Legends of Avantris - Beneath Dark Wings | Ep. 35 | Unnatural Law: Part 1

Episode Date: February 19, 2025

After avoiding a fight our heroes stumble onto exactly what they've been looking for...   Gain access to an exclusive campaign, Shroud Over Saltmarsh, over on Patreon: https://legendsofavantris.com/patreon The Crooked Moon, a folk horror supplement for 5e, is available for preorder! Get the Crooked Moon at: https://thecrookedmoon.com/ Watch more D&D adventures in the world of Avantris live on Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/legendsofavantris Check out our merch store: https://shop.legendsofavantris.com  Join our community on Discord: https://legendsofavantris.com/discord Watch our many campaigns on YouTube: https://legendsofavantris.com/youtube  All other links: https://linktr.ee/legendsofavantris   Watch the full episode here: https://youtu.be/6-W0ZeIH_5k?si=VnE-XtgYKj5Yk9FF

Welcome to Legends of Evandris. I'm Iris and you're listening to Beneath Dark Wings. Here's what happened last time. You see, finally, several stone steps carved into the mountain, almost out of nowhere. The wind is howling, but then you hear... Jesus. The sound of this horrible, guttural howling. What is that?

I don't know, but let's kill it and sleep in it. You're uncovering a statue. And almost the fervor that you've... feel to get rid of the snow, you're shoving it off, it's falling thousands of feet down below. As you stand on this precipice, completely bathed in the wind. Pazuzu. No. Pazuzu.

Pizzuzu. Pizzu. Pizzu. Suddenly, you realize you're standing at the top of the mountain. You're absolutely freezing as the wind is howling all around you. You are frigid. You're shaking. You realize now that you are thousands of feet up.

Up on the top of the mountain, I just woke up upstairs. about outside. Why did you go outside? They could be Yetis. I felt called, Toa. Here's a Birdman statue with six eyes at the top. You look around and you realize you're surrounded. Mounting huge saber-toothed white tigers

is a group of heavily armored horse. You are all standing in a cragier part of that. these hills and steps as you look up and you are surrounded by eight massive beasts, white and black fur, huge fangs, slavering moth of the razor-sharp teeth and mounted on each. One with a large flag on her back are orcs, beautifully armored with that beautiful ghost iron or ghost steel that you've gotten accustomed to being in Grand.

And the one with the flag looks at all of you as they draw their weapons and point them at you. The one in the center is holding a large spear in one hand and on her other, She has a massive golden gaunt with spikes where each knuckle would be. And she looks down at you and you see that she has a very large nose ring, larger than all the others.

Her tendrils on her chin are even longer than all of the others as well, with adorned in jewelry and rings. And she looks at you not gnashing or raving, no rage, but a stern accusatory look. What? I'm going to take one small step behind Toa and cast major armor on myself.

Holy a macro, I seriously think you could probably poke a hole in a mackerel with that. Why would you poke a hole in a mack? Stage your purpose, intruders. Is this your mountain? This is our land, and you don't look like you're from here. In fact, you look like you're from Korovakia. We have Koroavakian agents, and I wouldn't expect...

You don't look like I'm... From Korovacia. It's incredibly beautiful. Yes, that's true. From Siket. How many words are you at in Korovacia anyway? I'm from Galtega. Yeah.

Only one of us is from Korovacia. One is enough. State to your purpose. Each of you, and give me a reason why we shouldn't kill you here. Well, I'll go first. So I'm looking for my dad, and I think in that snowbank over there, man, you guys have some really serious climate issues out here. But for real, I'm trying to get.

To- That- Don't move! She kicks her tiger and it takes two massive steps and its mouth is about 12 inches from you as it lets out a low growl. Oh, hey there, but I'd probably think I'm like a pheasant or something. I'm not a dwarf. I don't taste very good. I would really appreciate if I could just take a look at that axe over there.

I swear to God, I swear to gosh. Morgan, forgive me. I think that's my feet. That was a great joke. I didn't get it. Yeah, well, you know, it was good. And my name is Capricio DeCesto. You can call me Caprice.

I am assisting our Dwarvengerick. I'm her giant, apart. Yeah, we're looking for her dad as she stated. And I think he's last in your mountains and not trying to trespass, ma'am. But I'm pretty sure that's his make. She just keeps an eye on you and then looks at all of the rest of you. I mean, do we really have to go around the circle? That was a pretty good story, and we're helping.

And we don't mean you any harm. And I didn't actually see your name anywhere on the mountain, which is not accusatory. I just didn't see it. Simple mistake. Do you know where you are? Not really. It's cold as fact. I just heard my dad came up in these parts, and listen, you know, he goes wandering in the night once he's had a couple kicked back, you know what I'm saying?

So I told him, I said, you really need to cover up and put that shit away, and then he just got lost, and so here we are. Yeah. Happens to us the best of us. We're all here looking for Herses' father. That's it. We don't want to cause any trouble. We're not looking for trouble.

She looks at you, and then her eyes narrow. You look Horvachian. I am. Search him. And immediately the police hop off their mount, and they walk over to you, and you get, Felix's pole a seat. Easy, easy, easy. You'll rough me up.

And roughly start searching. Easy now. He's a very sensitive boy. I check to make sure that I have his second, like spare, like a spellbook. I presume you still haven't unless you dropped it somewhere. No, I just, I just, I feel that, I'm like, and one reaches for your, reaches into your coat and finds, Hey, hey, no, no, no!

Finds the emblem that Zern gave you. And the other reaches for your dagger. dagger. I'm gonna, well, I'm feeling all these hands reach in and I'm trying to stop them from grabbing the dagger. Okay, actually make a slight a hand check and I'll do the investigation check. It's, oh, it's not trying to hide it. Okay. I'm saying, I'm like, I'm like semi-resisting and I'm just trying to prevent them from grabbing the dagger. Okay. I don't care about the amulet. Do you still want it to be slight of hand? I'm not trying to hide it. Um, I would say, I'm just, I'm semi-resisting. Okay. I would say there will be a contest then. It will be strength versus, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh,

athletics or acrobatics yeah 19 for acrobatics and as you as it reaches down you actually manage to swap one of the hands away and it seems as if he's going to resist but then he looks up and then they pull out the emblem from CERN and start backing away and one holds it up and and you see that this lead female orc. She's definitely a good foot taller than all of the other ones you can see now. She looks at you and says, Korovaki and Spy, huh? How did you get this? What are you doing here? You may have heard, but there is a towering evil demon lord

bold creature marching towards your city with lots of other beast men and people and other orcs. They transform them. I don't know if you've heard, but they intend to kill everyone. and everyone you've ever known. And so we were sent by High Admiral Zern to help you defend your people. And we're not spies. We're not, I'm not disguising the fact that I'm Corvacian.

We're here to help. I would like to ask, what would you call us spas? We have a teafling. Have you looked at the stone like man? I'm a tabaxi. We have a genossi, she's blue, and this dwarf you can smell for miles around you.

We walk straight in here, not undercover. However, do we look like spires to you? We received these because we did Zentra a favor. We helped to fight off an oncoming onslaught. And now we're simply here to find her stinky, probably stinkier father and potentially to assist you. And after you say that, they kind of, I would say, make a group persuasion check at this point.

Yeah, proficient. And Ravali kind of pipes up and says, My name is Ravali Freeway, and it kind of leans back on Peyton. And we're here to save all of your lives. Easy going. And I would like, Toc, you make that advantage, please. 12. 14.

14. 14. Persuasion of 14. Oh, 17. 20. Okay. 16. 16. 16.

12. 12. 12. I think we failed, guys. So, well, I mean, Rivali also gets one. Ravali's got a join, I mean, come on. And she, she stops for a moment and says, you were sent by Zern to help us with the Horn Legion.

Yes. Yeah. In addition to looking for her water. And you see one of the orcs, it's another of the, the female one, she's completely shaved head, and she steps and she whispers in the ear of this larger one who still has not dismounted. And you see immediately the orc looks around and says,

lower your weapons, these are the ones that Golden Lotus said would be coming. Although she had only said that there, she only said that there would be six of you. And Ravali raises his stump. And he says, I think that's because I was probably going to be dead. She probably didn't see me coming. And you see that they all start to back off.

The orc that had grabbed your medallion from Zern hands it back to you. But the one that had batted away from the dagger is standing there. and he's looking very upset. Are you serious? They're sent by Zerun. I don't care. I don't care what Golden Lotus said. They're Korovacian agents.

And you see the one on the mount looked down at him and say, I know that's the case. But Golden Lotus said that she saw them coming in the Blossom. that they would help us with the Horn Legion. I don't care what Zentra has done. I don't care what Korovaki has done.

Are you saying that you want to murder all six, seven, all seven of these high priority targets? And you see that as this orker standing directly above you, and he has his hand on a beautiful, a beautifully crafted sword, not very far from you. And he's looking at you and his head is kind of twitching around. You see a bit of, and Felix, you see this, that his eyes are starting to get like a little bit bloodshot and red

as he's almost foaming at the mouth. And you, he looks back up at her. And this is, Dukhani, you know what happened to my family at the border. All of them killed an artillery strike. They're Koroavakians, all of them. I don't care.

I don't care. I'm going to kill them. And he immediately raises his weapon in a flash. The female orc has leapt off of the tiger and stabbed her spear in and blocked it as it is, millimeters from you, Felix.

And she parries that smashes his arm. You hear a loud snap as he yells in pain. And blood spurts everywhere as the bone snaps out of his skin. And she reaches out with the gauntlet and grabs him by the neck. And you hear him, you hear this orc sputter as his eyes are wide with his bestial rage. As

this orc allegedly named Dukani says, the orc says to this orc named Daukney, you would betray our people for these outsiders. And she looks down at him

and says, Baruch, I will do what's good for the clan. Chain him up. And she throws him down and immediately other orcs pin him down, putting a foot on his head as he starts thrashing, and they clant manacles on him and throw him on the back of the tiger. Once he has the manacles on, I'm going to go over,

and I'm going to heal him. Oh. Hmm. I'll do cure wounds at third level. Okay. I'm going to put my hand on him. I have no reason to trust us, and I'm not burdened by your outburst. You have been harmed your people. You act out of fear, and I do not blame you for that. But I will not watch you suffer. You've suffered enough, and I will heal him. Great. How much heals business do you do? He is slumped over the tiger,

and you see that they aren't tending to his bones or his wounds at all, as he looks at you. and he's even thrashing and his eyes look at you with this. 23. As you do that, could you make a perception check for me? Perception, you say? 17. You notice that as he still looks at you and he's struggling.

And as you put your paw on his wound and it starts to just magically snap back and heal. And it closes up. still a red patch there, but you see the pain in his eyes start to dissipate a little bit. And he seems confused, and he still looks at you with disdain, but he is speechless as he just looks down. But as he looked down, you see the two tendrils on his chin, and they seem to be a bit shorter than all of the others. As... as Doconi, the leader of these orcs, steps to the side after dismounting so swiftly

and puts the spear on her back and says, I apologize for that. He will be appropriately disciplined and re-educated. It's okay. It was a little close, but I'm sure Tula would have saved me. I was very close to save him. Please don't hurt him. We understand. Like Iris said, it's, police don't like...

Just forget the whole thing. We're kind of a Brady Bunch around these parts. You know, this isn't the first time we've had weapons drawn on us, but we appreciate your hospitality. Do these Brady Bunch folks oftentimes have weapons drawn on them? Why, I was referring you as? Yes, but you implied that whatever this Brady Bunch is, it would be... You said we were all like a Brady Bunch.

And that... Yeah, we're all kind of different. You're the only person who braids their hair. Yes, that's true. Well, I mean, I could teach you guys how to braid your hair. I could teach you how to braid your hair, too. I don't think. I could probably braid my hair.

I mean, I just kind of try it up just a little bit to keep out of my face. I'm sorry, we do this all the time. Thanks for helping our friends. Those are some good moves. Yes, I appreciate that you didn't allow Felix to be killed in front of us, though we would have prevented it ourselves. But I do, and I hope everyone here, does understand why he would fear us.

Vakia has done much to our people, and they continue to do so. I imagine he has family and friends. Where we are going? Not anymore. Then, I think he has been punished enough. Golden Lotus

will decide what will happen to him. It is our way. You know, maybe after Golden Lotus has decided and we're still safe, We could maybe have a couple of beers and, you know, iron all this out. Our clan has our traditions. She will know what to do.

So Golden Lotus is a person, like one person. I know. She's like a... Tabaxia. We've been told of this golden lotus. Oh, like her name is just Golden Lotus. By the or that is now happening. I knew that there was a Tabaxi, but I kind of assume based on the name, it might be like this order of tabaxia or something.

Oh, you know. No. My name is Iris of the Sands. Oh, it's like a thing. My name is Capriccio de Sesto. You can call me Caprice. Thank you, Capricci. Oh, I'm lofty. This is fun.

If it makes any of this better, Cargash helped us kid up the mountain. We helped it. I do not know that name. Oh, well, if you happen to see a halfling riding on a goat with a large, what is it, a broad sword. A great sword. sword. As of a few days ago, he was an ork. He fell in battle, and I reincarnated him, and unfortunately, he was reincarnated as a halfling, but he's still quite fierce. So if you see him, just know that he was once, one of you. He's strong with Falsam. They were slaughtered by the...

I think his name was Falsall. Oh, maybe. I will make a note of it. And she pauses for a moment and looks over... at Baruch, the orp that she had smashed, smashed in, and says, if you let your orcas savagery consume you again, my fist will go straight to your neck. And he kind of struggles a little bit and then just kind of, after looking down in his arm that's been healed, he just hangs over dejectedly and does not move. and she extends her mighty gauntleted hand and says, I am Dokani Sunfist,

and she reaches out for your forearm. You give her a strong, like, full forearm, and put my other hand over it and I shake it up this way. I will be your escort to Moghukai. We will have to pause our evacuation of the Outer Kingdom. You are far more high priority. Can't we do both? I mean, there's a serious threat coming.

Has there anything we can do to help? There is no time. We don't need protection. I think maybe just if you could guide us, you could send your other non-broken armed friends to go continue the evacuation. We just need someone to vouch on our behalf, especially. She looks around and thinks and just nods at the other

female old with the shaved head. And she simply nods back and they, she lets out a, ah, and spins her finger around and says, let's ride out to the next town. And they all mount up and leaving Barak behind. And Doqani, they all, their mounts let out a roar and they begin to sprint off to you see a small town, not too far from you.

It seems to be a hurting community. A great number of yaks and goats and pigs running around. You can kind of almost smell the wafting manure from where you are. And you see that there's a number of wagons leaving as they begin to go assist in the evacuation. And you see the great wall, the great mighty wall that is before you with a number of gates,

these several roads, all on the plains, snaking their way to various entrances, with the great gates, and it's not long that you are alone with Dukhany and Baruk. And she looks at all of you and says, I was told that you would be capable fighters, that you would be able to save us from the calamity. Absolutely, whatever we can do to help.

I think we can. We've done it before, and we're all very skilled at what we do, I would say. Sure, yeah, absolutely. 100%. We've taken care of some problems, and we will certainly make our best effort here. You know, and Peyton can help out, too. She's a big girl, but she's real friendly, and I'll tell you what,

she can probably haul up to like 5, 600 pounds. I don't know. How much can you pull Peyton? Uh-huh. Yeah, yeah, about the baby problem. And you hear Rivali, stop, stop. And he's like, you can rattle around. Easy at a girl, easy at. And Raleigh raises his not good hand.

I would know. How is Rivali looking? Is he still like super crumpled or is he not a deal? He's still, he's rough, but he's not like on the verge of death. He's just looking kind of tired and haggard. Like he needs his gong-zant. And he's got bags under his eyes and he says, Well, six of us are capable fighters, but

I haven't held anyone back too much yet. And you see Doconi mount her tiger again, and she whistles up to the sky, and she raises her metal gauntlet. And you hear a screech as one of the gray hawks that is soaring above you circles around, and begins to fly off. and with that

apologies I can't do animal noises no I'm not laughing your animal noises what are you laughing at it? I'm glad I didn't fry the bird and Oh yeah and with that it flies it circles around and begins to fly away

and she she looks at you and says is this the only amount that you have? Mommy, I got fuel back home, but I would say I haven't brought them back here. Actually, it's been some time since I've been home. But yeah, yeah, I would say, it's probably the only one,

but she can hold quite a bit. As soon as we get Ravali somewhere safe so he can, you know, have a nap or two and maybe get knocked back a couple of, you know, nails or whatnot. We could get her out. We could get her out of one of your out. Yes, the answer to your question is,

yes, she's the only mound that we have. And her gaze is like, she's like getting like tired of listening and then she snaps her head at you and says, we'll come into your cart. That would be lovely. And, and, and. Direct all further questions to Felix. I just like, kind of like, tip my head a little and like nod.

And with that, she, she guides you with a bar slumped over. The tiger, not needing any kind of lead, just following behind Doconi as they begin, as you make your way, you stop at a small farming village, and there is a family that gladly gives up a wagon that they have when they hear that Golden Lotus needs this wagon for the eternal blossom. And it looks like they were kind of packing it up

and getting ready to get out, but then they start taking it off and just putting saddlebags onto their family, yak and they uh uh it you are all able to hitch up peyton and all get in this wagon and uh it and move a little bit uh quicker and all right rvali you're gonna have to get in the back i got a i got to drive patin well it's better to be in the wagon than it is to be on this thing and you call her a thing you should apologize you know she got you got that half did the down half that mount It's not a bad thing to call an ox the thing, and she's also like not even an ox-ox.

What are you talking about? She's a max. She's a musk-kets. He thinks and just says, I'm getting in the back. Isn't it a musk-ox closer to more like a big sheep than an ox? I'm just saying you got some loaded words there, sir, for someone who's taken care of you, but okay. Do you need a hand? Herja!

Oh my goodness. How could you? Really. Why, do you remember how she was? reacted to the priest's gift. This is who she has become. You're right. You're right.

And I just got, I'm gonna climb in the back of the car. Oh, you have a sliverina. She's gonna get out. Oh my God. Yeah, yeah. I'm gonna climb into the back of the card after Iris points this out to me and then I'm just gonna like whistle and have Beatrice like settle on my shoulders.

