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page. Hope to see you there. of vice that started
straw in the city of Zinda. For the next ten
days, the good folk of Noari will engage themselves
in hedonistic pleasures, devouring fine and fatty
foods and guzzling bottle after bottle of Zinda's
delicious jelly wine. For a people whose economy
stands upon wine trade as a massive pillar, it
only makes sense to celebrate their prosperity
with such indulgence. But there is more to this
festival than all that. It is in fact an old
tradition meant to purge the vice of greed from
the hearts of the people. Each year, one masked
actor is chosen to be the prince of vice, and
to ride through the city in parade after parade,
engrossing themselves in sinful activities. Then,
at the end of the ten day, this figure will ride
off into the sea, their way being swept by animated
brooms. Once the prince bathes themselves in
the ocean, and leaves their masks to float away
with the tide, they are said to have gathered
up the greed of the city, stored it within themselves,
and washed it clean into the water. I personally
love this tradition. What could be better than
drinking yourself silly and partying for a 10
day on the name of Persian evil from your streets.
He's just gone. That's going to make no sense
to people who are listening. Cause I figured
you'd leave it in. I'm going to put that post
credits. Stupid. Like I felt it coming on and
I was like, Oh no, Oh no. Ah, it's too late.
It's music hits. We got to do this. Um, I don't
think I guess. Your pot's rattling. Danny's causing
hell over there. Like, what if there's food under
the bowl? What if there's food under the floor?
That's what she thinks. Yeah. I don't know if
people know that, like, we do these things sort
of completely in tandem. Like, the orange aren't
something we do and then clip in. We just run
those. Like, we have it queued up. Like, the
music plays. The theme song plays. We all hear
it. It jumps right into the Auron theme, which
I run off of, and we jump right into the episode
right after that. Do we do it all live, baby?
Do it all live. Anyway, what are you guys up
to tonight? What's going on? Tonight? We're playing
a game, David. Ah, whatever. What do you have
for banter? Well, I mean, I think we have kind
of a cool experience to talk about. We experienced
the... Total solar eclipse. Oh, yes, yes, yes.
I forgot. You forgot? You forgot the total solar
eclipse. You forgot what the world looks like
without the sun for a minute. A little forgettable.
I don't know. No, it was amazing. It was incredible.
I believe I saw tears in your eyes, David. Come
on. Come on. We were, me and Mr. Wolf here, we
went to Stephen's house, which was awesome. I
mean, you were right, and Stephen was in totality,
so he got to just chill out in his backyard.
And your wife was there, too. Gabby was there
too. Who's in studio tonight. Gabby's also here
in the studio tonight for a specific reason that
will come up shortly. But yeah, yeah. That was
really cool. Mm -hmm. Went to a cemetery. Went
to a cemetery. I finally got to see Zebulon Black's
gravestone. Zebulon Black's gravestone. Oh, Zebulon's
stone is down. Yeah, fell over. Over the winter,
I don't know if it was the plow truck or, because
we could see marks on it, so it was either the
plow truck or the lawnmowers, the landscapers.
I have headcanon. The day Zebulon walked into
the light, the stone just fell over. I was going
to say the day he died. Yeah, except you can
see the physical marks on his wife's stone next
to it as well. They look kind of like saber marks
to me. So, yeah. I guess we'll never know. We'll
never know. Something we will ever know is what's
in that box. Is that a phrase? That was both
awful and incredibly impressive. Yeah, thank
you. I think. We have a box, folk. We have a
box here. And this box. Mail time! Yes! Mail
time! Mail time! That was terrible. We have a
box. And this box is from the captain. And this
box is for none of us. It is, in fact, for my
darling wife, Gabrielle. Will you step forward
and open this box? For the good gents. For myself.
Here, take my mic. I'm going to walk away. I'm
going to walk away. I'll yell from over here.
Hello. Stephen was kind enough to partially open
the box for me. And we pre -opened the box. Make
some opening noises. Lots of papers. Sticker.
Ooh. Can I see that sticker? Yes. Here you go.
Ooh. Hey, that's pretty cute. Dark health dice.
Yeah. Dark elf dice. Cute. Container. Container.
Oh, David's going to use that for something.
Wait, I don't think these are for David, though.
And nobody's going to use that as a cute token.
Look. They're so cool. What you got? Describe.
It's definitely dice. I can see that it's a dice
set. It's a whole set. It is. That's awesome.
They're black and white marbled with green cats
on them. Hell yeah. Ooh, cat dice. Nice. Wait,
there's cats on it? If you get a 20, it's a cat.
Oh, can I see? Let's see, yeah. These are amazing.
Thank you. May I call you Captain or The Captain?
Nice. I think it's Captain. Captain. I think
it's Captain. Yeah, all the six on the D6 is
a cat. That's so cool. Yeah, the high numbers
are all cats. So if you get a cat, that's the
best rule. That's the max. Nice. These are great.
These are great. And look, the Dark Elf, it has
like its own little case with the Dark Elf. Logo,
the same that's on the sticker. This is excellent.
That's awesome. Thank you very much, Captain.
These are amazing. I can't wait to use them.
And we got a note from Dark Elf Dice that says,
thank you, Bob. Nice. Thank you, Bob. Nice. Bob
being the captain's human name. These are amazing.
Human name. What does that mean? His God -given
name. You and the word human to make you sound
as unsettling as possible. So, Gabby, do you
think you're going to try to use these dice at
one of the Reckless Nerd Out Nights coming up?
As soon as possible. Oh, he's plugging. Well,
Captain. Oh, wait. Hold on. Hold on. What? I
think you should roll in the Port of Pain. Unless
you want them blessed. There's kind of like two
paths. You can either bless the dice. Or you
can bless them through the Port -O -Pain, which
is more like a... What's the opposite of bless?
Like a consecration? Yeah, I think so. Corruption.
You can corrupt them through the Port -O -Pain,
or you can bless them. The choice is yours. Gabby
chooses corruption. All of them or just the deep
one? Whatever you like. We have all the pants
people against us now. She's rolling the whole
set. She's rolling the whole set. Call out what
you get on the 20. Go big or go home. Blowing
for luck. That sounded great. Okay, okay. The
D20 was a seven. Seven. All right. We're getting
the low rolls out of the way early, folks. You
know what? Crime doesn't always pay. There's
a cat. Crime doesn't always pay. Oh, there is
a cat. Wow. I mean, that's really, really, really
nice, Captain. Thank you so much. Thank you very
much. I can't wait to use them. And if you guys
want to check out Dark Elf Dice, it's just as
it's spelled, darkelfdice .com. These are awesome.
I know I'm going to go check them out after this.
Get out of here. Jesus, David. Kicking her out.
Rude. My spotlight. I need it back. It's so greedy.
I'm addicted. It's so greedy. I need the attention.
That is super cool. Those are awesome. And very
soon here, I'll have to run a game for you, my
darling, so you can try those things out. So
I'm looking at the shipping thing that came in.
The set is called Kitty Klax Dice. Kitty Klax.
