Legends of Avantris - Beneath Dark Wings | Ep. 44 | Beyond the Gilded Cage: Part 2

Episode Date: April 24, 2025

Caprice wakes up in an unholy place and is offered a deal...   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/EZkvHYnG3z8?si=cP7Ex9_Crl4PU1vH

Welcome to Legends of Evantris. I'm Iris and you're listening to Beneath Dark Wings. Here's what happened last time. Both Persia and Torval are working together to rot this thing into a single weapon. Do you now see the beautiful future that I do? It must come to death all for the greater good. I know whom you serve and you should kneel. I am good.

by evil. Why do you wage war against me? I see the future. I see my future. The future of Avengers, the greater good. The future I saw, could it have been wrong? What have I done? And split her skull. You see a Jay's statue of Torvald standing over a destroyed forge, and Herzl's body is alive, covered in thick fur, Her face is elongated, almost as she's a beast creature completely consumed by beast plague. I don't understand. What's, what's wrong? He's fine. He's alive. You're here, aren't you, Caprice? Caprice, you start to lose control of yourself. You feel like you have time, just a brief instant as you feel, you have time for one more song. He does not have much time.

And if push comes to shove, my sweet capricious subject, my shiny new soul love, object forever and ever and ever and ever and ever and ever, and ever, as Caprice collapses death. We can get it back. This is the end. This is Zern's fault. This is our fault. But let us not waste what precious time, what little life we have left on folly. We must save him. it is. If we could get to the veil

and it was just some resonance and there was some machine that could do it, we could figure out where Caprice is now. I don't care who has him. Ten days. That's all the time we need. For Glaccia only has a chance against us if we're hopeless. But with this, I want to free

Caprice from her more than I ever have. Lose hope in my heart. She will come to fear us. Caprice. Agony. Oh, God. Yikes. It's the worst pain you've ever experienced by an order of magnitude. Hear the wailing and shrieking of souls, countless souls, hundreds, no thousands, no, maybe even more surrounding you.

All you can see is fire, flame, and you realize your head is entirely engulfed. your sin, your flesh is burning away and regrowing and burning away, sculling. Your hair is on fire, your horns are on fire, every single bit of your head, but you can't move. You realize that you're encased in something and only your head can move. And all you can do is scream.

As you look around and through the fire, you finally make out everything that is around you, you see skies of ash. What the fuck? an entire ocean of lava and towering black spires of horrific make, cragging peaks of just a hellish landscape. As you now can all hear, your screens are drowned out. You can barely hear your own shrieks amongst the din

of countless shrieking souls. And you realize now that your entire body is encased, in lava, submerged, only your head free, as your entire body is in utter agony as it burns and singes and yet you cannot die. And you look over and you see, no thanks. You see your family members all around you

and they're all shrinking their heads on fire as they're encased up to their necks in lava. Eternally tortured. And your soul is in utter agony. for all eternity. What do? What do? Suffer?

I scream. I am especially alarmed to find that I can't seem to move. I am going to, as best I can, I want to try and struggle and see if I can get an arm free and maybe start to make some way out of the lava like this. You attempt to struggle and you can't move anything. You are, all it is is agony, as pain, as torture, as you are comfortable. as you are completely engulfed in flame, and you hear a voice booming over you,

you can see no shape. Welcome home. Cabritsch. I told you the rest of your life would be short. And here we are, you return to me, and you'll be here. And not just you, you'll have the chance to spend all the time with all of time

with all of your future family members. They're mine. Welcome home and remember Capriccio. Hell is from here to eternity. I will attempt to stifle a scream as best I can. Fuck you! Fuck you! Uh, I love to hear it.

And I'm going to relish in it for all our time. Welcome to Malibor. going to try and see if I have anything on my person. I search for my tuning for my viol. You can't move. Just your head sticking out of love. My claustrophobia starts to kick in. Oh, God.

No, thanks. I am a pure panic machine. I am a open, raw nerve screaming into the heavens. I look around, do I recognize any of the family members, perhaps a generation back, but do I recognize my family family in general as I start to scream around. You would recognize, you see faces of past cousins and uncles that you'd seen pictures of, illustrations of, from your old family albums, as you see that the entire DeCesto line

since Massimo is all here surrounding me. Recognizing that it's real and also being here and feeling the pain that I have, I feel complete loss of hope. I lose myself in the pain for who knows how long. I can't even tell you. Eons, perhaps. Could me? I mean, it would feel like that, perhaps. I feel out of options.

I don't know if I have anything that I can possibly do in this situation. You feel like you have no options at this point. Exactly right. There's nothing that you can do. Suffer, of course. I have my voice. Do you have your voice?

I will scream for Galassia. Come back! Okay, we can make... We already did, Capriccio. This is the result of the deal. Goodbye. Goodbye. And fades off.

Oh, God. Feeling that she's gone, I'm screaming. I'm in agony. I'm going to pray to the first God that comes to my mind. Anubis! No, no, I gotta go. You do think, Derek, I gotta go. Anubis, I gotta go.

Anubis, help. Anyone, please. The second, Pay, pay, pay, pay, me, Paylor. Help, help, help Paler. Not even Blasna. Response. No one is here.

Just, the only voices that respond are the thousands of shrieking tortured souls. Iris! Let me ex-lofty, please! Please! I have the notes in my mind as I start to think of what I would consider to be a last resort. Yep. And I'll sing.

Don't jump to hell. Jumps in a resume! No! Obviously, this would be a very pained, this would be a very pain song, but I'll sing it for real. Oh, my gosh. Come gather round magics. wherever you roam. The power of words is about to be shown.

Yes, the evil of words will soon be known. It doesn't seem worth to be savin. So hear me this first time, my serious tone. It's time to meet Pizzou. Come wizards and clerics who prophetize with your pen. Keep your eyes wide open, he's coming again. It won't be long now Till he makes wide his grin

For there's no telling what evil I'm braven For the loser now may be later to win Yes it's time to meet Pazoooo Come magical spell Please heat my call Don't fail me now Though you may be appalled This monster soon will be raging

Close up your windows and bolster your walls, it's time to meet Pizzou. The moment you finish your song, the sound of screams replaced by howling wind, the smell of fire is replaced by the smell of burning flesh. As you look upon a scorched, barren land, a wasteland, a wasteland, Badlands stretch all around you with towering and towering crags and mesas that whip across and winds that blast with sand and dust as you can feel the heat of a brutal red sun that blazes above hanging in a black sky. You see ancient towers and ziggurats. in the distance and all you can smell is the burning

flesh, the howling wind. You are utterly alone, kneeling. You can see you now have control over your hands. You're out of the lava. The pain is gone? The pain is gone. All the pain that's left

is just the coarse bits of debris and gravel raking across your skin. and the relentless heat of that red evil sun that hangs above. You see bits of the landscape, gyrating, twisting portals that open and then close all manner of color. And you feel like you have been spared at least temporarily from that torture. I'll attempt to stand

onto my two feet for a moment and I'll look around to see if any of my family is with me to look around and all you see is this barren landscape and then it gets dark for a moment as a shadow is cast

over you when you see the silhouette the shadow of wings four of them cast across the ground and you hear You hear something land behind you. And as you turn, you see the figure of a vaguely humanoid shape towering over you.

Seems to have a humanish body covered in feathers wearing a tattered toga of some sorts. with large clawed feet, like the worst of the raptors that you could have imagined in your worst dreams. And its arms are very similar. Long hands with massive talons that extend from each finger. On its back is a huge curved sword, and its head bird-like. No bird. that you've ever seen before. Massive, jagged beak at its mouth and it stares

at you with six blood-red malevolent eyes. And it steps forward as you stand and looks it down at you. You have taken my hell.

You're a hell of a thing, aren't you? You are a hell of a thing. Thank you. Thank you. Devil. No, I mean, where are we? What is this place? You are in Pizzulia, my realm.

Oh, fucking not. I have spared you from your face. Hey, and he circles you. Is Ed moving back and forth, and it's true the strange, the movements that he does, is the combination between man and a bird. As he surveys you, do you wish for my aid? Because you do not agree to a deal,

then you are back to your own hell. Return it to you. And he, there's almost this giddiness as he struts around you, towering over you. Fucking bet. Yeah, I bet. Kill me now. I would need to know the full terms of that deal.

And if there's a room for negotiation. I am not a mere devil, like the terrible glossy daughter of. He kind of nods and trails off. She is treacherous, but you can trust Pizzou. We're in agreement that she's a terrible treacherous bitch. I'm with you 100% on that one. Her power is no match for mine. I can free you.

I can free your family. No way. All you must do is help me bring about my aims. Bring about the books. great future that I have whispered to. I've been in this situation once before, and the aims turned out to me not so good. So if you could elaborate a little bit

and help me make a determination as to whether or not we're weighing the world or just like maybe your own little fiefdom, I don't know, I'm just trying to get a sense of what you're up to. Make a persuasion check. I have to get my dice back out. I'm so upset. That'll be a 20.

That's really fucking yeah. It means position. I will let you in a secret. Oh, you that you could trust me. Be my agent to bring about. And he stends a clawed hand. And suddenly there's a shift.

And the oppressive red sun overhead starts to go dark And as you see blackness, a spherical blackness, is a massive eclipse, looms overhead. And where you, beneath this black, this now black and sun, you see a massive, towering ziggurot of unfathomable size and thousands, millions of, of, of, of, of, of, of, of, of, of, of, of, of, from all planes in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, bloodthirsty, world, ending apocalyptic battle. A war that will dwarf the blood war. A war.

Where Pesu is not just the prince of deep king. As it swirls overhead and says, where there are no, no devils, no mortals. As a Pazuu.

You want that future for anyone. It switches back to normal. But you and your family, your love will be spare and will be made of the so-so. Join my flock. Welcome you and you and Hersia and for art. Caprice takes a long time to answer. He does. And after about nine seconds have passed, suddenly you lose your agency.

And a voice merges from your mouth that is not your own. And you begin to speak. So this is your plan, my associate. You see all six of the eyes open wide as he takes a side. step back as Pazoo takes a step back. It is this. When we made our agreement, the plan was to keep the status quo. It was to keep the blood war ongoing for all time. But I see you, like so many others, have much ambition. And Pizzu Pizzu narrows his eyes. and takes several steps forward and raises his great sword and says, Well, now that you know there's no reason to keep secrets, Osmotias, I never needed you and this changes nothing.

I do not need your soul of this third deep ring. I need not you. I only need Pizzou as a... Caprice, you then say, You need him not, but it would not matter, for he was never even my daughters. He was always mine. And suddenly, the Pizzou is getting ready to swing his great sword

into your form. And suddenly it cuts to a dark room, completely shrouded in shadow. You can vaguely make out Holy shit. What the fuck, guys? Yo, this is some shit. A...

