Worlds Beyond Number - WWW #2: The Naming of Things

Episode Date: March 14, 2023

The world of Spirit shows its teeth. Not all the chickens make it. Pack your bags and travel light. There's ogres on the road.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 available here. If you're into explosive pedal-to-the-medal narrative play that treats rules like nameless thugs in a John Wick movie, and WILL get you in trouble: you gotta check out our sister show Rude Tales of Magic!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 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. Well, last we left off, we met our wonderful three heroes, our protagonists of this story. We met Ursulaan working five years prior in a tavern, having almost been nabbed by a hedge mage and his goon squad, I suppose, in a stable with a special sword, the pattern of waves along the crossguard and a fist of many fingers curled into a ball sprinting into the woods after being injured by strange magic. We met Suverin Kedberiket, or Suvi, as she is called, the apprentice to the archmage silence, and a friend and ward of steel first sword of the citadel

in the heart of the empire, who was sent to, visit an ailing grandmother Wren, and we met Ame, the apprentice of Grandmother Wren, in a witch's cottage outside the village of Toma. The passing of Grandmother Wren was something that had been anticipated for some time. What was not anticipated was a strange curse that had fallen over Grandmother Wren.

Many secrets she had kept for a long time from Amé and from the children that she had looked after in a golden summer many years before. But those secrets she remembered having told, though Ami bore no memory of it, smoke curled from her mouth, and some strange curse had been placed upon her. In her last moments, she bid Suvi and Ami farewell, and her familiar, the rooster taro said, The sword wavebreaker was the key to finding a way to unleash those secrets from where the curse had bound them, wheresoever that was. Sword, of course, had been given in childhood to their friend Ursulaan.

Long lost these many, many years. No one had seen him. And so find Ursulaan they must. And Taro's last piece of advice was that Amé would need a taro of her own. We ended last episode. with the sun having set in record speed as time itself was slowed by the presence of great workings of the world of spirits. And a figure approaching on the road into that moment and that exact moment, we will return. Crescent moon like a wide smile and glittering stars,

though a long and lonely cloud begins to stretch like a pointed hand. and crosses at the midsection of the crescent moon. A figure walks down the country road, dressed in black, the manner of their clothes like a merchant or a lord in the cut, but in style somehow strange and undressed. No shine of silver, no gold brocade.

simple, clean, tall boots and long breeches, and a wide brim with a long trail of a cap behind in a thick black cloak, a figure stepping out of the shadow of a lean tree, stepping along the road and passes beyond the edge of the window through which Suvie is looking. You come to your senses still here in this moment where Grandmother Wren has just passed. And it is now magically and serially and with a sense of almost something like nausea. It's become night.

Cottage that you stand in. And specifically the bedchamber of Grandmother Wren, whose body still rests. in the bed next to you. Though she is now gone, you become aware that the shifting of the house has stopped. You don't hear the creaking of wood anymore. And you look out and see the moon and starlight on the cottage, but you don't hear the buzzing of bees.

It's very still. The only thing you hear is the lone babbling of the stream. And even that babbling feels somehow distant, echoing. Cottage is very silent. These are the first moments that either of you, Suvi and Amé, have stood in this place, knowing that, in a very real sense, this is no longer Grandmother Wren's cottage. Three loud knocks upon the workshop door closest to the road.

What do you want to do? Give me one moment, and very quickly, I cast the ritual that I have prepared of the ceremony. A brief funeral, right? Even though I don't have time to mourn, I have to make sure that she's properly prepared. Place my hand on grandmother's eyelids. I whisper quiet words. The bedclothes, the sleeves that you can see peeping over the covers,

all turned white, as if the spreading of an ink or a dye. Only it's an absence of color. She should be safe here for now. I hurry downstairs. What do you want me to do? Stay hidden. I compose myself and walk to the front door. Who is it?

Normally there is a small candle underneath a tin hood on the outside of the workshop door that as long as someone is downstairs a sputtering little blue candle will

hop to life, careful attention of anyone being outside of their bedchamber. The candle doesn't light when you reach the bottom of the stairs. It is pitch black looking through the workshop window. Who is at the door of Grandmother Wren's Cottage? You hear the scratch of gravel and dust as a pair of boot. takes three steps back from the door, as though giving space to be opened and the person outside to be regarded. This is the final time that I will ask, who is at our door? The voice outside from a face you cannot see is cold beyond imagining.

Seems to hit your skin almost more than it hits your ears. Suvi, you can feel someone talking, even though you're all the way upstairs. Outside the door, are you here? You may not enter. What is your name, stranger? Forgive the inhospitable nature of my demands. But as you seem to have intuited, Grandma Wren is unable to

be here herself to greet you May I May I ask you to come back again Here Scratch dust Give me one year from now I come down the stairs And immediately kind of just

Grab you and hold you You did very well She would be very proud I don't Who was that? Give me a religion check. Ooh. Can I make a history check to see if I've ever read anything?

Yeah, yeah, give me history or Arcana. 15 for Arcana. Seven. I think that of those many titles, you have never heard any of them, but I think you know all of the connotations of them. That being didn't give a single name. Yeah.

As it becomes day, you see all of that time in which you lost Grandmother Wren comes back. In other words, like, that time slowing down was him approaching. Yeah. Almost like he brought the night with him as he got closer. And then took it when he left. And then took it when he left. You do know, you do remember an old lecture in an early class, a warning about spirits, that most spirits would not give you a name.

If they did give you a name, it meant you had power over them. Often they would go by a title. You know, there's the Great Bear, for example, that has a great title that doesn't give its name out. You were told about some spirits that had multiple titles. Multiple titles indicated immensity of power and the ability for that creature to hide its name

amongst multiple appellations. Yes, okay. That its true form would be sort of hidden or obscured. And the scariest spirit you studied had three. Oh, oh no. Okay. I know the only things I've studied can't hold a candle to what you must know, Amé.

But whatever that was, a strong. As you're both standing there, you smell a stink. all of the milk in the kitchen, like in the ice box has gone bad and stinks like crazy. There, you look out and there's a couple of fruit trees

that border the road. All of the fruit hanging over the road has withered. No. And you still, you hear the bees start buzzing again. There's other stuff going on. But you see that there is a lovely,

little bead kind of, it's almost like a patch that is like framed up above the doorway from the workshop into the rest of the house. And it's framed up to face and line up with the outer door. And it's just a little beadwork in like red and lapis and black and white of an eye. It's smoking. And Suvi, you feel jangling in one of your... pockets of your robe. I immediately go and reach in. You cut your finger on the shattered

speaking mirror. No. Are you okay? You're bleeding. I'm fine. She pulls away from you. I run over to the ice box and I take a look at the milk. Can I divine whether this is part of the curse from the stranger or just time?

Give me a nature show. Give me a survival Check. Sixteen. You believe this was the appearance of this being at the door, that even though it could not gain entry to the house, that just its presence here was shaking the foundations of this cottage. My time was slipping before Grandmother Wren died. I panicked. I didn't.

I didn't know what to do. I didn't. I've never had to. had to... This can't be my cottage. I'm not... I don't... I'm not ready for it yet.

