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with two N's, PirateStudios .com. our lecture
on the Kings of Coin of Zinda. Today I want to
talk about Madame Samira Ara, King of the Jeweler's
Trade. Though she has been one of the merchant
monarchs for only 17 years, making her the 6th
King of Coin, or last behind De Piero Montelio,
Madame Samira has quickly become one of the most
vital and powerful of the lot. Not only does
she oversee the Jeweler's Trade in Noari, she
is also charged with the oversight of the Silent
Verse, the King's private policing force. Madame
Samira's home life is a quiet one. She divorced
her husband soon after joining the Kings of Khorne,
and has only one child, young Meloara. All accounts
tell us that Meloara is a sweet and kindly young
man that Samira... Please tell me there's not
a character named Miss Terry. No, no, I wouldn't
go there. I'm not that bad. Even David wouldn't
stoop that. Even I wouldn't stoop that. I know,
I'm kind of ashamed that I even thought of that.
Do you guys watch True Blood? No. No. Damn. Nope.
No, hang on. No. Hang on. No. So hang on. So
I watched up until the last episode of the penultimate
season, and I vividly remember the episode was
called Radioactive. And I was wondering the whole
time, why is it called this? What's going on?
And at the end of the episode, when it goes to
– They just played Imagine Dragons Radioactive.
Oh, my God. That's why they call it that. Like,
we spend a lot of time sometimes trying to deliberate
what we should call it. We always take a line
from the episode to make our title post -episode
20. And it's, like, a big thing we, like, spend
time thinking about. And I'm like, man, if we
were the writers of True Blood, it would be that
easy. Just need to pick a trendy song. Yeah.
I don't know what I'm. I stopped right there.
I was like, nope. I don't know what I'm more
surprised with. The song? Or the fact that you
remember the exact episode that we switched to
making titles a line from the show. Men of Honor.
Episode 20. Yes. Yeah. That's true. Yeah. Yeah.
It was a good episode. Okay. Now I remember.
It was a big moment. Bunch of nerds. Speaking
of our show, I like our transitions. I hope people
like this. I hope people are into this mystery
shebang. Because I know it's a lot of talking
to people and investigating scenes. But to me,
personally, I'm in love with this. I'm flailing
my arms like a madman. This is the coolest shit.
I think people like at least hearing us have
fun. And I know I'm having fun. I know you're
having fun. I know Jeremy's having fun. I hope
Jeremy's having fun. No. So much of this show
is like, I get a whim and I'm like, ooh, I want
to do this now. And then you, both of you and
the listeners and anyone who's involved is suddenly
just like going on an adventure with me as I'm
just like, nope, we're doing this. We're taking
a new genre, you know, new show. We're a mystery
now. But I have fun with it. I have fun with
it. Yeah, I think this is great. What else is
great? Let me, this episode. This episode, Jeremy,
is getting released the 13th of May. Is that
correct? Correct. I do believe we have our dates
right this time. That will be just after Mountain
Mania, where we will have recorded a live show.
It was a great time. I'm sure it will be. It
went incredibly smooth. My point being, the next
two episodes after this are going to sound a
little different. That's right. That's right.
They will be our live show episodes from Mountain
Mania. Taking a little murder mystery break.
So let's crack the case tonight, everybody. Crack
it tonight. Yeah, otherwise we're going to do
a bit of a recap because we're going to have
a bit of a gap between mystery pieces. Go back,
re -listen to it all so we can pick up in the
meantime. Speaking of meantime. Where is this
going? Don't be mean, David. We met Rochelle
and Daniel. Dude, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Yeah. I was waiting for you to bring it up. I
was like, where's it going? Where's it going?
Where is it? That was wild. That was a good time.
That was really, really cool. We chat with Rochelle
and Dee fairly frequently online on the Discord
anyways. And when we happened to be in the same
area around the same time, we said, hey, let's
get a beer and pizza and have a hike together.
And we did exactly that. And it was wonderful.
Yeah. Nice. It was really great to meet both
of those humans. And we'll be meeting Rochelle
again. You and humans. Some of my favorite people
are humans. That's such a weird word. But yes,
yes, we'll be seeing Rochelle again last week
at Mountain Mania. Last week slash next week,
depending on your perspective. We're going to
confuse the shit out of all of our listeners.
I'm already confused. Speaking of confused. We're
doing a mystery. A lot of weird stuff has been
happening. You guys made some huge headway last
time, though. Speaking of Fjodor, finding what
seems to be a dance macabre costume. Blood soaked,
or at least blood spattered. He dropped it to
him and he thought it was some sort of blood
letter message. Was it? Could it have been? Or
is it something else? Some kind of miscommunication?
I don't know. You tell us, David. I don't know.
You tell me. Following that, you spoke to Jean
Franklin, got his side of the story, and then
went upstairs to meet with Larissa Rin, as well
as potentially with the Grand Messer, Amos Neer
himself, who's, they're both staying in the same
room. As you press into this room, Blanche caught
sight of a little tear of some red cloth. The
material, the color. This came from, she realizes
in an instant, a banner of the Montelio family.
