Mayday Plays - 🌕 Heroes of The Doom 🌑 | Episode 3, "Venomous Hands" | Inevitable

Episode Date: August 25, 2025

The cadre finally comes face-to-face with Aster Guios, the infamous traitor king of Sonder. Alongside him stand the town’s corrupt officials, and a mysterious red-haired stranger named Anastasia whose influence runs deeper than expected. Their mission: deliver a letter from the Queen of Myth to Aster himself. But will he receive it with grace… or with wrath? Steel may yet be drawn, and the fate of Sonder hangs in the balance. Find out in this episode of Heroes of the Doom! CAST Amanda as Sir Rose Zimwalt the Errant (she/her) Zakiya as Cloudburst the Shadowjack (he/him) Sergio as Ashwyn the Mystic (he/him) Caleb as Cecil Odera the Taleweaver (he/him) Eli as The Oracle -- 👕 MERCH: http://ko-fi.com/maydayrp & https://mayday-merch.printify.me/products 💵 Patreon: http://www.patreon.com/maydayrp 📰 Join our newsletter: eepurl.com/iIVUjo 🎙 Listen to us: 🟣 Apple Podcasts : https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/mayd…ys/id1537347277 🟢 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5vdTgXoqpSpMssSP9Vka3Z?si=97a6a19d71cf4be0 🟠 Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/mayday-roleplay 🌟 Other Socials 🌟 🐦 Twitter: http://twitter.com/maydayroleplay 📸 Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/maydayrp/ 🔴 Website: http://maydayroleplay.com/ 🎵 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@maydayroleplay 👾 Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/maydayroleplay 🔵 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/maydayrp Thanks for your support!

Hello. Good morning and welcome to Mayday Roleplay. We are here to continue our story of Heroes of the Doom, a Anthorian Western using the Inevitable System. And as Holy Sergio, why don't you tell us a little bit more about inevitable? Oh, you know I will, Eli. I just have to pull up my paper. Here we go. So y'all, this and every episode of Heroes of the Doom is sponsored by none. other than Soul Muppet Publishing. Can I get a round of applause for our partners at Soul Muppet Publishing? They are so good at bottling the strange,

shaking it up, and pouring it into tall glasses of the best Dan TTRPGs you will ever regret not playing sooner. You catch that? Now, what delicious game cocktails are they known for, you ask? Well,

pull up to the bar and I'll share the menu with you. You've got the old-fashioned inevitable, served smoky, bitter, and doomed. One sip and you're in a tragic Arthurian Wester where the garnish is destiny. Then you got the orbital blue sour, a rock and roll, space noir, shaken with equal parts, heartbreak, and whiskey. Best enjoyed under neon lights while pretending that you don't care. Then there's pink, the town, red sangria, a decadent mix of vintage spirits and regret garnished with a twist of existential dread fruity on the surface

but every sip reminds you that you're dead inside finally there's the mad as hell flight a triple burn of anti-capitalist demon-hunting energy take it fast flip the table and rage against the machine with lime on the rim so whether you are toasting epic myth Browning your sorrows and cosmic burnout or setting the bar on fire,

Soul Muppet publishing has your poison of choice. Explore their full menu at soulmuppet.com. E.O.org or wherever you get your games, that is soulmuppet. dot CO.com. Eli, back to you. Thank you. Next off, we would love to thank our operator-level

Patreon contributors. Their involvement here at Mayday allows us to continue to tell stories for your viewing pleasure. So thank you so much to advance for Sammy, Bimblewart, Brandon C, Brian P, Cameron S, Kai H, Keeley H, Matthew J, Ren E, Tony D,

and Vince K. If you would like to contribute to all that is Mayday, be sure to follow us on Patreon. You'll get access to our wonderful Discord community, ad-free viewings of our streamable content, campaign diary, on-server games and campaigns and so, so much more. If this is your first time here at May Day, welcome in,

but be sure to check out our extensive catalog of completed seasons and shows like our Doom to Repeat series that is on its fourth and final season, or Vegas by night as we wrapped up season two earlier in the spring. You can survive to us on YouTube for our VODs or anywhere where you get your podcast for audio-friendly recordings. And as always, follow us on all major social media platforms or our website for updates on future content and other news. Inevitable is a game about tragedy and failure in a world that can be unfair and unkind.

And this actual play is intended for mature audiences. So please be advised that there may be violent themes, adult language, and the exploration of darker subjects. So please stay care of yourself and be aware. Safety tools are used here at the table and X-GAR can be deployed at any time. And with that, let's begin. Cloudburst. Tell me, do you know much about opalite serpents? I do not.

When words of power made gods out here in the waste, their voices were too vast, too terrible. And when they thundered in response, it shattered skies, split sea, tore earth. They wanted to be heard. And a slithing serpent cunning and unseemly offered its tongue and gods poured themselves into them. And thus, opalite certains here in the barren waists prize for one thing and one thing only, the only venom that touches gods. You see in liquid drip

a barren waste that floods with a vast ocean and then re-drys back into salt, a cycle that repeats itself over and over and over again until the salt is made to thick and the crusts can crack deep. Can you hear it? The whispers on the wind that carries that salt amongst the sand all the way as far as south can go.

They're speaking to you. They're asking you to follow it. And as you hear the wind, beckon you further and further south, we have to be reminded that snake's bite. That is inevitable. Oh, uh, uh, uh,

Uh, uh, Uh, Oh, Bye. Oh. Oh. Oh.

Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Let's introduce our cast for today. My name is Eli. I am your Oracle.

Hi, I'm Caleb James Miller and I play Cecil O'Dara. Hey, gang, I'm Sergio and I'm playing Ashwin. Hey, I'm Zach and I'm pretty sure I'm still playing Cloudburst. cloudburst. Before we go any further, we should take time to recall moments that happened in the past. Ashwin, let us know what you took of last session. My dear Gwynnith, tonight, as I write by the light of Constance and Ezra, I like to imagine you looking up at the same sky, far away and hearts.

domain, thinking of me too. Ravens came for us a night ago. First, just in the dark, coming close to the campfire, then clawing through Cloudburst's tent, leaving behind a strip of snake-skin. Cecil called it a sign,

a duality. I should have seen it as clearly as the tailweaver, but I was distracted, thinking of how you'd laugh at us, chasing omens like children chasing shadows. The next day, the road stretched long across the wastes, and we met Cloudburst's old contact, a scavenger called Epp. I must admit, I pity the man, all wide-eyed and practically feral, alone in the desert. It's clear that I've become pampered in the halls of myth,

disconnected from the day-to-day reality of most common people. Cloudburst was able to extract from him information. He spoke of a band of jackals prowling Sonder and of a red-haired woman with green eyes who now moves in its halls. Her presence raised our alarms and lingers in our veins like snake venom. By dusk we reached Sonder, a small border town of no consequence between myth and the Salt Sea. We found rooms at the Black Cat Inn and prepared ourselves for what lay ahead. After learning that these jackals fancied a saloon called the Desert Pearl, I convinced the party to go and instigate a fight with them. We played a round of cards and learned a few things, including the name of a person named the Thronebreaker, a person who is

against the crown of myth. I should have followed Cecil and Cloudbursts lead, but when I saw their smug, ugly faces, those dirty with sin that they committed against the people of this place. My vision turned red. I kept harassing one of them, a lieutenant, I think. I was half joking at first, but when he gave me the slightest provocation, I didn't hesitate. Gwyneth, I burned him. I set him alight without hesitation. In the moment I told myself it was justice, that I was cleansing the waste of one more predator. But now, in the sobering light of our moons, I can see I did no great deed. Sister, I killed a man.

My first, and I am so ashamed. His smell clings to me even now. I try to push his face out of my mind, but every time I close my eyes, it returns. Shortly after, that's when the sheriff came. He stormed into the saloon, feigning outrage at the ruckus, but he did nothing. He scolded me, puffed his chest, but his eyes slid away from the jackals. It became clear to all of us tonight that justice and saunders isn't measured in law or steel, but in coin. Free of my outbursts, cloudburst and Cecil were finally able to do their jobs,

and they snuck in after the remaining jackals where they found a correspondence between them and someone named Anastasia who gave them clearance to reside here in Sonder. It has to be that red-headed woman. I can almost hear your words now, your soft, disappointed voice. Ashwin, you swore you'd be better than the ones who took from us.

I admit I broke that vow to you tonight. the worst part though I know I'll be forced to make the same mistake again because I've come to know this world and there's no way to win against it without breaking that promise pray for me Gwena and that one day soon I will be able to visit you at Willow Hall your brother Ashwin

Cloudburst, opalite venom moves warmly through the body and it starts at the hand and it works up the arm and up the shoulder and through the neck and it's working its way to the heart and you lie on the floor hearing the sound of the wind and the whisper of gods and they're telling you to move south. But in a moment where you push and you can see what lies amongst all this salt flat, you'll see what looks to be a strange, metallic-looking structure, and it juts out of the salt. But in the moment as you kind of look and loom onto that, you get stretched and pulled, not south, west, past the barren waste. and you see in the distance, mountains. And the mountains are at its base on fire. And something grows that fire like someone who tends a hearth in flame. And it grows, and it grows, and it grows.

For the rest of you, you've heard the sound of panic from cloudbursts, and then the collapsing of them as they're on the floor, the tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick sound of a serpent slithering its way, working its way to a window to leave. It stirs all of you awake. What do you do as you see cloudburst lying on the floor, foam moving towards mouth, eyes, leaking, liquid. The fire, the mountains, the fire, the flames, the mountains, the fire, the rain, the west, we have to go west, we're going to go south, we have to go west, the flames. cloud what happened oh my god i'm gonna like scramble over the beds and get to them and try and make eye contact is is there anything noticeable on the arm that's been affected uh yeah you begin if you

get uh um if you cradle clobbers kind of get them into some type of upright position and start like looking down you can see swelling around the hand that's darkening um and uh dark veins slowly moving up the arm uh And you can see the puncture wounds of two precise bites or fang bites. I have this ability called Every Story Ever Sung that when I encounter a new monster or character, I know any tales and stories told of them. Do I recognize this enough that I can employ any knowledge I have around an opalite? I think so. Yeah, you see that serpent move through what little light from the outside cascades in.

You can see that shimmer of their opalite scales as they kind of move towards the door. You recognize that opalite venom, as mentioned, one that causes hallucinatory effects, and it does slow the heart rate down once the venom reaches the heart. Would I know of any way to combat immediately in Cecil's mind? He's scrambling for every story he's ever heard of it. there are flashes of depictions, of drawings, of poems, of songs, and it being used in romantic tales of dying lovers. But is there anything I can do in this moment to draw on that knowledge to see the best way through to help cloudburst? Stories will tell you that opalite stakes love to burrow in a particular kind of cacti.

