Hey, Pants People. Just wanted to take a brief
moment before the episode to say thanks for listening
and thanks for being our friends. Enjoy. I think
I got that right this time. It's always different.
And our focus today will be on the half -orc
Sistine, also known as the Verdant Viper. Now,
Sistine's story started off in tragedy. Her birth
mother, having a grudge against Sistine's orcish
heritage, removed her tusks and gave her up at
the age of two. Luckily, she was swiftly taken
in by a band of performers and raised among them.
This early life led to the realization of her
life's dream, to master the art of blade dancing
and bring it into the conquered world spotlight.
And so she pursued this goal, becoming a luminary
adventurer and journeying across our worlds.
She had custom scimitars made, and the elegance
with which she came to wield them became legendary.
She also met up with young Daryl Dryline and
became fast friends. Now, on top of becoming
one of our world's most elegant performers, Sistine
became the protector of her own family of luminaries.
So you best not mess with Deysa Silver Dase.
Ne 'er do well, so you might end up feeling the
verdant viper's bite. Thank you, Jasmine Young.
Once again, Mountain Mania, we're getting these
applications. I got one more to go. It's so cool.
It's so cool. I want custom scimitars. No. Oh,
I have to mention also, because it's on the application.
I didn't want to do Orin saying this, but Sistine
Thick. Sistine Thick. Damn. Yeah. Yep. I don't
know how to put this in the spotlight. You couldn't
have worked that in to Orn, man. I wanted to,
but like, how do I? Try it. He's a respected
man of the network. Try it out. Store to the
Orn here with part two of Thick. Three Cs? Store
to the Orn here with Thick. That was like four
I's, not three Cs. I think it was Thick. oh oh
oh oh yeah cracking that beer over happiness
i love it what are you drinking over there rum
oh wow okay way to go oh yeah it's tuesday no
i yeah it's tuesday god damn no i'm drinking
a lovely Is that how it's pronounced? I don't
know. Single Barrel Premium Extra Aged Rum. Long
day long. Shout out to Sarah and Magdalene. They
took a trip down to St. Croix, which is, I believe,
a U .S. Virgin Island. And they brought this
back up. Very, very generous. Thank you for this
lovely gift. It is delicious. Both friends and
listeners of the show. So, hey, hey. Thank you
so much. And fellow co -workers who are just
simply amazing. Yeah. I had some of that earlier.
Jeremy was generous enough to share it. Quite
lovely. I enjoyed it. And if you want to see
Megal and Sarah's smiling faces, visit our sponsor,
Reckless Brewing Co. Hey, there you go. I can
do it. You did it. You did it. I'm hot. Congratulations,
David. Yeah. A little taste of the islands. A
little taste. Yeah. Yeah. Speaking of taste.
You've got mail. Oh, I wasn't ready. Get ready.
Speaking of taste. Taste that. Taste that, Ponytail.
That was the best transition yet. Right, yeah.
We have mail. I have mail. And it's actually
something that I ordered. And I'm very excited
about this. So I'm going to open this right now.
All right, well, asterisk on mail time. I don't
know if mail time counts if we order. It counts
because I ordered it from our good, good buddy,
friend of the show, Ever Stalwart. Andrew, Hooli
Forge. All right. I'll give you a pass. You see,
you guys are over there. What did you do? We
have our button bottles, all of us. You guys
have your potion and spider venom you still have
not touched, your superior healing, your phase
spider venom still hanging out there, ready to
be rolled when the time comes. And the time may
come soon, gentlemen, because I decided I wanted
a little something of my own. Oh, that looks
evil. Oh, do you see the dark aura coming off
of it? It's lovely, isn't it? Yes, it's heavy.
This little scroll here is actually a homebrewed.
little effect that you can get from Andrew's
shop. He has some absolutely fantastic little
selection of very cool things you can't find
anywhere else. And they'll send you the scroll,
the bottle, the dice in the bottle. So when the
time comes to pop this thing off, read the scroll
to your poor, unfortunate players and roll the
dice right out of the jar. Oh, man. Oh, man.
And you guys don't know what this is. You're
not going to know what this is. Yeah. Because
when I unfold this scroll and read it to you,
it's going to be too late. Andrew has shared.
Uncalled for. Andrew has shared a lot of his
homebrew creations in Discord. And I know that
some of them can be quite unfair if used against
us. It's the best kind of creation. Yeah. So
I'm going to put this right here on the table.
You can just. Read it and weep. Or not read it.
Not read it and weep later. If it's anything
like buttons, he's going to forget that it's
there. Yeah, exactly. Right? Yes. Honestly, that's
not. No, it's in my notes. I've got on page 32
of my arc notes. I'll find it somehow. Yeah,
I'm sure. Somehow I'll see it. Oh, shit. We taught
him how to use Google Docs. You taught me how
to use Google Docs. I'm more powerful than ever
before. It's like a bag of holding for your notes.
It's incredible. He's arrived in the modern age.
Right. Here I am. And it almost never miraculously
disappears three or four times. No. Oh, man,
guys. Before we get into this episode, I want
to talk about the last episode. The last three
episodes, actually, because that was my favorite
fight in the show. I'm putting it out there right
now. That was my favorite combat in this show
so far. We got some great, great combats. Fuck.
Two different combats at the same time. A situation
fully set up that you should not have been able
to turn around. It was bad. It felt. It was really
bad. Going into it, it felt really helpless.
