For more information and to reserve a table,
head over to RecklessBrewing .com. That's R -E
-K -L -I -S. brewing .com and head over to the
events page. Hope to see you there. Among our
zenders, kings of coin, only one is known for
their jolly demeanor and approachability by the
common folk. I speak, of course, of Mix Margus
Ruber. The king of the tavern -keeping trade
is known to frequent their taverns quite regularly,
dealing with all sorts of the city's residents
and visitors. They love a glass of hard whiskey
just as much as delicious jelly wine, and they
are never afraid to get foolish. Just don't go
insulting their family. Mix Margus has been known
to bar brawl and to show the full ferocity of
their orcish heritage. Speaking of their family,
Mixmog's married to a human, uh, Madame Zoloruba.
In the couple, they have two children, Zerus
the Younger and, of course, Xenia, Margus' heir.
Now, Xenia Ruba is well -known for moving against
the grain of society. Instead, she dresses in
dark and drab to stand out amongst the colorful
clothing of Zinda. She also has been known to,
uh, admire luminaries of a more, heh heh, rebellious
nature. Why not? I know who you're talking about.
Now I want some whiskey. Oh, dude. See, the problem
with that is... Got to finish your beer first.
I already got a can of beer, yeah. Wow. I don't
know what drinks and cans. I have a little...
Life update. I don't know if I told you guys
this yet, actually. I don't know if you know
this. Excuse me? Oh, I think I know what this
is. I'm down to one rock star a day. Oh, actually.
I've been told. Wow. I only got one rock star
a day now. Wow, okay. We'll talk, me and my wife.
I'm cutting back. It's very painful. But I'm
replacing the second rock star with some boo
-cha. This, I've heard. Some kombucha. I heard
this was happening. I've tried kombucha one time,
and I hated it. I actually quite like it. It's
sour. It's vinegary sour. It's good. There are
so many. I mean, like I've only had, I'm going
to say a handful of kombuchas, but they vary
so wildly from like the really like natural tasting
ones that are like super vinegary and super kind
of yucky to the like more sweet ones. It's just,
to me, it seems like there's such a range. I'm
glad you found something you like. Yeah, it works.
Working out for you. Maybe I can wean off rock
stars fully at some point. It's a horrifying
future to consider, but the old ticker's got
to keep ticking. Proud of you. Well, I mean,
speaking as a man who has his own vices, I don't
know. We all got to have something, I suppose.
A man's got to pick his poison. I say this all
the time. A man's got to pick his poison, except
for me. I don't get one. That's not... How come,
do you think? Because the old ticker's got to
keep ticking. Too many cats to worry about. Can't
go clocking out early, leaving the missus with
10 little furry mouths to feed. Well, yeah, no,
of course not. Nobody wants that. Nobody wants
that. You know, it's what it is. It's what it
is. But hey, I got a second poison now. The booch?
The booch! I'm oddly okay with the booch. The
booch. Oh, shit. Well, it's been a while, guys.
I mean, don't get me wrong. I miss our friends
at Mountain Mania so much. And it was so exciting
and such a great time. But it is really nice
and comfy cozy to be back in the studio. It's
been like, what, three weeks, four weeks? It's
been two weeks since we recorded. Has it been?
It's only been two weeks. We took a week off.
It doesn't feel like it. Wow. That's crazy. When
we take a week off like this, we are now current
with the listeners. No, we actually, we didn't
record before Mountain Mania. Yeah, we did. I
think it's been, was it before we did? I think
it was three weeks. Oh, no, we didn't. Did we?
I don't remember. I don't know. Who cares? But
we're back now. We're back. Yeah. Yeah. We are
current with all the pants people. Yes. Until
we finish this recording. That's right. We'll
be about four days ahead. You're all on the same
page. So wonder right now. Hey, actually, you
know what? Let's ask. Let's play this out to
you guys real quick before we get into this.
Before we get into this, whodunit, what's going
on, huh? Man, dude, I listened to the latest
episode today to re -listen, and I'm more confused
than ever. I mean, you got some hot new leads
last time. You got a lot of big information.
Should we recap it? You guys want to recap it?
Well, maybe I can sort of talk about what's on
the front of my mind, and then you can fill in
the gaps if you want. Boom, I love it. So from
the last episode, DePiero told Blanche that Jean
told the speaker for Noiri, who was Amos Neer's
aunt, right? So this is actually a mistake, essentially
a mistake on my part, which I had to bring up
way, way back in, gosh. Let's talk about your
future. That's the episode title. I can't remember
which episode number it is because I can't know
what episode number this is. But let's talk about
your future was when you guys went to a rural
town and you broke up to go and speak with, well,
honestly, Zebulon's grandmother and Jules' cousin
slash mother. So you had your whole thing there.
John Franklin also was going to meet with, he
also was able to get his sort of like information.