All these DNA sessions are way too much lore. I can't. My lore boner is exploding. Oh, God. You feel as if you're in... A study of some kind. You can see shelves built in very slightly. But all you see is shadow

and you see many crystals, rubies. on these ornate stands as they flank you and you realize that you are unable to move beyond this small confine as if you are in a small ruby yourself and you see a figure 13 feet tall moving around in the darkness you see the silhouette very tall angular features pointed ears and spiraling horns out to the side of its head as it moves about and it turns towards you when you see eyes whites like lanterns looking at you. I apologize for my deception. Capriccio decessure.

For it was I who led you to that statue. You can call me Capriese. Are we going to be associates, Caprice? Is that the cause for the formality? First time in my life, I'm speechless. I don't know. What's going on? Where are we?

What is this place? Who are you? What's going on? What the fuck? I am your new associate. I am here to provide respite. For us, us to make a deal that is beneficial, truly beneficial for all sides.

I'll hear it. I don't think I have much in the way of options. Are you saying that Glacios never was never part of the picture in the first place, or are you just scooping me up? She believed that she was. But she always was ambitious. She was always... She was always reckless. Did not have the attention to detail that I do, which is why she will never ascend to my throne. And she did not read the very fine print. On that contract that Mossimo signed.

Let's go. I really like to see a copy of this goddamn contract. Is my family still... A nightmare of lava? Is that still happening right now? He waves a hand and you see a contract emerges. And he extends a long finger. And you see in this horrible infernal script

as at the very bottom, you see the elegant flourish of Massimo de Sesto at the end. On the other side, you recognize it me see Clausius in truth. All souls in this realm are mine. Not my daughter. They do not belong to her as much as she thinks that they do. Ambition, the prince, can lead it to greatness and gestures to his Santa. But unless you are clever and not. think you are cleverer than you are. It leads to your folly.

It leads to doom. So many ambitious, those that wish to usurp me. My own daughter, that is unsurprising, and my former associate, I apologize to deceive you as long as I have, for I had to learn of Peusen's class. I had suspected his betrayal, but now it is confirmed, and now he will suffer the consequences of violating the contract. As you know, it is far worse than even he, an aerial master of a Bia Bia Bias, can fathom.

If you say so, I, can I sit? Maybe. I'm gonna go and I'm gonna pull a chair out and just... You are not in a chair, you are in a ruby on his shelf. Oh, I'm in a ruby? Yeah. You are in like... I really don't want to be standing.

I'm like... You can sit inside this ruby. I... What the hell? I crossed my legs and I just sort of like... Do you see the results of trestree completes and ambition? And he reaches onto one of his shelves and he picks up one of the rules. one of the rubies, and he holds it up.

You see this horrible imp-like creature with almost this bullish head, but it's devilish. And you feel like you recognize. It's that... Mind you of Moloch. Oh, my God. And it's shrieking and pounding at the sides of this ruby, and he places it back on a shelf.

That counterspell, buddy. I offer you. And he... He hovers... contract, Lusufu. The complete absolution, the dissolving of this contract that Massimo made with a new one that is simple in its designs. You bring about the end, Zuzu. Destroy him. Be my instrument in his downfall. I will spare. your soul, the souls of your family, except Massimo. He is, my daughters, if I will

it, and I do. He made the decision he should suffer the consequences. Everyone else, their souls shall be freed. Your soul shall be free. Your descendant's souls shall be freed. Not 20 minutes ago, I was about five feet away from Massimo, and if I could have fucking moved, I would have slapped him in his fiery face. You're saying they were done. My descendants say they're free. They would turn out to be... If you fulfill your end of the bargain.

Pizzuzzi is gone. Yes. Defeated. His treachery brought to its logical conclusion. I think to myself. I will even, and he waves at hand, and you see a swirling glimpse this almost bird's eye view

of the shattered chamber that your friends are as tall as holding cradle in your body and herges beast-plagued form I can even return your love

and her father but I must take them as collaterally until I am certain of your loyalty and one final piece I will take

the grave of the king of least those are the terms to picture I'm free my family's free except Massimo all my friends are free and

I don't have to help you start a war or anything I just have to let you have the glave and you keep Massimo and what else? Oh, you keep Herja and Torvald for the duration until we kill to Pizzou? Until I am certain of your loyalty.

You must understand I am wary of treachery. Can you define, unpack a loyalty for me for a moment? My man. My man. Your service to me. You must understand the police. Certainly I can prove my loyalty in a short term. It doesn't have to be the death of Pazoo.

do, right? It does not. It can be loyalty, loyalty. If I am satisfied, I will return both your love and her father, revived, restored to their former forms, but I need collateral. Allow me to be frank and candid with you, Coopince, moves about, almost quiet. How about your name was Mosmodius? We're ready to write it down. Just spat it up. For... This is of the utmost importance to me, Caprice. For I was not always like this.

And he runs a finger along his horns. I used to be of the heavens. And it was, Pizzouza. Who lured me to this. So do you understand why? I am willing to give you everything you did for the goal of destroying the treacherous. You see a slight bit of anger, but then immediately returns to coldness. I'm going to lose her Jenny way.

You keep her for a temporary period of time until my loyalty is proved. Alassia gets fucked. We get to fuck Pizzou, and I get to be free of all of this contract business. you signed this contract in a new one immediately materializes in front of you and it has a blank line

and then one that is already filled in and says as well as it is my man let it fucking ride I'm here do I need to initial or I mean I'm in I'm in what other choice do I have

I'm happy to I don't care about any of this shit All I want to do is go home. Be my own home. Teethling. Be my own teethling. And you will, Caput. And I will even sweeten the deal.

I will assist you and your companions, whom you must rely on the power that they call upon, especially. The power of the gods are mighty. And they will be useful in the battles to come. I mean, don't use my friends, but you can go through me, all right? I will grant power to all of you. Whatever.

Here, just a tiny little, I don't know if you know this. I don't know if you're like, I'm mission or whatever, but I wrote 100 curses for your daughter. I know she's your daughter, but just once a day, one of them happens, It's a random to her. You know, if you could just add, like, a little addendum right here on the side, that'd be, they're really, they're really minor. Her shame and rage and defeat as punishment for her treacheries going to happen regardless of this, Caprice.

Well, do the Everything Bagel thing at least once, and I'm in. Making a persuasion check. That was a 11. It's like 44. 35. Yeah. He waves his hand and you see an everything bagel emerge. All of the stuff on top is like falling very obnoxiously to the ground and then it disappears.

And he waves his hands and a new lines add with a contract that mentions the everything Bayesian. All right. All right. Capricio de Sesto, but you can call me Capriese. And the contract. is sealed, it ignites into flame,

and it rolls up and blinks out, and you see the contract that Mossimo had signed on one corner and ignites into ash. Thanks, great, great, great granddad. Fuck you.

We have a deal, Caprice. I am looking forward to our business partnership. It's been a pleasure, assy. And suddenly, back into the chamber, you're carrying Caprice and Herja as Caprice, you sputter to life as your consciousness. As the tuning fork that you're holding starts to vibrate and glow in this red. light, and something like, it erupts and you drop it, and suddenly shadow is completely engulfing the space.

As you see a tall, thin silhouette of a robed devil, long horns looking at you with lantern-like eyes, I have returned Caprice to you. Caprice, are you okay? I'll look down into my arm. I think so. Yeah? Is this real? Are you seeing this? You are seeing this. Say something. Only Caprice from now. It always takes me a while to get up in the morning.

Oh, it is Caprice. Oh, that's true. Who is this? Who are you? Is the tuning for still in one piece? It's at the center of the shadow. But it hasn't shattered. No, it's not shattered. It is still in one piece. I'm watching the figure in the tuning fork. It was the power of Anubis that returned him to life, but I have released his soul.

I have made a deal with your companion. Caprice, not again. This time I got to set some terms, all right? Who are you? That is not important. It's the most important, you have to tell me. I am your friend's new business associate. I have returned him to you with assistant.

But at what cost? The cost of a shared aim, the fall of he who you should never name. Hold on. You mean that? Yes, I do. What? What is this? I'm gonna try not to like drop her in her.

What are you doing? Stop this. Bird with the ho fry Don't say it Just say his name thrice We would never say his name thrice That bigotto Can you let me down? Oh

Oh so weird I gently like put you down We have to destroy Zatkei Yes I Have the same goal That you do

At least in the immediate We are all Allies here We are all friends No, we are not. We're not, but we have an agreement. We have our agreement, and you see the hand of this shadowy figure wave across the room, and there's a swirling of this darkness

as Herja suddenly starts to shrink and get encased in a ruby. What have you done to me? And Torval, who's off in the distance, once again, and there's two floating rubies, and then alongside them in a row of three is Heart Cleaver, the glaver Baffiname. As it all floats and swirls around the shadowy figure. What have you done with the truth? Oh, we've got to let them, let him take them. What are you doing with them?

You can't have those. It has already been signed away, simply collateral. I am their savior, but I demand loyalty, and the eyes turn to Caprice. And now that you are all associated with my business associate, I am happy to give you assistance. I want nothing from. Caprice, you signed Persia away? No, I mean, not really, no.

And you all feel the story. strange kind of darkness that surrounds you and feels warmth. But it's not the pleasant warmth of a comfy fire. The warm sands, the warm sands. It feels there's something else. I'm going to push against it. You do. I do not want to accept anything.

And you, in whatever kind of power that is washing over you, does not overcome you. does not overcome you. And it almost kind of shrinks away when it gets close to that power of anubis. And you kind of all feel this power well into you as the center of this tuning for. And this shadowy figure 13 feet tall looks around. Totally than a garden faywild? Not even close. Oh, two feet shorter than a garden faywild.

Exactly right. I wish I just did that too. I'm an idiot. The point of that joke is I'm an idiot. I don't believe that for a second. The two rubies now, you see the statue of Torvald, and the unconscious beast creature in these rubies. Now swirl closer and closer.

The crease can inform you of what he has done and share as much as he cares to. My agreement and my bargain are with him. Do we feel as though there's any sort of, like, agreement needing to be made to accept this? Nope. It's already happened. It's forced upon this. Fuck.

And it swirls around as the shadows get smaller and smaller, and they slink away from the sides of the chamber. As the light of those eyes kind of shimmer. and they turn back to you Caprice. Remember a Caprice, loyalty, and they will be returned. I will not accept any more treachery. And in a swirling burst, the glave that rubies and the shadow are gone.

And the chamber returns. Capriese is alive. I assume I'm at one hit point, and mechanically it doesn't. doesn't matter, but I would say that you're stored to full health. Oh, wow. Yeah. Yeah.

Oh. Caprice? Is it really you? It can't be. You were dead. We all saw it. A moment ago, you weren't breathing. Yeah.

Yeah. It's been quite a journey for me too, you guys. What's been going on here in the real world? Hersia! What about Hersia? Yeah. Hi, she's gonna be staying with the white eyes over there, the guy with the big lantern eyes. Did they give you a name?

Do I remember a name? You remember the name of the hands. I grabbed Caprice by his lapels. Did they give you a name? Yeah? Tell me. I'll write it down for you. I don't know how speaking names works.

