Legends of Avantris - Once Upon a Witchlight | Ep. 53 | Spill the Tea

Episode Date: November 18, 2024

The crew finds the mushroom peddlers and take a "trip", seeking the Oracle...   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/iAD6CntJ8lA?si=QgpjWYwfwOGNZc7_

Hello everyone, welcome to Legends of Avantress. I'm Grico Grimgrin and you're listening to Once Upon a Witchlight. Here's what happened last time. I can see him inside of you and you'll look to him and he'll look to me. He doesn't like that I can see him. What's he looking at? Mushroom peddlers are just outside, you're saying? Yes.

They might be able to help Torbeck? They can help all of you. How far is it? Wow. We have to go! They are the ones that you seek. They are the ones with the properties, though they're not like the witchlight mushrooms.

They're powerful in a similar way. The animals have gotten out recently when some rogue edder caps let the gate loose. So they're supposed to be animals here, but there aren't any animals here? So how are we going to fucking find these animals, fellas? It's a great question. If you stand a little closer, you can see over here. Oh.

The body... Can you put me in... The body of some kind of animal, probably opaque, has been jumanjied into the forest in that direction. I've made contact with the mushroom peddlers. All we need to do is step inside, and we'll be to them in a flash. Did you get the animals? We got an animal! A mushroom person.

The cap on their head looks almost like a beret, but is shaped, but is a mushroom cap. Oh my god, there are people here. Sybin, you are not gonna believe it. And she slowly unbuttoned her coat and you see that standing on, she's standing on the shoulders of almost an identical looking mushroom person. This is great. They're exactly what I expected. This is gonna be a world. wild ride.

You made your way into Granny Nightshades Garden. It was a place unlike anything that you had ever seen before. For the first time, really getting a glimpse of what the wilds of the Fay Wilde would really be like outside of these domains that these hags have claimed for themselves and shaped into areas that suit them the most. But this garden that you had found yourselves in, this was untamable. It was truly wild. And it is here that you, with the help of a shambling compost mound and your newfound friend in pincushion,

you were able to rescue a small piglet named Oink and make your way through the mycelium network into the darkened, cave that you now stand. In front of you, stacked one on top of the other, are two fay creatures similar to the Kempestri that you've seen before, but not quite the same. They are much more humanoid in form. As one of them who has announced herself to be silo, steps down off of the shoulders of Saibon, they remove. the coat that had been wrapped around the both of them as they had stand as they had been stood in sentry waiting for whoever might travel through the mycelium network to their to this cave that they potentially call home behind them a

large mushroom garden that seems to extend for miles down a darkened cavern so deep into these tunnels that you cannot see where it ends they move the coat to the side and you see that they are roughly about two and a half feet tall a piece, clearly twins, identical in face. The only difference is one has beautiful hazel eyes with specks of gold and the other are near emerald green eyes. Their feet are wrapped in leaves that create these sort of slippers, the vines wrapping up around their legs that are clothed in red and white striped stockings. Their puffy beige bloomers are laced with what look like lace at first, but then you slowly realize that it is beautiful woven spider silk. Their tops are a dark

emerald green with billowing sleeves and more spider silk lace around the cuffs. Their torsos are covered in what appears to be a bark corset that, is laced at the front with vines that are interspersed. The knotwork is interspersed with bits of step mushrooms and moss. Their hair falls to about shoulder length. It's dark brown and ringleted. Interspersed in it, you see acorns and flowers and other mushrooms that seem to just grow wild.

The only other different, their cheeks are flushed, their nose is pink. They have white freckles that are reminiscent of the spots on a toadstool cap. And atop their heads, each of them does have a toadstool cap, but it is not organic. It is clearly made of some sort of fabric. One of them, Silo is fashioned a mushroom cap beret. The other one, Saibin, is wearing a mushroom cap bonnet. They both giggle to each other and chat a little bit as they've announced.

they've announced that they're about to have a fun time with you. You quickly see as Silo turns and rushes down in opposite's end of this tunnel, completely disappearing into the dark, as Saibon turns towards you. All right, well, I know what brought you here because, you know, Ewan told me, of course, told us, it's gonna be a rough ride.

Are you sure you're prepared for it? Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. You, what do you mean you know what came for? I know what you came for. You want the good stuff. She motions towards the jacket that they have thrown to the side. You don't want the standard issue mushrooms. You want the good stuff.

You want to converse with the Oracle directly. Hold on. I'm confused. So y'all aren't the Oracle? Oh, no. We just facilitate access to the Oracle. Oh, God. What do we have to do to get access to the Oracle?

Teddy Oracle Well, we're not going to do it here, that's for sure So, Ewan's going to watch the Mycelium Network To the Caverns Oh, welcome to the Benith, by the way I'm assuming you haven't been here before No I haven't, have you guys?

Have you given him? No, he'll never been here before. Are you coming? I mean, didn't Tolbeck maybe has? I mean, I don't know. You may have Tulbeck. You kind of been underground, but I mean, Maybe that's where we are.

What do you think? She walks over to you and she looks you up and down. Oh, yeah. I recognize that stuff. You are made in the beneath. That's pretty cool. So was I. I mean, maid as in born, not made as in made like you.

Is it too late to go back? Upstairs? Like back to the entrance. Oh, what's a vitress? It's our home. It's the plane of existence from where we are. Oh, let's walk and talk. We've got a bit of a way until we get to my house, our house.

Leave the way. And she begins to motion you through this cavern. This cavern is the walls of it are lined with rock. It is wet with moisture. And you see that mushrooms of, varying varieties line at mushrooms that you have never seen before in many different colors. And the ones that, or you notice that there are some that seem to be bioluminescent in nature, and those are ensconced in beautiful wooden lanterns, and almost as if they're being protected

there, and they light this cavern as you begin to make your way. But aside from this, there's not much else to see. The ground that you walk on is firm. It's not spongy like the earth had been upstairs, as she called it. And you walk through cavern after cavern after cavern as you have this conversation. So you must have something you really want to know if you're going to go down this path. Yeah, of course, we've got some burning. Are each of you gonna go on the journey,

or just one of you, or a couple of you? Do we get more questions, more of it's a go? I mean, each one of you that goes gets to visit the Oracle in one way or another. Is it like some sort of crazy spiritual journey where we learn about ourselves, like, spiritually? It's different for everyone. Whoa.

Is this involved some kind of like bad trip on some various drugs or you're gonna be physically? I mean, it really depends on who you talk to. I wouldn't say it's bad at all. But it is. It's on a trip on some sort of drugs. I'm not sure what you mean by drugs. What's drugs?

Oh, you know exactly what he means. This isn't the first back alley Scheister. It's offered to introduce us to the Oracle. What do you know about that? She looks over it here. And then you never stopped us before. She looks over at you and she adjusts her bonnet. And she puts her hands under her chin,

her eyes get larger, she bats her eyelashes at you. I don't know what you mean. She clearly knows what you mean. Your trench coats laced with mushrooms. You know exactly what I mean. Yeah, it's what we do. We help her. We make sure our garden is verdant.

And she looks upset a little bit and almost disappointed in herself. Wait, when you say her, are you speaking a... Him? No. Me? No, I'm not No, not you. Not you. I mean, I'm playing bad. I'm saying with guys who are like, Oh, you're got to me, my friend.

He should get backstage tickets. He's definitely an oracle, and he just had mushrooms. You're funny than you because you're usually the one in the whispered in a harsh tone scabbathe. Oh, scabbat. Yes, exactly. Yeah, what he said. Yeah, unfortunately. That's a lot in life.

Well, that's too bad. Anyway, which way of the drugs? Is there any other way to commune with this oracle? Not that I know of. At least not any you're going to find around here. I'm sure you could. Maybe if you traveled to Yon and you found someone who could... What? I'm sorry?

Huh? You, um... Okay, we could go through Yon if we didn't want to ingest substances and go through some sort of nightmare scenario. We need to get that thing from here, bro. The thing? I don't cherish the idea of putting our fill through that. Oh, me, it's not that bad.

You know, usually like, oh, okay, how much is it? It's okay, bro. Just, you know, whatever. You know, you have a good time. You have a wild knot. At the very least, we can send Tolbeck through it, you know? Why, just Tormack? Because you have, like, a built-in immunity.

I mean, look at all that shit. Tollbeck shouldn't be the first one to go. What if it looks... Torback isn't immune to anything. I mean, I feel like whatever they give us is going to be like a drop in the fucking ocean for Tobac. We don't know. No, it could potentiate the drug

and be much worse for him than it is for any of us. What if it acts as a catalyzed? Oh, what? A catalyzed! Don't worry. We're part mushroom ourselves. We don't carry lice. He means catalyst.

Oh, what? Why would he say catalyzed? No, I don't have been tealized. Dejaumbo. What is a catalyst? That's not studying to do with no of cats. Many pronounce the word that you just said as catalysts, Grego. Well, that's not here nor there with your weird pronunciations. We are glad to go on a spiritual journey, fuel bar some strange substances, as long as we don't have to get put away in goblin jail for a lot.

like most of our lives. You're not gonna find any jails in this part of the underneath. That's good cause I ain't goin back. Wait, hold on. Why? What do you mean why? Meaning like they don't have jails because they don't need jails because of how they take care of you.

No, because this part is where we live. It belongs to us. And I have no need of a jail. It's where we're home-ed. So more like it's kind of like a lawless town. So you don't need a jail because there ain't no laws. What happens to criminals here? Well, they don't come around these parts,

but we have our own security systems, if need be. We would dispose of them and their bodies as we saw fit. Really, you're not, it's not going to be unless you get closer towards the court of twilight where you would see something fancy like jails, and even then you're only going to find it in the beneath. Well, the ones that are really bad

are going to be in the beneath. The ones that are up tall, that are upstairs, those ones seem to be fine as far as I know. Are we close to the Court of Twilight where we are? Oh, no, not even close. It would take you a long, long time to get there. Especially us. But really, the city of iron and glass isn't a place you want to visit unless you're prepared for it.

The city of what? The city of iron and glass. Iron and glass? That sounds really cool. I was gonna say, told him that something really good band name. Yeah. Oh, that place sounds metal as fuck. Oh, it's like a band name so much as this one guy with a really good guitar, you know?

Yeah, I should have told my cousin Grimbo to name his band that instead of Brain Creek. Yeah, I should have told him should have named an iron and glass. That's really freaking cool. God, Brain Creek, God. He said. find this, we should start a band called the City of Iron and Glass. You're not going to, I don't really know if upstairs in the City of Iron and Glass a band like that would work, but in the beneath, absolutely.

