Legends of Avantris - Edge of Midnight | Ep. 23 | Last Rites

Episode Date: October 22, 2024

Our heroes embark to save the people of Cyril...   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/EWWd7d4QwfM?si=JYKZUU0eq9Ejdjzk

Welcome the Legends of Aventrys. Oh, I'm Briggsie. And you're listening to Edge of Midnight. Here's what happened last time. If you don't want to be crooked, the little girl will. We're going to have to do some kind of ritual if we're going to banish this thing. Freedom to take control of our fate. Little sketch of crossbones.

Duchess of sin. Give me the power to protect this place in these people. My oath is one of crown, and you are my queen, Lilith. Maiden banished to the darkness in Druskenwald and enable my friends to find what they seek. Freedom from grief to be healed of their sins. Green to black, flesh to bone. I bring Gorthos through my being to these crooked lands. Let the rod of the earth consume the evil here and let what grows return to the natural order of things.

All you help us purge the tree. It wants to turn us crooked, but we bid it now to flee. Change powers led us here we call them two times three. On the edge of midnight we purge the crooked tree. The words of the land have saved the once doomed province of fulsants. The words of the heart too is uncertain or even wicked as they may be. All that really matters is that they're true. Maybe despite the hysteria that came over these poor unfortunate souls

and the sins they committed against the neighbors and loved ones. There can be a happy end, in a manner of speaking at least. But then again, who knows what yet lingers? You are all in Maggie McDuff's cottage in the woods. You have just finished a ritual in an attempt to cleanse this place of the evils that are deep within full sense itself.

And you do feel that your magic that you have created together has pushed out and made its way through full sense, at least doing something. The extent of what the magic is capable of doing is you are uncertain of yet. But for now, as you peek outside of the doors and the windows, you see that those crooked trees and the crooked roots, and the influence of Kellyn seems to have subsided, at least in this area.

You feel a sense of peace for once. A feeling of something right that you haven't felt in a long while. And all of you are able to breathe a sigh of relief as you go about cleaning up the ritual, putting things back into place. You chat with Maggie McDuff for a while. All of you help telling stories to Colette as you help her to fall into a very deep sleep. Nestled into her arms is the familiar, the spirit familiar, Flora. All of this happened throughout the night until we come to this point.

Maggie is getting tired and has decided to make her way to her living quarters and get some sleep. Knowing full well that the next day you were all tasked with a large event, you will be taking the cart that she has, the large wagon, and filling it full of all of these vials, these boxes or these crates filled with vials of the antidote to help clear the sickness of the mind that has been, the mind and body that has been putting the people of full sense, especially the children into a slumber, a stupor, a stupor that they're unable to wake from.

It is going to be a long day, and you know that once you reach Cyril, you also have the incensed mob that had been riled up by William Van Brunt, not knowing his fate or what's transpired here. You're going to have to convince the civilians of Cyril to not attack Maggie McDuff or Colette on site. It is going to be a difficult and hard day,

and it is here in this moment that you find yourself still in the living area of Maggie McDuff's cottage. She's gone to bed, needing as much rest as she can possibly get. You've been shown, this is a quite large cottage, significantly larger than Keziah Jenkins was.

Not quite the extent of the Mirabelle's house in Cyril, but it is large and there are ample rooms for all of you. But in this moment, you find yourselves in the living quarters. Hot tea has been steeping. There is still food left over that was cooked late in the evening. And for the first time, in a long time, you have time to talk, to decompress, to address things that have been taking up space in your mind, worries, fears. And then, if privacy is needed, you have rooms that you can utilize. The horses are there.

The horses are hitched outside to a hitching post. They have been well fed, and they are doing as horses do. I think she's asleep, finally, the poor child. Do we think we should, like, fill her in on everything? Or just sort of keep it where it is? I think she's been through enough. She knows her parents are gone. I guess, you know, she doesn't need to know the gory details.

No, but she should. If it were me, I would want to hear as full a story as I could. Well, that's sort of my question. Well, you know what, that's not my decision. I'll leave it up to all of you, you know. Holy folk, or better spoken folk, or, you know, respectful folk. Garsh, I just hope the little one's going to be okay. She's looking maddy distant.

Now I wouldn't blame her on account of what happened. right in front of her eyes and then he implied what happened not in front of her eyes enough to turn anyone catatonic I suppose we don't need to worry about it right away we're all tired we've had a long journey I am hurt I need rest I suspect the same of all of you I could use the rest as well I suppose too I'm a special answer That ritual, I'm feeling a little out of sorts for some reason. You think that that teeth lady is gone for good? That was my question as well.

There is no way to know, and yet something tells me that we won't see her again for some time. I hope not. That was mighty spooky. If we're lucky, we've bought ourselves some time, especially the people of still. Is she gone for good? I doubt it.

But hopefully we've accomplished something here. And we have more to accomplish. We must get this antidote to Cyril. Well, thank goodness we brought such charming, capable horses. Otherwise, I don't know how he would have gotten a whole wagon full of bottles and beakers all the way through the woods and down the road, all the way in a sea.

Are all the MPCs, are they all in bed? For the sake of us starting this late, yes. But anything you might have a question about, I can give you a quick rundown of what you talked about while they were awake. I mean, I don't know. I feel like every time we do one of these ritual things, I mean, it seems real powerful stuff.

You know, like, if we're gonna have to fucking convince all those townspeople to, you know, not murder these people on a spot, Maybe we just have, you know, wheel the mountains, you know, have a do magic. I feel like she's twice as powerful as everybody else we've met this whole time. Won't that have the opposite effect? When they say, oh, burn the witch. Throw her in a river.

I think Jericho might be right. What I'm hoping is that by delivering the medication, they'll see that she's doing good. As soon as the medication begins to work, the townspeople will be won over. Yeah, that's fair. We'll spread her own propaganda. and we'll undo the deadly pamphlets of Percy Phipps. Fips.

Now that he got dragged into those gnarled roots, he can hurt no one ever again, Briggsie. You can rest easy. Oh, his head was too easy. He was too quick. He should have suffered more. You think like it took a while for him to get digested under those trees, you know what I mean? Sort of like a Venus flytrap style.

I don't you think it took like a few hours? Perhaps even more. I wonder if it was the last time we will see Van Brunt, given his fate. I would certainly hope so. His neck got popped like a champagne cork. And he got shoved to do a big old trim out, Miss Leithica? Indeed. What are you presuming?

Is that actually a little shaky? I am talking, facing away from the group. Because I'm facing the cupboards. I'm familiarizing myself with the kitchen, and I'm starting to find the making for tea. I've put a kettle on, and seeing that we'll probably be talking a little while longer, I'm going to make a cup for everyone.

I believe, Jericho, what Lathica is saying is that sometimes dead things don't stay dead. I'm gonna hope that we can weave into our propaganda that William Van Braun is gone and dead forever and is never coming back and he's not missing, he's not presumed missing, he got killed, shit in his pants. Tea?

Oh gosh, thanks. So are you telling me that we could see the return of Phipps? No, that's reposterous. Is that what you're telling me? We should be ready for anything. And you're telling me? I look at Briggsie,

and I look at myself and I look back to Briggsie and I just kind of motion at him in his being. Well, I mean, I mean, oh, yeah, sure. I don't know about you, but me personally, I don't think I, like, died and then turned into this.

It was sort of like I was cursed and then turned into this. You know what I mean? This seems like maybe not quite an important distinction. Oh, I guess you're right. Do you drink tea? I mean, why not, sure. It's slightly pleasant.

You're grim. Madias? Yes. Thank you. Thanks. Why would you think that might be coming back? I think that we only

diminished its power here, whatever this entity is. We were able to stave it off with the ritual that Maggie helped us prepare and perform. But that does not mean that it's gone forever. And it does not mean

that we won't see it again. Where do you think it went if it did go, just run away from these woods? Perhaps woods is what it is attracted to. There are perhaps many other forests in Druskenwald. I do not know the area well enough to say, but I'm just trying to ready everyone's mind

so that we can continue to survive. Well, you know what? Maybe we can get a little more information from McDuff in the morning. She probably knows a hell of a lot more about the ritual than we do, and, you know, maybe she can sense it or, you know, speak to the trees and learn about it or something.

It's a good idea, yeah. She needs to rest. That's a healthy amount of magic she used. I mean, all we did would just kind of participate a little bit, burn some things. I just did a very quick, impromptu little ditty. Lighting candles. I'm feeling awful out of sorts, though.

I think I need to lay down, and by that I mean be propped up in an old room, Klausa. I'm gonna turn in if y'all will excuse me. Maybe you can dream up a bit of a song to A-Dist Mara. Ooh, a bit of a propagand-orizing song. I'll- Keep using that word propaganda. Yeah, sure.

Do you think it'll work? Well, I think so. Given that they all think we're terrible monsters. Well, I think that if there's anyone that likes a job, multi-to-noonsfolk, and we've got a whole lot of townsfolk. And now, especially if they're no longer going to be sick and hungry, their minds, especially after experience such terrible traumas, should be very malleable.

Not in the malevolent, not in like a malicious sort of way. I mean, for good. We can twist their minds for good. Anyway, gosh, I don't know what I'm talking about. I agree with you. Their minds are malleable. and propaganda may be what is best for them this way that Van Brunt had over them

that is something to consider if we are going to deal in propaganda perhaps his death can be used to our advantage perhaps he is off chasing monsters but he wants everyone to know that he has found this antidote and that it is for the civilians

only we know that he is perished Oh, gosh, I was worried someone was going to bring that up. Then we'd have to pretend that he died a martyr of sorts, and we were his best chums. No, no, no, Jericho, I'm saying that we lie. We do not tell anyone that he has gone. Oh, but then they're going, aren't they going to just be waiting? Garth, the worst of them.

I mean, it wasn't just him. It was like 20, 30 guys, and they're all dead. If we're going to spin stories, that may be the best way to spin it. I'll leave it up to you all. But all I'm saying is we turn that guy into a fucking murder. That whole town gets away from us. I'll think at that point it'll be past haven.