I begin to like flip through my spellbook. You know, Hersia, sometimes words can cut deeper. than a beast-plagued minotore, cleaving your hand off and slicing your face in half. And he just gets off of Peyton and gets in the back next to Felix. Yeah, yeah, sticks and stones, keep her moving. Then I jump on Peyton. Thanks for the ride, Urja. I really like that wagon, you're bragging.

Oh yeah, that's pretty, I mean, should we have paid those people for that wagon? I feel kind of bad. We kind of just kind of commandeered it. No, they provided it to us willingly. We're going to save their lives. It is our way. Okay. Its property ultimately all belongs to the eternal blossom. Our prosperity was brought to us by the eternal blossom.

So all of the prosperity we have in the end belongs to the eternal blossom. It is our way. We don't intend to get in your way. Then lead the way and we'll follow behind. Yeah, I'll bet. for you. It takes you... It takes you about two days travel. Oh.

To, at your pace, going considerably slower than a tiger's at full sprint, being in a wagon, but still moving along far faster than walking. I gotta grab something real quick, if that's all right. You were no longer under arrest. Excellent. And so I hop off Peyton, I'll go and try and... a heave of axe out of the snow. Oh, yeah, you already pulled it out. Oh, okay, I wasn't sure.

Pulling my wagon? Peyton. Oh. This guy. She's a lady, thank you. This lady. I will say that Ravali referred to her as an thing.

So I got the, it was all that I found, was just the axe that was in the snow. Yes, there was a bunch of other, like, knacks around, but the only thing from of your father's make was the axe. Okay. And with that, you, uh, With that, you all, it takes you about two days of travel. Do we enjoy a long rest?

You enjoy a long rest. Two indeed. You, a small village allows you to stay at their house. Once again, commandeered. It's for the good of the Golden Lotus. I'll play some songs for them. Yeah, and they enjoy it. They feed you.

It's a warm meal. It's not much, but it is good to get at least a home-cooked meal. your rations, and you are eventually able to make your way winding, and you see the great mountains to the north and to the east running down in the, in the, in the in the crux of what do you call that, like the intersection of these mountain ranges, you see a great city built into the mountains. another walls, you make your way through that first massive wall going into the inner kingdom. And you see it looming before you.

A massive city built on large peaks of rock with huge ravines and chasms in between connected by huge bridges. Great shingled roofs glittering with gold and beautiful trees growing out of these tall, towering mountains and peaks. The very, very top of these, lightly snow capped, but it's not, it does get chillier, but not unbearably so. As you eventually see Moe Gricai in all of its glory directly in front of you, the walls not even close to as large as Zentras, and not nearly as defended,

but still a great number of warriors manning it, some machines of war as well, And all above, you see the hawks soaring above. And the massive gate opens up for you as one of the many roads that you've shared with evacuees and refugees making their way. And you see that there were a great number of farmers, villagers that had been fleeing the outer kingdom.

Many villages were overloaded, but relatively hospitable to each other and welcoming each other. that same kind of very peaceful, reserved nature that you're seeing from a lot of these orcs not what you were expecting. As you

enter M-G-R-K-K-I- and I'll change the music of it. Playless change. How do you spell B-K-A? M-O-G-R-A-K? Yeah. Yeah, I'm all fucked up. Mokra-Kai.

Yes. What I think you were saying. Moabra-K-K-R-K-K. That's not too far off. I could really go for a mocha. Moca chai. That sounds pretty good. Cobra Kai.

Mowkerka. I had a lot of morning. 52. Yeah. So. Yeah, when I read a carnator. As.

Please don't. Can you just do that? They don't have to be that first, right? Yeah. That would be. That would be why. You like wand up to a boss, be like reincarnate, I hope it's a frog.

Does that work? No. Oh. You make a say if you fail, you die in a recall. Yeah. As a no. Ah! And you die.

You enter this city. And it almost feels as if you pass into, it's very large, but as soon as you have an approach, you get the scent of, of, of, saffron in the air. The wind runs cool, but not unpleasant. As you see that despite the looming death destruction, utter horrible evil of Baphomet and the Horn Legion,

there is a peace and tranquility to all of the individuals around. And the city, the guardsmen and the soldiers there are very regimented, orderly. every motion perfectly in lockstep with the other. You see great braziers in the middle of all of the squares of the city going off to various districts. You see a market, a traders area.

You see a great barracks and a military quarter with smoke rising from various buildings. And you see a, what looks almost like a large temple sitting at the center of these peaks connected by these massive bridges. And as you see that the trees rising up have these beautiful petals of pink and gold. And you see rivers running through and lakes filled with colorful fish. And you see the hawks all around perched on every single. single building. They ruffle their feathers and look at you a little bit larger than the hawks

that you're used to, but they're gray feathered and look at you with large black eyes. As they, as you make your way and you see the streets being patrolled by these more of these saber-toothed white tigers, padding along, incredibly peaceful, mighty and stern, but but completely in control of these beast masters. And occasionally, you almost jump as you turn a corner and you see a massive white-fur horned Yeti. And it just looks at you and continues on its way with two or other four guards on either side of it,

not even chained as it just looks around and controls the city with these folks. These people are badass. And you see that there's a large rookery for all of the Hawks. And as you finally make your way towards this large, mighty structure that looks like a temple or a palace, you're led off to a bridge that is besides the palace, but is much smaller, but far more adorned

in gold and glittering gems and jewels. You see oat bowls, lapis, laz. Sunstones, Zionites, sardonyx. And you see it glittering in this, what looks like a shrine of some kind. And as you're all approaching, Doconi looks at you and says, we finally arrive to Golden Lotus.

She will be very eager to see you. And when you approach her, it is customary to present an offering, gold coins, gems, magical items. Oh. I'll just spin all my gold.

I mean, I have a little, but I need it for research purposes. That does she do with all of that? She takes it as an offering, and it brings good fortune and luck. Oh. I don't know why I have this item, but it's perfect for this.

Iris, can I borrow something gold and sparkly and not give it back? No, but you can use some of your gold coins to provide her offering. Okay. What's an appropriate amount here? I never give out my gold. Oh, I've got that. That's a gold.

Does it have to be a physical thing? Can I play a little jingle? Give her a gold coin. Okay. Just say jiggle or jibble? It is for you to decide. It is our way. I don't want to have fanned.

You must decide what you wish to part with. What you wish to give. to give the eternal blossom. You know like gift-giving guidelines? Like nothing more than $20 kind of thing? She want a gift route? Does she have one of those websites where we can see a list and then it's like an Amazon affiliate label?

No, like a registry. Yeah, that registry. There's gotta be a registry. She- I just don't want to be tacky. It's a new town. If your gift is from the box, that's all the time. While you, will you look,

through your bags. I will take him and she reaches out and an knees Baruch in the... Please let her know the Iris of the Sands request that he's not harmed any further.

And she looks at you and says I will tell her of your request. And if he has to be punished then I would just suggest changing his last name to and roll. That seems very very difficult to live with that kind of name. She will know what to do. And with that, she reaches down and grabs them. And even though he is

massive, she slings him over her shoulder and carries him in. And as you get closer, you see that she enters these beautiful jade-adorned doors, and covered in gold plates. And the smell of saffron hits you even stronger as the door opens. And you see, kind of this faint glow inside of low, but beautiful and gilded, as the door closes, you see that there, that

Barak seems to be struggling a bit more. His eyes are a bit more red and the doors close. And you are free to discuss. Iris, are you feeling all right? Yes, well,

well, I've just never heard you say anything like a gift from the heart is all that matters, and we're potentially meeting a new tabaxi who could be absolutely breathtaking. I mean, her name is Golden Lotus. That's true, and look at this palace. I know, and it looks like she's worked very hard

to deserve it. So I'm not trying to copy Cat here, but this is to grade school. She really doesn't like it when people say that. Are you trying to be rude? No, no, I'm saying, I was going to ask her what... Why don't you go hang out with your Brady Bunch?

I got all of you right here, all accounted for Well, I guess we'll be taking damage from weapons then Only the mackerel I said that I don't know if you're talking about What would you suggest, Iris, so that we don't want to fit? She simply said give her gold How much are you going to give her? Oh, I'm not giving her any gold

I'm going to give her a climbing pack I have one here, it's a climbers kit A climbers kit include special pittance, boot pits gloves and harness. You can use the climbers kit as an action to anchor yourself and when you do you can't for more than 25 feet. But that gift is just a pin. It is lovely.

There's so many things in this past. Do you really think that's a good idea? Of course I do. How would you feel if someone gave you a climbersy pad? Well, it was given to me when I left Siket. And how did you feel about that? Well, it's been in my pack of for since. Have you used it even once? Of course not. I'm a tobacco. I can climb on my own.

I don't think I'm getting through to her. I cannot wait. She's going to love it. Oh, she's a tobacco. She would know what a tobacco she would like. I hope you're right. See about how many times she's probably just had somebody hunt a gold and it's like, oh, that's boring now, but a climbers pack. And she would probably be like, you know what I really need?

At least 20 to 50 pittance. Well, I'm sure she can climb too, you know? But it might be a nice novelty. You know how sometimes you don't really need something? They're not just pittons. They're special pittons. And they don't scrub your nails. What?

When you climb, you have to funk up your nails. Well, that's what I have you. you careful. Yeah, I'm not so good at that. But she might appreciate it. All right. If you say so, that's fine. I was just trying to be helpful. I got an idea. It's from the heart. I hope this goes well. I hope that when she sees it, she says, well, I already have one of these. I'm going to give her a breadmaker. Oh, that's going to go so well with the idea I had. I'm not going to say it yet. I'll let you go. I'll let you go first. I don't have a breadmaker. Well, I'm ready if all of you are. I am very ready.

It's not much longer. It's not much longer until the doors open up. And you see that Dukani still has a bark over his shoulder. And bark, rather than struggling, seems to be incredibly docile now. And he's kind of slumped over. And... Oh my God, they lobotomized him. And she steps forward and says,

this is where we part ways. I am going to deal with his sentence. Which is... To take him, heal him of his wounds, and bring his tranquility back. MAP's... Let's continue. Not right.

Approved. Hopless isn't the last time we... Siquette's stamp of approval. Let's go. So I'll owe you a beer or whatever you enjoy drinking. Sign me. Yes, please. Ask her more questions. I will be here.

I will do what the Eternal Blossom asks of me. Goodbye. And she turns, and you see as she turns around that Barak is slung over her shoulder, he seems to be

in better health. His color looks better. And there's a bit of smile to the corner of his mouth as he looks down and he just kind of looks back at you. And all of the red that had been in his eyes is gone. And he kind of then slumps back over and they turn the corner. Do I get any sense of what may have changed his demeanor in such a relatively short period of time? Has you been, like, trapped in one of those clockworked orange rooms, or is he, like, there's some sort of drug? Eyes.

I would say, make an intelligence check and disadvantage. Yeah. Before she was going to watch it, like, really close to be flying out with those, like, metal, like, prior overs. I feel you. Intelligence? Yeah. Just straight up. Had to hurt.

Nine. Nine. Uh, you have no idea. Where that bar guy seems much more pleasant now for some reason. Isn't it like Brain? Well, she might have commented his emotions, have done the same to you. Oh, that makes sense. That'd be a magical

effect, sure, sure. Well, it is. Do you think Takani did that? Potentially. Well, Golden Lerless. I think it was probably Golden Lerlis. But, Iris, I think you should go first, given your... Your Norbert. Yeah, yes. Yeah, and all the rest of our gifts are probably going to make yours

look shitty, so you should go first. I think who you're talking about. Haven't you ever wanted a climber's kit at least four or five times? This climbers kit could have come in handy for any one of you. I can fly. I can run just like straight up a wall. You can? Yeah.

Nice. I don't think I've ever seen you do that. I don't know. I can have a tour up a tree. You can vote? I can talk up a tree. A little, easy dozen. Makes the acne right.

Thanks out. Why don't you just go ahead, Iris? We'll be right behind you. You open the doors and that smell of saffron is almost overwhelming. It's incredibly calming as you enter a small antechamber that leads further into a room that is beautifully gilded in gold with gemstones and rich. jades and tiger's eyes. And as you turn the corner, you see that there is a

large shallow bowl in the center of the room, and it's filled with gold pieces, strange knitknacks, trinket, statues with gem eyes and strange jewels. I'm going to make sure I'm adorned in literally every piece of gold I have. My golden and nubis head dresses on every

you are fully, all of your jewelry is armed. And I'm going to walk up shining as I place the canvas climbers kit on top of all the gold items. You do that, and no one is in this chamber yet. It's a circular room, and there's a door at the back, and you see that there are sticks of incense burning all around, and you see that there are actually panels built into the walls,

and behind it is actually, it's filled with water, and there are fish swimming around, and you can see that it's very pleasant and calming in here and Iris just drops, replaces the climbers kit and it kind of rustles and slides down.

So there's nobody in here though. Not yet. Don't you want her to see you put it in there? Yeah, it's like a tip jar. You got to make sure they see it. The moment she steps out here she'll see it on its glorious pedestal of gold. Now it's going to get sapping wet, Iris. Why would it be something wet?

It's in a pool. Is it in a pool? There are fish tanks. I thought this was like a fountain. We were throwing that man. I just quit. The worst thing that could possibly have she see you is go reaching for it

and taking it out when she comes in. Well, that is she doesn't even come in here? What if it's like one of those shitty parties where you bring them a birthday present and they open it later? What if she will not allow us entry until all of those plays are offering in the offering room? She might be right.

I mean, she knows more about the stuff that I certainly do. Well, I've never had an offering bowl, but I will have one now. You should get one as a sauce. Oh, I will. Next time I buy gifts for everyone, I'll buy you an offering. I love that, Caprice. Oh, you know, I'm making nice.

I would appreciate and tell you how much I appreciate the gift, even if I've already purchased a nicer, more intricate offering ball previously. For myself. That's fine. I'm going to keep my offering on me just for a little while longer to see if she shows up first. And then worst-cake scenario, we can all throw them in. just don't want to be without if I've already thrown it in and then she says where's the offering I'm like I already put it in there I have some money but I need it I don't normally have research spell casting but he uses very expensive you noticed that's when he spends an entire evening alone by himself in his room he bars pins from the shopper image here we don't have to spend in you no it's not gold I'm not worried about it can take one of my ring I don't want your ring I have my own offering it's a ring of uncertainty you can use that I don't want that we don't get that don't

the thing anywhere near me. What were you saying, Iris? Well, we don't remember. I'm thinking about sharper image. Oh, I'm sorry. Anyway, I have my offering, and I'm proud of it, and I want to show it to her. Wait, what is it? I'm not telling you yet. Well, why did I have to tell everyone that I was giving her a climax? You didn't have to. You offered that up. No, I was told, well, Iris, you've done this before. What are you going to give her? Give us guidance, Iris, and so I told you I was getting a climber skit and then you all made fun of me. Well, jokes on you.

She looks at the climbers kitten is so curious. It has special pittance in it, Felix. I don't know how these things get away from me. All I'm trying to say is, you know what? It doesn't matter. They're special. Are you saying pittins or pittance? What is the difference?

I always kind of started to as ptons. Well, that is why you are the help. And then we wait in silence for however long. Yeah, it just goes dead silent, and we're all awkwardly, like, looking around. I'm like twirling my thumb. for like as long as it takes. I just got a spiral into an existential

place. I go over and I look at the aquarium. We'll just sit down with our tail between our lives. I just like looked to Beatrice on my shoulder and I'm like, the whistle. Not much longer. Not much longer does the door slowly open. And you see, once again,

the fragrant aroma gets even stronger as you see a humanoid figure standing, dressed in a beautiful golden green and red robes, holding a large, what at first you think to be, think to be a staff, but in beautiful adornment, it actually seemed to be a large glave with a golden dragon's head, at the top with a blade coming out, pure gold. As you see a tabaxi holding it, smiling, white fur with black stripes of a white tiger variety. And she looks at all of you and smiles and says, I have never received pittance before. You're welcome.

I think you for your offering. Of course. To the eternal blossom. The pack is filled with many things. I like collecting many things. It's made of canvas as well as you can see. It brings me great joy. As all things here in Mogherkai bring such great joy.

How about that, Felix. Now, provide your offering. She stepped down several steps. Fine. And smiles warmly at all of you. I take three. several steps up to the bowl and I'm kind of like looking back on my shoulder. I really should have seen that coming and I reach into my coat and I say I know it's not much and it's not as unique as

the climbing pack that Iris gave you, but I have this tiger's eye gem and I think it's appropriate for where we are and and I hope that it's a little bit more than than just normal gold because I don't have much and I don't really have a need for worldly things and money but but I thought this look nice, and I'd like you to have it. Her eyes widened, and she smiles as you place it down, and she steps forward, each step of the way, the beautiful glave tapping on the ground, and she smiles and says, I have not seen a tiger's eye in a long time. We have serpent's eyes in tiger opals, but a tiger's eyes a beautiful thing to see. Thank you, Felix Ackerman. You're welcome.

And thank you, Iris of the Sands. And I look over my shoulder and I shoot her a look. And I step back in line behind Tela. Hi, my name is Cabruchio Nusesto. You can call me Caprice. It's a pleasure to meet you. And pick a finger, any finger. She steps forward.

No, you can't do that. And she says, like a bar trick. She places a finger to her lips and says, Ooh, is this a game? No, no. One of the rings on my fingers is what I'm going to make my offering.

They've brought me great luck and journeyed with me for very far. So I'm hoping that the meaning of the journey that they come along with me would be part of the value of what I'm offering you now. I like this one. And she points to if there is a smaller

pinky ring, the smallest of the pinky ring, whichever side, she would select that one. Excellent choice. The Ring of Uncertainty. This is what I was just about to offer my friend here. But here, oh, does it go in the bowl? Yes, it does.

I sort of like do one of those rolling around the fingers things, and then I flick it in so that it flocks into the bolt. My pleasure. Very impressive, Caprice. Thank you, guys. That's not what I thought you were going to do. What did you think I was going to do?

We'll talk about it later. I guess I'll go next. And so I take my pack out and I pull out. This is a very ornate place. And so I thought I should bring something ornate as an offering to match. So I pull out my equipment as an ornate lantern. Why do you have that? Where did that come from?

Oh, my gosh. Ornate lantern. It's very ornate in whatever way an ornate lantern would be. and I will say so that it can light your path in the way or something inspiring and intelligent and I'll just place it gently

down on the... It immediately boosted. Yeah, you place it gently down and be like... It's not... It falls down. And you're like and you're like, huh, and then it stops, like, and all the bunch of shadows.