And from there, many roamers and soothsayers would say that the cactus that comes from, where an opalite snake burrows, is something that can counteract its venom. Ashwin is in the chair instead of a bed, and he kind of like fumbles awake at the sound of Cecil and cloudburst. and he immediately stands up, rubbing his eyes. Cloudburst, and he runs over, and he's just kind of standing over Cecil uselessly, not knowing what to do. Ashwin, it's an opalite bite. It's very important that we tourniquet this as fast as we can. Do you know, any first aid? I think I do, and he drops to his knees, takes a bit of his clothing,

and kind of just tears off a long strand of it and, you know, starts wrapping it around. the forearm that Cecil points out where the bites are. Sir Rose, wake up, Sir Rose. Heavy sleeper, Sir Rose, definitely in the kind of chaos because of that voice like training, I'm going to go ahead

and immediately reach out for not just my sore, but my hand automatically kind of goes, like ready to go. Is that snake still? in the room. I'm looking like immediate danger. That's my first instinct. Yeah, the serpent's still making its way. It's climbed itself up the wall as on the windowsill. It's looking to slip itself out of the window sill before in all this commotion. So you catch it. Okay. I'm kind of without much forethought. It's just this is pure instinct. I'm looking. I'm going to

slice my sword towards that damn snake. All right. Yeah, you can rush over there right before you're just going to whack it. I'm trying, like, ideally I'd go for the head. I learn from Thor. Literally go up from the head and just like try to, this is pure instinct. I see something move. I'm just going to go ahead and decapitate it.

You're a reckless individual. I think that's quick thinking to go and slice the stink, kind of chop it in half. I think its heads already out the window so you can't really cut it all but you got it got it so two pieces in half on either side of the window I don't know how long the poison has been there

but we could attempt to suck it out if it's still in the wound I don't want you going anywhere near this venom if it gets into yours it has just as much the ability to get to your heart opalite is legendary it's dangerous there's really only one thing we can do we need to separate the arm to delay it as long as

possible, throw them on the back of a horse and ride as far south. We need, uh, fuck, I can't remember the name. There's a plant to cacti. We cut it free. We take the juice that comes from the middle and we apply it as a salve. I think it's the only way. Do you at least know what it looks like? Maybe. I swear, I swear I have a book for it. I'll have to check, but we have to move. We have maybe a few hours. I look to Sir Rose. Yeah, you can talk. Okay, great.

Yeah. Okay. Someone facing hallucinations. I think you can whisper things. West. Cecil, West. Cecil, we have to go West. West first.

Yes. West first? West first. The mountains are all on fire. They're all on fire and they're growing stronger. The sea can wait, the salt and the sea can wait. We have to go west. The sea thing in Cecil, we have to just go where we know the cactus are.

Yeah. Listen, Cloudburst, we'll take you, West. But we got to fix this first. Stop. Do we at least know if there's a doctor here first that can actually help us right now? Because we're looking for a cacti that we don't play. What? Do we know what it is?

Look. Listen, Sir Rose, everything I know about this bite is that no doctor is going to be able to do anything that that plant can't. That plant is. it's legend they write too many stories about this not to be at least a look of truth cloudburst cloudburst

I'm going to indicate to your hand I'm like this is a hard choice are you I'm going to take it off no

We don't have time. All right. We need to go west. I'm going to take a piece of leather that I have, and I'm going to just shove it in cloudbursts now. And I'm like, clamp down is going to hurt. No. And, uh, no, sir, Rose, you can't cut off their arm.

There has to be another alternative. Listen, the clock is ticking. We need them on the back of a horse going south as fast as we can. We need to look for opalite nests. So who's the fastest writer? Who is the fastest horse? I don't. I can go.

I can go. I can go. I can go. I can go. Take cloudbursts and perhaps I can go wake up the local medic, but perhaps they do have some kind of anti-venom. Oh, damn. All right. Here's the thing.

You're right. I'll take cloudburst. Okay, yes. I'm going to take Clio Burst. Are you staying behind? I'll stay behind to try to find the doctor. I'll come with. All right.

I'm going to kind of like put cloudburst. I'm going to make sure tighten that, what is that called? That tourniquet, a little tighter. And I'm going to go ahead and like fire, like, fireman carry put, row uh cloud burst on my arm and just honestly start running as quickly as i can to last hope eli is the half body of that snake did it fall into our room or out of our room there's one half that's inside its tail side the head side fell out on the windowsill i'm going to grab the half that is in our room and stash it into my bags and then i'll start going downstairs to

ready viscount to follow sir rose all right ashen is getting up getting ready and he's going to head outside looking for what could be any sign of a local doctor and rose you just start riding into the desert now before i leave i'm going to go ahead and i'm going to grab ashwin real close and pull him in i'm like i'm going to give you something i swear you better protect this with everything Do you understand me? Yes. Well, what is it? Wordlessly, I'm not without much.

I'm going to go ahead, reach into my armor, and I'm going to take the letter from the queen, and I'm going to give it to Ashwin. I don't know how long. I need you to deliver this, and I need you to get an answer so I can bring this back. Do you understand?

Ashwin looks at it, looks up at Sir Rose. You have my. my word with like the greatest of reluctance you're in I'm going to trust you and I'm going to give Ashwin the letter and might be a little hard to take out of my hand at first it's like I don't want to and then once I see that you have it it's like I all right and I'm just going to go ahead and start riding off as soon as I can you let things go and you put cloud bursts on last hope and you ride while Cecil's working to get himself on by count you're not going to wait for him and he can

track and trail you but you're going to ride out into the desert as far as you can and you're looking for cactuses you're looking for where opalite snakes might nest and burrow and you're just moving as fast as you can. Cloudburst is still, like, sweating at this point. It's mixing in with the tears that still leak from their face. Let me ask you something, Rose, how important is it to find that cactus and to help cloudburst so you can go home? It is very, very important.

It will be my focus. It would be your focus. What are you willing to offer me to make that a possibility for you? I... I... No. I... I will... let me see.

I'm willing to give... I have something in mind. Let me hear it. You are very far away from a truth you kept very close to your chest. I'm willing to give you what you want at expense of giving truth to another. Mm-hmm. I, yeah. Yeah?

Yes. Yes. You keep riding and it feels like an eternity, but maybe it is only, Maybe it is only a few minutes, but what you're looking for, Rose, is right behind you. It's a cactus here that almost in the traditional faction has these arms that kind of stretch out. It almost looks like it's praising the sky above. But if you look, you'll see a particular hole that's been burrowed into it. And if you see it off the little bit of light that comes from the night,

the glint that comes from an opalite sneak. And you see it's burrow. I'll immediately rush toward, like, I'm going to, like, but also still hold on the clover so they don't, like, fall off, kind of you-haw, like, Puerto Rican, you turn that horse right towards that cacti. And I'm just going to hop down, like, from my, from, I believe, from what Cecil was telling me,

about the cactus so I'm just gonna start like carving at like a big chunk of it off start like by the time hopefully Cecil it binds me I'm already cutting that thing up you cut into the flesh here and you can hear the sound of hoofs in the distance as Cecil you're walking up to this as Rose is frantically cutting into the flesh of this when you cut into this cactus typically it's most cacti are watery and it has a very translucent liquid this liquid is milky. And as you carve this piece, you have just like a bit of this flesh that just leaks this almost milky like substance and it drips into the sand at your feet. And then

I don't see so you arrive here as Rose rips that out of. So Rose, I want you to be very careful. Every drop you drop on the desert floor is another year off your life. It's an old superstition. You need to be aware of. Another thing. All right. So Rose is going to go ahead, take that fleshy cactus piece and kind of taking it part in two, because I want to put some in the mouth, but other on the actual wound itself, like a sowl. Like, try to get it in there. Can I stop their hand before they do that? Of course. They're, like, exhausted after this kind of seizure has taken them for a while.

They're crying. Their eyes are starting to glare over, and they look at you and say, they. The gods, they do. I didn't think there's a plan. Don't let me forget about the plan, okay? I won't let you forget the plan, and I shove that thing in their mouth. And I'm like, I won't let, blah, blah, bye. To be continued.

Yeah. The liquid that gets kind of like shoved into your mouth here is, and you kind of chew down on the flesh of that cactus, and you just feel it. It's bitter to the taste. It slowly coats like the throat, and you ingest it. Slowly, you guys can see the bit of the stall of, like, the dark veins and a recession of it as it slowly starts to move away.

The swelling starts to alleviate. And cloud brush, you start to breathe a little easier than you were. And the visions start to subside, and the wind stops howling in your ears, and the whispers go away. You see just the little bit of stars up in the sky, rose and Cecil looking over you, and you are far from civilization as you remembered it earlier in the evening. Um, I feel like I have to apologize. Are you with us?

Are you all right? First of all, are you all right? How are you feeling? I need descriptions. I'm tired fine I have a headache did we get drunk

did I get drunk oh you did drunk off something do you remember anything of the last few minutes do I do you remember oh we remember

but we're just trying to figure out if you remember the the mountains and the ocean we need to go west west something about God's plan

the mountains are on fire and the salt to the sea getting bigger yes we do need to go west genuinely we need to go west but there was the

there's I don't know I don't know what I remember I'm not sure. You said you talked to gods, like the stories, the legends. And I think that Cecil's going to take the embroidered monogram tankie he has in his side of his vest, and he's going to pour out more of that ambrosia from the cacti and just sort of pat down Cloudburst's face to sort of soothe through.

It was terrifying the way you were speaking when you said you spoke to the other side. I mean, I saw some dangerous looking visions, pictures, if you want to call it that. But I'm, you know, the brain wanted to scare me. I wanted to be scared. So I saw things that made me scared. It's probably nothing.

Right. It's probably the venom. It's probably what, you know. Exactly. Wait. The snake. Yopalai. Yes.

It was the snake. It was all the snake. And it probably, you know what? Yes. The red woman, the awful red woman. So some sort of fucked up side effect of that stupid snake. Did we kill it? Oh, we killed it.

Okay. We got half of it. He pulls out the piece that he is. left. We have to hope it was enough. Some of these are ordinary little bastards. Sometimes they get away. We can save that. If there's any venom to extract, we can keep it, maybe use it for later. I was sinking. Go ahead, Soros. No, no, no, I want to hear your thoughts. I was sinking, if this was sent by the red-headed woman, she had to have been a snake charmer in some life, meaning a connection between this beast and her.

I was thinking, and when we get back to Ashwin, maybe we'd ask him to find the true nature, see if maybe she was seeing through eyes. There's no way that this snake came unbidden into our home, not when the ravens warned us. The one that watches over this doom, the person telling this story before anyone else has a chance to, they warned us about this.

we need to find out why. Okay. Deisel? Yes, my love. Do you, are you planning on keeping that? I think, like, maybe, sour. I think we could skin it. Would you like it?

