Worlds Beyond Number - WWW #13: Of the Gentle Sea

Episode Date: August 17, 2023

Balance in all things.The great Machine above you.A leaf in the water.After years of being asleep, you are awake again.We need each other now:The fish has a wife. Worlds Beyond Number is:Brennan Lee MulliganErika IshiiAabria IyengarLou Wilson and is produced, designed, and scored by Taylor Moore at Fortunate Horse.Transcript of this episode coming soon! You can find transcripts of all our episodes here, for free, on our Patreon.[BREAKING NEWS: Our first mini-campaign HAS DROPPED. The entirety of A COUNTY AFFAIR is now available on our Patreon! Go sign up before they raise interest rates again, am I right?  Let's see, what else is in the news..]We have so much more to show you. An entire campaign about Suvi, Ame, and Eursulon meeting for the first time as children, for instance. And would you believe, even more? Please, join us at Patreon.com/worldsbeyondnumberOur album art is by the great Corey BrickleySome additional ambient sound design comes from Michael Ghelfi Studios. You can get their sounds and music for your home games and VTT as well, which we enthusiastically recommend. .

This is the sound of worlds beyond number. Ursulaan, you raise the sword high. You feel pure emotion rippling, the blood still flowing in your own veins of this great spirit. Describe for me what happens as Ursulaan touches his breath for the first time in years. You can feel the edge of it. Again, finally, there is a part of you that has been. hidden away for years and years and years because you have been trying to hide in the world of mortals. You're not trying to hide in this moment and you feel that you can access something of

yours, which is from a realm that is eternal and infinite. The feeling starts in Ursulaan's hands right at the fingertips. It is, I think, a mixture of life and joy. It is an energy, an enthusiasm, and excitement. I think Ursulaan has spent so much of the last some odd years since he found himself in the mortal world hiding, clamored. And it is in this moment. This feeling is, I think, very much attached to being in his body again. and knowing that his body and his being and who he is is not of this world. And so I think it is a consciousness, almost like a body scan in meditation of feeling his fingers again and then feeling alive and more that feeling progressing into his hands,

feeling the sort, really feeling the sort, feeling that it is not of this world, but of his world where he comes from, that that is the energy that is of him, that is coursing through him, that he wields up the arms into the shoulders, filling his chest with the warmth, the feelings of play, the feelings of community and family

that were shared amongst his brothers and sisters in the Great Bear. The feeling of his home where he is from, I think resonates deeply in his chest as he brings the sword down against the spirit. You bring the sword high overhead. It cuts through water swifter than through air. This sword was made for a great one of the sea, and nothing of the water can slow the swiftness of its blade.

It comes ringing down. You immediately become a level two paladin. You are a spirit, which means that for you, the flesh and the spirit are one. your body is of the supernal realm. You are here in this world as living, breathing spirit made manifest. You immediately access your ability to cast spells for the first time. Had you lived to adulthood in the world of spirits,

you would have learned this from your father or from Kaliah or even from your nasty brother, Narayan. But it comes to you. After years of being asleep, you are awake again. After years of holding your breath, you breathe again. and you feel these powers flood your body for those listening at home on a mechanical level. You immediately gain access to a new fighting style. You immediately gain access to the ability to cast spells.

You may cast two first level spells per long rest, and you immediately gain access to divine smite. As you smite, what is there any visible energy? When you access that spirit, is there a visible magical effect that can be seen or felt, or is it invisible as the sword divine smites? There is no visible magical effect, but there is a sensory one that I think for, if there were any humans down here, I think wouldn't be as intense, but between spirits, I think

there is, in this moment, a scent that comes rushing back to Ursula. And it is that of honey with song. It is a moment in striking that there is a deep and intense connection with the spirit world and its beauty that Ursulaan brings into this mortal world with his strike. Even underwater, breathing as you are here, smell of honey of sweet and salt in the mixing of the briny deep with smell of honey, And there is a note almost of song. Perhaps only wild things can hear it.

Pass the register of what humans could hear, although maybe some wild part of even a human would hear beneath their consciousness. With that coral note, and I mean coral here, not of the sea, but coral with an H of that. It can be both. It can be both. The spear is shattered. Roos! You see, as you've shattered the coral, that the spark,

of coral, actually within it does contain. You see just the butt of the spear, like a beautiful piece of wrought spirit metal in the coral that breaks free. And suddenly, Naram is gone. You see this massive form. You are a creature of the forest, and you are here in the sea.

So seeing a creature this big move this swiftly, and with this much agility is frightening. Naram swims with the mass and force of a beast greater than the size of the tall ships in the harbor, with all of the effortlessness of a dancer. And you in this moment have bought exactly what you wished. You have kept your word and seen your quest through. and now the hour comes to pay the price. Your choice to expose yourself in this way comes due.

I'm going to need you to pick three ability scores to give me saving throws with. And I would say you may pick any you wish, but if you choose your two strongest, the third one must be your weakest. We'll do charisma, constitution, no, dexterity. You said if I pick my two strongest, I have to pick my weakest. We're not going to do that. So we're going to go, we're going to do charisma, constitution, and dexterity. You stand in a trap made to catch a god.