Kitty Klax. Yeah. So we got the Kitty Klax Dice.
That is fantastic. I love that. We have another
question, burning question to answer this week
beyond just what's inside that box. That question
is, where's this button going? Oh, yes. The finder's
keeper's button is in my hand. I'm holding it
now. We have received Genie's wisdom in this
matter. In this matter. Sorry. All I'm doing.
You know where this is going? You know where
it's going? I know where it's going. You know
where it's going? I know where it's going. You
know where it's going? Tell them where it's going,
David. Back to the jar. Back to the jar. Back
to the jar. This dice belongs to me and to nobody.
Well, I mean, no, not to you. For Genie has decided
Grinders Keepers is overthrown. Me and to nobody.
You don't get that button. That goes back in
the jar. It's not to me and to me. It's to me
and to nobody. Okay. I have two sets of buttons.
The buttons I can give to you and the buttons
I can give. to me against you, which I have one
of those. I'm going to kill John Franklin with
it. Remember that. Keep that in mind, folks.
It's coming. This arc, baby. Okay. Don't you
hit me, wife. It's happening. If we ever do like
a DraftKings betting sort of like sponsorship,
be like, is David going to kill John Franklin
this episode? Go to DraftKings .com to find out.
Does anybody know like gambling talk? What's
the split on? killing Sean Franklin. It's a 10
to 0. It's happening. Oh, boy. I don't know how
that works, but it sounds like you can make a
lot of money off that if you're betting $0. Yeah.
Or is that bet 10 and win 0? I don't know. You
don't even want to bet on it because it's so
certain to happen. I don't know how to speak
Vegas. Before we can kill Sean Franklin. Oh,
yeah. Speaking of choosing blessing or what was
the word you said? Segways! What was the word
you came up with? Corruption. Corrupting. Yes.
I'm going to choose to bless something tonight.
What? It's been a little bit. You don't want
to put that dice tower through the other dice
tower to corrupt it? Absolutely not. That geometry
doesn't work well. It might fit. The Port -O
-Pain is huge. Since the arrival of the Port
-O -Pain, I have, well, unofficially because
you still technically own it. I have commandeered
a hand -me -down. Your old dice tower. You know
what? That was given to me by Gabby. Gabby, will
you officially allow them to take the dice tower?
As long as somebody uses it. More wisdom! You
heard it here, folks! More wisdom! The dice tower
belongs to you, gentlemen. So I'm taking some
holy water, and I'm ridding this of all things
past. You try. You try. Of your corruption. This
tower is now on our side. Okay. Prove it. Try
it. I don't want to waste a good roll. I know,
but I just... It wasn't a good roll. Okay. You
didn't waste a good roll. It's on your side.
We're getting the low numbers out of the way.
It was a natural three. Oh, no. Oh, boy. Of course
it's natural because I'm not fucking playing.
There's no modifier to that. No. Speaking of
modifiers. What do you got? Nothing. Damn it.
Speaking of nothing. Let's get on with this shit.
Because nothing's happened. It's time to play.
This episode's going. It's time to start. What
are we at? Like 25 minutes? Yes. Yes. Let's get
some music going. Not that one. That one. As
you stand. Most of you actually swimming still
at the surface of the water, looking at this
dead beast. This great caiman floating, sort
of flopped over the side, a red sort of mist
pulsing out into the water all around it. Chester's
final shot, taking it like right into the sort
of face, right into the head. Easy, perfect kill
shot. Jaune is staring down at it with a sort
of sad, forlorn expression. Perhaps memories
of viewing this creature, this Tikalosh, with
his mother as a child, or going through his mind.
But it went wild. It attacked. It tried to kill
him. It really tried to kill him. And so I think,
amidst that sadness, there's very little regret.
As he rinses his spear into the water and sort
of stows it on his back, the banner of the Golden
Bay still furled up near the tip. There are shrieks
of excitement and... just screams of horror,
just crying, sorrow all around. There's a sort
of crowd that's built up at the front of the
bridge, and you came from, that stumbled upon
this whole scene, watching it, you know, faces,
mouths agape, hands covering faces. Another part
of the crowd is starting to leave, bustling ahead
of the scene, pushing towards the city, joining
with those that immediately had fled when the
attack began, just rushing down the path, getting
away from the mad creature. It makes these people,
our names ringing out, just like, Deuce Rousseau,
Deuce Rousseau, Fitz Blanche Trudeau, John Franklin.
You're noted. And I should make this clear that
I don't want to get repetitive with this, but
you're at a point now when you go out, when you
enter this place, when you walked off the jewel,
when you're approaching here, you are noted.
People are pointing, whispering, talking. I think
there's a... And this is purely for the convenience
of our story. I think there's kind of this culture
around luminaries where people don't necessarily
come up to bother them all the time. Because
otherwise you'd be getting autographs, requests
constantly at this point. You couldn't get off
a jewel without having to go through a half hour
of me asking you with different voices for different
autographs. No, let's do that. No, there's a
culture around it. People don't do that. They're
like, luminaries, they're probably busy. They're
probably busy. Let's just gawk and stare and
point and smile and cry and laugh. I don't know,
whatever things they do. That's dramatic. Yeah.
People are dramatic, Steven. Where you been?
So, we know that Tickalosh is going to be making
saves for a couple of seconds. Maybe. I'm just
going to kill him. Well, before that happens.
Right, like mechanically. You know, when he goes
down to zero. He's making saves. I just want
to... Blanche wants to know. Okay, all right.
Wants to try to figure out if there's anything
magical going on. Like if it's being controlled
somehow. If there's anything she can gleam. How
do you intend to do that? With an arcana check.
Yeah, arcana. You're analyzing its behavior.
It doesn't really matter if it's dead or not.
You're probably thinking more about what it was
doing, how it was acting. Right, I'm thinking
that she was kind of... She could kind of see
that it was either just going after Jaune or
maybe considering going after her. The two tortles
in the party. Yeah. And putting that together
with the horse accident, it's starting to seem
a little fishy. Yeah. It's a 15. It doesn't feel
like there was an element of control here. It
doesn't feel like you were singled out because
of who you are, but I think you are onto something
with the whole idea of tortles. I think in this
moment... You think back to what Jean said, that
this creature, this great caiman, the ones that
are near the Golden Bay are generally, you're
supposed to stay very wary of them. They're one
of those things where when they pop up, children
go in their homes and people go out to hunt them
down and push them away because they have a taste
for turtles. They tend to gather around the Golden
Bay because I don't know what it is, but turtles
are their favorite snack. Except for this one,
though. But this one wasn't supposed to be that
way. It just snapped. But you think that whatever
caused the snap, this sort of sudden, like, wrath,
this sudden, like, you know, predatory instinct
that overcame it, it acted on its initial instincts.
It went for the turtles because they're what
it instinctually wanted to eat. Natural prey.
That's what you think. Why it suddenly happened,
why now? You don't know. Maybe Xion just smells
really, really, really good. While Blanche is
investigating Tickalosh, She's going to pull
Chester's arrows out from the body and swim to
shore and hand them back to Chester. Oh, thanks.
