Hey, hey, hey, pants person listening to this
episode on its launch day. I have a question
for you and only you. What are you doing tomorrow,
Tuesday, December 3rd at 7 p .m. EST? Don't answer
that. Shut your little mouth. Let daddy tell
you what you're doing. I'm so sorry. We're streaming
the first episode of our new monthly show, SciFly,
on YouTube Live. This is going to be a new adventure,
new setting, even a new game system. The first
SciFly series, we're running the Forge in the
Dark game system. It's going to be incredible,
so don't you dare miss out. For more information,
hit up our socials, our Discord, all that good
stuff. There's a trailer floating around too,
so find it. Check it out. And we'll see you tomorrow
night and on the first Tuesday of every following
month at 7 p .m. EST. Just type in youtube .com
slash at fancypantspod or search for Fancy Pants
on YouTube. We'll catch you later. Wink. Keep
the streets clear and allow shield -bearer officers
quick and easy egress. The past of respite is
now under direct control of shield -bearer forces
and all involved must be evacuated. I repeat,
this is Captain Commander Ariat of the shield
-bearers. The speakers have declared a stay of
emergency on Umizu. Holy shit, guys. Been a while
since we heard from Ariat. Been a while, been
a while, yeah. Damn, dude. Things are about to
explode. They're about to explode. We made promises
in episode 100. Promises I intend to keep. Maybe
tonight. All right. You made promises. What were
your promises, though? Yeah. I want to fuck you
guys up. Oh my. Things are going to get nasty
and gnarly. You promised that every episode.
Bad things are coming. Dude, they've been nasty
and gnarly and bad. I think that was, oh my gosh,
that's hilarious. You thought, oh my gosh. Oh,
I've been just joking around. I'm half dead.
In two forms. You're about to be all dead. There's
so much I want to get to in this episode. So
I'm going to skip any banter and just dive in.
But there's one thing I wanted to say right from
the top. One thing. Last week. was one of my
favorite fights we've run in this show. It was
so visceral, so brutal. You whipped out so many
cool things. You dropped three buttons on a revive.
That shit was amazing. Real action movie shit.
Yeah. I want you each to take a button. Nice.
Take a button each. All right. For an incredible
performance. He's buttering us up. I'm buttering
you up. Because I'm about to burn your rolls.
Uh -oh. Yeah. Uh -oh. Let's get into it. What?
It's plugged in. Hang on. What? Oh, it's not
plugged in here. Whoa! Yeah! Ew! Ew! There we
go. I got excited. It wasn't me for once. For
once! It wasn't me. I love this music. I use
this one. I've been kind of resetting this one
for certain scenes to kind of set an expectation.
Because this is the music that plays. when it's
Blanche Jewel's time. Shout out Fantasy Plus.
Fantasy Plus, I'm going to get some use out of
you in these next few episodes. Don't you, don't
you worry. Blanche and Jewel's flying over the
rim of the sort of lip of this cliff face, overlooking
the preserve of the Antrestors. The Antrestors
are launching themselves down this hall, down
to the great iron door, which is pulled open
before your sort of quick flight. People just
scramming out of the way. You burst out. Into
the streets of the Radiant Citadel. The exterior
of the Citadel. And immediately you come into
a scene of panic. People are crammed into windows
and doorways, watching shielders jogging through
the streets. You can hear brass -trimmed mail
just shifting and clanging with every unified
step. Choo -choo -choo -choo -choo -choo -choo
-choo. Paparazzi guild members clamor to get
onto the streets, record, and then cringe back
when the officer's furious glares and shouts.
This is a state of full emergency. Everything
here is awash in the red glow of the diamond.
And that same humming alarm. Where are you going?
Going towards the jewel. Trying to get on. Still
on broom? Or broom slash rod? Rod broom? Yes.
Hell yeah. Unless Jules has fallen off. Hanging
on tight, you. Slick, quick serve. You know,
90 degree angle, hard. You're moving up the coil
of the serpent over shield bearer officers that
kind of look up to you. Some might glare, some
cheer. There are luminaries coming. Luminaries
here to save the day. Gods know this day needs
saving. You move and very quickly you find yourselves
hovering over the... Hang on. Hang on, now I
got this. Hang on. Crap, what's it called? The
docking bay. What's it called? Damn it. The passage
of respite. Me did it. I did it. Me. Way to go,
buddy. Thank you. Find yourself hovering above
the passage of respite. Looking down, you see
the milky white pearl conquer jewel actually
totally smooth on the outside unlike the others.
There's no really facets here. It is a... literally
a giant pearl with this open gateway has docked
in the bay. There are shield bearer officers
piling onto it. You watch them sort of moving
in. And I think you hear like amidst all the
shouts and orders you're hearing around, you
can hear there's a bit of an argument down sort
of in the midst of all this. Maybe there's a
small area that's cleared away. As you can see,
Captain Commander Ariat is engaged with. Another
figure who is hulking over him and yet shrinking
away. Captain Commander, please, I can assist.
I'm the only shieldbearer officer that has challenged
the storm I before. Arhalon is shouting. Ex -officer,
you gave up your badge, Arhalon. This is a serious
search and rescue mission. We do not need a civilian
getting in our way. I can search. I can rescue.
Oh my god, David. Sure you can. But I do not
believe that is your intention here, Arhalon.