I think that it's all the concept of bread and circus, so to speak. We show up with the bread and the circus and we show up with the antidote and they're going to forget about Van Brunt just infinitely. You control the information, you control the, the needs of the people, they'll fall right in line

and obey. Beth, it's what I am saying. I think what we need is a bit of proof, though. Is there anyone that would be on our side, be willing to take the antidote from us and prove that it works, get the other ones who don't trust us on board? I mean, we know of people that was sick, right? Dungeon Maslow.

And you also know that, like, you also know that the sickness would come on suddenly and how, they would get it is unclear, but you'd seen it in animals. It's possibly from the water, from the soil, from the earth itself. You know that the centipedes that were being controlled seemed to carry it throughout the land as well, and that people in Cyril were very emaciated, clearly hungry, clearly tired, and clearly sickly, any of them could be carrying it, and it just hasn't triggered yet.

Do we get the impression that, or do we learn that maybe this antidote will also cure their livestock? I would say you imagine that it would, yes. Well, perhaps we just find some of their sickly livestock and we administer the medicine of them first. If it's fast enough acting,

the citizens will see that it works. Like a demonstration? Yes. I think that's wise. We'll be variable heroes Who be heralded as great Heroes and the Saviors of the Town finally I think it'll be enough just not to be on their kill list

Frankly They'll allow us to point any kind of Puppet Lord or monarch of our choice And we can pull the strings in the shadows Heroes To be lauded Correct maybe First we the enemy

have to convince them to drink the antidote, the medicine. We know it will do them what is good, but they will not trust us delivering this medicine. Gosh, maybe I need a little bit of medicine. More tea? Oh, yeah, I should drink some tea.

Oh, it's all in my et sac. Sorry. What? Oh, the old filthy sack when it approximates the skin of my head. Oh, your head sack. I think it's an egg sack. Oh, F-sac.

The filthy sack. I call it the only old F-sack for sure. Don't you recall? I also heard egg sac. It's a year and a half. And I was just going to let it slide? I couldn't. That was an involvement.

I'll take one for the road, and I'll just post up in that old closet filled with all sorts of mysterious reagents and all probably a bunch of secrets. You've got some rest. I've acted a bit strange, so. Oh, I think it's just been a long day for all of us. All of us are acting strange, especially, especially Marius. Remember what happened? If we're talking about room situations,

it's probably best that I room with Briggs and Briggsie alone. Yeah, that's true. We don't want to let him loose on account of what he did to Miss Lefika. You don't want to lose control. Right. Oh. What do you mean? When he leaped down and he,

Ah, you don't remember when that happened? Gosh, that was terrified. I don't think we need to relive it. Oh, because my blood's basically just grey sludge. Doesn't really taste very good, I would imagine. This is my thinking. Have you ever had a taste, just out of curiosity? Of, of blood?

Of your grey sludge blood. Well, I mean, I can't really taste very good, but I'd have to imagine it's fucking disgusting. Blood? It's not so bad, really. I mean, it's just not, it's taste about the same as in the other blood, really. My blood?

Oh no, like people's blood. No, I mean, and she meant my blood. If you could even call that, call that blood. When did you taste people's blood? Oh, well, I mean, there's a lot of after you black out and you just can close a whole bunch of feathers and body parts around it. Right.

After you've had hag blood, everything else is kind of more of a delicacy, you know what I mean? Huh. All right, well, we should retire. Which room are we staying in? Your pick, please. And I scare for where the rooms are. I caught a left bed!

And I jump in the beds, and claim, or whichever bed's bigger, I guess. It's the one on the left. Perfect. You do that. It's easy enough. You pick, all the rooms are basically the same size. And each one of them there is a larger bed and a smaller bed, and you jump into the large.

left bed and begin to relax. You make your way into the apothecary closet and you move aside some of the jars marked with various herbs and tinctures and medicinal reagents and you find a nice, a nice cozy spot to stand and snooze. Ms. Lathaka, you've had quite a Are you okay with me sharing a room with you?

Of course. Why would I not? I just didn't know if you maybe wanted some space. I think I will stay up for a bit longer. I need rest, but I do not yet want to go to sleep. Do you want some company? No. No, thank you. I think I would prefer to be alone with my thoughts. I understand.

If that's okay. I just want you to know why you, Keep an eye on you. He won't get you tonight or any other night. Marius. You understand that this isn't my intention. All right, well, if there's nothing left for us to discuss, I suppose I'll retire as well.

I'll go to one of the rooms. I will, as soon as Farron walks off, I will get up and walk towards the room that Briggs you went into. Mediev? I'll stop. Yes, let the go. Am I safe? Are you safe?

Yes, if I had to ask you two questions, it would be one, will I turn? I do not know very much about the magic that sustains you. And now that I have this, what will become of me? Speaking quite frankly, I've never bitten another human noid before. I was stalwarted my resolution. I was able to avoid the cravings. What happened to that moment was something supernatural and that is not to say that I am passing blame

or giving excuses. It is to say that I don't know. Now, what I will say, what happened to me felt like death. thousands of times over. Did you feel that? Perhaps not a thousand, no. Then you may be safe. I may not have the ability to pass on this vampirism.

Marius, we cannot have this conversation here within earshot. Will you join me outside? Oh, okay. Good night then. I'll sleep in the living. Yogurt goes off his own room. I just like string this whole thing. I need to clear my chakress.

I'm gonna give him in a jake. I'm gonna go. Sorry God. He's literally just in there like. He's all like a shovel. Um. He just leaves up against the wall and pretends to be a slate. Ah.

Oh, yeah. Okay. Uh. Anyway. Yes, I will join you outside. Perhaps we can get some fresh air. Will you make another pot of tea? I will see you on the porch.

Sure, give me but five minutes. I will make my way outside. And I'll go make tea for two. Oh my. Oh God. Once the tea is ready and once you're done passing each other's secret notes, I'm gonna go outside.

And I'm gonna go to where Lethika has requested me to meet her. You do. The moon is high in the sky. It is very light at this point. It is witching hour easily. And you, it is quiet. It's honestly peaceful. You once again hear the sounds of the forest all around you.

They had, the forest had become eerily quiet when Kellyn extended her reach out towards this cabin. And with that gone, the life in this forest is returning. And though you feel comfortable here, the light from the fire that's roaring in the hear and the candles that illuminate the cottage do spill out and illuminate this clearing a little bit, where you're at you feel safe.

But deep within the forest, you can hear something. You can hear something big, something large, lurking, hasting, circling. Can't be sure of what it is. But it sounds oddly familiar to something that you've heard before. The beast that stalks the woods. It knows you're here, and it waits. So you know you're safe where you are now. But it's best not to go too deep into the fire.

I would exit the front door, hoping to see Lathica maybe on a front porch or something. I'll have gone over to the side of the stairs where there's a little railing. Yeah. And you'll see me and you'll see that my mask is not on. My hair is down all the way down to the back of my waist. And I will be looking out at the woods listening to this sound.

I will take the tea kettle, and if there's a small table or a ledge that I could put it on, I'll put it down between us, and then I will take... There's an adequately sized porch with some seating options, and there's a small table there that you can, where Maggie would, in the mornings, mornings, enjoy some of the early morning moonlight and have breakfast. And you're able to set up a base there and sit down together where you feel like you're well out of earshot of everybody. I would put the tea kettle down to the table then and not sitting down in any of the

seating available. Stand a good distance from Lethika more than six feet away. It would be a unnatural weird kind of distance that I'm putting between us. and I say the tea is finished. Good. Thank you, Marius. Of course. I wanted to speak for a moment,

not just about my fear of what might become of me, and thank you for telling me. That was very important. But also, I wanted to understand more about what drove you to do such a thing. Well, I can certainly sit here and try to justify it all that I want. And I suppose I can tell you that story, but it depends. Are you going to slap me again?

No, no, I should not have slapped you. That was not me. It was I had been hurt. It was a shock. And so I overreact. Don't worry. I'm not saying I didn't deserve it. It's just things were tense as all. Let me start from the beginning. We were finishing the heat of battle. Everyone was gravely wounded. The moment that I realized that Briggsie had finished off the Archbishop, I began taking off my gauntlets, hoping to administer aid to whomever needs it.

Farron immediately rushed to Jericho. Quite frankly, all I could think about was you. So I rushed to your side. As soon as I figured everything was all right, as I attempted to lay on hands, call forth the morning Lord. I had a vision. I was no longer there in the ruined rubble of that church.

I was back again that night. with the Duchess. I saw her face, her red glowing eyes. The next thing I know, I'm back there in the church, biting you. It's unexplainable, and there's no excuse. There's no justification for any of this. But I was not there in that moment,

and it seems like something so far beyond. Anything that I have experienced, wholly or otherwise. I cannot say that my actions were not my own. I will take responsibility for what I have done. I have to live with this. Marius, in some ways, I consider it a compliment that I would be the one that you would not be able to

hold back. The loss of control I'll start to walk forward is what concerns me that you lost yourself. It could happen again at any time. If you get within five feet of me, I take a step back.

I'll brush my hair back and expose my neck. And I'll walk forward, raising my hand to gesture to my neck. Neck. Merrius, we have to know if you could lose control again. Lethika, please. Please. Let me, let me finish.

Up until that moment, I have spent decades resisting any urges that I had. And in the beginning, they were very strong. Since this incident, something has changed. Here, outside this cottage, Ferrin's heartbeat, Heartbeat, eel. The blood as it moves through your graham's veins.

I can sense everything. It's extremely difficult to ignore. And I'd be lying if I said that I didn't like it a little bit. I understand. That is why I approach. That is why you must prove that you can resist, that you can overcome this. Even if I manage to do that right now,

There's nothing saying that I won't slip up again in the future. It's in my nature. Don't bite me then, and I will start to walk forward towards you and continue to gesture towards my neck. Lethika? Lethika, no. And I'm gonna take a few more steps back until presumably there's some sort of railing

and I can no longer back away any farther. It happens a lot sooner than you would expect. You are backing away. You can, it's almost as a very, of time stand still, you see the two puncture wounds in left of his neck where your sins have yet to be erased by time. You see these small circles of dried blood that still haven't fully flaked away. You see that vein as it throbs with every beat of our heart. You hear it in your head. The smell is intoxicating. And you stumble backwards as you

collide with the railing and you realize you can step backwards no further. I'll keep my hand out, even if you keep moving forward, and I'll say, Lethika, please, what, do you think this is a game? Stop. It is no game. I am asking for you not to bite me for my own protection, Marius. You are a good man. I know you will be able to resist. Please. Just a moment, and then we can enjoy our tea? I would just keep my hand out, and if you are walking forward,

eventually my hand would hit you, and I would try to prevent you from getting any closer. I will stop just before your hand. You would see that my outstretched hand is trembling, for sure. The muscles in my neck are strained. I'm clearly biting down just on my own teeth. It is never my intention to hurt any of my friends, ever, ever.

