us young Amonger dragons, many of us across the empire, have been very vocal in some of our opinions. And we are gathering support. We have powerful dragons who are supporting us. One of my particular crusades, there have been two that I have been pushing for amongst the councils. One is there is a lot of illegal magic that happens in the empire.
01:07:08 claimed to be done for the sake of the empire, for the progression of the empire, but it is dangerous and is unsanctioned. There is no body that overviews many of the mages and magical colleges here. It does not safeguard what they are doing. And I have a problem with that. Being audacian, I know this better than most. Pragmatism has led many of my people, many dragons to doing things that are morally questionable, at best, morally bad at worst. The other is that I'm very outspoken against there is an organized crime syndicate that operates throughout the empire. They are called the diadem.
01:07:54 Oh, wow. This is brand new information. What? A little whisker. A little whisker twitches. I believe them to be a disease on the empire. Oh, I agree. And they have deep pockets and many connections.
01:08:16 I have had my life threatened by them before. It would not be inconceivable for them to have been behind this as well. But abduction is, well, I can see that there would be a benefit to them for that. But the fact that Jarlia Winsinger is involved in this, she is one of the dragons. She is a mage of whom I have heard whisperings. That there is illegal research facility in the Suncrest Isles that she is the overseer for. One that were my petitions, were my laws to come into place,
01:08:50 she would suffer greatly because of it. If it helps, I do think she was a pawn in this. I'm not excusing, I'm just saying she's not the mastermind. Glow of the mind. Don't put that, put that down. Don't incinerate me. She will be dealt with as by Imperial War. I'm just saying though, I don't think she has much knowledge
01:09:11 of the higher machinations of this. She played a part because there appears to be some blackmail about her research. That would make sense. Um, I saw you speaking to a young lady tonight. A Miss Orra Sinclair. Orrne. Student. Oh, yes.
01:09:32 a charming little thing, but I think that she'd had perhaps a bit too much wine and was feeling quite courageous in her affections, shall we say. May I ask, did she touch you? Not that I can think of. Put anything. Put anything upon you or anything. Don't believe so, no. I have reason to suspect she's involved. Drunken student.
01:10:07 Appearances may be deceiving your lordship. Perhaps, but how would this all connect? I mean, if, I mean, we know that an Osseon is involved. What would this drunken soriety girl have any relation to that? This is gruff oversharing again. I'm purposely doing this, by the way. I believe there is a larger plot at play. Part of me wonders if tonight is to stir up feelings about the Austrian embassy.
01:10:38 I see. Our greater conspiracy will require more thought and investigation. If you and your companions believe that this student is somehow connected, we can set word for the guard to try and find them. But we would need to do so now. As I understand it, the civilians all fled when the fighting began. I suspect, unfortunately, you will not find her. Oh, in the Daisy Chain.
01:11:06 Do we want a wormguard sent out after order? Lord And Brachsian is offering I do not think they'll find her Would there be any harm in doing it anyway? And her companions? At least testimony from them. If they can find the companions and at least then we have some witness to her actions.
01:11:29 But she's not a real student so it depends how good at deceiving them she's been. They'll almost certainly have a way out but being captured can't be part of their plans. They went out through the serving hatch that the Cobbles use. Does anyone remember what the names of the two other students were? Chuddy McChudson and... Oh, it's Lorden Brackson, can you arrest a Chuddy McChudson please?
01:11:52 Is that their name? No, no. I don't know. Son of Chud. Son of Chud. I am Chudson. I mean, Chudson is implied in that, so... Chudds dot here. The student daughter of Chud.
01:12:07 Just got glasses and jock. Jock. Oh. Correct. Arrest all the jocks. And people wearing glasses. Fuck them. Any glass.
01:12:18 You wouldn't hit a guy with glasses. Hit a guy with glasses. I'm afraid I did not. So the student in words, Kemp, there were words in your brain. Question? There are no words in the brain. The students in question.
01:12:36 The student's in question. The main one I'm talking about, the one that approached you. is Miss Orris Sinclair. Yes. However, I have reason to suspect that she's not a real student. That can be checked.