Your prior encounter with Ozen, it cut more from
you than just an arm. Do you really think you
should face him again? Do you think you can?
You see Arhalon seems to shrink before Arya.
You see an arm and arrow croaker suddenly rushes
up towards the commander and salutes. Lieutenant,
be ready to prep the docking bay for the turquoise
gem. I have word that Atash and his forces are
en route. Once we take off, bring them in. Yes,
sir. And she sort of moves away. All right, turns
back to Arhalon. It's okay, Arhalon. Leave it
to us. You are a good man, a man of honor. I've
seen too many good men die already. I well and
truly appreciate your retirement. A hand on the
shoulder. Leave the world saving to the shield
bearers and to the luminaries. And he nods then.
Upwards, maybe above Arlon's shoulders, the two
of you come flying down into the scene. What
do you do? Arlon looks to you both, and you can
see this desire in his eyes, this passion. He
wants to go, but he's not being allowed. Jules
will step up. Jules LaRoche, salute. He's with
us. I do not believe he has the sidekick credentials.
He is with us. Roll a check. Roll persuasion
or intimidate. I think that's kind of a neutral
stance. I think either could work. Can Blanche
provide the help action? She'll say to... I don't
think Blanche knows Ariat. You probably haven't
met personally, no. But she'll say... You can
tell this is the Captain Commander. Clearly he's
in charge. Sure, sure. He may not be formally
a sidekick, but he's been helping us a lot. We
can take responsibility for him. No, that's not
a good roll. It's a single digit, so... I mean,
help action doesn't require your roll. That's,
oh, I'm thinking, I've been listening to Glass
Cannon all day. Pathfinder, yeah, yeah, yeah.
No, you just give it to Jules. All right, so
it's advantage? It's advantage. Fuck yeah, good,
because I rolled a two. Oh my goodness. Oh man.
So like, you say that, he doesn't look like he's
going to say, you kind of step up, Blanche, you
say your piece. Jules, give me one more thing
you add on top of Blanche. Huh? Give me one more
line you add on top of Blanche, just because
it's cool. This won't work without him. What
do you roll? 19. Oh, nice. No, that's actually
good enough. That's good enough. Aria, I was
doing... I was expecting astronomically high.
No, no, not for this, not yet. Well, I should
say nine on the die, and then I get a plus ten
for persuasion. It wasn't a clear... It was closer
than you think, but you got it. Aria kind of
nods. All right, fine. He's in your charge, though.
Don't let him get killed. As much as he might
want it. Arlan, that's not... I... Thank you.
Captain Commander, please. Just one more chance.
He kind of nods and starts moving away. Starts
barking orders, moving into the pearl himself.
Arlan turns to the two of you. Thank you. I...
I won't do anything reckless. I... I promise.
I just... I've been waiting for a chance. To
do anything. You'll do exactly as we say. Exactly.
You are my superior officer. And while he might
say that to you, Blanche, the character sheet
is going to you, Jeremy. Nice. Ooh. Oh. Yes,
you will now be in charge of Arhalon. Oh, my
God. Whoa. I'm honored and terrified. He's a
beast. He's a beast. He is a beast. You might
need him. Uh, hulking form kind of turns with
you and you kind of form ranks. Uh, as luminaries
come in, maybe the first, you are the first to
reach the scene. Uh, maybe others don't dare
to go, but just like with, uh, um, Phil Mira's
breath blessing in episode one, people make way.
They let the luminaries come. Luminaries inspire
hope. Luminaries bring a fighting power that
the shield mirrors. Many of them cannot match.
And so as you move towards a pearl, they step
aside. You're planning on riding this out. You're
going. Yeah. Yeah. Jules and Blanche are going
to lock eyes at the front of the ship and walk
in together. Holding hands. Holding hands. They're
going to kiss later. Narlan slides in between.
He grabs one of your hands. He's here too. This
is nice. We might die, Narlan. Oh, we'll definitely
die. You step into the pearl. You see all around,
super officers have like filled the stands, saluting,
standing sort of at ease as Ariadne kind of takes
center stage in the middle where the luggage
in the wagon goes. He's like in the middle here.
Huge space cleared, spins around to all of them.
Stay in formation. Follow rank. I want immediate
perimeter around the IQV. I goofed. Well, now
you said it in his voice, so I'm going to keep
it in. Damn it. Stay in formation. Follow rank.
I want an immediate perimeter around the evacuees.
Watch for sudden attacks by those lightning elementals.
Engage them only at range and draw them away
from civilian crowds. And if Ozen is spotted...
A long pause. Call in to your superior. Do not
engage. You see he, with a, Captain Commander!
Captain Commander! Just make like a last shout
and response. Aria kind of turns away from them,
moves through the parting crowd towards the actual
pilot chamber of the Pearl. Moments later, the
words are supposedly spoken. The Pearl begins
to rise, rise 500 feet away from the Citadel,
joining the others in orbit. And then with one
more word spoken, it's gone. The second the pearl
appears, you can already feel the wind buffeting
it. This massive stage -sized or arena -sized
gemstone is being buffeted by the power of this
wind. Shaking. It's sliding down, down. Docks.