But seeing that you're not moving or doing anything, I will just slowly try to put my hands down to my side. And I will stare maskless into Marius' eyes for a heartbeat, another, another, just trying to get a sense if he's going to lose himself again, just getting a sense if he's going to suddenly attack. I would be breathing very heavily. I mean like almost not quite ragged but like you can tell that I'm struggling for sure and maybe it's not necessarily I think you'd get the sense that it's not necessarily like the feeling that I'm going to lunge at you

there's there and just like a pain of guilt for what had happened it's not just the struggle isn't just Mary's holding himself back there's fear and there's doubt and there's regret Marius, very good. I do not mean to tease you. I just had to know for myself and for everyone that you had not lost yourself. And it seems that you are still able to look into the mirror. And you will watch as I begin to darken

and shift and fade and think back. And what you realize is that the Lethika you'd been staring at has this entire time been. my illusory duplicate in illusion. Well, please. As soon as I see this happen, the tenseness from my body will immediately release. I'll put one hand on the railing almost like,

oh, oh. From behind the side of the house around the other side of the deck, I will emerge. Still masks, still in my writing clothes, which had not been the case, with disillusion, and I will walk forward. Now, let us enjoy some tea in quiet. Thank you, Marius.

Ah, well, well, well, well played. I, I never suspected a thing. I do have some tricks up my sleeves. I allow me to say one final thing. Please, and I will finally pick up the tea as it's cooling. I'll walk over to the teapot, and I will not yet sit down,

but I'll put one hand on the back of one of the chairs as I'm watching Lethika drink this tea and say, I am genuinely sorry for what happened. Thank you, and I am sorry for slapping you. I will say nothing else. I'll sit down and pour myself a cup of tea and take a sip. The air is cool, a gentle breeze rolls through the night,

and with it the scent of Lethika's blood. And yet you feel in control. Something about this interaction proved to you at least a little bit that you are not what you were made to be. You are more than that.

It's going to take work. And you may not always be able to control it. But tonight, you succeeded. And tonight, you are safe. When I finish my tea, I'll wish Marius a good night and feeling comfortable enough to rest, join Faron in our room.

I would only linger for maybe an additional 20 minutes, just finally having a moment to myself to truly regain my composure and process what happened, and then feeling that everything's kind of safe and settled, I would join Briggsie in our room and go to bed. And changing out of my writer outfit. Ferrin.

I have been here. Yeah, yeah. You're a scrying eyeball outside the whole time. I don't know if this is a question for the DM. You hear my hopes, like. Or for you guys, how long are you guys out of the cabin? Um, is this an hour? I would say an hour.

Yeah. Did Virgil hear all of that? Yeah. Oh. The second that they would have been outside, and Virgil would have had eyes on them. In the closet, I will use my,

use my demon of secrets and cast invisibility on myself. As I will, with a quick little, and suddenly Jericho's vision or visage will disappear. And I would like to endeavor while invisible, knowing that while Jericho or Virgil, knowing that Jericho has no blood, that Mary's can sense, would like to try to find some sort of tome of spells,

the source of the power that we just saw, Maggie McDuff use. You're looking for a spellbook. Yes, I'm looking for a spellbook. If she has something, or if it's a grimroar, or if it's a collection of whatever, that's what I'm looking for. Okay, roll an investigation check.

I'm not gonna use a twist. You are endeavoring to look everywhere. I am endeavoring to look everywhere, and as long as the crow outside has eyes on both of them, I will take as long, as much time as I need. Okay, perfect. And if there's anything else that I discover, I only got an 11 for investigation.

And if I need to roll stealth, I can do that as well. Yes, please roll a stealth check for me. Advantage because I'm invisible. Invisible. You enjoy that. Stealth will be a 27. Are not very good at looking. There's no other way to say this.

You're not very good at looking, but you have the shadows on your side as you sink into them and disappear from view. You have exhaustion on your side as Maggie McDuff sleeps deeply, Finally feeling comfortable and safe knowing that all of you are in this home with her not expecting treachery of any kind You have Virgil's prying eyes on your side knowing full well that you Know where everyone is at this moment and can do as you please without being interrupted and you have time on your side an hour

Which allows you to truly scour this place And it is sneaking into Maggie McDuff's bedroom that on a pedestal you're able to find the book which you seek. A large leather-bound tome filled to the brim with spells, incantations, information. Everything she's ever learned from the moment she began practicing her craft, all crammed into this book. A book so old that you flip through its pages,

you realize that it wasn't just hers. It's a family's worth, it's a book with an entire lineage imprinted in it. From mother to daughter to daughter to daughter to daughter. The entire line of Maggie McDuff's family is here in this book. And yet there's still pages unused. Though the pages themselves are old and modeled, book is brimming with information. thrumming with power. It is clear that this book is precious and sacred to her. As you hold it in your hands, knowing full well, this is a severe invasion of privacy and trust.

As soon as I have it, the crow that would have been outside will be a very faint, like, as it, there's just feathers left. And there's no longer any eyes out there as keeping an, taking a step back with the book, I will keep an ear out for Marius for the rest of the party. And with eyes that rise up

into the eye sockets, with a four-pointed star, just read as much as I can and consume as much of a very. the information as I possibly can. Roll an intelligence check. To see how much information you can retain. Retain.

Holy shit. Well, this took a twist. 14. Okay. You... Pretty good. Are you starting from the beginning? I think that...

Are you starting from where Maggie began to add her own entries? That would have been that. It would have been relevant for the immediate at hand and then just maybe skimming whatever was beforehand. You are able, I would say, percentage-wise, you're able to get about 70% of the information that Maggie has included. As, obviously that's all invisible, but I'm describing what would happen in the reality of the world.

And as soon as I feel like I'm pushing my luck, I'm not going to push any kind of luck, I'm not going to be reckless. You hear Maggie let out a soft snore as she shifts from one side to the neck. she mumbles something in her sleep and you know that any small sound that you make could easily arouse her from her sleep. She is at some point in her sleep cycle that is softer than when you came in. As soon as I feel like my luck has been pushed and not pushing any second beyond being as calculated as possible, it'll be up. And with the quick click, the book will be closed and it turned to be placed exactly how it was left. and just slipping out and getting back into the closet,

dropping the invisible. Roll a slide of hand to see how well you're able to do it. Dropping the invisibility. Back exactly as it was. I'm gonna use this guy. Cot. Yeah. Slight of hand using.

The channel. Yeah. 18. Okay. You feel that you have done an adequate job of placing exactly where it had been, though it's clear that she's used this book recently. The pedestal is worn from the years and years,

decades of use by the McDuff family, by the women of the McDuff family. Clearly this pedestal and this book go together and there is a faint indentation and scratch marks where the book is continually pulled from the same exact place. It almost has its own little nestled spot on the pedestal and you are able, you believe, to put it back exactly as it had been.

Do that with the, as I quickly slid, slip out of the door, get back probably in the closet moments before Marius walks out. Marius, you walk in and you hear a soft click for a second and you look around, see nothing strange. Just out of curiosity, you open the cabinet door and you see Jericho there, just stretched out in his sleeping state. Must have been a trick of the night. Suspicion, but... Nothing more as you make your way to the room that you and Briggsie plan to share. You open the door and find Briggsie is already

fast asleep, drooling on the pillow there. Completely unaware that you've been gone for an hour. He mumbles in his sleep about rum and... Classic. Rum and gold and treasure. Really bad eggs. Very bad eggs. And you make your way to the much smaller of the beds.

and you pull the blankets up around you. The cabin is warm, but there's still a, it is drafty, and the wind whips in on occasion and shiver a bit to yourself as you tighten the blankets around you. The thoughts of the evening swirling in your head as you eventually, unless you plan to do anything more, drift off into a dreamless sleep. Mataka, a very similar situation for you as well.

you as well? I'll change into some jam jams. You know, a nice onesie, something really comfy and cozy. And I'll big spoon Farron and we'll pass that together. Yes. That's perfect. Now, Farron has chosen to replace the blanket on this bed with a blanket of woven moss. And it is, it looks a little bit dirty.

It is. But she seems warm and you've had a rough night. You give in to her peculiar ways as you climb beneath the moss with her and fall asleep. All of you find sleep. All of it is dreamless. And when you wake up in the morning, you feel well rested for the first time in a long while.

Hey, let's go. Maggie McDuff has already in the kitchen making breakfast the smells of food and fresh beverages waft through the cottage. You can hear the sounds of Collette talking to Flora and Flora happily responding back, though the sounds, Colette's voice still sounds distant and pained. She's not quite back to her old self. Well, Flora is as chipper as always. This is the scene that you come, that you meet in the morning is each one of you, one

by one, trickle out of your bedrooms and make your way to the main area of this house. This podcast is brought to you by our Patreon. Become a patron today at patreon.com slash legends of Aventrous and gain access to tons of exclusive perks, including a monthly movie night and a weekly Patreon exclusive campaign set on the high seas, shroud over salt marsh. You can also go to The Crookedmoon.com to pick up your own copy of our first published supplement, The Crooked Moon, a folk horror tone for Dungeons and Dragons fifth edition. And don't forget to snag all the extra goodies like dice, miniatures, plushies, a tarot deck, and more.

Thank you. You have all woken up after your dreamless sleep. The cottage smells of fresh food, newly steeped tea, the sound of Flora and Colette playing together can be heard throughout the entirety of the cottage. as you one by one begin to arrive into the main living space of this place, and you can see that Maggie McDuff has four hours been working to continually bottle up more and more of the potions, crate them, and with Flora and Colette's help, has been taking them out and loading up the wagon outside. The wagon is about 20% loaded. They haven't had the full team with your help.