A banner of the Golden Bay. A banner you've seen
a million times in your life here. That surrounds
your every waking day. And you distinctly remember
that John Franklin's banner, which he waved before
you downstairs, was intact. Which you put together
immediately could only mean one thing. Because
there is a second banner bearer here. And you
have just called him out. You've called out the
financial advisor for your own family that you're
sworn to. Blanche, in the moment, I'm excited
to see where this goes. Nobody is safe from our
investigation. Nobody's safe. Nobody's above
the law. Not even you, Blanche. Like a third
of our suspects are kings, so. It's true. It's
true. You guys have been way over your head.
You're just kind of, yeah, they're humoring you
for now. But that also points out how. dangerous
this tightrope you're walking is. Anytime, these
people have the power to put you away. You got
into the Grandmaster's room by being very, very
clever. You spoke to his pride, to his ego. He
liked that. He separated you from Harlan Burnshadow
and has brought you into the folds of his own
very magnificently decorated bedroom. And that's
where you stand now. You've just moved out to
the hallway. You just called out to Harlan, who
stepped back into view. To bring Le Deux L 'Amour
to the cells. I don't understand. Le Deux L 'Amour?
Yes, I believe he was here in the Grand Master's
room. Noticed the piece of fabric here caught
in the door. Oh, no kidding. Sort of looks just
amazed. I believe it matches his banner. All
right. Here. Yeah, your hands out. Give me the
fabric. I'll check it with him. Ooh, ooh. Being
that we are from the same kingdom, I would like
to see to this myself. And Blanche is offering
to go with Harlan to... Oh, but you are already
standing in the Grandmaster's room. Is this going
to be a big old party split up? What do you think
we should do? It sounds like the insinuation
is that getting back into the Grandmaster's room
is going to be very difficult. I mean, it's kind
of insulting that he lets you in, shows you his
nice bedroom, and you immediately just turn to
the hallway and leave. He looks petulant, impatient
already, his foot tapping, his throat hissing
just a little bit as he's watching you and your
little charade outside the door. This is not
a patient man you're dealing with. Okay, Jules
looks to Blanche and gives a nod. What does the
nod mean? Go ahead. Are you staying here? Yes.
Okay. These two, you have to remember, this is
their first actual full mission together. They
had a couple brief stints before this, a couple
wacky misadventures, one of which we haven't
recorded yet because the live show's taken place
before all this. But, like, I love that they're
still working out their chemistry. They're still
working out. They're, like, you nod, and it's
like, what's that nod mean? Is that why you picked
it up? Yeah, don't worry, Blanche. You'll eventually
learn my communication styles. It's okay. I won't
fault you for that yet. Flatter this man. Your
nose should be brown by the time I get back.
Jeez. I know you have a tendency to be straightforward.
We need him to trust us. I'll see to Ledoux.
And good luck on your end. Thanks. I think I'm
going to need it. And so Blanche, you just slip
out the door without a word? No. What? Honorific,
does Amos Nier prefer to go by? Grand Messer.
Grand Messer. Grand Messer, I believe someone
was in your rooms. Do you perhaps have any security
that would alert you to such an unauthorized
presence? No. No, I do not. I have the dark dwarves.
His eyes sort of fall on Harlan in the hallway.
who I'm sure would never allow something like
this. And, of course, no guest in my house would
dare step foot in my room without my permission.
In such a case, Grand Messer, would you permit
me to investigate it personally? Just this big
white smile. Why, yes. Yes, I would. And if you
would permit it, I would like to leave my close
confidant, Jules LaRoche, here to see to your
protection further. Plus you have my wisdom you
wish to pick at, yes? That's correct. We have
gathered no nuggets of wisdom from you yet. Then
I shall fill his ears, as it were. Nothing else
to do in the meanwhile as we wait. Though you
best inform the dark dwarf I will not wait for
long. Four o 'clock. That's how long I'll allow
this charade to go on. You want to solve this
thing, you have until four o 'clock, and we are
going about business as normal. That's when the
festivities are to take place. Skipping the boring
luncheon and meetings, fine. But the show, Stevaluma,
and of course you, Mr. LaRoche, will perform
tonight. Four o 'clock. In the ballroom. And
do inform Harlan Burnshadow that... If he does
not allow me to attend to my desires, then I
will have to inform Sturgeman upon the morrow
that he's been holding me and my guests against
their will. I believe kidnapping is a minimum
60 -year sentence in the Sky Prison. You may
want to, well, take care. David just upped the
stakes. Stakes are upped. Stakes are rare. Medium
rare. Picking up by four. Or, I mean, people
are going to be out of their rooms moving around
again. That's all. But still. Still. This is
a sort of still situation. It can't last forever.
Right. Not with these rich folk who just want
to get out there and do their thing. They're
not being held up. So you slip out then? Yes.