As the way opens forward and shield bearers begin
to pile out information, just marching out into
like a crowd of people you can see as arriving
outside. There's a long train of them coming
from the city off to the west. You can hear as
it opens up like the lightning, the thunder,
the rain pouring, the wind howling. You step
out into this thing as your turn comes and you're
immediately fighting this powerful wind. You
realize now, Blanche, It's going to be hard to
fly. You might be able to do it, but there's
going to be checks involved. It's going to be
pretty rough. This is going to be hard to control.
The sky, Jules, I think it strikes you so deep
in your soul to see the sky the way it was that
day. It's only been, what, two and a half, almost
three months, and yet you look up to see the
same black cyclone clouds swirling, crackling
with energy. It's just like Tythos. I think Jules
looks up and for a brief moment has fear on his
face. But then his eyes twitch and then his eyes
narrow to determination. Rain pattering, pouring
down your face as you look up towards the sky,
towards that cyclone. You see... People just
like, I think amongst the arriving people, maybe
there's a break in the crowd, and you see a number
of people, looks like six figures, moving through,
charging, all wearing black samurai armor, not
dissimilar from Ozen's own. They're calling just
things out like, Make way! Make way for the shrine
guard! We have to reach the shrine! This is,
what's happening? But, Captain, this, our duties
lie here with the people! We don't know what
this is. We need to get off world. We need to
help them get off world. But our compatriots,
we cannot leave them. There's sort of an argument
brewing amongst them. Meanwhile, apart from that,
you see, like, terrifyingly, I should note, amidst
all the moving people, there are a number of
horses that look pretty scared. Huh. Don't run
on any natural ones, Blanche. Don't run on natural
ones. They exist. Horses are here. Oh, I thought
you were trying to be like, the broom can't fly,
but a horse can run. You should definitely ride
a horse and make rolls about it. Not a cowboy?
That'd have so much fun. We'll talk about rolls
and all that when we get to Blanche and Jules
leaving because I'm curious what the broom rolls
are going to be versus what a horse roll would
be. Let me ask you. Do Blanche and Jules leave?
You step out into this, you see arguments with
the shrine guard. It looks like some of them
want to stay here. Some of them want to push
forward. Where do their duties lie? With the
people of Omizu who need to leave now or with
the shrine? That is almost certainly going to
fall behind in this world. Yeah, Blanche isn't
really concerned with what the Shrine Guard do.
Hell yeah. Blanche wants to get to the Shrine
to see Ozen. How do you do it? What's your plan?
Well, can you tell me what roles will look like
for Broomflying? Okay, so I told you before,
moving to the Shrine is going to be a 10 -minute
full speed run. the broom will get you there
much faster. It will get you there a bit faster.
It'll cut some time. If you are to take the broom,
though, I mean, you'll still be buffeted by the
wind. It's still going to be slowed down a little
bit. It's going to be acrobatics checks to kind
of maintain control of it, maintain balance while
sort of pushing into these winds which are kind
of coming at you from various powerful gusts
from all sides. You need to kind of maintain
them, move them. I'll probably do a series of
checks. Failing one, you might fall. If you fail
too far, take some damage. We'll see what happens.
These checks are going to be at this advantage,
I'm going to say. If you are both on the rod.
Now, I will say this. Because this isn't really
an oft -used way of doing the spell. You have
the spell Enhance Ability, Jules. Do you know
how long that lasts for? An hour. If you were
to cast that on yourself, you could run there
faster. Oh, fuck. I'll also say if you cast Catch
Grace, you could ride the broom without disadvantage.
It's more like I'm going to give you this option
because this isn't the way you'd normally think
about it. But together this would give you the
ability to lean easier into everything because
you're going to have a better dexterity. Cat's
Grace would give you the ability to ride the
broom without giving Blanche's advantage. What's
it? Bull's Strength would give you the ability
to run there. Advantage on strength checks. Yeah,
you'd get there faster. It'd give you advantage
on basically getting there quicker. So you want
to take the broom or you want to take the land
route? It's up to you. But you could use that
if you burn that spell slot. I'll give you guys
a boon there because that's a cool way to use
that. Well, I mean, I'm going to use the spell
slot either way. Yeah. Well, let's talk about
these horses. Yeah. What would it look like if
somebody rode a horse? Yeah. That's a good question.
They're very scared. You need an animal handling
check even to, like, take a horse. Also, they're
probably assumedly people's horses, so you'd
be stealing a horse. But you could just, like,
do that, ask, persuasion into animal handling.
I mean, you tell me. There's a lot of options
here. Yeah. How's your animal handling? Negative
one. Okay. Let's not go that route. I've got
a plus zero. It could be so funny, though. Just
think about that way. So if the broom will get
us there a lot faster. Yeah. I mean, if I can
cast Cat's Grace and give you non -disadvantage,
I don't see why we'd go any other route. Yeah,
totally. It's going to be the same either way
for you. I'm fine with that. Yeah. Okay. Hell
yeah. Yeah, I like that. Ah, shit. David just
conned us into... Me using a spell slot. Shit.
Hang on. So we'll get off the pearl. Blanche
isn't going to address the shrine guard or anything.
She'll look to... Sorry, I just blanked. Oh.
And with Cast Grace, falling from 20 feet or
less does not incapacitate, or it doesn't take
damage. Oh, nice. That'd be great for you. Oh,
wow. So... Yeah. That's awesome. Yeah. Blanche
looks to Arhalon, and she starts to mount the
broom. Can you keep up? Wings unfurl. I believe
I can. Actually, you probably can't, because
you have, like, 100 foot on the broom, and he
has, what, 50 foot? I'll have to double check.