The difficulty for these saving throws will be 23. Oh, my gosh. Guys, don't worry, I add plus one to saves. I had plus ones to saves It's possible that for at least one of these You will need to roll a Nat 20 on the die I can get away with an 18 Okay

Everybody relax I can get away with 18 Okay This is terrifying Okay We'll begin with charisma Here we go That's a failure

Okay Let's go ahead and do the other two that's a failure dexterity fails that is a failure failing the charisma saving throw you are placed in a cylinder

of anti-magic will avail you whether cast from yourself or from outside this place on your dexterity failure you are also restrained within the cone of anti-magic a helix of

wizardry of pure runic light begins to cross the meridians of your body, and as the projected light of words touches your wrists and your ankles, you are fixed to the sea floor. As you fail your constitution saving throw, you are given three levels of exhaustion. For these game terms restrained means your speed is zero. Anti-magic means no magic external or internal can be availed to you in this moment. The sword wavebreaker falls to your side completely, or it's within your hand, but similarly restrained. And with that constitution saving throw to go through the effects of three levels of exhaustion simultaneously, just so that people know the game information, you have disadvantage

on ability checks, your speed is halved, even if you were able to get away from the restrained condition. You have disadvantage on attack rolls and saving throws. What happens in the moment that Naram leaves, there's a reason you've been hiding your joy. You weren't a fool to hide it. There's a joy from your world that is greater than anything that can be expressed here, and it lets people know who and what you are. The smell of honey, the note of song, is supernal. And as you invoke it and assume the mantle of a true spirit, which is what you are, a wild one.

you come out of hiding to do something heroic. And the cost you pay for revealing yourselves is that the great machine above you knows what you are. Rocketing down. As Naram leaves, you are transfixed under this column of sickly green light. The green of it illuminates and catches currents and motes of sea debris overhead. And then the silvery bright, almost like lasers, concentrated beams that project words, wrists, ankles across your midsection over your solar plexes, and you feel yourself rooted to the ground in a way that you can't fight. You could try to break a chain, but it's almost as though these words have been put on you.

And in some way, the universe believes these words more than it believes you. In that final moment, you can feel that the constitution effect, is ongoing. On top of the words, on top of the green light, sapping magic from this place, this tower is killing you. You can feel it driving the spirit away from you. But perhaps these wizards don't know

that if you drive the spirit away from a spirit, there is nothing left. It is here to try to sanitize something which cannot be cleaned without disappearing. And you can feel that Naram was so vast that this effect would...

He healed from this faster than it could hurt him. That is not true for you. You are a cub of the great bear who has come into your full adult power in this moment, but compared to Naram, who has seen the boundless oceans and ruled over them for countless aon, this tower will unmake you. Pressed to the bottom of the seafloor.

What is Ursula feeling in this moment? I think having touched that, that his breath again, I think there is a moment of terror. I think especially as the Constitution save has failed, and Ursulaan feels the weight of the magic that has bound him. and the energy and will leaves his body. I think there's a moment of terror and fear that is, I think, quickly replaced by hope.

And an image, poor talon where the witch fires do not burn. And where the Derek does not cast its strange glow over the city. and that that, if that, if I must feel this way for that, then that is a good thing. Bright fire burns in your heart. There have been many years of fear. And at long last you've found something worth being afraid for. In the harbor, the Imperial Warship sails behind a tiny rowboat. Amé, you head back to the harbor, the fox looking hither and yon.

you're maybe like another, you know, 15 yards from the harbor, you know, you're scooting back slowly in the rowboat. The wind shifts over the bay. White caps from small waves crisscross at an unfamiliar angle. On the far horizon, a little bit of sunlight breaks through just enough to illuminate the white wing of a gull as it suddenly shifts direction. You know something has happened under the waves. Purcellan is in trouble, but Naram is not. You see the wind. The ocean is receding.

As almost before a thunderstorm, pursued by the might of the empire. But I close my eyes, let one hand trail through the water. I switch almost to a different kind of vision, to a different kind of understanding, preachers, the deep, whoever might be listening, the barnacles on the hall, the plankton permeating every inch of the seawater, and I beg them for help. I'm going to ask for an insight check, and you see, as you reach your hand in and begin to work this magic, the fox leans over, and for a moment for all of his,

glibness and trickery, does something I don't think you necessarily have seen him do before, which is he can tell you're doing some great magic. And you see that he hops his two little paws up on the side of the boat, sniffs the water around your hand, as though adding his keen hearing to whatever spell you are attempting to cast. Give me insight with advantage. If you can get a 25, you will have perfect non-examination. of the events happening underneath, but at least a 15 will give you some. That's a dirty 20.

The following events unfold. Your hand touches the water. You hear, and as you hear it, you can almost see it in your mind's eye. You open yourself to the secret movements of the world, the fish in the harbor, swimming through the rocky shoals, herring, crabs, barnacles, small minnows, A great deep saltwater pike swims nearby, and out past that, past the Derek. A great one, the great creature, scintillating eyes hidden under fathoms of dark seawater, but with enough to turn and see under the Derek, and you see it hear,

and suddenly you hear the voice of that man dancing with his wife in the fountain. beholds Ursula beneath the Derek. On 20, you do not have perfect knowledge of this. So you are going to gain some knowledge of Naram's mental state here either way. But out of 20, I'm going to make you choose. Do you want perfect knowledge of what is going on with Naram in this moment? or do you want to split your knowledge so that you understand some of what Naram is thinking and feeling and also understand some of what Ursulaan is thinking and feeling?

