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Today, I thought it'd be fun to talk about the
world of Hauri, or as many call it, the world
of Yonido. Now, technically, Yonido is the capital
city -state of Hauri, but it's also the governance
that rules over the entirety of the world, so
the two are often interchangeable in reference.
But because of this, I figured the best way to
discuss Hauri is to talk about the history of
Yonido, because it is fascinating. You see, legends
say that Yonido, the city of judgment, was founded
by the great dragon Miraihu thousands of years
ago. Braille's chosen mortal task was creating
and leading a great civilization, one that would
never fall or falter. It is because of this mandate
and the sheer resilience of Unido's people that
the city -state stands today in all its glory.
The people of Unido believe in tradition above
all else and hold steadfast to ideals of fealty
and order. Structure is the key to everything,
and devotion to family and to the royal family
is the most crucial of personal traits. The royal
clan currently is headed by Queen Jean -Mi, and
they are said to be descendants of Mireille herself.
Through their monarchical nature, this government
also relies heavily on bureaucracy to see the
needs of its people's men. Nigel's trades are
meticulously chosen and painstakingly tested
to see if they can stand worthy of governing
the city and forcing its rigid laws. The most
promising of these can ascend to the rank of
Spirit Arbiter, which, I mean, sounds really
cool, but their role is kept pretty secretive.
And that's kind of the thing with the Unido.
We know a lot of the big picture of how the city
-state runs, how it's ruled, but the city of
judgment has also been called by another name,
by outsiders. The city of secrets. The people
of Unido, of Howray, are legendarily tight -lipped
by many of the goings -on to their culture, leaving
us all to wonder at their reasons. Oh my god,
three computers in. Two hours to think. Technical
difficulties. We are here. We're actually doing
this. It's happening. That was a lot. That was
a lot. Oh, my gosh. I'm so stressed. Yeah, we've
been dealing with internet connection issues
for the past, like, hour. The one night. I don't
have a beer. The one night. So you're dealing
with this David. Up in the zone, David. Flailing
arms, David, tonight. Well, we got it figured
out, finally. We got it figured out. I'm on Steven's
computer. With my notes. Steven here peeked at
the name of my notes and now knows I probably
got spoiled. It wasn't my fault. He is sneaking
through my notes. No, you messaged me the Google
Doc and said, hey, can you put this on the drive?
And I said, yeah. That file name is kind of a
spoiler, though. Yeah. You should be ashamed
of yourself. All right. So. I was going to do
a banter, right? Andrew brought up a really fun
idea for a banter, basically picking theme songs
for our PCs and major NPCs, and I really want
to dive into that, but not tonight, I think,
because I have some fun thoughts on this, right?
I have a few themes already picked out, but as
much fun as that sounds, I want to move forward,
right? I've been having so much fun with this
Citadel Inbetween arc, the party boy, just wild
shenanigans arc we've been up to. And we've moved
the story forward in some really fun, really
crazy ways. We finally got Trace. Big things
have happened that were not great for you. But
here's the thing. If we do not get into the next
big arc by the end of this episode, I will die.
I will physically die right here. I'm so excited
for what's coming next. I want to get into it.
I want to tickle it, Steven. So I have, I'm not
saying them, we're skipping that banter part,
but I have a theme song picked out for Blanche
and I have a theme song picked out for Zeb. And
I think, I would think it'd be fun next week
if we like say, oh yeah, my theme song for so
-and -so is blank. Pause recording, listen to
the song together. Maybe the people can listen
along if they want. That is fun. And then pick
it back up. I like that. Okay. Wouldn't that
be cool? Yeah. Okay. Yeah. So you're. Think hard,
gentlemen. Think hard in your theme songs. Get
them ready to go. Get them loaded up. We're going
to hear them. I got some for Jean, for Akio,
for the Sapphire Wyvern, actually. This one I've
known for a long time because I listen to it
when I get in the mindset. And Pants people,
if you have any guesses on these themes or any
ideas of your own, get in the Discord. Okay?
Just get in there. Get in that Discord. The what?
Discord. Discord. Discord. Oh, God. But yes,
a lot of fun to be had, but not tonight. Because
tonight, we're serious podcasters. We'll save
the fun for next week. Yeah, no more fun. It's
a fun -free zone. It has been for an hour now.
