Legends of Avantris - Stardust Rhapsody: Anthem | Ep. 25 | Light Years: Part: 2

Episode Date: June 5, 2026

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Ophelia, behind you, the raucous noises of nexus repossessions interrupting your carefully planned out vacation. In front of you, the glittering oceans and tropical islands stretching out, paint the most beautiful backdrop to a familiar sight. Five people approach you from the water. At the front, you see Pike and Red. You've got to be kidding me. Of all the beaches, you end up on this one. How's it going, Athelia? Well, could be better.

Could be worse. Got a drink in my hand. They haven't taken that yet from me. I'm shouting back at them. What's going on here? Money troubles? There was a little. misunderstanding. I apparently slipped on from a payment somewhere along the way and I'm sure to get

sorted out. I just... Careful with that. Careful! Do you know how much that cost? Two robots go by with a giant carved statue of Ophelia as they move it into a into a cargo, uh, cargo hauler. Looks like that ain't yours anymore. Oh, they just finished it. It was perfect. Real sick fuck is gonna win that in an auction. Thank you for that. You're welcome. Thank you for stealing all of our notes. And probably for half of what it's worth, too.

Which isn't a lot. Nope. No, serene. No. As happy as I am to see this merry band, what are you all doing here? What are we doing? I hate to admit it, but we have to talk.

I can't possibly imagine what we have to talk about. talk about. Yeah, you can't even begin to guess. We're not coming for our share. All right. We're not worried about that. Well, that's good news because it's gone. Clearly. Yeah, there's nothing left to take. But we need your help. And Pai thinks you have the skills or the knowledge or both to help us.

But first, how did you manage to blow through all? those notes. That's really impressive actually. Yeah, even for you. Well, you know how I am. It's a party here, a mansion or two there. New ship, new clothes. That statue cost a pretty penny. Please, that you say, easy come, easy go. Unbelievable. I mean, it makes perfect sense, yeah. Oh, God, not the fur boots. I love those. Oh, come on, please. And maybe somewhere a little bit more private, we can talk. Are they taking the house, too?

Or can we go inside? I'm sure they haven't changed the locks yet. I mean, you're going to get the way. I mean, they're just trying to do their jobs. Let's just enjoy the beach while we have it. That one, it smashed a diamond against the wall. Of the jade plate. Oh, God.

I can't take this. Not my things, my beautiful things. by beautiful things. You know what I had to do for those? Well, I mean, yeah, we were there too. Well. We were there. We were all there. We almost died.

Most of us almost died. Yeah, no, we did. We did almost die. Look, danger's just all around us. It's something you have to put up with. It's just money, right? Passing between friends. If we agree, no hard feelings.

Are you willing to hear us out? Well, what else am I going to do? I guess that's a good point. Are you like done? You're evicted. I mean, Nexus just has everything. Well, I've got a few things stashed away here and there, but... As you start answering the beach chair that you're on, lifts about three feet off the ground, as you turn around and you see a robot, and a grab laser connects to the chair

as it starts to turn and twist in the air and dump it into the sand. But you're dumped down into the sand. Oh, fuck. Unbelievable. Back to the cargo trial. Wow, they're taking everything. What did I tell you about Maxis? Yeah, you weren't kidding.

Here, come on, get up, and I'll offer you my hand. I'll take it. Look, this is serious, we have to talk. What kind of trouble have you gotten into now? It's not going to. and I'd prefer if we don't have this conversation where any prying ears might hear us. Well, I wouldn't go into the house.

It's swarming. How about we take a walk? We got all this beautiful beach in front of us. Yeah. Man, I'm glad I dressed for the occasion. I flex a little bit. Do we have to? I mean, surely there's like a boardwalk where we can sit down and get some frock.

and maybe some pizza and some soda and some other and some chicken wings and some some chips. I look around. Is there any boardwalk or is this class like rich person? No, this doesn't seem to be a mile mansion. Oh yeah, absolutely. This seems to be an extremely large slice of private beach and the closest structure you can even see is what looks to be a similar similar style dwelling, if not two miles down the beach. I just let the

ferry back. We'll go to the city. We can find a boardwalk there and food. We don't have to walk in the sand. I told you not to wear your sneakers in the beach and your shorts. I'm not prepared. What are the size of those calves?

You're telling me you're not prepared for this? Those are nice calves, actually. Son of a pitch. Just live a little. You love it. I'm stuffing my socks in here. These aren't a tape. These aren't to take.

These are mine. These are not hers. Yeah, I mean, I would try to basically take Rett's advice here and lead some sort of a walk down the beach here and kind of lead us away from the repossessions that are happening and just kind of walk along the beach until we have a little bit of quiet. You do so. The group of you start to make your way down this beautiful stretch of perfectly like white, almost perlessence sandy beach, the crystal clear water on your left, beautiful

tropical trees rising up on your right as the clamor starts to fade behind you from the repossession. Look, here's the deal. You know that we've been on. the tail of the Don and this whole red line thing for a long time and obviously that's when our paths crossed at the casino once we were able to get close enough to the Don some things happened we learned you know he mentioned that he was gonna turn this this new drug Bado right we found out that there was a connection with the red line and ultimately that there was somebody over the Don the viceroy this guy is bad news real bad news

He's not just some guy. We have reason to believe in proof that he's... I look around. Discord. Discord. Yeah. We've managed to get ourselves mixed up into some real serious shit. Well, you always manage to, but what could make you possibly think that?

Look, I'm happy to show you the proof. I'm happy to walk you through it, but right now you just have to trust what I'm saying. All right. We got a back on the rap thing. Got a horrible fucking hell device. He won't let me smash him. It makes me want to puke. It makes you puke.

No, it makes me want to puke. Oh, yeah. Well, okay. Look, you know as well as any of us do that this guy's basically untouchable. And if we're going to take him on, we need some way to harm him. Why would you bother? Why would you even want to take on something like that? This won't end until he's dead.

Really dead. We've got targets on us for everything that we've done so far. And the bounty will help us pay off all of our debts. We're deep in the hole. The bounty's huge, right? You're broke, just like us. Look, if we want to speak your language. So it's about money.

Well, I want to get Red Line or any fucking derivative off the streets out of the fucking galaxy right but there's some kind of patron that's funding these bounties for the guilds and i don't know who it is but they know that the don wasn't the source of this and it sounds like the bounty for turning in for killing the viceroy is going to be immense and so if you want a share of that bounty, your fair share one-sixth, then I can promise you that. And I'll leave you with more than a fucking poker chip.

And... Sorry about that. Yeah, I can tell how broken up you are about it. At the end of the day, you're the only person I know that has high enough clearance within the society to know anything about this. Had clearance. I know some things, but I mean, it's... I'm not part of that.

anymore. It's all my family's still. But, uh, I mean, you have the history, right? I mean, you've dealt with discordant before or at least know about it. That's what Pike said. I was trained for it, yes. I grew up, preparing for that. I had some inside knowledge, but it's been a long time.

I mean, how does it all sound at the very least here? We're offering you a cut, and look, We're going to do some good. We're going to fix this. Tell me that's got to be enough to entice you here. While they're having this conversation with you, it occurs to you. It's not just the money. It's not just the potential to be good.

But you were a high-ranking, relatively high-ranking member in Polaris, a team leader. Pike carried out certain missions. You were a cut above. You know of discord. You know of discordant. You've dealt with it before. This is an extremely prominent thing, even for a Polaris member to be able to take down. And should you align with this mission, not only is there the promise of a potential payout of notes,

but it would occur to you that this may possibly be a way back in if that's something you should choose to see. All right. So, refresh me, how? Many notes are we talking? They didn't say, but I promise you it's a lot more than you have now. It's your name. All right. As long as we can all agree, no hot feelings from before, I'm sorry for what I did.

