Legends of Avantris - Beneath Dark Wings | Ep. 39 | Roar of the Bull: Part 1

Episode Date: March 20, 2025

With the Rod of Law re-forged, tensions rise in anticipation of battle...    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/fuGWOzDYYG4?si=8ReK7CQV828Uru2O

Welcome to Legends of Aventress. I'm Felix Ackerman and you're listening to Beneath Dark Wings. Here's what happened last time. You require respite. You require salvation. Why not say my name thrice? Perfectly placed in seven parts is the wrong. of the seven parts, and you see that there is,

that there's a massive that of molten metal on the far end of the room with grooves and channels going into this mold. You all see Torvald Anvilhard. And as soon as you enter the room, he looks at you, Persia, and he says, Oh, hi there, Ruggia, how you doing? Thought you were dead, Mr. Anvalhardt.

Yeah. Why would I be dead? That's ridiculous. About this whole, like, put a part of your soul into this. I'm really hung up on this. I really don't have much to my name. I don't know what you expect, or the wind dukes expect me to give.

So are we actually putting some of our soul in there? Hold on there, Charlie. Because I don't know if I can do that. No, it's more of a figure speech, gosh, where do you meet these folks? And your consciousness slips out of your current reality. as you feel like you're on the plains of ancient primeval strata.

As the Vati fight the demons and at the very head of this massive army, the angel of Tear get completely devoured. You also see Herja herself as if your friend tears, it gets torn apart by this horrible, vicious, demonic, Out from the cloud cover, rockets, dive bombs, Torvald Anvilhard,

wielding the rod of law. Hell yeah. Getting ready to swing down and smash into it. You are standing in the forge. Torvald is before you. All remnants of that black echo. Now gone. As you see before you,

glowing in this beautiful light in the mold, a glave, a weapon, an improved rod of law. You all have returned from the vicious battle, and I want to stress that you have, it has been moments since you have seemingly taking on the form of these angels, half angel, half Vati, the windukes, are returning to reality the corruption of Miska the Wolf Spider, the original prince of demons. As far as you know,

his corruption cleansed. The rod of seven parts now re-forged into the rod of law, but more before you a full glave. The blade of special make, it shimmers silver. And you all feel

the weight of your duty. lift slightly from your memory that you've escaped. And as you look around, you see Torvald, the elderly dwarf, Dwarven Blacksmith, grip the side of the walls. He's breathing heavily. He himself being the one to take up the rod in the memory and strike down MISCA once he was weakened. And you realize that all of you are whole, but you had. had used channeled the power of Anubis Iris to bring Herger back from the dead.

And you weren't really sure if you die in a memory, do you die in real life? And as you all turn to Herja, you realize that that's the case. You see that where the fatal wounds that Misca had left, despite her very clearly drawing breath and being alive, the wounds are very present. All of you healed. But the swirling, undulating corruption of Misk of the Wolf Spider pulsing in her body. As soon as you all regain your senses

surrounding the re-forged rod of law, Hersia's eyes roll back, and she collapses onto the ground. I'm going to rush over to her and immediately start checking her. her temp I pull out my my thermometer and I asked her if he would prefer the anal option. She doesn't speak so I choose not to. I wish you were Maya.

It's a drag race reference. Anyway. No, I would like to medicine check her and... Make a medicine check please. See if I want to see if it's the remnants of the fact that she had gone down. or if it seems like it's a lingering thing from MISCA that we're going to have to deal with. Okay.

No. You're a bad die, so I'm gonna use you. Natural 20. Wow. That's what's . Derek is filling in for my own natural points for this man, just perfect that it's a version natural 20 first rollback. It is fucking fate.

What am I scare you, Andy, a little bit. I don't know what I feel. I forgot we had a command for my. 25. 25. I can. With. Get, Twitter!

That was very good. I didn't want to, but I had to. Okay. As Iris, you're checking, what are the rest of you doing? I would be kind of like, you know, checking myself and checking on Toa and kind of back behind Iris, like, trying to get a peek of what's going? going on and like make, you know, just surveying the area. I don't want to get an Irish's way. Yeah, I would, I would like be very concerned.

Right. But I would obviously like let Caprice and Iris do their thing and I'll just be in the back like that. And I'm, they're there, they're there. Thank you. I would literally hanging over Iris a shoulder. Is she dead? What's happening?

What does that do? Is she dead? You're not helping. You're pulling on my neck fur. Caprice, what are you doing? Stop talking. Is you okay? Fix her, fix her, fix her.

Fishing on my face, I'm dealing with this. I don't know what to do with my hands. Iris, as you survey with a 25, and because the first roll on Herss with a natural 24, after first roll back, you get the full scope of what this situation is. Thanks, baby. You survey the wounds and you realize that all of the wounds,

Persia was the only one who saw this. But you can deduce this, I'll give you for that role, that there was corruption spreading in this forge as you had been battling Miskah, spreading to be unleashed from the rod and potentially spread out into the rest of Mugurkai. And every wound that was sustained in this battle was done to you physically as well. And although all of you had been healed as a result, Persia dying the fatal wound seemed to be. break whatever sort of protection that there was. And she's very much alive, but there is a lingering corruption. And you've been dealing with the chaotic magics of demons for a while now. And this seems similar, but is far more ancient and even more confounding,

as there very much is a clear corruption, and there's something that it reminds you of, reminds you of the spots of black feathers in... What was the name of the Akula? The Wind Duke, who had been corrupted by Pizzou. And it reminds you of that. and it seems to have knocked her unconscious. She's very weak, very feeble, and needs immediate attention.

What do we do? Does it, just a clarifying question. Please. Does it look like healing, or is it more of a, we need to get her to someone with more specialized medicine? Yes, that's exactly. Yeah, that's exactly, that there needs to be some sort, it's something that you can just do a healing touch or something to address, correct?

I wanted to clarify. I just wanted to clarify. Iris, do you think I, maybe I, I have some healing magics left. I could probably sing a tune or, you know, I still have, I still have this ointment. Do you think that I could maybe apply that and that, that would help? I'm going to lift Hersia's hand and I'm going to move it towards Caprice. No, but I think you should hold her hand. I'm on it. I'm on it.

I'm a long journey ahead of her. This is not something I can heal. this is not something any of us can fix. We're going to need to find someone that can help. Toa, I'm going to need you to carry her. Yes, of course, of course. Gently. Caprice, stay by her side.

And she awakes, let me know immediately. And I'm going to rummage around in my bag of holding, and I'm going to pull out one of my fine linen robes, and I'm going to wrap her in it gently. I will gently, very gently pick her up, and I'll look around the room is her dad there. So you now realize that Torval this whole time has been, and he's very out of shape, and he's clutching his chest, and he's so focused on trying to recover from the battle that he hasn't been paying attention at all to what's happening.

And you just see him kind of just gripping the side of the wall. Not any fighting that hard or ever before. Do you see? And you finally snap his attention to his daughter. And he looks at her and his eyes go wide for a moment. And he kind of takes a few steps forward and says, well no did that what happened to

herja heria are you all right and she he steps forward he seems to have a slight bit of concern but it seems to be measured it's a little bit more measured than you'd expect for a daughter that or a father that sees his daughter in that state

she maybe did she maybe did what she maybe did she maybe did go out are you intoxicated No, I quit drinking, but, you know, it's been on, it hasn't been that long. But what happens?

Is there anyone that can help or is anyone that, any kind of healer in town? Oh, this is my fault. I got there you mixed up into all this business. That's not important right now. What's important is that your daughter's in danger. We need to find a healer right now. Is there anyone you can think of who can help? I can help.

I can, I'll talk, I'll talk to the Golden Lotus. We'll be, we'll fix her right up, Urcia. I'm sorry I got you all into this. But we should I be taking here? Please lead the way.

That's, that's a good plan. That's a good plan, tall fella. I forgot all of your names, by the way, already. My name is Capriccio DeCesto. You can call me Caprice. Come on. Let's go. Fuck. Felix, is, is that and I will point to the glave. Is that, there is the...

Yeah, so you see, in the cast there is a fully re-forged rod of law, but it's, the rod of law is encased in a massive glave. I don't know if that's safe to touch or what we should do with it, but we probably shouldn't leave it here if we're all leaving with Thorvald here. So definitely not leaving it here. Let me inspect it. I don't really know much about it. I agree. Look, you guys deal with Hersia. I'll stay right here and do what I can to make sure nothing happens to this and learn as much as I can. Catch up when you can.

Let's go. Well, I'm not leaving Skinny Bridges by himself. You can stay that that's fine. Then you stay here. Then the three of us will go. Well, I suppose that's a good plan there. But I think we can all take solace, especially you, Urge, although you can't hear me, is that this was all part of the Eternal Blossom's plan. And it will all work out, even if she doesn't make it, but we'll heal you her, Jeth.

What? Beatrice! And then I'm going to follow tall. Googleburn flutters out. She'll settle on his shoulder. I'm going to walk over to him, and I'm going to take, you know, I'm towering over him. I'm near six feet tall. As I look down, I'm going to tilt his head up to mine.

You are trying to tell me that you're your daughter fall today. You accept this. Everybody dies. I don't want hers. to die, but... Oh, no one knows death better than I do. We have to be at peace with our own mortality. That's what the Eternal Blossom told me.

I'm going to squeeze his chin really tightly, digging my claws in just a little bit, not enough to hurt him. Okay. I'm going to turn his face left to right and look at him. Does he seem like he is, you know, I've been concerned with this passiveness that everyone within the Eternal Blossom has been dealing with? Could I perceive that he seems to be at least somewhat under that effect as well? Make a perception check.

You were doing well for me, but I don't trust you twice. That's fine. That's pretty good. You said, perception? Perception. Perception. Beat is it. 24.

Okay. As you reach in to his beard to grab his chin, your fingers scrape against something that shouldn't be there. And as you grab his chin, you realize you feel like there might be hidden within the hair, perhaps a fleshy tendril, just like the orcs have.

I will make note of that, keep my face completely passive. Well, as a follower of Nubis, I understand that death comes from all. And then I will turn and walk back towards Hergia with Caprice and all of that. So we're just skipping the warm-up compression gym. I do have to say something. I'm not talking to chat.

But someone mentioned that I was wearing a labyrinth shirt. People keep confusing that. This is actually Phil Collins in the movie Mays. Very similar films. Easy. Very peculiar film. Directed by Sam Raney. It was, yes.

It was one of his first films back in the 80s. Oh, my goodness. Well, that's disgusting. I'm so upset. DMs take note. Hide it in the beard. That's disgusting. I am repulsed.

I'm repulsed. Fix him. I can go. Fix it, fix it, fix it. Fix it, fix it. And he kind of snaps out of it for a little bit. He kind of looks up you with wide eyes. and he says,

Okay, there. I mean, because you're also with Tabexi. I'm sure you're smart and wise, well, almost as Golden Lotus. So I guess I'll let... And he kind of like pulls back a little bit. Just follow me. We'll get reeled up.

I'm pretty... It was part of what I did back home. And I've been helping Golden Lotus with all the Ork fellas here. So she'll be fine. Don't worry. I'm staying calm. If I can stay calm,

then you all should. to stay calm. Now it's not the time to stay calm. Well, we always should be staying calm. Nope. Still, as you know, their news. Calm, everybody. Look around.

The Horn Legion is marching on the Mogherakai, and everybody is keeping their heads. You should do the same thing. Your daughter is unconscious and probably going to die. I will heal her. now, both tastes, let's move. And he kind of lingered a little bit.

He's almost too calm in the situation. Do I start to pick up on... He doesn't have a sense of urgency. Yeah. I would say that you're getting the sense of kind of the same kind of attitude that Ravali had when you had encountered him. Right. Is you kind of...

You get the sense. You don't know who Torval was before he came to Mogher kai. But you're definitely getting a sense for everything that Herges said It's not quite adding up. With that feeling of uncertainty, I will lean towards Torvalima. I know you're rehearsed dad. We just really, I just think that, I would suggest that we go at a brisk walk,

and I'm going to try to cast suggestion. Okay. Remind me how suggestion we need. Let's find out together. He will have to make a wisdom saving throw. He doesn't have to, do it if he doesn't want to on a success, but on a failed save,

he pursues the course of action that I just described. The DC is 17. He fails. So, as soon as you say that, he kind of snaps up and says, you know, you're really persuasive fella there, and he slaps you on the back really hard.

And and he, and he says, like, I'm really glad that Urja met friends with, with positive of pure intentions like you. And then he starts leading you out of the room for a brief moment. And you guys start walking down the pathway

out of this large forge that seems to be of that combination of the architecture of the dancing blade and Dwarven make, which was very clearly designed by Torbald. And for a moment, Lufty and Felix, you're left in the forge with the rod.