That was some good shooting. You've got quite
the eye. Honestly, it's not usually that good.
I mean, sorry, not to tell myself short here,
but that was especially good. Right, Jules? I
mean, did you see that last one? Boom. Thank
you for having our backs. Yeah, of course. Looks
like his eyes focus around Jules. Always. Always,
buddy. The crowd again, just all around Chester.
He's not really known. The crowd's sort of super
excited, booming around Chester. He might be.
I think you might see a diamond flashing in the
crowd. Someone recording all this. The elephant
guy. We should probably go save the guy on the
elephant. He was in the water. He went under
the bridge. I think he's climbing under the bridge,
soaking wet. The elephant's kind of starting
to get to its feet now. I think maybe he moved
over and started cutting the lines to the wagon
so the elephant can kind of get back up. The
wagon sort of fully submerges. The elephant,
Penny, I think was the name I made up on the
fly, begins to sort of stand. Oh, my gosh. I
am so sorry. I am so sorry. I don't know what
happened. That has never happened before. I've
been down this road so many times. This is my
job. It's my job for 15 years, and this has never
happened. I'm so sorry. I don't think this was
your fault. I don't blame you. So, are we going
to have to walk? Josh is staring down at the
carriage down into the water. I told you, you
could get up on my back. Father's going to hate
this. It's not a good show. It's not a good look.
But, well, goodbye, elephant cart. You'll be
missed. He's kind of staring forlornly down.
When we were crossing the bridge, did Blanche
notice anybody who was watching Tickalosh? Somebody
who was already there. There was a lot of people
there. I think I noted before when you were crossing,
there was a cool crowd on the bridge that was
throwing stuff off the bridge to food to take
a lash. He's very well known, very well fed by
passerbys. And I think they all moved to the
side. A lot of those folks have already left.
A lot of them ran away when the fight started.
Sure. Yeah, I don't think in hindsight you would
be able to pick out anyone in particular. Just
a freak accident. Now I'm trying to decide if
I want to take 30 minutes asking around. And
that's the episode, folks. Right, yeah, exactly.
I hate it. Was anybody feeding Tikalash before
this incident? Blanche will yell to the crowd
who's watching. He just buries me like, everyone,
I was, me, yeah, I threw him a piece of meat,
you know, it'd be just jerky. Yeah, I fed him
a little bit, yeah, yeah, a little pasta. I had
pasta for last night. I mean, like, it's just
everybody. People were just throwing food. All
right. I don't think this is going anywhere.
It's not going anywhere. Okay. DM opens up the
screen and says, shut up. Keep moving. Never
mind. Sorry to ruin your afternoon picnic. Dude,
the people are like, everyone on the bridge are
kind of like looking over the side, sort of sniffling,
crying at this great beast that's sort of starting
to float down the way, down the pond. What do
you want to do? You guys heading away? Yeah,
I think it's probably time before this becomes
even more of a spectacle. Yeah, people are still
lining up, more of a crowd, and you're already
probably a little bit late to this meeting of
the Kings of Coin. And this is a reminder to
spay and neuter your caimans. And the crowd says,
oh shit! You can't swear on the network, sir.
So we're pressing on. Yeah. You guys, now on
foot. I think Taryn Hollis, we're seeing to Penny,
trying to take her off to the side, check for
injuries. Again, just like profusely apologizing
and thanking you so much because he was pulled
in the water too. It could have been him. Thank
you. Thank you so much. I owe you guys my lives.
I mean, I just got saved by Jules LaRoche. Holy
shit. He's stoked. People are probably running
over to talk to him about the experience, interviewing
him. You got cameras in his face. diamond cameras,
and you guys are pushing down the way. Let's
change the music up a little bit, huh? Because
as you're about to move away from this scene,
deeper into the jungle, away from this scene
of tragedy behind this sudden, horrid affair,
you're moving into a place of celebration. The
closer you get to the city, the more you can
hear the pounding of drums, the blaring of horns.
The closer you get to the sounds of festivity
and parade. So you're moving down the trail,
which actually already wide starts to widen out
even more as it gets closer to the city, as you
start seeing more performers on the sides of
the road, as you sort of gather up with, like,
a larger caravan of sort of people moving into
the city, merchants with all sorts of wares and
foods and the smells. Again, every city you go
to always happens to be having a huge festival.
So weird. It's so weird. You catch this sense
of all sorts of, like, wonderful spices and foods.
The air's just hot with them. You see this thoroughfare
that's feeding into what's called the River of
Gold. That's what they call the city as it gets
closer to Zinda. It's paved with all these yellow
pots that make it look like gleaming gold in
the sun. The hot sun of Nowari. You're pushing
ahead. People are cheering loudly. A bunch of
caravanners that kind of fall in beside you as
you're moving. As you begin to enter the fields.
around the city. And this whole bustling community
of Zinda comes into view. You see fields full
of these pink, wide -petaled flowers, fully cultivated,
all around the place. People are moving around,
picking them, carrying them away. These are the
jellyflower fields. They are everywhere. And
this sweet, sweet scent seems to fill the air
all around them, just all mixed with these sort
of ocean, salty breeze. It's wonderful. And up
ahead, you see the grand sort of marble white
gates of the city, sort of gold -topped. The
city of white and gold, the city of sin. It is
Zinda, baby. As you reach the top, tax collectors
are sort of harassing all the folks coming into
the city during this march of vice. And you can
see already, it's partying all over the streets,
drinking everywhere. People dancing, but no music.
Just a wild, wild time. Parades running around.
Beads, gem beads cluttering on every neck. feeds,
baby. And you go to move up. I think the Texans
come see you. Jaune quickly waves them off with
a hearty, yeah, do you know who I am? Tell them
who I am. Tell them who I am. You can tell them
yourself, Jaune. Yes, I can. Very well, sir.
It's more powerful if I say it myself. I, Mr.
Tax Cutter, am Jean -Francois Montelio, future
heir to... Wait, no, sorry. I am Jean -Francois
Montelio, heir to House Montelio, future lord
of the Nine Pools, and bearer of the banner of
the Golden Bay. He waves his banner in the...
He's got a little, like, pennant. No, he has
a banner on his spear. He carries it everywhere.
It's a big deal. Being the bearer banner is a
big deal. There's only one. He bears the banner
for his father. It's kind of like why he goes
to a lot of these sort of functions. People kind
of shrug, like, I don't... And the son of the
seventh king of coin is like, let me through!
And they're just, oh my gosh, they start to leave
it out of the way. Like, oh, the turtle king,
the turtle king! You guys go flooding through
the gates. Yeah, they start to recognize him
there. Again, eyes on you, Jules. And you're
pushing into the city. You see most of the folk
here are sort of dark -skinned, the hair growing
in spiral curls. A lot of people just like to
wear it very long, top with headscarves, top
with wide -brimmed hats in a lot of cases, or
set in, like, scalp -hugging braids. There's
also a number of elves and halflings you see
all around the place. Also, there's a number
of humans as well. You see a few dwarves. There
are a few orcs, actually, half -orcs in the lot.