He was able to meet with the speaker from Nowari.
And he wanted to tell that speaker everything.
What I forgot, so Jean Franklin's an idiot because
I'm an idiot, is I had in my notes that that
was a Nicanier, obviously related to King of
Coin, Amosnir. So it was kind of like, yeah,
Jean Franklin made a little goof. He probably
figured it was extended enough that he could
go out there and be like, hey, your nephew's
up to some shit. And they're just like, they
told Jean. What they said to Jean, this is an
important number, is you of all people should
be grateful for what they did. Because he had
a lot to gain, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And John was
furious. Furious. How dare they say that to him?
But yeah, that is kind of where that ties in.
Yeah. Yeah. So that's like, I mean, motive. You
know what I mean? To get rid of John and Jules.
Then, gosh, what else was I thinking about? The
Grand Master Amos near when Jules asked for a
tour, he was like, yeah, hey, daughter maid,
go clean up the other dressing room. Cause it's
a little messy. And then Jules could hear her
in the next room, moving clothes hangers and
stuff around. And like, we've already had two
costumes be significant in this. So it's like,
what was he hiding? I just, I don't know. I can't
put it all together. Cause then the detect thoughts
leads me to believe that they weren't the murderer.
I just, I don't know. I will say this. At least
not this murder. Everything you see about Amos
Meir will lead you to believe he probably put
on 17 outfits before he chose the right one for
today. Okay, so maybe I'm overthinking it. So
it's very possible it was literally just messy
because this guy would throw on a million outfits.
You wouldn't think that's not a character. It
might have just been messy from that goofballing.
Okay, fair. Yeah. Everybody shut up. I'm doing
something. Utter chaos. Before we move on and
get this rolling, I have a button here from two
weeks ago. Yeah. You seem to have forgotten conveniently.
No, I forgot. What's that about? Yeah, at the
end of the episode when we finished recording,
you said, oh, I meant to give you a button. Did
I say that? Yes, you did. Oh, man, I forgot.
Moving on. Yeah, I knew that wasn't going to
happen. I knew that wasn't going to happen. For
the scene with... He's awarding himself a button.
Okay, fine. Whoops. It's now in my jar. It's
now in my jar. Pants people, riot. Speak out.
Nope. I might actually be on David's side with
this one. No, we all agreed. You said, oh, I
meant to give you a button. And I said, I'm going
to grab this button here and put it here so we
remember. And you're like, okay. Steven and I
both have goldfish memories, so this probably
never happened. I mean, so do I, but... I'm not
going to forget that. That's too important. Oh
my gosh, it's so funny. That's life or death.
Take a damn button. Take it to the bank, you
robber. Speaking of Amos Nier. Speaking of Amos
Nier. Sorry, I think you wanted to recap. Yeah,
let's do a quick recap of what you learned. There
was a ton of information last time. We'll start
with Jules. Jules, you came in the room, you
made some new enemies. And you got to keep wary
because the last, but you went in this room,
you, you used to take thoughts. Things went wrong.
I like to think that, uh, what you didn't realize
was that Larissa Rin was actually kind of on
edge, sort of watching the second you kind of
tried to make that spell. She made her move that
triggered off, you know, Amos near, they all
kind of turned on you realizing you were going
to cast something in that moment, that moment
of fear, Amos near look to you and thought, so
he's the killer. He thought about how. Yes, of
course it would be Jules LaRoche, because proud
Eden had shown some relics in her home of worship
towards Zomante Shab. This person that Jean -Francois
reports was murdered 16 years ago, this Eden
was connected to Zomante Shab, maybe connected
to your family. And Amos Neer thought, you know,
connected those dots in his mind for you, thinking
that, yeah, that's probably why you're here.
Perhaps for revenge? I don't know. But he was
thinking that because of that connection, you're
here to kill him. Larissa Wrynn was thinking
about how the second her father, Amos Nier, as
she is the secret heir of the family, basically
speaks out, she will come forward and kill you.
Dagger in hand. You press deeper into her mind
and you realize a few things. She's terrified.
She's terrified because she's realizing, the
fuck was that? What the fuck was that? I'm terrified
now. Is this an alien invasion? No one touched
anything, Sirenscape. Did that get picked up,
you think? Oh, yeah. What the? All right. Oh,
is that? No, that's just an update. Where was
I? She's terrified because she's realizing that
these accidents that have been occurring, the
horse trampling, the riot, the bloodletter riot
gone bad. These, they've been killing off the
heirs. Perhaps it seems like it's accidental,
but she thinks there's some, for some reason,
and maybe you don't understand why she feels
like it's this case. Maybe there's more to her
reasoning that you don't know. But she thinks
the heirs of each family are in danger. And she's
afraid that whoever's doing this knows that she's
really Amos Nier's heir. Asra Nier is not. So
she's terrified. Moving on from there, you know
that there's a glimmer of hope in her heart because
her brother is coming. Her younger twin brother
is on his way. Sturgeman is coming. This being
a wild secret, no one knows that the King of
Coins' son is the mysterious Sturgeman. No one
knows Sturgeman's identity. Maybe Rune does.