I haven't had fun. If we're not having fun, why
should the pansy people have fun? Five days.
You've been given five days before. Embarking
on Sholay's task, you know, in four days from
your conversation that evening, she will embark
herself for the world of Halri, for the city
of Yanido, to meet with Queen Jinmi, who absolutely
commands the speaker for the ancestors for Halri.
So if they want that speaker, if she wants that
vote, if she wants that control. that bulwark
against Atash's efforts. She needs to pull this
off. This is a diplomatic mission of the utmost
importance. And you have become a crucial part
of it because all these events, everything's
swirling around out there. It now revolves around
you. So I want to talk about these five days.
I want to montage through them because there
are a few important things I want to bring up.
And if there's anything you want to do or bring
up, I want to touch on those too. I will say
that on day three, of these five days, a whole
crazy adventure happens. It was nuts. We'll talk
about it after Mountain Mania, though. That happens.
So stay tuned. Stay tuned. Characters will just
never mention it until after Mountain Mania,
but it happened. It was crazy. But apart from
that, yes, let's talk about what. Goes on. Hey,
Jules, all that shit that happened at Mountain
Mania, let's take a couple of days to really
absorb that before we discuss it. Yeah, Blanche,
that was kind of crazy. That was wild. I'm actually
calling the adventure Mountain Mania. Oh, my
God. Because there's going to be a Mountain Mania
at Mountain Mania. You'll find out. That's great.
Oh, my God. There's actually going to be a mountain.
I am so excited. But let's talk about something
else that's very, very exciting. Very soon in
these days. a package arrives at the Ugly Coyote.
A package bearing the emblem of the Mage Smith.
You've seen one other package from this figure
before. A memorial hanging above the fireplace.
And this package is addressed to Chester. Is
this Andrew burning more buttons? This is Andrew
burning a lot of buttons. This is Andrew burning
15 buttons. I wasn't even sure I was going to
do this because this feels like a crazy thing.
But at the end of the day, I thought about it
and I was like, you know what? He pitched me
an idea. I really liked it. And he gave me the
buttons. He's been doing a ton of shit. He's
always done a ton of shit for us. And so I was
like, you know what? I really like this a lot.
I mean, the idea itself is so cool. You want
to know what's in that package? Yeah. Is Chester
going to open that package? Of course Chester's
going to open the package. He pulls out a crossbow.
I'm already a fan. Master metalwork made crossbow.
It matches aspects of Zebulon's armor that hangs
from the fireplace. You can see the same kind
of rippling patterns in the metal. This is misdirection.
Yes. No, it's so good. Hang on. This is the perfect
Chester weapon. It's incredible. It's a plus
one crossbow. Nice. And it has an effect on it
where if Chester misses an attack three times
a day, he can... use the catapult cantrip to
essentially, when it goes behind, launch the
bolt the other way back at someone. They have
disadvantage on the saves to avoid that because
they don't see it coming. It's really cool. It's
a trickster weapon. Wow. That is awesome. He
actually sent me this, too. He sent me a little
description, and I love this. Each of the pattern
-welded metal pieces were etched by being dipped
in acid provided by a Haringan by the name of
Roger, who just seemed to be happy to be rid
of the stuff. No questions. I'm pretty sure that's
what's allowed it to take this particular magic
so easily. Black as night, the ironwood stalk
is hefty enough to use a club as a last resort.
I am 99 % sure that's a Roger Rabbit reference,
and I am here for it. So thank you, Andrew. Wow,
yeah. Thank you, Andrew. 15 buttons, but for
our little trickster, Chester, this is the perfect
weapon. There also is, I should say, a note right
in there with it. Chester picks it up and reads
it out. It says, I'm going to say there's a blank
spot here, as he put. Look at those goosebumps.
I'm seeing those goosebumps, yeah. Goosebumps.
There's a little blank spot, I'm going to say,
where it allows for a psychic name to be engraved
right underneath his name. Oh, man. And Andrew
did send. So we're going to do this tonight,
but I'm going to put these out there. Andrew
sent a couple of options he thinks are pretty
cool for psychic names. Some of these are amazing.