You guys played so cleverly. I mean, the illusion
was fantastic. The use of status effects like
blind and using a vicious mockery to give me
disadvantage. Like, you guys played that shit
optimally. Because I put you in a situation that
you need to be sharp to get through. And you
were. And we almost never are. And for that,
for that begrudgingly, begrudgingly, you're each
getting a button. I don't normally do this for
fights, but I think you deserve them. For a three
episode fight, I'll take it. And I won't feel
bad about it. It's another part of this fight
that I love so much is it really hammers home
one of the coolest aspects of these games that
we build together, which is like, think of the
end of that fight. We are all sitting here cheering
on the NPC character, the sidekick character
of Jean Franklin, who's like, he's no one's character.
He's no one's PC. He's just this character that
exists somewhere between all three of us. But
we've come to love this character in this special
way where it's like, get him, do it. We want
to see him succeed. And that's, I don't know,
something about that just feels like such true,
raw Dungeons & Dragons to me. It's so funny.
I'll be talking to somebody who just started
listening. they don't have a lot of nice things
to say about John Franklin. And, and I don't
want to like give too much away, you know, but
I, I inside, I feel like a little defensive.
Cause I'm like, Hey, that's John Franklin. You're
talking about a friend. You don't even know him.
You don't even know him. Like I do. I think we
talked about this before to you guys. I don't
think it was brought up in the show, but there's
a really cool phenomenon that happened here in
Fancy Pants, which is normally in a show, you
know, an actual TV show, if an actor still leaves
or a character dies, a lot of times they'll kind
of bring in the replacement character, someone
you can look at and say, well, that's the new
character, that's that person, right? And you
could think, especially in role -playing games,
that that would happen here. With Zebulon's passing,
we would think Blanche is the new Zebulon, but
Blanche simply isn't. Blanche is this entirely
different, like, like... Such a different character
with such a different broad range of perspectives
that like makes everything so interesting and
fresh in a whole new way. But when you look at
our show, I feel like the spiritual successor
to the character of Zebulon is John Franklin.
He's the heart. He's the goof. He's the one that's
kind of like, you know, you're rooting for the
underdog. Like, it's very interesting. It's really
weird because he's not a plesee, but he feels
like he filled some void in the show. He filled
that Zebulon sort of void. Yeah, it's so strange.
It's almost like a little bit of Zeb gets to
live on through Jean. Yeah, because I specifically
didn't want Blanche to be like a copy -paste
Zebulon. Right. So Jean picked up that goofy
streak. It's really something. It's really cool.
Yeah. Right down to being Jules' luminary partner.
And the character that sort of brings these two
other characters together. We don't see Jules
and Blanche at this point in the show. They're
comrades in arms, but they're not friends from
what I've seen. Yeah, we still barely know each
other. Yeah, they're not personalities that go
around partying. But they have this glue between
them, which is the character of Jean Franklin.
Exactly. Yeah, Jean's the glue. It's so weird
for an NPC to be that role. And normally it's
like, as a DM, that's your worst nightmare is
for an NPC. to be important. You don't want that
ever. But in this case, I think it works because
it's all of our choice. I think I even remember
at one point saying to you, I think it was on
air, like you're going to have to come up with
a reason for Blanche to like go along with this.
Like why else is she blah, blah, blah. I don't
know. But this is starting to sound like unzipped.
And trust me, there's some gnarly stuff heading
Blanche's way soon. But on the note of Blanche,
I want to open up with Blanche. And more importantly,
I want to open up. With the sound of rain. What
are you doing? What am I doing? The skies above
Umizu are weeping. Rain falling steadily into
this misty landscape all around. You stand upon
a hill, looking down over it, much of your vision
lost within the mist. But the rain does not touch
your head, for you stand beneath the curving
roof of a small shrine, Blanche. Behind you,
you can see the statued form of a turtle, with
a long neck and almost fish -like sort of piscean
face and mouth. There's an ornate box sort of
resting beneath this form, holding two sort of
gourd bottles filled with a fine sake. And of
course, beside you and standing tall, is your
mentor. Well, we've left our offerings. Perhaps
the spirits will allow us a brief respite from
the elements. What do you say, Blanche? He looks
to you. He's dressed down in a sort of simple
kind of robe, his armor left behind. There will
be no combat today. Today is a day of peace.
The rain never bothered me, but I am happy to
linger here a while. Good. Yes. Yes. He's staring
off, his one eye looking out into the mist, catching
glimpses of something that you cannot see. You
know, I've heard they call Umizo the reigning
world at the Citadel. Tragically apt title, don't
you think? I swear every summer monsoon is gloomier
than the last. But there is beauty in the rain
as well. Each drop carries its own story, perpetuating
an infinite cycle between earth and sea and sky.
And the sound, it does bring back memories. Tell
me, Blanche. Looks down to you. He's... Yeah,
he's pretty tall. I think he's still... How tall
is Blanche? I don't remember exactly what was
said. Are you quite tall for a tortle? No, I
don't think she's an overly tall tortle. So we're
going to guess that she's somewhere lower five
feet range. Hell yeah. At this point in time,
I should mention, he's elderly, not old. You're
still in your training years. This is probably
happening just before the last conversation we
had between Blanche and Ozen in a flashback.
Which was some time ago. But he looks to you
and asks, Blanche, have you heard the story of
how I became a luminary? I don't believe I have.
Well, now that you mention it, I'm quite interested.
