Legends of Avantris - Edge of Midnight | Ep. 6 | Hard Knock Life

Episode Date: June 11, 2024

A mystery at the orphanage leads the party down a dark path...   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/JoQ-e3VD7UI?si=qqN-cEB-LeKySK_C

Welcome to Legends of Evantress. I'm Nikki Scarlett, and you're listening to Edge of Midnight. Here is what happened last time. I don't know much about hags, but what I do know is they come in threes. Oh, fuck. Weasels, pigeons, centipedes. I think we've got two of the hags on our hands. And I think Mother Midnight's behind all of us. Taking care of weasels, every dusk. Taking care of weasels, Philip Drusk.

We need to get to the real problem at hand, and that's stopping these witches so I can even have my body in the first place. Consider it done. You got your pocket watch so you know what time it is. Let's get in. We'll make this Archbishop kill a witch, and then we can go to the masquerade. Near 50 people surround you carrying torches.

Bring them back to Archbishop. You have not brought me witch. You have brought me friends. I'm eager to get to tomorrow, kill this witch and get the hell out of here. You are jolted awake as a The sound the door slams, pummeled by these ten men, and you see a look of terror on their face. Pay for sin.

Have you ever had a dream that felt so real that you weren't entirely sure it was a dream at all? That maybe in the realms of slumber there's someone trying to tell us something, something that should have been done, something yet to come, something that should be, something to fear. whether or not you believe all that strange nightmares with some sort of message visited the dreaming minds of our protagonists most of whom haven't had a chance for a wink of shut-eye for quite a while if ever before but in this land of eternal night no one can escape the all-powerful need to sleep not the living not the dead and not even the monsters that lurk in the terrified fringes of imagination And despite this strange holy province being populated by godly men and women, here be monsters.

And I don't mean our rag-tag band of witch hunters. You lie cold. You lie on the cold cobbled stones of the street. Blood pouring from your eyes. So much pouring over your... Oh, my God. I was horrified. I was horrified.

This is a scary campaign. Blood pouring down your face, obscuring your vision. As you feel the wounds on your body, but so many of them, the adrenaline has overcome you that you feel no pain. As you watch this gigantic entity that leapt from the rooftop of the inn, move one boot and then the other.

You see the cracked and completely decimated skull of one of the men that had been beating you on these streets as his body lies broken on the cobblestones in front of you. You watch as this entity snatches up one, two, three, four, and with a grace and ease so quickly unlocks the cages on his back and swings the bodies of these men into these prisons. He looks between all of them and moans the words, sinners, broke him. As he turns to look to you, all of you feel your mind swimming, that same sense of, that same sense of almost drunkenness that it overcome you as you fell asleep, still swimming at the very fringes of your mind while you try to hold on to consciousness. You see as he looks down at you,

inspecting you, curiously. You can see easily, almost a sense of childlike, joy behind his eyes. As with a quick motion, he leaps into the air, grabs on to one of the parapets of a nearby house, and swings himself to the roof before jumping from roof to roof to roof, the loud clatter of his large feet and his large form slamming into the rooftops of these houses until he disappears off into the darkness. You all groan a little in pain. trying to find your voices as unconsciousness comes to you. You wake up. You've all experienced a long rest.

It is the smell of fresh cooked meats and eggs that assail your nostrils that bring you to. As you roll to and fro in what feels like a soft cushion bed with fluffy downy blankets, you wipe the sleep from your eyes as you look around. and you see that you are in a clean, warm room of fire off in the corner blazing brightly. This is not the room you'd been staying in in the inn. This is a room altogether different, more homey, more cozy. You're all dressed in comfortable pajamas and clean linens, some a little too large or too small for your forms,

but comfortable enough, tucked in, and you hear the sounds of not familiar but comfortable communication as if between family members coming from downstairs as it seeps through the floorboards. What do you do? We're all together. Yes. So you're all in a room.

There are bunk beds lying in the walls. There are three bunk beds in total, and each of you are cozy wrapped up in fluffy, downy blankets. I immediately turn away from the party to try and, make sure that my mask is still on, is it? Even though my change of outfit has occurred. No. Oh my God.

Yeah, I will say no. Because they would not understand the entire reason, and all of your wounds, etc. have been tended to and cleaned, and you have bandages and, et cetera. So you're on a top bunk,

I'll say, so you can do as you wish. All of your stuff is there. My hair is long, but typically, kept up, I would... It would have been taken down, cleaned, brushed, plated into two plants for sleeping. I'll comb through my hair to sort of let it hang down

to try and shield my face from the rest. Does anyone know where my mask is? I don't even know where we are. I'll start feeling around and see if I'm a lower-blet's see what I can do. There are hooks next to the beds and all of your packs and everything is there. I'll reach for the mask and hand it up. Thank you. Thank you.

I'll look at the inside of the mask and see if it's been cleaned. I probably bled into it quite a bit from the beating. Any blood or anything like that would have been cleaned out of it, but nothing additional would have been done to it. If there were any damage to your property, they would not have dealt with that. Is everyone okay? I'll stand up from wherever I'm laying. Yes, I'd be like.

I'd be lying if I said that I'm not a bit sore, but I'm in one piece. Everyone else? What, what even happened? I'm missing teeth again. You feel in your mouth and you actually feel that you're not missing teeth. Oh, never mind. I've got the teeth bag.

With the amount of, with the severe beating that you experienced the night before, you imagine that you should all feel significantly worse. But you don't. It's almost as if someone has taken the time to, heal you to near perfection. Your muscles are a little sore and you're still feeling the

remnants of drowsiness, but you have not felt this good since coming to this land. Gosh, is that what happens every time you folk go to sleep? That's terrible. No, Jericho, we were we let our God down and something

I never want to sleep again. I always tried so hard. God, is Garsh, it's true what they say. Careful what you wish for. We need to be more careful to your point. What a point is somebody drugged us and somebody made sure that we fell asleep and at least all had a fucked up dream. And then I couldn't move a fucking muscle. They would beat the shit out of us. Gosh, you had a, you had a bad dream, a nightmare? Are there as always that vivid and terrifying and involving so many crows devouring flesh. Oh, did I lose Virgil? Oh, there you are.

I'm glad you made it out, Virgil. Ah, okay, okay. No, I miss you too. I'll put my hat back on. Did ever, you had a drink? You can drink. Well, had you asked me that perhaps a few days ago, I would have said, no, sir, no, I cannot. But I presume being and having an experience when your, when your mind is shut off

in another sort of situation. Is this all very new to me? Is this, do you focus? Does this happen normally? This is a bit new to me as well. I typically meditate instead of having a full dream-like sleep

the way that we are in this strange land. And did you drink too? Yes, I wouldn't call it to dream, though. It was a nightmare. You? I dream. Got a bit of a frog

in my front there, dude. I thought I was going for Scottish accent for a sake. A horrible nightmare last night as well. Nothing like that's ever happened to me before. Nothing so vivid. Saw a terrible monster in mine with cages coming to steal my soul, probably. Well, I think that really happened. You had the dream, too.

Well, I feel like I woke up before that big old monster man beat up all of those hooligans. And by beat up, I mean, cross them into a red mist. Yes, that actually happened. Oh, yeah, I know. But I was the only one

that didn't realize at the time, right? I don't think... I didn't realize at the time. It was very vivid. Dream. Sure. To Jericho's point, normally I would say we hunt down

and deliver justice to whomever did this to us last night, but it seems as though that won't be necessary. Clearly, this town has some sort of justice system of its own. Only no skies. They didn't all die, right? No. Only one of them was killed,

and it was the one that he landed on. The other ones were thrown into cages. Okay. And we saw Billy, we saw William run away, right? You saw that, you heard the sounds of this entity making its way towards you before you saw it. And once Billy heard the sounds, he moved to the back and then quickly slinked off into the shadows. He knew what was coming. Fucking dick.

Do I know of any kind of like drug or herb that would cause us to feel the way that I did and have horrible? My nurse. Roll and nature check. I thought. No. You know that there are drugs or herbs that can do that. He was that fucking bartender, I'm telling you. He put something in that fucking drink.

Well, he didn't drink anything. Neither did I. You never rum. Or ale or whatever to fuck everybody else drank. Oh. I would have been surprised if that pleasant barkeep was in leave with those men. Something seemed awful bad. He was too nice. I did have a glass of wine, but I'm not sure that it's what affected us last night.

Assuming it was last night, it could have been days ago. Given how good I feel, much time may have passed. The night that we spent in the tent, we did not have dreams that night. No. And we're in a fuck are we, too. We're in, like, a totally different room. Yes. Is there a window?

There is. I'll jump up and look out the window. you make your way towards the window and you move the curtains to the side they're a nice creamy lace curtain um and as you move them to the side you look out over the city and you see that you're actually only a few buildings away from the cathedral at the very um at the very height of the city and it's easy to see from this vantage point that even though it is it is roughly early dusk It is around the very, for all intents and purposes, morning. And you see the small crest of the moon or the sun trying to make its way up over the horizon, but not successful.

The hag moon shining down over the land and the second moon, slightly larger and brighter hanging in the sky, illuminating everything. And you see people going about their day. It seems to be quiet this early, but doesn't seem to be anything strange, anything unusual that you can tell. You seem to be inside of a house and on the second floor. Is my armor sword and shield in this room? There is a chair next to the bunk bed that you are residing on, and all of your armor is placed nicely and neatly on the chair. I would look to where Briggsie is by the window. If there's like another window next to him or near him, I would grab my sword, look towards the group and say,

please forgive me. I need a moment. And just making sure we're alone, I would go to the window and kneel down with my sword and begin to pray. It is dawn, no secret of the light. What is thy first duty? I shall say a prayer to the light. And then I would begin to mumble and just pray. I am looking for the sun. No, Ron. Don't let me interrupt. I'll, like, sort of back away from the window. I'll tune my banjo, I'll grab it, and make sure that it's in tune. I'm picturing you in, like, a one-thee with the butt flap open. My tail's gotta go somewhere. A prospector is, like, red.

It's red. Well, well, you had a dream. You had a dream, you had a dream, you had a dream. It's fair, and how about you? We did as well. It was a terrible one at that thought. that all the seems awfully

suspicious don't it well none of you remember how we got here I'll remember waking up I remember

some thugs beating the shit out of me I remember them being fucked up or some big fella and then I passed out and here we are

we all did we all just passed out again you don't find that weird I mean it's really weird I mean normally I can't really sleep it's more of like

in an out of consciousness kind of thing ever since I became this way but it was a I was asleep. Oh, me too. Normally it's just kind of more of a stasis standing in a corn field or a rye field or a wheat field or or a pumpkin patch or corn. All right. Parsonips or taters or cabbage. Oh yeah, cabbage. We're great. Yeah, exactly right. Speaking of the crossing, don't tempt her now. And I just rest a little bit in my old weary non-bones just feel great the next morning.

We should probably, once he's done praying, we should probably find out where we are. We're not far from the cathedral. It's right out there. I'm going to listen to the voices that are kind of coming up. Do they sound like anybody we have heard before or sound familiar to us at all a perception check. I'm not wearing a call.

While she's doing that, I can swap out my spells. That's Palin, right? Yeah. You prepare your spells. I've never pled to Palin, but if they can't, you can there. That was the question for the guru. Thank you, really much. You make some new dice.

You listen in at the door, and it almost sounds quieter. So you slowly move along the floor, and you find a crack in the wood where you're able to listen in. And it sounds to be about three voices. They sound jovial, but sounds to be at least one man, a woman. The other is a little undiscernible, and they are not any voices that you've ever heard before. I agree that we should go and make our presence known. I'm sure they are aware we are here, but that we are awake. I do...

I typically play my cards close to the chest, so to speak, and I'm a very very... much a keeper of secrets, but when we have true privacy again, I think it would be best if we shared what we dreamed, so that we could see if there is some common thread. Well, I think that sounds mighty smart. Do we think we should do it now? While they think we're sleeping? We don't see how you could have any common thread of what I was dreaming. While they were all nightmares, I mean, that's one common thread.

I think you're right. Who knows who'd be? You can be very badly in privacy, it seems. I'll start. Okay, I was in this temple right, and there was this effigy of horrific dead crocodile. A dead crocodile? That sounds disgusting.

Well, it's more like a god that nobody worships anymore, so it's kind of like a dead cop. Regardless, there were these big gems, gems in the eye socket to this statue, to this god. And I was, I felt this, this thing. this yearning to take those gems. So I climbed up there, I grabbed them. But Royza grabbed them.

That statue tip right over on me. And I got smashed and do a million pieces. Do a paste. Of course, that's all I remember. Well, that is truly horrific. And you see me, I've stood up and I'm starting to put all my arm as I'm listening to you. That sounds familiar?

Do any flock anything you've... I was going to ask you if you felt that you've meant it? It sounds like there might be a lesson involved. I mean, my cutlass here, and I'll whip out my cutlass. You can see here it is this kind of like crocodile school. It's all, I think it's all related in whatever dead God that was worshipped in chalk. We're our families. I was simply going to suggest that you'd been punished for being a thief.

Well, I mean, it wouldn't be the first time. Do you feel that you feel guilty about that? I mean, no. Maybe this is the God's way of telling you that you're going to be punished. Nobody was using those gems. It was just it. Well, what was your dream? I think you were being punished.

I've horrific dreams ever since I've been turned into this. Something a bit more visible about this dream. I've had some real doozies in the past. Out of character, I have to be honest with you, I do not remember all the details of my dream. So if you could help me out, I feel. You were. I know it was very violent.

Yes, you woke, or not you woke up. You were surrounded by coffins and they were unearthing vampire spawn, and you were killing them, just absolutely slaying them. And then children began to appear out of the coffins and you cared not for. women, children, men, if they were of the ilk, you killed them, and you ended up the entire place, you were trying to burn the place, and your wrath was so strong that you didn't even care

for yourself as you began to burn as well. I was somewhere I did not recognize, surrounded by the undead. But frankly, creatures of the knights would I slate them. Not undifferent than I would now, as I have, and will continue to do. But I was angry, particularly so, even more so than normal, and there was a certain amount of bloodlust. Forgive the irony. We saw a little bit of that in that creepy basement.

I can't always control myself. Something I'm still working on all these many decades later. Needless to say, I slog them all, regardless of age. Again, I wouldn't hesitate to do that now. I am beginning to see a pattern in these dreams. You were filled with a very pure emotion like Briggsby. It was filled with the desire for treasure. I want me to Briggsie. There's no second me.

I'm sorry, it's hard to hear if we get mad. I'm an excellent. Thank you, yes, I like to keep it so. Um, the emotion. And while I am somewhat unsettled by the violence of the dream, I don't necessarily regret my actions. I would continue to hunt creatures of the night. moving forward even a little kid it's no existence for a small child regardless of good or evil

you kill them all the same it's against the natural order of things perhaps so but would you do it filled with such rage I'd like to think that I'm in control of my emotions and I do it with resoluteness steadfastness even I ask because in my dream I was sitting on a throne. I was sitting on a throne and looking over fellow Sharans like myself, people who believe in Sharr, goddess of night. They were all worshipping and following the rituals of Sharr and it was clear that we had achieved authority, a mastery of this domain, this realm, this space that I found myself in this and I was filled with a sick pride as broad as the night sky on a clear night.

It was overwhelming, and then they turned on me. My allies, the people who I would call friends, and they torn me to pieces. It was as vivid to me as it was to be beaten by those thugs. It was unpleasant. Do you have a lot of those friends, sharp shawans, back home where you come from? Not as many as I saw in my dream, but yes, I would say that I have friends who would consider themselves worshippers of my dark ministers. Forgive me if this question is out of line, but I don't recall you mentioning being any kind of loyalty or ruler. Is this something that you are?

Not in the formal sense. I am a Christus of the church. Something you want to be. Very much, yes. It is what I have devoted my life to. Well, your Sharron fellows, friends, ever tried to tear you limb from limb before? No, in our particular sect, we tend to be recruiters. People who find lost souls and lead them to Shar.

Not all Sharan's are the same, but we would never turn on each other. Not like that. So you practice safe sect? Yes, that is an excellent point. Thank you. I will remember this phrase. Are you worried that this could be some sort of warning? Well, I am wondering if it is attached to the quality of sin in this place.

we are all perhaps indulging too much in our, in raw, base nature. If that is perhaps a consequence of being in this city, perhaps all the civilians in this place have dreams this every night. There's no way to know.

Or perhaps we are unique. And if that is the case, something is prying into our minds and knowing what we are looking for, what we have in our darkest hearts. Well, I, since, Being here, I don't feel as though I've done anything out of line unless it's just sin that's been following me in my whole life. Or since I've been this way, I know, as Jericho pointed out, that I was not in my right mind in the basement of that horrific, horrific house.

Well, lines up of what you were saying. I mean, he was. But you know why he was? Been full of that pride. As Briggsie has looked at me and I'll think, I'll say, well, I was there. There was a wedding in a barn. So there was many crows, you say? Well, yes.