Again, just another melting pot city. You're
pushing through on this golden road amidst silk
draped booths and squat buildings with conical
rooftops. The chatter of merchants and cheerful
youth rings out along the road. Folks sell colorful
flowers, beaded charms, and other wares from
woven baskets atop their heads while street performers
spin in tight circles waving long silk streamers.
Hundreds of revelers, merchants, dilly wine vendors,
entertainers pack the river of gold, the same
major street that leads deeper, deeper towards
the palaces of the King of Coy to the city center.
You see buildings bear brightly painted signs
that are covered with colorful vines bearing
lush flowers. As you're moving through, you can
start to see the bustling city center called
the Court of Flowers, lined with tropical trees
whose branches droop to the pavement. Amidst
them, you can see a collection of these great
palaces. You're moving towards them, moving towards
the centermost palace, the palace of Grand Messer
Amos Nier, the Jelly King, most powerful king.
And as you go, again, you just see people are
looking, pointing at you. Some actually recognize
who Jean Franklin is, the Prince of Coin. They
recognize Blanche Trudeau for her role, her powerful
role in the society. But again, most people,
even though you're not part of this world, it's
Jules LaRoche, baby. It's this big deal luminary
who's done all this stuff. He's been on the network.
I mean, people are pointing you out. People are
whispering. There's some unusual attention here
and there in the crowd as well. As you're going,
Jules, every once in a while you look over and
you see like someone fixes you with this stare.
Not some cheerful stare, but something like determined.
Something fiery. And they look at you and sort
of nod their heads and raise a fist into the
air. Some defiant gesture. I think there'll even
be a time where as you're moving by you see in
the shadow of an alley one such figure raises
a hand. You swear that they're wearing some kind
of mask and an apron stained by jelly dye. The
stains are pink dyes, flowers in a strange circular
pattern with a number of triangles pointing inwards
towards the circle's edge. But you're moving
on. All's well in Zinda. Can I roll something
on that? Why don't you roll history? You can
tell me who he is, what he's all about. Oh, that's
only a five on the die. Plus three. Eight. Yeah,
I don't know. Single digies through the newly
blessed dice tower. Getting them all out of the
way. That's it. Practice, baby, practice. Okay.
You push into the court of flowers amidst these
grand sort of trees. And again, you push past
a number of manners. You only see six. sort of
great palaces here as the seventh king of coin,
exists outside the city. DiPiero Montelli does
not have a home here in Zinda. He travels from
his place. Again, not chosen because he's accepted
as one of the kings, but chosen because he's
a shrewd businessman. And the city of Zinda simply
can't keep up with the Golden Bay when it comes
to the fisher folk trade. So, as you push towards...
the last of these grand manors, this huge white
wall, three -story, just beautiful palace, huge
sort of courtyard garden, fountains spraying
in the courtyard before it. You can see a number
of elephant carriages are just parked outside,
kind of lined up. Poor Jean. Jean looks kind
of sadly over like, well, everyone else had an
elephant in the game, it looks like. Yep, that's,
yep. Jules looks over and pats his back. Thank
you, Jules. I'm here for you. That helps. Are
you trying to set up a piggyback ride? Absolutely.
Oh, Pat's at your back. Hey, Pat, John's back.
No. That embarrassing misunderstanding out of
the way. All right, well, no, no. Now he's at
John's back. Oh, thank you. It's all right, buddy.
We'll be equals. You stare at the sort of opened
gateway. You stare beyond into the courtyard.
And even from afar, you can see that there's
a number of people standing outside. I believe
seven. They're sort of scattered places. You're
pushing towards this near Jean, just like, oh
dear, oh dear, oh dear. Yep, as I thought, there's
father. It's a sad father. He's, I'm sure, quite
unhappy with my... Recent disappearance? Should
I expect fire and brimstone and all the like?
Or some of a cold fury? Well, I suppose we should
probably go find out. Yes, yes. Quite into the
fray, as it were. Into the fray. The tide is
high and we're moving on. Be your number one.
It's doing song lyrics. Never mind. Never mind.
Come on. That was good. Yeah, that was funny.
Anyway, we're pushing. into the courtyard. And
you see Jean once again just goes, No. No, sir,
he wouldn't. He wouldn't dare. Do you see? Look,
there, by my father's side. It's that damnable
Ledoux. As you guys peer into the courtyard,
you see the foremost figures that are kind of
standing there sort of in the wake of one fountain
of the spray kind of wash over them, watering
their total skin. You see, one of them looks
like an older Jean Franklin. Green skin with
flecks of yellow and piercing blue eyes. There's
no mirth in those eyes, however. Just a constant
roaring ambition. And a grudge against all his
peers. He's kind of like looking at everybody.
You can see just this vein bulging on his forehead.
Definitely looks mad. Well, kind of mad? We'll
find out. He wears an ornate ceremonial robe
of red and gold. And his chest shell is bare.
You see this sweeping regal skirt just spreading
around him. Probably the most overdressed figure
here. But to Piero, Montelio always overdresses.
For he must be the grandest in the room. And
he's just as good, just as good, damn it, as
any of these other kings. He'll tell you at length.
Beside him, you see a thin turtle with scales
of a dark, mossy green. His eyes shining amber.
They hold a great deal of haughty intelligence.
As you approach, he kind of turns, and you see
the smug plaster on his face. It's a work of
perfection. Every muscle stretched to be as punchably
annoying as totally possible. And Jules, you
must realize this must be this Ledoux Jean Franklin
spoke of. It's pretty obvious who the dad is
and who the other is. Ledoux is the last name?
No, it's Ledoux Lemoyne. Ledoux Lemoyne. Can
you get any Frencher? No. As you begin to approach,
I think Jean kind of, like, maybe he's a little
stalling. Maybe you have to shove him a little
bit forward. What does Blanche call De Piero?
Ooh. I think he's, like, the other kings of coin
have, like, a term they use. It's like messer,
madame, or mix. It's sort of their noble term
based on, you know, gender. But De Piero doesn't
actually follow that tradition because it's a
Zinda tradition. He prefers, I think, just Lord
DePiero. I think he's fine with, like, Lord Montelio,
Lord DePiero, Lord of the Nine Pools. A lot of
times he will also break into his romanticized
titles because that's just how turtles are. But
he tries to distance himself. He wants to be
part of this India league. He also tries to hold
to his turtle heritage, like, deeply, you know.
And so, like, he won't adopt their titles. He
refuses to. So as they approach, Blanche will.
We'll say, Lord de Piero, may I introduce you
to Jules LaRoche and his sidekick, Chester Meeps.