In some ways, I've always been asked to choose the greater good and my role as the communicator between spirits. Every part of my training has been geared towards focusing on this great one. This is my first time as an adult, awake, and feeling a great spirit. This is what I've been trained for. But Ursulaan is my brother. I spend, I give up a portion of that understanding and of, of, my training to focus also on my brother. Splitting your focus, you can hear and feel Ursula, and I think exactly as Lou described

it, you feel Ursulaan envisioning a world, envisioning Port Talon without the sickly glow of the Derrick in the nighttime harbor or without the choking smoke and ash of the witch fires. You see that that was the quest behind this question. that there was a dream Ursula had for this place. You have an imperfect vision, but still something of Naram. And on a 20, you can connect to him. You feel the ability that he, it is not that you have cast some spell

that allows you to speak with a great spirit almost like a mile away from you, but you understand that Naram can hear everything and will have his focus trained on the words of a witch. imperfectly. His mind is so vast and powerful, but you can feel it rippling through the sea. And you also think that Naram is particularly an unguarded spirit.

He is deeply honest and open. He is frozen in a moment of crisis between two impossible choices. Cannot let what he now knows to be the little cub he saved in the world of spirits. now a full-grown warrior who has saved him from entrapment and horror at the hands of this Derek. He cannot let Ursulaan befall this fate. But in this moment of crisis where he must act quickly, Ursulaan may well die before anything or anyone can reach him. the only two choices that come to him in this moment. Destruction.

There is a path of destruction in which Naram can make sure that Ursulaan is saved. You do not think it is a path of indiscriminate destruction, but you cannot see perfectly what Naram's plan is. But on a 20 insight, you know that Naram has dedicated his entire life to helping the people of Port Talon. But there is a path to the people of Port Talon. But there is a path of destruction in which he can save your brother. The other path that occurs to him, and is maybe in his nature to always consider first,

is a path of tremendous and permanent sacrifice. He is frozen in a moment of crisis between one in which the wrath of the spirit must be meted out, even by a gentle wave lord, in order to see that Ursulaan is saved. Or perhaps a sacrifice that will see the magic of the world reduced by some great measure forevermore. He must choose one of these and he must choose it now, lest everything be lost. You feel the fox's presence and suddenly this great thing is made simple, primal, animalistic.

You almost hear the fox's voice in your own mind, truly doing the work of your familiar. One will be safe either way. Nauram will see to that. Does Nauram pay the price or the wizards? I pluck a leaf, a kuz-z-zu-leaf from my bag, and I gently let it float under the waves. In all things, there must be balance.

And those that do not abide by the balance of the universe must pay the price. Part of you, words of Grandmother Wren, it's not a witch's job to make perfect job. And in this moment, do exactly what witches for generations before you have done. The gate the eternal ebb and flow between the world of spirits and the mortal world. The sea explodes erupt from all over Port Talon as a beast of the sea

visible even from the heights of the wall surges from the deep Tendrils as a spar of bone held in one tendril erupting from the front of the creature like the massive tusk of a narwhal strike and shes

shatter the green gem at the top of the tower, and tendrils grasp the derrick, and with a mighty... of screaming steel being bent by a god of the waves echoes over the harbor. Ursulon, deep beneath the ocean floor, the light pinning you to the seabed, suddenly shifts, drowned out by every one of Naram's white,

and pupilless eyes suddenly shifting into iridescent indigo, red, orange, yellow, green, as the iridescent landscape of light shifts over the sea in incandescent rage. A moment, a dozen wizards aboard the various decks of the Derek go flying into the sea as the entire structure is warped and bent. And we're going to cut to Suvi. Holy shit, that's so cool. I've been sitting here not screaming before so long. In the room of Ursulaan in the Calabelle Chantry,

a bed that you know Ursulaan cannot sleep in is perfectly mended. The sheets crisp and folded, the quilt once again restored, the struts of wood underneath and the posts of the bed, all in their place flushed to the window, perfectly centered. The pillows even slightly fluffed. Suvi, as you complete this task, what's going on in your mind, knowing that Ursula and Amé have sprinted away from this place? I think Suvi is just lost in a couple of very big realizations today.

the first sort of facing down, I think there's nothing more harrowing than being faced with like an irrefutable, irrefutable truth about yourself. And after seeing Galani and having that realization of what her actual status is and the way she is protected by steel, by her parents even after her death, what she is to the citadel and what she is to them, is sort of kind of blanking her out. And I think even trying to process that, the moment her friends took off, she had that secondary realization of, I am a human, I'm a wizard. This is who I am.

And I remember so many times in lectures, even though there was never a lot of information about spirits, about wild ones, that they are deeply unknowable. and do what they will. Just having Ursulaan run out the door and Amé immediately run after. After everything they've seen, Suvi can't justify it in her mind and she has sort of released them too.

Wizards are unknowable and witches cannot be understood or corralled or controlled so she has let them go away and is trying to find herself again, fingers tapping, restoring order, because that's what she knows and that's where she's safe. Defining the boundaries is a really helpful thing to soothe a mind that tries to create systems and make meaning and provide order. And by setting the boundaries of this bed, I can bring this bed to order. I can restore and mend and make right.

And looking at it completed in front of you, whatever else has happened in these past weeks since leaving. the Citadel on your first big adventure as an adult, who knows what can be made of all this great mess? And I think you think of steel and the fact that her bed seems like the entire world. At the door, you hear. Apprentice Archmage, once again, may I just say so delighted

that you were recovered. My goodness, we were in a tizzy. I've managed to hear that it's possible that the sword of the citadel is on route. She will be here soon, yes. Incredible. I cannot believe that our little far-flung Hamlet is receiving such honored a company. Is she, and forgive me for being forward, is she on her way because you mentioned the project? I did mention it to her, yes.

I am, oh, I'm tickled pink. I'm simply delighted. Well, you know, I expected no, you know, the reason I showed you for pure academic interest, so I have no, but, you know, if there's any, what am I trying to say? I'm so sorry, I'm just so delighted that the sort of the Citadel is going to be here.

