The Glass Cannon Podcast - Gatewalkers Episode 77 – The Boy and the Knife

Episode Date: March 21, 2025

The heroes return to Ritalson Manor and meet other Gatewalkers. Watch the video here: https://youtu.be/xnmKmH-sMAA 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 If you like your money, Mint Mobile is for you. Shop plans at https://mintmobile.com/GCP. (Upfront payment of $45 for 3-month 5-gigabyte plan required (equivalent to $15/mo.). New customer offer for first 3 months only, then full-price plan options available. Taxes and fees extra. See Mint Mobile for details.) Access exclusive podcasts, ad-free episodes, and livestreams with a 30-day free trial with code "GCN30" at jointhenaish.com. Join Troy Lavallee, Joe O'Brien, Skid Maher, Matthew Capodicasa, Sydney Amanuel, and Kate Stamas as they tour the country. Get your tickets today at https://hubs.li/Q03cn8wr0. For more podcasts and livestreams, visit https://hubs.li/Q03cmY380. 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

You are listening to the Glass Cannon Network, the premier source for role-playing game entertainment. Last week on the Glass Cannon Podcast... I thought I recognized you. No, no, no, I'm not Gaius. I'm not Gaius. Where is he? I haven't seen him in many, many years. Daddy, that's not him.

That's not him. You're his brother? For many years, Daddy that's not him that's not him. You're his brother? For many years I thought him dead. We merely stopped for supplies when I heard that Gaius may have passed through here. Passed through and left something behind. My daughter she's an adult. I don't blame her but a real man would be here. Let me leave you with some some coin. It is only to pass the time until we return. If I can bring guys back here I will. We must return to Riddleson at once and maybe that's where he's heading maybe he intercepted or overheard I mean Riddleson sent a letter

here enuma I'm afraid we may need to part ways do you know Sakawatchi's plan where is he Sakawatchi comes down the stairs he says I met a group here I have a caravan that is heading north to Canoporus. Where will you go? We'll go south to Leperstadt. I wish you luck, Sakwatchee. Bye. Next day, you begin the journey to Leperstadt.

Takes you about 12 days. You walk into town. There's much to explore, but your destination is Riddleson Manor. Alwin Kivarack, the major domo here, steps out of the manor to hail you. Dr. Riddleson Manor. Alwyn Kivorak, the major domo here, steps out of the manor to hail you. Dr. Riddleson sends his regrets

that he cannot personally greet you at this time. Riddleson Manor is yours to treat as home. You're free to explore the manor, talk to Alwyn, talk to the other servants. Your time is your own. So think about that, and we'll see you next week. Oh! The adventure continues...

now. It's 8 p.m. most likely where you are if you live on the East Coast. I shouldn't say most likely. Could be anytime. That doesn't make any sense. By the time of this premiere, it's 8 p.m. Eastern. Right now in the studio, it's 3 p.m. in the afternoon on a Thursday. I just had lunch. I just had a protein shake, and then I got nice coffee. We sit down to record and everyone's like, beers, beers, beers, we're doing beers.

And I was like, it just feels too early. It's my fault. Beer pressure one. Yeah, it was 8 p.m. somewhere. Did you hear the reason why we're drinking these? Yeah, well now I didn't realize until afterwards that Kate had an ulterior motive. I thought she was just being cool. No, no, no, no, no.

Nope. We have a really tiny fridge in here, and it's full of beer. I had a salad, and I wanted to put it in the fridge, but there's too much beer in there, so I was trying to get everyone to drink beer so I could put my salad in it. And I did, my salad's in the fridge now.

She slyly turns to Matthew and is like, I'm gonna have a cold one, you know what I'm saying? And Matthew is like, are we doing a brew? And then we all started- And then it slowly started creeping around. I was one of the last ones, I was like emailing. I was out there being like, hey Skid, what do you want? What's up, you want a single cup?

I was like, wait, are we having beer? I haven't been enabled in so long, I'm great. I love to be enabled, I'm just like- It's like the old Sunny D commercial. Yeah, we got some purple stuff. We got some. I wasn't going to have any until I realized that we still had some single cut 18 watt left, because this is just,

it's good beer, but it's also special because this is Astoria's first brewery since Prohibition. Yeah. It opened like. Did we have a fantasy draft there? We did have a fantasy draft there. Yeah. I mean, it's very close and yet we never go

because we're always in and out. I used to go all the time. I'd been there with my parents. We'd hang out there with Nick and Lo. I went there with your father-in-law and you once. We played through the ages. Roll through the ages. Phenomenal game.

That's where I found that game was at that brewery. Oh wow. I'd never heard of it before and I managed to, you know, to find a copy and buy it. Roll through the ages, the Bronze Age? The Bronze Age by Lee Cock Age. It's good beer. Lee Cock, the creator of Pandemic. Oh, cool.

Very good game. It's a great brewery. They sell that beer all over the city. Yeah, I know, yeah, their distribution arm is everywhere and they have another brewery in Saratoga Springs. They opened up the second location. Is it Saratoga Springs or Syracuse? Anyways, upstate they have one.

Those are very different. And yeah, I know they are different. I'm thinking of something else, but they do have a Those are very different. And yeah, no, they are different. I'm thinking of something else, but they do have a second location up there. And I was- They have one in Detroit, or maybe San Antonio. Yeah, that's right. Yeah, I think I'll stay up there.

They're two completely different places. So far. So we're in California. One of the two. One of the two. But I was there, now I have to look it up, but I was there on opening day when they opened the brewery because my wife and I at the time were like,

wow, we got to go, brewery in the area. We went on opening day. She's your ex-wife A lot that day one of the story which we have been too many times Clifton Park, New York Manliest New York. Okay. So what are those? What are the real cities that they're near? Nobody's like I live in is it Albany? Are Near Albany, yeah. Where's Manlius? Manlius. What a stupid name for a city. Never heard of it. Manliness?

I'm so sorry if you're from Manlius. Manliness. Manliness. Do you have any Nation members in Manlius? Manlius? The fuck is this? Oh, it's Syracuse. Oh, it's a Syracuse.

It's a suburb of Syracuse. So that's why I was thinking, it was Syracuse. But you know what's funny is Saratoga Springs isn't very far from Albany. I don't know. It's not really near Clifton Park. No. Like 20, 30 minutes. Okay. Well, I'm sorry I said. It's pretty far.

Saratoga Springs is awesome though. We stopped there on the way to Lake Placid all the time and they just opened a treehouse brewery. No way. In Saratoga Springs. Get out of here. Distribution only, but it's pretty great. I used to love doing that. And dress up in suits. Home of Skidmore College. Yes. In Saratoga Springs. It's distribution only, but... It's pretty great.

I used to love Saratoga Springs. Home of Skidmore College. Yes. Dress up in suits and gowns and go. We still have a suit thing. Go get a beer. Well, because it's fancy in Saratoga. Is it?

Is it? Well, yeah, rich people live there. Oh, more than I liked. And then also good track and people dress up for that, I guess, even though it's awful. Yeah, so dress up. Saratoga Springs. And we'll go. Did you ever consider applying to Skidmore College, Skid?

Just for the sake of it? No, I knew I would have never gotten in. So I wouldn't. I don't want to waste college. Right. Any good college I wouldn't have gotten into. I got turned down by UNLV. I had to write a reestablish my academic credentials before I could apply to any real college. Oh my gosh. I did not have a storied high school career. All right, so we'll dress up and try and get

into one of these colleges. And if it doesn't work out, we'll just go drinking. Speaking of drinking, so you might find this interesting. Maybe not. I don't care. This Saturday night, I am, you probably know this about me, I'm not anti-social. That wouldn't be the word I would use to describe myself,

but it's in that ballpark. I can't think of a better word. I'm a little, what would you say? I would say, generally speaking as an inclination, you're not particularly into socialness. You'd rather not. It's not anti-social though, right? Like it's something like that.

You like hanging out with the people that live in your house. Yeah, my wife and kids. I don't think you're anti-social. I think you're anti-like. Anti-social, I'm gonna look up synonyms for anti-social. You're a misandrist. That is true.

And I think you're anti-social. Aesthetic, hermit-like. Yes, you're a hermit-like. You're not misanthrop. That is true. And I think you're anti-social. Aesthetic, hermit-like. Yes, you're a hermit-like. You're not misanthropic, no. Reclusive? You have a little bit of misanthropy. A little bit of misanthropy. I would say more reclusive than anti-social.

I think you- Reclusive. You go out and do- Solitary, that's a good one. Anytime- He does appear on YouTube and television weekly, so. Yeah, that's it. With other people, so.

Aesthetic, I like that too. I don't know if that's right, but I do like that word. No, you're not aesthetic. Characterized by or suggesting the practice of severe self-discipline and abstention from all forms of indulgence, no, I'm not that. Yeah. Yeah.

That's not a good sentence. 3 p.m. Isn't that, hey, yeah, 3 p.m. Mine's just a prop, it's close. In fact, find the opposite of that word. Look, it's St. Thomas Aquinas over there. So anyway, I'm not super. I go through peer.

I used to be very social. The best way I could put it, there's no word to put on it. It's Troy. You're your own person. You can't put a label on it. But I think a lot of anti-social people would say, no, I don't want to go do that social thing, which you will do sometimes.

But occasionally, you'll be like, you, me, so and so and so and so, going to Vegas, it's gonna be the best. And then like three hours before whatever this event is, you'll be like, this is my worst nightmare. I don't wanna hang out with anyone. I think everyone has that though. Yeah, no, I don't think, I enjoy going out.

I think it was Elliot Smith who was singing about like Sylvia Plath or something, but there was a lyric that was like, the kind that goes out and then sleeps for a week. And it's like you have like a burst of social energy and you can be so, so sociable and outgoing, but then you're like, I need to be alone for a month. That's me. Some people's batteries are recharged by being around other people and some people expend their batteries by being around other people.

And then in solitary need to recharge themselves in whatever way. I also think I was very social for a long period of time. You were bartending. When I was bartending. When I was running the softball team. I mean, I would put together these events all the time. I had to meet everybody. And so I think I used all that energy up.

And so now I'm recharging my batteries for 15 years. For several decades. For several decades after. I was just remembering. So you could start a softball team in your 60s. Right. I mean, it was a New Year's Eve where we all, like, you were there, and it was the first time I met Sam.

You were there, and you were there. It was the first time I met Sam. You and Aaron were there, Kaitlin and I were there. It was like some bar. It was like downtown somewhere. Oh, yes. It was in a village. We had a tiny high top.

And we had like 10 or 12 of us just crowded around this high top, because there was a bunch of people that were younger than us just like losing their minds. And we were just like, I remember that. Yeah. That bar is right. I remember what year it was. It was down like south of Astor Place, like right. Yeah, like Coopersmiths maybe.

We went there a couple of years in a row because Erica had like a friend. Her friend works there. Ran the John. This is all to say, I've lived now in Westchester since like right when the pandemic started and my wife knows everybody in the neighborhood and I'm always like, have fun, I'm fine. But this Saturday night, I'm going out for drinks with three of, three hockey dads.

Whoa. That I've become friendly with through archers, archer specifically, his hockey. Talking and they want to hang. No, it's that there's a guy from Canada. Oh, there were two guys from Canada who was a Canadians fan. Obviously, Canadians, Bruins hate each other. A Toronto Maple Leafs fan.

And you're so kind to them. New York Islanders fan. So you're all well, we're going to watch the we all make fun of the Leafs fan. We're New York Islanders fan. So we're all, we're going to watch the- We'll make fun of the Leafs fans. We're watching the Canada USA game. Oh, that's fun. That's great. So, but yes, I said to my wife today,

I was like, now I don't want to go. Cause it's getting close. Getting close, agreed. And it was like, we're all in group texts now. And I'm like, don't like group texts. It's too much. Yeah. I think that's very relatable as an adult.

You only get so much free time, and especially if you have kids. Yeah. The idea of it is fun, but then when it's approaching, it's like now there's so much pressure on it maybe. And also you would want to do literally anything else. Yeah.

