The Glass Cannon Podcast - Gatewalkers Episode 70 – Two Heads Are Better Than None

Episode Date: January 31, 2025

Outside the gates of Skywatch, the heroes make a gruesome discovery. Watch the video here: https://youtu.be/dKLv6U9p2kk This episode was sponsored by Foundry VTT and Norse Foundry. See why tabletop gamers everywhere have made the switch to Foundry Virtual Tabletop at https://foundryvtt.com/gcp For all your random number-generating needs, visit Norse Foundry at https://norsefoundry.com Access exclusive podcasts, ad-free episodes, and livestreams with a 30-day free trial with code "GCN30" at jointhenaish.com. For more podcasts and livestreams, visit glasscannonnetwork.com. Watch new episodes when they premiere every Thursday at 8PM ET on youtube.com/theglasscannon. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Calling all sellers, Salesforce is hiring account executives to join us on the cutting edge of technology. Here, innovation isn't a buzzword. It's a way of life. You'll be solving customer challenges faster with agents, winning with purpose, and showing the world what AI was meant to be. Let's create the agent-first future together. Head to salesforce.com slash careers to learn more. You are listening to the Glass Cannon Network, the premier source for role playing game entertainment. What's going on everybody, it's your old buddy, Troy LaValley.

We have events on sale that I need to talk about. The new tour, Glass Cannon Live 2025 Ascension. Those tickets are on sale. We already said for Dallas and Austin. We're coming to Dallas on February 21st, Austin on February 22nd. But now tickets are on sale from Milwaukee on March 21st and St. Paul on March 22nd. Those tickets are on sale as well.

And you can get all of those tickets and or VIGCP packages at glasscannonnetwork.com slash tour. In addition, Glass Cannon Network retreat number two in Las Vegas to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the launch of the glass cannon podcast. Those packages went on sale Just a couple weeks ago. We've already sold a ton of them But there are still some left I had set on the state of the nation that prices would start around

$3,000 which is obviously crazy high. This is a luxury item, but this is a very special and super expensive event Well, we went back in we crunched some numbers in the budget, threw some stuff out, put some stuff back in, we now have packages as low as $21.99 if you're sharing a room with somebody else. If you've got a friend you're going with and you've already paired up, you're all set. If you don't have a friend but you want to keep prices low, you can go to our subscription discord. We have a channel called Roommate Finder Vegas. People from the nation are already pairing up because they do not want to miss this once-in-a-lifetime Event where I'm gonna try and get every single person

From the glass cannon network out there to just play games and hang out all weekend long Those packages include a hotel stay from Thursday to Sunday. That's June 12th to 15th 15th is the anniversary of course Breakfast buffets cocktail, open bar at night. It is going to be a very, very special weekend that I know everyone involved will not soon forget. If you're interested in purchasing packages, just head to glasscannonetwork.com slash retreat and get them while they are still available.

There are payment installment plans available as well if you wanna break up your payments over time. I hope you're able to come to the Glass Cannon Network Party of the Century. Either way, we hope to see you on tour this year. We're gonna be all around the country once more. Me, Joe, Skin, Kate, Cindy, and all Maddiecaps. Glass Cannon Live, Ascension, and The Retreat. Best year ever?

We'll see. Last week on the Glass Cannon Podcast. There is the guard post, which is where Goddrak the Quick is. Where we charge heedlessly out to the city. Because that's how we get out of here. And we might get the other person. Right.

As you're walking, you hear this snarl. Emerging from one of the nearby buildings is this enormous winter wolf. I offer you a trade. Take from me this curse and I will imbue you with great power. Zephyr's interested. Zephyr's eyes change to bright, sickly yellow. We really should hit the road if we're trying to take care of Godrak. Trying to use the stars to find your way to the guard post. Our barns will knock on the door. A voice pipes up from inside. We have the creature that you seek.

Do you know how to leave this city? We do. Yes. Bargain, we will see you out of the city. And you give us Ulikuk. You get to the gates. So we're done here? Yes, good luck.

There's fresh snow with tracks in the sludge. We will follow the tracks. This is most likely them. You travel following these tracks until they terminate at a cave. Around the mouth of the cave, the blood has seeped into the snow, gibets of flesh lying scattered around the ground.

The rest of you just hear this like deep, griggling sound. It's just screaming. Do any of you speak Draconic? Thanks. You understand words. We'll see you next time. Oh, come on! Look at Neema with the words!

I knew you were going to do that. He left the Swift Dragon. One word. Just give us one word. The adventure continues... now. Now Hello and welcome back to the Glass Cannon Podcast. You too. Oh, you're in trouble. No, this is good.

Call on me. Call on me. You're out probably on vacation, right? You had a couple cocktails the night before. So every tour. Yeah, so every tour. Had a couple pops. And you go out the next morning to a nice brunch, breakfast.

You know you need coffee, first thing, right? You haven't had coffee. I didn't get it at the hotel. You're sitting down at breakfast, you need coffee. However, they got a menu here with some sick bloodies. So you're like, gotta get a bloodie. You got the bacon. Let me get the bacon bloodie.

Boom, they come to the table. This sounds awesome. Hot cup of coffee and a bacon bloody. What do you do? Are you just going back and forth? Well, I also have a water. And a water, but that's there. Yeah, three drinks.

That one works in and out, but like, you just guzzle the coffee so you can get to the bloody. Do you just go with the bloody, let the coffee get cold? She's coming by, can I get you more coffee? I'm sorry, I haven't get to that yet. What do you do? I've done this before many times. Yeah, I just kind of drink all of them all together. In a rotation? Yeah, just like take a little water.

Warm on a bucket. Chit chat, take a sip of coffee. Warm on a bucket. Eat some eggs. Warm on a bucket. Get a turkey baster. Take a sip of bloody. Do you feel like any guilt towards any of the drinks? I think this might just be a Catholic school thing.

I feel guilt for inanimate objects. Sometimes I feel sorry for like leaving drinks out? I used to feel like guilt for not playing with a toy long enough. I'm like, I feel like I need to give that toy a little more time. But do you ever feel bad? Like I'm really, coffee's getting left out of this.

I mean, I'm paying for it. Yeah. I have, this just makes me think of something. I have such a strong memory. I think it was my 25th birthday. I did karaoke in the city. Just a couple years ago. Just a couple, just maybe one or two years ago.

Just say last year's city. Who's to say? And we did karaoke in the city, and everyone was buying me tequila sunsets, for whatever reason. Like that's what they had. And I was drinking a lot of tequila at the time. As a gas?

I don't know. That was their specialty? It would be like, what do you want from the bar? And maybe I was joking around, I'd be be like another tequila sunset like we're gonna The reason is that you were making me explicitly asking for that drink we can guess what You guess what happens? Maybe I was so fucking drunk and so sick the next morning

from the tequila, the sugar. And not one good friend brought me a water instead and thought, hey, maybe a water instead. So sick and my grandmother wanted me to go out to a birthday brunch with her for my birthday the next day. And I was like, sure, Grandma. Struggling to get into my clothes. Sweating at the restaurant.

Just like sweating. So violently hung over. The waiter, and I'm like, coffee. The waiter brings over a hot coffee. And I was like, thanks so much. I take one sip of this hot black coffee and I was like, I'm gonna throw up at the table. I'm gonna throw up at the table. Like everything was hot.

I was just so hot, sweating through my shirt. And for some reason, when you brought that up, I was like, okay, I'm hung over at a brunch. They bring out the coffee of Bloody Mary. I'm probably doing the Bloody Mary, hair of the dog. I'm probably, it's cold. The glass is kind of like condensating and sweating a little bit.

I know that there's some sustenance. That bacon fat is really gonna bring me back a little bit. I can't touch that coffee. Oh yeah, I forgot we were hungover. Yeah, you're hungover. If I can't touch that coffee, it's the drink first. You need, but you need that coffee. But there's no milk, there's no base.

It's so acidic. It's so acidic. It's gonna hurt me. I feel like if I know I'm gonna have a Bloody, I'm gonna try and have coffee on the way to the restaurant There's no base. It's so acidic. It's so acidic. It's gonna hurt me. I feel like if I know I'm gonna have a bloody, I'm gonna try and have coffee on the way to the restaurant just so I can enjoy the bloody. But you're so hungover. Yeah, I'm too hungover to even think of that.