Silence and... Lights on. And then she says like, fake. Toa, like, all of the mountain of coin to spill out to the size of the bowl and settle. And you have a way with words. Toa, thank you. Thank you for such a wonderful offer. Oh, you're very welcome.

An unorthodox. But if I go, would you like to go with tea? Well, let me ask a question. Oh, okay. Are you a drinker? I do love tea, yes. Anything else? Water is very purifying and delicious.

Anything a little stronger? I'll some times have stronger tea, yes. Yeah, you better go. I, um, uh, yes, uh, gold lores. So I'm like sheepishly walking up, pulling this like strange looking bottle out of my pack and just kind of giving it an elbow, like. Oh, let me. I'm going to put it open. So I picked this up in the last city we were at and, uh, you know, I put it on everything.

You know, it tastes like home. And, uh, it's so... Well, I don't put it on everything. That's a lie. What is it? I don't... It's a cream sauce with, like, seasonings. It reminded me because of all the saffera, and I smell walking in,

just reminding me of a good cook meal. It's ranch. I don't put it on bread at church because... I have visited many ranches here of the common folk. It is very quaint and inspiring to see their hard work. I thank you for your ranch concoction. As I'm sliding it onto the pile, I'm like, yeah, reminds me of the time that I tried putting it on bread at church and Father

Lorthor, man, he had a bit. And then I'll just like back away slowly. I'm going to lean into Tehla and put it on everything. And just whisper to him, oh dear gods, how long has that bit in her pack? I was glad to ask the same thing. If there's a glass bottle, it is like pure like green and blue. No, it's not. It's just hard? Pushy, wredge.

Put pushy's on everything. Okay, with your wings. You put it on your brain. At this point, I'm visibly gagging. Like, behind toe, I am, like, visibly gagging. While all of this is happening, I'm slowly going to slide a signet ring into Luffy's hands and push her forward.

And she's looking directly at you know and smiling. So, this... I got to remove my hornet lantern. I got to remove my bottle of ranch of my rations. This ring was given to me by my father. And it was given to him by his father before. Iris is your father. Well, no.

in a, in a, in a philosophical sense. We must discuss philosophy later. Yeah, I love that. She's trying to be with my brother. So I think she means that in time she would like to be come, the daughter of my father. You know what, take your ring back. I'm going to give you today the gift of honesty.

Oh no. Oh, no. He is the ring. It like clings off of the land and the toe of it and cracks. Thank you so. Luffy is so honored to be here. No, I think, no? You should have a drink.

No, I want to tell. I think you would like this, yes? How many people tell you the truth when they're walking? Everyone in. Oh, really? Everyone in Braun tells me the truth. Yes, it is our way. Oh, fuck.

But I will appreciate it as a gift from an outsider. Well, so, I forgot what I was going to say. say now because you upset me. I'm upset. I gave you my ring. You called my father, your father. You threw the ring at me and you tried to tell that the truth. I'm really put off by her the gift giving sing. If I'm being honest, I think.

I got another battle of ranch I can give you, okay? There's more. There's more. I think it was actually my father's ring given to him by his father, given to him by his father. I know. So I guess I am kind of in your family when I marry your brother. What's you do, your dad?

That does check out. Okay, well, for one, I'm going to correct one of the things he said. He is not your father if you've slept with him. Oh, I know what you mean now, you haul it. Here's my bed. I have to go. It was lovely to meet you. Do you have a bedroom?

Does it like through the kittens back there? It is down the hallway outside. You just make a right from the antechambers. Oh, right. Thank you. I need to just, I need to go. And then I'll go to the bathroom. I thank you all for your offerings.

I'm taking this frame back. I put it on my finger. I'm just going to go in my bag and just like a handful of gold in the bowl and just... How many gold coins? Nine? Can I put nine gold coins from my head? Yeah. You can fit a lot more.

Yeah, you can fit more than that. I think about any coins you can grab. It depends on if the coins have like a whole. She has small. She's also small. She's got small hands. Oh, we're losing. That's true.

Nine coins fall in and jingle beautifully. And she smiled and says, Thank you for your offerings and respecting our culture and our traditions. You are going to love it here. Things are perfect. It seems pretty nice. Does it? These aquariums are amazing. And you all remember that Rivali had elected to stay outside because he was not being expected.

and the DM also just remembered him. And so that was the case anyway. He wasn't going to go in, but I'm just explicitly saying that he is outside with Peyton. So that's what he's watching Peyton. They're the body-buddy cop. And so as you finish giving your offerings, she smiles at you and says,

so you have come to save our kingdom. And you have come to, join Moghaki and join us I mean that's the goal we certainly don't mean any harm and we want to help

but can I ask a question of course just did buddy you already knew our names yes I did how much more do you already know I know much I see it in the blossoms

like the outcome of us coming and helping yes I was told by the eternal blossom that you would come that you would be the saviors of Grand, the Saviors of Mogherai. Does the Eternal Blossom have six eyes? Six eyes?

No, she is a goddess that is in the blossoms, it is in the air, in the cosmos, in the cosmos in life. She speaks to me and I speak for her. Do the things that you read or see, do they ever change? The things that I see do come to pass, but they are not always exact. What's the matter? Thank you. Thank you for telling us. You have come to ally with us instead of Korovacia, yes? Well, no. I don't think that we need to choose one over the other. We've simply come to assist.

Surely you must not serve Virgil Zer. Well, I do believe he's quite an ass, but so far, it has served as well. And serve is a little strong. I mean, we're trying to help, but we're not necessarily bound to anyone, a faction, if you will. And I say that as... And I say that as a Corvacian. I mean, I'm not a part of their military anymore. But I'm sure you know that.

We're very passionate about providing aid and succor. What? What did you say? You shouldn't say things like that. Sucker. I know it's a real word, but don't say it anymore. Please, we're in a holy place. Man is here.

No. It is a holy place. I think that your minds will change once you experience more of Mogul Kai. Things are nice here. Things are good here. Life is happy. Well, it will be as long as the whole Legion doesn't decimate it where we stand. And that is why you are here.

And once we say that, Grand will be the only happy place. in Strigger. Well, I hope that's not the case. We'd like happiness to abound and be all over, Sprigga, just really cover the whole thing. I mean, do you mean that in a literal way? Yes. But why? You have been in Strigger, you have been in Eriams. There is nothing but misery, sadness, strife, and chaos. Well, not anymore. There is still strife and chaos. All of the The actors that form a government in Erios, do you think that their goals will align and be in harmony with each other? There will always be debate and strife and chaos and disorder. But to be fair, can you truly experience joy if you've not felt pain?

They do go hand in hand, sure. Pain is a natural part of life, but we do what we can hear. to minimize it, to bring us tranquility and joy. And how do you do that? Through inner peace, reflection, and the golden, the eternal blossom. I will show you. You perhaps do not know you have been deceived by Virgil Zern. It's possible.

Yeah. Yes. You can show us what you see in the blossoms. I can show you what the hawks see. Oh. Join. What the birds see. I'll walk up and...

Interesting. I'll join her. And you... You all... The door behind her that she came out of... She gestures to and steps up. And she opens the door. As you go into a relatively darkened chamber.

And once again, this is circular. And you see that there's the low glow of... embers of incense burning, and a pool. And you see that on either side of this chamber are two trees, very small growing up out of a patch, patch of grass around what looks like a very small pool, small pond built into this chamber. And you see that the pool is crystal clear.

And she steps forward and she, and as she steps forward, she says, come, join me. Are we going to go swimming? Please keep your clothing on. This is not for swimming. Unless it's six inches deep of ice, I don't know if I want to stand on that. I'm kind of an a version of water.

We will not be getting in. We will be observing. Oh, okay. I will observe. Thank you. She taps the glave onto the ground and immediately light wind whips up and petals fall.

down from the trees, these beautiful blossoms of pink and gold and white as they drift down and they fall into the water. And they begin to swirl around as the ripples expand and shift and shape. And you see crystal clear the what looks like a bird's eye view of a massive horde of beastmen. The size of the army that had faced, that had a sieged Zentra, is, despite having, you thought had been mostly decimated, now is even larger than before. You see centaurs, minotars, goat men, giants, hill giants, ogres, all shaggy with black fur and hair and horns growing out of every direction, jagged, weapons, and you see just a swath of destruction, smoke rising up behind them. And you see at the direct center of this massive horde, as far as this pool, you can see a body's, a massive looming creature, far larger than even the giants.

a what has four colossal black horns spiraling out a massive nose ring snorting flames with a jagged glave as the bullhead that you had seen just over the tree line

you now see the massive form of this avatar of Baffaman that every single stump it makes shakes the earth and shakes the army, and they get disrupted, and they continue on their way. As it looks like death is descending upon Mogherkai, and the vision changes.

And you see the path of destruction being carved through, the land trampled and ruined farmland, as you see more bodies marching, but not a horde, regiments in Grand. Korovakian soldiers marching in Tegrond, following in and setting up perimeters, taking territory behind the destruction now that all of the defending forces have been pushed back to the inner kingdom. And once again, it shifts again, and you see the great mountain front that you had crossed through,

and you see the defending fortresses and the great mining towns. Now, completely occupied by Corvacia. You see orc bodies lane strewn across these towns and camps. You see new structures being erected already. Mining operations already beginning. And it shifts once more. And you see that there are...

that Mogher Kai is standing there, and despite all of the horror that's descending upon it, the hawk flies through and you can see through its eyes. People at peace, smiling, happy, going about their business as if nothing bad will happen. And it shifts back again, and the water returns to crystal clear, and the petals shrink and fade,

and it's a crystal clear pool once more. Do you see? And that's how one reads the blossoms? It is how I read the blossoms, yes. So it sounds like things will be fine, or just people are happy despite that devastation heading this way? You saw the Korovacians, despite us not invading when they were being attacked by the Horn Legion, they are taking the opportunity to gain ground.

They will take the entire outer kingdom before long. You seem really calm about this. This is a real threat. We need to do something about this. All of the people who are looking so peaceful, they need to take up arms and get mad. Defend themselves. We will defend ourselves, but I am calm because you all are here.

You are the saviors of Mogherai. You will stop this, menace. I have seen it in the blossoms. You are the key. I was told this would happen. Did that happen in the, you saw us in this pool here? How were you told by the pool that all those? Yes, I was told.

But not from what the hawk. can see in my reflections when the eternal blossom speaks to me. Do you wish to ally with a government, with a man who, despite a threat that threatens us all, still capitalizes and still attacks those who are only trying to defend themselves against the menace from the abyss? It's not right. I mean, surely, we must be able to reach out to him and maybe see what's going on. It's not right.

Do you think maybe he doesn't even know what's happening? Yes. I mean, I don't want to keep giving him the benefit of the doubt, but I think just from what we've seen already happened, there's a chance that he doesn't know. He seems to be missing things, whether it be on purpose or some sort of negligence on his part, almost like a selective sight. Something's going on, and I think we need to talk about this more later.

But you're right. We should at least try to stop Coravacia from taking opportunities like this. Let me show you one more thing. And she taps the glave to the ground again, and several blossoms fall, and it swirls around. And you see,

now it's in the sky and it's facing forward and it's a difficult thing to track and then you see a dark, what looks like a dark cloud but it is, it's not a cloud it's a flock or a, a, not a murder of ravens as they are soaring over Corvacia and conspiracy of Ravens

as you see all around you as Hawking began to meet this flock and begin to tear apart the the conspiracy of ravens that are attempting to fly into to Grand Sky space and you see that despite the scene of blood and feathers being torn apart and flying all around these Ravens stand no chance against these gray gosshawks and they've been very clearly trained to kill ravens as the burst of blood and feathers fills the pool and then shimmers away and it's

clear once more do you think that Virgil Zern would be sending so many ravens if he did not know what was going on it's a fair point Felix we're not doubting you to be clear we're not I'm just trying to think of ways we can stop this. That is for another time. We must stop Baphomet and the Hohenegium. But we must, you must, convince the war chief that you can be trusted before we continue with saving this world.

Can't you just tell the war chief that we can be trusted? You seem to be willing to do anything that you tell her to do. That's true. You're talking about Dukani? No. War Chief Frostfei, Schengaro Frostfay, chosen by the Eternal Blossom. It is why I came all the way to Strigger. It is why I have brought the blessings of the Eternal Blossom to these orcs,

help them suppress and contain their... savage nature, and all of the prosperity that has brought. What was the War Chief's name again? Shingoro Frostfang. Shingoro. The dancing blade was able to unite all of the tribes of God, and he was chosen by the divine and granted unnaturally long life, as have I. That's a sweet deal.

It is. The eternal blossom is eternal, and her true chosen, are as well. So how do we do that? How do we convince her? Surely you must already know. He... Sorry, he.

He has... He is a very peaceful and calm and reasonable individual. But he does distrust Korovakia. And the only reason that you would not have been killed

on sight is because I told him it was the eternal Blossom's will. But despite him following my counsel, it must be you that make your case and disavow Virgil Zern and ensure that you are loyal to us, loyal to saving the world. Then I think saving the world we can all agree on.

Yeah. Yeah. Has this happened before with the convincing of the war chief thing, with other folks like us? There has never been such a dire situation in my many decades. I was hoping for some tips from maybe the, you know, how did they get it, that kind of stuff. He is very wise and a very good war chief. He has been my dearest ally and friend for as long as I can remember. He was the one I saw first in the blossoms. I traveled thousands of miles across the,

see to give the dancing blade everything they needed, to make them happy and peaceful, to bring order, to bring law, to banish the chaos. What is what I am here to do? How much time until we have to meet with the war chief? You may meet with him at sunset. Which is roughly, which is roughly probably about like three hours. Okay. We've got some time.

All right. That's fine. That's fine by me. In your vision, how much longer do we have until the Legion is at your door stand? If we are lucky and the defenses of the outer wall do what they must

and the great sacrifice of the warriors there, slow them down, it will be perhaps a week and a half if we are for us. 10 days, not a lot of time. 10 days, but we all must do what we can. Perhaps longer if the great warrior sacrifice does even more, if the eternal blossom is willing to grant them strength

in a glorious death in combat. How do you plan to reinforce the outer wall? Do you have black space construction workers, workers, are they going to be building artillery, setting up shop? We have the defenses that we need. Let me know if you need any help. Fairly good at a hammer. Your help is needed beyond crafting, but far more dangerous.

If there's any place that we can spend the evening, we don't need much space, and maybe somewhere we can wait until it's time to meet with the war chief. I have already prepared your quarters. That's very generous. I'm sure we will. Thank you. You're welcome. And your friend, he seems downtrodden.

You mean Ravali? Yes. P. Six is just his face. You had to ride with the back of that smelly muscocks for days on end. And he lost his hand. Would you not owe, yes, that too? He's been mortally wounded. And his face.

Perhaps. perhaps he will find a rejuvenation of spirit and inner calm just by being here. And it is very nice. I will take you to your quarters now. Well, can the blossom pool thingy, can you just turn that on to any Hawkeye that happens to be, I don't know, aligned with it or however that works? Yes, of course. Oh, well, we're looking for a herd of dad. I don't know if you knew that.

But if you could, you know, sort of change a channel a few times really quickly and just scroll through and see if we could, you know, maybe spy him or if he's in the city or something. Like put it on scan. Yeah, I found this at the top of the mountain before we met Doconi, I think. He was. And I'll take out my father's axe and I'll show it to her. You wouldn't happen to have an old wizened dwarven drunk in the city. Would you for see one passing through? She looks at it and she just smiles and says,

I will do what I can. Tell if she's lying. Make an inside shot. It's like a big number from here. 15. She seems to be genuine. And she says, but I must speak with the war chief first to make sure that he is in the appropriate headspace to meet with you.

Absolutely. That's fine. We'll go to our quarters and we'll wait as long as we need to. We have things to discuss anyway. So that's fine. When she says the appropriate headspace, does that set off any red flags in my brain? Does she go? What do you mean? Like, let me just make sure that he's totally cool.

I'm not going to do anything horrible to him first. Make an insight. Does any of that happen? That's a great question. Oh, fantastic. That's why I'm a Viking. Oh, actually, I forgot I'm proficient. 13.

13. You get the sense that for an orc, that this is an orc that is probably experienced, the war between Corvacia and Grand for longer than any living person, possibly, and has experienced all of the potential war crimes and all of that, and probably does not like anyone allied with that. And you would say you get that sense that, that you already want to. a head in a job. She does not. Let me go clockwork orange him for a moment. You don't get that sense. And she says, is there anything else before you see your quarters?

I hope you like them. I'm ready. Yeah, let's go. Wonderful. Follow me. And she leads you through the town and everyone who passes her, you can see that they all bow very reverentially to Golden Lotus as soon as they see her. And she just smiles and nods.

And you make your way through the city, and it's not too far. There's another smaller peak that we cross a bridge, and there's a beautiful garden sprawls out with a lake and a number of smaller structures that also smells rich with saffron. This whole area does. And you see that there seems to be a little courtyard

with three separate dwellings that are, that she provides you with keys to each of these three dwellings. There are two plush beds in each, and there is a full T-set, and there's food already there for you, a tray, and a small fire pit in the center of this courtyard with seating. And I love pistachios. She looks at all of you and says,

This is for our most esteemed guests. I hope they are to your liking. And yes, between my dwellings. Whichever one of these three dwellings you would enjoy. Oh, I see. Thank you. You're welcome. I will see you as a sunset.

There's like two in each? Yeah, there's two in each, but with a little center courtyard area, and then on the, like a little triangulated configuration, there's like a little lake with trees on the side. It's beautiful, and it's actually looking over a vast expanse, and you see just past it the mountains rising up to the north and to the east, and you see mist all the way through.

It almost gets shrouded and mist when you go past maybe 50 feet, and it is absolutely gorgeous. And she nods at you and taps the glave on the ground again and says, well, it is such a pleasure to meet the, Do you need help with that? And she reaches forward and she extends a claw and effortlessly cracks it open. Thank you. So good.

We need a lot of help. Thank you. Thank you. Go for some of the more open ones first. Enjoy and rest and feel with you make a good and find energy peace and calm. Thank you. you go. I see you've got a lake over there.

What are your catching release laws in the city? You may fish anything you would like. It is the most delicious catfish on the continent. So it would be no disrespect to you or the eternal blast. Absolutely not. The fish are there for us to consume. Are we allowed to have open fires? Yes, that is the point of this fire pit.