Are you really sorry? Yes. It was real easy for you to say, oh, man, you guys are great. I might join the crew. I might give your bet, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, your good buddy, Pike, a little smooch, rekindle something. You implied it. You implied it. Oh, come on.

Listen. And then... You're sweet, sweet people, but... We were making you a drink, a mixed beverage. And you decided, you tell us you're going to go talk to your fiancé. Oh, by the way, he's a lie. We thought he died. He's gone. We don't know. Yeah, but he was naked at the time.

That sounds like... How do we know that you're not... gonna betray us again well yeah I fluffed your pillow I got your pajamas from a slumber body and it's it's all very sweet but I have to understand that I've I've been on my own for a long time and I have certain I like things a certain way so it was a little overwhelming for me to join into this big family ship that frankly is a little couple stars below my usual residence. Oh, bye, well, I mean, you just could have said as much

and they're not stolen from us and left. I could have, but I didn't. And I'm sorry for that. How about this? I'll find a way to make it up to you. You help us kill this viceroy piece of shit, this demon that has his lock on pixel? That's me.

It'll all be. Bigons. And we'll give you 5%. 5%. 5%. Oh, uh... I was already offered a 6th.

Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hold on. Who said a 6th? I mean, I sort of do. Damn it, man! Well, it's fair. That's so unlike you. I mean, if she's pulling her way... You know Quimbley was going to have a fucking

quarter of this shit. You know that? Quibbley. I was gonna give a glup a 25% as it's fair. Double fuck, glup! Fine. How about shit? I can't go back. I hate to break up this lover's quarrel, but you need me.

One sixth it is. Wait a minute. Before you shake on it, you haven't told us how we're gonna even get to this guy. Ziggy discovered with his amazing, very quick hacking abilities that this vice for a guy cannot be harmed by any standard web. We're talking gravity, we're talking lasers, we're talking plasma, we're talking explosives, we're talking frags, and not punching in the face.

I have a whole PowerPoint presentation. And I'd love to see that later. Yeah, absolutely no, absolutely no, like a bludgeoning, or piercing, or a slashing, or all. Basically all the types of damage, they're right here. Discord takes a special. type of power to burn it down. How can we find this power?

Oh, this sounds so cool. But that might peak your interest. My family has been part of the Hilaris Society. I assume you've probably told them about that. Yeah, they're aware. Yes. Yeah, we know everything now. No more secrets.

Sure. I agree with this slightly. My family has, some technology that is helpful in situations like this. Some ammunition that can help bring down a discordant. So all we have to do is get that. Well, where do we get it from? Well, from my family's estate.

Oh, well, that's easy then, right? You just walk in there, you just grab it and then we go. Well? Hickups here and there. I haven't been home in a while. You just drink some water and then you turn upside down and spin around a couple of times. They'll go away real quick. I wish it was going to be that easy.

We've got to get to my family's estate and make it into the vault. That's where they keep this technology. So if you're up for a little bit of travel, then we can go. It's on Sathara, the estate. It sounds easy, right? I mean, it sounds really easy. I mean, it sounds barely an inconvenience. You're being cagey.

Why does it sound like we have to steal from the vault? That's your family's all! That's ridiculous! It's not stealing. It's, it's borrowing. It's not stealing. I just haven't seen Mummy in a while. Oh, here we go.

I told you. Oh, oh, oh, oh! Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh. Yes. Ms. Ophelia, is your mom hot? I'm not going to answer that. Oh, fuck. That's a yes.

Why is that a yes? When they refuse to answer it's a question. Guaranteed yes. It's a guarantee. See, he's even singing those. Look, frankly, I don't give a fuck. Nice, nice, nice. How we do it.

You know, if you're going to help us and you're going to earn your share, then we'll travel wherever we need to. So if you just... I think it'll be fine. and she's, I'm sure she won't even be home this time of year. Oh, how come? Well, she's busy with society things.

As functions all this time of year. She'll be gone, we'll be in and out. It'll be fine. We'll get what we need and take care of this person, the viceroy. And you'll help us all the way through? Until he's taken care of. I will help you all the way through.

I'll have to. This ammunition is designed, Especially for the type of rifle that I use. Of course. I hear you listen to this. Well, I mean, she's earning her one six. See, I made a fair judgment on that, Pike. You needed me.

All right. I was strained for this. She's got the training. She got the ammunition. You're the one who'd be able to take the shot and take him out for good? Yes, I could do it. He's got the technology?

That's huge. Well, I guess that means that your sniper rifle as an ode to the Nexus Consortium? It's stored on my ship, which I won in the game chance, and so it's not registered under my name. They haven't come for it yet, and I suspect if we leave quickly,

they won't come for it. I knew you had something scrolled away. You guys want to see an unlicensed registered firearm? That's a black market shit. That's fucking cool. I mean, yeah, it's all right. It's okay. Yeah, no, it's cool. It's fine.

I guess we don't have a choice. I guess we'll begrudgingly shake on it. We've got room in the bay for it, right, Red? I'm feeling quite begrudgingly. Yeah, well, I mean, I had room for wrecks a ship, so yeah, she can just have that slot. No, she parched your ship on the Rhapsody when you scammed us. You fit all your fucking chips and coins and gems and bars and ingots. I thought we were letting this go.

Well, it's a complicated process, okay? Hold on a second. Do we got to give her the slime room? Room. I can tell you now I'm not going to stay in a slime room. No, you already have the slime room. There's no slime room. No, Ophelia, you got to take down the flight simulator, Zix. Why?

But it's hard. It requires this really specific wrench. Oh, really? That's his excuse. Brilliant. Is it called the hard? I can't gargit. Yes.

I'm sure I have that rich. Well, it's got a touch screen now. The hell does a wrench in your touch screen? It doesn't. It's just an L. What the fuck? It's always there that too long or too short? Yeah, I don't know.

Why do they do that? All right. Only because Pike is willing to forgive you. And Brett is willing to trust you. That's the only reason why we're going along with this. But if you have our back, I guess we'll have your own. Because you need me. But yes, I have your back.

This could be good for me. Why? Like you said last time. And that's the last I'll fucking speak of it. That's Walter under the bridge. We're all good here. You can have the room that Rex was sharing. Can I throw in one condition?

Has it been clean? Yes. It's been deeply thorough. Yeah, but we didn't remove that weird shrine to Ophelia from the corner though. Oh, he had a shrine. Smash cut. Oh, horrible dark corner radiating humble energies.

Yeah, he did have a shrine now that I think about it. Yeah, it was really kind of sticky, so we left it. What? Oh my God. He somehow got his hands on the 65 gallon tub of loop. I think it's down to like 24. Yeah. No, I'm subtract five every time we mention it.

We're at 50. We're okay. Okay, okay. There's no like Rex Maxim multiplier. No, no, okay. Oh my God. Okay, 50. I'm making a note here, 50.

So what do you need left here? Anything? Can we just get on with this? Because it's not your stuff anymore. I mean, those robots are doing a really good job carrying it away. They're very, very efficient. Mip, whip, whip, mope. Adapt things.