It should only take an hour or so to finish bottling. packing and loading the wagon, getting the horses bridled up and ready to make the track to Cyril. But you have, it's early. You have a significant amount of time you feel to get this job done, but that you do eventually need to make haste as your plan is to arrive at Cyril midday, if not early afternoon.

Sorry. Fedin, are you okay? You may be getting a cold. I think it's all the dust and the reagents in this cottage. Perhaps it was this strange moss blanket underneath which we sleep. No, no, I'm quite used to it. It's definitely not this pristine cottage. Will you get my onesie?

Oh, sorry. Don't know what came over me. We started getting ready. I would be out early in the morning getting witch-domper. getting Witch-Tomper ready for his journey. Witch-Tomper is very, very cheeky today. He has gotten used to you,

and he definitely feels that he wears the pants in this dynamic. Like a place? Cheeky witch-tomper. A horse wear the pants. Would it be the front two legs or just the back two legs? All the legs, both of them. Yeah.

It's more like a minimal. middle chaps where it's missing in the middle, but in the butt. That's clever. A middle butt chaps. Yeah, middle and butt chaps. He's definitely cheeky. You put the bridle on him and then as you turn around

to get the bucket of veggie scraps for him to eat, he rears back and kicks you in the back of your knees. You fall over. My knee really breaks down. I come around something like, oh! Oh, you cheeky bugger. Go me again. He seems to enjoy this and you watch as he kind of jumps back and forth on his little legs,

like kind of doing this. I snap my leg back in place. He occasionally pause at the ground and tosses dirt directly into your face. He's definitely in a mood. But he seems happy and it is rambunctious, but it is rambunctious, but it, is clear that he has affection for you, as he nuzzles into a little bit and you feed him carrots before he bites at your pants

and they fall to your ankles as he snaps to the balance. Can we do it all three stooges? He takes his hose and like separates them. Yeah. Oh! Yeah, that's exactly what happens. I'll get his sort of bridle or harness or whatever ready, and I'll look at him and I'll say, you know,

something's missing. Every vessel needs a good figure. Let me see what I got. And I'll go through my inventory. And I'm like, ah, 10 pounds of pussie gold rock. That's not going to work. I got some crossbowls. Why don't I have that?

A collection plate. The jawbone of St. Fulton. Oh, no. A Phipps wanted pot. Now, yeah, this is perfect. I'm just going to take out some random, like, silver statue of Fultus. that I found in the cathedral that I stole.

And I'm just gonna wrap it around his harness and around his neck a few times so that it's like jankly just like on his chest trying to mimic a figurehead on a ship. He doesn't seem to like it very much. He tries to move his head around to knock it off. He makes winning noises, but he's unable to dislodge it.

And as you begin telling him that he is a very, is looking beautiful and regal and glorious, and he begins to really get into it, and then you start to notice that he begins to start strutting and puffing out his chest and wearing the statue proudly. Oh, that's the attitude. Are you not a godly folk? Are you offended the fact that it's faultless?

We can pretend it's somebody else. It's like a silver guy. You turn around to grab something, and he rears at you and pokes you in the ass with the... statue. Not in the edge. You're a saucy guns.

This is what like, Mew. Who stopped, bum. It's all fun in games. Just like the kids sit in the bottle. Is there like a god of horses? You said why. I met the budgey.

And once I'm ready, I'll take him over to the wagon. I don't know how many horses will need to sort of pull the wagon, but I'll have him ready there for the rest to join. to the point where it's fairly laden with crates of the potions. And you imagine it's going to take the majority of the horses. Which Stumper isn't really going to be able to help much with it. So you don't want him to know this. So you, you bridle him to the wagon in a way that he is not going to get in the way,

but he will feel like he is doing it. the lion's share of the work. And he seems pretty proud of himself feeling like he is the lead horse in this excursion. Though it's very clear that the others, Carlton, Chester, whatever the other horses' names were.

Frank. Frank. Shadow Frank. Shadow Frank. Buttercup, Dawn. Buttercup, Dawn. Daffodil stay behind. Daffodil did stay behind. The rest of them know that which

Domper really isn't doing much, but... You're doing a ton. You're doing so. They play along. It's Dawn and Witchstomper, right? In the head, three. But only say that like, Dawn can actually lead, and Witch Tomper can feel like he's leading.

But you do notice that Witch Stompber likes to move in front of Dawn and John just lets it happen. Oh, my God. And Witch Stomper prances forward. Making sure to always keep the head of the statue just a little bit in front of Dawn so that Witch Stomper is always always in the lead no matter what. Perfect.

Yeah. And that's how you gear the horses up to the wagon and the rest of the morning is loading and being able to communicate with Maggie. I would be acting very normal today. Yeah? That's right. And non-suspicious.

I act like old Jericho's. Jericho, why are you acting so normal? Oh, gosh. Man, I had such a nice sleep. Well, yeah, I think I could get used to this on account of all the decades of not having to sleep, and now suddenly I get tired and I need it, and I feel like I can get used to it.

It's kind of a nice ritual. We're not left alone with your thoughts, and all that's left is the nice warm blanket of oblivion. You know what I mean? I do, I think, maybe. Gorge! Nice to hear you talk about it. I'm glad you're feeling better.

Thank you. I'm feeling a little bit less out of source than I was. I think probably on account of all that gross rotten teeth and the like was just putting my non-stomach in a turn table situation, you know? Well, I suppose we need to be Miss McDuff's protectors when we get in the town on account of them thinking she's an evil witch and not Flora, but the little one is her

Transmogrified familiar. It's not just Maggie we need to be concerned about, but also ourselves. Gosh. Should I talk to her? Are she in here with her? Yeah. Okay.

She's over at her, she's over at her, the fire, at the hearth, and she is stirring her cauldron, boiling more and more of the potion, and continuing to bottle it up, put it in crates and leave those there for you guys to take. She seems like she would be happy to communicate should someone come over, but otherwise she's focused solely on the work.

If Maggie McDuff does not need to administer the potions herself, perhaps we don't even bring her into town. I think you're right. She'd be safer here. Now, I think we should ask her what she thinks and give her the opportunity, but we're going to be fighting an uphill battle regardless. They already think were horrific monsters

given the display that we put on before we left. Exactly right. That is... I'm no place for a child either. I mean, he's out in the woods any better? I mean, what if that thing happens again? What if...

What if the scary teeth lady comes back for revenge? Gosh! We should talk to Maggie. We should see the strength of the power of what we did last night. Are you all right? Maggie.

Maggie. Did you have a question for me? Oh, clever. Was there something I could help you with, Yes, I wanted to know. What can you tell us about the medicine you've been preparing? How is it administered and... Is there a special ritual?

We've gone over this before already. Do I... You just drink it? That's how we figured out that it worked in the first place. Do you need to be present at all? I don't need to be present at all, but I'd rather not stay out here I've been hiding in the shadows for a long time.

With what you tell me is true, the Archbishop is gone, and that evil man, William Van Bruntz, gone too. It's time for me to return back to town, to where belong. Our concern... Our concern... ...is that you may not be welcome. And neither are you.

And that was persuasive. I see my point a lot. She jumps backwards for a moment. Here's the thing. If we leave her out in the woods, A, she might get swallowed by gross teeth trees. But B, if we want to turn to public's opinion and do this little PR campaign

that Jericho's suggesting, she should be there. She needs to gain all the goodwill. I'm not sure if you've looked at the little one much yet. Oh, I haven't. But she's not doing well. She needs to go home. She needs to sleep in her own bed,

and she needs to face what's happened to her parents, and she can't do that out here in the woods. I know that it would be easy for the both of us to stay out here and hide from everything that's happened for just a little bit longer, but today's the day we need to face what's truly happening. We'll be sure to protect you, no matter what happens. How long do you think these potions would take to...

take effect? They're nearly instant. Well, there we go. I think that if we can just prove, if we can get someone, some sort of subject, to take one of these potions, we will prove its efficacy and absolve ourselves of any crime.

One of the things that I've learned about them since the last time that we had this conversation is it's not just cure in the sickness. It's also rejuvenation. It heals their hunger. It helps the mind. It helps with grief. I've been fading a small amount of it each night to Colette

to help with her sadness. And Cures a hangover? I'm sure it could. Oh, they could really use that. I think even if you could find someone that didn't currently have the active sickness, you could still prove that it's doing something good for the folks of Cyril.

I'm certain we can find someone. What about the little girl and a brother in the town? Yes, the children trust us, of course. The parents might object. We have to do our best to sway the public opinion. Betty and Ben. They can be our little, right? Alliteration, I believe.

It was, they can be our little helpers. There are inns in the town. Right. And there may be more than a couple individuals who are looking for help, and they might just volunteer. I'm not saying it's going to be easy. It's not. The people, Cyril, can be.

damned stubborn, especially when they've got someone to target. They've been through a lot. They're hungry. They're scared. And if they can find someone to point the blame on, they're going to do it. It will be difficult. It will be dangerous. It will be scary. We've got to do whatever we can to protect that little girl. I'll put my life on the line for her.

Not going to let anything happen to her ever again. But we've got to do this. Not just for us, but for Cyril. Which stomp was ready to go. With a new get-up and everything. It looks like we've only got a couple more crates left to go before I'm all out of potion and we're ready to head into town. I'm almost done.

Oh, thanks, Jorghum. You're so helpful. More work, then. We'll sun suck. It's like, Yorghum just been standing here doing this. All the crates are all four. After like six seconds, a green bar.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly. Something need doing. Something need doing. Okay, okay. I'm ready. The wagon barely takes the tombstones, wait. Is there anything else that we could use here in the house? Anything that we should take with us.

I've got a satchel of things I'm going to take myself. A few things I'd like to take back to the city. I plan to stay with Colette for a while in her house to help her to get, I guess, into a place we could both live for a while. I think she would do well to live in her home, even with some of the memories that linger there. We can't stay out here in the woods forever. But only time we'll tell.

We can always come back here if we need to. All right, well, would like to take... Will you both ride in a wagon? We should all ride in the wagon. With as many horses strapped to it, we should all be able to easily find a spot and it can carry us.