What can you tell us about this trip that we're going to go on, this journey? Sounds dangerous and possibly mentally damaging. Well, speaking off, it looks like we've made it to the house. So let me go ahead and invite you. in and we'll deal with it inside. And as she says this, you realize that you have finally made it into a small opening in what has been a very straight, slightly winding, but mostly straight shot through these tunnels. And this entire area is illuminated in beautiful pinks and yellow lights. You can see that where there had been these wooden lanterns that housed bioluminescent

mushrooms. This area right in front of the house, you see that there is a landscaping that's been done here. You see that there are flowers in one single window sill that has curtains of spider silk lace hanging within it. The door is a round, not-work designed doorway with a handle that is shaped like a toadstool. Another small window embedded in the front of it. You see that there are beautiful hanging pieces of wisteria in all colors that are hanging from the roof and vines and moss that creep up and down the face of it. And all along the walls, you see these beautiful lily lanterns in pinks and yellow that illuminate this space. As she gets close to, there's small covalstones that make their way up to the door. As she opens the door and you're immediately met with the smell of soil.

and verdant and vegetation. Peeking inside, you can immediately see that there is no wood floor or stone or carpet, but the floor is a spongy, soft grass littered with flowers of varying colors here and there. As you walk in, this place is split into two floors. The first floor off to one side, you see what appears to be a small library with a reading nook that looks out into what appears to be a gigantic cavern that looks deep into the beneath that they've been talking about. You can see light coming from this window

where clearly this area is illuminated by more bioluminescent fungi. Fungi, fungi. Bionumination. There is a small seating area that is, the couch is clearly a piece of downed oak that has soft cushions set upon it. There are toad stool chairs next to a table by the window.

A large hearth made of stone is roaring. A small cauldron in it is bubbling with some kind of mushroom stew or vegetable stew or whatever they eat because they're not mushroom cannibals. Maybe they are. And then in the corner

you see what is very clearly another large oak tree that extends to the top floor. You can't see what resides on this top floor, but a spiral staircase made of step mushrooms encircles this tree trunk and makes its way... What are you laughing at? I know what's laughing at. What is it?

No, no, no. You'll find the junk eventually. It's coming. The step mushrooms ring the trunk of this tree and make their way up to the second floor of this room and it is quite beautiful. As she ushers you in, you can see that Scylla was already inside. She is seated at this little nook in the reading area. She has a book open on her lap and she is just looking out longingly at the underneath or at the beneath as it spreads out before

her. Saibon makes no motion to include her in this. She ushers you over to these seats and allows you to sit down before slowly making you some kind of tea and soup and she begins to pass out food and drink to you. So you asked what you were going to need to do to go on these trips. Well, everything comes with the cost. I think you've learned that by now, I would hope. And Silo and I, well, we don't get out much. We're stuck here in these tunnels and in this house, and all we can.

do is look out longingly over the beneath below us. What we crave, what we love are stories. So anyone that wants to go on this journey is going to need to provide a story, one that is true, one that rings through your hearts, and you must provide it to us. Do you accept any other kind of currency? That's the cost. That's the cost. that we're asking.

Well, all right. If one of us were to give five stories, would that be accommodating for the whole group, or do we each have to give our own story? It should be yours and yours alone. You can't give away something that belongs to someone else. It is. Ah, it has to be easy. We got plenty of those.

We don't got no coin, really, so that's why we're on this quest. The important thing to remember is the quality of You're gonna get what you pay for. Oh. The quality of the story you tell is going to determine how willing the Oracle is going to be to give up the information that you seek. Wow.

I couldn't entice you with a handsome sycamore seat. That's what I'm waving around. I've told you the price. Oh, not even a fake three dragon anticoat depicting a depicted Fairy dragon. No, I'm sorry. Wait, well you can just tell them the story how you got the sycamore seed,

that'll clear it right up. How did I? Oh, is it the swirl? That heck, I'm behind the, you got sycamore seeds. Every single pocket it feels like. Oh, I also got teeth and thing nails too. Well, that's me.

Wait, hold on, what's this? And I pull out and I unfold a piece of parchment and on it is, a large blue ogre with like fangs and horns and I turn it around as I apparently the piece of person with a drawing of an ony on it great this guy look familiar I feel like I heard this description somewhere yeah it actually looks quite interesting that's scary where did you get that I don't know where did I get this wait hold on I'll pull out the poster of the one of the pose it was of Will the

Faywall, no look. It's kind of a similar to... Nah, no. Cats, I wonder if it's just a coincidence. I mean, I guess it could be a different ony. But what a fucking odds? That's what an ony looks like? What?

Oh no! Wait, that's... This is so bad! I somehow know that that's an ony, because that's what I wrote down in my inventory, so... Oh. No, hold on. No, no, in the no shape is pretty much the same. Well, he's probably got the teeth pattern besides like the tusks is basically, oh.

Oh, this is not good. Yeah. Yeah. We can talk about this later. Uh. All right. Who's going to entice them with a teddy bear junction to your story? I don't even know what that means.

I don't know the meaning. I'll feel like all of us should do it because we need the information in order to pass the challenge. I do wanna make sure you're aware of what this is going to look like for you. I'll have one of you offer up a story. You'll all drink together and she points to the tea

that she has passed out to you. My damn tea. The special ingredient hasn't been added to it yet, so drinking it now is not going to do you any favors. It functions more like a laxative at this point.

Now, it'll kick in when you're asleep. You'll tell your story, you'll drink the tea, you'll all enjoy some of the effects, and then the Oracle will speak to you. to the one whose story was accepted. You do not get to choose what the oracle decides to tell you.

The oracle will look into your soul and decide what you need to know. Oh, so we don't have to sit around here talking for hours about what information we're going to collect from the Oracle. We're just going to be... Afterwards, I'll give you the opportunity to... Kea, and she reaches on one of the low bookshelves, and she pulls out a bark-bound grimoire, and she tosses it towards you, Torback.

And you see that there's a small wooden, chiseled writing utensil, essentially a pencil, and she tosses this towards you. You might want to write down any pertinent information afterwards because what you're going to learn here will fade in time. You will not be able to retain the mess. memories of the visions that the oracle will present you. So anything that's important for you to know, you'll want to keep. So you'll have some time to talk about it, figure out what you feel is important to remember.

And then the next journey will begin until we get to the end and you've decided you're done. We'll let you sleep here for the night so you don't have to travel afterwards. You'll be weakened. Every single journey you go on will weaken you all as a unit. You're tied together. Kind of like mushrooms. Wait, wait, wait, hold on. Don't we have a meeting tonight?

Or at some point. Oh. Hey, pincushion, are you still on my leg? Pincushion looks up at you with light eyes. What? Um, if we get mixed up in this, I mean, I guess we're already fucking here, but if we get mixed up in this.

Uh, yeah, I mean, are we gonna miss our meeting? Oh, didn't I tell you? Oh, maybe you did. Do any nightshade's not coming home? tonight she's staying in yon with her sister. Oh. She's not happy about it, so she's going to be right cranky tomorrow.

Ain't that just the way? What about that other lady? Wasn't she in line to meet her? Is that just not happening? Oh no, she was, and I've made sure to communicate with who needs to be communicated with. She's been taken. No, not to death, anyway.

She ain't making it. She's handing one of one of those beneath prisons, which is to say not prison at all. Why are you talking about this like that? Greg isn't all here, I'm dead. Dormac is saying you did your job. Why did you say it so ominously? Dormac just said it out Dormac says it.

See it again. That's just how he talks. Dorebeck said that you... No, you can't see it like that. It's always a goblin dialect thing. That's a killing thing, Drove. No, no. Who taught you that?

No, who taught you that? No, it's most certainly not a killing thing. It's the way that you translate that. specific phrase, take care of it, and gobble and it's usually guttural. And so it just is easy, it's all the management. You're going to frighten people. Yeah, you know, it's not even tough. It's looking at translation. Dormick does frighten people. That's just a day that ends in wine.

Okay, are you sure you don't mean killing her? Yes, Turme is very sure. I didn't think you looked like a murderer. Well, well, from a certain point of view. Which raises Torbeck's two questions. One, someone else should take the Bart book because Torbeck doesn't know how to write.

And two, if this vision goes awry, do you two have any way to restrain Torbeck because Dorbeck might freak out a little bit? I'll fight it between the four of us that we could very easily restrain your foreback. I don't think we're going to have a problem with that. We've got control over some very powerful, verdant allies, I should say.

Dorbeck hopes so. Doorbeck really hope so. It didn't go very well last time, fellas, if you fucking remember that. Yeah, I think that we should restrain Torbeck before he drinks the altered tea. Because if he becomes a rage monster, it's not going to be something you have to worry about.

Why don't you go first, Frost? You're good at writing. You're good at drinking tea as well. I'm happy to drink the tea, and I'm happy to be our writer to capture a record. I'm not very much storyteller is my issue. I don't know. I don't have no poetry.

I don't know. It's the first I'm hearing you don't have no poetry. I mean, I don't know what kind of story would be interesting to you. Just restate facts about your life. That's all that's all the story is. We fucking love facts, don't you? We don't make it up a story?

Like a grand and fencing story? No, that must be true. Guys, we don't been through like 57 stories since we've been here. Tell them about the time we unclog that ag's pipes. Tell about the time. You can't accept it to be a legger up? Crazy.

Yeah. No, I'm going to tell them about. No, no, no, no, no. You do have to remember, this is a story that is all your own. You cannot give away a story that belongs to anyone else. A shared story will not do. It is something special only to you.

And the more powerful the story, the more powerful the magic. So the oracle shrouds truth, but the more honest you are, the more honest the oracle will be. the more information you'll receive. Well, shit, I was gonna tell him about the time I found out it looked great in Jorts. But I guess I was there. I found out too.

Yeah. Guys, I know that we're a bunch of middle-aged men past our prime, and as a bunch of lads, we are not good at opening up with each other. Mutsless, total strangers. Bro, keep me a game. Yeah. Too real, I mean, ouch. But I feel with a little bit of secret ingredient,

and might loosen us up a little bit. And we have to do it to save the feign wiles or whatever it is. Oh, here, I've already forgotten. We have to do it. What are you suggesting? Well, we try to just, you know, with a little bit of mushrooms. mushrooms right. I get a little bit of limbaugh. Well, and Torbeck is realizing

that for how much time Torbeck has spent with all of you, Torbeck doesn't actually know very much about you. This is a chance for us all to learn a bit more. Yeah, but why? Yeah. It's a shame that they want to say.

Rick, I forgot our baby. Yeah. Frost, you go first. Yeah, Frosty, I feel like Cremmy said that it puts the spotlight off of me, so I really really don't know. I've known you for a fucking decade, Frost, and I feel like you haven't said a single

fucking thing about who you were or what you've done before we fucking cross paths. Um, I'll start, I guess. Yoki, that sounds good. Like, it really doesn't matter Which one of you goes first? Go ahead.