01:12:51 She was accompanied tonight by two other students, a rather masculine, as my friends would call them, jock, and a younger lady with glasses. Unfortunately, I do not know their names, but perhaps Lady Glomaris has a guest list. Almost certainly one of the Cobboldt house staff will know.
01:13:10 of the name. I will send for the guard and put out a request to seek them out and find them and bring them in for questioning. I would be particularly interested to know her companions where they last saw her. Very well. He goes over and speaks to a member of the worm guard and a bolo is put out for these three. A fancy bolo. I meant like the thing that... Yeah. No, like a report is like a request is sent out, communicated. All points bulletin, but fantasy. Yeah. I mean, it still would be the same thing. Be on the look out. Yeah, be on the lookout.
01:13:46 That's an acronym. Yeah. Amazing. Yeah. And a weapon. So that has been done. Like, they're going off and doing that. What is, what is happening? What else is happening? Like, what is everyone doing? It is very late at this point. It's probably quite late evening. You know, pre-midnight, but still, like, you're talking like 11.30 kind of at night. That's my bedtime.
01:14:08 But you currently have... Fantasy Bedtime. High Priest's Doth, Mordecai. You have Various Evernight. You have Councillor Jalya. You have the Dragons. So, like, is there anything you want to do more now? Like, what is the play for the rest of it?
01:14:24 I think Ophelia wants to ask. Jalier is probably going to be arrested. Like, as soon as you got... Unless you guys have any more questions, do you want to talk to her specifically? She is going to be carted away by the wormguard and locked up. I think she's just, like, a pawn in their... wider scheme that I feel like we've got what we need from her to be honest yeah okay
01:14:43 no I think I feel like will want us to talk to Varus a little bit oh yeah he he does not want to talk to you right now yeah he doesn't really have a choice yeah there's no choice um he is just sat on the steps that lead down into the ballroom he's just got his like head in his hands and he's just like looking at the now ruined event and the stage and he's just like he's muttering prayers to the Grave Father. I feel like you'll sit down sort of just next to him, not like... Close, yeah. But just like...
01:15:15 Of a long side. Yeah. I'm sorry. It's all ruined. It's not. It is. There's no way. There is no way that the Black Dragons...
01:15:28 There's no way that any dragon will allow us to build a temple to the Grave Father in this city now. Not after this. If we cooperate and we do a good job now, perhaps we can rebuilds. They won't trust us. Understandably so, but the sooner we can get to the bottom of this, the worse this will be for Osseus. I can't let this slide by without doing anything about it, Varus, or something has to be done now. We can't have a war. Why did you not speak with Glamyrus?
01:16:05 Because I... We asked you to... Yes, I'm aware, but Lord Ombrexian needed help, and I didn't know what state he... would be and if he was dead, can you imagine? It's not even worth imagining. But you didn't know either way. No, I didn't know either way. You could have helped us then and there.
01:16:27 Could have prevented that fighting potentially. She seems to trust you. You chose a dragon over Osseus. You chose your friends over Osseus. Oh yes, well, I've not heard much from you since I arrived. And, well, since you even left, I wasn't even sure if we were even friends anymore. Of course we are. We were. I don't know. But of course. You think that I don't think fondly of you and our time spent together?
01:17:02 But I have been here. The work involved in making this happen, this opportunity for our country, for our faith. It took everything. It took everything from me. I invited you so that we could see each other. Yes. I know. I'm sorry that I didn't come to Ash and Rest or write you letters sooner, but you didn't do the same for me either.
01:17:29 You never even said goodbye? I did. I left you my letter. There wasn't a letter. I, Philea, I left you a letter pouring up my heart to you to say goodbye, to say how much I would miss you, to say how much I would miss you,
01:17:43 to say how much I loved our time together, our friendship. I went to your quarters after you left, thinking you'd still be there. There was no trace. There was no sign of you, no letter, nothing. It was empty. Can you make a persuasion roll for me, please? Fake. Oh.
01:18:09 15. He looks at you. I left it. There. I asked Nemessi, I said, please make sure that that is sent to Sister Ophelia before I leave. I can assure you there was no sign. I looked everywhere for you. Oh, Philea.