Now! I'll take out a piece of parchment. I don't have a part. Can I have that list back? I give him whatever he needs, the list. I take the 100 list back and I... Now you have that information. Is this a name that rings a bell to me at all? Make a history. An archa check.

22. 22. I would say that it was that in the deepest, darkest reaches of the library where you were able and only in high general Zern's private collection you had seen the name that word scribbled down on in a book on a scrap that was of ancient unknown origins but the but you got the sense that it was a incredibly powerful and possibly powerful uh terrible I release my grip on his lapels I fall to the ground, kind of sitting down with my legs crossed,

and I begin to chuckle to myself. And that's... What? What? I don't understand. What is so funny? What have you done, Caprice? I made a deal with that person, you guys all just saw.

But it's not... You guys are free to join me. My fate is my own now. All I have to do is show loyalty and Hurtja will be back. But my... I've freed the souls of my family. I've, I've, I've, I've, I've, I've, I've, I've, I've, I've, I've, I've, I've, I've, the I've, everything's fine.

All you have to do show loyalty, but your freedom is your own. Yeah, but, but you guys aren't beholden to anything. I would love it if you join me, but I, I, I'm not asking you to, I'm not even, the, the point is, is that, look, I was, you don't have any idea where I was, what, what happened to me after I died, do you have any idea? I, I can't begin to guess. I can't, because, I can't, It seems contradictory, that you have your soul back,

but you also have to show loyalty. It's like you just sold it to someone else. You too- My choice this time. My choice this time, I get to choose. I get to choose and then I can be free. I finally feel free for the first time in my life. You turned inertia into a collateral.

I don't know the meaning of the word. I get up off of the ground and I slowly walk over to Greece. I'm near six feet tall. I don't know how tall it is. I would say that you're one or two inches taller than I am. And I... Minus the horns.

I'm trying to look impervious, is that the word? As I'm looming over you. Imposing. Imposing, thank you. Impose. Whatever. It would work. Nothing's getting through me.

As I'm looking down at you, it works. And then I'm going to pull you into a warming brace. I'm so glad you're not doing. You'll figure this out, Caprice. We always do. But please don't leave us again. We love you. I will return the embrace immediately.

Also, you're very stupid. But it's so good to have you. I don't know what else I could have done. I'll walk you through all of the steps that I went through. And I tried very hard not to be a betrayal. No, no, hug me. Keep hugging me. Oh, okay.

Okay. Gosh, you smell so good. It's just crazy. I really didn't. This relationship happening. I'm so glad you're not doing. I'll wait down to Felix. I really don't know the meaning of the word.

What's a collateral? Tell her, there's plenty of time for all that. I need a minute. All right. The tuning floor's still there. You look at the tuning floor. When you work with other people, it's when you collaborate with them.

You look at the tuning for. It has been restored. Ah, shit. And it is sitting there perfectly. The tuning fork has been restored. It's been restored. And you check your pockets and the scales gone. Thank you.

Well, Caprice has returned. I'm not going to attend that I'm not frustrated but that you made yet another deal. But he is right. This time he had a choice. I'm not quite sure how I would react. I've been in a similar situation.

I don't think any of us knows what choices we would make in utter desperation. It is not for us to judge. I'm happy you're back. I'm happy you're back. I'm happy I'm back too. Is this my tuning fork? I mean, all of that goes without saying.

You can walk us through what happened and you can not spare a detail and tell us where you were and who you talked to and what you did and where did you get that and what is it made of and does it sound okay now and maybe you should give me the tuning fork.

This tuning fork? Yeah, that one. And I'll take it if you want. I'll just hold on to it for a little and you can answer the questions about that and where you were and what you talked about, walk us to the deal, and all of those things. My dad, uh, Squio, he gave this to me. May I?

No, your dad was not called Squeeo. Yeah, yeah, my dad's name is Squeeo. That is not a name. His dad's name was Fyfer and then, uh, his dad's name was Vavashi and then Massimo. Why on earth would someone in the child Squio? Was he not liked? He's one of the most beloved, uh, uh, uh, uh, he's one of the most beloved, uh, uh, uh, people in our whole town, I mean, until I was born.

Squeer. No, maybe it's just like a cultural thing. I take the tuning fork from Caprice. Squeer to Cicester. I mean, here, I write out the entire family line. No. While she's reviewing the family line, I find something solid or rock, whatever,

and I strike the tune for it. I want to listen to it. You strike it in and it rings out and it's musical, but you can sense that that discordant resonance, that quality that wasn't quite complete now is, as it rings in, it has a very unique sound to it. And the metal that is made of is not anything I've ever seen before. It's not like a metal.

It's like some other weird. It's like this reddish metal that he almost looks crystalline, like ruby-ish. Can you please let Dante and Stella know that they've had enough children? Oh, well, let me tell you, they're fucking crazy. I have a question from the DM. When you were saying rubies, like the rubies on the shells, Ruby's floating around, I'm picturing like red chaos emeralds that are like floating around. Okay, so that's 100%.

I give Caprice Baggis to move for it. It's never lost its shape. It always holds its tone. I don't know what to tell you. I mean, I think my dad got it from his dad. It could be a pass down. You have a lot to tell us, my friend. A lot to tell us.

Well, I'm an open book. I'm not holding any secrets anymore. So then tell us what happened. What did you experience? Wait, wait. What was it? Before we go a second further, there is an entire chamber of draconic information here.

Here. We talk as we walk. I got to see what's in there. Well, and honestly, this is the best thing that could happen to. We are no longer wrong. 10-day time frame. That's right. What's 10 days when you look at 10 weeks?

Or 10 years? Or 10 lifetimes? The information that's contained to just come with me. I'll lead the way. And I want to walk towards where all those dragon crystals were. You do that.

As the group starts to get distracted and starts to go back to their own business and less concentrated on me. Oh, I'm keeping my eyes on you. With the spotlight as off of me as possible, I'm just going to. And then I will. follow. I actually want to hang back and have a conversation with Caprice while we're

walking. Before we start moving, I want to look over my shoulder. Wait, hold on! And I want to look, and I saw that heart piercer whatever floated up. Yeah. Is the golden lotus's, well, and she is the Rod of Law, is Golden Lotus's glaef still laying there? It got completely

shattered. The power of what bursted out was the energy of, and I'll just say that you could probably deduce this, the energy of Stricka could no longer be contained in this process. with the death of Rajani. And it basically erupted, and both sides had immediately completed the transformation

of Herjan-Torvald and shattered the weapon. So Rajani's plan to turn it into that double glade that spread her control like Beast plague was completely obliterated with her death. And as Modius got away with some sort of a massive bed glaive weapon. Yes, and you know that that was filled with this horrible, chaotic power. Power. Good for him.

Good for him. You know. There you go, blood. So, you begin making your way up the stairs, on the way back out of the way that you came to the terrace that looks over that beautiful valley. And I guess you're able to hang back and have a conversation. Oh, yeah, I forgot I was going to do that. Caprice. Yeah?

Would you like a bite for my people? Kind of, yeah. Well, I only have the one. Anyway, how was death? What was it like on the other side? Well, the last thing I remember is

Lufty just absolutely crushing my ribs with her spoon until I couldn't... Yeah, uh-huh. And then... You'll forgive her, of course. Oh, yeah, no, no. I could see the... That wasn't Lufty hit.

That was mean. She really likes... spun into it, you know. It hurt quite a bit. That part was not fun. I imagine if I was falling asleep and in an old age, that would be less of an intimidating prospect, but that's about as bad a way as I can imagine. Then, if you're talking about that like waterfall moment, you know, it's alive, alive, alive, not alive, it was like, it was like falling and falling and flying at the same time. It was like free fall, controlled. But neither of those things. The next thing I remember, I was in what I perceived that I would always be. From as soon as I learned that I was the way that I was, I was being tortured. I was in tremendous amount of pain. Where's an order of magnitude amount of pain that I can't even describe to you?

Everyone I knew and my family was there. It was tortured. My hubris has gotten the better of me. I've always believed, and I'll hold up a little sack, a black velvet bag, and you'll see that it is mostly empty. I've put one diamond left. I always believed that should any of us fall, and Eubis would carry you back.

never dawned on me that there would be powers that could be meant such a thing. And when we lost you, we realized her little power would truly have. Should you fall again? What are my wishes? I didn't know, so I prepared you for burial, potentially, I sustained what brutality I could in your mortal form, so that we could do what we could to bring you back. And I realized in doing so, I never truly knew what your wishes were.

If you couldn't bring me back, a second time, I'd want to be buried in Galthaca with the rest of my family. If you have the means, I mean, that's a huge, huge favor of where we are right now. I'll grab your hand and squeeze it. I can always make sure when we return home. Thank you. I haven't really given that much thought. It's been something that's been very scary for me for a long time. Yes. I fear this deal that you've made with this entity. I don't want you to suffer eternity, do you? None of us do. Though I've made no deal with you myself. I am loyal to you as my friend. I would follow you on the street. I would follow you on the street. journey. I would beseech Anubis for his help when I can. And we will fell whatever this creature is.

We will restore good to the world around us until my very last rest. Ditto. Great. Do you like cheese? Are you having pickles and cheese? I do like to combine them. Would you like to try it? Have you slept with anyone recently? What? Why sleep next to Lufty every night? Alright, uh, I'll have some cheese. If I can't have any pickled, I would take some cheese.

I'm very hungry. Oh, well, I only have one slice. I'm very fertile. Oh, you're hungry. I have some pistachios. Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, you just died. And I look at, I do have like this little piece of cheese. And I look down in it sullenly.

An actually a hearty piece of cheese. I break it in half, and one of the halves is clearly larger than the other. And you can see as one tear rolls down my cheek as I hand caprice the larger piece of your cheese. Well, you've just died, so. I'll reach past your hand and grab the smaller piece of cheese. Oh, caprice. And then I'll put my arm around you, and then we'll just catch up with the girls. Thank you for your consideration.

I'll put my arm around you, too, and watch. You walk out. and Kevin was the group as you get towards the top of the spheres at this point. I'm about to have some stone cats. Into that chamber. Where you had seen, where you had remember up ahead, that beautiful vision of dawn in you long, it's just a cold stone chamber up ahead.

And you make your way up and you actually see smoke billowing. And as you arrive to that chamber, where there had been a beautiful glade with a tree, it's all completely, charred, burn smoking and smoldering. The tree is now nothing more than almost like a piece of charred coal. As the, you see that the pond that had held those fish is still bubbling and simmering and steaming. And you see the fish cooked, boiled alive.

Oh, good. And as you see everything around you in this chamber is completely charred. I'm going to scoop up some fish. Yeah, you're able to get these big plump fish. Oh, this is lovely. But this is right. Everyone eat? No, no, the library, the wealth of knowledge.

And I'm going to proceed with more haste towards where I believe that that... I'll eat his share. That dragon library is. The smoke continues to billow in each chamber. Each hallway, all of the murals are completely fried. This is still within her cavern. Yep. Yep.