You would want to not leave your house. I'd love to take a nap. Yeah. I get it. Also like, I don't want to drive, so I can have a couple, but like, now am I taking a $50 lift to fucking White Plains, and then 50 back? Or am I can have a couple. But like, now am I taking a $50 lift to fucking White Plains and then 50 back?

Or am I, now I'm looking at like, do I take a lift to the train station and then a train? This just seems crazy to me. When you're living in the city, nothing seems crazy. I'll take a cab to this, to the train, to this. But now I'm like, do I go to the fucking metro? Why don't you just drive down there and hang out with these new dads and not drink and just enjoy yourself. Whoa, whoa, whoa.

Look at this joke stick. I'm gonna move. I'm gonna move. This is funny, guys. Make new friends. We're having a good time. How about the funny guy? You barely know?

That I'm married? Being in a social situation? Insane. At a bar and just not drink. That's insane. That's just not drink, yeah. Simple as that. There's a new movie coming out with Tim Robinson that I think you would really like, Skid.

Paul Rudd is in it. It's called Friendship. And the premise. Oh, I saw something about that. The premise is like suburban dad kind of older. He befriends his like neighborhood dads, all these guys. That's interesting.

They start hanging out. In the trailer, it seems like something goes wrong. And they don't want to hang out with Tim Robinson anymore. And he's like, you accepted me too fast and now you're leaving me alone. You can't do this to me. It's just the movie seems. It's like the new cable guy. It seems wild.

Yeah, totally. It seems so fucking funny. And I feel like. That seems hilarious. It might be a little relatable. I mean, I'm going through it right now. I mean, not like that literally, but like, you know, trying to make friends with new dads It's tricky you say somebody already has their friends

That's good. He's so full of shit like Joe could move into a new building tomorrow. He'd be golfing with all the neighbors within a week I Is it is weird? I don't just maybe this gets easier but like with daycare dads like we're friendly We like things or events, so we're at the playground, it's easy to talk to them, but most of our conversations are about a sentence and a half long before you have to chase after a child that's gonna throw themselves off.

So it's like, I have no idea. But you're kinda wasting your time there. You gotta wait until their first grade. Being alone with them at a bar, different situation. No kids. I will say, I look forward to like, cause hockey starts at eight 30 AM on a Sunday morning. So like we just kind of all sit together

and while the kids are doing their drills and stuff, we're just shooting the set the whole time. I imagine it's going to be like that, except with alcohol instead of coffee. Yeah, it'll be great. So far the dads that I've kind of like gotten to, that I've hung out with and enjoyed kind of immediately Are all the sports dads? Yeah sports team dads much higher hit rate than school dad like any random school

Yeah, yeah, I could see that and there's always the possibility Which is I don't I get the I don't get the thing where you're like I don't want to go as much as I get when the plan gets canceled and I feel a rush of joy. You enjoy it, man. It's like this is the best course of events that could have possibly occurred. The best thing in the world is not having to do the thing you committed to.

And not having the guilt over canceling yourself. Right, yes. If someone's like, hey, sorry, I gotta help out, but I can't make it, I'm like, it's totally fine. That's great, that's great. I wanna buy you a present and kiss you on the mouth. And I often will look forward to it. Like I'm looking forward to doing that.

Sure. And then like it gets canceled. But a suddenly free night. You're like, it's like a snow day. Yes. It's like a snow day. Yeah. That's how it feels in my brain. Well, stay tuned.

Next week, I'll let you know how it went or if I went. We'll be back right after this break. I don't know about you, Naish, but I generally speaking like to keep my money where I can see it. And that goes for the business too. I mean, I'm taking care of the business day in and day out and making sure that we're not spending money on things that are wasteful, especially when it comes to fees and hidden fees and stuff like that.

And that's why we got rid of big wireless. After years of overpaying for big wireless, I honestly got fed up with it. Crazy high bills, bogus fees, and perks that were labeled as free perks that actually ended up costing more in the long run. And so when Mint Mobile came along and said they'd support the GCP, we gave them a try and I honestly could not be more thrilled with the service. I highly recommend that you guys check this out because it sounds crazy how cheap it is but it really does work. Say goodbye to overpriced wireless plans and their huge monthly bills and unexpected overages. Mint Mobile is here to rescue

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Shop plans at mintmobile.com slash gcp. That's mintmobile.com slash gcp. Upfront payment of $45 for three-month, five gigabyte plan required, equivalent to $15 a month. New customer offer for the first three months only, then full price plan options are available. Taxes and fees extra. See Mint Mobile for details Folks we're back. I want to thank our sponsors for a glass cannon podcast campaign to Foundry virtual tabletop and good old Norse foundry. Can I shout out foundry virtual tabletop for a second? I was hoping you would because it's been a minute. We've been a little role play lately. Yes. Haven't even gotten a

chance to look at it. And I was just thinking, not to, you know, try to sell an ad here, but seriously, remember when we played Ember? It was very cool. We were just talking about that earlier. Oh, were you? Yeah. It was very cool the way you could lay out those scenes, those kind of somewhat three-dimensional scenes, where you could drop NPCs in. And they're all their art. They're like a raid in a kind of a city environment. It gives you a more visual way to pick who you want to talk to.

And then you can get the GM. And the GM can literally move one forward. And they come up forward in the thing. And you can be chatting with them. But it's a very basic way to do what you want to do as a GM. GM can literally move one forward, and they come up forward in the thing, and you can be chatting with them. It's a very basic way to do what you want to do as a GM, give it a visual thing, even when you're just role playing. It was a really cool concept.

And it was pretty simple behind the scenes too. You're just moving the token, you move things around. And it was amazing. Yeah, at Pax Unplugged, I stood at their booth with Andrew, and I was like, show me how this works, honestly, because I want to see how you build one of these. And of course, he's proficient with it, so it made it look super fast. But it looks super easy.

It's like you just drag and drop a tree, drag and drop a bush, move it up or back, drag and drop a rock, drag it up. And all of a sudden, it had this three-dimensional feel with a guy behind the bushes. You're like, what's that guy doing? Andrew put movement on the trees, so subtle, but it's very immersive. three-dimensional feel with a guy behind the bushes. Yeah. Oh, no. You're like, what's that guy doing? Andrew's put movement on the trees. So subtle, but it's very immersive.

Yeah, it's really cool. Well, I really want to make sure between now and Campaign 3, I'm looking to really step up our game with Foundry. Our Foundry game. Use a lot more that it can do. We're talking about putting the characters into it, right? Yeah. Playing around with that. I mean, there's just so much that we can do. And for our purposes putting the characters into it, right? Yeah, yeah.

Playing around with that. I mean, there's just so much that we can do and for our purposes, we didn't really need all of that, but I think there's a little more, for more fun bells and whistles that we can incorporate. So thank you to Foundry VTT and Norse Foundry. And if you want to thank yourselves, give yourself the gift of 30 days for free. Jointhenation.com. Use code GCN30. 30-day free. Jointhenation.com, use code GCN30,

30 day free trial to the best subscription service in the world. I mean, my daughter was asking me the other day how many shows I've done. Just how many shows have you done? And I was just like, oh wow, that's a big question. I don't know. A thousand?

Like probably. I don't know if you heard it, but I did over a thousand. Now, you know, Giant Slayer is a big bulk of that, but if you know behind that, behind that subscription service, yes, episodes, behind that subscription service, you're getting what? 800 episodes of content like immediately. Oh my God. Yeah. Yeah. At least I mean, Giant Slayer was 326. Some of those were three parties. So call it like 330. Uh, and then Androids and Aliens was 326. Some of those were three-parties, so call it like 330. And then Andros and Aelios was 156, and now you're up to 486.

Yeah, it adds up. It's been seven years obsessively playing games, and all recorded back there. All of Legacy. Yep. All of Raiders. Raiders. All of New Game Who Dis.

Kimma Dis. Well, SideQuest is. All of SideQuest SideSide. All of SideQuest. Three seasons of that cyclists three seasons that all get in the trunk a lot. Yeah 30 days for free. What are you doing you fool? What are you crazy? What was the first new game who dis you did with us I can't remember the first one cyberpunk red Sorry, but group Oh first video With Francis. Before long she became Hi Francis. Our videographer du jour.

Before long, that was the first step to becoming the queen of New Game Hoodus. First step to becoming the reigning queen of New Game Hoodus. And GWD. Uncontested. As I would name the files. Who would contest me?

Who would contest me? The queen. The internet. I'll fight the whole internet. Yeah. Kate, no. Please no. The internet scares me.

No, don't do that. You're in a fight and you try to fight me for wearing the color black. The alcohol. Yeah. It was before that. I told you, he brought out a black sweater and I was like, you can't wear a black sweater next to me.

I wear the black sweaters, I wear black. It's my color, everyone else. She's the queen of new games. God has the memo. She owns the black sweater look. I wear black. It's my color everyone else. She's the queen She owns the black sweater. Look don't stand against her. Don't be like the internet Wait, nobody else can wear black around you. That's what she said. No, that's what I heard. Why? Cuz it's my color You claimed the color. Yeah, yeah clearly Get understand one thing to be like I I claim lime green, like that's fine.

Black? You just take black off the table? Yep. Bold. She's consistent, I mean, she's rocking it. She's never not wearing black. Yeah. Rude.

Let's wear black next week. We'll look like a stage crew. Yeah. Sitting around recording. We should all wear black hoodies. Black turtlenecks. We should all wear black hoodies. Black turtlenecks, Simon and Garfunkel, we all got.

Yeah, Simon and Garfunkel. Mustaches. Bowman shots. Well, we have moved location a lot recently. We've gone from Castravel to Skywatch to the Lake of Mist and Veils to Chesaid, and now we find ourselves in Ussulaf. Wow. Amazing.

Thought you'd be going north into Mendev, but no, Sakkawache and crew have left. They've gone with a caravan of people known as the Reclaimers to go to Canabris and then head into the Sarkoza Scar in search of a living god to sacrifice. But your roads have diverged and you have taken the road less traveled to Lepestadt because you were told by Dr. Riddle's in a letter that he had waiting for you in Chesed. How many other cities around the area have letters waiting for the Gatewalkers? Come to Riddleson Manor with all haste. We gots to talk. So you make that trek. Luckily, you are unmolested throughout that 13-day journey, I think, 12 or 13-day journey. It's probably about 600 miles.

It's very far. It's all on the interactive map of Calerion, which I love. You can actually figure out exactly how far it is. But you look on the map. It's like far. It's further from Chesaid to Lepestadt than it is from Skywatch to Chesaid. Now, obviously, you were traveling. It's about as far as it is from here in New York to Knoxville.

Really? Yeah. So imagine doing that on foot. I know. I was just thinking about that. 12 days might be aggressive. Yeah. Yeah.

Well, we had a ship for part of the way. Next year, you did have a ship. And you did move faster there. Twelve days might be aggressive. Yeah. Yeah. We had a ship for part of the way. That's true. You did have a ship. Then you did move faster there. Anyways, you're in Lübbersstadt. You show up at Riddlesund Manor, a place that Brother Ramius, Zephyr, and Buggles have already been.

But now you've got some new companions. You've got Gek Muck. You've got Barnes. And you've got Hubert Hedge. And you show up. And the Major Domo is there to greet you. He says that, I regret to inform you you the doctor is not here right now but he told me should you arrive to show you the utmost hospitality he is away on business nearby he'll be back a few days hence you don't know long. In the meantime the manor is yours there are other gate walkers here.

What do you need and And Barnes and Gick wanted paper. The rest of you wanted a bath and a bed. But you are there. You have some options of things you can do. You don't know how long. You know, you can go into Lepfstrasse if you want to go shopping in the city. You can explore the manor. You can talk with these other gatewalkers. You can talk to the servants, talk to Alwyn. There are plenty of things you can do here. I've given you a week to think about what you wanna do. And you don't have to do the same things.

We can kinda check in with each person, what they're doing and have some vignettes if you like. Barnes would like after he's gonna write the arcane area, the Dean at the arcanearium and explain the situation. The Dean. Why your Dean? Dean Dean. That's his last name too.