I'm sure there's a lot of. preparations you need to see to. Actually, at this point, everything sort of just... Actually, at this point, everything is just sort of running itself. There's sort of, is, you know, there's a tremendous number of fail safes. And so it's really just whenever she... Through the window, no perception check required, each of you sees a monster of the sea rise up.

You watch the ocean shift, all currents that the water recedes from the bay to flow towards Naran. His massive form erupt. You hear screams from the streets and towers around you. This place is literally, it's like, you know, the tower is like a speck, but everyone knows that they're seeing something faster and taller than a building. Even though it's like smaller in their vision, they're watching a monster tear a, you know, fortress apart. Nauram's glow. Dysintillating begins to move

into those frequencies of red, yellow, orange, almost like a flickering flame across his eyes, matching that kind of like lionfish coloration. The tower shifts. And you see Morrow was sort of always a shiny, waxy red of just sort of like splotchy blushing and fawning go as white as a ghost. And he goes, no, no, the creature!

He runs to the window, leaps off the balcony, and moving his hands, casts fly on himself, summoning a staff into his hand. His voice bellows out over the courtyard. Creature has escaped! And begins to fly out towards the harbor. There's the look on Suv's. There is a moment where Suvite

puts things together. Ursulaan sprinting, Amé following. Naram free. The wizards disheveled. And Suvi has found her new paradigm and it has been proven

incredibly correct. Wild ones will do what they will. Oremah threatened our lives a day ago. Even in her most angry, in her great fury of the like, maybe the wild ones get what they get. I think that flows in both directions. And it seems right and fitting.

And Suvie will watch quietly as the Wizards of the Scepter's chorus flow out towards the sea. And I'm going to go back to my room and open the book and read quietly. You go to your room and literally as you sit and open the book to start reading your parents' spells, in the window past you, literally picture the flying monkeys from the Wizard of Us, is just clean-robed, shape-and-headed wizards, summoning staves, flying as fast as possible out over the harbor as you just, like, read, and like, gray clouds just start to, like, whip up in the sky overhead. What am I going to do?

Go and die with the bad wizards? No, it's fine. We'll stay here. Keep it on ice. Yeah. She said keep it on ice. Read your book. Amé, you are in your robe.

boat. You watch, you feel the feeling of like going over a bump in the road in your stomach as Naram's wrath just draws the ocean to him. You hear the cracking of wood. About half the boats in the harbor break their keels as the harbor just recedes about 50 feet. Just, boom, bam, your rowboat's fine because it's only a couple feet, but the whole harbor just drops. You're looking at kelp and seaweed and barnacles, people are screaming, the cargo floods out of like broken shit, just the water moves to him. He just wants more volume to like work with. So the whole sea shifts and suddenly boats are broken. People are screaming and you see the boat that was following you miraculously avoid some of these new spars of stone, whips around and goes, open fire! And a wave of cannons moves out from

this ship to fire on Naram across the harbor. It's way, it's the edge of their longest distance. Most of their guns, you know, or most of their like spell weaponry won't even work. Sintillating spirals of angry green and orange light erupt from these massive glowing gems to the side of the ship. You can feel wizards inside directing the ship's weaponry out. towards Naram. The magic spirals with all of the lethal force of the entire Imperium,

and as it touches the softness of Naram's body, pushes it inwards like a finger, gently touching a child's cheek, before it is repelled completely harmlessly. You see the ship sort of looking in horror. Ami, what do you do in this moment? You are now, like, the top of the pier is now, like, 40 feet up. You know, it's like your rowboat is kind of at the edge of the water.

You'd have to climb up the pier now to, like, get to, get to land. You see, the fox looks around and goes, whoa. Wow. Yeah. I just hang onto the fox and head him. I watch. Hell yeah. My team's doing great. My team's doing great.

Okay. Suvie, give me an Arcana check as you, just to see how much you can read before. We're back, baby, 11th. Cool. You opened the book just ever so briefly, and a small helix of spiraling magic. It literally looks like the kind of thing

where the light in the room just spiral. It's almost like a filter effect on the room where everything just twists inward in a spiral. And as it twists back, Galani is standing in the room. And she looks at you and says, Suvi, are you all right? I'm fine. You are safe here. Oh, right. Remain here in the chantry.

I need to keep you safe. But that creature must be dealt with. Where? What do you think you're going to do? Whatever I can. And you see that she walks, opens the window of your. room and she begins to fly out across the harbor. Everybody's Superman.

I'm out of these windows, man. As she heads over the harbor, Amay, you see her overhead. That entire cannonade from that ship does nothing. Galani raises her staff, touches her tongue with the ring finger of her left hand, and pulls a ruin off of her tongue that moves from sound into visible. visible writing, releases it from her finger, and the two-dimensional square becomes a three-dimensional cube, becomes a four-dimensional something else. Rotating through space, it strikes one of the eyes of a neuron.

