Worlds Beyond Number - WWW #8: The Catch

Episode Date: June 6, 2023

Welcome to the apparatus. Have a cigar. Or maybe a matchstick. Want a drink of water? Some new clothes? No? What's the matter, you don't like it down here? Don't be silly. Lie down. Stay awhile. We've got a lot of catching up to do. There ya go. That's the spirit.Worlds Beyond Number is:Brennan Lee MulliganErika IshiiAabria IyengarLou Wilson and is produced, designed, and scored by Taylor Moore at Fortunate Horse.Transcript of this episode available on our Patreon.We have so much more to show you. An entire campaign about Suvi, Ame, and Eursulon meeting for the first time as children, for instance. And would you believe, even more? Please, join us at Patreon.com/worldsbeyondnumberOur album art is by the great Corey BrickleySome additional ambient sound design comes from Michael Ghelfi Studios. You can get their sounds and music for your home games and VTT as well, which we enthusiastically recommend. .

This is the sound of worlds beyond number. In a rose quartz corridor lined by red polished wooden doors, outside the small yet stately office of the burser of this sanctum of the Scepter's chorus, wizards of the Kemsarazan Empire. We see one guildmage pain, a tall, sorrowful, faced man, leaning forward with a slashed arm, having just simulated an attack on himself with his right hand now filled with crackling lightning. His eyes, luminescent white as he lunges towards Ursulaan, unaware that there is a fox in his

office or a wizard and a witch at the end of the hall that know what is happening. I am going to need everybody here to roll initiative. Oh, God. Son of a gun. Suvi, you are 100 feet away, but you are first to act knowing that something is wrong. You hear a clattering of steel and your Citadel training kicks in. You are first to act. I don't know what's happening yet.

Can I move down the hallway but hold an action? Yes, you can. You just start sprinting and it takes your entire turn to sprint around the corner and you see another 50 feet off the scene unfolding before you. Ursula, I'm going to need a dexterity saving throw. 17? Lightning crackles, but you pull back at the last possible second so that only some raking edges of the crackling static

in this wizard's hand touches you. You will take half damage, nine damage halved to four. The spell that this wizard is wielding is not mighty. There is a reason this wizard has been shunted into the administrative corner of a far-flung chantry at the edge of the empire's reach. However, this is the first time that wizard's magic has touched Ursulaan in this way. There is something crisp, otherworldly and yet not of your other world. There is something beautiful, symmetrical, yet static and sterile about this magic that unfolds. What's going through Ursulaan's mind, as you feel, even this diminished result of this spell?

I mean, I think Ersson already wasn't in the best place walking into this situation. There really was no plan that wasn't going to accord. And he was just improvising. I think Ursulaan feels the magic. He's just immediately wanting help or to flee. I think there's just a desire to not be in this interaction. It already didn't go according and it doesn't feel like there's anything to salvage here. And with that confusion and horror, it is your turn.

I will use a bonus action hidden step to turn invisible. As I go invisible, my eyes start to the end of hallway where I see Suvi? Mm-hmm. I think I'm going to start taking steps toward moving towards Suvi. You are able to join Suvi's side. Okay, great. You feel Ursulaan's presence, but I don't speak.

There's just a little bit of that, like, the mom hand that slides over as she feels you pass by her. And she's like, all right, done. And it just rounds. And you see it. You saw it as she was right. I'm sorry. Suvi is furious at this fucking hedgemage that touched her friends. There is a look of panic in the Guildmaid's eyes as you suddenly vanish,

and he realizes that you are more than you seem. I am still with the other acolytes, yes? Yes, that's correct. I wait the situation and I say, you must move quickly, get somebody in authority, get morrow. There has been an attack on our party. Go ahead and give me a persuasion check. 19.

Two of the acolytes hearing the sternness in your voice, bow almost reflexively and sprint down the hallway. I use my movement to get to where my friends are. Suvi, it is your turn. Mage, and I'm going to send. Jesus. I'm going to close to 30 and cast Witchbolt. An attack roll for me if you would be so kind.

Ten. You throw a witchbolt at this guild mage. You see that Payne throws an arcane. shield the witch bolt interacting with swirling intersecting overlapping circles of runic language and you can see something vile which is a sneer of contemptuous joy as the guild mage pain successfully resists the spellcraft of a citadel mage you will explain yourself now pain sees you leaps into his office, slams the door shut, and uses his action to lock it.

It is now Ursulaan's turn. The invisibility ends. And I think Suvi and Abe regard a very sheepish. Ursulaan is, things did not go according to plan. I, it was my mistake. Do we need to? Are you okay? Yeah, I'm fine.

I just, I messed up. No. That's okay. No. I did mess up. He messed up. No, I messed up. I said Will Gallows.

Oh, well, yes. But... No, he messed up. He deigned to hurt a companion of a mage of the Citadel. You're fine. You hear in your mind, Amé, the fox speaking to you and saying, the guy is doing something in here. What is he doing?

Just describe his acting. Describe his actions you don't have to extrapolate. Okay, his one hand's going up and his other hands going down. Uh, now they're together again. Thumbs up and... Oh, hot, hot, hot, hot, hot! Fox is on there, Fox in there, Fox is feeling hot! I'd like to run back down the hallway.

You're right down the hallway, you get to the door. Amé, it is your turn? Fox, are you okay? What's happening? It's hot in here, it's hot! It is hot in there, or are you hot specifically? I don't, I feel... Hot! How do you tell?

Okay. It's not hot anymore. Oh, he was definitely burning some incriminating documents. Okay, you should attack him. Okay. The fox is going to attack? Go ahead and give me an attack roll for the fox. Ooh, that's a natural 20.

Yeah. Ursula, you're right outside the door. You hear a sort of conflagration. You can smell. almost like smoke and flame from the other side of the door. And you suddenly hear a... And a... As the guildmage takes two points of damage.

Suvi. Now I'm going to hold my action as I, like, catch up to Ursula. Oh, there's a bloody dagger on the ground, right? I'm going to go ahead and pick that up and pocket it. And then I turn to you and say, mind getting the door? Yeah, happily. And I'm going to hold my action to, I think. attack when I have line of sight on him again.

Great. He's going to go now and trapped on the other side of the door as he is with the fox. I'm afraid to say he's going to attack the fox. It's Brendan. There were only seven episodes. And you're already attacking familiars? People love to pop off. And then they end up finding out about what bad people do when you pop off around them.

Oh, he's so bad. he'd attack a fox A fox just bit the hell out of him So I said go for the throat Yeah Is he still attached to him? Yes he is still attached Okay

Good to know The fox's hit points are two Oh Oh Actually let me double check that Because of my god Is that The fox is

Hold on Yeah We need to wait We need to go back Yeah Can we go back To HB Everybody

Everybody's made a lot of choices in quick succession. Is it? 2 HP? Let me double check here. I'm going to roll this in front of the board. On a 9 or higher, Oh, you got to be shitting.

It's the fox. That is a 2. Yes. Oh, my God. Wow, we fully tried to kill it. Wow. Hey, Eric is gone. You guys,

everyone's got to protect your little fuzzy guys, because if you send them into the room with the bad man, Then the Batman's in the room with your little. My buddy guy. Everyone always wants to put it on me. You're attacking foxes out here. If you are in your home D&D group, I'm going to say something very clearly right now.

I'm going to say something very clearly right now. If you go in the kitchen, you might get burnt. And if you're sending your familiars and your companions and your various little animals and constructs and buddies, if you're sending them to get up in the mix, they're going to get got. Hey, look, I know that. But Amé doesn't know. There you go.