Why he hasn't been at work. He's been on another planet, quite literally, for a period of time. The old I've been on another planet excuse. I want to go visit the elves excuse. And then now that he'll have to take a sabbatical to deal with this current threat to global safety. And then, yeah, Barnes wants to talk to the other gatewalkers that are living in the manor. Okay, so you're gonna explore,

try and find a gatewalker to talk to. I mean, it feels like throw a stone, I should be able to hit one, right? Yeah, you start walking around, you're gonna see somebody there that's clearly not someone that works there, okay? Kate, what are you gonna do? I know that I clearly not someone that works there, okay? Kate, what are you gonna do? I know that I already retrained Zephyr,

but I feel like I wanna like at least flavor continue that while I'm here, like continue practicing her new stances and stuff like that. And then I also want to maybe chat with some of these new people. Share with a new guy. Okay By yourself or with Barnes? Maybe with Barnes at first. Yeah, okay

safety in numbers, yeah Sydney what is a gig Mike want to do? It also wants to talk to the other gatewalkers. That was the most interesting thing That I took away from last sesh. I think one finding this group was odd enough to kick, but that now knowing that there's so many more of us, she definitely wants to talk to the gatewalkers. Maybe go into Lepestad. I mean, she's always down to explore a new town, but I think the main focus is talking to these folk. Okay. By yourself or with these two? A little bit of both.

Okay. Okay. What about by yourself or with these two? A little bit of both. Okay, okay. What about Buggles and Remius? I think Buggles would like to kind of survey the crowd. He's looking, he'd like to find a spiritualist or a mesmerist or something. He would like to find someone who can help him. He feels that the Kulu Khan is bleeding into his conscious life more and more. And if he can, he'd like to try to find someone who can help him to reestablish

those boundaries or like keep the Kulu Khan in check when he really wants to do that. He wants to find if there's anyone around with those kind of credentials, he'd like to talk to them. OK. Great, that gives me some ideas. And what about you, Ramias? I'd like to try some retraining, I think. He's interested in that.

I'm trying to figure out by the rules if I can pull it off. So we can talk about that. But he'd like to do some retraining. I think he's going to be a combination of reclusive in sort of laying low and making sure he's writing down everything that happened on this journey, because he hasn't had much of a chance I mean here and there maybe you know on that 13 day journey that he had some time But making it, you know a clear documented record so that he doesn't forget anything when it's time to talk to dr

Riddleson, you know writing in in his book, but then otherwise he's Keeps kind of looking out the window to see if his brother is just going to show up at some point, right? Because it's possible. Could show up any day. Right. That he could be in the bedroom next door. He could get led to Ustalov because of, so yeah, I think the first thing that he would do is talk to the majordomo and say like, you know, did my brother come here? Did someone with, you know, that sort of vaguely. Or ask Riddleson too if he knows, know if he's also a gatewalker like if he knows of your brother Exactly, but that's gonna be a couple days hence. It sounds like until he comes back So if only Riddle soon would know I'll wait till then but otherwise, so just ask the major domo

Have you seen him? But otherwise, I don't think ramius really is interested in talking to other gatewalkers right now he wants to like focus on documenting everything and then waiting to see if his brother turns up or Riddleson gets there while doing some retraining. All right. So talk to Alwin, maybe go hang on the library. Yes. Okay. All right.

Let's start with Buggles. Maybe Buggles, you come out of your room and you feel a little more comfortable here than most, I would think. You were mentioning last week that it feels like the closest thing you have to a home. You know the lay of the land a little bit. Maybe you forgot it some. It's only been a couple months since you've been here. You come out of the room, all the other doors are closed, you're around, you come downstairs and you see some motion in the conservatory nearby.

It draws your attention. What is a conservatory? It's like a... I know it was on the clue board, but what is it? What is that room? It's like a lounge. It's like a conversation space or something, you know? Yeah, usually it's got large windows or the whole thing is glass.

There can be some plants in there, kind of like a solarium chat. It's a place to sit and chat. Yeah, usually it's a greenhouse or a sunroom. I did not know that. I thought it was just like a living room, like an older word for a living room. It's literally like a greenhouse. I'm going to guess that I always assumed that the conservatories, like the conserving of plants, I don't know what I was having. No, yeah, I guess that makes sense. Or Colonel Mustard could kill someone with a greenhouse. I'm gonna guess that I always assume that the conservatory is like the conserving of plants.

I don't know what I was saying. No, yeah, I guess that makes sense. Or Colonel Mustard could kill someone with a wrench. Yes. Well, he can do that in any of nine rooms. I'm just putting that up. I once had him happen there. You see some movement in there.

It's like a shock of red hair. It's Mascarlot. Nailed it. Shoot her. Yeah, I kill her with a candlestick. She's got a rope. She's got Scarlet. Nailed it. Shoot her! Yeah, I kill her with the candlestick. She's got a rope! You peer in the room, it's Miss Scarlet.

You peer in the room, your eyes drawn in there, you realize it wasn't red hair. There's like a gnome in there with bright yellow hair, wearing red clothing, and he appears to have several tattoos like all along his arms and neck. His arms are bare. And he's just kind of like looking around, little guy. But he's kind of darting his eyes around. And that drew

your attention. I just come up, I think he's pleased to see someone of his own stature. Yeah. To say, uh, hello? Hey, quiet, quiet, quiet, quiet. Did you hear that? I'm listening. You don't hear anything?

No. You didn't hear that? No, what? This place is haunted. I'm sure of it. I've only been here about a week, but I know this whole building is haunted and this room seems to be the main focus of that. There's that sound again. Did you hear it? Someone's talking. There's like a talking. Do you hear it?

Are you talking? That's good. That's good. I'm sorry. I don't mean to- I've lost it. What is your name? Are you- did you just arrive? No, I've been here for a while. Well, I've been gone, but I was here a while ago. I'm sorry. My name is Buggles. Buggles? So you're a Gatewalker? I am a Gatewalker, yeah.

I show him the mark. As am I. Look, and he shows you it's on the side of his neck. Oh, I see. Yes, I've had many marks before then, but this one is fairly new. My name is Vax Stereven. Pleasure to meet you.

It's a pleasure, my pleasure. Isn't it strange? I wonder if the Riddlesons, when they passed away, came back here. Perhaps they died and just, they didn't know that they died and they just returned home. Do you think that's what death is? You just kind of keep going about your life and you don't even know that you're dead. Well, perhaps, but are you referring to Dr. Vittleson because he's very much alive? No, no, no, his parents, his parents. Oh, I see, home.

Oh, I keep hearing, it sounds like a man in a woman's voice. Look at my arms, the runes are glowing. Clearly there's magic afoot, ghostly magic. And you look at his arms, there's no glowing. There's no light whatsoever, but he's convinced This always happens when I'm near apparitions paranormal things Anyways what brings you back to little sin manner well kind of like asking the question but listening and looking around Well my companions, and, we have been on quite a far-reaching journey actually,

looking for answers to what happened to us. It's rather a long story, but where are you from? How did you come to join Mr. Vittleson's cadre of investigators? Well, I'm from all over. People like me never really stay in one place for too long. It can make us sick. I don't know how much you know about gnomes. Oh, yes, the bleaching. Yes, the bleaching. I've heard of it.

Yes, wouldn't want my beautiful golden locks to turn. No. So I've been here, there, and everywhere, but probably not unlike you, I had a bit of a disappearance. I see. Yes, and ever since I came back, I heard about Riddleson's manor and all these Gatewalkers joining together to try and figure out what happened to us. I fancy myself a ghost hunter.

I see. I was going to ask if you seemed to have an affinity for hunter. I see. I was going to ask if you you seem to have an affinity for spirits. I do. Ever since I was a child I felt as if I could pierce through the veil and hear things and see things from beyond. So I'm very sensitive to those to those feelings and I just feel the presence of the dead here. Well, I don't mean to impose or to frighten you, but I actually am casting about for some advice. I don't know if you would be the sort of person that could help me. Well, I have given advice before in my life.

Is it a ghostly, paranormal nature? I believe so. And he's kind of nervous, like, talking about it, because he knows that the Kula Khan is listening in. Right. You can't really have a secret conversation with him. Right. So well, there is a passenger of a sort within me. I do not know its origin, but it's very powerful, very, very angry. And sometimes it takes control. It's as if I become the passenger I am watching.

Possession. Perhaps you've been possessed. I have heard of these things happening. I've seen it happening. Men of the cloth are known to find ways to rid people of these possessions. Is it perhaps a ghostly spirit has inhabited you? This is fascinating. I... it could be. I do not know its nature. There was an older friend of mine who was convinced that it was some entity out of legends, but this could have been wishful thinking on his part.

The longs for the prophecies connected with this entity to come true. He saw a vessel for them in me, I think, but in truth I do not know. This is fascinating. So could it have been some legendary warrior or a god? Perhaps. I have found no mention of it in any of the scant readings that I have done. None that I have encountered have heard anything of this thing. None that I have encountered have heard anything of this thing. So you said you needed advice as the advice on how to rid yourself of this being. Oh, it seems like if it's giving you some sort of power, perhaps you could harness it. And just talking about exorcising this presence gives him like all of a sudden he's got a migraine. He's just like his head reels back and he's like he's got his little fist up to his forehead.

Are you all right? Is this something I said? I... No, I do not wish to speak of... Expanding... This... Presence. No. I... Only wish...

Some slight... Measure... Presence, no. I only wish some slight measure of control over my own mind and my own body. His vests are like clenching and he's like shaking him. He just sort of like does his breathing until the headache, the pain recedes and he just looks up at the no. Oh, yes, I see. This may be something that is beyond my power, but Dr. Riddle sin. Dr. Riddle sin may be able to help as he's helped other Gatewalkers that have come through here. There was a group here not too long ago that he was speaking with and he took them and brought them somewhere within the manor and

and they were gone for some time and they were all sort of suffering from the same things that we're suffering from, memory loss and whatnot. And later they returned and left the manor, but they seemed very different after their time with the Riddleson. It almost seemed, in my experience, my rooms were all lighting up. I felt as if they were possessed by ghosts themselves. So perhaps Dr. Riddleson may have powers beyond me as a simple layman when it comes to these things and could help you control this because I felt as if something that went on with these Gatewalkers when they left, they seemed very different, very changed, much more calm than when they spoke to Riddleson initially.

Perhaps. I did speak of him of this early on but my understanding was far more limited than it is now I've learned quite a bit of what is happening yes perhaps now the better idea he might be able to help yes and I imagine his knowledge has grown as well but it is it is good to meet you it is good to meet you too I look forward to us speaking more on this. Yes, perhaps we shall dine together tonight. Oh, that would be lovely.

The servants here make wonderful food. I do, don't they? Let me show you a picture of this character. This is Vax Sturven. Oh! Look at those eyebrows. So astute. Yeah, dope eyebrows.

See some tats sneaking up from the neck there. Steven Dorf. Cool tat. A little Dorfish. Are you sure he's a gnome and not a Dorf? Ha ha ha. Yes. Let's go to,

we'll say Barnes, you and Zephyr open the doors to your bedrooms at the same time. And kind of see each other. What the fuck? Whoa, something's fucked up here. They both come out into the hallway at the same time. We start saying the same words at the same time. No? Yeah, do it.

I'm saying the same words at the same time. Do it. And then, like, with the, okay, let's go. Okay. Okay. It's stressed out. It's stressed out, sorry, Kate. Now look at the instant anxiety on her face, like, instant anxiety. Like, instant anxiety.

Also, I- Zephyr and Kate both feel like, what? Let's do it, let's do it now. We'll, this is how it can go. Yeah, do it. So, we- So, we- So, we- So, we- So, we- oh, all right. Let's do it, let's do it now. We'll do it, this is how it can go.

Yeah, do it. So we were gonna try this. So you see the. That's what I was trying to do. Come on, Kate. That's what I was trying to do. I just say. See how easy it is?

It can be fun. It can be fun. Run with your friends. All right, right, ready? Take two. Wait, wait, are we coming out of the door? Yeah, you're coming out of the door and you both see each other.