Oh, I see it. I will come fetch you before. Sonson. Excellent. And she turns and bows at all of you and leaves me. Tora, would you like to share a hut with me this evening? Sure, I was going to ask Felix, but... We always bunk together. Yes, well, I think tonight I'll take her...

She did ask me first, to be fair, Felix. Toa! Well, I can't say no, how am I supposed to say? No, she asks first. Who am I supposed to bunk with? She called dibs. Maybe Caprice? I'll teach you a card game.

We need to work on our abysal. That's fine. I'll bunk with... I don't want to break your heart, Felix, but she did... No, it's fine. It's fine. I have work to do. It's fine. I have work to do. It's fine. I made some flashcards. I... Thank you.

Wagon? We've already learned Wagon. I know Wagon. Well, you have to repeat it. I have to repeat. Can you do it one more time for me? Maybe if you do it again, I might be able to do Wagon. Okay, hold on. Let me make sure I got that right. So it sounds like, again, right at the end, there's a thorough, huh, instead of, uh, oh, it's the inflection. I miss the inflection. I miss the inflection on the third or fourth who'll have it. We'll get it, buddy. We'll get it. All right. It's like there are two demons sticking right in front of us on very, very, very feelings. I just kind of

Side-I-T-O. Very nice. Rivali steps forward. This is the guy. Oh, my fucking song. I hate games. And I guess there's not a bed for me, but I would don't to sleep inside this creepy building or this creepy place. No, you may stay with Toa and if you'd like.

Is, are you sure? Yes, of course. We could use you for what I've planned. He, like, grimaces a little bit, says, I'm going to sleep outside with the muscocks. Oh, I think that's nice. And he looks around and he continues to grimace and says, this place gives me strange feeling.

You know, I'm glad you said it. My brain's been going nonstop and I have a lot to say. And there's a very good chance that she's going to know everything that we say in here because she has some sort of advanced manipulation of time magic and that's fine. But I think it needs to be said. And you're more than welcome to stay for the conversation. conversation, but I've got a lot of my mind. What do you want to say? I mean, this place is lovely.

Are we ready to have that conversation or are you ready? D.M., should we take a quick coffee break? Let's get a quick coffee break and then we'll have... Yeah, I mean, Gly, why don't we all take it? Why don't we enjoy these pistachios? God damn it, and he like struggling. Fuck, I'll pour your tea. I click my nail out and slice it off. Oh, thank you. Thank you. So Rivali kind of steps forward and he leans against one of the trees by the pond and he like picks up a little stone on it and he just chucks it and skips it along the pond.

And he says this is this is too perfect. Any of the, go ahead, Felix. All right. Everybody just just bear with me here for just a few minutes. I've been thinking a lot about this and what the Golden Lotus? Golden Lotus is the Tabaxi in the Eternal Blossom. What the Golden Lotus said, she makes a lot of sense. She makes a lot of good points. I don't consider

myself allied with Korovacia any longer. The thing that they've done have been absolutely atrocious, and no one can deny that. I've done horrible, horrible things, and I can only hope to redeem myself in some way or another. But the point is, we know. We basically have confirmation at this point

that whether Zern is aware of it or not, he's been corrupted. He's gone. He's lost. In some way or another, whether he is compliant or not. And that's something we need to think about. But something irks me about the way that she says that everything here is tranquil and perfect forever. And it's almost like I got this feeling.

When she started talking about it, that she didn't want us to leave, that she wanted us to be here and experience tranquility forever. And I got to be honest, I thought about it. there's a lot of things that keep me up at night and rack me with guilt forever. And I would give anything to get rid of that feeling forever. But that might mean I might forget my brother. And I can't do that. And while I don't think that we necessarily have to serve Zern,

and I think we could even disavow him, I don't want to give up on the people of Khorovacia. They deserve a chance at also being happy and not being demolished by this horrible threat. And for some reason, I understand why they're at odds. I understand why these two factions are on odds. I get it.

But I don't think that it has to be that way. It feels very absolutist, and it just feels very almost defeatist. Something's not right here. I'm with Ravali on that. And I don't necessarily think that it's evil. But I think that there's more that they're willing to let us see. And I can't quite put my finger on it yet. Have you considered that you saw only what she wanted you to see?

That's exactly it. You say... I'm not sure I believe the vision she showed. I... I don't trust Zern. And you know this. I've told you this. I told him this to his face.

It made a very tense conversation the last time I saw him. But I'm not sure I trust Golden Lotus either. I'm so glad you said that. I am only willing to follow the news. my goal, my job is to save the innocent people those that cannot fight for themselves to do that I do not need to align with her I do not need to pledge myself to her

and I do not need to give up my allegiance to anyone if I choose not to I knew I could count on you and if their chieftain is wise he would not turn down aid because we simply will not turn our backs on those who've helped us so far the other thing that's bothering me too

is she clearly has some sort of powerful manipulative time magic. I mean, she's able to see things that didn't happen yet. She knew our names before we ever introduced ourselves. We've been making waves. Maybe. It's possible that she's heard it on the wind, through the grapevine, whatever you want to say.

But the fact of the matter is that she seems to think that the outcome of all of this is already determined. She says that we're going to succeed. I almost asked her if we all survive. And I was wondering if there's any way that we can manipulate or change the visions that she's seen. Regardless of whether it's divine or God-given, there's magic at play here. And I just, something's not quite right.

No, something is not quite right. Do you guys think it's Furman? I'm sorry, what? Furman, doing all the border stuff, where he's invading their lands? Well, I mean, he's certainly in control of the military. He's in charge of all that. He would be giving orders to some degree. You're absolutely right.

I just don't know the involvement. And there's still a part of me that wants to reach out to Zern and say, this isn't a time for expansion in war. We need to work together. If I know what's happening. Exactly, like what Toa said. But either way, I'm with Iris. I've been convinced,

Zern, whether he means good or not, has been taken by something, by this, whatever it was that Caprice saw. It has Zern, one way or another. And I hate to admit it. But I'm not gonna pretend like it's not true. Do you- Go ahead? Do you think Furman was maybe part of the whole Baphimit Colton?

And he just, we didn't figure him out. Then we figured everybody else out, Kujada and all the rest. But maybe he's part of it too. There was a time when I would have said that Zern would have known, and he would have dealt with it. But now I don't know. I mean, we know that he and Furman go back a really long time, that they were young in grand

when they were in their 20s probably We saw them in the ledger, right? Yes. It all just depends on the level of compliance that Zern has, the knowledge, the amount that he's willing to just go along with these things. There's a chance that deep down,

he still thinks that he's doing the right thing and he's just being puppeted. There's also the chance on the other extreme end that he's truly evil, and he knows it deep down in his core. I think all this time I've gone about seeing the good in people, even those who are cool, have a chance at redemption. But traveling with you guys has just taught me I can only trust each of you. Oh, you can't trust me.

Well, I do, Iris. No, I said can. Oh, I thought you said can't. That's very good if you think I would say that. I didn't say cat. Looky, do you know of the Nangian? chicken comes with a side of rice, or do I have to order that special?

What are you doing? Oh, but we're ordering dinner. Well, like, like room service? This is a palace after all. I'm not waiting on it. You thought we were going to spend the entire evening eating nothing but pistachios? The caprice can't even open.

I was going to have a lot of my time. These pistachios are fucking bullshit. They splat and scatter everywhere. Fuck. While I'm still talking to them, I'm just going to like press the digit and like put them back in the hole. While I'm still talking to everybody. To what Hershey said,

Zern, we cannot control what he is doing. Our goal is to save and fight for the innocent. Our goal is to destroy the Horned Legion. Who were aligned to us? That doesn't change that. I agree. 100%. You're right.

We will deal with Zern when his time comes if he ends up being a nefarious person. Just promise me that if it turns out that he doesn't know, that he isn't aware, that we can try to save him. No, please don't. No, it's as I've always said, the final judgment is in death. He will pay for his crimes. Whatever they are. I still want to believe that he can be a good leader.

I think that he can change things. I don't think that Korovacian needs to be the way that it is any longer. I think you're right. I think we've obviously done a great deal. of work in Irios and as much as, you know, go and notice things and so chaotic and run by a bunch of actors. It's so strange that she would say that. I think we've done a great thing in there,

and so I think we can do that again here. You know what it is? Ravali, correct me if I'm wrong, but this place sounds a little like a cult. That's what bothers me about. It's all happiness and tranquility and almost some sort of a denomination. of what's actually going on out there.

It's a bubble, is what it is. And nobody drinks. It just doesn't make sense. It is weird. And there are orcs, too. She didn't like... Grumsh, I've killed so many orcs, and they were savage. But they're the orcs not from Grand.

Grunsch has corrupted all of them. I don't get it. What's Grunsch? Is there God? and turn them on to bloodfishy savages. Is that area between your bullsack and your asshole? Oh. I don't think I've ever heard that.

Oh, well. No, I know that's a shit. It's true. It's an unfortunate name for Grouch. I mean, that's, from what I remember from my history lessons, it was the dancing blade and purging that and getting rid of it. And this, that allowed them to take their kingdom back. I don't know

It's weird I I don't know It feels kind of wrong Disavowing Zern After all the support he's given us He's given us gardens I don't plan to disavow him

Ask that we would have to I'm going to put it to you this way too She claims we are the saviour We don't have to disavow Zern to be the saviourous And if They believe that us claiming that we have disavowed Zern is the only way that they'll assist in making sure the population isn't wiped off the planet,

then they don't have the best interests of their people at heart, do they? That's right. They are not the kind of people I wish to rally behind. And I'm with Iris, 110% on this. I don't think we need to be claiming allegiance or disavowing anyone, as long as we're all under the same understanding that there's a very good chance that she already knows exactly what's happening. because I wouldn't put it past her.

I will put my life on the line to save those who cannot do so. Agreed. But they will not coerce me to align with someone I didn't want to be aligned with to do it. If that means I walk out on the front line on my own,

then Inubis guide me. It just feels bad to be stuck between all of these governments and people that hate each other and all trying to do is just the right thing. And that's what we're going to keep doing. That's all that matters.

Then maybe we choose not in front of the general but here and now in front of all of us we disavow them both we are no one's puppets we are no one's pawns we have come far enough we will assist where we may need

to be assisted but we are not yours to order around we are our own group that's it we do it for the people and to stop the horn legion and that's all that matters what is this

we all put our hands Indian, we agree. It's an oath. It's a pact. We're all in this together. With the wings of the raven. No, to get your hand out. Oh, oh. Help him first. Oh, I mean, wings of liberty. Wings of liberty. I look at Rivali. Wings of the liberty. It's the raven.

Yes, because that's what matters. Wait, but birds are bad. No, it, the bird thing doesn't matter. The government's don't matter. It's the people. How long do you have to keep my arm in here? It's getting tired. Until we're all in. I really don't want to die. You may. Any arm that you're comfortable with.

He reaches in. This is the best idea. It's breathed on buns. Let's go. We announced them all. The Wives of Liberty brought on buns. And for the people, and for the end of the Horn Legion. And for Anubis. And for Arnubis. And for Mordi. And for Mordi.

My dad, and my family. And for Mauda. And for just everybody. For all that is good. And for Mila. And for my name. And my mom. Are we all in? Definitely for Milo. For liberty. For his soul, too. Got to put, everyone's sake. Get up. We're doing something.

awesome here. Okay. I know it's great. For liberty. For liberty. For liberty. What do we do now? Well, that was kind of it. That was the way. Oh! That's what I was thinking. It came to me in that moment. Ho? Ho. Ho.

It was right. We weren't talking about you. Well, usually when people go, oh, it's me. Well, it wasn't you this time, at least. Maybe next time. Now I'm just confused and I'm upset. Well, service hasn't come yet. We're all in this together, and we're all on the same page.

And that's all that matters. All right? So whatever comes next, if they confronts us, we put our feet down and we stay. We are for no one but ourselves and a fan dress. Yes. Thank goodness. I thought this conversation was going to go really south. Help me light up this bazaer, and we can get some more.

I keep, are you saying, I sat my fingers in it lights. Are you saying brazier? Brazier, yeah. That's not what that is. People do Brun knows. I don't know if you have a brazier. Oh, you know when you read a word? I just pat him on the shoulder.

I look at Debris and I say, how many abyssal words have you just taught me incorrectly? None that I didn't know how to not pronounce. Have you ever heard the words of you? only rid them. I learned them myself, just like Felix is doing. I read it from a book. But reading them. Yes. Yeah, so just don't tell

any abyssal women that you, you know, they have a lovely brager. You know, I know he said Wacken earlier, but he probably taught you maggot. I'm going to get laughed at it. Flegg him. I feel like I can speak pretty good abyssal. I talked to that big goat

guy who was making the sacrifices and whatnot when Herger went with me. You remember. That was when was when we saved Thomas. That's when we first met. There was like day one. Oh my gosh. How long ago was that? I mean, ages. I still have this meeting around, though.

Holy smooth. What'd you have? Did you steal that from Thomas? No. You did? No, I did not. When we went to sleep the night we were in the hallhouse, I checked everywhere for that rifle.

It was in my pack. Did you check in my pack? No, because it had not previously been in your pack. This is the one that I found in the weird ass cemetery on that same day that we confronted the goat man. I believe you alive. I don't believe I'm lying. But I also can never tell with you. That's also fair.

And I hate to admit that you telling me you found a rattle in a cemetery, something to do with a goat man, I stopped listening, is something we have done. We've been through quite a long. Well, don't get rid of that, because we can probably make-shift it into some rattle bait. It'd be great for some trout. I thought about giving it to the Golden Lotus, but it makes a great deal. but it makes a great musical instrument.

Well, then keep it, just don't throw it out. I'll use it as bait if I need. What kind of fish eats a rattled? No, so you just drop it in, you pull it up three inches, you get a little bit of jingle. Do you want to see something really cool? Sure. Yeah.

As a cat, I swipe in and snare a fish. Yeah, you do that. Oh, wow! That's really cool. You know, I live along a river. We eat fish. Holy craves. Tobaxi.

And I just throw it at her. wriggling and alive and it's wet. I think I handle it pretty easily. If you would like to, if you would like to make some kind of strange. Oh, I would love to. Hey, fish, fuck you. I kill it with mission. I'm live proper.

Fuck you, bitch. Oh my God, it's dead. What the fuck did you do? Please, might you describe it? The fish is like, as soon as he doesn't fuck you, you see like, man, no, fuck. And it just turns upside down and then rises to the top of the water and floats.

No, it's in our hands! Now we can gut it and eat it. We don't have to wait for room service. Oh, could I just eat it as it is? That was really vicious. I didn't want to eat it after me. I'd grab it and I just swallow it whole. Oh my God.

She just swallowed an insult. Well, there's plenty more where that came from, I guess. Well, I was going to do some proper fishing if anyone wanted me to teach him. Oh, no, thank you. No, that sounds like something you should just do. I can drink one and watch you. That sounds like something you should do a little tea. Sounds great.

Oh, you bet. It's been three hours yet. Oh, you bet. Yeah. It's been three hours. I'm going to pull up my... It's only 13 minutes. Oh, God.

I'm just going to start drinking from my endless wine skin. Yeah. Can I reflavor that as a tankard? What? My wine skin? Yeah, of course. Yeah, you've got your tankery. So I stopped saying skein?

Well, it was from your mother who, like, was a big wine person. You could probably So no. Get fucked. A big old bowl of steam. Are you like a shit? That makes sense. I guess you wouldn't drink wine out of a tankard unless you're a real fuck-up.

She's a real bull and asshole. You're okay? It's like the Cougar Town, like, full bottle wine glass. Jesus Christ. Fuck you, bitch. We're off the rails. Fucking fish.

And no, fuck you. I retract my question. Well, I'm gonna go fish in. Oh, boy. I'll eat 30 to 40 pistachios. Maybe I'll get this a spirit. It's fish. You know, maybe I'll get a bite.

I'll be good. And I'll head to the lake nearby and I'll start setting up my... Can you do that? I'm going to virtually cast detect magic. Okay. Well, we're all just chilling. Okay.

Do you think you're smart or something? So you take 10... You have 20 in. Thanks for noticing. You take 10 minutes to... to do that. And you kind of cast, and you get the sense that immediately around you, there's

no magic that you can feel, but as soon as you get a pin of divination magic, and you see a flapping of wings as a gray goss hawk soars over and flies out of your range, and it dissipates. Oh, yeah. utilized the feather token fan that Caprice gave me.

And I just lay along the side and like a beautiful patch of the garden. And I have the fan just slowly fan me while I lie there. Since one time use. Oh, you're your day magic things as as evocation magic goes off and it fans it. Oh, it's one time. As long as she's enjoying yourself. And yeah, that would be the only magic that you and how was the range on it?

Sorry, I somehow close it. 30 feet. It's not far. Yeah, so you would get the ping of divination magic as the hawk flies over. Yeah, 30 feet. Yeah. Cool. And with that, the sun sinks beneath the mountains. and you see an array

of golden and violet rays get fragmented in the mist and it just washes all of Mogherkai into this beautiful, it almost looks like a portrait, like a painting. As you can see almost the entire city from

the other side of your personal peak. And you see despite, it doesn't feel like there is a horrific horde of beast men crashing, as a massive wave crashing against this city in merely a week and a half, you do see that there are preparations being made on the walls of this city. And it seems as if there are, you see that there are preparations being made at each various bridge, the massive ravines and spaces in between the peaks, a natural defense and also being fortified, but very, done very regimentedly, orderly.

And once the sun is almost fully set, the sky is a rich purple plum. And you see a figure turn the corner around into the beautiful garden, the courtyard area. And you see the elegantly robed Golden Lotus and holding her her glave, and she nods at you and taps the glave to the ground and says, did you have a good rest? Yes, thank you. It was very pleasant. You look rejuvenated already. Where the hell did that fan go?

Had the little feather token here. Got a couple of catfish like you said. Caprice. Yeah. Pretty good. You see my feather token. Oh, well, it only works the one time. Oh.

Well, thank you. It was a lovely. My pleasure. I'm glad you were a fan. Rivali. heaves himself to his feet and he kind of looks around. He's still kind of hanging his head. There's still a little deep bags under his eyes and he's like, yeah, I'm feeling very tranquil.

Thank you. And she just smiles to that and says, wonderful. Now you all seem very rested and ready to meet the war chief. Are you all prepared? As ready as I'll ever be. He's far more amenable than he has been. I think that he just needed to calm his nerves and be sure that everything would be all right.

