Worlds Beyond Number - WWW #42: Match My Breath and Walk in My Footsteps

Episode Date: February 11, 2025

War makes strange bedfellows. Glasses clink like funeral bells. We become the fox, at last, or at the very least: We are not the sheep. Every time we step out of that door, all we have are the words of soldiers. And so many doors are open to us. You don't want this, but at last, and at the very least: in the morning, we ride. This could change everything.Worlds Beyond Number is:Brennan Lee MulliganErika IshiiAabria IyengarLou Wilsonand 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. Murmuring throughout the beer garden, soldiers lean over, excitedly asking others to explain the elements of the story that they had missed. Peering over, huddling in groups, asking for clarification. We even see the wizard sworn standing up to turn around and say, what do you, hold on, what do you mean? The wizard, the archmaid silence appeared in the sky, leveled his staff, and he smote the great bullfrog. You see someone leans and says, well, I didn't hear that he smote. What did he do, smote? I said, I don't know.

I met a sailor aboard one of the skieships who was there who saw. The spirit appeared. It tried to make a noise. And you see, sworn interrupts and says, the great bullfrog is a great spirit. Are you sure you saw what you saw? And in a couple of places you see that the imperial soldiers who are talking animatedly, excitedly, are being met with looks of want. wonder and trepidation and awe by Citadel wizards who have some understanding of the arcane

significance of this. You see the Imperial Soldier turn up to Sworn and say, I mean, it was incredible. I mean, the monster was huge. It was incredibly impressive, but it was, you know, it was a giant frog. You see Sworn go, well, frog or otherwise, that's not the classification that we're worried about here. It was a great spirit. Did you see it? Was it bound? Or was it? And you see, Another guild mage walks up and says, I believe that the spell, whatever it was, bound, abjured, and cast away. There was no injury upon the creature,

though it looked as it was in a great deal of pain. I don't think it was having a good day, certainly. And you see Sworn, sort of stare ahead and go, raise a glass to the wizard's silence. And he raises it up, and you see that the wizard's cheer. He slams it back. and you see that someone else leans in and goes, the spirit was responsible for the flooding of the rivers

and everything that we had seen. So with those rivers dry, we'll be able to circle around. And I think the push to 12 Brooks is going to be much easier now with that spirit banished, abjured, killed, whatever. As this is happening, Ursula, you see the wizard in those red robes make eye contact with you as someone speaks to him from across the bar. I hold his gaze. Can I make an insight check on his inspiration?

Yes. Natural 20. Oh! You are looking at one of the most evil men you have ever seen. You are not mortal. And this human man is so much more inhuman than you. You look into his soul. and see a reptilian abacus of power staring back at you.

He begins to walk across the bar to you. I stand and start to move to meet him. He approaches and says, Bear of Silbury, I have pleasure. What is your name? I am called the wizard Keen of the glass coronet. The glass coronet. Yes.

a guild of majors in service to the crown. I have just been informed that we have you to thank for your heroism and guidance through Halika Forest that saved the wizard Silver and his citadel and imperial forces stationed in Abyssin and that you are a companion true of the wizard sky. Yes, I am in her service. Marvelous. May I ask how the wizard's? this guy came into the service of such a powerful spirit to lead this imperial battalion through the heart of Hallecker Forest.

Childhood friends. Is that an honest answer? Yes. Well, exceptional. And to think that your service is, I am concluding by your statement, freely given due to the true friendship of you based in child. I would say earned. A testament to the wizard's guy that her friendship inspires such loyalty. Well, a pleasure to make your acquaintance and thank you for your service to the empire.

He turns and walks away. I'd like to watch him, see who he is talking to and how they hold him. He is speaking to a few other guild mages. and the wizard slain, that very intense warmage of the Citadel, that greeted you first on your way in. The guild mages regard keen with a mix of fear and respect, and slain is looking at him with a contempt that you take as being. being, Keene is a very soft man. He's dressed in silk. His hands are soft.

He's here shuttling supplies, and you don't know what the glass coronet does. But you know that people are afraid of this guy, and looking at slain and the contempt he holds Keene in, you begin to feel that Keene wields a power that someone who is a combatant doesn't respect, and that people that want station and authority do. Hmm.

Amé, what are you doing here in the beer garden? The second that I start hearing Great Bullfrog, banishment, abjuration, I start making my way through the crowd to Ursulaan. Ursulaan, you are joined in this moment by Amé. The Fox comes up with a bag of coins around his neck. Clean hall, boss, we're looking good. Good job, Fox.

Ursulaan, yes. Have you been hearing the rumors around? Sounds like they've... banished or in some way captured the great bullfrog? Yes. Get out of here. We have to... We can't be here.

We're going to cut back into the governor's hall as the mirror fades. Lady Irriman turns to you and says, Wizard's Sky. I'm given leave to take you to your quarters, which are, of course, here in the governor's hall, but I may also remand you to the custody of your adoration. soldiers who, I'm sure, I wish to drink your health. Thank you.

If you wouldn't mind showing me my quarters, I would deeply appreciate. And I think there's a look here that is, CV is not a hardened soldier. And there's just a little bit of like, I'm one fancy, sort of fancy person looking at another fancy person, like, please feel me in this vibe. I'd love a hot bath and just to clean up, please. She looks at you and says, gladly right this way, and I think a bath should be drawn, yes? Thank you. She walks with you.

Beautifully appointed corridors. It's fair. This is way more rustic than Port Talon. Bracken is like a little bit of a smaller city. And not only that, but it's not a port city. So there's not like a lot of trade goods that come through. So it's like a beautiful queen bed and beautiful. Citadel sheets on the mattress that's a little lumpy.

Sort of like governor, this sort of like rustic governor's manse. But she leads you in, very white and clean. There's a big silver tub. And you see that she comes over and taps these two little hovering crystal stones. And a small portal opens between them and hot water begins to pour out. Thank you so much. And, yeah, Suvie will take a little bit of time just to clean up.