Ross, hold on. And this time with a little more feeling. Yeah. Action. Oh. Hey. So we're going down down stairs Right Yes to the place place with the with the with the with the people fountain Caterpillar vacuum cleaner Caterpillar vacuum cleaner. Clearly it's meant to be that we're going to the People Foundation.

Well, on your way to the People Foundation, you're distracted by, you see a woman in the westernmost lounge looking through a telescope that is poking out of the window, draws your attention. So weird, it's daytime. Shall we? We've been, possibly what she was looking at. Should we go speak with her? Conversation starter. I see.

Right, right. We walk up to her. Do that. And we say, Happy. I hear her say happy birthday. That's the weirdest lead in. That's a break in the song.

Happy birthday. Castravel. I'm sorry. And she turns and it's this middle-aged Garundi woman. She's like, Castravel? Are you looking at Castravel? Not right now at the moment. It'll be hard to see during the

day, but I have been known to look at Castravel before. We were there once. I'm sorry? I have been known to look at Castroville before. We were there once. I'm sorry? We were at Castroville. We've been to Castroville.

Not that long ago. It's pretty cool. Do you know what Castroville is? It's another planet. Yeah. I have a boyfriend there. She has a boyfriend. Have you not heard of Valtrek, son of Valto? This conversation is going on. Up for it, the bottle cap. I have a boyfriend there.

My boyfriend lives there. He lives on another planet. Wait, wait, I'm sorry, I don't understand. He doesn't go to this school. He doesn't go here. George, I mean Val. I don't understand you. It's music on air. That's his name. Yeah, I know. George, I mean Val. I don't understand you.

Are you also a Gatewalker? Yes, I am, but I have not traveled interplanetary. You've been to the planet of Castravel. When? Couple of weeks ago. Couple of weeks ago. That is earth shattering. Not many people travel the stars, please tell me more.

My name is Lundger, by the way. It is a pleasure to meet you. You are Gatewalkers, as am I, and you traveled to the planet? Cattrall, was this part of Dr. Riddleson's fieldwork that he had you doing? No, but it is quite remarkable. Please tell us what you were doing. I...I... I was just looking at the stars that I could see in the daytime but I'm fascinated by this. You're an astronomer.

I am an astronomer, a teacher and astronomer. I'm also a teacher. Ah, a fellow academic. Where do you teach? Arcanarium. Oh, at Little Alfred. What? No, the Arcanarium is well known all over Calerion. Yes?

Yes. I'm an anthropologist. Ah, the study of people. Exactly. Yes, good. As you can tell, I'm quite good with you. Yes, it's a good thing to know about people. That's something I probably wish I knew more about.

My head has always been in the clouds. I don't mean to press, but you've got to tell me how you traveled to the planet Castor. No, no, no. Tell us more about you. No, I don't. Anything I have to say will pale in comparison to your interplanetary journey. How did you travel there? Was there a gate? Well, I met you there. I stepped through a gate and ended up in Casterville. So she's just blown away by this.

And that's how this conversation- Just very casually, like, this is normal. We met the elves. I mean, I walked through a gate to get there. Yes, they rescued me, they found me. We found him in the jungle. So wait, was this your missing moment? You went through a gate and then you came-

Oh, no, no? For me, yes. And she's just got a million questions about us. Are we good? So, wait, I'm going to write it up as soon as I get back to the Arcanaria, but please tell us what has been going on here at the manor. What's her name again? Lunja.

How do you spell it? L-N-U-J-A. Enjoy the conversational gambit of starting with like you look at a planet there Here's a picture of lunge and note the Gatewalkers tad on her neck Did you say L n you know you and J a and what's what's the the gnomes name again? It was crazy. Are what's the gnome's name again? It was crazy.

Are you doing the sheet, Joe? I can add to the sheet. I'm doing it. His name was Vax Turvin. Vax Turvin. With an X? Yes, Vax Turvin. And her name is Lundja.

A Gurundi astronomer. Have you been here long at the manor? Hold on, I was looking at my notes. So I make sure that this conversation is worthwhile. Get your thoughts together. I have a pet theory about what's going on here, brother. Huh. What is it?

At Riddleson Manor? Yeah. What? I don't think Riddleson's on the way. Yes. Huh. What is it? At Riddleson Manor? Yeah. What? I don't think Riddleson's on the up and up. Really? I think you've all been taken in by someone who might be involved, a little more involved with this than he's letting on.

Do you say that to Lundur? How dare you? No, of course not. What, that he forced us to walk through the gates or something? He's deceiving us? I think he might, I don't think he, necessarily think he's the one wearing the Yeti mask, but.

You want to roleplay this later at dinner I have to read like had our day. Yeah Yeah, I came here about a week and a half ago I met the other Gatewalkers that are here. There are four of us here now. There were another four But they left recently Haven't been back presumably they've been sent on a mission.

I don't know if they're traveling to other planets like you did, but it's my understanding that there are groups just coming and going at all times. How... Dr. Goodall seems to have quite the organizational mind for that kind of thing. Yes, he seems well suited to doing something like this. I believe he was an academic himself and so, you know, it's in his blood to want to learn more about this. Thank God for, thank the gods for someone like Dr. Vittleson to bring us all together. Perhaps our collective knowledge will unlock the secrets as to what happened to us.

We should compare notes as fellow academic. Obviously we're in separate fields, but united by the strange occurrence of the missing moment, sure there might be something you have might spark something I have might spark something for you. An anthropologist, an astronomer, and what did you teach? Oh, I don't... Ass-kicking. From the school of ass-kicking. Ass-kicking, I'm not from here.

Bubble gum chewing and ass kicking. I'm all out of bubble gum. Boyfriend habit. Boyfriend. I study boyfriend habit. I study not boyfriend. I study boyfriend on Casdorville. Kissing.

Kissing. Kissing. Kissing. Kissing. Kissing. Kissing. Kissing. Kissing. Oh god. Zephyr is an accomplished warrior. I'm more of a student than a teacher. You can sell yourself short.

You've saved our lives many times. Sure. So your fieldwork has involved battle, danger. Oh, yes. This is the most relaxation we've had I hope that had dr. Wilson doesn't send me out on a mission like that I think I would be quite useless every single day has been Absolutely harrowing really you'd be to be shocked the

random Encounters we seem to find ourselves in with creatures of the wild for no apparent reason. Some of them are pointlessly dangerous. So much death. You hear on the wind, snails. It's like, what is that? Um, I, it's good that there are many of us so that we can tackle all of these problems. I have so many questions.

What kind of work are you doing for Dr. Peterson? Well, it's unclear at the moment. I'm really just enjoying my time here until he comes back. And I think that if it works like the previous group, you'll brief us on our mission, and then we'll be sent off hopefully to a library somewhere I don't wish to even know how to swing a bow. Did I get that right? Close.

No, one of those things that shoots arrows, you don't swing them. Oh, I hope he doesn't think I'm going to be able to do anything. I'm like most NPCs, useless in a fight. But will you be joining us for dinner? Oh, the friends that I've made are very interested in what you have to say. What's the latest gossip around the house? Just getting my bearings here. Is anything interesting happening? The different cliques of people. clicks of people.

You know, I guess that the Gatewalkers started arriving here a few months ago. Have you ever been here before? Yeah, I'm I was here previously. How long ago? It's been like a month, maybe. I feel like it hasn't been that long that we've been gone. It never usually never is. Yeah. Did you receive a letter like I did from Dr. Riddleson inviting we've been gone. It never, usually never is. Yeah.

Did you receive a letter like I did from Dr. Riddleson inviting you to the manor? And you probably did. Yeah. Yeah. Yes. And he sent us out on a mission and... That's been the cycle from what I understand is people come here, receive a letter from Dr. Riddleson and then they are briefed and sent out into the field. I have only been here for a short time, but everyone

has been quite accommodating. How did he find you? I don't know, to be honest. I just received a letter one day. I think he has his arms out there and he knows people in lots of different places, probably from his previous life in academia and is able to kind of find out who went through these experiences that we went through when I got the letter I dropped everything I was doing and came here immediately it was very fortunate that they had a telescope here that I could look at the stars

there's been any news from the gatewalker teams that have gone out but come back anything I think that anything that might point to an explanation of what happened on the missing day or the missing moment. No, no. The crew that was here before, they were kind of already close-knit, and they didn't talk to us very much. They were friendly enough, and then when they left, they didn't even say goodbye. That's rude. Yes. They seemed... Fuck them.

Well, I don't want to be rude. We don't use say goodbye. That's rude. Yes, they seemed to. Fuck them. Well, I don't want to be rude. We don't use that language. But they were very determined when they left and I imagine that we will be as well when it's our turn. Yes. Just a question for you. You have a lot of questions. Yes, well, I'm curious.

I'm really hogging this role play. Sorry, sorry, one last question. you. You have a lot of questions. Yes, well I'm curious, I mean I'm an anthropologist. You're really hogging this roleplay. Sorry, sorry, one last question. And I'll describe the image of the Yeti mask, like the terrier, like does it, that seemed familiar to you in any way. Do you see that in your dreams at all? That sounds very familiar, but there is a gentleman here, his name is Takuzo, a Tian man, who was just speaking the other day about a dream that he had with something like that. Now that you mentioned

I seem to remember something like that too. He mentioned it, you mentioned it. Yes, must be part of the experience that we all shared. You should speak with Takuzo. All right. Okay. Yeah. Nice to meet you. And we leave there and we see Brother Ramius coming out and bumping into Alwyn, who's changing someone's bed. Oh, hello, Brother Ramius. Can I get you something?

No, not at all. I'm so sorry to bother you while you're working, but I'd like to see a picture of me on Foundry VTT. Yes. Clearly that was the first question that you had. Show me a photo of yourself. Here I am. Oh, wow.

Very fancy. He looks like an old western man. He looks kind of like Brother Ramius. He looks like a regular human. He's a dapper man. Yes. Did you need some fresh towel? I'm very sorry to disturb your work,

but I feel a rather urgent need to ask around about something rather strange. In Dr. Rillson's absence, I think you may be an excellent person. You know the comings and goings of most of the people here, including the Gatewalkers, and I'm just curious if... I'm sorry, I'm curious if you have run across any one that resembles me.

Resembles you? No, I don't know about it. He looks out the door. Please don't come upstairs until you are told. And you see one of the servants just kind of like, look down and rush away. So sorry, brother Ramus. He was saying, someone that looks like you.

I'm gonna do a quick check. Yeah, why don't you do a quick check on... A quick vibe check on this guy. A quick vibe check. The vibes are getting weird. Well, I could do two things. Maybe I could just do both. So one is a perception to see if this man is a penis.

Pfft. Another one is... Detect penis. Another one is... Detect penis? Another one is like... I like to detect penis on all of them. Detect penis. Detect penis. Detect penis.

Is to know, to rule society and see if the servant really was out of line. Okay. You know what I mean? Is he just like running a tight ship or is he being a dick? Mm-hmm. Is there something weird happening

where he would yell at that guy? Right, exactly. Start with a society check. Okay, society, and I'll do scholarly recollection, so I will roll twice and take a better hand. Emily Post. Uh, that is fucking fantastic. 27.

Heissa. Let's get some answers, damn it! It didn't seem like the servant was doing anything untoward, although you don't know what the rules are. Maybe they were told not to come upstairs. Sure, sure, sure. But it seemed like an overreaction. Yeah.

And you also don't remember him being so snippy like that beforehand in the time you spent with him, so it seems to be a little... Something's off. It's a little off. He's on edge. I'm so sorry, Brother Innocent. I know I have not seen anyone that looks like you. Okay. And among the whispers of those that have stayed here or moving in and out of the manor, have you heard the name Gaius at all? As someone who has come to the manor at all or has been mentioned at all by

any Gatewalkers or by Riddleson himself? Gaius, no, no, I'm sorry, Brother Amias. If you'll excuse me, I have some work to attend to. Please make yourself at home. Of course. And Brother Amias wants to follow that servant. Walk out and see kind of where they went and try to follow that servant. Mm. Ugh. Okay. Walk out and see kind of where they went and try to follow them. Okay. So he rushes out, he goes into another bedroom and shuts the door.

