Legends of Avantris - Icebound | Ep. 12 | Host & Hostility

Episode Date: October 11, 2024

The next great step in their journey lies just ahead, but before it can be taken our heroes must confront their new strange, foolish, good-natured captors. How will they navigate this bizarre turn of events?   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/awOnN9i6TDM?si=RXNjNoXUs6k6hBkW

Uh, welcome to Legends of Adventress. I'm Scrimstabascotch and you're listening to Icebound. Here's what happened last time. The champions will provide aid. With their strength, we will see the next dawn. All right, my sweet boy, I've talked to you many times today. You know that all I want for you is to have the best life you possibly can. Bring the sun back with you, okay?

You only did what you did because they said they could bring you back, and it's not working. So, I don't know if this can help. can help. I don't know if it's going to ruin it all, but at this point nothing's happening. And I'm going to take one of the seeds from my pack, and I'm going to place it down into the earth. I can see this delicate, fragile, small little sprout start to pull up and up and up. The sky erupts in light. Standing in those same brilliant golden rays, it is replaced by a standing, breathing, young boy, completely alive. I have never met you. I just want you to know that.

I love you. You have done it. Well done. You have succeeded in bringing back the child. We know that there is an artifact we need to find. Exeter armament. You start to realize as they wave that you are seeing through them. Yes, all of them begin to evaporate.

They're a fucking ghosts the entire time. Straight ghosts. And you are left and you realize how hungry you feel. It's been an entire day And you haven't had anything to eat As the food inside of your stomach fades Oh, I believe Daisy is right Perhaps we should make our camp here

So do we have any idea how long It's gonna take us to get back the direction That we came from to find this city? So we head southeast? A creature, a beast, very, very close And all of a sudden two massive talons Snatch Daisy up by the shoulders Picking her up and flying her up

and flying away this huge feathered beast with a massive wingspan. As I will just take my anchor and where Queenie had pierced it, I will aim in that to basically slam my anchor and then basically yank it down to rip its head off. You are able to pull its neck out and a few of spine come along with it

and it immediately stops flapping and falls to the ground, slumping down. There might be warmth like a hot spring. Like steam. Not far from here. You're able to approach what is very clearly a natural hot spring. We're good to just like go in there and take a dip, right? You start to ease into the evening.

But before the sun sets, there's a rustling sound. Out from the tree bursts a giant poker. It stops and looks at you with this confused look. Good Lord! It can speak! Father! Father! The creature the humanoid spoke. Oh my God, are they speaking? The father, he speaks something in Giant.

You understand. Ancestors give me strength. And this purple swirling energy emanates from this wand with this orb at the top. And you all feel yourself immediately. Grow sleepy and blackout. Darkness. Confusion. Uncertainty.

The last clear image in your minds are of two strangely robed ogres confronting you and your companion Daisy while you were enjoying the comforts of a hot spring in the forested mountains of northwestern Dracar. And beyond that point, only the muddled thoughts and visions flow through you like creeping fog. You feel somehow weightless and heavy, both absent and present, awake, and asleep. With these contrasting feelings comes neither panic nor calmness, but instead simple numb attentiveness as you watch the land move beneath you and the sky turn colors from brilliant blue to the dark blue-gray of night and back again.

A handful of days seemingly pass and your weird voyage comes to an end. Awareness within you begins slowly to stir and reemerge and your dulled senses start to come back to you. You feel warmth. Fresh, pleasant, sweet air fills your lungs. The sensation of soft cushioning comes to you next beneath your hands, face and body, and your bleary eyes open. Bright sunlight shines into the room you now find yourself, in, a blinding ray that pours into the space through a wide, arched open window, and looking

up, a skylight in the high ceiling. Thin purple linen drapes billow softly in the breeze. It's quiet. Save for the subtle stirring of your allies and except for the bird song that can be heard from outside, the floor is a splendid pattern of colored ceramic tiles. sitting up. You discover the furnishings that support you. Four finely crafted chaise lounge sofas, each big enough to be a king's bed. Indeed, the space you now occupy is opulent. Lavish, posh. Confusion still slowly fading from you, you realize by looking at each other

that your adventuring gear seems to be missing. Replaced by simple linen robes. Curiously, you also each notice an odd bangle or pendant has been fitted around each of your necks. Reaching up, you can feel the band clutching tightly to your own. There's no time to put these puzzle pieces together. It's in this moment before a word can be spoken. The wide door opposite the window swings open with a crash and in steps an 800 pound, 10-foot-tall, pink-robed, bald ogre that you recognize as the one who somehow has brought you all here.

The wand-wielding creature Whose magics affected you so strongly at the hot springs He comes in with a broad platter Bering steaming towels Which he nearly drops when he sees that everyone is now just sitting up Loudly he bellows Oh They're finally awake

What happens next Is up to you What? Have you done with us? Done with you? Man name's Queenie March. All my stuff is gone. I'm going to think the best because I do like your robe. Why are we here and why did you take our stuff stealing ain't nice? We we saved you. Of course, of course, course. We, uh, just one moment. He goes and he sets

the platform down and pulls one of the rags off of it. Uh, we, we, we, we saved. you. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. We, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we found you out in the madness, of course. We were fine on our own. There was nothing mad about where we were or what we were doing. I know you may feel that way. I know that that's what you think is really happening, but that is the nature of madness. All the things you think you've experienced out there, none of that ever happened. Are you trying to tell me I never saw a ghost? He reaches over and he pulls out a piece of parchment, quite literally a set of scrolls. He starts to write down a ghost.

Very interesting. Yes, a ghost. They have had it bad out there. Look, I'm sure I saw a ghost. I talked to it. I chased a little cheese. A ghost cheese. I'm not making it up.

Ghost cheese, even. I know it sounds ridiculous when I say it out loud, but it did. happen. It's true. Yes. You had a shared experience then all out there in the terrible madness? Well, we were all together for the entirety of it, so I think all of our experiences were shared for the most part.

And you say you believe your name to be Queenie. Oh, I don't believe it to be Queenie. I know it to be Queenie. Well, we'll see. It's only a matter of time. Perhaps the madness will fade from you soon. I'm not, what? Where is our feast?

Oh, feast, of course you must be starving. Bacon! Bacon! No, the feast at I prepared, not strange Pink Man. It was, of course, corrupted. Corrupted terribly by the madness. We couldn't touch that meat. We had to leave it all there. I spent four hours cleaning that thing.

It may have felt like four hours, but it could even in a minute. I did a full ancient estuary joy- On every inch of that beastie. You were just born. You couldn't leave it. No, hold on. What do you mean I was just born? You were just popped into existence just before my son found you.

That is 100% not what happened. Is this what your son told you? No, no, no, no, no. It's as a tale as old as time. People spring out into the madness, and very frequently, ogres like my. myself will find them and then save them and restore them to their back to their natural life, their, their, their, their place. Have you ever thought that maybe you're just finding people that existed prior to

you finding them? Believes, ogres found real people. They're lucky to be saved. Is, uh, I may have missed it, is, uh, is Daisy here? You do not see Daisy, nor do you see your companion Scrim. Where are our other two companions? Oh, yes, of your course, course, course. Well, Daisy, uh, Daisy?

Yes, Daisy. Oh, uh, she, uh, her name is Alcatra, of course. Alcatra, she is with her. Wait, how did you know what her name is? Uh, well, we've seen her before. She's been with the House of Commerce for, forever. This is What she escaped from

Mm-hmm Oh, you're in the little green fella In tournament ogre stew, did you? No, of course not, of course not They're unharmed, they're just with Uh, let me just make sure I can Remember the name of the person who I've known my whole life Oh yes, Steve!

Oh, yes! Was there something bad in that serpent, mate? Am I going mad, Mr. York? here does not appear to be true. The Honorable Governor Gork Gustus has whoever you call this scrimmed to be, of course.

All right, well, I'm not going to lie, I really like that name Gork Gustus. The Honorable as well. Yeah. Yeah, there's something about that name I find incredibly amusing. However, I don't find any of what you're doing to us incredibly amusing. I don't like being gaslit.

I know I ain't stupid. Gaslit? Yes, indeed. You're not stupid. You don't have the phenomenal intellect of an ogre, of course, but you're not stupid. You should never feel that way. You have powers of speech. We've never seen the madness turn a vassal like this before.

It's fascinating. You are discovery beyond anything we've ever seen. Yeah, what's your IQ? How smart do you think you are? I'm not sure what an IQ is, but whatever the top is. I'm probably the smartest one in Ogerton. That does not bode well for the rest of your people. Is that where we are?

We're in Ogerson. Who came up with that name? Ancestors, the founders, of course. Of course. Just after they traveled from Ogre Heaven. Were they as smart as you are? Smarter. They designed all of this.

They came here to pursue knowledge, to find and discover all things. And they named this place, Ogerton? It's a town of Ogres. Is it only you think you're smart. Did you say that your ancestors came from ogre heaven? Yes, yes, yes. Yes, they were with our God for an eternity.

But they knew that there was still knowledge. They could not have been with your God for an eternity, and eternity is forever. And if they are here now, they currently, or if they're gone now, they could not have stayed there for an eternity if they then left. That's a question for the house of religion, really. That is really stupid. Right, I'm starting to get frustrated.

My name is Mannyus, ogreth, Bluginius. So wait, you're trying to, can you tell me what, can you tell me what that other ogre's name is? Gork Gustus? So you're telling me there's an ogrean, Gorgustis, and your name is Mannyus, Ogrius, McGillicuddy, McFarland or something? There's no Magillicati. This is outrageous.

I think Gorgustus is the single word. A lot more syllables than most of the ogre brigands all you've run into. Can you answer that question truthfully? Is it gork gustus or is it gorgustis? Is gorgustus? Is there a... And you say you're intelligent. What are the five noble endeavors, really? For one, I said, you're trying to make me feel stupid. I not once said, excuse me, ogre, I am intelligent. I am not. I come from the country, all right? I know my place. Two, is there a pause between the Gork and the Gustis?

It's a simple question. There's a little bit of a pause. Well, thank you. So it's not Gorgustis. No, it's Gorgustis. Thank you. Combinus is a very good friend of mine. And he's the governor of Ogerton.

No, he's the governor of the House of Commerce. I'm the governor of the House of Education. Are all of you governors? Did all of you decide collectively that we're all going to be governor? No, these are the five great endeavors. as I just mentioned, we all have this station through merit and through our family lineage. You were asking, I'm asking. Where is that's baking?

Why are you going to argue with this guy for like four hours of getting on? What exactly is the tax policy? I need to ask you one more question. Hungry for knowledge. I love it. I'm hungry for something. Now, you think we were just born and that you discovered us just born out in your wild, you're crazy? I know that this.

And you expect me to understand your five pillars of communism or whatever? Some, some do. Yes, absolutely. We've discovered those who have out there who have had these kinds of knowledge pieces before. You're the first four we've ever met who, don't, who, A, have the talents for speech, which is remarkable. And also that you have seemingly no understanding of where you are, who you are, what you are. I just told you who I was. My name is Queenie March. Yes, Queenie March. Yes, I have it written down here.

Miss March, if you're nasty. Is that your last name, if you're nasty? I mean, it should be. All one word. Miss March, if you're nasty. I mean, look, I may be a little irritated, but that is a phenomenal name. Maybe he's a good name. Ah, of course.

And in this moment, you see a human walk in, wearing very similar robes to what you're wearing, and he carries a tray, and on the tray are five bowls of what our look up here to be steaming stew. That just not look like bacon. There's bread stuck in each one, and there's a larger bowl that's very clearly for Mannyus. And Bacon walks forward and hands... Oh, thank you, bacon. Yes, of course. Thank you, thank you.

Serve the rest of them, and we'll continue our discourse. You have no idea what I'm learning. And sure enough, the silent vassal walks up and starts to hold out these bowls of what appears to be very delicious. stews. I'm sorry, he named you bacon. Thank you, Bacon. What's in this stew? What was your name again?

Manius. Bluginius. Bluginius? You can call me Mannyus, though. That's fine, that's fine. Mr. Bouglinius. What's in this stew, if I might ask? Manny.

Mannyus is my preferred name. Yeah, I know, but I asked if I could call you Manny. We haven't gotten to know Well, we'll see if you keep your speech in due time. Okay, well, I'm going to need you to rewind that. What's important is that... No, no, what's important is that you rewind that sentence. What do you mean by keep my speech?

Are you trying to turn me in a bacon? No, I'm concerned that the madness will fade and that eventually your powers of speech will fade with them. Does that happen before? Well, no one's ever shown up with speech before. So these individuals show up without the ability to speak. Yes, yes, I've already written the House of Religion.

He's going to be here tomorrow morning, roast haste, and when he comes, he will attempt to wipe the madness from you, and in this moment you will probably end up like bacon here. Have you not drawn a parallel between them all missing their tongues? They don't missing their tongues. You remember that they have this scratch. And you can see that their larynx, that their larynx, you can see that he, too, is equipped with one of these bengals around his neck.

What is the process for this house of religions to clear the madness from us? What is that like? I'm not the religious governor. He comes, he says a few words and performs some great powerful magics, and great clerics of Sophlet he is. And he will be the one to hopefully sap any of the corruption that may have been viewed you or any of the objects you may have found in the mountains of madness. So you're saying we were at the mountains of madness.

I'm saying that you were in the madness and that they were the mountains. It is an endless, endless plane of mountains in all directions filled with terrible monsters. I'm amazed that we were able to save you. I know he killed several of them. Now, I thought this was just a barren wasteland and we're apparently in some place called Ogerton. Now, how do you all survive here in this absolute wasteland? How do you get any of these ingredients?

This is a paradise. It was made here by our gods so that we would be able to pursue the knowledge of the world so that we could complete our quest as ogers. Does the weather, feel warmer than like the Arctic? It's like 45 or 50 degrees. Oh my God.

It is humid. The warm air is blowing in through the wind, and you realize that even in this robe, you're extremely comfortable. The negative zero, negative 15, negative 45 is almost like a distant memory to you all of a sudden. You are realizing that even though he's taking these towels and sort of dotting his head as he's flush with excitement

and speaking with you, that it is mild. Manius, are we, are we still on Dracar? Dracar? Yeah, the continent of ice you found us on. We were in the hot spring on Dracar. Dracar.