I'm gonna do the best that I can. You... I mean, I don't even know where to start. I haven't seen you in so long, and I know that you must surely have places to be, and I look up and down at your finely tailored wardrobe robe and your hair and, but I would, she asked us both to find Ursula and I would greatly appreciate your help in that.

Of course. I think everyone at home thought I, but there would be more time. So there's time enough for this. Thank you. Of course. I did bring Steele, the woman. that came for me at the end of the summer, asked me to bring some things for Grandmother Wren.

Oh, what were they? They're yours now. And I pull out the book and a sealed group of scrolls. I don't know what the scrolls are, but this is a book about stars of the southern sky. Thank you. I suppose I can take a look. and I thumb through the book.

Okay, yeah, you go ahead and you thumb through the book. Let me know what kind of check you think you're making there. I think investigation probably makes the most sense. If you're, yeah, so go ahead and give me an investigation check. 15. On a 15, you know that this references a lot of constellations that would be of interest to Grandmother Wren. The book is a book of wizardry,

So there's a lot of it talking about the movements of celestial bodies and the nature of the stars. Grandmother Wren often talked about the stars, but probably in ways that were not as systemic as this. She used to talk about some stars as being nosy and other stars as being bad or good luck and some stars as being playful and seemed to have a relationship to them mostly due to her ability to fly. So she sort of had a relationship with them like someone who spent time in their company. I'm going to poke a little further into the book to see if perhaps it's not the words of the book, but something hidden in the book itself. Sure. Do you want to give me another investigation check? Yes. Go for it.

I only got a seven. You begin to look deeper into the book for something hidden. and I think hit a wall of because I think you're looking for something hidden in the way of like what's something that would almost be like intuitive or second nature like you hide things in places where you can still get them and you're looking at all this stuff and being like this is so complicated that a wizard could hide something in here without even having to hide it it could just be here and I'm looking at it and I don't know what I'm supposed to be looking for. God, I hate books.

All right. What? I said, thanks for the books. While she's doing this, I just wanted to kind of give her a task so I could circle the cottage and try to kind of assess the situation and see if I noticed anything else weird on account of the stranger's visit. Yeah, absolutely. Go ahead and you give me an investigation check.

12, but my passive investigation is a 21. Incredible. But, my passive 21 investigation, I think that much has changed in the house since you were here. Grandmother Wren became more tired with time, and Ame became more capable with time. So a lot of the little tiny details you notice are

ways of organizing dishes and cutlery that Grandmother Wren preferred have given way to them being organized in the way that Ame preferred and little, I think Amé's room is probably much changed. How does Amme's room look different?

Do you go into the room? Oh, you know I do. So as you step into the room, whereas before you remember a nest of pillows and blankets and soft bits next to curled up in the corner with your bunk, all nice and tidy and orderly,

and the window sill, large enough for perhaps a visiting spirit friend. Now you see that the bunk has been disassembled. It is just one bed now, but there is a... bedroll on the ground in place of the nest, a sort of soft, round, cushiony mat. So it's not quite as chaotic, but is still a floor sleeping situation. And you see the old familiar scrawl on the wall above a fist-sized, tiny fist-sized hole that says, be kind. But your bunk,

which has clearly been moved down to be this single bed, is just the way you left it. Disordered, it is just the way that you left it with the slats of wood where you pulled them up out of boredom or restlessness.

And the windowsill is not covered in dust. But there's still sheafs of flowers and herbs tied up and crystals hanging, catching the sunlight. It seems a lot more purposeful now, though. You see on the desk instead of the untidy clutter of beakers and plants and powders, it's a somewhat more orderly alchemy set. Does Subi see of a blue cloak anywhere in the room?

Roll a perception check. Okay, well, I feel like I have to remind you. My passive perception is 18. Do I really have to roll? I'll do it. You give me a sleight of hand to see you. Yeah, that's true. So I rolled a natural one.

Light of hand. Light of hand is 13. On a passive perception. No, passive perception. I will say, you see, I'm a little sleeping mat, although there's a big fluffy comforter over it, you see a tiny corner of blue peeking out from under the tucked cover. And I think that's the thing of trying to put together the ways in which your true friend has stayed the same.

and grown up away from you. And then seeing that little corner of the cloak that I gave you years ago, I'll walk over and just kind of touch the edge. And for whatever it's worth, push a little bit of mending into it, to just seal the fibers and let it last a little longer. With that incredible passive investigation, by the way, you look out the window at the mid-afternoon, that is suddenly back on the cottage and see very eventful time here at Grandmother Wren's Cottage.

You see a site that at once your wizard brain goes, I have to put this together with all this. Grandmother Wren just, I just watched Grandmother Wren pass away. And the foundations of the earth shook as she passed. And I've seen a magic here more powerful than anything. And then a sight comes into your eyes that the moment you see it know, has to be totally unrelated to everything else you have seen here, which is that a very confused-looking fox comes out of the henhouse with a dead chicken in its mouth

because when it went into the hen house, it was night and it's day now. And it's got a dead chicken, and there's a couple little feathers that fall around, and you see a confused fox who's got red, the little brown socks and the little white tuft and the white under the chin. with like just a little bit of the hair getting darker and almost black on the little region between the shoulders.

Looking around, dead chicken, blood-soaked fangs, and just a state of utter perplexity. You hear a madwoman cackle from upstairs in your room. The cackle goes off and the fox sprints, hits a fence, changes direction, and sprints off into the woods with the chicken and is gone. You, uh... Oh, my God.

Last hours, the greatest thing I've ever experienced. Oh, that's not a, that's not a completely happy laugh. Okay.

All right. I, I saw, scrolls under my arm. I, I trot upstairs. I put an arm on. I'm good.

I'm, you okay? Yeah. Have you ever just felt like a fox a little bit? Uh, you know, that's a crazy thing to say,

but yes. Yes, yes, I have. This is wild. Is this every day for you? No. No, most days it's just villagers in need of help and just me and Grandma Run. I know that there is quite a lot that's just gotten dropped on your plate, but I think it would be good for us to move expeditiously. That's a big word?

Uh, yes, I, I read. Yeah, for someone who hates books. That's a big word. I don't know what you're talking about. I heard what I heard. Okay, all right, well. Mm. That's how I know you're a witch and prepared.

You've got the mumbling under your breath down to a science. Oh, it's true. Oh. You, uh, so, um, you stand that you have, you, having undone the scroll case, you've taken some scrolls out. that to you looked like occult anatomical drawings of different strange beasts. And I mean, you've only known the wildlife of a calm and perhaps a little bit of a different place before then. But for the most part, you know, you only know the wildlife around here, which there are some larger animals around.

Like there's still, you know, there are some bears in the woods or a deer or a panther maybe up where it gets a little bit more. mountainous up north. But these are some strange beasts in these sort of anatomical drawings that you see. I don't think I've seen any like this around here. I'm not going to pry. Well, it seems that we're working on this together. Yeah, let me see him. Okay. Thank you. What? With that high passive investigation score, you thumb through them and you find one with a beast on it, you recognize. The last time you saw this beast was in the town of Silbury

when you were a child, and the town was in fire. And you realize that these are not beasts. Oh. These are the forms that certain magicians can wear if they so choose. Oh, keep them secret. them secret? Of course. That was the plan. Is it of some significance specifically? I didn't tell you much about the night I came. No, you, we were kids and you were really scared and I never wanted to pry. You're very kind of my parents' friends. And I pull forward, uh, specifically the scroll.