I would like it if you don't mind, so. Well, let's... Yeah, it's pretty valuable, just looking at it. Let's have Ashwin take a look at it before you turn it into a mighty fine pair of boots. And then I think maybe wearing the omen killer snake boots might be a good look for the Sir Rose. Exactly, exactly.

I'm sending a message out there. Yeah. Ashwin, great. You went looking for help in the form of a doctor. You do find one, but when you mention opalite venom, they will say they don't have anything of that nature to tend to those kinds of wounds. And all you can hope for is when you leave that apothecary shop, that when you look in the way in which Rose and Cecil rode out into the desert, that they are going to find it. And Cloudburst is going to be okay, and they'll be back by the morning. but still in your hand is that letter that Rose gave you,

a letter that you noticed for the entirety since Rose found you in the city and asked for help to ride out here to Sondor that they have been keeping it particularly close to their vests for a reason. And it's sealed, it's sealed on the outside with the emblem of the crown, but you are one who knows the words of

fire, and you know that fire can melt wax. You wonder why Rose has been so secretive about a simple letter for a lord. Do you want to know? Ashwin leaves the apothecary and

sits down on the stoop, looks up at the sky, and tries to gauge what time it is. By now, the night is late and you can feel the rise of dawn it's probably like four-ish in the morning sun's on the way

he'll stare at the letter turning it over in his hand and kind of with his thumb rub the wax seal and when he blinks he sees the man that he killed

this night and guilt overrides his curiosity and he puts the letter back in his in his poncho he'll get up and he'll head over to the stables

where he's kept his horse and he will attend to Roach brushing them and trying to soothe them the way he wished that his sister could soothe him this night And he'll wait till morning, hoping that his allies will return. God, if we just not burn that guy, damn it.

That's okay. It's good to have restraint when it comes to one's curiosity. Maybe this is for the best. But you will wait till the morning. And sure enough, as the dawn is on the world, rise, you'll hear the sounds of horses moving back in. A small dust cloud in the distance and eventually take shape to that of Viscount and last hope as your three companions return to the city. And cloudbursts, a little worse for wear, given the circumstances,

does look okay. Ashwin will run over to them like a schoolboy, excited, and just kind of immediately run up to cloudburst grabbing them by the leg you're okay i'm fine enough all things considered just a little snake bite little reaction i'll look to the others smiling i think we made it in time yeah i think we might be okay arm might look a little uh worse for where but who doesn't like a little raised veins huh i think cloud bears just knocked off four years of my life that i'll I apologize for the panic, but that's, it was spying on us in the middle of the night. I thought maybe throw it out the window or, well, I was trying not to throw it out the window, actually. Spying on us?

Yeah, I was taking watch and it was slithering up the window, just looking. Well, it seems that it's apropos that I still have the letter, and now would be as good a time as any to go speak to the leaders of Sonder. I was thinking before we did that, on accounting this thing was spying. Ash, when you seemed so good at discerning the truth out of things, I kept a portion of it. I'm going to reach into my bag and bring out that little half. I was thinking maybe, could you see if maybe that red-headed woman said this?

I can't think of any other reason in Opelot would have come this far into the town specifically into our window unless a snake charmer was working. Maybe if we can find out what's in her mind before we inevitably have to find out she's in that room with us and we might have an advantage. It almost feels obvious to me now, but sure, let's do that. Let's go back to our room, though. I'll need some privacy. Yeah, maybe we use this second room. employ some security this time around.

You said, while you guys go up, I'm going to go ahead and just do a walk around. I want to see if I can find its head real quick. See if that could also help. Sir Rose? Yes. I'll run up to you and pull from my poncho the letter. Here you go. You're going to see like the biggest, like shoulders drop in relief when they see the letters.

still together, and they're going to take it, put it back under. Amanda, Sergio, do I have, does Cecil have vision on this exchange? Yeah, probably. I'm going to kind of actually grab you by the top of your arm real quick and just give it a gentle squeeze in your life. Thank you. I appreciate you. I appreciate you.

Keep me a sec. Ashwin seems more energized by that, uh, that, uh, recognition than, than normal. And then he'll scurry back to the inn. As Ash is going up the stairs and we get some distance from Rose, you know, I'm going to make it so that I'm just watching, you know, walking after the ritual and finding out about the snake. But on the stairs, I am going to sort of tug slightly on the back of that poncho. He said, um, listen, you don't have to tell me now.

But, you know, whenever you feel ready, we should talk about what you read. What I read? I don't know what you mean. In the letter, Ashwin, it's okay. You didn't do anything wrong. You were just doing what we had all agreed was the right thing to do, right? But you just tell me when you're ready. Don't worry about it tonight.

Tonight's been a lot, huh? I just nodded to head past the room. Excellent. I'll go in with the others and set the snake down. I recall. that the head was sitting on the window sill. From where Rose was, where

was sliced it, yeah, like half of the bodies fell into the window in the room, then technically I'll go and grab the head from the window sill and kind of put them together the scenes touching.

It would be nice to find a head of a snake if it was still there. That's why I'm looking. That's why I'm going to look around. That's why I was, that's why I grabbed the first half. I was worried it, like, fell out. Well, I'll turn back. Yeah, I'll turn back to the, to the skin, and then kind of wave my hands over the body and whisper the name of truth and have in my mind the truth of the snake's owner.

They're a person that sent them. You invoke the words of truth to seek who might have sent it. The first thing you are going to hear is the sound of a small bell ringing and the dripping of liquid and green color eyes. stare um in the darkness um and you'll see just that head of the snake kind of rise out of water um with the same color eyes um and then that darkness kind of fades away until it's down right on the same street in which you um you're the place that you guys are staying is and then a gaze that that looks up at a window that matches the window right next to you.

I look up after saying the word, the true name of truth, and my eyes are white, and I start reciting everything I see. Green eyes, a bell, snake coming out of water with the same green eyes are in. and then after seeing everything I can, the eyes kind of return, the pupils, and the iris, and I blink and look at Cecil and cloudburst. I don't think it can be more obvious than that. Green eyes. She was watching us, too, seeing through the eyes of that snake.

What does she have to do with the gods? Clearly, she's some kind of sorceress. That's made some allegiance with them. It's possible the gods were just a side effect of trying to kill you. Maybe she was coming for the letter, trying to head things off at the pass. It seems like a... Go ahead. Well, I know we all kind of decided to be okay with this, just being a small errand.

But do you think maybe we should talk about why we're really out here? if a witch that may or may not be sent by the gods is trying to intercept a small letter? God, because this is a sign of doom and I've been trying to hold back a little bit, but we're starting to add up omens like it's fucking dominoes. Listen, two ravens do not visit us in the middle of the night to warn us of the opalite snake that bites us the next day

without this being a sign that the end times are among us. We need desperately to read these for one. what it is. I understand Sir Rose's position. I understand where she's coming from. I have loyalty to the crown as much as anyone else, but in a time like this, we need to understand that whatever this is, is a dedication to the end of the world. We need to read that fucking letter. What did you learn in there, Ashwin? Ashwin kind of plops down on his butt, crosses Indian style, and looks, I'm sorry, but I didn't read the last. I didn't read the last. letter. I, I, I felt guilty. I've caused enough trouble tonight. I just didn't think,

I'm sorry, Mr. O'Dara, but we're just going to have to find out the old-fashioned way. I don't think you're wrong, but I just, I couldn't bring myself to crossing Sir Rose again. That's okay. That's okay. Listen If this is what we think it is Cloudbursts actually the signs will continue to come

and all of these things will add up to a puzzle a cipher that will inevitably decide whether this ends or not and whether it ends in our favor

are not because it's coming regardless it's over already these moments like snake skin like ravens in the night they decide how it ends do we even consider

giving this letter over to what was his name Gaius I don't know we can trust him. I don't think we can trust anything until we've sussed out that room, especially if he has a snake whispering in his ear.

It's possible he's not even a traitor, so much as being made to betray again. He just has to receive a letter, right? I mean, we, I hope I'm not the first person to scrape off a wax seal, heat up the bottom, and reattach it to something else. But if so, class may be in session. Listen, oh, I don't know.

Even why I'm, this is a testament to how much I love that woman in the other room here. We can't do this unless to Rose agrees. I agree with that. I agree. She's too important to this, and I know that she's right now on the wrong side of her honor. but we can't do it without her.

I mean, what makes someone break their vow to the queen? Oh, God. Well, anything that would prove that this decision would go against the queen without her better knowledge. If we could prove that he is betraying the crown by taking that letter, or that she unwittingly went against herself, or even more so, that she went against country, not crown. Any of those would bring Soros to her side. I mean, using logic, this letter is going to be a formality at best. The queen is probably asking for his support, and we obviously know that he will turn it down or ignore it, but I don't know if there can be

any more information in there that would be privy to us or important. If I may, if you are begging support of someone long loss, why not just send a herald? speak in public and make sure that your reputation is heard this is clandestine this is a letter meant for no one but his eyes this is something that she does not want out that's why sir rose is so quick not to share information with us i've seen sarose tell me more over a bottle of beer than this situation she'll tell me her old fucking life story that woman she may not look it but god you get her a hair over tipsy and she'll tell you everything about her childhood she would have hold of us already and

it need be you're not sending by all means one of the most decorated war veterans of all time to be the messenger it's just too much Ashran will stand up and kind of like a justice poncho and say you've convinced

me Mr. Rodera let's speak to Sir Rose okay well I hope you're ready for heavyweight bouts if she threatens to wrestle any of us, we lost, do not engage. You will not win

that. She gets to a point where her arguments just devolve into her one and to punch you, and there's no winning that. Okay. I think we head over to the next door to the other hotel room.

I'm outside, if that's what I'm. Remember, I'm looking to see if I can find that snake hit. Rose, yeah, you You go while everybody else is while Ash going to take care of things to find truth from what Ashwin can pool, you're taking those cursory like perimeter look around, trying to find the snake you start off with towards like the back of the establishment and work your way towards the same window. You don't see anything with the exception of one. you get to the window in question where your companions are above and you kind of look out the window and you might like catch like a little bit of like Cecil walking by for a second

but you'll see like down on the ground like an impression in the earth like something plopped very heavily but something short and then you see like s curves in the sand heading away I didn't get them, I didn't get all of it. In the tracking of it, can I, Sir Rose is kind of looking at the tracks and trying to see where they go off, see how far I can actually follow it. You go as far as you can.

It eventually, like, it eventually disappears the tracks. But if you stand where the last track is found and just kind of do a nice little 360 look around. You will, the most notable thing of your look through is eventually that big house in the back where Aster Gaios is supposed to be residing over in the town. Anything. Kind of looking at that house in particular,

I'm trying to see if anything stands out. I think the only, I mean, it's a pretty standard, uh, standard building. It's got this bluish-like roofing on the top, um, white, uh, off-white at this point, given the wear and the dust on it. Um, it has these kind of fancy curtains that you can see at the windows, but I will see at one of the windows that you kind of look at, uh, you see a sliver of a part, then close itself off. Mm-hmm. someone's an early bird

I'm going to take that info and I'm going to I'm going to go ahead go back to the second room because I do know that the first room is compromised I'm going to where if they are already meet me I'm going to head back towards it

all right you walk in and the three of them are looking at you like they got something on the mind yeah I feel like the tension in this room is a little weird. It's a room you're walking into where you're sure that three people are about to talk to you. I just see three eyes just immediately turn to me in a tense way. And I'm like, so I couldn't find the head.