You notice that the lights begin to dim, all of the lily lanterns that line the walls, begin to flicker for a moment, that soft pink and yellow light becomes a little bit shrouded, it becomes cozy, you're illuminated by the fire in front of you. As once again,

she refills your glasses just a little bit to warm them back up as she slowly begins to, as she takes a blue, radiant powder, luminescent powder, out of her out of the satchel at her hip, and she begins to sprinkle it in each one of your drinks. Is this like going to, you know, get us a little saucy, you know what I mean? Oh, yeah.

Okay, good, because I was going to say that, I don't know if you caught that we're a bunch of middle-aged men. And so Broco dictates we can only open up if we're, like, at least 12 Bahama Mama's in. Or equivalent. I don't know what that means. Or it can be like 2 a.m. And we're just very slightly buzzed,

but at one point early on the night, we will really close. Yes, that also counts. That also. That counts. Okay, that's really wonderful. But if you could go ahead and just shut up a little bit so that Frost could tell his story that I'd be trained.

I'm just trying to help Frosty. Yeah, no, no, no, I get it. And I promise you, it's all gonna work out just fine. Okay? You guys don't have to hold hands, though. Wait, who's on hand? Wait, who's on here? I got me cup here.

I mean, if it makes you feel better about it, you can for sure. I'm always... I was just scratching the... Stop looking at me. Frost? I will convey to you the details of memory that was very important to me. Something happened to me in my youth.

Yeah. This was a very pivotal day. Silo, write this down. For morning frost. This was a day like any other. I was very young perhaps seven or eight. I remember that a person with an enclave of mysterious folks came to our village.

See, I was in a small sort of farming village and grew up with my parents' only child. And the leader of this group had been going house to house. house to house for what purpose I didn't know nor do I really remember carrying. I had my games and my friends but at a certain point I found my way home or perhaps I was perhaps I was brought there by my parents calling me for food or dinner. I remember them sitting me down with this gentleman and leaving me alone. and he pulled out this sort of box or satchel and he started putting objects on the table

where dinner would normally be served he put down some sort of a tinker contraption and with a few wines it started to play a soft melody he put a pair of dice down I remember a gaming set he put a a fancy pair of gloves was one of the objects I recall. He started setting down these objects and that didn't make any sense to me what he was saying, what he was having me look at. But I do remember when he pulled out a ball of yarn

because, of course, this was something that I could play with. It felt like a toy to me. And I reached forward to grab it and he hit my hand. No. I had to pull back and I remember the tears welling up in my eyes and he told me to reach again and I attempted to reach again.

This happened two, three times before I remember reaching out and the ball pulled into my hand without me actually grabbing it. It came to me and this time the man did not hit me. That was the last time that I saw my point. parents alive. After I performed that task, I left with them the next morning and as an initiative, a Zion initiate who was to start my training to hone the mind. You notice, as Frost is telling the story, Frost you don't notice this. You are trapped in your own mind. You are visualizing this memory. It's playing out like a mirror, it's playing out like a major.

image for you. You can smell the place that you grow up. You can feel the yarn ball as it collides with your hand for the first time. You feel, you can feel again that electricity you felt the first time you used these powers for this purpose and you feel the sting of loss as you think about the parents that you never saw again. You don't notice like the rest of you do that the liquid in your cup begins to glow and glow and glow. And as the story progresses, as Frost opens up his heart and gives this tale to the mushroom peddlers, that the more heart that he puts into this, the stronger this glows until finally it's so bright, it's almost blinding.

And as the story finishes, it settles into a soft glow. But you feel, it's not necessarily something you know or something that's spoken, but you feel like the story was accepted by the Oracle. All right, it's time to drink up. Drink up, meharis, yo-ho. I read that in a book once. It is very earthy, almost a little bit pungent, and it stings your mouth a little bit on the way down.

It's warm. It is not unlike alcohols that you've tasted before. grain alcohols that had maybe fermented a little bit too long. And it is, it's not easy to drink, but you are able to get it down. You can feel the warmth in your belly. Frost, you sit with these memories for a while. And then they fade. And that memory that you had is gone.

You try to hold on to it. Try to think about the smell. try to think about the feeling of that ball hitting your hand but it's gone and just as you're about to open your mouth to say to verbalize that your memory is slipping away you forget you ever had that memory to begin with

well that was heavy what was I saying I need you all to roll a D20 for me please What do you mean? Spike to natural 20 Oh yeah And I got, you're three. You look up at every, I'm going to just all go around the table.

Frost, you look up and you, you hear them gas for a second, but they're always talking nonsense. You're not so worried about it. But your attention is drawn to someone. Who is your attention drawn to? I think Grico would be the first person my attention would go to. You turn and look to Grico, and immediately you feel a pull behind your belly button

as your consciousnesses are swapped. Grico, you find yourself in Frost's body. Frost, you find yourself in Grico's body. God damn it. He gets to do it. He gets to do it on my dime. Is this seriously the greatest Valentine's Day present I've ever received? What day?

Frost, I never knew that about you. I can't believe you never told us the origin of your strange order. As this happens, as you're feeling, Grico, it's important. This is important. As you were feeling these effects, come on. Your memory of him asking what he was just saying completely fades. And to you, all of you, to you, he told you the story.

He knew he told you the story. And there's nothing strange about that at all. Wait, what were you saying? Wait, so we all forgot it. You didn't necessarily forget his story. story, but you don't remember him saying anything, like, what was, what was I telling you about? You remember him telling the story and moving on as if this is all normal. So you have, your, your characters that have no reason to believe anything weird had happened to

Frost. Oh. I mean, I've still suddenly gotten taller again. Mikey, yours is going to stack. What did you get? Oh, mine? I got an 18. I remember my role, even though I'd move my dog.

You, this is actually very funny that these two things. deck, you are obviously in Frost's body. Yeah, yes. And you look down seeing Frost's body, remembering the story that he just told you, and you realize he missed out on a key part. The stuff he told you wasn't important. It's what happened a couple of years later when he became the world's greatest bard. And now that you are living in his flesh, you too are the world's greatest barred.

Why is my talent being wasted? Wait. Frosty? I'm not... Yes, again! Yes, he can't. You don't want to swap with Grick up. You're not Frost? What are you talking about?

I am Frost. I'm very clearly Griggoor right now. Stop doing that. I've always been doing it. I'm actually the greatest bard in the world. And... Why are you trying to stifle my greatness? Wait, we, swap bodies, I swear!

What did you get to our back? A natural one. This is turning out just like that other time. I mean, head troops in a bag. You all turn to Torbeck as he begins to speak. I don't know what you're going to say, but I'm putting you on the spot. And as he speaks, you realize that he speaks words, but they also appear over his head in a speech bubble.

However, the speech bubble is inaccurate. Fuck. So it will be up to everybody who's talking to him to decide what you read in the speech bubble. Oh, that's actually interesting. Should I re-roll? I also got a natural one. Yes, yes, you should. 15.

I'm re-roll. You die and immediately reincarnated. I'm okay, rat. Oh, thank God. Grab it. Crammit, what's happening, man? Quick. Oh, he's dead.

I've never been bad during my life. Please tell me that he's getting total. Give me arms. Hey, what the hell? Are there your internal dog? What he means? What he means? You're never been happy.

He's dead. I can say it, paint it all over your head. You're just too dumb to understand anything that's ever happened. I'm killing! What did you roll up to you 100? Oh, fuck. Should I pull up the table? I'm pulled up the table.

I'm pulling a net. Farway. You'll turn into a fear of annihilation. Fly me to the space boom. Blah, blah, blah. beyond the space stars, a bubba, blah, blah. A dampere.

Yeah, 11 to 12 is a damper. Yeah, 11 to 12 is a dampere. That's a lineage, isn't it? Yes. It is. So I'm still a lizard phone. Sure. You get a little bit more.

If you would like, you can roll again to see what you would, what kind of dampere you would be, or you can just be a lizard phone. Well, if I'm just being like red, like reborn, as a vampire. It's up to you. Unless you want me to roll. It's up to you.

Let me see what I would have got. Okay, okay. Oh, thank goodness the committee's okay. Yeah, exactly. An era cobra damper. You're talking about it. I knew you never forget him for the corner full. What the heck's going on over there?

Sorry, I guess you know what getting his talking about. Shut the fuck of you. Your internal blow. I really was not sure how that one was going to work out, but I kind of love it. Simon, what was? What's happening? What's going on? Oh, yeah. Well, it's a shroom. It's a psychedelic. I mean, I don't know what to tell you.

You're going to have to deal with this for a little bit, but don't worry, it'll subside. This seems a little middle much more than psychedelic. I need my guitar. Do you have a guitar around here? I'm the greatest bard in the world. Oh, no, but if you're the greatest bar in the world, you should be able to make music with your own body. What did you get? A three. The world around you moves in slow motion.

Did I just pass out? I sort of got some help, hop, hopitations. You know when you get sort of anxious and you feel like you're about to pass out? You look really pale. Oh, yeah. Are you an Eric Cocoa or a lizard phone? I'm just lizard phone. I think we'll still stick to damp here.

Are you okay? Why are you talking so slow? Spin it out, man. Spit it out. Spit what out? What, your words? You're just talking so slow. and you're moving slow.

All of a sudden, my eyes unfocused a little bit, and I see the vein on your side of your neck. Oh, no. I'm sorry, what? Well, I didn't think I'd have to do this, but my name is Gricko Grim Grin. I had big fuzzy paws,

and I'm going to prove that I'm the greatest bard in the world, the only way I know how, like all of my parties at Goblin, college. Oh, Grico. Today is going to be the day that they're going to throw it back to you. And by now, you should have somehow realized what you got to do. I don't believe that anybody feels the way I do about you now.

No, this is certified the best way to get chicks and show that you're a bar. Grico slash Frost, you have a lovely sane voice, but make a good. Amy, this isn't what you should be doing. Dear God, make it stop. Again, we do be so cruel, Gregel. Do you know how many hot, hot chicks I've gotten to that song? Proves the greatest, I'm the greatest bard in the world.

How many? I think that bard should start with an A because that was an A plus song. Frosting now. Grimy, you do look a little pale. This is Frost, by the way. What are you talking about? Of course you're for honest.

Oh, man. I think you died. What do you mean, I died? Your heart palpitations. You fell over. No, I mean, it's a little chilly in here. Gideon, check your pulse and you were all gone. Hold on, hold on.

I don't, I don't feel my pulp. Gid, get. Why don't you, why don't you feel for my pulp? You feel anything? It's very, like, the world. is in slow motion. It would be slow in general. You feel nothing. It's clearly there's no pulse. Yeah, I don't know why you're

doing it like that, but uh, no, I'm not getting anything. Just, just, just, no, I'm not totally, just. Do you feel anything? No, nothing at all. Am I live? Well, I mean, you're talking. I think it's, it's hard to understand you. You're talking so slow, man, but no, I'm not getting any pulse. Just, oh! And I, uh, I leap on...