Amay, you see a tusked canine yet simian form, powerful shoulders and haunches and a ridged back. The physical, the sort of musculature and skeletal structure of almost like a hyena, right? Those powerful longer front legs sloping down to rear legs in a tufted tail with this massive lower-tusked june. jaw. The form is frightening with a wide snout and these glaring sort of eyes and some ridges up along the brows, too long tapered pointed ears. And you can even see in the rendering of the wizard's diagram that the front paws still end in these long saber-like claws, almost like a bear, these long hooks that come out with digits on either side that kind of hint that they might still be opposable. My father's friend, Yoran, looked like this that night, and he smelled of blood.

Can you, can a lot of you do this? I, this doesn't feel like any sort of spirit that I've encountered or studied, does it? No. I think you look at this. I think both of you would share a moment, probably, of connecting over the fact that this is well outside of either of your traditions. It feels like even though we have seen spirits and things that are natural, that are mixed, different parts of different piece, this doesn't feel right to me. The mages of Galhthmi are different. Uh, I don't quite know what that means.

Galthmae's a, uh, somebody that we're supposedly at war with, correct? I mean, there's always exceptions. You know, witches and wizards aren't supposed to really, uh, get along. And we're both here, tracking down our brother. Who's a big bear? Speaking of which, we need, we gotta go find him. Oh, yes, and I have to, I have to, um, visit the shrine. There's just so many things to do.

I'm, again, I'm sorry to drop this on your lap. Nope, we're making a list. This is where I shine. Oh, all right, well. Where is paper that isn't wrinkly? Now I got it, I got it. I got it. Okay, I'm going to go up to the shrine, and would you care to accompany me?

Oh my God, yes. Uh-huh, cool. I wasn't sure if I was going to be allowed to go. Yeah, I actually don't know if there's any rules about that or not. But, you know, I mean, it's my cottage now, so... Yeah, do you feel different? No. I mean, except a sense of existential dread about being maybe cursed and having a year before what might be a powerful spirit returns to the cottage.

Um... Oh, no, not really. Amé marches up the hill and you see a climb that used to tire you out is now done in about 20 steps and just up the hill where we see a beautiful small stone shrine. The shrine has a beautiful eight-sided bell-shaped roof with scales and ridges of the stone that come down to the eight corners. there are thin stone columns that come down but leave the shrine open while still being under a roof and a flat, always cool marble base. At the back of the shrine is a old weathered, kind of, it's the type of stone that as it weathers, weathers with pockmarks, and the marble has been a lot more adorable than the

stone that the statue was made out of. And in the little pockmarks, you know, water and rain has stayed. So there's kind of a sheen of lichen or moss that grows within the little pockmarks on the otherwise creamy gray stone of the statue, which is of a welcomingly, a welcomingly misshapen nature's spirit with a big old potato-looking head, a wide grinning mouth with porcine tusks and a cute little button nose and eyes that are set far wider on the head and ears that are both pointed and have like long dangling lobes. You see that the spirit is sitting cross-legged and holding a stone bowl that is part of the same. piece of stone that it itself is carved out of, but is holding the bowl with both its legs and

arms at the same time, seated with its arms kind of wrapped around and its elbows resting on its knees. And this statue has been here for as long as you can remember. And it is very clear that the statue of the spirit of the shrine kind of has the most, this is the place from which the natural beauty of Grandmother Wren's cottage in the surrounding forest is like at its best. You see like the sloping hill to the cottage, all of the garden laid out perfectly the stream that wraps away. You can see every single wild flower bush and grove at the edge of the forest from right here. And it's high enough up on the hill that you get to see all the tops of the trees that stretch away over the woods up towards the far ridge. So you just see a beautiful blanket of tree tops throughout

this little valley where grandmother Wren has lived for so long. Coming up to the shrine, late afternoon, what do you do upon arriving at the shrine? When I reach the shrine, I stopped at the little stone basin just before, and I wash my hands, and I splash some water on my face. I smooth my skirt, and I walk up to the shrine and the statue. I clapped my hands twice, and I bow to it, and I say, dear spirit and honored friend, we are in need of your assistance. Grandma Renn and Taro have, are no longer with us here in our realm. I was told to come to pay my respects to you and to ask your guidance, because it might be time for me to have a Taro of my own. but hopefully a nicer one.

Suvi's at the very edge of the marble platform. And in just a little moment of remembering herself as a small child, she goes to push up the glasses that aren't there and kind of snorts a little bit to herself, crosses one ankle behind the other to give a small curtsy that imperial children are taught to do, and just gives a little bow and says, Mr. Soup, and just waits quietly. It's great.

Mr. Soup is referring to the... Yeah, because it looks like he's eating a big bowl of soup. The moment you say Mr. Soup, you hear a voice down by your knee, say, afternoon. And you look down and see the spirit looking at its own statue. You see he is a vibrant vine green with a little loincloth of leaves. It's only about two feet tall. And you see that he looks down and his feet always are muddy because water sort of just produces out of the bottom of his feet.

So whenever he stands in a piece of dirt, it looks like it just water begins to trickle down. But stands there and has his arms crossed and is just looking at the statue. of themselves and just shakes his little lumping head and goes, look at me, they got it exactly right. Like this. Yeah. Hello, Mr. Soup. Wait, you call him that too?

Hmm? I think Mr. Soup was there. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You see, he looks at you see, he looks at you see, he looks at Amman's smiles, a big Tusky smile and says, I've always wanted to see this. I am known by many names. Wow.

And one of them is Mr. Soup. He goes and sort of happily waddles up into the shrine and leans his head into the stone bowl and sniffs and sort of pushes his nose up and frowns a little bit and is like, soup looking pretty thin, all things considered. Not a very Moves his finger around In the empty ball

Not a great It's going to be slim pickings For everyone that wants some soup Oh, I'm so sorry It was No Well, well We had offering freely given

Of course you don't have to But Oh no, I have Did anyone I reach into some of my pouches In my belt And I produce two handfuls of rice crackers that I toss into the bowl.

That's good. The moment it hits the bowl, burps. Not even having to consume it, just it hits the bowl, and he, you know, they feel, Mr. Soup feels fully full. And he goes, oh, that's wonderful. That's very, very good. Well, so sorry, little ones. This little two-foot guy calling you both little ones.

Me too. I'm taking that personally. That's fine. So big now. Wren knew me as Dalmi, and I've been guarding this stream since before she built this cottage here. And it was such an honor

to have a witch like her. Come and make a little garden that my stream could water. I always felt, so grateful. And she built the shrine, too. Can you believe it? Oh, can you believe it?

Suey raises her hand. You see, he raises a hand up, too, and says, Oh. No rain. Oh. I don't feel like it. Amay also raises up the hand. Sort of wiggles her fingers.

Okay, I could just, I get it. I, of course, have promised Grandma Wren that I will continue to keep the invitation of her cottage. My cottage open. Do you need help looking after the cottage? Oh, well, yes, please, definitely. But... Of course, I've done that for so long,

and I'd be happy to do it for you. These rice crackers probably could use a little... Is this gonna add this... I got you, I got you, I got you. And Ceeb steps forward and produces like a very fine silvery flask and just pours out a bunch of brown alcohol. That's some good soup. All right.