I can't believe I never asked. It's a strange
story. It doesn't usually make its rounds amongst
the world. It's not as flashy as some would like,
but it's important. And it carries lessons. It
was during the monsoon season. when folks speak
of bad luck and summer misfortunes. In this case,
they had reason to fear. For on one stormy evening,
a notable death struck our fair city. The Daimyo's
son was found murdered on the Bright Moon Pier,
the territory of a known criminal syndicate,
the Safe Ocean Society. Furthermore, there was
clear evidence of the Tritons at the scene, pointing
the finger at the native Rurapo clan. Umizo was
braced for a full civil war. At this time, I
was merely a simple guard at the Shrine of Storms,
but well known for my prowess with magic and
blade, and more importantly, for my sharpness
of mind. Kind of points at his temple and gives
you a one -eyed wink. Blanche chuckles. When
I was approached with all the details of the
crime, it became clear that every possible ability
was senseless. The details painted a complex
picture that was simply impossible. And so, I
agreed to look into the matter. and I felt confident
that I could solve it. Do you know why? I see
where you're going with this. Well, I'm not doing
anything. Tell me, Master. Because it was impossible.
A crime with too many possibilities is a troublesome
thing. You have to cut them down one by one through
tireless investigation until only one remains.
But an impossible crime is an incredibly simple
matter. It demands only that you make the impossible
possible. Find the one little detail that turns
a complex web into a perfect little story. And
so that's what I did. It turned out that the
head of a merchant company, the Southwest Whaling
Concern, had been facing complications from all
involved parties. He had cleverly devised a scheme
to pit them against each other. Had they thought
to make for less of a complex crop, they would
likely be free now, and very rich. But as fate
would have it, they will likely vastly outlive
us both before their time at the Sky Prison is
finished. I think you see him look away with
a sort of melancholy entering his features. Just
staring out for a long moment before he kind
of does a... I have noticed your tactical approach
to the braid. Your wrist informs. Your body branch
is brimming with potential. But I believe your
true weapon will ever be your mind. Do not neglect
it. Keep it sharp and shined. And even the impossible
will fold before its might. And we fade away.
We return to the palace of Grand Messer Amos
Nair. Now I'm going to push time forward just
a little bit here. We spent three episodes on
approximately one minute. I think it's only fair
to the listeners to just go and get a little
ahead. Fast forward, if you will, to what's happening
after the fight. Now, let me set you guys up.
I'm going to give you some information, but I'm
going to need a lot of information from you.
Because with Harlan unconscious, you've been
put in temporary charge of the Silent Verse.
Grumby, the dwarf Jean healed after the battle,
turns out he was the second in command. Explain
the situation and your heroism during it. As
we move forward from this plot, I need to ask
you guys where everyone is going to be. Where
you've set everybody up. Now, a few details.
Wherever you wish to place everyone, Margus will
insist that they stay with Xenia. Fyodor is going
to push to be allowed to remain in the kitchen
again while remaking, remaking dinner breakfast.
I ate some of it. Samira has heard of all that
has transpired and now knows the true method
behind her son's murder. The Duergar tell you
that she is willing to speak with you now and
will follow whatever orders you have. She asks
only that you find this true killer, this poisoner.
Divaluma is still unconscious and shackled, though
will likely come around soon. The duergar preset
on removing her weapon shoes. Yeah, those don't
need to be around. After facing them head on,
basically, it's kind of become an unknown thing
that Divaluma, if poisoned, is the most dangerous
person here, potentially. Yeah. Apart from, perhaps,
the two of you. Amos Nair and Luis Orin. Everyone's
going to set themselves into the master bedroom,
unwilling to leave or speak until Sturgeman arrives
in the morning. You can get to them, but you're
going to need to bash down the door at this point.
They are locked in. I forgot Sturgeman is still
coming. Oh, yes. The body of Azranir, I'm guessing,
is still in the ballroom. Did you leave it be
to investigate? Uh, she's, yeah. Yeah, I don't
think we've moved anything yet. Okay. And lastly,
word of Massimo Ain and their family's death
has reached you. Among those killed was, of course,
their heir, Jacopoane. The murder occurred in
the early hours of the day, well before you had
arrived on this world. There's evidence that
Massimo's guards killed the family, then turned
on each other. Beza's breath is almost definitely
the cause. With all this in mind, where is everybody?
Do you have any thoughts? I have a couple of
thoughts. Okay, shoot. I feel like we should
keep everybody together. I'm wondering if there
is a way that we can use our surroundings somehow
to keep the bees' breath away. Like, I'm looking
at this map, and north, I guess north up of the
ballroom, is that like a giant deck? Or is that
like a terrace out front? Right. Oh! Yes. Yeah,
I can see a door leading out that way from the
salon. Yeah, I was originally going to suggest,
like, corral everybody to the ballroom, but we
know that it's in there. Right, right. I feel
like I'm starting to feel like inside is the
enemy. Yeah. Ooh, interesting. Okay. I'm on board
with that, yeah. We know that there are duergar
outside still guarding the gates. Right? Yes,
they're all around the perimeter. Some visible,
some not. The place has been put on full lockdown.
If you step outside onto the sort of stone patio,
this wide open stone patio, sort of looking out
over these lush, beautiful gardens, you can see
figures of Duergar kind of moving around, patrolling
all around the gates, which are all locked down
on either side of the manor. You can see there's
a crowd kind of far off, sort of gathering all
around. People are watching and wondering. become
a you know kind of a spectacle yeah see that's
the thing is now we're we're being visible if
we're if we're outside you're outside of hearing
range from anybody you'd see sure but we know
that there are outside collaborators there may
be what do you think jeremy i'm talking to of
course let's go to amos's room amos nears room
yeah how come i don't bring everybody I'm trying
to decide if you're serious or not. I'm not leaving
my room. Okay. Boom. I'm like 65 % serious. Let
me show you on the map. You want to take a look
at it? Looking at it. That's on the third floor?