With that, Blanche heads down with Harlan to
go find Ledoux. All right, and you are moving
with Harlan. Let's stick with Blanche and Harlan
first. First things first, as you're moving down
the hallway, you're moving right to the stairs,
go up to the third floor, where you intend to
move to Ledoux's rooms. Very, I guess, like,
insultingly... You would know on the map that
DiPiero Montelio, as well as Ledoux, Lemoyne,
Jean -Franklin Montelio, Jules, yourself, and
Diva Luma have all been placed in the attic,
the third floor. What's interesting about this
is that basically puts the seventh king of coin
in his heir in the same place as the hired entertainment.
Right. Clearly meant to be a sort of slap in
the face. You move up. I think Harlan kind of
begins speaking to you. All right, well. I should
give you an update. Real quick, when I was over
there, when you stepped in the room, I went to
meet with someone of mine. Runs have been searched.
As have the suspects. Nothing of note's been
discovered. But we've checked the other people,
checked all the belongings, the rooms. We haven't
seen anything suspicious like. So, there's that.
I also have confirmation that all of my men were
in position outside during the time of the murder.
It wasn't one of mine, lady of defense. Master
defense, that's the one. Lady defense. And there
were no holes in our defenses, I swear. It was
one of the guests. Thank you, Harlan. You're
being very thorough. I appreciate that, of course.
Where did they slip through? Huh? Let's follow
this clue as far as it'll take us. You move down
the hall, and you are standing before Le Deux
Limoires' door. Just to get this important, let
me pull up roll 20. I love how we investigated
for, like... I don't know how long it was. And
we found, like, all this weird stuff and all
these clues. And the silent verse and their entire,
like, miniature army that's here is like, hey,
I don't know. We found nothing suspicious. You
want me to solve the murder off? Well, no, no.
It's just funny narratively. Yeah, no, I hear
you. It's like they're good police officers,
but they're bad detectives. Sure. So, David,
I missed something earlier. Amos near is giving
us until four o 'clock. What time is it now?
Let's see. It was when you got down from the
actual murder scenario was about one 10. So right
now it's about two o 'clock. Oh, okay. Wow. So
we have shit. So we have less than two episodes,
less than two episodes. So you can do, you are
standing before the dues room. Just past where
you hear DePiero kind of muttering inside behind
the door in his... How dare they? I don't get
them. He's kind of grumbling to himself. Harlan
looks at you, I guess, kind of quizzically like,
Sure, take point. Or do you want to do it? Sure.
I'm used to being the bad guy. Ledoux's room
is just beyond DePiero's. It's beyond... Diva
Luma's, which is empty. Diva Luma is actually
in the salon on the first floor. Jean, which
is empty. He's in the cells in the basement.
And Jules is kind of down the hall from it, which
is empty because Jules is in the grandmaster's
room. I feel like De Piero's going to be pissed
either way. Either if I go straight to De Piero's
room and say, hey, this is what's going on. Or
if I bypass De Piero's room and go to Ledoux's
room. He's going to, like, find out. He's going
to, like, halfway through this interrogation,
LeDoux's going to, like, call out, and then DePiero's
going to come bustling into the hallway and being
really pissed off. I can't help you. I'm not
with you. Well, maybe David can help me. David,
is there anything that Blanche knows about DePiero?
Like, how, as someone who has worked for DePiero
for a long time, which order of events? would
piss him off the least. There's trouble either
way, right? Right, exactly. What you know about
DiPiero is he is, he fervently pursues the, I
guess, full acceptance and rise of the tortle
people. Pretty much everything he does, while
he may seem like he's angry and envious over
every little thing that happens, you know, all
the kings of coin, the way they treat him, the
way they, versus how they treat each other. He
just wants the turtles to be taken more seriously.
He just wants the turtles to be... I think I
got it. It's hard to say which one of these...
Yeah, you know that about him. I think I know
what I'm going to do then. Okay, all right. So
Blanche is going to go up to DePiero's door,
and to Harlan she'll say, Harlan, stand by Ledoux's
door. Listen to see if he acts, but don't make
your presence known. I believe as the... Chief
of the Silent Verse, that should be no problem
for you. No problem. All right, and Blanche is
going to lightly knock on Deep Hero's door. Enter.
Blanche opens the door and walks through. Ah,
Master of Defense. Funny I've not seen you up
here. I've been investigating. I've gained the
trust of the Silent Verse and those who operate
it. His eyebrows just raised. You have now. I
have, yes. We've quickly gained authority here,
and I wish to keep it. Now, my lord, I've stumbled
across some evidence that may point... Go on.
That may show our people in a poor light. I would
like to further investigate so that I can prove
it. He didn't do it. It wasn't... He didn't.
Do it. He stands up, like, fast. His feet hit
the ground hard. Master Defensor, you know your
charge. I don't know what evidence you found,
what they've found. Jean Franklin did not do
this. You may not understand his motivations
here, but they are, in their own sense, honorable.
My lord, I found a piece of a banner. He didn't.
His banner, Jean's banner, is flawless. It takes
him a second. I will do this quietly. If I can
prove that it's just a misunderstanding. It is
a misunderstanding. You found the banner, I'm
guessing, somewhere near Amos Nia's rooms. I
did. I hope you can quickly explain to me how
you know that. Because he was following my orders.