You do. You sink your teeth into Gideon's neck. Why, is he doing in terribly slow motion? Yeah. You watch and you attempt to move out of it. But you too are also moving in slow motion as if you're moving through sand, you try to move away, but you can't.

As his teeth latch onto your neck, you feel your pulse. Boom. Well. Boom. And then all of you fall unconscious. Oh. I'm the greenest bored.

How do you get the, do. I am coming, I am coming, soon I will be free. I need to use the mush bathroom. Do you actually need to use the bathroom? That's very funny. You are all frost. You all look through Frost's eyes. Wow.

As you wander through Lume Larch, it is different. knew. The tree, the ancient oak, has just recently fallen. The earth around it is still soft from where it, from where it was blown apart to make way for this tree to fall here and nestle into. The garden has not yet become overgrown. You watch Frost, almost as if collect of frost, almost as if you are watching from above, not actually part of this endeavor. You look out over the land of thither, and you can see that so much more of it looks more like the garden that you had traveled through than the forest that you had been traveling

through recently. The landscape completely changed, still wild, still new, still fresh. You watch as the knights, or the, as the toy soldier guards are building, not guarding, but building the areas of loomelers that you have already seen. The goblin market is only about halfway built. The bridges that you crossed over are still in construction. You see a large rocking horse wagon being pulled down the road,

and at the back of it, you see cages, wooden cages filled with children, all of them being pulled towards loomarch. And sitting at the very head of the wagon atop this large rocking horse, you see an entity that you have only seen in picture. A large blue ogre-like creature, with horns atop of it.

his head and large fangs protruding from the top and bottom of his jaw. His hair is wild and flows down his back. He's got a long beard at the front of his face and the look. You can tell by just looking at him that he is incredibly smart. And as you stare at him, where this ogre had been, you immediately see a small child. A child. How old you know, Will of the Fay Wild sitting there? Once again, looking out quizzically, intelligently. You blink and you see the ogre up here again. You blink, you see the child and the ogre, and the child and the ogre.

All the while the children being pulled towards this place. It is easy to see that this entity, the pincushion had not been wrong, this entity is one in the same. Your vision blurs and all of a sudden you're looking down into what is very very, you're very clearly the bedroom of Granny Nightshade. You see her angry and frustrated as she paces about. Looking about, you can see that Loon Lurch is clearly much older now. These parts of the bark have started to petrify.

Time has passed here. She's angry. You can see that the key and wedged into her back is spinning very quickly with her emotions. as she tosses paintings and sewing notions and books and things all about the room as she silently rages. She calls out, but you can hear no words that she says as she looks towards the wall where you see two photos. One of a woman you've never seen before, her dress elaborate, almost looking like some sort of tent at the base of it. The other one is very clearly Bavlona as she takes a small wooden doll and she throws it against the portrait, shattering the glass as she curses her sister. You hear for the

first time sound children crying downstairs. There is sadness at Lume Larch, but why you're not quite sure. Your vision shifts and changes and you see yourself right outside of loom lurch itself. You can hear that same crying. Time hasn't passed. It's just a different glimpse of time, but a different place in thither. And you see a hunched over shape moving through the underbrush, darting between tree and bush and tree and bush. You see a much larger shape hulking over this other shape, and then the shape begins to shrink and shrink and shrink and shrink. You see the bush shake a little more,

and out from it walks clearly, Vavlona, hand in hand with a small boy, Will of the Faywild. As she pushes him off into the distance, you hear her voice for the first time as she tells him to run. And he does. Your vision shifts. And you see Will making his way towards the triant and convincing him with quick words and very clear lies that he needs to help rescue all these children. But as you're looking to his eyes on this day, the day that he became a boy and not an ony, you can see that it is all lies.

That he clearly knows what he's doing and what he's saying. This boy is still an ony, and he's very intelligent. Your vision shifts, and you see Little Oak now filled with laughter and joy, children hanging from the treetops, swinging from vines, sword fighting in the courtyard, all of it in the hopes of rescuing more and more and more children. As your vision shifts, and once again, you see Will sitting by himself alone in his treetop room, as he writes in a small journal. All of his innermost thoughts, more children, I need more.

Never enough. I grow hungry. I will regain my form and then I will feast. More children. There are whispers of them in the wild. They will come to me. They will free me and I will feast. Your vision darkens and you find yourself once again sitting in this room right next to Saibin. Your mind feels muddled, a slight headache, just right at the back of your mind.

You push it away. You drink a little bit more of your tea. You feel it subside. Well, do you learn anything interesting? Okay. No, you're, those are gone. Those are gone. Oh, no. You just, you all have one level of exhaustion. Oh, that's not good. They should call them, oh, I already said that.

Oh, God, Gid! What am I done? I'll take my thumbclaw, and I'll cut my vein, and I'm like, join me in eternal damnation, get. Drink, drink! I don't think that's going to work anymore. Gideon. Oh, God.

You feel your skin closing up. There's medicinal property to this tea as you drank it to let go of your headache. The moment you come back to consciousness, you no longer are suffering from any of the previous fake verses. Wait a minute. Do O'Ne eat little owlbear children? Well, she's kind of more adolescent, adolescent owlbears. I've read about O'Ne before.

They'll eat anything really, didn't it? It's not like just children. They're anything that they can possibly get their hands on they'll eat. What? Albear children, Albear matrons, Albear patrons. This is a man here. Guys, remind me, Hootzi is back at the tree and Will left, right? So who sees with Lillo?

Who's not a bad bloke? From what we saw, right? Trees don't eat little kid, kids, right, or little albers? Presumably. Okay. Guys, I gotta say we gotta kill the kid. All we gotta do is say, we don't know you're an owner. Come out here, Will.

Okay, it's quiet. And then Crummy does his own trick and he whips up the pit. who dips out the pillow. He's a kid. I mean, how's strong he be? How's trying to be? And if he dies in child form, we probably dies in only form.

How do you know about my old trick? Well, you remember the time you got drunk and you said, oh, no, you know how I got so rich initially? Oh my God. Dormack originally agreed with Grico on this plan. Dormack now doubly agrees with Grico on this plan. You gotta kill the kid! We have to take him.

of what? Take care of Will. In that time, Torbeck means death. Just one moment. I finish transcribing as much as I can in the tome of what we saw. Roll a, hmm. Roll an intelligence check to see how well

and how much you can transcribe. Twist. Twist. Oh, twist. Twist. I'm gonna twist. I'm gonna twist. A twist. 21.

You are able to transcribe almost in perfect recall. Perfect recall, exactly what you saw. Now I don't disagree. I will only allow one twist per the writing. I don't disagree that the kid is now a threat and something that we have to think about, however. We gotta think about killing him. Yeah, exactly right.

Killing that kid eating son of a kid. He's planning on eating hootsey. Any moral quandary he previously had has been thrown out immediately. Immediately. Do we have to know how fucking powerful an oni is? He's a kid. He's not like, oh, I'm pretending.

He literally got changed into a kid. So what I got a Jewish, you know. He raised like 70 pounds soaking wet. Do you're not. snap him into! There is a lot of thrashing when he does. That's what I mean. You're not strong enough anymore. Gideon will do it. I gotta stop drinking. I don't think I've ever seen this. That's ridiculous.

That's ridiculous. I was right as you I hadn't known about. That's a nightmare. Look, look, but what happens if it works like polymorph and we fucking kill the kid and then all of a sudden he reverts back? Then we'll just kill him again, duh. Yeah, duh! And when it picks us up and breaks us and half and gobbles us up? Well, that's what Gideon is in first. He really hard. He's a really big. God. Yeah, he can never gobbled me up

in one guy. I mean, this guy looks pretty fucking big. Look, there's a little stick figure from the scale. Every only thinks they're powerful until they get punched in the face, all right? You know, that's a fair one. They go down like a sack of potatoes. So, okay, plans off. We got to go kill. I mean, we also do the other awkward thing, because we need to get blessed and find out all these

treasures. We got to, we've got to repri-or-wit-tires and kill with. We are with me. Tormec is with Grico. Goblin Solidary. Well, but I mean, if he's had this plan this whole time and he still hasn't, like, figured it out, maybe he's never going to figure it out, right? And maybe the kids are fine.

Dormac doesn't want to take that risk. No, but does Grickham? What we saw would Frost have deduced that Granny Nightshade wanted the only to eat, and that that was a, like, like part of their whole relationship almost? I would say what you had learned, you had learned a little bit, I believe.

But yes, I will give you that further information. It was very clear they had a relationship where he would go out and find kids and bring them to work. And the ones that were punished were given to him to consume. Okay. That was part of his reward

for going out and supplying her with all of these children. Okay. You saw the initial arrival of when the children are brought there. And in this form, he clearly cannot do that.

And so he is amassing an army of children. He is planning to somehow return to his only form. And upon returning to his original form, he will be able to consume a massive amount. I just wanted to make sure that Derek understood it before saying, yes, I think that we're going to have to kill the kid. All right. Add it to the list.

Well, we'll do that one on the way. Yeah, yeah. Or no, kill, Will. Buh, bha, bha, bha, please. Buh, bha, bha. Okay. Thank you for sure.

Oh, we don't remember that he's a member. That he's shared. And now that you've woke up, you don't even remember a story. Oh, shit. Oh, no. If he still doesn't remember, he's lost that memory for good. I believe I'm first in telling the story. Oh.

So if we were going to have to do that, then we'd be able to... You remember telling a story? Oh, I remember telling a story. a story. You remember telling a story? I thought you were going to get more stories out of me. Too fucking bad. It is almost, it is

a strange sensation. You remember telling a story and every time you think about it, there's a moment you're like, what did I tell? And you're like, oh yeah, yeah, I told my story. And you just don't think twice about it. Do we think it's weird

that we can't remember what he told the story about? The same thing happens to you. Every time you think about a story, you're like, wait, what was his, oh, yeah, yeah, he told a story. Whose turn is it next? So I don't even think to go, Silo, Sybin, what story did I tell you?

No. As soon as I start to get down the cul-de-sac You're like, oh yeah, yeah, they know it. Yeah, they know it. You just see mission complete. Yeah. Mission complete. Well, I'm sharing my story.

Mission complete. I'm surprised that it was so effective. It seems like we saw some powerful sites. Damn fine story, Frost. Yeah, it was. It was memorable. Well, right, I'll go ahead and pour some more drinks. And she pours some more drink,

but she keeps the powder close to her. Who's next? Well, when you're in a subterranean cavern being gas lit by mushrooms, they don't call gaslight, they call it solid dark. Grick-o is false to that right before. I'm just so close to being fired.

Mikey's just going to play about soon. I show up and I'm like, Oye! Oi! Inthi, in it? What's all this then? What? Rock Casino, isn't it?