It's a word I've never heard before. That's fascinating. We believe that we sprung out of existence like this, wearing what we wore. Mm-hmm. Despite the signs of... of age and our faces, the weathering on our possessions? Yes.

Can I ask you another question? I'm going to go ahead and do it anyway. Why don't you think it's more important to study a subject in their natural form of being than to completely conform and change them into something else? Your natural form and being is as you would be here at Ogerton. No, no. What I'm saying is you took away all of our stuff, and you're going to give us to some strange person to take away

our ability to speak? No, no, no, no, no, no, no, you don't understand. This is this the madness speaking. Those artifacts, the things you came when will be studied. They will be examined. They will be cleansed of corruption. Don't you think we should be studied

before you send us off to someone? Don't you think it makes more sense to keep us around and see how we progress over the course of a week or a month or a year before you send us off someone? That's someone who's only been alive for perhaps a week. You are. You are speaking crazy madness. Of course you're going to...

I'm speaking crazy madness. You're going to be... Your name's something McGillacuddy von Boomertho. It's mannius, ogres, blaginious. All right. And understand. And are you sure that's your real name? You need to be protected.

Are you sure that's not your name? Are you sure that's not your name? I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm getting a little overwhelmed here. Isn't it ironic that? that you are a man ogre and your name is manius obrius. They're in a place called Ogerton.

Oh, is that spelled T-O-N or T-O-W-N, but just pronounced. I wrote it down with just T-O-N. How do you spell Ogerton? O-G, R-E, T, I can't, you can spell. It's remarkable. I have been alive probably longer than you have, hundreds of years. Hundreds of years? Yes.

Where are my manners? Would you like a hot towel? Does it have some kind of poison on it? It's just hot water and towel. I don't trust it. You know, I will say... I'll give you a towel. And he reaches up and he

leans down and hands you a face towel. I've... It's nice and refreshing. I've broken the bones. of well-dressed merchants and nobles for less than that condescending laugh of yours. But seeing how there's... What's your name?

My name is Barnabos. Some call me the dreadwake. Oh, goodness, that's very threatening. He's very ferocious. I can see that. He looks at. You all look quite peculiar. warped even from I think

perhaps another effect of... Did you just say I look warped? Well, you have to understand. Oh, he's gone. Well, most vassals, they look like the one you would call a daisy, yes, and the

the one that you just saw in here, bacon, my head, the principal of our house. Was bacon? Cuban? Yep. those are humans oh yes

we agree you call them humans as well oh yes did he come from human heaven it's already starting no no no he came from ogre to uh ogre heaven and you are all reborn vassels just like let me

hold on hold on so are you trying to say that we are ogre souls in reborn bodies Or how do we come from ogre heaven if we're not ogres? In ogre heaven there are similar vassals like bacon And they go back and forth. Our vassal population is very stable. Where do you get them from?

Where do we get them from? Well, we find them in the mountains. Though I will say it's been centuries. Centuries. Primarily, they just live here with us. No, no, I'm talking about how do you find... Where do the vassals in heaven come from? I'm not sure I understand your question.

You're very confusing. And I am not confusing, sir. You're confusing. What I'm trying to say is if you come from ogre heaven, that's a heaven for ogres, how are you getting humans into over heaven? Where are they coming from? Are you stealing them from human heaven? Are you stealing them from not heaven?

Where are you getting the vassals in? Where are you getting the vassals in ogre heaven, sir? No, Queen, what he is saying is that in his relationship, religion, everything comes from over heaven. It is the origin. What is your name, sir? I am called Yornear. Yornear, the smart one.

I'm just picking up context of those. And your name, sir? Your near. My name's Ty Shen. Tai Shen. Wow. Mr. Foyer Blossom. Usually vessels have names like clove and honey. It's very strange.

Like, coimmy? My last name's Fireblossom. That's kind of. similar. It's kind of like clove, but with a little more flair to it. Fessels don't usually have last names. They can't marry after all. Was it really on my agenda?

I hadn't thought about it before. Do ogres have the sacrament of marriage? Oh, yes. Oh, yes. I actually, I haven't introduced you to my wife yet, but I understand that she'll be here any minute. I would like to send my condolences to your wife. Hmm, would you like a hot towel? I'll get you a hot towel.

I think I'm good. I take a hot towel. That's fucking... It's a little hot. It's a little big. It's a little big. I get it. Seeing the towels and the suit that I haven't touched yet and the bands on our necks.

Because I'm queenie. My right eye will flash blue and I will use detect magic. and see if I'm picking up anything magical, knowing that he had the bond. What are the components of detect magic? It is inherent in my fear bold blood. Oh, so you're blood-magicking. Very exciting.

Mr. Did I steal all my blood too dirty? Oh. I'm just tie them up and you realize you don't have any blood. You realize you're a prude. You've been squeezed. Oh, he just kind of squeezed.

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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 mold. Thank you. You're all still sitting on these enormous Shea Lounge, for like a better word, benches or beds, looking up at Mannyas. he's still standing there, occasionally grabbing a new hot towel, occasionally taking a drink of

of soup. And in this moment, I don't think with any of your awareness, but you're near, you use your blood magic to cast detect magic. And you do not get any magic from the room around you, aside from the faint background magic that you would get from your magical allies. but you do experience a tremendous amount of magic at the hip of Manius. And looking down, you get the sense that there is a very powerful magical item just underneath his robe. Oh, God, is his penis a man to light up. Yes, and he's nine and a half inch of soft. My intended, jast-in-kate.

Fucking nasty. So unhappy with him. To secure me. To save you. And suddenly, another ogre appears at the door. This open door, a shorter ogre, a younger ogre, wearing the same sort of bright but light pink robes. Father, are they awake?

Oh, yes, son. Oh, yes, of course, of course, of course. Come in, I need you to meet Taishen. Yornear, Queenie, and Bonomos Dredwick. They are just fascinating, fascinating. They still speak, you know. They do? Oh, wow, that's amazing.

It's nice to see you again, Julian. I'm sorry, I tried to scare you. I was trying to do a little bit of a prank. Oh, it was just a prank, bro. You're lucky that you didn't get a harpoon to the throat, sneaking up on us like that. Well, well, well, and normally that doesn't, That sort of thing doesn't happen.

It doesn't. We scare you and then make you... From what I understand, am I messing it up, Father? No, no, no, it's quite fine. It's quite fine. Yes, he didn't... He doesn't understand the ways of the world. I had been taking him out into the mountains

to show him the ways to perhaps slay a foul monster or discover some... Well, we discovered you, and so everything's fine. Have you been doing your homework? Yeah. Have you been doing your homework? I've been memorizing all the names. I just, I just, I, not, not, not,

if you get all of your work done before sunset, let's say, we'll play ball. Ball? Ball, yes, of course. We go out to the courtyard and have a throw of it. Oh, right, and he turns around and he trips and he sort of, oh, fuck! And he like, slams into the frame of the door before,

oh! And then, and then, like, gets up and just like, skitters out into the hallway and disappears, disappears. And then you hear another set of footsteps. That must be my wife. Everyone, everyone, be calm. Yo, y'all, great surprise. Be calm.

I'll be right back. I'll be right back. And he turns, and he closes the door, leaving the four of you alone for the first time since he were awoken for what seems to be perhaps a very brief period of time. Mr. Yornear, did I pick up the bottle and just black out? I thought this is a shared moment between all of us. This is.

Oh, I'm sober right now. You are. Ha! It definitely seems to be happening. Sorry, I dropped one of their ancient artifacts. Is there a window? Yeah, there's the large open window with the purple drapes that seems to be open.

I would like to stand up and walk to the window and try to look out to see if I can look over in the city. You hop down and you seem to be staring into the interior of what is a large villa. A square courtyard is what it confronts you when you look down and you can see that it is palatial. There's green grass, there's a beautiful fountain in the center with some statue adorning water spraying

out in different directions. Very, very well-fashioned. Looks brand new even. And then you have topiaries, these large hedges that have been shaped and you can see that they've been built to, or carved, to look like Mannyus and what you can only assume is the rest of his family, a large, tall woman, what you think is Giulianus, two other young girls, and perhaps a teenage woman. You see two vassals out there down there as well,

similarly draped in robes. These are actually light pink, or light purple. And they are clipping and trimming and silently working the garden that is what confronts you and staring at the sky beautiful bright blue sky it seems still to be quite warm you enjoy the fresh warmth

against your skin it's almost like summer and mammute when you stare out into the space but as if it was a wealthy manor owner do I get any sense of like which way it's north based on where the sun is

or can I see some of the mountains, like the tips of the mountains where I think we would be. Make a perception check. What I'm trying to sort of get a sense of, is you feel like I'm in some weird portal, plainer dimension, like totally gone, or do we feel like we're here in Jhkar?

It's just they don't have the concept of that. Can I twist this? Yeah. Use two twists. Use two twists. Yeah, two twists. I want to find out where the fuck we are. Yeah.

Oh, no. Even with two? You know what I rolled before this? Yeah. Six, six, six. No fucking joke. What an eight thousand chance, everybody. One and eight thousand chance for the devil's sad.

I think it's going to be pretty reasonable, given that your wisdom, baby. So it's just eight. Pretty good. Six plus eight, whatever that is. 14. 14. 14. With a 14, I'll say that you do spy.

Just over the roof. you can see the ridges of what appears to be mountains. And it feels like a real place that you are in. It feels like you're not in a... Again, the tech magic is still going. You don't get a sense that there's any like portal or dome or anything along those lines. This feels all natural.

I believe we are in the car. But the abandoned kingdom that the dragon won't told us about, It's clearly been inhabited in the, perhaps in the meantime, since they've been there. Hmm. Is it possible we're in Ogre Heaven? No, we are, you can see the mountains there, you can see we are still in the car. Those are the mountains that we were following on the way south. How does it come to be so nice here?

We were just in frigid... frigid, bitter winter. If I were to guess, perhaps this extir armament has some side effect of making the climate warm or pleasant,

or they're harnessing it in some way. Or if it's not here, whatever magical artifacts that we know are here, perhaps that is a... The way that scepter, that old manniusplainer over here is... It's really good.

...is waving her. around. Make a nature check of advantage. Nature, you say. Not in base, but it's a 20. With the dirty 20, you are aware, just like the hot springs that you were found in, that there are places in even the coldest of climates that have unusually warm weather. These are usually geothermal events. That there are places where just because of the nature of perhaps some sort of underground magma or water flow, that it's possible that this feature could be found in Rekar, but it seems amazing that you would find yourself in a place like this.

It is possible that it is natural due to think of the hot spring that we found. Just think of that, but at the large scale, perhaps, I thought this happened. Is there any chance we wait out the winter here? Do we believe them to be that mania seems kind of nice, except for knocking us out, dragging us here, stripping off all our clothes and stealing all our stuff? These robes are kind of nice.

And I like this soup. Is the soup good? It's delicious. And I didn't answer Barnabas' question, but it is a beef and vegetable stew. It's like country style. It's warming. It's bright.

It is savory. Very flavorful. I would hesitate, but given the fact that I'm Wendickhurst, I'm going to not hesitate to utterly annihilate it. Tashy, I hate to be a downer on your hopeful mood. But you know how Daisy has that mark on her neck? Yes. I think if we stay here too long,

we're all gonna have one of those marks. And then we won't be able to hear the beautiful dulcet tones of your voice anymore. Oh. But didn't they say they didn't hear anyone speak beforehand? And people who can speak is something they've never encountered before. It seems like... He thinks we were born yesterday. Well, he's, you know, he's got some...

They named that poor man bacon. I actually thought that was a pretty good, man. They changed Daisy's name from Daisy to like bull ass ferratu or something. El-Catra. I was close. Oh, do you like a... Is she cat-like? Is she cat-like?

El-Catra sounds a lot more name-like than bacon. Oh, wait a minute. But we know that Daisy and Honey, they were escaping something dangerous. precarious position, bad place. This place. If you want to remind me, she, I'm trying to think back to when we started ahead on this path. Was she concerned as like, hey, that's

where I escape from or anything? Did she try to warn us at all about that? I kind of, it's been a while. Yeah, she, like, spit on the ground. She, well, no, I'm sorry. That's what I mean. She spit on the ground, and she's like, that was an awful place. Fuck them. Any name is better... No, you mean like in last session, how did she... We were here.

We decided to go down the other side to go to the ruins. She did not react to the region we were in. I think she was just like in a hot spring hanging out. But when they showed up, she started freaking out.

And she was doing like the belly thing and pointing and like pointing her throat and she was like going nuts. But he said that she's from the house of... I was like, comments. The commerce. The commerce.

Oh. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Gork Gustus. So, what color robes did Bacon have? He would have had a light primary color robe. Okay. I wasn't sure if the colors meant like different houses. Yeah.

Well, my only concern is that the vibe of this sort of town feels sort of of like Pompeii and a perculaneum, and given that sort of, you know, volcanic events, maybe there's going to be a horrible volcanic explosion that kills them all. Like the doom of Ogerton is coming this way.

But I don't know. That's just sort of what makes me think of. Mariana! I've got a surprise for you, dear. Oh! To me, another cat. No. Have you gotten me a bear?

It's in this next room. I'm not going to bring a bear in the house, Mariana. Have you bought? Well, what have you gotten me? What could it possibly be? You're going to have to find out. Open the door. Open the door.

And all of a sudden, the door slams open. And you see a bald woman wearing a similarly pink-robed, carrying a cat, a huge gray cat who's hanging there just. And she starts to run forward. And she immediately picks you up, Tyshen, and gives you a huge, hug, like a bear hug. I needed a roll of dexterity, saving throw.

Oh. Oh, right. Oh, my God. A six. This tray is cursed, I think. It really is. A dex save. Nine. With a nine, the cat hits you.