Oh, shit, this is so exciting. Yeah, it has a
flying speed of 50 feet. Its flying speed becomes
30 feet while carrying over 200 pounds. Our hold
on has 30 feet. So he'll be right with you He
won't be quite as fast as you and I'm going to
actually make him make checks to they'll be strength
checks for him athletics I think that's makes
more sense. He's pushing using his wings to fly
into it It's more of a strength game where you
guys you're riding the broom. It's like it's
automatically moving It's more about trying to
keep control and move quickly Basically, you're
gonna be slowed down a little bit I'm gonna be
counting rounds down in this next combat based
on what you roll here To see how fast it's how
long it takes you for everyone to get to there.
So okie dokie. Okay You guys take off? Take off,
yeah. The broom blasts out Jules. What does Cat's
Grace look like as you cast this to, like, make
this easier? Oh, I didn't think about that. Oh,
shit. Jules is now a kitty cat. He's got little
whiskers. Full anime cat guy. Yeah, little ears
pop up on Jules' head. Or, like, maybe his cloak
has a separate hood that he pops up. Damn. I
don't know. I mean, it might not look like anything.
You might just, like, have this suddenly. Yeah,
I think that one doesn't need anything flashy.
Your finesse, your dexterity, your reflexes,
it all kind of just, like. strengthens. As you're
moving, you feel every little touch and twitch
of the wind, and you can lean just the right
way to keep things easier on Blanche. You blast
off. You're doing that. Blanche, you're facing
into the wind. It's buffeting you. You immediately
feel yourself like massive turbulence as you're
pushing forward. Brim's shaking. Arhalon immediately
starts falling behind, but he is teeth -gritted,
flapping those wings, pushing himself. I need
acrobatics from Blanche and athletics from Arhalon.
What's his athletics modifier? Plus four. 19.
No, wait, sorry. That should be a plus. It should
be a plus seven, actually. Whoa. He has a skill.
I don't know why it doesn't. Okay. All right.
It doesn't help when you roll a two on the die.
Oh, no. So that's nine. No. I'll be behind. Would
you get Blanche? 19. 19. You being just like
you, you lean into it. You feel. The storm. You've
probably had times with Ozen before where you've
just like sat in the middle of one of Umizu's
like harsh sort of November storms. Training
sessions in the storm. Yeah, just like feeling
it and letting it like ride over you. Becoming
a part of it. Learning to move through it. And
here you just like maybe even close your eyes
for a second. You know the way. This is your
home away from home. Seeing it now, the great
sort of coastline spread out far to like the
south of where you are. You can see the buildings
of Kamino way off to the west somewhere, partially
obscured under all this rain and haze. The Shrine
of Storms to the east. You're coming home. You
push for that 19. Arhalon's falling behind, but
I want one more check from both of you. Wow.
Same roll. 15 on the die, 19. Holy shit. That
one was a 5. Plus 7 makes it 12. So you don't
see Arhalon. It's also Blink just sailing perfectly,
moving into the storm and towards this coming
battle. But let's pull away from these two for
now. We find ourselves once again in the Court
of Beauty. The court's still overcome by this
great pool. Blood bubbling in the southern corner.
Two Onis lie dead in the water. And immediately
we just hear a voice. The Oni admitted it. They
were only puppets of this solely brass. We must
reveal this puppeteer. She plotted the invasion
of the shrine. It is because of her that my fellow
guard were hurt. Lightning cracks above. Powerful
blast across the court. You find bodies. You're
like bracing against it. Your body's just like
getting pushed by this wind. The sky looks dangerous.
The dark clouds swirling in the form of a crackling
cyclone. I think at this point, the two of you
at least begin to feel a deep unease. This is
just like the storm that took Tythos. You've
seen footage of that day. It's been everywhere.
But surely, surely that could not be happening
here. Not now. Right? Before you decide what
happens next, I should inform you that this...
I'm going to be carefully counting time now.
Okay. Akiyo is a problem, but the sudden storm
will make it very clear to you that you need
to move fast. The apparatus is open, but your
quick glance inside Dresden has only revealed
a set of ten levers lining the cockpit. In order
to understand what they do, you would need to
spend some time testing them. It might take a
few minutes to learn these controls if you want
to use this thing, if you think that's worth
doing. It's also worth knowing that the Shrine
Guard, while unconscious now, could also awaken.
Making any moves towards the innermost sanctum
would become far more difficult should that happen,
Crispin. And of course, one member of the Shrine
Guard is yet very aware and very conscious. It's
a million gold piece question. What are you guys
going to do? Crispin's going to put it all in
Dresden's hands. Crispin's going to use his entire
movement, which, with a double move, is 20 feet.
Get to the door. And then his two giant octopus
eyes turn around and wait to see what Dresden
does. Okay. You slide up towards the inner sanctum.
Thank you. What are you doing? Where are you
going? This is forbidden. We've taken them out.
We must help the Shrine Guard now. We must revive
them, bring them to cover this storm. It is a
bad one. Blub. Blub. I hate this. It's so funny.