Not to start. It was really just half-lands. And there was a wedding, and it was so beautiful, and it was in a barn. You know, weddings and barns are all the rage these days. And it was, there was a lot of love and friendship and magic. And, gosh, it was so pertiful. And it was just, gosh, it's everything. And I really wish I was there.

I wish they said, you know what, Jericho. Don't stop lurking by the window looking at us creepily and come join us for for some sassbarilla and a and a shank of pork. And they didn't do that. Instead, a bunch of crows came in and ate them all. And then they ate me. Oh my gosh. One day you'll have to explain who this garch is. So you're saying that you go eat by crows. They don't eat by And all you did was look through a window. Oh yeah, oh yeah, gosh, yes. No, it was real pleasant in the beginning.

And I thought it was, I was really happy to, I was finally dreaming because there was such, there was a lot of love and friendship and everyone was drinking and eating and dancing and singing and laughing. And then I wish I was in there. I was, gosh, I wish that was me. And then, and then a bunch of crows came, and they ate all of them. And then they ate me. And I don't know how they, they just, I don't know how they,

They were able to digest all of my metal and burlap and straw, but there was just a screw left after they was done with me. Did you feel the way that the crows were feeling, like you can communicate with Virgil? They just descended upon me. I just felt like I wish I was there, and then suddenly crows. It certainly doesn't sound like you've done anything

that deserved punishment. I don't know why you'd been consumed. In this context, do we, like, there's no, is there an idea of like the seven deadly sins in, like, that's more of a Mikey question in the world of a ventress? Yeah, I would sure. I think that that would be, you know, a universal thing. Yeah, it'd probably be like a universe, a concept in many faiths and, and, and, and, look, it's in demonology, probably as well. I mean, it's not like Roman Catholic, I'm in deadly sins, but, you know, it's, it's a ventress.

Yeah. So the answer isn't a banterstein. A concept of sin. Right. Yeah. Well, I mean, it sounds like you... If we're thinking, if we're talking about sin here, I mean, isn't Envy's sin? Well, gosh, I was quite jealous of all of them beautiful-looking, wonderful, half-in folk that it seemed like they were just having the time of their lives.

I mean, Jericho, you seem like one of the most easy-going creatures I haven't met. But I must ask, in feeling that way, have you ever wished ill will upon someone? Well, I suppose when I'm alone and Virgil gets in my head and we're talking, I guess he says, well, what would you do to get that sort of thing? And I'd say, well, I'd do just about anything, Virgil. And then he gives me some ideas of how I might do it. I entertain those ideas. That's for sure.

What he has changed? Well, I... Yes. I mean, he's Virgil. That's his preference. I want you to know that I'm not judging you. I've done horrific things in my past. I understand what you're trying to convey. I know that...

I'm assuming Virgil's like sitting right there. Yeah, he's there. He's like... He's now, like, glowering at you. I'm going to look at him. I know we've... I understand he's sitting right there, but... Why not get rid of him? Uh, Virgil will call at you and land on top of my head.

And I'll start pecking at my hand. Virgil Gars, he's just asking a simple question. Virgil fly away. If he's so awful to you and he's suggesting such violent things, why he entertain them at all? Well, that's... that's the rub, as they say. I can. Virgil and I are two peas in a pod, so to speak. We're, uh, he and I are one and the same, you can say.

We could say that because it's true. Are you worried or do you know that if something about to happen to that bird, you would cease to exist? Well, no, because Virgil's, Virgil is, uh, well, I suppose we're all friends. you're not going to be really terrified? I won't be. It won't speak to anyone else.

Virgil's out here, but he's really, and I'll reach and I'll take my shirt, and I'm like, I'm sorry that whoever changed me had to see this, and I'll pull it up, and you'll see that my chest is effectively a metal cage, and it's just complete pitch black inside. and there are two horrific orb-like orange eyes with the same four-pointed star pupils that Virgil has. And they're, they're like glaring out in the exact same way that Virgil is. And you'll see that. And you'll actually notice that they're the same shape and size as the one that came to my eyes in the house.

When I had attempted, but I guess you would have seen that. Is it like a hollow? There are bars that come down like a bird cage. It's not the bird cage, but like, you know, kind of like the, like a human cage situation. So hollow inside, but it's completely pitch black inside except for, like magical darkness. Yes, magical darkness. Do I stare forward or are they starting to look at it? They'll all darting around and then it's the same way that Virgil's does and I'll pull it down.

By the send and I'm going to get a little closer as you're holding it up still and before you put it down. So that's what's under there? Virgil kind of fly in and peck at my hands and I'll drop that. Well, yeah, no, that's, that's Virgil, so he's, he's, he's there and he's also here. Have you always carried this burden? No. No, uh, this was kind of my, uh, I was made to carry this burden, but it was actually, quite nice for a while. It was quite nice. I had all my best gals and they made me and they gave me the

this here banja and they taught me or I guess made me to be to be able to craft and spin quite a tune and then I was very for whatever reason I was quite good at talking to folk and especially the halflands and where I used to live and then I would go to town and all of the folk, especially the children, they'd love me, and I'd encourage them all to come back into the woods. And then they never came back. And then when enough folk had followed me into the woods, my three best gals, they gathered around and waved their arms

and chanted and lit some fires. and then it all went dark and then when I came to they was ed up and I had Virgil inside me and Elsa it sounds very parallel to your dream that you had last night

you are a creation of creatures of the night well I guess you could call them Hags, yes. That's technically what they're referred to as. They was hags. They was my best gavs. And these girls, they had control over you. Well, I don't know about control. They asked me to do things and I would do it. They was, they was my best gals. It was true, true genuine affection. They're going now.

A Virgil let out a very, uh, a malevolently gleeful call. and I'll say, well, they was all in Virgil's belly as far as I'm concerned. You poor creature. Well, so they got what they fucking deserved. Well, no, I don't know if that's true. They was real nice to me, and they said they cared for me and loved me, and that was real nice. And ever since then, it's just been me and Virgil, and I haven't, he's been lingering around. I don't know.

They never told me what I was supposed to do once. Virgil got here. Well, it does sound then like your dream was some sort of punishment for the things that you've done. You being consumed, and just as all of those innocent or just people were also consumed. Well, I never knew what happened to them. All I know is I brought him to the woods and brought him to the hut. I didn't ask questions what happened to him. I'm sorry you went through that. I wish there was something more that we could say.

It's all right. It's nothing that y'all did. It's all what I was built for. I'm not like y'all folk who had mother and a father and childhood and all that sort of thing. I was built for a purpose. The silver lining is that you had agency during this time. It means that you will not be a risk to us if we should encounter more hags. Well, we were able to kill one at the very least.

What would it happen if something like that horrific sin monster would have break your chest open? Well, I don't right know. I know that I've tried to perhaps say farewell to Virgil and none of it worked. I tried this here key, and I pull the key that's around my neck. And this only... Let's just say it's not something that I want to be used. Doesn't get rid of. You know what Virgil wants.

I know that... And Virgil will fly and kind of land just on top of my head and just glare at all of you. And I'll say, well, he... He, well, he wants me to do things and learn things. And sometimes I'm able to say no. Sometimes I'm able to say yes. Well, not able to, sort of have to say yes.

And it is what it is. He's awful fond of secrets. Sounds like a liability. What's your meaning there, Captain Briggs? I'm not a captain anymore. I don't have a ship. need a ship to be a captain. I'm sorry to hear that.

But what I mean is that you lacked out. And then when you came to, you had devout free hags. Well, no, no, it wasn't me. I didn't devour them. Okay, not you, but the creature inside your belly

consumed the free of hags. It took a lot for us to kill one. Well, I think being fair and Virgil won't like me saying this, but I can because I'm my own person, Virgil. I'm sorry. Well, he said that was Virgil a lot stronger than he is now. I think that whatever they did to me was to, he came up from wherever you came from, Virgil. And then the ritual, I guess he had a moment where he was as strong as he normally.

is and then clang clang so you keep him at bay that's I think that's why I trust Lord Druskinvold he said the amber key could silence the voices without the mess if you did not have this entity inside of you

would your musical notes still have their magical properties Well, here's the thing, Miss Lefika. My banja always had magic, but after I was, after I woke up and all my best gals were gone, I was able to do more. And I believe it's this banja that was the, you can see all the ruins or this design here. I don't understand it, but they gave it to me and I think maybe a little bit of column A, column B. I understand. Your concern, Riggsie.

But a tenant that we have not discussed yet. Oh, boy, here we go. Think ahead, all right? All right. We're here in a strange land. We don't have any allies and Jericho is one of them. We need him.

We're certainly not going to fall to infighting now. And, to your point, if this creature that resides within his chest is as powerful as he says that it is, then perhaps it may come in handy when we face down witches and whatever head witch is leading this horrific cult

and back to the tenet of avoiding negativity. We can think to the bright side and use Jericho for good. Oh, that's very noble. He isn't causing any trouble yet besides talking to us,

which you don't remember anything about that, do you? Talking to us. I'm talking to you right now. I remember. No, no, I mean not you, Virgil. He spoke to Virgil. Oh, yeah, no, I know. I don't remember that, but I remember that it happened. That's a thing. He doesn't remember what it happens.

He's just a weird, gross crow. You can just... That's all he can really do. He's trapped away, so you can be as cross as you want, Virgil. If he was... strong enough to be feared or would have stopped him from killing us at any point in time in our journey.

That's why his answer is sufficient for me. But you're right, Briggsie. I guess if I'm a liability, I can go and go stand in one of them fields out there. No, no, I shouldn't want to say. I just was nice to have friends for at least a little bit. Look, I'll know a thing about magical rooms and calling on horrific powers to get the upper edge.

I'll get all that. And I'm just saying, if you feel it unwell, let us know. If there's some kind of tell where you know, oh, boy, here he comes. I'm about to do this. It's usually just when I need to do something that's not in my nature

that my best gals didn't equip me with. And I need to borrow a little bit of his fiendish power. And do not abandon us, Jericho. Stay with us. We are your allies and your friend. We will not be able to attain what we have been promised without each other. That's exactly right. I'll take off my hat and I'll kind of look very touched

as much as a scarecrow with a burlapsack hat can. Scare fruit here. Yeah. We've seen a lot of horrible things since we've come here. Things that have scared me outright, and I'm not easily scared. But you're not one of them. Well, gosh, that means a lot. I'm real grateful that y'all have given me...

Good morning. It sounds like you're up. I'm going to open the door. Try not to freak out. Everything's going to be fine. And just as quickly as you hear the voice, the door slowly opens. in a short woman a little on the pudgier side

with long dark hair and bright greenish blue eyes makes her way into the room she's adorned in a plain gray dress with an apron that is clearly dirtied from a morning of cooking as she

as she makes her way into the room her hands are full as she carries what appears to be a gigantic metal tray filled to the brim with breakfast foods of all kinds and a large piping hot pot of coffee. As she uses the heel of her foot to kick the door close, she quickly bustles over to the corner of the room

where there is a large table with six chairs and she begins to set out places, humming to herself as she does so, completely ignoring you all. And as she wipes her hands on her apron, she turns towards you with a smile on her face and looks between all of you. Well, I'm so glad to see that you were doing fine.

I do have to say you were a bit of work last night, but good enough rest, and it looks like you needed it. I'm Mirabelle. I don't know why I said. That's my last name. Zepharine, Mirabelle. And I'm the sister to the Archbishop. Zepharine? Zepharine.

Oh, Zepharine? Yes. Oh, way off. Um, no, no, you go. Oh, I, I'm a quick sister. Hey, I, apologies. My name is Samarius. Oh, I know your names.

This smells amazing. Thank you so much. Oh, you're welcome. You need to eat. We're just a little confused on where we are. I guess we're at the... I give me the one who brought us up here. A tiny little you. With some help, my husband helped me, of course, and so did my brother. He was horrified to hear what had happened to last night.

And he came to me, woke the family, which we were not bothered. So don't worry yourself. was too much about that. I work with the church often and it's part of my duties to bring in the sick and the poor and help them back to their feet, so it was no trouble. I promise. How do you know our names? Well, my brother

told me, of course. And what is your brother's name? The Archbishop. Dan Tonne Alexander Renault. For the record, we are neither sick nor poor. So if there's anything that we can do to pay you back for your kindness, we are extremely grateful, and then we are willing to offer

I appreciate that very much. I do know that he has a meeting with you, so he was very to the point that I needed to make sure that you were well-fed, well-heeled, and well-rested before your meeting with the matron of the orphanage today. You are... No, you know, you...

You who healed us. With some help from my husband. You must both be very... proficient with the healing arts we do what we can i i wish we were better to be honest it would be nice to be able to help the children and you can see a look of like pure sadness on her face for a second well that's an understatement i was bleeding from the eyes oh you were very well done you were quite a bit of trouble and i don't mean that and in any disrespectful way but it was hard to find what were fresh wounds and what were part of you right uh so

Sorry about to smell. I apologize. I've seen worse. What time is our meeting? I don't want to be late and keep the Archbishop waiting if we're supposed to be meeting with him. I would never assume when my brother would arrive. He chooses the time and he will be here.

Oh, he'll come here? Yes, of course. All right, all right. He'll come to get you. I'm sure he'll have his guard in tow, especially after what happened last night. He's not going to allow you to want to. around the streets by yourselves?

It would be silly. Is his guard the same as the ones that came with us last night? The night's Templar, yes. Oh, well, you know, I'm just gonna keep in mind. You know, I kind of like, have a malevolent look across my face, and I'll try to want you to eat. All of you.

Yes. You're not going to get through this day, and I'm sure my brother has many more tasks for you than just meeting up with the matron. Thank you. And again, please do not hesitate. to let us know if there's anything that we can do to aid you. And she looks, she actually walks over to you and she grabs your hand.

Thank you, Marriott. I appreciate that very much. I do have a significant amount of errands that I need to run today, so I will be leaving you shortly. My husband is home. If you need anything at all, please do not hesitate to let him know. He's aware you're here, and he is happy to be of assistance in any way that he can. Well, thank you very much. Miss Zephyrine. If I may call you

by your first name. My name is old Jericho Stix, and you can call me Jericho. Most folk do. Those closest to me call me Zephy. Zephy. Well, thank you, Ms. Zephy. I hope that we all could be close to you. You're a very kind lady, and I'm very sorry for whatever Virgil did to you. Oh, sweetheart, don't even think about it. He didn't bother me at all. Well done, Virgil. I'm surprised.

I think he appreciated that we were mending to, that we were mending you. Okay, I don't trust it. Don't trust a weird bird or any weird animal. Isn't he yours? Well, well, you... Depends on your definition. Well, eat up. Thank you, Zepern, for the food and for your generosity.

You're very welcome, Ethaca. I loudly open the top of where she's... Do I smell Mongolian beef. Oh, wow, you can lap the beef up right in this cabin, please. I instantly have the shits. I promise you, there is no MSG in any of this. I would immediately walk to the table and just start, like, snarf and down. I'm standing there just waiting for her to go.

She watches as the two of you move towards the table. and begin to eat and a smile for those of you that are watching her, easily lights her face. Well, it was lovely to meet you, and I will hopefully be seeing you this evening. This is where you'll be staying as long as you're in Cyril. My home is your home. Thank you for your hospitality, too.

Thank you. I need anything at all. I just want to mention that when we stay at the inn, we would drag down a bed ball like a dozen bugs. I'm aware So are you going to In case it happens again I mean they might find out where we're staying

And they might be like two dozen next time Are you going to be okay? I think we'll be okay But are you going to be okay? The simple answer to that is yes This outside of the cathedral itself Is the safest place you'll find in zero My brother would not have put you up here

If he didn't think so those thugs that you mentioned and the guards that fell to temptation in sin have been dealt with as my brother has seen fit and a warning has gone out to the town though and you must well you it's not that you must but I hope that you will try to be understanding and show some forgiveness for the people of Cyril you're living in a very dark time. Unlike any we've ever seen, Mother Midnight tortures, our children, our mothers, our fathers, our friends.

And when people feel a sense of hopelessness, they act irrationally. We do hope to keep you safe, but you are unlike any guests we've had in Cyril before.

Those that live here, they don't travel outside the confines of this province. They don't see people like you. And I know that's not an excuse, but I hope that they will come to understand, and especially with what you will help my brother with, I hope that the people of Cyril will come to respect and appreciate what you're doing for us. I think that they will.

This is not the first time that I have from my very presence, inspired fear. I understand what you are saying. We just need to prove ourselves. You hear a loud groan from a room over. Poor Mr. Good.

Was left barely an inch of his life. Oh, no. And he is recovering significantly worse than you are. Sounds like a classic smoke screen. It's just more suspicious

the fact that he's here. Really? I mean, what are yours? Did it beat him up too? What happened? We literally just talked about avoiding negativity. Well, very negative, you'll find. What happened to Mr. Good?