You take one point of slashing damage. Oh, and she turns, and she just drops you back into your seat. She turns, oh, she grabs you yorn ear, and you just find yourself suddenly stuck by this. 10-foot-tall, giant bald-balding woman. Hideous, of course. I'm called the ordinary. And I'm Tishan. However, we are not vast.

I believe your husband is confused. No, you're part of the family. Welcome to Hasblokinian. She goes and she tries to grab both of you at the same time. No, any madam? Dexterity saving throw by the view. Okay. It's for the cat, if you want to avoid the cat.

20, 21. 20 damage. Oh, no, on advantage, yeah. You do not get, you're able to do this, oh yeah, face, and the, the claw just barely dodging your hat. Oh, I knew. Goy, madam. She turns to Mania.

I love you. Oh, yes, of course, I was able to heroic, and they suddenly start to basically make out in front of you. I'm like right under their chin. Oh, he grabs. Tish mosh. Tosh. and blushes. He grabs her ass and they

make a lot like, they have his long kiss. Intensifies. My heart lies heavy for you, dear. I haven't been back in a week. I know. I'm so glad you're back. It's like you've replaced my heart with the sun and then it exploded. Anyways, we're just onboarding them. They're going to be visited by the House of Religion soon, and then they'll be full-on members' vassals.

members of the family. Would you please reunite us with our companions? I'm sure you'll see them around, but they're part of another family. Oh, so they are, we've been like separated permanently. Oh yes, it only made sense, after all, that was a terrible business that, uh, uh, the one you call, uh, I'm sorry, you never mentioned the other name, so he would refer to her as, clove. Uh, clove never returned so it it only made sense to make their family whole again.

When did they leave first? We got them, as soon as we came back, we sent them on their way in a carriage, all the way down to the villa of the house. I have it here, this one moment. I've known them my whole life. I just am not used to juggling so many NPCs. Oh, I have only onset dementia.

It's actually quite sad. The Gorgogastus house, yes, of course. Oh, Gorgustis. We know Gorgustus. Yeah, yeah, Gorgustis. How's it's a Gondon. Of course. I feel like Dauber needs to be here.

It really does. Oh, yes, Gorgustis. What I mean is that when Clove and Elkhartre first left here. Yes. When was this, how did they get away? Oh, it was, uh. A month and a half, two months ago, however long, three months.

One of their old vassals had escaped years ago, years ago, and he came back and then Clove and Alcatra made their way out. I have no idea what deal they made with Combinus. However, they, whatever they said, he stayed and they left into the madness. It's crazy. There's quite a scandal, really. For you or your people the ones that conducted the surgery on their throats? No, no, no, we've never done surgery, surgery on their throats.

No, it's not surgery. They're born this way. It's not something that we do to vassal. This is why your nature of speech is so unusual. We've never had a non-Ogra be able to use the common tongue in this manner. Or is it all just humans then, that are your vial? or are there other species about? Well, there are small humanoid like yourself, humans, and whatever you are. Well, you have other Tritons.

Triton. No, I don't know what a Triton is. Dragonborn. Any more perhaps silver in scale? Dracar-born? Oh, yeah, dragon-born. Are you sure it's not Dracar? You said Dracar earlier? You said Dracar earlier, I have it here. I did say Dracar earlier, but I was actually born in Yulong. On the jade shell aisles, we brew a mean cup of tea.

That madness is just fascinating. What an imagination you have. It's remarkable what you've... I wish to record it all before you forget. It is truly remarkable. My, I... Miamas, it's going to get his apparel done today. The weavers are almost complete.

I must make my way. I... Cassia Magathius! At the cat costume contest later, thank you for the gift. I will be seeing you at dinner. Of course, of course, yes, yes, yes. And she turns and walks out.

I mean, I kind of want to stay here forever. I'm sorry with the one that same thing. Nietzsche want to stay here forever? Queen has had enough. Maness, what are these necklaces? that we have after we've woken up. Oh, the pendants, yes, yes, yes. This will indicate what family you are part of.

It is also a protective ward or charm. Make sure that you don't get affected by the madness again. What symbols are for each of the houses? So we may know as we travel about your fair ogre town. It's not a matter of symbols, really. is connected to our wands. You saw me use it when we found you at the hot springs. Do you recall?

Is that what sits on your hip now as we speak? Oh yes, oh yes. Oghurs are equipped with them. They're very important. It allows us to use powerful magics. I know that that might seem strange to you, but it's how I was able to safely transport you in your sleeping states.

All ogres have these ones? Not children. They've not yet been edgy. That's part of my responsibility as governor of education. I make sure that they all are equipped to deal with the realities of the world I said there's education and knowledge. Oh yes commerce. Yes Religion. Oh, yes. What were the other two? Do you know any of the eight? Can anyone guess? AdiC?

No Oh You're very rude Queenie I I do hope that you find that you will be well-fed and well kept here. Part of the family. She's from the country, you know. It's a very bracing and also very tiny. I'm sorry, what?

Very bracing and also very tiny. You have such big ears. I'm not sure why I'm speaking up. I can't hear you. I think I'm losing my ability for human speech. Oh my goodness. Oh, is there a house of ships? Ooh.

A house of ships. A house of ships. If there's a house of ships, then you've assigned me to the wrong house. No, no, no, no, not ships. Oh, wow. I bet there's a house of law or militant or some sort of enforcement. You're right on it. Military.

Oh, yes. If you go to House Fangaro, Lucius will introduce you to the house of the military. He's governor. Ah. Oh, there's always the law. What is left? The man. So we have education, which is like the...

Yeah. Indoctrination. Right. some sort of artistic endeavor maybe creative the arts you are the smart one that is fantastic of course if you went to house Grotenica you'd meet Lucilla governess of the house of art I just realized something I was born yesterday I remember who I was before I was born yesterday and it was not Queen March my name was Fiona and I was a beautiful ogre princess an ogre

You say. It was. Make a deception check. Oh, I mean, if you're from ogre heaven, I don't. Oh, you don't. Stalves the reason. Deception is like, 12. Believe that she was once in this.

100%. I'm going to twist it. I think we can go down. One or two. Yeah, yeah. One or two. Let's do two. Let's do two.

Let's twist that. Twelve. Wow. I'm going to eight to six. You're gonna. Whether it's gotten better. Whether it's gotten better. Yeah.

I'm actually quite out myself. I'm gonna take my sweater off. Oh. Yeah, I dropped it to 64. I guess I'm wearing a lot. Of layers. I'm feeling legends of the mantrasy too. Ooh.

Now, I can't, I can't promise that my memory is 100% airtight. So I'm just getting little snippets. Okay. Here you see. What kind of snippets are you getting? I can see myself as a bald ogre beautiful, not quite as beautiful as your wife. Thank you.

She is a look at a-upon. She is a catch, let me tell you. I thought you said you were a red-headed ogre princess. I was until my hair fell out. Oh, had hair that was red and then fell out. It was, yes. Very confused. Yes.

Green skin. Mm-hmm. Yeah. and just absolutely just built like a shit house brick house shit the brick house

shit brick house I can't tell you Queenie how that must be why I thought my name was Queenie because I was a princess in my last life and I was probably

oh my God it's all coming back to me Queen no wonder I came here from Oger Heaven my gosh over heaven really is real I believe it is these yes

And perhaps she had a companion rabbit in gloves, which is why. I bet I did. Which is why you turn into a rabbit and mislife. No wonder I immediately felt myself drawn to your wife. I had a friend, a puss in boots. Ah, I like ribbon gloves. It's a stretch.

and I just feel, I don't know, I feel there's something there and, you know, I apologize for the rude things I said to you because clearly being here is bringing my memory back to what it needs to be. No wonder I have speech. I was an ogre. It's an interesting theory. I have to dismiss it immediately, but that's,

I have a bit of sweet feeling. Tomorrow in some ways I want to learn everything that you imagine you know and and write it all down perhaps turn it into a book and on the other hand i feel terrible pain i want to cure your make sure that you are restored to your proper selves i'm turning into sly that is something cryptic about it's something very you know i had it for a long time with my skeleton key of course of course of course yes a bit of witness says course. This is, now that you say this,

Queen, I'll sort of like kind of knowingly, like, luck, it is coming back to me as well. Perhaps this is why we have speech. Perhaps we are just reincarnated ogres from ogre heaven. In fact, it's coming back to me the language

of ogre heaven, and then I will speak in giant. Yes, my native tongue, this is it. Make a deception check at advantage. It says one Insta story and Mikey has railroaded the whole set. 18.

You speak the language of Ogre Heaven. I'm guessing you do based on the look on your face, question mark. Soth tests us indeed. This is beyond... I cannot. My heart sings. Yes, we are not nearly vassals. Perhaps the five of us, including our small great friend,

perhaps we are all prophets of the great ogre gods. It would make complete sense why we were delivered here with a vassal of our own. We had daisy in tow. This is a mystery beyond mysteries. This is unbelievable you were found in the madness, you see. You say, I haven't written down all here. Such impossible crazy things.

And yet, you speak the language of our god, Sopholith. Isis? Yes. Sopholope. Perhaps you're right. We will need to consult with the other houses. I've had dreams before of where I was a great ogre brigand that led the Black Sail crew.

Trothack the shark puncher. I had a great shark on each arm. Sounds jossum. And jossum it was, Manius. And jossum it was. We will need you. I need a no

weapon beyond my fist and the chomping jaws with the sharks tied to them. Of course, sis. I just dunk him in some seawater occasionally. I need another hot towel. Would you My Heart towel. There have been tales of great, you throw it to him.

Of great bands of heroes of all species and cultures who come from different backgrounds and perhaps are reincarnated in a new life for our next adventure. Perhaps we were all ogre companions. We died, we went to ogre heaven and were reincarnated instantly. You may call me Trothack now, Barrow Barnabost was merely a ruse from the, perhaps the cruel trickster gods of this terrible land. Oh, man, I've gotta go to sleep. I haven't had any of these dreams.

What? You okay? Are you covered in ancient estuary again? Realizing your true past is difficult. I'm not surprised that Barnabos has an itch in his throat. It will come to you, Tyshan, or whoever you, you are supposed to be. I believe perhaps maybe in your past life,

instead of the fire blossom, you are fire belly, and maybe a great broor of like ale or something. Fire ale. Wow. There is, there is a bullionis in town. A bullionis? Bullionis. Oh, that was very close to being an unfortunate name.

There are no unfortunate ogre names, except for that organicus. I'm sorry, kids, the last one. This is unbelievable. We have to have a hypothesis. We have to, we have to experiment. We have to understand. On the one hand, you are unusual in appearance. That could explain why you do not appear as the others who service. On the other hand, you are a... affected by some kind of madness saying things that simply cannot be true and on the other hand, you have the power of speech.

Do you have tales, fables, historical texts that speak of a coming of powerful beings? We have, of course, many religious texts. I keep them all in the library. Have you read every single one of them, front to battle? I am happy to say that I have. I am the most learned man in Ogerton.

I will happily report to you anything you want to know from the library. Have you heard of anything about a great coming of ogres from Ogre Heaven? Nothing like that. But once we compile all the knowledge there is to learn about the mortal world, we will be returned to heaven

on our silver ship, the dominant mind, and we will make our way back to Ogre Heaven. Heroes! Heroes in the owls of our ancestors. Did you say the silver ship? Oh, yes. Did you know that Barnabos is a captain? Oi, Trusack, the shark puncher. Is it possible you've already found all the information there is to have,

and we were sent here to ferry you back to Ogrevin? With a captain in tow, a vassal of our own, a princess, a god, and whatever Tishan is meant to be? A firebrewer. I need to make a group deception check. And Tishan yours is an advantage. or disadvantage. Oh.

Nice. Deception. Not bad, actually. Can I twist? Yes. 19. Oh. 21.

Can I twist? Yep. Yeah. If I roll it disadvantaged, do I just roll one? Just roll one. Yeah, you roll one. Yeah, you're getting a re-roll. Oh.

Oh. Twenty-one. Twenty-one, nineteen. 19. Thank you, Chad. Oh, 16. 16? 15. 15. Wow. We're your holy crew of ogre pirates. I think perhaps in a former life, Mr. Fireblossom, we were perhaps companions. It all makes sense now. Or should I say, Shagoth of the Black, the greatest, the father of all all of the dragon ogres.

The dragons that worshipped great dark dragon gods and claimed their power fell in combat and it was foretold that he would one day awaken. And perhaps this is your awaken. This is stirring something within me. I knew it would. Perhaps memories it's stirring.

This might be it. Shagoff the Black. Perhaps the Black Dread actually. Oh, Dread. I'm like. Father, you can hear a voice cry out through the arched open window. And Mannyus waltzes forward,

distracted immediately from his studies and writing of your behavior and the things that you say, and he walks over, he looks down. What is it, Julianus? I finished. I'm ready to play ball. Very good, son.

I would love to be spending more time with you, but I think that you'll be in better, Bacon! Bacon! A better hand in the hands of principle, bacon. We will talk again, I think, very soon, but I have a date with my son. And he turns in... That's right. That's right.

That's quite... You enjoy your time. We reborn ogre heroes of old. We need to reclaim our memories. Now that the process has begun, thanks to your great magic. magic. If you are what you say you are, we must be so close to the end. And to think, you were the one that discovered us and helped us reclaim our memories. You will go down in history of all ogre kind as the most intelligent and one of the greatest

of all ogres. They might call you the silver admiral. Manius, ogres, Bloginius, the silver Admiral? Aye. Admirals. Perhaps a fleet of silver ships will join us. Governor of education, head of the library. All of these titles sound very good. Yes, and he starts to leave, and he doesn't close the door behind him.

He waltzes out and starts to make his way through his villa to see his son. And it isn't moments later that Bacon will appear, but you have a second. I can't believe we're all ogres. Oh, you are so cute, Tash. No, no, yes, we are all ogres, yes. Yes, we're all ogres. Yes. What was your name, Mr. Yornear?

Did you not... I not given one. Perhaps even the fact that I can speak their language, should I appear as maybe like the avatar of the reincarnation of their god so forth. I think that should be you. I am a princess. It then explains why I can speak. Oger and I cannot, yeah.