I went in the kitchen to get cookies, all right? I didn't go anywhere near the stove, right? If you walk in the part of the kitchen that just has the pantry, you're going to get burned. When I set that fox in there earlier, that was never my intention. So you hear from inside, and, Amé, you can still feel telepathically. The fox has latched onto his leg. The guildmate has tried to, like, rake down. with lightning in his hand again

and missed. The fox has like wriggled on the other side of his leg still sinking his fangs into this wizard. Poor showing from our wizard friend here. That is now going to go to be Ursulon's turn. The strong man of Sillsbury will take the door. Here we go. Go ahead.

Give me an athletics check. It's a DC-15. Oh, God. Damn, I really don't like it down here. That's an eight. That's just a straight-up eight. Copy that. Ursula, you lean back, get your shoulder in front of you and slam into the door and hear it shudder against the door frame,

remaining closed and locked. Ursula, any bonus action? Can I try again? Uh, uh, go ahead and I'll say on a bonus action, give me one with disadvantage. Okay. Two 11s plus four, 15. Yay! Oh my God.

There we go. So, uh, uh, you go and back up all the way against the edge of the hallway and run. And finally, this time, uh, slam the door wide open into the room. Wait, can I use my held action? Oh, yeah. Now that's open. Suvi's going to wrap her hand around her staff, the staff of the citadel of a true wizard

and her father's ring, her ring, close green as I summon one of the level spell slots that I keep inside it to cast magic missile as my darts bend around Ursula on and light him up. Go ahead and roll damage for magic missile. 12 plus 3 is 15. Woo! That would kill me.

The darts springing forth from Sufi race through the air and impact with shuddering explosive force on the body of Guildmage pain. The pure destructive energy radiates first through his ribs, his shoulder, in through his lower's back and along the sort of side of his abdomen. He falls to the ground bleeding from three enormous injuries on his body. And you can tell is holding on to, he's immediately unconscious, dropped to the ground, holding on to the last tethers of life. You are out of combat. Ursula doesn't like how this happened. Doesn't like how much blood he's gushing out of this man.

And he's going to lean down. And without making eye contact with Suvei, castley on hands and give him one hit point. You lean down, you give him one hit point, which will raise him from unconsciousness. He will not be making death saves. He comes to, on the ground, looking at the three of you, I am going to need some kind of charisma-based roles

to not have him spring into, you know, like survival mode. essentially. It's not going to be for me. Suvi is just, she's about, like, I think Suvee has reached into the pocket and has pulled out the bloody dagger and is attempting to finish a kill in the same way that she finished

Captain Emlis on the ship. That's 19 from Amé. 14 from Ursula. Amé, you can perceive that he is probably going to continue, he cannot accept the situation. There is no surrender in his eyes. as he comes back to one hit point.

It's over. There is no escape from this. If you talk with us and tell us what is going on, you may yet have a chance to escape the clutches of Gallo. I don't know what any of you are talking about. There is no proof of anything. There is no... And what even thing would there be?

Do you think that Will Gallows will wait for proof? You hear a noise of a... approaching footsteps rapidly, and you see Morrow and several of the attendant mages come in. Ursulaan is injured. He doesn't see a knife on the floor, but he does see a lot of blood on the floor. And he sees all of you standing over, he sees all of you standing over pain on the ground in his office with also just like a bunch of ash around in there. Mario goes, good heavens, what is the meaning of this? What is happening?

I'm not quite sure. Perhaps this was some big misunderstanding? And I look at pain. Uh, pain looks... What? The craziest flex I've ever heard in my life. He looks at Amay and looks up at Morrow and says, A little bit of horseplay, gone out of hand,

Guildmage Morrow. I'm afraid, you see, Bear and I... He is covered in blood. Blood is running out of his mouth. He's covered in ash. There is a fox with its fangs sunk into his leg. Still going, and he's like,

we realized that we had summered he and I on the same beach village outside of Silbury and were engaged. engaging in a rustic bout of indoor croquet, which they play there. Something we often did. Something we often did. But outdoors because of the beach.

But we were doing it indoors. That's silly. That's so silly. We were so silly. Yes, we were silly. So, realizing we were silly, I burnt all of the mallets and croquet balls with magic. And then we were putting the rest of the gear away, and Ursula Bear was admiring my knife.

And in admiring it, he turned around, and I accidentally walked into it. And then... Suvia's disgusted and walks away. And then I cast magic missile on myself because I was frightened. And that spell never misses. So that was the type of horse play.

Fox, you can probably stop playing with him. Yes, Fox, we have finished. We have finished. He did so good, buddy. Fox, let's go. Licks the blood off his fangs. And he looks around. He loves a good lie.

but he looks over and you see he pads over to Payne's head who is still lying on his back and you see he just whispers in his ear I'm gonna eat you one day I have a vote for you and I take out a little treat from my pack my vote

he leaps up and eats it, gobbles it up so Morrow goes I'm going to be very honest all of this behavior is the most outrageous tomfoolery I've ever heard of to think that you were playing croquet

inside this chantry and roughhousing with knives and casting powerful, offensive magic on yourselves is completely uncalled for and with your earlier rudeness to our honored guest the Archmaid apprentice Suvi?

I must say, Guildmaich Payne, I am going to be writing a report and I will be submitting it encouraging my superiors to relocate you to a diminished office somewhere of less significance than Port Talon.

Oh, well, that's such a shame. Please don't. No. Please don't. Our silliness cut, it should not reflect back on him. But if you must, I understand.

No, no, I must. And you see, he says, I must cease to the Apprentice Archmaid. And you see, Morrow leaves this open crime scene and just sprints after Suvie down the hallway. Kilmage Payne looks up and goes, Will Gallows. We know that he has something that we want,

and in return he wanted you. So how do we give him you? and still let you live. The choice is yours, because we are not leaving here without what we came for. You promised me to Will Gallows in exchange for something of his that you desire. Yes. It's possible that I might be able to keep my life, but find a way to make sure that you get what you want as well.

there is some very critical research up in the library that may have some indication of the sorts of things that Will Gallows is interested in me for it's possible that given just a minute or two I might be able to root around and find something of value to him can I make it inside check yeah we're all 14 13

I rolled a natural one. This guy is flop sweating. His eyes are flicking back and forth. He is trying to be helpful to you. And I think sweet little village witch Amme and deeply dreams in his fairy heart of being a knight Ursula are watching a guy that you have approached only with honesty and forthrightness,

who is a nasty gambling debt wizard. motherfucker who is only in this moment trying to lie to you to get far enough away to flee forever. So here's what we must do. We will split up into... Don't lie to us. Do you think just because you're a wizard with training from the Citadel you can fool us? We have been nothing but open and honest and kind. And if you give us no other choice,

We're going to give you over to Gallows. I understand. What ideas do you have about how my life might be saved? Here's what I will tell you. We were instructed to cut your ties with the empire, and that Gallus would take it from there. So that is what we're going to do. And now you knowing this means that you have a head start,

and that is as much as we are willing to give you. You will let me flee. Yes, because we will still be fulfilling our end of the bargain. What is up to you not to get caught by gallows? Give me a persuasion check with advantage. That's a 17. He stands up, looks at you, you have destroyed my life. Please stall for as long as you can.