I'm not sure if which stomp is going to be okay with that. I mean, he's used to having a rider. If you feel like you need to ride upon your seat, I'm not going to stop you. All right. I think I'll do that. You can ride alongside all of us. You might want to unhitch him from the front, though. I don't think he's going to be able to carry your weight. Oh, run the wagon.

He really likes helping and being in front. So I won't take that from him. All right. Would you like to give him something to carry him? so he feels extra special. Yeah, oh yeah, it is like something extra special that he could like, maybe Flora can ride on him. I think that would be a great idea, or even Collette.

Oh, that's a wonderful idea. She might enjoy riding on a pony. Oh, no, she might accidentally like, or he might intentionally like kick her in the face or something. You know, and I don't want to, oh, it's broken, oops, you know. I figure if she, if he kicks Flora, she'll just go like, poof, and then come right back. All right, if I say so.

His little steed really dangerous. He's not more than three feet tall. Oh, he's just a cheeky skimp. You know, he likes a good joke, a good prank. Sometimes he doesn't know his own frank though. Briggs, your left foot is pointing the wrong direction. Oh, is it? Oh, something did feel off.

Let me reinforce that and take a few chunks of flesh from elsewhere and like stick it around. It's like modeling club. That's horrific. Oh, there we go. I'll bend my ankle. Likes. I'll start working on some propagandaizing tunes

and getting the townsfolk all excited for Matured McDuff. She's the best around. Maggie McDuff is not a witcher a clown. Gosh, I got a woodshop, but we have the whole ride into C-Ril to really get it right. We can't get onto something there. Oh, thank you, thank you. And it is with that that you all find seats up.

comfortably within the wagon, Flora does ride upon the back of witch stomper, and he seems to be very happy to have a rider feeling just a step above the rest, being able to lead the charge and also carry a rider upon his back. And he makes the entire journey with his chest puffed out and his head held high. And the journey is easy, much easier than you would have expected

to be. you are unhindered in your journey back. There is a well-worn path that Maggie has taken from Cyril to her home many, many, many times. And this wagon has clearly traveled that path. With the help of this many horses and with all of your assistance, you're able to make fairly good time. It takes about two hours for you to make it from Maggie's cabin to Cyril itself. And you find yourself on the road leading directly toward the city.

You hear that it is loud. There is a lot of noise coming through zero. And it's hard to tell from this distance what the noise is, but you hear shouts and you hear what is clearly some sort of a ruckus. And it does give you a little bit of pause. You know that this city was filled with angry mobs as you when you left and you are walking right into the vipers den. Is there anything you would like to do before you reach the gates of Cyril?

As we're like, as we've progressed down this path, has the sense of like calming and clear that we felt around the cottage persisted? It has. You feel like the earth itself is breathing a sign. of relief as you make your way. And you do wonder if part of the unhindered journey is the fact that the magic that you did last night still lingers on everything here, almost blanketing

the land around you. But you do feel that calmness. Okay. Do we pass a cracker barrel? Yes. You do. Okay. Do you guys want to stop? I could go for it.

No, we don't have time! Oh, oh, sorry, sorry. Are you gonna break it to marriage? They got rid of their Uncle Herschel's special? They did what? They got rid of the Uncle Heseselmarsion. I'm just learning this for the first time. And that's Mary's favorite.

Ritzing, what did you just say? Oh, he hit me. Oh, I'm sorry. They did what? I mean, I've read a better on a blog. I can't believe you would bring that. Splop for the back and fly to your life. Every human. I'm just wanted somebody a bingo.

I'm confident about it. I am going to, hold on, change one thing, because I do want to do one thing before we go into the gates, is that I would like to, I'm just making sure I can do this to all of my allies. Wait, what the hell? And Lethika loved grits. It's only three creatures. This sucks. I take it back, I don't want it.

I was going to do something really cool, but I can only do three creatures. Tell me what it is. I wanted to cast eight on all of us, because it lasts eight hours. I would say with the magic that's permeating the land and the ritual that you've done, as you attempt to cast a spell, you notice that it has, it seems to be a little more powerful

than you expect it, and you can cast it on everybody. Thanks, Nikki. Because it's not even that good, it just would be flavorful. This spell sucks. Exactly, and I think with what you guys have done, I am upcasting it. I think that I think that being able to cast eight on everyone is sure.

So if it was upcasted, you know, I'm happy to take the extra hit. Everybody gets a increase of like 10, 10 hit points. Ten, temporary hit points. Yeah. Hit points. I need a long rest, I forgot. It's actually a hit point max.

Oh. Shit. And it's for eight hours. That's pretty good. So. Oh, so not temp. Max. I'm even willing to take a second spell slight.

You know what I mean? It's just like, that's fine. This spell is, come on, man. Who's playing a... I have a lot of friends. And they're only going to let me target three of them? It's a big party. Yeah.

Yeah. Well... And I've felt that way with Iris sometimes where it's like, I can cast aid, but like I can't get everyone that needs it. Yeah. And like, you feel like, oh, you're so powerful, you should be able to do it. Like, yeah.

Thank you. How do you... So you click on your HP, and then it says HP modifier, just do 10. 10. Max HP modifier. Yeah, and then when you put it in there, it's gonna automatically add 10 your max on HP.

It didn't do it. Click away. So you don't get them, that. You gotta hit enter. Oh, you have to click away. Click away. It worked for you right there, but see, look, look. 10?

No, no. It didn't work here. D&D beyond, everybody. No, it really is. No, it really is just Derek. It's totally good points. No, it works. No, no. I know that it works now.

Bitch, Derek. You dummy. I'm going to take eight points of healing. I'm back to Max. It increases your... I was at Max before, but I'm back. All right. Sorry, Nikki. I cash dade.

And it's red and vampiric and scary and it's definitely not like the morning Lord's light. What the fuck, Medi? No, it is like a shower of rose petals. That fall down around all of you as you cast the spell. You expect the sparkling light of dawn, but it is this soft showering of petals that alights across everyone's skin

and you all feel invigorated and boldened and just a little bit stronger than you had before. Anybody who was close to me while I was casting the spell would have just heard me whisper the phrase, please protect us. Anyone who's near me would hear you whisper. American Beauty was a pretty good film.

Anyone who knew me, you would hear me like, like kind of whispering in the breath. Maggie McDuff, medicine in a glass, into your mouth you should pour. Oh, that's terrible. And my name is all jericho sticks. This little sticks joke for you. Brig Pamp.

Beautiful. And that is what happens. As you slow, you do begin to slow down. You feel trepidious. You are unsure what to expect. Will they even let you in to the city? Will there be a mob of people at the gates that call out and alert that you are here?

Do you risk being absolutely bombarded and accosted the moment you reach the gates? And there is quiet as you finally get to the cobbled road that leads deeper into, or that leads into Cyril itself. There is no one at the gates. Seems like everyone is off towards the very center of town. You slowly make your way through the streets, the wheel, the wooden wheels clacking on the stone,

and no one pays much attention to. to you. Eventually, as you get closer and closer into the city, you begin to see more people, and they do notice you, and they look shocked and surprised, but they don't look angry. They are, they begin to dart deeper into the city, almost as rushing to tell someone or to talk about it, but none of them accost you. And you realize why. And you realize why, as you finally make your way to the center of town. You hadn't noticed the black carriage at the gates, but you realize now that you should have. You see Philip Druskinvald, surrounded by a gaggle of serilians as he is, his coat has been removed, sweat is breaking through his white undershirt,

his hair is tied back as he helps men and women alike as they are excavating and clearing out the ruined cathedral. You see as he occasionally jumps up on a soapbox and calls out orders for different areas to be cleaned and for people to do things. And you see that the town is, all that noise that you heard wasn't the sound of people fighting or fear. but was of hope, as the people of Cyril have rallied behind the Lord of this land to clean up this city. And it is a shocking sight. This is the man that you met at the train station, the man that took you to the crooked house. This is the man that seemed so out of touch with everything that was going on here. And yet, the very sweat on his back shows that he is putting in the effort to help.

this city in its time of need. And as he is calling out for people to clean up some areas around, around one of the broken down housing units, he spots you. And he calls out, he calls out to you, the heroes of Cyril have arrived. Let's welcome them with open arms. And you begin to see as people look nervously and clap. But this is Philip Druskenb.

They will listen to this man. And your reception is the exact opposite of what you had expected. As the people of Cyril welcome you home as heroes. I have a genuinely shocked look on my face. Yeah. Me too. I understand.

We'll sleep, I'm not sure. Mistigs, you can call me Janco, remember me? You watch as he leans down and he whispers in the ear of an elderly gentleman next to him that's helping to remove a bunch of the rubble. He grabs a shovel and hands it to him and clasps his hand, smacks him as chobially, and you watch as he jumps down off of the box, the soap box, spins his cane in his hand and uses it as he continues to, or as he walks towards you as the wagon rolls up into the town

center. He doesn't make a move to talk to you just yet as he helps Maggie quickly out of the carriage and begins to help to hitch up the wagon to one of the hitching, one of the many hitching posts in the middle of the city. And once everything is set there, he looks towards you all and he begins to say, well, you may not have cleared the town of witches, but it looks like you did a good thing for Cyril by getting rid of that old archbishop.

Can't say you cut the head off of the snake, but I got to thank you for what you've done. I arrived to you just after you left, and I've been doing the best that I can to get the townsfolk to calm down. They were quite in a tizzy. Are we come bearing medicine? Huh.

That's good to hear. The townsfolk here are looking sickly and tired. They could definitely use something to perk up their spirits. I got a lot of work ahead of them. They're going to get Cyril. What it needs to be. A shining beacon of one of the many places in Druskinvald that I, Lord Philip Druskenwald, oversee.

Oh, yeah, we know who you are. We've heard of you. You're quite famous and powerful. You bet me. We're friends, Jericho. You're real rich folk, I. I'm like awkward again. I have my hat off.

I'm looking down. I'm not making eye contact. Hey, Philly, I have a question for you. He walks over to you and he leans on his cane and looks at you. I'll answer it if I can. Oh no. I'm not. I'm not.

I've been waiting to see that for like two years. How did you get a horse over there? You're an idiot. I'm talking to you, I'm talking to you. Hey, so did you hear about everything we did? Yeah, I heard about quite a few of the things that you did. You didn't kill the witch, which is the unfortunate thing. No, we didn't.