That's okay. You think we could talk? Yes. But anyway, just so you know, I'm going to explain the tracking of where how far went. So Rose maybe he's trying to just like kind of explaining everything. Yeah, honestly it's a stalling tactic. Something

ain't right and it's like, oh God, there's another thing's about to drop on me. All right. Do you want a cop a squat Rose? Yeah. Ashwin will twiddling his thumbs explain what he saw when he

spoke the word of truth and what the snake explained to him confirming what you saw, uh, it fought, you know, leading to, uh, uh, uh, Gaius' house. Air green eyes? Yes. Were they distinguishing up that if you were to see those eyes again, you can instantly point them out?

Probably. When we go and, uh, deliver the letter, I would like you to definitely. Take a look into everyone's eyes, especially. around and you indicated and don't think I didn't notice everyone tense up when I brought up the letter for a second so yeah listen so Rose I think you know what we're gonna ask you but I would just want to phrase it in this perspective here and if you need more time maybe we can give it just a little more time but I think we're starting to run out. I think that what happened tonight is a

sign of the doom and I think the ravines that visited us are heralds of that doom. I think that the letter you've been given is clandestine enough to influence the state of the world on a greater scale and I don't think what happened to us tonight is something that happens without consequence. I think we're about to walk into a room where it's possible that one or two of these people were about to give this royal correspondence to are traitors to the Crown. And if they are traitors of the Crown, there are two possibilities. The Queen is understanding of it and exchanging information with them, or the alternative,

which I think is more likely. She has no idea she's about to give prescient information to two people who mean to destroy her. I believe that this whole situation might go against your oath unwittingly. And I want even more so for you to trust me, as a long friend, as someone who has always steered you in the right direction, even if we are on parallel streets most of the times we meet. I love you, and I understand where you're coming from, and I know that those oaths mean

anything more than anything in this world to you, and that to go against them is to go against who you are. But can I tell you a little bit about who I think you are? You are righteous and full of justice, and you understand the hearts of everyone, more than me, more than anyone I've ever met. You see the good in everything that you see. And I think you know that this feels wrong too. And I just want you to meet me in the middle and

Let me read that fucking letter. Rose is going to take a moment to look at you and then actually look down. But I'm going to then look at Cloudburst. Look at your hand. What's your thoughts? I know your thoughts on the queen, I know, but... Fair. No, fair. Hypothetically speaking. I'm asking you from how... I'm asking you from how long we've known each other.

Yeah. I think it's odd that the first thing I saw before, West was an ocean of salt drying and filling over and over again. And there's only one place where that happens, and that's carcass. If it could mean anything, if any of this is important to anyone, and it seems to be, I would keep that in mind. I think it's worth pursuing. Not for the crown, but just for everybody.

And I... And I hate this shit. I don't want to believe in it. But if it's believing in it and the world continuing after the doom. There is no one here. I'm not saying that you... you everyone cares about the doom I would if I could just wage a magic one I would just I'd make any deal to me to make the inevitable not you're gonna

see Sir Rose actually gonna take off armor for a minute take off Poldrons. Even her damson to the point where it's only just like her white shirt and trousers. Come on get a drink and just leaves. Whatever is left behind is left behind. But Sir Rose leaves. Oh my God. Oh, thank you. Oh, thank God. She's with us. Ashwin follows her walking out the door, but then goes over to the armor and finds the letter.

Let's do this quick before she changes her mind. I take out a knife and try to remove the wax seal if I'm allowed. Wait, wait. Is it where we can read it without the seal at all? I suppose I could, but most of the time, the truth to me is images and visions, not specifics. No, you're right, you're right. Go ahead, Claupers. We want. Popperse is a master of this, yeah. Yeah. Okay, I start to scrape away the seal from the bottom, slow and steady, pop it off like a cork.

Very gently, you were able to maneuver that knife until it separates from the paper, and you're able to. to unfold this letter. It is very short and brief, but it will say simply this. By my seal and hand, I send you this message entrusted to you by Honorable Errant. The matter of the relic of my husband's weighs heavily upon the fate of futures.

Let this letter with a seal return be a sign of our faith in you. was well put. The saint moves and gathers. Your response determines your part of what happens next. May your hand not falter in shaping what is needed, in secrecy,

and in faith, I'll so dare. Call to action. Call the action, as I supposed. She trusts. what are we missing here that don't know if we are missing anything maybe we made a mistake forcing

Sir Rose to break his honor no but this Anastasia character if she's whispering him against him against the crown then this could still be exactly what we think it is he has a snake in his ear right

it can't just be that this is just a fucking message? I don't think so. It's, it's as much as I, again, don't like it. It's the queen choosing to send a letter. It's something that can easily be intercepted.

I almost died this morning and I just pop this thing open. I think it's more than what it says. Could be a relic. Could just be a something else. That is, that entreat me.

His crowns. What could be out here in fucking nowhere. There's nowhere near the No, but that's a good reason. There's a lot of people that keep stock out here. It's forgettable. And they put the traitor in charge of it? Or did he find it? This is interesting. Perhaps if we visit him and give the letter, we'll be able to have a better idea of what this relic might be. I think so.

The issue here is, and something we need to make sure that Sir Rose is abreast of. we need to ensure that if this woman is in his presence there is absolutely no way that he is a compromise to her influence or be allowing of her to read that letter there's a good chance she's here for the relic too if he's the only one who knows where it is if he's been compromised then she's surely extracted it from him already

the knowledge at least right so then we have to operate under the circle that we believe that he is near influence, but not there yet. And therefore, if we can get him alone, we can learn for ourselves and help him to do right by the queen. Ashwin, can you do that true thing a little bit more secret? I'm not as experienced as other mystics when it comes to being subtle, but I could try. Okay, I'm thinking maybe we can make you look drunk a little bit, make you look a little off your rocker already, and then if we need to do it there. Maybe we can do a little show. I don't know. I'm just, we got to know in the moment, and if we're trying to remain undetected, that little trick you got is fantastic.

Well, let me start practicing first by resealing this letter, and I'll... reach out for it. I'll take it from you, and with the same thumb, I was rubbing it earlier in the evening. I'll rub the back of the wax seal just enough to start getting it soft, and then I'll close it again, pressing it, making sure not to ruin the queen's seal. There. I think we continue as scheduled. Cool.

Let's go see about them first. Ashwin will step out and start looking for Sir Rose, hoping they're still in. You'll find them at the bar. There's already an empty shot glass. And seeing Sir Rose, just another one. Ashwin will walk up to Sir Rose and then place to let her down by them and say

Sir Rose I believe we're scheduled to go speak to the leader of this town today if you would feel ready to don your armor when that shot glass comes back I'm gonna I'm gonna

actually take it and I'll slide it over to Ashwin and I'm like I hope it worth it and I'm just going to go ahead and I'll just go back upstairs so I can put my armor back on but there's a very deep like you're gonna see a very like just somber depressed rose I'm gonna try and catch Rose coming up the stairs there and just make some very firm eye contact with her give her a slow nod and then if she allows it, he's going to reach in

and give her a hug, sort of fit his chin on her shoulder for however long as she'll take it. And if not, he understands. I'm not going to move my arms right away. I'll let you hug for a second. And after probably a moment too long, that's when you'll feel like a little tap on the back. And I think in that hold, he like half-whisper,

verse, he says, do you know how much hope entered this world the second that you came out of retirement? Immeasurable. I hope I live up to those standards. You always do. Ashman watches the interaction from the bar and kind of raises the, the shot and takes it and then coughs uncontrollably. You're just cutting your back way too hard.

It actually, that probably will make me chuckle with you. Let me go get ready. We've got to be presentable. Oh yeah, we must look our best for the greatest traitor we've ever met. Well, you know what? If we handle the greatest traitor, uh, threat that is that is. ever hit myth we at least got at least represent myth the way it's supposed to be yeah that fake bravado it's not really hit but it's going to go ahead and just get upstairs and don the armor on uh is the

letter on the bed or did someone take i handed it to you oh yeah sorry i'm going to make sure that is i won't feel like don't even want to look at it don't even want to look at the letter and I'm just going to slide it back under and rush down. Excellent. You will hear Rose coming down the stairs. Be as ready as you'll ever be. But it's time to make our way to the house at the end of this town. One that Rose clocked earlier this morning.

It has a bluish roof that matches this kind of double blue door. and you can begin to walk up the steps and enter into this very, very nice lobby area. It's got a second floor, which you can see this kind of rounded staircase that moves onwards. Everything on the inside here is made of fine wood and it's well polished and maintain. There are definitely staff members that tend to this house, but it is a very small amount of people. there's no like rushing or going it actually feels really empty in here um i'm going to approach like one of the staffers from below hello my name is sir rose i'm an emissary from myth on behalf of our queen and i'm here to seek the audience with uh person in charge

The staff member will nod at that, especially given your station, and they will quickly leave this space and go deeper into the home and look to seek the person that you are seeking and give them a few moments. They will mention to follow them and they will lead you. they will lead you towards the they'll lead you towards the they'll lead you to towards the back of this home where it looks to be like doors that would lead into a study, an office of some kind

and they'll stand off to the side and they will go to open the door and I'll say that's a perfect time for us to take but a break before we see how this unfolds, but we will be back very soon. Hey! You know why I'm here. It's time to pay the tax. I don't like it any more than you do, but this is what we've both earned. So I'm going to be really quiet for a couple of seconds so you can sit in this. Don't look away. Stay with me. I don't like this anymore than you do.

But here we are. Okay, listen, this is the price of admission, and I don't want to hear any complaining. Let's just enjoy our time together. Good. Okay, you paid your tax, but if you were thinking, God, I wish there was a bank account that came in islands, I could hide in to avoid this,

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If you're watching this ad, that's because you aren't a patron and you had to pay your tag. you can be like the rest of the cool kids and hide from your taxes be the 1% baby join us at the top who don't even know what that fucking ad looked like and don't have to listen to me be quiet for half a second right joining our patreon today is your opportunity at patreon.com slash mayday r p you're gonna see me again next week and it's gonna be worse and long So join. Back to you, Eli. The doors are opened for you. You've heard of Astor Gaios,

also known as the two gallows. By word, you've heard of his stories in which he aided the cannibal saint in his progression towards what would inevitably lead to the Battle of the Violet Fields, which each of you participated in in some way, shape, or form. But also his secondary life, dodging the noose for a second time by aiding King Mollivan just before that battle was to be had. and you would expect somebody who exuberates maybe a level of smugness, confidence, a person who knows how to play their cards at the table, but what you see when you walk in there is a man who rings his hands nervously, sitting at his desk here, as you all walk in, questions. though, do all of you walk in or do some of you linger around to maybe find curiosity in an empty home?

