Pants people! How you doing? I just want to thank
you guys so, so much for leaving that review.
Wait, what? What? You didn't leave a review?
Well, I'll forgive you. I'll forgive you. This
is once because I'm a benevolent DM. Get out
there. Leave us a review. Enjoy the show. We
love having you and we love doing this. Let's
go! now given to the Lucha Libre Team Challenge
against the Mighty Pigman. Sponsored, of course,
by Marfil Ironworks. Now, as exciting as this
event is, I'm afraid we do have some tragic,
tragic news for y 'all. Of the four Luchador
challengers that were invited to join Pigman
in the ring, three have become suddenly ill with
serenade. Ganabotus, Magic Mouth, and The Change
have all been reported as gravely ill, leaving
only the aforementioned Dance Macabre to carry
on their will. End of the fight. We at the network
pass on our concerns to their families and pray
for their recovery. In the meantime, Marvel Ironworks
is currently searching for other worldly contestants
to boast of the opposing side. With the Night
of the Rumble so close, though, and Serenade
on the rise, well, it may be hard to find replacements.
More on this later. So no one told you life was
gonna be this way. Your job's a joke, you're
broke, your love life's DOA. I quit. Stephen,
get in there. Fuck this podcast. No. It's like
you're always stuck in second gear when it hasn't
been your day, your week, your month, or even
your year. Stephen has the most painful expression
on his face right now. Yeah, well, I'm like,
I wish I had my phone out because that would
have been great for Instagram. The no phone near
the mic rule is the best thing that's ever happened
to me. No, it'll be fine on this side. Yeah,
it would work. Bravo, I think. I keep going.
No, no, don't encourage it. There's more theme.
You encourage it. Here we go. I'll be there for
you. I told you. When the rain starts to pour.
I'll be there for you. I'm done. So. You know
you're like 10 years older than they were in
that show, right? You guys want to do the episode?
That's not. That might be true. Is that what
we're doing? I think it's true. Are we talking
about friends right now? No, I'm singing about
friends. What do you guys want to do? Clearly
you don't want to sing with me. Well, gee, I'm
really like, I wonder where we're going to find
three luchadors to join this wrestling match.
Shut up. It's just like such a weird number to
just suddenly need. It's a surprise. Three. Huh.
All right, well, I've got one little thing to
jump in with before we get going. All right,
hit it. What's your song? It was a couple, a
few episodes ago, we were talking about coffee,
and we had some grindy coffee. Yeah. And just
kind of jokingly, we're like, oh, tell us what
to do to make better coffee. And guess what?
The pants people pulled through. A couple people
were like, oh, yeah, you got to do this, you
got to do that. Perfect cup of coffee. Well,
guess what I'm sipping on right now? A perfect
cup of coffee that Jeremy Wolf just made me.
So I'd like to thank everybody who wrote in because
this is really tasty. It's just French press.
Hey, it's good. I like it. I appreciate it. Jeremy,
thank you. If I didn't tell you before, Jeremy,
thank you. Jeremy, your coffee is gross and reprehensible
and I hate it. We've got mail. All right, fine.
We've got mail. Drink a Rockstar. What am I opening
here? You just whipped a knife out like, oh my
God. That knife is extremely sharp. Be careful.
I have like a... Like literally these Milwaukee
flip knives. You just whipped it out like West
Side Story style. Yeah, no. And that was mildly
terrifying. Steve's got a whole serial killer
bag full of them. All right. I'm familiar with
knives. Yeah, I know. You serial killer. You're
not familiar with hitting mics. Anyway, so in
this package that I'm currently opening, very
safely, I'll have you know. It didn't feel safe.
Listeners, it did not feel safe in this room.
Fear for my life. You guys are way too afraid
of everything. Are some dice from our friend
Zoobeard. Oh, shoot. Yes. Oh, shit. More dwarven
relics then. I even got to name these dice. No
kidding. These are gold vein dice. Oh, I like
that. Check these bad boys out. Whoa. Those are
pretty. And we got this sweet little dice bag.
Those are pretty. This pretty floral print on
it. That is gorgeous. Check that out. David,
check this. Give me those dice. Don't. Oh, I
want to. Don't. Give me those dice. I want to
fart on them. Oh, I can't fart on these. They're
beautiful. Oh, look at that. Gold vein. Wow.
It's a very appropriate name for those dice.
Let's see. How do you roll, though? Oh, God,
they're tainted. I tainted them. There we go.
You might as well just keep them now. It's a
good old nat four for you. Take these dice back.
I've ruined them for you. No, no, no. You know
what? Let's share them for now. He took the bad
roll. Let's share them. Share the dice? Yeah.
Well. I think we can do that. I think we can.
Thank you, Zuby. Oh, no, I already ruined them,
though. Yeah, that's exactly why I want you to
have them. Damn it. Thank you, Zuby. I'll fix
them. I'll fix them. And I'll kill these characters.
Not fixed yet. What'd you roll? What'd you roll?
It's a four and then a three. Thank you, Zoobeard.
Perform my dark rituals too quickly. I'm sure
we'll be cursing the Goldvein name soon enough.
Oh, I hope you do. You will rue the day. I'll
be there for you. Let's get started. Yeah. Let's
move on. Let's get started. Once was enough.
All right. Before we get into any sirenscape
here, just because I don't want to go too crazy
with all these different moods, we're going to
be slapping across the audience. Emotional whiplash.
Oh, yeah. Let's just keep it nice, quiet, serene.
Just a moment. Just a moment. Till we see what
we see and what's going on. Jules, we're starting
with you. Damn it. Oh, yeah. Real quick here.
We're starting with you. Now, before we get into
your scene, I want to touch on something. Last
episode, I gave Zebulon a free feat. Now, this
is something we talked about way back when in
episode zero, character creation. We're finally,
finally coming to the culmination of that. I
wanted to have the right time to introduce it,
and I think last session was the right time.