So it does mean you're going to be here for a little bit longer. You've got a big task ahead of you. I'm not going to be able to give you your prizes just yet, because you haven't fulfilled the deal. But Ken, and I have, had time to work on the masquerade, so you've got invitations to it. and it is there that I'll show you I have what I said that I have.

And my lovely wife, Adela, has been working on your house, and it's nice and clean. It's ready to go for you, and once we're done here, I'm going to take you there, and you can see exactly what she's done. Well, that's so mighty generous of you, Lord Ruskinvold.

That is an genuine honor. Oh, you're going to help and distribute the medicine already. Go long. And you do notice that Betty has shown up. And has been working with Flora and Maggie McDuff and Yorgrim to begin passing out some of these potions. With Philip standing here next to you, there are people lining up around the town already

to take this. You see that there are about 15 people that have already consumed some of the potion. The bags under their eyes are gone. The gauntness in their faces have subsided, the sallowness of their skin. You watch as it dissipates and rosiness returns to their cheeks. the lethargy that they had been feeling quickly begins to subside and you see smiles.

You see happy, healthy, comfortable civilians of Cyril for the first time since you've been here. And as you continue to have this conversation with Philip, you can tell that the overall feeling of the town has improved tenfold. you have done something good. You have done something to help these people. You have freed them from the tyranny that they had been, that they had found themselves enslaved to.

You have freed them from the shackles of sin that they had been bound by. You freed them from some of the poverty that they had experienced, and you have brought Philip to them in a way that they hadn't experienced before. And you see on nearly every, face, hope.

Well, I'm glad they got the corpse of the Archbishop cleared away. That was mighty gruesome. It was. It was, thanks to the big fella, we were able to do that. He's out and about, taking the big rocks out into a quarry out back. You go buried

the Archbishop? He did. It was tough for him. Poor guy had tears in his eyes the entire time, but he did it. He's a strong one, that one. Did you know about the Archbishop? I knew he was here. But you didn't know what he was.

That he was, like, and he was doing with this town? No, I didn't. If I had known, I wouldn't have kept him in power. Can I insight check him? That's the first die roll of the night? Let's go. I don't think so. Oh, he's lying his ass off.

What is it? Okay. Insight. Insight. Damn it. That's 21. That's pretty good. Yeah.

He seems to be genuine. You know him to be a little bit aloof, and so it doesn't seem out of the ordinary that he would, having someone in power, he would just assume, especially a holy man like the archbishop was, that he would assume that this man isn't going to do this kind of thing, and that as long as someone was there to guide Cyril

and Cyril seemed to be doing well enough, he would have the time to do what he wants to do, which is throw masquerades and spoil his wife. And so it's more a... Oblivious ignorance than willful ignorance. Okay. Like, what is that, like, like, egregious, like, incompetence or something?

What's the term for that? Negligence, like, nearly criminal negligence. Yeah, criminal negligence, yeah. But, I mean, it is, from what you see here, you can see that a huge, portion of the rubble of the cathedral has been cleared away for them to create something new in this space. A lot of the homes that had been damaged by the falling rubble and the fires that had been starting and the riots in the street have been patched up and repaired all in a short amount

of time as Philip has somehow been able to rally the town together under the beacon of hope to get cereal cleaned up. And though he very very, very much, very much. clearly has his faults. He does know how to lead, and it is surprising, but a welcome change in him. Lord Philip, we don't mean to be rude. This would result a bit taken aback. This is very serendipitous. We were worried that we would be hunted down, given the events that have transpired here. Well, when I arrived, the townsfolk were ready to court you and hangya. They were having none of your monstrous facades. and it's quite a bit of convincing for me to get them to rally behind me. They know that I'm the Lord of this land, and my word is law, and I sent you here.

Well, we appreciate your help, and quite frankly, we do just want to help them. We're very appreciative of it. And they know that now. I think what you've done with these elixas, to cure them of whatever sicknesses, these witches have pumped into this land, I think that goes a long way to gain their goodwill. Thank you for vouching for us. But the thanks for the potions

should go to one Maggie McTuff. That's right. He looks over, he hasn't, he helped her out of the wagon and assisted her in at least the beginnings of passing out the potions or the elixirs. But he hasn't really given her

a second glance since then. And it is as you say this, that he looks towards her and sizes her up a little bit. You don't say. All we did was deliver them. She was the one who was able to produce them. A great personal cost, no less. She put herself in self-imposed exile.

Well, if anyone asked me, who they can attribute the health of the city to, I will let them know. It was one Maggie McTuff. I think overall in our time here, she's been one person who's been strong, forthright, and trustworthy. She'd be a fine person for the people of this town to lead them.

Well, in the absence of... I guess this town is going to need a leader. I don't know if it can be, Mackey McDuff. She doesn't have the lineage. But the sister of the archbishop, she would do well suit the role. I've had my hat off. I don't know.

I just put it back on and put a ticket off. She was a real nice lady. Emphasis on words. Jesus. Jericho's just cuss. Emphasis on words. Jericho. I'm sorry.

I'm feeling a lot of mixed emotions because on account of everyone's smiling at me and being friendly. I normally, whenever there's a mob that's surrounding me, it's usually on a of them wanting to burn me up. Anyways, speaking of burning up, she lost her head. It was the witch. Should she have any other kin? Brothers, sisters.

Young Colette? The little one. She's a little, a look into the wagon. He looks around, he doesn't lower his eyes. The idea of a child existing doesn't seem to register to him as a thing. As he looks around looking for maybe a young woman or a young adult.

Well, if you can show me this collect, I'd be more than happy to name her as leader of Cyril. Well, you must understand. She's a bit traumatized at the moment and a bit young. How young? What? 23? She's like 10? 10, 9? I think she's a bit younger than 12.

She's like 8. 8? 8. She's 8. 7 or 8. Now, where I come from, it's not unusual for us to have young rulers, but they're generally trained from birth. Well, this will not do. We can't have a four-year-old taking care of the city. It is a good opportunity. Yes, you're right. Four.

It is a great opportunity, however. She could learn leadership from stewards to watch over the city and guide her and show her the way of running it until she's... is old enough to take it responsibly. So what is it that you suggest, then? We make her the leader and she does it on her own, or you want someone to oversee her? She should be the leader, and she should have guides who can help make sure her power is responsibly used

until she is ready to wield it herself. Like Maggie McDuff. Well, there's nothing saying that... Trying to do your accent. You're shifting gears. It's really hard. That's rough. There's nothing saying that Maggie Macduff can't be a caretaker in the meantime.

She could. You're like a vizier. Exactly right. A right-hand man. A regent. A regent. There you go. A right-hand woman.

Right-hand woman. An interim monarch until the proper descendant comes of age. The same monarch who produced the medicine that was able to heal so many. And while she waits for the returner to king or queen, she can act as stee. do it and oversee the town and eat cherry tomatoes disgustingly and have a sweet tooth and oh no that just sort of repeats the whole problem. Briggsie, we're trying to avoid the history repeating itself.

I think. Briggs brings up a good point. Have you seen Maggie eat cherry tomatoes? Fowl. Well, you know, we shouldn't judge people based on how they eat. She's a woman in the woods. That's how you eat them in the woods. She doesn't chew them.

She just. They'll hop them down like a sneak. They never pop. And she'll have the best caretaker and bodyguard in the whole world and the person who knows the serial inside and out in the greatest who should be arch regent, Hugo. He should be appointed and also given all sorts of sweets

and treasures and toys and a special mansion. Do they have mansions here? I don't know, but he could stand for a domicile he could walk through the door. Hugo should be rewarded for his heroism, though I know not why Jericho thinks he should be leader of the city. Well, he knows this way around down.

I'll have a conversation, doing it again. Have a conversation with her and see if it's what she wants to do. If she wants to be the region, I don't see any reason she can. She wants to protect the little girl. I see no reason she can. Thank you. You hear that, Colette? You're gonna be a lady of the crescent court.

You're gonna be wielding great political power. You just come to a masquerade. We'll all be there. Cut to Colette. Cut to Colette. Oh, God. You watch as Philip makes his way towards Maggie and begins to explain the situation to her.

As they turn and look towards Collette, who's still sitting in the back of the wagon, and her, she's staring at a spot on her dress as she plays with the hem, completely oblivious to everything else that's around. The only thing catching her attention occasionally is Flora being as adorable as possible. The only thing that really brings a smile to her face.

And she is very clearly still deep within the pains of the trauma that is experienced in this place. as Philip makes his way towards her and he leans in and begins to whisper something into her ear you see her perk up and she looks around she seems almost shocked by what he's telling her none of you can hear the conversation they're having

but eventually you see as she smiles up at him he takes her little hand and he places a small kiss on the back of her hand and then he takes his he takes his cane, his goat-headed cane, and he rolls it around in his fingers and points it towards her,

and a floppy pope hat appears on the top of her head, completely dramatic and silly, and she giggles and falls over laughing as he reaches down and tickles her a little bit, picks her up, kisses her on the cheek, and places her next to Maggie, and he kneels down,

he points with his staff, telling her about the city and the domain that she now rules, and she seems to find purpose in this. And you can see that she, there's something within her. Maybe it's the legacy that she's still in. That she has a piece of her mother inside of her, that she gets to carry on in this town

and make her mother proud. But whatever he's said to her, it seems to have, though it hasn't completely cleared the shadows from her eyes, it seems to have at least gotten her on the right path. All right, okay. All right. And it is at this point that the city is in full repair modes.

Men and women are working to remove the rubble. Maggie and Colette as well as the children from the bakery. Betty and Ben. Betty and her brother. And even both of their parents are there helping to hand out elixirs. you see that they have brought a few of the horses over from the stables

and they have included harnesses that have trays on the side filled with elixirs and the horses are going up and down the line providing elixirs. They have this streamlined way of delivery and everyone is happy and healthy and comfortable. As Philip

makes his way over to you his jacket thrown over one arm his hat carried in one hand as he looks at all of you. Well, it seems like we've done as much as we could possibly do for Cyril, and you have a house to get to. My dear Adela is not going to stay patient forever.