The cleave? I'm gonna whip out my skein of wine, never ending, and just pull a little glass out. Belle, what are you going to do? I am with a quill and my spellbook, jotting and flipping and looking and getting closer and wholly ignoring Luffy for the most part. You can write in your diary later.

Maybe we... He's got nothing. I'm just gonna drink like a lot. Could you go? Quieter, please, for just a moment. I'm going to take the dagger, my arcane focus, as I shoot her a glance, and attempt to just kind of poke the thing with the dagger.

Oh, that's just plan. He's going to poke it. You lean forward and you poke it with, where are you poking at? Oh, man. The handle. The handle. In the middle. In the middle. So as you poke it, as you tap it, There is, it gives off this radiance that almost kind of sounds like a wind chime. It's almost musical in the resonance that it gives out.

And it's almost kind of like a bit of a flash of gold. And as you see, this beautiful glaive weapon that's been forged. You see that there's a gold, the actual, I don't know what you call it, the stick of a glave. Like a hilt. Yeah, the handle of the glave. I should have looked this up. the pole, I believe. The pole of the glave.

I think it's kind of. It's this beautiful shimmering gold. But then the blade itself is a striking silver that has a sheen that almost seems like otherworldly of how much it shimmer is silver. And it kind of, once you tap it, it gives off this radiance that makes you feel. It almost affects your emotion and your mood

and it just makes you feel good. It just feels, it just sounds pleasant. I will set my pack on the ground. I'm gonna set my spellbook next to me, put the quill on top of it, reach my pack, pull out some cloth, just spare cloth, take my hat off, set it down on top of the spellbook and quill.

What do you do? And then very Indiana Jones-like with the cloth, I'm going to attempt to try to pick it up. As you're reaching for the glave, you, You're getting closer and closer. And the second you are mere inches from the pole, you hear a voice suddenly behind you.

Do not touch that. And from the door opposite of the one that Toa and the rest and Iris and the rest left, you see Golden Lotus. You see her pristine outfit. Very simple, but just completely. completely pressed together. And you've only really seen her with that same post holding that glave.

And now her hands are clasped together. And she takes a few steps forward, and her familiar smile is still there. I do not think that you are prepared to handle such an artifact, young man. What are you doing here? The rest of the group went to find you. Hershey, she's grievously wounded. They need you right now. I saw them leave.

Why aren't you? You're not going to find them to go with them. There are more pressing matters here. Young Felix. That is more pressing. That holds the key to all the survival of us all. And if Herta passes, unfortunate as that is, it would be in great service to the many.

What is one life to save many? I will heal her, though. Do not fear. My powers, the powers of her father, are strong. You should not fear. You should be calm. Look at all of my people. They are calm in the face of possible annihilation.

You could learn from the dancing blade. You could learn from the eternal blossom. Yeah, you know, maybe you're right. I'm going to go stand next to Felix. Tell us more about this. We're very concerned for our friend, but I'm interested. What should we be doing with this glave?

I'm going to make sure that we are very much between the glave and her. She takes a few steps forward and says, That is a wonderful question. I have been training our war chief for his entire life, his unnaturally long life. to wield it. He will be the one to strike down Baphomet. It is his destiny, just as it was your destiny, to reforge it. It will be he who will have the ability to wield it against our insurmountable foe. Listen, all of that sounds great, but I'm really concerned about Hersia. If you could just follow the rest of the group and, you know, make sure that she's okay. We'll, we'll see.

stay here and make sure that this doesn't fall into the wrong hands. I would ask that I retrieve the glade and the three of us go together. And we shall all tend to Herge's wounds. You can see her off and be, and your worries settled that she is in good hands or pause. Is it wise to bring the glave to potentially where there's some sort of corruption? And you're Hersia, I don't want anything bad to happen to her. The corruption of that sort is no match. for the glave of the seven laws.

No match at all. Did you see in the memory what it did to the prince of demons himself? Yeah. And that was in its raw form, pure form, not improved and enhanced, as I have done. Yeah, it was very impressive. I think we agree.

Um, but... But... It's just that I, you know, she's in pretty bad shape, and when we get there, you'd have hands full of glave, and I mean, maybe we just take care of it for you. Make it persuasion try. What was the name of the person that she said when she was training? Uh, uh, war chief, uh, Shangoro Frost Fang. You know, you know that he's put it. Yeah, Frostfang. I, uh, that was real bad.

She continues to step forward and is intending to walk past you to grab it. I'm just going to kind of look at Lufty, like, I'm not prepared to physically fight, you know, a tabaxi who's potentially taller than I am. She is. Menacing and imposing. I'm not going to, like, punch her. I'm not going to fistfight her, you know.

I don't, you know. Please, I insist, and I'm going to grab the glyph. Let's fucking go. And as you do that, actually, I would like you to make a dexterity contest. We're going to do acrobatics contest. I'm going to be shocked and be like, Lovey! Good luck being more dexterous than to Maxi.

If anybody, I'm giving it to the monk. Can I change? That's true. Any chance, it's going to be the monk. That's true. I hate my neuroses makes me want to use only blue dice, but my blue dice suck. It's a new day.

Mine's kind of blow if you want to borrow it. I don't trust it. I know. It's my dirty. He's got cooties. It does it as dirty cooties. Come on. She got a two.

I didn't get the warm-off. We'll twist it, one twist. Yeah, we might as well use a twist. We'll use a twist. We do acrobatics. Give me some birthday blows. That's not something sad for say. That's your stream.

It's a 30 weekend, okay. I'm gonna get that cross. Well, that's better. Acrobatics, you said. Yeah, plus nine. 13 plus nine. Oh. 22.

That's where you're a vikes. She's a Viking. That is where she is a Viking. That is a Viking. 22. That's a borderline. As you... Probably not enough.

And what are the rules if it's a tie? Ooh. The current state remains the same. So theoretically, if it's just sitting there, it's still sitting there. Like as in you have to try it. They could grab it simultaneously and do that like chopstick

dumpling game from Kung Fu Panda. Yeah. I have not seen Kung Fu benefits. As Felix is, he kind of steps aside as she almost glides past him. And despite her moving, she just almost, she keeps a perfect posture. And the second you lunge forward, she almost in the blink of an eye, it's like you see almost like a flash as she leaps forward and her paw reaches out and she grabs it a millisecond. before you do. And then you grab and you grab the handle

and I need you to make a Conceasing throw for me. As you grab it. Do you need a birthday blowy? Give me a birthday blowy. Oh, yeah. You don't want to last time. No. Well, it was better than her two.

A con saving throw is a 17. 17? Luffy bursts into flames. Thanks for playing. of your character shoot to the DM, get the fuck out. Don't even grab a bagel. Don't even grab a bagel. Oh, we didn't get bagels.

Oh, we didn't. We're assholes. Oh, no, Cal's. Oh, no. Question, you said that Hersha didn't heal, that we did? Your wounds physically heal, but you still have the same head points. I mean, I was at full.

I swear that, like, we got topped off at the end or I never got hit or something. You never got hit, I don't think. I spell my, okay, I'm just kidding. I'm okay. I'm okay. I'm gonna be okay. I went unconscious.

I'm like, not good. You got broke up pretty good. You take 34 points of rating damage. As, am I able to like sense she's taken, like, is it, like, what I know that she's extremely in pain? I will, so what happens is as you grab it, the hill, the pull of the glave flashes

and it rings out in that same kind of resonance as you see a strange flash on the, on the actual. blade of the glade, flashes in bright silver and then gold of the hilt, and it almost blinds you as it singes your hands and kind of almost bursts like it is, there is almost a repelling of your soul as you can get blasted off of it. As she grabs it. Like the little girl in Jurassic Park when she goes out. Yeah, exactly right. And you would see this all Felix. So you know that she is like, she's frazzled. Your hair is like burst out. So I would,

I would have been very, very tense the entire time. And as soon as this happened, I would make a diving roll for where my hat, spellbook thing and knife are. Grab the knife and then like kind of get in a position mark down on one knee, hands up, knife in hand, and be like, okay, all right, nobody move. All right, everybody, take it easy. Luffy, are you all right? Be like.

The dagger begins to glow a little with arcane magic. My wife. I did warn you. Did I not? I am trying to spare you. Everybody take a deep breath. I'm going to walk to Luffy, and nobody's going to make any sudden movements.

Understood? My breaths will remain at the same rate as they have been, always. I'm going to very closely, like, half-moon shuffle around her and get to Luffy and, like, try to, like, scoop her up with my non-dagger arm and, like, help her seat her up and get her up on two feet. You are among... And an arm around my shoulder.

You are among friends. I do not fault you. It is the foolishness of youth. You are also emotional due to the state of your friend. You should practice tranquility through submission to the eternal blossom. You would spare yourself.

And she steps over to you as you hold her. I'm just got her arm. And she places her paw on you. and you see a flash of gold. Oh, God. And suddenly you're healed for exactly as how much damage you took. Look to you, are you all right?

It's 34, because you were at 39 before and you're at 5 now. Oh, that could have gone south very quickly. Yeah. And she looks between you, both of you, and she smiles. Shall we proceed? And she waits for your response.

Are you all right? Yeah, I feel okay now. Just static electricity, it seems. So maybe we just follow her, like she says. I'm going to sheath my dagger and say, just give me a moment to gather my things, and I'll help you along. And I'll gather my stuff and my pack and all that.

And then I'll continue to help lift the walk if she feels that she needs it. And we'll follow behind. Yeah, I get a very exaggeratingly limp and lean on him and kind of hang on his neck. And, oh. I'm going to groan and sweat a little and be like, this is my favorite.

Try a little bit. Come on, hours tell what when you need them. You do that. And as you're about to leave, she extends a paw. and you leave and you hear a tap, tap behind you, and there's a hesitation, and then she follows behind you. And the rest of you, you are being led by Torvald,

who he's kind of looking around and you get the sense that despite living here for as long as he has, he's like, I think that it was this way, and then you'll go down a certain, like, turn. No, no, I think, no, this is, other way. I'm pretty sure. I'm pretty sure. Hold on there. You're going to be fine. This way. And so he's he's he's kind of leading you through the city and making regular wrong turns and it seems confusing. And you know that there's a number of a number of great peaks that this whole city is built on, incredibly fortified and safe, bridges connecting them.

So whenever there's a wrong turn or wrong passage made, it's quite a bit of time to find the correct path. And he eventually leads you through the mountains to a very simple building that smells incredibly fragrant. And you recall that every time Golden Lotus enters the room, the room smells of saffron. And this room itself is just absolutely inundated with it. and it wafts out of the door as he pulls, as he opens it, and steps in, and you see that there are, it's a very simple room, a number of beds with wooden partitions in between that can easily be moved around. And you see that, you kind of hear the groaning and heavy breathing of a few orcs that might be behind other partitions. and what seems to be some sort of hospital equivalent in this situation. And Torvald goes over and he pulls one aside and he says,

put there down right there. And you see that there's actually a number of small stools that people could sit and maybe visit with the injured or sick. And he points, he gestures over as he starts to kind of look at himself and he's completely covered in just the soot and the dust of the forge. As he is like, oh, I'm disgusting here. Let me clean up here. And so he starts, like, kind of taking off all of his apron and his gloves,

and he's trying to get himself ready for his priestly duties, his cleric duties that he has been familiar with. So are we at a specific bed? So, yeah, you're at a specific bed. It's actually, you actually get the sense that this seems to be, they seem to be of the partitions seem to be of varying sizes. And this seems to be one that is

a little bit bigger, reserve for potentially more important people if they were there. So it seems like a legit infirmary. Yes, it's infirmary. That is the word. Thank you very much for that. Yeah, it's a legitimate infirmary and this actually seems very it is pristine. It is absolutely pristine. It smells really nice.

And although there's labored breathing and I would say that you maybe get a glimpse at like another, you get a glimpse between one of the partitions, and you see that there is an orcish nurse tending to someone who has been horribly wounded, just bandages everywhere, blood-sowed bandages, and despite the horrible state that they're in, there seems to be a peaceful contentment on the face of the injured individual. So that will remind me, I will gently lay Herzegov down in the bed that we're at.

I want to listen, do I hear war drums or bea shul scream? Do I, like, can I sense that they're at the walls kind of thing? As I would say... A whole bad thing that we... Yeah, so... You should probably figure out of it. So, thank you for reminding me. Yikes.