Second floor. I'm just saying it could be the
safest room in the whole place. It's one of the
larger rooms. Assuming that he's responsible.
Right. Which we haven't ruled out. Oh, man. This
is really hard. How about we flip the pick of
destiny? Oh, yeah. Sorry, I misspoke. I believe
it is the pick of minor destiny. Yeah. I mean
minor. Not copyright. You call what it is. Okay.
Heads. So the maker's mark. I'm going to flip
this through the guns of heaven. All right. If
the maker's mark is up, we take the terrace.
Okay. If there's no maker's mark. We try to squeeze
everybody into Amos Near's bedroom for some reason.
There's also like a gymnasium on the first floor.
There's other rooms, but like, no, you know what?
This is fine. This is fine. We got two options.
I will say, if we go to Amos Near's room, that's
on Jules to get us there. It didn't fall all
the way through. It's getting stuck on that last
little bit. It's not built for picks of minor
destiny. Oh, it did. It made it through. It's
cracked. No, it's not. No, stop it. Oh, oh. We're
going to Amos Newsroom. Get the fuck out. What
is this going to look like? We don't seriously
have to. Oh, man. Now I feel like we should.
No, this is great. Okay. I'm curious to know
how you're going to sell this to everybody. I
mean. You don't need to sell it. I'm going to
tell you right now, if you think it's the safest
option, the Dwargar are going to listen to you.
Harlan's unconscious until he wakes up, which
will probably happen soon. But immediately after
this fight, you need to round up everybody. The
Dwargar are looking for a way to round up everybody.
If you say, let's go to Amos Nier's room, it
solves a problem, right? Because Amos Nier said
he's not coming out. Fine. Oh, you're right.
I missed that part. The door gets bashed in.
Amos Nier screams and stands back, yelling, screeching.
And everyone is led. inside, despite his concerns.
Because right now, after what just happened,
it's not important to give a fuck anymore if
they're fired after all this. As we're going
in, Jules says, this is your house, this is your
responsibility. What? My son is dead! And now
you raid my quarters while I'm in mourning! Ooh.
I feel like a dick. No, no, no, no. Because we
know that it's not his son, and he knows that
we know it's not his son. It is his son. but
not as air. Oh, shit. Huh. But I will say, well,
give me an insight check. Okay, yeah. Let's roll
dice about it. I crit my pants. Oh! Okay, okay.
Mine was only dirty. Oh, damn. Dirty 20. Look
at that, Steven. Look at that, Steven. That's
double digits, and the first one's a two. Yeah.
This is actually very interesting. He says he's
in mourning, and yet you get the feeling that
he is. maybe offended that someone would dare
kill his son, but he holds no love, or held no
love for Azra, and he is not mourning at all.
You think of Azra sort of embarrassing himself
repeatedly, being out when Amos Nier demanded
that his family greet everyone at once with his
little display in the garden. Azra was already
outside, you know, talking to Diva Luma, going
back and forth. Azra was on the stage making
an ass of himself before the performance. Azra
is a thorn, was a thorn in the Grandmaster's
side, an embarrassment. Larissa was always meant
to be the one to step forward. You can see now
that there's almost like a, there's peace in
his heart. Over the fact that the succession
of Larissa will have nothing to contend with.
There'll be nothing messy to deal with. Azra
being out of the way is not the worst thing that
could have happened. Well, sorry for busting
in on you here. Why don't you tell us about him?
Tell us about your time together. You have taken
the Dark Dwarves onto your side. You've taken
control of my police. So fine. For now, I will
step aside before someone more qualified comes
in the morning. But I will not share words with
you, Jules LaRoche. You stay the fuck out of
my mind. I almost said something I shouldn't
have. Whoops. Amos moves back and allows everyone
to enter. I think Amos, like, maybe goes into
the dressing room and, like, goes in there. Come,
Larissa! She closes the closet door. Okay, yeah.
It's the saddest thing. I'll say that there's
really only one door aside from the door onto
the balcony that's in and out of Amos' room.
And it's separated into two different rooms and
two dressing rooms. So it's kind of like, and
this is a private bathroom. There's a number
of, like, spaces. If you need to split people
up, you can. On that note, where's Diva Luma?
She has not come to yet. She's still shackled.
She's disarmed. I'm curious, are you bringing
her into this room and leaving her shackled?
Are you unshackling her when she wakes up? I'm
going to guess there's a chaise lounge. What?
Chase. Chase. You know, like a couch without
arms. Like Victorian sort of swooping. I imagine
probably one of the duets. There's three of those,
yeah. Okay. Yeah. Yeah, so we'll set the diva
limit down. Rochelle's going to have to make
this map for us, probably. And I'm going to have
to be like, I need three chaise lounges. Yeah,
yeah, exactly. We've learned that the inflicted
of the bees' breath will be in their right minds
when they wake up, so. I think it's safe enough
to take the shackles off. You have two cases
now to prove that with Grumpy having been revived
and immediately coming to his senses. Remove
her shackles, lay her there somewhat comfortable.
And then maybe Harlan's on another... Yeah, you
got it. Yep. Yes, he's on the second. He's on
the second. But how does that make you feel?
Okay. Slowly, everybody... gathers into this
room, perhaps on the third chaise lounge. The
third chaise lounge has a purpose. Oh, shit.
Okay. Take that chaise lounge into the dressing
room. We will set up a place to interrogate.
What's it called? Yeah, interrogate. Interrogation
room. That is some Sherlock Holmes shit. I'm
so excited. Oh, my God. I don't know what we're
going to ask people, but... We're going to ask
it. Did you do this? Did you do this? Okay. You,
everyone gathers, and so we'll say time has passed.