I mean, you guys like black coffee though. I like, you know. I'll get a latte. Like sweet. I like a latte. You guys always like cream and sugar. I like food. But you know what?

I'm with Kate though, generally. I love many beverages. I'll get orange juice, a bloody, a hot coffee, a water, just anything. Seltzer. Seltzer, if I want a little bubbles. Okay, what do you guys think about that? Do men not do this?

Is this like a female trait or whatever? I just don't do coffee. I was like, this guy doesn't do coffee. I don't think they do brunch. That's why I picked you guys. A tea, a tea. A tea. Yeah, well you wouldn't have a tea in a blind.

I have a real, I just do brunch. That's why I picked you guys. A tea, a tea, a tea. Yeah, well, you wouldn't have a tea in a blunt. I have a real, I just do water. Just do water. Why your skin is so good, Joe. I can't, like when I'm super hung over and I go like to brunch, it's a struggle for me to even get myself into a Bloody Mary, because I'm like, I did something terrible to my body.

I have to heal that wound. I have to repent. Before I rip it open. Hair of the dog, I don't know if it's an age thing. Doesn't work anymore. Well, it's the bloody. It can work in the early afternoon. If you've got like the DTs, you're not like one bloody,

right? And if you're like, oh, I'm a little rough, let me do a bloody, that's a different feeling. Well, it depends on what I have going that day, right? Because you said it's vacation. If that day, it's like, you have to just go walk around and party all day, right? Yeah, bloody, sure, sure. But when it's like. If that day, it's like you have to just go walk around and party all day. Yeah, bloody, sure, sure.

But when it's like when we're on tour and it's like 10 night we got to show, I hate start with a bloody at like 11 in the morning. You and I often will be at meals and I'll be drinking a bloody alone. Yeah. Like 11 a.m. Yeah. I mean, you're a stronger man than I, I think. I hope so.

It's all that weightlifting. It's really close. But you're a little bit stronger. Stronger man than you. Yeah. Why was I so happy? I hope so. It's all about weightlifting. It's really close. It's the reason that you're a little bit stronger. I'm a little bit stronger man than you. Yeah. Well, it was because we were in Lake Placid this weekend and I wanted the coffee and the bloody came and I was just like, all right, Troy, this is your problem for the day.

I was going back and forth, but I found that I was enjoying both of them less. So then I just committed. I said, all right, coffee, we'll deal with you later. And I went to the bloody and I had a hell of a time. Yes. I don't understand. It's such a funny, weird place. Yeah. You just served beverages and you're like, this is my problem for the day.

Right. This is it. So funny. I'm curious too, right in the comments, because I'll read them. I'm wondering, I feel like people listening to this have their own specific ways that they set up their beverages or like their way that they like order or drink. I'm always so curious how people's brains work. Skid's a big fan of like having nine diet cokes a row. No, I don't.

Not anymore? You come back? No. I can't drink diet coke. I actually like I actually destroyed my stomach like over the holidays. Wait, what? I can't drink diet coke anymore. Oh my god, they've taken your favorite thing away. It's hurting the tummy. Yeah, I think I have an ulcer or something. No!

No! I really like, I've changed completely. I'm just like, I drink two Diet Cokes and I'll throw up. Wow. I used to drink like. Oh, I can remember Jay Vreem's days. He's drank more than like Cathy Ireland. I would drink like two Cathy Ireland's worth of Coke

like every day and I can't do it anymore. Are you cold turkeys to water? Are you like, I'll do a seltzer for the bubbles or like? I love like, Cathy Ireland's working. I like coke, like every day. I'm like, I can't do it anymore. Are you cold turkey to water? Are you like, I'll do a seltzer for the bubbles or like? I'll have like a ginger ale. And you know, I drink a lot of water and stuff. Let's try holly pop. Good. And yeah.

But I think it's that for the dilemma about the like the coffee and the Bloody Mary, what I would do in that circumstance is I would get an Irish coffee, a little ketchup. Wait, where does the ketchup go? In the coffee? There you go. Once you save time, and then you're

not stuck with that decision. Irish coffee. A little calories in. Yeah. Spice of ketchup. Irish coffee. Like a little shot of ketchup? Or radish.

A little squirt, I guess they call it. Wow. A shot. A little Heinz 57 in guess they call it. Wow. A shot. A little Heinz 57 in your Irish coffee. Problem solved. I mean, you think about it, if you're having an Irish coffee and french fries, it's all going in there.

Yeah. It's just the timing of it. But I don't taste in my stomach. That's true. Well, I see. But you cross over into caffeine addiction. Like, I don't understand caffeine addiction. It's not addiction, I just need to have it every day.

I'm saying if you have it, to me I would think, thinking for you, you would just want to drink the coffee first. Get the caffeine in your system, then order a Bloody Mary. Sometimes it's hard to drink a coffee when you're hungover. I like my coffee really hot, so I'll be constantly nuking my coffee to keep it at a certain temperature. Troy and I are similar in so many ways that it scares me sometimes.

That is the same. Just a couple of men. I am. One stronger than the other. Just a couple of strong men. So close, but one is stronger than the other. Couple strong men. I'm saying I. Couple of circus strong men. So close, but one is stronger than the other. Couple strong men. I'm saying, I.

Couple of circus strong men. I know. A little bit bigger. Dummies. What did you say? I never cared about a microwave until I realized, like, God damn, I gotta heat up my coffee every five seconds. Cup number three.

I'm not pouring that in a pot. Goes in for 33 seconds. Oh my God. In honor of our library. I walk to my desk, I have like three sips, I work, I work, I work, I go for like the fifth sip, 10 minutes have passed, I'm like, oh, that is lukewarm. I put it back in the microwave. One of those mugs that keeps it warm.

That's what I really need. They're like $100. An Ember mug. Ember? I'm concerned about your dismissal of the microwave as an unessential appliance. You said that to me. What do you do with leftover food?

Joe was shaking to his core when you said that. What do you do with leftover food? Joe was shaken to his core when you said that. What did you do with leftover food? Threw it away. Old Joey Half Sandwich doesn't understand. In the oven. So you always put leftover food in the oven. Well, that's what I'm saying. Certain things, certain things you just can't.

Like heating up coffee and tea, heating up soups, it's like you got to put it back in a pot, dirty up a whole pot. It's annoying. Joe is the king of like if we were just eat, if he came over to eat something, it could be something that's the sort of pizza or a sub. He'd be like, do you have these nine spices?

Like it was always like, I got to put 14 things on my pizza. How do you not have garlic salt? Can you just eat it out of the box like everyone else? Joe would always be like, hot sauce? Anyways. It never fails. No matter where we are in the country or how inconvenient it will be, Joe will pick up his sandwich to go.

Joe already has a sandwich. I have a sandwich right here. I love a sandwich. What would like Andy Weaver rushing late to a show and Joe is like, no, I got a sandwich. No, I'm going to have a three hour unrefrigerated sandwich. Well, Joey, half sandwich. Coagulated mayo. A multi-stage sandwich.

You should call in. Let us know how you deal with this Bloody Mary coffee dilemma. And then let us know how you keep your coffee hot. In the oven. Like Sydney. We'll be right back. And then let us know how you keep your coffee hot. In the oven. Like Sydney. We'll be right back. Folks we're back. I want to thank our sponsors Foundry Virtual Table Top and Norse Foundry.

Skin! What? What? What? What? What? What? That's the catchphrase, the new catchphrase.

What? What? What? What? What? What? What? What?

What? We need a whole segment of skin as an anchorman. And we're like, skin? And skin just goes, what? I just want a compilation of all of your ghost foundry drops, because they're going to get progressively more wild as we go. Super cut of all of this.

More unhinged. It really is. I'm so fascinated by this wand, this iridescent, lovely thing that I bought. Yeah, I keep getting fascinated by it too. I wanna get one. I'm daffled for a round. Oh my God. I'm getting one.

I tried to get one in packs, couldn't find one. I got these instead. I love- Oh yeah, the minis. I love cakes. You always get a dice I wanna eat. Yeah. It's like candy dice. Yeah, they always look edible.

This one, the, what's it called? The- They're faceted. Faceted. Glass, and then this one's like cracked? The, they're faceted glass. And then this one's like cracked glass. Cute. I love them. Cracked and faceted, I wasn't listening.