She's been extremely excited to show you what she's done. You won't even recognize the place. If you're ready to go, I would suggest you say your goodbyes. We'll go ahead and get into my carriage, and I'll take you to your home. You can get a good night's rest there. I think you've done all you can for Cyril. At this point, it's up to the citizens to keep it. To keep it up to stuff.

All right. Gosh, all I wanted to do is leave, and now I'm kind of sad to go. Like he says, Jericho, we have no further business here. Yeah. We have other places to attend to. We have more evil to slay. Yeah. That's right. Remember why we are here in the first place.

He's promised us. That's right. Is witch stop going to come with us? That could be arranged if you really want to have them. Oh, I know, I do very much. But that's Benz for the ponies. Oh, my. You can't have to donate Ben's course.

No, you watch as Philip. Always a pirate. You watch as Philip goes over and begins to talk to the Bailey's. And at first you see little Ben as he protests. And then Philip sends off a runner. And with him, you see one of Phillips' large, black stallions that drives his carriage as this man leads him towards Ben.

And Ben looks up and wonder at this gigantic horse. And you watch as Ben looks between this horse and little witch stomper, this horse and little witch stomper, he nods his head and with a big handshake he makes the deal with Philip to trade witch stomper for this giant stallion. Businessman. I am.

Legend. Ben hands the reins of witch stomper over to Philip. He walks witch-dumper over to you a show of good faith my horse for this and he passes you the reins to witch-domper

I'm gonna name you witch annihilator that's exactly you know that's exactly what you here oh my gosh thank you that was amazing is the witch-stopper's mine

100% I don't even have to steal it he's all yours thank you for what you've done to help this city I'll get down on one knee see he never cared about you, he's forgotten all about you.

Jesus. I've been completely replaced in minutes. He starts to threaten place like in Shrek, too, when he turns out of life. Well, Miss McDuff and Collette, you're gonna do a great job here. I just know it. And if you're lonesome, I can send Virgil to come say hello.

And we'll tell you all about, I'll relearn that spell where I can communicate you with you I can communicate you with my mind that I seemingly forgot after dying coming back. Thank you for everything you've done. You are able to say your goodbyes. They can't step away for too long, but Colette does run up to each of you and give you a big hug, tiny tears rolling out of the cheeks. I tell her I hope to see her soon. And she timidly tells you that she is queen of the city and that she's very excited to be a queen.

That's mighty impressive. I'll write a song with the great Queen Colette, Mirabelle, first of her name. And if you really need us, I'm sure you'll be able to reach Lord Philip. He can reach out to us, and we can always come back. She looks up to you. I get to be at the masquerade. Well, then we'll see you then. I'm going to dress as a unicorn.

I think that's lovely. I could have a horn on my head. Because unicorns have one. Just one. Yeah, it's why it's uni. Exactly right. Cornio. Unicornis.

Unicornis, yes. High five. I read a book about them once. Well, there's probably many books that you will now in your Queen's library. My mom read a book about them once. She loved unicorns. Just not as much as she loved me. Damn straight.

Yeah. I'm going to make her proud. I know you are. I'm going to keep Cyril safe and it will be good. Your responsibility is to these people, yes,

but also to yourself to make sure that you are strong and wise and grow up able to fight the evils of this world. Yeah. Heroes come in many colors and I'm going to be a hero all my eyes.

a hero for my home, just like my mom would want. I'll give her one last hug. Get me dirty. Not a queen. I don't feel any particular sort of way about unicorns. They're the big swing around. They're all right.

Unicorns are fine. I guess all that's left is to say goodbye to Hugo. You see that, Hugo is in the very depths of the rubble pit that is the cathedral. Colette has not come into contact with him yet. He seems to very much be keeping his distance from her. And you imagine that that will be a conversation that has to happen at some point. You don't imagine you will be around to see it.

But Colette seems stronger and you know that Hugo has guilt for what he's done. You can only hope that they will be. able to come to some sort of understanding between the two of them though it will be difficult and it will be many years of healing that need to happen it does seem like Colette is the kind of child that will be able to to find forgiveness you make your way you say goodbye to Maggie you say goodbye to Colette they continue about their duties as you make your way over to Hugo he doesn't notice you at first but eventually as he's heaving a giant pillar of

up and out of the pit and into a rubble pile, he'll eventually be moving to the quarry. He turns and he sees all of you and the smile that alights on his face is gigantic. As he stumbles over the rocks as he's trying to rush over to you. And as he does, he slips a little bit but writes himself and he rushes towards all of you in his big arms, he smashes you all together and a big Hugo hug.

Hugo, miss friends. Hugo, work. Hello, Hugo. How are you? It is good to see you doing well. Friends help? Did you get my letters? Hugo read pictures.

Yes, exactly right. Are you okay? Is everything okay? Hugo work. Hugo help. You are. Hugo, happy. For you, Hugo.

Yes. I'm proud of you. Hugo, this is wonderful, but please. Could you please put us down, separate us, please? Hugo, one more minute. He shakes you all together. Oh, you go down. I actually kind of like it.

He puts you all down. As soon as he puts us all down, I take a few steps back from the rest of the group. Are you going to be all right? H. Hugo happy. Oh, God, I'm looking. That is very good to hear, Hugo. I am glad that you were able to find work and that you were able to find happiness.

He reaches out and he runs his big hand along your cheek. Hugo love Lesser Go. I love you too, Hugo. He smiles. He just looks at all of you happily. His face is, it has a softness that you haven't seen before. It's almost as if removing the remains of the archbishop and cleaning up this place and really living in the hope that is being created here.

He is working one stone at a time to overturn the guilt that he holds. in his heart and to turn that into something good. And you can see that that weight is beginning to lift off of him and he looks happy. Hugo, we're so happy to be your friends. And we're going to go away for a little while. You see his brow furrow, he seems confused. Hugo.

Miss McDuff is going to stay here with you. And you've got a big job taking care of Colette. It's just that we've got some other work that we have to do, so we're going to go away for a while. Yes, we've found our own job. Hugo, come with friends? No, you have the work that you need to do here. And it will be all right. We will visit often, and soon.

What if hate Hugo? No, never. Impossible. I just told you that I loved you, and that's true for everyone here, isn't that right? Them hate Hugo. No. No. Don't hate you, Hugo.

For me? He's pointing to the town folks. Oh. They don't protect you. You are under the protection of Maggie. That's right. As McDon't is here for you. He looks over towards her, and it's almost as if she knows

what's happening here. She looks towards Hugo, and she smiles and pass her heart and looks towards him, makes the sign of a heart, and he smiles. Maggie, Hugo, friend. Yes, here's a little secret. And I'll lean up, and I will sort of put my hand behind Hugo's neck and just sort of whisper into his ear.

Hugo is strong. Hugo is strong. able to protect himself. Hugo loves himself. Hugo love Hugo. You're going to be okay. And I'll step down. He huffs a little and he looks around.

He's sad. He kicks his feet a little bit, trying to put together all the pieces in his mind. His friends could come home and he's so proud to show you what he's done, who he's becoming. But then also the sadness he feels, thinking about you,

leaving. Hugo trust friends. Friends visit Hugo. Of course. All the time. And hey, we might see you at the masquerade, so I'll start thinking about what mask you want to wear. Hugo want to be bunny.

Oh, that's a great choice. And you see as he looks over at Flora and smiles a little bit. You can tell he's quite enchanted by her. Hugo would make a great bunny. Hugo like bunny ears. You can jump across the city like a bunny too. That's right. That's right. You see as he does jump a little bit, the foundation shape.

But he seems pretty happy about it. He rushes over and once again squeezes all of you. You see tears roll down his face a little bit. Friends know best. Hugo listen. Hugo good. Hugo very good. Hugo protect.

Hugo miss friends. We will miss you too. We are sad also to have to go. You have friends in all of us. You're real genuine friends, not just old Jericho sticks, but the rest of us. And I know that that train toy probably got lost in all the rubble, but we are going to meet this Blinsky fella,

and I'm gonna have him make you a big Hugo-sized toy train. And that's Jericho promise that I just invented right now. He seems very happy as you say this. His sadness does come back a little bit. He looks towards you, Lethaca.

Hugo strong. Hugo must get to work. Goodbye, friend. Goodbye, Hugo. Goodbye, Hugo. We'll see you soon. Until next time. Real soon.

He wipes the tears from his eyes, and he sniffles. He has his ratty shirt on, and as he wipes the snot all down his shirt, it's not pleasant to watch, but he turns to you one last time. Hugo love friends. And then he turns back and jumps back down into pit and begins to shovel rocks again. I don't miss it, gone.

I'm not good at goodbyers. It'll be all right. He's grown a lot, and what you said is true. He can protect himself, and he can protect everyone here. This town is in good hands. That's right. You're right.

He needs to be here and find purpose and work that isn't putting people in pages and smashing folk, and that's genuine happiness right there that I see. I think if we no longer have any more business, we shouldn't delay. You're right. Let's check out our new mansion.

You're right. All right, witch-dumper. The time has come. To bend at the knees. To bend at the knees and allow me, passage. He bends at the knees, and I all get on top of them. His knees buckle.

He trembles a little, but he writes himself. Oh, you got it, you got it. What are you all think of his new figure head, point of the silver Fultus statue. Pretty dashing, don't you think, for such a young pony horse, such as him? I think I've had my fill of Fultus. It's just like a silver guy.

Can it be like a different saint or something? It's like a patron saint of horses. How about St. Vigo Mortensen? It sort of rolls off the tongue. It's quite catchy. Saint Vigo. What do you think, which Tompola? What do you think, which Tompah?

Do you write in the name of St. Vigo Morton? Yes, you do. I know which stomper was secured by Briggs, but do any of us have transport or how are we going to do? No, you're going to take Phillips' carriage. That's what I assumed. All right alongside. Well, I am sure looking for a nice bottle of Satsbarilla.