What do you find friends need? I endeavor to quickly explain the situation. Explain it. You see that Mr. Soup, aka Dowmai, is wobbling on very short-legious. His head is about four times as big as one of his legs. She's just wobbling on little stumpy legs. He goes, uh-huh, uh-huh. I'm sorry.

Something about a heart of the world, and I have to go find the, well, yeah, the sword, man of black. Sorry, I'm panicking. Also, I'll be quiet again. I think it's not for me to have a familiar. Okay. Okay, I don't know about any of the other stuff. Oh. But I'll tell you,

if you need an animal, there's a lot of animals around here, and I wouldn't be much of a stream, spirit, if I couldn't. Okay, hold on. Time to get to work. And you see that he sort of waddles on over to his statue.

He says, been in a minute, let's see if I still got it. And he jumps into his statue, and all of the alcholns. and rice crackers in the bull swirl up and you just hear kind of an eruption of bird song and crickets start going that's getting later and you just feel a little warm hum emanating from the statue it is very clear that something is happening in being done nothing happens in the immediate aftermath of that but you can feel some

kind of thing at work. And you do smell very faintly. A little bit of rosemary and pine. Do you do anything in preparation of the spirit's work? Or if not, what do you think of when you think of a familiar? I close my eyes. I take a deep breath. Pine.

And the rosemary? I listen, thrumming of something deep. deep in the earth and I think about how I can help this place, this village, my community, the people I care about, which is kind of admittedly of her short list. I, uh, this is huge. I mean, a witch is familiar, is her lifelong companion. and I, which I never had one of those except for Grandma Run. And, you know, all I can manage is a whisper of... As you think of how much of the rooster was...

Renda, don't do it. Don't make the familiar a butthole. As you think of how much of a buffalo taro was, Suvi, you smell blood. And Amé's eyes are completely closed. And Amé, what, like, are you... seated in the shrine? Are you on your knees? What sort of position are you in as your eyes are closed? I am standing, but in a bent almost halfway, in a bow towards the shrine.

Out of one of Amé's pockets, a little bit of those rice crackers are still hanging, and has her eyes closed and is hoping, hoping, hoping so hard and thinking those thoughts we know she's thinking, you see a familiar face. A fox begins to creep out of the woodline, looking at those crackers now a little bit closer to the ground, and the fact that Amé's eyes are closed means he's got a shot. Creeps a little bit closer, a little bit closer.

I want a good friend. I want somebody who's, you know, they don't even have to be that powerful. Just somebody who help me with the chores and Sufi, do you do anything in this moment as the fox is approaching

or Ame and I'll actually roll a little stealth check for a foxy friend. What I want to do is give the fox advantage. I want to help. I love this fox.

The fox makes eye contact with you sees that you are not going to blow up his spot. Yeah. And goes, and gets very close. I just step on a little twig. in the opposite direction to pull a little focus.

Comes up, gets the rice crackers. As he, I'm sorry, what did your roll right in? I got a 15 and then a 10, so 15. As he, or as the fox, scampers up and snatches out of the rice case. Without opening my eyes, I dip down and I grab whatever I hear in front of me. Woo!

Risha, grab the fox, And you see the fox goes, Ah! Let me go. Let me go. You're mine now? What am I doing? What am I doing?

What am I doing? Oh, you're laughing. Hot, tap, hop, top. Why? Well, where. Hi. I'm Amay. Uh, your new best friend.

Ooh. Coming on kind of strong. Okay. You know, I'm not, I've never really had a purple fur besides the two of you guys. Hi. Ooh. Look, I didn't eat, I don't even, I didn't even, I wasn't even around when those chickens got eaten. Oh, so the truth comes out.

I pluck a feather from the tip of his nose, but otherwise I... You put that there. You put that there. Oh, I did. Yeah, you did. Hey, hey, hey, hey. You can't con a con, all right, buddy. Okay.

Holding him by the scruff of his neck. Pause. His paws are there. He's just hanging from the scruff. And he says, everybody calm down everybody calm down be cool little fox be cool now i know we all got questions you're wondering what happened to those chickens i can help you find the guy who did that i'm wondering what i'm doing with my mouth and why it feels like it's something that i can do that lets you

know the things that i know but i'm just screaming quietly specifically with sounds i didn't used to make That's called the human condition, my friend. And now that you're a familiar, get used to it. Familiar, familiar, familiar. Okay. So, if you can tell me what... Okay. Okay, you know, I'm sorry.

You're right. You started off on the wrong foot. All right? Now I'm just going to put you down. And we're all going to be cool. You put him down. We lower him down. He doesn't spring away.

He remains looking at the trust that he's being given. He looks up and goes, were those your chickens or? They were the chickens that lived in Grandma Wren's farm, okay? Just forget the chickens for just a moment. Look, I've been skulking around here for a long time, okay? And the second I saw that damn rooster turn into whatever he turned into, I said, now's your shot, okay? You put in the work, you put in the time. You're going to get these chickens.

I respect that. Thank you. I'm Amay. I'm a fox. Do you have a name or something you would want me to call you? Call me. Call me. Uh, hey, you would know more about that than me.

Okay, well, we'll circle back to that later, I guess. Sure, sure, that works for me. So you've become a witch's familiar, which means that we are in a... I want to get too technical here, but basically we do magic together now. If that's something you're interested in, there could be chickens in it for you.

Hey now. Do magic together. Yes. Magic meaning. I stamp my staff on the ground and the illusion of it being just sort of a wooden staff like shatters and falls away to reveal like a glass staff.

Doing stuff that doesn't. make any sense. Yeah. Ooh, too accurate. You got a deal, all me? Sounds fine by me. I can see myself working my way into a lot of chickens on this. Yeah.

Yeah, you'll get your chickens. All right. It's a fast, oh my God. This is the weirdest hour of my life. Yeah. All right. You see, the fox looks up, and you see the last little sort of crumbs of rice cracker blow on the wind

out of Mr. Soup's stone, as the fox sort of walks around and says, okay, yeah, I'll admit, I've been playing it solo for a while, and the pickings get pretty slim around here. There's not a lot of space in between house cats and big old bears and panthers. These woods seem to get smaller every day. So I'm happy to serve. You can keep me fed?

Yeah, absolutely. All right. that works for me so he sort of does a little circle jumps up on the statue he jumps up on Mr. Soup's head jumps back down on the shrine weird scent what is that

it's like rosemary and pine why do I know to make those noises for those smells well there's an awful lot I gotta fill you in but now that we're partners I

I got a job for you we uh we have to go track down a brother a friend of ours um he's a spirit spirit

uh yeah yeah all right well wait are you not a spirit I gotta stop I was pretty clear I'm a fox Right but you're Hey Your guess is as good as mine I could not do this a second ago

I mean let's not get into the particulars of how a thing works. I live or die in the particulars, and I know you know that. I truly did what I have always done. I got grabbed by a person, and I started screaming, and every other time I screamed before, I just screamed. And this time, feelings that I used to have that were just feelings started to turn into sounds. So that just happened.