Yeah. But given this. Given that you got the
free fee at level four along with your two ASIs,
I think it's only fair that Jules, you get one
ASI point. I like to think as you face down your
family for the first time in years, as you're
stepping away from this confrontation, maybe
there's just something stirring inside of you
and you gain one point to put wherever you choose.
Oh, hell yeah. Excellent. Oh, hell yeah. You
got any ideas? Let me double check real quick.
Sorry, D &D Beyond is being very slow, but I'm
going to be putting it into charisma because
I'm at a plus three right now, which will bring
me to a plus four. Oh, shit. See, that's actually
amazing because I love the idea. You're stepping
out of this room, and charisma is a lot of your
self -drive, your force of will, and your ability
to take that force of will you have and impress
it upon others. And I think that's what you feel
stirring in you as you face down your family
for the first time in many years. Your resolve,
your ambition just burning inside of you, and
you gain that extra point of charisma. You come
out there looking just a little bit taller, having
just a little more presence. And as you step
outside of this crystalline spire, back into
the auroral town proper, back and facing the
sort of great amphitheater and the other speakers'
homes that surround, you notice one thing. Off
to the left. kind of tucked just a little ways
around the spire. You see Cirilla. She's holding
something to her ear, nods, and brings it down
to her pocket. Go ahead and roll me a perception
check. I'm not great at those. No, neither of
you are. It's fantastic for me. I'm still not
great at those. It's only an 11. You don't see
what she pockets. No, I don't. Small and round
and something familiar about it, but you don't
see what it is. She slides into her pocket, but
you do see that she fixes you with this glare
as you step outside. It's just a slight smile
tugging at the side of her lips. Would you say
that we've taken a long rest by now? How long
has it been? Since the last combat, you have
not. You would need to like full on sleep and
everything. Oh, okay. Takes about eight hours.
Nevermind. Nope. You do see though. Oh, wait.
No, never mind. Continue. You do see, though,
behind her, hands sort of folded in like a sort
of at rest position. You see Dresden close by
her side. And as she looks into your eyes, she
smiles towards you. He also catches your gaze.
And while she's not looking very, very quickly,
you see another hand symbol. Three fingers raised.
Followed by a clenched fist. Can we come up with
a response for that? Sure. That Jules can do
back? Yeah. You know this signal means serious
danger. Yeah, Jules scratches the right side
of his head right in his temple. And you catch
a very terse nod. Very quick. Barely noticeable.
Is terse the right word? I don't know. It's a
nod. So what does the response mean? What does
it mean? I don't know. I assume it's seen and
accepted or something like that. Yeah. It sounds
kind of boring, but it's flavor. It's a little
flavor. Yeah. Hell yeah. I'm into it. His face
does not change. He plays the part very well,
but there may be something behind his eyes, some
anxiety as you move away. I mean, do you move
away? Yeah, I do. I don't think now is the time
to pursue that. Feeling your cousin's gaze on
your back, you step away from the spire, move
down the street, back towards where Oren waits
at the intersection before the amphitheater,
where two of you, you and Zebulon, split off
before. And as you move, you catch sight of Zebulon
also moving down from the other direction. I
imagine you're heading back to Oren, Zebulon?
Yeah, exactly. Okay. Yeah, he's not running or
skipping. Maybe there's like a skip in his step.
I'll say that. Yeah, I mean, like, it was heavy
stuff, but you've done it. You have your passports.
Now he's looking forward. He's excited. I mean,
how long have we been waiting for this? 39 episodes.
Here we are, finally. You guys begin to move.
And actually, I will say, as you're kind of closing
in, you see that Oren is already, involved in
a very one -sided conversation with somebody
else uh a loud voice like a whip crack just just
casting over the crowds people kind of shuddering
almost turning away from it as you hear jean
franklin yelling at the top of his lungs like
she knew speaking you already knew it all damn
it of course she paid off a lot of them she even
seemed surprised i wasn't so upset implied that
i had to be thankful for all they gained from
it thankful for cold deceit and murder. I will
find another way, damn you. I will find another.
Yeah, yeah, all right. Hey, this isn't the time
or place. Come on, come on, hey. Oh, they're
coming, they're coming. Jaune just turns around
to look at you guys as you come. Just this total
glare in his eyes. Fiery. Hey, what's the problem?
What's the problem? Look at this. We got our
passports. Congratulations. Yeah. Just steps
away, just steaming. Jules looks at Oren. The
fuck's his deal? Sounds like things didn't go
so well, but how about you guys? Everything go
okay? I mean, you're back, so that's something.
You got your papers, right? Yeah, Zebulon just
flashes his papers. Yeah, we're good. I guess
we're luminaries now. You're luminaries now,
that's it. That's right. Oh, man. Now, from here,
let me explain real quick. From here, you are
free to travel the world as you like, right?
You got the passports. No one's going to stop
you. You go where you want, when you want. Occasionally,
speakers will request you for specific assignments,
which you may choose to undertake. It's up to
you. Apart from that, luminaries will typically
travel on patrols to various worlds, might visit
festivals, make an appearance. People are going
to love to see you out there. And we'll investigate
dangerous or troubling matters as they see fit,
right? So, honestly, all the freedom, it's all
yours. As you accomplish tasks, do what you do,
get known. It's recommended that you get as much
footage as possible so we can keep up. Keep the
public excited about you, you know. And, yeah,
more folks excited, more folks visiting your
sponsors, more money in your pockets. Sound good?
Well, yeah, it sounds good to me. I really, you
know, I think I'm going to enjoy the freedom.
Yeah, sounds good. All right. Great. I put your
main address currently as the Ugly Coyote, but
I can change that if you want somewhere else.
It's only the speakers that know it. It's just
they got to know where to send people to get
over here. That was going to be my next question.
Is this a public address? Yeah, no, not public.
Okay. We don't want the paparazzi all over you.
We're trying so hard we can to keep them away.
Where do they send the fan mail? I mean... Is
there, like, a P .O. box somewhere here in a
royal town where I can collect that? I can make
your address public. Absolutely fucking not.
All right, well, is there a place I can send
it? You got another address I can send it to?