Well, does it make sense for a god to be reborn? I don't know. I think it totally does. or he's like the avatar of a god. There are many legends and religions where their god takes human form. We're going to road to Eldorado this then. But it's tough to be an ogre god.

You're like me, Chica. Well, I am your dread captain. The Black Sail. Oh, that's what I was thinking of. I mean the black dread is I was just too much on my own You don't have to be Shagoff I could have just misspoke

What do you mean But I thought I was Shagoff the Black Father of our You are You are, that's what we've seen in our memories, Tasha Oh, the Black Rock Oh

Make a perception check everyone Shagov Black Rock I like that I like that And this makes sense How I came up with that cinnamon tea That had a kick with jalapeno Where did that come from?

Hell it was probably Shagoff I would was probably Shaghan. The father of the dragon ogres. It just came to me out of nowhere. Perception. Suddenly everyone was breathing with fire. 16.

16. 29? 21. 21. 16. 19. 19. Reception? Five.

Five. You're talking and you're looking at the window and you can see Mannyus has made his way out into this courtyard onto the grass next to this fountain to meet with his son. And his son has this large, well, for lack of a better term. And they both go to the corner. What is it? This is it just like on your normal ball? It looks like a softball football.

Like it's football colored and skinned, but it is softball sized in a hand of an ogre. And they throw it and it lands on the grass. and then one of them goes and picks it up and then makes their way back to the other one and then the other one takes the ball and throws it and then they go and get it and they're not playing catch, they're just throwing

the ball and then retrieving it and then coming back and they seem to be talking but... They're playing fetch. That is so cute. It seems sad, cute, and stupid all of us. We're the 21 year and here, you're the first

to notice. You're the first to notice. You're the first to notice that the silent hand or principal of this house, Bacon, is standing in the doorway. Listening to all of you have this conversation. Bacon, welcome to our council room. Ah, hey, as we regain our memories of Heroes of Ogre past. Oh, what were we called the Ogre County? The Heroes of High Mall, perhaps. I think that's a great name.

Perhaps I was in him. Where are you leaving us? All right, we shall follow. Perhaps we will. He takes you down. And you realize that this villa is beautiful, enormous. It is at least three stories on the side that you're on.

And there are many adjacent room, some circular, some square. There are columns in all directions. There's drapes. There's art plaster on the wall. There's ceramic tiles in the same way that your room that you woke up in was adorned by. There are skylights occasionally peeking out from time to time. Beautiful chairs and furnishings in all directions.

This is a wealthy home. And he makes his way eventually down to a landing area where you can see two great staircases guide you down to the first floor. And that is where you turn back into the innerds of this villa, making your way through these many hallways, passing through some open entryways, other doors that are closed, other doors that are opened. Everything is ogre-scaled. So even for your medium-sized humanoid, and even for you, Yorne here, everything is spacious. The ceilings are high and tall. The rooms are wide. The seating. For every single chair that you could possibly find yourself sitting on Queenie,

none of your feet would ever, ever touch the floor. And he makes his way with you past a kitchen, past all kinds of additional servants of the house vassals. You see them all working and some weaving. You pass past Mariana. She's dressed up the cat in like a little top hat with like a little bow tie. and it's looking extremely grumpy and already done with the day,

but you think that that's probably always its mood. So is this like a main coon? Like, this is gigampy. Yes. Yes, yes, yes. And like huge, like, tufts of gray hair in all directions. Just matted. And the size of a giant mastiff, but a cap.

Yes. It's actually right. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. I know what I heard us. And he takes you and he goes, and he's pointing, he's pointing to a room And it seems to be near the branch of this villa where the vassals sleep.

You're passing now what looks more like hostile rooms with bunk beds and these sorts of features. And he points through and you can see that this is the baths. This is the showers. This is, and he looks at you all, any points. Are you saying we stink and we should take a shower? That's fine. I agree with you. I do have a question while we bathe.

Could our possessions, our belongings that will remove from us, could we have those return to us, please? At least a shells. It's a pearlescent spiral, not a shell. Everyone make an intelligence check at advantage. It's not a weapon. It's just very precious to me. Now, I know advantage? Advantage.

Oh, wow. 19. 13. 18. 18. 19. every one of you suddenly realizes that this is not Daisy. This is another similarly hand-coding vassal in his town of Ogerton,

in his station, and he may have the highest station of the vessels here, but he's not signing to you the way that the, that Daisy or Honey did. He is gesturing, and in this moment he goes, like you'll ever get that back. And you all understand him because you've spent enough time with Daisy. But he doesn't realize that you see and understand what he's saying. What do you mean we're never going to get that back? You can understand me? Yeah, of course we can.

We're literally reborn ogres. The ogres don't understand this. Oh, you're just not paying attention. They don't see what we say. They've never understood us. We've tried everything. That's just unfortunate. You can read my hands?

This is only just how we communicate with each other. You are like a bridge between worlds. That's why we're here. Oh, you're the bridge between worlds. Well, say true. We have a friend who speaks like you do. We learned it from her. Yeah, Daisy.

She's going by... Encatra. Yeah. El-A-Catra. El-Catra. They name us. the stupidest thing. Famous wrestler.

Your name's bacon. What may we call you if you can perhaps? They give us all food names. What's El Catra? It's a stewed beef dish. I understand that it's been an ancient dish in Ogerton

for... Oh, so we're upstairs. No, no, no. That was just stew. This is a brazed dish. It probably isn't worth cooking if I haven't heard of it. Clear this dish. I sailed across all of the vatchel.

I do like a brazed meat, though. Anyway, we're getting side-time. I've been to 11 of the 12th continents. Wow, really? Oh, yeah, yeah, and this was my 11th. Is there a name you would prefer that we refer to you as that is not bacon? We don't really give each other names.

It's too hard without the ability to talk, to do anything but stay in the present to make sure that you're doing all the work that you can do, pulling your weight as part of the house. and perhaps we will continue with Bacon to maintain our heroic divine ogre-tude

Well, bacon, why do you think we won't get our stuff back? Don't they give it back when they cleanse us of the madness? When Julianus and Mannyus arrived, they immediately sent all of your things as though they were toxic or poison to be inspected. They believe it's infected by the madness. It may be right.

It may be the safest choice for it to go into the city and be observed by those there who do that sort of thing. I don't know the full process. But then they sent your friend and Alcatra away. Now you're just here, part of the family. How long have you been in this position? My whole life. Well, I mean, not as principal.

I've been principal for close to ten years. But you were born here? Yes. We all have been. The relationship of vassal and house and family and ogre, this has been true for centuries. So what have you been told to do with us once we bathe? You'll be able to rest.

You'll be able to learn a little bit about what work needs to be done here. I was hoping to have an evaluation of you to understand what you're good at. But now I can just ask. Understand what's going on here. Trothack shark puncher needs of a good bath. Right, Shaggoth, Black Rock. Shagath of the Black Rock. He'll use a clean-up as well.

it is understandable that you would want a bath can you please refer to me as Fiona going forward that is my true name the only way I can refer to you is like this that's exactly what I'm asking can you point real hard if that's what you feel in your heart then that's fine please enjoy the amenities take all the time you need we'll talk about how you're going to serve the house

the most important thing and we'll take it one day at a time. Aye. Can you, before we get in, can you help me with my pendant? I don't want to get it wet. Those don't come off. Oh, well. And he has one too?

Yeah. In fact, all of the vassals you've seen so far have the same strap, for like a better word. A flexible, almost cloth-like material, but not exactly like that. And then like a little indicating gem or just, just a little, just, just a little cloth-like material, but not exactly like that. And then like a little, like, like, a little, um, uh, indicating, and then a little, just Just some sort of like a locket almost. May I see your pendant? Make sure you clean under these regularly.

They get a little dirty. I want to move it to see if I can see some kind of scar. As soon as you start to put your fingers underneath it, he pulls away. Did he get any kind of glimpse of like an edge of a scar or anything? What are you doing? I'm curious what is underneath the jam. My neck? Do you have a scar there?

I don't know what you're talking about. Oh, he asks, because our friends that we knew that taught us your language had scars on their necks. Giant scars, like from here? And a bit of a star pattern. You realize that if he had a scar, the pendant would cover it. It would have been just the right size. I am not sure what you mean, but

perhaps you have been touched a little bit by the. the madness. I can't about it. Let this pay. We will bathe. Thank you very much. Please enjoy your shower. Thank you. If you need more food,

there's plenty. If you need really anything at all, that's why I'm here. Make sure that you're protected from yourselves and from the ogres and that you do a full day's work. And

bring a few more bowls of that stew, perhaps, of the size that you gave to Mr. Ogres. Manny. Manny to Manicus. Of course. And if you have, do you all have, know what ancient estuary is? Just season it how you would. Of course.

We are fine cooks. And he turns and he makes his way down the hall and you can hear the sound of his feet. Thank you. Thank you. And you realize that, uh, going to the bath that there's um... functionality for lack of a better word handles and turning them

hot water not cold water or even like the hot spring you have the ability to regulate this through a marvel of engineering and it takes a few minutes for all of you to talk through and work out exactly how this works and there's a division for different stalls that allows you to some privacy and for the first time before arriving in Dracar before your voyage before your time in the labor camp in Wuzay in that humid terrible jungle before

your travels perhaps who knows how long it's been when you've been truly able to privately submerge yourself in such luxury and that is where the four of you find yourself you will be able to enjoy a moment of privacy together at this place In the bathhouse of the villa of House Bluginius, you are for the first time alone and enjoying almost like a hot rain, the perfect temperature. You're able to make it a little hotter if you want to, a little cooler if you want to. And even over the sound of the showering water, you can speak to each other and feel for a moment that after your strange experience in Dracar, after all of the survival that you've had,

to confront you are able to decompress the kind of luxury that you were hoping to enjoy in the hot spring even in this strange place this feels like a respite what happens next it's up to you i get completely naked and get in the shower you do that i just start singing cotton tail joe are there individual like a bath i can get in on my own it's like a communal show i will Immediately, if Queenie starts on dressing, I'm going to immediately turn my head. There is, it's semi-communal, but there are large enough walls that a person would be able to enjoy privacy. Okay. Because of her height, you would just see the water crack coming down into her style and like two, like, maybe just the top of her head and two tiers.

Okay, exactly right. Um, but there's, is there like a big central bath where we could soak and commune? with each other. It's not like a full bath house in that way. There isn't one of those like low pools of like that. I'm picking on a Roman vibe. Yeah, yeah, yeah. This is, and that's great that you are, but the, um,

but you're wrong. But you're, this is more, gosh darn full. This is more like the gym style stalls that you would have in a high school, but a little bit more luxurious. So I immediately, if I know that Queenie's not going to see me, I immediately come an old guy. an old guy, does it completely butt-ass naked, and just walk around, just like, you know, just...

Yeah, let it air out. Yeah, yeah, yeah, no. You all obeyed myself. You look in whatever direction you choose. What is that supposed to mean, you know? I don't know, I wanted you to internally make the choices of whether you glance or not. Are you one of those, like, eye lockers? Are you gonna be like, or are you gonna, you know, just one of those.

Yeah, what do you do? I'm not asking. We're skipping that part. You guys are all talking. Barnabas walks up and puts his leg on the bench right next to us. How's everybody doing? That was a good workout, wasn't it? Oh, good stretch.

After playing some racquetball, uh, After playing Fetch? No, it was ball. Oh, right. No, after playing a game of ball. Oh, right. Okay. It was ball.

I don't look. I don't glance. Instead, I will bathe myself as well. I'll probably be, like, here over the stall. But I'll, not join Queenie, but if there's another, like, partition. As a reminder, you all feel perhaps more naked than you might, not just because. you are actually getting nude and showering yourself and using the amenities herein to colon yourself and to wash yourself with rags or or linens these sorts of things but you

have to take off not your adventuring gear you still don't have your tusks your walking stick you don't have mailing tea pot you don't have the shell of the sea you don't have your honeypot at your side there is a missing puzzle piece here that um hits you especially strongly when you enter this sauna-like place. Isn't it funny that no matter how smart you are, you can never figure out somebody else's shower? Wait, why don't you mark it? It goes around in a full circle. It's cold. Oh, no, it's hot. Okay. It was going back. Oh, it's hot. Oh, no, it's cold. How the fuck does this work?

This is a circle? My levers pulled directly toward me. And there are three of them. Oh, you have no idea. It's fresh water. It is fresh water. You do notice that it is It is indeed. It is tasteful, meaning that it doesn't taste bitter or algae-like

or anything like that. This is mineral-esque. Very nice when it hits you in the face watches off your body. It's not hard water. Soft, terrific water. Really warm.

This is pretty terrific water, actually. I love terrific water. Now, you know, Oh. Oh, there's a little shrimp. Save that for later. You know, I heard tales that there was a a small island in the Delphina's chain

where there were cyclopes that would all eat this pink lily and it was a paradise. But anyone that would be welcomed into their community would lose years at a time. It's like a terrible, horrible, mind cult. Wait, what was the name of that silver ship called? Oh, the Andromeda? The dominant mind. Oh, that was it. That was it. That was it. That's not ominous at all, is it?

Well, I mean, do you think that that is referencing something? Well, you don't know. Something is obviously not right here with their minds. Mania seems to favor intellect. Maybe he just thinks that the mind is dominant. Maybe that's their belief, that's their understanding, is that over-physicality, the mind is important beyond all else. That checks. And there's a silver ship.

I mean, I've heard of a silver ship, and it's more of a metaphorical thing. Could be a sort of... bridge that they take to over Oger heaven, it appears as like a silver light. How did, when, uh... It's like the green light, perhaps. When Secundus appeared to us, how did he come down? He was on a horse.

But didn't he descend? No, he was just on the hill. He just showed up somewhere. He was just... Descend the hills for some of us. Yeah. On a silver horse. Oh.

There wasn't more of like a brassy. It's just like a robot horse. It's just like a robot horse. It's like a... A what? Yeah. I know a new at Robert once, but not a... No, it's a warden giant.

Oh, wrong. His metal steed. It means metallic. A top is metal steed. Hmm. I think we need to meet this person that cleanses these... I think we need all of our alibis, ironclad. You hear a few footsteps.