We have an unconscious Devaluma, an unconscious
Harlan, all lying there. Everyone moves into
the room. Margus is with their daughter. They
kind of take a corner, maybe like sitting on
the grand canopy bed and kind of just sort of
cooling down, calming after everything. Ledoux
and Jean finally freed from the cells are up
there. I think Ledoux is taken to very quietly
sewing the banner back onto Jean's spear. And
the two are very quiet, like they're upset by
each other. Like the grand balance of their sort
of connection, their relationship, has been altered
in some fundamental way. And they're just awkward,
kind of awkwardly standing by each other, not
really saying a word, occasionally a glance cast,
and then kind of a quick head turn away and up.
Fun. Yeah. Fun people to be around. They're one
of those couples. Theodore is not going to be
allowed to reign the kitchen? No, certainly not.
But what of dinner? You destroyed dinner. You
told me at least make dinner. I'll fetch something
from the pantry. We show you have something to
sustain us all. Unless you'd like to end up the
next victim. He has a moment. He stops and he's
thinking for a second. Like he just remembered
something? Yes. Something to sustain, yes. And
he stepped very close to you, just kind of towering
above you and leans down. Perhaps while you are
grabbing, say, sausages from the larder, you
will take a peek outside the window and see familiar
birds on trees come to see what is happening
in the palace. Wink, wink, wink, wink. Big winks.
Yes, perhaps. Perhaps. She kind of gives nothing
away and acts like, Blanche acts like she doesn't
know what he's talking about. Perhaps. It's not
7 o 'clock yet, but perhaps the activity has
drawn the informant, the outside informant, to
the gate again. Okay, so it's really just after
4. Yeah, right now I'd say it's 4 .30. Okay.
What is the likelihood that we squeeze in a short
rest? We can bump it to 530 and have that short
rest happen. Okay. Does that make sense? I mean,
yeah, I think that does make sense. And also,
you know, if this were to really happen, you
know, it's time for everybody to decompress.
Let everybody's heart rate drop. Okay, this is
great. This is what I wanted to do. Arcane recovery
once per day. When you finish the short rest,
you can choose expended spell slots to recover
up to a combined level of three. So I'm gonna
do that. On that note, Jean Franklin is fully
healed, we can say. Yes. Now the question is,
do I... Yeah, I really need to take a... Chester's
probably freaking out in this room with everybody,
just like, hey, Jules, this is kind of crazy.
Oh, hey, I went through puberty, remember? I'm
done with that. I was gonna say, I was like,
who are you? I'm just kidding, it's me, Chester.
I'm just joshing you. Yeah. Yeah. You prankster.
Puberty came and went. Always does. So fast.
They grow up so fast. Okay. Short rest over.
Okay. We're all in Amos Nier's room. Everyone
is crowded into Amos Nier's room. It is horrible.
I imagine there's, like, guards outside the doors.
Making sure no one leaves. Maybe a couple of
guards inside. One of them constantly... Grumby.
Grumby's constantly at Harlan's side. You know,
they went through this horrible thing together.
And Grumby is shattered. Like, you see this.
These two are just like... I can't believe I
did that. I'm so sorry. I didn't. I had no control.
Do Harlan and Diva Luma wake up after a short
rest? They do after a short rest. Okay, sweet.
So here's the thing. Right now you're going to
have a ton of directions to go in. Yeah. So before
we get into that, I want to give you an idea
of everything that's going on. Thank goodness.
You had a short rest, so you had time to think
this through. So this is for everybody because
it's been a little while. Here's what you know.
The killer must have been outside of the palace
earlier in the day. especially if they're also
behind the sudden change in Tickalosh, would
you have reason to believe that that was Vesa's
breath? Thinking back on the experience, the
way the giant came, its eyes were as it struck
at you, it seemed very similar to Divaluma de
Harlan, which means the killer must have arrived
at the palace not long before all of you, right?
They would have poisoned, maybe something that
Tickalosh was eating in the water, something
poisoned in the water, perhaps, that it bit into,
went mad. Perhaps, you know, the killer was waiting
in the jungle after killing Massimo Ane and their
family. It's hard to say. Here's the thing, though.
The killer must also have had access to the wine
bottle. You know that no guests were allowed
into the manor before Amos Near let them come
in. Only his family and staff were able to go
inside. You also know that Larissa Wren keenly
noted the bottle had been moved, which seems
to point to the idea that someone had tampered
with it after. It was stored into the palace.
Like, brought in. Wasn't done outside. At least,
you have reason to think that it wasn't done
outside. The killer must have been able to enter
the ballroom before the scheduled performances.
You know that number of people had been in and
out between three and four as you were around
for some of that time. Nearly everyone that had
been in the ballroom at the fight's start had
approached the stage at some point. Especially
Amos Neer, who was fussing over every little
thing. You know also that the killer is likely
related to Proud Eden, the jungle witch that
was killed by the Kings of Coin in the Burnshout
Duergo clan some 16 years ago. The witch gave
the first jellyflowers to the kings, but demanded
their firstborn children as payment. She threatened
to take her pay with or without their permission,
and so the kings plotted to have her murdered.
But this leads to another very interesting detail,
something that you brought up very recently,
that Azranir was killed by this plot. And the
more you think about it, the more it seems like
it must have been planned, right? Azra would
have been the closest to the stage, and likely
the most grating for the diva. Her rage -eddled
mind would have certainly locked onto him. But,
you now know that Azra Nier is not Amos Nier's
heir. Perhaps still fearing the witch's wrath,
Amos raised his true heir in secret, and hired
her on as his head of service, so she'd always
be by his side. And you know that he has another
secret child, Larissa's twin, who secretly became
one of the Concord World's most notable luminaries.