If you have your rifle and your ship somewhere else, I mean, do you need, like, clothes or anything else you need to take? I mean, we can give you some time. You know, I can get the hanger ready for you. Do I get the sense that these robots would become violent if I tried to? Based on my experience, they're easily killed. Not based on Rett's experience. I think you get the sense that if,

If you were trying to take something that was in the process of being Nexus repossessed, that it would turn poor. I think I'm fine. Well, and I'm willing to forgive you, even forgive you. I'll work with you, I will swallow that bitter pill. Ophelia. You broke my good buddy's heart.

You swind all this out of your money, you lied to us. You even like hurt Rex Maxim, who we've all grown, a strange resentment but pity for. But I will put all of that behind us if you could just introduce me to your mind. I don't even need a, I don't even a recommendation, I just need an intro. For what purpose?

I just want to talk to her. I just want to talk to. Well, that's all I ask. As I said, she likely won't talk to her. be at the state, but... No, I don't mean, I don't mean soon. I mean eventually when this is all over. That's all I need.

I'll owe you... Just an introduction. Can I be there? No. Oh, okay. I'll shake my hand. No. No, you can, no, you can...

Ophelia. No, you can be there, but... Do you have a cool ship name? I've been working on mine for 49 days. I can't think of a cool name, but I bet you have a really cool name like the throne of endless slaughter. I wish I thought of it was going.

Do you? Hey, I want to hear more about it. My ship's called the Daphne. Oh. Well, that's, okay. That's a great name. That's a cool name, but... I mean, it's not as cool as Thunderfang,

but... Thunderfang? Not much is, to be fair. Yeah. It seemed fitting to me. I've been brainstorming for a while. Folks beauty and love and... You have to name your ship?

Yeah. All good ships need a name. It's good luck. If you care to. I mean, that's why I named the Rhapsody. Oh, I just thought that was its model. No, no, that was me. I mean, the barge, I didn't bother.

It just sort of is what it is, you know. It does what it says on the 10, so you could just say like, The Starship. Pixel ship, no. No, you got to have something cooler than that, Pix. Picks, no. I made a lip. The Apocalypse Bringer, for example.

No? No? The Hellcore Ultra Blood Strike. Can I roll on this table? Absolutely. Yeah, then can I do it? I got a 6. Let me know if I need to re-roll.

Oh, no, no, no, no. Six is the gigabit, but then it goes up to terabit, and then we're going to skip that one, and then it goes up the X a bit, and then the Yada bit. Any of those sound good? How do you spell Y-A-B-B-I-T? Y-O-T-A-B-I-T.

Oh. I thought it was gonna be yacht like yacked. No, no, it's just yada. Yada bit. No, that's weird. We roll, you roll too. Oh, I got a natural 20. Oh, you got a natural 20?

The deleter, but with all threes. What do you think? Right? You know, normally. You know, but isn't that more like that Megadeth person? Yeah. I mean, they already take the three? I mean, I don't know.

Deleter's pretty fucking cool. Deleater's pretty good, right? I gotta like the leethearts. I don't hate it. It's not my style, but it feels very you know. Well, can I at least roll so you can tell me mine does it win? Yeah, yeah, yeah. I got an eight.

You got an eight, the ultimate murder Nova Razor. Oh, I could name my ship then. Does Razor have an O in it? No, it's a zero. Oh, I knew it. Oh, man. We'll talk, we'll talk. I'm going to keep working on it.

I don't know how to name a ship. Just think on it. Sometime you're going to feel something that really resonates with you. What if I give it a bad name? And then it hates me for the rest of its life. It doesn't work like that, Picks. That's exactly right. That's what happens when you name your kids.

Yeah, but vehicles like my bike, they're better than kids. Well, you name your ship, wait, which one's Dunderfam? Dunderfeng. Which one? Well, my ship, but it's also my bike. Do you have both named Thenters? Yeah, I didn't name my bike. because developing attachments to think people, places, and things is a little tough for me.

Yeah, I know, but how do you tell him a boy? It's the same thing, man. We're going to have some time to think about it. Ophelia, how far away is it to your family's planet? Yeah, how far is it? You would think about, Corey, you'd have probably a better guess to plot the course back on the Rhapsody, but your best estimation would be anywhere between five to eight days. A week, give a tea.

All right, so we'll have a week to plan it all out. Has anyone seen my shoes? Hey! Hey, no! I jarred off. Well, you do what you need to do. Just, you know where the Rhapsody is. Just fly the Daphne in, and I'll get you sorted.

I'll see you there. I appreciate you coming. to me. I think I maybe needed this. Well, we're in quite a lot of trouble and you're the only one who might be able to bail us out, so here we are. I can't believe you came all the way here. Why didn't you just call? Well, to be honest with you, we didn't exactly exchange contact information before you stole from us, and beyond that had been over a decade, so what do you want me to say? I want you to say you'll call. next time.

Noted. I'll meet you with the ship. Yeah, man, poor Ziggy, huh? Picks. Losing your shoes has got to be as painful as having to have sex with Rex Maxim. I turn around and walk away. I turn around and walk away and I go back to me. I'm trudging back to the grass. In the background, you can see Ziggy's been picked up and he's just being flipped over and over by two grab when he comes up.

Yeah, yeah, exactly. Exactly. As you go to take your shoes, they lift you up in the air and they bounce you. I did not get my shoes back. Very. Yeah, no. In canon, put that in fucking winking. Are you walking around on the, no, you put your socks in your shoes. I wish you'd been walking around in your socks. And they're just covered in sand.

Your cargo shorts pockets are filled with wet sand and sea shells. Yep, yep. Yep. Yep. You all head back to the Rhapsody. Ophelia, you trudged just a little bit into the tree line of this, lush tropical section of the island that you're on. And it's not long, it's a very short walk. You like to keep it close by until you come upon the Daphne. You walk up to it with its almost twin wings as they curve forward, smooth and pristine to the touch as you run your hand along them,

as the central jut out for the cockpit approaches you. And you definitely leap up as you take your seat. and it will come to life gracefully with a smooth precision as you rise just above that tropical tree line and you blast off towards the Rhapsody ready to take Doc once more. And you'll find yourselves, everyone will make it back, you'll find yourselves for a moment in the hangar bay as Ophelia comes in, the ship finds familiar mooring in the grav docks just to the side and it'll sink in until the cockpit opens once more and you leap out.

You can't help but remember the last time you were standing exactly where you were and the single poker chip left in the middle of the, almost in the middle of the hangar bang until you all Start towards the next adventure. All right, you've gotten the tour before. You need it again. I remember things, thank you. Hangar, this is the room that you were gonna have. This is where Rex stayed.

It's all yours again. And to make it fancy for you, we'll go to the Hell Hole and add some little cocktail umbrellas. Would that make you feel a little bit fancier? I don't think I saw the Hellhole on the last tour. Oh, it's our bar. It's so fucking cool. I could use a beer.

Oh. Yeah. In that case, show the way. It's in the lounge. Yeah, okay. I got some little umbrellas. Okay. Can you help me hang up some twinkle lights?