Barnabos. Is that you? Uh, a vassal you've not yet met. walks up to the division, this almost like concrete barrier between you and the exterior where you can see through an entryway that would lead to the hallway. And two bowls are slid up by hands. Oh, you can come around. I ain't gonna bite.

And then you see the back of a head, a female head, turn and... Ah! Oh, get out of here! And they're gone. But you have next to your shower. Why are they sending young ladies in the men's room? This is not the man's, thank you. It's impropriety is what I'm saying.

I'm in this room currently. I mean, you're Queenie though. You know, you're kind of like one of the guys. Well, I'm just gonna keep washing under my breasts. You know, it's a little fur. It's kind of like, you know, guys night. I think the Queenie could hang on a guys night. Anyway.

I've hung on many a guys now. I think that we need our ogre souls. We need to remember our ogre souls quite well so we can be convincing. Should I be soulful with the reborn? Or is that too much? Oh, do you think that's a little much? Then won't they say, oh, of course, you're great tenants. Tell us all about what we worship.

I don't remember. Or at least can I be some other king? Well, you can be a king. Perhaps you were all my counsel. Do you get to choose? Haven't you just remembered it? What? Why are you talking about choosing your,

don't just remember it? Why has you just been an ogre soul in your body? Do I shenna, I think, I would say that you've been in the, the hot water a little too long, but maybe you've been in the cold for too long. Are dragons worm-blooded? That's it? I think so.

I'm technically. Damn it, Barnabos, I'm not a scientist. I'm a sorcerer. Oh, you fucking, fucking meta-magic. How does it work? Twin? What? And even then. Do some name for me. I came up with two really great personas. I've dealt mostly with...

I mean, obviously, there's Fiona All-Star. Oh, is that my new last name? I mean, I feel that's a quite a queenly name. Yeah, I like it. Perhaps your whole theme can be celestial sorts. Hey, now, I'm an All-Star. Hi, it's your game on, go-play. Sounds great to me.

I don't think on it. What name do you choose for yourself, Barnabos? I am Troth-Tro-Th-Ak. Let me just double-check to make sure I get it right. I think it was Trothack, hold on. Trothack, yeah, Trothack, the shark puncher. Trothack, Shark Puncher. And for you, Tyshan.

Shagoth of the Black Rock. Shagov. Leader of the Dr. Dragon ogres, Black Rock, Brewer of the finest. Ours would probably be the leader of the sea ogres then. I think that makes sense. I should probably be leader of the land ogres. Swamp ogres?

Oh, star ogres, if you're, if you're all star? Are there space overs? I don't know, I'm feeling I should be the leader of the swamp ogres. Your near? What determination have you come to? Um, you don't have to obviously right now because you haven't, but. Oh, you're Golcho. Good old Golcho. No, that is horrible.

Good old Golcho. Gulcho Marx. I will be Yotnard. Mm. Yot-Nar. Yot-Nar, yes. King of the Frost ogres. Ooh, nice. I love the Frost ogers.

They're great. Okay. You guys are chatting in you are given an limited amount of time. And it isn't until you really finish your stew and feel like you are spent with the shower. Like it's to the point where you're pruning that you turn things off, towel yourselves, re-adorn your robes, and find yourselves confronted by bacon, who has been standing, standing outside the door.

It's silly. Do you quote that? You find yourself confronted by bacon. I mean, who doesn't want to be confronted by bacon a little bit? He's standing there and he has a tray out. He can't gesture to you, but he pushes it forward. And you can see that on this tray, there are a variety of small,

what looked like, perfume or cologne sprits, bottles that you can choose for yourself. Some of them are in crystal, others in small ceramic spaces. They've got little, puffer devices that allow you to spritz yourself. He's gesturing, sort of smiling, looking at you, expectantly, like, this is the last step

so that you can... Stop being dirty fox. Be appropriate. I'll take one. What are the scents? You came up with 40 names for ogres, so I'm assuming you have scents for each of these perfume. This is Mary Bill.

One moment. This is Salva. There are eight available colognes. Anyone can decide on what is available but up to four only. Oh. Do you drop starshine? Why does it smell like cotton candy?

There is a cotton candy one, for sure. What'd like that do with these? You just sprits the ball at the end and it missed you a delightful smelling scent. This one says, own lisem. I think it says

Odenism. That's pretty fucking funny. That's really fucking funny. That's really... I actually think that's fun. That's a good enough pun. You get an inspiration. It was noose the thought of it.

Oh, shit. He lost your host. Oonism. Oh. And Pax on plug knows you get a whole Calzone. Sorry. No.

You get that inspiration, which is so much. I just thought of that. It's fine. You are watching the rest. It's obvious that you push the puffer and then you get hit with some sort of a scent thing. It's something musky. There's sort of like a leathery thing going on,

perhaps a tobacco almost smell, not in an unpleasant ashy way, but in a sandalwood, like, woody way. Sea Star Sandcastle. That sounds about right. Don't even know what a C star is? Where do they get us? I guess I've plundered.

He sets the tray down. Tomorrow, first thing, the gentleman from House of Religion will be here, the governor. We'll need to be on our best behavior. And I'm guessing that they will still want to go through with the process of removing your curses for whatever reason. And who removes the curses?

The governor of the House of Religion, his name is Octavio Scrolacerro. Octavio Scrolusero. And he will, I believe, read from some paper, and it shouldn't be painful. It shouldn't be anything, really. be if you are ogre souls, you should be safe and fine. Well, good. In the meantime, I have to treat you as though you are one of the families like myself. What kind of work can you do that we can make sure is something that adds value to the house?

What kind of work would break the back of even the strongest ogres here? Hard labor? I'll put these lads to shame. Cleaning, working the farm. Butchery. There are sewers that need... I'm mighty fine at butchering. I'm good with a cleaver.

If you need to clean your kills as well. Okay. Well, I am a cook. If you have need in the kitchen, that's perhaps my best skill set. Butchery and cooking. Very good, very good. I'll keep you on butchery for now. We'll see how you do.

That's fine. Fiona. Yeah. How can you contribute to the house? Well, I know how to change a nappy. So if there are any babies about, I can do that. If you want to give me my bow and my arrows back, I can. hunt game for food.

Other than that, I can tell stories, so I guess really I would function as a glorified ogre babysitter. Well, there are the two young daughters. Yeah, I can hang out with them.

Babysitting. Very brave. I can't recall your name. I'm sorry. It is fine. If you need healing, any kind I could heal. If you need help with livestock, if you need help with crops, if you need help with anything related to the land, I can probably say there's farming, there's, of course, the very important work in the

garden. We have many, many hedges and topiaries and plants that need tending to. Which one is more critical? We have good gardeners. just before winter takes on its fullest breath here in Ogerton, I would ask that you make sure that we've done our work, Farmer. Oh, it's not. Great Newtoner brings great blessings to crops. It is a blessing of the frost. Yeah, a grab to protect it from the cold.

Yeah. And we all know that the blessing of the stars, the great fertility goddess as worshiped by the stars who lived in stars. Well, I think it's more like, you know. All stars. I'm the princess of the swamp. So I tend to swamp critters. Uh, I say true. And you?

Shagoth of the Black Rock could brew. And brew has innovated the firebelly brew. I could brew a grog so strong that forget the house. We could spread it to the entire city. And if a waitward adventurer had to collect 15 mcuffins, the ogres drinking this would be knocked out for at least 10 minutes. They'd be able to walk into every hut and go, complete all of the quest.

That's a strong grog. We're not trying to put them out, but we could use a brewer. We have a tremendously sized wine cellar, and if you would be able to maintain it, keep it up to date. That would free up two of my vassals to go do an important work. Not only am I going to keep it up to days. I'll keep it up to date. Thank you. I mean, Ogre.

Shag off. Not only is he going to keep it up to date. date. He's going to keep it up to snuff. Thank you. Yes. I may even keep it ahead of date. Thank you, Shogoth. Well, you're welcome. Oh, you Shoggoth. Yeah, there's nothing. Although Shoggoth is public domain.

We're being a little different here. Any goth is fine with me. He bows and he leads you, he leads you not to the quarters of the um the, uh,

the hostile, like quarters of the vassals. Apparently, guest rooms have been made out for you. A single guest room, surely, but with your linen robes reapplied and your cologne wafting into your own faces, your belly's full, you make your way back up to the second floor and into what are clearly accommodations for guests. And they have made out the bed for you, the four beds that you find in this space, ogre-sized, all of them.

So they would be a luxuriously sized mattresses. Even for you, you're near. You could lie out in this space, and your head, nor your feet, would touch the bed frame in a space this size. And left there by one or two other vassals checking in on you, you realized that night has come, and it's time for bad.

What do you do? Do you all sleep in the same room? Yep. Okay. And there's no one else in the room? Mm-hmm. I hop into bed. It has been quite a while since we've had from the rest.

Oh, I know I'm trying not to get too used to this, but it's getting a little hard not to. I believe we should still keep washing in case someone comes in the middle of the night. I'm a little concerned for Mr. Staviscoch. Oh, he doesn't like being left alone. He doesn't do well on his own. Oh, and as soon as they said that we'd have to do work. We don't think he'll make it a single day. We will find him.

We will find our possessions. We will get out of here. I have no doubt. Oh, you know, Scrim? He's going to say something like, well, I'm really good at watching doors. I'll sit here and watch this door. For the whole day, no one will come in or out that I haven't seen.

That's a pretty good. He would say, I'll guarantee the liquor cabinet. Yeah. That is something he would say. Professional. Where is the brandy? Hey, hey. I'm a dumpman.

I'm a lovely dumbman, hey. Yeah, or he'll say like, don't put me back in the egg. Ah. Oh, there's a big scary dog. Yeah, that was. Oh, you ought to call me pussycat. I'm afraid of a dog.

And he's not here to defend himself. Oh, you're right, it'll be fine. I can take first watch, and I will wake up. We're going to have to take watch in this place. Oh, Yorna, have you even tried the bed yet? I've stretched so hard. It's like one of those times where your muscles are almost out of your body and then your soul escapes.

It does look very pleasant. I have one suggestion before we go to bed. I have given up the bottle, but I am still a gambling man. I say we take bets on what happens to scrim. My bet is that he will be the pet of one of these high ogre ladies. I exactly think that that's going to happen. He will be dressed up for... Exactly, right.

He's going to be entered. We are going to go to the cat dress-up competition, and Mr. Staff of Scotch is going to be there. I'm looking like that, so. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And a little bow. Yeah, that is my bet. I'll bet 15 de blooms.

If that is not what happens, I will be incredibly disappointed. I'm not betting against that. I want that to happen. You can edit the poem. I'll take that bet what are de blooms? Oh, you go gold pieces. I will bet 15 gold pieces. I'll bet 15 gold pieces. Not that he ends up as a cat, though. I would spend the 15 gold pieces to see it myself. I think that Scrim bamboozles them and ends up organizing the show somehow. That would take, I believe, too much initiative and organization for Scrim to pull off. Well, he'll say that he'll organize it.

I think he's just going to try to win the prize as a weird green cat. I think he'll say that he'll organize it, but then he'll demand a team of people to help him accomplish it. He'll give them all tasks, all of which will fulfill every possible rule. You think a lot of scrum up you. Well, he's kind of an hard idea guy. No, he doesn't have good plans. He came up with all the plans. Just because he has a spell called idea, does not make him the idea guy.

Is that true? That's not true. That doesn't make him the idea. Yes, that that doesn't make him the idea. So the reason I'm betting with Barnabos on this one is I think you are partial. right. But I think he's going to use being in that competition as a way to escape. Because he's going to have to strut a stuff on a stage more than likely, he can then escape out of the back. That's my thought.

With all eyes on it? Well, I'm sure they have a backstage, Tashi. That's true. Either way, we should get some sleep. I'll take one of... What if there's a talent contest for these animals? Why doesn't matter? I'm just wondering what Scrim's talent would be. Can't you like flip a coin real good?

He's not winning this contest. Oh, you know the thing with a knife. Can you imagine? Can you imagine this green cat wheeled a knife? There were, uh, there were a crab knife fights that I used to, uh, bet on. I've seen those. Yeah, they're real, crabs are shockingly good with knives. I don't know if you've seen him wielded.

And they're, I mean, so if it's anything like that, it's going to get bloody. Oh. Well, if they took all of our stuff, they more than likely took all of scrimmed stuff, which means he won't have his coin. He's not going to have... Oh, you can't get rid of the coin. It'll get back to him. Oh, that's fair. And he can't be separated from his blade either.

Oh. He's the most armed of all of us, really. Why is he always missing when we need him? Let us get some sleep. I will take first watch. Do we really need to take first watch? I don't want to do it. I don't sleep on that long.

What's the worst thing that can happen? They've already stolen all of our stuff, kidnapped us, made us take a shower in a room that probably had some kind of camera or something in it. The worst thing that could happen is... Like an Airbnb. An Air D&D.N. Our throats could be caught in the middle of the night. Yeah, but what are we going to do about?

We could be violent. I'd still have all of my magic. I can turn into a vicious animal and probably slaughter anyone who would try. So why don't you stay up on that and watch us? Because I can't do shit. Well, I just... You need to get at least six hours of sleep mechanically. I could hop over them ferociously and make rabbit noises.

You could wake me up. You could wake us up. But then you're not getting six hours of sleep. hours asleep. Well, if her getting her throats cut, it's better than it. I'll be a little tired to get a throat this March, is what I'll say. I'll take whatever watch you suggest, Mr. Ornir. You just tell me what to do. First, second, third, fourth. Can I take first so I can get first? Thanks. Second, third, fourth. Okay. All right. All right. Goodbye. See you in the morning.

God damn, I'm cranky today. I pass out immediately. You all pass out immediately, except for you, sitting and watching, looking out at the stars. Why do they always get erections the moment they fall asleep?

It's just so weird. I don't have any more towels that I was going to do. At the moment they pull asleep, it's like, Oh, I'm going to miss late. Outrageous. Outrage. You're thinking about this and other things as,

pondering the questions that need to be answered. I need Yornear, Tyschen, and Barnabose to make an intelligence saving throw. Intelligence? You say, me? Who's making intelligence? Everyone except for you because you're awake. Intelliose. Oh, I forgot it's on my...