It seems that one of the hoodlums that accosted you had tampered with one of his casks of drink. Belladonna, are you familiar with it? I would assume you are. Well, in small amounts it can make you drowsy. It's a wonderful sleep aid, but it is incredibly poisonous. But it wasn't just the drink. It was also the smoke from the candles at their table.

And Samuel, though he has been warned, might have imbibed in a little too much drink last night. If we hadn't found him in his room, unconscious, he would not have survived the night. Goodness, Samuel Good, me ass. He is. He's very kindly. He would not want anything horrible to happen to you. I can promise you that.

He walks the one through path. I hope he feels a lot better soon. Yes, I imagine it will take a day or so, but once he is to a place where he can talk, he will be questioned. And if my brother feels that he was in any way responsible, then he will stand to trial. I like to say out of that. And if you feel that he was in any way involved,

I recommend that you speak to my brother about it. No, no, no, I don't want to, I don't want to start anything. I don't want to stick a mob on anybody. I'm just, I'm a little paranoid, you'll find. And I can't blame you. Oh, right, I mean, sort of, you know. No, just.

What happened to you last night? It was horrible. And under our watch, I personally feel awful that I didn't take you in to begin with. It was a gross oversight on our account. I'm so sorry we couldn't protect you. Well, it's all right. We got in quite late, I believe, and we also were brought in by a violent mob, so we didn't really... No one really was expecting us. We didn't really call ahead, I suppose. So you are not the one who, the ones who owe us an apology.

I thank you again, Zephyr, for your generosity and for your hospitality. And one more question. I know you got a lot of busy errands you got to run. You mentioned something that made me a question come to my empty head. Are there folk that are similar to us or not your average human-type folk outside? of this province? Of course. Oh. Maybe not exactly like you, but there are all manners of people in Druskenwald.

We've only seen humans in this province, though. Yes. Well, that's the wrong province. That's an interesting, uh, that is an interesting bit of news. We are what we need to be, Betsy. We're here for a reason. Thank you very much. You're welcome. I'm, you're welcome. I'm, going to attend to my errands today, and if you need anything, let Francois know, that's my husband. He will be happy to help.

Oh, fancy. Francois. You can call him Frank. Frank. Got it. Frank. I think I'll call him Francois. That sounds fancy. She smiles at you and she turns from the room.

Well, I hope that my brother doesn't take too long to arrive, but in In the meantime, just make yourselves at home. And she will leave the room and slowly close the door behind her. You hear that her footfalls are soft on the hallway outside, and you can hear she checks in on Samuel and the door closed as she makes her way down the stairs. As soon as the door is closed, I would return the dagger I've been hiding behind my back to my pack and make my way to the food. There are fried eggs, large. chunks of bacon. There are toasts, croissants, muffins, fresh, what appears to be fresh

blueberry muffins, and stacks of pancakes and syrup. I should be mine. As I refill my coffee, I take a fork and I stab a piece of bacon. With a piece of bacon on the fork, I pointed bricks and I say, we really need to work on your attitude. And then I eat the bacon. Well, I'm going to get it croissant. grab a croissant from the table I would two strips of bacon in both my hands and I go

oh it's a croissant You see these fancy little things of bread I mean it's just bread It's more just like better bread It should call it better bread But they call it a croix It's made by layering the dough with butter I'm sure you would enjoy it

But I will have the blueberry muffin That's a good muffin and I'm just eating croissons. Make sure you eat as well. We need to keep our strength up. I'll take a small bit of egg and bacon. I'll tear my muffin in half and I'll put a layer of cream cheese on

to create something like a sandwich. Yes. There's a cheddar board where there are an assortment of cheese. I assume that that was in my mind palace. Does it taste or smell like Belladonna at all? No, I'm super worried about getting point. I'm full in.

I'm full in, but I'll eat it anyway. Lots is curious. 11. You don't know. This is great. You're grim. You have a little bacon here. No, no, on the top of your tooth, it's just spiked.

Oh, they even got cream cheese here? Wow. You know, this stuff was invented in Philadelphia. I don't know if you've been there. I wish in every deli. Is that in chalk? You know, I'll forget where it was. Maybe Yonah, I'll forget.

Well, Yorim, I don't want to interrupt your breakfast, but I don't think you told us your dream. Yes, I was going to ask. I don't know what it has in common with any of yours. But I was walking along a path. Much like the one that brought us here Carrying my Stone

With every step I took Its weight grew heavier Something that normally wouldn't have Stopped me before all from My ancestors Inviting me to Rest And I was just

So tired tired of the road, tired of the journey. I lied down and I began to dig my own plot in the ground. Oh damn. And this stone marked my final rest. Up to this point, have you ever told us anything about the stone you carry? I don't think you have to be a double-jack. I would say no, but, but,

Before, when we were in the house, after I had broken the spirit board, I had added Petrini's name to it. That was the only time we ever, yeah, but I'd never, yeah, I don't know that I'd outwardly mentioned anything. It's irrelevance before that moment. I hate to overstep my bounds, but why do you carry that? It's got to be awful heavy. It's heavier than you can feel like. touching it. It carries the, carries a telling of every sin I've committed. And you would see, like, written on it is just name after name, just scrawled like in small script all the way

down. And it's, it's humongous. I need your overall perception check for me, please. Is it an orcish? The names? Uh, they will, they would be, you mean like, would they be recognizable script? Or would they be like orcish name? So let's just know what I mean. Like, would it be written in an or an orkish script? Or would it be like a common script or? Let me know if anyone 15 or above. No.

20. 20. I fail miserably. Okay. The three of you hear what sounds like a soft intake of breath. In the room? Yes. Can we determine what direction it's coming from?

Yeah, I would immediately like, try to spin to wherever it was. I would say no. Did you hear that? Quiet. I heard it too. I heard, no, I heard, I heard, I heard, I heard, Yorghum's story. No, no, shh. Yorghum, I apologize for cutting you off.

I heard it as well. It's all right. There's someone in your breathing. There was any six of us breathing me. No, no, no, no, no. Show yourself. I don't breathe. I retrieve the drag, the dagger from my path.

We know you're breathing. We know you're here. Roll an intimidation check. I don't hear anything at all. Why are you... What are you shouting at? 16? That thing goes like a brick.

I don't know if you filthy Jasper. No, he's dead. Oh, my God. Can Filthy Jasper die? It's filthy Jasper's sister. She's here for revenge. Rosed to her two. Dirty Diana.

Nothing happens. 16 wasn't good enough. There's no response. There's no response. You listen. I would just be listening to hear if I can hear it again. You listen for the sound of breath or anything at all, and you hear nothing.

Just quiet. Are there any closets or cabinets or anything in the room? Yeah, I would say there is essentially a closet up against the wall. I would look under the beds and if I guess if you're going to go to the closet. Yeah, I would, with my staff with me. You pop the closet open. You pop the closet open, and you're immediately met with a bit of dust. But this armour for all intents and purposes appears to be used quite often.

There are a few very similar vestments to the one that you were put in to sleep, hanging in here of varying sizes, as well as folded up sheets and pillowcases. and a couple of extra pillows and blankets. But aside from that, there's nothing else in the room. Or in there. I will... I will... I will...

Give myself a advantage on the stealth-style roles with one of my features that I can definitely tell you about right now because my phone's really fast and loads things really quick. And what did you say you were doing, Andy? Everybody just hang on. No, I was just looking under the bed

anywhere that someone could hide. And while I'm doing so, I would say in a kind of a hushed whisper, I fear this entire time we may have been not alone and have been listened to. It's probably just the wind. It's definitely not. Looking under the bunk beds, you move from the first to the second to the third, and this room seems to be well kept.

There's not even dust bunnies under the beds. I've been silently moving to the door that Xeraphene left through, and as soon as I get to it, I'm going to quickly open it and look down both ways in the hall. Okay. Roll and roll a perception check. That's acceptable money.

Oh, that's not where I'm going to find prescription. That's, it's in skills. You idiot? Yeah, I'm going to take one of them 24th place. Perfect. You look this way in that, and you see that the hallway splits, It's essentially a box and you're at one end of it.

The hallway splits down, curves over, and then two stairwells go down. And all along the walls, you see a spattering of doors, a couple on either side. And you know that she had mentioned working alongside the church and helping to heal the sick. And you imagine these are sick rooms or rooms to help heal people. All of the doors appear to be closed. You listen and you can hear the movement from what you imagine to. be the room Samuel had been in. That's the only room you hear any movement in, and it sounds like the soft breathing and slight snoring of someone who is clearly asleep. The only other noise that

you hear is down below, much more evident now, is the sounds of Francois, who seems to be cleaning up the kitchen and doing other household tasks in the main level. As dexterously and stealthily as I can, I'm going to cross the hallway. I'm still in my Wednesday. with my dagger and my hand, very quickly and silently open Samuel Good's door and just peek in to make sure that all is well and that there's no one else. I won't make you re-roll. You're easily able to open the door. It doesn't seem like it's locked at all. The curtains have been drawn. It is completely dark, all aside from a roaring fire in the hearth and one candle on his bedside table that is nearly completely burnt away. And he is covered up to his neck in a very thick blanket, thicker than the ones that you were given. And you can see that he's sweating profusely and shivering,

but he is clearly asleep. Remembering the Belladonna candles that took us out last night, I will close the door silently again and return to the room. Did we notice you leave? If you were looking in the general direction of the door, you would see me as quiet as a shift. shadow disappear out into the hallway temporarily. I would say, because if I

noticed you leave, the moment you left, I would have closed the door behind you. Very quietly, I turn around and I... Open the door and come back inside. Close it. Close it. Close the door behind you. What? Could you find anything? No, but if someone

is in here and they're avoiding our gaze, be it by magics or something else, I don't want them getting out. Reveal yourself, creature. Reveal yourself. As I start to speak, the room will dim. My eyes will start to darken.

No, please don't, please don't make it dark. I don't like the dark. And you'll see that from beneath the mat of blankets on one of the tops of the bunk beds, a small child's face appears from the edges. Cute, our short blonde hair, bright, blue eyes, radiant smile. She clearly

resembles the archbishop. And she looks down, I'm so sorry. I just really wanted to see the kind monsters that are in Cyril. Kind of like that moment in Fellowship of the Rings when Gandalf threatens Bilbo. As soon as I see that it's a child, the lights

will return and my eyes will return back to normal. I didn't mean to eavesdrop. I know that it's a sin. And mom told me I couldn't come upstairs, but I had to come in. I just needed to see you because do you want to know? Tell us quickly, Giles. Look, I have this storybook and you're all in it. And she holds up what appears to be a leather-bound book. And it just, it simply says the words storybook gilded on the front. And she holds it open. You see that it's open to a story about

a talking scarecrow. See, see, it's you. It's you. And then she looks it over and you see to a story about a druid of blight. And you, you're right here, here. You can look at it if you want, but I couldn't even believe it when I overheard. Not that I was eavesdropping or anything. What are the odds of that? My goodness. Can I see that book, child?

Yeah, but don't hurt it because it's my favorite. I promise I won't. First thing is first. You probably listen to us talk about a lot of things that you must not repeat. And, and... I'll take the book and start for it. Goodness. I only heard what he was saying

about being a sinner, but I'll never tell. It's not about that. It's about you are very young and you don't need to be exposed to such horrific things. Why did you only hear... I'm exposed to a lot of horrific things.

Why did you only hear what I was saying? I've been talking for quite some time. No, you were stuffing your face with food and you were all being pretty quiet. That's true. Oh, you snuck in with your mother. Yeah, I said that. Oh, gosh, I missed that.

I apologize. My name is old Jericho Sticks, but you can call me Jericho, little one, most folk do. Just ignore all the horrible whispers and child-eaten preferences of my weird gross crow. Wait, what? No, ignore me. Ignore me. I'm very sorry. I'm not good with kids as much as I should be.

You don't have a child-eating crow in my book. You have to be more careful. Good. You don't know what strangers to you. I understand that you just wanted to meet us, but you must. be more careful in the future. You don't know what you're walking into. You don't seem scary. Well, most of you don't seem scary to me at all. Where did you get this book child? And I'm looking over Feren's shoulder and

I would want to like flip to my hair. That doesn't say, Mary's drink. See Mary's drink. She Mary's killed. Yeah, I would want to flip to the one that's about me and like kind of see, like, is it a story? Like, what does it, does it read to me as like, oh, wow, this is me? Or is it just like a horrible, like, I would say it reads like a folk tale, but it isn't clearly about you.

Okay. It's more about someone that is similar to you or someone that is similar to your kind. And it's the same thing with Jericho's. It makes it very easy to see that they are similar, but without the, without the things that make you uniquely you. So like a generalized caricature of us. Yes. But in Hero Children book for it.

Really something. That's a nice book here. Where did you get it? I've had it since I was a little girl. Seems awfully coincidental. I mean, I'm a little, a literal girl. Like before I could walk, you know? I can walk now.

Does she told us her name? No. What is your name? It's calling. Colette. That is a very pretty name. Thanks. I didn't pick it, but I like it. Do your parents know about this book?

Oh, yeah. They used to read it to me all the time before bed. What's the story, Trowd? Story about what? In the book. There are many stories. They're all different. Is it just the six stories that match us, or as it... No, there are a ton. My favorite one is about the siren that falls.

in love and she gets legs and then, well, she dies at the end, so that kind of sucks. But there's a really awesome, like, sea hag in it, and I like that one. I don't like hags or anything, especially if my, if my uncle asked her it, I don't like, I just like it in the book. It's okay. But I'm not going to tell your secrets. Okay. Hags can be mighty handsome sometimes.

Oh, stop talking. I don't think that there's anything to worry about, Briggs. It's just a book. It's just a child of star. I'm with Briggsie on this one. One of the chances. Oh, you know, it's another one. See if it brings true to you.

There's this, it's kind of the entire reason that the book is the best one, the book is the best book ever. It's the last story and it's about this like really evil, evil female vampires like ruling over an entire land of people. And then all of a sudden these strange people come in from a strange land and they rescue the entire place. It's really cool. There's love in it, and there's a cowboy. I've never seen a cowboy before.

It's really the first time I've ever heard of a cowboy. He was awesome. And my favorite one, there was a dinosaur in it. It all sounds very fantastical. That's ridiculous. Can I always please see it? It's the last story in there. So I want to try to flip to my section.

Is it, how, how, close does it seem? Like, is it literally like a crocodile folk pirate? Yes. And with zombie babies and everything. Yeah. She's awfully specific.

It's not named like schmixie, isn't it? And every single story ends with some kind of horrific death. Oh, okay. That would be good at all. I flip to the story in the back and I read a little bit about it. What does it say?

at the very back of your story? No, no, no, the last story. Oh, the last story. Tell me how I don't. With the dinosaur and the cowboy. You begin to read and you read about the planting

of a sapling in the ruins of an ancient castle as a woman mourns the death of a friend. You're so very horrific? It's a slap that my hand at back to her. I don't know, Briggsie. I just feel that nothing here is coincidental.

I mean, we... I still think that there was something that all of us were drawn here for and to do, which we know about how... And I can't shake the feeling that that book has some sort of fate-bound something. I think a children's fantasy book plays into our quest. I mean, when you put it like that,

it sounds a bit ridiculous, but yes. That sounds a bit of a little bit. I do believe that that book, you cannot for a second tell me that the story about an undead pirate creature that is standing next to me is commonplace. A commonplace folk-tort's tale

that would just be passed down for no reason. Don't you see why I had to come see with my own eyes? I couldn't believe it. Yes, yes, I do. I understand. It's wacky. Is that a popular book amongst children of and young folk of your general age and size? I don't know many children.

Oh. So I don't know. Chaud. Who wrote the book? Doesn't have a name. You need to get to the bottom of this. I feel free late. You can never be in North My World Campaigns, I would. I could have been this guy.

Seymour right out. I see we are. Icey Wheeler. The epic children's book, author Trio. I see you. I would also want hands on the book just to give it a looks over and flip through it. When I find my chapter,

do I think that it would be hard for me to transcribe my story if I wanted to spend an hour or two sitting down with an ink and will? Yeah. I may ask you to bother this for a few hours if I could write. the story that is so very similar to my own.

You can take it with you for as long as you need to. I've got it all up here. Just don't lose it or give it away. Bring it back at some point. You're very smart, Collette, if you can remember all of the stories. I've heard them for as long as I can remember and I can read now,

so I read them all the time, especially on board. That's very impressive. I'm very generous. Thank you. Happy to. Sorry that I was eavesdropping. I know it's a sin. That's all right. It's not a big deal.

It's more about your safety than any kind of sin. You need to be more careful as all. I mean, if you're here, you're safe. Mom would never bring anyone home who's going to hurt me. She definitely would never leave the house with me in it, with people who are going to hurt me. All right. You folk are awful trusting.