Yeah. Okay. Are they cool metal twinkle lights? Huh? Like heavy metal twinkle lights? No, they're little, like they kind of look like shooting stars. Oh, like twinkle, twinkle,

little stars? Yeah. Yeah, like twinkle lights. You know, I think it might. You know, and they go, they go do, do, do, do it's like a, it's like a, they follow each other and they've got all kinds of colors.

stuff and you're really pretty and and and I love them like an understated light show I'm in okay let's do it I I I get everyone a drink at the hellhole and I fancy it up a bit for Ophelia drinks are there jukebox is there if you're in the video games you can play those here and kitchen's up over that way we're out of ham and cheese hot sprockets but I think there might be a few ranch lovers hot sprockets I just shake my head in Ophelia and I'm buried in the back of the freezer I don't think anybody likes those but they're terrible even though I wouldn't eat those we're gonna play a pretty meal on the beach but thank you we're gonna play silver nose later the new Thomas link game

oh look yeah no I found a hot chocolate you know covered in frost and it might be a little bit old but you could have this one that is so sweet I'm gonna hold off for now and stripped it. Yeah, yeah, exactly. But it's, but it's, it is completely. The microwave is ruined. There are sections you can never

clean off. Completely frivolity. When it's frozen, the ranch, it looks like it's an actual thing. You think there might be cheese in there? There's no. There's no chance. My favorite part of Silver-nose Thomas Link is that Kelsey's genuine confusion is, is role play appropriate for Appropriate

Gallos. We'll explain later. Do you have a favorite video game? I mean, we have a pretty big library, and if you like to play, then we can play what you want, because it's your first time here. That's so sweet. I don't have a favorite, but I'm sure that you can just show me, you know, whatever your favorite is. Well, uh...

You seem like it'd be really good at video games. Thank you. Damn. I'll show you the wall. I just like, I trip into the library. I just crash and do it. And we've got, I pulled it out. I'm basically going to just sip a drink while he goes,

look at this one. Yeah. Yeah. Uh-huh. And here's the limited edition bottle of restaurants. With cold beer in hand after choosing Co, I'll walk over and feel it and say, look, it's going to be a week.

So hang in there. And if you need anything, let me a retinae, okay? Thank you. You've been very accommodating. Yeah. Hey, we're setting a course for Sathera. And you punch in the course. You take back to the stars, settling into the ether waves.

The Rhapsody has that familiar almost wake to it as you cruise off to your next destination. You spend about a week amongst the stars. before eventually you arrive at Scythera. You arrive at Sathara and see beautiful hills covered in equal parts greenery and arid rock formations. Beautiful homes dot the hilly landscape. And Ophelia guides you towards a sprawling manse

with various courtyards and towers, with rounded roofs. This estate is large enough to have its own landing pad that you're able to set down upon. You make your way to the large double door at the mansion entrance, filigree with beautiful decoration, and adorned with statues of Gorgonites, birds, and other beautiful visages. Ophelia presses a button on the panel beside the door. It's not long until a loud beep and the doors open. Within the foyer stands an elderly Ammonite dressed in the typical uniform of a butler. His fungal colors are fairly. monochromatic with a fungal mustache on his upper lip, almost in the form of Morel caps. He looks at you with a mild, non-plus stare, and Belvedere, your family's butler, greets you.

Welcome home, Mistress Ophelia. Belvedere, how are you? I'm well, thank you for asking. Your mother does wish you would call, however. I'm sure she just didn't get my messages. You know how things are. Roll deception, Jack. I look at Co. When I hear this comment,

we're not calling her own mother. After the comment she made to me, I just kind of give you a look. He knows I'm clearly lying. Of course, mistress, that must be the case. He bows a little, nods his head down as you speak, as he takes you into the foyer of your grand, your grand home.

And this is exceptionally large and impressive. Any of you walking in here would be not stunned, but certainly you would have thought Ophelia came from potentially a nice family, a nice home, as you'd heard stories from Pike. But this is a little beyond. Is Mommy home? I'm afraid the madam is out of the manner for the foreseeable future.

What a shame. What a shame, Mr. Belvedere. Yes, quite. And how long do you plan to stay, Mistress? I have been so rude, Belvedere. Forgive me. These are my friends, and we've come to stay for, I don't know, just maybe a few days, a little relaxing jaunt home.

Can I smoke in here? It is not preferable, but a guest of the mistress may do as they please. I know. I understood. Mr. Belvedere, great end to go. Pleasure to meet you. Cat mother rhapsody. We're here just visiting and enjoying this lovely home.

Thank you, Ophelia, for the invite. Yeah. Thanks. Of course. I've heard a lot of great things about the family. Uncle. Oh, hello. I've never had rich friends before, so this is awesome.

And to your friends, mistress, what can I get all of you? Please. Is it true that you can't react if I like try to touch you? I've told you that. Don't do that. Mistress, it seems as though you keep a new sort of compliment. Oh my God. Oh, that must have been something else.

Sorry, I didn't know, sorry, that must have been something else. Co. Starts the wall. The way turns right. They are new friends, new friends. I think maybe if you could just prepare some of the guest suites, and I'll show them around the estate. As you wish, mistress, I will prepare the sweets. Take your leave, of course.

of your home, wherever you may go, we will bring along refreshments shortly. I appreciate it, Belvedere. It's good to be home. It is my pleasure to greet you, Mistress. It has been so long. It has. All right.

This is the house. Make yourselves comfortable. Is the house somewhere inside of this gigantic thing that we're in right now? I don't know how to... to that. They're not used to large complexes like this one.

Manors and mansions and that sort of thing. I don't know, is this like a government building or like a large, a university or something? This is all one house. What do you mean? This is all one house we're in right now. It's where I grew up. Yes. Well, a family. And then and their support network. Even Mr. W didn't have a house this big. This is like a wedding venue. Well, there have been, you know, events over the years, but it's not just for living. I trained here as well. For what?

To become part of the society. We have training grounds and armories, all sorts of things. Wow. Wow. It's better to have it at home. It cuts down on commute time. Wow. Well, you're here.

You have a pool? Oh, yes, of course. Do you have a hot tub? Yes. I mean, like how much for you're talking about hot tubs, I really kind of wanted to do. try one. Do you have a music studio? Probably.

Well, certainly. Of course. Plains, are you dumb? I mean, sorry. I'm not, you know, you're really pretty, so... Thank you. But, like, are you dumb? People have their reasons for leaving stuff like this all the time. You know, you get bored of the hot tubs and the music rooms and the stages and stuff. She doesn't have to explain. That's impossible. No, whatever...

You're kidding? It's stupid. It happens. I'm just saying, you know. Okay. Wow. Sometimes circumstances change. And home life can get a little uncomfortable. I didn't know that to be true. And you'll have to forgive at least four of us. You know, we didn't necessarily grow up with too much.

So, you know, some of the manners or ways of speak, interacting might be over our heads. So, you know, don't feel bad if you need to correct us. Like the cigarette thing or otherwise. I grew up in a one bedroom above a convenience store, so it was very tight for a whole family. So this is a lot of space. Room for activities. Everything's going to be fine. Just enjoy it while you're here.

Should we be afraid? Did I, do you think I pissed him off? Oh, Bellevie. He's fine. Don't worry about him. Okay. I've really liked his mustache. Yeah, I mean, when he was stone cold, he didn't flinch once. I'd immediately respect him now. Yeah. I mean, maybe we shouldn't fight him on the adventure. feel like. You think he would tell your mom?

Why? Why would you invite him? Oh, okay. To be totally, Frank, we shouldn't be here too long. Oh. Why? I'm not quite ready for her to come home in CD. Well, I mean, we don't need to spend any more time than we need to. We just gotta get in the vault.

Yeah, I mean, and not to pry, but what happened exactly between you and your mom? Could you just tell me the whole story? We don't get that. No, no, I wouldn't want to pry, but if you could stop from the beginning and go all the way to the end and let me know. What's up? Belvedere appears from

the side with a tray of drinks. Oh, fuck. Yeah, yeah. Mr. God, he's quieter than I am. Apologies for the interruption. Your star tini, of course.