I need to get the internet on. Is why I bothered twisted? Wait, am I proficient? Oh, actually, I'm gonna turn this iPad off. Why can't you get the internet? I don't know. I can connect, but... All twist once.

I mean, we have, we have... Some twists. You have some twists? I... I don't... I'm not proficient. I mean, I already did it. I already did this.

I'm proficient, so I would like to... I'd like to burn two, please. Okay, so we'll burn four. I'm using one. Intelligence... That's pretty... Oh, it's... Oh, I thought that was like an 18.

Oh, so that'll be a 10. 10? A 10 for me. Well, we'll up a little. 16. 16. Eight. Eight.

I said what I said. Taishin. Yeah, your erection explodes. Taisen, you dream. Oh, nice. You are in a lot. library. You wake up to the dream space of many shelves in all directions, not just left, right, forward and backwards, but seemingly spread out in five directions all around

you. You can see tom after tome after tone stretching out into almost infinity in all directions and an ambient glow of light seems to be coming from nothingness and everywhere all at once. You look up and you can see a tiny speck because there is floor after floor after floor after floor after floor after floor after floor after floor after floor after floor after floor after floor of this giant library space that you suddenly find yourself in. Where does your mind go in this dream as Tyshein? You feel as you make this choice, the back of your neck, this strange sensation as though you were being watched. You know you're being watched in this moment. And you feel that this is the library of your mind. Taishen's mind.

You feel if you were to walk it to the first shelf, you could pull it up and there would be your knowledge of tea. You feel like you could walk over to this shelf over here. You could pull a book off the shelf and know what the flavor of a certain food could feel like. a library of memories and considerations, feelings, emotions, all the things that make Tyshen in all directions. But you can stay where you are or you can be compelled to walk down or up any of these strange shelves and look at one book in particular. All that I am, collected in vast library. I never...

What about you could tell my story and eat books? I would have thought... Collector said... Illustrate them. Wait, that... Autology, maybe. But... Someone else here?

You glance and you... For just a moment? You feel like you see a figure pass. But... Perhaps the trick of the light. Am I drawn... I'm drawn to... A specific book?

You may choose whatever book that you want to choose, or you may choose no book at all. As Tyshen, you have full agency in this moment, and you know that you are being watched. I would like to, if, unless I think that every book in here is just about me in my past history, I would like to see if anything, like look for a book that might showcase to me a journey, forward or help me, anything that would help me learn, um, expand upon myself or learn, uh, uh, learn the, the lessons of advantages. Make an investigation check and advantage.

15? 15. Feeling this inspiration, this idea, you start to walk down a specific hallway. It's like you know which hallway to go down. You know which book you're looking for and you, uh, reach up and you pull, book off the shelf and you flip through its pages. You see the information there and memory, it's the past, it's the present, how you're feeling now, and it's also what you've experienced, but this is not what you're looking for. You put it back and you continue to make your way

down. Looking down, oh, the bottom shelf, of course, of course, of course. You pull a tome out and you start to flip your pages. You flip There seems to be some notion of curiosity. This isn't a memory. This is something about who you are. This is your curiosity almost. This is a tome that is an expression of your excitement to learn about the world even. And it's in this moment that you have this terrible sensation, this draining feeling.

And you feel like the pages are falling away from. you, the words on the pages themselves are starting to disappear to be, to melt away almost. And before you can decide what is exactly happening to you, you feel tremendous pain about it. It stings, it hurts, it hurts your mind, it's almost like psychic damage, you have like a headache, you have a concussion, you're exploding, and you wake up in a scream. Everyone here, all of you, including Yornear and Barnabose, you wake up here, you wake up here, hearing Tyshen burst free from this nightmare. And I'll reach my anchor, which obviously wasn't there.

Are you okay, Tashi, honey? Are you having a nightmare over there? Oh, I don't know. I, uh, oh, my head. What happened? Oh, I clearly had a nightmare. You lower your voice, you don't need to yell. I was dreaming.

I was in a library, a vast library. I never I've never encountered something like it something I've heard in stories buried in in far-off deserts but all every book was about me and and what I've been through and potentially I came across one that was was about my journey and how I can find the answers I seek and the words started to to fall away from me like I almost had them and I almost it was there and then it wasn't and then this this pain and oh Can you remember what was in that book? Started with my own curiosity and then like like when you're in a dream and you're reading a page, but it's not

it's not really words it's something else and then it just kind of poured away like it was like when you have ADHD and you're trying to read a story and you keep reading the same paragraph over and over again, but you're not actually realizing what you're reading. Yes. What I'm asking you is, do you still have the memory? Is it still there in your mind, or is it gone? Think back. Of the, of the dream?

Of whatever you were looking for in the dream of your journey. Can you think through your journey? Are there any holes missing? Make an intelligence check of advantage. by picking up with the dungeon master's laying down. Treader! How much? 13.

13. You think back, and you remember the tomes that you did pull off the shelf, and those words feel clean and clear to you. You feel like you were able to look at them and perceive them in their entirety. Even the book that melted away, for whatever reason, it feels more like the choice of that book, was what was melting away, not that the memory was stolen of what you were attempting to achieve when you found that book?

No, I mean, it's fresh from start to finish. I'm in the library. I'm going through. I grab a book. I grab the next and I can almost see the words. I didn't get through them originally and then... But why that book? I don't know.

It felt... Clear in the moment that I wanted that one that was the right one and now I don't know. It feels like it could have been any book Like it's irrelevant. I don't know, but I see it clearly just the bad dream That's my head saw? The pain stopped as abruptly as your awakening Well, perhaps it was a bad dream. I have nightmares all the time It's not real it's new for me. It's new for me. It's not but I don't know. I guess we've been through so much. Maybe as I slept.

You're only just seeing the real world, Taisham. Valley of the setting sun and jade shell village was not how the rest of the ventress works. You just need a processor. It must be it. And with these calming words, it... Maybe a little more conversation occurs. You eventually, find yourselves back to calmness. Tyshanna takes us a little mortal time for you to get to sleep, but you do and Queenie, you continue to enjoy your first watch. I need either of you to make intelligent saving throw.

Both of you. Four. Oh, it's a seven. Oh, yeah. Higher than him. Barnabas. Yep. Yep.

You find yourself in a library. You're looking up at many shelves, all in directions five paths to go down, and in infinity in all directions, tome after tome after tome, after tome, and it feels like you. it feels not just like you, but like there is another. You feel as though you are being observed in this space, and that it is waiting for you to make a choice to find whatever it is that you want to look for. Where does your mind go, Barnabos,

as you consider what Taichens-Ton-Ton-Wing. told you after his awakening and as you consider all the things that make Barnabos, Barnabos. I think if this, I think that Barnabon, that I wouldn't care necessarily about feeling watched. As I look around, I'm going to look now. I'm into that, at least, Bob. I would, when it comes to memories and dreams, I would want to go to the deep, deepest, darkest, heavily guarded and locked away parts of my memory that would have been suppressed, perhaps, except when I dream. And that's where I would head.

And you make an active choice to go to the dark place. You walk up to one of, you know exactly what these five paths to choose. You turn and you walk and you walk and you walk and you walk you know it's a far distance down this particular hall past many tombs tombs that if you open them might make you smile or be a memory of a recipe the taste of ancient estuary and then you turn and you stare at one particular section uh pulling one of the tombs it slides out of view and pulls away and you see that there's a dark deep staircase into the basement of this library. Perhaps like a sunken ship or something, I would just go down those stairs.

The walls are sweating with seawater. And you make your way down, click, click, click. You can hear your own feet. And it's in this space that you see the tallest and oldest tomes rotting. Many of them covered in barnacles soaked as though they had been plunged into the sea, not once, not twice, but as though they've spent their entire,

that they were written, that they were printed there. And you can pull whichever one off of the shelf that you want to pull off. I would look for a tome that would perhaps just have a symbol of a wooden carving of a sperm whale with sorts of tribal designs in them, which would have is a position that has been taken from me. And it seems to be like a wooden flask of some kind or a wooden vessel of some kind. And it would be on a tome that would have that symbol on it. Opening the pages, you flip that open, seeing the symbols there, seeing such recognizable features. And it's like the tome is upside down.

You turn it and flip it and you pull it the other direction. And it's not front to back. It's back to front. It's upside down. The words themselves seem to be right to left instead of up and down. You are confused. You look and you feel this piercing source. sensation just behind your neck.

You scream out, and all of a sudden you wake, and the three of you are... Hell! Another nightmare. Ornabost, are you okay? Tatashi psych you out. What did you dream? Lower your voice, Your Near, it's just a nightmare.

I dreamed that I was in... The sunken libraries of the great sea kings of old... You dreamed of a library too. I sunk in and lost, but not to me. I went into the dark place, the abyss, to look for something. I can't recall now what it was, and I felt pain back of my neck. A stinging sea creature. Like that invisible.

monstrosity that was stowed away on the moor abound. It's the same thing happened to me. I mean, that makes sense. You told him about your dream and he was thinking about it as he was falling asleep. Like that happens all the time. May I inspect you both?

Of course. Of course, Mr. Yorner, you don't have to ask that. You're a medicine man. First, I'm to go to Barnabos. And check the back of his neck. Sure. You don't have to roll. It's evidently clear that he is quite clean back there, cleaner than you've ever seen, uninjured. I want to sort of like grab his head and kind of look at his eyes.

I pull up my green hair. You pull up the green hair. You look even in the sides of the back of the gills. The gills and the beard. You examine. Aside from the fact that there is the band of the pendant around his neck, there's no unusual mark even no nothing that you could say. Do his eyes look normal? Everything looks healthy and fine? Yeah. If I thought that you could fail at this, you would make a medicine check. I'll inspect Tishan to do the same and presumably you feel the same result. You seem fine. On the outside, at least. I wish I had my flask.

We'll consult the ruins, but I do not have them on me. It's not strange. We've had shared dreams or experiences at night before. With first the lights and the passage of time, it's not something that hasn't happened to us. It's just suspicious that this civilization is obsessed with knowledge and with our memories and our experiences. and then all of a sudden we are dreaming the same thing about our memories and experiences. Perhaps it is coincidence or influenced, but they're presumably very magical, at least their artifacts are. It's concerning. That's two of us now. Do we think, go ahead. Do we think if, see if we go to sleep if you have the same dream?

Do we try to stay awake? Perhaps Queenie, why don't I, Take my watch now. Yeah, sure, if you won't. I'm tired. Took it out. Three of you get some sleep. All right. I'll take fourth watch.

Four is more lucky than three. And I can... I'm used to getting up to cook breakfast, but I guess will be served breakfast. Good night. Good night. Right, good night.

Good night. I wish I had my flask. Once I feel like they've all fallen asleep My right eye will blow blue And I will try to peer into the weird And detect magic When I get a sense of like, okay, they're asleep I just want to see if there's anything fucking going on magically

While they're asleep You look around Inside from that same Background magic of your allies The night is dead You go to sleep? and you both also go to sleep and all three of you make an

intelligent saving throw both of you automatically succeed it's just you I feel Queenie you're dreaming one of your typical usual dreams when suddenly you are snapped into a library and you come back here you little farming

become immediately aware of your lucid aware of your surroundings aware of the conversation that you has had. How much time have you spent in the dream space doesn't seem to matter, but you recognize the shelves described by Tyshen and Barnabos. You recognize, oh yes, you feel that same feeling, as though you could turn your head this way and whatever is watching you would be here. And if you turned yourself this way, it would move just behind your sight.

And you see the shelves and the tomes, all in all directions. And you have a choice. Where does Queenie's mind go in this space? Well, I could just sit down and say, I'm not playing your game, you weird little voyeurist. Or I could play your game and prove that, oh, right? So stupid. Now am I? And I want to go find a... I want to try and find the memory of what I like.

learn how to tie my shoes. It's a few floors up. You find the spiral staircase. You make your way up. And sure enough. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Childhood memories, childhood memories. Holding a spoon like this and not like this.

You find the tome and you pull it open and you recognize what's on the page. For just a brief moment, you see Bunny. years and and you can see the the cord being pulled and there's a moment where you actually feel like I'm looking at this information I can perceive that idea on this page when you are struck by a terrible pain and you wake up screaming oh hi good morning do you notice anything mr. yorne here Oh, thanks. Queenie, how are you doing? That sounded painful, Queenie. Did you have a nightmare? Are you okay? Honey? Was that scary? No. Your hair. Did you see anything?

You dreamed of a library. You picked a book off a shelf. Mm-hmm. You read it. You felt a horrible pain in the back of your neck. And how are you feeling, Queenie? Was it scary? Do you want to talk about it? I will not sleep tonight. The rest of you can continue to sleep. Well, I want to try something, all right. All right. And I want to attempt to tie my shoes.

I'm going to go grab my shoes, slide them on, and attempt to lace them up. The funny thing is there are no shoe laces in the ventrasst. Yes. Sure of great canon with that. You, you write, yeah, the universe is ruined. We had a good run for five years. But now we have to start something else.

We're quitting. Yep, it's over. Yeah, I'll do that hot-down stream. Shit. I'd do it. Fine. I'd do it. You reach over to the shoes and sure enough there are laces there and you are able to complete the knot.

Okay. So, do you want to hear what I have to say or don't you? Mr. I refuse to dream. We're listening. Thanks. Oh, did you? So I had a dream. But thanks to our good friends experiencing,

the woes of this library before I had. I went in with a little more information. And so I got in, and I knew immediately I could find what I wanted. I wanted to know if this place was going to destroy my memories. So I thought, what memory could I lose, but also regain at a future date? Well, learning how to tie my shoes. It took my mom, like almost a month and a half to teach me how to tie my shoes, because she kept talking about bunny ears, and I kept laughing.