Then again, I guess a lot of people trust in me. My uncle is really powerful. If you did anything to hurt me, but you won't. Of course not. We never would. And we have a meeting with you very soon, I'll think. I know. Do we know when the meeting is?

Oh, no, he said that he was on the clock. You tell him that I was eavesdropping on you, right? Or that I said that I liked that story. You know, he doesn't really like stories. He thinks that it's against the one true path to indulge in fairy tales. Well, we won't tell him. And if he asks, we will say that Collette

does not even know how to drop Eve. Oh, thanks. We certainly don't want to get you in trouble, but we do need to find out how you obtained this book and where it came from. Sure, I can ask my mom. I think it's pertinent. If we don't want to mention it to the abbot, we don't have to.

Yeah, I can ask my mom. All right. You can ask my mom. Whatever you think is best. Again, we don't want to get you in trouble. I don't want you to get me in trouble either. The extra bacon over there. Please, help yourself.

Maybe not so much bacon. I just have one piece. Please. What did I go to course summer? It's terrible. I'm clearly delighted by like a child being in the room. So I'll kind of pick up some. you know, make a plate of, like, some of the sweet things,

like the muffins and stuff and kind of like hand out. Thanks. Well, I guess I'll enjoy a muffin too, because we're all friends here. Ha! Does he do that in the book? No. Clang. Ooh, that was delicious.

We're all friends enjoying breakfast. He's harmless, I promise. It's a little scary to look at, but he's a good guy. That's just how he eats. All right. If you've ever seen a pelican eat, you would say that that looks scary too. What's a pelican? It's a seabird.

Is that like a plekin? A what? A plekin. I sure, yes. And your dad is Frank? Yeah. I just call him dad. Oh, right.

Cool. You can probably get downstairs and be at the front door in case your uncle shows up. He's on his way upstairs now. Your uncle's on his way upstairs or Frank is? No, Dad. Oh. You can hear him walking up the stairs if you just listen. Oh.

Oh, you're wrong. He's a little slow. I only got a 16 on my perception. I think he knows that I'm missing, so. All right, then we'll run along. Be careful. Have to leave? Yes, yes.

Unfortunately, we have to have a conversation with the adults. Oh. We'll see again soon. Yes, we have to return the book, of course. Oh, all right. All right. Goodbye. We'll see you soon.

Goodbye. Goodbye, because that... Oh. Someone going to get that? One second. I'll run to the door and open it. Good morning. Or early, early desk.

Good morning. Is my daughter bothering you? No, not at all. Please come in. She was very kind. She just came. him up here to make sure that we had enough to eat. She's a sweet day. Didn't she now?

And he walks over, but you see as he looks up at her, the smile that alights his face. Get on Papa's shoulders. And she quickly leaps onto his shoulders and hugs on to him. As she just stands there with her arms wrapped around his neck. She gives him a quick kiss on the cheek. Good morning, Papa. Is there anything I can do to help you? Well, thank you for your hospitality.

First off. Your name's Frank, right? My name's Briggsie, and I'll reach out my hand. He reaches out and shakes your hand. And now we're just waiting for the Archbishop. Well, I've had word from the Knights Templar that they're on their way. Or if he's on his way. So he should be here within the next 10 minutes or so.

Oh. Timely. Will you give us an opportunity to change? I'll be here next week. That fucks. I'm sorry, what? Oh, sorry. Brick's sorry.

He retired. He has a really. It's not in time. I mean, no. Kit. I am... Nothing, honey. I am so sorry.

My companion, he's not used to being around children. I apologize. It's fine, it's fine. She's heard worse. We'll wait here for the Archbishop. I will send him up then. Thank you very much, Franco. My name is...

And I'll just... Oh, mutter, I'll mutter. Before I go, I too have Aaron that I need to run and I plan to meet up with my wife midday. There will be no one home. And it is possible we will miss each other on many and occasions. He reaches into his pocket and he pulls out a shining bronze key. This is a key to the house.

Our home is your home. Just make sure it doesn't fall under the wrong hands. I'm trusting you with this. Oh, well, of course, we protected like our own. Well, if there's nothing else I can do for you, I will myself get ready downstairs and I will send the Archbishop up when you're at.

Quite the opposite. Is there something that we can be doing cleaning the house, the dishes, anything? Not leather cups. Oh, I'm very good at chores. I was also created to do chores as well as their unsuspecting townsfolk back to.

We got things to do. Oh. Yes, Briggsie is right. The Archbishop has plans for you today and you are our guests. I'm good with a broom and mom. That's wonderful. All right, Collette, we have to meet up with you.

Andrew. Okay, okay. Very nice meeting you, Francois. Turns around and shuts the door and both friends. Colette, watch your head. Oh. Nothing like that happens. Gord. That's what a pleasant family. Is this what normal folk you two experience? I don't know.

It's awfully kind and awfully hurt me. These are unusually nice people. This is, especially given what the experience we have with the city, it is remarkable that they remain so in the light. We need to find out about that book. I was going to transcribe it, but we only have a few minutes. I'm just going to change if you want to look. I have to be honest with you

that the mention of horrific death and potentially finding out what might happen to me. I am tempted, but that's what gives me pause, the temptation. I do not think it is a prescription for how you will go down. You never know. Yeah? Okay.

And as you're saying this, you hear a bit of commotion as it's very clear with Francois having left the door open, that the main door to the house has been opened as what sounds like 10 armed guards make their way into the house. And then the heavy thudding sound, the slow movements of the Archbishop's boots as they find purchase on the wood, as he slowly begins to ascend the staircase. I grab my shoulder. I'll finish me, grab, throw my jacket on, put my hat on. These clothes are a little too nice for me.

You don't feel right. Yeah, I guess I just turn my back and get dressed. Yeah, for all intents of purposes, I'll say you were, you would already dress before you ate, and so you are, you're not naked. You're not in pajamas. What if I want to be? Well, you're not. I left my legs off.

I take my pants off. You put that back on. Yeah, I'm completely nude, and I've got my chakram around like a hula hoop. I think I wear pants. I think I do the Donald Duck where I've got like a little pants and just a shirt. And I do the way to do. I love DMing for you. Yeah.

Can you slide down the hallway like in risky business with the socks on? I think that's the fair and way. Exactly. Exactly. That's what you're going to say. This podcast is brought to you by our Patreon. Become a patron today at patreon.com slash legends of avatrous and gain access to tons of exclusive perks including a monthly movie night

and a weekly Patreon exclusive campaign set on the high seas. Shrout. over Saltmarsh. You can also go to the crooked moon.com to pick up your own copy of our first published supplement, The Crooked Moon, a folk horror tome for Dungeons and Dragons 5th edition. And don't forget to snag all the extra goodies like dice, miniatures, plushies, a tarot deck, and more. Thank you. Uh, Mace, please read this without anybody else seeing. Oh, oh, no, I can't. What's the little thought?

Shit. You ignite in two plants. So with that, Why is Mace? It gets to get all the flubbed. So with that, you are standing in the room and you hear the footsteps. Very calculated, very intentional as they come up the stairs. And they stop right before the door for just a second, before you see the form of the archbishop standing there, silhouetted in the door frame.

Is he wearing his giant hat? Yes. Oh, wow. We see it, like I can see him now. He's standing there. It is good to see that you have all made it through the night. I must apologize for what happened at the end. No, no, it's really no issue.

Please, come in. We appreciate your hospitality and getting us back up to full strength. He slowly bends down and hat first makes his way into the room. Do we see it? Is the guard in the room too? You notice that as he walks in, two guards move past the doorway and you see they stationed themselves

immediately outside of the room. You can imagine by the sound of the boots that there are two guards on either side of the door finding out. And are these like knights? These are the Knights Templar. And so are they're similar to Marius in a way? Obviously they're Fultes and not-

Yes, but they're still in similar regalia, just different- So I would make a connection. We recognize any of it? If we saw any of the guards go past, we recognized any from the prayer? I would say you recognize the ones that passed from yesterday as being the guards that

were flanking the Archbishop and stayed with him when he was walking through town. They were not the guards that were left with you. It seems that these are probably his specific set of guards that protect him. The creature that saved us by killing a lot of the bugs, does it

also resemble any of the... armor choices that the Knights Templar are making in the... There was, I will say he had a hood up that were in the similar colors, and he had a large symbol of Fultus around his neck on a chain. He was emblazoned with some of the iconography of Fultus. I will say even embedded into the middle of the cages on his back were symbols of Fultus, on the rivets and things. Well, it's okay, Archbishop.

I mean, I've been accosted by angry mobs one or two times in my existence. I guess we really should be thanking a big feller. It's the large creature that descended upon the... We would have been goneers. Which was that thing. Yes. The beastie. He saved a large.

What you said? His name is Hugo. He is under my protection. protection. And he works for the church. I must apologize for his horrific appearance. His mother fell to wickedness, but he cannot be held accountable for his horrific visage. No, maybe something was fine. He was very strong. He was like a huge, right? He, for all intent, or for the sake of the game, he's a large token. I'm picturing the, um, I'm picturing the, um, Mr. Hyde from Big of Expert Narrating. I've never seen it. Oh, what do you look at out?

See like the Hulk. I would say that's a fair comparison. It's like the Hulk. Oh, so it's just. Like Ludo from Labyrinth. But he was like, was he like really ugly, or we had a leather hood over his face, right? He had a leather hood over his face.

He was very gargoy-esque. He was very clearly, I would say, if you're familiar with Harry Potter, you know that Hagrid was half human, half troll. No, he was half giant. He was half giant. Yeah, yeah, giant. Because I guess giants and trolls were a really horrible

CGI nomination. So in Harry Potter, they're both. She kind of like blurs the lines between giants and trolls. But yeah, so he's half giant, half human. And so he's not as big as a giant, but he's significantly larger than a human. You would, that is the same type of thing that you see with humans. of thing that you see with Hugo. He's very clearly part human, but he also appears to be

almost part gargoyle or some other giant type creature. So it is just the one Hugo then? Yes, Hugo have reared him after the death of his mother, and he has found solace in the one true pass. I would stand up, like gripping my shovel. I might knock the chair back, you know, I stand up kind of like aggressively, like not happy. And

let's say, you know, the guard you left us with last night walked away. Our awaiting judgment for their cries. Hugo sees far more than it seems.

Well, look, you don't have to apologize for the beastings. Those that accosted you last night are at the jail. Sotrary, talk of... Inquisitor Mayville, and you see a look of almost pride or adoration on his face for just a second. Has accounted for them, and they will await their trials, those that survived. And those that did not. What became of their remains?

They've been interred. Then justice is served. That's exactly what I was going to say. No harm, no foul. We are not worse for wear and we appreciate the apology. We have many things to deal with this day, and we should not keep the matron waiting. So if you are fed and rested, we should make our way to the orphanage. Sounds good to me. Your sister and her family are very nice and pleasant and very kind folks,

so thank you for us. Pass on our thanks again. nods, but you don't see any look of emotion pass across the space in any way. He sees he nods, you will be safe here. And he turns and bows down to allow his hatch to make his way through the door.

And he raises his hand in motions for you to follow. And as you do, the guards stand watch on either side of the room. And as all of you pass, they file one right after the other in line. And you'll notice that there are an additional

four more two on either side of the door at the front. And as you make your way out of the house, the smell of cooking still fresh in the kitchen area. This entire house feels cozy and comfortable, illuminated by the firelight and the hearth. And as

you exit the house, you are succumbed the darkness of mid-dust. And even though this is still early in the day, it is night here in this land. As the rest of the guards file behind you, flanking in some ways

as Archbishop Renault begins to lead you through the streets. Do you have a question? One moment. The Mirabelle's trusted us, and I will fish the key to the house out of the bag of holding that I have.

Okay. And then I will lock the front door where there is. He will nod to you as he raises his hand for the guards to halt. Just before we leave the room, not too much. I presume Briggs would probably be closest to me at the table.

Yeah, yeah. I would, like, grab Briggs as we're going to walk out and just be like, I don't trust him. Be ready for anything. I'd let him go. And would I presume you're referring to the Archbishop? Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Okay. Archbishop. I would give you a big wink. A crocodile's march. I would try and say it's like the guards and like the archbishop one year, but like. He looks back. Make a slight of voice check. And I would fall.

Yeah, we fall behind. You begin to, with that, you lock the house and the archbishop leads you through the streets of the town. And you're able to see the town in its. morning bustle. And as you move through, the people that are meandering about the streets look in reverence to the Archbishop as he passes. You see that those that move further along the streets, some of them look nervous as they're chatting between each other. But as they see the Archbishop, it's almost as if their nerves go away and they're emboldened and invigorated as they see this, the pinnacle of the church walking through the streets. You see as they

they bow to him and he raises his hand and tells them to follow the one true path. And you notice that with him so close to you, you're getting significantly less dirty looks and suspicion from the people of this town. But as he moves past and you are towards the back, you begin to hear the whispers of people. Occasionally a woman will cry out in fear, terrified of you in this town. As one of her friends will pull her to the side and try to comfort her, she seems overcome with her fear of these potential witch familiars. And though the overall atmosphere is solemn and significantly less heated as it was the night

before. There is a mix of people who seem to accept your presence and even have a little bit of hope that you might do what the Archbishop has said that you'll do to bring the end to the witch that is terrorizing their city. But there are just as many people that seem to be afraid and suspicious. Knowing that I wouldn't be able to mitigate their fear by like making a gesture or something, giving my appearance in the circumstance, I would just, eyes forward, continue to follow the Archbishop.

I'd highly have to continue to talk the Archbishop while we're making their way. And I'll fix his voice to what it's supposed to be, I hope. I'm struggling with this guy. I would say, Archbishop, if I may call you that, are you a member of the Crescent Court?

Did we, is am I right in that estimation? Yes. Jericho. I am a member of the Crescent Court. You see, there are 13 provinces in this land. Each of them has someone who leads them, and I lead this one. Fulcens, you're meaning. Yes, the entire province. Cereal is but the main city. It's quite an honor that you're one of the most powerful people in this land to beguided us on foot.

bunch of strange, uh, strange folk like us in your town full of nice, well-meaning, very friendly human types. A friend of the Druscan walls is a friend of mine. And if you truly can do what you say you can do, if Philip was not wrong in seeing what he saw in you, you can truly extinguish the witch from our mists, midst. and I will consider you a blessing, a blessing of our God. Did you say we'd all be able to hear the conversation? Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah, you're all very much together. He's standing right in front of you, he's not distancing himself from you at all. But he is facing forward, and he does not make any motion to turn and speak to you as he is walking with purpose through the streets of the town. Well, uh, and we're here to take care of Mother Minutes. There's a snake. You got to take care of... Oh, cut off the head of the snake.

Yes, that's right. And that's why we're here. And so you think it's Mother Midnight herself and not any of her daughters? When we arrive at the orphanage, you'll see the horror that she's brought upon Cyril. Oh. It will then become clear to you

just what we're dealing with. Something of this magnitude could not be done by one of her underlings. It is clearly the work. of Mother Midnight. Well, I'm sorry for you and your people. That's not...

It's not very nice. Cyril relies on its future to survive. And she is striking us where it counts. Our young, our children, our future. Do I remember if we spoke about what we saw the child in the river and the ritual? You have barely spoken to him of. Yeah.

He simply addressed the town and then told you to go to bed. Thinking of that but saying nothing, I continue to walk forward. How did her reach permeate so deeply into a city under your watchful gaze? He looks over his shoulder for a second and you see a look of, um, a look of anger for a second. As he clearly, as he can clearly sense. sense that that was a jab at him. It was. He's good. And he will continue to turn and stare down the pathway.

It is clear you have not found yourself in the presence of witches. Witches walk in darkness. Our God is that of light. They hide and hunt in the shadows. They can infiltrate even the holiest of lands. Witches being different than hags. Yes, clearly. Witches will on occasion

employ hags to do their bidding, their medial tasks. A hag is the lowest of the low. The witch is far more powerful. And this one, the most powerful I've ever known. Well, I'm sure she's no match for us. Chosen by Lord Philip himself, taking care of Weasel. You probably don't care for music now.

I apologize. We think the thing to remember here is that we've all been promised something very important to us and very powerful, and we're going to do whatever it takes to get that. Yes. He takes a moment and you can hear as he gulps before speaking. It is oftentimes trinkets or things of material value. that will get those with capable abilities to act. If that is what it takes for you to help Cyril,

then that is what it takes. All I ask is that you help. And that you follow the one true path. We actually have some very godly folk here. Yep, they are helping us walk a right and proper path. I glare at Briggs'i, but not actually the glare. but just like... I'm going to walk a path, that's fine.