Blanche. Face palms. Yes, Le Doulaumois was there.
Around the time of the incident, but not a part
of it. He was simply doing as his lord commanded.
And what was that? I can't help you or Le Dou
if you don't tell me everything. They trust me.
Yes, they do. There is much to tell and time
is short. My son must be proven innocent. And
Ledoux as well shouldn't be caught up in all
of this madness. But know this. John Franklin
came here with a goal. I know of this goal. And
I share it. But he's a fool who lacks in the
amount of subtlety. I had hoped Ledoux may do
better. Dams, the boy went to the... the speaker
for our world. Anika Neer. The Grand Messer's
aunt. He told her. Of his suspicions. Of what
he found. Sorry, you don't know any of this,
but believe me when I say there is a lot happening
here behind the scenes. Secrets buried 16 years
ago. Secrets that I intend to dig up. And you
sent Ledoux to dig those secrets up? I did. I
destructed Jean Franklin while he made his move
downstairs. I... Almost like a small, joyless
chuckle. I gave him a stern talking -to about
his behavior of late. He has been getting quite
lax. There actually is, like, some mirth in his
smile, too. First total luminary. Pardon my language,
Master Defense, but can you fucking believe it?
The boy, off his leash, he soars. Don't tell
him I said that. Never tell him I said that.
He believes me an honorless cow, but he's wrong.
Someday he'll understand. Someday. He will know
why I have acted in this way. Why terrible things
had to happen. For his sake had to happen. But
first of all, we need to get out of this mess.
I want to dig into this so bad, but I know that
it is not the time. Tick tock. I'm proud of Jean
as well, sir. And I aim to prove his innocence.
I would like to do the same for Ledoux if he
is indeed innocent. What did he tell you of his
findings in the Grand Master's room? Nothing
of note, but there were some disturbing notions
the boy had in mind. He's a fragile soul. Easy
to scare. He has some... Well, I think perhaps
you should hear it from him. I give you permission
to speak to the boy. Hear his side. Thank you,
sir. I shall take my leave. And she goes to shut.
Master of defense. My lord. My son has indeed
soared. And I know it is not my part that has
given him wings. came to us in a time of need
that I did not realize we had. You have transformed
our house. It elevated the total people in ways
that perhaps you don't even realize. If there's
anyone who can see this dark situation through,
I know it is you, Blanche. You exaggerate, my
lord, but I shall do my best. When there's time,
come to me again and I will tell you all. Everything
I should have. Sweet. That's kind of all I wanted.
And she wordlessly shuts the door. There's something
almost somber in his expression, like something
in him is about to break as that door closes.
Let's move downstairs, back to the second floor,
back to the very ornate, gorgeous lodgings of
Grand Messer Amos near. White and gold surround
you everywhere. Jules reminds you, in some ways,
of home. A home you would rather not remember.
Your father would have rooms like this, filled
with such wonders, such expenses as to wow any
person who would walk through. And perhaps you
feel a bit of your father in front of you, that
foolhardy greed, that arrogance just emanating
off of this man, like an aura, a sickening aura.
It's nostalgic in a way. As the door closes and
Blanche begins to move away, He almost nears,
just watching with this smile that doesn't touch
his eyes. His eyes look dark, and they turn to
you. Jules is standing kind of rocking back and
forth on his feet, arms crossed in front of him,
and he looks around the room. Nice place he got
here. I know, yes, quite, quite. He's not looking
at you. His eyes kind of turn back to the door
as he speaks. You're wasting your time, you know.
Fully just throwing it away. It's very clear
what is happening here, isn't it? Haven't you
realized yet? Well, what's that? Samira Ara.
She's behind this all. She sacrificed her very
son to throw everyone off, but it is her. Her
and the Dark Dwarves working together. Just they
always have. She's trying to seek my seat, my
power. This in my house. Using this as a front
to make moves that I cannot see. Believe you
me, those dark dwarves cannot be trusted. Harlan
cannot be trusted. They came to us after having
to flee their home. They came to us desperate
on their knees after causing some sort of rebellion.
And now they seek... Another. We threw them a
bone back then. Starving mutts. Any task we could
give to them. Any role. We had some work at the
time. They performed well, and so we made them
our guard. The silent verse. Picked up a die.
What's going on over there? Oh, no, just fidgeting.
Okay, okay. So I just grab a die right here.
You gonna throw it? You gonna punch me? What
was that? Is that animosity reciprocated? How
do they feel about you? They should love me.
I pay them, after all. This new life of theirs.
Maybe it's a little too sunny for their breed,
but it's a life that I gave them. But they are
working with her. Trust me, they are. Do not
trust Samira Ara, and do not trust Harlan Burnshadow.
David, I'm sorry. You just answered like 50 %
of my questions without even me asking. Interesting.
Not even saying right now. I just wanted to bring
that back up. Texting. Texting at the table.
