Worlds Beyond Number - WWW #29: The Spy

Episode Date: June 18, 2024

Everybody's gotta serve somebody. But who? Who exactly is calling the shots? And how can you tell who anyone else is working for? Finding out can be expensive. It takes sacrifice, subterfuge, diplomacy, a poker face, a long look in the mirror, and worst of all: networking. All this and more, we give gladly, for the sustaining and preservation of great magic.Worlds Beyond Number is:Brennan Lee MulliganErika IshiiAabria IyengarLou Wilson and is produced, designed, and scored by Taylor Moore at Fortunate Horse with exquisite design and editing help from Jared OlsonSPECIAL THANKS TO: Tazer Army, Shannon, and Amanda Freberg!Transcript of this episode coming soon! You can find transcripts of all our episodes here, for free, on our Patreon.Our 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. A high vaulted hall of ice and a table some 50 feet long, set with candelabras glittering in Arctic icy white light. The table itself is made of rich dark wood and high-backed wooden chairs carved in geometrical, table table table with northern figures of bearded warriors and axe-wielding giants, populate scenes on the backs of these tall wooden chairs. The table itself is set with an extravagant feast. Enormous roasted birds and beasts, wild boar that takes up, like an eight-foot-long boar sits in the middle of the table with some enormous, enormous, like bushel of apples

in its maw that kind of can't close because its roasted tusks are pointed up. Sintillating music fills this space sort of melodic and charming and ethereal in a way that suggests

that you are simply here to eat, enjoy yourself, be at rest, be at peace, and continue on your way. Ara, this sort of tall spirit in the retinue of Inri the Witch of Winden Stars, moves hither into directing small ice fairies to bring certain things back and forth from the table. The hall is filled with predatory animals, lion, panther, pack of wolves, Hakea's retinue is here as well. You see that Hakea and Gremor are already at the table. Marara is nowhere to be seen.

at the head of the table sits injury, and the now even smaller retinue of the witch of the world's heart enters the dinner hall with the wizard sworn and the wizard Maddie, having been relieved to return to the ship. Walking into this space, how do the three of you enter into this hall, knowing that you are about to break bread with someone who has murdered a member of your party? Question. Did Amay change anything about herself before coming to dinner?

Or is it just like what you've been wearing all day long? I definitely went and, especially after all of that, I went and took a bath. And I have a change of clothes on. Okay. And yeah, Suvi will be in like jet black, super formal gear. but will have made no effort to wash the blood off of her face. Ha ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha. We all know what went down.

Incredible. Go ahead, actually, and make an intimidation rule. This will not be read as an insult if it is low. Eight. We're back! You walk into this space with some blood. staining your face. And do you all walk in as a quartet, the three of you and the fox?

Or do you sort of file, like, in other words, do you check in with each other before coming to dinner? Ursulaan definitely would have looked to Amé as to how she would like to enter, or if she would like to be announced, or just in any way as we can kind of, you know, presentations and situations like these are important. or they can be. I am. I have been racked with nerves and anxiety, trying to conform to any traditions and rituals and ceremonies that I know are important.

This is we're going to dinner, and I will not be, I will not be bullied into making a big deal out of it. That being said, I am dressed a little nicer. My robes and my gown are the snowy whites to blend in with my surroundings. But have a bit of a sheen to reflect the Aurora Borealis. What's your vibe going in? Do you want us to do anything?

Yes. Are we behind you, Amé? Yeah. Or do you just want to walk in as three friends just here for dinner? I'm not doing three friends here for dinner. Okay, fine. I've got the wizard straw in my hair. We walk in as a united front.

Suvi, are you certain that you are all right to go in here? What do you mean? What do you mean all right? Well, one of your retinue is currently still splattered on your face. Mm-hmm. I'm good. Sounds like everyone's good, boss. Let's get to step in. You all enter the room.

As you're walking down as a united front, you have your protector, you know, shield at the ready, and a black-clad wizard of the citadel with you. Your fox sort of... You see, as he's going, you heard a sort of humming in the halls earlier. And you can see the fox seems to sort of have a little... Has the rain road, like, stuck in his head. And he's running along going like, When the green has reached the green of green

And the wood by gentle sea Oh We, we what do you do? I love as old as time Okay, yay, yay. I remember it. You got it. Sivie was humming just a little bit, but try not to be audible.

as you arrive in the great hall, injury stands up in deference in respect to your station and says, which of the world's heart? Thank you for joining us. Please. And you see that she looks at Grimor, who is sort of kicked back in a chair, and Grimor barks a command

because all of the seats at this massive table are taken up with animals. and otherwise, like, soiled and occupied. And you see that a couple of the animals leap off at her barking command and clear a small space at the corner of the table. I think Ame and Suvi exchange a look. I'm like, what the fuck? Suvi is trying to do the subtlest, like, this is disrespectful,

but we're following Yarlene. And I'll look over at Ursulant, too, like. Ursulat's just holding his shield. also looking at Sufi and wondering if he's supposed to be doing something. But knowing in his heart that it's, we're following Ames leave. Unless Sufi knows, am I as the protector? Am I supposed to? But he hopes Amé will do something soon because otherwise Ursula is going to step forward.

I walk towards the vacated spots. and I spread my hands wide and I pressed to digitate clean place settings and you know it dusts off the chair dusts itself off a little bit and if I may also puts a cushion on this seat

where Suvie would sit and it is a little blue silk cushion and there is the chair expand almost seems to expand a bit for Ursula on. So you go sit, but in that area the animals kind of cleared off from, which is a little bit farther away from the other witches, from Hakea, Gromor, and Indry.