I mean, yeah, of course. I want a path, we're walking a path right now. Yep, that's right. Well, we have arrived. And you look and you see that before you is a large stone building. It is significantly larger than a lot of the others. And off to the side, you see that there are bits of a play yard

off to one side and a bit of a garden off to the other. The large double doors are up a couple of steps as you make your way towards it. And it is a rectangular structure with all along the top you see many rows of small windows. This is clearly what you would imagine to be an orphanage. And as you approach the steps, Archbishop Renault holds up his hand to stop you. As the guards flank him and make their way up the steps as they open the doors and allow you to enter. and it is with almost utter silence that you make your way into this place. You expect to hear the sounds of children laughing, talking, but it is eerily quiet.

As every step you take makes a resounding echo on the floor and throughout this large structure, as the guards lead you through winding pathways and upstairs, until you find yourselves going up a, down a long corridor towards a large door at the very back of this place. And it is here that you see a large metal placard on the front, matron Maggie McDuff, Cyril Warfage. One of the Knights Templar makes his way toward the door and quickly wraps on it as he falls back into formation. as all of you form a line behind the Archbishop. Takes a moment, almost exceedingly long for your lighting. You can see the Archbishop shifting from side to side, getting a little impatient as he waits.

And finally, the click of a lock as the door opens. And down a quite long room, you see a dark wooden desk, and seated behind it is an older woman, large spectacles on her face, her hair pulled up into a tight bun. She is leaning over the desk, illuminated in candlelight, as she's filling out some kind of form in writing quickly. She looks up for just a second. You may enter. Do we see who amongst the room?

No. And as you make your way in, following the Archbishop, you see that the room itself has two large fireplaces, one on either side, both of them roaring in flame. The walls themselves are lined with books filled with tome after tome after tome, large plush seats all over this room and little alcoves with tables as if it's a spot where conversations could be had with larger groups of people. And that there are what appeared to be seven seats directly stationed in front of her desk

as if set up for this meeting. One significantly larger than the others, even larger than Matron McDuff's chair, clearly for the Archbishop to sit in, and then three on either side for those of you. And as you make your way towards it and you find your seats, you see as the Archbishop waves away his knight's Templar. They shut the door behind them, and you see that you are alone in this room. For the first time, the Archbishop not flanked by his guards, feeling comfortable and safe in this space with Maggie McDuff in front of them. She looks up and looks into his eyes and you can see a bit of skepticism as she begins to speak to him. I'm glad that you could come.

I wish that you had arrived earlier. As you know, I'm on a tight schedule. Most of the children have fallen sick. I'm not sure what to do at this point. And any guidance you can give, and she looks between all of you. And I'm glad you could bring your newfound friends, friends of Cyril, it seems. hopefully they will be able to do something because if something is not done soon,

there will be no children left in Cyril. Would you say sick to me long to unconscious and catatonic? She narrows her eyes at you. Last night the Archbishop told me that you had some understanding of what has befallen the children here. Give me more information than that. Tell me what you know. For yes, that is the sickness that has befallen them.

They're milky purple eyes. They all sleep above our heads. No sound of children running. I glanced in you all room real quick. Looking for anything. I was going to give me anything. You said there were seats that flanked the Archbishop on either side? Yes.

So there were seats for you. So essentially think about it this way. A long room where there were a bunch of sitting areas near, think about the Gryffindor Common Room. Very much like that, but at the very end of it, there's a large wooden desk that she's seated at and in front of that is a large chair for the Archbishop and either side, three chairs for each of you.

I'd just like to be in one of the chairs that's closest to him to the Archbishop. You are welcome to do that. I'll fit on the other side. You're welcome to do that. I'm going to sit next to my buddy. I'm an eye on it. Oh, would that be? Well, I mean, I think it's fair to say while we were coming here, we saw some sort of ritual,

a prayer group or something. and they had a sick kid with the purple eyes, and they were trying to dunk them in the water, and they wasn't really doing anything. They were trying, and they were often sad about it. I don't blame them. It is not just the orphans that have succumbed to the sickness. All of the children in Cyril and all over the province

are susceptible to whatever this foul sickness is. Those that follow the one true path, and I hope that most do, We do right by performing a ritual to Fultus in hopes that he can help. But even his magic has not been able to stop the illness that overtakes them. Is it all the children? Well, not all of them have come down with the sickness. But it is only a matter of time.

Eventually they will. If we don't find out what is doing this. For how long have the children been getting sick in this way? And did it start slowly, or what did they, sudden change? It started slowly, but it has been getting quicker and quicker as time goes by. Clearly, there is an evil in this land, and it must be stopped. She looks down and forgive me a moment. I need to do one more thing.

You see that she's writing really quickly as she signs her name and folds it up and pushes this letter to the side of her. as the archbishop looks down on her. Yes, it is interesting how it has overtaken the city and the province and the whispers of the women in the woods. Matron McDuff, do not find it interesting that there would be women in the wolf? I'm not sure what you mean.

Why I would find that to be interesting? Well, my intel has told me that they are godless women. Women without husbands. Spinsters. And you see as he turns his nose up to her for a moment, and she looks at him and she narrows her eyes, but she gains her composure. I'm not sure what you're trying to say, Father.

But though I may not be married, my best interests are for the children. And you know that. I know not what you speak of the women in the woods, but if there are some, I imagine that you would have the men to look into it. What pertinence is it for this day? Like the children that you said to Petunia Larkwood?

You see her roll a perception check, actually. Things are getting spicy. I know he did. Marius is cool as a cucumber, Andy Sweat. 21. You immediately see a look of despair across her face for about a second before she regains her composure.

I'm not sure what you're implying. Those children were sent to find a better home and a better life. I had no way of knowing what was happening up at that house. And if I had, I can guarantee you I would not have sent children that way. But did you not check up on them after you sent them there?

Why would I? Why would you? They were well-known people. they were well often they had more than enough land. So let them out of your house and you're done with it. You don't think of them again. If you were running an orphanage with the lack of help that I am, you would see that you don't have the luxury of being able to check on every child that leaves.

I was happy enough to be able to find them homes, when I thought was a good home. Do we get the sense that they knew what was happening in the Cricket House? Were we the first ones to discover that? like, am I would say from your perception role, I will say you're able to get nothing from the archbishop, but from the matron, you're easily able to see that she had a clear sense of despair and disgust at the mention of that. I would say you'd easily be able to put together that she had no knowing. She was not privy to that, to the information. She took what Petunia Lockwood

said at face value. So she seems genuine in saying she had no idea. Yes, sir. Please, let's us take a moment and step back and breathe. We do not need to be throwing accusations around if I may. Yes. Matron McDuff, you need to get yourself together. I asked you last night to... And you see as he takes his finger and he wipes it on her desk and pulls up just a very faint amount of dust. It's barely any at all as he flicks it with a look of disgust. Clean this place, as I'm sure the lodgings could have some effect on the children's health. She almost slams her hands down on the desk, but you can see she's getting very frustrated.

I was hoping this meeting would get somewhere further than it has, but I see it's not. going to get any further than last night's meeting did. There is an entire village worth of children coming in from one of the further provinces. All of them have to be given beds and food this evening, and I don't have time for this. If you have no further news for me, Father, I will have to take my leave. Major, please, I know that tensions are high right now, but But we are, honestly, we're trying to help. I know I have several questions. And the more information that you can help us with,

the sooner maybe we can solve this crisis. She leans back in her chair, and she grasps her hands together, and she swallows down the bit of frustration that is apparent on her face. I'll answer the questions that I can. But I am on a time limit. An entire village succumbed to madness.

all of the adults. There are at least 100 children coming in today. And I am going to be very busy. Ask your questions, I'll answer them, and then I must take my leave. I will be brief. I must admit that my knowledge of healing magics

and the like is very limited. Lethaca and Farron are more knowledgeable than I. And I assume that this town has tried everything they can to cure of this sickness. I can only assume that If magic is not directly affecting or curing it, then any information that we can be given that can direct us to whomever's causing this, we eliminate them, and hopefully this blight will be cured. If I had additional information, I'd give it to you. I'm not the person who's going to have the information. It's him, father. And he looks towards her and he, a clear fake smile on his face.

who've said an entire village has come down with madness. What direction was this village, matron? It was to the north, like you suspected last night. Yes, then that was the information that I needed. And a village is nearby? Not nearby, but in the direction I'd fear. It's in the province, though, is what I'm asking. Yes, it's in the province.

All of the children coming to the orphanage. Niger in the province. Can we infer that the people were probably from that village that we saw? I would say that's a great question, so I won't make you roll for it. Yes, I would say it was, looks like it was probably coming from the direction. Well, no, because it's the north. You were coming from the south. But they were traveling up north towards Cyril, so it's possible they'd come south.

I'd say it would be hard to, it would hard to confer. You know that they were at least coming down. from the north, but where they were coming from. When we walked into the orphanage, we, there are no kids here currently that we could see. That you could see. There were no children playing on the playgrounds. In the garden area, there were no children. She mentioned there was a sister.

Everything. Everything is eerily quiet in this place. I, again, I hate to interrupt. If there's anything that we can do to help you, Matron, please let us know. We're here to help. We don't want to leave you struggling alone. If you need help, we can help you. Well, when you're done with whatever mission the Archbishop's going to send you on, he would allow it.

I'd be happy to have your help here. There are beds that need to be repaired. There are things that need to be cleaned. There's food that needs to be cooked. Any additional hands that I can get, I would be grateful for. Absolutely. I don't want to linger on a point here, matron McDuff. When you were coordinating with Petunia Lockwood,

did she ever mention any kind of special pastries that she would make for the children? It has been so long ago since we had those conversations, but no, it's not ring a bell. Thank you very kindly. Might we see some of the children, the sequins? We are about to have an influx. of children. We do not have the space to have six additional feet scurring around getting in the way.

Hundreds, at least a hundred coming in sick. Within the hour. I think it might be helpful to see their symptoms, see what's wrong with them if we can glean any information that would be helpful to us, even just a minute. And just knowing what has been done already or tried. Archbishop, if you could have one of your knights head up to the infirmary upstairs have them collect one of the sickest and bring it here we can't have you in the room

we try to keep as few people up there as possible lest it have a negative effect on the children but I'll bring your child to look at one child that's all that's all fine that's all fine and good but you said it's to the north and you said a dear woman in the woods casting spells and stuff like that

there are witches in this city There are witches in this province And there is one of them That's started at all We must deal with it We must save the children I mean what I'm getting at

Right is if you're saying that Stuff is going down in the north That could be elite We could go in the woods In the north and kill who's ever doing this Briggs you You will have your orders When the meeting is done

compose yourself. All right. I'm just trying to help. And you watch as the archbishop makes a small motion with his hands. And you continue to chat and get a few answers here or there, but Maggie McDuff is clearly at her wit's end. And the archbishop

seems to have gotten information from her that was helpful, but what that is, you're not quite sure as of yet. as they communicate back and forth, updating on the amount of children, and how overwhelming it has been, that she needs additional help, that it is, for the most part, just her and only a couple of what amounts to nuns from the church. She begs for more assistance, and he denies her, that they cannot, there's not a single person that they can, that they can give up, that they're in need of as many as possible at the church, for those that are suffering and those that need to pray.

And it takes about 10 minutes before two of the Knights Templar open the door and on a cloth stretcher they carry in a small, a small girl. She's wrapped tightly bundled up in a blanket, but you see that she makes no movement at first and then occasionally jolts and rocks back and forth as if tremors grip her body, her mouth wide open, her eyes completely open. as she stares up towards the sky, that same strange, milky, purple color. They bring her forward and lay her on the stretcher immediately in front of you. The Archbishop makes no motion to move towards her.

It's very clear that he has seen this ailment before. Maggie McDuff simply motions for you to inspect the child, if you so wish. But she also makes no motion. You do see it's very clear a look of sadness overcome her face. is the child brought in. Well, here's the child. I appreciate it. I would get up and kneel down beside the stretcher

and just kind of moving over the child. I would, you know, like kind of check their eyes, open their mouth, like, you know, feel around their head, look at their hands. Roll the medicine track for me, please. All kinds of. Well, she inspecting. Real doctor's shit.

Oh, look at Virgil. Don't you dare, Virgil. 16. You check her pulse and her heartbeat is very shallow. Her breath is very shallow and her skin feels very cold. It is clear that this child is on the brink of death. Nothing that you do seems to get any response from her. You pick up her arm and you let it fall and it drops limply to her side.

You pinch her skin and you see the bit of blood rush to the skin and almost immediately a bruise begins to form though you hadn't pinched hard at all. Her skin is incredibly soft, and you're used to childlike skin being so much more soft and less talus than adult skin. But hers is almost see-through and worn so incredibly thin. I'd walk up next to Farron seeing her check the physical. And while that's happening, I'd clearly be affected by this image of this child, the suffering. Lady of Loss Cloak us in your shadow

I'm going to try to reach out with my magical power that's imbued by my very faith and try to get a sense of if there's some sort of a curse or some sort of a magical affliction

that's happening, something beyond the physical. Okay. And you do that with your ability? I don't have an ability so much as I want to just sort of make... Roll an archa chaget. Yeah. I'd like to roll an archa shot. Inside check.

19. It is easy to tell that there is some kind of magical affliction on her, that it is not a natural born illness. Well, I'm Jericho. Jericho wouldn't know, but I'm asking. You are Jericho here. Oh, Jericho. So Lethika would be able to put together

that this isn't just from eating the Ergon. or the ergo or like the fungus, a blight, this is very clearly a witch's curse. This is very clearly a witch's curse. This is very clearly a witch's curse. Gosh, I don't care for witches very much. And it is with that you hear the sound of clatter, a door slamming open and many, many voices.

As Maggie McDuff quickly moved, up. Well, it looks like the children are here. I am going to have to take my leave. I am very, very busy today. Whatever you find, feel free. The orphanage, you're welcome here at any time. Anything you think you can do to help any information that you get. I will be here, all hours of the night, wake me up. I do not care. We need to get to the bottom of this. And thank you. I know that budgets and space is tight. But to you, the best of your ability, try to keep them from touching each other. In case this is a blood curse, something passed from contact.

That is a wise suggestion. Then I will abide by it. And she motions to the Knights Templar to grab the stretcher that the little girl's on and to move her out. I'm sorry that we could not talk longer, but I do feel like we have... I do feel like important things of... been learning today. So it's all right. We will not linger and we will get out of your hair.

And I'm sure we will see you again. Thank you. And she turns and she quickly walks to the end of the room. Stay as long as you need to. And she walks out of the room very quickly. And you hear she begins barking orders and the door remains open and you do see as stretcher after stretcher after stretcher after stretcher of child moves past the door. As all of them are taken upstairs to the large and at the top of this place. As soon as she leaves, I put the dagger that I've been hiding behind my back into my power. You are never allowed to be in a spooky game,

never! Derek has to say it, otherwise Lethika's gonna get fucked up. That's true. I'll kind of just gently kiss the forehead of the girl and stand up and signal to the guard that they can return her to her bed. The archbishop sits there, lost in thought. He raises his hand to signal silently that he needs to think for a bit.

And you all sit there. The room itself is cozy and quiet, but the sounds outside and the scene of the, of the stretcher after stretcher of child being taken upstairs makes this a very somber moment for all of you. as I like that Marius you feel a tug on your cape

and at your side you see a small mousey girl with long brown hair and bright brown eyes as she looks up at you and she puts her finger to her mouth you need to be quiet I've got to tell you a secret

oh my goodness yes of course you're that dampier that's in town? Uh, yes. Do you want to see something really cool? Sure. It's a witch ball.

And she holds up in her hand this dark black, spiky thing. I found this in one of the rooms upstairs. You know what that means? Witches are here. Does it look like a plant? Does it look like a like a spiky monkey ball that falls of a tree, you know? know? I'll show you all.

A one. Yeah. Just like one of those. Everyone knows what you're talking about. I have more questions that I started that. Oh. It looks like a soot spray. It looks like a sear.

Now I'm gonna go watch spirit it away. Without much thought, I reach into my cloak. I pull out a small like handkerchief and I see if I can take it from her. Using the handkerchief. Do we all see this? Oh yeah. Like she's not being.

She's not good. She's not good. She's a child, clearly. Hey, look out. And you go to take it, and you hear the voice of the archbishop. Maris, one she's acquired the witch bowl. Give it to me, please. And did she let me pick it up?

Oh, yeah. I examine it more closely while it's in my hand. I hear what he says, but I wanted to see if I can get a better look at it and see if I discern anything. And as you hear the tapping of his foot, he's clearly impatient, but he's making no motion. motion to procure it from you. It's really cool, don't you think? Thank you very much. Do you want to hear where I found it?

Yes, I do. Okay, I'll tell you. Oh, not right now. I thought we could talk about it later. Oh, all right. What is your name? You can call me Anya. Anya, my name is Samarius.

And you're kind of like a Dracula, but you don't really look like a Dracula, so... I don't know what that is, but that's all right. Oh. Do I discern anything from looking at it more closely? So it's the same. Yeah. Just disgusting.