I have so much to say. It's so funny. We need
a Jules in this party, too, because someone's
got to do the talking. I mean... Dresden recognizes
the importance of that mech, and he's going to
go for it. You don't say anything to Akio. You
just move away. I think he turns to Akio, stares
him in the eye for a second, and then turns back
and goes to it. Akio just tail sort of drops,
ears sort of lowering, looks at you guys. And
then before Dresden gets in, he turns around.
and says, trust me. Okay, I might ask for a check,
but I'm not going to do it now. For now, Akio
nods. He turns his attention back to the shrine
guard, perhaps looking over their wounds, trying
to make sure. He doesn't want to disturb them,
it seems, like he's very gingerly kind of fogging
them. They are, like, magically asleep. Enough,
you know, force would awaken them, but I think
right now he's figuring maybe they need to sleep.
He'll be trying to grab something he can do to
cover them up so they're not getting rain dumping
on them. He just starts fretting over his friends.
Okay. Start with you, Dresden. You step into
the apparatus again. There's like three seats
in here, two in the back, one that's a cockpit
seat, ten levers lining it. I'm not going to
make you go through a bunch of stuff, but do
you take a seat down and start looking at those
levers? I think so. There are ten levers. Do
you want to pull one? You've got to start somewhere.
Fuck. You've got to start somewhere. Can you
describe all ten of them? Literally, there's
nothing. They're all in neutral position right
now, and there's an up and a down for each one.
So even if you touch one, you've got to pick
a direction to pull it. So you sit down, you're
looking at all this. There's no real instruction
here. It's just like, what is going on? There's
weird, vague inscription that you can't quite
read. It's a very magical item you're seeing.
How heavy is this thing? Could Dresden get out
and move it so it's not facing the shrine guards?
This thing is. About 750 pounds. No, he can't.
Typically 500, but because it's a larger version,
750 seems right. Oh, no. Yeah, this full metal
chassis, you're kind of inside of it. You can
see, like, little tubes that look out in the
front, and you're kind of, like, able to see.
As you're sitting there, you can see, like, as
you move around, Akio is still working amongst
the shrine guard. I hate this. I'm afraid I'm
going to kill all the guards. Oh, my God, right.
Yeah, exactly. So what you're telling me, David.
At least two of them have to be for movement.
At least a few of them have to be for movement.
Yeah. So if you sat in a car or a tank, you could
probably figure out at least which buttons are
for movement and which are for attacking. This
is very magical. If you were a wizard, I'd allow
it. As he's looking through what you need to
look through to look out, he's going to grab
the nearest lever on his right. Right, yeah,
like the steering wheel. Yeah, exactly. Okay,
you're sitting down. Hang on, I have numbers
one through ten. So let's say one is on your
left, ten's on your right. If you're sitting
in the middle, that means that six would be the
one you're reaching for. You pull up or down?
Up. Okay, you pull up, and you actually just
start to... Move forward. I think you start reaching
where you're almost hanging over the edge of
the water, about to tilt and topple in. You pull
it, maybe you pull it back, and you take a step
back. In the neutral position, you put back in
neutral, the thing stops moving, and you realize
that's forward back. I'm not going to do all
of them. He's going to do the same thing to the
one on the left. Oh, the closest one? So four?
Okay. As you hit four, you just see the claws.
Wouldn't that be five? Up or down? I have five
as a middle. Point, like, kind of right in between.
Oh, okay, okay. Not a lever? Uh, what? Okay,
no, yeah, yeah, never mind. Do you pull up or
down? Down. Uh, you pull down, and you see the
claws that were retracted from that last combat
kind of fold and move back in. This is what makes
the claws go in and out. So you press it down,
and the claws can drop out again. I have an idea.
What? Uh -huh. Up, down. Up, down. ABBA. Left,
right, left, right. R1, R2. ABBA starts select.
Money rains in the sky. You did it. You did the
cheat. It's a million gold. Okay, so I know how
to move it forward and backwards. We'll say just
like do this now. And to move the claws. Okay.
Yeah, so we can pan away as you're kind of slowly
gingerly pressing these. Okay. Feel a little
more comfortable. Okay. And I will give you the
sheet for this in a moment. You have... now gained
access to the apparatus of the crab also i think
known in 2024 as it was way back when the apparatus
of qualish uh it's a pretty cool item i should
have brought my book because i could have shown
it to you so how much time did that take this
is going to take a few minutes while this is
happening we're gonna pan to you crispin okay
crispin can hold his breath uh when he's not
in water for an hour so you're fine yeah this
won't take an hour trust me I can't afford that
long. There's people on the way, and I've got
to get shit going before they do. You're moving
into the back room there. Finally, we're going
to reveal the full map. As you slide into the
sort of partition that hides the back room of
the shrine, you see it's like pretty tight quarters.
It's like five -foot -wide things. You're a ten
-foot -wide octopus, but you're an octopus. You
kind of just... squeeze and wriggle your way
through. Like one arm goes through first. Yes,
yeah, yeah. Then two arms, then three arms, then
he pulls his body through. Sliding in and you
find yourself, you're pushing yourself into like,
again, this shrine opens into the mouth of a
cavern and this is the only entrance into this
sort of like small cavern spot. You push through.
Hold on. Yeah, what? How is the apparatus going
to get through there? You want to bring the apparatus
into that room? Yes. Oh, no, you can't. It's
too big. Well, fuck that then. What did we waste
all this time for? Fuck that then. I don't know.