Not all of you need to speak to Aster. There's only one letter that needs to be delivered. I'm just curious where everyone stands in this home. I do think Ashwin would be overwrought with concern for his disdain for people like who they're about to go speak with. So, yeah, maybe at the last second, Ashwin would hold back and gesture for the others to continue without him. Anyone else stay behind? I think I'm going to move, take a bodyguard position and sort of be a little bit behind Sir Rose, but close enough to get to Ashwin, if need be. They're also dressed completely different.

like different hair, different everything. Cecil is going to be in the room where it happens, baby. Beautiful. Excellent. So Ashton, you will kind of linger as others pass through the threshold here. And the moment you kind of take the charge here, Rose, Astor will definitely stand up immediately, put his hands down. though he kind of does that little half-like squish of his face, knowing that he probably got caught for the hand-wringing. But he looks at you and goes,

I heard that members of court were riding into Sonder. It is good to see you, and he kind of puts his hand out as a gesture of getting your name, Sir Rose. Uh, morning. My name is Sir Roth, and I'm here on behalf of my queen. I'm going to reach in and I'm going to pull out the letter and extend it out to him. And be like, she is asking for your response and then hands in the letter. Okay. Astor is going to break the seal that has not been broken as far as he knows,

and he's going to unfold the leather, and he's going to slowly read it. Just those few little lines that many of you know is just on that page, and you watch him scroll all the way down to the final signature that is signed at the bottom. and he just stares at it for just a moment I am going to start us into our showdown

we have spent enough time here in Sonder we have collected some information we have delivered our message and we just need to know how we move forward now that this message has been delivered The thing about a showdown here when it requires all of us is that we do need one person to be the one who rolls, who will suffer the ultimately the cost of this showdown, and will be the one responsible for paying a cost in the end. So, which one of you?

I'm going to, that one is going to be me. This is my mission. I'm going to go ahead and take that. I think that's fair. All right. So Showdown requires us to figure out what our thresholds is, what our lowest number is, and what our highest number is that we're seeking to target. Current threat level is at a seven, given some of the events that have happened during your time here. and Sonder has brought eyes your way and a bit of tension. You guys earned, let's see, you guys earned two showdown tokens for your successes along the way here,

getting information from EPP as well as your confrontation with the jackals and getting those letters. So our target is five, and our max threshold threat is seven. So with that, Rose, we're going to roll, Rose, we need, or end everyone, we do need to figure out what the cost is here. ultimately how Astor will react is definitely a cost here but what else? You guys have learned a little bit about some secrets here but how do you suffer if this doesn't go your way, Rose?

This is my idea and if anyone else has another one I say the jackals ambush us I like that's a good one I definitely don't think that it matters whether he agrees to what is in the letter or not right like the like he's a traitor one way or another it kind of feels like

that doesn't feel like it should be part of the cost that's fair I was thinking that maybe the cost could be we don't learn his side in this like one big question we've had through this Is he a part of this? Is he the one betraying it?

Is it Anastasha with him? Like, we, maybe the cost is that we don't discern what's happening here. That's a good one. That's a big one. That's like, yeah. I think, yeah, safe exit feels like the safer cost, but determining his connection is definitely something we've all said. We're really passionate about.

So it depends on how much you want to bet. Yeah. All right. So we're looking to uncover some truths here that might be insightful for you all, for those searing questions you have on your mind. I love that. So Rose, you're going to roll me a single D6.

You are going to add a plus two to that, given how much information you guys have been able to acquire here in Sonder. We want to get at least a five, right? target is the lowest target is five yes oracle i have a power called and they shall live on it means that if i'm there to witness a showdown that is headed by another member of the cadre i can take their costs they offer and make it count as one more than it would traditionally is that something that would apply here for rose you have chosen rose is the person you kept your eye on for

this quest, so I would allow you to do that. So make that plus two, a three. So roll me that D6. Just one die? Just one die. And then you'll add that modifier. What did you roll? I wrote the nine.

I roll the six plus three that's a nine holy I'll show you that I'll show you the I'll show you the the dice camera right there that is a six right there that's awesome oh what does that mean for the next one now did I puck her up a little bit before roll it yes I did

holy shit oh my God All right, let's set the stage for this. Astor reads the message. You can see the rack of worry on his face. He kind of puts a half smile up and looks over to you, Rose, and says, well, I didn't realize I was causing Her Majesty's

trouble over the matter. But I can easily enough respond. I'm gonna lean down even to the desk. She would greatly appreciate that. Right, right. If you'd like, I'm Cecil O'Dara and Scribe. I could draft your message back to the Queen post-haste and deliver it on our return.

if you'd like to draft a response now in the presence of us? Yes, I can, I can do that quickly. I don't think she needs nothing more than a confirmation and a seal of return, and you guys can be on your way. I would advise, as a member of the court, just in your best interest, she was rather interested in your, indisposed nature in the past few annals of time. She's been wondering where you've been.

So maybe in your response, you could speak to that nature as to not draw the ire of the crown. I'm sure I can do that. I would put the details in. And you'll see me like subtly. Like as I'd like touch the armor, you see like, I'm not here to play. he pulls, he goes to a drawer, opens the drawer, and starts to pull out that and begins to

start drafting his letter. You're going to seem gross, look to you and like wink, like, thank you. That was good. Ashwin, you decided to linger outside and you take look of a seemingly empty home. You're on the first floor of it, but as you're kind of waiting on the outside in the hall, you hear footsteps above you, and they creak. It's the first time you've heard anything upstairs, and you've noticed as your time waiting outside, none of the staff have made their way upstairs, almost purposefully from what you can just insight as you're standing there. I like to imagine Ashwin was sitting in a chair waiting for the others and out of boredom has gotten up and probably, you know, walking up to the cabinets and chairs and tables and kind of exploring the space. And when he hears the creaking from upstairs, he'll look and try to get a better vantage point of anyone walking around up there.

you can kind of move your way back towards the lobby where you can kind of get that little parallel look of like what's upstairs. The only thing you really get a catch, and you're tracing the steps that you heard from the location, you see just a, from what where your vantage point is, just what looks to be the brushing of a dress that kind of wrapped a little bit to around the corner and then kind of like unraveled as it as somebody like entered into the closest room in the hallway. Can I ask what color is the dress? Red. Bitch. Um, finding that odd, I'll call out, uh, pardon me, could, could I ask for some water?

There's a pause in the steps that you can hear and then the turning around. as somebody returns out into the hallway and takes steps towards the railings that you're looking and peering through. She is very alluring, red hair that is done up in a very fancy up to, this very nice silken dress in these piercing green eyes. that just look down at you

and you can just get the sense of looking through you and you can swear just in the back of your mind you just hear the sound of a bell ringing when she looks at you. My stomach drops seeing these green eyes knowing exactly who this is and I say

pardon me I was assuming you You were the help. You clearly aren't. My name's Ashwin. Ashwin. What an interesting name. No last name. No title?

I am a mystic, and so it's not my true name. It's a name I've chosen to protect myself. Do you have a name? They call me Anastasia. It's a beautiful name. May I ask where you herald from? You'll see her slowly start moving towards the staircase,

and she's taking steps downward now so that she can be parallel to you. There's just a level of grace, and it almost seems like everything kind of dials into the sound of her footsteps, just walking with each step down towards you, but she'll finally respond the moment she gets to the final step and moves towards you.

I am from nowhere in particular When you come from the waist, you don't attach yourself to just anywhere. You just move, as the sands move, as the winds blow, as the moons traverse across the sky. I understand. Anastasio, my cadre is. speaking to Gaius, would you do me the courtesy of keeping me company while I wait for them? I suppose a guest in this home I could do so. I'll bow respectfully.

You said you were thirsty. Yes, if you have something to drink. It's quite hot outside. Why don't you follow me? I'll get you something to drink. And we can go somewhere quieter to chat. I look at the door and then, you know, the door of where I know my cadre is. And then I'll look back at her and say, thank you. And I'll follow her.

Yeah. She moves down a hallway and you follow inside that study with Gaius etching. You just hear the sound of penda paper, him fever. trying to quickly put words to thoughts to words on this parchment, the sweat still building, the nervousness. You even see the rattle in his writing, just quickly and feverishly making sure that every detail that you're looking for from him is met on that paper. If I may, for a man who's escaped death as many times as you're yourself, you've got quite a tick in your hand there, sir. Are you feeling all right this day?

Listen, we came on court business, but that doesn't have to mean that we have to put the fear of gods into you. Oh, it's, unfortunately, a old habit. He doesn't even look up from the paper. Have you ever faced death before, Mr. O'Dara? My family's haunted by it, but I've never been quite as close as you, my friend. Well, word to the wise, when you step onto that predipus and you don't find yourself falling over, it does leave something a little deeper than scars, and, well, your body is just not quite the same when it's already felt a resonance and a frequency. Hence, the shake. Question, maybe you can answer to me,

Sir Rose. While I do appreciate correspondence from Her Majesty, any word about our King? Rubin? What about it? I just feel an absence in his correspondence. is he not truly in charge of the realm? Would not his dispatchment come from

his words and not the regent of myth? Are you implying that our queen is doing something against the king? Because I can promise you that that is not the case. Rubein is strong. for his health Oh, good, his health It's more than, it's just more curiosity

Usually by now I would have expected Word of Just word from his majesty I think any person would find comfort In knowing that his king also Is aware Of such dispatchment

majesty would have been very likewise with you with you telling them updates and information so listen King Malavan took many social advisors in his time we've seen many secretaries come through

wouldn't you as a proud son be honored to take your mother into your court and have her advisement and in addition a king can feel slighted when portions of his kingdom suddenly go silent. Perhaps he took offense. Perhaps a touch of silence comes in a worry of who truly runs the kingdom, and that's the

first time he looks up. And then returns back to the letter. Trustworthiness is much like currency. Maybe he's worried for your absence. You could dissuage that worry with the two of us. Or maybe you have an opinion of the king that we should be brought to light on. We've been in court as much as you have. Maybe you have an understanding of this in a way that we don't. Of course, I wouldn't dare to question the authority of those at court, especially ones who are perched ever so close.

But I have come to find when you add distance to the equation that you tend to have to have to lean on other voices, the voices of the people, the ones who wonder where their king really is. Perhaps I just share the feelings of those who really matter. I understand your point of view. can be worrisome, especially with the prophecy that is swirled around this world in recent history. But I suppose that calls a question as to what would happen next.