And he sprints down the hallway. We have to stop doing this. the amount of times we've interacted with a mage and then watched them run away fearing for their life. Is not a great pattern. Suvi, as you've marched away, you hear Morrow rounding the corner,

Apprentice Hawk Mage. Suvie turns around, and as she rounds on him, it's that, I mean, he would understand it, too, everyone that came through the Citadel, children were trained to be soldiers first. And the more tests you pass, the longer you got to stay, the more you had a dream of not simply being a frontline fighter,

but all of that training was still there. And Suvi is trying to calm down the adrenaline of a child raised for battle and is trying to put it away. And that's what he sees when she turns around. Prentice Arkmage, I am so very sorry. Sorry.

I understand how upsetting it can be when servants act outrageously. Your man at arms should not have been plagued. No, stop. I told you I had no intention of speaking to you about what some of my work entailed. But part of it involved. And I think there's this pause where Suvi... has fully committed, she has committed herself

to the death of this man and is going to give the game away. We, I, had intel that there was some embezzlement from this chantry at the hands of Guildmage pain.

And when I sent my man to go speak to him of it, pain attacked, confirming my suspicions. You know as well as I do. Embezzlement that is treason to the empire with a death sentence. Have you any proof of this crime? Attacking your servant is by itself enough for us to...

So the croaking. Okay, that didn't happen or... I'm just trying to... No. He... No, the croquet did not happen. So he just burned those mallets and balls for no reason. He burned the evidence of his malfeasance.

And I'm going to pull the knife out and kind of throw it at Maro's feet. That's Gilderidge Payne's knife. You see, he picks it up very well. Effective immediately. The Guildmage pane is stripped of all rank and title within this chantry. You see, he looks at his attendance and says, please go see to the guildmage's prompt arrest, and the mages sort of flank out and begin moving through the space.

I'm fiercely sorry that, first of all, why was I not told directly that one of my subordinates was a thief and stealing from the empire. My hope was to collect evidence to present you with. Out of respect for you and the work you do here, I wanted to come to you with an easy solution and an understandable set of circumstances. Thank you. Thank you both for...

But why did he cast magic magic... missile on himself. That was me. I did that. I cast the magic missile when he attacked Bear. Oh, my God. It all checks out.

No, it's fine. You have an answer for everything. Okay. Thank you. Indoor croquet? I was wondering. The thing that got me was the wickets. How do you get the wickets in the stone floor?

Like, I understand. We're kind of here on the fringes of the empire, and they get fucking weird, but like, no, no indoor croquet. That's nothing. I won't lie to you. I know. I know in my role as administrator I have been failing. It is because I have given everything to my role as lead researcher.

When you see the Derek tonight, you will understand why I have been lacking in my diligence and observation of the minutia of the chantry. And I think in this moment, Suvi realizes an opportunity to, like, consolidate a bond. And she just reaches out very simply and touches Maro's, like, elbow and just gives a little nod. He looks up at you and you see these sort of big, watery blue eyes well up with tears. I was not given much, but I was given enough. and I knew that if I could stay focused, I would be able to contribute something, and you see his lip quivers here.

I would be able to contribute something that mattered, something that other mages, greater than myself, would see some merit in. I wish might be simple stepping stone to achieve things greater and more glorious in the direction of what I have started. I will see my attendance are, I'm sure, arresting Gilmage Payne right now. Let me for once turn my attention to the mundane, the material, and the imperial,

and see to the affecting of this arrest. This will be handled. The ship will be ready tonight. You have your leave of this place here, of the city itself, the research library, or if you wish as well, if you're, you're, a man-at-arms who I saw was injured, that we have an armory, if there's anything that... Thank you. I will avail myself to that.

Yes, of course. And the ships will be ready tonight at half-past ten. I very much look forward to seeing it. Amé and Ursula. You look through Ash, Ash and books and ledgers. It looks like he was pretty, you know, He, someone said the magic word that told him his life was about to be in shambles.

And he did the first thing he could think to do as an archmage apprentice of the Citadel round of the corner, which was jump into my office and burn all this shit. You see the fox looks up and goes, that guy tried to kill me. Yeah, he did. And I'm sorry that I put you in harm's way. I'm sorry I put you in arms way What You know

You were around Something could have happened Well yeah but I mean like I told you to attack him And if he was gonna I was in harm's way before I attacked him You don't have to worry about harm's way I'm from the forest You're in harm's way all the time

To fall down a hill Break your leg get caught in a trap Drown storm freeze to death Starve not get enough food Easy Harms all around Yeah, well, not in the forest. When you care about someone, you try to mitigate that harm.

And so this is my promise to you to always try and make it so that there's less harm around you. If I see any harm coming for you, I'll make it at it. You'll what? I'll get it. What did you say? I said mitigate. That means make it go away? Make it less.

Yes. Yeah. Okay. If harm comes for you, I'll mitigate it. Yeah. Thanks. You know what we really shouldn't mitigate is all this ash on blood everywhere. This place is bad now, huh?

Yeah. Yes, this place is bad now. Let's go find some of that fish slurry and mitigate that. Am I using it right? You know what? I'm proud of you. You're using a new word in a name. a sentence.

There you go. That's how you mitigate it. That one was left. That doesn't work. That doesn't work. Okay. All right. Well, you keep trying to keep trying until you get it right.

And, you know, if you do that, you will mitigate mistakes. Yay. And we're back. And we're back. Okay. I got that one. I get what it means. We go to find Suvi.

Yeah. I'm going to pull up alongside Amme while we're walking. Yeah, I think it was just quietly following the fox standing next to you. It was... I had no idea what I was doing. You're not used to planning. It's okay. To be honest with you, spirits and wherever witches lie,

kind of aren't big on plans and following them. No, but I feel like if we keep doing this, it's going to keep happening the same way. Suvi's going to step in and handle it. And it's impressive. And I just, I don't, I don't like being carried. I don't like you carrying me. I should be able to,

be able to handle myself. That's not really how it works with us, just like I told the fox. You know, you mitigate harm around you, as much as he can. You're not a burden on anybody, okay? And look, I'm still getting used to this too. I don't...

There's just things here in the city that don't make sense to me. And if I am being honest with myself, I don't want Suvie to see that. This is different. She went off and she became this big, fancy city wizard and, you know, this is really different than that summer on the farm where I got to shore the ropes and look like I knew what I was doing, but I'm really out of my element here.

And I think you're feeling a little of that, too, but here's the deal. We're going to do our best to learn and observe and not make more wizards run away, fearing for their lives. Maybe it's okay if we ask Suvi for some pointers sometimes. Yeah. We gotta make it clear because it's not we're dumb, not that we're dumb. We're not dumb. We're not dumb.

We're capable. We're just capable in other ways. Yeah. Everybody's got there. I mean, I'm the strong man. Yes. I have to stop saying. You just up down that door like it was nothing.

The second time. We got there. We got there. We got there. We'll do better. Round the corner, Suvie, I think Maro has already gone off to sea towards pain. probably you're actually back in your quarters at this point. You all reconvene.

And you see that sort of running into the room already come. You see that like no matter how kind of frightening and traumatic things are that the fox is already completely back to neutral. He's great. He's resilient. He walks up. He looks up at you, Suve, and he goes, I don't know how the hell you bit that guy standing so far away. But I'll say you this, I set him up. You knock them down.

I just want to offer him a little bitty fist pump. Pause. A little loving paw on your fist. I kiss it? I don't know. Thank you. Weird. Are you okay? I'm fine.

Yeah. How about you? I'm fine. You brought him back. I couldn't. It just felt like it didn't have to go that way. And it was my folly that it did. What do you mean?