We are back. Use some gold bond. Playing some G-Dubs. Little G-Dubs, as I call it, Gatewalkers. Last week, you tried to navigate your way to the gray post to defeat Godric the Quick and his band of hobgoblins, but instead you treated with them. Perhaps since they were aware of your prowess on the battlefield after somehow surviving an onslaught of hobgoblins, including their lieutenant, they decide they

don't want to fight. They'll give you what's left of Uli-Kuk, the navigator, if you can show them the way out. You perhaps wisely decide not to bring them back to the Smiling Wolves, assuming that they would just murder them on sight. So you take them to the Skywatch gates and say, hey, let's kill two birds with one stone. This is where Pamuk and Hisoi were said to have been seen last. You find their tracks.

You continue outside of Skywatch, no longer under the influence, perhaps, of this weird disorienting magic. And you find your way to the mouth of a cave, blood-soaked rocks, blood-soaked snow, chunks of flesh. As you're examining the darkness ahead, a sound, a voice cries out in a language none of you understand, except Brother Ramu. That language is draconic, which makes sense

because Barnes detected dragon poop outside. Oh boy. Good job. Currently, I was on the precipice of taking a sample. Skakily. Right, you're like. Or a bite. Taking a bite. Yeah.

Still fresh. Something ridiculous. Why is it still fresh? Three days. The voice says, flee immediately, unless you wish to meet a similar fate as the last fleshlings to come upon my own.

And then, sort of like, sneaking out of this cave mouth, to come upon my own. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr Whoa, I like how it faded in there. That was cool. Very sweet, very cool. Oh, I see the blood outside. I see the fleshy parts! Oh yeah. In intestines. Let's take a look at the image of this creature. Green dragon. Whoa. That's a wyvern. Dragonesque, flee immediately. Unless you wish to meet a similar fate as the last

Fleshlings to come upon my home. It's moving with those like little claws at the end of its wings that act as hands Coming toward you and I do a arcana check to see what kind of identify as yeah It's a 24 This is a creature known as a myroga Myroga? Yes They are known like most dragons to have to be treasure hoarders, but myrogas tend to focus on very

eccentric and strange treasures very eccentric and strange treasures. Oh. The same for the Ramius. He's like completely stunned with fear. He's never heard it actually spoken before by a dragon. He's... I only know restaurant draconic. More ice please.

He was trained in the language by a fellow brother while he was in the Abbey and he had to write long passages of Draconic in this particular volume that he worked on and he became pretty enamored with it and the culture and everything like that but it was all academic right like he's never like encountered a dragon that spoke to him so he's totally afraid you see is he's shremmering as he's looking across at this dragon he says in drac, forgive us. We do not wish to encroach on your domain. We search for our allies, our friends.

With... And he just assumes their debt and we're mauled to pieces. I met two wondrous who traveled where they should not have gone. Perhaps you'll recognize them. And it reaches back and just like lifts up two severed heads. And you just see like innards dangling from the heads one looks like it might have been a woman and the other one a man with long hair you Recognize the man has his soy and only cooks his guts. No God snow it's palm. What have you done? What have you done? It screams at the creature that's like, ah, my leg. If my belly weren't so full,

I'd have torn you limb from limb already. Turn back or face the same fate as these fleshlings. It's too late. They're already gone. They're already dead. Remia starts backing up, backing away in fear. Hans. Barnes. Barnes is still poised with a little sample of poop

in his hands. Yeah. He's slow, like in the moment, in the stillness, he slowly slides it into the collection bottle. So we will leave, he says in Draconic. We will go. As you say that, you see like this glitter behind the body of the beast, just some sort of shit back glitter behind the body of the beast, some sort of shit back

there in the back of the cave, catching the moonlight. For a second, as this thing is posturing against us, Bugle's eyes flash red, and like leans forward and snarls like returning the challenge but it's like almost as quickly it's just gone it's like and it just blows like that it's condensed smoke out of its nose at you Ramious puts a hand on Buggle's shoulder, like, trying whatever it might be that just putting his hand on him might restrain the Gululakan, but he's like, don't start a fight here. He doesn't say anything. He just puts his hand on it and starts to pull Bugle's kind of back along with him.

We're already too late. The companions are dead. There's no point in any of us dying as well. Oh, gods, no. No. There's no point in any of us dying as well. Oh gods, no, no. The Kowhachi will be crushed. It's backing away. I mean, get gossed up.

We're all backing away. We're backing up. You start to back away, and as you do, Zephyr, you feel a pain in your arm. The curse! And you look down, and you see blood starting to trickle from Wounds that are started to open on your arms and you look down and you see this trail of blood

That just says rescue across your arm, and it's gushing blood illusion oh I think I brushed up against a bush or something you take 11 points of damage as you just Blood oh my word rescue. Oh my god. This is a baby. She's she's bleeding You will move towards my No, no Do something He will move towards Zephyr. Perhaps my uncle is returning. No, no. Remus, do something. Hold still.

I don't know what it wants. It's a word. And man, we remember what happened when we tried to heal the other one and, and oh geez. This is dicey. He's gonna do battle medicine on you and attempt in a single action

to try to recover some of these hit points So he's trying to help you in blood is just pouring out of the bandage like it's caught like around on So he's trying to help you and blood is just pouring out of the bandage like it's caught like around on itself Get the word rescue on your shirt backwards While he sees it says rescue. It's cure. Can I see do we all see your arm? It says red Yeah, maybe you see like the one word is emerged a word has emerged on her arm. It says rescue Mean is kind of your perception is anyone to rescue in here. Someone's being too rescue. What does that mean? Is, can I do a perception check? Is there anyone to rescue in there? I don't know.

Someone's being too vague. Can I do the... Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Someone would like to advance the plot, they should say something else. They should say some more words.

The gods are being too vague. More words. How dare the gods be so vague. Put a couple of nouns in there. An entire paragraph starts forming on her arm and she bleeds out. Hey, you got your information? I have a cultism.

Can I roll a perception and see if maybe the, if it is an illusion, if maybe what I'm not seeing, what we're seeing is not real? If it's an illusion. Or in the cave, you mean. In the cave, if there's movement or... Yeah, roll a perception. Or if the heads he's holding up are not real,

they're fake, to make us think that this thing's strong, but it's actually not. Well, I failed. I failed. 28. Oh, muggles. Well, it looks all too real. Unless it's a very powerful illusion effect, it seems real.

And you just think on your arm, you know, you've got this thing that says stay now that you think is related to the commitment, the oath that you've made to your fellow Gatewalkers is rescue perhaps related to this promise you made to Sakawatchi. But if so, it appears Pumaka is dead. So breaking that I'm gonna grab, Gic is gonna grab Zephyr's arm and she's just going to like almost like whisper toward it. Like you feel like cool air on your arm and it's just kind of like, and I'm gonna do him of healing. So you gain four temporary hit points

and you gain fast healing four. Just thinking ahead, thinking like, are these wounds about to start like bursting open on your body like this wolf, you're gonna need help. So it kind of closes up a little bit, but it's not 11 points worth. I mean, maybe it's because someone died. Maybe it's because people died

that we were supposed to rescue, I don't know. Supposed to bring their bodies back? Yeah. No, I think this is my punishment. Oh, yeah. Or something. Perhaps, but we'll keep backing away. Ramious is going to stop backing away.

What do we do? He's going to say, Bonds, back me up. And he's gonna look at it in Draconic and say, we will go, but leave us their heads. They're the remains of our friends. We must bury them or their spirits will haunt you. You wish to bargain with me. Whatever he said, I agree. Me too, Gic yells.

Just throw us heads. We have no idea what you said. What do you have to offer me in return? Besides your flesh. Your life. Oh. What's he saying? Oh no.

What's he saying? No idea. Seems like it's going well. The dragon's getting real quiet. I think he's got on the old boy's speech. Just like stand up a little bit and stretch its back out. You make me think I should perhaps exercise to work up a greater hunger. You would bargain with my life against this remaining flesh. my life against this remaining flesh. What value is it to you?