I think she does. that moment in the bathtub where you like let your head sink under and screams really loudly. Because it's all a lot and it's been a lot and it's over now. And her best friends, her true friends, asked her to keep her eyes and ears and senses open to something foul in the citadel in the empire, and she cannot get the stench out of her nose. You emerge from the bath, clean, hot water feels like at least your body can be made pure, though your mind is filled with horrifying thoughts.

You walk back out into your quarters for the first time. change of clothes. You've been traveling in the wilderness for two weeks. What is, is there anything else you do here in this chamber? I think the last thing is

as she's sort of setting her hair to write, it's like, oh, you got your hair wet. You do have to handle it. The shrinkage will kill you. CIV pulls out like a little brush and it's small with like little bore bristles but like the handle is like mother of pearl.

It's really, really, nice and as she brushes her hair and sort of detangles it and lets the curl pattern come back she's going to brush the color teal back into it so she appears as like who she thinks of as the wizard's guy when she goes back out to go rejoin her friends and as she sort of finishes putting herself together and puts her clothes on and like re-kits herself when she like goes to hook her spellbook onto like the little sling on her belt, she remembers that ping when asked about the glass spider and is going to open the book. You open the book and begin to thumb through it.

And in the exact placement on the front inside cover, much like where it would be positioned on the inside, lid of a music box is a little mirrored spider. And you see, upon being observed, you swear to God, the head tilts for a second to look up

and then go still again. C.V. laughs delightably. And then balancing the book in one hand, she does half of the little like high salute and winks at it. There's a momentary pause.

little flat shard of mirror head looks left and right and it skitters and does its little salute its head spins in a little circle over it and you see it crawls around on the book excitedly and then looks and sort of after saluting it does a very deep little bow where it puts this little spider butt up high and its head down low and looks up expectantly at you do you want to stay with me It nods enthusiastically. Oh, oh, where would you like to stay? I, so. And Suvie just immediately starts speaking to it.

Like, I don't know. She's just caught in this moment of like, oh, a little guy that understands. Maybe it's best if you're not seen all the time. But wherever you would like to be most comfortable, you can be. I like that you want to stay. And like Sue is just doing like the little kid. It's not like a pet in a, like, pejorative way, but like I have a little secret friend

and is just sort of getting very like curled around her book and like losing a lot of her like composure and decorum. You see that the spider upon being told to stay where it likes to stay, you see it runs around the little spot on the inside cover of your spellbook where it can once again be like a little embossment under the lid or cover of something. and you see it sort of thinks for a second and you see that it spins up its butt in a little circle and does the thing that you've seen to do before, which is project.

It projects two letters and then a punctuation. And you see that it has clearly spent time crawling around in your spellbook. So your own handwriting comes out in these little projections, like little captures of your own writing. and you see it goes, okay, question mark. It projects some more letters. It protects the word good, and you see it skitters back and then comes back and projects,

sorry. And you see it looks, it sort of runs around in a circle again, and you see it projects the music box and an image of its recording of the music box in the library, and then it projects a image of RASPR from, when he took the music box from you on the ship. And you can see a recording of the spider's own memory of him walking away and it jumping off, scuttling after you

and going into your spellbook. Never ever apologize for that. That's one. It's not the first, but it's definitely in the long list of very cool and very correct and very good things that you've done. Do you have a name? Little no comes out on the... Oh.

Do you want one? You don't have to have one. That's not necessary. I have a friend that's just a fox. And it's just a fox. Nothing capitalized. The spider sort of tilts its head back and forward and projects out the word task. And you see it projects the word task in front.

And you see that it sort of circles around the projection scratching its own head confused. And then steps back. And then steps back. And it projects book, not task. I like book. Bad to book, not task, question mark. Book, not task. It looks up at you and projects again,

seeing you, like trying to reason with it, it shows task and then projects the music box. And then it projects again saying, task everything book not task book new book not good you did the task

it's done and you can be here and the book is the book is good and we can come up I feel like I'm dealing with an as existential crisis right now and that's fun so we're the same

that way. Stay in the book. I've got an excellent set of tasks for you. You're going to be my interface with this. Head spins, and it projects the words, only task. Task, good. Name task, question mark.

Yes. It salutes with its little spinning head to you. And task, the spider, goes, and goes into the embossment of your book. And as she closes it and, like, gives the book a little hug and her spellbook a little hug and replaces it on that, like, sling on her hip. As she walks out, she just gives a little smile to herself and says, I am always better with the task. And it's going to go find her friends. Amé and Ursula. At the Beer Garden, Ami, you closing on Ursula, saying these words that you have to say, what would you like to do at this?

moment. I would lead us out. Okay. As you exit out into the cool night, hearing the cheering and revelry from inside the beer garden, walking across the plaza is Suvi.

Hey. Hi. Okay. I feel like I've walked into a suboptimal vibe. What's going on? Amai. They found another great spirit. What do you mean? A great bullfrog. your mentor

silenced him now the rivers of the Shraub Mountains will run dry and they will advance to the next point the Archmaid silence did something to the Great Bullfrog The soldiers inside

tell stories of the Arkmaid's silence appearing above the Great Bullfrog in some way taking his voice and then banishing him abjuring?

Yes. Oh, like the sorcerers did to the rock that you flew. Possibly. You don't know. Do I know when they say bound and abjured what that might entail?

You have the words of soldiers. You know, the people that viewed this, it's a second-hand story, it's come from the front lines. It's clearly being celebrated. because it seems to indicate that it's a turning point in the war. And unfortunately, not having witnessed it, you're dealing with the same fog of war and rumor as everybody else.