Well, I just, I wanted, I felt good that I thought that I could be the person who would help, you know, that I could sneak in. And so I said, I'd do it. And then the opportunity availed itself to, and I did. And then things didn't go well. And everything went sideways. And he ended up bleeding out. And so I took that apart myself. It did not have to go sideways in that way.

Ursula, he's going to die. In his office, Will Gallows will kill him. We consigned him to death the moment we told him why we were here. What do you think you did? Well, I'm sorry, Sufi. I'm not as good at this as you are. I... No, I...

I'm sorry. Things are different in the Citadel. It's hard here. The law is clear. Treason is met with death. At our hands or an outlaws doesn't really matter, but I appreciate your penchant for mercy. I mean, I was performing at a circus two, three weeks ago.

Now I'm deciding if, if wizards should, should live or die here or die there. It's just, it's a lot. I haven't really ever traveled much outside of the village. And this is all bad. It feels bad. I, it's like the rules that I spent my whole life learning are just not applicable here.

And so I'm sorry if I seem like I'm trying to question you or anything. I just don't know. Please help us, Suvie. I guess that's really what we're asking. Yeah. No, no, I, oh God. And Suvie just goes over and makes sure

like the door is like closed and locked and kind of brings everyone as far away from where anyone could over here. You're fine. I'm sorry. This is, this is the thing they train us for. It's not good. But, but.

But how do you know? Like, how do you know that that man should have died or what to do? Like, you always know what to do. You spent the last 15 years training with Grandmother Wren. I went to the desert and survived it. All I know is how to make hard choices. But it's the first time in my life I actually have to make them, and it's not easy. for whatever that's worth.

But no one should be apologizing. Yeah, and when those kinds of decisions become easy, I think, is when we have a real problem. Yeah. Well, we fulfilled our end of the bargain. Yes. I mean, we can go get wavebreaker now? I mean, it can. I kind of want to see whatever Marrow is working on.

There's something deeply wrong with that Derek out there. I mean, you, you guys saw that they're, the wands? There's no, the large tanks? Yeah. It feels like they're preparing for war. The, the, the, the Aztebatallion, do you mean? Yeah. They're going to fight.

I mean, you saw those big barrels and I saw wizards earlier in the research library bandaged. All of this feels. wrong. It doesn't feel peaceful or calm at all. And maybe if we spend just a couple more hours, we can have a better insight on whatever's happening. I agree. And I taste the salt water in my mouth and a knot in my stomach. It isn't magical or anything like the tangled roots that were there before, but is deeply connected to this place and whatever is happening. So we'll see the Derek and then treat with gallows. Also, do you want some armor?

Look, I kind of run this joint now. We can go and go get some stuff. You want to have stuff? I mean, you did say there's a war on, you know, coming, and I would like to be better prepared. I mean, I think I have this cheap sword that I got from Finley that I didn't even have. It was in my bedroom.

So, yeah, I would take something better. Let's go our outfit, our little guardian. A little, just staring up at you, like, little guy. All right, all right. Hell yeah. So you have a couple hours to tell you hit over to the armory? Yeah. Shopping.

Shopping. So you have a couple hours to kill you hit over to the armory? Yeah. Shopping. Shopping. Incredible. So what I'll say is this, anyone who wants you can give me an investigation

or an archana. Those are things I like and I'm good at. Can I have help from the Fox? Yes, the Fox will help. And I will do guidance. Cool. For anybody who needs it. Can I have it?

Yeah, I'll take that guidance. Do you mind if I take you're familiar and you? Yeah, yeah, you can help you out. All right, thanks Fox. So I'll be honest with you. We got some really good roles in here. We got a dirty 20 from Ursula. Yeah.

We got a 17 over here. Yes. What did we get over here? 23. 23. So the three of you having had this quite harrowing afternoon, violence in the halls of the Calabelle chantry of the Scepter's chorus with Guildmage Pain, who is apparently sprinted out of here, unclear whether he's been captured by the attendant

mages and killed Mage Morrow, the head of the sanctum. You had, came to blows. Ursulon was injured by wizard's magic for the first time. Not grievously so, but nonetheless injured. And you find yourself walking down one of the quartz hallways on the ground floor as sort of a warehouse and more kind of technological, industrial holding areas

of the sanctum give out and flare out from the towers base. So you're sort of no longer in the sanctum proper anymore. You've walked down a kind of interior passage. You see that there's windows on either side that face out to these like white gravel courtyards. And

walk into an armory, as it is so called. The armory is sort of a, immediately, I think, for Amé and Ursula, your idea of what will be awaiting you is instantly dispelled as a very quiet, meditative, wooden room unveils itself, something like being in a well-appointed study. There are small blue fabric chairs. the things here are a little bit less ostentatious than in the sanctum. No one's trying to be impressed. But even so, it gives way more of the feeling of like a drawing room in a private manner

than it does of when you think of an armory. Large wardrobes are filled with azure coats, sort of military coats. You see that the only things that are visible at the moment are the coats in the open wardrobes. And there is an entire wall lined with the... these imperial war staves. There are sort of, there's one little section open that you see is, first it looks like a bench, but you realize that the front of it can be sort of lifted up. And at this moment, it is slightly ajar, and there are just a lot of boots underneath there.

Your investigation checks were quite high. So for our purposes, this is almost a combination investigation check and luck check. What you would realize Suvi in this moment as well is there's a lot of stuff in here. There's no one in here taking care of it right now. You're in the sanctum, all the people that would stop you from get. The point of this place is that it's available to the soldiers who need it. So there's not someone here sort of guarding it.

But normally, you know, there would be a process of checking this stuff out. You probably don't need to do that, but it's rude not to do it because someone will get in a lot of trouble if something just goes missing. I think that you know that your station here affords you the license to do whatever the hell you want with consequences. Yeah.

Right? But I think the important thing is the big set piece is sort of these staves. There's an entire wall that should be full of them, but of course many of the Azure Battalion have there. So there's space for about 60 and there's probably 14 left up on the wall. So much like being in a pool hall

where all the cues have been taken off because they're being used. There's just a couple of them left. That being said, there are drawers set into the wall, cabinets that are all closed. And looking at them, you're sort of going, where would big pole arms and swords and axes be? But of course, this is a wizard's armory.

So it's a lot more genteel and sedate than that. And Ursula is immediately crestfallen. Oh, no! Immediately on your investigation, I will tell you that more than half the room you're able to quickly rule out. The boots, they're magical. They will not fit Ursulaan. The jackets, they're magical.

They will not fit Ursula. Okay. Come on. Ursulon is like looking like at a rack at the gap and being like, if I go more to the right, do we get larger? Do we get larger? No, a medium. Eyes behind him trying to sort of. Yes, could you stitch it?

Is that possible? In front of men. to stitch it. And of course you're looking... So lumpy. And of course you're looking at Ursulon's, you know, glamored self holding a jacket that absolutely... I'm five feet...

I'm five inches taller than I... Like, even my seven foot one is not my full size. Yes, exactly. So funny. I've definitely... I definitely rip two or three robes to start. Just to start, just... Oh, I'm sorry.

I thought... Nope, you're good. I thought it would... I thought it would stretch. magically or something. Nothing. Right. Thank you.

Just pass that over here. Suvi is sitting with the ledger kind of keeping track of what we're grabbing and she'll just start passively mending everything. Go ahead. Take your time. I'm pulling things off the rack and as if a fashion montage is happening.