I'll think about it. I'll think about it. Send
it to Arlon's place. Oh, God. This is so fucking
funny. All right. All right, so I'll get back
to you all in there. But, hey, that's it. I mean,
you can do what you want now. We can bop around
to Rural Town a little more, check out the sights,
or any other place you want to go, you can go.
Ooh, Rural Town, huh? I mean... There's got to
be all sorts of cool stuff here. I mean, it's
a bit of a private locale. Most of the shops
and all that stuff you're going to find in the
Citadel proper outside. This is more where the
network's made, more where shows are filmed.
Outside in the preserve and all the different
habitats and wildlife, that's where you're going
to find folk just filming commercials, things
like that. But, yeah, I mean, it's cool to check
out. Oh, yeah, the Incarnates. Well, what do
you think, Jules? I'm gonna let you guys figure
this out on your own, though. I gotta get back
to a show. Okay, well, thanks, Oren. You've been,
I mean, so helpful, as always. Hey, I... I can
never make up to you what you've done for me.
And I'm so happy that at least I could do this
much. Now, tell Kiana I'll be by later on. I
want to take her out somewhere nice tonight.
Haven't seen her in a while. That sounds good.
I, uh... Oh, hang on. He steps in and gives you
a hug. No. Oh, save you alone. All right, Jules,
come here. Come here. All right. He just comes
in and grabs you. Gives you a quick bear hug,
steps away, and Jean don't even think about it.
Jules comes up and pushes Jean Franklin into
Oren. Yeah! And Oren quickly just moves away
from a very angry, raging tortoise. Well, now
what? Well, what happened in there, Keon? Why
are you all... I mean, don't you want to talk
about it? No. All I need to know is they would
not hear me out. The speaker's being paid off.
They're a part of it. Even a niconeer is a part
of this conspiracy. Well, did you go in flashing
that attitude? Yes, it's my attitude. That's
why they ain't gonna say shit to you. You gotta
play the game a little bit. What game? It's honey
in flies, or something like that. What? Yeah,
what he said. I'll figure it out. It's only a
matter of time. I will expose them, all of them.
Let's need time to find out how. Well, you know,
we'll, uh, when the time comes, we'll help you
with that. Thank you. I accept. Yeah. He just
turns away. Yeah, Jules doesn't want to get too
distracted. Zeb, we got to be careful. We still
got things we got to do. Shit, we got to figure
out. Well, yeah, let's... What do you think?
Where should we start? You mind taking a little
trip to see my incarnate? Wow. Yeah, I mean...
Trying to find some answers here. And, uh, they
might have some. Jeez, um, well, what did Orin
say was going to happen to us if we went there?
He didn't. Just told you don't do it. Well, I
mean, Jules, if you want to go, I'll back you
up. Aren't you worried about the kids? They're
still... Oh, I know. They're still in Sasatyan.
I can't help but feel like this might give us
some more ammo when we go in there, though. Well,
I'm with you. I'm with you, Jules. Am I about
to kill us? Maybe. I, uh, I can get my phone.
My map's still on my phone. I still don't have
that map. I think we should find a place to rest
up first, though. We don't know what's out there,
and we're in no condition if something happens.
Yeah, that's a good idea. I think Orange said
he has a place around here. Did he say we can
use it when we want? He left. He walked away.
I mean, you don't even know where it is. You
can go find him. Do we have to go to the ugly
coyote to rest? That would be, oh, well, there's
like the gate thing now. You can go in and out.
We can go in and out. You can teleport back here.
Yeah, I forgot there's a gate. Or we could do
that, or we could spend the night in the rural
town, get a hotel. Is there like a place to stay
in a rural town? Yeah, you know what? There would
be. Luminaries will stay here. Fairly frequently.
Okay. I think that would be better rather than
spending like another half an episode at the
Ugly Coyote. Oh, yeah. I will say it's going
to be expensive. How expensive? We're luminaries
now. Yeah. The going rate for hotel rooms in
a rural town, this is where, you know, the rich
and the elite stay. It's going to be like 10
gold a night. Oh, that's not bad. We just need
one night. So speaking of gold, I think I made
a mistake and have not added my gold yet from
that last big. What did we get, 400 each? Yes.
It's 500 each, then you took 200 out for Jean
Franklin to pay him back. So we each got 400.
Yep. And then you gave 200 to Chester to oversee
things. Correct. Yeah, my inventory shows 214
gold. Awesome. Okay. 10 gold, huh? All right,
that's fine. 10 gold for each of us? Yeah, we
could split it down the middle. Or three ways
with Jean. If it's 10 for each of us, then...
Oh, we could just share a room. John will sleep
on the floor. Oh, yeah, John Walker. He'll get
his own room. You guys make your way, you know,
short ways down the road, find this pretty ritzy
-looking establishment. Again, just this big
crystalline structure, one of the largest around.
You see, like, you know, costumed and made -up
luminaries walking in and out, some of those
white -robed wizards moving about. You push in.
You each get a room, or you get two rooms, one
for John, one for the two of you. Yeah, that's
fine. John can pay for his own room. Sure, he
wouldn't want to bunk up. Oh, absolutely not.
Yeah, he'll pay for his own room. He will demand
it. No, we forced him to. I can see Zeb at the
desk. Hey, so, like, who else is staying here
right now? Like, somebody I'd know, or? He's
got this guy behind the desk, you know, just
very fancy looking, sort of side parted hair,
just like, oh, you would not believe. Come here,
come here. Kind of gestures you closer. Yeah,
yeah. So upstairs right now, Sturge Man. Yep.
Oh, Sturge Man. You don't... Yeah. When did...
You a fan? Jules' face immediately goes into
a frown. Yeah, yeah, yeah. When did Sturge Man
show up, do you think? Oh, he's been here for
the last two nights. Isn't that interesting,
Jules? That's fucking fascinating, Zeb. He comes
and goes often. Spent a lot of time on the Citadel,
and especially here in Rural Town. He has got
endless money, that one. But I mean, hey, world's
greatest detective, am I right? Wow. Yeah, I
mean, big fan, so thank you really. I'm really
glad to hear that. And I mean, you too, you too.