Who is incidentally known for using an assortment
of ludicrously expensive magical items, so that
kinda explains that. And then there's what you
do not know. Harlem was aware of the poison as
a potential threat. He swore not to eat or drink
during the vigil, and you know he stayed true
to that oath. Nobody approached him either. You
saw it all through Turbo's eyes. You were watching.
So how did the killer poison the duergar? How
did they poison the bottle if they were outside
earlier in the day? Or if they were part of the
staff, how did they sneak out for that long without
being noted by the rest of the staff? An impossible
problem, Blanche. But perhaps, for you, that's
just an opportunity. Ugh, okay. I mean, I have...
Some thoughts. Blanche has some thoughts. As
far as your direction here, Samira is someone
you haven't been able to talk to yet. I don't
know if you have any questions for her, but she
is available now as she's in this room, still
very, very quiet, still very much mourning her
son. Won't really speak to anybody, but is willing
to follow along with you. DePiero has requested
that you speak to him when you have time. Perhaps
when you have your solitary room set up. He wants
to not be overheard, but he wants to tell you
what he was going to tell you before. You have
reason to believe that that blood letter spy,
the one that was a contact for Fyodor, is back
and waiting for contact. Perhaps curious about
what's going on, gathering along with the rest
of the crowd outside this room. You saw him before,
you could spot him now. If you needed to. and
you have a couple of rooms to investigate. Most
notably, you can look into the ballroom, see
if you can figure out what's going on with, like,
you know, if anyone, if there's any evidence
anywhere. That's a pretty hard one because a
lot of people were there. But more interesting
is the cells, the duergar. Can you find out how
it was done? Yeah. Okay, yeah, I feel like that
might be the key to unlocking the whole thing,
is figuring out how the duergar were poisoned.
Right now, my thoughts are... I'm trying to disprove
that it was Amos Nier. He just seems like, I
don't know. And we still have to ask about Proud
Eden, because it seems like he's protecting his
true heir by sacrificing this false heir. So
if he's doing it, maybe he's doing it for show.
As you said earlier, he's not grieving. The alternate
to that is that somebody else is doing the killing
and thinks that that's his true heir. I don't
know. But maybe we start by leaving everyone
here. Which, fuck, sucks. Going down to investigate.
Or do we split up? What do you think? I mean,
I'll say it now. You guys have been really doing
this, like, Sherlock Watson thing with Blanche
being the head investigator inspector in the
crime scenes and Jules being the main sort of
interrogator in a lot of spots with that high
charisma. Could serve you here as well. I will
also add to your plate by saying there's a stirring
in the room as you're about to, like, leave or
about to decide on this as Diva Luma and Harlan
both awaken on their chef of the deuce. Yeah,
I was going to suggest maybe you go and maybe
Jules will stay back in the room. Okay. Maybe
I can do the turbo trick to peek back in every
now and again. Because I think in Jules' mind,
he wants to keep an eye on everybody. Right.
As many people as he can. Is that a full bat
in my room? You can't put a bat if it shits on
the floor. You're in the closet. You can't see
it. I'm peeking through the keyhole. I see a
bat. Jules slams it. All right, everyone, listen
up. I'm going to take a turn about the rooms.
I will investigate the crime scene. I will be
keeping a watchful eye. She points to Turbo.
Jules here, we'll take you each to the drawing
room for some questioning. We're going to put
this all together with your cooperation. We are
assuming there's only one truly responsible person
here, so if everybody else can cooperate, then
we can put this mess to bed. I think everyone
stares on quietly, but you hear in the crowd
just a, oh, Blanche, Blanche. Harlan, picking
up, eyes sort of brimming over with tears. Oh,
you were right. You were always right. I almost
got killed. Fish in a barrel, like you said.
You should have killed me. You should have killed
me dead and good. This is not your fault, Harlan.
I need your help to figure this out. Keep them
safe while I go. All right, Captain. Boom! That
was cool. The soundverse just kind of nods as
a quick salute. Okay. Blanche is going to exit
the room, I think. I think as she does, Jules
runs up to her. Firm open hand slap on the behind.
Uh -huh. He leans in and says, Don't get poisoned.
Uh, same to you. Perhaps, uh, open some of these
windows, just in case. Wait, wait, sir! You shouldn't
go off alone right now. I mean, don't you want
anyone by your side? John's kind of standing.
He looks down sort of awkwardly at Ledoux, who's
sort of looking away, and he's kind of like...
It's quite stuffy in here anyway. You really
should have a protector, of course. I mean, not
that you can't handle yourself, sir. You absolutely
can. But, you know, it's good to have help, eyes,
you know, watching your back. Yes, Jean, that's
an excellent idea. Jules, do you mind if I take
Jean for an extra set of hands? How does Jean
look? He looks excited to get out of here. He's,
I mean, like, I think he's still, like, very,
like, he's exhausted. He, even after the short
rest, he looks like he's been through hell. And
there's just this, this awkwardness in here with
everything else already. And then just with his
father in the corner, kind of shooting his glances
over. I think this John just wants to be as far
away from everybody as he can get. Sorry, question.
I haven't played a paladin yet. Does his HP pool,
his lay on hands pool reset? I believe it's long
rest. Son of a. Yep. Can't swear on the network.
We'll double check it later. That's okay. That's
okay. I hope, I don't know. Hopefully we don't
need it. Right. Okay, yeah. Jaune and Blanche
are going to head to, I think, the cells first.