As you've been making your way, you turn back and you know that it's built up into this massive mountain in the steps, and you can see for miles and miles and miles. And you... Is it like a Minas Tirith style? Like, it's sort of up into, like, a mountain rain? It's built into like kind of in a mountain range. It's not as ridiculous as Minas Tirith, right?

but like, you know, it's like, what's their tax policy? I'm kidding, I'm kidding. And it's basically, it's the Temple of the White Tiger from Kunlai Summit in Missa Pandora, basically. But like a city of that style, if you know what I'm talking about. Right, right. So it's built into like a series of like a mountain piece. You can kind of see all the steps and the plains. And so you've seen the kind of billowing smoke, and you look out on the horizon,

and is far closer. Like they, it is, it's still very far off, but you, they're not like at the walls, they're not at the walls, but they're close. I would say that from your, like, knowledge of dealing with the Horn Legion since you arrived in Corvacia, basically, you would get the sense that like another one more day, and then they'd be there.

They're about a day away. That's like an eternity. And, and so, and so, yeah, So you had seen that the whole time. But once again, you see the orcs are going about their business. And they seem to be making preparations. They seem to be preparing for war. There are regiments of guards.

You see the walls are increasing their fortifications. You see that as you look at the peaks that are above the city, your attention is occasionally drawn to the white tigers lurking and the massive yetis hanging around the subsequent beastmasters, right? Or not subsequent in the respective beastmasters, as well as the hawks that continually increase in number, flying over the city, as well as flying out back and forth doing reconnaissance.

So you've seen that on your way. Okay. So I'll just keep that in mind as I labor again. There's an immediate battle to go to, but it's close. I'll pull a stool up and be right by her side just holding her hand. And I'll just sort of kind of step back. I'll let Caprice kind of be close. I'll just sort of step back and keep an eye over everything.

And I'll just continue to take care of her. I'm assuming they would have water and claws, and so I would, like, make a cold compress and put it on her face. You do that, and then Torval goes to the basin. He's, like, trying to clean himself up as much as possible. And he's like, I'm going to have to go to the back to take care of all this. I am not sanitary. Give me a moment.

and he kind of stumbles off, and there's actually a small room for the nurses and the doctors and the healers that are there. And he actually gives you a bit of time where it's just the three of you at Herzja. Torvald one question. Do you think that he should be more concerned about his daughter's safety, a well-being state of being alive? Yeah, yeah, I do.

I think that very much. Can you keep your voice down, Hersia's resting. Yeah, yeah, I do. I think that very much. I don't know. I think... Is there any way you can help the artist? No, unfortunately not.

And I think we are going to have to accept that we are going to have to leave her in the hands of the hopefully capable staff in this place. And there is something we need to discuss, but not here. And not until Felix and Lifty about the horse. What kind of thing? I'm not sure what you asked.

Like what? I hate secrets. Do you mean like, can you just tell me now? Is it really a secret if I'm going to tell you? I hate anticipation. Give me a hint. I'm going to speak words to you? No, but like about what? Oh.

The subject matter. Is that a thing? Um, about... Pesha. He's fault. That he's a good guy and he's going to. going to help them. Definitely. Oh, good. You're out.

It was just me or I? Was I the only one who thought we were going to the Golden Lotus to have her specific, like this just seems like a general, what's the word, infirmary? He's probably going to get her right now. Before it is? Do you think I should go ask around and see if she's, maybe I can find her faster than he can? He's not that great in the shape. Do you have any clue where she may be?

I could, well, I would start yelling. but I should keep my voice down. Hershey's not the only person's sick. I guess we'll just stay here and hope that she shows up. Is she like still brilliant? Does she seem comfortable? You rest Hersia down and she's still, you know, in her armor. And maybe if you had wanted to take time.

I'm still like bandaging her. You're bandaging her. Maybe you're taking one for armor and getting her like into like you see. I'm wrapping her into those linens. You're wrapping her into the linens. And you've been in an infirmary before. It might not be the same style. maybe like an attendant kind of was going to head in to check and they see Torvald leaving and they turn around and they're like you know they don't do that but like they know not to mess with that and so they go back to their business and so you do that and it's not very long until you hear footsteps and the sound of the footsteps are unmistakably from it sounds like one person

because Lifty and Golden Lotus are so light on their feet, but you hear the military-grade boots that Phelis has clacking along the smooth stone of this infirmary as the three of them enter, and you are all. And you all see the same thing. So you have a chance to maybe discuss with Golden Lotus. She's not, as she guides you through, she's not going to make any attempt to talk to you.

I've got nothing to say to her either. So you all manage to, you see the exact same thing that Toa and the rest did, as you see the, and you can see, it is like, you see those golden fields, right? Those golden plains and steps, spreading up all the way to the horizon. You see the massive serpent spined mountains, but that root that the Horn Legion is taking. And you just see that mass of destruction and this, those, and it looks like a blot on the landscape, but you know that it is. is the mass of beastmen and minotors and demons and just absolute death that is descending upon the city. Yes. But you eventually arrive. Just don't worry everyone. We found Golden Lotus.

Lovely. Can you fix our friend? I can. Be at ease. Especially with the power of the rod of the seven law, the clave of the seven laws. So she's holding it, right? She's holding it.

Oh, she's holding the rod of law. Yes, exactly. This is the, you really, you basically got the sense. You realize that in her glave that she's been had, she's had this whole time, that the six pieces were in there. And then you added the seventh and forged it into basically a new weapon, more or less. And she looks at all of you and says, you seem uneasy. How long would it take for you to cure her or to aid us her? I do not know.

I have encountered many such darknesses and evils, none such as the darkness of the original prince of demons. It could take some time. I am confident that I will, at the very least, save her life. What state she is in, I cannot promise you. Either way, we will have to be at peace. and if she does not make it, she will have made a noble sacrifice

for the safety of us all. Whoa, whoa. No, I'm not comfortable with that. I mean, we, we, we, there are magics that can just, you know, undo all sorts of things. Let's just, you know, if she passes, then we, we can, isn't that right, Iris? Anubis will watch over her.

I have no doubt, a vote. And he will watch you. Ever watching. ever present. I will appreciate his assistance. I'm sure. As Torvald and I will heal her. And I will make sure that she is in good hands.

And what's more capable hands than a father to protect his daughter? Exactly right. So we want to trust. And I look at Caprice. And it's very apparent that I'm trying to tell you that I know something here and to trust. me. We will trust that you have her best interest at all. Of course. She was foretold. Her coming was foretold by the eternal blossom. You all have been foretold. It is, you will stand by our war chief when he strikes down Baphomet. That has been

foretold. Yes. And in the interim, while you are taking painstaking and loving care of Persia for us. What should we be doing as the Horn Legion vastly approaches? I was just about to say, to address your low spirits. You have been invited to a feast in your honor, feast with the war chiefs and his generals, as they currently plan for the coming battle. They're very confident, but they wish to thank you to hold the feast in your for finding the final piece of the rod, for for for for for forging this great weapon that our war chief will use to save us all. You have earned it. Enjoy it.

Is it going to be any kind of issue about the varying levels of allegiance that we've all, or respect levels that we've all shown the war chief over the past few days? And you see that there's a bit of hesitation. Her face once again doesn't change, but there's a bit of hesitation, and then she says, The war chief was skeptical at first. You must understand his history with the High General of Korovacia is long and storied. It was he the use of his arm. It was he who has been at war with Korovacia.

For the entire life of General Zern and our war chief's long, incredible storm history, they have been at odds. Do you know if Chief Ross Rang ever injured Zern? He did? Yes. So you're saying that he's the one that cut off, or maybe not cut off, but wounded his arm? Yes. It was something that the war chief does... Not give much detail about the situation, but he says he had almost slain, Zern,

but does not say why he did not finish the job. I'm sure he had his reason. Being said, I have convinced him. Have proven your loyalty to us. You have proven your loyalty. Your companion Ravali is now one of us. Torvald, the father of Herja. He points to Herja, who's still, you see the swirling.

corruption in all of her wounds that she's breathing, labored, but it's, and she seems to be unwell. I haven't let go. And yeah, you're still, you're still holding your hand. You can feel her pulse, right? And it's, and it is weakening, but it is staying. It continued, her heart continues to be. I have, I know the kind of language that can convince the war chief. And he has softened considerably. I would still urge respect for him and his generals. your manipulation techniques are admirable with that being said dinner soon

so we should get ready you there are there are outfits for you traditional waiting in your dwellings and you should change into them arrive politely

once you are fetched by his steward There's not much more we can do here. No. Yeah, but maybe we could spend some time just a few minutes to leave some blessings with pleasure before we go get ready. Sure. I will assist in preparation. I will leave you some time with your friends before you prepare for the feast.

Thank you. You see her wait. And as soon you say that, thanks. Bye. And then she turns. Bye-bye. Okay, now, bye. I love.

Bye-bye. Go in now. And you are left temporarily alone. What's just not you go to? I tried to pick up the glave, and I was stopped right before I could do it, and then some things happened, and Lifty lunged for it, and it hurt her. But it didn't kill you. Oh, my God, very close.

What did you do you do? I didn't kill you. Um, well, I don't know. It was like a night and like, ouch. But she was holding it just fine. I know, and she healed me after I was done. I don't know if it did it or she did it. I think it was pretty clearly the item.

Just instinct, I guess, but I don't like this. I feel like we're trapped here. I'm worried about Rivali. I'm worried about Heria. I'm worried about all of us. What are they going to do this? do the poor her if we leave her here. They are going to heal her.

So if she can be healed, otherwise they will allow her a gentle death. It's not acceptable. It is acceptable. And it's something we should acclimate ourselves to. We can talk about feather once we get to the room. I don't know. I just don't feel girls about this. She's always like, be calm, be the... I don't like that. I don't feel calm.

This is hardly the time. for any kind of dinner. It's just like when you're very frustrated and I tell you, well, it's not that bad to get over it and then you scream at me not to tell you to get over it. Makes it once. Let me feel my friends. Yes.

Sure. I'm generally a laid-back kind of guy, but when there's a literal demon prince king lord type guy knocking on the gates with a legion of beast men, I think I would be concerned at that point. I'm very concerned. The only thing I can think is. would make any of this better is to have dinner tonight.

You don't think any of this is weird? You're being very calm. You're being kind of like her. That insults me. No, but there are many here that are fighting illnesses. Persia, one of them. The Horn Legion is nigh at the gates. We do not have time to argue here.

This is not the place to be talking about these things. and you have something you need to say to Herja, you should say it. Who knows when and if we will see her again? I don't mind telling you. I give zero fucks about this feast. But we have no friends. I don't trust Golden Lotus. I don't trust any of the people around here.

I don't trust any. You have no idea who may be listening to you know in an infirmary. So we will continue this conversation when how, has time to rest and heal the priest. I know you're saddened. Having a difficult time, I need you to trust me. All right. I'll say what I need to say, and then we'll go and have the best feast ever.

I'll lean into Herja and... Herja... Simple, small melody. And I'll give her my inspiration. In case we're doing that. And give her another... squeeze on the hand and back up and immediately just lean against the doorway at the exit. Should we return?

Yes. Does anyone else have anything that would like to say, Tersia? You'll have a big ball of jello salad waiting for you? Yes. I don't even know what that is. You don't want to know. Everything's going to be okay. I will turn and I will head back to the, uh, to our dwellings.

You all leave. As they leave, I want to quickly move towards her with my feline grace. I'm going to run my hand along her cheek. Both an Eubis and I will watch over you. And I'm going to cast Death Ward. No, she can't hear anything at all. And then I will follow behind everybody else. And you do that and you follow and you feel that same kind of comfort.

of the same force that brought her back, Anubis, the god of death in your pantheon, you feel his presence almost standing behind you, almost as if he's in the room himself, watching over Hergia, and it gives you peace, but not in the way that Golden Lotus might be trying to instill upon you. And as you're turning, Iris coming behind you, Caprice, you take one last look, And Herja is breathing shallow. You see the kind of bits of corruption peeking up from the bandages that Iris has given her. And you see down at the far end, Torvald and Golden Lotus both coming back together.

And you give one last glance and then turn back. And you make your way back to your dwellings. This podcast is brought to you by our Patreon. Become a patron today at Patreon. dot com slash legends of avatrous and gain access to tons of exclusive perks including a monthly movie night and a weekly patreon exclusive campaign set on the high seas shroud over salt marsh you can also go to the crooked moon.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 blushies a tarot deck and more thank you You all leave Herja in the infirmary, thank you, Nikki, for that word, behind. As you know that Golden Lotus and Torvald Anvilheart are tending to her wounds and her corruption. And you make your way through Mogherkai, and you see the undulating mass on the plains. The Horn Legion is getting closer and closer. They're less than a day away. Without a doubt. And the billowing smoke and results of the destructive path that they've cut through this entire country is stretching behind them.