We just have the rumors. We don't know for sure what happened. Apologize. It's not your fault. But we need to do something. I apologize for what will be a follow-up, slightly insensitive. question. The spirits three. Great bullfrog? The queen of coins? King of night. Is there a world in which

the great bullfrog is anything unlike the man in black? And perhaps this is an event worth celebrating. The great bullfrog is a spirit of music, of rivers and festivals. He's a He, as far as I know, has no warlike intentions. He has only ever protected the people along the live when. I don't believe that this is a cause for celebration, not for all the people who, for whom that river is their lifeblood. Inside the beer garden, you see La Houn point out and go, There she is!

A group of your soldiers rush out and say, Three cheers for the wizard sky! And begin to rush around you They're going to lift you up and carry you into the beer garden. As they are running out, I'm going to turn to the two of you. Is your intention to leave now?

No, I'll be leaping on tomorrow. Okay, we'll talk more later. If you want to go, get going. And I'm going to step back from them to try to meet the group. And hackery, crowd surf my way into my victory party. Amé and Ursulaan outside, where do you go in this moment?

As you see, Suvi carried aloft in the arms of her adoring soldiers, a sworn raises a glass as the first to put a tankard of ale in your hand, people cheering. For Ursulaan and Ami, where do you go this night? Can we look at that pocketwatch you have? Why, Ame? What if they've managed to bind the great bullfrog? What if he's out there, not far away?

Then he will wait. I seek first the children of the Grinot. But surely he was here at their behest. He's important to them. He is. And he is a great spirit. Ami, give me Arcana? But I want you to use wisdom instead of intelligence.

15. There's something here. On a 15, you can't be quite sure, but there's something here. These different points connect. There is a connection between the gift of these children. Alan and Johanna were afraid because their children had the gift. And there's something in that soldier's story, which is meant to be a story of camaraderie and victory.

and the citadel overcoming the forces of the spirit and of nature and, you know, power and craft of mortal wizards. And there's some connection. There's something that doesn't make sense. Why in the story, the bullfrog wasn't attacking 12 Brooks? And I think there's a moment where you wonder, why did the Great Bullfrog appear? The Great Bullfrog.

I think he appeared because the Grinot asked him, because their children, the ones who have his gift, have gone missing. We need his help in addition to helping him. I do not need his help. I can do this. I will do this. I am tired of waiting. I am tired of leaning on others.

Tonight, I will celebrate with my friend. and tomorrow I will help those children You can help them by finding the great bullfrog Then I may you go and find the great bullfrog And when I have helped the children I will come and find you

Please be safe You as well Perhaps May I see which way Your watch points I feel that surely It will lead me to the great bullfrog I produce the watch

The hand points Southeast. Ursula, you hear the shouts and cheers from inside the beer garden. Are you leaving, Amma? I must make some preparations and then I will go find

the great bullfrog. Have a good evening. You as well. Send my love to Suvi. I will. As Ursulan reenters the beer garden, the fox looks up at Amme. What's the plan, boss?

We re-provision and then we talk to somebody who saw what happened. Okay. Where do you want to go right now? Do I know where any leadership is that would have seen this or know where this went down? Give me a investigation check. Eighteen. At one of the outside tables a little quieter,

drinking something a little bit stiffer than eight. out of a rock's glass, you see that there is a sky ship pilot of an imperial skyship, Colonel Jihira Armand. It's about mid-40s, kind of thin, wind-swept-looking woman, short, kind of serious-looking. She's with someone else who is smoking a long cigar with her, who seems to be sort of just trading small, soft stories out here. They're getting away from sort of the hustle and bustle of the crowd. but a soldier that you're aware of points to her as a pilot of a sky ship that was present in 12 Brooks when this happened.

What do you do as you approach? Hail and well met, Colonel. I'm Ame, a friend of the wizard's guy. Amay? Oh, you're the witch that's embedded with Sky's unit. Yes. We went and retrieved the garrison. Thank you very much for your service.

We appreciate it. It's an incredible aid to have civilian guidance in a place like the Shrad Mountains. Yes. The Wizard Silver did say it would be great to have standard issue, which is in every unit. Absolutely. I heard that you came back lately from 12 Brooks. Yes, yes. Is it true what they say?

Give me a persuasion check. 18 on the die, that's a 25. She looks to you and says, well, I don't know what they're saying, but the celebration is well earned. We'll be able to make a move. I could already see the rivers lessening as we were flying away. Did you see the monster? Saw something. It didn't seem like a monster necessarily. I mean, it was an enormous. This frog, you could see it from the sky, I could see it from the helm, you know. It was massive. It took up, you know, a good size section of the lake just by itself. Green, wreathed in flowers and swamp grass.

And the noise it made as it started to breathe in was just enormous. And then bright light, the Archimage silence appeared. I've never been present at a battle before where an archmajor of the citadel appeared. You, of course, hear stories, but that's not a resource that gets spent lightly. And you can see why, because used sparingly, it's completely turned to the tide of battle here. And silence, I mean, my mother was, you know, serving in the imperial infantry when silence was first named to the citadel. And she told stories about him being an incredible combatant. But in my lifetime, he's been, for all intents purposes, is retired.

Well, one of my dear friends' duties was indeed feeding him very soft cookies. Ha! Nothing soft about him that day. He appeared, leveled his staff of the Citadel, at the Spirit, breathed in. you know, I've seen Padstone before. I've seen 12 Brooks before, but it's right now there's been so much combat. It's traded hands a few times. Right now, Imperial forces have a garrison there, but they're pressed in on all sides.

They've had supply lines cut off for better part of a week, week and a half right now. So pushing through to try to get to the garrison and the imperial forces there. But yeah, I don't know how Galthmi reached it or how they turned the spirit, but the spirit. but the spirit appeared. It breathed in, and it was looking. That was the funny part. Its eyes, these big buggy eyes, and silence was there,

and all of his sort of radiant attire. And it's hard to tell with a frog, but I swear the spirit wasn't looking at him. It was looking right at 12th Brooks, right for the central garrison. It's like a building in the center of town. And it reached in and it went to croak, see that it was scared or shocked or something that there was no noise coming out. Silence had a staff pointed right at it, and it couldn't stop croaking with no noise.