You look up and see Injri turn to Neif and hand her a plate that has some food on it and say, please bring this to the Antibalist. and Neif turns around and takes off, walking down a hallway. Amme again and Suvie again, look at each other. I think it's just like the like when you put your knee against your friend, when you're like you hear hot goss and you're like, we are being, we're like ducks on a pond, baby. Super cool above the height of the table and below like, oh my god, I got a bag on. I know, yeah. Yeah.

Injury turns and says, will the rest of your retinue be joining us? They will be dining in their own quarters. Ah, understood. You see that Grimor looks up and says, One of them ran. Understood. My condolences.

I hope that there are no such future incidents during your time here. Hickea looks and says, looks around her plate and says, Miserable fear you've accumulated here, injury, absolute rubbish. And you see that injury looks up and says, I am so sorry it is not to your taste, Hakea. Porter's and make my own food. And you see that she just, again, leans back and disappears into moss and vanishes. Can I made a little insight check on that?

Yeah. I just want to see if she's just a grumpy old lady that doesn't like the food. Hold on a pretty good roll. 18. Nice. On 18, you know that that extreme disdain for the food in this place, I got an old guy that I look after. If you being a normal old guy?

Yeah. You believe so. And you do think that there is some magical component of Hakea being the eldest. of the coven that allows her to speak this way to other. Like, you guys know if one of you did that, you'd like burst into flame or something. Like, it would be, it's like, there are some advantages that come with age in this place

and being able to be like, I don't like your food is one of them. But all of you are able to grab some grub while you're here. Indry looks up and says, I believe I heard some notes of music on your way here. Yes, it's from one of our travels, a beautiful seaside town, and a beautiful moment of swelling song. Would you care to sing it for me? I'm not the best singer, but I think that, yes, if my friends will accompany me.

Of course. Give me a performance check. We should have practiced. We should have. We should have. We should have warmed this up. 19. A wizard cannot sing. 10. Okay.

Five. And I'm just mouthing it. Yeah. I think Sufi knows she's tone deaf. Oh, yeah. Ursulant's given it a little gusto. The fox on a 12 belts it out badly. So loud.

I think Ursula's definitely trying to meet or beat the fox's volume. Once that happens, I may decide, I decide with my, with my, that it's become a drinking song. So I raise it's hankered, and I start belting it out with the fox. By the road, the rain ride right to the sea. Yep. Uh, give me, because Suvie's not singing, go ahead and give me an archa cha. 13.

You see that, Amaze just singing a little drinking song, but in the moment that she gets lost singing with the fox, and Ursula. You give me insight as well. Nine. I think that on a 13 and a 9, you actually don't get information. Yeah, that's fair.

That's all. No, I think there's a reason behind Suve doesn't want to speak out loud or sing. Like, she is trying to keep it together. And I think that's making her a little bit worse at noticing everything that's happening. You see that injury looks at you and says, utterly, utterly charming.

Thank you for sharing. Thank you for asking. I think that raising our voices together and song is one of the best things that you can do to keep spirits up. You see that grimoire says, your wizard didn't sing. Well, Suvi is her own wizard, but also I think that perhaps Suvies just a little shy when it comes to singing. I just stare down, Grimor, and don't say anything, and just take another slow bite of food. Once she warms up to you, though, you should hear her when we're at the tavern. It's quite charming.

Will she warm up to you when you sign her contract? The contract that she brought from the citadel to compel you to do their bidding. Oh. I am certain that there is a misunderstanding. Not of the trickery of the written word or those things that clever minds do to insourcele with sounds and shapes.

apes upon the page. That is not my domain to tend to. And you see that Grimor stands up, he goes, and the animal sort of fall in behind her and take off. And dinner sort of abruptly concludes, Heinrichel

looks at you, Ursula and as he gets ready to head out, goes, shall I meet you at your quarters? I'm happy to come to yours. Very well.

We will take care of you there. Uh, and walks away. I have a conversation with you later about just maybe getting some guarantees that, uh, just making sure, uh, advocacy on behalf of the wizard was a priority for the witch of the world's heart. I would have talked to you about it later. Have you be a priority, Sufi. I hear you and I appreciate you, but the manner of your leaving didn't confer a lot of

confidence. and our working relationship went on my arrival. And I think this is the first moment that, like, Suvi sort of gets uncomfortable enough to, like, kind of touch her face and, like, touches that dried blood, and then just sorts of, like, is, like, weirdly, like, wiping it off while she's talking while trying to, like, maintain a sense of chill. Injury stands from the table and says, Amé, you wish to speak with me after dinner. If you be so kind as to offer me an audience, I would be grateful.

Sufi and I pick up a napkin and hold it toward you, unsure. The instinct is to help you to wipe it off. Yeah, Sufi will immediately just do a little bit of a jerk back, but gratefully accept the napkin and then avert her eyes and doesn't really make eye contact with you. Bear, please enjoy your evening's festivities. If you will have no need of your guardian,

then I shall busy myself. You see the fox speaks in your mind, Amme, and goes, boss, where do you want me? Follow at a discrete distance. Follow at a disc, follow at a... Just a little behind us. Okay, I'll be a little bit behind you.