You come to the edge of the stairs and you see the servant turn down a hallway. He will, tup, tup, tup, tup, down the steps or whatever, go to follow around the other hallway and sort of like, you know, try to keep pace. Slightly limping, though he may be. Okay. What'd you do to your foot? He's just weak and old. He's like 34, dude. He always lifts. He's gonna die soon.

You've been limping this whole time? Well, no, not always, but he woke up stiff this morning. Get off my back. It's gonna rain tomorrow. It's gonna rain, yeah. It's gonna rain tomorrow. He's rubbing his knee. The other possibility, of course,

is that this isn't the real Ramius. Oh. Doppelganger. Maybe it's his older twin. Should kill him. It's Gaius. Replaced him. Yeah, that would be the most dope goddamn thing ever. That would be cool

I've tried I like talk behind the scenes. All right, so now guys swaps in No one knows first night First night just goes into Barnes's room slits his throat Something's happened master. It wasn't ravious His head fell off I guess heads are falling off Something has happened, Master Bones. It wasn't ravious. His head fell off. His head fell off. I guess heads are falling off.

Get down there. No wonder Owen's a bit snippy. You're trying to stealthily follow this servant. Not really. He wants to catch up to him, but he's moving quickly, but he looks awkward as he does it, that's all. Okay, so you limp along down the stairs, follow the servant, and you hear like a whimpering, I just, I pissed off, I'll win, I feel as if I'm going to be the next one, let go. And he'll kind of come around the corner and kind of interrupt us. And they, he says, don't worry, no one's going to fire you.

Oh, Mr. Ramius, brother Ramies. Brother Ramies. Can we get you more towels? No, good morning. We have so many towels. I don't mean to interrupt. I know you are all very busy. Yes, I'm sorry. Is there anything we can get you? No, not at all. I'm desperately searching for a companion, actually a family member of mine, by the name of Gaius. Have you heard that name at all?

Out of in the house or by Dr. Whittleson himself? We primarily get towels. We don't we don't know anything about... That's their primary... All jobs towels. Not a kind of towel service. They're not mutually exclusive. Um, no, sir. We haven't... and they look and their eyes are down like no,, we have never heard that name, sir. I don't mean to pry, but just a moment ago, as you stepped upstairs, I feel as Alduin was rather harsh with his discipline of you.

And the major Dormant was under a lot of stress. He's basically the caretaker of the house at this point with Dr. Riddleson. Yes, yes. Always away. So I shouldn't have been upstairs. It's okay, it's okay. Is the stress itself a bit out of the ordinary or is this the normal stress of running a large household? Has something been happening?

They look at each other and they're like, we don't want to get in any trouble. No. They've let a lot of people go recently. We can't afford. We have families. Please, please, just let us go about our work. Please, I assure you, I will keep anything you tell me in the strictest of confidence.

I am a guest under this roof, and I feel that it is important that we know if something is amiss, if for nothing else than to look after your best interests as well. I am a brother of the keeper. Of course, I would never speak out of turn. All right, give me a diplomacy check with a plus two, unless you're lying and want to use deception. No, no, no, I certainly don't want to rat them out. I actually feel bad to even try to make them tell me. Can't wait to get these guys fired.

Because you've got to win their trust over. They're afraid for their jobs. This is a big role. This would be fucking huge. Use your scholarly recollection. All right. That is a 17. 17.

With the plus two? With the plus two. With the plus two. We don't want to get into any trouble, you understand. Of course, just, you know, they've cut back on things and some people had to be let go. This is why the- Just the staff, the household staff. Yes, yes, yes.

For making mistakes. Well, I guess it's really not our place to say, but I know that Dr. Riddleson is spending a lot of resources on his research. So there's just not as much space for workers. We're doing the best we can. We're a little understaffed. He's had to let some people go. He's hired these guards as well now.

And so that money went to that. Yes. Have I noticed guards? No, you haven't seen any guards. Guards? I haven't noticed no guards. Where are the guards? They stay with him primarily.

Does he feel as if his life is in danger? I don't know. But perhaps the sensitivity of his research is such that he needed to hire these guards, but in order to do so, he had to let go some members of the staff, my mother, who had worked for his parents. He had always promised to let her work for as long as possible out of respect for his own parents, but she was one of the first to go. I'm so sorry to hear that. No, it's okay, that's why I just, I can't,

I can't lose this job. I have to support her now as well. And does she live in town? She does, yes. What is her name? Please, why would you ask that? It changes the whole tone of the role-play. I knew it was coming too, but I thought better of you.

No, you mistake me. I feel that it could be very important to find your mother, speak to her. She knows a great deal about what's happening in this household. Mabel. Mabel. I think you said maple. Mabel. Mabel. Mabel. I think you said maple.

Maple. Maple. Maple. Maple. Like the tree. She's named the tree. You know, I'd never thought of that, but yes, exactly. You never thought of that?

Yes, I suppose it is spelled and pronounced exactly like the tree. Yes, I just call her mom. Sorry, I suppose it is spelled and pronounced exactly like the tree. Yes, I just call her mom. As I understand, I assure you nothing was her last name. Tree. Bruges. Bruges. May call Bruges. Yes.

Spelled like the city or? B-R-U-J-E-S. I do. I do appreciate your honesty. I'm Amber Bruges. I feel like you are doing a wonderful job and if it is in my power, I will tell Dr. Riddleson that you have been nothing but spectacular.

Please don't mention my name at all. I'd rather just keep to my work and do what I do. Was this helpful? No, but thank you for everything. Not remotely, but thank you. Please don't mention that we have had this conversation. So there's two of them. Both human?

These two people you're talking to? Yeah. Amber, Bruges, the other guy just standing there. And any Gatewalker tats? No, they're just servants. Just servants. Okay. Um... Just one more perception.

Just to see, on these two, to see if it is simply a financial fear or if there is a greater fear of retribution beyond just losing a job. That is a 29. 29, that's a good roll. Yeah like do they seem

unreasonably fearful for simply losing a job? Because the way you're playing it, it feels like they're afraid for their life. So I just want to see if I'm picking up on anything like that. I think that with the 29, they kind of, they put you at ease in some ways, and they say something to the effect like, oh, you know, we don't fear for our lives or anything like that. You have to understand Dr. Riddleson is a very eccentric man. He's just, he's changed recently. This experience that he went through, which I believe you and the other visitors pass through the gate

Yes, it did it changed him ever since that happened. He's been very very very different. He's Everyone he speaks to we just feel a little unsettled afterward He's obsessed with his with his research and these moonstones that he's been purchasing. He spent a considerable amount of money, I think, on these gems. Do we know about the moonstones? Is this something worth hearing about? I think this is new information.

Between you and me, we should put some money into this house. His parents did a lot to make this place look nice, and he's like, oh, it's not my place. And the other guy's like, come on, quiet, this is not your business. He's like, I'm sorry, I'm just, I'm still upset about my mother, but if it were my place, I wouldn't be spending money on these useless gems. I would fix this place up, make it look nice, make his parents proud. And the guy's like we gotta go we gotta go she's like I'm sorry we never we never we never talked help my

mother maple bruge like the tree okay and he'll just he'll sneak away we just watch him walking down the hallway working things out in his mind as he passes through. Is there any kind of check we could do on moonstones? What they are, what they're used for? Yeah, maybe you can. Right after this quick... ...break. Was it quick at all.

Folks, nobody comes up with ideas for contests that are going to happen every week and forgets it the second week of the contest. Like us. We got a lot going on. We do have a lot going on. Like us. We got a lot going on. We do have a lot going on. But we started a new contest two weeks ago and then last week we forgot to do this. We forgot to thank the Naish.

Thank the Naish. We thank everybody else. We forgot to thank the Naish. For making this possible. It's not really a contest because they have to do nothing. Well they have to subscribe. It's a giveaway.

It's a giveaway. The contest is subscribe and you enter. They don't have to do feats of strength to win. Not yet. Feats of strength. Not yet. That'd be awesome. That would be fun.

That would be awesome. Starting next week. They can fight. Feats of strength. Nobody complicates giveaways more than us. I can remember being at Skid's house that we went to in the Cape. And we were doing giveaways.

And they were the most convoluted giveaways possible. We were all like, yeah, it's like you got to submit by your birth date. Answer this trivia question. The first six people to get it wrong. So let's make up for last week. Let's give away two this week. We'll give away two this week. And this is hundred dollar gift cards that we're giving away to Amazon to thank our sponsor, our subscribers. Thank Jeff Bezos.

Yeah, for subscribing to the show. Yeah, I mean, the one nice thing about Amazon, it just makes it easy globally. That's what makes it easy. The best thing about getting an Amazon gift card is literally everything. I love it. My favorite gift besides bourbon.

More than cash. Cash is pretty nice. Cash is good, but it's a little weird to give another person cash that's like your age. I can give a kid cash. Cash is pretty nice. Cash is good, but it's a little weird to give up another person cash that's like your age. I can give a kid cash. Hey, congrats. If I came to your birthday party, not that you'd ever have one

and give you an envelope with 20 bucks in it. It'd be weird. But if I gave you an Amazon gift card, not so weird. Not as weird. Not as weird. And feels more thoughtful. Yeah, right? I mean, if you're slipping the envelope

like under the door and then running away or something, that would be weirder But I would be more thrilled. I'd be like free money for your wedding. Would you prefer cash or Amazon? the Italians Untraceable cash You undo these giveaways, yeah, yeah, let's do it I'm gonna get some of those. You wanna do these giveaways? Yeah, yeah, let's do it.

Let's do it. We'll pull two this week. All right, winner number one, who should have been called out last week, Maximillian Bloom. Max Bloom! Max Bloom! What's up, Maximillian?

Congratulations. And then we pulled winner number two, and that is Jake Frederiksen. Ooh. Jake Frederiksen. Hey, Jake Frederiksen. Hey, Maximillian. Jake Frederiksen. Jake Frederiksen. Ooh. Jake Frederiksen. Hey, Jake Frederiksen. Hey, Maximilian. Jake Frederiksen.

Jake Frederiksen. Congratulations. Yep. And Max Bloom. McD will be in touch. We'll get your information and send off a little gift. So thank you very much. Thanks for subscribing.

I was worried about this episode because I knew it was going to be a weird lift behind the screen here. But so far, I'm pretty happy with how it's going so far. I didn't know that we'd, I guess I should have known that we'd start getting a slow drip of a new mystery that's happening. And more information, yeah. This is very Kalakathulu-y, the way

that we're investigating and finding out weird stuff. Which is why Troy's loving it. It's right in my alley, but it's weird. It just feels weird for a bunch of different reasons. But I'm happy with how it's going. Or like a murder mystery night. Yes. Yeah, yeah.

We're at the Fancy. We're in a manor house. Are we going to have a dinner later? Manor house in Ustalov, of all places. Yes. We should have dressed up. A crumbling manor house. Yeah, like a crumbling old manor house.

Servants are terrified. We should have for you coming to dinner later. A last living Richardson. Before we get to what is going to be Sydney's amazing scene-stealing role play, you asked about moonstones. Now, you weren't part of this conversation. Is it something we would commonly know?

The cost of a moonstone are like the reason. Or just like why someone would collect them, I guess. We can wait to roll until we all- Yeah, I think once Brother Ramius tells you about moonstones, you could be like, wait a minute. I think I know about moonstones. Roll. We can meet at dinner.

But you do know that there is sometimes a religious significance to moonstones. I've heard of some religious significance. That's what you would know without even rolling. OK. Interesting. Interesting, indeed. Gic Muck.

You open the door to your room, and all the other doors Okay. Interesting. Interesting indeed. Gic Muck. Hi. You open the door to your room and all the other doors are open, everyone else is already downstairs. What were you doing in your room all alone for so long? Be honest. Just checked into a hotel, need to clean the pipes. You nasty. You nasty.