And it just got smaller and smaller. Like if you... Smaller. If you could only exhale, like your lungs got smaller and smaller and you couldn't breathe in and you couldn't stop breathing out until you'd... breathed all of yourself away. Oh. Pretty incredible magic. It must have been quite something to behold.

And then silence just left, and it's a victory, I suppose. Teleported away, with the rivers down, we'll be able to make a push mobilized tomorrow before done. Head there, try to break through the gout my forces, and liberate the garrison. Yes. All the best to you. I hope that our troops come home safely.

To our troops coming home safely, she raises. Cheers. Thank you, Mommy. Omey walks away a bit. Fox? Yeah, boss. I think the children may be in that garrison. I can't be sure.

But I'm almost dead certain that we need to go to 12 Brooks. What we need to do, need is proof. We'll go buy some proof. Suvi, you're here drinking, partying, and you see that the wizard

keen approaches you. The guilty. Puts a fresh tankard in front of you, courtesy of the glass cornet. Oh, thank you. Wood has reached me that our dispelling agent has served just fine, and

managed to be some small aid in the mission across enemy lines. Oh, that's yours? Yes. Incredible. Thank you. I'm sorry. I think you have me at a disadvantage. Who are you? I'm the wizard keen. I wouldn't expect an archmaid apprentice to know a humble gilder such as myself. You're very kind.

And Suvie's like sloshing the drink around trying to look significantly drunker than she is. Gotcha. He looks at you and says, an honored friend and a witch in your service incredible. Yes, they are long known to me. Very, it was so helpful because they're so good at the woods. Did you know the goutth my forces made the birds be snitches? I had not been made aware, but that does seem within their purview.

Yeah, it's good to know a witch who can be like, no, birds, don't do that. It's great. Yeah, yeah, they're my friends. Why? I'm merely remarking that I have never seen a wizard compel service from a spirit through loyalty alone. There's not a lot of wizards like me. No, no, I dare say there are not. out. To the wizard's guy. To the wizard keen. Oh.

To be toasted. A simple purveyor of artifacts. And you see drinks. I slide up to Suvie once that interaction has had enough time. Or once it feels like Keen has moved on. I do not like him. Fuck this guy. Are all guilt majors like this? I'm going to lean in, like, very buddy-buddy and gesture in his direction as he

leaves in order to empty the tankard, so none of that touched my lips. He has got the, like, you do the hand over the cup. Eric knows. Yeah. He's the exact guy. You're like, hand over my glass. Don't like that at all. And throws her arm around you and is just in your ear and you hear all the slur, like, all of that go away, even though her body is like leaning on you like a drunk friend. What an absolute fucking cad and he knows that you're an honored friend.

It seems word has gotten around. Okay, okay. I had a strange conversation with Steele. I know you want to leave soon. I will go with you. I just, wherever

Amay is, I am very worried about how much everyone here loves you guys and wants to use words like compel and press into service. It feels bad here, doesn't it? It does.

I cannot lie. It does not surprise me. What has happened with the Great Bullfrog. These things felt inevitable. Yeah. And I think it's the like, you said, you say inevitable, and Suvie gets like a shock reaction as like things slide into place.

and her understanding, just alights on the end of our time at the Citadel. This is what you felt. In Zhao when you left, this is why you felt this? Yes. I'm so sorry I didn't. It makes sense why you felt the way that you felt and the decisions that you made. I do not hold that against you. But I will be leaving tomorrow. I seek to find the children of the Grinot and to free them.

I would come with you if it was a help, but if it's something you can't or don't want. I only ask if you come with me. That you match my breath and walk in my footsteps. We will not be seeking the ideal outcome, simply one in which they are free. I understand. Silver blocks into the piece.

beer garden. Hey. Hey, Joanne. I'm doing great. My tinkered's empty and I drop it. Oh no. I heard they're opening up a bar in the governor's hall. We got to go find it. I'm going to go find it and I'll find you and everything will be found. As you begin to walk out, the wizard Slane looks over, smiles at you. Congratulations, Wizard Sky. Is this the first time I'm meeting Slane? Yes. He's never, he's never, at the Citadel. Yeah. And there's a little, just that little flash of like, Suvie genuinely being excited to meet someone

of like import that she has heard of and then remembers that she has to be silly and drunk. You're the wizard's slime. Slain. Slain. Oh. Sloppy.

This doesn't bode well. Oh, no. This is going to be great. No, don't go. You see, He looks over and clasps and says, You've more than earned it. And you see, he claps a hand on Silver's shoulder as well and says, happy to have you aboard.

Hold on. What's this? Silver looks over and says, I've received a little promotion. Of course you did. You're a hero. Silver looks and says, Wizard Slane, an honor to surf.

I'm excited to be a part of the team. And you see that Slane nods, Good luck walking off that liquor, wizard's guy. That's not a great energy. This is not a great first impression! And Silver abscondes with you and runs up to the governor's hall. He looks at you very excitedly and says, I have been promoted and I will be joining as a warm age of Slane's circle on the front lines.

This is an enormous opportunity. I'm so proud. And she throws her arms around him and is dropping a bit of the affectation, but is still a little drunk. Yeah. And gives him a kiss on the cheek. I'm so proud of you. Where are you going to be going?

I'm reporting to Slane tomorrow morning, but I'll find out then. In the morning? Yes, yes, yes, yes. No, no, no. This happened one time before, and I didn't say it, but now I'm full of drunk. And everyone's being nice to me. So, till the morning, you're mine.