Almost like if you think about those when you used to put quarters in the little machines and you get those disgusting little squishy balls, it's kind of like that. I wrap it up and I... I can feel that statement. I can call me Abbott. It's in the Archbishop. As you used to hand it to the Archbishop, I would, with like lightning speed, I would grab his arm, hold my shovel, plant it into the ground,

say, what do you want? You grab his arm? Well, I grab Marius's arm with my left hand. Hold my shovel with the right. Like as he's like extending to hold the witch ball over. And I would say the archbishop, what do you know of this?

And why do you want it? He will turn to you and he will reach his hand down. And with almost insane amounts of strength, he will pry your hand from Marius's arm. As he looks down at you, do not deem to think you hold power in this land. I'll let you do that.

This is not the first witch ball that I have seen. I will look at it closer, and then it will give you the information I deem you worthy. Do not step a toe out of line again. You are friends only as long as you choose to remain so. And you will drop your hand. Take my hand back? He makes a fine point. We gotta follow the one true path while we're in full since we've made. We told even Lord Druskinball that we do that, Yorghum.

That was like really cool the way that you're like super strong but really scared. I'm sorry, I should be so be so. And she'll like bow and like kind of curtsey. I don't know how to do it. You're fine child. Should we perhaps have this conversation outside? No, we should not. We will have this conversation in the office where we are in a, where we have privacy.

Child, tell me where you procured this thing. Oh, yeah, that's totally easy to tell you. So upstairs, you know, there are like lots of beds. Like, I'm talking a lot of beds. They're really small and they're not comfortable at all. I've got a little tiny poke in my back because one of the little wooden splinters keeps poking me there and it really sucks. I don't like it. Oh, I'm sorry.

Anyway, so, my. So Mary sleeps next to me and she used to snore a lot and then she died. And so in that bed, don't make me like that. Dang. That's horrible. And then so in that bed was where they put the little boy Bert. And he was really talkative in his sleep at first. And then he stopped talking because he also died.

And so I thought to myself like, oh my gosh, I'm like really close to this bed. and it's pretty much cursed, like, for sure, you know. And so I got down on the ground, and under it I found that thing, and it rolled, I think. Probably. Most likely. It might have not rolled. Like it may have moved by itself.

Yeah, or it didn't. Or it didn't. But probably. All right? I don't know. But anyway, I grabbed it with my hand, and it was kind of squishy. and so then I've had it for a while. How long?

Like an hour or so. And you know, I'm dead yet. Yeah. Oh, no, do you think I'm going to die? I don't feel like I'm going to die. Actually, that's not true. I didn't sleep well last night because that piece of wood was poking into my back, and I didn't sleep well at all, and I feel like I'm going to die.

Does she look, like she doesn't look sick or have the purple eyes or not at all. Okay. Thank you for finding this and for bringing it down to us. You were like totally okay. Some of the other kids were saying that there were monsters in this town, and so like that thing allowed me to meet you, so that's pretty cool. Do you think that...

Oh, do you want to know something else? Yes, maybe you'll answer the question. Oh, no, why don't you ask the question first? No, I'm very curious about what you're going to see, Lou. No, but I want to know what you're going to do. to say first. Who walks around at night? How did you know?

How did I know what? I didn't think anybody knew that I walked around at night. We're not supposed to because, you know, people are getting sick and they're worried about stuff, but like I get really restless. And there's like this piece of wood in my bed that pokes me in the back like right here. And she lifts up part of her shirt. And you can see there's a little mark there where she's clearly sleeping on something. And it really hurts.

So sometimes I go, you know, and I walk around. And, you know, they're not all of the children are sick. Like, most of them aren't, so... Have you moved the mattress just to remove the piece of wood? Do you think I could do that? Yes, I absolutely. I'm surprised you haven't even taken a look. You'd be happy to go up there and help you.

I'm sure it'd be too heavy for you, but we've got some strong ones here. Yeah, like maybe we could do it later, but probably not right now. You don't seem to be sick, young lady. No, there are like five of us, so that's... like most, because I think they're like 200 of us here. Well, now that they've brought all those new people, and they're like five of us that aren't sick right now. So that's most of us. Looking at like the archbishop. He's still looking intently at this thing. Forgive me, but for a village of the size, this is quite a large orphanage. A lot of children

coming in. Where are their parents? their parents have come down with madness or are dead the children that are here are not the children of Cyril the children of the entire province and it is though a large structure it is not built

for the amount of children that we house here now yeah like it is really crowded which is problem because like which is problem What did you say? Witches problem? Do you want to hear about the witch?

Yes, I do. That's exactly why we're here. Yes, that's what I was going to ask. I totally know who the witch is. Why, you know where the witch is? Duh. Who is it? Is this like a teenager?

No, she's like somewhere between six and eight. What, wait, I mean, can you tell us? You literally just met her. The matron is so mean. She's like definitely a witch. Probably. Most likely. That's what I was doing.

And you see as for the first time, the archbishop looks up and he turns his head towards her. And you see a look cross his face of suspicion and not necessarily belief, but he doesn't shut her down. Little one, you must be careful about who you accuse of such things. Well, why, how come, though? Because like if she's a witch should just be tried as a witch and then if she's a witch then you know we caught her yay Do you have any proof? She's like super mean Wait

And like she runs this place and like all the kids are getting sick like hello But she are not sick Yeah because I'm like really hearty I'll pinch her arm Does she feel hurt? That's really hurt Not that's hardy, are you? Got her. Well, that depends on what you mean.

What I'm trying to ask, Littlewood, is, is, are there any adults that have that have access to walk around freely in this orphanage besides the matron? Like, totally no. So it's just her.

And you? And all the rest of kids. Yeah, like, probably. Yeah, though, definitely, for sure. Have you ever seen her do anything, aside from just be... Like, sometimes when she gets really angry, she'll sit behind her desk, and she'll, like,

look down, and she'll just start mumbling to herself and muttering. And then she'll look up, and she'll be like... And she's totally casting hexes. I know it. Probably. Well, I'm so. How did you know? We should kill her.

You don't want to kill me. Not you, not you. All the yogi's convinced. Well, I'm convinced. Archbishop, what have you found out about that strange thing? I don't know what's called. I've been taking my eyes off of them since he started playing it, or ever before. She called it a witch ball.

And I'm curious as well. Is that a witch ball? What is it, or what does that do that? mean. This is the second one we've seen this week. There is a woman, Caziah Jenkins. Her husband was found dead earlier this week. One of these witch balls was found beneath his bed. When the knight's Templar went to question her, she ran from the guards into the north woods. It is believed that she might be the woman in the woods we've been looking. for. This

witch ball nearly confirms my suspicion. Brickty was right. Certainly would be some sort of elite. And did she catch her when she run in the woods? No. Deep in the woods things stalk that even my knight's templar fear.

That is why I would ask the six of you to venture into the north woods and see if you can bring Keziah Jenkins back to town in one piece to not kill her. It is not confirmed that she is at fault.

She will stand trial and if she is responsible for what is happening and I do fear she may be Mother Midnight herself. If my suspicions are correct she will stand trial and she will pay

for her misdeeds and for her wickedness. Can you do this for me? Yes. Yes we can. This is. This is like really cool. Like I'm sitting here and watching things

with layout in like a book or something. Like monsters going into the woods to find a witch. When it says in the papers and stuff, can there be like, Anya helps monsters to find witch? Maybe like the headline? Maybe not the headline, but you did help. I mean, they sort of corroborated the whole thing. People are dying.

Maybe she somehow got in here and planted the witch ball and a bet. Maybe the matron's in on it. She's totally in on it because, come here, let me tell you a secret. You stink. That's not the secret, though. The secret is that, like, sometimes at night, like, she will leave

and she'll go outside, and, like, she won't come back for hours. What do you think that means? The matron leaves in the middle of the night. I've seen her like dart off through the garden into the outskirts of town from my window upstairs. Do you think that confirms she's a witch, probably? Most likely. No, I don't think that confirms anything, but the information is helpful and we thank you. If I think of anything else that I think would help you or find any more of these spiky little balls, I will save them for you.

Please do. Anya, that's what's going to be my suggestion. For real? It was. Wow, no shit. At an orphanage. It's a different story. There are likely hundreds of other orphans like yourself who cannot look under their bed.

Would you... Like how come do you think? Because they cannot get up for themselves. Oh, you mean because they've come down with a sickness? Yes. Would you and the other... for kids or whomever is not sick and able. Like, I can speak for them, you know, because they're not here,

but I might be able to do something under one condition. That one has to tell me I am hearty, because a hearty child could not do what you asked me to do. A non-hearty child could not do what you asked me to do. And say you're sorry, because that was, like, really mean. If you check underneath the bed of all the children, and you do it every night to make sure that there are no more, witchballs, then perhaps Ferranwell accommodates your request.

Like, she totally has to do it before. I won't do it, though. I can't just tell you, your hearty. Yeah, I know. Like, I totally proved that I was, because, like, even your Dracula wouldn't touch the witch ball, and I touched it with my hand, so like, duh. He's kind of dainty. It's not unsurprising. He wouldn't touch it. I will also bring you a present. Well, okay, well, like, what is it, though?

Oh, it's a surprise present. But like, how do I know if it's a good present? You could bring me like a carrot or something. I promise that. I'll look at Farron and we'll say, oh, come on, Farron, it's just a child. You could just say that she's a hearty gal. And I'll cast a suggestion on you. I will try to resist it.

What does that do? A Wisdom 15 saving throw. Oh, you crushed it. You crushed it. I'm going to use a deal you trying to decide. Yeah, you would be aware, but you're getting Twist of Dread. You would know he's using that. You would know I'm doing it.

Suggestion, you do not. Oh, that's right. Just kidding, unless it says otherwise in the spell. Okay. I twist of dreaded you. So I have to re-roll it? Yeah. She's still great money.

Oh, damn it. That new dice is fire. It is, and I was really keeping it. I was keeping it hidden. Um. Nothing yet. Come here, girl. Well, I don't know.

you might like do something weird to me. Are you talking about mountaining on yet? No, no, I did a thumb in the eyes thing. Exactly. Oh, I forgot, uh, just like this. What the fuck? I'll kind of crouch down on my long deer legs and, you know, come hither her with my big creepy long fingernails.

It's like really long creepy fingernails, but all left black and stuff. Does it's supposed to make me want to go over there? Because, like, totally does, and she's going to go. We think that you're very brave. That is not hearty, though. I'm getting there. All right.

I think you're pretty impatient, as it were. Totally. You can give me a pinch back, the means of amends. So, like, I don't want to do that because I'm, like, way stronger than you. So, like, if I pinched you, you would probably die. Do you think so? Like, yeah. Well, that's pretty well proved that you're hearty.

Okay, sure, like, I'll look for the witch bowls. I'll, like, hold my arm out for her to pinch. I'm not going to do it, because you'll just die. And you don't want me to die. I didn't say I didn't want you to die. I just don't want to be the one to kill you. Oh, come on. It's a lovely sater, and I'll cast a suggestion on it.

I just want everyone to get along. Everybody roll for a initiative. I was gonna say, we don't need, that magical ability. Oh no, it's on your midnight, fuck. We don't know, I'll just just roll it straight. Wisdom 15.

Roll the natural 16. Okay, yeah, you cross-roll. Like he was twisted bread. Gosh, gush. I just wanted to get along and do it. What did you try to do to my head? No, I wasn't trying to do nothing, child. No, you're lying to me.

No, I would never lie My name is old Jericho Stix And I am not built to lie He lies Gosh, I'm a terrible liar Yes, I was trying to convince you to pinch Faroni Because she, I don't know why, I just figured it was very important For everyone to be friends

But I can't be her friend if I pinch her And she literally dies And then if she doesn't die Then like What does that say about me? It means that you're a very kind child, it wouldn't even hurt a fly. That totally is not what that means.

Thank you for being brave, Anya, and taking on this task. I like you. I am going to bring you a nice present. Please don't make it a carrot because I don't want one. Well, it will be a metaphorical carrot for you to do your task. I understand. I'm glad Kelsey enjoyed it. I appreciate it.

Who's Kelsey? So are you gonna give me something like right now because I give you that little witchball thing? Onya, it is not godly to ask for payment and services done in kindness. And you will pray tonight for 10 minutes to the one true God,

the foul language you have uttered here today. And you will apologize to Ferran the way you are treating her. Do you understand? Like totally. Yes, father, I will do it. I'm like, sorry. Oh, you forgive ya.

He looks at her. Oh, yeah. Fair and like super cool lady with weird deer legs and strange fingers. Like, so sorry. I'll give her a wink and just... Like, I need to go upstairs right now because there are a lot of beds to look in, and I'm going to be there literally. to be there literally all day, so probably maybe. Thank you.

That's a good thing you're out here. So, all right, well, if you need me, like, you know where to find me, so just come back. You know, my name's Anya, so you can find me pretty quick. Thank you, Lilu. You've been very surprisingly helpful. Yeah, and don't forget what I said about the newspaper or whatever, so. You hold. Okay, well, like, get out of my house. Oh, sorry. Never mind. Sorry. Apologue. Sorry.

All right. So you. You said, we're going north. Looks at you, and he begins to start to speak, and then he turns. Onya, you may leave now. And she quickly snaps to attention and scuttles out of the room. Yes, I need to have you travel north. And given the time, it is late dusk at this point. Midday.

The time is not on our side. if you're going to bring her back and not succumb to the terrors of the woods, you'll need to leave quickly. For what it's worth, just so we are on the same page, if we find this woman and she turns out to be Mother Midnight, there's no guarantee that we can bring her back alive. You must bring her back alive. Do whatever you need to do.

Do not kill her. There will be no way for you to determine whether she is Mother Middnight. night will not and I will not have an innocent woman's blood on my hands or yours well what I'm saying she will stand trial as everyone deserves fair judgment and by who does this trial she will stand trial at my hand so you could tell if it's mother midnight you may be able to assume that I will know for faultest will know. That's a fair

assumption. But treat her as though she is. I truly in my heart of hearts believe her to be. You have slain a hag, but this witch

is far more treacherous than any hag you could face. So we'll subdue her and we won't kill her. We'll bring her back here and now you can do what you want with her. You will watch as she stands trial. All right.

You will bear witness. All right. To the north. All right. You will take the main road out of Cyril. You will cut to the left. We'll follow along the gates of the city. In the road that stretches north.

Follow along the tree line. Three, four-hour journey. We'll find a path that leads into the woods. Follow it towards the old mine. We have heard... The knights have heard whispers of disappearances. And people are succumbing to madness at the mines. They have been left empty recently.

Have you sent any of your knights or militia or any kind of military types to go and try to apprehend Kazai yourself? The ones we've sent have not returned. Oh my. Let you not

befall the same feat. I'll bet we don't. We'll bring her back. Something your knights have failed to do. And when you arrive with her, come straight to the cathedral. Do you understand? You will be rewarded, handsomely.

And when, justice, before Smother Midnight, you will be rewarded with the items you seek from Lord Drosby, Lord. And all will we burn. Yes. We'd better go than if the time is as tight as you see. I will just watch you out.

If you have any further questions, ask them now. Our time together is shortening. The only question I have, you've been very helpful the archbishop, thank you kindly. Is what you're going to do with that there, Witchball? I will reunite it with the other. We will keep them protected

in a glass case beneath the cathedral where it can harm none. And I will continue to pray to fault us for answers to those that go unanswered. Similar to the children, I would ask you to keep the Witchball separate.

Joins together they may augment each other's power. He nods at you, but does not say anything in agreement. Well, we should get going. We're running out of dusk mark. He stands from the seat, and you watch as he folds the witch ball into Marius's handkerchief and puts it in his, in a satchel at his hip. As he turns and begins to walk the,

length of the room, you motions for you to follow, is you all quickly follow behind him. You weave through the Knights Templar that are bringing children upstairs at this place, slowly finding them beds, all of them, either stiff or convulsing in one of the fits of a fillness, but all of them with that strange purple milky sheen to their eyes as they stare up towards the heavens. To weave in and out of those coming in, you finally make your way towards the steps of the orphanage, and you turn to look up at this place.

In every single one of the rooms, you see the flickering of candle-like, and you see the faint bits of movement in the shadows. These new orphans brought to town are finding place to sleep. As the Archbishop walks you, through town, in silence. He looks like he is lost in thought as you make your way towards the gate.

And he leads you out to the streets in front of Cyril. You have your directions. Find the mine and find somewhere on the fringes of the forest. Find Mother Midnight. I have faith that Fultus has sent you to us.

for a purpose. I believe you will be able to fill this witch. But remember, keep her alive to face her judgment. That's all I am. Of course. Pray for us.

I will follow the one from path, and he quickly turns, and walks away. I'll like bow awkwardly. As soon as he's out of earshot, I don't trust that one. Something is right.

I mean, he's the leader at his home province. I can see how it's going. That's a fair point, but I mean, his wishes. Even Philip can't deal with him. He's clearly in league with them. There's no way the witches have gotten there and so deep into Cyril without his okay. Not even once.