What's all this? Okay. Okay. All right. All right. Um, okay. Well, I, I told it my story. I don't really feel like telling more, but does anyone else have any stories that we can share?

Yeah. Oh, that's not a good one. Um. And you say the more powerful a story, the more effective it will be. Not necessarily the more powerful as much as the more powerful as much as the more truth to it, the more heart you put into it. Oh, so we could tell a story of our, the time we

banged our shin on a stair and as long as we told it with emotional gravity, then it would be ineffective. I mean, I can imagine it's really up to the oracle whether they accept it or not. Oh, so we could waste time talking about shin injuries. Or shin injuries.

Yeah! Oh, there we go. There it goes. Okay. I can't really think of any good stories. I mean, it's tough. You know, I don't know how to talk about myself? I'm very humble.

I don't feel like I've told at least getting everything that I could tell. I mean, well, that raises a good question. Doorback wants to know if the story can be previously heard by other people. Oh, yeah, of course. Wasn't involved. There we go. If that's the case, then one of my favorite stories of yours, Grico, is the story you tell. Wait, wait, you can't tell someone else's story.

Oh, yeah, I think you might die. It's a bedtime story. A bedtime story? When she's a little uppity, she's next to her. What do you just call my daughter? She can't get to bed. She's not not uppity. Yeah, exactly.

What's wrong with her and I mean? We get to bed. Just, just, just, Restless is sort of where I was going with that. That should be true. I usually embellished and tell us, oh, and then the longest mokers shirt up, you know.

That's my favorite part. And I speak inside Gritcher's mind. When you first met Hibhoozy, when you found her. I feel like, I feel like that's a little person. Suit yourself. I feel like that's a little, I don't know, I don't know. I don't know. feel like that's really personal

mm-hmm mm-hmm we just start going back before it mm-hmm the set of lock nest they should call a

key Lucas very good well the silence is getting awkward that's devastating I'm getting beat by own fucking

game this is a nightmare you understand every like between sessions all he does is spend the next week

thinking of ways that he can oh my god I don't hurt my brain oh god and kill Lucas. Dormack isn't telling Grico what to do,

but we are aware that the more emotionally impactful, the more information or better we'll get. Torbeck, Torbeck has one at mine. Okay, go ahead, man. I need to figure something off Neffatote nobody, not even frosty, me best night. I got a story too, but it's not emotional. Okay, you go, I don't know, get that.

Yeah, you guys go. Don't do. Go ahead, man. That's all on you. Torbeck, you guys probably know most of this story, but Torbeck feels that Torbeck should tell them and the Oracle the reason that Torbeck is doing all of this. As you say this, Sybin begins to sprinkle the blue powder into all of your drinks.

Oh. Let's take a drink every time it's... Every time it says to her back. Oh man, we're going to get so fucked up. You're gonna get so fucking lit. You, once frost, he breaks out the Wonderwall, all of that. You remember that you're not supposed to drink

until after the story's told, because it glows and determines how much the Oracle accepts it. You put squand in, yeah. Scu- right through my fingers. Oh, man. One night, we should drink, every time Gregos says okay.

Oh, yeah. Yeah, that'll be good a job. That'll be a good job. We go ten days later. Just took up my mannings at that point. Okay. Toburg, you can see what I believe in you. Listen, Torbeck is nervous.

But we all have the same questions about Dorbeck. So Torbeck feels like he has to tell the story to maybe get some answers, right? I mean, this is as good a place as any, probably the best fucking place. Okay. As far back is... as Torbeck can ever remember, Torbeck has always heard voices. Well, one voice, really. That's why Torbeck drinks so much.

It helps. But over time, the voices gotten stronger, especially towards the last time that Torbeck saw you guys at the carnival. Things were getting worse and worse. That's why Torbeck was looking for gainful employment to try to turn Torbeck's life around. And we all know what happened.

Dorbeck was accused of stealing, and the details are fuzzy. It was all alleged. And the next span of years is more or less lost to time. Torbeck remembers some things The poor thing Torbeck wishes he didn't remember others The tubes

The experiments, the pain But that voice It gets worse and worse Until Torbeck learns That there's always been some other entity inside So after Torbeck came to and attacked all of his friends

Torbeck decided that Torbeck needed to learn answers There are powerful people after Torbeck And Torbeck doesn't know why Torbeck Has even murdered people But Torbeck thinks it's the others' fault Torbeck is scared

This is Torbeck's story for continuing the journey and going on Torbeck's first adventure. Torbeck just wants answers and to maybe one day be free of all this. The blinding blue light is incredibly powerful as it blasts out from your cups and you feel yourselves almost swallowed and bathed in this light.

as Torbeck, you forget. Everything, every word you've just said, every memory you just had, every bit of inspiration for going on this journey just completely disappears. The other completely disappears. There are no voices in your head. You've only ever been Torbeck.

I'll drink to that. All right. Okay. There you go. And all of you, once again, remember that Torbeck told a story, And as you think about it, you're like, what was that? Oh, yeah, he told a story.

That's all that matters. And you knock back the liquid in this cup. And you all begin to feel that same twinge of heat in your stomach as you become overpowered by hallucinations. I need you all to roll the day 24. Oh, God. Not again. Give me some 14.

Oh, Jesus. You were a proud nudist. That warm heat is incredibly warm. The fire is raging in here. It is hot. I got a tab. Your knees fused together. You're sitting.

Your fucking legs, right? My fucking legs. 19. You believe you are the luckiest person in the world. You were in fact the unluckiest person in the world. 15. You die in our being granted. Please really do 100 for me.

Why do you keep dying? Look, Gidda, I'm real sorry about early, you know, when I bit. No, it's, listen, it's totally fine, man. You didn't hit anything. You didn't hit anything. You didn't hit anything. It was a major argument. I got real lucky.

Are you feeling it, okay? He looks pale. Oh, she, I mean, mechanically, I got some hip points for that, but. No, mechanically, I'm really fine. This is all problem. If there's anything I can do. Oh, fuck. I don't know for that.

43, you say. You be, roll a D4 for me. Oh, no. Oh, gosh. Well, resolute in five. You arise as a beautiful lithe wood elf. Oh. Ah.

Oh. What the fuck? Did I die again? Grimmy? Is that, is that Grammy? Hey? I like it. You, uh.

You're gonna keep it. You look very different. Is that you, Grammy? Oh, no. Is this a number? What's happened to me? Oh. Oh,

oh, look at me. Do I look beautiful? Well, you turn it into some kind of fancy a hell. He does look beautiful. Oh, Mr. Krami, why do you keep dying? You can't keep me at the recesses of your mind forever. Oh, oh, ah! Oh, you fuse together, legs.

Wait, I understand that Krimi died and turned to it out, but look at me. Fucking legs! Yes, that seems very familiar for some reason. Fucking legs! Just look at them! And I'm so glad that I can do this. I'm free at last.

Oh, no. Frosty. Oh, can you put some clothes on? Can you please? No, it's fine. It's fine. I think we're all going to make it out of this totally okay, right? Things just have a way of going

totally according to plan, and I turn and trip over my. My chin and Lynn brought these laps. Oh, it's so furry. Get off me, get off. Oh, gosh, that's unexpected. The second, I look like this and this is what you do? What, that's not d?

Oh, you're pretty that's bad. Look at my fucking legs. It's been confused. Bye, blah, blah, ma. The Toreback has gotten in trouble for that so many times. I love seeing Gideon, in pain. It's my choice,

and it's time for me to be who I truly am. No robe, no shoes, just all frost all the time. Well, I mean, I guess technically that's your choice. But, I mean, was it because of your emotional story you told us about something or other? Perhaps.

Put some fucking clothes on. You disgusts me. No, I'm keeping them here in my back. Wait! I'm totally strong. And you feel your face, all of you fall unconscious. As I whip out my compact mirror, and I'm drawing on a pencil thin mustache.

You look like Philip Brescent Mall. The floor is completely smooth around me, and as I pass out, I happen to fall in the only collection of rocks. And then my crotch hits your head. Now, this is very cute. Our jagged, sharp rock collection. My final words will be, Oh, maybe better luck next time, Mr. Crammy.

I'm going to garnish flesh instead of wages. Oh, my gosh. This podcast is brought to you by our Patreon. Become a patron today at patreon.com slash legends of Aventress and gain access to tons of exclusive perks, including a monthly movie night and a weekly Patreon exclusive campaign set on the high seas. shroud over saltmarsh.

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like dice, miniatures, plushies, a tarot deck, and more. Thank you. You all fall unconscious. You are all Torbeck. Or are you? You shake. Your entire bodies are shaking.

But you feel secure as you sit on what is clearly a mushroom seat in this long train underground. It travels faster and faster and faster. Occasionally lights flicker against the cave walls, clearly more bioluminescent mushrooms that line these walls as a magic mouth spell goes off and you hear, City of Iron and Glass next stop. The train. train that you're in, you look around out of these eyes and you see that this is

fungal in nature, almost like tendrils that are carrying you through the earth, through these tunnels. As you, as the train stops, shakes a little, you stand up, you shake some of the off of your pristine suit perfectly cut for your tall lithe body. Your fingers adorned and beautiful jeweled rings. You adjust your cravat and you check to make sure that your kerchief is still

where it's supposed to be in the pocket at your breast and you reach down and grab a leather briefcase. Pick it up and you begin to to disembark. You step out into a beautiful stone and glass enclosure. You see all sorts of people, creatures milling about. A beautiful moth couple is making their way down these mosaic glass stairs that head up to the above, to the upstairs. And they are dressed in the woman is wearing a beautiful black bustle gown. Her moth wings laying softly at her back.

Her hair piled atop her head and beautiful ringlets. Her antennae pointing towards the sky. She has a soft black veil of spider silk draped over her face. As her lace gloves climb the length of her arm as she holds tight to the man next to her in a beautifully tailored suit, both of them in black, and you can see her eyes are puffy. She's been crying as she slowly retracts the parasol that she's had at her shoulder, and he takes it from her and places it at his side as they embark in the same cart that you had exited. Is Torbeck had exited,

or maybe not? As you ascend these stairs, it feels like your body. You feel like yourself. as you make your way up these beautiful stairs, all of them encrusted in shards of beautiful glass that have been fused together to great beautiful scenes, floral arrangements, a very art nouveau style. Looking up, you see that the entranceway that's well above you up the stairs is completely gilded and decorated with a mosaic of the moon and stars.

And as you climb these stairs, There's more and more people pass you. You see a wolf-like man in a suit and top hat as he twirls his cane and whistles as he walks down the stairs. You see entities that are almost insect-like and none of them look twice at you. None of them, you don't seem to incur any of their attention as you make your way up and up and up. You pass a flyer that is attached to the wall.