I am proud to serve. And serve you shall. He lifts you up in his arms and flies through the air towards your room in the governor's hall. Oh, no! This isn't fun or hot at all! So bad, so bad. Ursulaan, Amay, is there anything else you guys do that night?

I don't think so. I think Ursulon finishes his drink and then heads to the stable. Beautiful. Rahon, Zendee. We've come a long way, my friend. What an insane scene. By, pushing open the barn doors.

Now this is where the party's at. Look at these horses, drunk. Amé, you see across the plaza Suve and Silver flying off together. They need, yeah, they, Standing here in the plaza with the fox, having just spoken with Colonel Armand, the pilot of the Imperial Skyship that was present in 12 Brooks, what do you turn to do at this point in time? I need to find out everything about 12 brooks. I need to know best points of ingress and egress.

I need to find out the kind of enemy garrisons that are stationed around it. I need to find out about that building. the center where I believe that the Grinot children are being kept. These desires come to your mind, swirling around you. The hour of night is already growing late, the revelry reaching its zenith of raucousness, where it will remain for some short time before it begins to dwindle as people head off to bunk and barracks. How does Amé intend to gather this information? You look at a city, mostly asleep, celebrating the return of heroes, but also wracked by the panic of distant

sounds of combat in the night. You also are aware of sleeping civilians, reveling soldiers, guild mages, citadel wizards, imperial forces, tamori constructs, and the assembled brick-a-brack of life here in the shroud mountains, small creatures, the governor's hall with Sufi and Silver. Where will you gain this knowledge before the morrow? So many doors are open to me right at this moment, but I think the door that I need, I will make myself. I pull out the brass knob.

You pull out the brass knob. You have your artisans' tools at the ready. All you need to do is find a door to attach it to. You can give me an investigation check. Sure, yeah. Give me an investigation check. 14. 14's not very high.

You look around. There is a utility closet in the restroom hallway of the beer garden. Yes. That's the one. No. So you go, you take that out. As you open the bag, you see in your little travel knapsack that also the knocker is in there that spits out the ring and goes, Mistress has the time...

I swear, I shall not be shushed like some common handle. Listen, we're going to go back to the cottage. We're going to do a nice and quiet. We're going to do a bunch of research. And then you shall go back to guarding the doors.

I shall guard the doors with my very life, mistress. Say the word of passage and only those with it will be granted entrance. All others will behold only whatever is normally behind the door. Sorry, sorry.

The fox looks up and says, are people shushing a lot of handles? The fox is so brave. You see, the little inaugural says, Who said that? Some Philistine, unaware of how to speak poetically. Show him to me that I might bite my fangs into his flesh.

You see that the fox goes, you don't want this. I do kind of want to see how this turns out. But we have business to attend to. I'm going to go inside the utility closet and make

it open out into Grandma Rens Cottage. So I'm going to need an artisan tool check. You can do a little bit of magic, and the fox can help if you'd like. Let's see the first role to see if you need help, though.

A four on the die. Dark utility closet. You get to the... The utility closet is in between both restrooms that have little sort of like frosted glass and some golden letters on the two different restrooms. And every time you kneel down to open the door, because you have to get the regular knob off to put the new knob on, every time you do, the door opens and a new bathroom, like someone needing or exiting the bathroom comes out. And every time the fox

jumps in with a different, like, someone walks out and he's like, so I told her, you have to go around the garden. And it looks sort of surreptitiously as people walk away. And it just happens that way. So he's going to give you the help action. Go ahead and roll the second tie. 14 on the die. Okay.

So you see that the fox goes, goes, okay, I'm going to go make a distraction. And you see that he rushes into both restrooms. And you hear like, and comes out a moment later. Another person walks in and goes, And you see that they walk out, and you see one of the attendants of the beer garden, takes a look in and goes, oh, goodness,

and puts a little out-of-order stand up at the hallway and get some plungers to go in. And the fox comes out and says, I threw a bunch of garbage and paper in there. And some poop. Good job, little buddy. All right, let's get to crack it. And you take out and install the doorknobs of Common Cluster.

These bright brass door knobs there and nail the brass lion's head knocker into the wall. So now there's just a brass ring knocker on a utility closet with a bright... On the inside. Yeah, yeah. So you're going to go in to knock on the door from the inside of the closet. Incredible. You stay here and watch the hallway, okay? You got to bus.

All right. Oh, we got to restock you just in case you need to make another distraction. There you go. This goes right through me. Lou just shaking his head up against the microphone. We've got to get this fox ready to shit again. It has plot significance. You install the knocker, and you see the brass line says,

What word of passage, mistress of the world's heart? What do people normally do? You would like me to give you a common, more guessable? password? Well, I'm just curious, though. Some extremely uncreative witches have said password. Oh. How about, how about friendship? Friendship.

Mm-hmm. Yes, the password is friendship. You open the door, see the Fox in utility hallway, close the door, and the knocker looks at you, ready for the password. Friendship. Hmm. feel the cool air of the cottage. You see that there is a little sputtering

candlelight from inside cottage of Grandmother Wren, or I should say Amé's cottage in the village of Toma. Neif? And you hear a noise of someone running down the staircase, and Neif in a nightgown comes

running down. Sorry to wake you. I need to do some quick research in the library. Oh no, okay. I'll make tea. No, no, no, no, no. No, I just wanted to wake you up so that you didn't hear somebody rustling around in the cottage and freak out. Okay. So you can definitely go back to bed.

But how are you doing? Things are doing okay? Oh, once I wake up, I can't sleep. Oh. But I'll make tea. Well, okay. You may make some tea, but make yourself something nice and relaxing, licorice rude or chamomile or something. Yes.

I'll make some calming tea for myself and something more studious for you. Would you like help researching? I mean, if you're up anyway, what say we take a little spin in the library? I love that. It's been weeks. I thought you were dead. Oh, why would you assume that? Because I'm always sad.