So anyway, I went to this book, I found it. The same thing happened, but lo and behold, Queenie Mart still knows how to tie her shoes. So these dreams mean nothing? Nothing's happening? What are losing memories? We're just... I don't know if that's the case. I'm going to have to experiment a little bit more. I mean, maybe the first time you read about a memory, it doesn't fade from you completely. Maybe it's going to take a couple more goes. I'm not quite sure. I don't know what memory it was after.

I didn't feel like it was after anything. I felt like I had control that I got to choose what memory I wanted. Perhaps that was your way of giving them access to your dreams and memories. I do not know. Yeah, not sure, but I still know how to tie my shoes. I have a confession to make. Oh, God. I never learned how to tie my shoes.

Does shoes fit you? I'm a master with a rope. You don't even wear shoes. That's why I don't wear shoes. What on earth would you wear shoes for underwater? Not even slight. I didn't grow up. But once I came on leather, I didn't grow up on leather.

Oh, yeah, I know. But once I came to the surface, everyone's saying, oh, you should wear boots. And I'm like, they're uncomfortable. They would be. And you still go back in the water all the time. There is nothing worse than a water log. shoe. I can tie dozens of sailors' knots. And every time I tried to put on a boot, I would just fumble. Do you want to learn how to tie your shoes? I would. You know what, one of these days I'll

It's the last note. I've yet to learn. I'll teach you how to do it. I'll teach you the tale of the money ears. The elusive shoe. I like that, Miss March. I got you. I got you, Barnabot. I'd like that, Miss March. I will make sure one of these days, you don't have to wear boots, but if you wanted to, nothing's gonna stop you. I think it's because the cord, the threads are so, I got big sausagey fingers. We should get you larger threads. And maybe, you know, I can tie ships ropes and cords. I don't know who told you that shoelaces had to be one size.

They are not one size fits all. If you need thicker cords, we'll get you thicker cords. Alright, maybe that's the track. Did you both feel as though you had the option to not pick a book? Well, I considered just sitting on the floor, but then I had this idea. idea why I could find out if I'm going to lose my memory, so I chose that. But Yorne-er, if he wants to go to sleep, could just see if he could not pick a book and see what happens.

Well, maybe if we- Unless you're scared, of course. Did you feel watched as well? Oh yeah, for sure. Maybe if we feel as though it's searching for something, whatever it is, if there is anything at all, maybe we can fall asleep without issue if we just decide to not- Explore our memories. I could mutate my hands into spindly fingers of some kind.

It might be easier to tie them then. What? Like crab legs. Not crab claws, but I can... No, like the legs. Those usually spread out of my back. Oh. They make crab legs shoot out from my back and...

I'm picturing them like face-hugging the mattress. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. That will never stop it. That will never stop being horrific. Here or near, what do you do? I mean, I could try it, but I'm worried that I might be compelled in my dreams to do, to choose a book. All right, so why don't you pick a memory that would not be terrible if someone were to experience it with you?

I'm wondering if this is just the gateway. As soon as we choose one book, they're into everything. They have access to our entire minds. Well, it's possible. I... But it's not like you can't... Like you can keep yourself from sleeping forever. That is fair.

If anyone has a steel mind, Mr. Yorner, of all of us, it's you. Perhaps the weird or the triad or whatever. The land itself will shield your library as it did in ours. The sunken hulls of the great sea. Kings. You're right, we have no idea how long we'll be here. And trying to do this without any sleep will be a challenge. I will try your idea, Queenie.

Just have a memory. Stay awake when I inevitably wake up and a scream shortly. Oh, you, okay, sure. I'll take another watch. I'm not tired. Well, I mean you could all, you're all going to be woken up by my screen anyway, so. Yeah, but it took like at least a good hour before y'all woke. up it's fine I don't want to sleep tonight anyway I don't get some sleep and then I'll wake

you up with a horrible scream sure I've got last watch yeah why don't you stay up good night good night good night before we go to sleep who thinks that he's gonna scream really softly and it's just gonna be like a it's gonna be oh no yeah that sounds accurate good night and I'll do my best knowing what will inevitably happen trying to go to sleep. That takes some time, actually. Yeah.

It's not an easy thing to just be like, okay. It's like going to sleep on Christmas Eve. Oh, yeah. It's impossible. But instead of presents, it's nightmares. And eventually, you find yourself in a dream space. And you recognize this library as the library of your own mind. you look at the shelves and you realize that you could walk through these halls and pull any

tom off of any of these shelves and know what was inside its contents. This is not an experience you've ever had before in all your long life, but it just makes sense because that is the nature of dreams. You have a context and you feel like you're being watched. There's a very strange sensation of, something just around the corner, just down the hallway. Maybe on the next floor? No.

You know you're being observed, but you have a choice. What happens next is up to you. Who goes there? I know you're watching me. I will not make a choice. And I'll sort of like look around. Hear no response. I will sit exactly where I am.

I'll sit down. I'll cross my legs and I will just close my eyes and meditate and attempt to not choose. And just try to sit there and meditate until I wake up. You sit at the center of this five-spoked library. You don't look at the books. You ignore the rest of your mind. You focus on the lucidity of the experienced. in the present. Sometimes your mind darts to your feelings about the land, about your companions,

your allies. You still feel this pressure, this feeling of being watched. It's not quiet, not totally, but you maintain this concentration. And no pain comes. Who's next on watch? Your Honor doesn't wake up screaming What is it, Tyshan? Who was third? I was fourth. So Tyshen's awake. Yeah, so I took it. One, two, three, four.

So we swapped. So technically, Tyshen, when you go to sleep, Tyshen would be awake, and then he'd eventually wake me up. So... Your Honor does not wake up screaming, whoever wakes him up next for the purposes of the watch is all... That would be May. That would be May.

My watch has already passed, though, right? Yeah. So it would be May. Basically, I will wake everyone up. You shuffle him and Queenie and Tyshen up, and you waken. More than having been successful in your attempt to do nothing. Well, you really do scream very softly. Oh, I didn't scream.

Yeah, you didn't even wake us up. I had the dream. You dropped to the library. Did I... Was it like one of those dreams where you feel like you were awake all night long? Yeah. I felt like I was sitting there all the night long for eight hours or whatever. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

I fucking hate those. Those are a fucking nightmare. And it's especially bad when, like, your brain, like, puts a drill to the speedometer of your mind and is like, you're going to spend a century in this dream. That wasn't how it felt. It felt real time. So, if you were just asleep for six hours, then six hours is what you felt past while you were. And you've meditated for six hours. Oh, yeah.

You just sat and quietly contemplated yourself and ignored whatever. minuscule sounds and minuscule sensations happened around you. You let your mind go where you wanted it to go, but you did not pick up the tone. So did I physically, do I feel like I've slept, gotten a long rest? Yeah, yeah, yeah. And anyone else who hasn't been on watch, these dreams would start and stop almost instantaneously. You had very little time in that dream space. I would say that you feel even with these watches and this experience,

that in the morning, you'll experience a long rest. Your idea. I meditated all night long and I never felt the pain. I felt watched, but I just ignored it that I meditated on my goal and my fate. It never came. Well, that's good to hear. Yeah, at least for me, I felt like I had a choice, so I'm glad you did too. So I believe if everyone If anyone experiences the dream again Do you be saying Let it end my deepest and darkest secrets

No, no Don't do that Do the opposite of that All right Meditate on everyone Okay So what are you going to do If you have a dream again

I'm going to read those books About my childhood traumas That I've stuffed really deep down inside of me No no no that's not what you should do I know I'm fucking with you All right. Let us do our duties. You still have a little more time before morning, and you spend it either sleeping or talking.

You feel rested, and you do enjoy the benefits of a long rest. You find yourself in seeing the sun come up and the window brightens, and the four of you are... Very Gary. It's, you know, 6.6.30 in the morning. and you can smell food arrive at the door and a nameless vassal walks in. Very briefly

you think that this is the same woman that you recognize. A blush very deep way. It's like a coral pink. That's pretty fucking good. That's pretty fucking good. She walks in and she offers you what are clearly four plates of sausage biscuits.

with great thick buttery gravy ready to fucking go. Oh my sausage gravy? Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. Smelling delicious. I'm sorry, do you have any home prize? Silver diner. Thank.

She offers you a milkshake with one of those big fucking straws. She reaches down, and you can all see, without perception check required, that this woman, is extremely pregnant. She is ready to burst. And she sets down the table

and then she starts to wattle out for whatever else you have requested in this moment. Thank you very much. This smells unbelievably delicious. It's my pleasure. It's nice to meet you. Would you like to take some for yourself and your little one now since you're eating for two?

I've already eaten. I'm fine. You sure? Oh yes, I've had the same as as you. This is what we're all even. So you're not shocked that we know how to talk to you. No, no.

Bacon told us the whole of the whole deal that you, you are split between worlds. We don't know what to make of you, but ogres of the dire mall. The dire mall heroes. Highmall heroes. Oh, goers of the

high mall. Oh, yeah, I forgot about that. There's a lot of malls. It has to have the H. Oh, you're right. My name is, and it takes to a while for her. Like, she basically has to, like, spell out the vowels charade style before you arrive at.

For Aldina. That was a long one, but it was worth it. I don't think we could get that. That's pretty good. She's exhausted and frustrated, like, rhymes with fog. Well, we're going to eat our biscuits now. Goodbye. Goodbye for Olina.

She makes her way out, and you are left in the room for just a moment before, Bacon shows back up. We are going to be receiving the governor of religion, Octavio Scurlissero, soon. We're going to need to make our way to the front of the house, and then we will perform the ritual in the courtyard. I am so surprised it did not take as long for you to tell us. His name was Octorios Licero.

Octavio, Scro, Lcero. Yeah, all right. Octavio Scurlicero. How did you just spell that? You're getting very good at reading handcode. And in fact, I will add, if you want to add to your language on D&D Beyond. Oh, yeah. Ogherton.

No, this is not ASL. We hear way or way off. Ogerton handcode. You may do that. I am going to do that. I am not right. Right. Understand, but not speak.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Absolutely. Absolutely. And yes, for your, the viewers of. home, this is not American Sign language. I am not trying to do that. This is what they have created as their own language for the purposes of understanding each other as vassals within this strange community. As I was meditating during my dream, I was implanted my dear, my brain by the dogs, the triad. We've not tried to remove this. Is she gone? You're by yourself. You're

enjoying sausage biscuit gravy. these delicious magnoses. I'd like to maybe inspect one of yours and try to remove it and see if there's a scar underneath. Yeah sure go ahead play with my neck. You reach down and you it is impossible to get a finger

underneath this band. It is physically firm. It seems to even like tense when you attempt to try whatever you try. Whatever I try. It never comes to an uncomfortable place for you. It is not choking. The sensation of having something around your neck only

affected you when you first woke up in the room for but a moment, but now it just feels like part of you. And you are not able to pull the pendant aside or move it in any direction. It is a fixed, as if it were, like, can I see what's underneath your nose? Can I see what's underneath your ears? Oh, uh, uh, uh. This is a fixed. I can't move it. And I'll test it on mine and presumably they're all the same. Oh, that's not ominous.

And you pull it your own, and it would be like trying to remove your own finger. I heard that pop. Oh, this is surprisingly unpopular. I'm usually so poppy. This is weird. When I wake up in the morning, I sound like a forest, a tree falling over in the forest. It's the end of the night. I don't know what to tell you. Bob, you know. Um, well, we need to be ready for a potential

encounter with this governor. Religious type. Do we have our, uh, perhaps reincarnated demigods from a different pet, you know, a different era of ogres? Yot-nar of the Frost trolls. Frost trolls. Frost ogres. We have a shag-off of the Black Rock. Of the Black Rock. And then I'm Trothak of the Shark Punchers. And then we have Fiona of the All-Stars. Yotnard of the, you need something. Frost ogers? Sort of the... The frost guard.

The frost guard. Yeah, frost guard's really nice. Frost guard. Yeah. All right. And to briefly answer, chat, no, Queenie was not able to get hers off at any point. None of them have yet, nor have they removed them or attempted to do so before now.

What were you going to say? Oh, I think they were asking, wait, Daisy got hers off, though, right? Because Daisy wasn't wearing one when we saw her. That's correct. That's correct. My apologies. Myelan did something. Daisy did not have one when you counted.

Neither did honey. That's right. Mylan did something. Yeah. A hundred percent. I just want to say, I don't appreciate that you all sound really badass and I sound like I am the mom coach of a child soccer team. Oh, you pick something else. I mean, I'm the shark puncher.

It's kind of, I'm the one that started it. I didn't know we were going to be like cool badasses. I thought a princess was neat. Fiona of the All-Stars is quite cool. You're All-Stars. Maybe it's a famous, you're a famous, uh, bards, perhaps. Or like you're a celestial If you want something a bit

About harder Perhaps Fiona the smash mouth Actually I really like that one I think that's the way to go That sounds way cooler That sounds more swamp troll Of the smash mouth

You smash the mouth Of the smash mess Yeah And I'm sure So yeah I'm yeah Roger that Thank you

That is way better Or no, perhaps just Fiona smash mouth. Yeah. That sounds because you're, yes. A huge. Princess Fiona smash mouth. Figure appears at the door, and you recognize this to be Mannyus himself, Bluglinius, standing in front of you. And he, uh, yes, good morning, good morning, good morning.

How was, uh, my four new vessels? I was your sleep. How was everything? How was the food? How are you doing? We slept quite well. We've been slowly regaining the memories from our past lives, and although our grasp on our, our true tongue has not returned quite as much as Yotanar here. But Yotanar of the Frost Guard, but I believe that it will return.

I've gotten glimpses of my past life. Interesting. And my great voyages. Well, I have my tablet here, and I have the four of you. I understand that we are to expect the House, the governor of religion, to be here in just another 20 minutes. So we are to make our way to the front of the house and receive him. Let those go. Governor Scoliosis?

No, Scrolyceroliasis. Oh, Pheriasis. No, Scrolycero. Scrolycero. Scrolycero. So like a scroll and Cicero. Perhaps suffering from the madness. It's here in the vault now.

The treasure chest. Okay. Right here. He takes his leave and it's understood that you follow. You make your way. And you walk through the hall to the staircase. You make your way to the first floor. You continue all the way down.