I've seen you guys. You guys are big. Thanks,
yeah. Did you just get your passports? Yeah,
yeah, we just did. We just did. Oh my gosh, that's
incredible. I hope you enjoy your stay, and I
hope we see you guys a lot. Thanks. Thanks. Yeah.
And I don't know what I was going to say. You
just walk away. It's so awkward. I was about
to be like, just like conversationally, I was
about to be like, tell Sturgeman I said hello.
But then I was like, I do not want Sturgeman
to know that we're here. No. You just walk away
awkwardly. Oh, okay. Bye. Yeah. Yeah, exactly.
He figured it out. As he was finishing up the
sentence, he was like, mm -mm. Is there, like,
a crystal computer or something around the desk
that would indicate what room Sturgeman is in?
And if so, can I roll a perception to see if
I can figure this out? Ooh, there's, like, paperwork
on the desk. Okay. Can I roll it? Yeah, as they
go in. open up to knock you down. They are on
one of these, you know, on the list somewhere.
They flip through a few pages. Your eyes shoot
down. That's a 13. 13. Let me roll something.
It's too quick. You don't quite make it out.
God damn. You thought you saw maybe the name
Sturgeman on the third floor. That's all I can
say. Like, you saw it like that, but you couldn't
get the room number or anything else. Yeah, we
at least know he's upstairs. Right. And as long
as he doesn't know we're here, we're safe. Yeah.
Seems like a rabbit hole. All right. So you guys
stay the night. Jean Franklin, upon getting the
rum, just immediately just moves away. He was
in a bad mood before the meeting. Now he's just
possibly the angriest you've ever seen him. Just
really foul -tempered. He just moves away, doesn't
say a word, just goes, slams the door to his
room, and he's gone for the night. Yeah, given
much resistance, Zebulon's not going to really...
Try to push. All right. And you guys stay the
night? Yes, and it's always very satisfying when
I get to hit long rest on D &D Beyond and see
everything reset. It's a very comforting feeling.
You see probably the most lavish accommodations
you've ever had. And I mean, for you, Jules,
it must be very interesting. I think it's the
first time you've ever stayed somewhere except
for your home, except for the Tower of Authority.
Somewhere this nice. Well, I was... About to
say, it does feel uneasily like home to Jules,
and he doesn't really like it. Kind of hates
it. It's wild. I mean, you walk in, you see,
again, the walls, everything here is made of
this crystallized diamond, completely indestructible,
just like chairs and beds and stuff set on this
floor and between these walls of just diamond.
Seems like a very painful place to sit and to
sleep. I mean, the chairs aren't diamond. Just
the walls, floors. I mean, you've got cushy,
cushy feather beds and all that good stuff. Oh,
yeah. It's nice. It's ritzy. And you get a long
rest. So what now? What time do you think checkout
is? I don't know. Why don't you call Don and
ask? You fucking guys. It's noon. Jules raids
the minibar. Yeah, I don't think we're really
going to be sticking around. Yeah, I think this
is purely just so that we can reset. Yeah, this
was utility. All right. All right. Hell yeah.
Jules, do you think that we should, I mean, stock
up or anything? I mean, this could be dangerous.
I think I've only got one health potion left.
It wouldn't be a bad idea. Do we have shops we
can go to? Most of the shops are going to be
outside of Rural Town. This isn't really a place
for people to stock up for adventures because
most people are here just filming, shaking hands,
meeting the right people, that sort of thing.
Outside of Rural Town or outside of the Preserve?
Outside of the Preserve in the actual Radiant
Citadel. So when you go to the next setting,
when you go to the next world, you might want
to stock up. You could leave and do that now
and come back. Well, I think we should just go.
Yeah, because I feel like once we leave, I feel
like we're just going to want to head to Saint
-Étienne. Okay. First question as the day dawns.
Do you want to bring Jean Franklin? You haven't
heard from him. He's still in the room beside
yours. Last you heard, the door slammed. You
have not heard a peep from that wall. I mean,
the walls here are completely soundproof, but...
Yeah, I think Zebulon would knock on his door.
Jean! Jean! There's probably a little padlock.
Again, even the doors are these crystalline,
kind of like the ones you saw before that sort
of self -closed. You have to use little key cards
that you hold to the door in a certain spot,
whisper a certain phrase for each room. They'll
just kind of open it. You don't know Jean's.
And so you think there's a lot of people you
can open up that has little holes drilling through
the door so you can actually get sound through
if you need to call out. So you call into the
room. A moment later, door opens before you.
Jean Franklin stands tall. In a real hushed tone.
weirdly kind of far -off look in his eyes, very
downcast, and just... How much must we bend the
law to accomplish our goals? I... Well, I'm not
really sure, but whatever happened to Typhos
is going to happen to the other worlds next.
It could be yours. You don't know that. John.
What? We are trying to gather information here.
And you know damn well... That the people that
have that information are not going to willingly
give it to us. You just tried it yourself. Damn
it. Fine. You're right. I won't like it, but
I'll go along. We're not going to hurt anybody.
We just need to find answers. Yes. Yes, we do.
Fine, then. Let's go. All right. Let's go. Do
it. Do it. Let's go. And you go. You both just
said that, and then you both turned at the same
exact time and stared at me. Take it home, Jeremy.
You move out of the hotel. What's a good hotel
name? I wasn't expecting this. Crystal... The
Crystal Stallion. All right, so we know it's
not that, and you guys step out onto the streets,
and you... I can see a big, giant diamond stallion
rearing up on his hind legs. Oh, yeah. Out in
front of the building. All right, fine. Crystal
stallion. Sounds fancy. It does. Not quite as
fancy as a pale moonlight, but it'll work. Fuck
those guys. And you move down the streets. Moving.
through Auroral Town, passing all these people,
going to their tasks, rushing and rushing, but
you're moving beyond them, beyond the city, to
the north, right? You know that where you want
to go, where the Sapphire Wyvern would be located,
is in the habitat most like the area close to
the Conquer Jewel of Tythos. Right. Which would
make it most likely, and I think this was pointed
out to you before, the sort of... rugged, stony
mountains to the far north of this preserve.