So one shot, trick shot. Chester trick shot's
pretty solid. Chester the Ember Guard. Okay.
Chester the Crimson Rogue. And I love this. Chester,
the ginger quiver. So good. I'll put that on
you, Jeremy. Jeremy, you can pick his psychic
name as we go. All right, I'm going to think
on it. Think on it. I'm going to think on it.
They'll be etched down just below his name. He's
kind of still making that name for himself. Tell
us which one you like. In the Discord. In the
Discord. In the Discord. We're like season eight
parodies of ourselves. Flanderized versions of
fantasy pants. We've lived too long. Oh no, don't
say that. Chester takes his new crossbow in hand.
Maybe he goes off to the roof and begins to start
training, shooting cans on roofs across the street.
Let's pan away from his little scene here. I
want to open on Blanche. at some point early
in these weeks. I'm going to assume maybe there's
a mailbox out in front of the other coyote. Ader
asks you to step out and grab it when you're
going outside anyway. You're over by the door.
You step out to grab some mail from this box.
And as you do, you're kind of pulling through.
You can remember little letters, probably a bunch
of shady little things for Ader, unmarked and
undressed, and you kind of just shrug. But you
do find one red envelope. Very familiar, and
it will be turned over. You see it's marked by
the seal of the Golden Bay, a golden wax seal,
usual emblem. Do you open and read it? Yeah.
She's going to toss the smut aside. Goddesses
of God's breath. Dude, yes. Oh, my gosh. Whatever
else. It's just like a scroll. Goddesses of God's
breath. I just imagine Hader, like, picks up
the bar, drops this whole scroll, drops down.
Dude, scroll port is brilliant. Take a button.
Oh, yeah. I'm already at three, though. Oh, never
mind. I'm keeping that one for me. That was funny.
Okay. It's funny as hell. All right. Yeah, so
shaking off the chuckles, Blanche is going to
cut open the... The letter. Now, let me ask,
have you been saying John Ehlers, is he up to
date on what you've been experiencing, everything
that you've been going through? Because you haven't
seen him since before the Shrine of Storms, before
Ozen. I think probably up until the point where
we got put on blast on the network. I think after
that, Blanche thought that maybe communication
was unsafe, going to be listened in on. So he
knows about the shrine events, but nothing afterwards,
basically. Yeah, if I have that option, yeah,
for sure. You see what's in there. It's too long
for me to read out loud. It's multiple pages.
John's very long written. Is this a mail time
drop? Give me that drop. Why not? Mail time!
Mail time! Blanch edition. Blanch edition. This
is a formal report from your pupil. multiple
pages detailing his recent actions, as well as
his strides and self -training. But it kind of
goes on to more personal things after a while.
It sort of starts off very matter -of -fact,
very business -y, probably things you've kind
of seen before from him. Following that, you
see just this... multiple pages where he is just
deeply apologetic for allowing Atash to put a
hand in Zinda. and kicking himself for making
moves to combine the shell guard with Zinda's
own policing force. What seemed like an ingenious
idea at the time has been turned on its head
due to recent developments. With that precedent
set, Ataja Celestials will soon be trying to
push their way into the Golden Bay, after fully
replacing Harlan and his silent verse. Yeah,
geez. Our godly Ledoux will need Jean's help
to combat this, and so Jean will still be tied
up for some time yet, though he desperately wants
to adventure with you and Jules again. He acknowledges.
Maybe again, you've seen a few times, you know,
how sorry he is for what you faced in the Shrine
of Storms. He also seems a little defensive over
this news of you taking on a new sidekick. Something
written between the lines there, you just feel
like, you know Jean would be like, oh no. Wait
a minute, isn't Jean a luminary? He's a full
luminary now. Jean is Jean. I see. This Akio
sounds quite interesting. If you're reading this,
just about finishing this scroll of letters,
this long thing, and... You feel suddenly a small
form, perhaps a child or a halfling, just knocks
into you and just sort of knocks all the letters
from your hand. The porn scroll gets all rolled
down the middle of the street. No, no, they can't
see that. You're rushing out to grab all that.