I just assumed it. I just assumed it. I assumed the worst. And I'm not as good witch as you. I don't have, so people need help with medicine. I don't know how to do that. I don't know how to do anything but yours. Well, first of all, you have some very good mentors here. Second of all, you're a lot younger than me. You got time to cook.

And third of all, it's okay. You are having your weekly sort of discussion sessions with Dr. Yagi, yes? Yes. Dr. Yagi's in a very good job. It seems like the main thing he's communicated to me that when I think there's a problem, actually, I'm breathing and holding my body wrong. Well, it's not wrong. It's just, it's poorly.

It's suboptimal, suboptimal. There could be better, there could be more comfortable ways. For example, I made some digestive biscuits to help with a villager who was experiencing constipation, and I was worried that I had said something rude or awkward and that they hated me. And Dr. Yagi said that there was no way they could hate me. And I was like, I'm certain that they hate me. And then he said, you need to stop pressing your tongue into the top of your mouth. And then I stopped doing that.

But now my worry is, is my understanding of other people just based on I can't move my tongue normal or well? Well, there is a great connection between your mind and your body. And as you progress here in your studies of the cottage, you'll be more in touch with them. But please don't picket your fingernails like that. Oh, yes. I will stop another mistake. Okay. And you see that she rushes up to the kitchen to go make tea.

Looking in a dark mirror. She rushes off to go make some tea. And does seem calm as she comes with tea to help research. You can see that she actually seems excited to be able to do this. This feels like that. like a helpful thing that she's excited to do. And she puts tea in front of you and says, I made us both green tea.

And I am excited to help. I'm really glad you're okay. Are Ursula and the Fox okay? Yes. Yes, they're doing well. Fox is on the other side of the wall. And the Wizard's Guy. She's okay?

Yes. She's doing all right. But we are, I give her a little bit a very short version. of what we've been up to and what we're hoping to achieve as I start leafing through books and shuffling through correspondence

and while I'm doing it, I explain to Neif what I'm doing as I'm doing it. So that she has the filing system in her head and she can familiarize herself a little more with it and maybe take initiative of finding different sections on her own. You're going to be doing this with Neif's help, So it'd be rolling with advantage. And due to grandmother Wren's vast, you know, books and tracks and maps and scrolls and things of that nature, you'll give it to add a D4 to whatever role you make.

What's the first role you'd like to make here? The first role I'd like to make is an investigation check, I think. Perfect. So let's go ahead. Same thing as always 15. So for a general role like this, 15, 20, 25 are the DCs of like good, better, best information. That's four on the D4. Okay, go ahead and roll investigation with advantage.

19 on the die. So 21. 25. 25! Let's go! Hey, sometimes the dice tell a motherfucking story. You find a hand-drawn map on waxy paper. almost like butcher's paper that's been dined on with wonderful greasy food.

It's a hand-drawn charcoal map. And there is a word written in the Toroy alphabet in the language of the Grinot, which you could take a second to decipher here looking over like an alphabet. It is a very steamy little romantic parting in the Grinot language to a young grandmother rent. Habria is shaking my hand. Erica is shaking my hand, beautiful. This is why we're here. Lou's giving me a nod.

The nod's the funniest part. I'm proud of you, son. And it is a hand-drawn waterway map of the city of 12 Brooks. And it is specifically a like backwater and byway's map. It has like, here's the places that you can dock a large boat. Here's the places you can dock a small boat. and 12 Brooks also has a crumbling old castle up in the top of it, this sort of old ruined castle,

which is originally why the town was built. And for anyone listening who wants to know more about 12th, there it is. Some more! An in-narrative pitch for the fireside. Why not? Taylor, you leave this in. God damn you.

We do have interludes where we expand the world of Umore, and you might learn more about the city of 12 Brooks by Ler. listening. Five dollars. Give us five dollars. Learn more about the great boom frog. The man in black appears for five. You see that this letter was clearly written. And you don't know what was going on in 12 Brooks like 40 to 50 years ago, but this is a rum runners map. So it has a lot of staircases, places to like hide a boat. And there's a lot of places that have to do with the irrigation, which is a constant struggle in 12 Brooks to move the water to save it through the city. So sewer systems, plumbing, and you basically see the honeycomb

of the city under the city, every way to move through the city unseen and undetected, and places that are subaquatic, places that are otherwise like a little cave you can get to. The lithuan appears, there's another note here, the lithuan is filled with smugglers' caves. So there are like tall riverbanks or places where the river curves run to hillside, that there will be entrances under the water into secret caves that will have like weapons stashes, treasure, provisions, places like if imperial forces are searching for you,

places to like lay low and hide from them. Looking at this map, this is like, You don't have a best way. You have multiple the best ways into and out of the city. Exactly what I needed. This is exactly what I'm looking for. Oh, oh, Grandma, Ben. What?

I can't read that. What is it? What? Oh, it's just a little personal letters to grandmother run from, I guess, an incredible cartographer. Ooh, that's lovely to have a pair or more with a skill. Would you qualify that as banter? Why, yes, I would. Okay.

And it's quite good. I took my tongue off the roof of my mouth, and that thought came to me. See? That's wonderful when you relax. You're well on your way to a handsome cartographer. Oh, no, no. We've got to get Neith and Tiffman in the same room, too. They will.

It's like putting it. a bag of holding and a bag of holding. Yeah, exactly. That's how we kill the man in black. Thank you. Hold this. Thank you so much, Neif. That was wonderful.

And now you have a little better understanding of the library, so you can do some of investigating on your own. I, I, you are so kind. You are so kind. I will say I had to work at that. You know, nothing. worth doing comes really easy all the time. So, you know.