And you have a question? Yes, compression, Jim. I am curious if I see out to the horizon what time of day it is, if it's less than a day, do I think that they're arriving at night? Do I think they're going to breach in the morning or the evening? I would say, Roland Tellin's check. Oh, that's where I'm... A history check.

We'll let's... Okay. Can I twist this? Eight. You may not. Compression gyms is you don't fucking mouth. This is not your... This is not your specialty.

You know fucking fiddles in the city. It's like clipping and Microsoft. These guys are going to be here in like... 30. minutes. Did you like some help? Okay. Okay, that's fine.

I don't say it wouldn't. Yeah, you get a sense that like, you don't have, like, Felix is able to pieces together because he's from the military and he's been like noticing this. You've been like, oh man, fiddles and hers's thick thighs. Like, that's all in your hat. And like, that's all, that's all you care about. There's not much other room in there. Yeah.

Oh, mine. Good. Exactly right. Exactly right. So you see this all, and however it's the same thing. You see that, you know, that there's far more presence on the walls of the city. And you know that there's multiple levels of defenses here that go all the way to the main massive fortress, which is the palace of War Chief Frostfang. And you make your way to your dwellings and you see that as you're making your way through, give me a...

an animal handling check. Oh, God. Animal handling. What the hell? What the hell? Yeah, we are playing none. That's right. Come on, man.

Oh, no. It's bad. Are you an animal handler in any sense of a word? I have pretty good wisdom. I don't believe you. But it's bad. It's less than six. You just see, you just see, you look around,

and you make your way back to your lodgings that you've been provided. And you make your way, and you see that it's feeling as pristine, and calm and quiet as it always has that same willow over the lake as you see another heron or crane take off into the mountains. And you see that Ravali is nowhere to be seen as you make your way, and you see that on each of your beds is laid out an outfit, traditional vestments or garb that would be expected at a,

such as this, seemingly tailor-made for all of you. You can try them on if you care to, but if you don't, you get the sense, like, this is eerily close to, like, your measurements and, like, well-fitting, and you're not really sure how they got those, they came to that. I put it on immediately. I literally waste no time. It's taking much for me to get dressed. Yeah, exactly right.

It's just a ceremonial. I'm undressed. Dressed. And so you are, there is a friend. rashy bowl of pistachias as well as a smaller bowl for the shelves. Jesus Christ. Oh, I'm going to look at my outfit and then shaboot myself into that because I can alter self at will with my Nimbonsi mask and then I will immediately start working on a pistachio.

While we're getting ready, I'm going to, like, you know, as an aside to Toa, just kind of say, Hey, you know, I don't really know what's going to happen tonight at this dinner. For as much as everybody keeps talking about staying calm, this place kind of just seems like it's tenuously hanging by a thread. There's a chance that when I go to this dinner, all of those people are going to just loathe me for being Korvachian. And what I need you to do is help keep the peace. I don't care what they do to me.

You know, Cargash wasn't very receptive, and that's fine. It's not a big deal. I can handle it, but I need you to keep everyone calm because you're pretty level-headed. Well, I think that just make sure that you don't want to give off that vaude, right? Like, just don't show anyone your dagger, if you know what I'm saying? I'm not leaving it here. We don't know what we're getting into.

I understand that, but I mean, I should probably find it weird that these clothes are perfectly measured to my very unique body type, but... I wasn't going to bring it up. I'm sure it's fine. It's a little strange, isn't it? Just promise me. You'll help keep to peace, and I'm just worried the slightest thing could set anybody off.

I know that they preach calmness and being relaxed, but it doesn't feel that way. Well, here's the thing. If we get to the point where respecting the war chief is an issue, would you be against kneeling or bowing? or at least paying respect to the leader of the city. So I don't... I don't know what I believe anymore. Even just to show him a sign of respect for his long life

in this beautiful city he's built. I'll tell you what. The only thing that I know at this point is survival enough to find out if Myel is still out there. If I have to lie, eh, or whatever. You know, bend the knee temporarily fine.

I just... We gotta get out of the city. I wasn't kidding before when I said I felt trapped. And I just... I don't know what's gonna happen. We can't get out of the city until they're stopped. And hers is okay. I know, I know. There will be a very deadly battle in the coming days.

And we may all die. But I'm happy to make our last stand here if it means that we die protecting people. Okay, it's not over yet. As long as we draw breath, right? As long as we draw breath, we're going to... We're going to be fine. We're going to be fine. My first and foremost goal is that Hush is okay

and that these people are okay. And if you need to kneel, I'll do it genuinely, but do you have to mean it? Whatever it takes. That's all I'm saying. Yeah, no, I hear you. I hear you. Okay. All right. All right. And I'll finish adorning my

investiments and then retire to the lobby where perhaps Caprice is still pounding away on his nuts. He's pounding away on his nuts. And also there's pistachios. Exactly. That's exactly right. I've abandoned the pistachios. I'm just stuffing the clothes into my pack so that I can sell them. Felix, what's the difference between a foyer and a foyer? I've heard people say both. Do they mean the same thing?

I don't know everything. And I'm just going to walk out into the way. Wow, it's been a while since you pulled back. Oh, well done. Hey, pistachio? Oh, I'm also there. No, thank you. Would you care for a pistachio?

You've asked me that question 14 times now. Would you like me to stop asking? No. I would like a pistachio. Open your mouth. Oh. Oh. Oh.

I was picking them on the big round. Thank you. No, you know, Felix, you're the priest. The shell was still on there. It was? Yeah. Oh, it's just been dead like that. That's okay.

It's fine. You're going to have a bad time in 24 hours. Battle or no. They always told us extra fiber in your diet is a good thing. I'd be fine. Well, now that the two of you have arrived, I have something I need to tell all of you. What's gone up?

I felt weird tendrils in Hershey's father's beard. What? Why? What does that mean? They're orcs, right? Yeah. Well, you know the orcs that are around the city, they have them.

Oh, those things? Yes, he had them as one. Tendrels. He, what? Why was he had those? Well, because I think everyone here is disaster or the come or turning into things or something, but it is not good.

No. He seems like a really, like, disorganized guy. Disorganized guy, are you sure that that wasn't like food or... It's food. It has to be food. I do not trust Hershey with them. I do not think they are going to care for Hersia. I think she's more than likely going to have beard tentals. The longer we leave her with them...

So why don't we leave her? We don't have any other choice. We're... I believe Rolini is probably also going to turn into all these creatures. This sucks. Were they made of dwarven flesh? I'm honestly not. Sure, I had grabbed his face to look at him

because he was not reacting the way a father should react to the death of the daughter. And in doing so, his slimy tendrils wrapped around a bit of my fingers. And I let me. You felt like they actually... They move, I believe. They weren't like actively.

They were like, you brush them. You brushed them. Yeah, okay. I brushed them. Well, I mean, he has to be... Uh, him. It couldn't be a disguise. I mean, he...

It was the secret I wanted to tell you. He, but he crafted the rod. He has to still be... Yes, so more than likely, it was not a good idea to craft the world. Well, no, here's the thing. Listen, listen. We know that orcs generally don't have these things.

Listen. Listen. Listen, listen. Listen. Do we know that generally orcs don't have these tests, right? That's obvious. You made that. that determination back at Fall Song, the village that you've summoned upon.

So we know that most orcs don't have these weird chin tendrils, right? Yes, yeah. And we know that these orcs are very nice and pleasant and built this big city because they're devotion to the eternal blossom, thank you. Perhaps just devoting yourself to the eternal blossom, or dwarf or otherwise, grants you these tendrils as a sign of of Wushab. Thank you, Toha.

I mean, the point is that he's him. Whether he's different now or not, he's not someone in disguise. But it's very concerning. Well, even if Ravali sprouts these things, if his faith is bringing him happiness and joy, who are we to say that he shouldn't feel that way? Toa, you know that that Ravali was not the Ravali that we know. I know that, but he was a pretty miserable guy when we met him. And he was happy that way.

He doesn't want this shit. You think he was happy before? You didn't seem happy to be. No, but he was happy being unhappy. I don't know what that means. That hurts my head. Trying to comprehend that. Do you think that if we cut them off,

they'll break the spell? Cut off what? We're not cutting off anybody's flesh. I don't want to touch anybody. Nobody's. Nobody. No one. That is so out of character for you.

I'm sorry, but they're out of place. I don't care for it. I don't think we're going to remove any tendrils from anybody. It's not our decision who we worship. Is it? You don't think it's weird? It's weird, right? It's very weird.

How are we the arbiters of what's weird and what's not? Well, because I've been around all over the world, and I've never seen this... I can't even say it anymore, but you know what I haven't seen. This place is different, is what I'm trying to say. Yes, it's different. Of course it is. Well, I think maybe it's different in the bad way. But my point is, is we don't know if it's different in a bad way.

Yes, Ravall is different. So we're just going to test it on Hersia? Don't you think that if it were not in a negative way, they wouldn't be so secretive about it? Don't you think they would have let us know? Well, one of the signs of being a devout worshipper of the Eternal Blossom is to sprout these tendrils upon thine chin. Iris is right. They're hiding something. Have we asked about the tentrals yet? If it was something that Hesha's father, what is his name?

Torvald. Torval. It's not Steve at all. Are you sure? Steve's not even close. Steve's not even close. You took the words right out of my mouth, Tela. They're spelled the same.

Regardless. Look, I don't have a problem with... I was speaking, Chris. Go ahead. Well, now I forgot what I was going to say. I don't have a problem with the hangy beds. I do. No, it's not.

They're kind of gross, and whenever they turn their head, it hits their shoulder in this weird, disgusting way. However, what the real problem is is that it's indicative of the fact that they don't sense danger. I mean, I know they're kind of sort of bolstering their defenses and whatnot, but everyone seems so fucking chill when we all... It's the problem. There needs to be some panic. Now it's the perfect time to panic.

Maybe that's why we're here. Maybe we can panic for them. We will protect this city. We'll protect these innocent lines. But just because they're not panicking, it's because they have... They're trying to get us not to panic too. We don't have to believe their faith, but they have every right to believe what they believe.

But if they're... But if it's a plot or a conspiracy... I keep stepping on you. I'm sorry. Please go ahead. Well, I've forgotten what I was going to say again, Capri. But if it's a plot, then... I'm upset. Anyway, what I'm trying to say is that we have not been once forced

or they haven't tried to compel us to worship this God. That's not true. When we were there and I got shucky shucky-shucked. Chucky-chacht? Shucky-chut. Oh, shucky-shuck-ishawk. I understand. She said, why not you just be more calm and you follow?

You were there, Felix. What did she say? I mean, she didn't try to recruit us, but, you know, in so many words it was a little suggestive in what we should do moving forward Oh you should be in that spring

Yeah That was weird Are we just gonna forget that? Did we grow tendrils? Did we all of a sudden change our personalities now? No, but It was very pleasant Ravoli did.

Was it not pleasant? Are you telling me that that spot day was not pleasant? You have no proof that what is happening to Ravoli was of his own free will And Hersha is currently a unconscious. She's going to get face, penis. I know it. Here's the thing. Here's the problem. So yes, if Hesha Oliver

Sun starts growing things on her face, then I will be concerned. But my point is that they've been respectful. They're given these lovely pistachios to stick on for days. Days worth of pistachios. That's very respectful to us. Caprice? Is it not? Caprice? Yeah, yeah. If you eat the shell of a pistachio, does it Poisonale. I have no idea. That's not real. Little pistachia plant growing in my stomach.

Toa, that's not real. Toa, come on. You don't really believe that, do you? Felix, comfort him. He's accurate. Did you say we'll stormy from thickness? Take a step back. Iris.

Do you think that... What is her as far as him, Torval? Torvald. Does Torvald know that you know that you you know about the flesh tentacles. He was terrible. Hers' father. Does he know?

No, I didn't believe so. Okay, well, then for now... Did you scream it? Did you squeeze him? No. Did you speak to him? Felix is trying to speak. For now, we keep this to ourselves. I'm with you.

We have to see what happens. I don't particularly want to wait to see what happens to Hercia. I prefer to make sure she's safe ahead of time. Same with Rivalian, same for all of us. But... But you're right. If we do anything now that's taken as aggressive and preactive, we're going to cause more trouble than it's worth.

Our goal should be making sure her is okay and making sure a little demon lord God thing doesn't kill everyone and us. That's what we should be concerned about. Those two things and nothing else. You're not worried about golden lotus and the glave? I'm extremely worried. Well, I wasn't on the list.