You nasty. You nasty. Gic Muck, GicMok, Gik-Mok, Gik-Mok! Why is the music really loud in Gik-Moks? Too legit to quit masturbating. There's the title. Too legit to quit masturbating. Oh my god.

I have to make that the title. It was going to be Detect Penis, but now I think it's pretty. Maybe both. I'm gonna have to make that the title. It was gonna be detect penis, but now I think it's... Fuck! Maybe both. Detect penis. Detect penis. In parenthesis. In parenthesis, right? Wow.

In parenthesis. Wow. In parenthesis. Detect penis. Too legit to stop. Too legit to quit mastering. Too legit to quit mastering. Too legit to quit mastering.

Shit. Too legit to quit mastering. Write that down. I'll write it down. Shit should get a bottle cap. That was really funny. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yay! Yay! Awesome. Too legit to quit. I'll write it down. How did she get a bottle cap? That was really funny. Yay!

Awesome. Here's an Atticus Grimm. I've never seen that art. Detect penis in parenthesis, too legit to crick master. You're going to see that. The note tomorrow being like, what the hell? What the hell is this referring to? This is full on.

Seriously though, what were you doing in your room so long? I wasn't. I'm just asking you. I didn't. No, she was working on a song. Ah, oh yeah, you got your paper? She got her paper, her parchment and her quill. She was writing a song, she was very inspired

by Brother Ramious. And this idea when she was drunk, she was kind of ruminating on the idea of like a twin who you've never met and it felt really emotional to her. Gic doesn't have any siblings. She always wanted a brother or sister. So yeah, she was writing this song and I'll sing it for you now. She was singing in her room, playing her lute.

You're going to sing it right now? I'm going to sing it right now. As you're walking down the stairs? I typed, yeah. You know what, actually? Yeah, she writes it. Okay. And then she gets up and she wants to find somewhere that has kind of like a better acoustic.

Bathroom. It was a ballroom. The ballroom, or the bathroom. Bathroom and off the ballroom. The two, it's two best rooms in the house. Yeah, she goes to the ballroom and she's kind of like, you know, just doing that musician thing like

Oh Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah, she kind of gets her loot out. She starts playing. She's kind of like humming She takes her parchment out. She puts it on a piece on a table. She's playing looking at it humming She sings this starts practicing trying to figure out this song, getting it out of her, out of the paper and into the world. She says, Hmm. Only two walkers, holy water, floating farther, growing harder, only two walkers, holy water, letting down your armor, an exchange of honor, only two walkers.

She goes back in with her paper. She's writing a few more things, scratching it off, retunes her loot, opens an email. Just says retunes her letter card. Amazing. We'll cut that off. Why, you look mad at me. I can't believe your fucking scene and song interrupted my system sounds. Give it a rest.

You should really do that restart and update right now. You might forget later. She scratches something out, she retunes her lute, she's just kind of humming with the acoustics, and she hasn't been in a safe place in a very long time. And it is comfortable here. She's got a room, she's got a bed, she has space to spread out. She's singing in a fucking ballroom. She feels great. She feels relaxed. And yeah, she's just kind of humming and is looking around, kind of walking around the ballroom.

As you're singing, you're caught up in what you're doing. Maybe you're looking down at the paper of lyrics while you're saying this and you hear a voice, it's a beautiful song. Oh, and she turns around, sorry, I can leave if you need me to. No, no, no, that's quite all right. I'm just looking at these maps here and you see like there's these stacks of books and papers and behind the stacks of books is this bald head kind of pokes out an elf with no hair.

It says, no, please, I'm just studying here. It's nice to have a little background noise. Did you just arrive here at Riddleson Manor? I did. Name's Kick Muck. I came with a group. We're here to see here at Rittleson Manor? I did, name's Kick Muck. I came with a group. We're here to see Dr. Rittleson. Yes, Gatewalker.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, but he's not here, so we're just hanging out. Are you a Gatewalker too? Yes, yes, myself as well, see? Oh wow. Oyns to his neck. My name is Asanden. I am with the others.

I guess I'm part of the next group that will be sent out. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance. Don't let me disturb your singing. I'm just... He has so many great maps. And I consider myself a bit of a cartographer. I've just been studying all of these. His collection

here is quite impressive. Oh, where are you trying to go? And she kind of walks over. And you see he's got all these maps laid out in books. And he's like, well, I don't quite know. Sometimes I look at maps and I really have no destination. I just like studying them. I mean, look at the detail of this one. And he points to one of like the northern border of the River Kingdoms where it meets Brevoi. And it's so crazy detailed, the forest and everything

and the little cities that are near the border. I mean, I just, it's kind of like art to me. I love seeing everyone's interpretation of our world. That's funny because it's, you know, I'm a bard actually. I travel quite a lot and it's sort of similar for me. Singing about what I see on the way and who I meet, getting to a new town, learning about that town, singing for those folk, things they want to hear, you know. Sort of like making a map in my own mind.

Actually, I was just up in Brevoi. You were in Brevoi? Yeah. Really? Whereabouts, if you don't mind me asking? Do you know Skywatch? Oh, I've heard of that, yes. Ah, right here, see? Oh. City of Skywatch, yes.

I've never been myself. It's supposed to be a beautiful city Lively and a lot of a lot of history there sadly my my studies are more on the world than what happened in it, but Would surely like to visit there one day Yeah Honestly, you could you could probably skip it. It's it's um

Yeah, honestly, you could probably skip it. It's pretty messy. I was really excited. Well, no, no, I just don't want to dissuade you. It's actually pretty messed up. Some magic stuff, or I don't know if it's the gate stuff going on, but we were sent there. Oh gosh, it's such a long story, actually. I don't want to bore you.

No, no, please. I haven't had many people talk to you besides the other Gatewalkers. It's nice to chat with someone who is equally afflicted. Is that a... It's a word. ... appropriate term? Yeah, yeah. Well, okay. Yeah, let me... Okay, yeah. So when I was six and Gic goes into most of her life story

starting at the beginning of how she got into music, became a bard, traveled. Where's she from originally? She's from, I just wrote this down. And I know it and it starts with a K. And it's. Yonan? Where's she from? Kentucky.

Kentucky. Canobris? I think it's Kentucky. Sounds like Kentucky. Where the hell is she from? Is it in my background? Oh yeah, Katapesh. Oh, Katapesh.

She's from. A Katapeshian gnome. Yeah, she's from Katapesh, and her parents were traitors. That's far. Yeah, it's from Catapesh, and her parents were traders. That's far. Yeah, it's far. It's like the other side of the world. And she left, went across the ocean,

river ocean to Absalom, traveled up through the river kingdoms, ended up in Brevoi eventually. But she tells this story about being a bard, ending up in Brevoi, and then meeting this group of people. She didn't meet other gatewalkers. This was the first group They had been to castor veil like she tells this whole thing

she's like, I don't know if this is experience for all y'all all us gatewalkers, but Man, it seems like we're from all over and I don't know how this riddle sing guys sort of Collected us or found us. I mean, I'm glad he did. It's real cool to meet other people who have the affliction. But we, yeah, is that what happened? Is that similar to you? Yes, well, it seems as if many people were

touched by this event, I'm more and more surprised by the day how many people Walked and came back as I'm sure you know there were many who walked and did not return or at least have not Returned yet. How big is your group that you're waiting with you know them I know I just met them upon arrival, but it seems if we've been grouped together There was another group before us, but they've already left for their mission. Oh.

Oh, so you're just waiting and then you'll be sent off? Yes, if it works as if it did last time. If it works like it did last time, Dr. Riddison will return from his field research and bring us to be briefed and then we'll be sent off. I didn't get a chance to speak to the men and women who left on the last journey before they left, but we are ready. Your time in Brevoi, in Skywatch, you did not meet the Queen?

Queen? Yes, it's my understanding that Skywatch was ruled by a Queen for many years, Queen. Ah, a quinn, a quinn, dear, I believe. Does Sidney know this? I don't think this was ever in our names. No, it was, the place was completely abandoned. No, no, Skywatch, Skywatch kind of fell.

Fell? The raiders, too? Oh, yeah, raiders, different groups kind of fell. Fell? To raiders? Oh yeah, raiders, different groups of raiders. Do a society roll. Smiling wolves, she reaches for her gun. What do you have there in your cloak? How can I re-roll that, because it was a joke roll? No.

No. No. Practice roll. Practice roll. She's broke down. Practice roll. She's broke down. Yeah. Sorry. You lost time for that. I Lost time for

Where am I? Here's what you know what you would know society or something else you came with those I'm just sometimes astounded by the thoughts that As like a possibility wasn't the wrong die as like a possibility. Wasn't the wrong die. Or anything. Wasn't out of the box. Just a bad roll. I was just joking with that one.

Can I reroll that because it was just joking? Ha ha! All right. You're not funny. But no, seriously. You came with the Smiling Wolves there to take, like to ransack the town because you heard it was abandoned.

Yeah. You didn't know about, maybe they talked about, oh yeah, there should be a queen here or something like that. By the time we got there. Ascenden has, he doesn't know anything about this. He's just out of the loop. Yeah, he's out of the loop. Here's a picture of him, by the way.

Almost did that incorrectly. There you go. Ascenden. Oh! Wow, everyone is so- Man, dos ferratus. Yeah, dos ferratus. Wilder. Not the most recent iteration, but yes. iteration no the more the more the older one of the next dress

Sorry, could you mind giving me a another one spelling oh, I As a and DEN, but the I I'm doing a silent. I I ascendant Yeah, I'm just doing a Sandin. Sandin. And is a... Yesandin. Yesandin. Yesandin. Yesandin.

Yesandin. He's an Elven. Yeah, he's an Elf. So I put him down as an Elven cartographer? Yeah. Is that fair to say? Yeah. Gitt continues explaining the situation in Skywatch,

Sakawatchi, this group that they met, they traveled with. Fascinating. She says they were gonna go even further north. Sakawatchi, this group that they met, they traveled with. She says they were gonna go even further north. And then she says, I know you're a cartographer, have you ever heard of a Soyo? Soyo. Also known as the Black Frost Whale. A lot of elves know about it.

No offense, I mean, not assuming you would know because you're an elf, but. Soyo, it does seem. It does seem a little racist. Other elves told, we went to Cassaville, other elves said so. I didn't go to Cassaville, they did, but they told me about it. You people all seem to know about the Sawyer.

Do you know Legolas? Do you know Legolas? Oh, that does... Is that your friend or your brother? As I said, I'm not a student of the histories. It does seem like something I've heard before, but no, no, certainly I don't know. Is that somehow tied to what's going on with us? Maybe.

Sakauchi, who was also a bit of an astronomer, sorta. He was like an oracle, and he knew about us somehow, even though he'd never met us. And a Soyo has to do with the gates, in a way, roundabout way. And then there's, oh, oh, oh, you know the Yetis? Yetis? Oh, I mean, I've heard, oh, you know, the Yetis? Yetis? No, I mean, I've heard of the Salmon Car, they're known as. Yeah, the Salmon Car.

Yes, at the Crown of the World. I think they're mostly extinct. Exactly, exactly. So maybe not because we've all been having my group, these dreams where like the Salmon Car is there and it's kind of scary but maybe it's like they are part of it too. Interesting. It's funny you mentioned Gates because one evening Dr. Riddleson, I think I caught him unaware, he was looking at a map and I was obviously very intrigued as a cartographer and he covered it up as I came in and I said, oh, I didn't want to bother him. Um, but curiosity got the better of me and I, uh, I went back in afterwards and I,

I saw this map of a gate. It was called Lich Gate. It's somewhere in the nearby Shutterwood. And it's a bit of a ways from here. I'm not familiar with it. I tried cross-referencing it in the library. Probably should just mind my own business. Do you have the map? I know. I don't have it, but I do remember. It's somewhere in the Shutterwood. But the Shutterwood must be, you know, there are Hyudara all over the world.