Ooh, try this one. Suddenly I see. No, Suvie. Yeah, here we go. Mending, mending, mending. Maybe just a hat here. Okay. I think you're not a hat.

No, Suvieve, please. You get a hat that can perch. You get a hat that can like perch on your head, but it's one of those sort of cavalry officers hat that has a chin strap and it won't not even close. Just fully blocking my eyes. Do we think, do we think this? Could I just?

Oh, no, sorry, sorry, sorry. Let's a look. Can you just remember what this looks like and use your magic to replicate it? Yeah, but that's, come on, Suvie. Okay, I'm sorry. Come on, Suvie. I'm sorry.

Ask me that hat. I think also to you'd be aware that some of this stuff, the jackets and hats and boots, for example, bear the crests of the Azure Battalion. So it's not wrong for you to, I mean, it does magical stuff. I wouldn't fault you for taking it. But it will lead to interesting social interactions,

as opposed to some of the stuff in the armory that's a little bit less. Like, so the number one thing that I actually want to even make you roll for, I'm handing a little index card across the table. The first thing you see are the Imperial War staves. But I'll let Suvi describe you because you can see what they do and what they're called. Yeah.

I'll let Suvi take it away and explain whether Ursula wants that or not. Sufi watches, after you've grabbed a couple, I was like, can you just, hey, go grab a matchstick. Oh, all right. I guess I'll take one of the staves down. Yeah. Yeah. So, they're, look, the Azure Battalion and any sort of war mage, all of this is, yeah, you can hit it with the pointy end, but it helps you cast magic more effectively. Cantrip's mostly

because these are all shit wizards but they're good at hitting stuff. We love cannon fodder. So it's like a like Sufi staff? Oh Sufi's staff is meant to like wield status and respect. These staves are all bound

on either end with brass studs into a leather sort of harness or sash that allows you to shoulder these staves. So you can carry them over one shoulder when you're marching They come off, they're wielded in two hands. But you see that the way they're wielded,

they're not like quarter staves you've seen. Like, yes, you can hit people with them. But fundamentally, you see that there is an end. And because these have seen some use, you see where the slang term matchstick comes from, which is that one of the banded ends is covered in a little bit of soot. And that these are basically for firing, fire bolts, cantrips, things of that nature.

They need help to cast cantrips. Gross. Is this like the things that I make? Oh. You know, how I put magic into little things, and then I'll give them to people. Is it like that? Kind of, but yours are...

And I think you see, Stevie kind of just like shakes her wrist a little bit and she's still wearing the like sort of no longer charged charm bracelet. But no, because the magic on these is sort of permanent. I think yours are sort of one and done, right? Yeah, it's permanent? Oh, yeah. I pick one up and I inspect it.

Go ahead and give me an Arcana check. Nine. Oh, no. You really don't understand some elements of this. It has a permanent magical effect on it. And it's up on the wall like candy in a candy shop. The full weight of the Imperium, the Citadel, what it means to have something like this.

These staves were made by people who didn't know the names or faces of who would end up using them. But then what if they're used for bad things? What do you mean? I mean. These are all used by soldiers of the Imperium. I mean, I don't mean to sound naive here. But people are people, and this is a lot of power for just a person to have in the pocket. Amé is reacting to the mass production of magical objects.

But you're also aware of how not powerful these magical items are. One of the things about these staves is they don't have any spells in them. They literally don't, a normal person picking this up would not be able to do anything with it. It relies on the wielder already being able to cast a cantrip. All they serve to do is take a spell you can already cast at will and make it a little bit more accurate. Yeah. And thinking back to like the actual systems inside of the Citadel,

like the pooling of magic where like we have whole systems where low-level wizards dump their spell slots into pools for better wizards to use. And like Suvi's mind kind of, like, I think Ame would see Suvi like go away. a little bit in her own head, as she imagines, like, the more impressive versions of, like, all of the magical items she's seen and all of the, like, incredible, like,

industry around magic. And instead of speaking to any of that, see, we just kind of nods and tries to, like, oh, look at what Ursulaan's found. Yes, Ursulaan is definitely like having a real kid with a present he didn't want energy at this point, which is like he's holding the, matchstick and being like, this is,

yeah, mm-hmm, yeah, I bet. But like, kind of leaning over to the drawers and kind of looking for Suvi's permission to start opening more stuff to find anything else. Yeah, I'm just really fascinated by this, because I just,

I don't understand quite that it all is very technical, I guess, but I would really love to have a chance at some point to study these and to see if there's a way to do something like this again.

What do you mean? Yeah, you can have one. Yeah, take one. Okay. I just pull out the ledger and put two match sticks and then cross it out and write Imperial Wars tapes.

All right, Ursulon's done. Ursulant's opening up this stuff. Yeah, open, go, go, go, go, go. So I'll go ahead, we'll resolve this initial investigation checks. I'll say on a 17, on a 17, Amme opens a cabinet next to, or actually, at the edge of the line of jackets, you see that on a little stool wrapped up in wax paper is a stack of fabric that you realize, it's like a thick stack of fabric that are all in squares and you realize they're little kind of diaphanous bandanas. They have, there's a wavy cream and green pattern to them.

And they are, but they're in a stack like sort of like freshly long. and there's a ton of them. I keep saying that I don't need more fabrics and things, but then I always think that there's just a little project that I can use it for. The future. It's like when we were leaving the cottage. Yeah.

You recognize these because these appear to be more like of a texture that doesn't seem, it seems that this has been requisitioned from a local more than it has come from the empire. You find a stack of these. Magical entity. Yeah. You find a stack of these.

Wow. And you recognize why this local chapter, the Azure Battalion has needed them. This is a little stack of witch fire veils. They're just for wrapping around your nose and mouth while you're out dealing with, like, dangerous, magical smoke, essentially. Oh. So Amme finds that. Off in a corner, you find the good stuff that actually probably Ursulaan could wear without clocking too much social heat because they're pretty, they don't have any crests or symbols on them, which are just golden bracers that go on the forearm.

They are of like sort of a hardened leather, essentially. Very light, good for spellwork, not very heavy, but they're, you know, they're like handy. They have a minor abjuration on them. See if he's got big mom energy wherever you are. Like, try these on, sweetie. All right, yes. Oh, these fit. And the last, Ersson, you open a, you're looking at a bunch of empty drawers, and you open a big, wide drawer.

The drawer is almost like four and a half feet wide, but very shallow. It's only like a few inches tall. And as you open it, you see these lovely, like black velvet surfaces with all these little slits in them. And then you see that while it is mostly empty, there are rows and rows of rings, like a jewelers shop. You see that there are several, there are bronze rings, copper rings, and coral rings. Suvi, you know off the top that it's only safe to wear two magical rings at once. Also, these are not marked with the Azure Battalion. These are way wider use within the empire in general.

These are sort of citadel-made, mass-produced magical rings. Go ahead and you can give me a, give me an Arcana check. And what did you get? What did you get? 28. 28. I was going to say 15 gets you one. Yeah.

20 gets you two. You're able to instantly identify all three of these types of rings. Because the Azure Battalion are all kids that are all usually people that were at least assigned to be wizards going forward and they fight magically. there are a lot of rings that are made to basically bolster their innate abilities for non-combat purposes. So these rings are all basically like non-combat for non-combat jobs. You know that the bronze rings are called stewards rings, which is basically to give to wizards that have to do cargo, longshoremen, porter, kind of carrying and unloading stuff. The copper rings are scouts rings, which are for, you know,

Watchmen, scouts, people that are in guard duty. And then there are these coral rings, which you actually haven't seen these before, but you just look at the little, you can see an arcane mark in the velvet that you can just speak, the sort of irulian, you know. And you guys have been called Sailor's Rings. So stewards' rings, Scouts' rings, and Sailors' rings.