I'm not willing to say that far. I don't think that that's an unreasonable assumption to jump to. I agree. He's hasty. But, I will say, One of the five tenets of chivalries being courteous, and he was nothing of the sort of the matron who's doing everything that she can here. She's a witch.

Is it, well, of course, but she was clearly distraught over those children, clearly. He wants us to bring the witch back alive. What does he mean to put her to trial? A witch. And most of all, if she reveals herself to be Mother Midnight, We're going to be in for one... We're going to be in for a fight. There's absolutely no way she's going to come back willingly alive. We'll be lucky if we come back alive.

Philip didn't say anything about putting the witches to trial. He said to get rid of them, to kill them. I concur. I'm here for what he offered, not for what, Archbishop... We're here to separate the witch's head from her shoulders. But I'll take the point is to make sure that to keep her alive, we bring her back

and if she really is a witch, based on his, you know, his judgment, he's gonna kill her anyone. Provided she cooperates, we can bring her back. He wants her to commune together, to harness her power.

We'll have to end of the both. You're grim. You seem very certain. Is there anything you're not telling? us about your ability to enjoy insight and read people or some magical way of knowing. It's very intuitive. Do I trust? No, I...

Nothing. Just be my suspicions. You jump into conclusions. I agree that she needs a fair trial, and I'm not saying we kill her when we find her, but what I was trying to say to the abbot is we can't guarantee she'll cooperate. And if she attacks us and it's anything like what we discovered in the bottom of the house from hell, then we're going to be in trouble. And we can't guarantee her being brought back alive.

I do not know if it is wise to take the girl back. Should we be able to capture her alive? I think that it is a political move that the Archbishop is making, a choice to have a trial in front of all of those people. We were almost killed last night, beaten by thugs who believed that we were somehow in alliance with these witches. If he can put on a public trial to mitigate their fears, to bring them back in line to suppress their anger and their lashing out and their projection, that may be all that he is looking to do. That's a really good point, L'Athaca. if everyone's feared of a witch

and we actually bring her back if you just say, oh, those monster folk kill a witch in the woods, you better trust the scarecrow, the zombie, the vampire, and all of the other spooky folk hanging out. I agree.

Or he say, here's a witch. Let's do her in. I've never cornered a monster in the darkness that hasn't bared its fangs, no offense. He says with you. Those are tossed. Totally different.

I don't lag versus Closer to the ground. I don't know about you, but I've no way to control a monster aside from this. Just gesture my shovel. Referencing now, just killing it. Maybe you could just bash her over the head

and slinger over your shoulder. We think we should just get out there what she's about. She might just be a scared woman. Her husband died and they came to question her right off of that. I'd run too. Well, I might not, but... That is a valid point. And if we take her back and she is innocent, and I am right about Archbishop's intentions to make a political show of her, he will have a hard time backing down and making the wrong choice. We'd be sending a woman to her death. Just for the show of it.

Right. So we find this woman. Maybe she leads us to the other women of the woods. Maybe that leads us to a witch. That's all we can do. Let us use our heads and find this mine of madness. I have a question. Yeah, because are there any pigeons? Yes, there were pigeons around the orphanage.

They seemed normal to be normal pigeons. You didn't see anything out of the ordinary, but there were... To be fair, I mean, it's just a common bird, right? Yeah, yeah. They're in a city. It's a city bird. It's not like a centipede crawling out of a corpse throat, right? It's just a common city.

Can we go back and cut open one of the kids and see if he comes out? Wait a second. I'm kidding. I'm kidding. Are there any weasels in the walls of the orphanage? And if so, how many? The Drenny four. All right, so we're walking.

Yes. So you are, you have left the comfort of Cyril behind as you make your way north along the road and you travel for around three hours or so when it's fairly uneventful at this time the day occasionally you see a band of knights kepler that is making their way towards cyril and they make no motion to harm you they make no motion to obstruct you most of them not at you as if understanding your your mission and what lies ahead at one point they even point you in the direction of the pathway that will lead deeper into the woods and they give you a little bit of information that Part of what brought so many out this way were the dancing firelights in the forest and that you should keep your eyes out for those and you continue walking you occasionally see provinces

Smart not probably provincial towns small as people go about their business and nobody nobody interferes with you. For the most part, your journey is a little bit spooky given the darkness, but nothing... But nothing... Nothing happens that would give you pause or put you more to ease than you already unease than you already were.

So you finally do find the path that leads deeper into the woods. So you take it, the darkness is now almost oppressive as the canopy of the trees blocks out most of the moonlight. You travel for 30 minutes to an hour. Are you going to do anything while you travel? I'd like to be listening for whispers or just voices. Roll a perception check. Can I have a index current? Sure, those ones have tea on them. I'll try this.

Dancing lights up just to give us a little bit more sense of, of, you know, where we're going and to make it feel a little less spooky. Probably not doing a lot, but are we on a path? It is an overgrown path, but you can tell that this was a path that was probably used for mine carts or things of that nature. For whatever they were bringing the, bringing up out of the mine, you can clearly see the marks in the ground where the wheels of wagons had been pulled along.

But it looks like it's been at least a month or so since the mines were active, as the forest is beginning to reclaim the path. I got 22. I would be very mindful of pigeons now that we're out of the city. And they might be, and again, I don't know if they would be less likely in the woods, but I would just be kind of keeping an eye out for pigeons.

Roll a perception check for me. Richard. Oh, me. I guess who else? Big money. 24. Big money. 24? 24. Okay. You begin this walk into the forest, and Farron, you listen, and you hear the animals in the forest. Nothing, nothing strange rather than be ordinary at first. Then you begin to hear just the faint bits of something very, very large,

lurking along the edge, the lurking deep within the edges of the forest. You'll take moments to stop and listen, and all sounds of it will fade away, as if it can tell that you're listening for. As you begin to move again, begin to hear it again. Significantly larger than any animal you've ever come into contact with it or with. And as you look into the tree line, you hope to find glimpses of it, And occasionally you feel like you do. Movement of large black fur.

The sound of four legs moving through the underbrush. And the occasional glint of what appears to be two orb-like red eyes blinking at you from deep within the woods. Never close enough to make contact with you. Maybe 200 feet from you. but staying parallel, watching you. And you can tell that it's there. But what it is, it's hard to see.

Briggs-y, you notice all manner of birds, vultures more than any others. But occasionally, you see in the very tops of the trees, almost as of watching you intently. One, two, three, four different pigeons. Oh, that's bad. Hey. Are pigeons native to like woods? What?

Are pigeons native to like forest? Like where we are right there? Because we're four of them right of deck. I don't know. I've only ever seen them in the cities. I think we're being watched. We know that we're being watched. By pigeons?

We're not just being watched. We're being hunted. There's something out in the woods. It's fairly big in it. knows that we're here and it knows that I know that it's there. Something in the woods? Yeah, I'm not sure what it is. Does it remind, Zay did not hear this?

Is it remind Farron of what we experienced waiting on the platform? That was going to be my question. Following the Ghost Light Express. I was your question. I was turning off the tavern music. Was the creature that Farron, does this remind Farron? The eyes in the darkness? of the creature that we had also experienced

waiting on the platform after being dropped up by the Ghostlight Express. Yes. I would say it is identical, identical sounds. That same deep breathing, same similar motions. I would say that it was, it is very clearly that same, those same noises. I would say, just keep an eye out for the pigeons if you think they're watching us.

I know that sounds strange. I don't know how else to phrase it. Do we kill the pigeons? Virgil? Why don't you make yourself useful and gone you go kill some pigeons? I'm going to try to send Virgil to go, like, at least chase away the pigeons or try to tear their throats out or something, you know. What are those two options? Roll for attack from Virgil. Oh, I need to look up his stab block. Oh, I actually have it right here.

He is, I can just roll like one attack. How do you want me to do this? Just roll an attack. Okay. Okay, this is an hell is an abomination, so he's probably like plus 30, right? No, he's not on this game. His beak attack, he gets A7. Virgil flies up into the tree tops to where one of these pigeons sits watching you

and attempts to make an attack on it. And it's almost as if it is repelled by the pigeon itself. The pigeon doesn't move. It just stares at all of you. And Virgil whips this way or that, and you can't tell whether the pigeon is insanely quick or it doesn't move at all. But Virgil's attack does not land.

And as this happens, the pigeon itself flies up into the air and with one loud... I don't know what noise pigeons make. We're not supposed to make animal noises. Mostly when they're dying. Oh, it's an important thing. So we can make animal noises, but as long as they're not dying. I just don't want you to make like a death noise.

Yeah. I just think, I just think that we should be careful about it. I just didn't want to hear the noise. I think the time is already passed. I didn't want to hear the noise from the movie when the lamb does the bad thing. Oh. Do you know exactly what I'm talking about?

I don't think that time has passed. Uh-oh. So anyway, it makes its pigeon noise, and it flies up into the canopy of the trees and disappears. Well, Virgil, you're a little off your game. Just keep an eye on those gross pigeons and just chase them away if you see one. Keep your eyes.

And I'll just try to have them fly, or go from branch to branch to the canopy, just looking for pigeons, and if they see, sees one to chase them off. We don't think that's a regular pigeon. not much of a strong bard. I've literally killed one with a rock in the woods before.

Well, aggressive. Maybe it's just a lucky pigeon that Virgil could. Virgil's also a little out of practice. He's all beak. He's all squawk and no bite. I got nothing. Peck.

Peck. Oh, that's a good one. Maybe all, no. And with that, you find yourselves spilling out into an opening in the woods, where you can clearly see the remnants of what had been a mine at some point. Carts still left abandoned on the track and the mine itself

appearing to have been boarded up by the townsfolk of Cyril. There are warning signs that beg anyone who may come across the spot to not venture deeper within the mines. Would I be able

to discern what had been mined here? Roll a do you even know about rocks? No, I don't know. You wouldn't know anything. We were an industrial, Jeremy. Yeah.

I don't think you'd definitely. It looks like they were mining Zing and Pagin. Is that operosity there? But I know Licka was gonna play Minecraft later. As you look out over the mine, you see directly behind the entrance down into the mine, a small footpath that winds deeper into the forest. And just within the trees,

There are three dancing firelights. Do you see that? The lights that they were looking for. Right. I see them. I think we should... We should go. We should find them.

Go closer. Be careful. There are beasts in the woods. In their... Evil pigeons. In the trees. I'm not going anywhere in that fucking mind. We're going to go around it.

We're going to be careful. I'm going to be stealthy-like, all right? and we're going to walk slowly towards those lights. And if the lights start to move, we do not chase them into a place where we get into danger. All right? That's a good call. I'm going to also extinguish my jack-a-lanterns to be caught. Who among us is the least confident in their skills to remain silent and stealthy?

Clang, clang! It's unfortunate. The armor is not as stealthy as I would be without it, that's for sure. The Lady Lavelas can be generous, and I reach out and just sort of

barely touch your chin for just a moment, lifting you up, and you feel like you can be a little bit more silent, and for the next hour, you'll have an advantage on stealth as that. Yeah, it's neutral now. Clive, climb. The woes of playing.

Yeah. If we think we need to be truly hidden in the shadows, I have the ability to do so. Just say the word. But I also want to caution. We understand that there are many who go mad in this place. Following these dancing lights, going into the mine, it is unclear what triggers this madness.

We must stay together at all kinds. and to use our heads to protect one another. All right, and I think if we have to stay silent, let's pick someone in the lead who we trust who's not going to go do anything crazy. We just stay behind them. What's that? So not you, then. No, definitely not, not.

Anybody believe it. I'll vote Samaria's here. I mean, I'm certainly not the lightest of foot as we've just. disgust. I'm happy to keep a little head or watch our backs. But you've got that big fancy shield. I think one of the ladies should do it. Look, it's not a matter

of bravery or not wanting to protect. I'm worried I'll give away our cover. I'm used to walk in the woods. I'm happy to do it. Let me go last. I'm happy to watch our backs and make sure we don't get attacked from behind. Then it's going to be up to you. If we're going to make a split second decision, I'll leave it up to

you and I'll follow your lead. Look how wuzzy she looks. That she'll Call her to the Wood Wizard. Despite that, like, they got us all cleaned up the night before. I'm already just, I look filthy again. Disgusting. I'm just disgusting again for no seemingly. She's very woozy.

She's very woozy. Lead the way, Feren. And if you say the word, I will take the lead. If push comes to shove and our cover is blown, I'm happy to immediately come to the front. All right. I'll give you all a signal if I think we need to flee or fight or whatever we need to do. Let's just see what's waiting for us in the woods.

And I'll start down the path. I'm just right behind her because apparently in the face of danger, ladies first. Does it look well traveled? Does the path look traveled recently? Yes. So I think that it would be Farron. And I guess you're right behind her. I was gonna put to York, yeah, Lefica.

Yeah, I would have worked to be like right with Farron. So I think probably on Ferran, Yorgrim, Lefaca, Jericho, Grigsian, Marys. So that's gonna be our marching order. And I'll be watching behind us to make sure. And you are I need to roll for stealth. Okay. Oh, this is the moment of truth. Please.

That's gonna be a natural one. Oh, no. We do have twists. I'm gonna use a twist. I'm gonna use a twist. I only got a 13. Can you're a point out of there for me as well. Damn it.

It was almost a six. Okay. Two twists? Yep, two twists. I mean, who's using the other one? Three twists? Oh, yeah. Oh, boy.

I mean, I got a 13, the thing is, my stealth is only plus one, so it's like, you know, I have to just roll high to do that also. If I didn't like it a natural one. Well, totally. Yeah. I think I'm going to stick with my 13. I think I'm holding it 12. We got a 17. 14.

17. Oh, I think we're okay. So 12 and 13 are the lowest. Okay. That's good. We're all over 10. Yeah, as if that matters. Suddenly, the red eyes chomp and kill you.

Forgot about that good thing. You begin to make your way along the path. You do what you can to dampen your steps, stepping on patches of moss and soft ground to quiet the sounds of your armor in the darkness. And you go slowly, no longer with the light of the dancing pumpkins, the dancing jack-lanterns, to illumine. your way. Your eyes slowly adjust a little bit more to the darkness and though you're not

able to see far, you're able to see enough as you move closer and closer towards these lights and you watch them as they flicker and move in the darkness and you realize they're not moving. No. As much as they're just illuminated and as you walk they get larger and larger and larger until you spill out into a small outcropping. And in the very center, three torches stand at the front of a dilapidated old hut in the woods. The lights inside a pale orange is that illuminates what appears to look like purple and green magics, dancing and flickering in the windows. I need you all to roll for an issue.

Is that an achy joke? No. Oh no. Oh, no. Oh, no. A 20 is 25. The 20. Uh, 15 to 20. 17.

My lucky number right now. Apparently. 10 to 15. Oops. Sorry, what problem? What do you get? Eight. I'm an eight.

I got a nine. I got a seven. So you can go first. Prince's last. And where are you? I ruled an eight. Okay, so which the two people? All you go first.

before left this. So it's Jericho. Are we retired? Are you gonna get it? I prefer to be lower in the initiative account. Yes, I prefer to be higher. Jericho. Yeah.

Trouble at the ready. With that, you stop and you stare out at this hut in the woods. There's clearly a figure moving within it as magic's dart this way in that. You see that the chimney is spilling forth a strange green smoke as if there is something magical cooking within the hearth. As beneath your feet, you begin to feel the undulating movements of vines.

Oh. As all around you, if you can put these on the map, these strange vine-like creatures begin to rise up out of the earth and attempt to construct. all of you. So, oh my God. Are they all around us? Yes. So there would be one on each of you.

There are six of you and six of them. I think there are eight of them. Oh, I only want six of them. Oh, okay. So you can take two away. We're seven and eight. Get rid of them. Great, thank you.

Okay, that should be, this is enough for everybody, right? Yes. Yes. And so the first one is going to attack Jericho and that is. with a 18. That will hit, yeah.

It's exactly right. The next one is Farron, and that's an eight to hit. No. The next one is a 19 to hit Lethaca. A 17 to hit Briggsie. Oh, that hits. A 22 to hit Marius. Yep.

And a, Jesus. And a 21 to hit, what's your face? Oh, my God, the vines have a Tommy gun. So violent. And it is going to, they, because they hit, they are going to grapple you. Oh my goodness. And they're going to do damage. So all of them, I'm just going to roll damage for everyone.

So it's only the people that were hit that are grappled. We're all hit. I think only Farron. No, Farron was an eight. Farron. Yeah, it's, Ferran's look, we're all grappling. And there's going to be eight points of damage. To all of us?

to each of you individual. How do you like them grapples? And you are grappled and restrained. Never gets old. I've never made that joke before. This is the first time. People are listening on the podcast, I swear to John. Marius, this is your turn.