I'm just saying it should be on the list. She will use it against Baphimat. Remember Baphomet, the big horn guy? And then? What? Tua, are you not worried that every time you drink a beverage? You're going to be watering the tree in your belly? Iris.

Stop. You're going to have nightmares. Now I am. Why would you say that? Should I stop drinking? Should I stop consuming entirely to provide, to, to prevent it from absorbing nutrients or liquids? Tawa, you have to hydrate. You have to.

What if I don't? You'll die. I'll die. Yeah, because the tree will suck up all of your own. No, no, there's no tree, Toa. God, he's going to wake me up at three in the morning with these problems. 64 ounces a day, make sure. Thank you.

It's much harder than you think. Thank you. Please keep drinking water, Towa. You're not going to grow plants inside your body. It doesn't make any sense. He did feed me that whole pistachio. He tricked me. I don't think it was a trick.

I think it was an accident. I also think that was kind of. fall on you. Was it an accident, Caprice? It wasn't an accident. Here. No. Ful me once.

Shame on. How does it get? Shame on you. Shame on you. Ful me twice. Shame on me. This one opened right away. That's wild.

Well, okay. Focus. Everybody needs to focus. What are we going to do when we walk in looking absolutely fabulous in these outfits they've provided? And then they want to change us into believers. I have my own beliefs.

They won't change my beliefs. You know that. What is they can... And then make you believe? I believe that my faith is struggling in whatever they have. Of course. I mean, magic will make you believe whatever the fuck you are going to believe. That's the nature of some magics.

I disagree. I think my faith is strong enough. Uh, say my tattoos are dumb, and I cast suggestion on show. DC17 Wisdom Saving Throw. Oh, that's gonna be close. My tattoos are dumb. Why did I... My tattoos dumb?

What did I say? I must believe that. No, your tattoos are badass. I just cast a spell on you, and I made you believe something that you didn't. But I didn't have any sense that you cast a spell on me. Like potentially everyone here with their crazy magical tendrils of insanity. I don't know what to believe. anymore, please.

My head hurts. Just believe in the things you kept believing before I did that. But I don't believe in those things anymore. Oh, I broke Noah. I don't. Are you going to die? No.

We're going to live. Does nothing matter? I mean, we can't, well, I have no agency in life. If you can just compel me to say things. Try harder to resist. We're going to practice that. The point, what are we going to do with this feast? If things, just hold on.

We've got to work on scaling that back for you. I feel a little all over the place. The last 48 hours have been pretty fucking crazy. I don't know about you guys. We need to have a sign at least between the five of us that we can... If something is funny going on, we need to be able to know. Is anyone else concerned that we maybe tainted or template? No, I'm sure that's fine and we shouldn't think about it again.

I'm hungry and stuff. The fascio? So here's the thing, especially in regard to that. Golden Lotus has said many times that our place is within the battle against Buffamon. I don't think that they have any intention to harm us before that happens. As real times as this feast may be, I don't think we're in any immediate danger.

I'm much more concerned when it comes down to actually facing Baffermen. I agree, and I think that at the end, the day. They have not done anything to lead us to believe. They're trying to hurt us or kill us. My entire point of bringing it up is to make sure that we're aware that it's happening. Should Herja come forth from this place with those things? Maybe that's when Caprice can cut them off. No, that doesn't harm her.

Caprice, I'll give you permission to cut them off. I'll give myself permission to cut them off. Well, you'll need to get her. There's just permission to cut them all. Well, she'll be super chill about it if she's anything else like these... Well, that's fair. What about... Okay, so...

We feel strong, yes, that we can resist whatever they're going to bring on us at this feast. No. I mean, I'm relatively confident. I have magics to protect myself. I feel pretty beefy. I can withstand it. Bees one word.

I'm a little tap from our fight, but yeah, I feel like a big feast. You know, something that would benefit you like a hero's feast would be great. That would be amazing. With this constitute a short rest. Yeah. We're cashing out my arcane recovery. Let's go. This is a young joy of short.

I will have to rest in a short manner, please. I feel that there's not much we can do about this feast. Cher Tersia, we have to deal with bottom it. We don't have any other option. We have to get through the document with all of our lives intact. I agree. You guys are probably right. I'm with you.

What about will a new bus watch over? Yes. Do you promise? Always. As he would not over all of you. For my family now. And if anything ever happens to one of our family, we can just come back and burn this place to the ground.

That's very violent, but I appreciate it. I'm tired of losing family members, and I'm not going to let anybody push us around anymore. Let's burn it. If we have to. Not yet, darn it. Okay. Um, uh, it is not take long. I sing a quick song.

Everyone gets an additional something. What's the song? What's the song? Um, party, it's your short rest. God bless us this day. You gave me the power of something and something, and I don't have the lyrics prepared. Yay! Yay!

That's a good lyrics, Capri. What's your dye? Uh, yeah. You're a additional 1D8. If you spend one hit die, additional 1D.A. That might save me. Oh, sir. Can you come here, darling?

Uh, yes. I'm going to touch your stomach. Oh. Uh, what? Well, if you would like me to, I'm going to stab the life force from the tiny plant inside of you so it cannot grow and kill you. You can kill the pistachio tree in my stomach. I'm clear to death.

Please, please, please, please, please. Yes, yes, yes, please. Do it down. Obviously not actually do anything, but I'm going to put my hands on his stomach and kind of squeeze the muscles just for a little longer than I really should. And then I'm going to start chanting in a language that's not real

and pretend to disrupt the plant. It's a very believable ritual, Tom. Oh, thank you so much, Maris. Oh, what a relief. Felix, Arrhus just killed the pistachio tree in my stomach. Oh, did she? Yes, she did. She stopped it. I don't have to worry about it. I only think about it for one more second.

How did she do that? She did a ritual of death, and she killed it. It's dead. It's dead now. Did it? Well, Noah, I certainly hope that this will bring you peace, and you won't wake me up at 3 in the morning. I promise, Felix. I will not wake up at 3 in the morning. Let's not make promises we can't keep.

About this specific thing. Oh, okay. All right. I'm glad for you, Toa. Thank you, Felix. I would watch eight hours of just Toa keeping Felix up. What is the difference between a foyer and a foyer? It doesn't take long, much longer, until Chief Frostfang's steward arrives.

And it's a younger orc with a bit smaller tendrils than, you know, a lot of the others, but, you know, still very polite and very respectful. And he fetches you all, and he guides you through the city. And it doesn't feel like it's been that long since you were getting dressed in your quarters. But you look out on the horizon, the great steps and planes, stretching down from the mountains, and you just see just the torches and bonfire.

spreading out across the entire land. And you see the camps of these beastmen. As you realize they're not camps, as you see the flickering light, it's moving. Closer and closer as the sleepless army continues to move. And it's far closer than you feel like it should be. But they are moving very quickly at this point now. And it won't be long until they arrive.

You are, despite that, look around and it's exactly the same. There's not a single panicked face. And this all feels familiar. You were in Zentron, with the Horn Legion bearing down on it too. And you saw the people panic, terrified, shuddering their homes, and trying to flee the city north. here no such thing not a single soul is attempting to leave or flee

they have full trust and confidence of their safety and if they're worried they don't show it you're guided across the bridges you see the yeties the tigers the hawks waiting tame calm just like the orcs and you make your way across the bridges until the highest peak

of this city the great fortress of Mogherkai, the ruling place of the war chief. And as the steward approaches, you see the guards at various levels and the stairs waiting for you. They open the doors without a single word. You hear the loud resound in...

It's an echoes through tall, gilded halls. You see the great murals and statues, and you see ahead the young man being cleaved dramatically his arm off, almost cleaved in half. And you look at the face and you see the strong nose and prominent brow of a young man, but definitely the attempted image of a young Virgil Zern. And you recognize the war chief, no tendrils on his chin,

with his dancing blade, obviously embellished in this scene. But you think there might be some truth in this story. I saw him. Does Zern still have his arm as far as we know? But it was in a sling. Yes. It's in a sling.

It is totally useless. This depiction is he's literally cleaving him. He's cleaving him almost in half. It's basically like a very exaggerated. And you see in this orc, and you know that, the war chief Frost Fang is a very large

work. But like this muscles are just absolutely bulging and it's very much almost a piece of propaganda.

A piece of... This is like a statue within his... Yes, and you have seen it when you first met him. You saw it when you first met him and now you really were wondering probably

why there'd be this image of someone just killing some random and it looks like very easily is killing this random young human boy, more or less a teenager, no one of 16. Wow. And...

Do we remember his arm's state specifically from when we met Frosting the first time? What about arms? Isn't he also injured in one arm or the other? No, just sir. Just certain. I'm misunderstood. Thank you. Yep. And so you are guided.

And you remember just the beautiful. just the beautiful artwork and you see that you've all heard of orcs and tribes and clans and this level of artwork and architecture is unlike anything that you've heard of in the orcs that you may have have have learned about and it just is if the the situation wasn't so dire and off-putting and eerie in some in some ways you would say that this is a place you'd love to visit and enjoy and its beauty. And you remember all of the various doors going off into this fortress.

And you see as the large doors where you had met, the war chief Frost Fang, in his throne room, you're led off to the right, and a large door opens. And you see a large feasting hall. And you see that in this, and its

mass capacity could hold hundreds of orcs feasting. But there seems to be just one table that is set. and you see the heavily armored and decorated orcs with very long tendrils from their chin that seem to have the most gilded and ornate clothing and armor seemingly denoting their rank.

And at the head, you see warchy frost fang, that bluish-toned skin with the largest tendrils of them all, just absolutely gild with all sorts of bits of gold and jade. And you see him at the head and there is an entire feast set on this table. And you see, and then the smell hits you as soon as you enter, just this roast, bore and yak and all sorts of incredible spices that none of you have ever smelled before. And it smells absolutely delicious. The food looks pristine.

And it seems as if the food hasn't been touched, though. They're waiting for you to arrive. And you see that there are six places sat, placed, and expecting six of you. Only five of you arrive. And you see that on either side seems to be, one is a female, another is a male, that seems to be the most decorated beyond below the war chief,

that are both kind of leaning in and the three of them are discussing, while a couple of other generals might be discussing, but there are several places beyond your set places. And so between you and the War Chief is only two. And the steward just extends a hand outward and gestures for you to take your seat. As you look around, you see that,

similar to the throne room, that up on perch is hanging all in the ceiling are dozens of hawks. And at the side, not even chained up, but just sitting, watching, are tigers at attention, almost like statues. And behind the war chief is a Yeti that's almost the size of the one

that you had slain at Krasang Pass, that had been cursed by Beast Plague, that seems to be the personal pet or a war Yeti. of the war chief. That is just, you see that whatever was served, it's a side of yak, and it's tearing into it. And occasionally the war chief reaches out

and gives the horn or its scruffy white fur, a pet, as it seems to be deep in conversation with his generals. What do you do? Do we have, so he's not paying attention to us. Not at the moment. The door opens. tell that they're in discussion, that at the very least the War Chief is in discussion with the generals on the right and left of him, as there are places set for you, however.

I mean, I would try to, like, take, I'm still wearing my hat, even if it clashes with my ceremony of arms. And I kind of pull my hat down a little bit and just try to, you know, find my seat. And if anybody is intentionally trying to make eye contact with me, I would try to give them a polite smile and like, you know, just arm them a little bit, being very wary about how they might respond to, you know, me there in the hall. You do that, and you all approach. And for whatever reason, the Felix's boot just clacks a little loudly and echoes through

this grand hall. And suddenly every single walk at this table stops the conversation, all eyes turn to the five of you. And as they survey you, you see all of the eyes zero in on you, Felix. And they watch you all approach and sit down. And none of the orcs besides the war chief stand. And the war, they don't speak. And the war chief, no one stands to greet you. As the seats are there pulled out for you.

And the war chief waits for you all to take your seats. Do you do that? Yeah. Yeah, I would. I do immediately, yeah. Thank you. Do a big curtsey. Hello.

Is the steward still with us? The steward left you at the door. And then you hear her. The door shuts behind the steward. A guy named Stewart was a nice guy. Oh, why should spell that? No, I'm talking about the steward. You.

Almost all of you refuse to kneel. It seems as if the trust that Golden Lotus put in you was not misplaced. He kind of leans back, folds his arms. And as you look at him, you see that the tendrils are long and gilded. You see that although he seems to be of middle age from what you discern, the closer you look, You see the lines of age on his face. And there just seems something, he seems far older than he presents himself to be. And he almost seems tired as he speaks.