And I'll give them to you and let you interpret the game abilities into what Suvie would be able to say. I think Ursulaan just kind of grabs a handful of them. Fovie, I found these. What do they do? And would they fit on my fingers? These magical rings, you know, are a little bit less shoddy than the Azure Battalion stuff.

Their Citadel made, they will resize. Where's the coral from? What kind of coral is it? I don't know. And I just hand you. a ring so you can stare at it while Suvie just sort of contemplates all three. Okay, we're going to put the bronze rings

away because that's for you know, like someone that would be carrying bags and I don't want that on you. But the copper. Copper is good. This is a scouts ring. It will help with

perception and I think since you are not only the strongest man in Silbury, but our protection. It'll help you get the drop on whatever we come up against. That sounds, that sounds right. Yes. Yeah, I immediately put the bronze rings back.

I don't like them. That's like, I think there's something, there's enough, like, Suvee has enough internal bias. Like, that like, oh, when you see that, you're like, ooh, gosh. Give me an insight check, Amé. 21. I think that you can see. as Suvi sort of discards the bronze ring,

there's an element of judgment in Suvi about what the bronze ring signifies that you would clock, I think, a little bit along the same vibe with this whole chantry in general of the kind of things wizards look down on. I mean, if it's about carrying things, I carry a lot of things.

Can I look at that one? Yeah, I guess it helps with your strength. I think I handed you the card back. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. It makes you, if you want to be a little pack mule, go ahead. Maybe put a glove on over it, though. What? Why?

That's red as heck. I mean, we get to, yeah. Yeah, I guess. You don't want to be strong? I am strong. Yes, ma'am. And I like that. Oh, wow.

These sailor rings, though, this allows you to breathe underwater. What? I mean, uh-huh. Get my own. Remember, you can only wear two. Pick your two. Is it a style thing? Oh, it's a magical load thing.

Oh, okay, got it. It wouldn't be. It's not just like you would look weird. to have a bunch of... Oh, no, not at all. Okay. I will be taking Suviz's suggestion. So on his left middle finger, he'll wear the sailor's ring.

And on his right index finger, he'll wear the copper ring. Gotcha, gotcha, got you. The scouts ring. The scouts ring. Incredible. This is fascinating. The amount of power that is in these permanently? Mm-hmm.

Incredible. I would love to take one of the bronze rings. I can carry a lot of different things. I could wrestle so many goats with this ring. I would also like to get a scout ring because I could do with a little more vigilance. Do these rings feel any sort of way, putting them on? What I would actually love for you to do

is to give me a Constitution saving throw. Okay, why did I ask? That's a seven. You put the copper ring on and the sensation is not actually a terrible one, as you put it on. I think that Constitution Save means you're just very, you feel the stimulation of the magical effects taking over you very palpably. You're not guarded to the change in your, like, physiology.

However, you put on the scouts ring, and immediately the way you feel is just a little bit buzzed in a kind of catholic. way. You find yourself with an abundance of focus that doesn't feel unpleasant, but you find yourself noting more things. You're not getting distracted very easily as you wear this ring. So whereas before putting all your focus into a ring, you notice the ring, but you also notice the two soldiers walking by in the courtyard. You notice sort of crudely. creak in a hallway outside. It's,

it is a little, but it's, I think Arsson takes the ring off, like, for a second, just like, and you see him, like, shaking his hand.

It's, um, it is, it is palpable, the difference. Oh. Oh. Ugh.

And then I'm going to try to yawn. If you can pop your ears, kind of helps. Oh, okay. Yes. Oh. Ah.

Ah. Ah. Ah. Ha ha. Ha ha. I This is where His specific physiology

As a hey spirit Maybe I'm not getting the popping You were talking about I'm sorry I gotta have some gum here Hold on Amay do you have any gum

Like a chewy food Um Spearmine Yeah Yeah Oh I also have fruit Um So

I think Ursula I just start Snagic Huge wind energy Oh I also have fruit. It doesn't make him pop his ears, but it is just nice to focus on something else. I also, so I take a bronze ring and a copper ring.

I take an extra bronze ring and I check it. Is it, would it be okay for non-humans to wear it? I don't know if you know. I don't know if you know offhand. You can give me an Arcona check if you want. Oh boy. That's a one. Do you slide a bronze ring onto your finger before sort of questioning what it would do to something else?

Yes, yes. I poke a digit into it tentatively. It feels like touching a source of electricity. And it's in that way that it numbs. It's not pain, but boy, is it an unpleasant sensation. And you start to sweat profusely and feel sick to your stomach. Oh, okay. She wants some spearmint and fruit.

It helps. Okay. Why are you all? Go ahead. Give me a history check. Oh, Suvi. Go ahead and give me history. Oh, me.

Okay, sorry. 20. 30, 20. You recognize that one of the pieces of advice they give to soldiers in the Azure Battalion is not to take these rings off lately. And you also remember that on the first day they get them, they're not assigned anything. You think that the first day of wearing these, you are pretty, it's a pretty intense process of like accepting and assimilating and dealing with the effect of the ring. There's a bit of a...

That's okay. You good? It's kind of a curve. I've got to... I rummage through my pouches and pull out my herbalism kit and I pop some ginger. Into my mouth and start chewing it up. Okay, I'm fine. I'm fine.

It'll be fine. Hey, uh, Fox. Yeah. What? Um, how would you like to mitigate some harm with a little experiment that might make you a little uncomfortable? No. That's fair. I respect your bodily autonomy.

Great, because I can smell you sweating, and I don't want to do whatever it is. Okay. Ami, yes. Were you going to put one of the rings on the fox? Only if you wanted it. How cool would it be if we had a strong-ass fox? That's a good point. Hey, Fox.

Yeah. Please let me put one of these rings on you. What do I get in return? You want some more of that fish slurry from earlier? Give me a persuasion check. We're both looking at him Seven Let me be clear

I don't I'm never putting I should have made this clear The moment we met I'm never putting clothes on And that's clothes Yeah Look I'm just gonna say

I'm so glad you're here with me But if I had known that going into this Things might have turned out a little different Tough break Tough break bus I can't choose your family. Yeah. Yeah.

Do you put on the coral ring as well or something? Yes. You put on the coral ring and do not have any such reaction to it. It feels, you don't feel any change on your body as you put the coral ring on. I want to say very specifically, Suve didn't take anything because of the, like, ledger optics of if it looked like she took something to and that somehow, like, a Wizard of the Citadel was ill-equipped. Yes. Which is obnoxious. Copy that.

I hear you. Suvi and Ursulae both see Amme stealing something from the room. Erica just passed me a little note, but the role was not fine enough. What do you steal with an emblem on it? Do you steal one of the boots or do you steal a jacket or something? Just a jacket, I think. Ste a little jacket. shove it to my back.

Suvi marks something down into the ledger, but does not say anything. Ursulun looks to see it with Suvie. sees that she doesn't mind it and thinks. Oh, Suvi minds. Like, you can see it in her face. She's pissed off at this, but she's not going to say anything. So, all of you leave this area, you have a little while before, you have a little while before the boats leave.