And you see as you turn the corner and all that light, that golden light is now gone, there's smoke through the air and you turn to that chamber that was filled with so many crystalline, floating crystals filled with great magical power and knowledge. All you see now is just melted glass that coats the entire chamber. It's completely incinerated, melted down. And it's still smoking and smoldering. You feel the warmth on the holes all around you. I would immediately just have run to like the closest puddle glass.

Yeah, you see this whole, you see a large, like, it's amorphous, like, as if this strange, a blown glass, horrible structure that's in this pile of multicolors that have all been melted down as it's still hot to the touch. But they're with time now. Oh, what's my favorite? It's exactly right. And I will just, I'll just have taken my hat off,

and I don't know what to do is I kneel there in front of this melted glass. Uh-huh. I feel that's not my horse. Oh, what that blueberry. I'm chuffed about you, too. Oh, Felix. Oh, I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry.

I'm sorry. I'm sorry. What is every? You'll have to go back to into it. Let's go back to Jamany and listen to some craftwork, yeah. Far away from the cold night. I hate it all. Libby.

Libby, bummerry. Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh. Holy shit. I'm sorry. Skip that. I'm not even going to say.

No to that happened. Lillipy just explode. I'm going to say. I quit. I quit. Poor Felix. Uh, yeah, Felix is feeling distraught. Would you like to say something?

No. It's okay, Felix. It was all conditional on her, and she's gone now. Well, Felix, look on the bright side. You never had the knowledge to begin with, so we've really lost anything. It's a good point. Everyone lost.

Think about what could have been and what could be. And now we'll never have it. That reminds me. Many hundreds, thousands of years ago, there was a great library along the coast in Nekbet. It was burnt to crisp, untold vast knowledge is destroyed. The pirate scrolls of knowledge of the end. angels that will never get back. Is that supposed to make me feel better?

Well, I just wanted you to know you want to know. Oh no, that's terrible. That's terrible! I'm just gonna get up, like, with my hat and my hands. Here you are! I'm just gonna get up, looking at Iris, and, like, scurry out and away, like, back through. Like, there's nothing I can do. I have nothing to say.

I don't feel like that made it any better. It's... Nope. I just kept going. I'm gone. There's nothing we can do. You do. And then, yeah, I guess I'll fall off your feet off. I'm distraught.

I'm inconsolable. You arrive at the library. It is a smoldering, it's nothing but ash. As all of the history lost. Sweet. And you see the melted remnants of the weapons all along the sides of the armory. And the dragon's fire that has melted, even the menagerie of stone animals and creatures from across of Antras completely just puddles.

The entire layer has been completely incinerated. I don't know. You look like you want to ask a question, but you're too dumb to ask it. This is the face that Kelsey's been making for five minutes. I don't know. I don't understand why everything's destroyed. Well, like, do we know why? that happened? Stop it.

Felix, make an intelligence check. I hate you. You're horrible. Oh my God, nine. Felix, make a history check. It's only plus nine to my end. It ain't it ain't sissica. It ain't sissacob. Find my dice. That was like my best guys.

You got it. I got 22. 22. I would say that from what you have read about dragons, usually, that there are many dragons that the ones that are that build the lavered layers, especially gold dragons, that it is, that there are powerful magics that are there for to basically destroy everything on the case of their death. Ah, dead man switch.

Yes, it's, you get the sense that this is a dead man switch for Rajami. And you get the sense that she's incredibly obviously what you can see. So it's when she dies, her layer blows up. Yes. I explained this to the impossibly confused Lufthage. I don't get it. Felix, maybe you can describe it to me in Castlefield terms. Felix, why are you talking like that?

I'm doing my best lofty impressions. She's anything like that. Are we all going to do empty impressions? Please, after you. Ooh, I like manhood. That's good. Did you like? Yes, it was good.

Do you have beer so I can get lucy lofty? Oh. Wow. That's a fitting image. Oh, well, next time. This podcast is brought to you by our Patreon. Become a patron today at patreon.com slash legends of Evantris 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 Saltmarsh. 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 toome for Dungeons and Dragons 5th edition. And don't forget to snag all of the extra goodies like dice, miniatures, plushies, a tarot deck, and more. Thank you. So I would explain this phenomenon to Luffy in an absolutely non-condescending way. Thanks.

I accept it. As we proceed to remove ourselves from this... I'm gonna just keep proceeding forward. I mean, there's nothing there, right? It's all just melted puddles of metals and stone. There's nothing for us here. We should probably find Izaki. I was that's...

That's what I was going to say. That we should find him. Yes, no, we should find Izaki, because Luftiers had... She was going to convince him to assist us. Yeah. We need him to watch over the people in here. And also maybe...

The Stiches get us home. No. We got to get back. I'm pretty sure all of the people in here are going to meet. And then he can come back and continue to watch over them, but we have to get to somewhere safe. But somebody needs to. We've left over to you.

I agree. We can let people know. 12-old is gone. Oh, that's right. He's in a gym. But all these are the people. There's still people. They're probably.

I don't really know who they are, like why they're valuable, but I feel like I'm trying to grow as a person here, and it seems like the right answer. Tell me it's the right answer. We'll see. So let's go find Hisoki. I think that's the right answer, Lufty. Yes, thank you. What I'm trying to say is I don't trust Hisoki with all of their lives. We should get somewhere where we can find someone that we do trust with their lives. You see? Like me? Well, I'm not sure I don't really trust anyone that's not in this room.

That's well. What about Captain Freewing? I still don't trust him. We're going to need to keep this place a secret. And the question is really, in my mind, is how honest with Izaki are we, that we did the things that we just did? I'm feeling that he'll is going to figure it out eventually. I mean, it might take a few years. That's plenty of time.

He'll find to a dead... body in the pool back there. I mean... Unless we say, hey, this is, you know, what she said for you to do for us. I don't think we need to lie. I think we just tell him what happened. And that she was really not a good person.

Or dragon, I guess. Yeah, but he might not believe that. And lying is like, you know, easier. Maybe she are... Maybe he's dead, so... I'm with Toa. I think we just come clean. Tell them what happened.

Well, all right. She's dead. So regardless of whether he... He's happy about it or not. You're right. He has no one to serve. That's true. I was right. Let's focus on that.

And we're the ones that killed her, so we were clearly more powerful than she was. Yeah. Clearly. Yeah. Just barely. Just barely. But he doesn't need to know that.

Well, maybe it's like these rooms. Maybe Azaki is back to wherever Hazzaki was before Golden Motors showed up. That's a great question, actually. That's a point I didn't. even think about. What kind of miss him a little bit? Maybe not, I don't know. Let's make our way to him. We'll have time to figure it. Agreed. To the terrace. We make our way to the terrace. You make your way and you see that the door is still shut. But with some force from Toa, you're able to strong arm the door open. It swings outward. And the so... I guess what time of day would it be? I guess it would be moonlight, it would be night at this point.

As the, you spent a whole day in this, in this, in this layer. As the moon is high overhead, as it shines down. And that shimmering gold mist is no longer there. And you see the terrace stretching out in front of you as the door opens just enough for you all to, you all to make your way out. More of a crack on a dragon scale. You're able to easily all get out, even with Toa's massive size. And you see the mountains of Graschen stretching out and the sea to the north,

stretching out far to the darkened horizon. And at the very edge of this large terrace that overlooks the valley, you see the large form of Kizaki's standing alert, guard, and exactly. where you left him, watching the entrance. He doesn't even turn completely dutifully keeping his attention on the valley. I'm so excited to be in fresh air and on the terrace and in the position that I now find myself in

after being the luckiest motherfucker on the planet, I immediately see the moon and I'm just like, When the night has come, and the land is dark, and the moon is the only, and I do just the song. I don't change the lyrics at all. I just do stand by me.

He just lets it run. I love that. And you start singing into the night, and Hezaki immediately turns his key to her head, and he looks at you, and he says, You guys are back. That means that you convinced Rajani to, you convinced her and you joined her.

That's so great. Where are your tendrils? There's like dry blood all over me, and I just kind of sit down. I look at toe, and I'm like, I shoot my head. I don't even know what to say to Hezaki. Yeah, you know. Hazaki, come on down.

Come join us. We're all going to sit and hang out for a minute and have a quick chat. Oh, gosh, where's for Johnny? Is she with you? Or is she, she's obviously her important business? It's going to succeed. We're going to have a world of peace and order pretty soon here. It's been taking a lot longer than I would have thought. At this point, we really should have, we really should have gotten the whole, yeah, we're going to need you to stop that and be quiet now.

While this conversation is going on, I just like, I put some Tinder down and I, like, set up a teapot and I pressed into just ate some flame and I start to boil some water for tea. Because clearly, I can sense Caprice is going to say something. So I'm just trying to rest and, like, I start to boil some water for tea. Yeah, no, it doesn't take long. And he just talked, well, you know, after I mean, the plan was that everything was going to happen tonight. And well, today and it's already night. And I don't know what's happening. but she, I mean, she works in a mysterious ways.

And that's what I say. That's why I love her so much. What? We killed her. Herjani is unfortunately gone. No, that's impossible. She's a goddess. Yeah, and she's gone. The thing is, she lied to you.

If she was a goddess, clearly we could not have killed her, but we killed her. And you'll know that because her entire layer is slowly crumbling from the inside out. You're fast if you want to check it out. Luffy is actually the most powerful of all of us. Yeah, it's true. You know, it was a group effort, but I only say that to make them feel better. It was me and I killed her. She's gone now.

She's dead? Yeah, she is, but with her last... Listen, baby! Why would you kill her? With her last dying breath. Do you know what she said to us, mostly to me? She's dead. She said, my sweet, sweet, dear, dear...

Dog, dragon, something boy, man. What are you talking about? In her dying breath, she said, My dear sweet Hazaki, that's right. Whatever you are, she said, Please take him under your strong, strong wing and let him follow as he has followed me. I don't even know what that means.

You don't need to, sweet boy. Why will you kill her? She was a beautiful and kind. And this is this massive creature who's like, who's stomping or not stopping around. You don't need to worry. He's floating around as if he can't believe what you're saying. Luffy, yeah. This is a hard moment.

You can't sugar-coated. Pizzochi, the truth is, in her dying breath, she said, the only thing that we could do right is to behead you. And she never truly loved you. You were weak and pathetic. And that you were not worth even an 1⁄t ounce of the care of. she gave you. And in that moment, Lufni, her eyes shone with hatred, she said, no, he is the smartest, the kindest, the most strong Kieran I've ever seen. And you shall fall for saying those harsh words

as she cleaved her head from her body. For you, Izoki. Because she, she saw in you, but the golden lotus never could. Thank you for sharing that. I will give you inspiration. I understand how much you wanted to save Hisoki from the harsh reality. Yeah, I did. But it's important that he knows... So harsh. What you've done for him. Yeah, so much.

And how much you truly care. I care so much. Make a deception check and advantage. Me or her? You. Damn it. You're good. You bet he's punished.

You'd be right. Natural 20. Oh. You said deception? Yes. Okay. I have to see what it is. 23.