Maybe that's how Rune has some control over him.
And now you do too, which is in itself very,
very dangerous. The last thing you heard as you
were going out, you heard from Amos Nier's mind
that if he realized they can't trust you, well,
his son will deal with you on the morrow. Tick
tock. The party begins again at four. Everyone
will be released in their rooms if Amos Nier
has any say over it. At this point, sorry to
say it, you're going to have a hard time convincing
him otherwise because he is now... An enemy of
yours, more or less. Blanche, what you know is
this. I don't. This is the worst track. I don't
understand. I like it. Yeah, the timing has been
really good so far. Get out of here, track. All
right. Let's watch something else. I don't like
that either. Let me switch. That's so stupid.
Ah, so dumb. Blanche, what you learned was this.
Le Doulemois was in the room, as the ripped banner
would report, but he was there on orders from
Lord DePiero. DePiero had asked him to look into
matters of the most near, perhaps trying to find,
as DePiero implied, the exact same information
John Franklin was looking for. It seems they
all have a similar goal, although DiPiero will
not work with Jean, as Jean's already proven
himself to be too blunt for this. The boy has
no subtlety in him. You know this, Blanche. No
subtlety at all. He's an honest soul. He came
forward to the very aunt, we already spoke of
this, of Amos Nier, trying to, like, you know,
reveal it all. So DiPiero has pretty much dropped
him from his own trust. It seems Ledoux didn't
do much better. And so, after promising to tell
you everything once there's time, to tell you
the truth about what maybe happened 16 years
ago, you move out to Le Doulois' room to interview
him. What you learn was everything that Jean
Franklin said, everything you've heard to this
point, all kind of checked out. The only addition
being that Le Doulois saw a figure moving down
the hall towards Meloara's room before everything
went down. Before Jean Franklin approached, before
Lisa Wren came to the door with the wine and
the fruit, a figure wearing... You assume from
his description of a horrifying, ghostly creature,
Ibiza, with a skeletal face, a creature that
was actually just a person wearing the Dance
Macabre costume. They came to the room early.
They were in there for a long time then. Well,
everything else was going on. Well, the wine
was delivered, everything. This figure was in
that room. And you know this. Meloara was alive
when the doors were opened by Larissa Ring. Sean
Franklin even heard them. Yeah, because he received
the... Yeah. The plate. So, very strange. Very,
very strange. Let's cut into that scene. You've
just, because you've just realized one more thing.
One potential possibility. It was one thing that
Le Doulomois was able to sort of recollect. Because
in his moment, in that moment of fear, he kind
of absorbed so much of this scene that maybe
Jean hadn't. And he remembered there being loud
footsteps. Too loud as this figure is moving
down the hall. And in that moment afterwards,
you connected this to potentially being the large
combat heavy boots of Xenia Aruba, a princess
of coin, the daughter of Mix Margus Aruba. So
how is she mixed up in all this? Is she even
mixed up in all this? You don't know. But as
you sit there in this room sort of thinking this
over, Ledoux is still thinking about how this
is definitely Ibiza. Some ghostly creature did
this. He just looks terrified. That's all. That's
everything I could tell you, sir. I'm sorry.
I know I should have spoken up sooner about the
bees. I was afraid, you see. I thought they'd
think I was crazy, and if they told anybody that
I was on the floor, I mean, they would know I
was... It's no good. They would know I was investigating
a most near... I failed you, sir. I failed our...
I failed our lord. I am sorry. Are there any
other secrets that you can tell me? This is all
I know. I know simply that there was a murder
of some sort 16 years ago. The Piero was aware
of it, but has not been able to find any evidence
of it. He's tried to get testimony, get written
evidence from the other kings of coin, but they've
been clever. They haven't given it to him. So
he sent me into Amos Nier's lodgings to... See
if I can find something, anything. It's a long
shot, but that's it. I promise, that's it. Wait
here. And Blanche is going to get up and exit
the room. It's time. It's not him, Harlan. It
doesn't matter. You told us he was snooping around
and he was near his room. I'm sorry. Master Defense,
I'm sorry, but we've got to take him. We've got
to bring him to the cells. Well... While you
waste time here, I'm going to go find the killer.
You can join me in help, or you can lose your
glory here. For a snoop. He just looks over at
the other guy at the door like, you want to take
him and I'll just go with her? Sorry, I just
defeated your plan very quickly. Blanche looks
at the other duergar. You have no honor. He looks
sad. Xenia is in her room, I presume? Yes, you
presume. Which is actually on the same floor
as Mello's room. It is indeed on the same floor.