Well, latest, this is where we need to go. We're ready, right? Absolutely. Cool. Yeah. All right. And you all follow her as you make your way across the bridge to another courtyard of various buildings. You see, once again, the crafting quarter with a smoke billowing up.

And then you see the major palace with great statues of tigers, of Yeties, and of hawks. all around it. And you see a massive statue at the top of it of gilded in gold and in jade and these brilliant orange and blue gems as you see the figure of an orc

two long tendrils from his chin, wide square jawed holding a massive spear in one hand and an axe in another. As you see that there are bodies on all sides of him. You see a human laid out on one side, an Erakokra on another, and then an elf.

Skinny, but a very narrow, almost gaunt face, all cast aside and dead. As you see what this is a massive statue, what you can only presume to be Shangorovang. and you make your way up many, many, many series of steps. It is almost exhausting to get up to the grandeur of this massive palace that looks like a great temple almost as the massive doors are already open,

and you see rows and rows of temple and palace guards welcome you with a simple knot. and they all bow the second that Lotus steps within 10 feet of them and immediately it's like a wave of bows all at the exact same time, perfectly regimented as you make your way to these glorious grand hallways,

massive pillars of red and gold and green as you see great paintings and murals all along the sides of very stylized exploits of the war chief. And you see him striking down enemies in Grand on all side. You see Eryokokra, you see these strange-looking elves. You see humans, Korovacians being slain. And you even see a, you even, and then as you turn,

you see one picture that looks strange. And it seemed to be very stylized, But it seems a young boy that has been attacked by the war chief. And you see the white tiger pelt over his shoulder, the ghost steel armor elegantly adorned, and his spear stabbing in to the chest and his axe cleaving off the arm of a young boy that seems to be surrounded by feathers. And behind him, the head of a raven, looking down menacingly.

As you all see this ahead of you, and you see that there's another row of palace guards and a beautiful rug that you turn the corner And you continue to see all these great exploits on the sides of the walls as you eventually see the massive throne room of War Chief Shen Goro Frost Fang. As you see many great steps up, a mighty throne made of gold with two golden dragon heads on either side of the arms. and they almost seem to be spitting bursts of a flame, but it seems to be perhaps a trick of the light. As you see that beyond the temple guards,

there is also on top of, person on top of his thrones on either shoulder, a gray hawk, and directly at his feet is a massive white saber-toothed tiger on either side peering at you with feline eyes. then further down, not even in chains, are two huge Yetis, just looking at you, relaxing. But with the eyes, all six of these creatures look at you with the eyes of a predator discerning its potential prey. And you see on this throne a ork mightier and larger than any that you have seen yet. Skin, you've seen that kind of deep, bluish-green skin that these have. This seems to be far darker, far bluer,

and with tendrils going down all the way to his waist, elegantly adorned in gems and jewels and rings, and you see that he is in a heavily gilded set of armor. No weapons that you can see as he grips the sides of his throne and looks at you. And as you get closer, you see his, His tusks are both chipped. And his face, you can see wrinkles.

And he seems to be, you can't really tell if he is ancient and older or youthful and young. There's a strange look to him. As there's both his eyes seem to have a wisdom and an experience that you have not seen in any of these other orcs. and almost a weariness to it as he observes you and Golden Lotus follows behind you

as you all enter and you hear and he just seems to look at you appraising you and you get this look that it's almost similar to the 6th beast he has with him a predator praising his prey and Lotus extends an arm my war chief these are

the ones I told you that I saw in the blossoms that have been sent by the eternal blossom herself they have come to disavow the Raven Queen to disavow Zern to disavow Coravacia and pledge themselves to the safety of our city

and she steps to the side and she looks at all of you You see the muscular, heavily armored war chief with his youthful yet elderly face simultaneously staring down at you with discerning eyes. So these are the ones that will save my kingdom. Hi. Yeah. Sure. You will bet you.

I am the ruler of this last. And you have come from my greatest sworn enemy. Yes, we have, but that doesn't mean that we don't want to help you. We've been helping everyone in Strigger. But I have suffered much. And treachery is Korovacia's primary trait. We're not going to argue about it. We're not here to hurt or treacher.

Yeah. We're here to aid and succor. The podcast is brought to you by our Patreon. Become a patron today at patreon.com slash legends of Avantress and gain access to tons of exclusive parts including a monthly movie night and a weekly Patreon exclusive campaign set on the high seas. Shroud over Saltmarsh. You can also go to The Crookedmoon.com to pick up your own copy of our first published supplement,

The Crooked Moon, a folk horror tome for Dungeons and Dragons fifth edition. And don't forget to snag all the extra goodies like dice, miniatures, plushies, a tarot deck, and more. Thank you. You are here. Because Lotus said that she saw your arrival in the blossoms. And she sees all. She said that you are loyal to us and not to Zern.

Should I? No, we're not. We're not loyal to Zern and we're not loyal to you. were loyal to all those who are not fighting this war, were loyal to the land and the world of Andres. So you either want our help to quell this threat, or you want to die. I will not die here. Is that a disavowing of Virgil Zern and Korovacia that I'm hearing from you?

Sort of, basically. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. was a statement. For what it's worth, we don't condone any of what Coravacia has done. We don't.

But just as Iris has said, we're not pledging a loyal allegiance to anyone. We're here to do good and fix the things that are wrong. We're for liberty and for the people. And at the end of the day, all that

matters is that the horned legion no more. That's what we can promise. The road to the nine hells is paved with good intentions. You may have the best of intentions, but if there is someone pulling the strings behind you, above you,

it could spell our doom. Well, there is anubis, and I will never disavow him. I am not asking you to disavow your god for mine. I know the power of the eternal blossom and she is not a jealous goddess.

Great, then it looks like we should all be able to work together without having to bow ourselves to anyone. I would ask you simply kneel before me and disavow Corovacia. A simple ask,

I think. An ask can easily be refused and I refuse it. but I will happily help. The rest of you? I stand with Iris. I'm willing to offer my help, and I think it would be foolish for you to decline.

Yeah, I said it. Nobody asking for help would turn away people who are willing to give it, especially when all we want to do is help the people, your people. You wish to help the people. But I have let you into my city. I have let you into my kingdom.

Coming from a man who has worked every single moment of his life to gain more power, more land, more resources from my people, how can I trust you if you will not disavow him, if you will not show that you show me respect in my own palace? We are showing you respect. We are offering our help, our lives. for your people, they're not mine. I do not come from Strigger. I do not come from this land. And yet I offer my life to save those that belong to you. If you choose to turn that way, that is not on me. That is on you.

But what you require of me, I will not give. You're not my lord. You are not my master. You're not my God. We are the wings of liberty. And we bow to no man. And with that, it looks like he's going to say something.

And then Rivali steps forward. You must be out of your God's damn mind if you think I am going to kneel before you. An orc above anyone. Bowing to any individual is why I'm missing my fucking hand. Why I'm missing my fucking eye. And if you think I came all this fucking way

to save you stupid ungrateful people and your stupid cult. How dare you? Dare you! And he's trembling, and immediately you hear a voice call out, Now, now let's all be, let's take it easy. Let us all relax.

And she steps forward and then taps the glave on the ground. Let us all be calm. Just find inner peace. You look so pent up and frustrated. You look unwell. And you see Rivali as he's gritting his teeth, and he is struggling and he calms down. I'm sorry.

I just got some flashbacks. I don't know what came over me. I'm sorry. It's all right. Yes. Let us all think about this. I agree. Perhaps some common music, and I will start to just not use my bow, but sort of pluck away. I'm using my action to use a feature I've never used before, Counter Charm. All friendly allies within me have advantage on saving throws against being charmed. I'm just going to be playing that sort of a melodic nice thing. Wow. Jeez, sneaky bird.

So you make a slight of hand-check. This is a very shallow. 15. 15. Okay. You pull out your violin, and you start playing a tune. As you kind of play, and you all, you, you, you, you, they all hear the, your allies hear the effects and they, they feel, you all feel, you all feel more steeled. And you can feel the magic pull around you and may not be sure.

exactly what's happening. They only left the round. Oh, got it. So just letting out a tune, but you're still continuing to play on your violin. And, and, uh, Lotus steps forward and says, my, my war chief, I understand everything that's happened. But perhaps there is another way they've already come so far. How can they prove to you that they are trustworthy? Ask, the they kneel. It is a simple gesture of respect. And he narrows his eyes and says, I understand what you are doing here. But I will not be deceived again by Zern too many times, too many times over the decades we've been at war. I will kneel. I will not. I didn't say that. I just, I'm kneeling. I'm Neil. You Toa meals.

Toa. You are supposed to be with us. I am with you. I'm not going to disavow anyone. But this is a war chief of a great peoples and a great kingdom and we're in his palace. He is letting his hubris hit the best of him. And I don't necessarily blame. He's, he's, he's questioning us. And I don't blame him. You've seen the horrible things that he's gone through. can speak to us and ask us and we will answer. We will lay our lives on the line vein. We will fight with him. That should be enough. War chief, I won't disavow anyone and I will pledge

my service to help your people and to defeat Baphomet or whatever's coming, the Horn Legion. I want to save your people, I want to help your people, and I'm kneeling as a sign of respect. You are clearly a man of great honour. You've clearly done great things for people that... Normally, what I've heard of orcs, is nothing like this. And I look around. You've united people. You've brought a civilization.

You've made walled cities. You're protecting them. You're evacuating the outer kingdom. You clearly care for your people. And I respect that. I believe you are honorable. And I am kneeling to respect you. and to show you that I have honor as well.

I can see that. And with that, Rivali steps forward, and he looks down at Toa, and he nods at you, and he looks up and gives you a sly look, very, very subtly and quickly. And he says, you're right, Toa. And he gets down on one knee. I turn and I walk through the room.

And he says, service to protect your people. That's not pledging ourselves to you. We're pledging ourselves to the people. And that I will do. I turn walking the room. Do you do that? Do we have to kneel? Do we have to pledge ourselves to you?

You've got a whole legion coming your way. You want nothing to come to you or your lands or your people. But if I carry the one and listen, not a math guy, but the odds aren't good. We're here to help. We're not asking for payment. You could have killed us on that now. Your people are very capable. We're here to help, to rid these lands of this grand evil that if we'll, any moment, they're just coming in closer and closer as we sit here bickering amongst themselves. I can help in other ways. And I'll cast a zone of truth. I will choose to fail by my zone of truth. Your magic does not give me any confidence.

Magics can be tempered with. Magics are why Corovacia has done so much damage. Magic comes from all across Evandris. I'm not from Corovacia. My magic was restored upon me by the power are boarded by his anvil. He put good into the hearts of many dwarves and men alike. And women like me too. I am more than happy to help. We're all more than happy to help. But we're not here to make contracts.

We're not here to tie ourselves to leaders and get involved in more political messes. We're here to create some balance in these lands. I will be front and center up there with Peyton right next to me. She'll haul anything you need for any of your people. But you will not kneel? That requires that I am inservitor to you. No, it doesn't.

I didn't pledge anything, except that I will protect people. That's all I've pledged. You salute generals. This is a war chief. And we are not part of his army. We just met. I don't know anything about you. It's disrespectful.

It's disrespectful to not honor someone's position. I just met him. I just walked into a room and he said, get on your knees. You know what I usually do? No, I don't. I usually say no. Usually. And now is one of those times. I can either stand with you on the battlefield or I can kneel before you. It won't be both. And you two. Do you honestly believe that me kneeling down in a sign of respect and not disavowing corporal, is good enough? Is that the only way that I can show that I will respect you and fight alongside you? You don't think that that means nothing, just in you? For a Korovachian, nothing else, especially a Korovakian. I figured you were going to say something especially harsh.

Boy, what have you done? I see in your eyes. same look I see in the other boys that I've killed on the battlefield but even worse for you what have you done for him what have you done for them

fine I've done unspeakable horrible acts I know it my friends now know it I'm trying to fix that I may never be able to I may never be able to find some sort of redemption

And you think me just kneeling is going to fix that? I'm not so sure. I think that acts, I think that me being out in the field of battle is going to be more proof than any stupid kneel. It's not a secret. I'm terrible. But I'm trying to fix that. And I'd rather prove it by fighting alongside of you

than some meaningless act of, of what you think is respect. He just looks at you and then switches his gaze to Caprice. And you! I stand with tow. I recognize your authority in these lands, but I'm here to fight for the right of the people

and for the health of the people and for the balance in the lands, just as my friend Herger here said. My kneel could be just as disingenuous as the word I'm giving you now, but it isn't. You have my word that we'll do our very best to protect this kingdom at your side. He looks at all of you and his brows furrow.

And he stands up to think that the insolence of the so-called chosen ones to save my kingdom, I laugh at the disrespect. I laugh, tremble in anger. And you see that he doesn't have any anger in him. Disrespect you have shown me.

I who have lived so long. I who have done so much. I who have, and then you hear a voice cut him off. Now Wuchee, Shengoro, and she steps forward with her her glave in hand.

Let us be calm. You are getting worked up. Is it not true? Is it not true that I have seen them in the blossoms? Do you not trust me? I came all the way from Yulong. I have given you all of this. I have introduced you to the golden load,

the eternal blossom. The eternal blossom has given you all of this. Would it not be the natural thing for great heroes, great heroes of legend, great servants of the gods, to not wish to kneel before immortal as what are we as mortals before the divine? The divine visited you. And she continues to approach him. And you can kind of see him as like he is breathing a little bit heavier and he starts to calm down a little bit. I'm still playing my soothing song. And I'm going to, and I don't know how you define ally.

I'm going to try to include him in the war chief in my ability to give him advantage against saving throws. Or advantage on saving throws against being harmed. Okay. Okay. Just in case that's what's happening. You do that. And you continue to play out. And he, and she gestures back. You understand that.

that this one here has... And she points to Jesuit, Toa, he comes from a people of traditions just like us. He naturally kneels and respects you. The others have not... The Tabaxias myself. I stand tall. She serves a god. I serve a goddess. She walks out. Do not take that as a sign of disrespect.

It was. Yes. Surely once all what's best for our people. Without them, they cannot. Without them, we are doomed. I have seen it in the blossoms, and you see him sit down. Is there any effect my zone of truth is having on them? I had 60 feet, 10 minutes.

I don't know if they need to make saves or if they're willingly. Um, as far as... They have to save the truth if they're within 60 feet of it. Yeah. They all failed? I don't think you get a sense of if they fail. If you don't a truth, you do. Oh, you don't?

Yeah. On a failed to say a creature can't speak a deliberate lie while in the radius, you know whether each creature succeeded or failed on a saving throw. As you, as she passes through your zone of truth, you get the sense as if she steps forward and she fails a saving throw. Okay. and she continues to step forward. It is foretold that they must be the ones to stop the beast. The horned legion will destroy us all without them.

They must find the final piece of our salvation. It is in the blossoms. My war chief, we are in this together. It is your destiny. and they will bring about your destiny. And as she approaches him, she crosses the distance with the stairs, and he struggles and he's like,

you're right. You're wise, my spiritual advisor. As always, I continue after all these years to struggle with my blood. The curse we all, have. I thank you for allowing me to see reason. Stand. Both of you. Rivali stands and looks around at all of you. You have come here for a reason. You have presented yourself when you could have been torn apart by my yetis at any moment. I do not need you to kneel. I need Lotus to

say that she needs you. That is all I need, for my faith is strong, and I believe in the divine. It is our way. That's good to hear you say. And he nods as up at Lotus, and she breathes out. See, now we can begin.

Now we, now we can save this land. it has not lost any longer. Very well. Escort them out of my throne room, please. Of course. Right away, my ward chief, whatever you say. Then she turns and she glides down the stairs and gestures you all out. Please, come with me.

And where were you heading? Back to the room. Back to the room. You make your way out. and you make your way back to the room without incident. You get the occasional second glance from nothing but orcs that you see. But you are undisturbed.

It's very heavily guarded. Guards are everywhere. And it seemed as if there are even more Yeties and tigers patrolling about than you had noticed previously. But you all exit the palace. And as you're leaving, golden lotus looks at all of you and smiles. I think that went quite well.

I think we did what we had to, right? Now we can save people. Yes, of course. Yeah, let's get to work. Well, you all must rest. You must go at dawn. Go where? To find our salvation.

You will ask. Enter the grove of the eternal blossom. Not even the war chief has been there. I just kind of put my head in one hand, and isn't listening. Why hasn't he been there? Because it is only those who are chosen by the divine to enter. And although he is the chosen of the eternal blossom, it is he.

It is the eternal blossom that only has permitted myself to enter. until these six of you came. And Nervali steps forward and says, I guess I'm not permitted. Where they go beyond the grove is dangerous. You would not survive. I knew you were going to say that. He looks down at his stump,

and he feels his eye, and she steps forward and looks at him and says, You have been horribly injured grievously by the Horn Legion. And yet still you came. I see that your spirit is weak. But there is hope. There is a wild spirit within you. There's a tumultuousness.

If you need me to heal you and want to join our healers at the healing pools, we can help you. He's like, yeah, I'll think about it. Let's go back. And she looks at all of you. Shall we return to your quarters, your dwellings? Yes, if you think that we should just rest until the morning. Yes, your meals will have been delivered by now.

Excellent. I'm starving. Great. Did you put in an order for extra rise? Because they always forget. I made the presumption as soon as I said, saw you. Oh, thank you. I appreciate it. Please do lead the way. You never give you enough pita with your helmet.

She guides you through the city, and once again, everyone bows as she takes you all to your dwellings. Well, you all need your rest. Tomorrow is our destiny. Does it have to be at dawn? Can we sleep in a little bit? No. Caprice. It must be at dawn.

All right. Unbelievable. I will come fetch you when you must awake. Thank you. You're welcome. Have you heard anything about my dad? I have not been able to help you. I am sorry.

No dwarf came through this town. No. Can I tell if she's lying? Big an insight, child. Three. She seemed to be telling the truth. She looks at you and says, I assure you

who should. Well, she failed her. Well, I don't know. If it's been 10 minutes, I don't know if some truth is still going. We're outside. We're walking back. If it's centered on me?

I guess it's just on one point? It's on a point, yeah. Okay. Then, yeah, you're right. And it's also been, you know, it takes like 20 minutes to walk through the city. Probably about 30. And she,

she smiled and says, I assure you all will be well. All will be well. Until dawn, then. Until dawn. Are you being rest for malicious unhappiness? Until dawn. He just triggered us so hard.