Why is that your point? I thought you were learning
how to use it. This room is tiny. I just kind
of assumed this is where the fight was going
to be. Well, we didn't know it was tiny. All
right. Well, here we are. Well, shit. Yeah. Dresden
gets out then. What? You don't want a tank? And
we can bring the fight back out. True. If there's
a fight. True. But Dresden is still going to
go in there. Sure, sure. Now that he's familiar
with the tank. It's going to take minutes to
do it. If you do not spend time on this, you
will have to learn the tank on the fly in the
session the way we've been doing it now. Okay.
God damn it. So he took the time to learn, and
now he's out, and we're going to go investigate.
We're doing Crispin first. What? Yeah. I said
I was counting minutes. If you want to make that
a thing, I might cut. No, that's fine. If this
is happening while Dresden is doing this, then
there's nothing I can do right now. Oh, okay.
Now I understand. But the second that this is
done, Dresden's out of there and going in the
room. Cool, yeah. So Crispin's a few minutes
ahead of you, though, so he's going to go in
first while you're learning this. I've got to
be very strict on time because there's a timeline
I have to reach and hit, so that's why I'm being
a little more limiting than normal. He just wants
to split the party. Yep. Crispin, you move into
this chamber, this open, natural cavern born
of the rock of the seaside cliff. It's not a
large space. You're surprised, I think, at how
small it actually is. It's only about 20 by 20
feet. 20 by 30, that's widest points. And you
just see the jagged sort of stone wall surrounds
this like strange, it looks like a ball, a like
everlasting sort of crumbling storm. There is
a smooth looking fossil. like the snout of some
creature, just barely edging up in the middle
of the floor. And I think just before it, again,
I should say it's a black fossil, the kind you've
seen before, and just before it, you do see that
there is a, it looks like a singular mat, sort
of tethered down, a stake down to the floor.
I mean, as you get in here, wind is buffeting
you hard. There is so little in here, it's surprising.
This is the internal sanctum. This is the soul,
apparently, of this, this. Drakkon. The storm
rages, and you feel something in here. You have
actually, realizing you felt it this whole time,
but it's strange. In other worlds, you've been
touched by the lingering souls of the Drakkon
that are bound to their own corpses. From what
you were told by the Incarnates, this is a side
effect of the magic that binds all worlds to
the Radiant Cyadel and to the Sunweaver's own
soul that empowers it. Those Drakkon that die
during the breaking, they do not pass on. anywhere
they grow mad their souls trapped in their own
dying dead rotted bodies essentially their own
fossils but this world has been strange because
as i said you felt these souls trying to reach
out they want something they they they push to
connect to your mind but this soul seems to be
almost distracted as you come close as you see
this raging storm the the form of this soul somehow
projected outside of the body you can feel it
you can feel what it feels right now pain terror
it is screaming as though the soul is being pierced
by hooks and pulled wide stretched and tearing
apart you feel this magic seeping out of this
cavern into the sky above that is the storm It
is a projection of this creature's soul forced
to be spread apart, forced to, like, bear down
on this world, set aflame by some source. You've
never felt this before, anything like this. Now,
I will say that now that you're close, you can
feel that you can connect deeply to the spirit.
Your innate power has reached a level of potential
that seemed impossible previously. And Mazir
Drakon is currently at a times five multiplier.
Wow. You still know so little of this power.
Maybe there's a way to get to even deepen the
connection further. You don't know. But right
now in this room, you feel like you're at the
apex, perhaps. Times five. I believe that means
on a D100, that would be a 30 and under. Or if
we want to get stupid, 71 and over? Stop. Okay.
As I said, there's not much in here except for
a single mat tethered beneath the roaring storm,
a light by the crackling waves of white energy
that linger at the storm's heart. What do you
want to do? I'm confused. I was expecting to
come in here and see Ozen. So I'm like, I'm like,
okay, well now what? That explains why you guys
are so stressed. Gosh. Okay. I don't want to,
at least I don't yet want to use Mazir Drakon,
which I was thinking about as you were talking.
And it is a feature, so Crispian can still use
it while wild -shaped. Oh. Which is pretty cool.
It's pretty cool. Does he feel like he can just
reach out and, like, touch this thing? Does he
get the idea that it would hurt him? Or would
that be some sort of connection? Hmm. What is
the role for this? Give me Arcana. Arcana, all
right. 15. I like this a lot. Something, some
other alien power is roaring through this fossil,
pushing it in this way. Huh. And you think, if
you make contact with it, perhaps you'll even,
like, deeper the connection even further. Perhaps
even get a higher multiplier on Mazutra Khan.
Whoa. But it will hurt you. Man, I know that
sounds like a stupid move, but Crispin has to
do that. Do you want to do this now? What miracle
do you want to summon? Remember, when you call
upon this, you essentially get to cause a...
It's a divine intervention feature. Is there
anything right now that is worth doing for you?