Here we go. And you see the fox sniffs around at a lot of like the animal waste that is like in the room now and busies himself. And Amé and the fox depart with entry

and we are left with Suvi and Ursula on at the table together. Wizard Sky, would you like accompaniment back to your lodgings? When Ursulaan offers, can I make an insight check to see, like, if any of the, like, weirdness that just transpired, like, I just want to get a vibe check off of the homie.

Yeah. Give me insight. And would you have, would you be trying to be deceptive? No. Then just set a DC for me. Seven? Great. I made it.

An 18. Great. Yeah, what's going on on Ursulaan's face? And you're not wearing your glamour in this palace. Absolutely not. Ursulaan is registering all of it, right? He has seen both the moment in which his divine sense saw the inherent connection between Suvi and Amé and is also reading the awkwardness as understandable that Sufi is experiencing great tragedy. I think Ursulaan, in his presentness, in his struggle to,

not struggle, but like often choice not to hold on to past grudges, old wounds, to live in that with you. I think just sees somebody who sees his friend not have any of their little posse that they showed up with and is offering to be your posse in this moment and to be with you so that you don't have to feel as alone. I don't think there's any sort of like, Ursulaun refuses to choose sides in the Amay v. Suvi. for himself, though I'm sure that could Ursulant's place and that would register differently for

each of them as individuals. CV just can't keep the like super stiff facade and just kind of gives a little smirk of relief. Thank you. Yeah. Yes.

Thank you. I'll offer my arm for you. I take it. Under the northern sky, the Aurora Borealis Twinkles, on a high sky bridge in between two towers, walking along this causeway of ice, Indry towers over Ame, a resplendent Arctic queen, holding your hand in hers. And going across this tall sky bridge, you hear the fox in your mind go, I'm back in the stairwell

I don't know how discreet I can be on this bridge I think if I pop out she's gonna see me Well it's okay if she sees you I think Oh great All right

Just be cool Just be cool though See the fox Sort of stops for a second And goes And just start saying out loud Hey hey hey hey hey Ooh

Here I go Here I go there it is um a brea really liked how the fox thinks you be cool um I'm in hell my whole station is ridiculous

my hand and injuries walking along the side this queen this idea of a queen uh with my hand clas for hers it's a deeply uncomfortable sensation of being a child, being led along by an adult.

Entry looks down to you and says, the conclave meeting this morning I know must have come as a shock. Wren. It would not strike me as terribly impossible that she may not have prepared you for the depth and profundity of some elements of witchcraft. The taking of life in the service of great magical cause is not something any witch should do lightly,

lest she fear for the very nature of her magic itself. But from time to time, the spilling of blood is required for the sustaining and preservation of great magic. It is not a slight or a grievance against you personally. Of course. Nothing comes without a cost. And as wonderful and thorough a mentor as Grandmother Wren was, there were just some particulars that she couldn't teach without me experiencing them on my own.

And it's just so unfortunate that she left us before I believe her time. Grandmother Wren was a powerful steward of her station. and I know that she would have chosen her apprentice with great care. This morning, I'm sure, is not the direction of conversation you might have hoped for upon ascending to the coven and claiming the station of the world's heart for your own. You asked to speak with me that I might have some advice or perspective or clarity to grant you and I would be more than happy to do so.

You need but ask and I will do my best to answer. And give me an insight check here. I would like to do an inside check. 17. She's so tall. It's hard to read. It's just hard to read her face. It's way up there. It's way up there. But I think

that what you're struck by is you saw her through the fox's eyes talking about how Marara, by trying to force the conversation quickly, had effectively like, tipped the hand that this was going to happen. And then Hakea got cranky and didn't want to have the vote then was like, I don't want to do this in a rushed way. And now she's here talking to you being like, what can I offer you? And it's a weird thing because you're not sure how, like, in a schoolyard sense, you are being lied to.

There's, like, fakeness here. But the world of this witch is so alien, there's almost a thing where if you were to, like, confront her and be like, you want me dead, that she might just, like, look sorrowful and be like, it is a pity, yes. You don't know, like, you don't know what the, like, you can't read her face to see, like, did you catch her in a conspiracy? Is there a contradiction in her behavior? Or would she just argue that there is no contradiction in any of the behavior you've seen,

either in your familiar's eyes or your own? It's hard to say on that 17. I do understand that there is no good without great sacrifice. And if I must needs be sacrificed, then so be it. Magic and my station is far more important than my own life. I do wonder, though, without the station of the witch of the world's heart, how the vast realms of human and spirit and collaboration will be tended to, do you and the rest of our sisters not already have full enough plates? Injury muses. She stopped here at the zenith of the bridge looking out over the vast icy palace with so many keeps and towers. You see the meridian, this black sky ship of the empire out on the pier of snow. You look way off in the corner. You see a little edge of the keep of the world's heart out there. And you see Injury muses touching a long, beautiful fingernail to her chin. and drops the hand and turns to you and says,

When Uruna, my sister, passed, a great magic was lost from this world. But great many things to which she tended were lost. I believe that there were passageways in the deep sea between the world of spirits and the world of mortals that may have become untended to in her absence. But the seas did not vanish.

The oceans did not dry. And a thing that is untended to has its magic become unruly, not non-existent. in the absence of the station of the world's heart the truth of the world's heart will simply not be spoken for but that does not mean it will vanish no but it seems to me that the nature of my station facilitates the

what is the opposite of unrulyness it facilitates the ruliness of the rest of the denomains certainly I can well imagine that it might but the truth is these stations do not tend to anything these stations hold witches and the witches tend to them and if a witch is not capable of tending to her station then it is as good as unfilled perhaps in some cases worse Ah, yes, that would be a shame. Well, to have the conclave reduced from five to three would indeed be. Cause for some concern, I should think.