The city never sleeps in the beneath, and it shows what appears to be a rock band and neon lights and beautiful bioluminescence. It looks like it's been attempted to be pulled down, as if the people heading up don't want to see this kind of thing. You continue up and up until you find yourself beneath a veil of stars. The sky of beautiful blues and purples and pinks. Thousands of stars sparkling overhead. The air is crisp and cool. beautiful night air. Off in the distance you see what looks to be a large manor house up on the hill looking down over this city. You see the beautiful Art Nouveau style of every single building and all of them perfect, pristine, beautiful. Very

similar. Your clean, fresh new boots clack against the cobblestone as you walk forward. You begin to whistle a tune, a tune that is familiar to you for a second, and then fades from your memory. And then familiar again, fades. You've heard it somewhere, but you can't quite remember where your breath comes out in a puff of smoke as you continue to walk. The city sparkles in starlight. And it is bustling.

People mill about here and there as you continue to walk, taking one street and then the next, you know exactly where you're going. Eventually, you make your way to, an incredibly large, incredibly wide row house. Clearly the centerpiece of the street that you find yourself on, and you walk up glass steps until you reach the door, and with a soft knock, you wait. One moment and then two.

The door opens, and a small creature, looking almost mosquito-like, opens the door and looks up at you. The doctor will see you shortly, My lord, he's here, the duke, come in. It's time for your appointment. You follow this thing as it turns around, it's proboscis, pointing the way deep into this beautiful row house, and you feel comfortable. This is something that's happened time and time and time again.

As you step onto the plush carpet, the door closes behind you, the sound of flittering as darkness takes over and you all awake inside the small house in the beneath what in the ham that was a fucking you was it no there was no there's no way to be too talk big a duke you know a duke do you have any sort of noble titles that i should be aware of no that's the one you gave torback and that took away from tarmac yeah i'm miss king's mebolo a lot smaller. If you've been holding out on us that you were a fucking Duke and you could have ended this whole mission like that just by fucking a small loan of a hundred thousand gold piece. That has never happened to Torbeck in his entire life. Well hell didn't

then pincushion say that whatever she was looking at within you didn't look like you looked like a guy? Well then that's even worse because the guy living in Torbeck had a much better life than Torbeck ever had. Yeah, why would some fella want to be inside of like a dirty trash person? No offense. None take it.

No offense. I mean, like, you gotta think about the logistics. If you were in some cool city, I mean, that was exactly the kind of band that I wanted to be in when I was a kid. Yeah, that was so cool. That was amazing. They know, I was like, gosh, I want to go there. I could finally be myself. myself. Man. Man. Man. I will get dressed in a moment.

Oh, my legs are fun. Hey, me legs. Oh, yeah. Hey, me legs are fun. I'm writing what I remember in the book. Okay, roll an intelligence check for me. No this makes any sense. No. One twist. None of that happened to Torbeck. plate that one.

22. Hold on. You were able to write down everything exactly as you witnessed. I think there's some kind of confusing. You even draw pictures. Oh. That's nice. You recreate the, you recreate the flyer,

you recreate the flyer, the city never sleeps in the beneath with the band beneath it. You recreate the beautiful stained glass star mosaise that was coming out of the underground and you are, you recreate a perfect image of the facing of the house that you entered. That was just like my favorite soul-eater character,

Mosquito. Yeah, yes, it does look like mosquito, doesn't it? Holy shit. A little bit of the soul leader. It's extremely minor. And then I reach into my pack I can go on my undies and start to reassemble myself. Oh my God.

Well, this Duke exists and he's connected to Torbeck somehow. Maybe we can, I don't know, ask for a favor. Get a small loan. Yeah, hell, do you hear what the train said, Citi and Iron and Glass? That was so cool. That was so cool. Yeah, that was so cool.

God, see, can we just, after this, we should go there and start a rug, Yeah, we got a final. Finally! That's all I've ever wanted. Well, aren't they looking for him? I mean, if we go there, we're gonna be walking right into where the people are looking for. No, we'll solve the problem.

It's a risk we have to take. True. To start a metal band and an underwax of a shit? Oh, we can't call it the city of Iron Glass because that's where we'd be so lazy to live. Yeah, that's the problem. We can't call it Brain Creek either. No, definitely not. No, definitely. That's taken.

Catch a laser beam. That's pretty good. Okay. All right. Who's next? We got to fix over that problem. What do you think? Give me or you? Oh, man, I got something, but it's not very emotional. I got something.

That's pretty emotional. Yeah, my's not emotional. If you're ready for it. We should probably go with the one that's least emotional. Oh. Yeah. Well, I guess that's... The heavier it gets.

By the way, you all have another level of exhaustion. Oh, shit, I forgot about that the first time. The heavier it gets, the harder it becomes. Should we flip for? What do you want to go? I'd go. Yeah, go ahead, go ahead. She refills your drinks.

Yeah, thank you, thank you. And she sits down, she holds the, oh, she sprinkles the packet, her little pouch of blue powder in each one of your. each one of your drinks. All right. Well, let's go again. Well, see, it ain't emotional at all, you know,

but it's just about the only story I can think of under the circumstances. And it's about the time I made my first motorbike, you know. Paul used to have one back home, but he never wrote it, you know. used to drive me crazy man that he have a cool looking hog bear and I always wanted to ride it you know but he never led me you're too young it's my prize position you're gonna destroy it well that was crazy talk and so you know I did

like any any kid would do it I up right on it and I gave a little ride you know took it around and then it wasn't too too long after that that I destroyed it crashed it straight into a tree flew out almost damn near snapped my neck but got away with just a broken leg the bike destroyed man when my Paul found out damn that he tanned my hide so fast I didn't think I sit down for three straight weeks but then the next day he sat down with me pulled up all the parts together I pulled into the shed and we started to put it back together. You know, I asked me for a ranch.

I handed them a screwdriver and he said, damn, son, when they were giving out common sense, they were shy the day you were born. Hey, a couple ones like that. Oh, man, Paul. You know, and I mean, we were in that shed probably damn near, I don't know, over a month. We spent a day and night.

Well, really night, we're still working during the day, but we spent most nights just kind of putting it back together, you know, and it was, uh, I don't know, we didn't have a lot of moments like that, you know, it was all work. He was, uh, it was a good man, Paul, but he was tough, you know, he's focused, he was, uh, he was always working, you know,

to weren't a, one of a lot of moments together, just like that and I was, uh, you know, the, one of the last times I felt close to it. So we just put that thing back together for six weeks and, man, the sound it made when it were back home the first time. Well, I missed a line of the engine coil, you're seeing some sound wasn't good at all. So we had to get back to the drawing board on that one. But then eventually we got it there, you know, hooked up the regulator to the rat sprocket

and it purred back to life eventually. Anyway, like I said, I mean, it's not emotional. It's just the only happy memory I have my paw. So that's it. You think about this memory and you can hear that worrying sound. And even though you could hear in that moment that it was not right, you see the face of your paw

and that smile of pride. Even though he knew that you were installing it incorrectly, he didn't stop you. He wanted you to make your own mistake. He knew you'd figure it out. He had faith in you. And as you stare at that smile, it slowly fades. And you can no longer remember that face or that smile or that sound.

And then you think to yourself for a minute, huh, I told a story. Yeah, I told a story. I don't need to worry about it. I would have loved to share a drink with that, man. Yeah. Who? We always, I always had peanut butter pie in case Paul Cole showed up. Who?

Who? Who? Who? Who? And you all think about this, and then collectively, you're, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Good story. Yeah, like I said, you know, no twist and turns. Frosty or, you know, Torbats.

And for the sake of brevity, you've had multiple trips on this stuff now, and it seems like your constitution has risen. And though you still feel that fire in the pit of your belly, you wait for the hallucinations to come. You feel a little dizzy at some point. You feel a little nauseous at others, but the hallucinations never come. And you begin to relax. Are you sure about that? And you feel comfortable as you watch as though the light doesn't increase the way that it did for Torback, it does pulse and blink.

It seems as if it was it accepted. But there's almost a hesitation about taking this memory. And you wait. And eventually, mid-conversation, you all fall asleep. You all become Gideon. Oh. You're welcome. Your visions begin to shift.

Get out at fan fiction. Nope. Sorry, continue. I'm good. Yeah, I'm gonna wait. Your visions begin to shift. You can smell fresh bread baking in the oven. The hearth crackles and the warmth of this cozy space sinks deep into your bones. You realize in an instant just how tired you are, how little sleep you have gotten.

The small couch that faces the hearth is a glow in the light of the fire. The patchwork quilt clearly sewn lovingly by hand, strewn across the warm arm of the couch, looks incredibly inviting. Your stomach rumbles, as new sense to sail you're not. The scent of stew, roast meats, fresh bread, and a cooling pumpkin tart, all intermingle and your hunger grows. Overcome with exhaustion and hunger, you snuggle beneath the quilt, far too inviting to decline its allure, and you close your eyes, listening for the sound of tiny feet traipsing about this place. The inn at the end of the road, Twigs home, your home away from home, is the epitome of comfort,

and there is no better place to rest your weary head and wait anxiously for your next meal. time slips away from you as you are wrapped in a comfort only a home can provide. Seconds turn to minutes, minutes to hours, hours to days. Sleep takes you for far too long, and then you wake abruptly. Your eyes try to adjust the darkness that surrounds you. What was that sound that woke you from your dreamless sleep? Was it the pattering of tiny feet on a rough-hewn floor? The sounds of pots and pans being shuffled about the kids,

Your breath comes out in puffs of smoke as you shiver in the cold. The couch beneath you is hard. The fabric scratching against your skin. The fire in the hearth long extinguished. She must be around here somewhere. You close your eyes again and listen, hoping for the familiar sound of your friend, the newest member of your found family. But the only sound that assails your ears is a soft scratching of a branch against glass.

The scratching gets louder and louder until you can feel it in your friend. until you can feel it in your very bones. And then a silence so loud, your breath catches in your throat. You shiver against the cold as you feel a fear that reaches the very pit of your soul. You pull the quilt up around your body, gathering all of the courage you can muster,

you open your eyes and you are once again looking at the roaring fire, bathes in its warm light. The couch beneath you is soft and fluffy. The smells of fresh baked goods surround you, and then you hear it. the sound of feet shuffling across the floorboards, glasses tinkling with the movement, the smells of fresh food getting closer and closer.

You lay back and snuggle deeper into the blankets, the strange nightmare having passed. You relax into the comfort of this place, the inn at the end of the road. With your eyes closed, you can feel her presence now. The tiny form of twig places a tray of food on your lap and wipes the sweat from your brow. You look so tired, Gideon.