What are you maniacs doing? Sending memes? Yeah,
we're training memes. In the middle of the session,
how could you? Well, I'm just going to... I'm
going to go for it now. Oh, shit. What are we
going for? When he finishes speaking, Jules will
say, you know, I've got my own suspicions about
some people. That's all I'm trying to do is get
some answers. Figure this out. Because believe
me, I want to restore the honor back to your
place as well. Yes. I get it. Yes. You know where
I come from. I get it. You were royalty as well.
The way I heard it, your family was richer than
even I am. As he's talking, Jules is going to
awkwardly reach back to his loot and kind of
adjust it. And as he does that... It looks like
you're picking a wedgie. What are you doing?
As he's doing that, he's casting Detect Thoughts.
Okay. I'm going to need a sleight of hand roll
if you're going to pull off casting this in front
of somebody. Normally, that's... Normally it's
something you need like subtle spell for. I'm
interested in making a dice roll for it. You're
doing some hand movements. Are there verbal components
to it? Ah, shit. Nope. V is verbal. V is verbal.
Yeah. So SV? SVM. SVM. Okay. So material won't
really matter too much because you have like
your loot is sort of your focus. But you're going
to need to find a way to speak without him noticing.
Can I just like clear my throat? Or does it have
to be? I guess it depends on how good your roll
is, right? It's going to be a hard roll. In fact,
at this point, it's going to be a stealth. I'll
say not sleight of hand because at this point
you're doing multiple things. What's your...
Fuck. What's your plus to stealth? Not great.
It's plus one. At least you can find a way to
step away. This is going to be a tricky roll.
And you'd know that. Jules would know that going
into this, that this is not an easy thing to
pull off. But I'm interested in seeing how it
goes if you want to try. Can I... Let me put
you on the map, actually, so you can see the
room you're in. It might help you to see how
the room looks. If I move away and there's any
point that he's not looking at me, would I have
an easier time matching that? Look, a distraction!
There are two dressing rooms coming off of it,
as well as a master bathroom connecting them.
There's two separate, there's one sort of entrance
room, a main room, a balcony. This is a... The
biggest, like, sort of set of rooms in this entire
house. It's the master suite. And right now,
Larissa Wren and the Grand Messer are both in
the sort of main part of the room. You could
ask him for a tour. That's true. That's better
than me just walking around. All right. I'm sorry.
What should I call you? Grand Messer would be
excellent. All right, Grand Messer. We'll get
to the question in a little bit more, but I'm
just... I'm just in awe of this place. Can you
show me around a bit? It kind of brings me back.
Why, absolutely I can. Yes, let me... Larissa,
would you take care of the second dressing room?
It's a tad on the messy side. Larissa sort of
nods vigorously. Yes, Grandmaster. And steps
out of the room to the north where a smaller
dressing room lies. And you hear her hanging
up, folding clothes. You hear coat hangers clicking
against each other as he turns. Yes, you should
see it all. Obviously, this is the main bedroom
here, but you should see the balcony. The view
from here, well, it's the best in the city. He
sort of turns to step out, opens the door. For
a moment, you find yourself alone in this room.
There it is. The view. There it is. So you cast?
Yes. Give me a stealth roll. It's significantly
less now. Okay. It's not going to be a high roll.
Okay. You need. Jeremy, when Jules goes out there,
I want to know if the Grandmaster's balcony has
the same view that the kitchen does. Yep. If
it's within range of message. Actually, hang
on, hang on, hang on. No, it doesn't. It's on
the opposite side. Ah. It's on the opposite side.
There you go. Yep. ABC, always be thinking. It's
always be closing. Glen Gary, Glen Ross, come
on. There's like one person that's going to get
that out there. All right, here we go. Oh, no.
Yeah. How bad? Oh, no. It's not a high roll.
It's not a high roll at all. Yeah. I'll tell
you the DC. I didn't see it. Okay. Because they're
not in the room with you, the DC is only five.
Okay. Oh, no. Jeremy. Okay. What'd you get? Natural
one. I quit. Oh, my God. We're dead. You're going
to be thrown in jail. Oh. No, no, no, no. How
many buttons do we have? I can't use it. Take
them all, David. Take them all. Let's have fun
with this. Oh, no. Oh, God. I think before. Yeah.
If you'll allow it. I don't want it. Yeah. Before
anything happens, Jules knows. And he says. You
see, like, you go to, like, cast the spell, and
something goes a little wrong. Like, you're like,
I think this is what happens, right? You go to
cast it. You play it G sharp, you idiot. It's
like in the dead silence or something follows
as the door opens. You don't want to expect some
kind of wind, some kind of sound. You go to whisper
it then. And then like all sounds sort of stops.
You can feel a presence in the closet behind
you. The Grandmaster's arms sort of freeze. His
body tenses as his head starts to turn back towards
you. Understand. A man of your honor and your
prestige, you can surely understand. We're just
doing what we have to do. To figure this out
doesn't mean anything personal. Just trying to
gather any and all information. That's it. Give
me a persuasion check. But on the bright side,
Detect Thoughts is currently active. You did
cast a spell. That's true. You did cast a spell.