Terrible it would be to see the coven reduced in size at all, and I'm hoping it does not come to that. The concerns of the council are merely that. this magic be maintained. And as you said yourself this morning, the station of the world's heart comes ever more into conflict with the stations of the rest of the Coven of Elders. But correct me if I'm wrong, Amé, you asked for my advice here. Did you wish to ask me anything? Or is this more that you seek audience with me? In truth, I am a bit reluctant to ask some of the questions I had as they are of a more personal nature.

For instance, I know that you advised Grandma Wren in her youth. What was she like? What was Wren like? Yes. You saw the changing of the station of the Witch of the World's heart from Wren's predecessor to her. and from her to me, I'm told that my transition was not the messiest. No.

No, no, no. My transition was far messier. Oh? Yes, yes. Surely, not as messy as. Well, it's a long story, but you go first. Well, to answer your question, Grandmother Wren, first and above all else, eternally, unyieldingly, infinitely of a characteristic behind that, I would say that Ren was, and I mean this, neither as insult nor compliment, but merely truth. stubborn, intractable, unmoving.

Oh, and of course, kind, very kind. The only member of our coven that she ever truly shared cross words with was Marara, who they rarely saw eye to eye on their time together. I do have a recollection of that from when I was younger. of our sister of the waiting moon visiting us at the cottage and foretelling dire circumstances

and speaking of a vote Marara spoke to Grandmother Wren of a vote Yes In your apprenticeship overhear the nature of this vote No not at all I was a child and more concerned with the fact that Marara had taken my favorite mug. I know. She stole a mug?

Well, she did not return it once it had been emptied of its contents. I could speak to her about that. About my mug? About your mug. Oh, well, I wouldn't want to bring up old business. Well, that's one thing you and Marara have in common, is you love to bring up old business. I don't wish to cut our time short, but...

And there's a twinkling of light. She says, there's some business that I need to tend to with my apprentice, but... Oh, yes, Neef. Neef is so lovely and has been so helpful to all of us in our retinue. She has? Yes. How far long is she? in her studies.

Oh, well, Neif has only just begun. But I am glad to hear that she has been helpful. How may I ask, has she been helpful? Oh, well, just making, to making the quarters of all of us feel so homey. And, oh, and she gave the Wizard's Sky a beautiful item of clothing. and just truly they're accommodating to our every need and every turn. Did you have to do chores like that when you were an apprentice?

I know I certainly had a lot more goat wrangling than it seems Neif does. Give me one last insight check. 18. You look at injury and on her beautiful, icy face. She looks at you. and you are starting to read. Like every time, you've traveled all over the world with grandmother Wren. Faces are different.

Like, the faces people make to communicate different emotions are cultural. They're generational. They're based on groups and subgroups and subcultures and all kinds of different things. It's like, it's not, there's not a lot of, like, there are very few things that are universal. So you're often trying to translate. And with injury, her impassivity is so. so taught and structured. And when she smiles, it's a smile of beauty.

She smiles in a way not to overly wrinkle her face. So, which is not how you can't achieve a deep smile without wrinkling your face. So everything is set and poised and geometrical, much like her palace. But you watch a smile that the corners of her eye are a little bit smoother than normal in her eyes. are a little wider than normal. And now you know what her rage looks like. She, as you asked the question, did you have to do chores like that?

Like Neif does. She said, yes, I had, they hope there are many witches of the world's heart to come. If you are the last, you will have earned that honor. And she turns around

and how? strides down another staircase and the fox trots up beside you. I watch her go, and they say in the fox's mind. He says, you're telling me. Sufi and Ursula, to where do you walk? Which is sort of a question because Ursula's accompanying you. So where is Sufi walking to? Sufi's making a faint walking back towards her.

tower and where she's being kept. Yeah, trying to catch Ursula up on the lips that we read at dinner. But doing it the worst wizard way of just, okay, so history lesson. There were two factions before the Citadel was even raised. We had the like antivoliant

and the Akkadati. It was like a whole thing back and forth about like, do you want to accept the empire's help? and the Antivolians were like, no, we don't want to. And the Akrodati were like, and then there was like a civil war, and, I mean, the Akrodati won. So that was kind of a thing.

But she said that there was one of the other. That faction's been gone for hundreds of years. So who was she talking to? And what was she talking about? Was that interesting? Did that make any sense to you? I'm a little heat up. I didn't hear or understand.

Most of it. Okay. But I understand that a person you think was gone is here. She's feeding another wizard. Hmm. In the palace. But, like, very specifically, and... And what do...

And one who opposed to the citadel. Mm. Antivalus... But they don't exist anymore. They were defeated, and that is why the citadel is what it is. Yes. Okay. There was a whole big civil war in character.

over it. So that's weird. Is it the sort of thing we would simply ask injury about? No, no, no, no, no, no, no. Also, I'm not really on anyone's good list right now, so we're going to kind of keep it on ice and just make sure Amay's taken care of. Just hope Ami didn't play her hand too soon about, you know,

the whole idea of how do you convince them to not destroy her station and having to destroy another one. Like, you bring that to the group, so then they start to fight about it. Rather than sectioning it off. Exactly, and then they have time to think about how to respond to it. Yes, yes. Yeah. But that's, I mean, I know I'm not the strategist here, but I think in spending time with Heinrich this evening,

perhaps I will be able to acquire information with regard to grimo. I don't like her. That's right. You have to go to that. I do. Why don't you go? I got it the rest of the way here. I've got to go stop at a library. Of course. Well, Sky, I'm sorry about the day that you've had.