01:18:29 I don't know what to say. No. I thought you hadn't written to me because I thought you were jealous and angry and... No, no, no, of course not. I just... I thought that was it. I thought you'd been promoted, you moved away,
01:18:48 and I'd never see you again. That I just suddenly wasn't good enough for you anymore. No, not at all. I mean, I had to follow my ambitions, as I knew that you would. If you had been selected, it would have been the same. It's what we had been training for, what, everything that we had worked towards. That's why I wrote that letter to tell you how much I appreciated you, how much I loved our friendship, how much it meant to me. How much I would miss you.
01:19:19 I didn't... All of this has happened. It wasn't... I didn't do all this because of you. I did this to keep Osseus safe. I didn't want... Was it to keep Osir safe? Or was it to help the dragon emperor? It is clear, Ophelia, that you and these friends of yours,
01:19:42 it feels like you're pulling away from the great father, isn't? The great father tests me. Tess all of us? I feel like I... I do something good, and then... I'm pulled the other way, and suddenly I displease him. He sent one of the... One of the angels after me.
01:20:04 He was going to kill me. Because I lost a soul. I mean, that is a grave. Oh, yes. Step against him. But it's, and then I repented. And now I've done this. I can't seem to find a balance.
01:20:23 There is no balance, Ophelia. It's like faith. You have to make a choice. You can't please everyone. Why can't I make a choice? Why is it so hard? Because what the Gravefather wants, what Osseus needs, they don't always align with what you or I or anybody else wants.
01:20:46 To serve is to serve. It is to choose service even when it is at the harm of oneself or even if it means leaving your best friend behind. I didn't come here purely out of ambition. I came here to serve. there were regrets. Of course there were. And in my process of being here,
01:21:08 I have done things that I must admit I did not wish to do myself. Do you have regrets? Yes, of course I do. And does any of it feel worth it? Truly, in your heart, tell me now the pain that you have been through. Would you say it's been worth it?
01:21:29 If you give me a persuasion check, please. On Natural 20. He falters, he casts his eyes down. I'm not sure that anything. But I do believe that that is the ultimate test of faith. Nothing we do whilst we live can ever match those expectations. It is when we die, when we finally go to the Great Lands, when we stand before him at the end of all things,
01:22:21 I have faith that it will be worth it then. What if it's not? And we've spent our whole lives. I cannot believe that. I have to believe in my faith. But we can live in joy. There is, I'm not saying that you have to give it all up. Of course not.
01:22:42 It's your life. But you can find joy here. And I, there are, joy is a different thing. There of course there are moments of joy, of friendship, of celebration, of course. I think perhaps where you and I differ is I know that I cannot always get what I want. And that often I have to sacrifice myself for him. Do you believe that?
01:23:23 I've seen the grey bands. You said? It's a hard place. Dangerous. It's... It's more toil. It's more of the same, Varus. And I don't know what waits for us, even beyond that.
01:23:50 No, I have to believe what the Countess and the Count taught us. If I can be like him, like her, this is worth it. I believe that. I want what they have. And what do you think they have? Everything. Everything. The way that they enjoyed life, the way that they enjoyed life, the way of it.
01:24:10 that they, their immortality, their power, their strength. I want that. But if they live forever, would they give it to you? Yes. You believe that? I believe it. Because I choose to believe it. Because that is what faith is.
01:24:36 It is choosing to believe in something. I've been struggling with my faith. I'm sure that comes as no surprise to you, given how I just acted. That's what strikes me as so odd, because before we left Osceus, you were one of the most faithful and devout. You loved the grave father in a way that, well, sometimes I could not fully understand. There was a cruelty to him that I have seen too many times. Every time I go back to him, every time I see him, it just taints my heart more.
01:25:23 I thought he would be like his namesake, like a father, caring and understanding. But there is a malice there that I... My heart just struggles to resonate with sometimes. Ophelia, he reaches out a hand. Yeah, Ophelia takes it. I remember you telling me a little of when you were a child. He told me that you were sick. I think you had a good father, a kind father.