It is no treasure. Why is it valuable to you? They are our friends. We must give them a proper burial. Their spirits must be put to rest. Surely you understand this. Give me a diplomacy check. And I, when Gic yelled out, I cast Courageous Anthem. And you get a plus one status bonus. Oh, but it doesn't help you here

It's attack rolls damage rolls and saves against fear effects. Oh, and I will can I ate him sure What do you say? Yeah, I say yeah, and I Project my confidence. I don't know what the fuck he's talking about. You could be saying I like your wings you gasping for directions Yeah, but I'm but my with my presence and my confidence, I boo you along. He's saying kill them, I'm cool. Like the flavor flav to his Chuck D. There we go.

Ah! It's a 27 on a diplomacy check for aid. Okay, that's a plus two. Plus two, okay. Oh, 25. Yeah, come to me. He throws the heads heads at you I have no use for them be gone You are most wise and Very considerate. Thank you

And he grabs him by the spines by the spines. And he just pushes him by the edge. You're holding him by the edge, really. He pushes the one head like into the broken leg dude's face. He's just like, here, here. No, ah, whoa. Stomach. He'll take them and say, let's go, now, now.

We start backing away again and Gic is watching Zephyr to see if these wounds start opening again or if we've done something wrong. She doesn't really understand this curse. The spell that you cast that provided fast healing for a little time seemed to stem this bleeding. And now that you've retrieved the head or because you've backed away you don't know why, but the bleeding has stopped. Okay. Awesome. Okay.

I'm sorry about your friend. It is a great tragedy, but I don't think you understand how terrible this is. Sakawachi and Chi... Who's this going to hit him? I don't know how this will affect the mission. I don't feel well. We'll get you back there as soon as we can.

Oh, God. Let's go. Let's go. And we'll leave and start heading back. Leave, start heading back with a decapitated member of the Smiling Wolves, a decapitated Pamak. Let's do a survival check to see how we get. Do you, can we have Uli Kuk? Yeah, Uli Cook can.

How about I'll aid Uli Cook as the navigator. Successful aid. Not a crit. Uli Cook, 96. This is great. It's good that you got this guy along. For real. All right, so I'm trying to paint the scene here.

You go all the way through town because the Skywatch gates are to the northwest and you've had to go now all the way through town, but with Uli Cook's help, you're able to get back there. How do you approach, how do you plan on delivering this news both to Matt's and to Sakawatch's? Get a couple of hikes. Just walk in, let's get a couple of nice pikes.

Yeah. High quality pikes. High quality, respectful pikes. And parade them. Well made. Through the city streets. Respectful pikes. Put a bag over them. Have I got a surprise for you. I think, um,

Dick is definitely going to Cover the head of his soy until she gets to Matt's and asked to speak with him privately and and show him She's not gonna put it on a spike. Sorry Buggles Same with the other one. Yeah, it's a concealer for blush. Yeah, I like to I do a bit of lipstick Pose the face and like a rictus grin I do a bit of more... Some lipstick. More cherry work. Should be fine. What's he? The good one's new. Look, she's... I pose the face in like a Richtus grin. She's just... She's sleeping.

We need a doctor. Help. Help. Can she be saved? Save her. We need a donor body. You need one volunteer body. So you roll into town and as usual the, not town, the camp, as usual the smiling wolves are kind of curious what you're up to and they can see that something's wrong with this guy that's being carried on a litter.

He just has this look in his eyes. And then he kind of sits up and he's looking for Sakawachi and Deneji. And they come running up because they see Ulikuk. I imagine you don't have the heads out. Tell me if that's… No, we have them covered and hidden basically right now. And Sakawachi and Deniji, they just run towards Ulikuk and they like embrace him and he's like Be careful, be careful, my leg...

This man here, brother... He's broken his leg, but he will recover in time and should walk again. Um... Sakawachi, I... Oh, God, I don't know. He looks to you. Your friend. I don't know who to look at. Because I was just looking at,

Deniji? Uh, Ulikuk. Ulikuk. And then you get them all mixed up. Yeah. One of your allies Pannach. Pannach? Pannach.

Yes, have you? Have you found her? I'm afraid we have. She is gone. She was slain by a dragon. What do you mean? What do you mean by a dragon? A dragon that... She wandered into the cave unknowingly and... He like, he collapses into knee.igi like grabs him as you're talking.

I'm sorry, Sakawachi, but he just starts sobbing uncontrollably. Do we get the vibe that they were a little more than traveling companion? Ulikuk kinda hinted at, but he trailed off and Danji is holding him and weeping as well and Uli-Cook is like trying to sit up to reach towards them But he can't it's just this horrible scene and as this unfolds Mats comes up Looks at this so What's happening here? Did you? Can I talk to you Mats? Take care of Godrak?

We should talk privately. Alright. He pulls you aside. Out of earshot of everyone. What is it? Godrak won't be a problem anymore. Good. Good. Your new friends are good at keeping up their end at the bar,

and once they find his soy, they'll be out of our hair and we can go back to business as usual, Gek. She hands him the bag that has the head in it. Oh, present for me. Not even my birthday? No. Don't flatter me, Gek. No.

With trinkets and... No. What happened here? We found Hisoi and uh... Who Sakawachi was looking for. They were killed. By a dragon.

The other Otaki as well. A dragon. He nods. Some sort of dragon-ish beast. It was green, it was big, and it had already killed them and eaten them when we got there. Outside of the city, beyond the gates.

I see. This is a problem. Indeed. It's clearly very strong. It's been probably killing others who have tried to exit the city. Well, we won't waste our time going there. We have work to do. These outsiders will be out of our hair soon. And we can go about finishing what we started here now that these hobgoblins are gone.

Yes? Of course. Since I found Hsui, uh, since I found Hussoi. Um, I'd like to end my time with the Smiling Wolves. I think it's been a long time and I've been plenty helpful, but it's time for me to move on. I'm a, I'm a traveling bard. I'm not a treasure hunter like you. And I appreciate when y'all picked me up and the work that you gave me. I think I gave back what I've got. And after finding Hisoi and this thing, this thing's got a lot of treasure, Matt, and then you could be done. You can get what you need and the Smiling Wolves can be done and we can be done.

You don't need me anymore. You think Smiling Wolves are an occupation? You can just take a job with us and then leave for greener pastures? When you sign on with my company, you sign on until death. Well, that seems a little unfair. Being that I didn't really sign on. You just found me and I joined you. Fed you, kept you safe, protected you. And vice versa, Matt's to be honest. What with your songs?

I've fought for y'all. I've saved some of y'all.? I've fought for y'all. I've saved some of y'all. I've buried some of y'all. Yes. Couldn't save his soy. And now you would leave me two members down. You want to go off with them? Should I let them know how you do business?

Let them know that it will only be a matter of time before you find another group to sign onto? Should I let them know of your fickleness? You could tell them whatever you want, Matz. I want out, that's what I want. You tell me what I gotta do to get that. Pulls out a piece of paper. What are you writing down? What's that?

Oh, nothing. I've just been keeping track of all the things we've done for your new friends. Seems like I may need to add something to the bill. Don't drag the- We're done here, Muck. Fine. He throws you, saw his head in the bag. Here. Find a place to put this. Turns off.

She watches him leave, stewing. She walks off. What's in the bag? Fuck. Oh no. Oh, I forgot. I didn't forget. I was like, maybe we can get out of this.

Maybe we can get out of this, I haven't counted. Hey, father. Fresh potato. Actually father, you know what? Here you go. Matt wants you to do with that whatever you will. Looks in it and smiles I'd say some time passes a little bit you've settled into the camp Sakawatch is

As close to out of it as possible Maybe you're around the camp talking and Deniji is there as well He's he's he'll be okay Thank you for doing everything that you did for me and for huli kukan and Sakawatchi Pamek was here. She would she would thank you as well They were at one time betrothed to be wed and... No longer?

No. When Sakawatch was called to this quest, they mutually decided that it would be best to put that aside and focus on the goals at hand. I think it hit Pamak harder than it did Sakawatche. Of course now, I think he feels guilty. It's not your fault and you know that, I don't have to tell you that, but, I think we should leave if that's still an option. I don't like this place. Yes, I will be leaving as soon as possible.

Yes. Can we, Brother Ramias, are you able to use magical healing to repair this broken leg? Any points down to who he cooks like? Afraid not. I know. Needs to... You can't heal a broken leg. Why not? It's like a perfect heart, man.