Well, thank you. And yeah, I'll, you know, on slower days, I'd love to come into the library and help. You know, I know that this is all, grandma Wren's organizational style was very different from injuries. and there are not many things that I enjoyed about my time as Injuries apprentice, but I could provide some organization to the cottage or not even the cottage, it's the library, if you would like me to do that. I would love that, yes, absolutely, especially with going through it and organizing it will help you in your studies.

Is there any particular area in which you're interested? Um, you know, injury said that there would one day be a time for a familiar, but not while I still was an apprentice. And I don't think I'm an apprentice right now, or at least I don't, you know. That is true. I mean, not, you're not officially an apprentice. I think, I think I'd like, yeah, I think I'd like to, you know. We'll see. I just really appreciate this safe place. And you know so many kind people, and it's so obvious now that the kind people find each other,

just like the cold people push them all away. And I'm really glad that you knocked me unconscious and kidnapped me. Yeah. I'm really, really glad that we... managed to knock you out multiple times. Twice? Yeah. Bring you back here to a place of safety.

She gets sort of teary-eyed and gives you a giant hug. I hug her back. And you can feel her actually relax and a few vertebrae audibly pop in her back. And she goes, oh, that felt good. Yeah. I stand there with her breathing a little bit so she can feel the movement of my chest. If you bids you a dew, you take your greasy, you know, butcher paper, charcoal map, and stow it in your bag and walk back through the door to the beer garden.

And you see the fox twitching his little tail, and you see that the out-of-order sign is gone. It took you about like an hour and a half to do all that research and find everything. and the Foxxville's up and says, everything good, boss? Better than good, they're great. Really? Yes. Would you find the goods?

Oh, yeah, I got the goods. You jam the knocker and the doorknobs off? Do you take the time to replace the old doorknob? No, no. I kind of put it, I just stick it back in there. I do. So that if somebody You see the fox

To me you are perfect. You see the fox To me you are perfect. The fox runs out, jumps up on the bar, one of the bartender turns around, and the fox says, one of the customers

rudely smashed the doorknob off your utility closet, and my mistress, Ame of Toma, tried her best to fix it. You might want to take a look at it, and you see he jumps off and... I look over and shrug.

What? And, uh, and, uh, You, where are you off to now? Ooh, what time is it? I think I've got a... You see the party's thinning out. It's like 1 o'clock in the morning.

Oh, that's needs I still have some time for sleeps. Um, I go, I go find the stables. You see, Rahon and Zendi, and they're sleeping on the hay as Ursula. With his glamour. Oh, um, I go over and I kind of snuggle up to Ursulun. Are my? We're going to 12 bucks tomorrow. Get some rest.

Good night. Good night. You cuddle up next to each other and go to sleep. Some very different cuddling up is happening over in the governor's hall. Tangled in white sheets looking up at stone ceiling, the gilded bedpost and canopy and looking. at the vanity mirror and a beautiful marble top desk, Silver turns to you and says, it's incredible.

The magical, I mean, the soldiers are excited, but the magical potential, you know, I would have believed that for silence to be able to, I mean, he's an archmage, but for silence to be able to pull that off is incredible. I mean, this changes everything. Suve's doing the sort of like, mm-hmms at the right time and is, I guess, just sort of hoping that, like, her distraction reads as, like, blist out and not sad at his enthusiasm. Are you sad that I'm heading out again tomorrow?

Yeah. Yeah. I know. I know who we are and what we have to do. I'm sad. I'll say, look, Slane's circle obviously is a frontline circle. It's dangerous. But the honest truth is my safety, even in the thick of combat fighting side by side with Slane is far greater than it was. with me on the front lines at Abbasin. Yeah. And Suvi is just running a fully different program. Like she's looking, Aza.

For him, she's risked her life and offered her name. And she knows that she sees a whole future when she looks at him, that she is closing a door on. inside of her heart in real time. And she wants to give herself just one little chance at not having to... It was so good. One really nice week.

And mid-whatever sentence he's talking about trying to allay sort of a different fear, just puts her hand on his chest. If I asked you not to go, would you do it? Suvi, I would want you to ask me not to go. That's how this has to be. I didn't want you to come save me.

I wanted you safe. I wanted you at the citadel. I wanted you a million miles from danger. We all learned paradox. First year, banners, concept, how things mirror each other, how two things that can't both be true at the, The same time can be true at the same time, and I never want anything to happen to you. I want you to be who you are, and I know that you being who you are will bring you to danger,

just like me being who I am will bring me to danger. We're not the sheep. We're not the people who need protecting. We're the people who protect. You're right. I love you, Suvie. I have a whole life with you. You will.

The gear they're going to start. strap me up with this new detail? I mean, you're going to, I know, I know. Every time we walk out the door, you should feel like maybe you're saying goodbye. That's the right thing to do. You need to be clear-eyed about that. But I'm going to do everything in my power to come home to you. I want to see you when your title is the Arkmage sky. And I want to march down that main Avenue and Malacanth, and look up and see the woman I love. Yeah. And I do.

One, just one big insight check. I don't want to lie to him. I will to protect my friends and the thing that we are going to do. There is nothing inside of Suvi that is hesitating to leave in the morning with Ursula and Amme probably though she's not quite sure about that. That's beyond discussion. It is simply true. But if she can leave knowing that she has been true to him, that will be okay.

I'm going to ask you to roll this inside check and I'm going to ask you to roll it here where I can see it. And you cannot. Okay. Intimacy of this moment, Silver looks at you. He gave you his name. There is nothing within him that is kept from you. He is completely open and smiles looking at you.

When we were walking, when we first entered, the forest the Grinot family was not gone we spoke with them the terms of them not going to Gouthmi

was to make them believe to make us believe to make the rest of the imperial forces believe that they were gone and fled in order to protect their children who are taken for reasons I don't understand advantage or leverage or something worse. I was to protect them, but I won't lie to you.