He is going to roll a saving throw. He rolls a natural one and uses a legendary resistance. Just choose it. So dice be damned. He goes, I'm a god, and I'm going to resist a number of things every day. But Galani burns through some limited resource of Naram. You see, she says,

I am Galami, abjur of the citadel. Ursula, deep under the waves, you see the base of Naram's form, move from the scintillating tendrils of, of a creature of the deep of this lionfish Leviathan. And suddenly you see beautiful bare feet and the edge of a blue robe. And the entire city for a flicker of a moment

sees this monster as a 150 foot tall, beautiful man. Just for a moment. And, Amé, you can catch it and you wonder if everyone else can. as he sees Galani flying at him. The expression he wears on his face in this moment where he shows his glamour, right? The form he wears so that humans can read his expression is a look at Galani of deep paternal disappointment and of frustration at the lack of decency.

being shown. He looks at her, having resisted her incredibly powerful spell, at some cost. The gods of Umura are great, but they are not omnipotent. If there were a hundred Galanis here, this battle would go to their favor, absolutely. And it still may, even with just one abjurer of the citadel. However, Neuram's disappointment is not ineffectual. As Galani flies towards him, he raises a hand. A spear longer than ships stretches from his hand as Sea Commer is pointed at the horizon. He begins to move the point of the spear, tracing the horizon. And, Amé, you see miles away the horizon shifting as you're shifting as you

realize that the water of the ocean is being risen hundreds of feet in the air. Beautiful muscles of his shoulder ripple. The seawater moving down his face is joined by sweat as a god concentrates. And you see Galani deep in her bones that her death is at hand. He brings the spear cross and moves it. And it begins to cross Port Talon as it must to connect with Galani. And as Galani puts up every ward she can in front of her, which I think Suvi, even as a glins through the window,

you can see, you can tell when a wizard doesn't fully believe that a spell's going to work. Yeah. She brings it up. She is in a sudden, scintillating gyroscope of spinning rings of magic. And, Amay, you are. are still connected to Naram's voice. And I think Ursula, even deep underneath, you feel in your blood still. Naram, look, Asgalani is certain that her doom is at hand. And Naram goes,

A wave hundreds of feet tall crashes into the cliffs just beyond Port Talon. Thundering tidal wave floods the witch fire plane. You know in this moment, hundreds, I mean, you know, maybe not hundreds, but maybe a hundred soldiers are killed instantly. Drowned, the fires put out, everyone in that plane. And you are faced with the sudden contradiction that this God is being as surgical as possible. And a hundred people whose names you do not know are dead. People's faces are rent asunder. The water comes crashing down.

People are smothered. The coals swept up in the water. stay just hot enough to go down the throat with seawater of soldiers being blasted across the plane. Their bodies are flushed off the other side of the peninsula into the shallows of the bay where they will never be found by anything except crabs and the creatures of the deep that will feed on them. All of a sudden, unmistakably throughout the city, the groan and screams of wood and vine racing.

It hurts green things to grow this fast and they welcome the pain greedily. Naram standing there in that form looks at Galani who was a moment ago believed that she was dead and quietly the city cannot hear this. But Naram

speaks in a moment as his glamour begins to fade away. I wish you nothing but the best. I cannot say the same for my wife. Protect your city, wizard. And, I thought we were making good choices. Big L's for the wizard community. Sufi.

In your room, you hear the wave. You hear the wave. And you know, Immediately what has just happened. Galani telepathically is in your mind and goes, the fish has a wife. Fucking run! So Galani...

Fish has a wife? And you see that Galani looks as Morrow and his battalion come, because she sort of teleported out, you know, and Morrow goes, The creature, we must capture. And you see that Galani says, The walls, the walls. The army apprentice said,

There's another spirit, another great one coming in from the walls. And you see that Moro full, kind of commits treason. Stop, listening to Galani and goes for Naram. It's like, I have to recapture the creature. Galani starts barking orders at other people, and there's just chaos over the harbor. There's warships headed there. Galani's trying to command them to turn their guns to the wall. And Suvi, you behold chaos.

and you immediately tell tactically in this movement that Naram, you don't know what Amay knows about Ursula. But basically, you know that Naram is doing something to the Derek, knows that the entire might of the empire would recapture him, like these ships and Morrow and Galani and everything like that, and has basically just given them a bigger problem to do you. Yeah. And Amé, you see all of this unfold as well.

I think at this point it's time to roll initiative. Yeah. Ame, we're going to start with you. Once again, you know, you're in your boat. You can only hear it, but you just hear the thundering pounding of a mountain of the ocean called up to drown an entire plane of fires. And immediately, all of these defenses of the Imperium are rent meaningless. A hundred soldiers dead in moments from several seconds of Naram's concentration. I can hear the screams of groaning wood structures, of men, of beasts.

I can smell the extinguish that edded stench when the waves hit the fires. I know what... He's done. I knew this would happen. I still feel for the humans who I'm also supposed to speak for. I scrawl an image crude of Orima into the side of the boat, the clawed feet, the tendrils of vine. Orima, Ursulaan kept his promise. At this point, anything beyond this is vengeance and not justice. This is going to be a persuasion check. You are rolling with disadvantage, but once again, the Fox concentrates on helping you, so that's going to cancel out.

You are going to roll a straight persuasion roll. The DC is going to be very high. That's a seven on the die for a totally. of 13. You reach out to speak to Orima in this moment. On a 13, you know that speech works if listened to. And there is nothing within the vastness of Orima's spirit that is being listened to. But you also know that that offering is still on that shrine in Lamry.

She cannot be here in physical form. So you know that whatever is coming is a work of magic on her behalf and not her form itself. The fox looks up at you. It goes, boss, what are we going to do? I don't know that there's anything we can do. Fox. I'm going to jump out of the boat and grab some of these fish. We have fish at home.

Fox! Yeah, and we have fish. Here. As your little rowboat just sort of bouncing, there are some like fish just strewn on the rocks around as like the ocean has receded. You do your best to speak to Orima. Give me an insight check, if you would.