I feel as if he was very interested in this. In fact, that may be where he's going on these excursions. I do not know. Huh. But he didn't want to show you, even though you're... Yes, he's a private man. He... Have you met Dr. Whittleson? No, no. Don't know him. Don't know him from Adam. Very, very interesting, very interesting man. A bit odd, a bit eccentric. Seems weird that he wouldn't want to share with you the information that

you're supposed to be working with him on. It was weird enough that I went back and checked myself. I've been around a long time so I guess I overstep my bounds sometimes, but it seems like he likes to sort of mitigate the information as needed. And evidently that wasn't needed for me at the time. I guess I'll make my judgments when I meet him. Yes.

Hey, and she kind of like elbows him. She likes this guy. Oh, I bruise easily. Oh, I'm sorry. That's Hey, and she kind of like elbows him. She likes this guy. Oh, I bruise easily. Oh, I'm sorry. That's just kind of how we say like. I'm gonna have this moment. She did it again. Oh, sorry. It's instinctual to just kind of like,

sorry, I jabs again. Oh, one more time. Oh, I'm gonna be covered in welts. All right. Um. She is a gnome and he is an elf. Yeah, right? Is she a thigh?

All the jabs are his what? Lower thigh? His lower thigh. Inside of my thigh. My wife will have so many questions. Please stop. Elbow is sick. Please stop.

Nothing worse than a bruised elf penis. What, uh, what'd you see? I'm sorry? What'd you see? Sorry. What'd you see? I'm sorry? What'd you see? Oh, sorry. What'd you see? So instinctual. What'd you see in the gate when you looked before you went through? What'd you see? and he um catches himself Hey

Hey, I don't I don't remember. Oh, I didn't mean to. No, no, no, no. We all talk about it in our group. Yes, yes. I, if you'll excuse me, I'm feeling a little diarrhea. Really? I've got some, a wet poop.

Bruin. I'm very, yes. I had so much coffee today. And you elbowed me right in the spot. I don't mean to be rude, but I don't want to talk about that. No, no, I didn't mean to press. No, no, I'll see you at dinner. Yeah, I'd love to meet you. Asan, Asan, I'd love to meet you.

Asondin, it was great to meet you too. Hopefully we'll chat some more. Yes. Sorry about the... You talk. He sprints down the hall. Yeah. Please stop talking to me, I have diarrhea.

Please stop talking to me. I will, we'll talk later, please. Give people going, one more, oh, oh, I just gotta tell you, oh, let me show you this. And she's just going, scrolling on her phone, I'll find it, I'll find it. Oh, one second, one second. It's so funny, it's so funny.

Now save it. Can't find it, delete it? Let me Google it, I can't find Google. Damn, so he leaves and Git kind of like feels a little bit bad. She really wanted to make some friends. And she's like, oh, fuck that one up. Have we heard of the Lich Gate before? It sounds familiar to me, but I don't know if it's from this.

The Shutterwoods are like really big. We're like on the outskirts of the Shutterwoods. It's a giant forest. You're just lavished out as to the Western, like on the Western edge of the Shutterwood. I made a note in our Guide here you've been really about notes lately. Yeah, it's like a New Year's resolution No, it's just I have found it's very easy to like rather than trying to type the whole thing's happening in the campaign I found this logic through blood of the wild and Mary Lou and I's work together on that is like

Just make a list of NPC names and and it does the world for you. Like, just seeing a name will remind you of so much that you don't have to write down. Totally. But under- I was picking up notes, I think. Sydney's song was excellent. Yes, it was excellent. Thanks, Gabe. Very good.

It's still a work in progress. You know what, Sydney? She's figuring it out. Let's have a bottle cap, huh? Yay! It's raining caps. Oh my gosh. Is it Christmas? It's Christmas.

I don't know who this is. Thank you. Who is it? You don't know who that is. It's your network. Oh, right. So it's Yelka. Oh! Ah, Y it Christmas? I don't know who this is. Thank you. Who is it? You don't know who that is. It's your network. Oh, that's it. So it's Yelka. Oh.

Ah, Yelka, yes. Yelka looks great too. The eye paint. Who plays Yelka, Troy? So cool. Lady. Yep. Nailed it.

Paul and Jean. Which one? Paula Jean, I said. Paula Jean. Paula Jean. Paula Jean. I said. Paula Jean. Paula Jean. Paula Lou. Paula Lou. Paula Lou.

Paula Lou. Paula Lou. Can we say that we find each other so we can talk about something? Yeah, I was gonna say maybe. Before dinner. It seemed like both you and Brother Ramius were gonna head to the library,

so I imagine Buggles and Gek will come in there as well, but who's first to arrive? We'll say it's you and Zephyr, you arrive in the library, and it's a nice-sized library. Brother Ramey's, you come in shortly afterwards. There's an older Tian man sitting in there, a kuzo, reading, and he just, as you come in, he smiles and goes back to his reading. As you come in he Smiles goes back to his reading Excuse me. Are you by hands to kuzo?

Did you know my name? Yeah, Linda? Oh? Yes, I am Kuzo are you new here? Yes, I'm the amicus bonds Zephyr I'm not new. Oh Yes, I'm new here. Theomachus Barnes. Zephyr, I'm not new. Oh. I've been here. Oh, you have?

Yeah. Pleasure. Nice to meet you. To meet you, yes, and Mr. Barnes. Barnes. Yes, sir. And I am Brother Ramius. Oh. Oh my god. Where'd you come from? That's right.

I'm shoe-horning myself in here. Yes, sir. Sorry I didn't greet you in the library. Lunja said we should come talk to you. She said, we met in the astronomer. Not Lundja. And she said you had experienced some sort of vision or dream of a yeti-like creature.

What? Yes, I know. I would have told you, but I didn't know you were here. It's incredible. We've seen the same creature in our dreams Yes, I am not surprised lyncher shared that with you I didn't exactly tell her in confidence, but Yes, we hate her no no no she seems very nice

Yes, I am it seems odd for an old man to suffer from nightmares, but I found this one particularly disturbing. I shared it with my new friends the other evening. It's been a recurring dream, actually. Maybe all this time I've spent in the library has sort of colored my subconscious. I remember being stalked through a library. Not like this one, one with tall stacks. Tall stacks that seem to be frozen in place, repeating themselves over and over again. I can hear this being, this creature

chasing after me in this maze. I know that it's there, but I cannot see it until I do. It is a furry, horned monster. Every time I see it, it's just about to embrace me, and I wake up. A night or two will pass, and yet again, I'm back in this dream. Always the same location, always the stacks. Yes. Frozen stacks. When you say frozen, what do you mean? Frozen is just a repeating backdrop.

Over and over again, I don't look at the books in particular, none of the titles ring out at me, yet I, it's like a loop of the same thing over and over again until I see this creature. Like a Hanna Barbera cartoon. Oh, who are you? I'm Bagels, I'm sorry. Oh, ohanna Barbera cartoon. Oh. Oh. Who are you? Jesus. I'm Buggles, I'm sorry. Oh, no, no, no, Buggles.

Greetings. I'm very short. I came up without any of you noticing. I know you were coming to the library. I am Takuzo. I was just sharing the contents of a very personal nightmare with Strange. I'm sorry, I couldn't help but overhear.

This is also our friend, he's cool. We've had the same nightmare. How many times have you seen a beast? Similar. It's funny, I would say at this point, half a dozen if not more. The last time I had this dream though, I felt as if I was lucid for the first time, almost not in control but able to study the

contents of the dream. And when I saw this beast come at me before I woke up, I swore it was a person in a costume, and not a horned monster. Yes. You've experienced this. Yes, and your instincts are correct. Some of our research has pointed to exactly that fact that this is more of a mask of some kind. Mask or a costume of some kind as opposed to a creature itself, but whatever, whomever, wears. Mask is trying to impersonate, we feel, a specific creature.

Does that creature have any kind of significance for you personally? I have read of creatures. If we were to travel from here to my homeland, you would most likely go over the ground of the world. There was a race of beings known as Salmonkar. It's the closest thing that I can relate to, but I've never heard of masks of these creatures or costumes. I do not know the significance. Perhaps I'm too old to suss these things out. Did you ever live on the other side of the world?

Oh, yes, up until recently. Did you travel across the crown to come to Avastan? No, I was given the opportunity to be sent here through very, very powerful magics. Ah, understood. There is someone in my village that possesses that power. It was a risk, as they cannot exactly send me back, but I felt called to this. I do not know how much time I have left. I would like to finish

my years understanding what happened to me, and perhaps helping others such as yourselves who experienced this missing moment. What did you do for a living? I was a farmer. I am a farmer. It's fascinating. That I was a farmer? It's a really common occupation. I meant that we all had the same dream. It was a naked gun type joke. I know I'm trying to straight man it for you.

I see. Alright. Tell us, have you uncovered anything since coming here? Learned anything about missing moment in your work with Dr. Rillson? Tell us, have you uncovered anything since coming here? Learned anything about missing moment in your work with Dr. Riddleson? Um, I have spent most of my time here reading these books. Before I worked the land, I was a great collector of books. Really? What books? You name it I what's your favorite one oh how can

I pick a favorite anyone name a book if you ever read the little boy in the knife Oh, tell us what is that about? Gigs shows up. Okay Tell us about a book his favorite book called the little boy and the knife. Yes Yeah, that's what happens. That's an amazing tale. I don't spoil it for you. Yeah, don't know I'm not gonna read it. Tell me honestly. We're very busy right now. Give us the back of the book of the book. I have my personal copy, I brought it with me. Is it a biography, a novel? No, it's a parable. Yeah.

Of a parable? Yes. And there are no spoilers. Tell us. No, no, please, it's for you. Teach us. What is it a parable for? You should learn the lesson.

I've read it so many times, the pages are all doggy, but it would please me for you to read it. Barnes reads it. Tell us the story, Jared. What is it? It's very long. What read it. Barnes reads it. Tell us the story, Charles. It's a very long sentence. What is... when I open it up, what is the first sentence? The first... sentence.

It all began with that knife. Oh my god, it's literature. What an opening. Oh wow! Oh my god, it's literature. What an opening. Oh wow. You're looking over his shoulder, you're both stunned by this. Now you can see why I like it. It hooks you right away.

I flipped to the last page because Barnes is kind of fatalistic. The final line. What's the final line? No, no, don't spoil it. This gives me comfort to read a book this way. What is the final line, Troy? That is when he discovered that he was the knife. It really was a spoiler.

Let's put the book down. It's a spoiler, you shouldn't have read it. That is a big spoiler. Wow. You see, Bones. It's yours to keep. His favorite book, his personal copy. I've read it so many times.

He brought it from the other side of the world. I don't have much time left. Yeah, yeah. I'm probably not gonna read it again before I'm dead. Here, you have it. I practically have it memorized. What a gift. Yes.

What a precious gift. I take the book. Thank you. I treasure it. Thor, are you having dinner? Yes. Yes. After we all have a quick chat about our days,

if you wouldn't mind. You'd like me to leave the library? You'd like me to leave the front desk of the library? I was very comfortable here. That's my job. Do you mind leaving the library so we can have a private conversation? I was here first.

There's more of us here than you. This is an A and B conversation, and you can see the difference. Five of us, one of you. Oh no, it's fine, I was just going to go take a walk around the garden before nightfall. It's dinner time, isn't it? You're hungry, you must be hungry.

And I'd like to walk before I eat and after I eat. Oh, find it. Great. Perfect. Take a walk. Is everything moving? Get out of here. Take a walk. Enjoy the boy and the knife.

Yes, I shall treasure it always. Perhaps someday when you are an old man transported far from your homeland where you spent the entirety of your life, you too will bequeath that book to a stranger that you just met five minutes ago. If I live long enough to see the day with that exact set of circumstances,

come to fruition, I will do this That is an oath bombs he walks out serious of Anyway anyway, what did you guys find out was it really stupid first sentence? It was a really stupid first sentence It's possible something was lost when I say I have no interest in reading I discovered something rather he looks around Yeah, let's do because I'm not sure everyone is being extremely quiet. Perhaps we could find another place to speak It's quite echoey. Yeah, maybe I got some stuff I gotta tell you get the fuck out of what place you're quieter than a library

Well, it's quite enough that everyone can hear everyone whisper Is there no other soul in the library? Nobody reception. There's only like four that's a way team Wait Joe roll. There's a joke here. He wrote There's a little sprite hiding behind a book I Know there's four visitors and a button like a very threadbare staff and all one so there's no one else in there It's not that crazy. It's a big manor. It's the library within the mansion house, within the manor house.