The spell is cast. And in your mind, you hear
the Grand Messer think, so he's the killer. Do
we dispose of him? In another mind, because I
think this will kind of catch various thoughts
around you, you hear behind you just one quick
thrust. You hear a soft sound of metal coming
from his sheath as Larissa begins to step softly
up behind you, dagger in hand. Can you choose?
But now, you say those words, you speak. You
can roll a persuasion check. Is doing this check
going to take any time off my reaction that I
have to her behind me? These are the words you
already spoke. This is all happening as you're
saying those words. These things are moving.
It's all a big blend of crazy shit happening
at once. Okay. Okay. Twelve. Just a twelve, huh?
Oh, man. And? It's still enough to give them
pause. It's enough that you hear those stops.
It's enough that you stop. I need a second. Steven,
let's talk. Okay, talk. There's a frozen stalemate.
And there's a wariness in the air. You can feel,
actually, fear coming from both parties in the
room. And I think, I'm going to give you more
because this is a dangerous situation you're
in, but you did cast tech thoughts. So I think
you need to get more out of this. This is a cool,
this is some cool -ass shit. Oh, what are you
doing? What? I just had a weird thought. Yeah.
Because I... I don't know. I think I know what
you're going to do here. I don't know. We know
that Jean Franklin heard a pair of footsteps
go to the room. We don't know that it was. And
then we know that we heard a pair of footsteps
leaving. That doesn't mean it's the same footsteps
that come and go. Yeah. That's what I was asking
earlier off mic. Did he hear anything while they
were in the room? Yeah. There was some missing
information there. All right. Let's play this
out. You hear snippets of thoughts racing on
both ends. The Grandmaster is just thinking.
Magic. A spell. A connection to proud Edun. His
family. His family serves Amante Shab. There
were remnants of Amante Shab worship in the hut.
Yes, a connection. It's him. It's him. His eyes
are like flicking over behind his shoulder. You
can hear behind him just, what do I do? Wait
for the command. Wait for father's command. Oh,
whoa. So... Everything is silent. It's supposed
to be just a... Supposedly she was just a servant.
But now you know there is more behind that. You've
already got the spell. And that name, Edun. Proud
Edun. I'm just saying. Jaune mentioned that name
before. It's the one that was supposedly killed.
I am going to go deeper. Into who? You give a
choice here. Larissa Wren or the Grand Messer.
They will know you're in their mind when this
happens and the situation will go potentially
in a very different direction. But both of them
have fonts of information apparently for you.
Larissa Wren has a note. Larissa Wren is connected
to this in some way, you know, but the Grand
Messer, he knows of your family. He's thinking
of Zomate Shab. And some worshipper of Zomate
Shab. One that is apparently long dead, according
to Jean Franklin. I love this. I'm just imagining,
like, one of those scenes. It's like, if you
watch Death Note, and this is moments where,
like, a big sort of bomb will get dropped between
these characters as they're having this sort
of mental, you know, cat and mouse kind of psychological
battle. And then all of a sudden the screen will
just go full red or blue as you enter full frozen
time inner monologue moments. And they're always
really tense. And that's why I feel like it's
happening right now. Just one of those. The whole
room is in grayscale. Everyone's frozen in this
moment. These thoughts are racing into your mind
from theirs. What is Jules thinking? What is
Jules going to do? Larissa. Yes. Damn. Okay.
Okay. Wisdom save. You push deeper into that
mind. Man, this is interesting. Wait, I rolled
it like a computer out of habit. Let me get my
dice out. It's way cooler. Why? Because it was
a bad roll? Yeah, was it a natural one? It was
a middling roll. It might have passed. But it's
not right. I'll let it slide this time. It's
a worse roll. Yay. Perfect. What's the number,
David? Eight. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.
That's a fail. Yeah. Wow. Okay. Perhaps you.
So I have an order in my head, so I'll let you
know when I'm going to come in with something.
Okay. Okay. Can you direct your sort of where
you are? Huh? Can you direct like what their
thoughts you're looking into are, or is it more
just like you're looking deeper into what's behind
their surface thoughts, right? Let's see what
it says. If I probe deeper, the target must make
me some save. Blah, blah, blah. It gains insight
into its reasoning, its emotional state, and
something that looms large in their mind. Okay.
Luis Arena's terrified. Emotional state, terrified.
Reasoning behind this. Reason behind the aggression,
the weapon in hand, the want to strike at you
is, this is all wrong. Everything's so wrong.
The stampeding horse. The riot breakout. Mela
Aura. The heirs, the heirs of the princes have
been dying one by one, or heirs of the kings,
the princes and princesses of coin, dying. And
she's wondering if they know, whoever's doing
this, do they know it isn't Azra? Do they know
that she's Amos Nier's true heir? And she's terrified.
She's terrified of you. She thinks that perhaps
you are our A part of this. She's terrified because
even this day felt so wrong. That note. Left
on the table for her, just asking to bring a
tray and a particular bottle of wine upstairs.