Yay! 23. As you say this, his eyes are welling with tears. His eyes are already welling with tears. And he's just, and he looks with utter shock and disbelief, stunned. It takes a moment. All you can hear is just the wind, the breeze passing through this valley, as this massive Kieran glowing himself.

his face falls. Did she really say that? It was very clear that she was not who she said she was. What about our love? Was that a lie? Yes. Why would a woman ever lie? Yeah, it's terrible that they do that. I don't know. It's awful. But you can know that Lufty would never lie.

He would never lie. I would never lie. And all the love that you thought she gave you, it was a lie, but I could give you that and more. And what is better than the love of two women, of the love of love of life? You know what I'm saying? Oh, my. We could love you. I don't know what to feel.

Wait, though, I didn't. I went across the glades for her love. She's tall, tall, child, kitty in this short, short cloud. Here, to love you eternally? And you cleaned her head on with a spoon? How is that even possible? It's a very sharp spoon. Yeah, it gets going and you know, it's really no stuff in it.

I would be able to tell you, but unfortunately, she crushed my ribs horribly and I died also, so I have no idea how she did that. The truth is, Sasaki, that is really just simple physics. Once you get enough force behind the spoon, the head'll just come clean. Never mind. The point here to remember is that she's gone and there's no bringing her back, but we're here.

And we love you and respect you. And Tizuque, do you want the love of women who never truly loved you? Who lied to you and deceived you? In case you're confused you don't. I can tell you now. And Luffy would know. Just one additional detail, which is you were also in a... Big believer of the good...

Oh yeah, no, I know because I love you. The big good world, the full of peace and harmony and the whole thing. Welcome aboard. She really just lied to me about our love. Was she using me just to get all of those pieces of the rod across the plane? Yes. Yeah. And to be fair, somebody who truly believed in some sort of grand peace plan wouldn't have attacked us like she did.

Yeah. And did she... Oh, you promised that she... She said all that stuff with me. Come sit. Come sit down by the fire and have some tea. Have the tea. The pot is boiling and I'm willing to.

We're here for you and to comfort you. I offer some tea. He floats towards the pot. And he hunkers down. But once again, you can see that he's hovering just like an inch above the ground. He never actually makes contact with that. 20.

20. And he said... Wait, persuasion? Yes, I'm not. I can't believe that after everything I did. I thought our love was real. Didn't you really love me?

We just met. Well, I have loved so many because I have so much love to give and love happens in an instant. It's happening right now. Don't you feel it? Don't you feel it now? I just feel. Tell me you feel it.

I feel sad. That's sometimes how love feels. And you see these like shimmering and like as he cries, they're like, ting, ding, ding, ting. As the music is floating through the air, as he's crying as each tear falls onto the ground. I'll pour a fresh teacup and you have some tea, you know, a bit of nip and I will just keep your eyes,

just keep your eyes on Lutti. And here, have a little bit of extra brim. And I'm going to pour my filter of love into the tea Shade of hand check. I'm not trying to pretend. I'm lying to say that I am putting in it. You're secretly putting in, you're not a deception in sleight of hand.

How stealthily are you doing this? Okay. That would be a 21. That's pretty good. That's very good. Compared to the natural one in my role. As he looks at so, and he doesn't even,

he's looking at Lofti. and is like, well, you know, you're really nice, but I probably need to just kind of work out myself for a while. And we've now destroyed him as a person. He drinks. He drinks. And can you explain what the filter, what the filter love fucking does? The next time you see a creature within 10 minutes after drinking this filter,

you become charmed by that creature for one hour. If the creature is of a species and gender, are normally attracted to you, you regard it as your true love, while you are charmed. And he drinks in and he says, well, actually, you're kind of hot. And I mean, I know they say not to do rebounds, but I guess they can give intimacy a hot. It probably is a healthy, but I don't know if I'm in the place to make good decision for my own well-being. Lifty will love you.

She's, uh, she's okay, baby. because I can make the decisions for you. I'll just take out of that off of your shoulders. I take a long shift and say, if I had a gold piece. Come here now. And I'll snuggle him into my bosom and say, oh, that's right.

The size difference between you is absolutely, it's comical. As he leans down and he has his massive head as it leans down, he's like snuggling a horse head. He's going up. He mousles into you and he, And he's still, tears are still going down,

and they're shining with rainbows. Oh, he's so cute. They're shining with rain. They're like, I guess I'll just be able to move. I don't know why I feel this way about you, but I guess this is a good coping mechanism. Everything would be right as rain. Just don't you worry, Mama Lufty's got you.

Okay, that G was really good. Yeah, have some more. Have some more. Bottom's up. And he takes his hooves, and it's very tiny in his hooves, and he's a sip-set. And he... I feel a little better now. Yeah.

Oh, if only we could stay here forever in each other's arms and just... Oh, can we? Talk about how wonderful you are, because you're so wonderful. Well, I'm really feeling very... vulnerable right now so any kind of praise that validates me will be very effective oh yeah you're just so smart and so you know oh it's just so wonderful to look at you're like a splendor to the eyes and you know um splendor i'm more of a sweet and loakia oh my lord holy shit you get inspiration We're giving you a great.

You're saying what the fuck. A sweet lotion. I'm begging you. I'm more of a sweet lotion. Holy shit. We have maybe like a little bit to rest. Or should we? We can rest when we get back to where we need to go.

Oh, gosh. It'll only take a quick trip. I'm so tired. I can sleep on the cairn. Yeah, you can. So, how much I would love to snuggle with you all night and talk about how wonderful you are. Oh, but I wish that we could.

But now there's time for action. I'm going to pop a potion, because I'm at one hit point. You trip and break your toe and you fucking pass out. It's time for action. I mean, that's moving a little fast. I don't even know how mechanically that would really... Oh, my God. Yeah, we have time to think about that.

Don't worry. kind of action. Oh, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. There's like a rainbow blush that comes to his face. It's okay. Everybody goes there with me. It's fine. What we need to do is get away from this horrible place where you have been

hurt and you have been shunned. The farther away you get, the more your heart will heal and I will take you in my bosom and heal you with love. You're right. I need to... That's exactly right. thing that reminds me of her. Exactly right. And so he gets up and he floats and he says, okay, get on my back so you don't fall into the valley. Oh, I really appreciate that because I'm so

tired. And he leans down to welcome you on his back. Everybody get on and do you know where we should go? It's okay. I know where we should go. I can take you back to Bukri- Guy. That's a great idea. You're so smart. Please take us there. Johnny, you broke the heart of the wrong cure, and I know where... Tell the baby. I know. You didn't know that I know, but I'm a lot smarter than you, Rajani. And I know how to bring this all down, and he floats over, and he goes actually beneath the terrace,

and there's actually this one... This one... Very well-hidden branched with some gold flower still... still blooming. And there's a branch that's going out and he says, well, this is my last revenge. And he kicks it and suddenly you hear loud

grumbling and groaning. As there's a blast of golden light from above you, as he bursts away and flies and you look behind you as you see the terrace completely crumble into pieces and fall away and the door falls off its hinges and the entire layer

collapses in on itself. A single tear rolls down my face as I look at it and I say, My teapot. Frankly, I'm blown away that it survived all of the battles that we've been in. I say nothing. It's just one tier that's right down my face. All right. All right.

That's fine. I'll get you another. You rock it. And you also see one tier go down. Hezaki's face that shimmer is in a rainbow color as it falls behind him. And this trail of rainbows behind him. He just cries, quiet, lazy. As you rock it, you remember how fast Hezaki is and as you see Mogherkai out ahead.

And from this vantage point, you get a full scope of the devastation. All of the battle is over. You see the smoldering out ahead. And some encampments of some of the soldiers, perhaps where they had been routing and hunting down the rest of the Horn Legion, well- beyond the walls of Mocha and the now crumbled walls, thanks to that horrible demonic labyrinth that erupted out of it. And you are able to fly back down to the glade and he lets you down and you see the sleepy

city ahead of you. And there are a number of torches and brazier let, but there's some movement, but the, and you see some of the Yeties and the tigers and, but every, everyone just seems to be settling down and resting and everyone most of the town seems to be a city rather seems to be a slave. As we're stepping off of Hizaki, I turn to Iris. Can you say a Mogra Kai mind the gap for me? Mokra Kai mind the gap. Oh, perfect. Thank you. And I get off and I make my way out into the Mogherty. What was that about? I don't know. Is that, are you very horribly cursed? Did you make something terrible deal? I didn't make a deal. I simply said what yet.

Good luck, Iris. She was nervous to her. Oh, no. Why don't you say it? No, don't want to say it. I'll say it. So I'm not the only one, Lofty. What?

Say whatever that thing is. I don't think I should. I'm shocked that you listened to anything he said afterwards. I don't know. I wasn't thinking. Will you say the thing that I just said? I'm not going to say anything. You know how I feel about saying random words and names?

Is this not safe? I'm not going to be able to sleep tonight. You probably find a way you usually do. Lofty. You're going to have to sleep on the floor tonight. I don't care where I sleep. So we just back in the crater? Where he found us originally?

You remember that Glade was totally untouched in that, and so it's still beautiful. So we're able to find, okay. So he didn't drop us up where he picked us up. No, no, no, no. He took you back to Mugher Kai. You're back in Murgatai. you're in that glade and you see the crumbled ruins

of Golden Lewis's former dwelling. But this glade is perfectly untouched. All right, doesn't appear by me. Oh, should we set up pen? It's been a while. You've simply had to sleep in makeshift. Sleeping rate. Yeah.

Should we find. I'm exhausted. I've got to get some sleep. I have a very long grueling process. Burling Caprice until he wants to cry. Means what? Everything. Should we all listen?

If you want, I mean, either way, I'm writing it all down, and I'm telling you all anyway. It's for all of our own goods. I agree. You're not going to make me cry. The thing that happened to me in the story that I'm going to tell you about made me cry. That was not a pleasant thing. You would not be able to make me cry in comparison to the experiences I've had in the last 24 hours. Yeah, my experiences too.

Izaki, you were with the boys tonight. Come sit over here. all years. How am I? Are Luffy? Are we going steady now? Yes. Yeah. Yeah. So steady. Oh, that's nice.

I trust you. You have good time and I'm going to go to sleep. Oh, okay. Yeah, go to sleep. I guess that's okay. I have one headpoint, so I'm going to like pass out the second week. Okay, that's fine. Yeah. Tomorrow we'll talk. That's cool. Am I back, am I 100%

like a full rest? No, just home. It was just a health. Just a health. Your body was just basically. restored with the hellish nature. Well, I still have a 12th level spell slot. I cast Win Scenario. We immediately win the scene and continue on. Let's have that.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. What do you want to know? So if they're, sorry, Guy. All you're talking, I'll make dinner. I have all this fish from the lair. Oh, you kept that. Yes, would you make a fire? Yeah, yeah, of course.

And without really looking, I'm gonna just just like snap my fingers and press the, just say some flame, by some nearby, like, you know, a brazier or something, whatever it is. Yeah, yeah. And I'll start making drinks and cooking, but eavesdropping and listening in on their conversation. Yeah, there's a beautiful fire.