And then eventually out the front. And this is the first time you've actually been. out the front of the manor and you realize it faces Ogerton. Standing here, you are standing at the top of a long, stretching series of hills and farmland. You can see a path that leaves straight down and at the very, very distance, perhaps a two or three hour walk from here. You can see a multitude of structures.

a huge variety of different large structures, column structures, what appears to be a Coliseum or a hippodrome on one sign. You can see behind this tableau, the mountains spray up in sanity. Verticality that you've not yet seen in Dracar.

Like the cliffs of Dover. Like the Cliffs of Dover. I love guitar hero. I love guitar hero. Everybody give it up for guitar hero. My favorite video game is Slash from Guns and Roses. Brief aside, I used to be pretty fucking good at Guitar Hero. So what I'm going to say.

You can see waterfalls. Do we drop ass in at some point? There's streets behind us. I know the cliffs of Dover. You can see that behind where the city proper is, you are far away and that there are other smaller villas on the left and the right, perhaps other wealthier houses in this community of ogres. And you can see a great waterfall just over that seems to stretch down behind the city itself, A huge waterfall. And it's confronted with this vision that you can also see a carriage.

A carriage being drawn by a single beast. A polar bear. A white furred bear happily trudging along up the sandy, graveled path that leads to the circular opening of this manner. And waiting just five, ten minutes longer, it could be able to be. it comes to a stop right in front of you and out swings another huge ogre wearing a very minimal, not decorated, but sort of a medium gray toga, for lack of a better term. And he walks out and he's got a white hat, very tall on his head. He pulls it off, puts it underneath his arm.

Hello, it's good to see you. Pleasure to meet you. Manius, good to be here. I understand that you're supposed to have four new vessels that I'm to decurce. I'm sorry, I'm very tired. I've been already out at the House of Commerce. decursing the other two that you brought so surprisingly to our community. Yes, yes, yes, yes, of course, of course, of course.

It's a pleasure to see you, and they walk up to each other and immediately start to sort of bow. They start to go back and forth. In these moments while they were privately, not privately, but publicly, experiencing this welcome. Do you whisper anything to each other? Do you have a moment to communicate? It is the high septum of Gobyn Tupia. Ilya

Leokos I'm sorry I don't say that Well, it looks like we lost scrim May rest of peace Stick to your Stick to our stories Yes

Improvise Is he drunk? Not attempt to speak giant No I don't know it If things turn Although Four Ghost did say that his ancestor lay with a storm giant woman, so our line is as big as we are. I never learned how to speak it.

Let me introduce you to the four individuals that you'll be decursing, so to speak. This is Bonobos, I believe. No, I have received my memories of my past life. before I was reincarnated into this form, I am a reincarnated sea ogre, Trothack, the shark puncher. And this one, this is a Queenie, I believe. No, you're wrong. I also have received my memories from Ogre Heaven. I am Fiona of the Smashmouth, and I am a princess of the Swampokers. Saying these words in this order,

you see, you see, I told you, they may very well be not reincarnated vessels, but actual ogre souls. Can you believe it? And you? In giant, purely in giant, I'll say, while the memories of my

mother tongue have come back to me, I am Yotnard of the Frost God. High king of all the frost ogres. It's quite convincing, isn't he? Yes, yes, that's what I'm saying. They seem to be... They know the language.

They know the old speak. They know the language of Sopholith. Yes, and you are... I am Shagoff of the Black... Is that a man? Shagov of the Black Rock. Ogres. And you...

I bow. Are welcome. Let's get this over with, I suppose. Let me go away. Please, that's anything we can do for you? Some wine, perhaps? Some refreshment of any kind. They immediately turn and they start to make your way in,

and you can see the other vassals. They're all like... None for me, thanks. No, they seem to be indicating to follow. Let those go. And you guys walk in and behind you, the rest of the house. All of them are...

are here except for what appears to be the majority of the Blighinius family. And you make your way into the courtyard. The four of you are lined up just in front of the fountain, and there you stand. In this moment, you have a choice. Receive this decursification, whatever that might look like, whatever Scrolycero is going to do. or do not that. And he starts to walk forward. Well, my answer, this hasn't been done

and perhaps 200 years. Yes, yes, yes, yes. What hasn't been done? Oh, no, we haven't found anyone like yourselves. You've already done it on the two companions you found us with. Yes, yes. They perhaps have not received their memories.

I do not think any sort of curse remains on the souls of reincarnated ogre heroes. The young lady was fine, and the other one was very strange, very strange. I do not know which of the ogre souls, perhaps a pantheon of great heroes of eons past. I do not know who they were. But I know. I am Trofak, the shark puncher. I united my people with the Swahag and the marrow. I rode the Great Mall of Sekola.

I wielded the power of sharks on my fists. This elderly ogre. And with that, I am going to attempt to use my mutation powers. And I will allow you to shut this down, but instead of claws, I would hope to have shark heads for hands. That might be pushing it. Or something that would resemble shark heads. No, I'm going to go with it. Enjoy.

So I will have like a sawfish head with like a really razor sharp nose and sharp morn than a hammerhead. You're level six now. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Let's go. And they'll both be like gnashing. Whoa. I told you this place. And then seawater will splash around me and barnacles and all sorts of sea creatures will grow,

almost appear magically. You're lost. This elderly ogre backs up and, you see what I mean? You see what I mean? And Manius is scribbling a description of everything that you've said and everything that he's seeing, just watching you in chaos. Um, you see what I mean? You see what I mean? He's, uh, they've got abilities, uh, strange abilities.

This is not the madness. This is, this is something far different. Well, we'll see. Sword punch. Magic. We'll see. Uh, we were still yet to learn. If anything has affected the small green one, uh, he was had to put to sleep and before his crucification. Oh, uh, put to sleep, you say. Well, we'll see what happens. I agree. You were perhaps, you made him a grave mistake.

Perhaps if he was with us, he was another reincarnated hero. Reborn, perhaps, in the great silver flash, like the falling silver stars of the great ogre heroes of old, the greatest warriors of ogre kind fallen from ogre heaven. I got all of that. Do you think that it is best that we put them to sleep now as well? No, no, if they're willing, they may enjoy the... spell either way. And Shag off of the Black Rock.

All I know comes from the dragon ogres of the great volcanic ranges of his people, the father of the dragon ogres, and he can even breathe flame. Manius is captured by your information, and he's writing down every word. I thought, as he says it, I plant two feet in the ground.

pat my thighs look up in the air and just blast dragon fire above me. Oh. You use your dragon breath to create a flag? I use my dragon breath to blast dragon's fire. Yeah. And I shout out. I have a fire in my belly. Uh, hence the fire belly.

Good God. Oh, it's awful. Let's be praised. Uh, they, they were not this upity, uh, yesterday. They, they, they seem to be, uh, even, even more, uh, strange and magical, I assure you. Well, this will either all be over in a moment, or they are true sons of ogres. I will have to try my magic's passed down for generations from Suffler himself.

Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. And in your show, we shouldn't put them to sleep as well? It's fine. Who would like to go first? And he looks blearily at the four of you. I'll do it. This is Princess Fiona smash mouth. Queenie, Fiona, Queen Fiona.

Yeah, we've already determined that I will one day be queen. Yes, she's first choice. I'm bravest of all swamp ogres. Watch as I hop ferociously towards you because Rangers suck. Step forward, young curry lady. And he pulls out from his toga a parchment. He unravels it very slowly with his... Janine's mouth.

His withered hands. Oh, I'm fine, I'm fine. He looks down at you. This is a short ogre only because he's so decrepit. And he opens up a scroll and he starts to read. And it's in giant. You don't understand the words. but you understand it to mean

madness out! And he pulls the script apart and it bursts into our taint magic, flittering in all directions, and you experience the effects of removed curse. This is Princess Queenie of... Princess Fiona, actually. Princess Fiona of the swamp ogres.

She was betrothed. to Glorbo first of his name from Goblinopia to unite the swamp kingdoms. That is actually not true. You see, you see. No, we are a matriarchal society. Look at her appearance. She's not transformed into a human.

She's been... She looks as she was. Oh, yeah. It's just like the green one. This is the form that Ogre Heaven chose for me to take upon my reincarnation so that we could ferry you

with the Helm our captain back to over heaven. Now that you have fully discovered all there is snow about the mortal world. Who's next? O'I, Roy, I will be next. Captain Admiral, perhaps. Trothack Sharp Puncher. He pulls out another scroll. He looks at you and he holds out one hand and perceives what is on the scroll and speaks in giant.

Madness out! And it explodes in energy, and you experience remove curse, and you do experience a removal of a curse. Oh, so suddenly I'm feeling a bit sluggish. Right, are you all right? I just feel like I had a big bowl of ogre stew earlier. You see, you've done something.

You look at him. He's pale, he's nearly passing out. Are you well? It's probably stuff full of sausage gravy. Oh, yeah, sausage. Oh, I guess my eyes were bigger than my stomach. And just this all hitting me, you're like, no, you know, like biscuits and gravy just sit in your gut? Oh, what is it, dance when it hits?

Yeah, I think it's just more of a delayed. That's not made of part about biscuits and gravy. You feel great. Every time you burp, it's like you're having seconds. You feel like the appetite that you once knew is your own again. You feel like the thing that has been pushing you or driving your appetite on your back is lifted. For so long since you've encountered that insane creature on the waters that literally killed you. I feel like curses Wendagon.

It's Wendigone. It's Wendigone. Well, like I will say, we are not cursed. This is the form. This form is suited to do more great things at sea, to captain the silver ship and guide us all back to Ugar Heaven. You see this? And punch with sharks, of course.

Punching with sharks, look at his hands. I'll do it again. And, uh, Yusah, are you ready to be, cause? Oh, scroen, scroen listero. I'll go second. Go through your motions. Just know that we won't hold this against you. When we sail aboard the dominant mind together.

It's hope not. I don't have a religion. Twinkle in your eye and firebelly brew in your stomach. Madness off! You experienced a remove curse. You feel nothing. change. Fucking boat.

And you stand there. Yeah, he can still speak. He can still, look, look, he's unchanged. His scaled body. It's unreal. This is, this is not the madness. Let's make sure for real. Let's make sure, let's make sure. You there.

Up forward. Yes. Hold on a final scroll. Madness out! And you feel the magical energy wave over you, but there is no removal of curse in this moment. You have not been curse. I'm still the opener of the Frost God

when I will open my mouth at roar. It sounds exactly like a polar bear territorial roar that might scare another polar bear if one was near in the vicinity back off a little bit and maybe add some legitimacy to the war and I was like, completely with Drew and Graham. You would hear

vassals dealing with that situation if they could scream. And so this is it the polar bear heard me? Yeah, yeah, yeah. It would not be that far. Like absolutely a second roaring polar bear.

And perhaps in the stable that the actual house of Yeah, yeah. There's a bunch of polar bears. It's like fireworked on Fourth of July. It's like when you put

in the dogs. Oh, well, that's what all the polar mirrors. Oh, yeah. You do that knowingly. And while that chaos happens, you see, you see, look at them.

There's something more going on here. This is a mystery, a mystery to be discovered, to be, to be uncovered. Are you with me? Do you, do you see that the Azar?

not just our vassals, but perhaps our kin. Well, they've been due, curse, that's for sure. I'm not sure one way or the other. Looking at them, I'm not sure anything that they've said is parallel or in line with our religion. It'll need to be tested. I'll need to be thoroughly tested. but I'm going back to my villa

to rest. Are you well? Scroo. He's a, he's a surprise. He always has been, and you can tell that he's like fucking on the edge of death. Do I feel like it's a kind of disease

but I have people like help with? Or do I feel like it is a... He just, he just seems like an old man. Like, is this an ancient guy? And he looks at you, like, I've spent more magical energy than I've spent in the last decade. We'll get back to my carriage, which I'm sure is in exactly the same place that it was before. I'm sure you want to walk very far away as an old ogre man.

He turns in the two vessels that have accompanied him, like, actually, like, take his arms and start to, like, waddle him back out in a way. He seems to have been very clearly explicitly here just to take care of business, get a brief assessment of you, and is now on his way towards the exit. And we would like to be reunited with the remaining heroes of High Mall, the greatest of all the Ogre heroes. High Mall? Yes. High Mall! Of course, of course.

I lost Ogre Cartman, of course. Mannya stays with you and he's looking at the four of you in excitement and confusion. He seems taken by your story. He seems taken by the idea that he may have made such a wonderful and great discovery, that this is some fantastical new chapter in the history of Ogerton, of his people, of the world. Literally the cosmos, everything that there is could pivot on the decisions that he makes right now. Knowing that this isn't madness for the test of the house of religion has come true that he has been able to perform great powerful curse Removing magics upon you and you are still able to breathe fire or transform or to speak giant to speak in the first place

I've had a brilliant idea we will take you to the five houses We will prove your worth as Sogurs, prove that you are capable in the ways of art, of military, religion, education, that's, of course, my house, and in commerce. We will prove these things, and I think we will take those pendants off your necks. We won't have to eat you. And we will be able to move on to grant you land and marriage. you'll be able to stay here as

Lord, Lord and lady It will be a magical day Perhaps we are close truly close to finding all the knowledge of the world I am excited for the coming days

For the coming weeks, for the coming months Perhaps years we will spend together as a family and beyond Perhaps at least till the end of winter Yes Seems like no time at all. Well, we are the reincarnation of great ogre heroes. We go where the great ogre spirits take us.

We sail on those ogre ethicides. As do I. Good show. We will look forward to being reunited with our remaining companion. Who has not been tainted. by humanity, unfortunately. And it would be great if we could have our ancient relics that we arrived with as well.

Yeah, the relics that were gifted to us upon leaving the gates of Ogar Heaven, our heavenly relics. They're very important to us. I have many letters to write, not just to the houses, but on that point exactly. I agree. If you are uncorrupted, perhaps so also are your things. We will work on that together.

The very least, my shell and my flash, please. And that's where we'll end tonight's session. Oh, we got to give it up. Great job, Darren. Good job. Holy shit. I do not trust them. Oh, man.

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