Thank you. And Suvie's gonna hug him. When you were with Armey before dinner, there was a moment of connection between you two. Something true. Truly, truly special. I just wanted you to know that. Well, I'm going to go drink until I'm sick.

Don't die. I'm going to try not do. Ursula, you stride out through one of the keeps, walking through one of the snowy courtyards, approaching a copse of evergreen trees. You see that the trees climb up, and you were told this is the keep of the woodland green, but you don't actually see a building here. You just see heavy snow-covered evergreen trees, but you smell smoke, kind of like oozing out of some of the branches.

But then you spend, it's like a wet, it's like a peat smoke. It's like they wouldn't let like an open flame in here. So there's like peat or something like that burning inside. It's a musky herbal aroma coming from these trees. give me an investigation check, difficulty of five. A ten. You root around and you see that there is a kind of burrow in the side of the snow that you can feel warmth coming out of in this copse of trees.

I've had good luck with burrows in the past, so in I go. Going inside, the snow eventually gives way to moist, wet earth and pulling yourself out, the keep of the woodland green is this wild, almost like a hundred foot tall. It has like a conical structure to it, like almost a teepee or some other kind of conical tent. And there is a little bit of snow coming in from an opening way high above, but there is activity all throughout the sides. You see that there are like flowers blooming and fairies moving back and forth, tiny little two-inch tall floral fairies that alight from branch to branch. You see that there are a number of grottoes here. And within this enormous cavernous

opening, there are sort of more normal-sized trees. Off in the corner, you actually see this giant mossy, agate gemstone throne, where Hakea is slumbering. With each extra. exhalation moths are kind of like coming out of her mouth and reentering as she breathes in again. And this massive serpent familiar is all over her. Her hands have grown roots into the arms of the chair that she's in. And her dress has just become the ground. Her dress might be the entire sort of flora landscape of this tent. If she gets up, the whole landscape might, like, come up with her.

But you see that there are a couple members of grommors retinue here, although you don't see grimo personally. But you see there's, like, the lion is like asleep in a massive bed of, like, violets and Jasmine, just sort of little tail flapping back and forth. There is a grotto of some sort of hot spring, a little bit of, like, water. coming up bubbling amongst some mossy stones. And you see that Badezai and Socorro, the Firefly Spirit is there. And the wood spirits or tree spirit are there.

And beside them with a just bed sheet filled with bottles is Heinruel. Who looks up, he is fully naked. And Socorro and Badesai are both naked here as well. This is a, it is wild here. This is, you are in a space that feels magically aligned with your birth in a way that you haven't felt since being a cub in the world of spirits. You look at the grotto. It's quite removed from Hakea's throne. It seems they're giving her some respectful distance in this space.

And Heinle looks over, it just turns around, full frontal nudity, holds up a bunch of bodies. bottles and goes, Ursulan, you've come to die. Um, we agreed earlier that those were not the stakes. Uh, you see that Sikoro says, Hmm, perhaps die to be reborn. And he holds a bottle of liquor over his head.

Yes, brother, yes. Uh, Ursulat is going to, I think, stab Wavebreaker into the ground, like at the entrance, keep the shield. and bound over to the hot springs. You've bound over to the hot spring. You see that as they do,

do you, do you just leap into the hot spring? I, um, no, I don't, I think, Ursulaan is that,

Ursulaan can feel that kind of push and pull of what you're saying. He has been at the Citadel. Like he, you know, the last, like, community, larger community he was in was the Citadel

where things were proper. And I think he can feel himself wanting to connect with that energy from his youth that, and I think sees this group of people and wants to bound into it, but what if that's not their custom, and just kind of excitedly runs over? You run over excitedly, and a Heinruel says,

you see that Heinruel just shoves a bottle into your chest and says, let's get started. And as you do, you see that Socorro and Bodze look up and say, Banzai goes, will you join us in the waters? It would be an honor Socorro says Come then, brother. Join us in the water.

Uh, Orysalon is going to get undressed. Um, just, yeah, fully. You get down to your birthday suit and you look like a big wild beast. Yes, and, uh, and ease himself into the, uh, into the water, whatever one. I think as you get into the water, you see that, uh, Heinruel leaves his, his, his, glamor drops, and he drops to all fours as a massive dire wolf. And you see that he splashes into the water with you and rolls a bottle over that just

begins to guzzle out into the hot spring and wraps his wolf mouth around it and just starts to swallow this icy, clear liquor down his gullet. And you see that Socorro and Banzi move to either side of you as you sit here in this hot pool. And we cut to an icy hallway as the wizard's sky marches towards the library of stars. Suvi feels better in this moment than she has the entire time she's been here. It's like a weight has been taken off her chest in a way that she can't really fathom or can't quite place, like something, it's not that she's forgotten about what happened like two hours ago,

but like it feels like some things are coming into alignment. And then she thinks about Grimor and dropping the sort of contract at dinner, again, just a couple hours after the reveal and the death of the Wizard's Straw. And Grimor is a very fearsome. creature. But I think without arrogance, Suvie has a like, that was too quick.