Blanche casts something. I don't know what. You
cast Mage Hand to grab. You just sort of pull
out together. You kind of look over and the figure
that ran into you, whoever it was, just seems
to vanish around the corner just as soon as you
look up. You only see a dark braid slipping into
the shadows just extremely fast. You're kind
of hands are full trying to keep this goddess
of God's breath scroll from getting everywhere.
Is it a hairstyle that I would have recognized?
No, just a dark braid, very slow to the ground,
very small form. But as you kind of look up and
you look down at the scroll, you do notice that
another letter now rests among those that have
fallen. Okay, so I'm not meant to follow. Unmarked.
Black envelope. Okay. I was like looking through
my spell list. I was like, hmm, I could cast
haste, I guess. Let's just say Andrew's not the
only pants person that's paid up some buttons
this episode. Yeah. Is this another button drop?
No shit. All right. Yeah. Blanche will open this
new black letter. There's like essentially almost
a card inside, a very firm sort of. sheet of
paper that just reads, Be wary of Omid Pastar,
ambassador for Ankara and Sengar. He awaits in
Yanido, an honored guest of Queen Jinmi. He is
not strong, but he is clever and he is dangerously
zealous. He intends to prove you are the monsters
that they say you are. Do not fall for his tricks.
If he succeeds, they win. And then a dash and
the name. Shrike. Thank you, Zila. Oh, no way.
Zila, spend five buttons and ask that Shrike
deliver, of my DM choice, some piece of important,
relevant information. And so you are forewarned
that there is an enemy awaiting you on the window.
That's fantastic. One that intends to prove you
are what they say you are. From Anchor and Sengar?
This ambassador is from Anchor and Sengar, yes.
What was his name? Omid Pastar. Omen Pastor.
From Sholay's world. And Atash's world. Yeah,
yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, Sholay is the speaker
of the ancestors. It was Sholay's world first.
Atash is the ruling party of the world. Omen
Pastor would be an ambassador for Atash. Oh,
so he's gotcha, gotcha, gotcha. Okay. Sholay
mentioned that she believes Atash will make a
move on Queen Jinmi as well, since this is an
important power play in the governance of the
Radiant Citadel. So you see that this can be
a problem. You see this immediately. And you
know in this moment, despite what they're saying
about you, despite how the world's turning against
you, there are allies out there. Shrike, you
maybe barely recognize as a luminary. One of
some renown, one that tends to keep to the shadows.
You've got others watching your back. You think
that as you hear... Across the street above you,
Chester shooting a can off of the building across
the street, holding his new dark iron, dark metal
crossbow. Nice shot, kid. Hey, thanks. Whoa.
He looks down at the scroll on the street. Whistles.
It's not old enough for any of this. Not the
party. Not the adventure. That dares. Oh, my
goodness. Jules. Yes? I have a hard question
for you. Okay. Dance Macabre. You have been made
aware that her trial will be coming soon. You
don't know if you leave if she will still be
here to talk to. They have asked you to change
her mind, to push her into supporting. to letting
this justice undying movement die? If so, Artavazda
will drop the assault on a speaker for the ancestors
charge that has been raised against her. But
if that does not happen, she's being caught on
camera. Hard evidence she will do time in the
Sky Prison. But you have an open invite to visit
her. Do you want to take that invite? Jules will
accept the invite. Then let's cut to a back room
in the barracks for the shield bearers. Somewhere
where just off the way you can hear like grinding
sort of cells being opened and closed. Perhaps
you're just sitting at a single table in a private,
you know, just small private, very sparse kind
of dungeon room, hard oaken table, two chairs.
The other side is a gray sort of iron, sort of,
what do you call it, like a circle? An iron circle?
Iron circle, like a hook, but it's a full hook.
Like an iron hook? Like people are shackled to?
Yes, yes, thank you. Yeah, like on the table?
Yeah. Yeah. I need a word. Circle. Yeah, an iron
circle. You see an iron circle kind of sitting
across from you, and you look at it and just
feel something foreboding. You can hear the sound
of jingling chains, and the door across the way
from you opens. Two shield -bearer guards step
in with dance, and you can see that faded bruises
cover her face and arms from when she was arrested.
It was not a pretty sight. They never, I mean,
despite the fact that the Celestials can, it
seems they never actually healed her. They shackle
her to the table. They even leave her feet sort
of chained together. They know. just how dangerous
a weapon dance is, even without wielding a weapon.