Can't use magic. Magical healing. Yeah, I think my, the way I read it, and this might be not raw, is that like, you can heal the hit point damage and the pain, but it still has to like reset over time. I don't know. I mean, I think of a broken leg the same way

I think of like a severed leg. Magical healing doesn't. You can make him a splint or something, right? I already did. We are stabbed with swords repeatedly, and then magical healing is able to repair that. I'm not going to get into this argument with you. You're fucking ridiculous.

It is 100% Troy's choice. I don't know where the lie is with you. It's Troy's choice. I can move my hands and create magical healing, but it can't do broken bones, and the music can't create magic in this world. I just don't know where the line is with you. Yeah.

I mean, it- Hey, mom, dad, stop, okay? It's not my game. You guys are fighting at the table. Ask him if it heals a broken leg. Yeah, if you had asked me before, I would have said, like, yeah, that just heals it, but I read something that comes up

where it said something in effect like, Uli-Cook, he's still nursing that broken leg. Go ahead and think it assumes that you would have healed him. I don't think he's healing on his own. But I like the idea that it's not like, ah, I can walk now. That it maybe just, the majority of the pain is over. It affects flesh in a different way than that does bone like maybe it's not sure

I just like the idea that magic doesn't just do whatever you imagine. Yeah, it has its limit. That's limit. Yeah This magic is limited to healing you but it can't Sticking out that's for sure. Yeah, that's good. What about what about my arm? I'm still hurt No, you should be fine right you took 11 points of healing and you had fast healing I didn't know I didn't take any healing She took four points of healing She had fast healing for oh, yeah, so you should have healed the duration Yeah, we weren't in like in combat Yeah, and that lasts for four rounds focused on if that's 16 points

Yeah, so it slowly came back when you get to the end on our walk back Yeah, you've got like now this scar of the word rescue Hear you Sydney saying that she could hear Sydney. He could never whisper weird under her breath New to the group, but she wants to fit in She whispers, cool. Freak. The cool-a-con was at Boggles.

That was the cool-a-con. That was the cool-a-con. Wow, that is the perfect excuse. That wasn't me. It was the demon in my head. It was my evil character. The cool-a-con must have said that. So what's the plan?

As we get back together, I think Gic is gonna, with the group, as we're like sitting or talking or resting, eating, blah blah blah, she's gonna be kind of quiet, and maybe you guys are kind of used to her, you know, talking and being a little bit more boisterous and whatever and she's just Restringing her loot and and is very very quiet and is looking at you guys as you talk and eat and Just taking it in brother Ramias like looking at your wounds Zephyr and like talking to Buggles and she feels

Just something bad. She feels something bad is gonna happen. With her conversation with Matt's, this sort of, I don't know, like there's a bad taste in her mouth. There's like a metallic blood taste in her mouth after finding his soy and Pamak. And it just feels like the sky is growing darker and she's very quiet.

We just have to get a boat and leave, right? So I'll go to Matt's and say, we need a boat. That was part of the deal, right? That's right, that's right, yes. Yes we did make a deal. Why don't I talk to you in front of your friends? We've got some things we need to figure out. Okay, Matz.

Come. Matz slowly walks towards your camp. Please, have a seat. Mats slowly walks towards your camp. Please have a seat and I'll of looks over the skyline of the city here and beyond. Well, you've done a great job securing the city for us. Thank you. I know it wasn't easy.

Felt a little weird. It was a mercenary group basically hiring mercenaries to do our work. I feel like there was some quid pro quo here and so you win, I win. We can go about our business, hopefully unmolested by the horrors of skywatch and then just like you we can move on to new adventures here in this crazy mixed-up world Can you just get to the bad part And Gic is just looking at like Remius and Matt's and Remius and Matt's are we all is it just the two of you or? All of us so I suppose you want to go your own way now that you're finished here, yes?

That was the deal, as I recall it. Yes, we just need to settle our affairs then. I've given this great thought, considering both your loss, losses, I should say, and the loss of our man, his soy, this is not a time to squabble over itemized tavern bill. It's a time to mourn. You've more than earned your keep. We will provide you with a boat that we found. And he points over to the docks and you see a small boat sitting there. There's actually like a couple boats but he's pointing to one in

particular. It's big enough for all of you. We've put some rations on there that should get you to at least winter break bay and there you'll find some small settlements along the way that you should be able to restock. We will open up the gates here so you can head out. And that should be everything that we promise you. Thank you, Matt. Very well. Let's go. Done and done. There is one problem.

Just one more thing. Just one more thing. There is one thing that I feel like you all assume you can take without recompense. Muck. Now, I don't wanna start a big thing here, but part of the deal of being a smiling wolf is that you're a smiling wolf for life.

You give your life in service to the company. Those who deserve are hunted down and killed. That's just how we do things. Gic was made well aware of this when she signed on. Gic was made well aware of this when she signed on. Then Gic swore to this the time that she was signed on. I don't remember. You signed a contract? I don't remember.

The wolf's tie to the pack is just sweating through her like furs. She said the words, the wolf's tie to the pack is severed only upon death. I have a proposition. Perhaps we can, if she wants to come with us, we can trade her for our friend that we brought. Maybe if he wants to say, we haven't talked to him yet, and he was thinking of maybe staying. So maybe if... Gic has also covered her mouth.

We haven't talked to him yet, he might disagree. It's up to him. Remus is looking around for him. Yeah. Does he see him around? Is he there? He's like, what? Did you just call him like a cat?

What on earth? He's a rodent! He is not a rodent! He's sentient! I know, but he's still a rodent.'s a rodent! He's not a rodent! I know, but he's still a rodent. He's a person. He's essentially a rodent. Sure, and he also lets when I go, you guys wanted Hubert

dead in a ditch. That was before he started acting different. Yeah, that's true. Now he's kind of morose and introspective and thoughtful. Yeah. We love a mysterious man. It's like when Jerry Seinfeld went dark in that episode, you know? I do.

This is the Tobey Maguire emo Spider-Man where suddenly- Exactly. And everyone loved that movie. Yeah, they definitely- Universally loved. Manifestly loved. It's a big if, we haven't talked to him yet. You don't need to talk to me.

Oh, fuck! I knew it, I knew he would be right there. I knew it. I see he would be right there. I knew it. I see how it is with you. Hey, Hubert. You just treat people like... Hubert.

You got the wrong idea. Like food. You said. When the time was right, you just cut ties with old Hubert. Hubert, we disagree. Clearly the members of this party would be very happy to leave Gek behind and have Sydney bring in a new character.

The last time we talked to you. And that would be like more cost effective is just leave her here and then run into a new character on the road. Yeah, it's just so awesome. It's like, all right, so my character dies. I'm going to bring in a new character. And GM is like, OK, great.

So in order for you to have the new character, you have to empty all your pockets of all your golden valuables. Or you don't get the new character. It's like, all right, well we won't take that one then. What a fun end of campaign thing too. I bring in a new character like every other week. I have an idea.

You should be the dragon. That would be fun. I think, should just join up as the dragon. Isn't that interesting? We'll be way better off. Dragon's like, you made some excellent points. You made some. Hello. I've been thinking about what you said.

I'm back again. Let's go to the crown of the world and fuck some shit up. I've been in pursuit of a noble cause. All right. I mean, Hubert, last time we talked to you, you made it sound like you didn't want to be in our group anymore. Yeah, I was thinking about it.

Didn't realize I would just be something you could barter with. Of course not, Hubert. It's like a coin or a piece of food. Now listen, listen. I see where this is going. I'm not an unkind man. Under different circumstances, I would have just simply demanded a night with one of your women. But, uh, What am I, a chopped liver?

I know what I like. Yes, I know. I know what you all like really could dragon scat but take my samples samples it's very simple if you wish to take one of mine then I take one of yours I will accept your hedgehog, or any of you. That's the price. No, no. You may leave. No. Mats, that... Don't drag them into this. They had a separate deal with you and you and I can figure out our business.

Then keep your oath, and your new friends can take all of their things and go on their little adventure. They need me. They lost someone. No one needs you. Then let me go. I can't. What are the terms of this oath? Until death?

Until death, yes. Until death? Until death, yes. And Matt, do you sometimes perhaps have people swear this oath when they are at their most vulnerable? When they do not have the capability to make the choice? Yeah. Considering that they are surrounded by strong, able-bodied warriors with weapons?