You've been in this game a lot longer than most of us. And say what you will about your history, there is nothing to say about your tactics, or stratagem. You've got a good eye on the feet. field, chessboard. What would you say happens next if you were an omniscient observer? This is of course not within the realm of the court, just a personal curiosity as a tailweaver who might want to write in your name or just get a lay of the land. Well, prophecy spreads like sickness. And it really comes down to what people truly believe and how it is responded to.

So far, it's been responded to in silence. And maybe I can see the board. But do everybody see the board and the chess players and all the things that will come next? if you don't even know what tokens are still left in this game, you don't know who your adversaries are. Well, wasn't it six things to worry about? Six things that might ride the end? Leaving it up to chance

Well, you seem to know a lot more, so it seems like you got a lot to say in that letter. I thought we were talking about prophecy and how people feel about it. Sorry, I'm sorry, Cecil. That's okay. Six will stir, six will stray. He's right on that account. Listen, is there a very important? anything that we can do as members of the court to be of a service to you and your house before

we return this letter. We just want to make sure that you feel as equipped to be a part of this kingdom as possible. And we know that you feel as being on the outreaches, the farthest thrones of Rubin's understanding. Maybe you feel a little discarded. What can we do to assuage that? A return correspondence from the king might be something reassuring. The people know that we are in our king's thoughts all the way down here in Sonder. Yeah, perhaps I could see what the king's stratagem would be on these individuals I've seen about Sonder, the jackals. perhaps the king could advise on what exactly is happening in the disease of this town that would be helpful romers are getting out of hand these days uh romers are finding uh

finding better paths uh to take and uh well no one likes when romers banned uh And together, they enjoy him sparsed out across the waist. Well, a member of our cadre, Ashwin, the righteous tide, he had a run in with them in a bar just before we had this meeting there. And God, if they didn't just spill a whole lot of information about themselves right before, well, the unfortunate circumstance of their aggressive nature towards our friends. They picked out a particular figure that they seemed to be working alongside an organized crime unit within your town. I'm sure that you being who you are, and of course you're aware of their presence. I was wondering, in addition to this correspondence with the king, would you want myself and Sir Rose to maybe look into this whole jackal's thing for you? find out exactly who they're working

with. See, so that sounds like actually, it sounds like a good idea. Yeah. Well, I wouldn't want you to take on unnecessary labor. Well, you said you wanted to make sure, like, the king is aware of his people

and all that? Well, guess what? I am one of the king's errant nights. One of the most celebrated errant nights to have ever lived. The hero of the Violet Fields. Yes. Why can't, I don't see why we can't, in not only good faith,

and since you are one of the king's subjects, why can't we go ahead and protect and look after the king's interest in subjects? So not from my understanding. You already took those kinds of. of matters into their into your own hands. The funny thing about a snake is if you don't lop it off at the head, you never know if it's dead, right? So we need to find whoever they're working with.

Well, I mean, I cannot stop a cadre for taking up their own arms if they feel so compelled to do right by our kingdom. too. They're causing a fuss in your town. Of course. Of course. Culprits, are you wanting to add anything to this or just observation? I'm creeping and I'm going to go try to find Ashwin because I can see them. They're cooking, but I can't see my boy. Okay. Then yeah, feel free to slip out easy enough for a spy to do, but I just wanted to check in where we're

you were at. You are going to walk down the hallway here and realize that Ashwin is not in the hall, nor is he in like that little foyer that you guys walked into. And you just kind of start tiptoeing through other parts of the house here. And you start moving towards like where the kitchen. are, which for you, Ashwin, is where you and Anastasia head towards. It's more of a service-like kitchen. It's meant for staff to prepare meals that go out to a dining room table.

But she seems comfortable walking in here and just setting up herself, making herself at home, she grabs and finds a kettle, puts water on a fire stove, and starts heating that water. Tea, it's been a while. Thank you. Of course. It must be, it is quite fortunate. You mentioned coming from the waste who have found yourself here in Sonder. How long have you been here?

I have been in Sonder for... About a year now, thinking about it. Gaios is quite kind to have taken you into his home. Yes. He is surprisingly a generous individual, and I am grateful for his kindness. So you mentioned you are, Um, you mentioned you are a mystic.

Uh, I assume you are from the city. Uh, yes, I've been practicing for a few years now. Um, still not quite at the level of, uh, some of the leaders, but I'm aiming for that. I have my tricks. Uh, do you possess any mystical abilities? There is something I must admit is quite, supernatural about you. Perhaps it's just your eyes.

She smiles at that. She takes the kettle off. In the time that you were talking about that, she had pulled a jar of what looks like tea and pours it into the teapot, and then now she pours the water so that it can seep and she'll bring it over with cups. Um, I have, um, but small, uh, magic, uh, nothing in the, nothing in the air of, uh, grandeur, uh, that one would hear come from, uh, mystics, uh, nor was I fortunate enough to have the means to be taught.

Um, so my magic is very small. Um, but, uh, something that my family has grown over generations. Ah, generational magic. That's intriguing. I find any magic is, is, uh, capable of creating great miracles. I, I've been meaning to ask, do you know of anything in the area locally, uh, a well, uh, or a place of power that, that you think is interesting or worth visiting for? a mystic like myself.

There are a few that come to mind. I could tell you, depending on what exactly you're seeking. I would, I don't mean to sound out of place, but I'm seeking places that can help me become more powerful

more in control of the way this world is turning I am eager to course correct it I'm I see I see Then what you seek is not a what, but a who.

There's somebody out in the desert, one who consults bones. He's known as the pet keeper. A roadmage that travels the waste, searching for bones for his collection. Perhaps direction for you to go in search of power. Petkeeper, a roadmage. It's been a while since I've met one. I appreciate this. Thank you, Anastasia.

Of course, of course. and she pours you a cup of tea, sugar. Please. She'll go and grab this small porcelain tin and put as many sugar as you want into it. As much as I'd like to consider myself adult, I have to admit, I prefer things on the sweeter side. Oh, well.

Then she adds just an extra bit before she slides it over to you. Well, it is a little hot, I would say, that it is best drinking quickly as she slides the cup over to you. And then she goes and picks up her cup and drinks it all the way to the bottom and puts it down. I'll smell it. curious to what it smells like to me it has a very heavy citrus scent to it

there's also earthy notes as well something more woodsy like pine but it's very pungent, along with a sweet. It's strong. Brut,

collected the herbs myself. Family blend. Can I come around the corner as this moment is happening and just Ashwin, I was looking

for you. We're almost done with the letter if you want to come along. Oh, cloudburst. I've met a lovely woman here named Anastasia. Anastasia, This is a member of my cadre, Cloudburst. Nice to meet you. It just turns their head and you both make eye contact. And she smiles.

Pleasure to meet you. Anastasia, I appreciate your hospitality, but I'm being called. I'll put the glass down and stand up beside Cloudburst. To the main room then. Good to meet you for the first time cloudburst, you say, as Ashwin walks by, and she'll go and grab Ashwin's teacup and drink it to its entirety and look aside of you. Lasting, first impression. I hope we can see each other again. She'll just skip a very pointed nod. It turns away. And yeah, you can push Ashwin out the door out the hallway. As we're walking, Ashwin just kind of gives a knowing glance to cloudbursts.

You are trouble. Yes, I know what's her. Oh, yeah. It's her. It's awesome. It's her. Those in the office, Gaios will finish writing the letter. You'll see him pull out a,

wax seal and some wax and starts placing his seal at the bottom as instructed in the message. Like I said, before we leave, if there is

something we can do before we deliver this, you are part of the king's kingdom and therefore you are offered the same rights as any of their citizens. Well, It seems you have directive of where you think your hearts should be in that if you wish to seek out the jackals and absolve that. Sondre would be ever grateful for His Majesty's assistants.

And he'll go and seal the letter as well, again, with his wax seal on the front of it. Cecil's going to step up and take the letter from him. And just the second that both hands are on the letter, he's going to look them straight in the eye as someone who is quick to bullshit to another person who's quick to bullshit. But Cecil's so hungry for that truth. He keeps his eyes close on him and says, is there anything you want to tell us?

Anything at all? He ponders for a moment. He ponders for a moment. Not mm-hmm Let me ask you, Mr. Odera, you seem content with prophecy, or at least on the path of its nature. Do you believe in dreams, though? I believe in it all.

Then my only advice to you or anything that I can give to you is that dreams are the only thing that will and prophecy, I am certain. And His Majesty will have his answer When I find it Or maybe You might find it I'd have to know what I was looking for Thank you, sir

Thank you And he will hand the letter Back to Sir Rose Take it and just I'm just immediately slip it under the armor I'm going to go ahead and back I like take my head off again and just say I thank you

for your response and for your audience of course I am but a humble servant of this fine crown aren't we all you know I remember the first time you were made to say that in the presence of King Malovan

It's a hell of a way the world changes, huh? Well, when you see everything on the board, you know how to move your piece. I'm excited to see where you move. Wow. Please, by all means, gather what you need here from Sonder. Whatever resources we can provide is for His Majesty's. insurance of a safe return. So good you've said that.

We were actually, we just ran out of our tab at the saloon we were staying at. Do you think we could stay in the big house for the night if we needed to? I mean, you must have rooms in this place, big as it is. We could accommodate that. I'm sure. We do have a member of the cadre that just unfortunately had a severe allergic reaction to something. Hell of a thing. I would appreciate if we could just have it, let them recover for a little bit.

Well, I would be inhospitable not to offer a cadre a place to rest, especially if you intend. the long journey back to Saunders, so certainly I can oblige. Lovely. Thank you. I was going to say, I don't want to be keeping you. I know you're probably busy running this Boisterstown. If you don't mind, if you could just, we can just talk to one of your servants and get ready. And like I said, we're happy while we take a thing to just,

take care of that little jackal problem for you. Certainly. Well. Excellent. Thank you. You guys are going to step out. I assume just to reconvene for a moment on how you guys press forward. You do have access to stay here in Sonder.

You guys can easily start making your ride out if you guys do not want to stay here further. Ashwin will turn to the others and say Another night What's the need of that? Normally I would just Just in case we want to Look around

See just what it is he's getting up to I'm tapped on my resources I don't know how much more use I can be We don't have to take them up on it if we don't want to That's true Just want to make sure we had every offer on the table It's dangerous to stay here for sure But if we're looking for something

I think we'll find it What did you all see I met her The one with the green ice Anastasia She's here in the kitchen That's even more reason to stay here tonight We can

You know Cloudburst her Short of accusing her I don't understand and what we can gather. She's quite wily, keeping her cards close to her chest. I think we have as much information as we need. Did she?