Oh, well. Have a lovely night. We'll see you at the morning. Andy's face. It's perfect. Good night. Let serenity wash you over here. Then she turns and leaves.

Toa, I'm sorry. I don't want you to think I'd betrayed you or that I wasn't with you. I was. I just didn't, I felt that Iris was right in this case, and I wanted to stand with her. And I hope that you, you weren't offended. No, I'm not offended, and I would never force anyone else to kneel. But there are many different villages in the McCarney Islands, and I would kneel in front of every village chief.

And even if they were maybe at odds, I just want my village. I just want you to know that I would never not have your back. No, and I never for once thought that, Felix, and I have you. I just thought that it would be a sign of respect to clearly a powerful chieftain. I respect his calmness. As someone from a tribe who was once very full of rage, I respect that, you know, my people have turned over a new leaf and are generally more laid back than many, although like Makutu has shown, some do exhibit that rage still.

And with my head only barely reaching his chest or shoulders, I give him a hug and I'm sorry. It's okay, Felix. No, seriously, you don't have to apologize. This is so sweet. Okay. As long as you know. Thank you. No, I do know. And I think that it was great.

We all got to make our own choices and we get to go on tomorrow morning. All right. Are you sure you don't want to bunk with me? Well, Arvice might kick me out, so I might need to bunk with you. I don't have any problem kicking Caprice out. Well, we'll figure that out. Around the fire. Let's see what they delivered us for food.

Okay, all right. I'll make you guys buy the Brazer. Brazier. Brazier. Brazier. Thank you. Brazier. Oh, brazier.

There's a beautiful meal of whatever you would care to enjoy, and it seems to be very well-made, a hearty meal. It fills you with, it's warm. What was that? A sniffing. Does it smell like it? It smells delicious. Absolutely.

It's purified drinking water. It smells perfect. And it's some of the most fragrant and delicious food that you've experienced. Bacon cheese bread bowls for everybody. Where is Iris right now? In her room. So before I eat, I want to go to the lodging where I would expect Iris to be. And she's there.

Irish, they deliver this like cheesy breadballs out there. It's like Panera It's like when Dominoes Does it pass in a roadblo This is like in this You could put pasta in if you want No thank you to her Are you sure

Are you made it in me? I no longer trust you Why wouldn't you trust me We all did that weird Hand thing Felix made us do I was uncomfortable Nervous and scared

But I did not stand down For all of you You put me in a position You put all of us In a position and I do not trust you. You said you are with us. In the moment that faith was tested,

you turned your back. I am not... You are no longer, my friend. And you watch as I sling a pack over my back. None of you are. And I walk out of the room and post everybody. And head out of town. Um, Aris...

Where's she got me? Iris. I'm gonna run up to you if I can. I'm walking slowly. Okay, I won't... Aris, I... We pledged that we would never... pledge ourselves to any government.

And that's not what I did. I was just showing respect to a leader. That's what I would do at home, just like I would do here, just like I bowed to Zern. And at time of my own, my God has been silent for too long. And all of your noise,

it clouds my judgment. I am not who I'm supposed to be, not here. Where will you go? Well, hopefully some are warm with a plush bed and a very handsome man to bring me soup. But if not that, wherever the sands will take me. Head back to your friends, eat your pasta in a black wall, and think about what your promises me in the future. Well, from our perspective, I didn't break any promises, but that's fine.

I won't disrespect your wishes. You may sleep with Felix, too. All right, I will do so. do so and i'll all i guess join iris as she walks through the group and all we all see this yeah thank you going what's going on we have we haven't somewhere no but i would see you soon okay should we have to be back by don't right though you have a source on your oh uh uh thank you uh oh boy slowly trying to walk away um okay uh okay uh Are you coming back tonight?

And I just keep walking. Iris, is everything all right? I'm gonna, is Peyton nearby? Oh, yeah, Peyton's with Rivali. She's taking a liking to him. I'm gonna be like, telepathically to her, because she's all the time, I'm gonna say. Hey, Peyton, sorry to interrupt.

Can you go give Iris a little nudge, give a little nuzzle? She knows exactly that. You feel a nuzzle of a slobbery muscox. I cast banishment on Peyton. I continue to walk. What's the same thing? Oh, 17. I rule for painting.

What the fuck? That is savage. That's what I was going to. Trust me, I understand. I've been on the receiving end. Wisdom's saying. No worry. Payton comes back in a minute.

Just who knows where Peyton will go on you? Oh, man. This would happen. Natural one. Oh, no. Two. What the hell just happened to her? She blinks out of existence.

I'm assuming it would be further down. You wouldn't have seen it. Oh, okay. I would feel the disconnect, right? Yeah, you would be able to know. Yeah, you would know if you're within 100 feet. If you're within 100 feet, you would know that Peyton was no longer there. She's just going to pray or something, right?

Is she all right? What did she say? her? I think she's just, she was very offended that I kneeled. And I get that she doesn't understand my customs and where I come from. And I, that's, those are her wishes. So, then what is she doing? Like I said, I'm sure she's just going to pray. She, she often does. Is it safe? Should we follow her? I mean, I, I believe everything here is safe. She says she hasn't heard from her God in a long time and maybe she's feeling, maybe she just needs to connect. I mean, I I don't know.

That's exactly it. I mean, she did pray in the middle of a battlefield after, you know, all that shit that came our way when we were fighting, what's his name? Right. So I think she'll be okay. She'd probably hate it if we followed her and protected her.

She doesn't need protecting. And for as much as I think weird things are going on here, I do think that we're safe here. I don't think we're under any kind of duress. What are you looking at? me for. She ignores me all the time. He's not out of the ordinary. Why? Okay. She's not back. What time is it? What time is it? Why are you looking at me? Because I don't think you're the sun, you're removed. You get the same, it's probably like, it's

7.30. It's 7.30. Oh, um, while I have everyone here, um, I also wanted to just say, uh, Caprice, you're not rooming with me tonight. Oh, okay. Well, that's not very nice. Nice? Yeah. It's not very nice? Yeah.

Did I stas of? I'm rooming with Toa. Oh, big surprise. What are you going to do? We're going to hang out and be best friends. Tell me more. We're going to break his hair. You could if you wanted to.

I could tell him that. Oh, oh. Sorry. a secret handshake. I bet you do. That we've been working on for months. Okay. To's a little slow to pick it up, but we're working on it.

Yeah, I'm sure. Get up to speed. So anyway, I'm sorry. We have plenty of time to work on Abyssal another time. All right, yeah, we'll get to it. No problem. You can bunk with Hershey again. Great.

I think that was already going to be the plan because I already told you I watch you and you sleep because of your nightmares. Oh, yeah. We kind of have a understanding. It's not a secret handshake. We can work on an handshake. You know, now that you mention it, I feel like occasionally, I've heard him say wagon to you in Abyssal. I wouldn't understand it.

I only know draconic and dwarish. Never mind. It's fine. But what am I supposed to do? You can hang out with us. Yeah? Oh, okay. We'll drink and play a card games.

That sounds great. I mean, we're not going to bed right now. I'm just letting you know that we're not rooming. Of course we're not going to bed. It's 7.30. Yeah, I mean, I should probably do some studying, I guess. I have some work to do, but we have what, 10 days, 10 days roughly that we need to prepare for whatever's coming. And by the way, what is it with all these different gods and all these different trials?

I mean, this isn't even the, what, the third one that we have, fourth one that we've had to do? The Raven Queen, there was Garricks. there was, you know, what else have we done? There was the, uh, the mask giant dude. The mask giant dude. Yeah, yeah, yeah, we all told them a story. That's right. That was less of a religious thing and more of a,

I'm worried that the giant was going to eat me kind of a thing. But, but nonetheless, it's like we're constantly proving ourselves of these different people. I don't know. I think if I were a god, I would totally have some trials, right? That sounds pretty badass. Now that you mentioned it. Right? I mean, I guess it kind of makes sense.

I'm gonna start thinking about the trial. Oh, Garex was the dragon one. It was the dragon, the raven one, the... Well, there was the cloud giant incident, but again, it was less of a trial and more of I was worried I was going to get eaten. Well, no, that was the bones were going to be used as a toothpick. That was just, we almost died.

I don't know what to expect tomorrow. And like Ravali said, things are a little weird. And I just think we should all be on guard. We're constantly being judged by these higher beings. It's like what they do. Yeah. This is why I gave up. I never ascribed to the religion of the Raven Queen in the first place.

It was very much across my tease and dot my eyes to get in the academy and learn what I know. Well, then forget about her. I have. Well, outside of whatever's at play here, but just do me a favor and be aware. Just be in your guard. I'm always on my guard. All right. Do you think that she was telling the truth when she said she could heal me?

It's worth a shot. What do you have to lose? I guess the question is, do you think that she's literally going to regrow your hand and eye? Why not? There must be magic that can do that, right? It's not outside the realm of possibility, but it's nothing that I've ever understood or studied. I couldn't tell you. Now, granted, I literally watched as an orc died and turned into a halfling. And in that moment, everything that I ever believed to be true was unraveled before me. That's right.

We all see much weird things happen. So take that for what it is. Maybe they'll kill you and turn you into a half-lil. No, I won't allow that to happen. You'd have both of your hands. Good God, Caprice. I think that's even a worse fate. That's very mean to half-links.

I'm already... I'm sorry. Halflings are fine I just got picked on a lot for my height I got called a halfling a lot Oh yeah I don't want to dissuade you But on the off chance that they're able to

Restore you I could fight again Just think what that might cost you Don't do it Don't do anything rash This is well outside the realm of what I know and understand And that's the thing I Oh this is so

Above me I would just killing monsters and spooky things in the woods. And now there's gods and there's, there's, there's cults and demons, demon lords. And I, all of my friends are dead. And I don't even know what I'm doing. I can't even fight anymore. I just tag along on a fucking yak.

Peyton finally comes back. Where you meant, big guy? What have you seen? I think she stays in her astral plane because that's like her home thing. Oh, right. So she goes back to Moridan's plane. You can recast the spell. To Moridan. So she goes back to whatever upper plane is Moradin.

I totally forgot she wasn't. It was right. Oh, you didn't put that together. I thought you were like just demolished. No, I just wanted her to be banished for a minute and come back and be. She goes back to the astral sea or plane or wherever she's from. I'm not going to tell you to not make a decision that you want to make. But just think about the.

oftentimes things come with a price. I guess the way that I see it, and that's why I fucking kneeled. Because in the end, all I care about is saving everyone's lives. And the ends justify the means. But just remember, especially when it comes to magic, you don't get anything for free. There's always a cast. I guess that's right. We've got ten days for you to sort of build some trust and figure out

whether or not that seems like the right option for you. You don't have to decide right now. That's a good point. I'll just eat and drink and be merry. Here. I'll make you... I'll get you one of your... I'll get you one of these pistachios.

Oh, fuck you, pistachio. Oh, yeah, no better. You look, take it and you lose... Thanks, Caprice. And you get said. You know, even with everything you said about my yak, I would still be willing to go with you if you decided that you wanted assistance with your injuries.

Well, you are all on the special, chosen, foreseen ones going where I can't follow. So you got bigger fish to fry than that whole Ravali freeway. Perch fry is pretty good. I haven't had that in a while. Actually, I saved my last one for Iris. because I knew she wouldn't eat the stuff that they offered here. Kind of miss her already.

Well, she'll probably be back later at some point. I'm going to open the door. Is it dark yet? Yeah, it's dark. It was sunset when you laughed. So it's now, there's a beautiful, like, kind of blueish-violet color to the sky as the large moon rises. And the stars out here look incredibly bright and large and they twinkle, just absolutely stunningly. I'm going to pour a little bit of milk in a saucer and place it just outside the dust. door. He'll look longingly into the darkness.

Memory, all alone in the moonlight. You do that. As he looks out dejectedly, at her little sad saucer of milk. Hey, hey, if Patrice isn't doing anything, maybe she could keep an eye on, Iris. Look, yes, if we're genuinely warm, about her. He's Patrice. Beatrice is what he said. I totally heard Patrice too. He just fumbled a little with the he was in a

I actually thought you said Caprice and I was like, don't talk about yourself. She slipped into abyssal. It's fine. I know Iris pretty well at this point. She'd be pretty angry if I tried to spy on her. Beatrix? Beatrice. Beatrice. Braiser. You know, this is why we don't room together. No. Yeah, I'm word too. About... She never leave. She didn't even ask me to carry your stuff.

Damn, she's just very... She's strong. She's strong-willed, all right? She... The word is bitchy. And she doesn't want... When she doesn't want our help, she doesn't want our help. Well, I don't care.

She likes to pray in peace. But I don't care. Then go find her. Fine, I will. But I'm not gonna spy on her. I'm not going to spy on her. Why would I spy on her? I'd offered Peyton to, you could ride around on her, but, you know.

It's okay. I'm giving it a little bit longer, and if she doesn't come back, I'm going to find her. And if she's dead, that is very bad for me. Why would she be dead? You don't think this whole place would be up in arms if there was some sort of attack? I don't know what these people do. Maybe somebody slipped out of their peaceful facade and murdered her. All right, well, now you got me worried.

See? Blasible. I'll spend the next time minutes resumming Peyton. God's. Look, I'm not going to stop you. Go find her if you want. But this isn't exactly unusual. She just wants some alone time.

If what she said to Toa wasn't a lie, she really needs to go and just consult with her god, then perhaps privacy is the best thing we can give her. That milk's going to go bad in like an hour, you know. You can turn it into some ranch dressing. Oh, I got... That's plenty of that. I don't think...

Here in the back of your head, celestial voice. Things can be at room temperature for at least four hours. It's been talking about. It's hard to be. weird. Go to bed. Good morning. Ow.

Well, if that's all we have to discuss, then I'm going to get an early night because we've got to be up pretty early tomorrow. I think it's interesting, man. So the statue of him cutting off the arm, how old was this boy? You look very young, probably in his teens. Late teens.

Do you think that statue of very? of the war chief cutting the arm from the boy with the raven head. Do you think that was him like stabbing Zun and cutting his arm off? I don't want to talk about that. Wasn't the head totally free from the actual body? Stop.

I don't want to talk about that. What do you mean head free from the body? Why don't you want to talk about it? What's the matter with you? It was a piece of art of the war chief murdering a child. Well, why can't we talk about it? It's just an artwork. So he was chopping the arm off and stabbing with the spear.

Yep. Oh, I thought that you said he was the head. But the boy did not have a raven head. There was a raven thing. He was looking over him. And it was a young Corvatian soldier. And he cut the arm off and he stabbed. And there's feathers.

Feathers were surrounded. Yeah, I don't know what that was about. You think that was maybe Zinn? Maybe that was the moment he called out to the Raven Queen and got all of his power. Does there not have an arm? His arm is like in a sling. That's right. Yeah.

So maybe the Raven Queen gave him back his arm, but it doesn't work. I mean, I think we're all in agreement that it wasn't the Raven Queen. Or maybe it was, I don't know. I hope it's the Raven Queen, but it's probably not. Thank you for the house. Thank you. Maybe if the Golden Lotus, you know, Healing pools can help Ravali.

I don't know if there was a time limit or statute of growing back your limitations, but we could... What? You guys are all laughing at me. Why does that always happen? No, I... Yeah, I'm not going to... I'm not intelligent enough to make that suggestion,

so I'm actually going to retract my statement. You know, I'm normally not relatively intelligent. I don't pick up on these things quite as much, but I'm noticing that I do now since I've been around you guys. and Golden Lotus never asked for my dad's name. Did you notice that? Never once. He walked through her lands.

It's bound to have been found by one of her people. I don't want to be, I don't know, disheartening or pessimistic or even insensitive. But I think that the Golden Lotus knows far more than she's. ever going to tell us. That kind of divination magic, whatever you want to call it, it's divination magic. I meant it when I said

it wouldn't shock me if she's seen all of this what is happening right now already. She might know, and she might not be telling the truth. So, who's his father? Do you think he may be deed? I don't want to hope for that.

Take out the accident, see if there's any sign of, like, fighting or scratches. It seems to be the wear and tear from sitting on the road in the mud. But beyond that, it seems there's a chance he never passed through here. Think about these people

and what they would think about some random dwarf waltzing into their town. They might kill him on site. They would remember that. There's a chance that he went around or they stopped him or something happened before he got here.

She might be telling the truth in that regard. But to not even be aware of who he is, I'm not sure I believe that. I'm speculating. Don't take what I'm saying to heart. Just think about it. There's options. We don't know. And for what it's worth, I don't think he's dead. I don't. I believe that he's alive because he plays some part in this. I don't think it's a coincidence or an accident. Felix, would you mind taking 10 minutes to look at this? Of course. No problem. See if there's any part of it that would be helpful.

I don't know if maybe this part comes off. And I'm basically trying to see if the axe comes apart in any way. You could probably deconstruct it, like the, you know, separate it from the handle and all of that. But it's not anything special or magical. It's not like anything that rings a bell in like the parts that he was carrying that would have been part of the rod. No. I still, I still retro-ritchelly cast it with magic. You do that.

I would still do my thing. And you get the sense that there's no magic, just a normal X. After, I would say I would spend a good 20, 30 minutes with it. And at the end, whatever happens in between, I would say, I would give it back to you and just say, it's not magic in any way. I mean, craftsmanship is superb from what I understand, but it doesn't seem to be magic. Maybe someone bought this from him. Who knows, might not even be his.

It's of his make, but... You've never seen him wield anything like this? Was that his primary weapon, or was this just something he made? It was something that he made. You know, that he wasn't a huge fighter, but he was generally not an axeman. I mean, the man's got he. He might have just been working on the road. You don't think they have him enslaved here making weapons for them for this Legion.

Is it worth interrogating these folks? I don't know if we have time before Don, but... Not right now. I don't think... Until we know that they're up to something, I think we should just give them the benefit of the doubt. Take a close look when you see guards walk by at their weapons and see if they're of the same lake.

Don't count it out, but I'm with tow on this one. It's not worth pursuing something that might so discord when we need to be working together right now. If for some reason some piece of evidence were to show up and we believe that your father was here in this city, then I'll support you. All right? You have my promise. Thank you.