And without saying a word, they slip out, slam
the door, and she is just sitting before you.
Despite her beaten form, she sits tall. Her eyes
blaze, those dark, dark eyes, almost black, just
filled with a fire. And she does smile when she
sees you, Jules. A genuine smile. I should say
she's not wearing her usual mask, folklorico
dress. She's just wearing a simple, I don't know,
probably just gray kind of jumpsuit sort of thing.
Jules is going to wait for a brief moment and
let her be the first to say something. I am surprised
they let you come to talk to me. I assume there's
a reason. I will not stand down, Jules. Artavasta
has told me of the deal. I will not stand down.
The things they are doing, saying, what they
said about you. This is madness. I think we both
know what needs to happen. And Jules will get
up and walk around the table. I don't think you're
supposed to do that. Just smiles deeper. Sometimes
fire leaves your eyes. And he's going to reach
in for a hug. Jingling chains as her arms wrap
around you. She presses her face hard into your
chest. And softly into her ear. Just this undying.
And he pulls away, grabs her cheeks, looks her
square in the eyes. I will come for you. I know.
And with a little kiss, I will stand up and walk
out. You see, as you move out, just outside the
door, Ariat stands, very grim face, eyes boring
holes into you as you move past. Jules glares
back at him as he walks by, and with no funny
flair, gives him the finger. Fuck yeah. Let's
move on to the fourth day. The day that Sholay
is supposed to make her way to Yanito. On this
day, perhaps as you're kind of out and about,
perhaps it's in the early morning, and Dresden
and everybody has established, you've got essentially
tents set up in the main dining room, everyone's
sleeping downstairs, everyone's sleeping communally
together. And I mean, I think throughout this
time, there have been people have come to the
door, you know, kind of like barging in drunk,
Ader and Dresden might just push them out. People
have tried to like... paint on the front of the
building, people throwing bottles and rocks at
the windows. People are not happy with you, and
there are those who will cause trouble, and you're
starting to realize that having someone here
to guard the place, having Dresden around potentially
could be very helpful, could be necessary. But
so far, no one had any kind of, no one in any
position to actually do any harm has come by.
That could change. Here we see in the morning,
everyone sort of waking up in their tents. Everyone
kind of like gathering together. They just go
off to do their sort of daily things. And before
anything's open, the pub is still closed. I think
we see a visitor comes barging through the saloon
doors. The coyote just boom, boom, boom, boom.
A huge hulking form, wings spread out. We see
Arhalon. Hello, my friends. We see him looking
in many ways more refreshed than you've ever
seen him. He wears his usual chainmail armor
with a new cloak hanging over it. Rough spun
and rustic. It's a very God's breathy in design.
He's got a great big pair of like dark jeans
tightly covering his legs. And I think if this
is okay with you, Steven, a very familiar on
him, very small bandana is wrapped around his
wrist. Oh, that's so sweet. He comes in. He's
sort of smiling at everyone here. Maybe he, like,
notices, you know, maybe, like, you guys sort
of, like, Dresden, I imagine, might look towards
that. He knew Crispin well, and Arhalonkav nods
to Dresden, nods to you, and raises his wrist,
kind of puts a finger, a thumb on it, and almost
bashfully just, they, uh, insisted that I take
it, the family. I just returned last night from
God's Breath. I had planned to come here immediately,
but Grandmother's agents caught me leaving the
gem, and... Well, now I'm leaving again. You're
leaving to Ionito? Smile's a big sort of toothy
smile. Did you think you were the only weapons
Grandmother was going to deploy? It seems we'll
be allies in battle again so soon, though in
the struggle of politics. Hopefully there won't
be too much of that. Hopefully. though my role
in this is more or less simply as an escort.