You have all watched my entire personal history of being able to do this. Yeah, it's pretty exciting, huh? Yeah, I guess it is kind of a trick, right? Yes. Yes, in some ways it kind of is a trick. That's kind of the things that we do. Hmm, I don't like that. Give me an Arcan check, Suvi.

23. That's a high role. Hey! I think you've studied everything that the Citadel knows about witches, I think you know about witches because honestly, probably some of their best stuff

came from you, just from your proximity to having lived with grandmother Wren, not that you would have shared anything big, but I think you know about witches familiars, which are very different. When a wizard summons a familiar, it is a spell effect.

Witches bond to real animals and strike bargains with them or offer them a home and give them like long light, and speech and all these other things. So they're very different than a wizard's familiar. But I think you know a little bit, you put together something of like

what familiars represented of their witches? Because it's a very powerful soul connection. Like grandmother Wren was endlessly kind. And Taro was, at times, a little bit of a butthole. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And Amé, who was praying with all her might to like do right by her community and friends has attracted a fox who seems kind of like

a little schemer. Yeah. And I think you put some stuff together. Yeah. I'm just want to make eye contact like, hey, I don't know how long we're going to be able to talk. If you ever, ever, ever mess with me or my stuff, where I come, we eat boxes. Bad for your health, but point taken. Okay. Well, we have to go find a friend, or our, our bruntz. brother, he's a spirit, and he has a powerful item that we need to break a curse on me. Okay. Well, I don't... No, you smelt the smell already.

Yeah. Rosemary. That's him? Yep. And pine. Oh. Oh. Oh.

Oh. All right. When do you want to go? Do you want to go now? Ah! Uh, I need to grab a couple of things from the cottage and set it up. Okay. So...

Can I go indoors? You get one more chicken. I get one more chicken. He's gone. Wait, no. Fucking gone. Boom. Gone.

What? You're not going to be around to feed the chickens? But as you say you're not going to be around to feed the chickens. You actually see that the hum of the crickets and the birds and everything, the stream babbles a little bit, and a couple of little seedlings bloom in the chicken yard. I think you're offering to Dalmi has kind of created a little bit of a bloom for. or at least for the time being, for the cottage to take care of itself. Yes. I reach into my pocket and I have a slightly melty, uh, unwrapped chocolate in there.

And I toss it into the bowl. I clap my hands and I bow. And I head back down towards the cottage. Don't you did. Look, not Henrietta though. I don't know which one Henrietta is Is it the big, is it the big, good-looking one on top? Oh, God, you're going to come and get ready,

comes up and approaches the door and looks at the open door and is like, can I go inside? Can I go inside? You are welcome in the cottage, yes. The other foxes could see me now. Takes the chicken and comes inside.

It's like, ooh, warm and soft. And goes right near the fireplace on a rug. It's like, don't hate it. This is a life I could get used to. And just starts making a huge bloody mess of this chicken in front of the fireplace on the road. This fox rips, dude. This fox absolutely rips. Turns out, Ursula needs a familiar.

We all getting foxes, bro. We all get in foxes. I tidy up the cottage, wrap up as many loose. sends as I can, I take a satchel and I stuff in there, anything that I think I might need. My herbs and herb kit, my alchemy set and some provisions, a couple of knives, rope, just anything that I think might be useful goes somewhat haphazardly into the bag. And as I gather it, I know tidying everything. And I know I'm putting off having to lay grammar end to rest.

But eventually I do realize Suvi sees me go upstairs, go into her room. And when I exit, I'm holding a small urn, copper. and it has a little rooster engraved on it. I go up once again to the shrine and I place the urn next to the statue. I've brought up a little incense of some more rice cakes, whole bottle of nice whiskey that I place. into the bowl. And I leave the little offerings in front of the urn.

I only give myself a couple of minutes, but then you see me come back down, dusting my hands, and I go back to busying myself, grabbing trickets and pieces of paper and things that really seem like garbage that all go into the bag. Watching someone who has based their entire life out of being in and around a house, preparing to go on a trip is earnestly stressful. Yeah. Okay, well, I'm going to need literally everything in this house because I've always had access to the entire house. Suvi will do her best to pitch in when there's something obvious that makes sense.

that she can help with so much of what Ame does is just esoteric things that... Do you think I need a fire poker? For what? Poking fires? Where a fire is on purpose, there will be one. Please don't. Okay. Trust your friend, boss.

Last thing you want to do is poke a fire. All right. But Suvi will take the amount of time you spent up at the shrine to creep up and there was one sort of like shawl that grandmother wren would always keep over the chair that Suvie would sit in in the library when she had to stay hidden that she'll go and grab and that's the one it makes her feels just so disconnected because it's threadbare and kind of lumpy and doesn't fit the aesthetic of the person she is now

and she doesn't know where to put it. There isn't a place for it. But there's no way she could leave without it. So she's kind of just holding it weirdly while she follows you around and tells you that you don't need to grab anything that you're grabbing. Okay, but like what kind of tea should I bring? There's tea everywhere.

You live on a little island where there's nothing. Everywhere else has things. Please. Well, Miss Big City, right? I'm just... Yes. You know best. Wait, hold on.

And I go back and I grab my face. Say that again. Okay, miss Big City. I guess you know best. I've missed that. Okay, we can go. You both follow the fox, uh, who begins to follow the scent of pine and rosemary. You journey for quite some time far from the village of Tomo.

making your way through the woods along roads and in inns we pass some many days of travel moving through this place a couple times in your travels through the woods and roads pastoral scenery you pass windmills and orchards wide rice fields and raised roads and the lowlands up in high ridge and moss-covered crags with trees growing, and possibly out in the middle of dizzying heights. You go through rich pine forests and deep into deciduous woods with ancient piles of acorns and moss

and pass many roadside shrines of spirits and beasts and all manner of things honoring them in their way as you pass by. You walk through some people. walk through some villages where there are many who are pleased to see a witch, you walk through some towns where a quick flash of a citadel staff buys you a swifter journey, and many times on your passage a sudden shift and direction will take place.

Sometimes in towns, sometimes in the midst of forests that the fox will take you on, as he will suddenly look around confused and go fresher trail. way. I am delighted. And after a couple of times, he will sometimes go, whoever this guy was, he's passed through here four or five times. And always choosing the fresher trail after many days, salt on the wind, far reaching sea and white waves breaking. on the shore of a large port city known as Joris.

The city reaches down to the coast. The shore is rocky and slate gray and tall mossy towers rise up out of the sea. So there are like sea, many sort of standing stones rising out of the water around the port that have winds swept are almost like narrower at their. base and they are on top of little patches of grass. And some of them have just sheep and how do they get up on that giant rock out in the harbor? We don't know. You see tall ships in the harbor and the city is sort of split in two where there's the lower city down by the dock closer to the shoreline and then there is a small cliff side and there are a couple of neighborhoods that switch back up

the cliff, which is not a staggering cliff. It's probably only about, you know, 80 feet tall or something like that, that little shelf that shunts up. Some roads that cut up or big, broad staircases, there's one staircase that cuts deep into the cliff and is a large marketplace that just follows the stairs up into the higher city. And up at the top of the city, where you can still smell the salt on the air,

but there's still the sort of rich smell of hay from nearby farms and a little bit of that distant forest. although the trees around here, there is no true forest within sight. There's little groves and copses and orchards, but a town this big is surrounded mainly by farms, and you're around a lot of people. I think, Ame, it's been a long time since you've been near a population center this big. I don't think I've ever been near a population center this big.