Oh. Oh, boy. I don't even think I have any EEO. Uh, let me check real quick. Ooh. Yeah, bizarre. Okay. If I'm grappled, can I even attack?

Yeah, yeah. Yeah. You just can't move. Then I'm just going to attack the one that's grappling me. That's all I can do, I guess. Actions, whoops. I'm going to roll it, just a regular old attack. I lied.

I'm going to use my bonus action to cast divine favor, which is just going to give me concentration up to one minute. concentration up to one minute, extra 1d4 radiant damage, and then I'll attack. So we're grappling with this. Hey, yeah. Oh, natural one I miss. Just die, man. And then I need, fuck, I just closed that and I should have closed that. Oh, fuck. Oh, and then I need you to roll a strength saving throw for me, please.

Uh, 10. Yeah, I am just not rolling well. You attempt to shrug out of the grapple, but be very very vines wrap around you begin to constrict tighter and you are unable to move. Roger. I was just told to do something stupid. I am going to, I'm going to, uh, this works. So activate my symbiotic entity, which is an action. Ooh.

Very cool. Um, so I will use my wild shape ability to, to activate my symbiotic entity, so you'll kind of see my sporeiness increase. And then my, that will be it. Okay. So that's what you do. And that will be-

Jericho. Increased sporeiness. Oh, it was my turn. I am going to look at them and I will say, I'll look at Marius and I will say, oh, go up. I was just gonna move. I forgot to move. Oh yeah, you can.

Do it. Opportunity attacks probably. I don't care. See me care? They don't call me fair and not care. I lied. I'm not gonna. I'll look at Marius.

I was like, you're a big beefy fella. Get out of that graph from there. And I will inspire, I don't inspire Marius. What size die? D-6 at this level. And I will look around and I will say, Dead, Dead Vine. Get away from.

me, and I'll pass bane on them. Bain. Bain. The fire rises. The fire rises. They expect one of us in the races, brother. Up to three creatures. Up to three creatures.

So I guess I'll just see the three in the back. All this bane. One, four, and five. And they didn't make a charisma of 15. Oh, they'd fail. I just got a little. for them. I rolled three, so they found.

Yeah, the fire rises, Sir Marius. That's, that is my, I'm gonna, well, I'm also grappled, so I'm just like playing my banjo. Like you, I need you to roll a strength saving throw for me, please. Oh, natural 20, gotta give it up. Nice. You're gonna keep on off the grapple. Plus, yeah, anyway.

Um, can I attack, can we say this here? Maybe he's right there. Okay, all right, never mind. He's literally holding you to him right now. That's, well, that's... No, number six. That's hot. Can I attack this one?

No, you're right here. I can only attack to one that's in front of you unless you have 10th foot of reach. Okay, all right, all right, all right. I'll attack to what is promising. I'm just trying to free my friends, you know? You can free yourself and then help yourself before we help out of Elden's life. No, I would help my friends before, not that you're friends with mine, but I would... Oh, shit.

No, I don't even... I don't even like... I do. Oh gosh, I need to do it. 23 to hit. That hits. All right. Tell me which number.

Six. Do you do one point of damage? Let's find out. Oh, I do 18 points of damage. You take your shovel and you slice down into this creature, slicing through the tendrils of vine that are constricting you, and you watch as it begins to quickly turn to a dark brown rotting color. as it fades away into the earth.

And that is gone. And that was number six, you said? Oh, yep, number six is dead. I'll put him with number seven and eight. So that is one. Lethika. That's me. And how much damage should you do that thing?

18. I did 18 points of damage. That's a good amount of damage. That's decent, it's decent damage. Yes, I will reach out with my hand. I'll make sure that my mask is secure, seeing that we're now, might need to be moving very quickly. I will reach out and I will channel my dark mistress.

And so I'm gonna cast word of radiance, but radiance isn't really my theme. Can we choose dark radiance, like a shadowy type operation? It'll still do the same type of damage, but you can look how are you are you like. Okay, we're not gonna change the damage type. But, oh, darkness. They'll be surrounded by, after I speak my,

my words of prayer, they'll be surrounded by darkness, almost like bandages grappling onto them and attempting to crush them. Let's have the three here, two, three, and four, make Constitution saving throws, DC-15-0. Well, I rolled a natural one, so they fail. Oh, I love it. I'm gonna roll some damages.

That's going to be, brood blood, oops, because I know how to play this game. Thank you all my steep. or all of Misty's. All of Misty's. I enjoy Stees. They just all take three points of the radiant damage. You let out a burst of shadowy radiant damage

or dark radiant damage. And you watch as it begins to singe the leafy flesh of these vine creatures as they all begin to wither and sink back into the earth. Help remind me if I've cast a cantrip for my action, can I cast a spell with a bonus action, or is it the other flippity flop that I can't do? You can use the spells of bonus action.

Okay. Oh, they're dead. Yes. They have 1 HP. Yeah. I'm over here, everyone. I've cleared this one thorny. Oh.

You hear laughter behind the mask, and I will stay where I am. I'll move over here. Don't mock me. It's my heels. Oh, that's really nice. I'm crazy. I'm totally grapple. I'll fight you at hat.

And I will use, I will kick a cast X on the one in front of, Spider-Man. In front of Marius, we'll say, and I will then come down with the cutlass and attack it. For a natural 20. Oh. Willian dies.

So you don't have to be able to. You guys. It's what happened. So many shit. It's dead. It's going. I destroy it. I obliterated.

What does that look like that? And it is now Monsters 1. One of them is the one with Marius, isn't it? No, it's one with me. Oh, the one that's the one that's right to me. Oh, I said the one that Marius was on, so it just me. You, Jericho, you feel yourself jolt for a second. As all of you watch, as this vine entity,

digs its feet into the ground, and with you in its arms, it begins to move you 30 feet towards the hut. And as it does, the door to the hut shoots open and you see the form of a woman silhouetted against the flickering fire, the greenish firelight that's emanating from the inside of this house.

She is stout plump as she looks out at you, but you cannot see her face. She just seems to be shrouded in darkness at this point, and you are moved as it comes into 10 feet range of me. Opportunity attacks. Yes. Oh, yeah, that will be. I'll say, dead, dead, wind me, you intertwine.

So opportunity, I'll let you go first. I mean, it should be. It should be you first. Briggs you should also get one. Yep. Well, it'll leave your reach far before it'll leave mine. right? I guess if you can fall. Yeah, I mean, yeah.

Okay, 20, 20. So if you're unfortunate, I'm just kidding. Oh my God. Dead by, you're leaving two twilight. As the vine monster is pulling my friend away, I slice with my sword and the vines explode. I will say you're moved about five feet ahead, so you're probably like pushing maybe like there.

Yeah. Yeah. And yeah, so monster. Yeah, so Monsters 1 are gone. Is there a top-off? So she'll be roughly, presumably this is the door behind. That is the door. So if you could go ahead and put this at the front of the door,

you see now as this entity steps forward, I'm giving her movement when she shouldn't have it, get shit on friends. As she steps out of the darkness of the doorway, you are able to see this entity. She is a woman. She is smaller in stature, slightly pudgy, but on her face, is a little. is this strange wooden mask.

Her eyes completely obscured by this horrific green magic. As she looks towards all of you, she does not say a word, but she steps one foot after the other out onto the ground as she raises her arms high. Marius, it is your turn. But I'm not that quick. She is like 10 feet in front of the house.

Oh, okay. She is stepped down out of the house and she's like too. So close. You're that quite. I'm going to have a tax. It's not going to change. Shit. I don't really think I can do anything.

I can move 35 feet towards her and that's it. You can sprint. You can get right in her face. And then get wrecked. Oh, yeah, that'd be really good. That's true. No. No.

My turn's coming up. I'm good. I'm not going to do that. You could also hold your action. That's all I can do. Right. Yeah, I can just hold an attack. Or hold an attack in case she gets closed.

Is it? Baron. I would move forward. I guess just let me look over here or something. And I would look out, Who are you? Does she respond? She does not.

Then I would reach out my hand and kind of like with a clenched fist, I would cast whole person. So make a... I don't know what I'm saying. saving third. Natural 20. Oh, well.

Twist of dread. Why? I would like to twist of dread myself to fail. Oh, that was too good. No, I want to use my twist of feat to make you fail. We can do that now, right? And it is now, is that your turn? Ah, fuck.

Yeah, I guess, I guess it is. is going to move forward and she is going to stand basically directly between the two of you. So you trigger your reaction if you want to take your reaction though? Yeah, if I could do that, I'd like to make an attack against her. My reaction would also go off. What is your reaction? Symbiotic entity. Well, yeah. Oh, what would you like to do? Marius will go first because he was holding his action and the journey will happen. Uh, 22 to hit. Uh, that hit. That hit. Let's fucking go. So that's gonna, and I'm just gonna smite this bitch.

So that's gonna be 1D4, 1D8, 2D8. Come on, baby. And too. I think it's gonna be plus seven. Nice. Oh, don't bad. Eight and not great. Plus seven is 15, plus seven is 22.

Jesus. Oh my. That's okay. That's okay. You're all four. I rolled pretty poorly, except for this guy. I rolled max on the D4. That was it.

I rolled pretty poorly. Oh, that's all I was like, holy. take four damage as she comes in you know closer to me my kind of spores will whip around myself and lash out towards her all right she she takes the damage but she doesn't seem necessarily as bothered by it as she rushes forward she looks between all of you and there is a look of almost confusion about her movements but she raises her arms up and you feel the plants beneath your feet begin to move this way and that and undulate as she casts force a thunderous wave as the earth beneath your feet begins to rock and shake.

Farron and Marius, I need you to make a Constitution saving code, please. Damn, it's never with a save. I think it's going to be. 21. Oh, boy. 10. Marius, you will fail. You are both going to take damage. Farron, you will take half damage.

You're going to take seven points of thunder damage. And if you failed, you were pushed back 10 feet. So three. Do that back? Yeah, I mean, unless you want to go the other direction, Nikki. I think that's fine. Yeah, it was towards us. 10 feet however you want to go.

Whatever, whatever makes sense a lot. 10 feet away from her. And that is, that's her turn. It's your turn, Jared Cho. and Jared Cho. You're a ho. I didn't need that. I was doing word things.

Whoa. You can call me you're a ho. Most foe do. I will look at her as I've already inspired, I will say. Lentica, you look

so Woodsy to call you the Woodward. I already said that. That's all I got. You're inspired. And then I'm going to, how far away... Do I lose my inspiration then? No. No.

It's not... It's not. It's not. I think I'm close enough that I'm going to say, I'll look at her, and I will say, oh, well, a grape fell off of a vine. I once saw a grape fall off of a vine and it dried,

and I thought to myself, well, everything happens for a reason. That's so stupid. And Caprice is such spooked of shit. And you're just like the children's book of jokes. I love it. That's so good. That was very good.

Wisdom 15 saving throw. Oh, I fail. Oh, man. I roll. No. Just really like popsicle stick juice. Yeah, it's a lot of popsicle stick joke. So she will laugh on

uncontrollably and fall to the ground prone. And that's my friend. That's one of my favorite felony, indeed. It's so bustle. It's very busted. She begins to laugh uncontrollably as she falls to the ground, hilariously laughing. That's my turn.

Feels good to be inspired. I like it. Your grim. All right. I run up to her. I don't blame you. It's pretty funny. I can't see

I would assume I can make it there. Oh yeah, you can easily make it. Yeah. We're gonna kill this bitch and you have no idea. You're advantaged because she's on. She's on. And okay, you don't say. So I will just roll to mess her up.

I'll say that. Oh, no. I roll with the shuffle. Advantage. Okay. When I'm done with you, you'll be disheveled. Dang it. Don't take my quibby one liners.

Ding it. Oh, 21. All right. Okay. 12 points of damage. Demanders. You slice into her with your shovel, and you see blood begin to stain the leathers that she's wearing,

but she continues to laugh through it, Or does she make a save? Oh, she makes a save now, yeah. At advantage, because she was damaged. Remember, don't kill her. We got to knock her out. 18? 18, that passes, yes.

So she's no longer laughing, but she's still proud. She takes the hit and she begins to laugh, but then she begins to groan, not saying anything at all, but covering the wound in her side as she begins to start to write herself. Lethika. Do we think this is Mother Midnight?

She's going down easier than the hag did. We won't know if we kill her. So see if you can get the mask off. I'll say very quickly. I'll have it. It takes her turn. Sorry. It's really a fraction of a second I say this in.

I'll be walking forward. I'm not, I'm not feeling the stress of the situation. We've destroyed the vines. She's on her back. And we're clearly taking her at this time. I will say to her, hear me. If you are Kaziah or whoever you are, we do not mean to be in a fight with you. Know that we are not beholden to the state of Druskenwald, to the county of Fultzance or to the city of Syria.

Druskenwald. I said Druskenwalk. Vol. It's spelled with a W. Vol. Why do I have to say no? Keep going. Keep doing your friend. What are you saying?

This guy, inner was smite. Speak. Give us some indication, and we will stop defending ourselves. We can talk through this. We can maybe help you. I will still cast a charm person to see if I can get on her good side, but I am trying to temper the situation.

Wisdom saving throw. And it does so with advantage if my companions are fighting it. DC-15. She passes. I will continue to speak these words as I walk forward and try to get through to her on a base level beyond a magic. She continues to say nothing. Then I will just look at my inspiration, die, and be sad.

That's the end of my turn. Oh, yeah, as I wall it up here, Looks like we gotta wish for like Jericho's Shadow Killer. One, two, three, four, five, six. And I will cast another hex on her using Hex Blades Curse, and you'll see another kind of neon, like, etching on her appear. And my blade will glow with this eerie voodoo lights, and I will cast a booming blade and attack.

Oh, shit. She's on the ground. Yeah. Yep. She's no longer like. laughing. That is definitely going to hit. That hits. What is it? Uh, 20 something? Yeah, that hits. Yeah. Ever assume? Because you'll just piss off the DM. That's true. Yeah. It doesn't matter what you roll.

47 misses. 17 points of damage. And this is all non-lethal. How do you want a non-lethal her? Jesus. Uh, take out my good. I... I'm not lethal at all. Basically, given that it's non-lethal, I would still want to, like, slice, but I would want to slice in a way that I feel like is, you know, like hitting more kind of superficially. You're trying to make her.

Yeah, kind of like, near her. Yeah. If it's fucking anime, you can't add in her, you slice into her drawing blood, but then you flip your blade around, pop her on the head. head as she, her eyes roll back in her head and she goes unconscious. Perfect. That's great.

Well done, Grigsie. In the forest around you, it's quiet. All the while, the door to her hut is swinging open on its hinges. And the popping and the popping sounds of the magic's within have not stopped. You hear a faint burbling coming from inside as the smoke that pours out of the chimney its strange green color is illuminating this small area of forest.

So we have to tie her up, and I want to, like, roll her over and just start tying her, her hands behind her back. You're a quick to gag her to tie and gag her, and she is subdued. Yoga makes it a good point to this is no wish. Thoughts you simple. Is everyone feeling all right?

You feel fine. I'm all right? I'd like to kind of like sneak towards the hut and not getting too close, but like if the door is swinging open, look inside and see if I see anyone else. Sorry. What? Let's try and remove her mask. We're just excited. We want to do anything.

We're excited. Barron. You make your way towards the entrance to the hut. And as you get within 10 feet of it, you're able to see inside there's a large iron cauldron at the very center bubbling with a thick purple gray liquid as it bubbles and pops you can see the fade gray smoke um furl and and twist in the night air you can see that the the fireplace itself there's something roasting on the spit and the smoke that's billowing off of it is the strange green color that is exiting the house through the chimney.

And all along the walls and all over the tables are alchemical apparatus. And as you step within 10 feet, we hear faint click. As all of the things inside of the house explode, you're thrown back for a second, unhawn back. but all of you turn up and look as you see the cauldron itself fly off into tiny pieces of iron and this thick strange liquid that turns to smoke and dust and evaporates as thing after thing after thing is if almost setting off some kind of some kind of hex or some kind of trap I would say briggsie you're familiar with this type of magic there was clearly some kind of trap around the outside of this house that all of these things were destroyed in an instant. And as you lie on the ground, you are unharmed

as you stare up at this place. The hut itself is completely fine, but everything within it completely eviscerated. And in the silence of your breath, as you breathe and you stare and you think, you hear the sound of skittering.

And as you look down, passing in front of your feet, is a large centipede. And as it turns to look at you, you see that it has the face of an old human man. And at the end of all of its 100 legs are individual hands. As it slowly, as it slowly looks towards you, a wide grin spreads across its face. As it dives deep into the dirt of the earth.

And that is where one session. Jesus, fuck. I love you. I hate that. Do you? Yeah. I hate it. That reminds me of like the Alps in Wonderland like caterpillar with hands.

A hundred human hands. Who are you? And it is about this. It's just an old man face and it's about the size of it. Thank you so much for listening to the Legends of Avengers 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 or Higher

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