And for your friends, I just assumed Hal heavies. Yes! Yeah! I knew you were cool. Awesome. Thanks, Belvedere. Oh, me. Thank you.

Fuck yeah. Cheers. Cheers. Thanks. Thanks. To friends. To friends. Cool-ass stuff like a theater and a pool.

It feels wrong, drinking Pal-Hadvies in a place like that. What do you mean? Why? I'm shocked. He had them. Well done, Belvedere. Well, thank you, sir. Anything that the mistress desires, we... All right.

Well, at your best, mistress, the rooms will be ready. and we can take them to them. Simply say the word. I'll take care of it later on. Thank you. Excellent, excellent. I just got that pal-heavy's their buttlights. That's exactly right.

What the fuck is a pal-hemi? It's incredible. It'd be like drinking champagne at the hellion. Oh, God. Well, you guys want something fancy? Well, oh, like, who, why would anybody do that? That's just like a, you know, sort of wrong drink for the wrong kind of venue.

You know what I mean? Yeah, I guess. Don't think about it too much, just enjoy it. That's right. I've been in high places and low places. As long as you're enjoying yourself, that's all that really matters. Beard's beer.

Heard that. Hell yeah. So, don't get too deep in your cups, because we've got to talk about how this is gonna work. All right, laying on us. I'm assuming all the years. Should we talk about it? He'd been dismissed.

Yes. When you said that you would seek out, you would alert them when you're ready to transition. He would absolutely have given you your space and exited the room. So you are, as best as you can tell, completely alone in the section of the manner that you find yourself standing in.

Should we get on floaties in the pool and talk about it there? I'm not opposed. Or the hot tub? Yeah. I can't do floaties. Easy. What?

I can't, I don't think I can do floaties, but we can do the pool. Hot tub. Why? Is it because your calves are so big? Damn. Body shemen.

I'm not to sleep. I'm not to sleep problem. I was going to say, you're one to talk. Every time I start to relax, my thrill will pop the actual, like, it's not easy,

but the, I mean, I don't think I'm gonna do much better, man. So I mean, the hot tub for us. All right. For the hornies. Yeah. For the horny. For the horny folks. Okay. Yeah. For the hornies.

Fuck yeah. We now need shirts and say for the hornies. For the hornies. For the hornies. By thousand percent. Oh my. With Ziggy and you've got to be doing the horns. Yeah. Oh, absolutely.

All right. So I mentioned earlier. that the goal of this, what we're trying to get out, is a special type of ammunition. It's kept in the vault, and it's what's going to let you defeat someone of a discordant nature. Do you know what type of discordant you're working with? We have an idea, yeah.

Oh, no, I know this, I know this. We did drills. I quizzed you on this. Um, his, yeah, what his name is, um, uh, his name is, um, oh God. Oh. Yeah, you're close, but that's not quite it. No. What's his name again? Whose name?

The thing, the guy. Duke Luxor? No, that's not right. Are you talking about Lord Harcon Morvane? That's the one. That's the one. I mean, just only the guy we've been obsessively hunting down for The last two months.

We've said that name a dozen times a day for the last 49 days. I'm glad you could remember it. The word they're trying to find is entropy. Entropy. All right. So, what we have is an ammunition that's been enchanted by the Starlight of Agathos.

And that's what's going to let you kill it. The Starlight of Agathos? Yes. That's a badass. Should I name my ship the starlight of Agathos? I mean, it's really badass, but it's not really your theme. It's not your vibe. Yeah.

Agathos is more... Are you a follower? Of what? Of Agathos. What's Agathos? Um, a god. Yeah, no, that's not my thing. It's the realm of the gods where the 12 sit amongst their starry kingdoms.

Is that stuff real? Well, they say it is. Huh. Jinks, you owe me a pal-heavy. Delvey? Oh, wait, no, we're planning. We're planning. We're just getting me. Get out of here. I'm so, keep going. That's a really badass name, though.

Yes, sir, your pal-heavy's. So, uh, basically what you're saying is you have holy ammunition. Holy bullets. Essentially, yes. As I mentioned, my family has been a part of the society for quite a long time, generations. You don't have to raise your hand every time, do you? Oh, okay. What's up? So what's inside of them that makes it work? Because that's important just in case, you know, something goes wrong. Like, are you leave or something? You dig them with you if we could maybe know how they function.

Like, not to pry. I didn't create them. They've been in the vault for a long time. I've trained to be able to use them in my rifle, but I've never used the actual ammunition before. And to be clear, if Ophelia decides to bail on us, there is no backup plan, that's it. And we all die, betrayed, and hateful, and then we will haunt you for the rest of your life.

It will haunt you. Listen, I told you that I would do this for you. All right, we just testing you. I don't have any reason to bail on you, as you like to say. I show up. I never doubted it. Yeah, who would, I mean, there's no reason why anyone would agree to go on a mission

and then bail, right when they're needed most, causing utter disaster in certain death. Yeah, how would you feel? What fucking coward monster, whatever? You're not going to do that to us, are you? Why are you to apply on that? Because you were one coward by the fucker, huh?

It would feel pretty bad. moment when we needed you the mom. Now, I think we can all just move on. I'm sorry, I'm yelling. I don't think Ophelia is gonna do that. I mean, we're in her home. I'm so, Coe rails me up, it's Coe's fault. Sorry, sorry, if we're too many Pell Evvys.

I can assure you that that would be life destroyed. No one would do that. We wouldn't have asked for help if we thought she'd do that. Okay, that's how we feel about it, right, Cole? Yeah. Okay. That's right, Picks. Got some pretty passionate friends, Mike.

So why don't you just have the keys of this place? What's with all the pomp and circumstance? I haven't been home in quite some time. Things were pretty awkward after I was released from the society. Tense. So what's the plan? With the hand again. Well, I just, I don't want to interrupt you.

Is the reason you and your mom, not deprive, is the reason that you and your mom not, did she sleep with Rex? God, I hope not. She would never do that. Are you kidding me? I don't know. I just read a lot of books, and that's one of the reasons that things can happen.

No, not a chance. Absolutely not. You know Rex is the type. She would chew him up and spit him out. I mean, I don't know. But so did she. He liked that type. I think that.

It wasn't anything romantic. It was work. Okay, cool. We worked together. Things didn't go as planned. And I was released from my position. You got fired? I got fired.

And all my stuff was repossessed. And your husband left you naked? Well, he left you. No, she left him. Yes. That's why he was naked all the time. Oh, yeah. Yeah, because he was like crying naked.

It was awful. Well, no, I just made, because you said he was naked when he flew away after we thought that he died, but he didn't die. Oh, yeah. That was after the breakup. Yeah. That was way after the breakup. But he didn't go after her. It didn't take it well, that's for sure.

Oh, oh my God. Oh my God. You should have heard him. He was crying. Winference. Oh. Yeah. It was weeks.

It was bad. I took away all of his phones and he still had more and I don't know how he fit him in that. I mean, that was impressive. I don't know anyway. That's so sweet. Anyway. I've never seen anything worse.