I think if we stay, we can't focus on her. She already knows. If she's the one that sent the snake, she knows. Yes, and she will continue to focus on us. My question is, shouldn't we just go in there and handle it real quick? I'm not opposed Oh yeah She tried to kill us

I'm just gonna say A bullet in the head Just really does make everything go away Is the oldest medicine In the world In most circumstances I would agree with you Sir Rose But I don't know if

Just killing people Willy-nilly is really the best course of action If you're saying there's a traitor To the Crown here That could threaten Bring possibly a doom are we not obligated to

but I am a huge fan of large scale and unprompted violence but this woman is in the back pocket of several people just from what I know about her

we don't know who she is to anybody else we don't want to you know set off a powder keg of sorts I don't know who she's publicly loyal to I think we should kill her just maybe not tonight We should find out what she knows first.

But there's another thing we need to consider something that he let slip. And, you know, I check all corners. And I check for snakes and I check everything. Clear. Yeah. I was going to say, should we actually step outside the house? Yeah, maybe we'd go for a mozy or something. Yeah, like, I intimate.

I don't think he necessarily knows where this thing is. he said essentially that he would keep looking and then maybe we'd find it before he did Cecil can you tell them what he said to you about dreams yeah he said that

the only thing that can be to prophecy is a dream and that the answer will come to us in dreams strange I was trying to bait him into warning us about the red dress or I was trying to see if he had any allegiance to her not clearly he does he protected her four separate times I've aided him for but instead he looks me straight in the eyes and drops that the dreams are the only thing that can stop prophecy I think you will also remember in the correspondence or the

letter sent that a soldier mentioned a relic, something that he has been working on. If he doesn't know where that relic is, and he's searching for a dream to find it, there's something still here. I think it's got to be close. And I think if we could find it, we could keep it out of the hands of, you know, the redhead.

Ashwin kind of straightens out and once again, I guess you've convinced me otherwise. This relic, we should find it. So we stay one night and see what we can find. But not in this house. We're close to the enemy. We need at least a little bit of distance. Listen, I think we made him sweat. I don't think we necessarily have to be in this house.

I'm with you, Ashwin. But I think maybe, and he gives a long look over to Cloudverse, Maybe we watch what happens after the fallout of me and Sir Rose's conversation. I mean, we may have perked off a couple of times that we have an idea of what's going on here. And what do you do the second they find out you got something in your basement, you're cleaning out before the cops come the next day. Yeah, it's a good point. All right.

How can I help then in this situation? do you have some sort of true word for find relic shakes his head what about dreams is that another I can take a nap yeah maybe we do a little sleep study you and me we

you know what we'll eat a full meal before we bed down I have some hallucinogenics that are very mild but extremely powerful and dreams. Perhaps we could make some tea,

you and Ashwin, and go on a vision quest. Oh, more tea. Yeah, excellent. You ever done drugs, son? I can't say I have beyond accidentally ingesting something that upset my stomach.

Well, it's not drugs. Maybe it's time you start. Ease them in. I guess we'll find our rooms, then. Actually, well, question, if you don't feel comfortable napping here, and let's be for it, our places are maybe compromised, should we just camp? Everywhere is compromised. I think Mr. Odera has a point. We might as well be as close to the enemy as possible.

The only other place is Epp, and I love that man. I'm not eating beans for two and a half meals. Ah, that's fair. Anna. Well, we don't want to be rude guess. Stop by on the way out. Yeah. Stay here for a night.

All right. You need to relax. You know, take it easy, Cloudburst. You know, how's that hand? Cloudburst holds up the hand and it's still like a little bit dark around the veins. Like, all of them are blue. It's fine. I have to say, do we need to cut it open a little bit and like let that glue come out?

I remember. You were very quick to cut it off. That I do remember. So maybe we leave that. We just kind of put that on the back burner. If it's any consolation, there's a few stories as Sir Rosa not even asking the question. That's true. It's honestly more than she's done in the past in terms of preserving limb.

I'm going to be honest, life overrides limb. I'm happy to be prison for the growth. Yeah, thank you, I guess. Let's find a way to bed down. Get you guys set up. I don't know what you want to take a bunch of hallucinogenics, but usually it's a lot of blankets and hide in your keys. Yeah, yeah.

I'll take care of the horses, make sure they're taking care of them. Also, if you don't mind, I'm going to keep them somewhat a little bit packed up in case we need to go. Yeah, there's no telling what happens tonight. We'll all be on our guard, and we do what we can't. to learn where this relic is. Oh, Ashwin, we will not be on our guard. You are going to see things you have never thought to exist. I hope that you don't have any dark in your past

because you're going to meet it and shake its hand. He looks back at the desert pearl saloon and then looks back at you. All right, let's begin. I will shepherd you through this, my son. It is quite the first step, but the 10th one's the best one. Go to Ashton.

Good luck. When we start to just do my task, I'm like, ugh. I'll be around. I'll be around. Yes. There's always a runner. The day is going to progress on as you watch the sun just kind of move across the sky until it finally eventually sets in the West,

where you will be welcomed back to the house of Astor Gaios, and given rooms for you guys to, stay at on the second floor. Once you guys get more or less settled rows, you can absolutely head out to go tend to the horses, make sure everything is good since you guys aren't

even really going to do anything more than just bed down and ride in the morning. Might as well get everything situated just in case. In the meantime I would like to like just pick up some extra like any food and even like bandage, just like general store stuff

just restocking. Yeah. I'll put in an order for some healing salves and just kind of an extra supply of medical supplies. Oracle, when they show us our rooms on the second floor, is there any room that they like walk past intimating that it's like taken already? Are there so many that like there could be many taken besides ours? I'm trying to suss out if we get an idea where Anastasia stays on the second floor. Yes. Combined with what Ashwin saw, and again, given the very empty nature of this home,

there is a hallway with many rooms up here that you can tell, but you can tell that the ones that are empty are all open, which is pretty much every room with the exception of one. You guys, it is one of the first doors on the right here, but you guys get pushed further, deeper into the hallway and then are given rooms off to the left. towards the end of the hole.

So you least know that. And Ashwin can point that out when you guys pass by it for sure. I think that was the room that she was coming into when I spoke to her, and she emerged from it. Brayn't brazen about it, don't you think? Very fun. It sounds like she's the one in charge here, secretly.

Yeah. She tends to be. Well, she didn't play any spells on you, did she, Ashwin? You're not in love with her. Though I am a redhead, I don't find myself necessarily attracted to every single one I come across. But her eyes were quite mesmerizing, I will admit that. Snake charmer. You're just a little cobra, aren't you, Ashwin?

Speaking of cobras, as that happens, that snake coming out, I'm going to skin that snake. I'm like, I will skin it. Beautiful. You can absolutely do that. Ashwin and Cecil, you guys can collect up. Cecil, you can start brewing that tea. I think you guys have a, it's a double bed like room situation, so you both can be sharing the same room together here as you start pouring.

It's a very elaborate tea set with another sort of like, portion of myth, denoted in blue twill porcelain around the side of the kettle. And he just sort of goes through the process, and he brings out this careful tin inside with baggies, and he takes out these mushrooms, and they call them spirits. It's supposed to take us through the veil. I don't know if any of that is true, but God, you're going to feel like it is. and he begins cutting up and preparing some mushroom tea for the two of them. Now, I'm essentially going to give you a microdose because it's your first time through,

but even a micro feels like a macro with these sort of things. So take it slow, don't drink the whole thing, sip until you feel you. Ashwin puts his hand on Cecil's hand that is holding the mushrooms, and he'll say, the fate of the world is at stake. I don't need a microdose. Give me the full dose. Okay, so okay, I'm going to, Cloudverse immediately starts putting the things that they were going to take with them to snoop down their steak here as long as possible. Ashwin will take off his poncho and kind of roll up his sleeves.

Ashwin, the righteous tide, they will remember you for your bravery. And he essentially just jumps the entire bag into the tea, cut up and diced it. in and cooks it off. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Farewell. Enjoy your trip. It's going to be coming after-school special.

Ashwin is leaving out of window. You're going to be Princess Jasmine in a minute. You're going to be in a whole new world, baby. Yeah. Our next Doom Showdown is whether we fall out a window. This is appropriate for early 20s. Yeah, for Ashwin. This is Grashwin.

Write a passage. Come on. You an older, strange rich man doses me with with fucking mushrooms in the top floor of a city hall. I might be groomed. Rough. This tea is brewed to its to where you know, Cecil, it needs to be steeped at. And it's just very dark. brownish liquid that you just pour in it sounds it smells much different than this he that anastasia uh handed you um is that's that sugar oh don't put sugar in this it just makes it

smell worse listen when you sip it just think of home i will you guys you got someone uh important in your life someone that every time you think of they bring joy i think of my sainted mother you got someone in mind yes i have someone in mind think of the best conversation you've ever had with them if you haven't had it have it now and just see their face when you take their first sip close your eyes it's the easiest way to ensure the trip goes well don't think of your dad almost always goes bad i'll reach out for the cup All right. Yeah. You guys will take sips until you feel it. Oh. Until you feel it. Oh, no. Hey. Oh. Well. Love that. Seasel, just as advantageous, or are you going to take it nice flowing? No, I'm going to sip it like a, I'm shepherding him, so I'm going to make sure that. that he's okay.

It's also going to be hard to get him to sleep. So I do think some chamomile has been added to this tea and any additives I had to make us sleep well. We're dosing mushrooms with Benadryl here. Give a time to let the feeling sink in. It starts on like the, the ends of your vision, this kind of almost slow rippling.

And then at first, like a sensation of lightheartedness, a relaxation, an easement. You don't even realize that you're like taking that deep exhale that just sinks the shoulders. Ashwin finds himself giggling uncontrollably. The little smirks and giggles. kind of start to you

and you just maybe elevate just a little bit but eventually you're going to feel it like reach like its highest height and then you're going to feel the sink and when you feel the sink as everything just drops you don't even realize

that things have kind of faded away you feel that right there Ashwin that's myth you're in it now baby I close my eyes and I I feel like I'm in a different place

you are baby you're in the real place when you find yourself when you find yourself in this real place as Cecil puts it it is in a way

just a just like a familiar look around and you can see like myth but it's all in these like vibrant colors you've never seen her in this kind of light it's almost as you can feel the magic of song and word just kind of give this vibrancy and you

you feel that peace but then in the back of your mind Ashwin you hear again that ringing of a bell and there's almost this moment where you're standing just right

outside of this vibrant myth you're just kind of pulled all the way back through the extension of the barren waist until you realize that you're standing in the same room that you are now with Cecil and a nervous

cloud bursts watching kind of over you. You're looking at yourselves laughing and giggling and you can see that your eyes are like slowly on the path of just rolling back to just let vision take hold. And then you feel the ringing of that bell. And it just continues. Like you just kind of just constantly shift and move through space, like a piece on the board that's just being placed to new, parts, and you keep hopping around, and it's almost like, you know, just being dragged, but eventually it brings you downwards into what you can feel is a basement. And you can hear the lingering words of Cecil earlier saying, well, if somebody's, if somebody's

on the rush, you know, in trouble, they're going to clear out the basement. You can hear those words, and it seems to be taking you when you're now standing in what looks to be a room set in the way that many mystics will for their own work. You'll see alchemical bottles and instruments and flame bubbling solutions, what looks to be notes scattered everywhere, the written of arcane symbols and words and research.