You should eat and get some rest. She says to you in her sing-song voice you've found yourself missing more and more each day. Don't worry, she says as you feel her sink onto the couch next to you, the weight of her tiny body making quite the wave on this fluffy couch. She takes in a rattle breath and says, Let your baba take care of you while you rest, drink up and sleep. She holds the cup to your lips as you drink down a warm broth. The room around you chills again as the broth warm your bones from the inside.

You thank Twig for her hospitality. You feel her gnarled hand caress your cheek as your mind is clouded by sleep. You feel the heavy weight of her form, rise from the couch and the sounds of her shambling towards you, the clinking of glasses ringing in your ears. You open your eyes to see twig's sweet face staring down at you beneath a tattered brown shawl. Her eyes enlarged by her glasses, her cheeks rosy in the firelight. You smile up at her and she smiles down at you even more broadly, her iron teeth shining in the firelight. The cauldron behind her bubbles with a vivid magenta light. The entire room of her

hut is shrouded in magenta light. You can still hear that scratching sound. Looking past her, there's a large clay oven glowing with a huge spatula-like bread peel leaning up against it. There's a roaring fireplace with a cauldron bubbling, popping, and hissing within it. There's a wooden table that is set for dinner, several shelves line the wall, some filled with books that look impossibly ancient, marked in strange languages. Rows of herbs and reagents hang from the ceiling and rest on the shelves. A broom of silver birch leans up against one of the shells. What looks like a large stone basin is pushed to the corner

and leaned against it as a long wooden pole with a bulbous stone head. And all throughout countless knick-knacks and strange artifacts are placed about. A wooden totem carved in the shape of a pelican, its bill filled with wriggling fish and seashells. A set of bagpipes made from the multicolored digestive organs of strange creatures. the skull of a huge crocodilian creature with gems encrusted throughout, a wooden cage with a gaunt-looking sprite with chicken bone wings, a set of three unnecessarily spiraling hunting horns of increasing length, a spool of thread, shimmering silver that seems to glow in this space,

a rounded green bottle filled with plump red toad stools, a cluster of feathers that seem to be a light with varying shades of teal and yellow, a set of nesting dolls that seem to be the same woman but older with each larger doll. A jar with a live toad, its back covered in human-sized eyeballs. A ticking cuckoo clock on the wall that actually seems to be quite normal. But when it strikes the hour, the cuckoo comes out and shrieks for its child. The scratching sounds continue as you look around this cozy cottage. The plush couch is soft, the fireplace is roaring with a well-tended fire. Fresh bed, bread baking in the oven.

Wait, no. It's cold. The hearth isn't letting off much warmth. The sprite with the chicken bone wings is scratching at the window. No, there is no sprite. It's the sound of dried herbs hanging from the well-lit ceiling of the inn at the end of the road. A cottage, not a hut. Warmth and not cool fire.

You hear her in front of you again, your eyes heavy with sleep. You feel the cool porcelain glass pressed against your lips. You hear her speak. Let twig take care of you while you rest. Drink up and sleep. You pull the quilt up around you, unable to fight against the sleep as it overtakes you. You hear that scratching sound again.

The quilt tightens around you almost uncomfortably. You pry your eyes open one last time. The sprite with the chicken bone wings points and laughs at you, but you hear no sound. The room is hazy. The couch is hard and scratchy. No, the scratching is coming from the vines that wind around your body. One blue rose blooming against your chest as the thorns cut into your skin.

And then you all wake up. What in the fuck? Torbeck recognizes the silver spool of thread. Roll a perception check, a disadvantage. Damn. No twist may be used. No. Damn.

Torbeck says nothing. Oh! What does it mean? Frost. You attempt to put pen to paper, and every time you attempt to write, you feel as if something is, keeping your hand from moving.

You start to write a word, but you can't quite bring the tip of this carved writing utensil down to the page. Something stops you, prevents you, hold your hand at bay no matter how hard you try. I need you to roll an intelligent saving throw at disadvantage. Do we also take a level of exhaustion? And you also take a level of exhaustion.

Oh, my God. Cross's brain is about to and plowed upon itself? Indiligent saving throw? Mm-hmm. And no twists may be used. Thieck. Every time you attempt to write something,

you start thinking about something else that needs to be written down, and your mind starts to struggle as you're not sure where to start, how to begin, what to say, and then as you begin to think even more, you start to forget thing after thing after thing. Holy shitty's developing ADHD.

Until all of a sudden you're sitting there, And all you can smell, or all you can remember is the smell of a delicious pumpkin tart. Oh. Wait, Frost, what was that vision about? What do you write down? No, nothing. Torpec loves pumpkin. Oh, I remember that, too.

You wrote nothing down. What if they gave us the recipe to that pumpkin tart? Silo. Sybin, the vision that we just experienced, was it not good? Good enough story? Oh, I don't get to see what you see. I'm just here to facilitate and make sure you're safe. Though it was strange that green haze

that came about you emanating from that doll on your back. What? You're talking about Twazzy? Green Hays. It was almost like she was protecting you with something. I don't know. I'm not big on dolls myself, though I've read a few books about them.

Ha. The memory... Why don't I hear swan... Swan geese honking. There are no geese down here. Huh. All I can remember being shown is this... Is the experience of smelling a pumpkin dirt.

Oh, I would love a pumpkin tart right about now. It was a real... Oh, Silo, can you put that on the shopping list? Your grandma, maybe, used to make pumpkin tots back in the day, or... Oh, we didn't have any pumpkins out that way. I mean, maybe sweet potato. I don't know. This kind of smell like sweet potato.

Oh, sweet potato pie. Can I rate that's very yummy? The smell of pumpkin tart? Yeah. I'll write that. Well, I'm awful tired. Since mine isn't very emotional, and I'll feel like it's related to,

well, I don't remember Gideon's story, so it's not related. As you go to say that word, you, you, who can't get the words out, I don't remember a story. You start to say it and you're like, I just, I feel like it would be appropriate for my next. I feel like it's appropriate for some reason. That's right. I do remember here, that's right.

Sorry. Yes. Should I go now? Oh, that would be lovely. All right, let's do this. Gosh, you guys are looking tired. We better get through this as fast as we can. It's good. I'm in another here.

Okay. She fills up your cups. I feel very tired. Sprinkles the blue powder on top of them. of them and waits patiently for you to tell your story. I mean, you guys know that I've never told this to anyone, not even who can see. So this should be appropriate for the prompt. I've always really liked music.

And, you know, growing up, it was just me and my mom. And obviously, my uncles and cousins, but, you know, just at home, it was just me and me and my mom. And we were very poor. My mum, you know, she didn't have, she didn't make a lot of money. But I always, I went down, you know, when I was very young, when I was just a lad, we went down into the city in the Salt Marsh and saw a great concert and I knew right there that I wanted to be a musician.

And so I was so excited, I wanted to do hardcore, epic, cool rock music. I wanted to be a rock star, you know. I like every young lad. And I love music and I kept saying how much I want them. And my mum, she spent a full year working two jobs. And she spent every single copper piece that we had. I didn't know this at the time. I was a kid, I don't remember this, to import a piano all the way from break.

Piano. And to pay, to bring in a music teacher or tutor. And I hated it. I did it. But I did it because my mum told me that I had to. And I was very good at him. I was great. I was amazing.

The teacher, she said that I was the greatest, you know, student she'd ever had. And, you know, I just, more and more and more, you know, was, I got better. And I did practice, I did my lessons, I did, as she said. And then one time I just got made fun of for playing a lame instrument. And so I came home and I yelled at the teacher. I said, get out of here and she left the set of the lesson. And then I took the piano and I rolled it out of the house. I rolled it to the edge of the street and I shoved it into the swamp and I smashed it to pieces.

And when my mum came back, I thought she was going to be so mad when she found out I was going to be to fire. It's an arm of real musician. I'm a play note. So lame piano. And she wasn't angry. And I think that was the worst poem. She just said, okay, Cricko, you don't have to take your piano lessons anymore. It's over.

But that night, and for many nights afterwards, I'd hear her crying in the room. She had told me that I was so good that if I got good enough I could be playing in the classroom. courts of nobles and for fancy people and could finally have a little bit of money. And we never have spoken about it. I'll still, you know, when I get a chance to write me mom, we never talked about it again. Not once, never mentioned it. But, you know, I'll never forget

the sound of her crying and sniffling in a room. You say this as you hear the sound of her sniffling and crying in a room. And then nothing, just silence. The letters that never spoke of it again wouldn't. because in your mind, it never happened. Hmm. Oh. I told you it wasn't an emotional story, which is, you know, something that happened earlier, you know, it's slugged, you know.

You watch as all of the glasses illuminate, once again, in a very similar fashion to what happened with Gideon, where it almost seems as if there's a sadness about taking this memory. And it glows. You all drink up. And you wake.

The headache doesn't come this time. You're a little shaky, your heart's raced a little bit. Occasionally you feel a twinge of upset in your stomach, but it's not as bad as the last time. You're acclimating to this, and you know that you only have one more to get through. As you think about what's happened and you realize that so much of it feels shrouded and missing, and just as you think that, you're like, oh, no, that's not true. I remember the night perfectly. I don't need to get into the specifics.

I remember everything. Is all of you, all asleep? There's no. Yeah, I will when I change it. The opera house is all aglow. The lights and the sconces are as bright as they could be, as they flash once, twice, three times, signaling to the patrons in this place

that the show is about to start. The folks that are out getting concessions begin, begin milling are making their way back in the boxes begin to fill the there is uproarious sounds all of you are grippo all of you are seated in one of the best boxes in the author house you look down at the beautiful stage the woodwork around it is uh gilded gold and shimmering jewels encrusted in different pieces the painting along the ceiling is fresh you can almost still smell the paint the chandelier hanging there shines with the illumination of thousands of stars the lights slowly begin to dim hush falls over the crowd you look

out and you see that every single seat is filled people and creatures of every variety. Everyone has come out tonight for the show. The doors lock loudly. And people look, you hear some whispering, why would they lock the doors? Well, that's strange. What if I, what if I get a notification of my sending stone? Yes, why would they lock the doors? That seems strange. You see a couple people get up and attempt to open the door and they're ushered back by these, these strange bat-winged creatures, their faces covered in masks of the full moon as they usher them back to their seats.

You hear the soft voices, Everything's gonna be all right, miss. Take your seat, the show's about to start. Yes, yes, everything's all right. It's a first show opening night. The people calm and quiet returns as the curtains open, and you hear the tap, tap of heels on the stage is out on the stage in a large black dress. You see a woman you've

only ever seen in images. She's tall and lithe and her dress is voluminous around her. Endelen Moongrave, the third sister, stands atop the stage looking out at the audience before her. As the curtains open to reveal her, you notice that the curtains of her skirt begin to open too and a beautiful play. A puppet show begins to appear on a makeshift, a puppet cabinet at the base of her dress. As she begins to speak, thank you for coming to the opening night of the Yon Opera House.