With that, you all enjoy the evening, enjoy each other's company. Iris, you leave your friends behind. You make your way through Mogherkai, and no one stops you. You see guards, you see hawks flying around, yeties and tigers. But none stop you. You make your way to the gates of the town, the city, I presume, one of the many. And as soon as you make, what you make, to leave, you don't even have to ask, and the gates are raised for you and you are undisturbed.

The moon rises and shimmers across the city and the various rivers and streams going through this town and it paints this picturesque scene as you walk alone. What do you do? I walk until I'm too exhausted to walk anymore, and then I find a spot to curl up and go together. Okay. You do that. You continue... I have a bed roll and a blanket. Where, what direction are you walking? I'll just look up at the night sky and choose a random one.

Okay. You do that. And you continue to walk. And you're gonna go as far as you can. And you pick a random direction. and you continue to walk. And then it gets late back at your candon. Iris hasn't returned. I don't know if anyone is staying up with for her.

I'll stay up and you can have Peyton bits of fish in a little box and shake it outside the door. Nothing happens. Oh, she did, dead dead. Yeah, I'll go knock on both of their doors and just kind of peek in. Is she back? Did she come in here? She's not back in my room and I'll do the same for your room.

Now she's not back. Should you go look for her? I'm afraid if I do, she'll dispel both me and Payton to another plane of these estates. But if you want to go looking for her, I'll come with you. I know what to do. I'm just going to go walk around the town and see if I would find her. I'll get her on Peyton and I'll go with her. We'll mount up and ride around together.

Could you make a, are you looking for her? You ride around town and you don't see her. She's nowhere to be seen. You look around and you see no to back see it all. You just see orcs. Once again, they don't stop you. Would we have any inclination of what direction she might have gone? I would say there's really nothing.

No way to track her, I guess. If I would say that you can make, I would say that at the point you're going there wouldn't be, it's been so long and there's so much UC Tiger tracks maybe and Yeti tracks, but it's been at this point, it's been all, any tracks you would have left have been swept away. I would probably like ride up to people that are bustling around and getting their stuff like in their homes and closing down for the night and just being like, hey, have you seen any other two backsies walking through here? And I'll kind of like describe what she looks like.

Make a persuasion, Chuck. As you question. 28. I'm sorry, 26. I would say that you are told that people, you were told by certain guards that a tabaxi that wasn't a Golden Lotus left the city and you get the sense that she is very long gone hours ago.

She left the city? Do we go after her? No, I mean, we can. But would she want us to do, Lifty? You know her the best. I don't know. I never know what she wants. That's why she's always yelling at me. Can you, like, call up her dad or something? No? I couldn't. I didn't know how to do that.

You know, I wasn't sure if she gave you anything as like a beacon, emergency, you know, pager or something, you know? I don't think so. Maybe she shouldn't come back. Let's go back. I'm just going to wait by the fire. Maybe she'll... I hope she comes back. If milk's gonna go bad in a couple hours.

Since I refrigerate things you are in there. Probably not. I'll turn Peyton around and we'll just kind of solemnly trot back to camp. Okay. I'll look over my shoulder behind Lufty and see if, you know, there's any sign of the tabaxi coming back in the city and park, uh, park Peyton by the fire and I'll sit down and

Have you seen that meme with that Jesus trying to parallel parking has the wheel on the back that comes down and helps it scoot into the spa? Thank you. That's what I think of. I just stands completely still. All right, Peyton, let's pass your bedtime. Let's lay down for the night. She immediately collapses and passes out and starts snoring me and lie. All right.

Do we take watch, you think? Do we trust sleeping here overnight? I'm going to stay up until she comes back. All right. Well, I'm going to stay out here with Payton. Okay. I'll be with Dakota. Dakota will keep us safe. Lodge her into the ground next to the, my flail, into the ground next to the fire,

and I'll curl up against Peyton and I'll just snooze outside. Let's see if Iris comes back. Okay. You guys are in bed or? Yeah, I'm asleep. Yeah. Okay. As you all drift off to sleep, Iris, you go to bed and sleep, sleep is peaceful.

And suddenly there's fire. Fire all around you. It dances and flickers. As you suddenly see You feel warmth all around you. You feel exactly what you said to Toa. The warm desert winds and the sands whipping around you. As you feel yourself in the flames.

And you look as darkness past the fire starts to almost swallow you. But then you feel the smooth sandstone. of what feels like a great tomb. As you look up above you as the fire now gone, beyond two flickering torches besides a large sandstone seat. And sitting in this seat is a figure, muscular,

dark fern skin, wearing nothing more than barely concealed cloths and tunics, and adorned and simple but respectable looking jewelry. You see the form of man, three times the size of you at least. But where a man's head would be, you see it too, too, tall pointed ears. I feel a lot better about that. Jesus. A long pointed snout and small nose. Two eyes. Gold.

That with pink going down around cheeks makeup to look like a piece of artwork. As you see the jackal-headed god.

have onus of myself in the street vision. I just immediately flatten myself in the ground and in a bow. Like literally like nipples to the sandstone, arms out in front of me, forehead on the ground, like, holy God. All six nipples.

You immediately, that's been more like that advantage. You call me like one of your French kids. Yeah. You immediately bow down as you see Anubis sitting in is thrown beneath the mountain, the tomb.

And he looks down at you. And you hear his voice, rumble out, firm, but warm, personal yet distant. Exactly how you know and believe it to be true. This is the first time I've ever seen him, seen him. Yes. We've heard him. You've seen him, but like,

like not have like a whole, yes. As, as you see his mouth move and you hear that low, rumbling voice and it shakes the tune. My priestess, why is there doubt in your quest? I have no doubt in you. I doubt in those that are troubled.

If you wish it so, it shall be. If you say it so, I shall do. I am not here to command you, Iris of the sands. I wish for all my priests and priestesses to have their will be their own. You are the one who must choose, but if your doubt is in your friends, I must ask why. I feel as though our paths do not align. We bicker and we fight, and when we finally have a moment where we agree, we're all together for the first time.

One of us always stands down. An army cannot fight as one. If we do not stand together, men die. When the front line is weak, I will vary so very so. I will fairy souls to you, but only those that are ready, and I do not want more to die, because our front line cannot handle the weight on our shoulders. None of us likes to fight with those in power, but sometimes those that hold the power are not doing what is right,

and it has been silent. When you called for my aid, I told you of a deception beyond the Lord of Life. eyes. Yes. Do you recall? I listen for it always. The deception is great. I have been able to pick up no scent.

The path ahead will be filled with darkness and filled with even more death. And the realm of death itself hangs in the balance. That is why you are here in Striga. Striga, it is why I sent you my most devout worshipper. I trust wanes, said my friends. I fear that that is the deception you speak. Iris, when I sent you the vision in the flames for the first time, you understood where to go.

But where I was sending you was not to place. It was to a family. I see, and I kind of raised myself a bit, and I look at him, but not in the eyes, and I quickly look back down. I will not

let you down. I am not to be let astray. I am strong. I will make you proud. You have not let me down. And I will not. You have never let me down. and you hear kind of a rumbling in the stone.

They would never hear the end of this. As Anubis stands up, and you see two massive, uh, sandaled feet, step forward, kicking up dust in the tune. And... I'm going to ducking. I'm kidding. I'm kidding. I'm going to be a little rough.

Oh, you broke, Andy. Woo! Now, Stand, Iris of the sand. I quickly stand. Don't even hesitate. You kneel to no one but me. Always. You hold your head high.

Look at me, Iris. And I do make a full eye contact. You see as gold eyes blazing with brilliance. You almost for a moment feel the need to cower as you stare into the eyes of a god. and it's almost you get the sense that if you weren't dreaming that this could be mind melting

but you are you are staring directly up and you see his jackal snout move as it speaks and you see in his hand is his massive staff in one in the crook and flail on the other as he looks and he leans down.

The end of your road, Iris, I have seen in the flame, and where it all ends, good or ill, is with your friends. I know. There will be times where you doubt your friends going forward. There will be times you doubt yourself going forward.

It is impossible to trust when there's this much at stake, but you must continue walking your own path. Even if you decide to leave everything behind here tonight, you will have made it for me and for yourself. And you'll always have my approval as your God. Until the end of time.

Until the end. When the world turns to black, but until then, do what you think is right. Do what you think my teachings would instruct you to do. I will.

The land of death is in turmoil. Souls. Misguided. Not being judged. A great atrophy threatening to disrupt the cycle of life and death

from continuing. It must be made right. And it will be made right in the land to the east. It led to me. Go forth. Live your life, Iris. And do what it is.

you think is right. I bow my head. Look at him again with purpose and then turn and walk. You do that and you, you feel a, you hear a low breath and it almost shakes the tomb as the flame whips around you and disappears and you drift off in sleep.

Oh no, I jolt awake immediately. Oh, you jolt awake immediately. Yeah, whatever you want to do. That was Anubis. That was my god. He talked to me, don't watch this. Oh, my God. Okay, well, get yourself together, girl.

Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Well, all right, pack. Where is my back? Where is I'm sitting on my back? Put my pack on my back. Get back to my friends.

Oh, my God, my God. Literally my God. And I start, instead of walking, sauntering, I'm going to use my feline agility to get back as quickly as possible. Yes, so that's what I do. Your birth to DM says you didn't get his autograph. TurboFam. You didn't get a selfie, nothing.

You don't ask a nubis for his autograph. You get his hieroglyphics. You obviously haven't. You obviously haven't spent time of the god before. Duh. Human hands and dog feet. Was that? Yeah.

Yeah. He's like, he's like humanoid from the waist up, right? No, is he human feet? I apologize. Oh, he's human. He's been all the way that. So he's not like the jackal. He's dark thin like skin and dark, like thin fur.

I thought he had like the dog head like human chest and arms and then like it went down into that backwards dog. No, no, no, no. No. He's humanoid. So that he's got dog feet. So that's one iteration of him, but classically, the Egyptian gods tend to have human bodies and animal heads. Yes, he's very muscular and ripped.

He puts Toa to shame. And with that, I'm going to sneak straight to Toa and Felix's room and knock on the door. Okay, so you're not even stealthing in the camp. No. Okay, so you walk by, once again, as soon as you approach. Would I wait? They open, and I would say, you're like in the common room, right? No, I'm outside.

We step by the fire. Yeah, they left one room completely empty. Yeah, as soon you're sitting by the fire, you all hear Iris approach. And as the, you're sitting around the torchlight, it is probably like 4.30 in the morning, I would say, at the very least. And you are all, you're feeling tired.

And then you hear soft footsteps and a rustling. As you see the fire pit. The fire in the pit catch on gold jewelry as Iris walks back in the camp. Iris? Oh. How did you go? Towa. As soon as I hear that knock.

I would roll out of bed with my like, no, I'm wearing my like pajamas and I've got the dagger. Oh God, who's there? Who's there? Who's there? She's not. You should be bad. Knock on your forehead. Toa.

Iris. Taua. I, I, right. Stop. Stop. Stop. Toa! Hold on, I needed that five seconds to wake up.

I'm a fleet. And I'm gonna put the dagger in its sheath. I'm gonna put the dagger like in its sheath. Have you like? Are you all right? Let me get dressed. Just give me one second. He's coming.

Are you okay? Yes, I need to speak with Tov. Why did you need? Okay. And I'm gonna go back to bed. I'm gonna lay back into bed and let her talk to tone. Did you guys push your, like, Rick and Lucy your beds together?

No, I assumed it was, Bump beds? Totally. One of the beds and put it on top of the other. Because she's so strong. Oh, yeah. Oh, my God. I'm just going to peek up over

Peyton's seat, make sure that she's not like bleeding or limping or anything. I'd be like, yeah, yeah, I know she'd be back. She always comes home. Talk to her. It's never attached to people. They attach to homes. If you need anything, just wake me up.

I'm going back to sleep. I have horrible bedhead. My hat is like hung up on like the bedpost, and I'm like, I'm crawled back into bed. and I'll come to the door and I'll say, you came back. Yes, I need a large, muscular gray man to come to the room with me, please.

Oh, right now. Yes, I'll lean under through the doorway. I'll go out to the... Well, these are made for orcs, so it's actually... Oh, yeah, it's actually quite comfortable for you. Ladies, this room is empty, yes? I'm back. Oh, great. So are you first?

Oh, it's not... I don't have a duck. Oh, all right. And I walk through. Then we sit down on the bed. I spoke to me. You, wait, you actually spoke to him? I fell asleep in this horrible grassy patch. I, ah! And they pull off, it's just a piece of grass.

This was on me. I'm sorry, sorry. Wow, that must have been really terrible. It was. I had my back. It has. It doesn't matter. Spoke to Unubis.

He told me I should stick with my friends. You speak to Anubis every night, right? No. I saw him. He was taller than you, more muscular than you. He sounds very... He's a god, literally, he's definitely more powerful than I am. But I feel the need to be in the presence of someone large.

I'm glad I could help. So will you please stay in this room with me, over on that bed? Oh, stay here? Yes. I should probably tell Felix then. He fell asleep already. All right, well, I just over here. Do you need it?

But I wanted to apologize for being so angry. You don't have to apologize. Everybody has been apologising to me lately. But I'm going to do it anyway. I apologize for being so rude to you. Well, I appreciate the thought. And now it is your time. I...

Should I apologize as well? Yes. All right. Iris, I apologize. For what? What should I apologize for? Are you trying to make me angry? No, no, no, I'm apologised.

I'm fully listening at the door. I'm waiting for squeals. I'm so used to you closing doors behind me. The doors actually open, but I don't even realize that it's open. I apologize for breaking a promise that we were going to stand together as a group. Oh, for breaking my promise that we were going to stand together as a group. Oh, that means so much to me. What else?

anything else? Do you have anything else? You should be a sorry for? Oh, I don't know. Should I? Well, I don't know, Tawa. You said it in a way that made me think that you have something to be sorry. No, I don't think so.

I'm sorry for everything that may have upset you. Would you like to hug? Yes, that would be nice. All right. And as I hug him, I like rub my hands down his back. My goodness. All right, go to bed now. All right, just in this one here.

This one. You have immediately been jolted awake by this commotion, Capri, if you, yeah. I wake up and I roll over and I, uh, grab a piece of parchment. Invent a new bisque and then offer Iris a new bisque. She'll love that. And then I go back to sleep. You son of a bitch. You son of a bitch.

Once he lays down to go to sleep, I go to bed. Okay. It holds us lay down and get a bed. Something's my bed. Isn't there like a third hut that I'm not using because I'm sitting outside? Oh, you in with them? I thought you guys... No, no.

I'm alone. The priest went to a bed. There was an empty bed there because Hersia didn't go into it. Toa was with Felix. You both left a room empty. I'm alone. And so... And Capriza is alone.

And then each one of them has an empty bed. I'm going to go find the hut that you're in. and open the door and just peek in and see if you're sleeping. I am. I'm going to sneak up behind you and just be the big spoon to your little spoon. That's thematic. In my, I don't wake up. In my sleep, though, I like, I like, oh. Toa.

Oh, that's nice, Toa. I do not say that. I do not say that. I do not say that. I do not say that. It's canon. So I'll just, I'll just snuggle him up and go to sleep. Everyone enjoys a long rest. Oh, boy, that took us a while. I haven't used a single resource.

I cast a major armor once. So, how are you feeling? Did a Nubis talk to you again? No, no. That is a once in a life, I think. For now. Well, I hope you see him again. Well, I'm quite honest.

I'm afraid to see him again. Did he give you any, like, divine quest or, like, some kind of gardens or knowledge, like, like, forbidden knowledge that no one else can ever know, ever? Isn't that what gods do? Yes, to eat. What did he say? Well, unless it's, is it, like, forbidden and, like, if my head would explode, if I would know it. I don't really know much about, like, gods, quag, gods.

It's possible if you don't truly believe in him. I believe he exists. If you don't believe enough, but your puny Goliath mind won't be able to handle it. Would I go mid? Your brain would explode. My whole brain? The whole thing would explode.

In your head where you stand. But my head would be okay. It's the brain that would explode. Yes, do it. I don't know if I want that knowledge. I don't think I could even hand it, even if it wasn't forbidden knowledge that would explode my brain. Maybe you should just tell somebody else. I don't think I'm capable.

I'm afraid we might get out of the most. I don't know what I ask. I'm hard to relate. I'm not difficult to comprehend what you're telling me. Jesus Christ. I don't deserve. We don't. I think Felix's brain would be totally fine.

Definitely wouldn't explode. This is the morning roll. Yeah, right? You're probably not. It's dark still, but you all, you're getting up. Oh, so in that case, I yell. Oh, dear God. Lofty, what are you doing?

What are you doing? We must find out what's going on. Where's Tawa? We got it. Go, go, go, go. Left? We run in. Toa is carrying in his arms.

We did the Oswapar-Roo, so, you know, they slept together than are best friends now, so, you know, I slept with you and we're best friends now. Toa's my best. Toa, you left? Well, you knew that you, I did leave. I just never came back because Iris. I don't see it's a big deal here. Iris requested that I stay there.

Damn it. I'm just, by the gods. I've been very comfortable all night. warn me next time. My strong arms. You loved it. Come here. I'll hug you again. No! No! Stay back. Hey, what's, what good emotion.

Oh, Iris, hold on. I run away. I look at Iris over my shoulder. I give her a nod, and I just pet Peyton, and I was staring at her. Why are we like this? Why are we all like this? Why can't we just stick to the bunking arrangements?

Well, to be fair, the bunking arrangement was that Toe was going to stay with him. But he changed his mind. He told me he did. I am not upset that he changed his mind back. I just would have liked a little heads up. I feel so left out of this love triangle. Iris.

You're better off the way now. I made you a new... Never mind. It's not important. Got it on my room. I'm sorry. You're thinking you do the thing. I'm sorry, I'm sorry.

Do one thing. You know, with the... I smell. Do you're... I know. Well, I mean... Fish. Oh.

The... The digit takes impression. Can you get the press the presentation? Can you get the press the test of age? The same. I was hold still. And I begin to press the digitize her dress and try to remove the...

I magically pulled the bisque out of the dress, and then as soon as it leaves the fabric, I let it splash to the floor, and I am furious. I bagged out of my eyes. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I just tripped a little. What the fuck?

One night. What do you mean the fuck is wrong with all of us? Toa storms in here with me in his arms, and Luffy is big spooning you. I just want one night. One night of nonsense. None of this. I just, I would like a night of just sleeping.