You're going to leave in the morning for 12 Brooks, and so will I. End of speaking. You turn to make eye contact and see a look of why. light-eyed horror on Silver's face. You lied? Suvi, I don't understand. Why did you... Why are you...

You're headed to 12 books. You spell this out for me. What happened? If there was a Grinot family there, why did you... Your hand, there was poison? The task was to secure the Grinot family's cooperation to keep them from giving our enemies our whereabouts and in lieu of taking them from their

home to keep them from doing so I figured out a path to allow all parties to move forward with our goal intact but learning that we were taking their children what do you mean what do you mean we were taking their children? Did they provide you any proof of that? Were they... Suvi, if they were, in fact, Gouthmi spies, don't you think that Gouthmi is clever enough to create propaganda,

to sow amongst a people that have never felt full loyalty to the empire? Did they provide anything? Did you not think to ask that there was some way that this might... I mean, walk me through this. Why would you take their word?

Obviously, they're incentivized to want to besmirch the empire. And even if they were of pure heart, who's to say that they were not themselves the victim of propaganda? You didn't think to ask any follow-up questions? And Suvie, absolutely battered by the weapon that she wields so well, understands perfectly every time her friends were made silent in her presence. under the assault of something they know is true and cannot stand up to the burden of proof that she herself has demanded of them.

And even here and now, with all of her faculties in intellect, she doesn't have a better answer than they ever gave. But silence and sureness. Suvie, I... You're right. I don't have proof. I don't know for sure, which is why I'm going to go and find out if I can for myself. Sufi, I'm completely lost.

You have every resource at your disposal to find the truth. You could talk to the sword on a speaking mirror in a minute. You could speak to the – but there's a prince of the imperium is here. I mean, the prince probably wouldn't know, but there's as many – what doors are you? are not open to you. Going to 12, are you going with the detail? Are you going with escort or security? This is, we need to wait. We need to, I, and you see he sits up, he sort of realizes that he's like, naked and post-coital and sits up in bed and just goes like, the, the, you were the commander. You were the commander. And you could have told us that in your judgment, the Grinot family

was not an issue. And what could anyone there have? have done but obey you. Why did you lie to us? We would have followed your orders. And Suvie like circles around. Ah, the biggest cop out of an answer. I don't know. But she does know.

And she promised not to lie. Because I don't trust everyone around me. Not all the time. not pass the point, past the letter of a command. We were all trained to see and seize advantage. And I don't trust that that advantage will not destroy that family as soon as my back. The command that I walk with and the authority that I wield is turned away from their care. Wizard's guy.

Silver swings his legs over. over the edge of the bed, exposing his back and spine, and leans over, resting his elbows on his thighs and hangs his head, not wanting to be in this moment, not wanting to leave it. I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. I love you. We've given each other our names.

and we don't, if there's not trust here, I don't know how I can find it. I trust you. The whole heart and my life and my name. I wouldn't have said any of this if I didn't believe. I don't know what I believe. What does the sword of the Citadel think of all this? Have you asked for any advice or counsel? No, not in this.

The same mission. And quick, if there's a way to help, I can. The sword of the Citadel preaches caution. She's not wrong to do it, that you're going in the morning. Something that maybe later you won't be able to take. We're very different. Most of us who come up in the Citadel

are unburdened by what has come before. We are there with a chance to become great and to affect greatness and to be a part of something that is the pinnacle of mortal achievement. And I have often felt a great sorrow because everywhere you go, there are roots. The legacy of your parents and of your birth. the honor and protection of the sword. I remember hearing Suvi's gone to a calm because there's a witch that's like an ant or something. I don't know how you can keep a clear head

with all of that attachment. I'm grateful that I have not had to burden that. I don't make those calls, Sufi, and I am proud to follow the orders of those I serve. We were trained. from a very young age to serve of battle to rely on our training

to make hard calls and execute them I think I'm still doing everything the Citadel trained me to do even if it sometimes it doesn't quite look like it above my pay grade doesn't make sense to me and you see

silver stands up and turns and says I'd really love to see you in the morning and he waits for a moment and then dresses, walks to the door and leaves. I don't think there's any chance of sleep

but he was right better that I pulled one up before it got to find her salon. On your passive investigation you know where the horses are stabled your packs made up Ursula, Ahme, and the fox nestled up in the hay.

It's about 2 o'clock in the morning. I don't want a other corner, not disruptive, not having to pass them. The last thing I want, wake them. We have so much to do. I think God, a heartbreak is quiet, and I can do it on my own. And I'll sit and rest and wait for them and for morning. You fall asleep. watching over them.

Ami, about 2.30 in the morning, you open your eyes, behold another shape in the stable, a little weighs off from you. Teal hair, travel clothes, smart pack, fresh provisions. You see your true friend, Suu. You can go back to sleep.

What are you doing here? It's over here. Oh, huh? I'm up. I'm up. My eyes go open and I crawl over it. Suvi just curls into you. And so...

For the first time in a long time, new friends, Suvie's old apartment in Alabast Hall, sack full of potatoes, a ship bound for Port Talon. And that first night, that Suvi cried as a little girl after she had seen her parents for the last time, and Amé cast her first spell for good dreams for her new friend. You curl up beside her.

At some later point, hearing the shuffle, the fox goes and nestles up in Suvie's chest. Ursula, I think you wake at this moment too, seeing Ahme and Sufi gathered up in Suvi with what you're going to. you recognize as a traveling pack, sleeping in a stable on the ground when a governor's hall waits across a plaza. I'll move to them and take off my cape and drape it over all three of us. The three of you sleep. Get the few good hours you need, not as many as you'd like.

And at the pre-dawn light, three horses, three friends, and a fox. Gallop out of Bracken before the rooster crows. That was Lou Wilson as Ursulon, Erika Ishii, as Amay, Abria Aionghar, 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.