Like when six smiling wolves prey upon you when you're alone, half frozen to death, starving, and you would say anything and do anything to get near a fire. Maybe like that, Mattes. Running a mercenary company, not an orphanage. Yes. Brother Rhymes, correct me if I'm wrong,

but I believe that qualifies as duress. I don't believe you. but I believe that qualifies as duress. I don't believe you. Mats, you seem to, you seem to be a man of strict rules, man of the law, so to speak. What are we if we do not follow the laws that we set for ourselves? Yes, but I believe you are setting these laws

for everyone else. This does not seem to be a... That does not seem fair to Gic that she cannot question these laws. It's not fair to Gic? Well, let me ask my brothers. Wolves! I mean, howls.

Ho! And suddenly dozens of wolves just stand up, come towards the fire. I'm sorry to bother you from your slumber or your drink, but one of our members here, Gic Muck, believes that she can just walk away with these outsiders that we welcomed with open arms into our camp Now am I being unfair by saying that can't happen without some recompense Back to the smiling wolfs it stands up knocking her loot off her lap it like twangs on the ground falls into fire and breaks Oh Actually, she can stay. That went good. Without that. I stood up too fast.

I got dizzy and I stood up too fast. Do we get the same bonuses? Don't have a clue. She stands up. She looks at some of these smiling wolves that have come out behind Matt's. Have I not done everything for the wolves while I've been here?

Yes, you found me. Yes, you fed me. Yes, you clothed me. And I thanked you. I thanked you with my songs, with my hands. I thanked you. And she points to one of them. What'd you do with your hands? Massaging. I thanked you with my hands. A couple of them. I thanked you with my hands! A couple of other ones...

My lips! I thanked you with my mouth! I thanked you with my mouth! My songs, my hands! We really want to keep her! She's sounding better and better! She goes to step forward, she walks two steps back, and by that I mean hard labor...

Thank you! I think she walks two steps back. And by that I mean hard labor. Thank you. And then she takes two more steps. Like the guys that are like, Brother Amos, I really hope she can join the group. Sam, Sam. What? What? There you are.

What? When your wife died, I helped you write the eulogy. I wrote songs for her when we buried her. And I fought with you side by side. And Lisa, I was there when you had your baby. It was twins. Keep going. Lisa Jr., you remember? Why is it always Lisa? It's too bad. It's too bad.

It's too bad. It's too bad. It's too bad. It's too bad. It's too bad. It's too bad. It's too bad. Don't stop, keep going.

This is great. It was twins. I helped deliver. I'm the only one who knew about midwifery Hey, that's how they pronounce it here. That's correct Jerry Jerry what? Didn't get a good seat to this. I'm back here, what?

I stood up for you. I stood up for you when everyone thought you were stealing. I stood up for you when everyone thought you were stealing. Because I knew that you weren't. Because you're too short. Because you're too short. The food's got cabinets. The food's got cabinets.

And I proved that to Matt. And I proved that to Matt. I Prove that to Matt's you remember that One more And Glenn Glenn the Mercenary Raider We shared We shared that passionate night who we shared our secrets We shared our spit and our blood I vote for you to go.

Just don't stop talking. That's all. That's all I got. I'm just asking, haven't I helped? Haven't I done enough? Do I owe my life to step away? It feels wrong. And if you agree with me, can I get a hell yeah? She's right, Matt. Suddenly, like, all these voices start piping up.

Matt thought they were all on his side. They're like, yeah, Matt, that's enough to be this way. It doesn't have to be so cut and dry Quiet hell. Yeah. Thank you. Jerry. Thank you She's sure it took longer for his voice to reach Well seems like I have been outvoted. You're free to go. But know this, Gic Muck.

The gods are watching. You may break your oath with me, but I wouldn't break your oath with them. She just smiles and picks up her loot and she nods at Glen, Jerry, Lisa, Sam. And she doesn't say a thing to Matz. She just turns and looks at the group. I'm ready when you are. All right, come on, Hubert. Let's go. Do the thing with your mouth again.

Hubert, we are going to go now. Are you sure you'd like to stay? Would you mind coming with us? What's the wolves? Perhaps we can find a way back tonight hold it's a deal. It could shake in her head like at the wolves like Why not See where this adventure takes us next That's it that's it Hubert, let's go

You know does anyone know how to drive a boat? Holy kook. I'm a man of the world. Raise his hand. My leg is starting to feel better from the magical healing I found an actual it's my navigating leg Navigate it's my navigating leg the gas pedal leg. Yes, the only somewhat reasonable argument I found on this is that broken bones should be interpreted as Dexterity damage. Oh So they wouldn't be yeah subject to magical healing you have to do something else. Okay, but the magical helped It's like I can I can I can do this We should we should go Mattson never takes his eyes off you. As you all walk towards

the dock, get on the boat, put all your shit on there, help Hubert up the gangplank. And Sakawachi is just- Do we still have Pamek's head? No. Okay. Just checking. Yeah. You gave it to Sakauchi and Deneji and Willy Kuk and you haven't seen it since. Sakauchi is like gone still. As he's getting on the boat, he kind of like drips a little bit.

As he's stepping on and Deneji's holding him and brings him to the boat. And you untie it from the dock and Uli-Kuk directs you just to push. Let's go. Once we get the current, we should be able to move. be able to move and you push off and all the wolves start a low howl like a salute in a way to all of you as you go off. You see Matt's kind of walk up through all this still behind you as the boat goes up towards the gates. They open the lockhouse. You go out and then to come. Once the gates of those barns yells, and I know you eat people. It looks rather. You got the last word.

You definitely told them. And then Gitt goes, oh! I didn't say bye to father. Damn. Gave him the best goodbye of all. A head and a back? A severed head. We cut to father sitting across from the severed head, holding a deck of cards. Go fish!

Oh boy. My head just has cards in its mouth. All right, I'm gonna miss him. I'm gonna miss him. And now you are on the river. You are on the little ice rhyme. Have you guys ever looked at the interactive map of Galarian? Yes. Almost every year. It's a lot. It's like interactive map of Galarian? Yes.

Almost. I use it a lot. It's like Google Maps for Galarian. It's pretty great. So cool. So I'd like you to kind of put Skywatch in so you get a sense of where it is if you haven't already. You'll see there's the Lake of Mists and Vees that the little ice rime enters into.

But that little red circle there in the northeast portion of Brevoi, that's Skywatch. And you see Winterbreak Bay that Matt's mentioned is like that little chunk of land that's separated there. There's a little bay. It creates a bay about, I think he said about two days, you have two days worth of rations to get to Winter Break Bay. And then it just keeps going along

and you see there are little cities along the way, there's Port Ice, there's Chesaid, and then keeping along, there's Lackthroat, and then Neerson is probably the first major settlement if you continue on this. And Uli Kuk probably explains to you, he's like, I think in talking with Sakkawachi, what I could gather from him is that we need to just continue along here until we get to South Mendeath.

And then he believes he'll know what to do the closer we get to the Sarkor's scar. But right now it's all just sort of up in the air. I will navigate this craft as best I can. If you feel like we need to go in a different direction, just we'll talk. I'm hoping that in the days to come, he will be more responsive. But right now, I think he's kind of waiting for a sign. What is it about him that makes him so special to your people. You have to understand my people a little better to understand how we read signs. But the elders of the village, sort of from a very young age, saw something special in Sakuachi.

Now, there are outsiders that believe that when you do something like that, you sort of impose a belief that someone is special and they have to either live up to it or forever be shunned by the fact that they're not special. But every indication has proved that Sakawachi is touched in some way, maybe by the gods, maybe by powers and forces that we can't possibly understand. But like his grandmother and his whole family, they can see things in the stars that others can't. From a very early age, he was able to read things that even the oldest members of our

community, the most wizened seers, couldn't read. And so when all these visions sort of came together and we knew that we had to send someone, it was obvious who had to go. I imagine it's hard for you to understand where you just met him, but where he shares the mark that you all share, I have to believe that there's some connection. Of course, but this, I am struggling. This business of the living God, you all are so dead set on this idea and yet there is no

clear understanding of what it means or where this being is, who they are or how they are to sacrifice themselves. You believe the answer will come in time? Yes. I understand that. We'll wait and see. Hopefully this journey will give you the answers that you seek as well. If indeed it's all tied together. How was the question that will be answered, but your people saw a great disturbance in the northern sky. And we now know that there was a creature in prison there that has some connection with us. They must be connected in some way your mission in ours how long is this journey um the Sakura scar well I think we'll it's it's really long. It's insanely long. We have to go through Mendev and then the Worldwound.