Every word, there's some, there's, there's, there's weight on it, as if he has, as if he's very much outlived his time. and turns to each of his generals on his left and his right, and he whispers something in each other ears, and then turns attention back to you. And so is his custom for my people, in your honor, to grant me a weapon. Better than the weapon of a king, horned or otherwise, a weapon of a goddess. I thank you for helping my people. And he extends his hand towards the great feast, and immediately all of the other generals past you, start reaching out and by grabbing and filling their plates.

Thank you, War Chief. You will be wielding the great weapon that we've completed. Yes, I have trained my entire life. I was told of my greatness by Golden Lotus, decades, ago when she arrived on these shores. Everything she has said has come to pass. And now my destiny is a day away. I will wield it and save our people. Well, we are ready. Nothing. I can speak for everyone. We are ready to help

in the battle and we will do what we can to defeat the Horned Legion. Do you feel ready to wield this weapon? Do I look unready? Let's avoid him the question. No, you look fine. I'm just saying it is a very powerful weapon. Years. I have killed hundreds of my countrymen by my own hands.

Decades of civil war. Uniting every single tribe into one clan. united as one I am ready okay well he's ready so he says um do we have a plan how can we help best should we just go to the front lines with your your troops or do you have a plan for how you can best utilize us in our skills the battle will not last long my high overlord And my beast lord have assured me, we are confident after the, despite the heavy losses at the wall of the inner kingdom, they are but a savage, beastial horde. We shall be able to hold them off as long as we need to for me to find that fiend himself and strike him down with the weapon you have helped forge. Your role here

It's whatever you see fit I will meet him at the wall I will strike him down In one blow They will disperse It has been foretold That was going to be my next question How do we know that

He's going to disperse That they're going to disperse After you take a baffam it down Yeah Who foretolds this again The Eternal Blossom just as she foretold of your coming just as she foretold of the reforging

of the rod of law into the rod, the glave of the seven laws if this Baphomet thinks he can destroy my people with his glaive he is but a king what is a king to a goddess

he does not know whom he is dealing with You said it was the glave of the seven laws? Yes. Where's more pencil? Sorry. A weapon... I remember that. A weapon that has been in the process of being crafted for decades.

Only just finished. Do we know what the seven laws are? Or is it just a name? The Eternal Blossom herself knows. And we trust. everything she has foretold, everything she has predicted has come to pass. I was told of my destiny. So, so, so long ago.

And now it has come. And now I will finally achieve my greatness. And you see that there is just a weariness, as he says that behind his eyes. It's not anything that is difficult to perceive. Well, we will do what we can to assist. And I believe we can defend the city. And I believe we will stop Bethamette and end his warpath here. It should be effortless as far as all things are considered.

My beast Lord Harthak, he points to the mail at his right, assures me that our yeties and tigers are awaiting in the mountains and the spires. To devour any beastmen that crosses their path, hundreds. My high overlord Karun points to the female at his left. Assures me that the layout of the city, the narrow paths, the bridges, will be nigh untravable for their bulk in their hooves. That is why we ride tigers. These beast men and their unsteady footing

They'll fall and be splintered across the grounds of the ravines Fells at all sounds very well in hand But I, you know, never hurts to be over-prepared When do you think they will arrive at the walls? We do not know for sure when they do arrive, we don't know when they will attack. attack, but all of our reconnaissance has shown that they are just a mindless savage horde crashing against the walls. This city is the most fortified citadel in all of Strigger. Zern, and he turns and looks at you, would like to think that Zensra is more

fortified than Mogher Kai. I laugh. What do you say to that, boy? I'm sorry. You startled me a little. I don't want to disagree or contradict you, but are you sure that they're just mindless creatures? Have you seen them? They're mindless beasts.

No match for the military. genius and might of myself and my generals. We have been hardened from decades of war. Korovakia with Ereos, with Scephranil, enemies at all fronts. We have learned how to survive in this land. They have no idea what they are dealing with. And now, with the glave of the seven laws,

and foretold by the eternal, Blossom herself. What hope does a demon lord have against us? With all due respect, I mean this. I just don't want anyone to underestimate them. I appreciate your concern. Myself and my generals have it handled. And I still owe you respect, even a Korovakian here in my own hall. Oh, excuse me. He's not really Korovachian, after all, he's more just a guy. Do you think I don't know a Korovachian when I see one? He may be from there, but that doesn't make him a Korovokian per se.

He's just Felix. Him being a Korovokian doesn't define who he is or what he does. He's all I'm saying. In all due respect, of course. That may be the key. case. And I grant you respect as you were the only one

to kneel. You respect the laws of the land that you are in. Close. And the culture. What we've had to do to survive. You could teach the rest of your friends. But, that said, my people and I

are indebted to you. And so this feast is for you. You will have allies, protection and friends and mobile Kai as long as I am war chief.

Feast this. And I'll just like take a piece of whatever and start eating. I'll just follow suit and kind of like eat a little bit and like sip on whatever they're serving to drink and keep my eyes down. Try the soup. It's really quite delicious.

Oh, I haven't yet. You do that. And then there's kind of this awkward silence that falls over the feast, and then suddenly you hear a commotion from outside, the

feasting hall. You're kind of shouting and scuffling, and you hear the bleeding of a goat, and you hear and then suddenly the door the door's open, and you're and you hear like struggling,

and the door's closed behind, and you see the steward, Uh, pardon my interruption, War Chief. There is a halfling here that has demanded audience, and he knows an awful lot about us and our people. He claims to be an orc. That is so much better than I thought it was going to be. I'm okay with that. You've got goat PTSD, I know. Exactly.

And there is silence that falls over the room. Excuse me. We were not going to bring him, War Chief, but we do not know what to do. He says he needs to warn us about the Horn Legion and Baphomet in their plan. And he said that their plan is to break the seventh seal. Immediately, the War Chief's face goes to stone. And he looks at all of his generals.

And then to you all, leave this place. Now, immediately all of the generals get up, including the Beast Lord and the High Overlord, and they immediately start walking away. I scoot my chair out, and I start to stand. And he looks at you, Felix. You, no, all of you, stay. Is this one of Zern's tricks?

Avicar Iris Well, no, I'm not particularly fond of Zern myself I can attest to There was an orc who happened to die And we needed information And I cast a spell that was new to me Well, it was reincarnation I don't think he was too pleased to come back as a hafling

I cannot confirm nor deny Whether this particular hafling riding on a goat Is the same one that was previously An Ork that I resurrected and became a halfling riding on a goat, but I wouldn't say the similar issues are there. It's a fitting image. This isn't a trick.

I know you have no reason to trust me. I just throwing my words in her hat into the brain. So you do have something to do with this? Oh, I do, yes. And so does a nubis. All the generals have gone off the side doors. They close, and you see the beast lord and the high overlord, who had so much confidence

and were feeling very sure of themselves in their plan, they are immediately fleeing this road. And the doors closed behind them, and you see the war chief look at a steward. And he says, bring him in. And the door's open. And you know, let me get!

And you see, a halfling being handled by an orc guard who does not very clearly know what to do with an angry halfling. As you see him squirming and trying to force his way out of the arms of a guard, and then you see another guard with a large great sword of his arm and a goat under one arm. And he starts to follow in and the wart, and wart tree frosty says, not the goat! They'll smell what we're eating. And immediately, the guard turns around and as the door, as the guard as the guard grabs the halfling and holds him out.

And you see, like, you see your not friend, but very much the acquaintance of the the former orc now halfling of Kargash from Fal-Song who's trying to squirm his way out and just the guard just places him down and then lets go. Oh, yes, that is that highly aggressive half-office. Backs out. Haffling. And leaves the room.

And the door closed and you hear another. And it closes. And you see the half-fling a full, like, scraggly beard at this point. wild, almost bloodshot eyes, long longer hair down to the shoulders, and very much covered in dirt and grime as he looks around with wild eyes,

as he looks at the war chief and says, I've been trying to get in touch with you. And he takes a few steps for and the war chief Frost Fang looks at each of you, like very uncertain, and says, Are you certain this isn't a trick? I'm just gonna take my hat off and nod, yes, like I'm sure.

He's the genuine article. Yeah. And you see Kargash step forward, and he is no more than three and a half feet tall. As he steps proudly in, I may not look at, but I'm more of a proud ork than any of them out there. I promise you that war chief, Frostfang, and he immediately kneels deeply and reverently for the war chief. And Frostfang takes in the sight and says,

You may stand And your God Is the power to do This Yes, as miraculous as a night Seam. It is but a tranquil Of his power. I am grateful that I

Worship the Eternal Blossom. Step forth, what is your name? Ork. I'm And I'm Kogesh, a false song. My town was lost to beast plague. It's pronounced plague. Beast plague.

And these people, these outsiders, they did this to me. I don't fault them. I am alive because of it. I can get my revenge because of it. I'm ashamed of my current state, War Chief. I'm sorry. I am... I've lost my... I've lost my tendrils. I am ashamed, and I apologize. I told you to rise, orc.

Kargash seems to be taken aback. And you see kind of a tear fall down his face. As he stands and he seems to almost not be sure what's going on. And you see War Chief Shingoro Frost Fang look at him and it's a look of respect. He seems to have believed Iris at face value. And despite him being stern, he seems to have a deep reverence for his people as he extends a hand and says, come forth. What do you wish to warn us of? and what do you know of a seal? And Kargash steps forward,

looking very small in this grand hall, as he begins to speak, and then Shangorovost Fang holds up his hand. First, what do you know of seals? You mean us? Yes. Are you referring to the animal or the variety that, you know, encloses like a tumor.

Do not test me. I know a lot about seals. The kind of furry, they're very cute. They have lots of good blubber for... Oh, the different, the other kind of seal. Oh, totally confused. I'm sorry. Should you leave the room, or should you stay? I would like to do whatever you would like.

Then what do you know of seal? If you know what I refer to, speak now or leave. We know of what you refer to. I thought so. It was foretold. I kind of seal-A. He sits down and the scraping in of the chair echoes through. And he gestures for everyone to sit, including Kargash.

And he looks around and you can tell that he is, there's bags under his eyes. He has bloodshot wild eyes. bloodshot wild eyes. And he hops up in the chair and scoots it in. And the war chief looks at him and says, speak, car gash of false song. I thank you, war chief, after good fortune, maybe bad, running into these folk again, but maybe my fate was to come here and survive. I've been tailing the Horn Legion for weeks now, and I've been listening, getting as close as I can, and being as small is humiliating, but I've been able to get a lot closer, and I'm a lot sneakier than I used to be. And though the horrible bulls and goats and beasts, they speak some terrible language that I can't understand, the ones that have been turned recently, the new villages every single time

they still kept talking in orcish just little bits and pieces garbled with that terrible speak and I piece together that there's some sort of plan they're fixing to trick you they're coming for this seal it's the seventh one

once they smash it there's no going back I believe the intention and they want to draw you out make you think that it's going to be a proper fight like it was at Zantra they say there's apparently it's all a diversion

they're going to go right to the seal what they say you cannot fall for the trap war chief you have to protect it I don't know nothing about seals beyond what I piece together but I know that it sounded bad if they got what they wanted, if they did trick you. A moment of silence falls over the room, and Worcciy Frost Fang crosses his arms.

Do you expect me to believe, savage, mindless beasts, going to outmaneuver our greatest military minds? They have a planned to trick us and subvert us. They've thrown their bodies against our troops every step of the way. Why should I believe any different this time? Don't know what to tell you, War Chief. He will never look. War Chief Frostfaying in the eye. He continually looks off to the side.

Showing deep reverence and respect. It's an army of beasts, this horn king that they call him. He's savage. He's far more cunning than you're giving him credit for. This is some sort of plan. that he hatched with somebody something something that he was promised I don't know that's what I've pieced together maybe has been difficult to piece it out of the horrible speak I hear it in my head been around him so long I don't even know what

what are my own thoughts anymore he is cunning he's a hunter he marks his prey makes him feel complacent and uncomfortable and then he's strutely and he's and kills and feasts. I've seen in every village every time. I implore you, you must take it seriously. They have some plan for Mugurkai. The other seals apparently have been easy, easy pickings. But they got a plan.

They got these creatures and cages that they're planning for some sort of ritual. I don't know what they're gonna do. They don't look like this world. The war chief leans back again. And he thinks. I do not know what sort of plan they have. But I have been assured of our victory. By Golden Lotus, by the Eternal Blossom herself.