What do you do in the intervening? Amay, you feel sick as hell. I'm going to take a little napy nap. Cool. Amay goes to take a nap. And just double checking again one time. Two copper ring. one coral ring, one bronze ring,

and a jacket and a pair of braces. Did we not take any of the Witchfire Veils? Did you explain the Whitchfire? I took four the Witchfire Vails, and then you said one matchstick? And a matchstick, if you want it. Okay, yeah. Take the matchstick.

I take the matchstick. Cool. Well, our first big getting of cool magical gear. There it is. Give me some water, bro. Now I need water. You spent some time, And actually, you all do take an hour to attune to your magical gear,

which is sort of what this process is. Your attunement, Ursulaan, is just getting used to the new sort of amount of sensory information. Oh, and I was just going to say that Ursulaan spends that time drinking wine, trying to, like, meet in some kind of middle of, like, I don't want to be able to hear everything. But you can also feel the coral ring. You do sort of feel a, there's something sort of like interesting in this. I think you feel the quality, like inside of your glamour, you feel the quality of your fur change a little bit.

There's something to your plumage in your fur where it becomes not in an unpleasant way. It shines a little more as you realize that there's kind of a healthy natural oil on it. There's something that like makes a. a little bit more, almost like a polar bear or an otter's fur or something like that, that if you were to suddenly submerge, you would not soak. Instead, it would sleek in.

It would become like a little, it would be very easy to become aquatic. Earthal water. Ursula. Like water off under Salon's back. I want to say, during that time, I absolutely attempted to

fully pack the, whatever, that like flower-pressed book that Maro gave me, I'm trying to keep it. So I'm like packing it into my stuff. It's mine now. Gotcha.

So you did not open it. You're just packing it away. Yeah. That hour wasn't enough time. I think she's got other stuff on her mind and she didn't want to get lost in this before going and doing something else. Incredible.

Go ahead and give me either stealth or slight of hand as you attempt to like conceal it in your belongings. 13. 13. Okay. Copy that. You go ahead and conceal this sort of pressed tone inside. Ame, the fox is right on your bed

looking at you with this really concerned thing. You are sweating, you feel nauseous. Because you also, I believe, put on a copper ring as well, right? Yeah. Okay, so you're having full sensory stuff as you get advantage on perception and initiative. And you have this bronze ring on. So I don't know how to tell you this, Erica.

After an hour's nap, you do get up and, Actually, give me a Constitution savings throw. That's a 13. Okay. On a 13, you miraculously do not have to get up and go to the privy to expel what you ate or drank. But it's close. There's a couple times where you're like holding your stomach and you're like, do I get up and make a run for it? Just try hitting a little.

Rally. You can rally. And Amet, you. after about an hour, this, and you realize like 45 minutes into it, you're just, you have a full fever. Oh, I'm gonna sip some wizard Gatorade. Yeah, oh, you're like,

you have the little ginger, witch drink. Yeah, ginger shats and a little wizard Gatorade. Yeah, by the way, I'll say this. When they give these rings out, they tell you not to put both on in the same day, for sure. So you get up, once again, like more things in focus, more things align. You're way more perceptive. And you look in a mirror after an hour, as you get up and are, like, changing out of your truly soiled, like, sweat-soaked clothing, you have lats.

You just fully have lats. You, like, turn your arm and have, like, a shredded fucking tricep. As you, like, bend down to get more clothes, there's, like, definition in your quads. You are, there is nothing. Ahme now has a strength score of 19. Let's go. Let's go. That's higher than Ursula.

Yeah, you have a steward's ring on, and it is, it's fucked up. You are, you are jacked as hell. Let's go. I spend a little bit of time flexing. Yeah. In the mirror. That smells real good. Incredible.

I broke my whole life on a farm wrangling animals and chopping wood, but like, now it's aesthetic. They're mirror muscles. Yeah. Yeah, you've, I mean, like, your biggest impediment has always been your actual physical stature. And it doesn't seem to be a problem anymore. Let's go. Now I am a five-foot shit brick house. Oh, my God.

Shit brick house. Incredible. night falls and all of you have dinner brought to your rooms and as you sort of, you know, ready yourselves, a carriage pulls up outside. Do you all enter and head to the harbor? Are we feeling good? You look like shit. Does this look shitty to you? And I pull back a sleeve and flex.

I go to grab your muscle, but you're still fever sweating, and I'm like, kind of a mixed bag. I agree. Is that the ring? Mm-hmm. I guess. Fox, that could be you. Honestly, I think in this moment, I'm very glad we did not give the fox a ring. Wait, I want one.

No, no, you don't. Hey, give me one. He said he wants the ring. Do you all want to see a fox with an abdominal morgue? muscles? Is that what you want? I do not. Why is that even a question? Absolutely don't. It was bad enough when we gave him a vote.

He ate his vote. He doesn't have it anymore. You can eat your vote and have it too. I don't like the fox telling me I'm wrong. I think we should get on the carriage. All of you get on the carriage and proceed through Port Talon at night. A cool mist sort of rises up from the water of the harbor. you are going towards the interior harbor, the one on sort of the inside of the curve of the Talon of Port Talon.

And you move through cobblestone streets and beautiful more like civic imperial buildings that have been built more recently. And you see a ship awaiting you out of the end of a long pier that goes all the way out towards like a tall ship that can take you all the way out towards the Derek. The ship waiting for you is not some massive war galley. It is a tall ship, but it is a sort of frigate.

It's one made for speed and for a smaller crew. As you travel past in the carriage, I would ask for Suvi to give me a perception check. Okay. 30-20. You look at the governor's manner, and it is night, but you see that there are still some rooms that are alight with, Citadel magic within the governor's manner, you see a Citadel carriage outside of the governor's manner.

And on a dirty 20, I think you can see that the coachman of that Citadel carriage is leaning in and speaking to someone inside of the carriage. I got to say it. I have the observant feet. If I can see someone's mouth, like, mouth moving, can I read his lips? lips. Yeah. You're far away.

You absolutely can. Yeah! That's the first time I've ever seen that come up. Yay! I've never been more excited to remember how my feet works. You see that the coachman is saying, as you wish, Abdura Galani, I believe that they should be outside sooner rather than later. I've heard word from someone at the Scepter's chorus chantry that there was some, and at that

point you're pulling around the corner. Oh, God. Yes. Do you remember the three wizards that were mentioned in... The Ace of Wants? Yeah. Not really, but... Uh, Moral and Payne and Kalani.

And I point back towards the governor's manner. Is there? I don't know if that's important, but that's... That's a Citadel wizard. It's to be nothing. You're a Citadel wizard. And it's very weird that I'm here. Galani is someone you've met before.

Ooh. I know them. They're... Is it bad that... I mean, we already flubbed our cover story one time? Is it bad if we... No, they... I think Galani knows I'm here.

I saw something that the coachman mentioned our chantry and something that went down. So I think word of the unpleasantness is already at the governor's mansion. The unpleasantness. Uh, that's uh, stuety. Um, should we be on guard with this person? With everyone.

Oh. Okay. Yeah, yeah, of course. Wizards are defined by their secrets. You continue along, uh, waiting, uh, avoiding, uh, the eyes of the citadel. You arrive at the harbor, walk along the pier and see out in the distance now. Much more dramatic in the distance now. nighttime sea, purple and green, lights pulsing out in the distance. Up on the deck of the ship, Guildmage Morrow clasps his hands.

Ah, welcome, welcome. Lovely sea tide excursion. Obviously, I know you've had your dinner already, but we do have some amenities and some crudite waiting for us. That's so kind of you, no thank you. Oh. I'm quite all right. Very well.