Grandmother's real secret weapon is, uh, well,
a bit nervous being out and about, so I thought
I'd bring her here to calm her nerves before
we take the amethyst. And kind of looks back
out, almost like he realized that someone's not
behind him, and looks out the door. Come on,
Mother! Don't get distracted again! Come, come,
come! And the other door kind of opens up for
a bashfully, and you see... What? The towering,
half -tracking, looking much like her son. Before
you saw her, I imagine she was wearing some form
of bathrobe over her, like, brass scales. So
you're kind of surprised she steps in wearing
a floral white sundress. She's got, like, four
oversized purses hanging from, like, her arms.
bulging with various things. You can see, like,
bits of rag and cloth sticking out of one. One
of them, like, has a gigantic goblet shape, like,
sort of pressed in a fabric. She kind of peeks
in, just like, Oh! It's Chosen Blanche! Hello!
Is this her house? It's so empty! It's real stuff!
How we keep it quite sparse on purpose, I'm afraid.
She just looks baffled. Hmm. It's weird. And
she's kind of looking around, and her eyes fall
on the Zebulon mural in the back, and then flicker
to the memorial set over the fireplace. And you
see Arhalon sort of do the same, and he places
a tender hand on his mother's shoulder as her
eyes kind of start misting over a bit. And I
think Arhalon sort of coughs off with a, you
see, her mother used to do a lot of traveling
to Hauri, into the city of Unido, before she
stopped traveling. She became close friends with
Queen Jean Mee, maybe one of the closest the
queen has ever had, and they still send each
other letters and gifts to this day. Isn't that
right, Mother? And this sort of jolts Xena away
from her reverie. Oh, yes, yes. Ginny is the
sweetest little girl she is. She's 60, Mother.
To you, she's young, but not a little girl. Oh,
oh, right, right, right, right. And you have
to call her Queen Jean Mee. Queen Jean Mee or
Your Royal Highness. She carries the blood of,
you know, her draconic founder, you know. Oh!
Oh, yes, yes, right, right, right, yes, yes.
Queenie genie. No, stop. Okay. It just looks
exasperated. It sort of sighs. Well, anyway,
we'll both be there on holiday to help you see
things through. Grandmother figures that Mother's
high regard for you will make for a great boon
in winning over the Queen. There's been some...
distance between our families for years, but
we may be able to bridge that gap now. I've been
briefed on most of the situation. I think criminal
strategy might work. And he kind of wings sort
of fall a bit. Kind of bares his teeth a little.
I, uh, haven't always trusted her. I think I
still don't fully, but she may be the only chance
we have at fighting it back against all of this.
Just be careful with her, all right? With Sholay.
What has she done to keep you from trusting her?
I told Crispin this once. That those who work
for Sholay don't always tend to survive the experience.
She must burn a pawn to seize the information
or the keys she requires to achieve her goals.
And burn them she will. And he reaches down for
the bandana again. And I fear she has already
one warning that fell on deaf ears. That's pretty
heavy. Well, with her own grandson around and
your mother, I'm sure we'll be perfectly safe.
Oh, yes, yes, so safe. And goats. Ah, did you
bring your goats? I forgot the goats. Mother,
we can't bring a... No, no, no, we have to go
back. No, no, no. We do need to get going, though.
Mother does tend to dawdle, and we have a gem
to catch. Mother, if you behave, we might have
time to visit a souvenir shop near the Passage
of Respite. Just, like, hopping up and down the
whole building, shaking as she's... Oh, yes,
yes, yes. We must go. We must buy souvenirs.
I'll buy one for you and one for you. She starts
pointing at the cherry lights. And you, and you,
and you, and you, and you. And I want to pay
for all of it. No, no, mother. Okay. And he starts
kind of like pushing her out the door like, we
will see you on the morrow then at the palace.
We'll be there. Good. Oh, bye, Blanche. Bye,
Jules. We'll see you later. We'll see you later.
He should have. Pushed out the door. Arlan's
kind of, you can hear him just bickering and
sort of, mother, mother, mother, mother, this
way. No, we want to go down. As they kind of
vanish into the street. Now I'm going to ask
you, is there anything else you wish to do before
you depart? Any other, anything else that needs
to be done? I don't have enough money to go shopping.
Should be better at the game, just saying. Bad
at D &D, I don't know. Has Fibro picked up on
anything that could be useful? Not yet. What
is Fibro's current research, actually? What would
you like him to be working on now? He's pretty
good at, like, he kind of figured all this stuff
out or helped figure all this stuff out with
the history of the worlds and the Drakkon and
the split and everything, but I guess he's kind
of been left floating in the void, kind of not
really directed on a topic yet. Would it be too
weird or bad? To see if he can look into Sholay's
role in everything. Yeah. Or at least in the
history books to see, you know, what things say.