You do trust Golden Lotus, don't you? Without hesitation, sir. Then why do you doubt our plan now? I don't, sir. Forgive me. I'm just trying to get my revenge. I'm just trying to do my part. And perhaps your part is to trust and believe,

have faith in the wisdom of others and not yourself. Trust in the group, the collective, and not your own wits. Is that not what is noble and good? Yes, of course. I'm sorry I've been tracking him for so long. And I have lost so much. And he rubbs his chin and looks incredibly shameful. I promise you, sir

He might be underestimating And you can see that he's fighting back The urge to just completely submit He wants to desperately Sir, please don't underestimate The horn king, the horn legion Don't underestimate them And he just kind of sits back

And his eyes are wide and he's shaking Well, Chief, sir, may I speak? Proceed I can confirm what Kargash is saying. Kargash, right? Yep. Despite being a king of beast, despite being seemingly a

slavering, mindless tyrant. That's Hamet is cunning. We witnessed it ourselves in Zentra, the capital city of Koravakia. He hatched a plan to summon out Moloch and some sort of devil I don't really understand feel free to lay around if I'm getting any of this right but my understanding is

that he made some kind of alliance that wasn't really an alliance and that he abandoned his ally leaving us to defeat him as he left seemingly all part of his plan and so I would encourage you implore you that we can vouch for what Kagesh saying that he clearly is some sort of plan in place beyond just killing and fighting. Perhaps he could have taken Zentra, but he didn't. He left. He let Moloch be summoned by his servants and then left him to die. And die he did.

Make it worth ways and check it at advantage being helped by Kargash. Well, two threes. Oh, dear guy, twist. Yes, please. Yes. He's one of these other guys. Hey, there we go. That's a 19.

Way better than two-three. That was a good old plus one. Yep, we'll be a plus one. As you finish. Did you already remove one from you? We've not, so please, thank you. As you finish, Kargash kind of pipes up a little bit more. He's right.

And his glave, they call it. heart cleaver. I've seen that thing tear through Orkson. Not only that, it can spread that beast plague in an instant. Turn an entire regiment into savage creatures. Spread the plague faster than any actual ailment that I've ever seen. They say that's the key. They say he's going to use that and turn all of us and kill the rest. just like they've been doing it all this trigger. The War Chief leans back and you see that there is an ounce of uncertainty in his face. He kind of looks over his shoulder,

almost expecting to get some sort of guidance from someone that would normally be behind them. It's not there, just a Yeti, chomping away at its meal. And turns back to you all. It says, What do you suggest, then, Korgas, a false song, that I do. It's a war chief.

I don't know, sir, I'm no military mind. I know how to swing a sword, and I know how to herd and farm, and that's it. And I know I've lost my tendrils. I know I've lost my everything. Just don't go to the wall. Just don't fight them head on. Don't expect that the horn kid. King, Macbaphomet is gonna meet you and get killed that easily.

He's a lot smarter than you think. He looks at you, Toa, and back to Kargash in the back at you. Seems to be a bit of... There's... The level of respect that he looks at Kargash with is not that different from you, Toa. Very well. I will consult my generals. They have a plan, but you know of my birth.

to protect more than just Mogherkai here. Yes, we do. The six of you and seven, I presume including your friend, Golden Lotus is tending to currently. You know what we are dealing with. Far worse than any bull. You do know this. We know we're protecting, and we know what's at stake

if this seal that we're speaking are false. I will not go to the wall. go to the wall and be baited out like some sort of thorn to a wolf. Coghesh of Fall Song, you have my word. I will not cower in my fortress, like Zern does himself. I will not go to the wall. And I want you to know that this horn king, so he calls himself, is no match for the weapon that has been crafted for me.

and that I have trained for my entire life. This is far more than a king, but more than that. It's blade. Silver blade has been crafted with the knowledge of my order. Legend has it it is killed far worse than demon lords in the past. It deals of souls. It deals of the land of Strigger itself, the power of death, united with the power of law and order.

Baphomet does not stand a chance. Take solace, and you keep yourself alive. Do you know when they plan on attacking? Yes, sir. That was my last point. They'll arrive by morning, but they are going to wait until tomorrow night. Once the sun falls and they have the cover of darkness, they can see real well. They're not turnal predators.

They hope that you're stupid enough to meet him on the field of combat. like Zern's forces were. But if you don't, don't matter to them. They're ready for that, too. Baphimet's going to do what he's going to do, and I don't know what it's going to look like. It's not going to be pretty. But you've got to do everything you can.

And I wish I could help more than that. You have done more than enough, Congress of Falso. You will be granted private quarters in my citadel. You will be granted safety and protection. I thank you for your submission to the Eternal Blossom. Of course. And I will grant that you be healed and cleansed and made whole once again by Golden Lotus this evening.

Holy fuck. Thank you, sir. That's kind of like you fucking deal. Holy shit. And he leans back and he looks at all of you. And he says, do you concur with everything that this orc has said? I'll solemnly nod, yeah. Yes, that's about right.

Every word of it is. He speaks the truth. And he looks at all of you, and there's a bit of confidence in his face. As he leans back and kind of folds his arms and reaches out and grabs a piece of yak. and you've seen him before where he's gotten heated, but every time you've interacted with him, he's had Golden Lotus with him to help calm him down. And now you can tell that he's without anyone to advise him.

He's kind of reaching out and grabbing, he tears a piece of meat off. And it seems more of that kind of savagery that you have come to expect from works. As his eyes kind of look like, there's some spirit to them. And he tears into a piece of meat and he says, I

still, regardless of their plans, have no doubt that this Baphomet is not as powerful as he thinks he is. And I think, and you hear a smack, and suddenly a loud splattering on the table happens. Oh, God.

As a hawk drops to the ground dead, and suddenly you hear a shriek as in a as they start flying around, you're fluttering ahead, as they are freaking out, smashing into the walls, dead hawks flying.

You see as the tigers all look around, looking at each other, roaring, snarling, as they start bounding for the door. One of the doors where the generals had gone, one white tiger smashes through and bounds out, letting out almost a whine. As you see a massive,

as you see, Hawks falling to the ground dead as they start to freak out, and you hear the loud roaring and whining and shrieks of Hawks beyond the citadel as they, as panic starts to ensue. And you see behind the War Chief, who has been sitting so confidently, his blade at his side, as a looming massive Yeti, wild eyes with a mixture of fear and rage, leans forward with his arms as if to kill him. and in one motion, the war chief, despite his age, leaps from his chair, grabs his blade, and swings,

and the Yeti's head flies across the room. It's claws mere inches from the head of the war chief as it collapses. As absolute pandemonium starts to occur all around and you hear nothing but shrieks and roars. And the war chief stance, His blade, it's a long ornaked sword covered in blood of his prized Yeti. Oh, shit. And he almost seems to be taking in as the animals and the beasts of Mogher Kai start to panic.

What's going on? And Kargash holds his head. They're here. They're close. He is coming. I felt the same thing. Baphimet, the horn king, he's here. I'm going to turn towards Kargash and I'm going to cast calm emotions on him.

How does that work? He has to do... I'd like to roll for a... He has to roll a charisma saving throw. I too would like to roll for him. He does? Yes. What does he see?

17. He fails. So I'm going to suppress his emotions and just calm him down. So that way he can breathe more calm. and get himself together. And you see the war chief just slightly move as another hawk falls down dead. It's neck's horribly

snapped as they are attempting to flee this chamber. I will pull my totem out and be like, what's happening to them? I've got my dad. We don't see anything physically attacking them. No. You just see that the hawks are slaming themselves

against the trying to get out. As the tiger have all fled into other rooms. You hear the loud clattering and the fear of the generals in other rooms. They may have been sitting down

for a drink, some plum wine. And as you just hear just absolute pandemonium, this is what he does. Miles around. They're close. They're close.

And suddenly, as you see one tiger, the last one, as it was bounding for the door. Stop. And it kind of relaxes. and Kargash is calmed down by your paw and he kind of grips it with a small halfling hand

thank you thank you thank you and suddenly all of the pandemonium from outside the roaring of the yetis the tigers and the streaking of the hawks stops all at once and the doors open wolf spark of the distance and a single to backs he stands

there holding the glave. All is well, war, chief. Do not fear. His presence makes our beasts uneasy. But they are calm now. As she steps forward, most of them. As well, except for the wolves in the distance.

As she looks at the... Can you be good at the... Sipagpagos? The mast is how on the distance. as suddenly quiet returns. And you see Kargash as he is calm now, his breathing stills. There's a wildness to his eyes. And the eyes that, the look in his eyes that you see and probably Utoa, it's the most familiar

look to you, it's almost like a bore, being hunted, as if it's this prey, desperate for survival, knowing that the predator is closing in. And you see the same look in all of the other beasts. And he just, Cargis stops and he looks and says, they are close. They are coming. May the eternal blossom, save us. Golden Lotus steps in holding the glave and she walks over to Cargash and places a hand, a paw

on his shoulder and says, she will. Or she'll shall I attend to our new friend? He doesn't say anything and he just nods. And she

pulls his chair back and helps him out and reaches down to hold his hand. Come. We will get your tendrils back. You will be calm. The power of the Horn King has no dominion here. Come and be well.

And she starts to guide him out. And you see Warchie Frostbett, Fang lean back, and he says, Golden Lotus. She stops. May I have my weapon? She stops and several seconds pass. I must pray over it tonight. Make sure it receives its final blessing.

And I will bestow it upon you tomorrow at sundown when the battle occurs. And you will strike down Baphimit as it has been foretold. And you see a little bit of, of frustration. in the warche's face. He's been worked up all night, and he's looking down. He's not even looking at her. He's holding his blade out still,

and he's looking at his... at his Yeti, covered in blood. Why not now? What if they attack in the night? What if tap? And you see some calm wash over him.

The tap kind of rings out. from the glave in this almost musical chime now that it's been reforged into the glave of seven laws and takes a deep breath. I must sleep and rest. Yes. You are so very tired, War Chief. Get your rest. Tomorrow is your destiny, and you will need it. Of course. Thank you for your eternal guidance, Golden Lotus. Of course, my war chief. And she turns and stops at the door and says,

if you need me at any point in the evening, I will be at my sanctum as I always am and will always answer your call at any hour of the night. He says nothing as he kind of slumps back at his chair, turns away from his Yeti's eyes kind of turn to its head and turns back. The table now covered in dead hawks, blood smeared on the walls.

It kind of collapses in, and the door closes behind. Golden Lotus and Kargash, as he, she guides him out. And it's just the seven, or the six of you now. Does it occur to Caprice that Golden Lotus said, by sundown tomorrow for the best, battle but wasn't necessarily present for Kargatch saying that they're going to arrive but wait

until evening to attack. Is that... You got the sense that is... That you could piece that together if you wanted to. So how would she know is what Caprice is going through in his head? That would be up to Caprice. Okay. I think if Derek couldn't pick up on. No, Caprice is younger than Derek, so I have to be careful. Peace. But is he? Is he really? Suddenly returned. and despite the corpses of the beasts all around you, and you see now that a guard has, enters, stumbles in, claw marks on his armor, and his spear covered in blood, and you see a dead tiger on one side.

And he checks on the War Chief, and War Chief just wade his hand, but a lot more measured and calm now, for being soothed, and the door closes. The War Chief just looks. focused, calm. Not as calm as everyone else that you've encountered. There's still an energy in his long, long life, and there seems to be a bit of conflict of struggle there

as he just rubs his chin and it strokes down to his long tendrils, his fingers knocking over each of the jade and gold adornments. This is going to sound like a weird question after everything that's happened. When did you first get bestowed with the tendrils? Did they start this large, or did they grow into... How did you... That's a little inappropriate for dinner conversation. Well, I saw that it was quite an honor for Cargash to be given them,

and I wondered if you were perhaps the first, being such a great chief as yourself. Yes, I was the first to the mark of the Eternal Blossom. This is what allowed me to unite all of the tribes into one clan, the dancing blade. Stopped the bloodshed, brought us peace, prosperity, tranquility, harmony. Without it, we'd be fighting amongst ourselves. We would have been slaughtered by the Korovachians. He doesn't even linger that long on you. He doesn't even seem to care at this point.

It is her blessing, her mark. It allows us to suppress. are innate urges and instincts, be a peace, and with that peace, act proper and true. He continues to kind of just think. And I assume it was Golden Lotus, who introduced you to the blessing in the first place. When she arrived on these shores and found me and showed me the brilliance of the eternal blossom, the golden sky, I will never forget that sight. It was divine. Where did she come from?

Do you know? From you long, she says. It does not matter. She was delivered by a goddess. She has granted me this life, this destiny. I owe her everything. Yes, Delo?

Sorry, sorry, I just dropped my... Pork. Pork or fork. Hold, fork. My pork. I mean, we've all got a pork fork. And also, you can... It's just a two-pronged pork for pork.

Sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt. Oh, has she always had the prophesizing premonition-y future scene? Yes, that is how we met. She knew my name. She said I was destined from greatness. You need the sense that there's a bit of cavalier to how he's addressing you. You can tell that he's surprised to see that you five strangers know of the seal, the burden that he has.