Funnily enough, you know from the map that was
given to you, she was actually supposed to be
in the room right next door to Mello. But that
was changed, actually, by Mello's mother, Samira.
Let me open up the map, actually. I forgot about
that. Yeah, and it's on the way to... Amos' room,
so hopefully Jules will be able to, or hopefully
Blanche will be able to run into Jules on her
way down to Xenia's room. You start to move away,
Harlan, and in tow, and you can hear, like, the
door creak open again. Zeduega just steps in
like, All right, come with me. Let's go. You're
going to meet your buddy in the south. What?
No, no. Master defense. No, no, it's John. Blanche
calls out behind her. It's okay, Ledoux. You'll
be safe there. He's kind of like, you're moving
away. He's being pulled down the stairs in a
different spot. And I think you know that with
the two of them locked up together, it's going
to get very, very, very loud in the cellar. For
one reason or another. Hey. I dare you, sir.
Let's go to floor number two. On floor number
two, we see Jules and Chester. Now, around the
time you guys move down the stairs, the two of
you are moving away from Amos and Nier's room.
And you've just told Chester that, you know,
you almost died. He didn't ask questions. He
shrugged. Yeah, I figured. That's normal. It's
normal. Honestly, it's normal these days for
sure. As you're kind of pushing down the hallway,
perhaps moving over to, like, go up the stairs
to where, you know, Blanche went or maybe just
wait in a common place, Chester's going to look
over to you. So, yeah, I'll be doing more Chester.
Yeah, what'd you find? Not a lot, to be honest.
I've been speaking to the, you know, it's hard
to speak to the other guests, so we're just talking
to the duergar, you know, the silent verse, and
they don't know a lot. But there's one kind of
fun thing. What's that? Well, a lot of them have
noted that Mela Aro's kind of been weird before
all this. Not bad weird, but good weird. Like,
he always hated these things, you know? He didn't
like being involved in all the politics, all
this stuff. He didn't like coming to the Grand
Master's place, but this year? Man, this year
he was excited. Like... Real visibly excited
to be here. Happy. That's it, though. Huh. Yeah.
Kind of odd. They asked, you wouldn't say why.
I wish we would have gotten more. I know, I know,
but hey. That's what you get for a pass of Chesterin.
Maybe you hadn't stolen a button, you know. But
hey, these things happen. You hear footsteps.
Good try, buddy. You hear footsteps moving down
the nearby stairs as Blanche and Harlan move
down. Let's say you are down on the, maybe you
guys are heading down towards the main sort of
entrance, staircase towards the entrance hall
on the first floor. As you go there, you see
coming down on the eastern wing by the third
four rooms of Ledoux and DePio and that gang
are, you see Blanche and Harlan. And as you all
see each other, you realize you are just outside
of Xenia and Margus' rooms. A couple more duergar
in the hall, standing at the ready. Blanche pulls
Jules aside, or, you know, puts an arm over him
or something so they can whisper. Ledoux heard
and saw... Hey, what are you whispering over
there? Excuse me, Harlan, just a minute, please.
Hey, Harlan, look over here. There's a weird
-looking bug. What? Yeah, look at this thing.
Yeah, check it out. All right, let's talk. I
heard some weird things. Weird, crazy things.
Can I interview me? You say crazy? Crazy things.
I speak weird. I'm Chester. All right, you guys
talk. Holland loves bugs. Chester's taking a
hold on this side. Ledoux saw through the keyhole
while he was in Amos' room snooping around someone
dressed in what he describes in my interpret
as the dance macabre mask. And one thing he said
about the costume stood out to me was the loud,
clunking boots. I believe it may have been Xenia
who was in the costume, who was in the room.
You think she's doing this? It's our next best
option. And somebody couldn't have put on her
boots? I suppose that's possible as well. But
I think we should talk to her. I think you should
talk to her. She idolizes you. Why did you just
look me up and down when you said that? I mean,
come on. Look at what I'm working with here in
front of me. I can see what Xenia likes. Well,
Amos seems to think that I'm here to kill him.
What did you do to make him think that? Flashback
to last episode where Blanche is like, hey, don't
fucking. Well, we can talk about that part later.
I should have known. I should have known. Well,
you're safe, so. But there's more. Larissa's
his daughter. Larissa, the head maid. Yeah. They're
keeping it under wraps. But wait. Don't do it.