17. I think you know Orima is not going to rest. It's not Naram being free. It's Naram being back. Like she knows that he's in danger if he's here in Port Talon. And so that's what's how. happening in this moment. Ursulaan, the, you hear the warping and shattering of the tower. We are going to re-roll these saving throws. You have a disadvantage from your check there, but you all, that's going to

cancel out with the advantage being given to you by Naram. The DC has also been lowered to 17 because of the breaking magic in the Derek. So let's roll charisma, dexterity constitution. You got this. Hey, thanks. Charisma. Only a 14, still fail. Okay, so you're still in the anti-magic. Cisterity. 15, still fail. So, fail.

Okay, and this is the important one. This is Constitution here. Ninety. Hell, hell, yes. The chattering of the Derek shakes Ursulaan from the place of acceptance to a place of desperately desiring, and then seeing Naram's feet. just two giant feet in the ocean. I think there's now a confusion and a fight that re-enters his body,

especially kind of being in this space of touching his breath again. And is going to start, I think, taking deeper breaths and trying to find some of that will again. Incredible. Your will comes back to you and you can feel again in your body. you feel the exertion of Naram and even here under the waves, you are like, you can feel that a God who has only ever wanted to direct schools of fish

into the nets of fishermen, you can feel him go enough and call upon a mountain of water to wash clean a plane of the Empire soldiers. And again, I think maybe in this moment, Ercelon, as a spirit, from the human perspective, this God is like indiscriminately killing. You know, a hundred soldiers dead in a plane and he's destroying this structure to save one life,

which is your life. But I think you feel in Naram's heart from this spirit, this sorrow, he never wants to take these actions. Like he almost chose to like give his, you can feel in this moment that he was deeply considering. giving his life just to save you. That he was going to just have him never exist again in this world or the world of spirits just to set you free. And maybe on that inside check,

you can tell that something guided him to make a different choice. Under the waves, you feel a twist. The glamour fades once again, and you just see clawing tendrils of this thing. you actually see that Naram grows like additional limbs and roots down and his tendrils hit the seafloor and momentarily give him a solid base of coral. He like roots himself to the seafloor to position himself. And Amé, looking out on the harbor, you see that there are the last, probably like, you know,

20 wizards on the deck of the derrick. Many of them just like casting, mending cantrips to try to keep the derrick. Eric safe and like some of them throwing spells at this god. You see Suvi the spells they're throwing. You know that just automatically, without even having to make a saving throw, spells of below a certain level just won't affect Naram. Yeah. So it's just literally, it is just, there's nothing, right?

Nauram roots to the seafloor, and I think, Ursula, you're waiting for the moment where like the tower will come down. which is why you are very alarmed when the entire, the four posts of the Derek come straight up, and you watch the Derek just disappear. It goes, who comes around you. There's a momentary blocking of light as just like stones slowly fall through the water. And you are immediately released from all three of your conditions. Go ahead and give me a dexterity savings throw.

This is just a deep, you're still doing this with disadvantage. but this is just a DC-11 dexterity saving throw. 14 on the die. Okay. Even exhausted as you are, the stones fall so slowly, but some big fucking boulders come like looming out of the dark sea as you roll to one side, grab wave breaker. In the harbor, the entire Derek comes up out of the water as this enormous wild one

moves it in a single fluid movement as this lionfish sea cucumber deity. You hear whale song moving through air, reverberating as it does through water. The Derek goes sideways. Every one of the wizards still aboard falls to their death, falling more than 100 feet and hitting the water. And the creature flings the entire structure. off into the deep sea. With a final enormous explosion,

Naram breaches and a tower of white seawater as Naram disappears under the waves. Sufi, that is your turn. Okay. Oh, my God. It's happened again. Suvi is in her room with a book, watching the actions of witches out the window. I'm not a child anymore.

I want to get to the highest point I can. Are there still wizards in the air trying to do anything? Yes, you see a lot of chaos. Galani is trying to fly back to the city, but you see she's attempting to command like some ships out there, and Morrow has, like, confused everything. Yeah, okay, that's the thing I can help with. I'm going to try to do something kind of tricky here, which is using, like, we were all trained as soldiers and can communicate as soldiers because that was part of our training, which means there has to be a way to communicate messages over a long distance without having a burn magic.

Absolutely. I think you get to the top of the Calabell Chantry and see that there is a command dais. There's a platform up there for you to do exactly this kind of action. The magic is going to take care of. distance. Go ahead and give me persuasion if you are trying to convince people it is a good idea. Deception, if you are trying to claim rank or intimidation if you just want to scare the shit out of people. No, I've learned. It's just persuasion. Total of 14. The noise was out. Full retreat. Full retreat. You see the forces begin to fall back. Your words are going to give Galani a help action. She is attempting to gather people there. I will say this. On a 14, the entire Azure Battalion is also sort of in the city.

And you see Laplow, that sergeant from before who arrested you, look up at you. And because Galani is dealing with the nightmare out in the harbor and also the ocean had just receded, Although I will say Amay actually out in the harbor now, once Naram goes back, whoop, suddenly you see the fox with a big old bass in his mouth, go, oh no, and I jump back in the boat as the sea comes rising back in to lift all of the boats back up. Suvi, for you looking down at the sergeant, he looks up at you, and you can see there is a moment here. A 14 persuasion is definitely enough for the Azure Battalion to all look to you for

answers, and that's the thing they're lacking. They don't have context. He looks at you and message can trips. Laplow says, Apprentice Archmaid, where are we needed? What's going on? Protect the city. His wife is coming. She's the

mean one. You see Laplow look at you and say, where, his wife? Who is she? Where is she coming from? The green, my guy. The green! Official commands, my God. You see, he looks at you and says, we don't have any wizards. Can you come help us?