While you're sitting in this space, though, Ashwin, Cloubers, you're trying to man this situation here, making sure that your members are safe as they sift through dreams, but behind you outside, you hear footsteps. And if you were to peek outside to look, you will see Anastasia leaving her room and moving very quickly down the stairs. Hey, y'all all right for a little bit for the evening?

You got this glow about you, clobberst, you know there? Thank you very much, Cecil. It's just something in your skin. I've never understood how you keep it so smooth. I mean, you can't be that much older than me, right? No, maybe you are. I don't know. I don't think you want me to really answer that.

Maybe I do. Maybe I like it. I'm okay with the kid. What? Okay, okay. Okay. Thank you. Cap, be safe and let me know if you need anything.

Down. I see down. Okay, that's close. Okay, we're getting somewhere. Yeah, yeah, go catch her. I'll decipher. And Cecil's going to get out his vellum and charcoal. And he's starting to feel it too, but to a lesser extent than the person who just drained the mug.

and he's going to start trying desperately to write down what Ashwin is giving. It's definitely not coming out to an exact translation, and some of it turns into him like drawing what is being passed on, but I'm like transcribing the visions as Ashwin paints me the picture. As soon as that scribbling starts, Cissel or Cloudburst starts to back out of the window and move towards where Anastasia's going. you follow Anastasia

it'll take time to kind of get back on the trail given that you had to safety check those in the room but you'll catch her eventually and you can easily keep a safe pace as you just follow her but she just moves down hallway and looking towards descending

down some stairs that would probably lead to a basement. If you take those slow steps down, there is another hallway at the base of where this basement goes and you will see her

enter into the room at the end of the hall. And the room, the door is left a jar. Oh, I'm going towards it. I'm going to peek in a little bit. You are going to peek in and you are going to see a

room that you would observe as a room for a mystic, one that has drawings, arcane symbols spread across a wall. You'll see alchemical solutions, but the most notable thing about it is the color of the liquid inside those containers, because you are familiar with. the color of opalite venom firsthand. And it seems like there are in the process of some alchemical solution coming from opalite venom. And Anastasia is moving quickly through the room and collecting materials that are on the tables here. And you see her pick up this very thick journal like book. Can I?

Okay. Can I use my ability part of the plan where I can have a flashback of sorts using a relevant reputation? And I think it's going to be nosy. Um, and I want to flash back to setting up a, uh, like something to spill, like when they all left the kitchen, maybe setting up all of the plates to eventually like fall out and cause a very loud commotion on the opposite side of the house or near this basement room. I want to find a way to get her out of there, um, in some sort of emergency. Yeah. No, I like that.

You can definitely set yourself, uh, up for that. Uh, probably in, even before tea was ever sipped, you just kind of set something up, uh, in case it was always a part of the plan, um, even with, uh, things changing. And you can step off to the side because when the sound of all those crashing happens, Anastasia will leave immediately. Um, she's holding that thick leather book though with her. Uh, and she will take that with her and head upstairs to see what all that, uh, commotion is. And you can walk inside, uh, Ashwin and, uh, uh, Cecil, while intensity is where you sit at in these visions, Ashwin, given the amount of what you took, Cecil, you finally find the neuropaths that connect you guys in this collective vision. You move into this space that you're in and then you hear that dripping in the same way you heard that dripping when you look for words of truth. and the dripping is coming from the alchemical solution there. And you can see the color of that, what looks like the opalite venom. You watch it move through those beakers and tubes, and then it distills out into a small little vial of just pure, clear, liquid.

And as you hear the drips, you hear words at the same time. The snake looked to the sky, and it gave gods its tongue. Drip, drip, drip. The gods poured words into the snake and gave it venom that could talk to God's drip, drip. But the venom can reach more than God's drip, drip. in gods and it drips again for a third time. The venom can reach dreams.

Drip. Drip. Drip. dreams that can change prophecy. Drip. Drip. Ashwin looks to Cecil in this shared vision unsure of what to make of what we're hearing

What could that mean The venom Is in our dreams Yeah but on who On themselves In order to find this relic That's possible And they would have found it by now

Well, the prophecy worries for the king A lot believe that Rubin's the reason why it's happening What if they're trying to kill the king with his venom That would be a good use for it from their point of view Uh, Oracle, can I think back to when Gaius was writing the letter. Do I have any remembrance of the sort of ink he was using and whether it relates to the alchemical solution

I just saw in that vision? You ponder upon the ink that Gaios was using. The ink was standard to your eyes. Then again, this correspondence is not for the king. Right. It's for the queen. There has to be a reason. There has to be a target and a specific dream. But then why give it to Cloudburst? And Cloudburst spoke about the West.

The burning mountains and the sea turned salt to ocean and ocean to salt. What could that mean? I think maybe cloudburst is right. Maybe we have to go west. I feel quite useless. I can't make heads or tails of any of this. That's okay. Cloudburst.

Anastasia left the room and hastily went up to the kitchen for all the commotion and you can hear above you what also sounds like the movement of most likely staff who are also responding to such a loud cloud. battering. But that gives you a window to walk inside here. What are we doing? I want to immediately, if I can grab one without it looking noticeable, that one is missing, I want to grab one of the Obelite Venom containers. I think either way, no matter what you do, if you take any of that, it will be noted and missed. then I will take as many mental pictures as I can of what I'm seeing.

I'm going to try to open drawers to see if there's any other like letters or receipts or evidence pointing to names that I can find in here. Ashwin turns to Cecil. Could the relic be this venom? Could that be what the queen wants? If it was, they're keeping it from her directly. But Opalite, they've existed for a long time. The queen would know about them.

I think the relic is something deeper. Maybe in the West, in what Cloudburst saw in those mountains. I'm also drawn back to the prophecy. Doom walks low, doom walks wide, none know which, but all must ride. in three years' turn, the first shall fall. The clock begins, the bells won't call. Yes. And we've been hearing bells in that vision.

We've been hearing bells around Anastasha, and it goes down, right? It speaks to the burning. As long as I burn, the path is drawn. Silence waits when prophets are gone, burning in the mountains to the west. The place I seek. the place of mystic questions and answers, it's there in the mountains. It's where I want to go. I mean, we misunderstood the ravens, or maybe we saw the ravens, right?

And then the snake's skin called the snake, and I can't help but think that this is point in the right direction again. And maybe we move west. But we have to warn us. this woman here we can't just disappear and not warn them of what's going on here so we go back to the kingdom we speak to the queen we hope that the first domino doesn't fall and then we move west because i worry whatever they're working on here is is speaking back to prophecy the clock begins in three years time the first shall fall cecil i'm so high

It's been cloudburst. You start looking around, ruffling through papers, trying to find some information or information that you can collect as quickly as possible. In the general cursory glance of what you're seeing in terms of what is being hung up and kind of strung around this workstation in the back. You're not a mystic, though you do have the capacity to pull from the magics of this world. What you can decipher from it is that in conjunction with opalite venom, you see what looks to be schematics for some type of relic that utilizes opalite venom, you see what looks to be schematics for some type of relic that utilizes opalite venom. light venom. But from the, but from the, just the surface notes that you're able to scan,

it has not been successful. There's something notable in all the notes as well. A constant notation to an idea that, um, dreams, can change prophecy all around. Okay. Okay. And it has something to do or what they think it has to do is with this opalite venom. Okay. Then feeling that like that was not a very long distraction, I can like start to get nervous

that they're coming back. I put all of that back, set it back. to where I was, and start to get the fuck out of the room and go back to the shroom folks. We figured it out. Did you? Yeah, it's pretty much sad. Okay. We got to go west, burn the mountains you found in your head.

Uh-huh. Simply because the dreams change prophecy, you understand. So what we have seen in Ashwin's mind, Ashwin is very high. I am right of mine. I see that. What we have seen in Ashwin's mind is that there is something down that is venomous. In the basement.

So you know. Like venom in the basement. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, yeah. What else? We learned something else. I learned that I'm you and you're me, Cloudburst.

Yeah. We're all myth. As we're talking, Cloudburst is just going to embrace Ashwin and just sort of pat the his back. I just be like, exactly. God, I know we learn something else. The relic,

perhaps the relic is made to convert the venom into something. Just throw that out there. Oh, well, that, okay. That makes so much sense because I was wondering how the venom isn't just a way that we kill someone. Maybe the relic distills it to a perfect version. And so you only hear the voices of the gods when you drink it.

And maybe they're stockpiling it in the basement. Ashwin, when Ashwin has been hugged by Cloudburst and is now like quietly sobbing on your shoulder. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, he's thinking about home, I think. Yeah. I'm thinking about that guy I killed yesterday. I shouldn't have done that. Okay, don't think about that.

Listen, you did the right thing. It's okay. He was a bad guy. Rose. You're outside tending to horses, loading packs onto the back of them. I imagine put the horses just a bit of distance, not directly in front of the main house.

you have the luxury of seeing a wider vantage point as you keep looking back at the, at the door, wondering maybe a quick exit is in your future. But the night presses on, I will whisper into last hopes here, be like, hey, girl, I'm sorry, I need you to keep an eye out here and just let me know if something goes south because I got a day, I feel. And it's always good to rely on last hope in that regard, especially when their ears fold forward and they raise their head just a bit. And what you see is individuals, like, in the shadows, moving behind the house. Moving quickly with intention and with purpose. And we'll figure out what that might be like. next week or next time.

Yes. Wow. Great session. Yeah, awesome, guys. We just got to find that fucking relic. But you know what? We can beat up Anastasia now. We don't have to kill it.

But we can beat her up now. We know she's bad. I mean, if there was ever a justification for burning this place down, that's for sure these people deserve it. Light her up. I mean, you're really high. If you burn the whole place down, are you in your right state of mind?

The trouble is, and I've just sort of thought about this, is if they are trying to distill the venom to give them the perfect voice of the gods, that might mean that they're on our side in terms of solving the end times. Because they're like having a terrorist point of view of making it happen, but they're just going against the queen

in order to get distilled. Now, the question is what they know about why that's important. Like, how, maybe they've got a bad dream in mind for the prophecy, and they're still bad guys. But there's a possibility they're just like us, and they're going to do the same thing with the distilled stuff as we would.

So many questions. Sorry, I know. Sorry, I had to get that out because if I think I forget it. No, no, no, no. I'm with you 100%. But we'll know more a little bit in two weeks' time, but until then, we will see you. very soon.

Enjoy the rest of your day. Bye, everybody. Bye, gang. Subscribe to the Patreon or you'll have to hear me again. Bye. Bye.