Toma is small and, I mean, it's forests and the cottage for most of my life, But also, this is the coolest thing ever. Joris is about five times as big as Silbury. It's definitely a city. You would not call this a town. Amazing. From the heart of the empire, you've certainly, like, you know, but you can recognize there are a lot of people here.

And the fox begins to lead you towards a large farm field with huge hay bales. There are scarecrows. There are also this part of the island. There are tall, like, cypress trees. and lots of yellow grass. So the grass has become yellow while the trees are still green. As you begin to approach a fair,

there are vendors and acrobats and performers, and the fox turns around to look at you and says, we're getting close. As you look up at a big, broad sign of wee brightly colored wagons and a large sign, rows of hay bales as seats where probably 200 people have gathered around a stage with curtains, and the sign over the impromptu gateway, brightly colored in blue and gold, reads,

Sir Gallant and the Princess Brianie. Hi, I'm producer Taylor here at Fortunate Horse, where we help the incredible cast make worlds beyond number, but that's not all we do. Oh, no, you sweet summer child, come with me, take my hand I have so much more to show you. For Fortunate Horse makes many shows. And today, I want to tell you about rude tales of magic. Rude Tales of Magic is like the, the stitch to Worlds Beyond Numbers, Lilo. A little wilder, a little crazier.

The AV Club said it was the best new voice in actual play podcasting. I-09 just recently published a list of our best NPC names, which they called the best, quote, end-de-biz, end quote. You know what, why should I tell you? I just, here are some reviews that we've gotten on Twitter.org. This is the funniest thing I've ever heard, not just podcasts, but anything. My parents do not allow me to listen to Routails of Magic.

I sneak out of the house and listen to it with teens. I laughed so hard at Routes of Magic on the floor of my warehouse. I actually was disciplined by my boss. Now, I'm summarizing that one, but that is an actual thing that occurred. So if you want to get in trouble and have a good time, Rood Tales of Magic, available wherever, podcasts are. are given to you freely. The main show is free.

Same deal as with Worlds Beyond Number. Hey, you know what? Let's just hear the trailer. When the things that birthed the gods were young, they tried their hands at creating reality. After some trial and error, they started on a second draft. But their first draft of the world, forgotten in a damp corner of creation,

clung to life like mold on bread. That feral world of wild magic named itself Cordelia. Okay, thank you. Okay, you're welcome. I'm gonna follow my dreams. I hope you don't. Is what you want to do, talk about your dad to kids? Spiders cannot die either.

And the spiders cannot die either. I mean, well, to be fair, I'm not still sure. I don't know what to have. Are you a virgin? I would get the hell off of this campus as soon as possible. To have to give my bird, I taught him how to speak, and now he thinks he's smart in general. Like meows.

Hi. Hi, I'm not taking his shit. Just pee. All right. And we're walking. Does everyone in hell know who we are now? Uh-oh. Ha-ha!

Never trust a demon. Leave this place. Get lost, straight. Ah. Did you tell me to get lost? I'm running. I burst one of you into flames. Davo, you stay in the hole.

Okay, sir. I love you. Ha-ha. Yeah, let's all say, we all love each other. We all love each other. We all love you. I love you. I love you.

I love you. I love you. I love you. In my heart, I believe you in the eye. I love you. Oh, Davo, you're excused. All right. Boom, Shakalako.

What? Now, that's a trailer. So, listen, if you're in the mood for another high-octane, immersive audio, narrative play, comedy, adventure, baby, I think we got you covered. All right, now, back to the show, to that little fair on the outskirts of the seaside town of Juras. evening still and Joris faces the east it's on the very like southern tip of the island of Akam and faces

off to the east so you know the city towards the east it is you know deep dark of night into the west beyond these like grain fields and cypress trees you see a sort of pink and rosy sunset torches get lit

and a big banner unfurls on one of the wagons And they're wearing a top hat with sort of a black and silver wand. You see there is a professor, J.B. Adelaide, and you see that a ringmaster comes out onto the stage saying, Ladies and gentlemen, thank you one and all for coming out to this evening's festivities here in Joris. I think you fine people have worked hard enough for the summer for a show. And you see a dove comes out of his sleeves. And...

Wow! Oh, my gosh, yay! The utter contempt on C.B.'s face right now. Wow. Many fine shows we have here, but you've come here to see the show of shows. That beloved tale of love lost and love one. The story of Sir Gallant and the Princess O'Brienie, without further ado, we whisk you away to a world of wonder.

And you see the curtains apart. You see a cardboard backdrop painted two-dimensional trees and a tower that's literally about like four steps tall, so it's like an eight-foot tall sort of flat structure. And leaning over the edge, you see that there is a, um, you see that there is a, um, A woman in a pink gown, an actress, a very fair, a lovely-looking woman. But you see she's wearing a blonde wig, but some of her own real blonde hair

is coming out from under it. Confusing. And she calls out. And she says, Long has the ogre kept me hidden away, high here, in the tower. And long,

years have I wondered wherever for there could be brave knight for which to find that he might traveleth to this town, yon tower, wherein might rescue make

of me, his lady love. And you see an armored a tall armored figure walks out on stage. The armored is gleaming and shiny, more reflective,

sort of like almost falsely reflective, with one hand holding a prop sword, and the other holding a cardboard cut out of a horse with barding that kind of wraps around the waist. And this figure of Sir Gallant appears on stage. Lou. What happens next?

From around the other corner comes in his unglamored form, bear-like body, large hind legs or hind feet into clawed hands with opposable thumbs. The only thing is Ursula. The only thing different is that, you know, Covering his kind of plumage is a kind of cloth, a cloth hood that has little cloth warts and things hanging off of it, though his kind of feline face and tusks are still visible. Arms outstretched walking out. I am the ogre. I am a monster.

It is. You see that, you see, Ersson's wearing his true form. You remember Ercelain is large. He is impossibly large. He's seven foot. Seven and a half feet tall. Seven and a half feet tall.

Towering. A lot of people, it's lit by torchlight, and the torchlight and the lights sort of reflecting out from the sort of scalp sconces of the stage lights, it adds the same. sort of otherworldliness so that you can tell, both of you, a wizard and a witch, look and see that people simultaneously do and don't understand the sacred thing they're seeing. They don't understand that they're seeing a real spirit because they're seeing something on

stage in this lighting that's made them accept that a cardboard cut out is a tower and that sort of like pressed wood painted could be trees. but you hear, especially a lot of children just scream. A lot of children scream. And you hear an eruption from a couple of plants working for the fair. You see that some people try to grab their kids and run. They don't quite know what to do. But you see a couple plants go,

boo! In a way to get a boo going to remind people that this is like part of the show. And you hear, boo! Do you yell that? Ursula, give me a perception check with advantage. 17. You look out and see, are you got, did you guys take a seat? Are you just like standing near the entrance?