01:26:00 Some of them are cruel. Some of them are cold, distant. Some of them are mean. He is a father. But not all fathers are the ones you dream of. If that is what you want him to be, I'm afraid. I can't imagine he will ever live up to that. You must accept him as he is.
01:26:30 He can be kind. He can give you favor. He can give you things and rewards and kindness. Adoration, respect. He can be cruel. He can be a bully. He can hurt you. That is why it is a choice. I am not one. If you are doubting things, Sophia,
01:27:02 I can try to help you, but my faith is strong. I hope you find what you're looking for. Thank you. It's good to talk to you again. Yes. Like this, not without bureaucracy involved. But it may be the last time we get to speak. I won't keep this position.
01:27:26 not after tonight. They'll be sent back to Ossius. I don't know what's going to happen to me when they find out everything that I've just done. I think that you seem to have the protection of the dragons in their favor. But if you desire to come home, you will need to think about how that and just how devoted to Ossius you are. I can't imagine that perhaps a few days, a few weeks to find a replacement, but I won't be staying here. Where will you go? Will you go back to Osseus or? Oh yes, I'm sure the Count will summon me. I'll be punished and set to some work in the court.
01:28:19 I failed here. I failed him. I failed the Gravefather. Why go back? They can't make you go back, surely. You could stay here. This isn't my home. I don't belong here. I belong in Osse. Lungnossies. I could make your work. I have a shrine. It's a little one.
01:28:49 I think you need to figure out what you want. You're right. Once again, I'm really sorry. No. I am sorry too for my harsh words earlier. I hope you find whoever was responsible. That aura you spoke to when I first came to visit you. Oh yes, the girl.
01:29:16 The girl. Do you remember what she was speaking to you about? You said she was interested in necromancy, but to what extent? She spoke to many of the people in the embassy, not just me. She spoke with almost all of the representatives of the different houses. She asked what the house represented, what kind of undead we pledged our service to, what rights and rituals we used.
01:29:39 They did try and learn. We taught the minor necromancy, the sort of thing that we share with Ilmirans, but nothing of great purpose or great secrets. She was very excited about tonight. I remember that. What decapamancy did you teach her? Oh, nothing particularly. Low-level spells.
01:29:58 What kind, though? What kind did you teach her? I mean, I taught her summoning of blood weaponry and things like that. Right. But nothing more. As for what the others taught, I couldn't say. Do you know who else she spoke to you? Anyone in particular?
01:30:12 Oh, all of the househeads. All of the househeads. Right. Except for Delilah. Okay. She never spoke with Delilah Forrester. I remember Delilah saying she didn't quite trust her. Well done Delilah.
01:30:27 You think she's involved in this? She's... She seems like quite a harmless, quite, well, forgive me for saying it, but she seemed quite a stupid girl. Oh, she's far from it. She... We have been aware of her. She's an interesting one.
01:30:52 You're certain. ORA, the blonde girl. Yes. He seems genuinely so, like, that's such a... a weird concept to him like he can't quite process it I think there's more to her than meets the eye with that we'll bring that conversation with Varys to a close as it is time for our break nice but before we go to break okay I don't I leave you with a little scene a scene for the audience not for your characters
01:31:25 it's a bomb what we see much perhaps in a bit of time It's unclear exactly when a figure emerges, shrouded, hidden, seemingly undetected by the floating spirits that surround the Ossian embassy. A figure with long, golden, blonde hair spilling out from the cloak that she pulls up around her, as she smiles, glinting behind her in the Oscean embassy, one of the room. detonates with a little bit of God and that's where we'll take our break Oh for fuck, right.
01:32:16 Holy shit! No! We'll see you in part two everybody. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Calculating route to avoid seeing poverty, turn left to bypass the unhoused youth sleeping on the street, then keep right to skip by the lines of people
01:32:47 waiting for food. Steer clear of the crowded shelter turning people away. Then take the next exit. Let's stop looking away and get in the way of rising poverty. Your donations help the United Way fight poverty in thousands of ways, like providing food, shelter, and crisis prevention. Donate today at United WayGT.org.
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