There's more. Oh, my God. Okay. Sturge Man's
her brother. Wow. Sturge Man is... This is tight
-lipped. Nobody knows or is supposed to know
his identity. No. Nice work, Jules LaRoche. They're
twins. Huh. Well, I do wish we had more time
to talk on this, to dwell on this, but... Yeah,
but the show's only an hour. And four o 'clock
approaches rapidly. It is, I should say, 2 .30
right now. The last little bit was about half
an hour, so at this point, you have an hour and
a half until, yeah, things happen. Might've mentioned
that. I can't remember. Okay. I've got some good
stuff too. De Piero knows about the murder that
Jean is trying to solve and he wants to help
Jean solve it, but he doesn't want Jean's help
because Jean is, well, he's Jean. So now that
we've caught each other up. There's one more
thing you might, I think might be mentioned here
that you might mention Jules, which is the fact
that, and it's not proven. But Larissa Reen thinks
the heirs are the targets. Jean Franklin is one
of the heirs. Blanche, what David said. Well,
gosh, what should we do about that? Should we
split up again? We've got to keep Jean Franklin
safe. Yes. One way or another. He is with Ledoux
now, but I don't know if Ledoux has, well, any
combat capabilities. No, no, no, no. Financial
advisor, fully, not combat ready or able at all.
Does not believe that the muscle needs to be
strengthened, only the mind. Do you want to make
sure Jean's taken care of? Yes, you've... I'll
go talk to Xenia. You have proven yourself capable
of this investigation, and I will... I mean,
I almost died, but... There's neither here nor
there. We move forward. I wish you had left that
part out. Very well. I shall accompany Ledoux
to the cells, and... God Jean, I suppose. Oh,
boy. Okay. Come find me when you're done with
Xenia. Yes. All right. Blanche is going to make
haste to the basement. David's got a shitty grin
on his face. We're splitting up again. This is
craziness. I hate this. This is fun. I hate this.
This is a lot of fun. Whose idea was it to come
in here without any sort of communication? Oh,
good stuff. Wait, we don't have the sending stones.
No. Who are we starting with here? Jules. Start
with you. As Blanche trods down the steps, down
to the first floor, lower, you turn your attention
to the rooms on the second floor, east wing.
Xenia and Margus, right beside each other in
separate suites. You want to move to Xenia Ruba's
room? Yeah. Jules moves up. Before he knocks,
though, he puts his ear up to the door. Can I
roll? Roll perception. 15. You go to press your
ear to the door, and I think as you're doing
that, you hear the duergar beside you just say,
and I'll say, Harlan's staying with you, actually,
so he'll be close by, but the other duergar here
will say, Inspector LaRoche, something you should
know about this room. And as you hear, you press
your ear, you can hear inside. Now, now, no worries.
Your Tata will take care of everything. Margus
is inside as well. Shit. Careful. They're known
to brawl. Shit. I mean, he's not not going in.
He's going to knock first, though. You knock.
There's just kind of a silence inside. Perhaps
you hear, like, rolling with that 15, some footsteps
as someone seems to move perhaps farther around.
And a moment later, as footsteps approach you,
the door opens up. You're facing this very jolly
figure, this gray -skinned full orc in just like
kind of this very colorful, very Zinda demeanor.
Kind of almost like a blend of like the aristocratic
garb and something more workman's. Something
that would let them fit in even in the streets
of Zinda. And Margus Ruber just looks you over
and they say, Ah, Jules Laroche. We spoke earlier
in the courtyard. What can I do for you? I thought
we were all supposed to be under room arrest.
Of course, I moved over here to be with my darling
daughter, but I'm surprised you're out and about.
Well, I've been kind of tasked with figuring
all this out. Luminaries, they get around, huh?
Yeah, I guess. Yeah. Drink? No, thanks. No, I'm
good. All right. I got to stay level -headed
for this. Here's a little flask. In my experience,
a level head is never the best place to be, especially
in times of trouble. What you got there? Oh,
pure whiskey. I love that it's specifically pure
whiskey. I don't know drinks, says David. No,
we're just making our rounds, doing our due diligence.
In a situation like this, we've got to talk to
everybody. Sure. Talk. As you look in the room,
you can see, if you look even on the map in Xenia's
room, the door faces a sort of partition, like
a divider wall. loops around. There's probably
just a big sort of frame portrait there of Amos
near because he's an asshole. And then somewhere
around that corner, you would assume is Xenia.
Oh, you can goad her. But Margus doesn't look
like they're going to move. They're being jolly,
but there's something very firm about their position.
Oh, look at all these autographs that are falling
out of my pocket. Let me go there first. I'm
sorry. I'm sorry. I couldn't help it. Jewel's
going to awkwardly shift his body. Yeah, well,
uh, thing is, on our list of people we gotta
talk to, uh, she's next. Well, you'll understand
that the death of a fellow prince is a very traumatizing
thing for a young lady. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah,
she's not gonna speak with you. But you can talk
to me. Look at these autographs just falling
all over the place. All right, well, hear me
out. He just pulls out his lute. Are you actually
doing this? Get out. Fucking hell. Roll performance.
Oh, dude, yeah. Roll performance with advantage.