There's a silence. Piero's just looking at you
for a moment. He turns towards his son, Jean
Franklin. You are a bearer of the banner. You
will introduce me to your friends. Yes, of course,
father. Yes. He kind of unfurls the banner, places
it down hard on the ground before, just like,
this is none other than the Piero Montelio, patriarch
of House Montelio, lord of the nine pools and
seventh king of coin of Zinda. And Piero kind
of nods. You're late. Thankfully, we are still
waiting on one other. Mix Massimo Aine. And their
son has not arrived yet, so we are not waiting
on you, which is, I suppose, good. But that damnable
Grand Messer Amos Nier will make us all wait
here in the sun till everyone appears. Wants
to make sure no one misses his grand entrance,
no doubt. You look filthy, and where's the mount
I sent for you? Apologies, my lord, we had...
Trouble's on the trail. The mount was interrupted
by a wild animal attack. Wild animal, you say?
Yes, the caiman, Tikalash. He spooked the animal
and, well, we had to dispatch of it. The caiman,
not... The elephant is fine. She looks around
at all the other elephants. The elephant is fine.
Sort of, like, raises an eyebrow, nods. Very
well, then. I will see if we can move things
along. We must be given entrance soon. I will
not be treated like this any longer. He starts
storming off towards, like, the gateway, towards,
like, some, you know, a person that's standing
at the sort of front door of the actual manor
itself, kind of being blown away. He moves away.
Leaving only the other tortle. Every time they're
the young. Who. As soon as like. DePiero leaves
earshot. Just spins on Jean Franklin. That smirk
gets even smirkier. And says. Hello Jean. You
look. Dirty. Walks past him. Totally ignoring
him to you guys. I am Ledoux Lemoyne, financial
advisor to House Montelio, chosen ward of the
Nine Pools, and bearer of the Banner of the Golden
Bay. What? What? What? What? What? I'm the bearer
of the Banner of the Golden Bay. Only your father
chose to have another banner bearer, as he cannot
rely on his son to see to his duties, and he
certainly cannot bear his own banner. The Kings
of Corn even made an allowance for my presence
here, in case you didn't bother showing, Prince.
Don't you expect me to believe that my father
would have a bloodless rat like you bear the
banner? Better a banner bear than one furled
up in the arms of some spoiled, gallivanting
child. Well, I'm here now, so I shall bear the
banner in the palace of Amosnia, and you should
hold off. What if father needs a second banner
bear within the furthest depths of his own arsehole?
You'll be right there anyway, won't you, Ladue?
Won't you? How crude. And the two just kind of
split off and start walking. Like, LeDoux just
storms away. Practice some grace, Tadpole. John's
just staring after him like, you'll get him to
go. The rest is bolting slime. Ass stiff from
keeping my seat warm, no doubt. Yes, an ass indeed.
Such an ass. What an ass. That was also quite
enjoyable watching you argue with yourself for
like two minutes. Ass. Jean's just staring pointedly
after the figure that's moving away from you.
Chester's kind of like watching this with a kind
of funny little smirk on his face. Nick picking
on something that Blanche probably already understands
from years with these two turtles. Jules, roll
the insight check and see if you catch on to
it too. Okay. It's a 19. A 19. I think Chester
kind of nudges you. And as you kind of look down
and smirk and look up, it kind of strikes you.
Jaune's gaze is too fixed. As though this entire
display was more than just a display of animosity.
These turtles hold affection for each other.
Very unspoken, very buried. But he's definitely
looking at that ass he speaks of a little too
closely. I was just about to turn as he was walking
away and say, good to meet you, LaDoodoo. LaDoodoo.
But now that I see that gaze. Yeah. Yeah, truly
smoldering. I was going to make fun of him in
solidarity with Jaune, but after I see that,
I'll hold back. You'll hold back on LaDoodoo's
for now. And Jaune just turns to you guys and
says, I should attend to my father. Explain to
him what's going on and hopefully learn about
what we're doing here. So, remember, remember.
Okay, it gets a little quiet. Like, because you're
sort of, now that everyone's thrown away, you're
in your own little spot in the courtyard. There's
different pockets of people here and there. You're
here for us, both a protector and a performer.
He kind of points to Blanchard, the protector,
and Jules, the performer. Jester kind of sweeps
him with that. Now, play your roles carefully,
but you should have freedom here. Should you
want to investigate the secrets these people
know, these... monsters, these murderers. No,
they're here. They're buried here. Grandmaster
Amos Nia, he's the one that gives the orders
for the Kings of Coin. He's the one my father
had written to. There's evidence. It's in this
palace. I'll be locked down for the most part,
likely. There's going to be meeting after meeting,
blah, blah, blah, all these financial reports
too. But I will try to sneak away when I can,
do my own investigations. All right? Good luck.
And I don't know if you're hearing this and you're
probably like, I'm supposed to guard you. Right,
yeah. Where are you going? I'm your bodyguard.
Just stay here with Jules. Just try to make sure
he's doing all right, all right? I want to, I
can, you know, move around these circles just
fine. I'm worried that they're going to get Jules.
Look at him. He doesn't know what he's doing
here. Does this party have the stones of far
speech? No. Well, that seems foolish. Yeah. All
right, never mind. I must have left my stones
at Farspeech elsewhere. Didn't Dresden give them?
I think we touched on that. Crispin Dresden kept
them. They were shoelace. Oh, ascending stones.
That's what I'm thinking of. Yeah, ascending
stones. Yeah, ascending stones. Never mind. Farspeech
is a different term. Yeah. Ascending stones is
the actual one. It's what it's really called.
Must have left them in my other shell. Don't
just nod so you guys like, all right. Sir, I'll
see you around, I'm sure. You'll be following
me to the side here and there, but for now, you
should be free to go, free to move, check things
out, meet people, whatever you do. Just be careful.
Trust nobody. It's a sinful lot, all of them.
Don't say it. I see your eyes. I wasn't going
to say anything. Your face. It's just to say
you don't have to tell me twice. All right. Good
luck, John. He nods and... sort of scampers off
after his father, who's yelling at the person
at the door, like from across the courtyard,
who then the person kind of opens the door and
disappears inside, closes. Jean goes to meet
him at the steps of the doorway. I'm getting
Jean out of here. And I'll explain why. Yeah,
we're going to find out three episodes. And David
has one less button. It's much more meta than
that. I want less characters to voice because
I think I put this out there in our last unzipped.
This arc. is a murder mystery. And when it comes
to murder mysteries, you've got to introduce
a lot of people, a lot of suspects. So get your
notebooks out, guys. I've got a lot of characters
to drop on you real quick. Let me open up Notepad.
That's the best place to do it. Just don't do
Google Docs. You can't trust it. Too late. All
right, David. Does anybody look like a murderer?
I don't think so. How about an insight check?
Let's solve this right here, right now. One natural
20. Before you do anything stupid, you, I think,
are singled out by someone nearby. You hear like
a slight commotion nearby, a burst of sort of
haughty laughter from a young man talking to
a woman kind of close to where you stand, maybe
like on the other side of a different fountain.
You're looking at this... smiling swag. He looks
like a real playboy. Hair and beard are sort
of dyed green. There's a white mask covering
his eyes. He's got this, like, rolling shoulders,
big, strong body. Kind of looks like he's sort
of almost stumbling. Like, it's probably noon
right now and he looks like he might be a little
day drunk. And he's sort of, like, arm over this
woman you see who looks, likewise, pretty built.