See me standing in the back. We're standing near the entrance because we just walked in following. So standing in the back, thankfully people are seated. Otherwise you probably couldn't see Ame over other people. Ersson, you look out and see two adult. women that you instantly recognize far off, though they are, past seven or eight rows of seated spectators, standing and looking at you. What is the expression that Ursulaun sees on your faces? Suvi is a rickness of, like, contempt for the form and confusion at what you're doing.

Amay, who had prior to this been enjoying herself quite a lot, feels, looks as though her stomach has dropped out. I just, just aghast at the indignity of it all. And livid at these yokels, booing her friend. Ursulaan, what do you do? You recognize them. You see the looks on their faces.

And you see that Sir Gallant is waiting there. Because he heard there was a shout, but Sir Galant's looking at you as well expectantly. It's his line next, but there was like a disruption and he's just waiting for a moment. Do you do anything in this moment? I think Ursulant's entire body goes slack in first confusion. and then deep shame and pain and forgets where he is entirely. Sir Gallant looks at you and goes,

huh, stamp your mighty feet ogre, though you may. Long days have I traveled to rescue the Princess Briani that you have captured and put in your mighty tower. Draw steel is the dare. I think Ursulaan, just going through the motions, reaches down and pulls his sword out, but then it falls slack at his side. As the swords goes slack, you see the guy playing Sir Gallant covers his face with the front of the horse and goes, this is fight two, you start fight two.

Ursulon's going to drop his sword and walk away. I walk around. It's no true night. I say as I point my finger towards the cardboard-wearing actor. You say that's no true night. See, Ursula, I walk off. Someone from the crowd is heckling.

The guy playing Sir Gallet looks up and says, that's right. I am no true night. because a true knight all never flees from a battle so though the ogre has run away I shall pursue him

and Princess Brianne shall sing a song to lull the I'm going to get the ogre she's going to sing a song for birds birds and he rushes backstage and the Princess Brine looks out

and you see what hisses at someone in the wings you can't see and says, sing, I have the observant feet. Could I read her lips? Yes, you absolutely can read her lips. As I turn to leave,

I just yell, you can't act either. You see that there is a jerkin-wearing, like, pitchfork holding guys. We're here for this, like, farmers festival who leans in to both of you and says, I'm sorry, ladies, this is sort of a show for kids. You, you know, I know that might not be to your liking, but the families don't get many shows.

They come in from a long way around. We'll go. Okay. It's fine to turn and leave. It's fine if you don't like it. I don't like it either, but, you know. I like this educated yokel. This yokel of fine taste.

You know what? A city this big deserves a better caliber of performance, all right? And then I also turn around and go. March. March away. The two of you march off. Ursula, you walk backstage. Professor Adelaide goes,

what the hell are you doing back here? I am sorry. There are people. I do not want them to see me here. Hood comes off, walking toward my stuff, realizing I don't really have anything. Really, Ursulant's thinking about leaving, just walking away, just...

You've got to finish the show! You've got to finish. They are. I am. You two, I'm going to say, go ahead, actually enroll initiative. We'll go with the higher of the you roll, and then you're rolling for yourself. 13. 23 on, natural 20 on the dive for 23.

Oh, my God. Okay, well, that beats my dirty 21. Oh, brutal. Brutal. Hate to see it. Hate to see it. So, backstage. So Adelaide is following you off towards, there are kind of like, there's a small canvas tent that has some,

easy to set up sort of tables, and there are sort of canvas sacks of costumes. Your stuff is in here. There's also like a little private, almost like one of those armor stands that had jouched, those little skinny, striped tents, and that's sort of where you go in, honestly, to kind of like Superman style, like, change your glamour if you need to. But Adelaide is following behind you and goes, bear, we need you back on stage. We make our money from selling the tomatoes at the kids throw at you at the end of the show. I cannot, I cannot, not tonight, um, the music box.

Can I have the music box back for now? You want to walk out of the middle of this show, one of our biggest shows of the year and get, this is exactly why I kept the music box, because you don't understand the meaning of work, you don't understand the meaning of putting in an honest day's labor, you don't care about Oscar or Agnes or any of the performers in Adelaide's troupe, all right? I, I'm, I'm sorry.

I did not know that they would come. All right, look, look. Kid, are you in danger? No. Then what the hell's the problem? These are people who know me from a part of my life where I could have been something else. And I am not that thing. I do not want them to see me now. I am, I'm going to glamour. Do you do that just right in front of Adelaide?

No, I will know. I know better. I am going to turn to Adelaide and say, there will be no show tonight. And I'd like to, can I attempt it? I'd like to intimidate him. Give me intimidation roll. That's going to be a 17. I think on a 17, that's loud enough for the two of you to hear. And I think even some other people, like up on stage, you know, Brian, he's going,

The birds, the birds are forever, our friends. And you see. No, keep going, keep going. We want to hear the song. Three. Bersen. Ever are friends, the birds, every bird, the sparrow, the sparrow, the penguin. The sparrow.

Name other birds. Keep naming birds. I'd like to think that the yokel on the back is just rattling them off. Woodpecker. Come on. Power word. This is not hard. Chickety, titmouse, nut hatch.

Egret. Egret, heron, crane, stork. Stellar's Day. You see, so you yell that, you yell that, Oscar runs back, the actor who plays Sir Gallant

and sees Adelaide, who is taking a step back or two, and Oscar just goes, once again, like, Hey, hey, I think Brian is holding him out there. Is everything going to be all right? Did you forget the fight?

It's just the one that you start. I know it is fight number two. I know fight number two. I'm well aware that it is fight number two. There are people here. I do not want to see me. Do you need help stalling them out? Please.

All right, all right. All right. So I head back towards the back state. You come around. There's a little lit area outside of the back. the larger canvas tent with all the, like, props and gear and stuff like that. As you're approaching, by the way, that the fox just goes, like, everywhere.

I mean, it's just the smells everywhere. I mean, he's just been working here. Okay. Break on so far. And you see the actor who plays the night turn around and say, oh, sorry, this is a performer's only area. My apologies. Hi, yes.

We know the actor who plays the ogre. We need to see him. It's immediately. I slam my staff on the ground. revealing it to be that tall, jagged glass spire of the Citadel. She's at her full six feet tall and pulled back a sleeve enough to see that, like, ring. This is a big enough city that they should know how to respond to this energy. Amazing. Go ahead and give me intimidate with advantage.

Partying. What do you say to Oscar as he's standing in front of you? Move. He goes, yep, and moves to the side. and moves to the side. And you see Professor Adelaide off at one of the wagons that's not creating the encirclement around the stage. But you see him look.

Oscar looks at you. You can tell that Oscar doesn't clock the sigil, but just clocks wizard, and that's enough for him. You can see Adelaide clock the sigil and sort of stumble up the steps into his. wagon and close the door. Do we see Ursula? You don't see Ursula.

But you see that Oscar just steps out of your way, essentially. I stride forward. And I'm just looking around, kind of using my staff to, like, open little flaps of tents, not saying anything else. Okay. Ursula, you've changed into your glamour at this point. Yes. I am going to say, so are you going to stay in the tent? after you change the glamour, you can hear Suvi and Amé searching for you out amongst the performers' tents here at the fair.