Well, I mean, he wants this world to stop from
falling. So at this point, you think that could
be the case. That could be the case. Right. Gosh,
is that the ask, I guess? To keep the world from
falling into the Keen and Gloom? You get one
of these. And it's not set, like, if you can
just fully do a huge thing. Well, right. That's
what I'm wondering. What are the limits of Mazir
Drakkan? I would say you don't know. You can
simply ask. Hope that the power of this being,
given form by your question, by your wish, can
do what you ask it to do. But you don't know
the limits of that power. You don't know the
restraints. Crispin goes to reach to make contact
and... Sliding closer and closer. You. Reach
out. You actually slide onto the mat in the middle
of the floor. You realize this is probably where
Ozen would sit. Akio mentioned something about
Ozen getting sustained by the storm. Not needing
to sleep. Perhaps he would in his time just sit
here. Beneath this soul. Empowered by it. As
Crispin slithers onto this mat, does he feel
any empowerment? No. Whatever Ozen had as the
keeper of the Shrine of Storms, it's not the
same power as Mazir Drakon. With that Arcana
check, though, actually. Yes, with that Arcana
check, I want to give you this. I think this
only makes sense. Because you're putting that
together. This power that he wielded. This soul.
Stretch into this storm that has consumed the
sky. Could they be connected? This is not something
that you think you can do. Oh, is he a warlock?
Maybe Ozen is doing this. Maybe Ozen is here.
It's finally the thought sort of creeping into
your mind because something, someone or something
is causing the soul to like writhe in agony.
Something is using the ability you don't understand
to stretch it out. Okay, so it's not like I can
just wish for this to go back because the problem
is Ozen and he'll just do it again. Kristen's
just gonna like take this big giant tentacle
and just grab the corner of the mat and like
lift it up to see if there's anything underneath
it. Okay. So, yeah, it's kind of like, I think
it's like staked down because the wind is so
harsh here. Oh, sure. But you pull out one of
the stakes. Yeah, pull a stake. Pink. And you
see the mat sort of flies up. As it does so,
you see one thing. Ooh. A singular envelope.
Oh. Flits up into the wind. Catches it. Do you
catch it? Yeah, or tries to at least. I'll give
it to you. It's cool. Okay. Tentacle snaps out.
You grab it. You slide it over. Can you read
a note if you're in? Yeah, I don't see why not.
Yeah. He's still got eyes. He can't talk, but
he's still got eyes. It gives you tentacle in.
You pull the paper out. Maybe you turn around
so you're facing away from the storm. Buffets
it from the wind. You're kind of slowly, methodically
tentacling this. It's the weirdest shit. You
notice no postmark on the envelope. That's the
first thing that catches your eyes. This may
suggest it was a hand -delivered message. You
also realize this is the only personal item within
this shrine. So this may be significant. You
feel something. Like this. This is why you're
here. This is why everything happened the way
it did. Why Xolay planned this all for something
like this. This note might be a miracle in itself.
You reach a tentacle in. Unfold this fine parchment.
A single page. And you read. Dearest friend.
We are so very pleased that you have come to
agree with our wisdom. Your granted talent as
the Keeper of the Shrine of Storms will play
a vital role in the events to come. As to your
earlier concern, I can assure you that the panic
created through the presentation of the Serpent
Storm will be paramount to our efforts. Only
through an epidemic of fear can our conquered
worlds truly come together and evolve. On top
of this, the obvious connection with the Keening
Gloom will be necessary to facilitate and mask
our primary plot. I will, of course, play my
own part in this aspect of our endeavor. I should
warn you, SW is concerned over the legitimacy
of your loyalty. I have made what assurances
I can, but even this letter is more than they
wanted to allow. Still, I find myself trusting
in your potential and your intellect. It is regrettable
that the two of you cannot meet in person, but
as it is, you are both firmly locked into your
current stations. When next I come to inspect
the shrine's defenses, I will grant you more
information on our timeline. Your humble messenger,
Kejau Kamal. Oh. And you actually see a string
of very fancy titles written out, like sweeping,
writing down below this. Esteemed founder of
the Crystal Network. Arcane Architect Extraordinaire.
Honored Instructor of the Magical Arts at Sensa
Academy. Benevolent Deliverer of the New World.
Wow. Whoa. Okay. Do we know anybody that has
the initials SW? I mean, when I hear S, I immediately
think Sholay. Yeah, but the W threw me off. When
he said S, I expected a B after it. I mean, are
maiden names a thing when you're a dragon? Sholay's
name is interesting. Her name is just Sholay.
She added brass because she's fitting in with
the humans. Dragons don't have last names. So
she only kind of took that on. But she wouldn't
have a maiden name because she's a dragon. She
really only has a first name. David, do we know
anybody with the initials SW? I don't know. I
don't know. Do you? It's going to be something
so fucking obvious. Maybe. Oh, boy, oh, boy.
Okay, I was kind of hoping that that letter would
give me an idea as to what I want to do. Okay,
so Crispin thinks that Ozen is here, and Ozen
is causing this. Now you honestly know. You just
know, and it's like it confirms. The Keeper of
the Shrine has this ability. Is it given from
the Shrine? You don't know where it comes from,
but this soul storm? It can be conjured, as the
note put it. Like, that is what's happening here.
You know it. You feel it. All right. So, huh.
Okay. So what Crispin wants is the power to defeat
Ozen. How do you communicate that with a giant
fossil that's projecting a cloud, that's projecting
a storm? I don't really know. So what Crispin
is going to do... Dresden. Oh, God. Oh, my God.
Time. Outside. You think you're starting to get
the hang of this. You've tried every lever. You've
got it kind of mentally mapped. You think you
get the hang. You can feel like you can move
this thing pretty handily. Akio sort of has a...