Just a beautiful dark -skinned woman in a flashy
pink dress that's all sequins and feathers just
this lean musculature to her um and a dancer
sort of precision to the way she she moves around
the way he sort of she sort of flicks his hand
off her uh shoulder um whispers something in
his ear and he kind of oh yeah one second yeah
oh one more time fine yeah he kind of turns starts
running back towards like the the man you see
he goes up to the doorway and it's fully allowed
in um goes inside door closes uh the woman kind
of watches him go, sort of shakes her head, rolls
her eyes, and those eyes sort of fall on the
two of you. She kind of spins in place, means
to step over to you, almost like a recognition
there, but kind of a casual wave, stepping over
these sort of big, pretty long pink heels to
match the outfit. I think you might even recognize,
this is a person that's been on the network before,
someone that's been mentioned to you before.
This is a woman named, or at least, known to
the public as Diva Luma, a luminary sort of battle
diva, trained here on this world in the arts
of sort of like bardic song and dance, but also
trained to fight. I mean, I'll have a sing -off.
T -Cons, moving over to you, just like, I hope
you don't mind the company, though. The Grandmaster's
son comes on a little strong. He's a fan, but
a little too big. Yeah, he's a little odd. I
got him around my finger, though. Sent him off
on a little quest to impress me. Goes back and
forth. Diva Luma. I know who you are, Mr. LaRoche.
Pleasure to meet you. We'll be performing together,
I hear. Oh? That's what I've heard. Think you
got the chops? I'm excited to hear what you're
bringing to the table. My repertoire's not that
big, but it should be a good show. Good nods
along. Yes, it is an honor being here like this.
It's my second year at the estate, actually.
As I said, Azrinir, the young prince, is a big
fan. So they had me come back. And it looks like
you've got a fan here, too. She kind of nods
her head over. And I think maybe you might follow
her gaze sort of subtly and see that there's
this full orc staying nearby. Not nearby, kind
of like on the other side of the courtyard, but
like watching you very intently. You see this
portly, gray -skinned orc with a grand, tusky
smile, wearing colorful robes, layers of gold
necklaces covering their neck, and an array of
rings decorate their hands. And then next to
them is a half -orc woman in her early 20s with
dark gray skin and sleek black hair, sort of
styled coolly over her eyes. There's black makeup
on her eyes, black lipstick, black dress with
spiked combat boots. I don't care. Just full
of goth. And you just kind of hear like a, oh
my gosh, Tata, is that Jules or Rose? And it's,
oh yes, yes, my little darling, yes. Oh, anything
for you. You hear like this. You hear that echoing
down. Extremely unsettling. Jules kind of calls
these up to Blanche a little more. Diva Luma
sees you're kind of almost awkward and says,
not used to it yet, huh? It'll come in time.
Just remember this, when they're fans of you,
You dominate them. You control them. Send them
off on errands. Make them try to impress you.
Don't let them think they're in charge of you,
though. You know, I'm not even going to try to
explain everything wrong with what you just said.
Good to meet you. She kind of shrugs sort of
casually. Likewise. Winks to your blanch and
sort of saunters away. As she does, you notice
there is a figure moving towards you from the
other side. Not the girl, who seems to be kind
of like looking back sort of bashfully, kind
of like hands over mouths, kind of watching in
almost strict horror as this other figure, this
full orc kind of steps over. Puts a hand out
to both of you, just says, Mixmagus Ruba, king
of coin of the tavern keeper trade. It's nice
to meet you. I actually was the one that pushed
your invitation through, Mr. LaRoche. Can you
say their name one more time and also the Grand
Messer's son's name one more time? Grand Messer's
son is Azranir. This character is Margus Gruba.
Mix Margus Gruba. Make them easier to spell next
arc. They're from the book, actually. I'm just
picking on you. But they sort of carry on just...
My daughter is a big fan. The others were wary
of her invite, but I made sure to push it through
the works for my Xenia. Gestures towards the
sort of gothish half -orc who's still just kind
of looking terrified, stricken that their Tata
is here talking to you. Looks around, just, I
know it's not a lot to see. It's a small crowd,
but it's always this way on the first night.
It'll get bigger. Grand Messer Amos Niers is
a man of stalwart ritual. He sentenced nearly
all of his servants and... pretty much his entire
family away for the night. This enormous building
belongs only to our small lot until tomorrow
eve. So just remember, all the space is yours.
Have fun. Have a great time. This whole celebration
is about letting loose. And I can tell you, you
won't see me for a minute without a drink in
my hand. Because I'm already just sipping a can
from a little canteen. Do you have anything you
want to ask? I think I'll stop and look at you
for a bit. You think it's the appropriate time
to be celebrating with everything going on? You
say this big, tusky smile. I think if there's
any time to drown sorrow, it's now. Perhaps this
is a very fortuitous time to have this festival,
don't you think? Yes, it's sad, tragic. What's
happened to, well, our fellow royals? Ever the
entertainer, our jewels taking all that... raw
emotion and drama and bottling it up for his
own art. I'm sure it will come out later tonight.
You'll see. I certainly hope so. For my daughter's
sake, she's such a sweet little princess. Oh,
they look around and they say, oh, yes, it is
sad. It's tragic. A horse riding accident. Can
you believe? Poor, poor Aurolavim. Solon must
be beside himself with grief. I kind of like.
Sorry, do we know what's going on with the blood
letters? Uh, it's been on the news a bit. You
would know. Uh, with the last... Two weeks ago.
Because that horse accident was one thing that
happened. That was about a month ago, almost.
You're saying that's connected to the blood letters?
No. That was a different... So, Messer Solonovim's
son, Arlovim, died from a horse riding accident
about a month ago. Just a freak accident. It
happens. What number? But Madam Kitmata's...
son, Amomata, was also killed about two weeks
ago when a protest of this revolutionary group
called the Blood Letters broke bad out of nowhere.
It just became suddenly violent and they rushed
the sort of stage and stabbed this Prince of
Coin to death. Ever since then, security's been
tight here. The Silent Burst, which are like
kind of the secret police of the Kings of Coin,
have been like cracking down. It's all very hush
-hush, but they're scared. They're terrified.
Yes, I, uh, What precautions is the Grand Messer
taking to keep this palace safe with everyone
gathered here all at once and the blood that
is still out there? Well, it seems the silent
verse. I mean, take a look around. Take a real
look around. Maybe you just, like, scan. All
right, Blanche takes a real look around. Give
me a look around. Do you want to roll a check?
Yeah, you tell me. Roll a check. Full perception.
Can jewels do the same? Yeah. Single digits.
Uh, same. Eight. You don't. Maybe you notice
there's some movement on the street. Some movement
in, like, the sort of shrubbery in the garden.
What about Chester? Give me Chester. Yeah. Yeah,
he's good at urban stuff, too. I was going to
say, are we in an urban setting? This would be
an urban setting. I believe he gets advantage
on this. Oh, baby. And I think he has something
where he can, like, pick up whispers and stuff
like that. Yep. He can learn, yeah, gossip as
he goes. Yep. which can be very helpful in this
arc. Oh, yeah. He also only got an eight. Advantage.