Deep dive on Sholay. I like it. Not necessarily
with the explicit intent of looking for dirt.
Right. Just some context. We can have a clear
idea from outside eyes apart from her word. I
love that. And on top of that. One thing we should
bring up, this makes sense. Crispin and Dresden
had sending stones they used for each other.
I imagine Blanche or you, one of you two, have
Crispin's stone. So you have a way to contact
Dresden here and vice versa anytime. Oh, cool.
Yeah, that'll work out. So if you need to, if
he was looking into this and you want information,
he might have, you have a question, he might
be able to answer it. Hell yeah. Cool. Really
cool. I'm guessing we can give Fibro one topic
at a time to research. I mean I don't know I
can give him two but if he has one he's probably
gonna get more detailed information I guess I'd
say sure that's fair we can save it then okay
I was thinking sky prison oh that too that is
interesting yeah that's a good one that's very
interesting okay um maybe have him do both on
those because maybe they overlap hmm maybe a
pants person conspiracy yeah I don't know give
you some information maybe yeah I like it I don't
know what do you think I'm going to let that
be. That's a Cherry Delight decision, so that's
on you, buckaroo. Yeah, let him do both. Okay.
Let him do both, because at the very least, we
might get a nugget out of something. Sure. And
we can tug on that nugget. All right, Jules.
I'm on it. Dives. Full -on Scrooge McDuck dives
into a pile of books. Ow! Tell Penny we said
hello. Hell yeah. With that, do you want to proceed?
To the fifth day. Got my boarding pass, my carry
-on. Your dog gets to ride on with you. He's
going to go in the back. Yeah, he's an emotional
support dog. There you go. Don't need a kennel
for him. And so you depart. Before you leave,
I imagine, you know, there's probably some exchange
with Dresden who's standing with all the cherry
delights kind of surrounding all around him.
He rounds up his climbing on his head. Any last
words of, you know, to kind of ease the worried
jewels that Dresden might drop? I got it here.
Do your thing. And Roundstuff kicks him in the
face. Pulls his hair, ties his shoelaces together.
See, I'm just fucking fine. It's Radiant Citadel
Kindergarten Cop. Seriously, yeah, exactly. We'll
come back to this. We actually will. But anyway,
don't worry. We'll see Dresden again real soon.
But with that, I suppose you leave Jules. I mean,
if there's one person you can trust to watch
your family. Yeah. It's him. A member of your
family. Yeah. Hell yeah. So you leave. So you
travel up the length of the Citadel through streets,
through crowds that stay away from you. Crowds
that avoid you, glare at you, whisper about you.
Pushing up and up and up until you reach the
passage of respite. Where just on time you see
the amethyst conquer jewel is coming to dock
this great dark purple gemstone. And you board?
Yes. Blanche is probably a little nervous about...
Yeah, Jules and Chester are pretty seasoned in
all this. Well, Blanche is worried about, like,
what... Are they going to let her on? You know
what I mean? She's really nervous about the authorities
right now. You're still a luminary. You have
full access. Yeah, I think Jules and Chester
will walk ahead. Jules will turn around and just
extend his hand back. Yeah. Blanche will grab
on and, you know, now that the... The nerves
of almost expecting or waiting for getting denied
have passed. You can see the gate guards don't
like it. Before they'd seen you, they'd probably
been delighted. Now that you see these sour faces,
they can't let you. But you have to remember,
Atash can say whatever he wants. He can rile
up the public, but he does not make the laws.
He does not command the luminaries. That's the
speakers. Not yet, I should say. But if this
mission fails... That could change, and that
could be very, very bad. But you step upon the
amethyst, move into the crowd, and just as happened
before, rises up into orbit and phases. When
the sort of sliding door jumps out of the amethyst,
opens. I imagine you probably can see blurrily
through it, like the, you know, this long landscape
around you and a great shadow that you're facing
as you open up, kind of facing west in the world
of Holory. You see as it opens and you can look
out the sort of doorway as you're moving out
of it. that it opens in the middle of a great
plain, long yellow grass blowing easily in a
calm breeze. Perhaps somewhere far off, you can
see a family of tigers are prowling and moving
away. Far, far away, they're orange stripes kind
of standing out to you. Sorry, black stripes,
orange. You know what? Orange and stripes, maybe?