Well, except for that one time, that guy shit in his hands and clapped. Yeah, and I mean, the little pixel, what the fuck are you talking about? I don't know what you're doing like Jesus A lot of stuff happening in the glimpse room I can imagine

People are on a lot of drugs Yeah, oh yeah, no, that was fun That was fun God Would you, would you share Like when we've put together at this point that like there was like

this like demonic enchantment on the glitz room that would like that was caught that made us make those saving throws and like made Ziggy sort of like

you know Oh absolutely I think especially with the context of what you all know especially throughout Pike sharing his visions of the tones and even Pixel

calling out that on the tetrahedron she recognized the sigils that reflected entropy, that reflected the markings on the speakers that reflected the sigil on wheedlevox's ring, I think it would be extremely obvious to you that there was a discordant entropic thrall cast upon the glitches. Yeah, and she wouldn't have hit anything that she thought or any connection she made. She would have shared multiple times.

You would have made that connection easily. So that's what happens. Epic Litzrude. Yeah. Well, it only happened once. These entropy, scored in her. Sick fucks. They really are. That's why your, Ophelia's going to help us. And that's why I'm sorry.

I've just been worked up. It's been a rough couple of weeks, a couple of months. And I just want to kill this guy. So are we a hot tub in or? I thought we were in the pod up right now. Oh, no, we are. You find yourself in this, unbelievably grand and lavish, almost like Grecian bathhouse, with this pool that extends out in

probably a full hundred yards in distance. You think it's a pool until you get into it, and you realize that it, in fact, is the hot tub. Surrounding you are these small white archways, as if card from stone, in front of each one, a bust of an incredibly gorgeous figure. Gorgonites, the same avian, just beautiful creations of statue throughout the room. And you've settled in, you've been provided swimwear, these white claws draped about you in whatever form

you would decide to wear into the pool. And you kind of settle in, And it's extremely enjoyable. All right, now we can plan. I love coming home. So, like I said, the ammunition is in the family vault, down under the estate.

It's going to be difficult for us to get in there. Mummy added quite a few devices. Security measures? Security measures over the years. over the years. Well, he's great at getting doing security stuff.

My, the pockets of my float in the top of the hot tub, but I have to keep posturing them down. Yeah, I got this. I'm very skilled. We're going to need it.

Too relatable. Too relatable. That is so real. Holy. I know. I can take everybody to be electronic, but if,

If there are other measures, then that's where my skills end. I have to be honest, it's been some time. I haven't been down there. I don't know what might have changed over the years, but I know growing up here, I could be a bit rambunctious as a child. I was always trying to get in there, and she was always trying to keep me out. So things were always evolving, changing.

Different measures, different times. It's going to be a challenge. for us, so we have to be prepared. The other thing that we'll have to do is get by Belvedere. Oh, fuck. I know he looks old, but you. How old is he? Nobody really knows.

He's looked like that since I was a child. You saw it, though. He doesn't flinch. Yeah, I don't know. He's tougher than he seems. I don't want to fuck with that guy. So we'll need to sneak past him when he's sleeping. When does he sleep?

Not very often. Only a couple hours a night. We shouldn't need more than a few hours. If we do, then something's gone pretty poorly. We could try that whole pregnant bellhop thing again. It's a good plan. It's a good plan. No.

That's not going to work on Belvedere. There are no bellhops here. We're not in a fucking hotel. Well, I mean, in this case, it would be a pregnant Belvedere, but we could try it. No, we're not gonna go down that road and takes it's a dark one. You don't wanna go down that.

Okay. It's a good idea though. We'll put it in our back pocket, okay? Some kind of distraction maybe, or is it really just like when he's asleep is the least risk? If he gets even the smallest hint that we're trying to break into this vault,

he's gonna have mummy here in a heartbeat. It's not what we want. I mean, damn. It's not what we want. Oh, damn. I mean, yeah. Oh, is there like a portrait of mommy anywhere? Like a, you know.

Roll a perception check. Please, I never ask you for anything. Roll the dice. You know what, that could be worse. That could be worse. Perception, you say? 17. Well, the 17, you entered in this large,

through these double doors as you pushed open, this large, grand foydre, greeted you as you met Belvedere for the first time. Heading down to the right across this almost like aquamarine marbled floor, just shy

of reflective, polished to the to the tea. You walk down. This place is almost like a shrine to beauty. Everything you see here is immaculate to come across. the statues impeccably carved.

But as you've made your way down these white stone archwayed halls into these grand rooms, you've seen no paintings, no photo representations, nothing that captures or represents the family themselves. Yeah. Oh, snap. So can we do it tonight? I mean, I don't wanna necessarily rush this,

but I do. I think it's important that we move quickly here. Yeah, we can only stay here for a couple of days, and he only sleeps like a couple hours a night. If we aren't successful tonight, we only got a couple more tries. She's right. We need to see what we're dealing with getting into the vault. So tonight we do some reconnaissance,

and then the next night we pull off this, I can't wait to say it, heist. Your enthusiasm is... Adorable. I mean, we just go for it tonight. We don't get to pull off a high. I've been so bored on the ship. Let's do this.

We already did a casino heist. This is not, it's gonna be a heist, but it's not the same thing, Ziggy. Is there anything else inside of this vault that we should steal? From my family's vault? Yeah. Uh, well, hmm.

I guess we'll see what's in there. Well, I just wanna re contextualize all of this. I don't really consider this a high. We're not stealing. We're borrowing. Yeah, this is all your family stuff. And if I deem that we need to borrow something else that we come across, I'll make that decision then. That's right.

We're just doing some problem solving. But sticky fingers are staying in your pockets. All right, we will. Don't want to take anything. I mean, I know we're already taking this holy ammunition, right? And that's all we need. That's all we need. Right.

And really, it's mine. I was trained for this. Exactly. It's made for me. So, uh, then I think. Yeah, so what's to play him? I think we, I mean, is there anything we need to know besides just be prepared and we're quite capable.

It's just another vault? Yeah, so we just, I think we wait until he goes to sleep. Maybe in the meantime. I'll show you to the guest quarters. Get comfortable. We'll bide our time until this evening when he, goes down to rest and then

I'll guide you to the vault. Oh, can he? Does he know how to make cheese pot? I can go for some cheese pot tonight for dinner. Cheese pot? Yeah, cheese pot. Oh, yeah, cheese pot would be great. I bet he does. I'll bet he does. I'll ask. I bet he does. Yes, pixel.

Um, yeah, so what's this, what would you say the status is on some chick, Jimkin? Jimkin. Yeah. I'll ask Belvedere. He's so eager to please. I'm sure he can rustle something. Do you have a longworm garden? No.

Oh, thank God. They don't drive here. Oh, thank God. I was worried for a second. Me too, when she didn't know what cheese pot was and she both picked the chimkin. I'm like, oh God, they were longworm families. I know, I know.

Well, now we play the waiting game and wait for the going to sleep. And then we know. No, no. We're not in anybody. No, that was for the vault. Oh, okay, yes. Oh, like open the vault?

Yeah, open the vault. We can open the vault. Yeah, you know, open the vault. Open the vault. Okay. You guys are a mess. We got to look at squirt. Yeah.

I'll tell them to meet me at the, I don't know, in the atrium at a certain hour. Oh, yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Everyone is accompanied to their guest quarters. Once more, you're met with these beautiful rooms with very much of the same architecture, the same kind of lavishness that you've encountered up to this point.

And you can settle in and you can rest for a bit before coming back down. meeting Ophelia in the atrium for dinner as you head into the rest of the evening. I think I would just try to play it really nonchalant and be like act normally like we're just house guests and then as soon as they clear from Ophelia suit up you know full gun and just everything like totally I'm gonna get in the zone walking around this fucking mansion if there's like a training thing that's like really advanced like way more advanced that we have I want to try it out and be holy shit this is awesome yeah So, like, after dinner, I would have walked you to, like, you know, the fitness facilities and, like, things like that.