Fuck. That's so good. Shit. And he just kind
of starts a little performance. I don't know.
And that's a 19. You get advantage, though. I
mean, try. Oh, yeah. That's a 22. Oh, my God.
Okay. Margus looks impressed, but unmoving. They
stare you down, just unfazed, kind of about to
raise their hands up as if they're going to say,
like, Please go over to the door to close it.
And then you hear in the background, Ta -ta,
wait. Let him in. And Morris turns around, looks
sort of like surprised, and then just kind of
bites their lip, unsure, and then steps aside.
That's... That was a great move. Phenomenally
good. You're into that button you stole earlier.
That's... Phenomenally good. Let's go downstairs.
Oh, God. Okay. Oh, God. Blanche, you are... You
guys had a little conversation, so I think in
that time, Wadoo has already kind of moved ahead
of you down to the cellar, already kind of put
in a cell. Let's drop down into the cellar floor.
Now, if you look at the storage from there, there's
really only just one actual cell. So it's not
the most comfortable sort of situation. It's
pretty small as Ledoux is sort of brought in,
pushed into the cell. So you probably hear the
door closing as you're moving down the stairs
and just like, what? No, not with him. You can't
possibly expect me to. Oh, dear. Oh, and he smells
like bog. Oh, goodness me. Oh, damn it, Ledoux.
Just like. pure... That's... Toyka's just, hey,
hey, settle down in there. Settle down. Hey,
come on. Hey, this is... What is this? It's about
what you expected as you move around in the room.
You can see, like, two turtles staring at each
other, their foreheads almost touching as their
glares, their eyes are trying to bulge out at
each other, like... Like hands sort of curled
in the fists. You can see like in this one, Jean
Franklin towers over Ledoux a bit. He's not like
a small, he's well built. He's been trained by
you. He's got like a very athletic, strong body
where Ledoux is very flimsy, very frail for a
turtle. Barely able to wield that giant shell,
but still in wit. Jean Franklin's nemesis. The
perfect matchup. Wink. A match made in the basement.
Is that what? I'm sorry. I thought I said that
to myself. Are the duergar still around? Yeah,
they're hanging out. There's two of them down
here. It seems like there's always two of them
down here. So Blanche is going to sit down outside
of the cell and explain to Jean. I told Hanlon
that I don't think Ledoux was the murderer. Wait,
what? He's definitely the murderer. He did it.
He framed me. You think I would frame you? Really?
You think I'm so foolish just to send you down?
You are the born lord, after all. Where would
our people be without the great John Franklin?
Hey, hey, shut up. Oh, but I forgot. John Franklin
ran away from home. Ran off to frolic amongst
the citadel with other luminaries. You know what?
I had my reasons. Oh, we know your reasons. They're
just going back and forth. Blanche is going to
sit patiently and wait for them to stop. About
like a full two minutes later, just panting from
all the yelling. Oh, sore throats. Two minutes
later. Yes, sir. However, I could not stop him
from being apprehended for the infraction of
snooping in the Grand Messer's rooms. Which was
of my own accord, and nobody put me up to it.
Kind of looks over at the duergar, just sure
shrug. A matter for another time. Wait, why were
you snooping in the Grand Master's rooms? Wait,
that was you I heard. Wait, wait, wait, wait.
Sir, what's happening? I've been in this cell.
I don't know what's going on. Yes, we've pieced
together that you heard Ledoux. Ledoux heard
and saw somebody else. That's where Jules is
now. A beezer. It was a beezer. It was a beezer.
You think one of the... Dang the spirits of the
forest. Do you believe him? And we'll call it
there. You gotta, like, do something about these
two. Right. Jean, I believe you're in danger.
What? It's become obvious that the airs are the
target of these murders. But there's only been
one murder. The accidents are just piling up
too fast. We can't risk it. We have to see that
you're safe. But how would someone make accidents?
I don't understand. They probably rolled a natural
one. I don't know. That's not for us to figure
out here and now. Now we just need to ensure
your safety. And, like, there's some actual gravity
here. I think even Ledoux looks, like, stark
and terrified. You think the bees are after Jean?
We must ward this place against spirits. Do we
have anyone with any sort of clerical abilities?
Anyone around? I believe a cleric is arriving
soon to ward against spirits, Ledoux. Yes, thank
you. Very well, very well, yes, yes. Do you have
any more physical ideas? Anything in your luggage?
Anything you brought with you? You or De Piero
for any sort of added protection? No, no, there's
never... supposed to be danger here. I mean,
we have the silent verse. The fact that this
happened at all is quite incredible. And that
after me, Jean's kind of muttering to himself,
but why? Why the heirs? It is incredible, isn't
it? Who would target the heirs of the kings?
If they have a problem with the kings, why not
target the kings? What possible motive is there
to kill the heirs, officer? Well, we haven't
quite figured it out yet. Let's cut back upstairs.