I think Jules will give Jaune a firm handshake,
but like the forearm handshake. Yes. The cool
handshake. The predator shakes, yes. That's what
we do. You stay safe. Yes, sir. You too, Jules.
Keep an eye on them. Them, especially. I think
DePiero has wandered over to Ledoux, kind of
like hand on the shoulder, sort of checking in
on him, admiring the work that he's doing, sewing
the banner. I got you. Thank you. I know. I know
you do. Sorry, I didn't want to interrupt you.
Yes, don't interrupt me. What? Oh, okay. I thought
you were still talking. Let's say that Blanche
and Jules have a little aside and talk about
strategy. Just in case Steven comes up with an
idea while you're doing interrogation. You know
what I mean? Just so we keep it. I don't know
what I'm going to say for interrogation. I'm
honestly a little glad that we're leaving, that
Blanche is leaving. I'm not. Now I don't have
to think about questions to ask people. I have
an idea. Also, is mind reading stuff, that's
a first level spell? I am protecting all of my
spell slots at this point. Right. I'm just curious.
Like, it's not a cantrip for any stupid reason.
No. No. No. Using that now is a risk because
of this other combat. I don't have any more uses
of it. Okay. Unfortunately. Oh, that's wonderful.
That is so wonderful. I shouldn't have said that.
I love that. I shouldn't have said that. David's
face just lit up. Lit up like a Christmas tree.
I have an idea here. Things will be fun. As long
as it's reasonable with the knowledge that you
would have right now. We've had some time here
that, like, you know, things have moved. You
had a short rest. A gap in time can now be filled
with events. I am reinstating flashbacks. Oh,
cool. Yeah. Button cost flashbacks. Button cost
flashbacks? Oh, right. Yeah, yeah, we did that.
Well, I've only got one, so. Yeah, well, it may
come up that you have a really important thing
you wanted to wish you had done. Yeah, I guess
so. You're smart. You're clever characters. I
have to figure out the ring of spell storage.
Or do I, because that's spell slots. Do it in
a flashback. Maybe, yeah, right. Flashback to
that time where David said the name of the guy
that's doing this. Yeah, I did that once. That
happened. Okay, you. Go to leave, Blanche. The
last thing you see as you close the doors, over
Jules' shoulder, DiPiero looks up to you with
these eyes, just like saying, do what you must
do now. Master defense. But later on, we must
speak. Yeah, Blanche gives him the eyes. I know
it. Sort of look. Door closes. We have full second
episode of Night Energy, and it's the first episode
of the night, guys. We got to get this shit together.
We got another one of these. It's going to be
great. Oh, no. And you begin to proceed down
the hall, down the stairs, down to the cellar.
Oh, where do I want to start? We're near the
end of this episode. Where should I go from here?
Where's it going to be juicy? Jules. Start with
you. No, there's too much pressure. You're going
to go where it's juicy. So stupid. You know what?
You guys think I'm going to drink some Rockstar.
Are we taking five? We'll be right back. Blanche
and John are gone. Jules. You have your own little
interrogation room. So you guys took the second
dressing room, right? And you have like the couch
up in there with like the, you know, maybe you
have like your own chair. Chester's like, yeah,
so my bad cop, a good cop, a what? Yo, Harlan,
this guy's fucking crazy. I'm nice, all right?
I'm good. But this guy, he'll tear you up. He'll
kill you. Chester, go psycho. Whoa. I'm full
out of the mouth. I don't know what I expected,
but it definitely wasn't that. Can Chester provide,
like... I'll defend you like a void. Can Chester
provide, like, the help action for something?
Like a charisma check or something like that?
How dare you have good ideas. Yeah, I like that.
That makes sense. Chester's going to be helping
you out. If I can think of a way to make him
help you, he'll be there to help. It's Proud
Eden. Proud Eden. Proud Eden. The Jungle Witch.
Who's the first in the room with you? Jules is
going to go to the closet. Okay, the other one.
So he bursts open the doors. Larissa. She steps
forward with a knife in hand. Put that away.
I'm not going to hurt you. Nobody's going to
hurt you. You're right. I don't need to worry
about me. But you should worry about you, Jules.
What do you know? If it gets out, who my brother
is. Who I am. Let's go. She looks to Amos. Play
along, Larissa. For now. Let him have his power
before Sturgeman strips him of it all. Larissa
nods and follows you out. All right. I'm going
to bring her into the other dressing room. Door
closes on a crowd of people who are watching,
waiting. The room goes silent as she... She doesn't
sit. She refuses to sit. She stands in the corner,
hands clasped sort of servant style, face just
blank. Okay, well, Jules is going to sit on the
chair's lounge. Chester hops up next to you.
All right, so how do we start? Jules glances
up at Larissa. Proud Eden, tell me everything.
I know of the witch. I suppose there's no use
holding back now. I had suspected that she was
related to this when I realized it was the heirs
that were dying off. But I had nothing to worry
about. Azra. She fell for it. Whoever's doing
this, whoever's carrying on her will, fell for
it. I'm safe. But yes. Proud Eden. She had the
jelly flower. And she wanted the heirs. I don't
know what she wanted with us. To kill us. Trap
our spirits. Turn us into Beezer, perhaps. To
use for her witchy crafts. I don't know. I don't
know. Witchcraft? That's the one. Witchcraft.
There it is. I found it, guys. It was right there
all along. But she died. My father made sure
she died. And just to be safe, he raised me separately.
Kept my existence a secret. Brought me up as
a servant. But now I can step into the light,
can't I? Azra's gone. Kind of convenient, huh?