Invitations from all around the Faye Wild have been sent to only those most deserving. And it is wonderful to see you here. They're so happy to have you. Please, enjoy the show. It will be a night you will never forget. She bows before all of them and everyone claps. Their gloved hands muffling the sound,

even though it erupts throughout this theater. Your vision shifts. Bits of the play unfold. You see a large bugbear type. man that looks very similar to someone you had met at the carnival as he performs as a lead in this opera and this play, his voice echoing throughout this place, rivaling many that you'd ever heard. You see a group of gnomes that perform on the stage singing in a choir. And then lastly, you see two beautiful elves, one with a sun mask, the other.

with a moon. As they do acrobatics and sing hanging from the ceiling, the audience is enchanted and thralled as they watch this. And as the elves move together, creating a solar eclipse as their masks pass the sun over the moon, you hear a shriek from the audience. The entire place begins to rumble. And then looking down at all of this from your seat in the box, She watched as one person after the next bursts apart, completely exploded into viscera, as a burst of sunlight erupts out of them, one person after another, after another, after another, after another.

You watch as Endelin walks out onto the stage, her arms and legs spindly and lies begin to grow larger and larger, almost spider-like as she moves, a smile across her face as she watches that the two elves hanging from the ceiling look horrified and pained at what's happening. But they can't stop themselves. She almost controls them like puppets. And you notice that she does, in fact, attached to her rings,

have strings that make them move at her command as every single one of the patrons bursts into blood and viscera, a sacrifice for the opera house, a sacrifice to the opening. As you feel that warmth grow in your stomach, you feel the pain as you too, explode and you all wake up. Jeez. Oh.

These are some bad mushrooms, man. This get getting worse and worse. Oh. Oh my God. It's hitting like a ton of bricks. That was terrible. Yeah. Fucking evil.

Four levels of exhaustion. Four levels of exhaustion. What the hell are we getting ourselves into? Fuck. And that's the next one. the next one? Oh, God. Hit point, Max, have...

Well, at least we can feel good about killing her when the time comes. You're not looking very good. No. Are you sure you can complete this? If we had any more, I'm not sure we would survive. I feel half my normal self.

at least. Should we continue? We're almost done, right? We only got crammy left, but I am spent. I don't know if we can fucking survive it. What do you think, fellas? If we do this, there's a chance that we may die or we will be unable to leave this place of our own accord for however long it takes

to recover. I've never felt like this before. Oh my God. Roll an intelligence check to see if you're able to retain that memory. I'm so tired. At disadvantage, 10. No, I'm not a disadvantage. Not this one. This one's not a disadvantage. Oh, really?

Yeah. Oh, you're exhausted, though. Exhausted. Oh, you're exhausted, yeah. You can use a twist on this one. It was just Gideon's. You couldn't. Can I use a twist? Use one twist.

Ooh. Oh. Eleven plus five to 16. You are able to write this one down. There are some aspects of it that you miss, specifically some of the play actors in the performance. But one thing that you do recollect after the fact is that every single one of the actors,

no matter how good they were at performing their part, all of them, to you in this recollection, you could see the sorrow behind their eyes, the shame and the guilt. I write that down? Mm-hmm. I think I've captured everything. What do we think?

Can we get only a hot Jones or... Once it's begun, it can only... We either finish it or we stop. There's no going back. No, we got to finish. We need to finish. All right. I think we got to do it.

Look. I know all of you, have been desperate to learn about us. She refills your drinks and sprinkles the powder on. You've been begging for a meat cute. I get it. I get it a meat cute. The hell are you talking about?

How? When two people meet in a faint, kissed way, it's called a meat cute. You never heard of that? Why'd you go to Meat Kew? I don't know. I didn't fucking invent it. Two people meet.

Maybe it's a cute way to meet. Oh my gosh, I read a lot of books with Meat Kutes. It's my favorite part. I personally really like enemies to lovers. That's my favorite, but, you know, friends to lovers is also really good. It was a turn-in-

I understand what you were talking about. Well, it was an important part of my life and turning part of my life, and I think I'm going to fucking tell it. It was an important part of Torbeck's life, too! What do you think, Gid? You ready? Are you talking about meeting me?

Let me set the scene. Can you even tell that story? Aren't I in it? I'll allow it. I was a younger lizard folk back then. And I had left my homestead in the Whippewallo Swamp to move to the big city. And it's all I wanted. I was fucking sick and tired of being poor, being broke, catching frogs, eating frogs. But I could cook and I knew that if I put my talents to use in Agway, that maybe I could make something to myself.

And so I went. And I moved to the city. And I found our jobs. And finally, I got a job as a cook down in the crawdad quarter. I would make all sorts of gumbos and that two fays and po-boys and anything else. The low class of Ague liked to eat. You know, a lot of gnomes. But all sorts of folk would come in. It's my establishment.

And worked with a couple of people. Bullywugs who I knew did some moonlight and then sometimes, you know, they'd have sort of remnants of weird face paint on their fucking faces. I didn't really get it. But it was late one night, I was cleaning up. And one of the bully wugs I worked with gave me a tip. He said that there was a drifter coming into town. A drifter that, uh, drifter that, uh, drifter that, uh, uh, drifter that, uh, you know, probably didn't have any family, probably had no connections. And if he was robbed and disappeared, no one would notice. And despite my employment, I needed the money because my tastes were on the rise from

The clothes I was trying to wear to the liquor I was trying to drink, it got fucking expensive. And I spent every fucking copper piece I had. So I decided, why not? Let's do it. So he told me that he knew this drifter was going to be in Old Agway Cemetery. When the moon was at it, Zenith. And so I closed up shop. He went on ahead. I locked up.

And I went to the edge of the crawded corner to where it basically ruined shacks, ruined huts. And there were the rustian gates of the cemetery, old Agway Cemetery. I started to slink through and eventually I made my way to a crypt. And there were flames. pillars of fire didn't make any sense all the way out here in the fucking Agway Cemetery

and I saw shadows dancing on the wall and then I rounded the corner and there it was a mountain of a man six and a half feet tall big fat cigar in his hand with a broad grin on his face

slick back hair I smiled at the side of it. And then he opened him's mouth and I heard him speak. And I cast my cane and use minor illusion. Now, real gambling man. I understand I have the similar proclivities. Now you understand, you see you have a problem, my friend. You just gave up before your luck finally came in.

When in that big hand, you can give up now and you came to the right place. All you need to do is be introduced to my good friend, the Baron, and he will turn your luck around, not just in coin. What is it you desire? What does your heart desire, even its darkest, deepest recesses? Oh no, I assure you, my friend. I am a humble fisherman that's found his own bit of luck, and now I own this town, you understand, boy.

All you need to do to get that desire is to shake my hand. Oh, what it'll cost you? Nothing much. How about what do you got on you? One gold coin, what do you say, boy? I thank you kindly. And now, how about you shake my hand, and we will both be good acquaintances of the Baron, and your luck will turn around?

What's the hesitation? Won't you please shake a porous in his hand? And that's when I heard the ominous jazz as he twisted and contorted and some terrible monster of the night. He shambled off into the swamp, but that was the first time. I laid eyes on Mr. Remiguru. Oh, I knew my fate had turned around. My luck was on the up and up.

I threw myself down on the ground and introduced myself as Cremely LeCrew, and I begged for a job. I had admired this man for so much in my life, and I knew now the power he was capable of. And in that moment, he welcomed me into his circle, gave me a job at the hungry catfish,

and the rest they say is history. And it was. As you think back on all of this, it feels to you almost as if it was written by and for someone else. And just like any boring book that you've read in the past, you quickly forget it. There's somebody else's story now, no longer yours. As the pages of this history book are blank, you think to yourself, wait a minute, what was that tune?

What was that, that jazz song you liked so much? Oh, it doesn't matter. You'll remember it again later. Told a story, right? Yeah, you did. And you all feel that way as you think about Crummy's story for a moment and then realize, oh, yeah, yeah, he told a story just like the rest. Yeah, it was a good one, right? But we're so exhausted. There's no time to really think about it as the light this time glows brighter and brighter and brighter. You wait for that sick feeling your stomach to come, but the warmth doesn't even come this time.

You have imbibed so much of this now that it is almost coursing through your veins. And you all fall unconscious, significantly faster than before. You are all crummy. lightning crackles overhead. A fine misting of rain dusts your coat as you look out across the water. The unicorn lays on the grassy embankment. Its head hanging low in sorrow. You call out to it.

Mr. Unicorn, can you hear me? But whether it can hear you or not, it does not lift its head. You step toward the water's edge and immediately you see nothing but a pure white light. Your vision gone as you stare at nothing but the, this blinding light. Your head begins to pound. You can feel the blood pumping in your veins, rushing to your head.

Streaks of red shoot across your vision like tendrils, like vines. Red lines reminiscent of the lightning overhead mere moments ago. Split the blinding white light that clouds your vision. Vane, like the red, veins like the red lines, throb and pulse. All you can see is red and white.

red and white. Red and white. The red lines begin to move, to snake, to change. They form a circular pattern, ever chasing each other from bigger to smaller to smaller still until they begin to fall like petals against the blinding white light. You blink your eyes trying to clear away the red and the white, but all you can hear is a ringing in your ears. You smell smoke in the faint scent of fresh rain. The ringing softens as the white turns to red, and you hear you hear. hear something, the falling of rain or the flapping of wings. In your blindness, you pat at your body and it is no more damp than it had been minutes before. There's that sound again.

The sound begins to roar in your ears as the ringing returns. Your head is pounding. Your blood is pumping. Your skin is tingling. The red, the clouds your vision slowly begins to melt away and the ringing in your head is once again replaced with the sound of flapping wings. You blink away the tears that are now forming along your lash line. Red, tears or blood. Your vision slowly returns to you as you realize that you were

laying prone on the ground. Your coat smells of smoke and the edges are singed and smoldering. A large hole has been ripped as if by electricity through the very length of your top hat. That's sound again, the flapping of wings. You slowly turn your head and look across the water. The world shrouded in a haze of red. The unicorn stands at the edge of the water, flapping, its massive wings. No, not a unicorn. Pegasus. And then, but for an instant,

the creature shifts and changes its body replaced by that of a massive white barn owl. It flaps its wings once, twice, 13 times, and then you blink and you see the unicorn forlornly staring into the crystal water as your eyes flutter. The ringing returns to your ears, and the flapping of wings again,

and then you fall unconscious. And that is where we'll end the session. Oh, my God. What? Tunt, Tung. Thanks for running the session. Thank you. You're welcome.

You're welcome. I have too many questions. Oh, that's fun. That is one superb owl. That is a superb owl. That's pretty funny. The greatest of all the owls. Thank you so much for listening to the Legends of Aventra's podcast.

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