No name on the note. I think you see it flash
in your mind. A note that simply says, Bottle
of jelly black classique noir and a fruit platter
to Mello Ara's room. Two glasses. A tip for swift
service. And there's a few gold just left sitting
on it. She didn't know who left it. She was out
of the room when it happened. But she followed
suit. She's scared because even going downstairs,
things were off. That bottle she went to reach
for was not in the right spot. It was one...
One sort of wine nook to the left of where it
should have been. And the label was facing down,
not up. She always puts them up. She's a perfectionist.
Everything is perfect. It has to be perfect.
She's the heir. She will inherit this home. And
so this home must be perfect for the Grand Messer,
for her father. And I'll leave you one more thing,
because this is really cool. It's really cool
you chose her. Behind this fear, there's one
glint of hope, one glint of relief, one thing
that makes her know that soon she can rest. Brother's
coming. It's okay. Brother's coming. And in your
mind, you see this moment. You see her standing
in a room besides a man who looks just like her,
a twin brother, just younger, who begins to don
the red leather outfit of Sturge Man. And then
you are. pulled back, rejected from this mind.
She sort of snaps. Her legs go into a combat
stance. Her arm reaches up with the knife held.
He was in my mind. He was in my mind. He saw
things. Grand Master, you know where I come from.
But if you've seen or know anything else about
me, then you know I disassociated from them a
long time ago. All that I am trying to do is
find answers and restore your honor in this house.
What was done is terrible, but to have it happen
in your house? He's... Okay, I'm going to roll
over your 12 from before, since we're kind of
still dealing with ramifications of that first
check. But here's the thing with that 12. There
was sort of a sliding scale of what could happen
as a result of that particular persuasion check.
Twelve is still above ten. It's high enough that
he sort of nods. Leave. Stay out of my business.
You may investigate as you see fit. See this
through. Larissa, behind you. No, he saw too
much. He knows too much. Daughter, he says, and
he looks to you knowingly. Enough. It's fine,
he says. We can trust him. And in your mind from
his, the Serpis thought, and if not, your brother
will deal with him tomorrow. Leave. He points
towards the door. Jules gives a small bow, turns
around slowly, facing Larissa. Staggers. held
in a shaking hand. And gives her a small bow
as well, and slowly makes his way around her,
and out. There's like an electricity in the air,
this tension, your sort of goosebumps on edge,
and you step out of that room, you feel that
door close behind you, and perhaps that tension
swiftly falls. A figure stands before you in
this hallway. You look up, just in time to hear,
Hey, Jules, what's up? You look pale, man. What's
going on? Hi. Did you see a weird void? Now,
would you believe me if I said I almost died?
Honestly? Yeah. Yeah. I would. Yeah. Well, that's
what happened. So, let's get the fuck out of
here. Oh, let's go. And you begin to move away.
Harlan is speaking to another duergar. It's probably
duergar, but I don't know. Another duergar outside
the room. The one that's kind of posted watching
between these different rooms in this hall. Cut
turns back. Right. Good for it then. Let's go.
All right. So I'll step in. We'll take him down
to the cells. Speak to him there. I'm afraid
that having Jean Franklin around may... I may
change his testimony. We should question him
here. I mean, if he's upset, isn't that better?
It's your call, but if what you say is true,
if he was snooping around in places he shouldn't
be, he's going to the cells. Very well. He can
go to the cells. Just give me a little time.
All right. She doesn't even knock. She just opens
the door or tries to open the door. As you open
the door, you hear this, like, turtle just almost,
like, scream a little bit and kind of move back.
I heard. Whispering out there, a master of defense?
What is the meaning of this? He sees the duergar
in the hallway outside, just looking at him,
scowls in their faces. I've got some questions
for you, Ledoux. May we sit a moment? Why, um,
yes, of course, yes. You see him like he's usually
just pompous. We saw him earlier. He was just,
you know, the spitting image of asshole. And
now he's he looks really anxious, nervous. His
fingers are kind of rubbing and drumming against
each other as he's. Please come in. OK, so he's
nervous. How is John Franklin anyway? So I can
get dragged down. I suppose he's having the.
Time of his life in the cells. Serves him right,
running away like he did. Ledoux, I know everything,
and I'd like to hear your explanation. I'm afraid
I don't know what you're... She shows him the
piece of banner. Oh. I think he just reaches
over, and he has, like, a smaller pole. Like,
his isn't a full spear. It's, like, a pole with
a banner on it, and he kind of, like, unravels
it, and you see there's a fragment missing from
one of the upper corner. Oh. Oh, my. All right.
Because I'm here, and only because I'm here,
you have an opportunity to explain yourself.
All right. Very well. I will do so. Um, you might
want to sit. This is... Well, it's terrifying.
Huh. Um... Does Blanche really get the feeling
that she should sit? Is this going to be terrifying?
He's freaked out to all hell. But you've always
known Ledoux to be nervous of a nervous disposition.