Very. Is that all you had to ask? So what? You're
just comfortable not being the heir? I will be
the heir. I was always going to be the heir.
Once my father knew that the witch's curse was,
well, folly. Now we know it wasn't. And should
you succeed in your little investigation, figure
out who amongst this crowd is causing this, then
I will return to the light. Father will name
me as heir, reveal me to the world. More convenience,
huh? Yes. Well, tell me, who, uh... What are
your thoughts? Who do you think's doing this,
then? Who would have any other stake? Because
right now, you guys got the target on you. There's
a little bit of sweat at that. Kind of rubs a
hand over her bald head. Ain't nobody else. I
believe the Grand Messer was very clear with
his thoughts, and I agree with them. Samira,
Mello was there to throw you off. Killed so you
would not point the finger her way. But she has
the most to gain from this. Especially if Amos
was to be dethroned or killed. She controls the
Silent Verse, and they are more loyal to her
than anyone else. If Harlan is in on it with
her, then I'm sure he is. What makes you so sure?
They're close. When the Duergar came to this
world, it was Samira that came and approached
them. Brought them into our fold. Well, they
work for all of us. They are most loyal to her.
Something that my father has never liked. He's
fought against that. He's threatened to have
them removed, for they do not heed his call.
And so, of course, they're going to try to get
rid of him. If you ask me, Samira is connected
to this situation with Proud Edun. I don't know
how exactly it folds in, but I believe she's
behind this. Well, you're going to have to give
me more than that. More than I don't know how.
Because I can see how written all over you. Funny.
I thought that was your job. May I go? Jules
waves her out. She slides out of the room. Well,
that was fun. She's a gloomy one, huh? I hate
this so much. It's tough. It's tough. All right,
Jules. Well, that's one down. Who else is out
in the room? Who should I get next? Everybody.
Is Samira out there? Samira is out there. Chester,
go get Samira. All right. Yeah. Let's go. He
steps out. You kind of see him run over and kind
of like speaking to her, hushed voices. She's
dabbing at an eye. She's an elven woman, full
elven woman. It's been awesome to describe her
in this sort of sumptuous gown, long black hair.
dark skin, and she just kind of, like, nods along.
Steps up. Slowly approaches your room. There's,
like, forced poise in her features. She moves
in, sits down. How can I help you? Seriously,
how can I help in any way? This. Using my son's
lover as a murder weapon. This is disgusting.
Jules leans in. Proud. Eden. She just nods. I
thought... I thought I would come around to this.
The first heir's deaths. I had some fear, but
they were accidents. But I had the thought when
I saw Mello. The blood letter. Symbols threw
me off, but... It's her, isn't it? She's back.
She lived. I don't know how she lived, but she
lived. They tore her apart. They burned the body.
How? She just kind of goes on. I was there. I
saw everything. I was there. She's dead. She...
Can I roll a check on her? Yeah, roll a check.
Do insight. Insight. Tweener. It's a 12. 12.
It's actually quite interesting because with
a 12, there's something she's not saying and
you don't know if she's... actively trying to
hide something, or if she's hiding from something.
Do you remember that night well? I'll never forget
it. Ever. Tell me everything. Everything you
recall. We moved out to the witch's hut. All
of us were there, even DePiero. He wasn't one
amongst us. At this point, I was the most recent.
But he was there. We knew even then he would
join our ranks eventually. It was inevitable.
And so he was wrapped up in this too. We came
upon the Jungle Witch's hut. The silent verse
spread out, surrounded, moved in. They did most
of the work. But we were there when they burst
into the house. The initial combat we didn't
see, just the flashing lights, the screaming
of some ancient beings, the Beezer, perhaps,
specters, flashing through windows. But the sounds
of combat died down. And when it was safe, we
approached. I saw them tear the body apart. I
saw them burn it. I saw the moment the life left
the witch's eyes. We spread out and looked over
the hut and... She just blinks a few times rolling
over that 12. That's all. That's everything.
That's all. What were the kings doing? They were
just waiting. Overseeing. We're not warriors.
We just need to be sure. We were all in on this.
All of our children were threatened. She acted
weird at the end there. Like there's something
she didn't tell you when she went to search the
hide. I think Chester's, Chester's very, he has
a high wisdom, so I think he catches this too.
He's kind of nudging you, looking up like, like,
you know, you get the how we doing this sort
of face. The only way that we're going to figure
this out and keep you and everybody else safe
is we got to know what's unspoken. Everybody
seems like they're afraid to say something. I
can see it, but nobody's saying it. That's the
piece that we need. Lady, I didn't know your
son, but I've talked to the guards. The silent
verse, they loved him. He was good. They say
he was really, really good and sweet and kind,
and he's the kind of person we'd want to know.
And if you're hiding anything from us, you're
keeping us from honoring him, avenging him. So
please, listen to Jules. The big guy knows what's
up. Rule of advantage. Perfect. Twenty -eight.
She closed her eyes for a long minute, and her
features kind of turned into this incredibly
pained expression. It's my fault. Everything's
my fault. All of this. My son died because of
me. I entered the hut while they were burning
the bodies. I went into the back rooms, and there
was a back door. A small thing, and I... It was
opened. I went outside. I moved into the trees,
into the shadows of the night. And her face contorts
into one of just pure, shaking rage. And that's
when I saw the child. And we'll call it there.
your voice get better. All right, cool. Yeah,
it's me. Woo! Woo! Woo! Woo! Woo! I shouldn't
have had that Coca -Cola. Ah, fuck. Oh, no. It's
recording. Fuck. Shit. No. There's post -credits.