That was ungraceful. You didn't sit on like that piece of ammo for long enough. Unclever. I'm not worried about you like this. If I walk, I win. So there's like a lot

of that like spinning up in her head. Like, all right, cool. You approach the library of the stars and find the doors closed as you arrive here. I run a little detect magic to see, like before even interacting with the handle, like, if this is a guarded and warded sort of closing. You see that it is magically locked. There's a magical lock on the door.

But having reached for your magical training, within the detect magic as you're looking at the powerful lattice of the lock here on the door, you realize that these doors have a latch on the other side. So they are, in other words, you need a key to get in from the outside,

but on the inside, because it doesn't lead anywhere else, it's a little turn latch to just lock and deadbolt the doors to the library. And as it does so, you feel in the detect magic, a pulse of clarion trumpet calls, the tinkling of glass, and feel an emblem of the citadel keyed to your name cloak on the far side of this door. Yes, Suvie remembering the little music box, a secret gift, and now knowing what she knows about injury and the way that,

in which injury is at the heart of a lot of this has that little indignation of like, oh, that was naive of me. Injury isn't sort of worthy of the like budding affection that I've shown to her. You need to, on top of everything else it needs to happen. I need to get that and get out. Is there any, like, would it be as simple as like a little mage hand cast with an understanding of what the other side, like, I've been on the other side, so casting something without being able to see where it is as a cantrip, could that be a simple enough solution to get the door open?

100%. Go ahead and give me an Arcana check with advantage. Natural 20. Oh! You stand in front of the door. What you see as when you walk, you win. Wizards are known by their secrets and when they have time. they conquer all. You reach out.

You would need line of sight to what you're interacting with. The music box had mirrors lined in it, and it's keyed to your name. So because you are predicted by a name cloak, you are your name, and the top of the dome cracked open to see the sky, can see the sky, which means when it has your name cloak embedded within it, it can see the wizard sky, you can see it. The mage hand appears, and you may open the music box inside of the room without being inside. Okay. There's a lot going on.

So I guess I'm just going to ask really quickly. So did Amme explain what the fox saw in how injuries, like, star well works? Yes, yes. And you did ask specifically, like, can you get a little eye line on? maybe like some past coven stuff. Yes. So there's a little moment where Suvi's like, great, I'm going to go grab my little music box.

But while I'm here. Your mage hand, so a perfect recreation of your own grasp made out of that Erulyan glass force opens up the music box. Suvie, she hears that. And it's not just the comfort of hearing a song. that she's heard before or that her friends were singing, there is something again underneath that of like profound and tremendous relief

that she can't quite put a name to, but like she can, like she like sort of heard herself exhale a breath she wasn't sure she was holding or why? You exhale. Some part beneath your consciousness. knows that everything is going according to plan. And there is, I think, a moment where you think of grimoire who knew this information and is endlessly fearsome.

When you move with cleverness, you move at angles that no one else can see coming. And I think that you feel the music open, the music box open, and you hear a kind of like skittering noise of things moving within the library. And as the music plays, you suddenly hear the door unlatch. And I just enter. You enter inside and a tiny scorpion made of mirror glass scuttles from the door where it just came from the music box. You see, the music box no longer has mirror inside it.

Okay. The library has probably a dozen small mirrored scorpions made of fractured glass skittering around, and several of them jumped down these wells and vanished down them. And one came over to the door, unlocked it. You enter into the space. And as you close the door behind you, the little mirrored scorpion relocks the door

and scuttles back about eight feet, turns one of the panes of mirror glass in itself and puts a projection of the broken knock spell back on the door. Yeah, I think Suvi has this sense of like,

oh, they're cute, but a big difference between Suvi and Amé is like, they are doing their job. Suvi doesn't have like a sort of like pet or infantilization to them. She doesn't want to go over and like, oh, what a little buddy. Like, you're doing your job.

I'm doing my job. We're doing what we need to do. And I think there's just that little bit of like, as the one that unlocked the door kind of skittered back, Cibi gets just that little bit of scent of the desert, her home in this place that like is so cold that there is not a lot of scent. That like is very reassuring. And she's going to make her.

way over to the well. What they do is not her business. And you see that the Scorpions also in their disregard of you pay you the same respect. Yeah. Sitting on top of the music box, which you

briefly see, because you hit it well, but you get to the center of the room and take a look to make sure that it's still where you left it. And in this moment, suddenly, I think there's a little bit of a jerk as you're like, why did I leave that here.

I did leave that here. I guess I'm, I guess, you know, like there's that budding up against the things you don't remember. But you see that on top of the music box, knitting scorpions out of broken glass is a

mirrored spider. That's like making them and shunting them off into the room. And the tiny little silvery dancer in the music box as the rain road. plays, and you approach the central well as that one lone mirrored scorpion projects injuries, knock spell back on the door. Yes, Suvi will make her way over. And I think just try

to familiarize herself. Like, is there a way to know what the stars on the shelves are without having to physically interact? Honestly, give me Arcana, but also just investigation is fine, too. The archoness is a 15. 15. Looking at it, it's the, you can tell that this wishcraft is very potent. And you can tell that the organization of the stars that are on the shelves is personal and not systemic. Copy. But give me an investigation check as well.

That's a 24. You look around and gazing at the stars, you see imaging. and flashes, everything is always outdoors and everything is always at night. There is a limitation of the magic. This is what the stars can see, which means that they cannot see during the day, and they cannot see inside or through buildings. So every scene you see is some externality, something happening at night, something, you know, around.