Just showing you to the, you know, the theater or the game rooms are just kind of shown you around the estate until it was time for us to retire. Damn. I go to the media center, and I rewatch the first season of Blade Orphan TurboVengeance before falling asleep in the theater. So he misses the whole heist. Then my alarm goes off. Oh, tight time. Yeah, you all play it relatively nonchalant, waiting for the signal from Ophelia.

Co, you're led to the training room. And in the Callos estate, a high-ranking member of Polaris, this is like the X-Men's danger room. A white room that as you enter, calls a response for whatever training you'd like to engage in, And when it kicks in, the room itself shifts and changes. And it's not dummies that approach you,

but whatever you can think to summon that would keep you on edge for the coming. For the coming. Whatever we keep you on edge for the coming. It keeps you on edge for the coming? Keep you on edge for the coming battle, as it were. Whatever you could think to summon, whatever you could think to possibly.

We're totally summoned the calis is dangerous. I look around, I like see how late, like seeing that it was gone. Lady of the household. Go ahead. 10 feet tall. Only 10. Wider.

Turn off safety protocols. This protocol. Yeah, yeah, exactly. Go also. That's the height. Are we the only ones who showed up? Everybody's dropping like flies. Are they dead?

What happened? Okay, you all spend that time doing exactly what you're doing? Increased disdain by 250%. Okay. Eventually night falls. Ophelia, you would recognize this to be the hours where, though it is very few, you believe Belvedere has fallen asleep for the evening.

Now, if you seek to strike at the vault and claim your prize, now would be the time to move, to gather everyone in the atrium and move. Okay. I'm so assuming we've all made it to the at atrium. I show up at my designates. I'm there, me too. You just beat to shit.

Yeah, bruises all over. Big old grin on your vision. Oh, that's some good training, Ophelia. Wow. I accidentally set my arm to do not to stop. I play Dunbinball. Now, this is good old-fashioned, clean fun. What hell is him?

No. Now, we're going to have to do this little stealthily, all right? We can't wake up Belvedere. We need to get down to the vault quickly and quietly. Can you all do that? Yeah, sure. No problem. Easy.

I'm getting better at the whole quiet thing, so yeah, we'll be fine. Yeah. In our first time. Either way. Until we're down there, I'll be using hand signals. And so I'll... Got it. Yeah, let's do that.

Roll a group stealth check. Come on. 19. Ooh. Oh my god. Uh-oh. Uh-oh. Hot diggedy.

Come on. 17. I don't know why it reloaded, but stealth, you say. I got a 14. I think mine is a 16. Oh, I got a 7. So before Pixel came down, she put on all of her bangles, her loudest ear rings, and her biggest heels,

and she just like click clack in the entire way. Click, click, click, click, click. You gather together in the atrium, and you make your way, led by Ophelia, uh, threw out, uh, the,

the back of the home. Uh, you do, for, for one unfortunate moment, have to pass the room of Belvedere. Uh, a smaller archway with a quaint,

uh, almost just wooden door, uh, that's closed. You know it to be exactly where he, uh, resides. It's almost the,

uh, the, the, before you reach the kitchen, before you move out into the promenade of the garden, which will ultimately take you down a path leading you to the vault. So when we come up to that door,

I'll motion for everyone to halt behind me and I'll go to the door and put my ear up and listen for any noise within. Roll a perception check. 20. 20. With a 20, you move stealthily to the door. you put your ear to it, seeking the familiar sounds of the rise and fall of Belvedere's chest as he snores away into the evening.

And that's exactly what you seem to be greeted by right now. I'll look back behind me and motion for one at a time to come quickly by the door. Each one moves past their own stealth mission as they make their way past the door of the door. Belvedere. Pixel comes, clicky clacky heels, jangly bangles. As I almost a, as I get right in front of the door, my pixel pet starts to beep because it just pooped on the floor and I need to fix it.

Free me, feed me, feed me. As you move past the door, this heightens you for a moment, scared by the potential noise moving past that might wake Belvedere. And for a moment, you hear a stirring. almost a pause in the rhythmic rise and fall of his breathing. And then it resumes, and you make it passed. I'll rejoin the group coming up from behind and continue to lead them through the promenade

to whatever direction would lead below the estate. You make your way out into a beautiful garden, trees rising up from either side, These gorgeous green canopies block the night for moments as you walk through them. Strange fruits born from each branch as you walk under and you make your way down this this, not marble, almost like a cobblestone, like a smooth, completely smooth cobblestone pathway. As you walk towards what looks like the precipice of a risen section. of the ground. And as you walk around it, you make your way lower and lower and lower, coming down this set of white marbled stairs as you walk and you take each step carefully, knowing that you're moving ever closer to the vault until you come right to the end,

and you turn back and you see it. Before you is a heavy blast door flanked on either side by beautiful statues of phoenixes and shapely feminine forms. Glinting gems of all shades of a neon sun are adorned along the mantle. You can see that this vault is heavily fortified and the defenses are immense. However, as soon as you all approach, Pike, the gem in your gauntlet glows with a bright pulse. and the gems along the walls respond by shining their own hues of sunset. Then a calm voice rings out digitally. You may enter Disciple of the Lightbringer.

Then the blast doors open, revealing a veritable armory combined with a treasure trove, advanced technology, strange weaponry, religious artifacts, mystical relics, and more all line the walls and shelves. Ophelia, you know it would be very foolish to take more than what you need. What you know where you can find the blessed ammunition. That was- That was- Exactly right. What the hell was that? That was so easy, God, you are so wrong.

It's so much for a heist. More like walking and take. I mean, is that it? I put my grid boy away. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That was awesome. That was awesome. It just let you in?

Apparently. What is the disciples are the light bring him? He's the god, right? The goddess, the light bringer. It's, you know, Pike's been opening up over the past couple weeks about it. Yeah. Is he?

Yeah. What do you know? Rather be lucky than good. And I walk into the vault. Unbelievable. I'll be damned. We'll follow Pike. We follow up.

Click, click, click, click, click, click. I'll look around. I know it's around here somewhere. Remember, keep your hands to yourself until we find what we're looking for. You walk in and you know your way for this ammunition. You are surrounded by these other artifacts,

but you pass them. A large, ornate chest begging to be opened. What looks like a golden gleaming spear. spear, you walk past all of it until eventually you find what you seek. A case of rifle shells enchanted by Starlight.

It looks almost like the condensed will of Agathos itself in bullet form as you have come across the ecliptic round. Ooh. Ooh. I think this is it. I know this is it.

Roll an inspection check for me. Investigation. Investigation, sorry. Eight. Oh, do you look, a subclass thing you can be in the investigation? Oh, do I? I don't know. I mean, as you don't know.

As this count? Featured features and traits. Oh, that's the way to find it. I mean, knowing that we were in here for this sort of thing, could Pixel have Bartic inspiration per? Before going in? Yeah, absolutely. If you would have done that, yeah.

I feel like Pixel would have. Nikki's just dumb. You can absolutely have Bardocked inspiration, tur. Yeah, I would say before we even went, before Pine's Gone was even opened up. Oh, no, just kidding. Pixel probably would have walked over and been like, Bill, you come here.

Come here for a second, okay? Yes. You're beautiful, you're lovely, you're fantastic, and it doesn't matter what your mom says about you, you can do this. and I'll like lightly smack her on the cheek and give her Bartick inspiration. I need that.