Last one in is a rotten egg. And with Philip by your side, you have finish saying your goodbyes as you begin to leave the city. Philip announces the new leadership that Colette is the leader, but until she comes of age, Maggie McDuff will be standing in as her regent and that they are under his protection. He says goodbye and with hope in their hearts, the entire city of Cyril heralds you all as heroes as they wave

goodbye to you. They say their thanks. Betty runs over and gives you huge hugs and thanks you for everything that you've done and tells you that she knew all along that you were the heroes. And she's glad that she didn't let the city change her thoughts on who you were and that she saw you for what you really are. And it is with hope in your hearts that you walk out of this city for potentially the last time. As you make your way down the cobblower, you make your way down the cobbled road and outside of Cyril proper, you find Phillips' carriage waiting there. It is, you make quick work of attaching witch stomper to the carriage, and he is dwarfed by the gigantic black stallion that stands ready to take the carriage. This horse is a beast,

and it could pull the carriage on its own. Lucky for witch stomper. As you all pile into the carriage, once again, I reminded how much larger it is on the inside than the outside. I don't have the music queued up because I'm a dumbass. But the sounds of bluesy jazz plays, the smell of cigar smoke, the clink of glass and ice. As you all sit together with Philip Druskenwald in this lavish carriage, you have snacks, delicacies, drinks, and you're able to relax and ask questions and talk as the carriage rolls down the road and heads towards your home. Yeah, there's something that's going to hatch out of the moon, probably. And Juergens Maiden gave her an awful curse and she ran away. It's true.

And you do. You recount the entire. the entire tale of what happened in Cyril. And he seems interested, but not as interested as you would hope. Occasionally as you're telling him information, he will interrupt you and talk about something interesting about the masquerade. Different hors d'oeuvres, they're really happy about getting in.

The new dress that Adela had custom made for the event and how excited she is. The only times he seems incredibly interested is specifically talks about Mother Midnight and making sure that you are all aware that you have invitations to the masquerade, but you're not going to be able to leave Droskenwald for a while. You do have to resolve the witch problem,

but that he assures you with complete certainty that you will be able to see all of your artifacts in the flesh at the masquerade. You just have to wait a little bit longer for the masquerade to happen. and you'll have your confirmation that he is truthful in his word.

Can I make an insight check? Yeah, my own needs. While he's telling us these things, Marius is unusually stone-faced. The rest of the group would not, would not, like, they would know that Marius hasn't believed him from the beginning. And I'm still skeptical about this whole thing.

So I'm just, like, taking it in, I'm just being very, like, I don't know, cold. Devil's eggs and demon eggs, gathers. That sounds delicious. Oh, Yugelof days. GERG-G-G-EGELF! GERG-G-G! Furn, you're not...

Do not eat those third eggs. Oh, mm. Yum. Yummy, yummy. Um... I got a 26. Should I twist? No.

Just checking. Oh, what are you trying to do you? A 26. Yeah, what are you trying to determine? Whether or not he's being truthful about the things that you say. Yeah, he's being truthful about the things that you say. if you hear truthful things they say.

And you are listening to all the things he's saying about being able to show you the artifacts and there is no doubt in your mind that he has these artifacts at his home. Sums up. And that he will be able to show them to you. Your walk to Cyril was a long track. It was over the course of an entire day.

But this horse is almost in a natural speed and it only takes you a few hours. before you hear Philip call out that the house is just up ahead. You all lean out the sides of the carriage and you see something that shocked you. There's no way that was the house that was the house that we're given. A beautiful Gothic mansion rests in front of you

with tended gardens, a beautiful entryway, fit for a carriage like Phillips. Stained glass windows have been newly, have been recently installed, brand new shutters, put up and painted, the turrets that wind up towards the sky.

It is, though it is beautiful, it looks brand new, there is still a slight crookedness to it, in a very Tim Burton-esque fashion, very asymmetrical, house, as it were. But it is beautiful. And it is unlike anything that you've ever seen. And if you didn't know that this was where the crooked house had stood, you wouldn't believe it. Because this is nothing like that horrific house that you had seen before. This is warm and inviting and beautiful

and comfortable. And as the carriage comes to a stop, the door swings open and you see in her and her beaded dress and her feathered headband. You watch as Adela holding on to her long necklace, the planchette at the very end of it as she's holding onto it rubbing it. You watch as she bounces out of the house, all sways and giggles as she rushes down the stairs and wrenches open the door. Oh, my God, I'm so glad you're here.

I can't wait for you to see everything else. I got to give you an entire tour. Hi, honey. And you're looking so cute today. Oh, you got a little sweaty. You know how much I like it. And she, you watch as she climbs in a little bit and pecks him on the cheek. You know, I want to stay with you, but you got a little bit of work to do.

I'm going to show them the house, all right? And he looks to her and he says, anything you want, honey. You know, I do anything for you, but you're right. I got a couple of letters that I got to respond to and I got a few things to read about. So I'll stay here in the carriage. You give them, you give them a tour, and then you come out and see me, okay? I've missed you. I miss your.

I miss your sweet cheeks. And he grabs her by the waist. He pulls her in, gives her a huge hug and a kiss on the cheek, and he pats her on the butt as she jumps out of the carriage. Come on to show you this place. This is unbelievable. What you've done? Don't sound so excited there, Mary.

Yes, I did all of this work just for you. It's beautiful. I even put a stained rose on the door just for you. I can't believe what I'm seeing. This is unreal. This work is amazing. Will I genuine rich fine folk? And you got a deed all your own.

It's got your names on it and everything. You can name this place whatever you want. Oh gosh, we should all vote on something. It's our headquarters, our HQ. I've never lived in a house before. Neither have I. I'm really sure what to make of it. I'm sure there's a real nice closet.

You could eat off the floors in. Oh, what about the vociferous carmichael? I'm not sure what it means, but if that's what you want to name it, I didn't know. No, not at all. What? I don't think that's going to work, Briggs-Z. Vauxiferous Carmichael?

We have time. Let's workshopping. We can workshopping. We have a new, beautiful home. We need to spend time with the house to let it tell us its name. Fine, fine. I don't trust anything that that house would be saying to us. Adela, please lead the way.

We'll follow you, please. All right, you're gonna love everything about it. All the floors are waxed, all the windows are new. There were amazing doors. I did, I tried to decorate rooms through each one of you individually, because I think you're just going to love this place. And we're so thankful that you're here trying to help us with all of this.

Our masquerade couldn't happen if it weren't for you. I can't wait for you to see the outfit I'm going to wear too. It's going to be awesome. Okay, we're going to go inside, and she quickly hops up the steps, throws open the door. She turns around in the doorway. Well, come on, silly billies, let's go. We're really moving all up, Virgil?

This house is just the berries. And she turns around and just storm straight into the house. see her standing in the entryway as she stares up at the ceiling, a large chandelier there illuminated with candles as you all make your way up the stairs and into this house. You're immediately met with the sense of incense and scented candles and all the things she's used to like this place. She begins to talk very quickly about her process for exercising all of the evil spirits and how this place is now completely entity-free. And it is going to be the most lovely place that you could possibly imagine.

She talks about her window choices and her door choices and everything you can possibly imagine that she's created a room specifically for seances and other things because that's very important in a place like this. And as she continues to say all of these things, you don't notice the temperature drops. You don't notice that the candlelight begins to dim. You don't notice any of this until the door slammed shut behind you. And there's nothing but silence. Adela freezes as the candlelight goes out in this room and then the next and then the next and the next.

As every single light in this place is snuffed out one right after the other. You, she freezes as she looks around. nervously. You can see she's shaking. I'm not sure what's going on here. I always wanted to meet a ghost, but not quite like this, you hear. On the door and you see that Philip is outside of the door. He's trying the handle. He's trying to wrench the door open.

Adela, honey, what are you doing in there? You okay? Honey, Adela, Adela, Adela, dear. What's going on? What's going on? She rushes to the door. Phil, honey, I don't know what's gone in with the heroes, okay? You go to the carriage, you, you just get away from the house, all right? I got everything I need, I'm going to do, whatever's happening, I can fix it, I can fix it, baby, I promise. And he calls out

to, you better fix it, honey, because I need you, I need you, my darling, don't you dare let anything happen to you. You can see for the first time true fear on his face as he looks through the window at the woman that he loves so much that he can't reach as very trepidiously

he turns from the door, quickly looks back and reaches out towards her and chooses to trust her as he makes his way back towards the carriage. She turns from the door, she's shaking. You can see the tears welling up in her eyes. Her bottom lip begins to quiver with fear as she holds onto her planchette

and she reaches it towards her eye and she begins to look through around the house. Oh, I don't like that at all. Is she gonna break? Are you seeing what I'm seeing? And as she says this, you realize you are. This beautiful pristine house she has just made, you see tears in reality

as you see the old crooked house peeking out through the brand new crooked house. And then it seals over. And in another place, the banister, which is beautifully polished once again becomes dilapidated and broken and crooked. The candles flare up for a second and then snuff out once more.

And then that same slamming against the side of the house. Oh. And then you hear a creaking above you. And then a creaking above you. creaking all around you. You're all facing the door for a moment as you hear the creaking coming down the stairs.

You all slowly turn and look towards the, you all slowly turn and look towards the banister, the railing. And you see something there you never expected to see. Billy Van Brunt.

Oh no. Crooked. Shambling towards you. his teeth crooked, his neck crooked, his body twisted, as he looks out at all of you and says, you'll be crooked too. And that is where we'll end this act. Holy shit. Well done, Nikki.

Thanks for running this session. This has big vibes of there must always be a crooked man. There must always be a crooked house. Can you stop yemming for a while on the atrophy a little bit? You just stop. Holy shit. Jericho called it, man. What were gonna say?

I wouldn't trust anything that this house told me. That was so fucking bonkers. Holy shit. I'm not okay. Well, Lethaca called it. I forget who called it. Who's Lethaca? Lethica called it.

Oh, you said that. I just commented on whoever, whoever initiated it. Who me? Yeah. I just had said that sometimes, you know, dead things don't stay dead. Oh. I'm not Derek.

I'm a starry. Who's this? Well done. Pretty. Thank you, Nikki. Happy Halloween. Thank you so much for listening to the Legends of Aventures

podcast. We hope you enjoyed the session. If you want even more campaigns to listen to, become a member of our Patreon at the Pearl Dolphin Tier higher to unlock Shroud over Salt Marsh, a patron exclusive campaign set on the high seas. You can find that at patreon.com

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