Of course. Descend to the courtyard, and he pulls up a snow white steed with an imperial saddle on it. And you see all of the Azure Battalion just tap small cantrip on the side of their saddle. All of their horses have basically an expeditious retreat cast on them. And the force of wind, all of your clothes,

and robes are like horizontal streaming from this fleet of horses as the Azure Battalion draw their war staves and gallop towards the walls of the city as fast as possible. We aren't going to flash a little bit forward into the time as strange as this sort of battle erupts across the city, but you see that as the Derek disappears, Amei, you look and see Morrow, Guildmage Morrow look as his Derek banishes, and the creature goes back underneath the waves, and you see him go, no, no, no, no! You destroyed! And raises his staff aloft and lightning strikes it as some incredibly powerful spell hits the surface of the waves and begins to create a whirlpool digging down into the sea as he begins to fly into a whirlpool of. his own creation.

And his flying mages follow. I'm going to do a roll off. This one I'll do in front of the board to see whether people feel like following the extremely reasonable, obviously more powerful woman or the unhinged screaming man

trying to kill a god. Follow this party planner to hell. Okay, Galani gets a 19. Let's see what Morrow gets. Maro. Maro gets a 21. Yes, good, yes, good.

So you see a good portion, like a good portion of people that are like basically closer to the harbor. Do follow the abjur Galani. But you see that it's compartmentalization. It's empire. It's bureaucracy. Morrow is the guild master of the Scepter's chorus and that's who's in Port Talon. So a man screaming and crying who's digging a hole into the ocean with mass. has most of the flying wizards follow behind him,

and you see Galani just sort of throws up her hands and goes, I can't believe it. You hate to see it. You hate to see it. Ami, that is going to be your turn. Is my boat back up to dock level? Yes, it is back up to dock level. Okay, I scramble out of the boat.

I take stock. What does the port look like? What are the civilians doing? You hear screams of fear rather than of, like, dismay and instruction. You would be very surprised if there were not many injured people here. Like the sudden receding of the ocean probably threw people against walls, it cracked boats. Like cargo may have shifted and hurt somebody. But you do not think that there is mass death within the city of Port Talon.

I should wait, hold on, let me take that again. You do not think there is mass death within the city of Port Talon yet. Seeing these wizards follow a screaming baby of a man to their inglorious doom is a side of humanity that I have not ever witnessed before. and I remember back to first coming here and realizing that nobody needed community. They didn't need each other. But they'd need each other now. I step into the town square

and I try to rally the folk of Port Talon. Go ahead and give me a persuasion check. That's a 23. Ooh, ho ho ho ho ho. You step onto the dock. Your familiar leaps out with you. As you begin to call out to the people here, what do you say as you see confused people on the dock side here?

I call out to the gathering crowd. The power of the great spirits is undeniable. It cannot be harnessed. It cannot be fought against. But if we work with them and treat them in the old ways, which I can teach you, perhaps, perhaps we can save Port Talon. And I clap my hands. And I open myself up the way that I've been taught how.

I pull out a little bowl, an offering bowl. from my pouch. I place a little meal in it. I take out the incense and I light it. I offer it to Orima and to Naram to celebrate their upcoming reunion. You kneel? The pastors by hear your words

and I think that they are affected by them in this moment, but watching you begin this ritual, I think they just give you space. I think they look around and go, okay, there's a witch doing witch things. And looking out, you see them sort of fall back from this moment, like unsure or unclear about the nature of the magic that is being invoked in this moment. You see the fox looks down as you put the little meal out

and drops the fish. his jaws. I told you. There's a good fish down there. If any of you have offerings for the spirits, please bring them now. Given this call to action, you see that the people look around. You see some old sailor says, yeah, well, a bunch of rice spilled out when those barrels broke. And you see, truly, there's like a lot of cargo on the docks that people just start bringing food.

and a heaping cornucopia begins to like pile up with your little like bowl and burning incense at the center. Ursula, you are free at the bottom of the ocean. Boom! Naram fills this space with light and the light vanishes. And by your side of approximately your height wearing his glamour is Nauram. I am well, brother. You did not need to. You did not have to.

Do all this. Nor did you. This wild world is filled with many things we need. But you chose to. And he puts a soft hand along your neck in the back of your head and touches his forehead to yours. Um, and you feel a gratitude wider and more profound than the vast sea. Their trap is undone. Their cage shattered.

Would you, you are wayshadowed? What can I do to keep you safe in this world? I would only ask that you allow me to keep this, this sword that is yours. My father's blade. You wield it well. Let us say then, forevermore. A gift.

But let my sword serve as some small token of the debt that is owed. Smiles, uh, reaching out once more and still embracing you here in this moment. He is going to cast a greater restoration, remove all of your exhaustion levels. In addition to that, he seals the wounds on your arm from the bed, and in doing so, permanently imparts the gift of his blood to you. From this point, Ursulaan can breathe underwater and has a swim speed equal to his walking speed.

You are a spirit of like the wild and of many beasts. You know, there's like parts of you that are ursine and feline and avian. And you just feel this gift of suddenly like under your, like almost under your fur, just this little thing of like along your throat that should you call on them, like the sea is your home as well now as you breathe through gills. Like the effect of the potion fades away. This is a part of you now. What is, what is happening above the waves?