And there's a great enough, you were able to get a large number of fish that all were killed, and they weren't over-cooked. It was basically boiled, and you're able to tar them to get them nice and crispy, and they're big fuckers, so you're gonna eat very well. With my nine hit points, I spend the next as long as it possibly takes,

starting by having Caprice tell us everything that happens, and then with the precision of an attorney, grilling him about every detail, and writing it down and trying to absorb as much of the can, and make Intel the story over and over and over and a grueling level of details. I have minor illusion. So what I can do is within, like,

the context of this perhaps size of space, I can be like, and this is what it looked like when I was on the plane of shadow or whatever it was. And like, There was an eclipse in the whole thing. And my understanding is you guys don't know that he said Bazuzu three times. Correct.

And to be fair, to be fair, as we don't even know Pazoo's name. As to as to as Perks, we don't know them. We never share the name. Only Capriest. If I walked through the story in real time, we can do it in a role-playing way. Let's do it.

Okay. Wait, so, I'm still huge, by the way. I'm like sitting down. I'm sorry. Oh, I keep breaking all these chairs. Yeah, I was sorry. I was a little slower. You're really big.

Yeah, I'm at least this way for at least like two and a half more hours. Oh, wow. I understand how it's tough to be big sometimes. Well, before I start, what happened after I died? The last thing I remember was Lufty fucking crushing my rib cage like so many funions. Well, to be honest, I'm not entirely sure either. I blacked out shortly after. Oh.

Everyone died or almost died. It was me and Iris left, and I dealt the final blown and killed him. It's about it. Thank you. Do you remember coming back and then going away again? No, the last thing I remember was Lufty crushing me like so many funions.

You don't remember when Iris resurrected you and you came back for just a moment. You spoke to us for a while and then she to go to your body when she said a grievance on, rubbing your death in our face. Would I remember any of those details? I'm complete blank. The next thing I know, I'm up to my neck in lava.

Or some sort of hot burning, sulfury, I can't even describe you which. If you've ever imagine what it's like to be without skin and in a hot tub, that's, that's a fraction of where I was. To be without skin in a hot tub. You were in lava. Did you feel it? Did it feel terrible? I don't even want to think about it. Is it almost like getting a sunburn and then go into a hot level? It would be like having a sunburn and then having that sunburn have a sunburn and then having that sunburn having a sunburn and all peeling away. Like so many.

Okay. Funions. You're going to say funnions. Well, I prayed. I've never really been much of a prayer. But I tried for the gods. I screamed out for all y'all. It felt like, I don't.

I don't know if it was a minute. I was panicking. I don't know if it was a minute or a neon. But I... I only had one option left me. And do you remember when we were at the top of the mountain? When we were in that tower and I described to you the dream that I had, that wasn't a dream. And there was a statue?

Caprice, yes. Well, the reason why we're here is because I invoked that, the name, that I shouldn't speak for three times. I was in a terror. I didn't. I did. I had to. But that wasn't even who we saw at the end of all of this. It wasn't him. Keep going. I was looking for help. I was looking for help. I prayed to the gods, nothing. I was looking for friends, nothing. I don't know how much time passed. I said the name three times. I'm not going to tell you the name. I'm not going to repeat it. And I'm never going to say it again. I swear. because the moment that that happened, I was transformed to this space,

and I show you, be a minor illusion, what this space looked like. And I describe the landscape, and I describe the epa clips that happens. I describe the choking, gasping, bird-like creature that I faced and his nightmare talons, and that he wanted me for his own goals, for his own purpose. I describe all of those things.

And then just as I am about to perhaps make a determination of faiths is when this new entity shows up, the lantern entity that we all met. You remember. You remember very specifically. I thought that was perhaps a fever dream at that point. I was totally off. I mean, I was way deep into it. This is so far beyond anything. I could even possibly imagine.

This entity, the first entity, was something that is so fearsome and horrific. And the second entity that I know has a fight just showed up and snatched you away like it was nothing. Yeah, he's got fighting him. He's got crazy power. And he offered me freedom and a choice. and for a smidge of loyalty,

I don't know what that means, but I'm also still reeling from the fact that perhaps all of the situation that I've had with Glaccia was perhaps a deception in order to get me here. I mean, for the entire time I've been in Striggas, the roar of the bull will spell her doom and all cards are off the table

and on the table. It's crazy. This is so far beyond us. I mean, we're just mere mortals compared to all of this stuff that is happening. I don't even know where to begin. And now you have this deal that it's like,

what's the catch? We just have to dispatch of that other entity. I'm thinking back to the deal. Was it dispatched specifically or stop? Something like, was it kill or was it? Was it destroy? Okay, there was a specific destroy word. Yeah, it was annihilate and destroy.

I think there are only a number of interpretations and comment. That's on me. I didn't hold in any of you. I took you very seriously. I tried to do right by you all. And aside from invoking the name, I was very close to just saying, fuck it, I can't make the decision for all of these lives. And going back to a pool of lava and claustrophobia insanity.

Or I can't speak for anybody else, but I'm glad you're back. Thank you. And look, I appreciate what you're trying to say, but something happened. Look, I don't know what it is, and I know that you say that we're not wrapped up in this, but there was a level of darkness of something. I mean, it was nothing like anything I've ever felt with the Raven Queen.

I'm talking darkness, and I felt it, and I don't know what that means, and this is, again, is so far beyond my means and my books and my notes. I don't know where to even begin. From, I'm gonna call him Birdman. From Birdman, I felt darkness. From asshole, I felt like the first godlike entity

who had ever actually reached down and gave me a hand. I'm not saying loyalty or anything right now. I will figure that out. But it's kind of nice to be here because I got saved by something that was more powerful with me for the first time in my life. You think that it cares for you? No. No. No, I think I'm being used again. But like I said, I had a choice. I got to make that choice for myself this time. Do you think that whoever that was, do you think he's better than the last one and better than the bird guy,

good man it's at this point that I remember what he said about once being in the heavens I don't know he said once he may have been something like an angel

I don't know what his motivations are but he has power enough to scoop a poor soul like me out of that nightmare and if he's up good for his word promise to me the world.

This can't be good. I'm sorry. Again, I'm at a loss for words. I don't know what could this could possibly be. What do we make of this? There's this entity that this whole time we know has been horrific and atrocious, and then this other person just comes up and just,

like, it's nothing. Yeah, just boops it out of the way. What does that even mean that we're dealing with? On some horrific cosmic level. What does this mean? I don't know what it means, but I don't know one thing. I don't trust any of it. Everything seems evil.

Everything seems out to get us. Everything is scheming against us, and the only thing that I trust is Anubis. You especially can't trust a dragon when she says she loves you. They're not that right. Anubis has been the only power this whole time that is, let us stay on the right path. And I believe deeply,

deeply that his will will light the path. Isn't that right, Iris? Of course. I'm with you. I think that Iris and her god has our best intentions at heart, and I'm in. When I think back to my transformation through death and into the Nine Hell, and that whole experience.

Did I get a whiff of Anubis trying to be like, nah, push away or anything like that? For the power? No, no, no. When I first died and transitioned into death, I know that Revivivai was attempted. Do I get a sense that in that moment,

Caprice would have any awareness that he was trying to ferry his soul? I would say that, making Archonichick. The first Arcona Check of a game for me. Oh, baby. What is that?

It's a 16. That's pretty good. Plus four is a 20. I would say that, yeah, you get the sense that it was, it wasn't the power of Asim and Deus that resurrected you. It was the power of Anubis that did that. And the reason why you're alive, which he said, he said.

And so he just released your soul from Glossia and from Azusa. Yeah, I completely agreed to him. Anubis is... He's really been present here, and I think largely thanks to Irons. We're lucky to have her. Oh, Caprace. Oh, you're here? Oh, I got it.

Yes, I was making fish. Would you like one? Yeah. I'll pass you a plate with some fish. You all pass out with plates. It's all done and you're able to sit down. Even has a fish. Even Hazaki takes some and he just fucking scarfs that shit down.

He's like, well, I know I'm not supposed to eat my feelings about that. And he just fucking goes away. I flavor it with some sea salt in time. Oh. But he, this is so good. I didn't, can you make more? Well, I have few left, sure. Okay, I would like seconds, please.

And I continue to cook and make everything. I'll go through my entire staff. my entire stash of fish I'd put from the waters. And he, after he finishes, he floats up, and he goes off to the side and he says, well, I'm gonna go to sleep now. When I'm asleep, then my thoughts can't hurt me, so good night. And he kind of circles around,

and he nestles his head along the side, and he tucked in his hooves. And once again, he settles into sleep, He's still just floating an inch above the ground. Hazaki gets good sleep right away. I'm going to use a suggestion in an attempt to get him to go right away. He fails, and you suggest, and he immediately passes out, and you hear, even as he sleeps,

you hear that he's breathing, and it almost sounds like a song, as he's humming from his breathing as he sleeps. I feel sorry for the guy, you know. His whole world view has changed. Yeah, I guess we've all kind of been there. Let Captain Freeway know what happened. Maybe in the morning. First thing, we can try to find him, but it's pretty late.

And to be fair, I'm all out of steam. Oh, you're right, he's probably sleeping. We shouldn't disturb him. I wouldn't mind the long wrist. Let's do it. Good night. I'm glad we're all alive. I want you to do it.

I'm gonna curl up as close as I can bundle outdoors. We'll take the best watch. Next to the fire. And for the first time in the entire campaign, Iris takes a wall. Wow. That's very nice, Iris. I'll take second watch.

I'll wake you up, you need your time to it. Wake me up before you go, go. You settle in. I'm gonna do something like during my watch. Yep. You settle in and are able to fall asleep if you care to, and it's a very quiet evening and none of the orcs come to disturb you

as if they didn't know, you arrived so fast and move to the town of sleeping that no one disturbs you. So as everyone is falling to sleep, I tend to the fire and I'd say a couple of prayers to Anubis, my normal nighttime ritual, and I wait until I can hear the deep snores of Lufty, and I will make my way over to her,

and I will pull out the large fur that I sleep with. It's a regal pelt that was passed down in my fancline, and I normally only sleep with it myself, but I lay it over her to keep the wound. And I will tuck it in around her and clean off some of the remaining blood that's around the edges of the mouth. And I will slowly brush out her hair, braid it into two little plats, one on either side to make sure it doesn't tangle up. And then shave her head completely. then shave her head completely and stuff it down her throat so she experiences their first hairball.

I don't do that. Why? Daring started it. Nice. And then I will lean down and I will slowly place a kiss on her forehead. And though she's sleeping and doesn't hear it, I will say, I'm all my best friend. You're like a sister to me.

Wow. I will never let anything happen to. Do not leave me like you did. I could not handle this life without you. Sweet dreams, I don't. And then I'll take my watch. I won't wake up, but you'll see a little like, a little satisfied smile on my sleeping face.