You know of what's going on, you know of Zern and Baffemet, and you seem that there's almost a relief of people that can share the burden of his knowledge, that he can't even share with his generals. And there's a bit of cavalierness, a bit of comfort that that gives him, that he probably doesn't normally enjoy, as he kind of kind of slumps back. It's not the rigid show of might that he maintained for his generals and his subordinates. And it's almost just a, there's almost a strange comfort there, despite him being a very long-lived war chief. When you, before you were blessed by the Eternal Blossom, you had more raging emotions and that was what? What allowed you to unite the tribes is that you were able to suppress those. Do you miss those pieces of you?

Is there some regret there? He sits and he stares at his table. His eyes kind of wander around the room, seeing all that he's built, all that he's created in his life. And he looks at you and actually see the tiny hint of a smile at the corner of his mouth. To be honest with you, I don't even remember what it was like before. Can't miss what you don't remember. So how can we help? Where should we be tonight?

Where can we be stationed? Off there, one night's time. Tonight future's rest. As I must rest, you heard. Golden Lotus. And tomorrow? Tomorrow. Perhaps.

Golden Lotus will have a... idea of where you should be. She has been the one that has told me of your destiny. Perhaps she will know how you can help. Tonight, check on your friend. Make sure she lives. Then rest. Get sleep.

Tomorrow is the destiny I've been waiting for. The destiny of you all as well. The Lord of Demons marches upon us. A king of beast. so they say. I am not convinced. We will strike him down, so it has been foretold.

I must retire now. We will retire as well. Thank you very much, Malti, for this feast and being candid with what you know and we will help in any way we can. We will see how much fruit that help bears tomorrow. judgment today.

He's sleep well. And he leans back and pushes out his chair and he stands. And he takes a few steps. And he takes one last look at his Yeti. And then just turns and goes towards a door in the back of this feasting hall. So who's in the, in the hall now? The door's open and the steward arrives with guards. You see that they're trying to clean up the blood and all of that.

and you see immediately a cleaning staff rushes in as they start like awkwardly scooping up like the dead hawks and like they look at the, you see like two like staff members come in and they look at the Yeti and they're like, and you just see like as they try and like, oh, like, and you kind of hear like, bring in, we're going to need some more help. And so they're trying to clean up the place and you see someone come in and sort of like clean up the feast

but the guard stationed at the door that arrived, they're keeping their eyes and you're making sure you don't go anywhere else in the fortress. What kind of teeth do Yetis have? They have these like fangs, like these large fangs, but they're Simeon-esque, right? But like, you know, kind of like sharp. I would like to approach one of the guards and ask them if I could procure the two predominant fangs of the Yeti. I would say at this point, actually just roll a general persuasion check. Like a bubble.

I don't trust you. You're bad dice. You are bad dice. No, I persuade nobody for anything. I persuade nothing. Is that supposed to be a 20? No, it's a 2. I would say that...

Oh, is it supposed to be a D20? Yeah, no, yeah, it is. That's a default. Yikes. Oh, man, now you have a 20. That's a natural 20, so 29. You gotta give it up. To me.

For noticing. Thank you. It's a pro plan. I always... I always... assume that the largest dye is going to be the D20, and on this set, it's not. You're welcome. Let's roll play it.

As you see, as, you know, now the room is filled with works. And this young woman, she can't be older than 20. As you see that she has relatively small tendrils on her chin, and the shade of her skin is this kind of teal, it's aqua. And she's in very plain clothes and, you see that she's in very plain clothes and, like, you. Light armor as all of them are. And she, like, leans down, and she's trying to heave the head up, and it's massive. And this was War Chief Frostfang's, you know, Prize War Yeti, that you saw the murals of some scenes of him, even riding Mityetti in the battle, and just tearing apart Korvokkians. You seem ripping off the wings of Ericocra.

And the fact that the Worship had to strike down his own beast, and that quickly and not even take the time to mourn. Like, that is a, you get a good sense of the gravity of that. And she's kind of heaving off this, and she's grabbing one by the large horn. She's grabbing one, and she's covered in blood now. As it just trickles out, but not really sure what to do as you approach. Pardon me, darling.

Yes. You look very strong and capable, and up and coming. Yes. That is my hope. Yes, I would like to do something kind for the war chief. I know this beast meant a great deal to him. I would like to have the fangs fashioned into a necklace where... Would you be able to procure them for me?

As you can see, I'm heavily gilded. I have the jewelry to do the deed, unfortunately, with dainty hands like mine, and I show her my giant paws. I'm unable to procure the fangs myself. She looks at you and obviously takes into the fact that you are a cat. You're a tabaxi. And she says, well, I think that you must know golden lotus, so sure. And just very effortlessly. Yeah, the BFFs.

And that is all the confidence that she needed was to basically hand over and allow you to harvest whatever you need from the, the mouth of this. I basically instruct her how to do it. Okay, you do that. So, yeah, she kind of takes it and helps and says, and she hands it to you and wraps it up in some cloth. So it's nice, and you're able to...

Thank you so much, darling. You have upward mobility. I hope so. You are ushered out by the same steward that guided you, and you look around, and you see that the various beast masters are trying to calm their animals, the hawks, the Yeties and the Tigers,

as you see that there are a number of corpses of some that had, you see a tiger down to the bottom of a ravine as you go, it has thrown itself off the cliff. You see a Yeti who has smashed its skull against Iraq as whatever sort of horrible effects of Baphimet. You see the results of it for just a moment. And the fact that it all calmed down instantly is miraculous. As the, you see for the first time a bit of uncertainty.

And a tiny glimpse of fear, but it only lasts for a moment as suddenly calm returns as they're trying to clean up the results of this temporary madness of Bathamette. And you look out ahead and you see the fires. of the Horn Legion and you listen and you hear almost very faintly on the wind bait drumming

you're not sure if that's just your own heartbeat in the quiet of the city orifice the war drums of the Horn Legion approaching but you can see that they are drawing near as you make your way through the city

what do you do on your walk back Felix how important do you think these be sorry to the defenses of Mochri Khaegai overall? It's a tough question Caprice. I don't know. I mean every beast of burden has its play in some sort of

military strategy but I don't know enough about Mogherakai and Make a history check Felix. It's the first dice I've rolled. That's where Felix is a Viking. Natural. Good advantage actually. Because of the research

that you did in the library at Zentra. Thank you. I just remember that. That's better. And I'm sorry, you said history? History, yeah. History. I apologize.

I apologize. That's at least it. That's going to be a 26. 26. I would say, 28, that you know that... Yeah, you knew it. That the beast mastery

that the Dancing Blade has practiced over the past decades has been one of the key facets that has helped repel the Korovaki military. And you recall that, and you even saw the Watchtower, that Korovaki had invaded Grand decades ago and had occupied most of it.

I take back everything I said. I was an absolute fool moments ago when I said that I had no idea. I retcon all of it and say that it's one of their most important military facets. The behavior exhibited tonight by these animals is concerning, to say the least. So say the least, I mean, doesn't that mean we're totally 100% super mega-fucked? Look, I...

Because if he can do that temporarily, and he can do that to the whole defenses of Mokrakeye, and that's the chief thing that they use in order to defend themselves, he's got an off-button that immediately undefends the defendingness. There's no doubt about it that's saying that that puts us at a disadvantage, but we still have the peoples, okay? The people here are strong. They're strong-willed, and, and, and, look, we can't give up. For hers's sake, we can't give up.

I don't, I'm not, I'm not giving up. I'm just saying that I don't want to fight alongside a bunch of people who are just, Hindu cow is ready to, nothing here makes any sense. You're, you're, you're, you're talking to somebody who, who, who being in the dark, I, I don't like feeling stupid, okay? And there's a lot of things that we just don't know. And I don't have the answers to, and I hate it. But we just, we got to move forward. I don't have the answers now, Caprice.

I don't. Neither do why. I just was trying to make a risk assessment. It's worth discussing, for sure. We're going to have to make our own answers to this. Maybe. I think, yes, we might not have there. beasts and their beastmasters to help defend. But we have a weapon that we just very

recently, I think, literally earlier today, we nearly died for. The glave of seven laws will, hopefully it will have the same impact on Baphomet as it did in the past on Miska. Hoha, we do not have a weapon. Well, we don't, but I have no reason to believe that Golden Lodon will not use it or... I believe she will use it, but for what purpose? We don't know. I'm very concerned by what I've seen here today.

I don't trust Golden Lotus. She's removed the fear, which at surface seems like a wonderful calming technique, but fear is there for a purpose. Well... Protects you from danger. I think that it's good for the people to not be panicked. It doesn't do any good beyond making people worry, giving them anxiety, making them, you know, cloud their judgment. It makes them complacent.

That's why we're here. We'll protect them. Beasts or not. And look, to say that the weapon is powerful as an understatement, I mean, we've seen what it can do, we've experienced what it can do, and the fact that we can't even touch it is something. It's worth something. Maybe I just need a second try, because I'm sure if I just try. No, no, no. Look, I don't want to-

I don't want to trust these people. I don't, but we don't have a choice. And so I'm with you, Toa. As unwilling as I am, we have to trust them, and we have to trust this weapon. And maybe I don't trust Golden Lotus, but the chief, the war chief is, is there something real there? Look, I don't want to believe that everybody's being duped and everybody has the woolpoo over their eyes.

But at a certain point, I have to ask myself, where do I draw the line? Our number one goal is to make sure that that seal does not get broken. Right. We know that it's the seventh seal. We know that when the seventh seal, I think if I'm understanding the math correctly, is more than a half of 13 seals. That's correct. Which means really bad stuff's going to happen. Also, we don't know if the other...

Six seals are okay. This could be the last seal. Where are the other seals? Are they broken? There is this seal. I think we need to assume that this is the worst case scenario. Where is this seal? We need to panic.

If it's anything like, well, I would assume, I don't even know why I'm saying this. In the heart of the city, it has to be the most offended point. Do we know, have we been told, Is it under, have we been told somewhere under the city or outside the city? Bruehers Entra seal was, though, right? You were told that there was a seal underneath the entrant. You were, you are presuming, you are presuming that there is a seal, and, and

War Chief Frostfeng confirmed it and alluded to it, but never said where it was or anything like that. I mean, again, so, so Felix's point to, if I had to guess, it would be, Look, I mean, think about where we were at the haunting lodge. It was underground in the heart of the lodge. Granted, the lodge is not Mogherkai. It's not Central, but, you know, I mean, if it were me... Parallelves could be drawn. We must figure out where this could be here.

Well, I think he's right that for tonight, we need to rest. If they're coming tomorrow night, we have 24 hours until the fight. We'll check on Asia. That's where I'm headed next. We're on our way there, right? He said to visit, but if you guys want to go to Hershey, if you want to go home, I assume that I was on the way. I've been presuming that you've been going to the infirmary.

Yes. Yeah. You're on your way of the infirmary. Once we check on Hesia, we need to rest. We need to plan. But my goal is we find out where the seal is and we stand there and we make sure it doesn't get broken. It was almost broken at the Lockford Lodge. It was very close.

It didn't get broken, did it? It was very close to being broken. I don't know if I feel comfortable resting before we have that intervention. Look, we can do some digging, and maybe we can ask around, and if we can find the war chief, maybe he'll tell us,

or maybe even Gold Motors might tell us, but I agree with you. I don't know how I'm going to sleep. but we should have someone awake at all times even if there's some sort of beast disturbance like there was during dinner but other way someone should keep watch someone should listen

someone should be aware in case they attack a day early I agree um all right so I'll I'll continue um heading towards the infirmary in okay

you make your way uh through the task and you can see that as you just in the in the in the 20 minutes it takes to kind of make your way through the city or 20 or 30 minutes the the initial unease of that strange uproar of all the beasts suddenly calmed in an instant the uneases past calm has returned the same peacefulness and harmony of of the peoples and the animals of Bunker Kai returns make it way through winding passages and you see the infirmary bit of golden light gleaming through the windows and as soon as you approach the door you smell that incredibly intense saffron and you make your way inside and you approach that same partition that you had left and you enter golden lotus is nowhere to be seen but you see Hersia slid. sleeping peacefully. You see the bandages all over her, although mostly covered by a blanket,

no more corruption is pulsing from her wounds. She seems to be healed. And as you look into the corner, you see Torvald, he looks incredibly tired after a day of work and then battle and then healing. He is slumped over on a stool in the corner of this area, passed out. and sleeping peacefully. And as you enter the room all five of you, Hersia stirs. And her eyes open and she looks at you. Holy shit.

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