And I guess we're going north. Hell yeah. You
are about halfway there right now. Oral Town
is set in the direct center. As you step through,
you see that where Oral Town ends, where all
the diamond structures end, immediately it's
overtaken by just lush, tropical jungle. I'd
like to make a roll to kind of figure out if
anybody's following us. Okay. Roll that. Let
me say it's not tropical. It's temperate forest.
Okay. My notes are written in my handwriting,
which means they're barely legible. I mean, you're
the one that's supposed to be able to read your
own handwriting. It's too much to ask. Make that
roll. Is that a perception? Yes. Okay. And I
really want this one to be high. I'll allow investigation,
too. I'm going to use the red dragon. Okay. That
is a 15. Okay. Is that perception or investigation?
Perception. Okay. You take a look around as you
reach the edge of the town. At this point, the
buildings are smaller. The people are much less.
As you look back, you don't see anybody standing
out. You don't seem to be followed. I'm now thinking
that Sturge Man was probably in the building.
maybe listening to what we were thinking about
doing. Can he listen if he doesn't know we're
there? Is it like a radar that he just sends
out, or does it... Can I roll something to know
whether or not I know this? Absolutely. Roll
Arcana. No, it's only a 10. I don't think that's
going to do it. I will say with a 10, you would
at least know that the spell detect thoughts
would only work on someone you can see. It's
the spell detect thoughts. Yes, his helmet telepathy
allows him to cast this at will, basically. Okay.
That makes me feel safer. He could constantly
be using it. Yeah, I feel better. But who knows
if he wasn't hanging around the corner when we
were talking to him. Possible. Only one way to
find out. Keep going. Okay. And you push into
the forest, into the trees, leaving Aurora Town
behind. The forest lasts for about a mile, pushing
through trees, habitat slowly kind of shifting
and changing. Where you reach high points, you
can look out and see that off to the east, it
quickly becomes like low sort of wetland, swampy
terrain, which from there turns more into like
icy mush until it hits that second glacial bay.
To the west, it becomes tropical. But here, it's
comfortable. One might say temperate. One might
say. That's a great way to describe it, Stephen.
I'm glad I thought of it. Yeah. You're pushing
through trees, past a great sort of lake. Sees
something shimmering, moving around within it.
Opalescent. Looks like the color of pearl. I'm
going to take you to move on. Yeah. I mean, can
I roll nature to see if I know what this pearl
swimming thing is? Give me investigation. Investigation,
not nature? Yes. Nothing natural about this.
Okay, for Jules to get in on it? Of course. It
would make sense. I'll arcana as well. Oh, just
crit my pants all over this investigation. Stop
it. That was the red dragon, but I do have a
minus two. Okay. But, I mean, a crit's a crit.
A crit's a crit in this case. I mean, it's not
necessarily a crit on skill checks, but that's
still plenty. I'm glad you got that crit, because
Jules did not. You step over to the edge of the
lake. It has this thing sort of slowly moving
a little closer to the surface, almost breaking
the top. You recognize what looks like a gigantic
pearl carp. Another incarnate. Oh, okay. I thought
we were, like, in the... The Sapphire Wyvern
Zone? Not yet. Oh, okay. Huh. Well, that's interesting.
Do I at least get to know what incarnate this...
What world it's for? I'll tell you. It is the
incarnate from Umizu. Which is the world that
belonged to Ozen. Ozen. We might be getting more
out of this trip than we thought. Well, yeah,
but I mean, like, are we gonna... Are we going
to try to talk this thing, or are we just going
to keep going? I don't know. Would Zebulon talk
to him? I don't know. I think it was probably
a good move to try and talk to it, but I don't
know if Zebulon would. I feel like maybe Zebulon
just touches the surface of the water to see
if he gets a reaction. It doesn't seem to react.
I think maybe you see it stop for a moment, and
it's swimming. Turn. And then begin to turn away,
moving deeper down the lake, very, very slowly,
deliberately. You see, this lake is beautiful.
There's cherry blossom trees lying on the sides,
pink petals falling into the water and floating
on the surface. Huh, alright, alright. I guess
to the water. Do you know what happened to the
sapphire wyvern? It stops dead. You see this
thing. Whirls around. Movement's not so slow
now. And quickly begins to push towards you.
Small waves breaking the surface. Zebulon steps
back from the edge a little bit. He's a little
nervous now. It breaks the surface fully. Small
waves parting by its side. And you see this great
carp made entirely of pearl. This is sort of
luminescent, glowing white. broken into large
chunks and pieces. Its mouth remains closed.
Its sort of gemstone eyes staring through you.
And you hear it speak. You speak of the Wyvern?
Yeah, he's from Tythos. A survivor. I am sorry.
Yeah, sure. From what I've heard, one of my world's
children was a part of the tragedy. This is a
grave shame upon Omizu. Any reason why that might
have happened? I cannot say. You cannot go to
the Wyvern. Why is that? You cannot go to the
Wyvern. It is prohibited. Only the speakers.
I look him dead in the eye. And why is that?
Just a long silence. And then, if you go, we
will stop you. What are you hiding? Tragedy.
But it must remain a secret tragedy. Until we
understand. We are not malign. Survivor of Tithos.
I understand your sorrow. And we will find out
why. You're not doing it quick enough. That's
why we're here. Roll me a persuasion check. Seventeen.
Nine on the die, plus eight. thanks to that charisma
point. Oh, just silence at first, except for
those same melodic notes, faint music emanating
from every opal, sorry, every pearl that makes
up this thing's body. And somewhere behind that
again, again, now that you're so close you can
hear it, roaring thunder. Why should we trust
you? Who are you to ask for this permission?
And you feel a weight. My name is Jules LaRoche.
You may be familiar with some of my family line.