Jules, you're stepping into this lavish suite.
You look around at a space that's just decorated
with accents of purple and blue. It's opulent,
but not nearly as opulent, of course, as the
Grand Messer's chambers, which are just much,
much larger. But it is definitely a very cute
little suite. As you turn around this corner
looking into it, you can see that Xenia Ruba
sits upon the edge of the sort of queen bed.
that stands against the back wall. She is dressed,
as before, all in black and very sort of gothic
outfit, sort of black lipstick, eyeliner. She's
a half -orc. Her skin is a light gray versus
her tata's very dark gray. And as you look at
her, you see there's streaks of black running
down her face from her eyes where her mascara
seems to have run. She kind of wipes it as you...
begin to approach and almost kind of like lurches
back a little bit, kind of surprised and maybe
intimidated that Jules LaRose is currently in
her suite. She's sitting? She's sitting. On the
floor? On the edge of the bed. As you move in,
I think you hear, you hear Harlan begins to kind
of push in somewhere behind you. There's a little
scuffle, just, oh, actually, Harlan, you, it's
our mix, but where he goes, I'll go, so. All
right. And Marcus turns around the corner, looks
towards Xenia and just says, Are you absolutely
sure about this? And she looks them in the eye
and there's this long, unbroken sort of stare
between them. And she says, It's Jules. I want
to trust him. I heard your song. And she looks
very nervously towards Harlan. But... Her gaze
steadies and focuses on you. Marcus Ruba very
nervously steps back, watching everything going
on, but you don't miss that their knuckles kind
of crack, and they stand in kind of this almost
intimidating kind of ready stance, kind of not
far behind where you and Harlan stand. And the
floor is yours, Jules. May I sit? Yes. Yeah,
yeah. Please sit. Jules goes and sits next to
her. Oh, my God. It's Jules Roach. Reaches over.
Whoa. Reaches his hand over. I'm Jules. Xenia.
Nice to meet you, Xenia. You too. I've heard
a lot of stories. All this cool stuff you've
been doing. Everything on Sansatian. Yeah, what's
your favorite one? Oh. Well, I love the backstories.
Running away from home. You know, sticking it
to your... Stupid parents. It's cool. It's really
cool. Kind of playing with a pigtail. And rumors
about... And she stops what she was going to
say and kind of doesn't say anything else. Her
face kind of just sort of neutral. It's stupid.
It's nothing. It's nothing at all. No, no. It's
not stupid. I want to know what you're thinking.
Real persuasion. 17. She bites her lip. And you
feel this, like, tension in the room. This sort
of electricity. You don't even know where it's
coming from. Well, I just think that there's
rumors about you and, um... Gabriela Cortez,
Dance Macabre. It's so cute. It's so cute. I
love it. Um... Sorry. No, no, no. We just love
Jance. Well... Right now, Xenia. And he nudges
her with his elbow. You're my number one girl.
Holy shit. David's blushing. David's blushing.
This is high -pitched from almost like squeak.
I'd love if I could talk to you alone. Like I
said, you're my number one girl right now. Wow.
Let's go chat. All right, yeah. Margus Rubis
steps forward. No, I don't think that's the best
idea. As you can see, Xenia is cleared of any
wrongdoing, suspicions you might have. You had
your little chat. You asked your questions. She's
still traumatized, aren't you, Xenia? Hey, if
I can give my fans just a little bit of happiness,
it makes it all worth it. Nice reframing. Suck
on that mix. It's so tough. There's this weird
energy in this room. There's this whole unspoken
conversation happening between Xenia and Margus.
Give me your insight check. Let's see how much
of this you catch. Only an 11. Okay. You don't
catch a lot. All you know is Margus does not
want Xenia to speak with you. Margus doesn't
want Xenia to speak with anybody. And Xenia is
in this weird place of, This is such an amazing
moment, and maybe she's looking for something
from you. Not only is it just, like, fangirling,
but maybe there's a trust built in, I guess,
the sort of parasocial relationship that a fan
builds towards someone they idolize. And perhaps
in that, she's looking to you as, like, someone
she can trust as much as her very tata. All right,
so Jules will look over. Is that a balcony? There
is a balcony. Oh, shit. Jules is going to look
over. I'm going to get some air. Xenia, if you'd
like to join, I'd be happy to talk to you. Aye.
And Jules slowly gets up and slowly starts making
his way over. There's just like another sort
of full conversation of glances, eye movements,
brow raising between Xenia and Margus. And finally,
she kind of almost pouting, just gets up. Turns
and moves over to the door. Harlan starts up
and we're like, yeah, well, let's step out. I
don't think you're going to want to do that.