Yeah, you're welcome. I don't know what a mom says about him, but I just feel that there's something going on here. Yeah. But since neither one of us know what a mom looks like or anything about it, how do you know? Is that a D8? Depends on the level of the box.

Yeah, me at six right now. I blame Derek. Ten. There we go. Ten. I still say with a 10, you pause for a moment. almost unsure, but as you approach the chest, you know innately that this is what you seek.

And you have that. Damn. With you with all the magic item handouts. Yeah, I tore yours up the last time though. Yeah, I saw that, I remember I screamed. Is that it? Did we do it? This is it. This is what we were looking for. That's amazing.

say we quit while we're ahead of the game before our luck does run out and get out of here. Like leave them, leave this place and not even stay all night in the hot tub. He's all pruny. The longer we stay, the more we risk somebody finding that these are gone. You know what, you're very smart and I agree. We agree, right? Yeah. Yeah. We're making great time. Yeah. If we can get out of here and be totally gone by the time Velvet Ear wakes up.

Well, let's not talk about it. Let's go. Well, we should leave him a note so it doesn't seem to. that we left though. Don't you think like... We should have thought of that before we were right here. We could have really, we had, we had 24 hours before we're running up. We have to get out of here. But if we just leave right now, he's well, no. No, I think we should just leave.

He's not going to care, right? He'll be used to it. Come and go, you know? That's all I need to hear. Last time I left, I didn't say goodbye either. Let's get out of here. And how... She's kind of sad.

Is this a single bullet? What is? There's an amount. There is, oh. Is there? Yeah, you just trust me. It might not be written, it's a box of it. It's a box of it.

It's a box of it. It's limited though. Okay. This is very rare. It's very rare. Okay. You now know that you do have the box of ammunition of the Ecliptic Round.

the light to banish the shadow. You have the item you seek that will help turn the tide in the battle against the VARG. The one thing that will potentially help you push back entropy. You now feel fully equipped to take the fight to the Viceroy. This is it. This is what we need. Wow, let's get out of here. Thank you, Lightbrigger.

He heard of that. I feel like I should say a prayer or something. Let's save it till we get back to the ship, all right? Alright. Have you been praying? Like? Not as much as I used to. Is that why, like, all this Phoenix and, like, hot women stuff? Like, you guys worship the same God? If I worship Allah, do I get cool stuff? I'm not so sure it works that way, but I'll tell you what I know.

Well, I've got 11 other options. Maybe I'll just consider my options. That's exactly right. I'm sure we can find some pamphlets. Okay. Let's get the fuck out of here. Not the weird crab fuck. that happen. And I continue. You make your way out of the vault. And at this point, you can kind of hedge the

edge of the manner as you make your way around. It was so large that you actually were able to land the Rhapsody right on the pad as you approach this place. So you can make short work of making your way back to it to board, to once more take off into the stars. Does everybody have everything?

You didn't leave anything in the rooms? Not me. No, no, I'm good. Oh, my Kelly Comback. No, I'm just kidding. We can't go back, Fix. Fixed love, that way thing. We go.

We board the Rhapsody, and I try to sort of, you know, lower the gangplank as quietly as possible, and we hustle up and try to take off without making too much noise. We're heading to Sterlock, huh? You try and take the Rhapsody off as quietly. as you can. It is a large ship. The gangplank will close.

You do it slowly, softly. You call out a couple commands to Hank as the ship responds to you as it starts to once more war to life. As you hear a slightly quieter thrum of the engines as the Rhapsody pulls on and the ether grab reverses thrust and pushes away from the ground.

With this minimal noise as you can manage for a ship this size, as you head back out amongst the stars. We might actually do this. Thanks, Ophelia. And thanks Pike for getting us in without a fight. I mean, I wanted to beat up those robocentries. They looked really fun to fight, but you know, I mean, that was easy. Sometimes we catch a break. A lot easier than I was expecting. Yeah. Saved a lot of time and... effort and pain. So at least luck maybe is on our side for once.

Now all we need is a clean shot and we can take care of business. As long as they don't need those bullets for some other Holy Mission, we're fine. You know, I mean, how often does something like this come up? I mean, I don't know. They don't need these bullets for a while, right? I don't know. Well, sure, I'm sure it's fine. But I know that we need them now. Yeah, and they would understand. I'm going to go up to Ophelia, and I'm going to say like, Ophelia, you know, I know that we had, we've had a rocky relationship. I've had very mixed feelings, and I'm still learning how to process these complicated feelings I have.

But I want to say that I'm working on it, and I appreciate what you've done. And if this causes any problem between you and your mother, when I meet her, I'll clear all up. I'll tell her that we had to do it. And I promise you, after the wedding, you're welcome in that house. Anytime. No matter how things are between you and your mom. After what wedding?

Chin up, kid. We're going to do it. I'm going to lock to the hellhole. Hank, you're headed to Sterlock. Call, I have a question. You were working out. Hank sets course for Sterlock and you make your wife. Yeah.

Yeah, I was. You know, you've been teaching me how to do reps and stuff so I can build muscle, but why are your lips bruised? The long worm got the best of me. Are you heading to the hellhole? Once we get on our way, yeah, I'll join you there. I'm gonna skip out. It's been a long day and not being able to smoke at the manse. I'm gonna take a smoke break to myself in my room if you don't mind. You do what you need to.

You've done more than enough for us tonight, Mike. I'll catch you up. And I think I will fail you a drink. All right, man, good luck. And I'm going to head off to my room and just let the others do the thing. I'll make everybody drinks and sort of celebrate a little bit that, you know, stay up a little later. I guess I stay up late normally, but like encourage everyone to kind of hang out and relax a little bit with a successful feast. It is, it is still the middle of the night-ish.

That's when you really thought that you'd have this opportunity. You set out and you got it. But there's still that air of, man, this is something that's dogged our bounty for months now. And finally, you thought it with the Don. But now, finally, very possibly the actual tools at your disposal to bring this to an end. You can't help but take a moment to feel good about the direction you're having. heading in to celebrate and you do so. Pike, you head back to your room.

Yeah. My goal is to take a minute to just kind of like think about all of the events that have just basically transpired over the last 24 hours and the last several weeks. And the question about like, have I been praying, I will again cross my legs and sit on the floor of my room and attempts to pray again to Alara. I feel like there's a rekindling of connection and I want to see if this is something that I can kind of get back into and like get into the rhythm of like, you know, some sort of practice. And I'm, you know, shaking off the rust of saying these prayers that I'm recalling and are coming back and think about this object that's still

stored in the safe of my room and the stories that I told Rhett about the experiences that I had and the awful creature that I encountered and what lies ahead of us and hope to maybe get some more wisdom or knowledge or insight from whatever's out there. You sit down, legs crossed. You settle into once more get back in this routine, something you haven't done in a long time. that last brought you the visions of discord. Seeking to once more commune because of what you've been through, everything you've shared with Rhett, everything that you've been through up to this point,

even the question hanging behind you of entering the vault, the disciple of the Lightbringer, you once more confused and seeking answer, you reach out to Laura. You experience all of these feelings as you once more focus your soul. You look both inward and outward, and you find what you're looking for. You again feel that presence at your right hand from your gauntlet in your gem. You feel the light of the phoenix.

Then you see it. You open your eyes and you stare at it. out into space and you see a glint of radiant light amidst the ether. You witness a sight you haven't seen since your youth. You witness a sight you thought you'd never see again. Leaving a streak that looks like the most beautiful neon vapor trail you've ever seen is a solar phoenix flying amongst the stars. And that is where we'll end the session.

Oh! Hey, Mace.