A crack of lightning in the thunder. You talk
about trusting us, but yet you put your trust
in the wrong people. You've already misplaced
your trust. I'm Zebulon. I'm pretty good at keeping
secrets. Zebulon. Jules. John Franklin's just
staying in the far back. He's pointedly not involving
himself in this. I'm just saying that right now.
It's probably for the best. It's definitely for
the best. I want you guys to make... One of you
can make a persuasion check with advantage because
you have the help action. Okay. That's a 24.
That weight on you grows like gravity is increasing,
just a pressure. If you are to go on ahead, if
you are to bear witness, you will not speak of
it. It will be a secret thing. I mean, I pinky
swear, or you don't have pinkies. Promise. What
happens between the three of us always stays
between the three of us. I just want answers.
Do you speak true? This is not the incarnate,
this is David. Do you speak true? I know Jules
does. Yeah, I mean, it's hard to answer that
without knowing. If we speak true and we don't
keep to it, that's going to kill us later on.
It's going to be so weird to get a clue into
what's causing the cataclysm of this world and
then go do a fucking luchador fight. I cannot
say anything. I was so not expecting this. I
mean, yeah, Jules is fine. Jules is very concerned
about Zebulon, but I don't think that's going
to stop Jules from saying yes. Yeah. Yeah. The
weight vanishes. Gravity restored. I feel like
we just entered into a magical binding contract.
You just hear, you may go. You are allowed. Well,
but before we go, Um, you were talking about
ocean. Do you know where ocean is? You may go
to witness Umizu's shame. And with that, the
creature, the incarnate, turns and dives, the
light of pearl vanishing into the depths of the
lake. Umizu's shame, huh? Uh -oh. I wanted to
ask it what it knew about Shadra Khan, but I
don't think we would have gotten anything. Hey,
John. I think we're going to keep going. Fine.
I don't think... Could you feel the weight over
there? Did you make a magical contract as well?
I felt something. It's... Strange. John. Yes?
What? What we're about to see. Whatever it is,
this stays between us. We gave word. I'm a turtle
of honor, if nothing else. You don't need to
worry about me. I appreciate that, friend. Storm's
on ahead. I take it you move on? Let's move on.
Yeah, let's go. Man, I was not expecting this.
Neither was I. Neither was I. See, this is what
happens when we take over the story. We make
progress. Or die. Or die trying, yeah. You keep
moving. Just where the lake ends, the forest
begins to slope upwards. And upwards. And upwards.
And the trees begin to fade away to brush, to
scrub. And soon you find yourselves moving over
stony, rough mountain. You look to the sky at
one point and you see. The more you feel. Something
moving above you. Shooting off from somewhere
to the west where perhaps a great volcano gives
off a hint of smoke on one edge of this mountain
range. A great black eagle. Obsidian, that's
the one. Tell me a minute. A great obsidian eagle
just flies. almost directly above you, turns,
circles a spot somewhere directly north, and
then flies back. Oh, so do we feel like that's
a... Is it a scout? Or a sign, like a direction?
You know this was from the size and from the
feeling you got. This wasn't incarnate. You don't
know which world. Oh. But it seemed like it marked
something out for you. Yeah, let's head that
direction. Let's follow it. You push. Stephen
would be very familiar with the feeling, reaching
the top of one peak, moving down and down, up
another. It is an exhausting, just hours of travel,
about a mile of just pure, rough mountain each
peak, higher than the last. And then, you climb
to the top of the tallest in this region. The
only ones taller now are the aforementioned volcano
in the far west and the icy polar caps to the
east. Jagged and enormous. Where you stand, you
look down upon the preserve, and it looks quite
small. A rural town is quite small. As you summit
the top, You face what looks like a large crater.
Without any checks, I'll tell you this. At the
very epicenter of this crater, just this sort
of smooth stone dripping into like a sort of
bowl, the very epicenter of this bowl, you see
the corpse of an incarnate. Sapphires littering.
The ground in the vague shape of some draconic
creature. Once large and as imposing as the others,
but there is no presence here. You don't hear
the sort of notes, the melody, the thunder. You
don't feel the gravity. You just see the bones
of something dead. Wow. Go ahead and make me
any kind of checks you want on the scene. I'm
going to make a sleight of hand check. Yeah,
what do I want to do? I'm going to do deception.
God. Why do I give you guys freedom? That's a
dirty 20. For deception? Yeah. It believes you.
No, I went with perception. Hell yeah. I'll do,
how about investigation? All right, do it. Can
we just roll all the checks? Can I do Arcana
next and then investigation and then intimidation?
No, that's a single digit. All right. We'll start
with a perception check. You see this thing,
and your eyes are cast towards a number of places
off to the sides of it where there's sort of
black marks. Just there's almost like long scorch
marks etched into the earth, into the stone.
Investigation could give you more on these. I
mean, can we just take 20? Yeah, you know, I'll
let you. All right, take 20. That makes sense.
I will need an Arcana check. What's take 20?
It means that you basically get all the information
you'll get, so I'll start giving you information.
It's like you take as much time as it would require
to just keep making checks until you get 20.
Okay. So you take your time. Take 20 minutes
or so. You're just, like, holding out. They'll
say you take a half an hour to really observe
the scene, and I'll give you a number of details,
and I'll let you roll to, like, See what you
can glean from this. You see those marks. As
you observe the marks, you see there's almost
like in some of them, there's actual incisions
in the stone itself. As you draw near the wyvern,
you see there's similar marks like actually in
the stone, in the sapphire itself, which it must
be some... crazy power to hurt this thing. Maybe
you even take a knife of your own, Zebulon, and
see if you can make any sort of dent and you
cannot break through this sapphire. I'm guessing
it's like the diamonds in Aurora Town. Yeah,
very similar. Unmovable, unbreakable. Very, very
similar, you would think. For myself and for
any listeners who might not know, can you describe
what a wyvern is for me? Because I'm not quite
sure. This is like a dragon with no arms. I believe
so. Oh, it's got like two legs and two wings.