You see that he invites you on to. the deck of the ship. And you hear the ropes unwinding with some careful mage hand spells from the sailors around. And as you take off, the ship begins sailing. Morrow

stands near the prow, looking excitedly. Walks over to you, Suvi. I wished to let you know that we were unable to apprehend the guild-mage pain. He was alerted to

status somehow. Ercelon and Ame, look at each other. However, we've taken the liberty, and you see he holds up a small parchment that has a magically conjured sort of etching of pain's face and it says, wanted

for crimes against the Imperium for the bounty of 750 imperial marks. We've taken the liberty of putting these up across town. Wonderful. Without a traveling door, he won't be able to get far. I consider this handled. He smiles and says, wonderful.

Now, to the main event. Oh, I am so excited. I have longed to be in the company of a true wizard. And though I know, of course, that you are still in your apprenticeship. I think the writing is on the wall. You will be a great wizard of this age, and I am so excited to see what is to come. C.V. nods graciously.

Just a little asshole. The ship arrives at the Derek, and as you come closer, you see a structure that has four inclined, massive steel beams that all come to a central point. It is effectively the shape of a pyramid, but in an incredibly acute isosceles formation. So a tall and narrow pyramid of steel except hollow.

So only the corners are these like four steel beams that come down. And set between them, you see that they are platforms ascending up, covered in lights. The platforms appear to be both structural, helping hold and secure this magical Derek. And you also notice that there's not anything ostentatious going on here. The platforms are secured structurally to the outer beams. There are some railings for safety-hilling there to the platform. But within them, you see that there are the basics of ruin work within platforms going up.

And each of the platforms holds as you arrive up on the out. side, there's a staircase going up, like zigzagging up across from platform to platform going way, way up high. In the center of each steel platform is a circular disk of glass, or if it's crystal, it's perfectly transparent crystal. But it basically creates the circumstance of that whatever floor you're on, you can walk out into that disk of glass and look straight up and see all the way up to the central lights at the top that you see are these massive stacked purple and green that you can now see

are perfect octagonal prisms. So like an octagon cylinder into octagonal points that flows. It's like a little prism, right? They hover up at the top of this Derek shape and the light from them cascades down through all of those lenses and you see the sort of strange effect through all these lenses is that the actual water, as the beams go into the sea itself, that there is this incredibly bright green and purple light illuminating the gentle waves rolling underneath the derrick, really like illuminating the sea, which also has the effect of making all the sea around it incredibly dark, that you kind of, like that light is so powerful that it's blinding what you'd normally be able to see.

As you arrive and the ship is anchored, Moro says, welcome, pleasure and honor and a privilege, which I know I have said altogether too many times, but you can see here he trembles with emotion. He says, right this way, takes you to the staircase, and you can see uses for the first time his own match. He casts a spell that kind of creates a floating platform of force underneath you.

so that you don't have to ascend this, like, long staircase yourselves. As you begin to float up the staircase on this platform of force, he just begins to point things out to you. It's like, and as you get up, the wind kind of kicks up going higher and higher. The sea wind really starts to get more intense. So sort of speaking over the wind, he starts to go, like, the construction of the actual apparatus took approximately three and a half years. The enchanting could be.

begin within the last year, but we needed to wait until it was fully stable and operational before the real enchantments, the prisms you see up above could actually be called into effect. It's an incredible testament to the work of the engineers and the various mage rights that were able to come in and build this here. I really can't wait to show you. You arrive at the uppermost platform, which at this point is a about, you know, still 80 or so feet underneath the top. You're probably like 160 feet up above the ocean. You're high, high, high up.

And as you are up on this, this last platform is probably like 30 feet by 30 feet. Like it is narrow up here, right? So it's pretty cozy. And you see this big disc of, of crystal, pure, like flawless, completely translucent in the center of the steel platform. The platforms, of course, are, what's the room looking for, not corrugated. The platforms have lots of slots in them, almost like a chain link fence. What was it I'm looking for?

Like a great. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, the steel platforms are graded to A, make them easier to lift, they're lighter, but B, also for water and things like that. So you're on this graded steel platform that goes out to this disc in the middle. And you see, Maro looks at you and says, and of course, we built the Derek, enchanted it, and then it was just a matter of time

before we could set into motion what we knew was possible given studies of the opportunity given to us by Port Talon and what the locals had often spoken about, they only knew a fraction of. There is something truly worthwhile, but explaining it to you would rob you of the wonder of what we first found when we came out here.

So, without further ado, if you would step on to the disc, we will go ahead and let the show begin. I don't hesitate. I'm locked step. I pause for a moment. This is all so fascinating and impressive, but there's just something in my stomach that feels bad, and it's not the result of the rings.

You feel that weirdness. You see Maro looks at you and says, if you're not feeling well, you don't need to participate. Oh, no, no, that's all right. Sorry, it's just a little nausea. Understood. Well, he claps, and you see that a number of other attendant mages down below begin to swirl their hands and to chant.

Whispers begin to echo out from the Derek. The sea kicks up a little bit as you see a group of wizards working in unison. Morrow looks up, touches his lower lower level. speak silently to himself, and you see the prisms begin to rotate overhead, causing the purple and green light to rotate on the sea floor underneath. You look and see the lenses shifting as the mages below begin to chant in unison, and the light intensifies. Purple and green light, mixing, swirling, becoming one minding image. The waves kick up, the wind kicks up.

You see white foam coming off the sea caps of the waves. Beneath you, the light is obscuring it, but you see that the foam is building and building and building, and suddenly you realize the light itself is swirling and creating the Derek full of space, but when light

itself, the sea is flattened and illuminated as something neither water nor air is created. It is simply solid light itself taking the place of any other element and dooms down. Standing here on the glass, water parting and down another 80 or a hundred feet beneath the surface.

The ancient, see, and then you see it moves in something like a breath or a palpitation. To it, you're looking at stripes like waves and hundreds of tendrils. You look to find a face, but you can't see one. There is some massive monster at the bottom of the sea, surrounded by tall, dark ocean rocks in the depths. Its tendrils, it is something like faceless and oblong as a sea cucumber, larger than an ocean galley. At the front of its body, there is series of rubelliseless,

glowing bioluminescent lights, each larger than the wheel of a carriage, but on its massive frame somehow small in comparison, that body curls almost like a nautilus, a tail that narrows, tucked in underneath itself, even though all of it is soft and writhing and palpitating in its massiveness. The lights crystal blue and bright red, scintillating along the light's crystal blue and bright red, scintillating along its body ever seen before. Its massive frame from where its body touches underneath and the source of the coral shimmer iridescently like oil on the surface of water that soaks out from where its body touches the stone

and as it leaves, the squirrel grows spiking out in all. directions spiring up as though to reach out and rise up and in cover or in case or in close and you see down there the base of the steel structure of the Derek clearly the coral is being carved off you see structures and tools and implements at the base of the tower for carving the coral away and you see the light As the light touches the creature, you see reverberating like sonic waves. The creature pushed down. This tower, side of the creature at the bottom of the sea.

You see Miles weeping. That was Lou Wilson as Ursulaan, Erica Ishii, as Amay, Abria Ayangar, as Suvi, and Brennan Lee Mulligan as everyone and everything else. World's Beyond Number is edited, designed, and scored by Taylor Moore at Fortunate Horse, with additional sound designed from Michael Gelfi Studios. For even more like this, join us on our Patreon. We'll see you there.