I think Ursulaan looks out into open field and considers for a moment just running. And then just waits. go ahead and give me a stealth check and I'm going to ask actually for you to do because you're staying put I'll ask for it with disadvantage and you're trying to beat

passive investigation. Only a six. So you're standing in the tent, your glamour up, the flap of the tent is moved with the head of a crystal staff that is partially illuminated and soft blue light fills the tent

as you are face to face with Sufi. You would look upon the face of someone who looks as much like a brother you never had as they could of around your same age, if not maybe a few years older. Yeah. But I do think I'm not looking at you. I think my face is down. I don't meet your gaze, but I know you're there.

Sufi will snap in Amé's direction to get her attention to pull her focus, to follow her into the tent. The tent that you now stand in is very small. It's only about like five feet wide. So you'll be elbow to elbow. But you step inside. Amay, you, you see the fox follows you in. You see a strange fox. I hate to break it to you, boss. We've been following. the wrong sense since the start. This is just a guy. Oh, can you give us a moment, please? Yeah.

He just stays in the tent. Yeah. Alone? Give you a moment alone. How would I do that? You would go outside of the tent. Oh, you're asking me to leave. Oh, yeah, leave.

Yeah, yeah. You see the fox turns and whips out through the tent flap. And I flip around, and I launched myself at Ursulon's middle. I take a step back and away from you. I, in turn, pull back my arms. Alarmed. I'm sorry.

If we disrupted, you're my best friend. And it's very good to see you. You're more of a night than that guy's wooden performance. I am not. I am not. How did you end up here? I think at this point, Ursulaan, that turns to take you both in and sees you and your incredible clothing and your gorgeous staff. And you and your put together witch's outfit with your perfect hat and your full pouches, which is full pouches, which he can smell, are filled.

with delicious treats and natural things. The years have not been as kind to me as they seem to have been to you both. Grandma Wren isn't with us anymore, and we need your help. But before she left, she sent her love to you and remembered you fondly and said she was so grateful.

for the time that you spent with us. As am I. I have not known kindness, like those days, in quite some time. I'm so sorry, Ersala. I wish you'd come back. Could not bear to face you. Are magnificent. You don't ever have to feel ashamed of anything.

I know that you went off searching for honor, and I can't imagine that you didn't find some along the way. It doesn't matter what you're doing now or what you look like, but I'm certain that you have acted honorably. I have tried, but this world, it is not the one I first encountered. It's not the one that I came to this,

to your world seeking. It is, and I have, I have given up much to, to remain your music box. Gone? What do you mean it's gone? I, to remain here with these people,

who are some of the kindest I have met? These people took your music box. I gave it to them. I was, at the beginning, I was not consistent. I missed shows. No. And C.B. puts her hand up and turns and marches in the direction of the man that shut himself into his wagon. You walk towards the wagon.

You approach the door. There are four short steps up and then the door in front of you. She reaches out with her staff and uses prestidigitation to knock faster than, like, a hand could, that rap that almost feels like one sustained long knock. You hear a... Occupied. Sorry. This will be quick. The door opens. Professor Adelaide offstage is a little bit of a sadder sight.

A shorter fellow who you see the thick makeup that looks better on the stage than it does in person, that sort of disguises a kind of watery, sad-eyed grimace as he holds his hat in his hands opening the door. Hello, hello? I need the music box. She begins to walk up and into the wagon. Oh, well, as actually, as a hedgemaid to, the edge page. enter to my sanctum, and a bunch of cards fall out of his sleeves. Disrespectful.

I'm not a wizard. I'm not. And he steps off. He leaves the wagon and says, help, help yourself, anything you want. Well, I'm going to do that. I don't know how to solve an emotional problem. Give me an archa check. Nine. Everything in here is absolute bric-a-brac garbage. Fucking two-bit quickly scrawled things that thieves and cutthroats wrote on scraps of parchment, seeing a wizard open a book peeking over their shoulder, compiled into penny dreadful things sold in harbor towns across the edge of the empire. My scrolls that contain several incantatum.

Stop speaking. Now. Where is it? If I search, I will destroy. What little garbage you hold, dear. There is a magical chest in the back that the ancient world of the lingua archana Casar should open, and if that doesn't work...

You would... What's that? You would dare reference the lingua archa... In front of me. I didn't run! He sprints. You see he throws his top hat off into a field, takes his white gloves off, just sprints, pell-mell.

He kind of goes, I think halfway into the field, he decides to start going serpentine, and he doesn't know of the nipples. Just dodging off into the night. And that's the last we'll ever see of Professor Adelaide. J.B. Adelaide. In the wind. In the wind.

You find that there is a completely non-magical chest in the back. That is, it has a lock that is designed to look magical, but is just glued shut. And you can see that the bottom slides out. Oh, okay. She takes her time. Considers breaking it to make a point. And then in a moment of weird mercy, it just slides it out. You see there's a couple little sort of like private ledgers that look like maybe like bookkeeping of the caravan.

This guy's also like the business person at the head of this little troop of performers. And there is Amme's beautiful little music box. I'm sorry that you didn't feel that you could come back to the cottage. It was always your home. I know. And it was clear even when you were very young that you're, that your kindness and loveliness would extend forever to me. But I had already given up so much that was important to me from that time when we were young.

And I feared that you would look upon me the same way you did tonight with pain, defusion. I could not bear. To see that from, to have my true friends see me solo. If you'd wanted to be an actor, I would even support it that. I didn't want to be, I didn't, I don't want to be an actor. It was. Oh, thank God, this. Suvi, you reappear, and you see that Suvi has come back with the music box.

I think Ursula melts. Erslan melts just a little bit. No one says Ursulaan right. That's... It's not that hard. They can put in a little effort. I mean, there are some yokels here who are more cultured and have more elocutious tongue,

but they are few and far between. There's one particular one. It's been coming to the show kind of every night. Stands in the back and comes up to me, and has notes on my performance. Everyone's a critic. Everyone is a critic. But that is, uh, truly kind of you, Sufi.

We, we need your help. You and the sword that Suvie bestowed upon you that we have found out is called Wavebreaker. Uh, I think, in this moment, as you say that, uh, like, I think there is such another wave of shame

that crashes over Ursulaan, uh, and you, his, his, his, his human is like, uh,

his glamour form is a, like, is a full foot shorter than he, uh, than he is in his true form. And I think you see that, even that person kind of, uh,

their shoulders slouch or my, my, my shoulder, slouch, my head goes down. And I would say even, I would say I partially begin to disappear. I think there is as, as I, as I, uh, and again, I turn my head away from you, unable to, uh, look at either one of you. Please don't go.

The sword is gone. I, during one terrible winter, when I needed a place to, to take shelter, I, I gave it away. That shelter should have been offered to you freely. That's not your fault. Whether they knew you were an ardent friend or not, hospitality to strangers is required. It's sacred.

I just want to go over and try to hug you. I think now Ursulaan takes it. Your fault. Well, At least, now that the sword is gone, now we know we have a quest for you. Oh, ho. That was Lou Wilson as Ursulon, Erica Ishii, as Amé, Abria Ayangar as Suvi, and Brennan Lee Mulligan, as everyone and everything else. World's Beyond Number is edited, designed, and scored by Taylor Moore at Fortunate Horse,

with additional sound designed from Michael Delphi Studios. For even more like this, join us on our Patreon. We'll see you there.