It's a dragon with no arms, almost like a serpentine
looking head, like long neck. Okay. Yeah, kind
of a lesser sort of draconic creature. Okay.
Okay. They were, in Tithos, they're actually
very prominent within the mountain ranges around.
They're one of the larger problems that a lot
of the miners will face. Okay. So it makes a
lot of sense you'd find one here, or that your
incarnate would be based on them. Sweet. Thank
you. Oh, Stephen pulled up a picture. That's
terrifying. So you see these marks. I want you
to roll Arcana or History. Debulon, you can make
History with advantage for a certain reason.
Okay, sounds good to me. That is another dirty
20. 18 for History. Okay. Jules. This was powerful
magic. As you run your fingers down the marks
on the body of this creature, on the stone surrounding
it, you know two things. There was a fight here.
And whatever made these incisions was some kind
of blade. A blade wielding lightning magic. Oh
my... Zebulon, you see these marks. and your
mind flashes back to Tythos, to the luminary
Olka Tepuri, as Ozan Yoshikatsu appeared in a
bolt of lightning, just seemingly from nowhere,
stone shattering beneath him, and without a word,
sliced her to pieces. Ribbons of flash of lightning
cutting through her body. Oh my god. This...
Was Ozen. Or at least his blade. How is he powerful
enough to do this? He's... I mean, he's not alone.
He said he does it for Shadra Khan. We gotta
stop this, Zeb. It's so much bigger than us.
All we can do is keep trying. Because doing nothing
is not an option anymore. If we don't do anything,
we're no better. Jules, you rolled a dirty 20
arcana? History. History. Okay. I'm going to
give you one more thing. Not an observation,
not an answer, but a question that I think you
might wonder, given the circumstances. When?
When was the Incarnate slain? In comparison to
when the sapphire fell. That is one of the thoughts
that player Jeremy had when we saw that. Like
there's some type of connection between these
realms in the preserve to the outside worlds.
And, I mean, the thing is, so little is known
about the incarnates. So, so little. They are
old. They are ancient and powerful. Entirely
mysterious. Well, um... I think we... I think
we found our secret. I think we got what we came
for. I don't really want to be here any longer.
Jules, uh... Jules lays his hand onto the Incarnate
and kind of gives it, you know, just a little
brush down. And says, Yeah, let's get out of
here. I should also mention, too, that I... to
say this before, but when Jules took off his
glove to show Zebulon, he kept the glove off.
Whoa. Interesting. Okay. And now he's embracing
it as part of him, part of his luminary image,
if you will. Wow. And it adds so much more to
your mother. And if anybody asks about it, he's
going to tell the truth about it. Shit. Yeah,
when did that happen? When was that that it came
off? Before Rural Town. Before Rural Town. With
your Incarnate. Zebulon's Incarnate. Okay. So
I wonder if Cerise or anybody would have... Cerise
noted the hand and actually, like, stepped forward.
She squeezed it. Oh, right. She grabbed it. Yeah,
yeah, yeah. She was delighted by it. I don't
think you specified that it was a gloved hand.
I don't believe so. And if I did, I will. The
only... I think you might have caught some, like...
nervous glances at it as you move through the
town. I think Jean Franklin looks, or has looked
vaguely horrified by it, but he's also very bogged
down by his own thoughts. I think he's not, not
wanting to get into it quite yet. I don't know.
Jules just thinks now is not the time for more
secrets. Wow. Hell yeah. Anyways, I was just
adding that to the flavor of the scene because
it was with his fucked up hand. Oh shit, that's
awesome. That he's running it down the, down
the incarnate. Let's get the fuck out of here.
As you touch the sapphire, there's just the vaguest
sort of like vibration, something, something
deep. Was it just you? Was it physical? Like
the boom of a drum. Boom. And nothing. You begin
to move away. I think John Franklin has stood
at the top of this crater just looking down.
And as you guys reach him, they say he died on
Tythos. The Storm Eye. Do you believe it? I don't
think we're done with him yet. He's got to be
still out there. He was among the most powerful
luminaries to ever live. One of the first. I
hope you're wrong. And he begins to move down.
Are you going back to a rural town? No, I think
we skip right over a rural town. We got to get
to San Sitian. Now that I see how it's spelled,
I'm saying it wrong. San Sitian. Actually, I
realized in the book it's San Situan, and I hate
that, so it's still San Sitian. Okay. Because,
like, it's so hard. You can't go to L. You can't
do it. It can't be done. Like Pollo is spelled
P -O -L -L -O. Yeah. Only one L, though. Oh.
This next arc is going to be a true challenge
to my ability to mispronounce every word ever.
So here we go. We got this. I will say, if you
hit Rural Town, you can use the doors to teleport
to there faster. So it's up to you. You don't
need to stop and play, but it's a little quicker
to hit Royal Town because it's halfway right
in the dead center of the preserve. Sounds like
he wants us to go to a Royal Town for some reason.
I don't know about that. My thought was we were
just going to fast forward through whatever we
did anyway. Right. Sure, yeah. Just put it out
there. I want to make sure the sort of architecture,
the structure of everything is known. So you
guys move. Give Sturge Man a chance to lay his
eyes on us one more time. You guys move. All
right, guys, we're back in the Citadel. Let's
go. Boom, back in the Citadel. John Franklin's
just like, why didn't we use the doors? That
was so much more work. Honestly. That's why,
John Franklin, just to see your face. Do you
know that by not using the doors, we had to go
up the entire gigantic staircase again? Was that
David or John Franklin talking? That took like
fucking hours. Anyway, I barely remember it because
it was like a montage. So let's keep moving.
Yeah, it was just a hand wave. It was so easy.