And even like, it seems like the weather can also block some of the site. That being said, each of these is concerned with witchcraft, but also. Citadel. There's a lot of Citadel here. I think you actually literally go and see one on the nearest shelf to the central well, where the wall kind of juts out a little bit. You see you drunk as hell in a bathroom in Gavril. So what you think is this system is actually quite practical. These are the nearest memories most relevant. It's like a workbench. It's like this is what the Witch of Wind and Stars has at her fingertips.

Everything in the wells, and as you look down in the well, it is bottomless. Not only are you in a tall tower, you think this goes into the heart of the mountain. This goes deep, deep, deep, deep. So whatever this archival system is, anything in here has to be called up by, you. name. She said Morning Wren song, which is Grandmother Wren's for name. And so, like, anything

that's not, it's like, something has to be on the shelves for her to, like, chance upon it and remember something. Copy. Then the question is, the one that's got me drunk as hell in the bathroom in Grivriel, does that look centered on me, whose

name she should not know, or on Amé, who she could reasonably know? Amin. copy. You caught astray there. It's not centered on you. Totally fine. Okay.

Well, I got a couple minutes, because this went very well. Before I do the Coven thing that Ame needs, I remember back to what Steele said about when she was searching for information and how she thought that a witch's magic might allow something to happen in a way that the wizards couldn't.

I think Steele just thought of the wrong witch. and I'm going to try to pull up Yorin. Speaking Yorin's name aloud, stars rush from the well in front of you and from other wells around you too. And whatever magic urine has been using to avoid detection from the Citadel is well bypassed by this magic here.

And you can see why, because this magic cannot detect Yorin where he is now, which is always things Citadel is trying to do. It's saying, show me Yorin, show me Yorin, show me Yorin. Bypassing it by simply saying, what do the stars remember of the one known as Yorin? They remember much. And it paints a picture of the life of this individual.

Stars rush in front of you. You see memories of him walking the halls of the Citadel. You see him standing in the firelight as the bombs fell in Silbury on your night that you went towards Toma in your youth. And as you collect these memories, the spider stops knitting scorpions, looks over, leaps to your side, and just begins to with its eight different eyes, point eyes at all the stars of Yorin. and as it blinks, you see each eye glows with a reflection of the light of the star, capturing everything. I love wizards so much. Give me a pure wisdom check. 17.

Memories of urine. You see one of, and also, for the first time, you see that we've seen in the podcast, that we have seen here in the story of the wizard, which, and the wild one, you see a table in Gavril with your mother and father sharing a tankard, a slender, wiry, muscular man, Asian features. He has salt and pepper hair, a full like Toshiro Mofuni-style beard, who smiles grimly but does laugh at a joke told by Stone in this moment. and you, for the first time, we have described the human form of urine in this place.

He sort of smiles ruefully, but I think on that 17, you see that the spider collects all these, and you're seeing soft and stone. And had you come here even a month earlier, the heartbreak is you would not have known what to say because their name cloaks would have protected them. I'll let the spider collect it. I think that's a little too much in a big day. And I'm just going to look around and do my best to get a really like snapshot, like thin slice of the nature of the like wizard intel that injury is collecting.

I don't know exactly what the witches have to do with. the Citadel specifically. So that's stuff that can be, like, thought about and considered later. But like, let's get it. Let's get a snapshot. Let's let that happen and kind of move on. And I think there's something inside of like how personal that felt that is keeping Suvi from wanting to pry more. Like there's a lot of, oh, I could see more of my parents.

Or I could check and see if steals. She's handling all of the war if silver's alive and well and thinking of me and all of that gets shut down in a way of, ah, it's too personal and it's too close. And then when enough time has passed with the Yorin Star, I will go back. What's the easiest way? Well, I know what Amme wanted, and I just can't help trying to be a little clever. and I'm going to ask to see anything of what the stars have seen of the King of Night. You say the King of Night

and experience the same thing you would say saying steel or silver, which is that he's held his breath and you don't have his name. So you say the King of Night and the stars do not produce anything because he is protected by what he is known as. But this is a good...

Uh, and yeah, can I look for some micro-fiche on how the last coven went? You absolutely can, but I think that there's a trick here. Morning Wren song at a conclave with her sisters. Uh, so here's something interesting, right? Uh, so you can say morning wren song, and I think that you can, like, as you think about that, you actually can narrow that down somewhat. So as you say Morning Ren's song, a bunch of stars pop up. Okay, Boolean modifiers for the sky.

Plus minus Toma plus conclave plus. As you assume he sort of trial and errors, go ahead and give me an investigation check with advantage. 19. 19, great. you begin to pop things up and as you do, what you quickly realize is you scan through, you're doing this very quickly,

you're like, here's the ones with Wren, where she's not in Toma. And the easiest one you realize is the names of people. So you're like, oh, Ren, Hekaya injury,

and a very small number of stars comes up, right? Like, when were those three all seen by the same stars together? And then you realize, as you're looking through, you're looking for a coven stuff, but you realize for a moment,

that Hegea is the only witch who's been here since the beginning. She is the only witch of the Woodland Green there's ever been. Oh, shit. That's dope. So she has been here from the start of the Coven of Elders. Pulling that, you go to memories of Hegea that were seen by the stars, and you see an image. an image of a verdant prime evil forest. Hakea looks 16 years old.