As you all enjoy long rest. Yes. The night passes very uneventful. I needed it. Me and mine six hip points. And for the first time, the morning comes, and you allow yourselves to sleep in. Thank you, morning comes, and And for the first time, there's no creepiness, there's no bizarness, there's no looming, there's no looming army of Bajani, there's no looming threats of Rajani, there's no,

the bullshit, no bullshit. And for the first time, that tense, that tension that you've been feeling, you're finally able to at least breathe for at least a moment. And you all awake, feeling absurdly rested, incredibly comfortable. I would try and wake up earlier than everyone else, except for our, and you all awake, feeling absurdly rested, incredibly comfortable. except for obviously the person who's on the last watch, and I will cook breakfast and I'll make a pot of coffee. Got it. Got it.

If coffee exists in a pantry. It does. No, it's only switched. Shepard, you know, H. Hull, Hull, Blue, Bullet Coffee, whatever the hell it was. Hellfire coffee. Hellfire coffee. You all awake, and it's a beautiful morning. Zaki's still sleeping.

You have the sense that he needed it. I wake up with the rest. I'm not late. And you get the sense that Hisaki is, that Rajani did not let him rest very much. You get the sense that he was constantly doing stuff for her and that he, there's a weariness. And despite his sadness that you sense from him, there is a bit of burden off of his shoulders

where he's able to relax and rest. I'm gonna prefer my spouse for the day. Oh yeah, I need to do that too. Now that we have the rod, we need to get it back to the angels. Well, now that Caprice is alive, we can use the feather. And how would we want it back if we don't? Is it safe to just take the whole thing back, or should it get broken off again? I don't...

I mean, they said that they needed it, right? I mean, that's the whole reason that that's what we wanted to do, was to return it to them. That's true. I'm just nervous. And I don't want to... Nothing's what it is and what it seems. No, that's fair.

I don't know. Maybe Anubis would know what to do. Horace, do you think you could ask him? Yes, if you give me a moment to finish my breakfast and enjoy this nice cup of Joe, then I would be to query anubis and see he wouldn't respond. Cup of what? Joe. Oh, Joe.

We had this portly old chef. Hmm. His name was Joe. Mm-hmm. Yes. And he made, he made coffee. Oh, he made coffee. And as a little girl, I would call it a cup of Joe. Because Joe would give it to me.

Technically just hot bean juice. Yeah, but it was cut from juice. It's not beans hit juice. Yeah, you can juice almost anything. Yeah, because it's hard enough, juice generally comes out. I guess that's all true in those cases. Ooh. Well, it's a time to be hit the old dusty trail, I guess.

While they're finishing breakfast, I want to get up and just look around the city, and is it, like, you know, what's happening? Do I see orcs? It's an excellent shit show. Captain Freeway. You are able to make your way through the rubble of Golden Lotus's dwellings, and you can see that the city has come to life. Definitely a population that has been pretty heavily destroyed. But life is returning, and there's a resilience thing. And you get the sense that all, and you see all of the orcs around there are totally free of their tendrils. As they are all walking around free and there's a sense of pride despite all of the devastation that's happening, they're immediately back to rebuild it. You hear like the shouting from craftsmen that are trying to get buildings re-erected and build makeshift temporary structures that can continue their day-to-day life. as they're trying to rebuild.

Hey, Felix, do you think all their tendrils suck back into their face, or do they fall off, and they're being swept into dustpans, like so many dried-up cicadas? Well, as eloquently, as you may put it, I'm sure it's probably the former as opposed to the latter.

I've spent a lot of time studying Draconic and the lifestyles and history and nothing. In anything that I've ever read, has there been a history of falling off. Oh, not falling off? Okay. Not to my knowledge.

No, that's why I asked you. Thank you. I didn't see a dendal to be seen. I figured they're either really clean or they're just, you know. Sweet Raven Queen. I will also walk along with Toa as he starts to scope out what Kai Mogra's up to. Mokro guy, I'm sorry.

I reversed it. Kai Mokro. As you look at Are you leaving the camp, or you just kind of taking a look? I thought that's... I'm just kind of like looking around, right? I haven't looked yet. You're able to see.

And at this point, Hezaki kind of stirs, and he enjoys some breakfast, and he, there's a bit of calm to him. He still has the sadness, is hanging on him. And he looks around and says, Well, I don't know what to do anymore, but... I think I need to leave this place for a while. I I tire of this world and the mortals and getting caught in the tangle of their lives. I think I need to go back to the heavens for a while.

Work on myself and figure things out. You know, where in the heavens will you go? Just like the heavens broadly? Probably Mount Celestia. Yeah. Will you be back? I mean, we miss you, buddy. Already.

Yeah. Maybe. I don't know. But, and he, uh, he leans down to his, uh, his side and he bites something and he pulls off a scale. And he floats over to you, Lifting, here you go. And then he hands you a scale or hold a scale to you. And it lands and he says, and he's an interesting gift. Hold on a second.

And there's like a burst of rainbow that, that burst from it and says, If you ever need me, just think real hard about how you feel about me. I'll hear your call. Oh, that's so sweet. It would be so hard not to use it all the time. Well, I think I need to focus on myself for a while.

I think that's wonderful. Happiness can really only only. come from you. Yeah, you need to be happy with yourself before you can be happy with any dragon or person or whatever. So that's exactly right. Whatever. You're going to be all right.

Just take care of yourself. You know, if you need to grieve a little bit, that's totally understandable. Just stay in your room, have some ice cream, smoke a bowl, watch seasons one through five of Gilmore Girls, and you'll be all set. Oh, right is rain. I don't know what most of that meant, but that sounds really nice. But I'm gonna go now. Thank you for everything.

Thanks for waking me up to what a terrible, horrible traitor is lying. I'm sorry, I don't want to... Just breathe through it now. Just breathe through it. I'm going to go to Mount Celestia. That'll make me feel better. Good morning. Leave a ventrists behind.

For now. Right. We'll never forget you and your help. That's for sure. Yeah. You've been a real chief. We're a very good, Kieran. Oh, the best. Thank you.

Remember the time you spied on us? It feels like yesterday, doesn't it? Yeah. Yeah, you were really Kieran, you know? Yeah. Maybe one day I'll believe that, too. All right, well, I guess we'll see you around. Goodbye.

Yeah. Goodbye, guys. Goodbye. Goodbye. And he slowly floats up, and you see a streak across the sky as a flash of gold and a rainbow follows behind him. And as he streaks across the sky out north towards the mountains and the sea, you see it a flash and a burst of rainbow light, and he's going. God, that was awkward. What a weird creature he is.

I feel terrible. His heart is broken. I mean, you know, we've all been there. One day you're in love and the next day you wake up and your girlfriend's a horrible, murderous gold dragon. Yeah, but I'm usually over it after a couple hours. He's really, really down the dumps. Well, give him some time. He'll come around.

He needs to figure things out. I think he's doing a great thing. Yeah. He's living on his own thoughts. I know. Making his own decisions. I hope it all works out for him. You too.

Honestly, he's probably... Free. He's gonna really, he's probably gonna put it right back together. Either that or it'll be dead in a month. Oh, oh geez. Oh, geez. I hope it's the former. Yeah, me too. Honest, are you ready? Sure. We can ask him up to three questions. We should decide what they are. Oh, you can ask actual questions. Yes, I'm going to commune with them. Before we do that, do we have any idea where we need to go next?

I mean, we're just kind of at a loss here. We have this general direction from you know who about taking care of you know who, and we don't really know where we're supposed to go next. What you're saying is... You'll only be able to answer me with yes, no, or unclear. Oh, that was going to be my first question. But we're going to be able to commute us? What?

It's a portmanteau of commuting... Well, you know, that's fair. I'm going to remind myself that you were dead yesterday. This is not going to... Yes, no, unclear. So we can't be like, I mean, unless the location is literally named yes. We can't be like where we... That's why you said a new bisque.

Oh my gosh. You know, I will make that for you one day. It won't be a new bisque. It'll just be bisque at that point. Fuck. We'll figure it out. Take it. Out of character.

You, we had a conversation last session about the dust elves. Yes. And potentially needed to go out that direction. Yes. Why? I can't remember what the tip was or what the, what the hint was. And the Nubis told us to do that. And did you tell us that he said that?

I told you everything. Okay, okay, okay. So, Iris is very much in the, I'm not keeping anything from that. So whatever I know you. that you'd have to go to Skethyneil. You didn't use that word, but you were able to piece with what she said, with your knowledge, and we had that conversation. That Schethranil was next on the list after you, um, right, return.

So we do know that we have to go east. So we should ask then, should we return the road of law to where? The Vailavaka and the Windeux. The Vailavala. people should we head to Scherthrimel well no he already told us that so we should ask him a different question after oh yeah like order of operations we've got to know where to go and win do we go to ochre first or Schethrmereman first I think we return the rite of laws but we should make sure he loses you know if you remember there was some kind of blight there oh you're right

so do we risk returning the rod of law to that place it's a great question yes it's Question two. Question three should be, can we trust Caprice? And the new guy, the new... Just the new guy. Well, and Caprice. But if the answer is no, then you're going to think fucking shit about me and it could just be the guy. Well, how do we phrase it? Well, we can get it at both.

You can't. Should we? You can't. Can't both. Are you saying you don't trust him now? Well, I'm saying maybe not. I'm cool, man. I think everything's cool. Please exist Caprice end by proxy as Mudeus with Caprice's mission. And if he says yes, then we do. He says no.

Then I'm sorry, Grace. What happens then? We'll find out then. That sounds fine. Oh. Are those questions then? No. You guys are plotting to kill me right now.

We went through so much to get you back on Earth, we kill you. Because you guys are plotting to kill me literally right at this moment. How would none of us have talked about kill? It's mostly just a single thing about death. Do whatever you want. Yeah, whatever. I don't care. It's fine. Whatever. It's all right. I think you should ask you questions.

All right. And I'm going to, as a ritual, I'm going to pass commune. You do that? And it takes me two minutes. Commubis. Commubis. Commubus. Commubus. Commubus. Commubus. And I'm going to contact my deity and ask up to three questions that can be answered with yes or no. You light the sensor and the flame flickers and you're able to channel in. And once again, your consciousness goes into the flame and you feel the connection to Anubis as you stare and you see Iris's intense trance as she communes with Anubis.

My lord, should we take the word of law to ochre and the windows? I mean, ask monsters actually. Yeah. Okay. Do we head to Sketheringham next? and last Loma Lord, to we follow priests and as were days

in fulfilling his wishes. You stare in, and you ask each question, the thin lingers, the flame licks back and forth, flame all around you. You feel the looming presence of your God. And this hesitation,

unclear, yes, men hesitation, yes. Oh! The gross thing. What did he say? The first question, whether we should return the world of laws, Ocker.

It was unclear. I do not trust it, we should keep it for this. It's a good point. If corruption has come to Oka, the last thing we can risk is losing the world of law. I agree. There was a firm yes that we should head to Scephra. Scathrinil.