Big gray hand kind of touches down on Harlan's
shoulder. You should speak with me for now. You
have a moment alone. Interesting. Seems like
as much as Marcus Rubio does not want Xenia to
speak with you, they definitely don't want Xenia
to speak with Harlan. You hear loud, clomping
footsteps, boots come up behind you on the balcony,
stepping against the sort of tile. Nice touch.
What? As Xenia kind of leans out next to you.
What do you want to do? Your Tata seems pretty
nice. Yeah, they're great. They seem pretty protective.
Oh, um, yeah, they can be. She's like... Very
tight lips. She's kind of turning and looking
back, almost like her eyes are in the view. You
can see her eyes are still watery. You can't
hear us. Whatever you want to say stays between
me and you. Oh, this is tough. I was just wondering.
I heard you speaking out in the hallway. You
were saying that you're looking into things?
Mello's death? Yeah. Do you have any suspects?
I'm trying to figure out what's going on. Anyone
that you think did it? Not really yet. We're
just asking questions. That's why I'm here. Oh,
okay. It's, um... It's hard. Um... Is he a friend
of yours? You could say that. Insight check.
Eight. Yeah. You don't know. She just... Are
you just telling the truth? They were kind of
close. So I want to make sure you know that you're
not in trouble or anything. Why would I be in
trouble? Why would there be trouble? Where were
you when this was all happening? The murder.
I was in my room, you know, just getting ready
for the dinner and your show afterwards. You
had a good outfit picked out? Yeah, I did. Yep.
Well, mostly something black. Huh. You know,
someone close to me used to wear something pretty
similar. He just said the color. He didn't describe
it at all. Yeah, I know somebody that used to
wear black. Wow. But again, she's my number two
right now. It's just like this awkwardness. Like
you're just standing out here and there's just
something unspoken, something that maybe she
wants to say, but she also knows better than
to say it. And there's just this energy of awkwardness
that you can't quite pierce. This strategy doesn't
seem to be working. The question is, what can
you do, Jules? He'll look over. And put his hand
on her cheek. Oh. I... We're the good people.
You can tell me anything. I've known a lot of
people and I've been through a lot. I can tell.
You want to say something? Roll persuasion. Nineteen.
Jules? What is a sky prison like? Everyone says
it's horrible. And... I don't know much about
it. I know it's where people who deserved...
I know it's bad. Why are you concerning yourself
with the Sky Prison? I've never been there, so
I can't really say. Of course not. You're a good
person. And her tears, her eyes are welling up.
Like she's going to start crying anew. It's okay.
You can tell me. Here's what I'm going to do.
DC -19 wasn't quite what I was looking for. I
knew it. But the way I'm going to resolve that
is this. She turns to look at you and her eyes
catch yours and they're just so full of pain.
Just so much pain. You know, part of being a
good person and being the luminaries that you
look up to, Is honesty. Even if it's painful.
It's not luminaries I look up to. It's rebels.
People like you. People who... She kind of looks
down and shakes her head. Who are honest. Jules,
I need to tell you that I... The door slams open.
This is the 19. No, no, no. We're done. We're
done. Mix, Marcus Aruba stands up for you and
you see that they have taken on full orcish sort
of strength, muscles sort of bulging, veins sort
of sticking out on their neck. Tata, please.
No, no, no, no. We're done. We're done. Harlan.
Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. What are you doing?
Hold on. You are grabbed. Wait. They're grabbing
you while you're talking, just kind of muscling
you. No, no, no. We're done. I'm not fighting
him. I'm not trying to pull back from him. Yeah,
that's fine. That's fine. You're just being pulled
away. It's dramatic. It's a dramatic moment.
Okay. Hands outstretched. I don't care. It's
cool. Yeah. Jules looks at Xenia and says, trust
me. Then turns to Margus. And in the biggest,
silliest fashion. What? Totally non -threatening.
Goes. What are you doing? His loot lights up.
He goes, Abracadabra! What the fuck is that?
And as he's doing that, he's casting detect thoughts
onto. Xenia. Okay. I mean, once again, it's going
to be a stealth check to do this. That's fine.
Really? Okay, fine. There's an ability called
Subtle Spell that lets you do this. I can't get
to you in front. I think it was more like, because
we talked about this off mic for a second, I
think it was more like he made it so obvious
that he was casting a spell that it was meant
to be like... I'm doing this and I'm not trying
to hide it from you. It's not a threat. This
is me saying, I'm not doing anything threatening.
I'm just doing magic tricks out here. It's obvious
you're doing the spell. Yes. Deception, then.
Which is going to be a lot better for you than
stealth. Yeah, it's a 23. See, this is all we're
doing. Boom. Immediately, your mind is filled
with thoughts. Margus just... They have to go.
They have to go. She doesn't understand. She
doesn't understand what she's going to give away.
I must protect her. I have to protect her. She
didn't mean to do it. And behind you, it was
me. I killed him. And we'll call it there.