To my friends, to Amé. He looks and says, above the waves. Racing towards the bottom of the sea, a massive lightning bolt comes thundering out of the sky, strikes Naram in the chest for maximum damage. You see, like, the whirlpool comes down, and the lightning travels through the water. Strikes him in a moment of pain and anguish

as Morrow and his wizards come surging down through this massive whirlpool. The whirlpool is still, like the tip, the point of the whirlpool is still like 40 feet above, but close enough for this powerful spell to be cast through from the sky overhead before Naram can even answer your question. How bad does Naram...

I mean, I know Naram's a god, But, uh... This is the first thing you've seen hurt him. He's, he's not bloodied. He is not on death door, but he was just harmed by this spell. Okay. Hey, I'm a level two paladin now. Ursula is going to see that.

Immediately moved to put himself between Narab and whatever is coming and begin to swim up, sword out. Let's go water bear. Let's go water bear. So you start swimming up as Naram looks up, and you can see even Naram, for all of his gentleness and Wimstone, looks up and has a moment.

He's very humble for a great spirit, but sees you fucking full secret service, like get down, Mr. President. And he has a look on his face of like, kid, no. But fuck it. You're going, baby. Are you going up to just put yourself in the path?

Or are you going up to like see who the fuck is responsible for that? Both. We're going to cut to the wall now, Sufi. It is your turn. Horses arrive at the wall. Ascending quickly to the top of the wall, the Azure Battalion begins to man the parapets. As they begin to run up, you see Laplow rushing ahead of you to the wall,

saying, Azure Battalion, take to the parapets. Whatever you see coming over the side. A rancing spur of green vine snakes over the top of the wall and grasps Laplow whips around his neck and squeezes so hard that you can hear bone snap in his neck. You look over and see stranglers, Undre. The field beyond of witchfire is already thick with Kudzu. And you can see that the plants, you can hear these.

whining snap of rock splintering as the kuzzu sinks into the outer edge of the wall and it's just gotten to the point where it is breaking over the tops of the parapets in multiple places suvi what do you do? Level one wizard here we go. But this you said it earlier. Suvi can see that this isn't like I just saw niram. I saw a great spirit. Yes.

This isn't arima. this is a spell. Correct. Okay. The witch handles great spirits. My friend is an honored friend. I know magic. As I pull up,

can I use my disguise self to appear as close to what I think, you know, full color, not the stone statue version, of nirom's like human guys. And I just want to yell out over the field. you made a promise to a witch. Keep it.

Give me a deception rule with advantage. Okay. Please, please dice. Ten. This thing wants to fight you, and giving it a fight is not the height of cleverness. There's got to be some other way. Calling out, I think, on that ten deception rule,

you just become aware, much like Amé did, that people can turn themselves, into forces, humans or spirits. If you get to a point of rage where you, the blood pounds in your ears past the point of listening, then no words of counsel can hit you.

As you call out, you look, you think you see something for a moment in the kudzu. There's something in the green coming. Suvi, you take five points of damage as one of the stranglers leaps over the wall, one of the undre. And a wooden, viny hand closes over your throat dealing five points of damage.

Suvi, how many hit points do you have left? Three. Can I do something as a reaction? Yes, you can. As a reaction, I think there's another, like, battalion member next to me. I'll take the damage, but I want to shield the person closest to me.

Give me, as a reaction, give me either Arcana, if you are trying to do something that is purely technically proficient. If you want this to continue to tell the story you are trying to tell, you can give me another persuasion role with advantage. Okay, let's try persuasion. Oh my God, I didn't know my dice could go that high. Thank God. 21. As you take a spell only intended to protect yourself, leave yourself open to harm. To protect another, the undre in front of you, loosens its grip for a moment. In the ocean, the wizards, if they are attacking him, they are there, but no one here has any hope or intent to harm you.

The undre turned to look to the heart. harbor. A wave of rage and green choking vines is coming for Port Talon. Belize, the dam will break. You have one chance to determine where. The one more nature role. The difficulty is a 20 to complete this offering as you direct the people of Port Talon to build this extemporaneous shrine. trying to solve this massive assault on the city. Give me one last nature check. That's a six on the die.

The food piles on. You attempt to speak the prayers, but the fear and shouting of the townsfolk around begin to confuse and addle your mind. There are so many emotions here to try and manage in this moment. There is so much being asked of you, and you are trying to unite two forces that seem intent on not understanding.

one another. Ursula erupt from the depths. At the head of the spear surging down is the guild-mage morrow. He sees you and readies to absolutely obliterate you with magic beyond what you can understand. But it is your action. What do you do in this moment as you breach like a creature of the sea erupting from the water into the whirlpool? As I crest, as I crest and see Morrow, I think I immediately have flashes of the utter glee on his face as he showed us. Naram trapped beneath the ocean. And I just want to grapple him and take him into the water. Like, essentially to use the force of leaving the water and then essentially come right back into it.

hopefully with him and bury him beneath the way. We are going to make a opposed grapple check here. So you're going to use your attack to make a grapple check. His athletics is not very high. He rolls a natural one. Go ahead and roll your opposed athletics check. That's not a natural one. It's a 19.

He is very caught off guard. I'm going to roll a concentration check for him. The walls of Port Talon with a spirit's finny hands around her throat. Sufi sees the inevitable meeting of great horses, overwhelmed by the fear and panic of beings that will not, or even more horrified. perhaps cannot truly understand each other. Bursting from the water, the man who gleefully captured a great wild one of the sea, you feel his robes and his arms enveloped in your massive embrace and hit the wall of water. Concentration.

Hundred wizards flying through a whirlpool to the bottom. of the sea. Watch as cliffs of water spinning. Via Ayangar as Suvi and Brennan Lee Mulligan as everyone. World Beyond Number is edited, designed and scored by...