And a six. Nope. Get out of here. I got nothing.
The silent verse do their job very well, but
they are everywhere. I'm telling you, they are
everywhere. This place is essentially on lockdown
from the outside and in. We're safe here. Believe
me, they are all around. Their captain is attending
as well. Oh, perhaps I could meet this captain
of the silent verse. You are guests here and
not necessarily a signed on part of royalty.
Believe me, they will come to meet you. But in
the Catholic turns, oh, what's this? You see
the door is beginning to open into the actual
manor itself. Looks like old Amos Neer got bored
of waiting on the last family. Ha! Good, good.
I should get back to my Xenia. He just kind of
gives you a little sort of parting wave and sort
of shambles away. And you see that door has opened.
You see two figures come stepping out of it.
The first is a very pale man with delightfully
fluffy mutton chops. Tall and broad with hands
scarred from years of perhaps culinary labor.
who sort of looks out at everybody, kind of gestures
broadly around, says, Welcome all guests. I am
Fyodor Popov, and I will be honored to be your
chef for this night. Just kind of, these people
sort of, yeah, yeah, yeah, it's Fyodor, you know.
Big deal. He's kind of like waving around. The
one beside him is much less enthusiastic. You
see a sort of girlish face with large eyes, shaved
head, in a white service uniform, rows of gold
buttons lining the front. And this is the very
figure you saw earlier on that was kind of manning
the door. She sort of looks out and says, And
I am head of service, Larissa Rina. We now ask
that you stand back in awe and bathe yourselves
in the glory of Grand Messer Amos Nier. Then
another figure sort of, they step to the sides,
and the figure sort of sweeps out, arms open
wide, just this flamboyant. of robes are blowing
in this sort of sudden breeze, head shaved and
shining. Ribbons of gold sort of run down off
of his uniform, off of his clothing. He just
looks out at everybody with his eyes that sweep
the crowd very regal, this easy smile on his
lips. Tonight, the present and future of Zinda
will plan and party as one. Come in. Get settled.
In one hour, lunch shall be served in our dining
chamber and our meeting shall commence. And once
business is concluded, we can embrace the festivities
with live performances from Diva Luma and Jules
LaRoche. Just a little small cheering, especially
Xenia and his son, the prince, who kind of like
is still actually out. I think he refound Diva
Luma. He's talking to her again. He also kind
of cheers. He smiles at everybody, his big white
teeth. Now, please, enter my home. And everyone
kind of starts finally muscling. You see Jaune
is one of the first kind of following at his
father's heels to slip into the door. Everyone
moves away. Do you guys move to follow? Yeah,
Blanche is waiting to walk behind Jules. Sort
of, if Jaune is off, then she'll protect Jules
instead. Hell yeah. as you're sort of uh moving
one figure actually more sort of moves towards
you a pretty squat figure uh with sort of dark
gray almost stony skin a dwarf but not a typical
kind of dwarf it looks like would you guys know
what a duergar is a dark dwarf you probably would
the hair they are just like you know this big
beard is actually white braided um You see he's
wearing a wide hat to keep the sun from his eyes.
Seems almost like diminished teeth, grits, and
kind of minor pain as sort of fighting against
the rays of the sun. These are dark dwarves from
the world of Rotham. They don't like the sunlight.
And it's very strange to see one of these. They're
very rare even in Rotham. To see one here is
kind of wild. You see this sort of gold filigree
armor, black armor is kind of clanging as they
move up to you. He stretches and says, Captain
Hall in burnt shadow. Head of the Silent Verse.
It's nice to meet you lot. I'm afraid three of
you, four actually, Nikav points out to Diva
Luma, who's actually like seized and sort of
moves over, aren't exactly permitted inside right
away. I'm afraid with everything going on, we
have to do a little interview with all of you.
Master of Defense, I'm sure you understand this
is simply protocol. I understand that it better
be brief. My charge is inside. Very well. I'm
going to let Mr. LeDoux LeMoyre pass. He's allowed
through, but the rest of you need to come with
me. And he kind of turns and starts walking away
and actually leading you towards one other person,
or two people. You see a very tall elven woman
wearing this sort of sumptuous gown, a little
mask over her eyes as well, and she takes you
in. Oh, yes. There you are. I am Samira Ara,
Madame Samira Ara, king of coin of the jeweler's
trade and master of the silent verse. And Blanche,
you would know that the king of coin actually
did choose Samira Ara to be the one that oversees
the whole policing force, silent verse. So this
Dwargar, captain of the silent verse, answers
directly to her. She takes you in with a nod,
then turns over to her son, who... The best way
to describe this half -elf man is he's a sweater
vest. Very thin -framed, a man just dwarfed by
literally a sweater vest he's wearing. Just this
kind of weenie -ish looking, but pretty handsome
in that sort of boyish way. Kind of a Tom Holland,
if you will. Who just kind of looks up and speaks
to him and is like, Mother, what's all this about?
That don't sound like Tom Holland. I can't do
Tom Holland. And she just kind of turns over,
just like, oh, my sweetie. And she reaches down.
I think you see like this sort of ritual, left
cheek kiss, right cheek kiss, left cheek again,
mouth and forehead. And we kings and princes
are meeting in one hour, honey. Go and make up
your room and get yourself ready, my handsome
little man. Harlan will come collect you when
we're ready. Oh, all right, mother. Kind of like.
shakes, you know, when Billy looks at you guys
and does a little kind of awkward, reaches up
for a handshake and thinks better of it and kind
of does a little wave, turns into a fist bump,
just kind of walks away. Super awkward. Now,
if you'll come with me, we have a small room
I'd like to stage you in for now while we conduct
a short interview and maybe go through your belongings,
if that's alright. If everything goes well, you'll
be able to carry your weapons inside. We see
no reason to disallow that if you are trustworthy.
Cal looks for, I guess, some kind of, uh, are
you okay with this? Yeah. All right. Blanche
nods in approval. Yep. Diva Luma just nods like,
happens every time. Don't need to worry about
it. I have been through this a few times. I don't
know why passing it before doesn't let me pass
it now. It's kind of, it's, you know, super protocol,
man. Super protocol. Now, let's move. Can I roll
insight? Sure. 18th? Yeah, just protocol. It
doesn't seem like there's anything nefarious
going on here. It's like Harlan even is annoyed
by it. He's like, these guys probably are trustworthy,
but I've got to do my job, protect people, whatever.
So you're all kind of led inside. How long do
you expect this to take, Harlan? Well, it might
be just a minute, right? We've got to get things
settled down. Everyone's moving in. We've got
to do a quick sweep. I might need to step out
for a minute to check on them. So we'll leave
you guarded. I'll come back, get you. We'll sit
all settled down, right? Very well, I'm not so
much worried about myself as much as the kings
and princes. Believe me, the kings and princes
are my utmost concern. We, the silent birds,
will do anything to make sure they're safe. And,
I don't know, maybe rolling over the insight
check, he seems believable. Nope, it's only a
four. Oh yeah, I rolled it over. So I give you
an 18 still. Oh, you roll, okay. Oh, so I should
roll another. You're catching this guy. He just
kind of nods like, he seems good. He seems cool.