She is young. The manner of dress is like a primal one. She's existed for centuries. So she is wearing like this beautiful cape of feathers. She has a painted face, a crown of like twined beads around her head. and it falls in like a veil of beads. She has a giant, like, curved, bladed weapon on her back, and it's crawling to the branches of a tree.

And at the top, you see that she reaches up. And you can see the stars, and she's speaking with the tree in this moment. And you can hear this language that you're true. But it's like you can't understand literally the meaning of the language you're hearing, but the spider is still recording this. And you see that she whispers to the tree. She is weeping.

You see that there are some injuries. She's, like, fought her way to this place. You realize you're seeing the end of some kind of quest. Oh. And there is a wand that she rests from the tree, pulling this, like, charred place where the tree has been struck by lightning and pulls this thing from it and holds it. And you see that appears and all of the stars in the library gleam.

And you... Look through the dome in a tall tower elsewhere in the palace. The gleam of this wand in memory is matched by whatever is up in the top of that tower. Ursulaan, how drunk does Ursulaan get? So, I mean, we could roll a concede for it, but the intention is so drunk. You are under the poisoned country. Hell yes. He claimed his whole life for this.

What are you talking about? You see, off on a corner, Socorro and Bodze are in lovers embrace, flowers blooming around them. Heinruil is looking at you. He's, like, wrestled you so many times that he's exhausted. You see, he vomits in a corner and immediately begins to drink more liquor. You are so gone. You're gone, gone, gone. You see that little fairies flit around.

Heinle swats lazily with paws at fairies. that sort of go by him. He goes, Great bear, the great bear left. How many children he sire and I knew some of his children. You knew the great bear? You knew the great bear?

I knew him. Well, I once saw him sleeping in the horde of his spawn, dancing and tumbling. Hitler and Yon. I wonder if I was there. I was probably there. I was there.

Socorro and Badese sort of roll off of each other. Bodzee yons and stretches at her rib cage opens and bugs fly out. And you see, she looks and says, did not come of age there in our world. Here. Here with, I'm a red. You know, rent. You see, Sikorra.

goes, Yeah. He, she raised me. She raised. Oh, she didn't raise me. It was, we spent,

ah. Heinrull sort of, uh, flops over and was more on his stomach and says, so, when was the last that you tread the world of spirits,

brother? Oh, so long. so long ago I was close I was close a few days ago when I met

Holliman you know Halima you see they look at each other and you see Socorro goes I do not He's fast

He's very fast You see that Heinrule looks and says It sort of sniffs at you Badeze smiles or fangs in her mouth, and she goes, Oh, are you then way shadowed? And you see that she rolls up and kind of sits behind you

and wraps her legs around your waist and her arms around your chest and says, I am so sorry, Ursula. I grab, I like reach up and grab her hand. It's okay. I have true friends. And that makes it. Okay.

You see that Sikor, there's a long pause here. Heinrull kind of licks his lips looking sleepy. Socorro sort of nods and says, It is good to have true friends. We have true friends as well. Aw. You see Badesai smiles and whispers in your ear. Secoro is my true friend.

seemed like a good true friend. Badeze looks at Heinruel and says Heinrul do you want to go get us more liquor I think we're out. You see Heinrich looks and says

How is that boss? No I have some more here. He pulls some out and you see that Sikoro goes Oh good There's a bit of a pause here and Socorro looks at Heinrul

And you and says Heinrul Do you have true friends? And you see, Heinrich goes, My love is grimoire, witch of the wild hunt. I have no need for friends. I have my back prey. And you see that Sikoro puts a hand on your knee, Ursula, and goes,

Spirits walk the world. And we serve and protect. the witches of these realms. It is true. But it is important to have true friends of our own so, Ursula. So much. I met Orima. You know Orima? As you say Orima, you can hear a buzzing of insects around Hecaya and she kind of stirs in her sleep. I called her. I called her sister and she got mad at me. We are all brothers and sisters. That's what I thought.

You see, Bodze says, Brother, sisters, siblings, all, Ursula, there is a brother of ours. And she turns to Heinrichel here too. That should be a brother of all of ours. I think. You see, Sikoro looks and says, Merriam, we talked. You see Heinruh kind of looks up at both of them,

and you see that Sikoro goes, He wishes to speak with you, Ursula. Now? Badezai says, As soon as you'd like, It is hard because he walks the road And in this far-off place There are few roads to tread

At the ending of the world You see Heinrull looks and says No, no knight Does not walk in the retinue of Hakea And you see that Socorro goes Not all of our friends are in this retinue? There's another long pause here,

and Badesai turns to Heinrull and says, It would serve you to Heinle, accept his friendship. Heinrich sort of sways a little bit and looks at Sikoro and goes, On behalf of the king of night in this place? You see Sikoro, goes, calm yourself, Hyrul. Badze, who still has like, is like hugging. you from behind. Ursulan goes, Heinrul, lighten up. And light comes from her eyes and twinkles around, kind of dazzling Heinruel, just long enough for Socorro to lift the axe and

chop his head off. Whoa. Um, uh, uh, uh, uh, Coro goes, no. And you see Badeze constricts around you pulling you down and says, friend, Ursulan. That was Lou Wilson as Ursulaan, Erika Ishii as Amay, Abria Ayangar, as Suvi, and Brennan Lee Mulligan, as everyone and everything else. Worlds Beyond Number is edited, designed, and scored by Taylor Moore at Fortunate Horse, with additional sound designed from Michael Gelfy Studios. For even more like this, join us on our Patreon. We'll see you there.