Sure. All right. She'll sit down to put him at
ease if nothing less. Master Defense, I never
actually went to my room. I was following a request
from Lord DePiero. I suppose I can tell you this
in all confidence. Yes? Like I said, Ledoux,
I know everything. All right. Well, I waited
a brief time in the upstairs hall just out there,
then moved to Amos Neer's room while he wished
to be busy with preparation. We know he's a perfectionist.
He'd oversee everything downstairs. He would
not return to his room. De Pere was counting
on it, and so I went while he was distracting
Jean Franklin. Ugh. The only other freed -up
guest to be dishonored by this attic room situation.
So yes, I moved unseen through the halls. I went
downstairs to the second floor. And I went into
a most nearest bedroom. It was unlocked. I stepped
through. Supposedly thought no one would have
the audacity to venture inside. But I felt nervous,
so I stayed by the door to listen for steps.
I'm not built for this kind of thing, you see.
It's this dangerous guile. My mind was already
in a state of panic, but I knew that what I saw,
I... He starts getting kind of upset. As I listened
at the door, I soon heard someone approaching
from down the hall. The steps were thundering
in the silence, too loud to be normal steps.
I peeked the keyhole, expecting the Grand Messer,
but I saw a phantom. Blanche Trudeau. Something
horrific, wreathed in black, with a skeletal
face. I've heard tales of the Beezer of the jungle,
vengeful spirits of the dead who seek to infect
those who wrong them with their endless malice.
Surely, surely that's what I saw. I only looked
for a brief second and fled from the doorway.
I think, I think that figure was turning away
from me in that moment towards Meloara's door.
I know what killed Meloara, Master Defense. It
was a Beezer. I was shaken up. I only gave the
room a cursory examination before I heard soft
steps moving away from the door. I was sure that
someone had been right there, had heard me and
fled. I was expecting guards to rush this way,
so I made to flee. When I peeked into the hall,
I saw the head of service approach Mello Harris'
door with a tray. It looked like a fruit bowl,
a bottle of wine. She spoke to Mello, who seemed
surprised by the service, and left. And I made
my escape right after she was out of sight. I
made my way upstairs to report my failure to
Lord DiPiero. That's it. That's everything. So
he mentioned hearing steps move up to the door
and then away. You would know that was Jean,
who had come to the door, heard someone inside,
then fled to the bathroom to hide. He heard Larissa
Rin moving up the steps at that time. This is
when Ledoux peeked out the door with a keyhole
and saw Larissa Rin. at Melara's door corroborating
Jaune's story. And Ledoux saw her leave. So that
does explain that. Wait, so hold on. Did Ledoux
see Jaune and think Jaune was this figure wreathed
in black? No, that was afterwards. When he first
arrived in the room, he saw something horrifying.
This figure wreathed in black with a skeletal
face. He only looked for a second and then panicked.
And sometime later, he heard steps move to the
door. That's when Jaune appeared. You would know.
So the one thing that this is adding to your
information is that before it all went down,
a figure wreathed in black with a skeletal face
moved down the hallway and towards Meloara's
room. This was soon after everyone had got here.
Before Larissa even came up. Yes, before. Before
Jaune, before Larissa. A figure with booming
footsteps. Blanche is thinking back to the black
dress and dance macabre mask. Mm -hmm. That was
found. So the question is, who was wearing it?
You know that it was covered in blood. Whoever
was wearing that, whoever Ledoux saw in that
moment might not have been this Beza, this spirit
of legend, but it was very most likely the killer.
Yeah. Booming footsteps. Glooming footsteps.
What could that be? Why would that be notable?
You want to make an investigation check? Yeah,
didn't you say that somebody was like a half
ogre or something like that? Oh, there's a half
orc. Half orc, I mean. Yeah, let me roll. That
is Xenia Ruba. Mix, Margus Ruba's daughter is
a half orc. Margus Ruba is a full orc. For certain
reason, roll advantage. I'll explain it if you
catch this. Okay. Thank goodness for the advantage
because the first roll was not great. I didn't
even see it. Cripped my pants on the investigation.
Did you really? Yeah, dude. Fuck yeah. Okay.
Oh yeah. Okay. I love when I think player and
character's mindsets sort of align. So you're
hearing the story and you catch this. Okay, this
is Claire Lee. It's clearly the mask. It's clearly
the cloak. She's a Jules LaRoche fan. She's a
Jules LaRoche fan. But the only other thing hits
you because you're thinking about Xenia Ruba.
Your mind flashes to her. Blanche's mind flashes
to her. And one thing sticks out. One part of
her outfit that you saw when she was first there.
Xenia Ruba is wearing a very large pair of essentially
combat boots. Heavy looking boots that would
make heavy looking steps. Heavy looking steps,
huh? Heavy sounding, shut up. A fan of Jules
LaRoche. And a blood letter? Perhaps. Oh my goodness.
In this room, with the young ward of DiPiero
Montelli, your mind sets on a new suspect. Xenia
Ruba. Princess of coin. And maybe, just maybe,
A murderer. And we'll call it there. I think
I just dropped all my... I know. And we'll call
it there. I kind of blew my load all over the
place. that last scene. Jesus. I don't have another
one in me. And there's post credits. Oh, shit.