Yeah, yeah. You think we're going to like the public library? You think you left it? Yes, I thought we were going to like the library. No, no, it's the library and the house, yeah. Okay. The Riddleson family library. Sorry, I missed it.

We share our notes based on our conversations. It's as if we were there the whole time. Play it out. You might, you might. Come on, man. It's like my least favorite part of a book. I want to get into a conversation with him. And then she just said everything to the other person.

I want to hear, I want to see him here! It's like reading the last line of that book. You did see us here, you did see them say it. We didn't realize that he was there. All of them were there too. That's why they skipped that part. Something rather strange happened to me. I was speaking with Oldwyn when he snapped at one of the employees, one of the servants. Amber, I think her name is, and she, it was excessive, rather strange.

I spoke with her and... What was it about? It was about her just being out slightly out of place. Oh, yeah. On the second floor. And when I went to her, I spoke with her after and asked her if she had found that working here was that that all one was being overly disciplinary. I mean, you should have seen her shaking. She started to describe being very fearful of Riddleson, of his moods, of his change that has happened to him since passing through the gate. I mean, of course, we

can all understand to one degree or another that sort of emotional change after walking through the gate. But she said he's been collecting strange magical stones and has been hiring bodyguards. What kind of stone? Moonstone, I believe. A stone of some religious significance, though, I cannot place it exactly. That's going to be a 27 esoteric lore. Ooh. Good call.

Get him. All right, so you would know that there is some religious significance to moonstones. I'm not quite sure. There are some people who have them in churches and temples and whatnot. But you also know that they're very, very expensive. So it would be a person of means to be a collector of moonstones. Are they like buying them low and selling them high?

Maybe. You have, with the 27, you have heard, you know, sort of mythical stories. You don't know if they're true or not. Maybe there's some magical significance that moonstones may have come from other planets and landed here and they have the ability to sort of like capture the world around them like a pool that sort of reflects everything in the world that's happened around it. So if a moonstone landed in a castle and all this sort of stuff went down in the castle, it would record the history of that and you'd be able to access that history by peering

into the moonstone, or some believe that you could record your own history in the moonstone, that these had magical powers beyond just being precious gems that there was they were some sort of receptacles of knowledge and Is there anything in my understanding of them that would link them to Elves of the Ayudhara or the only thing that sort of connects you if you try to like make a connection to everything That's you guys have experienced is that? If you try to make a connection to everything that you guys have experienced, is that there is something with memories. Like that you could record your own memories in there or pull from memories of the past.

And where all of you have these moments that you've lost. That's the only sort of connection. Oh, yeah. He's trying to find out. He's taking our memories. He's trying to find the lost. No, he's trying to find the lost memories. He's trying to find out what happened in the missing moment.

Maybe he's lost. Or he's taking our memories. Yeah. Or there's- Can you take them? Doesn't it say anything about stealing memories? Except we all lost our memories. You mean the ones that we did on purpose? No, when we went, when we walked through the gates,

we lost three months of time. Right, right, right, but he's trying to find, everybody's lost memories in order to find out what happened. Possibly. Maybe, but not sharing information with his own Gatewalkers. Gic tells, Gic also tells you guys about the map thing. Where was the map? He didn't have it, I guess Riddleson took it, but it was a map of a Lich Gate?

Lich Gate? I think that's what the Ayudaraara that one's called it's in the Shutterwood and... The Shutterwood? Yeah, which is nearby. Sounds terrifying. Well it's big. I don't know if that I don't know if you shutter when you go in but... It's right there you could probably see it through the window of the library. He thinks that's where Riddleson's been going off to probably doing all this research maybe even go into the Lich Gate specifically.

But Asandin said that he was real weird about the map. Rolled it up, didn't show him, didn't want to talk about it. And my thing is like, you're hiring these people. You want them here, you're trying to figure out what happened, we're all in the same boat. Why not share that information? Isn't that weird? I don't know Riddleson like you guys, but like but like I don't know that put a weird taste in my mouth

Yeah, like what or maybe I'm point of sending people out with Incomplete information. He said they're there to gather information said a group's already gone out. He's just like Pumping him out next group next group sending them all these I thought we were a special group. And I keep hearing about all these other groups. Well, of course, Zephyr, he cannot put all of his eggs in one basket. He cannot send us out and assume. But there's a lot. We'll find everything. In this group.

This adventure, people are gonna drop like flies. I feel like he's. Yes, well, they're probably all dead. Yeah. Especially if they didn't have bottle caps. Forgive me. Pfft. I mean, this guy was just a cartographer.

He's not a fighter. I don't know what they're going out to do. Forgive me for asking this question, but how well do you know this Dr. Riddison? I mean very well. He didn't seem so devious. He saved my life. He gave us a home. He gave us a purpose. He's kind of like a leader figure to me. Like, you know, that's my manager. I'm not his friend type of thing. I had only very recently experienced a great loss. So many loved ones and a home. And he gave me a home. But he is clear with you about his purposes and the nature of his work? It's not necessarily, Barnes. It is a tricky... It's tricky.

It is not necessarily required for someone to divulge all that they know all the time. It could be dangerous. Well, we were risking our lives. Two of us didn't come back. So you seem to trust him implicitly, but you don't know much about him. Well, we were risking our lives. Two of us didn't come back. So you seem to trust him implicitly, but you don't know much about him. But we didn't know what we would find on these journeys, Effa. We didn't know that it would be so dangerous. And I'm not sure Riddleson knows the depth of how dangerous it was. That's why I'm eager to speak with him. We haven't seen him yet since we've been back.

He did request our presence. He did. He seems rather, well, to hear the servants speak of it, rather paranoid. He has fired some long-standing staff, staff that had worked here for more than a generation and hired bodyguards to walk with him at all times. He is very nervous about something. He may feel that he is in danger, for the knowledge he has, perhaps, for the knowledge he possesseth.

I was also told something interesting. I encountered a gnome, a very personable fellow named Vax Turvin, who considered himself a sort of a spiritualist. He was convinced that this house itself is haunted by the parents of Dr. Rittleson. He said he could hear them in conversation. Looking around. I myself cannot. I've heard no such haunting.

Neither have I. But he was convinced. It is interesting. One of the servants that was fired, her name is Maple. She served his parents. Her mother's name was Maple, right? The servant that was fired.

Her name was Maple. She had served Rillson's parents. And he summarily let her go. Fired her. In the interest of all of our safety, perhaps even Doctor Resistance, those of you who have been here before, you know where he might have kept these maps

as he had an office or study of some kind in the manor. Well, I have the feeling to be thieves, bondsmen. I'm not talking about stealing anything. Talk about stealing intelligence. Talk about stealing intelligence. Talk about looking at a map. Nobody owns intelligence, Ramius. Oh, they do. Can we roll to see if we know? Oh, they do.

Zephyr would like to roll, and if she knows, she'll share information. He has an office. Well, like where these maps would be. Where his papers are, his business papers. His bills, his... Yeah, his lists, his accounts. Mm-hmm.

Security number. Secrets. You know he has a bedroom upstairs. Nice. Where the new servants aren't allowed to go. Maybe. I mean, if he's not here, maybe we can see if the door's open.

We should put a most disgraceful thing to do as a guest under his roof. He should be home any day we can ask him directly. Unless he's in the room with people. Well, well, Ramius, would you do, if you're not comfortable with this, would you mind talking to Anyone Barnes?

Alwyn? And asking. No, just making sure he doesn't come upstairs. While we go. I cannot be a part of this. I cannot be a part of this. I cannot be a part of this. Cremies, they're all gonna be at dinner.

We're gonna walk in, look at stuff, not take anything, I don't steal, we're not stealing. This is a terrible violation of trust. I mean, maybe. It's a violation of privacy. This is his home. No offense. Gek, how would you feel if I snuck into your room, went through your things,

whether I took something or not? It's a violation. He's a friend. If I don't know, how am I supposed to feel anything about it? Perhaps, have you considered that Dr. Riddleson is in danger, in the Shadowwood? You consider that possibly us knowing what he's up to might be the one thing that's able to save his life.

That is interesting, Ponce, but he is not yet delayed. We are expecting him. He is not yet delayed. If he was delayed, I would disagree. If he is risking his life by entering this wood in search of whatever we don't know, is he responsible for him being the only one to be the single repository of knowledge in this team? I'm not sure. I don't cross the bugles. I don't like it. No, it's his private space. We haven't even spoken to him yet. I could be convinced to hold off on a meat till he comes back. I think.

Haste. Man wrote us, summoned us here with all haste, gave very generously of coin for us. I have seen no reason yet to distrust him, but I respect that we can be on our guard and we do need to speak with him urgently about why he is doing the things he is doing. We feel that he is lying, that he is subverting our own mission. I think we can, I think we could take such measures,

but I don't wish to be too hasty about it. What do you think, Zephyr? Yeah, that sounds reasonable. I think we're getting ahead of ourselves a bit. Why don't you just simply meet him first, Barnes? Make your own judgement on his character. I intend to. From there we can decide.

That you trust him so well weighs heavily in the balance. But once you meet him you'll see he's a good man. But I'll say one more thing and do forgive me for saying this but there seems to be a bit of a cult of personality going on here which can be a very dangerous thing. Yeah I kind of have to agree After spending time with the Smiling Wolves, there's not much of a difference I'm seeing here. Even with the best of intentions. Well, Dr. Riddleson never treated us the way the Smiling Wolves treated you. Sorry to say. That's fair. That's fair. Very kind man. We...each of us owe him a debt.

Sorry, Buggles. I understand. It's only natural. Very kind man. We each each of us owe him a debt. Sorry buckles. I'm the natural Sorry, I understand. I know I know that you like him and I know I'll meet him too. I won't make any hasty Judgments good man Ding-a-ling-a-ling-a-ling-a-ling. Hello. Ding-a-ling-a-ling-a-ling-a-ling. Is that your cell? I think that's the dinner bell. That's a funny thing. I want to show you what is that nothing Lingalingalingalingalingalingalingalingalingalingalingalingalingalingalingalingalingalingalingalingalingalingalingalingalingalingalingalingalingalingalingalingalingalingalingalingalingalingalingalingalingaling Lingalingalingalingalingalingalingalingalingalingalingalingalingalingalingalingalingalingalingalingalingalingalingalingaling Lingalingalingalingalingalingalingalingalingaling Lingalingalingalingalingalingaling

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Lingalingalingalingalingalingalingalingalingalingalingalingalingalingalingalingalingalingaling Lingalingalingalingalingalingalingalingalingalingalingalingalingalingalingalingalingalingalingaling the dinner bell servant comes to the door. If you'd like to join us for, is it a different servant? Different servant. If you'd like to join us for dinner, we'll. Yes, I am starving. Of course, thank you so much. Thank you. They bow, they walk out. You follow them into the dining room?

Yeah. Okay. Follow them into the dining room? Yeah. Okay. Whew. Follow them into the dining room. The big table, Vex Turvan, Ascendin, Lundja, and, in fact the other one was. Takuuzo. Takuuzo. They shuffle in as well. Everyone sits around the table,

and then all the servants come out of the door in the back. You can see the kitchen beyond and they all have like dishes with big lids on them. And then Alwyn comes out and says, time for dinner. We'll see you next week. Time for dinner It's time to make your membership official. Start your 30 day free trial today and become an official member of the Naish at jointhenaish.com with the promo code GCN30. That's join the N-A-I-S-H dot com and use code GCN30 to gain access to exclusive podcasts, ad-free episodes, and content you can't find anywhere else.

Once again, it's jointhenash.com and use code GCN30 at signup to get your first 30 days for free. Tell your friends, come join yourself, and see what everybody's talking about when you join the N.A.I.S.H. today.