I mean, we're going across to... Yeah. The Worldwound is the Circus. Yeah, but we're on it. Crossing Russia on foot. We continue along the Southern Edge. The long way. It could take about a week, week and a half, depending on the current and the weather,

to get through the Lake of Mists and Vales, and we'll be just south of the Estruvian Forest and from there we'll continue inland unless, you know, Sakawatchee sees otherwise. Okay. These, these waters, waters though can be strange. I studied the land before we left our settlement and there are strange magics at work here, perhaps the same ones that were affecting Skywatch being so close as we are to the ley lines here, so hopefully our trip will be an easy one, but just be ready in case we need your skills. Like I said, I'm just a navigator. And Daniqui's a pair of shoes. And Daniquis a pair of shoes.

Okay. And so you continue, start this journey along this river. You should start thinking about any downtime activities you might want to do. This is a journey where like, you can actually use those elements of the game. If there's something you want to do, if you want to retrain shit, if you want to do. This is a journey where like you can actually use those elements of the game. If there's something you want to do, if you want to retrain shit, if you want to whatever. Um, uh, it is about 600 miles by the way. Jesus.

Yeah. It's high. Sheesh. About the distance between New York city and Knoxville. Okay. So not Russia. No, no, no. Not quite that bad.

Yeah. It's pretty far. Um, but the boat looks, uh, decent enough. We don't have to travel on foot. We've got this river. Yeah, that's good. Bay into the river. And there will be settlements along the way that you can take advantage of. Niersen being the one that would make the most sense to like, if you wanted to like really have the closest thing to a cosmopolitan city because some of these small ones are just gonna be little ports, little fishing villages and stuff. The waters of the bay, we'll say two days past, you get to the bay and the waters are pretty choppy. They're cold as they splash over the side

of the boat. And as you get to the bay, a dense fog hangs in the air, making it difficult to see more than a few yards past the edge of the boat. You see Uli Kuk struggling from time to time. It's like, God, this seems like the lake is trying to push us towards the shore. It's like repelling anyone from getting closer to the center. Not that I'm trying to go out to the middle of the lake, but I don't want to be this close to the shore. I just feel like something strange is going on here. And just keep sailing. On the night of the third day as you're kind of getting past the bay, the fog is still super dense.

You're kind of getting past the bay. The fog is still super dense. Um, Sakauchi like wakes up with a start. And it's like panting. And if some of you are nodding off, it's enough to like wake you up as well. Sakauchi is just like hyperventilating. And Deniki's with him. And uh, Uli-Kuk kind of hopples over while keeping his eye on the water. And, uh, they're like, what's wrong? He's like, I, I can't, um, yeah, I, I just had a horrible, horrible dream. What did you say?

I, it was a private memory. I, with Pumak. It was a private memory with Pamak. It was so real. It was good to see her again. It was a moment that we were being watched. And I turned around and I saw a figure darting about. I turned back and Pamak was gone. The figure was there, close but also out of reach, just wearing this monstrous mask of white fur, like the one that you mentioned

that some of you had seen. Yes. And they were writing something. Writing? Writing something, yes. Like they were watching me and Pomock and writing something. In a book. A single piece of paper.

Yeah, a notebook, a journal. They take a single, yeah, like a piece of paper. Notebook, a journal. Was this the, on Castorvel, was this the archivist? No, this is the nightmare. This is the nightmare person that we all see in our homes. Oh, the fuzzy. I think it's who was ministering to us or something while we were during the missing moment. That's my theory.

Oh. Was it an actual yeti or was it a mask? It looked like a person wearing a mask. I don't know. It was all so strange. It sometimes felt like it was covered in fur. Other times it just felt like a mask. But they were definitely watching and taking notes.

Did it scare you? It was horrifying. I woke up as I came to grips with this. He just like shudders and shakes. What is happening? What is happening? Please tell me what to do. Please tell me what to do. Please tell me where to go.

Do you have any special powers? They're different than yours. I can't string a bow to save my life or swing a sword. Well, you didn't go through the gate, but you saw the same dream that we see. And after we see it, we become more powerful in certain ways. I think you spoke about this. So I'm wondering. I have like abilities.

I, if I have anything like that, I haven't experienced it. I can, I can see things, but it's not like your magics. But in terms of any physical or mental changes, if I have them, they haven't manifested yet. Hmm. In all my dreams, this is the first time I remember seeing any figure like the one you mentioned. Maybe as we get closer to wherever it is we're heading, our stories are uniting. I don't know. I feel so lost.

Did he explain, did his grandmother explain to him why she put that sigil on him? No. No, she just like sigil on him. No. No, she just like branded him with it. Because I mean, it is definitely interesting, obviously. Like we all have this mark, but his was like placed on him like years ago. So I mean, just thinking motivationally, like that would be a very compelling reason for us to want to kind of be with him and, you know, kind of follow his lead if given this.

Was it years ago? I thought it was after the light in the northern sky. Yeah, I think it was it wasn't years ago but it was before before all this before they made their journey the sky watch and it was after they saw the light after they saw the light yeah and she branded him and then yeah after she had a vision talking to the Yeti her old Yeti friend. Okay I knew Moron. Yeah but whereas you got yours walking through the gate, he was given his. Right. So... It's as if we don't know yet who this being is that haunts our dreams, but we don't yet

know if it's friend or foe. It certainly seems like foe though, doesn't it? I'm sorry, I'm not more helpful. I've had a tough couple of days. That's okay. I know you've experienced losses as well, several, and I don't mean to be selfish. I just felt Pumak deserved so much more. Sorry about your friend.

What happened to her head? We gave it to them. We gave it to father. I asked the same. No, we did not. Very interesting question. We did not give it to father. And Troy was very evasive about it.

We, we all hate it. No. No. We should. We should. We should. You are the cannibals. The cannibals all along drawn this goopery. We should. You were the cannibals.

The cannibals are long. It is custom to eat our dead. No. Were you able to say goodbye, at least, to your friend? Yes, I couldn't really look upon her, but Deneet, she buried her remains, and we prayed over it. Good. Good.

I'm very sorry. Thank you. A horrible thing to have to see her again that way. Yeah. Don't burden yourself, Sakawatchi. We all feel a little lost right now, but it is good to know that we know where we are headed in this boat, thanks to Dinegie. We're on our way, and more knowledge will come to us

as we make our way west. I'm confident in that. We do not have all the information we need yet, and so don't strain yourself too much trying to figure out the puzzle. It'll come to us when the time is right. For now, just try to get your rest. Yeah. Maybe help Uli cook so he can rest too. Maybe help Uli-Cook so he can rest too.

Sure, I'm not much of a pilot, but I can help with the navigation. Pons, if you can point this thing in the direction, I think we can give Uli-Cook a break. I'm sure we can. It'll be a two-man job for us, but I'm sure we can get it done. Oh, thank you. Good to get my navigating legs under me. Are we rowing? I imagine we were sailing. Let's work. Yeah, I don't think we can row to meet somebody that waited this distance. Longboat?

Yeah, I, be a bastard This is a hundred miles Against the wind yeah, right rowing like especially in the lake Yes, you're once you're on a stream where you're moving downstream. You're fine, but yeah If you not off at all dick If you nod off at all, Gic, I feel like looking at the sky, you nod off, you open up your eyes again and Hubert's standing right there.

Oh, God. She goes to reach for a copesh but stops. I fell asleep for a second. Yes, I was watching. You talk and you sleep. Yeah, what'd I say? I don't know. Sounded like a song.

Oh. Um... Ahem. Can I help you? How's it feel? What? To be cursed by the gods. I'm not cursed by the gods. That's not what your boss said.

It's not my boss. That man is an evil person who took me in because I had nowhere to go and he knew it. He was very kind to me. Well that's great for you. Maybe you should have stayed there then. Be careful. I'd be careful. You don't know me, little spiky mouse. And I don't know you. What was your name? Hector? Hubert.

Hubert. Well, my name's Gic Muck. And you best keep it out your mouth. I don't want problems with you, all right? I just made it. Whoa, whoa, whoa, what's going on? Nothing. What's going on here? Hanging out. She's yelling at me, Brother Amias. You.