And there was a very hesitant yes. We should follow as a day. as we do say Caprice. We can be friends, Caprice. We are friends. I know we're friends, but I knew it. I don't be worried about it. Like, oh no, is he going to betray us all in the end and kill us?

Probably. No, Funbo says he's cool and he's cool to me, you know? He says that we should follow through. I believe that we're very easily influenced. Whatever that creature's name is to be killed. And if this gets us there, it seems he is behind it, whether he believes we should trust Caprice or not. I don't know.

I didn't know if that. Well, that's a relief. Thank you. Great. I'm glad that we don't have to kill each other, and that we have our next destination mind, and we can study the rod of law as we're on our past. No.

As much as I love to speak with Inubis. I'm afraid you would start to tire of my constant querying. So we should start to find answers on the road going forward. Our own answers. Yes. No more Camubis? Well, he did not send me on this mission to constantly ring him up. as it well. Yeah, it's like you have to prove yourself, you know, you can't just like

ask for the answers all the time. I'm not saying that because you do it's because we're always like, hey, what's the answer, Iris? Yes, but I mean, why would we look for the answers ourselves if you already has them and you can just ask him like, hey, what are the answers? Because it's like, you know, like teach a man to fish, that kind of thing. And I imagine a god is constantly busy. What about fish? What? What? What? You know what I mean? I don't know. I don't fish. I drink. The bottom line. You get it.

Is there are many souls that need to be ferried into the actual life. You miss as busy, he does not have time. You'll have some questions. Well, next time you ring him up, don't ask questions that are pertinent to us. Ask him about him. How's your day? Is life good? Do you need a massage?

People like that. Yeah. I do not want him to turn his back on there. I do not want to push my life. Well, I think regardless, you're right. We should... I think we have enough to move forward. We know what to do now. It's a bit of a hike to Skethro. I mean, are we ready?

Is everybody feeling all right? I mean, I'm with Iris here. This is where we get going, the better. I feel very better. This is the first time we've traveled without racing a horrible army of beastmen. I think since we started this journey. It feels kind of nice. I'm almost late.

We shouldn't like dilly, Daly, but... You know, I'm looking forward to a little bit of travel together. Yeah. I'm ready to stretch my legs. I think herj is in a safe place, so we can be comfortable in that space. So we're like walking, I guess, the whole time? And for what it's worth, they're going to be very aware of us as we approach the border miles and miles out.

So we just need to be aware of anything that could happen. Yeah, who's they? The people of Scaffernia. Oh, oh, just making sure. The Dust elves. Dux. Dux. Dux.

Oh, dusk. Dusk elves. Oh, my goodness. Those are in neck of it. That was way off. Our reception is not going to be very well welcomed. Why not? We've been over this.

I don't really like Corvokians in general. She drinks a lot. Yeah, I know. Yeah, but you're the only one who looks like Gorbache. The point is we don't look like them at all. None of us do. You're outside of us. And I'm just saying, be aware of anything.

And they're gonna know we're coming. And I know we've relied on my father a lot. Where we're going, he will have no sway. He will have no pool. Well, we'll just have to make our own point. Yes. There's no way of knowing... Consume your rations, Felix.

There's no way of knowing... That is literally what rational. I'm a little hungry, you know? It's canon now. What do you want from me? I mean, we'll do what we've always done. Just walk up and figure it out. Yes.

We should get Captain Freeway. He'll probably want to go. No, I think we should do this one. You just leave him? He's an entire city to rebuild. Right. He's helping them. But he doesn't live here, is off from here.

He may want to come help. We should at least ask him. We can give him the option, but I'm with Iris on this one. I think that he actually would be a better help to the people of Mogherakai. I will use my Silver Raven to send him a message and ask if he would like to come on this journey with us. We're heading to Scephrenel. We don't need him to, but ask him if he would like to or if he needs to stay. So he at least knows where we're going.

How did this work? Great question. It's like animal messenger, so it basically turns into a raven. Flavin Flies off, delivers your message, and then comes back. I think we all have one. We all have one. Oh yeah, I totally forgot. Yeah, you do that.

It's been two years. The raven flies off and is back very soon. You get the sense that he's actually really close. And he lands. The ribbon lands and you get the sense that it's close. Captain Freeway! We're over here! Can you see my arms?

As you're waving from behind from around the tall stone outcrow thing, that really shelters this glade. You see Ravali turn the corner and he looks tired but content. As there's some soot on his face from where he's been maybe building or cleaning up and he walks in and he looks at all of you and he takes a moment and he actually genuinely smiles and says, I cannot believe you guys survived. Hey buddy, what's up? How's it going? Well, given the fact that neither you nor I have tentacles on our faces, I presume you were successful.

Listen, did they just like, or did they fall off and you had to like, oh, told you. All right. I owe you a healing partner. And he steps forward and says, does there any more of that tea left? Yes, of course. It's go feed. So they, like, sensitive? What did that feel like?

It's hard to describe. With a prehensa, did you move? Yeah, they were a little sensitive. It was, I think you could get a little bit of movement, more of like a tingling and a quivering. It wasn't, I don't recommend it. Like an earlo? Bores himself a cup of coffee.

There. He grabs a coffee. Yeah, I'm sorry I asked about that. So once again, you saved the day, congratulations. We're getting pretty good at this, yeah? Right, it's just right place, right time, you know? So do you want to come with this? We're going east.

To the Guskills. Just get for them. Why? Because that's what anewis told us to do. We don't really have a choice. We think that this is where our destiny lies. I'm not going to go hang out with a bunch of elves. I have...

And he kind of, like, subconsciously kind of grats, like, tugs it his ear a little bit. And he says, I don't have... I know it's a little hypocritical. I'm not... not really looking to hang out with them. My people are not them. Well, we wanted to make sure you felt like you could join us. What are you going to do next?

Are you going to stay here? Can I try to save the world, huh? Is that the intention? Well, if not us, then who? At least we're going to stop what's going on. Guys took care of Baphimed. You helped me get revenge for my entire squad. Horn Legion is smashed.

I guess they don't need me back at the lodge. I guess I'll stay here for a while. I know that it's not the tendrils talking this time. I actually mean it. Did you, I mean, I know it's only been a day, but you remember that chamber that we fought in? Yeah. I asked you to cover it up, to try and break it up as privately as possible

so no one knew it was there. That's important. That seal that was broken. down there. It's an important seal. And I think it would be very prudent if we could find a way to reseal it magically. That could take a ton of research, but

if you're rebuilding the city, the time is down. Whatever is down there is rubble. It's inert. It's over. There's no way to... There's nothing that's going... It's no better than a root seller. It's a good idea, Caprice. Don't dig it up. My concern is that there's not dirt underneath the foundation.

They're lifted up and all of a sudden the hand will come out and grab everyone. What kind of hand would come out of the earth and grab it through? Well, we've been talking this whole time about like a seal chain thing. I've had my mind that like underneath each seals there's this guy punch him. It's really creepy. Yeah. No wonder you haven't been able to sleep. I don't think that's how it works.

No? I think. I was only to infer what I could get out of the hunt master when he was drunk. I don't think that's how it works. All right, well, fuck me, I guess. It was a good thought. Thank you.

Seconded. It shows that you're thinking about all of the facets of what we're dealing with. I am trying my very best, and I don't understand the... I say that with no sarcasm. The arcane magics at all.

I play, you know, a jingle and insane things happen. You guys have to do all the real whole book. It's not easy. No. But we appreciate your effort. Okay. That's all. Well, it was lovely to see you again. Professor Freeway, what were told you? Captain Freeway, Captain. Ravio, Lou. It was great to see you again, as usual. Well, but we should be on a way. With a long journey out now. Yes, of course. No time like the president.

Yeah. Well, you guys know how to contact me. You know where we're headed and things really get bad. You can always come looking for us. Roger that. You know that these people, these orcs, I had spent my whole life hearing how they're horrible monsters. They're the biggest threat to the people, our people, and they were just slaves. These are people who have not been free for decades.

And now they're finally learning free will. I kind of want to be here to help them learn how to be free again. Captain, if I've learned anything traveling with this group of people, it's that not a single thing in my life has turned out to be true. And I am surprised every single day. Well, he stands up and he looks at this, well, I should probably help these people learn how to be free again. Try to guide the war chief if you can.

I'm worried that now that they aren't being pacified, that maybe there will be fighting or anger or rage and it'll break apart in the infighting, and everything will tear apart. Especially since the word is that Koravaki has been reclaiming land, there might be some tension. I'll do my best, but if military keeps doing, He spits on the ground.

They keep marching forward. I can't promise there's going to be peace for much longer. Just don't get yourself killed, all right? I made it this far. Do whatever you can to help them keep the freedom they have earned. There's nothing more worth fighting for. And he looks and says, one last toast to the wings of freedom. To the wings of freedom.

Cheers. I wish you luck as you saved the world. He doubt. He rounds the coffee, it places it down, and he turns and says, ping me if you need me. I don't know how long it'll take me to get there, but I'll come running. And he turns, and he disappears around that bend. We should pack up. We should head out.

Try to travel in as much daylight as we possibly can. Agreed. All right, goodbye, Mublikaa. Goodbye, Mogherkai. Goodbye, Captain Freewing. He was so cool. We'll see him again. You always do.

We'll be back. We'll find out what happens next time in the chapter of Mogherikai Z. Da-na-da-da-dan-da-dan-ta-dan-ta-da-tan-da-tan-da-ha-ban-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha. Yeah, I feel. Just trying something new. Oh, all right. That's nice. Just making sure.

It's excited. Make sure you all right. All right. Oh, Caprice. A dream last night. Yes. But we were in a rock band. Oh, yes?

Yes, called Capricci and the Pussycat. Oh, that sounds fantastic. Yes. Rock band? Yes. Doing rock music. What's rock music? Well, I don't know what you mean by rock band.

No, we had a bunch of rocks with us. Okay. Yes, that's all. Is this related to that? I was singing. Rocky-talkie thing that you were telling me about, like years ago? No. I still don't understand what you're talking about when you say that.

She's telling you we're in a band. Why do you have to make it so complicated? Well, you said rock band. Yes, that's what it was in my dream. It was us and rocks. And what was I in the dream? In the audience. Lutsey turned herself into a pickle. It's the funniest thing I ever see I spread guy. As you say that, you hear something from behind you, you hear the flapping of wings.

You get a flapping of wings, I incidentally myself. A large, what sounds like a large bird of some kind. That's not okay. None of that is okay. And you, that on branch of one of these, these booming trees. I've got my crossbow.

You see a very large raven staring at you with six red eyes. And tie to one of its large legs. a scroll. And it blinks and looks at you, and it opens its beak and a voice comes out. When it blinks, does it all

happen at once? Or does it like... All happens at once. Okay. Well done. But you must return to Zentra immediately. No. The eighth seal has already been shattered. You must discuss our next plan. And with that, we'll end up.

Oh, no. What? fucking curse. Puller we do. Anubis said we were going to Scathrinel. Iris isn't going back to Zeltra. No, obviously. I mean...

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