I know. It felt quick to me. It didn't feel quick
to me. Well, too bad. Meh. Whoops. Meh. You guys
move to the great iron doors. The ones that you
know push out. back into the Radiant Citadel,
to the great serpentine fossil, to the great
city outside. As you move forward, a few figures,
again, sort of Citadel uniform, white robes,
work on some mechanics, push on the outside of
the door, whisper a word. The gate opens back
out into the Citadel. You've been traveling for
a long time today. I'm going to say as you step
out, it is getting perhaps 8 o 'clock. The auroral
diamond's light has shifted to be a cool blue
as it's fading, fading, going dark, creating
that sort of feeling of night in a place where
there is no sky. You know any world you travel
to, wherever the gemstone lands, will have the
same time of day, basically. And the diamond
tries to... Copy that. I will ask this. As you're
going by, you see these figures. Maybe you can
see on walls and charts and different facets
of the diamond. We talked about this before,
but the schedule, per se, for the various conquered
jewels that will come, deliver people away, and
you see the next one going to San Satyan, the
next fire opal departure, will be in about an
hour. Why are you looking at me? I'm waiting
for you to speak. Why? Because that's Tian, where
your Cherry Delights are. Yeah, I know. Why is
everyone so quiet? What are we doing? Well, I
need to get some armor. Okay, cool. Let's go
get armor. Shopping? I love shopping. Do you
guys need anything before we go do this? Yeah,
yeah, let's... Let's go pick up some supplies.
Let's do it. Vigor goes back to Jean Franklin.
All that energy, that anger seeps out. I'm so
excited to show you around. You like spending
money there, huh? Oh, I love spending money.
Absolutely. Sweet. This one's on Jean Franklin.
No, no, no. You have your own money. I have to
pay for the pale moonlight. I can't afford to
be too spendy. I can't believe you waste your
money there. Did I just hear the words can't
afford coming out of your mouth? Do you want
magic items or not? I know where the best ones
are. Best prices. I hadn't considered any magic
items. I've never been able to afford something
like that. Yes, well, welcome to my world. You're
going to love it. Now, come on, come on. So we
talked about this before session. I got a list
of some items that I know you guys might be interested
in, some magic items. I don't want to get into
it here because a gillion things and... Talking
about the prices, mechanics, all that. That's
not fun. We'll talk about two items in particular.
Steven, you have some interest in the ever -smoking
bottle and the immovable rod. Now, the immovable
rod basically is, as it says, a sort of big metal
rod that if you hold out and basically say a
command word, it will... hold itself in place
in midair anywhere, and cannot be moved by more
than, I believe, 8 ,000 pounds of pressure. It
is pretty cool. It will just stay where it is,
static locked. You can do some fun stuff with
that. The ever -smoking bottle is basically,
as it says, a bottle filled with a smoke. If
you open it, the smoke pours out, heavily obscuring
an area. I believe it's 120 feet at first, and
then it can open up to double that over time.
So if you need to make a quick getaway. Boom.
There you go. Smokescreen and you're gone. It's
an action to use it and an action to stop it.
Yeah, so you offered me both of these. Yes. And...
300 gold each. And the bottle sounds very Zebulon,
but I've always wanted to own and use the immovable
rod. Hell yeah. I love it. So that's what I'm
going for. It's funny too, because you remember,
you've seen one of these used before in this
podcast. It was used by Sturgeman. Oh, yes, yes,
yes. It's one of the many items. He has quite
a few of them on his utility belt of magic items.
Well, I just removed 300 gold pieces. So there
you go. I'm a little closer to Sturgeman. Wow.
Aren't we all? Either die a hero or live long
enough to see yourself become a Sturgeman. I'm
sorry. Jewels. Yes. You had a purchase you wanted
to make. Yeah. Well, yeah, since Jules gave half
of his cut to Chester and the kids. Don't really
have much to spend, but I'm going to properly
get studded leather armor. It's 45 gold. Okay.
Which leaves me with 169 left. Hell yeah. So,
yeah. I don't remember. Neither of us can remember
if we officially said I had studded leather before.
But now I officially do. We're going to rectify
that now. So I now have an AC of 12 instead of
11. Hell yeah. Hooray. You've got to love that.
You guys blur through the Citadel. All these
shops are starting to close, but you get in last
minute. John Franklin does some yelling, some
haggling. The prices get raised, and you step
out. Of course. You step out with some new stuff.
You know, John, this thing was going to cost
me $2 .50 until you started running your mouth.
It's so much like you owe me $50 gold. You do.
You do. I helped you. Look, they were clearly
a crook. I told you not to buy it, but you did
anyway. I'm just saying. Tell you what, get us
a room at the Pale Moonlight and we'll call it
square. I would never. I'll get you one at the
Pale Moonlight. It's on your dime. You know what?
Fine. If you want to come and live the greater
life with me, I will allow it. One night only.
No, I was bluffing. Damn it! You're so weird!
Yeah. You begin to move. And you approach the
passage of respite. The sort of great open spot
where the conquered jewels will come down to
dock. And you see this bright orange brilliant
Fire opal slowly lowering in and awaiting passengers.
Time is a little after nine o 'clock now. All
right. Well, I guess we're going to queue up.
I'm going to go stand in line again. Mm -hmm.
Okay. All roads lead back to the lines, to the
gems. Not much of a line here, actually. It's
late enough at night. I don't think there's a
whole lot of people. So you're pretty swiftly
moving through. Get to the front. A man in white
takes a look at you, and up to now you've had
a hard time generally passing these folk, but
not this time. Brief nod, flash some passports,
and you are stepping in. Just the sheer power
of it. Jules, perhaps Zebulon and Jaune move
ahead of you, stepping in to the great open way,
into the bright orange expanse within the gem
to find seats. But you find yourself halted for
just a moment, some feeling in the back of your
mind and your chest. Your eyes turn, and you
see that on the top of a roof very nearby, a
figure appears in mist. You see Chester looking
down at you. You can't quite make out his face,
but you see a single fist raise into the air.
The side of the old resistance. I'm going to
grab my lute, light it up, and raise it above
my head. There's this moment of connection. You
feel each other in that same strange way when
you shared this moment, when you both were given
this boon. You can feel the unspoken goodbye.
And you step into the gem? Yeah. And here the
camera falls on Chester. His arm lowers. He sits
at the edge of the roof. He sits and he watches.
The gem raises. And you are gone. And we'll call
it there.