You are led inside. Madame Samira Ara is kind
of guiding you through this place, effortlessly
flowing through the palace, sort of grand entranceway,
leading you down a side passage to a sort of
parlor room. As the door opens, you can see a
very comfortable -looking room. There's a big
billiards table in the middle. There'll be a
couple of them. There'll be some decanters of
jelly wine lining a shelf on the wall. Um, the
chef will send food for you if you desire it.
Please wait here for just some time. I will make
sure the guests are settled in and Harlan will
join me. And once we know for sure everything
is where it needs to be, my men are posted around,
and you are safe, we will come back for you.
Understand? Sure. All right. And she kind of
closes. I think Diva Luma's like, well, anyone
want to play a game? Chesta is over to the table
and picks up a stick. Time passes here. I don't
know how you guys spend it. Perhaps just fretting.
Blanche worried for her young pupil. Chesta's
going crazy. Hates being locked in her room.
It's like, ah, come on, can we just sneak out?
Make me invisible. I'll leave. I'll sneak out
of here. Come on, come on. Oh, Jules. Hating
this. Time passes. Maybe an hour goes by. Blanche
is walking around sniffing all the decanters.
It's good stuff. Really floral. Jelly wine. It's
a black liquid in there. You see a bottle of
it. Actually, the bottles have Sturge Man's logo
on the front, like a Sturge symbol, stylized,
but with almost like a bat symbol, you'd think.
Imagine a stylized bat symbol. If you didn't
know what a Sturge was. With a pointed proboscis
or a nose coming out of the front. If you could
possibly imagine what a stylized bat symbol would
look like. Anyway, I'm done with that. Finally,
the door opens. Samira Ara steps in the room
with Captain Harlan by her side. The stout sort
of duergar looks so much more comfortable now
that he's in the shadows of the inside of the
building. We're so sorry to keep you waiting,
but it seems everyone has settled in. Everything
is as it should be. Still no word from Mix Massima
Ain, which is quite odd, but still trying to
all of you. Harlan, will you attend to my son,
make sure he's ready for the dinner? I will conduct
the interviews quickly instead. Oy, sure thing,
madam. The door sort of closed behind her as
he steps out and begins to move away. Well, all
right, then. This is really just a cursory thing.
The fact that you're here at all means that we
trust you enough. Your eyes flicker to you, Jules,
who's probably the most odd one out here. But
she more steps over to you, Blanche. Master Defense
Blanche Trudeau, we know so little of the Tortles.
How long have you been in your station? And I
think, based on our last flashback, it's probably
something like... My voice. It's probably something
like 12 years now. Okay, yeah. Jean was pretty
young when you first won the tournament. We watched
you in awe as you were covered in golden light.
I've been Master of Defense for over 10 years
now. Quite. And do you think... What? It kind
of turns. There's a shouting noise from outside,
sort of muted by there. Sounds like it's coming
from upstairs, perhaps. Then, like, a little
louder, screaming, This house is on lockdown!
Absolute lockdown! Nobody leaves! Nobody enters!
Got it? Go! Go! Move! Make a perimeter! She sort
of stands up, like, What is the meaning of...
The door bursts open. And the duergar Harlan
looks in. Madam, it's your son. Oh, gods. Oh,
gods. Oh, no, this happened. Oh, don't. She just
gets up, pushes past him, starts running up,
clattering up the stairs. He runs off to follow
her. What do you guys do? Run out the door towards
John. Try to find John. Okay, you know, he'd
also be upstairs. All the guests were all moving
upstairs. Last you checked, a lot of the guest
rooms are there. Yeah, I think if Blanche goes,
Jules is following. You're pushing up. As you
move, like, yo, into the grand hall again, move
up the sort of grand open staircase to the second
floor, you hear the sounds of other doors swinging
open. Eyes peering out, eyes of guests, curious
and afraid. You don't see Jean. Not right yet.
You hear noises. You hear Samira Ara from an
open door, kind of like down the hallway. Just,
who did this? Who did this to my son? Just screaming
out. She steps out of the room. Her eyes sort
of, like, blurred with tears. Face streaked red
and hot and angrier hair. She, like, runs her
fingers through it. It becomes this, like, wild
and unkempt mess. She's just looking around.
Harlan just looks at you guys like, I think you're
the two that are fully out in the hallway. He's
like, oh, you need to go. Go back to the room
and die. No! No! Harlan, let them in! Let them
see! Perhaps they can explain this. Perhaps you,
points to you, Jules, can explain this. We've
been locked up in a room where the only ones
here you can trust. And what's she talking about?
She steps aside. Her eyes are like fixing you,
wary Harlan has a hand on his, like, weapon.
Not sure what's happening. Do you guys want to
push towards the open door? Yeah, and Blanche
is going to ready an action to cast True Strike
if any weapons are drawn. Hell yeah. I think
you have this, like, you and Harlan have this
moment, this duergar and this total kind of look
at each other like they don't want to fight.
You both have your masters and you're kind of
like this hardened stare of veteran sort of defenders,
warriors. Harlan looks broken. He has failed
in the most profound sense. You remember this
mother and son, the way they kind of grossly
kissed outside. They were close. Samira's rage
is palpable. You can feel a heat coming off of
her. You push towards the door and you sort of
Let it creak open again. I'm not going to describe
this whole scene. Because we've got to end this
thing. So what I am going to do is tell you guys
two things. A thing that each of your characters
notice immediately upon looking into this room.
The first thing your eyes fall upon. Things that
make your blood run cold. Blanche. Your eyes
are drawn immediately to the back wall. And here
you see the very symbol that Jules failed to
recognize earlier on the streets. A large circle,
seemingly painted in blood, with jagged triangles
facing in along the edge to a bunch of them.
And I will tell you that I think you actually
do know what this symbol is meant to represent.
You've been researching this exact thing as the
Master Defense. It's pretty common knowledge
on Noari that this is the symbol of the Bloodletter
Revolutionaries, made to represent the sort of
toothy maw of a leech. You see that? Let that
sort of wash over you. But Jules, what you see,
I think might be so much worse. A sight that
sends a shiver down your spine. I imagine you
feel your stomach drop, your eyes unable to focus,
blurring. You can't seem to understand what you
see before you. This horrid scene. That aforementioned
sweater vest. The son of Amira Ara, Prince Mello
Ara. The young prince is lying face up. A number
of stab wounds stand out on his chest and a pool
of blood soaks his clothes. His clothes. A dark
shirt and trousers, nondescript but wrapped in
a very descript cloak of blue and black, swirling
colors like a painting. His hair, though dark,
has been moosed into the shape of a ragged pompadour.
Just like you. And we'll call it there. Hang
on. Hold. Hold. It's gone. There's doors with
a hole in here.