Maybe he took some sort of blanket from the supplies.
He sort of... I guess he wouldn't really have
supplies, but he's still just kind of checking
over everybody. He's taking some minutes on this,
going to every person in turn. Kind of starts
to move away from the body, starts to move towards
the back of this apparatus. What are you doing?
I think Dresden's going to move them back over
to the stairs there, to the entrance. Okay. With
the back facing the entrance. Oh, so you're basically
blocking off the top of the stairs. Yes. Okay.
And then he's going to get out and meet up with
Grissman. Okay. You pull open the back slot.
You slide out to go talk to Crispin. Can we have
it where the back of it is kind of into the doorway
so there's no way for anything to get around
behind it? I think things could probably climb
over it still. I don't think it's tall enough
to block. I mean, at least the sides. At least
some form of... Yeah, you've got it pretty tight
to the edge of the door here. So something would
have to climb over it to be able to get into
it. Okay. So Dresden comes into the room to see
Crispin. One tentacle is clutching a letter,
a note, and three or four others are working
on the ground. He's used his... ink that he has
is a giant octopus. That's pretty cool. It doesn't
recharge until a short or long rest, but I figured
for flavor it was worth it. So he's got two or
three tentacles going, and between a mixture
of pictures or pictographs or runes or some sort
of writing, he's putting his intentions into
this ink. And his intentions are to have a full,
strong, rested party. Blanche is there. Jules
is there. The shrine guard are standing and invigorated.
And that's sort of my way of putting a neat bow
around my ask is to be like rested and rejuvenated
and have his friends here. Oh. Okay. You have
this wish in mind. Perhaps your mind lingers
on the omen you saw earlier. Death and a lightning
bolt on the beach just outside the shrine as
you cast Augury. It all makes sense now. Death.
This world. This world won't die. You know that
much. You know this world will be reunified.
Something else is going to happen to it. The
Incarnate's made that clear. But there is death
here. You push towards the fossil. Dresden, you
stand behind, watching this. Akio is somewhere
outside. He did not follow you in when you backed
up and you sealed the way. You do not see Akio.
You don't know what happens to Akio. There's
a sound. Muffled now because you are inside this
chamber. A sound of grinding stone mixed with
the sound of rushing water from the Court of
Beauty. And perhaps, Dresden, as you're farther
back, closer to the entrance, as you listened
to this sound, something strikes you in absence
of a different sound. The chimes of warning have
ceased. You touch the fossil? Crispin, yeah,
finishes his intention and... It reaches out
a tentacle to touch the fossil. I need you to
make. Give me a constitution saving throw. Oh,
okay. Hmm. Jeremy, do you think this is worth
a button? I think so. Screw it. I think from
this point forward, everything is worth a button.
We have this built up. I don't want to waste
it on a con save or lose it anyway. First roll
was a crit. Ooh, okay. The good kind of crit.
Nice. The good kind of crit. That's great. What
happened? Did you crit your pants? Yes, yes,
yes. Crispin octopus crit on the floor. Ink on
the floor. I already used the ink. Let's put
a hex on the whole thing. Until the end of a
short rest. Gotcha. The last dregs of the ink
blur style. God, I wasted a button on that. You
slide in, touch this thing, and immediately...
Electricity, a current. You feel that same pain.
You feel the screaming agony. You feel as if
it's yourself. And a voice. He is here. With
a nat 20, you take only 13 points of damage.
Oh my lanta. Lightning damage as this racks your
body. But as you push into this pain, as you
lean into this, what do you say to this being,
this screaming being, this terrified being? I
can defeat him. Grant me some of your power.
I can win. You are not the only one vying for
this power. And you're, like, pulling at it,
yanking out towards yourself, trying to, like,
break. through this other grasp, this iron grasp
that is stretching out, that is destroying the
skies above. You pull. Go ahead and make your
roll. So 30 and under is a pass. I get what I
want. 30 and under. Or wait, did you say it was
higher? It's actually higher because you're touching
it. Okay. What's my roll? I'm going to give you
a times seven. Oh, that is. What's six times
seven? Calculators. Calculators. 42. 42. 42.
So it's got to be a 67. No, no, no. You shut
up. All right. Let's roll it first, and then
we'll fight about it later. This is crazy. Okay.
Here we go. Oh, my God. What's going to happen?
74. Holy shit. 74. We had a good shot. You got
the biggest fucking grin on your face, David.
13 damage from nothing. I don't even know what
I'm doing right now. I'm just going to say things
as they come into my brain. Oh, no. And we will
deal the ramifications next week. You are playing
tug of war with the power of the gods. You grab
hold of this. Yank on it. You feel the other
force, the other hand. It's so close now. Breathing
down your neck. He's right there. You pull, stretch
this power already stretched to its maximum.
You feel it screaming, screaming. The soul screams.
You ask for a miracle. It does not come. You
pull and you feel something break outside in
the court of beauty. The clouds part for a second
as if some giant, invisible hand has punched
through the sky. A great palm laying flat on
the ground, ceasing the waves, ending the rain.
There's a still moment. You feel this here in
this soul sanctum. You feel a moment of stillness
in the storm. The presence grows closer. The
ground begins to rumble. and shake the shaking
that you feel in your bones and your souls and
the shrine of storms explodes what and we'll
call it there