I don't feel as if I deserved it. You manipulative little rodent. I was not yelling at him. He was trying to talk to you. No, he was standing over me when I was sleeping. Stopped and started cursing at me. Saying I was talking in my sleep. All right, all right, all right.

Coming at me about the gods. All right. Are we hanging out now? What's going on? Now that we're all awake. Now that we're all awake, Hubert, why don't you take a walk three or four steps away? Just the farthest you could possibly get.

That's a very large boat. Gek, Gek, just like. It's not a Disney cruise. Yeah. Sticks her hand into the freezing water. Go down to the casino and blow off some steam. Here's a 20. Here's a 20.

Have fun. That's a sludge. Gek, let's go to the water slide. Sticks her hand, splashes her hand, and touches her forehead, and she just like feels her face getting red, just like instantly snapping at Hubert And she's just wiping this like freezing cold water on her face It's my fault. It's my fault Sorry, I'm cool cool

He's pretty antagonistic lately Nice It's my fault I'm sorry. I'm I didn't mean to... I didn't mean to make a scene. I didn't mean to drag you into that. I didn't mean to make a problem. I feel like every time I make a problem, I can't... Hic, I don't want you to think of yourself as a burden.

I just want you to remember how much we need you. I just want you to remember how much we need you. Thanks, Boggles. I mean, I'm not blind to the fact that you could have left me. And I really appreciate that you didn't. And I appreciate, Hubert, that you didn't stay. I wanted you to be here, too. I wanted to be with all of you. I wanted to, I want to keep hanging out. If lightning strikes our boat, it's your fault. Hubert. What the hell is your problem? She's yelling at me again.

Hubert, I didn't raise my voice. You're inciting me. I just spoke a truth. Alright, alright, alright. God, she's broken another one. Hubert, Gic, I think you should say one nice thing about each other now. I don't want to say anything.

I don't care what you want. Hubert, would you like to go first? When you sing, I don't always get sick. Oh, Hubert, that was remarkable, Hubert. Close. Dick, would you like to say something nice? Dick, perhaps a proportional response. Since we've been on the boat in fresh air, you don't smell like shit so bad. I'm glad we did that one.

Still it's a really good exercise. Pretty even. Good pairing. Very good technique. I could hear you listening to each other there. Never been less turned on by a person. Oh my god, that's the meanest thing he said yet. That was really close. I mean, literally inanimate objects turned on by a person. Oh my god, that's the meanest thing he said. That was really low.

I mean literally inanimate objects turned on. He's banged like Ron and Dad Ron. He's just pulmonating his sex drive. Honestly? Look at her! He was a lot like a rock for a while. Honestly, I think Barnes would write Gicca thank you notes. Yeah.

For that. I just wanted to formally apologize, Sakawatchee, everybody here, I appreciate you standing up for me and getting me out of the Smiling Wolves. So thank you, and I do owe you. Now contractually, for nothing. Course, Gic. And you got yourself out of the Smiling Wolves.

Your friends backed you there. We had a whole plan to enact some sort of legal maneuver, but you didn't need us. You didn't need it. Appreciate the legal plan though. I'm sure that would have went over real smooth with Matt. And that's another thing, Hubert. I'll have no more of this conversation about anyone being cursed by the guards.

You of all people should know that's not something to mess around with. Except for me. Well, she did not. She, Gic. I'm actually cursed. Zephyr's actually cursed. But she... I guess you can make fun of me if you need to get it out of your system.

I'm actually cursed now. Yes. It's a contagious thing around here. Gic. She broke her oath. My name's Hubert. Hubert, sorry. Hubert.

I'm over here. Gic broke her oath. Yes. To a man, just a man, who was manipulating her and all of those people. The oath was to live under his rule of law that he invented. It wasn't even religious. She didn't break an oath to any gods.

You have no fear of that. We shall soon be coming to the Asterovian forest. While there, perhaps. Somebody's been looking at the interactive map. It's his brother, Ressus. Wow, impressive. Wow. We're all just looking at the interactive map. And he just brought it up. I can read. Brother

Did you bring it up That might be depending on if we can find a nice community there a place where you might want to Depart our company into safety relative safety And you'll be rid of me. Or stay, no, I- But if you want to stay- Yeah, it's fine. We'll hear no more of this talk of curses, curses and being struck by lightning

or being smote or whatever it is you think. All right, I'll be good. I'll be good too. Thank you. Gigg, have at a song. Yes. I'll be good too. Thank you. Gek, how about a song? Yes. Do you know any, what do they call them? Seashanties? Seashanties.

Shanty, yes, that's it. I'm gonna stick my head in the water for a little bit. She takes out her loot. She starts playing. He sticks his head in the sub-zero. Freezing water. Comes out with icicles out of loot. He starts playing. He sticks his head in the sub-zero. He's freezing water. He comes out with like icicles out of his nose. His quills all have icicles on them. A sea shanty, yes, that.

Exactly. She puts her leg up, you know, like on the side of the boat, true, just like barred. And she sings to kind of lift the spirits of everybody and pass the time. And it's classic sea shanties, justies. You pass a lady in the night, she sees you from afar, the boat that goes upon the waves and into it, a moor, and there we are. She's clapped at a time. She tells everybody to clap, Marks. I know. Let's sing the sails down.

To the land, to the land, I sail it over there. Ooh, that was a high note. She almost hit it. Maybe even Sakawatchi has a small little smile on his face as he lifts his head up and listens to that. But then you notice while this is all going on, Deneji stands up and walks towards the front of the boat. What is that? Ah, ah, ah, ah, from the top. What is this, Uli Kuk?

I see you on the farthest valley. Uli Kuk stands up. Wait, wait, wait, wait. It's the strangest thing. Now you notice both Uli Kuk and Deneji are like at the front of the boat pointing at the water. And if you stop your singing and you come up, you notice there are just like these bubbles in the water.

And they start out small, like if you were underwater just like blowing bubbles then they start to get like crazy big and you notice that they're on all sides of the boat like these enormous crater shaped bubbles They're like they pop the minute they hit the surface, but then suddenly they Come up like big circular tumors that float in the air and simultaneously begin to wash over the boat. And you are all like bathed in these bubbles that are just washing over all of you, the

entire surface of the boat. And you can't even fight against it. It just happens so quickly, and the sweet smelling breeze and the weird smell of these things combine, and it starts to provoke this vision that you all see and share together. A vision so vivid, it feels like you're reliving something. You're like brought back to a moment and you start to like try and rationalize this, but it's all happening so fast, but you realize very quickly that this hallucination is no

random meaningless delusion. It's a memory that you're having. And it's not just any memory, but it's one which you recall maybe only hazily until now. Something you've thought about, but never been able to fully put into words. One of those memories that you're not even sure if it really happened. If you were in real life, you'd be like,

maybe I just saw that on TV. Or wait, did I live that? And you start to realize that this is happening to you. You're reliving this memory. It's rendered in vivid detail before your very eyes. You see the Sun hanging low in the sky and the chill of the fall air. Is this the previous fall? Multiple previous falls ago? You don't know. But standing before you is a glowing gateway. It's the evening of the missing moment. the night that everything changed.

You know this to be true. You know this to be true. You know what it feels like. The only thing that's out of place is that in this memory you are not alone looking at the gateway. Several other figures are standing with you. Remus, you look and you see Barnes. And you see Zephyr. And you see Gic. And you see Buggles. And Asta.

And Lucky. And some other figures as well. Like, Talitha. And everyone else like- Everyone else just in there. Talitha. Talitha. Everyone else likes her. Everyone else just standing there. And what's your name? It likes a couple other really important people.

And other people who might die in the future. They're there too. Yeah, yeah. Other backup characters. Other backup characters. The backup characters standing there as well. And you're all standing together staring up at this gate. And you're all standing together staring up at this gate. Standing in the distance is Sakawachi, who is just silently watching all of you.

Standing up against this gate and in this unspoken agreement between all of you, you stride forward and walk through the gate together That smell of the breeze mixed with the weird smell of the bubbles continues And now you're back on the boat and the bubbles have turned into like Figures almost like pirates and the bubbles have turned into like figures, almost look like pirates that are wielding weapons and coming directly at you. Oh.

You level up to level five. Oh! Oh! And we'll see you next week. Oh, that's a big one! Oh my god. That's a big one! I was scared for a second, no I'm not.

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