No one getting up and leaving in the middle of the night. You left! You left in the middle of the night. You were awake when I left in the middle of a night. All right. I'm sorry. Can we all just take one moment, one deep breath, and just relax. We have a large day, a long day ahead of us. Very early.

Oh, it's a very large, large day. I don't want to know about anything that happened last night. I want to hear about it. Are you sure? Yes. I do. We have to go. No, you know, you like me. You should give them all the details. Please tell them. No, I don't want to hear any of them.

No, no, no, no. Trust me, it's very interesting. It was a once in a lifetime moment. It was. Nothing has rocked my world quite like that. I have to go. No, no. No, it's very important. I even told the artist that you were the only one they would really understand and relate. No.

Toa. Toa. Toa, stop. For all that is good and all that is bold, He's always stop, please. No more. You're fine. You're just like learning so much.

I thought you were going to learn about last night. The sun is even up yet. All right. I need five goddamn minutes. Oh, God. I'm going back in my quarters. Did they deliver any of you fucking follow me? I swear to the gods.

And in this. motion, I back up into the door and I close the time. It closed you to latch go, it locked. And I prepare my spells for the day. Someone woke upon the wrong side of the vet this morning. I know.

Well, do you want to hear about what happened last night? I'm just sipping my ale and I'm just stirring the pot of bisque that's over the camera. I'm just making sure it doesn't burn as I'm just like sipping, petting, I'm having a positive. Make a dexterity check at disadvantage.

Fuck you, Mike. Fuck you. What? Can I use Shieldmaster for this? You're a seven and a two, so it'll be a seven. You poorly stirred. So you stir and it's early and you're groggy. You didn't get much sleep because you stayed up all night.

Disadvantage, so two. And yeah, two. I know, I added five because I have. It's a Dixarity saving throw? No, just a check. Four. You get billing and it's slate. You kind of slunk forward.

Knock the pot over. Bisk spilled everywhere. The entire camp, half of the campsite is now Bisk. We all drown in Bisk the end. What a nightmare. Bisk falls, everyone dies. Man, this is some dirty Biscope. I just defeated looking at half the campsite.

For shame. For shame. I know, that was a rough one. I'm just going to take the wooden spoon now after everything is, and I'm just going to hand it to paint. and I'm going to have her like this food as I'm just solidly working out. She'll eat it.

She actually goes to the ground and starts looking up all of it. And you see Rivali's just like, don't you guys have to get the fuck out of here? I'm going to sleep, Ben. I think we're waiting for someone to pick us up, right? Can you just be like more quiet while you do that? No. So do you want to hear about what happened last night?

Yeah, tell me everything. How was it? How was he? Oh, he was amazing. Far larger than his rippling. I always assumed that. He towered over me. Really? Three times my height. Oh my god.

That's how long he was. I've never seen a god before. But in that moment I saw a god's kind of laughy. I can't assume that he would be bumbling. Why would you assume that a nubis would be bumbling? What are you talking about? I'm talking about last night. What I wanted to tell Felix?

It's cute. When I was like a pet name? Well, I've been in my mind, I call him nuby. but I don't think he would like that very much. Oh, dear gods. Regardless, when I was out in the creepy field, under the stars, I fell asleep. Also, look at this.

Ow! A blade of grass! Can have that. When I fell asleep and knew this came to me in my dreams. It's normally his voice or shapes or faint images shadowy in the flame, but he was there. He was actually there. And I looked at him. He told me to stand up and to look at him.

Like in the eyes? In the eyes. And I think I've not been asleep that my mind would have melted into pudding. Did anything else melt? My heart. Do you mean my kitty bits? Your kitty bits. Oh no, no, not like that.

No, is my god looky. Just because something has a penis in front of you does not mean you need to get sopping wet. Anyway, we should wake up, Felix, and go about the day. Try kitty bicks today. Oh, you have another point of grass there. Watch this. I can never quite get it. Never been able to.

And we got him with all that fucking hype. My cheeks are like so inflamed. I have one of those laughter headaches. Yeah. I loved Kelsey's risky. Biskness. Biskness. I don't even know. Say that 10 times fast. Risky Biskness. Risky Biskness. Risky Biskness.

Toy Boat's the hardest one. I've got a good one. It's a box of biscuits, a box of misquets and a biscuit mixer. That's tough. I don't know about it. All I know is aluminum linoleum and toy boat. Aluminum Linolein. Golden Lotus, it's so good to see you. As toa, as you hear the tap of the game,

and you see Golden Lotus. arrive and she smiles at you and says, I trust you all slept well. Yes. I just burst all that. I'm pointing to the nocter from Fisk. We're sorry. You all look very rested and tranquil.

Oh, yeah. Feeling. Shall we go to the grove? To the grove. To the grove. Let's go. Knock back the rest of my old. He said, you should eat a banana.

The eye is twitching. None for me, thank you. Don't forget your hat. Thanks. And I like, I like smush all of my bedhead under the hat and we just, I follow. Come on, pay you wrap up your breakfast and she's just like lapping up the bisque from the ground

and then she follows us. She leads you out of your, the courtyard. And across the bridge, to one of the more main thoroughfares, and you make your way towards, back to her quarters. And she guides you to that, up the steps into that same area,

the antechamber, and then the room where you had given your offerings. And then the door opens into the very small room where the pool and the two trees had been. And this was built into the side of the mountain. And you see as She reaches behind a hanging tapestry, and she pulls it up,

and you see that there is a small passage. With that, but it has me a drama myself. Okay, you do that. You feel the magic wash over you, the arcane guardian. Ooh. And she holds it up and says, please, follow me.

Not even the war chief has been here. War Chief has been here. It is a sacred place. So please, be respectful. Should we like take our shoes off? That will not be necessary. You will leave them. Oh, goodness. It takes forever to take things off. And she leads you through a passageway that goes on for many feet. It's dark, but it's marked by several small lanterns. And you make your way through and you see once at the end of this hallway and it's it's dark but not from any kind of tapestry but seems as if by by leaves and you see bits of the sun's rays poking through as she takes her glade and presses it through and pulls it aside and immediately the beautiful

pinks and purples of dawn wash over you as you step into a beautiful, what looks like a valley grove, completely surrounded by the mountains and the peaks all around you, out of view from every single building of Mogherkai. However, you can see the sun cresting above the mountains as dawn is painting the sky, a tapestry of gorgeous colors.

And you see a beautiful, a beautiful, tranquil grove. It almost feels like the air is still, as the smell of saffron is assaults your nostrils. And you all feel calm, as there is a lick out in front of you. And you don't see a single fish in it. The water is crystal clear,

and it is ringed with these beautiful cherry blossom trees, with petals of gold and white and pink. And this, you feel the, almost like a sense of touch of the divine as you enter this sacred place. And as you all enter, she lets the bush go, and you can see that it's ringed with bushes

and out of sight. you don't even see a single hawk flying over as you are basically almost it feels like you're in the top of the world in this grove and she uh golden lotus turns to you and smiles and says what do you think is this not the most beautiful place that you've ever been it's incredible this is this is stunning i see the bait shop comes in second place i will take that as a beautiful compliment. I'm not yet be a chaps like home.

Wonderful. This is my home. This is where I retire to every evening. This is the place where the Eternal Blosson sent me when I first came to Grand those many decades

ago. And this is where her agent, representation, her emissary to us mortals. This is where he comes and communities.

with me. But first, now that you are trusted by the war chief, and we are in this sacred grove, not even the powerful magics of Virgil Zern can peer through this veil. I can tell you where you will be going and how you will be saving us from Baphimant, the prince of beasts. You know how we lose this? I do. So you said, someone else that speaks for the eternal blossom and they meet you here? Yes, but you will not meet him yet. Oh, we'll meet him later? Yes, soon.

It will be soon. And he will guide you. But I first must tell you of the plan, the great plan of the eternal blossom. There is only one thing in the multiverse that can stop. The calamity and the destruction and the entropy that is threatening this land. This name, this name I know, will not be new to you. The rod of law. You know it, don't you?

And you do know that Virgil Zern himself was seeking it, do you not? I am happy to inform you. He is not found a single piece of the seven, the rod of the seven. the rod of the seven parts. Thank you, Tarity 20. Thank you for fun. Thank you.

Thank you so much. You're welcome. And if there's one thing that can send Baphomet and his horned legion back to the abyss, it is this artifact. The rod of seven parts re-forge into the rod of law. It is my life's work.

It is why I have lived this long. And there's only one piece remaining and only you will be able to retrieve it but you found all the other pieces one piece remaining in what way what do you mean by that what do you mean

what do you mean one piece remaining it's as if you found the others because I have how and why well not me I have not but

the eternal blossom. You mean to tell me that you have in your current possession right now six of the seven pieces? Yes, of course. How long did it take you to obtain all? Decades.

Decades of our time here on the material plane. Once the rod was destroyed, all seven pieces were scattered across the plains. hidden, guarded, and if it were not for the Eternal Blossom, and...

And do you know exactly where the last piece is? I do. For you see, the emissary of the Eternal Blossom, the servant of the Eternal Blossom, is a traveler of the plains, able to travel where he pleases, and has spent decades for her the eternal blossom to find the pieces and return them to me

for it was foretold that this day this week would happen I'm sorry this is a lot to take in immediately as we're standing here there's someone that you're going to introduce us to that can just hop between plants yes

and we get to meet them you will very soon but I must tell you I will not call on him until you agree to your destiny and tell you where you must go

the emissary of the eternal blossom has traveled across all of the plains some more treacherous than others there is one place he is founded but is not able to go

Are you familiar with the planes beyond the material? I mean, we've had a little bit of experience, yes. It's something I'm very interested in, yes. You will know when I say the final piece of the rod is in the place that you would expect at least, the place where it should not be and could not be. The plane of chaos, of course. Limbo.

I'm sorry. There is a plane of pure chaos? Yes, of course. And you mean to tell me that this person can just pop in and out of the plane of chaos? Yes. Every time he does, it is very dangerous. And death is always a possibility every time. It is one of the most treacherous and dangerous of all the planes.

She continues to smile. The plane of chaos limbo, yes, it is held in a place that cannot be traversed by fiends, by celestials, by dragons, elementals, aberrations. Only humanites. And of course, being an agent of the divine, a celestial cannot penetrate. the great Adamantine citadel of Maladraxes. How does he do it? What do you mean? This person.

How does he just blink between planes? He's Akiraen, of course. What's a quirin? I'm sorry, a what? It is one of the most beautiful divine creatures in existence. It is the servant of the eternal blossom. So this person isn't a humanoid? No, absolutely not.

A celestial. Didn't you think a mere mortal could travel the place? and collect all the pieces. I shade a little red. I shade a little red. I look embarrassed. I giggle a little. I don't.

Are you prepared to travel to limbo? You're going to send this right now? Yes. Once you all agree, I will call upon Hizaki. How long will you be there? As long as it takes, it should not belong with your skill. I have sent many o'clock. many orcs to attempt to retrieve it and none have returned.

Can I ask a question? Of course. Why did you start looking for the rod of law, the different pieces? I saw in the blossoms. I saw that there was a great calamity, a great chaos. And not just the chaos beyond, just the chaos of Baphomet and the whole Legion, but beyond far.

worse and only one thing to stop it. What could be worse? Evil that lies, the entropy, the chaos that surrounds all of us right now, threatening to be released. How does the rod do that? It is an artifact of law and good. It banishes chaos.

Oh, you just, like, you just wield it and then it anti-chauses? once it is reforged we will know what to do the blossoms will tell me I am assured where are the other pieces now in a very safe space they are guarded

yes heavily on the material plane yes oh that's not good Iris did it he say anything about this your mind oh you're right forget that I asked

I'm so sorry. I give Herja look and I turn back to the Golden Lotus lady and I say you say that this rod has to be re-forged. Yes, of course.

How does that work? It is a process that is very involved and difficult. But once we have retrieved the pieces I'm certain we will be able to do it. Well, of course you will because our good friend Herja is from a forging family.

Wonderful. So I'm sure that she could take care of that. Yeah, what's your mean of forging it? Do you have someone in mind? There will be a way to save us all. I'm very certain of that. I definitely don't want anything happening in the world, but I'm in, you know, when all the seven beats come together.

We have some of the best blacksmiths in the world within these walls. But they're mortals. Yes, of course. And they're going to forge an artifact of such grandiose power. We will attempt to do so, but I am confident in our craftsmanship and our skill. Well, we are blessed by the eternal blossom. I guess we'll cross that bridge when we come to it, and we agreed to help. So you've got my agreement to go to Limbaugh.

I'm ready. I'll throw my... All over my shoulder. I'm ready as well. Can I have a moment with my friends before we go? Of course. I will call on him, and he will come to greet you after I leave.

I'm going to pull them aside. So we know my dad went missing with the last piece of the artifact, well, a piece, supposedly, of the artifact in his cart. This last piece supposedly now is in limbo, which suggests to me that these people have probably found my dad. He could very well be imprisoned here, or they took it from him when he crossed the border into ground. I don't know. Before he may be helping, I have no idea either.

Well, she would tell me if he was, right? Yeah, I heard the word fortune to suddenly. Well, no, I was agreeing. I don't know if he doesn't want you to know that he's helping. He didn't ask you to comply. follow him. Well, no, but I think he probably would have expected me to, without leaving notice with Ma or me. Well, I'm not sure. At least for me, I know with my family, if my father left, he would never, he would never be pleased if we left our mother alone, unguarded, unprotected.

Yeah, but it's not like him to be so secretive, even about his business. I mean, he was hoping to have me inherit all of it. He was shaping me up to be, you know, his, you know, next of kin. So I was going to take over the shop and be the best forge cleric Smith of Yona. What are you going to do that if you're not a cleric? I said Smith. I changed my...

He's a forge cleric. Oh, I know. What, um, let's talk about this a little bit more when we get across the threshold, so to speak. Is that smart? I don't know what it's like over there. Well, I don't either, but I don't know if we're being heard at this time. Well, we probably are, but it's irrelevant.

We'll probably be heard there as well. For what it's worth. Something isn't right here. I agree. Doesn't add up. To your point, I think it's likely she knows something about your father. But I don't think not going to the plane of chaos is going to gild us the information you're looking for. Agreed.

The best chance you have at getting that information is to have a bargaining chip, like the last piece of the world of laws. So if we want to find out where he's at, I think getting that piece is going to serve you the most. We have to play along for now. But just like Iris is saying, I don't know how your dad would just end up in limbo. If he had the piece, something's missing here. Well, he didn't have the last piece. He had a piece. He had a piece.

So now they must have his piece. Do we even know for sure that he really had a piece? No, we don't. We don't. So maybe he never really had it. Maybe Zun just thought he did. We have to take a lot on faith here. Don't lose hope.

All right. Don't lose hope. I just doesn't... Smells like bad, poor kettle to me. But we have to do right now. What does the poor petter? Oh, good gods. You know, I would normally go into this. She says it a lot.

I would normally go into this, but I know then I'd probably be badgered about time, and, you know, she's some... What do to badgers have to do with this? Oh, they're such great creatures. Well, let's go to the plane of chaos, then. Great. Oh, wait, we're already there.

It was a joke. You may all laugh. Oh. Thank you. Oh, I'll get it because it's very chaotic right now. It's true, I would think. Yes. Yeah, it's funny because it's true.

What does Akira look like? Will we know when we see it? Have you ever heard of that? Is he invisible? I would say that possibly Felix and Iris and Herscho would loosely know that is a divine creature an interplanar divine creature. Do we know if they're inherently good? Yeah, they serve the gods.

The good gods. Good gods. No other way before. For now. Yes. Yeah. I'm ready. You all ready?

You're all. I would love to go to Limbo. I should warn you it will be very treacherous. There is a very high chance of death and destruction on your part. However, I believe that you will be victorious. I have not seen one way or the other in the blossoms, but within Maladaxis, the Adamantine Citadel, is Shivatu the awakened, a Githra, a Ghisarai,

who has taken the peace and is using it to bind an army of Sladeh to his will. an army A what? Slotty, horrific beings of pure chaos That sounds bad So I can imagine This person will not want to

Give it up for us No, you will have to kill him Oh Okay Well, no day like the present To kill someone in chaos So? Do you say a name?

Was that? Yes, Shivatu the Awakened. Shevatu the Awakened Come on all right space here. Go to go. Yeah, let's do this. We're ready. Let's do the plan.

I'm excited about the plan. That is so good to hear. I'm glad that the sleep did you well and purged all of the doubt that you may have had. But it is your destiny. Can she come with us? And I point to people. I believe that she is not very well suited for that.

You will not be able to ride her there. What makes she from her? She's a celestial being, so that she couldn't come anyway. Is that how it works? Didn't you say celestials can't go to the... Yeah, they can't go in the adamantine. Oh, oh, got it. Oh, as a celestial being, she cannot step foot into the threshold.

Well, in that case, then, just in case, and I'll do, like, a little whistle and hold on my fingers, Beatrice, like, we'll lay on it, and I will say, I will see you again soon. And in a blink, she vanishes. Okay? She nods and understands, and let's see you soon. And she pops out. I'll go over to Peyton, and I'll scratch her behind the ears. And I'll say, go keep her vile company until I can't feel you anymore.

But I'll be back to it. Don't worry about me. She gives a moo, and she wouldn't have been able to get here with the tunnel and all of that. But that's fine. Okay. Yeah, she said goodbye, and she's fine. Okay. Um, and so Lotus looks at all of you and says,

So are you already? Yes. Yeah. Ready and willing. Very well. Wait here and stare at the blossoms in the water. Do we have to? Yes.

Okay. And she tried... Well, I'm a cat, so I have a really low attention span. Just try with your might. I am a cat as well. No, you're a Shabxy. That was a joke. You were testing me.

No. Very well. And she turns and she sticks the glave through and pushes the branch of the sign and ducks. And you all look as a light breeze whips through and the leaves, the blossoms

fall onto the water. And right as the sun rises above the tallest peak that surrounds a ray of sunlight hits the water and the blossoms begin to swirl around and they rise into the air as the water drips from them and they swirl around and suddenly a burst of golden light you're all nearly blinded as well to shield your eyes and as soon as the light dims enough for you to see you see a huge brilliant creature floating

above the water's edge by mere inches. You see what looks like a strange combination of deer and horse and dragon. As it looks at you with gold and green and red scales, a two large horn, antlers going back, but a singular almost unicorn-like horn. And you all hear, you all hear, in your minds telepathically a voice.

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