No, no, no. Tigers actually are black with orange
stripes. Look it up. You look out, this blue
sky hangs overhead. A beautiful, perfect day.
As you step out, you're facing west. You see
that the sky is dominated by the city of Yanito.
You must be just a half mile away from the main
gate where you stand, where a long wall bearing
colorful flags and ribbons rungs along the front
of a great wide hill that rises up and up and
up, and the entire city is built in layers upon
this hill, a majestic display of sloping roofs
and switchhacking streets broken up by parks
and copses of trees. At the very top of this
hill, more flags and ribbons adorn the walls
of a colossal red palace. Beyond that, you can
see the hill rises even still, and a second wall
separates the city from lush forests beyond.
There's a great roaring river standing against
the city's northern side, coming down the hill
in a rush, rushing off into the plains and sort
of scattering away in a different direction.
You see this city. I mean, this titan of a city.
You see a mess of activity at the main gate far
ahead where wagons bearing crops line up and
travelers move past. They have guards and dark
breastplates and long blue battle skirts. Among
the folks you see, there are a number of chromatic
-scaled dragonborns, mostly red, green, and blue,
as well as humans with dark hair. These are the
primary peoples of this world. you are looking
at all this. I think in other worlds, you usually
have those like stands and, you know, kind of
like when you get in this information. Like a
farmer's market sort of thing. Yeah, there's
probably one of those here, but it's a little
small since you're so close to the main city.
There's not really a reason to have it go all
out. You're just a short jaunt away. There's
probably still, you know, people who can take
you on mounts to bring you in closer, but. Is
this the biggest city that we've visited so far?
Tythos is by far, was by far the biggest city.
Oh, that's a really good question. This is probably
about. This is probably bigger than Saint -Étienne
City, because Saint -Étienne City wasn't like
an actual full city -state. I'd say yes, yeah.
A little bigger than even Zinda, which is quite
large. Okay. So what instructions were we given
by Sholay? Did she want us to meet her at the
castle? Are we supposed to... Oh yeah, she said
to join her there. You probably received a missive
sometime afterwards, basically said, when you
arrive, proceed to the castle. Guards have been
informed of your arrival. Basically, just go
there. You have rooms and board at the castle.
Queen Jean -Mi is accepting you as guests. She
did her thing, got you in, made her introductions.
She's going to use Xena to kind of soften your
reputations, Queen Jean -Mi. So, yeah. All you
got to do is show up and be impressive, right?
You can do that. Our ability to freely travel,
I think, depends on our performance here. Maybe
it's best that we blend in, head straight for
the palace, try not to make any ruckus. Yeah.
Just do what we got to do. Right, Chester? Oh,
yeah, Jules. Let's do it. Right, Chester? Yeah,
yeah. Hey, hey. We're good. All right. Sidekick.
Keep your ears open and your hands in your pockets.
He slides him grudgingly down. But you do see,
like, at the same time, his eyes sparkle at the
sight of this city. You know, Chester loves a
metropolis. He loves to, you know, scamper through
the streets, causing all sorts of mayhem. And
he just, like, it's like he is in his element,
like, shaking with excitement. Meanwhile, Akio
is shaking with the opposite of excitement because
he lived in a quiet shrine for his entire life.
Oh, we're going there. It looks full. Is there
one that's not full? I'll be with you the whole
time, Akio. There will be nothing to worry about.
It kind of slides up right next to you. Very,
very close. I wish I could be attached to you
by some sort of lead or leash. So you can't get
away from me. Think of it this way. Anywhere
we go in this city is going to be less crowded
than the handsome house. It's like a small groan
mixed with a growl. I was thinking about Handsome
House. You did fantastic there. You are a very
good boy. Huge wide eyes. Stiffens up, sort of
puffs out his chest, more determined than ever.
Like, okay, I can do this. He kind of starts
proudly long strides as he moves towards the
city gates. I hear they have fish fillets here
that you can't get on the Citadel even. It moves
faster. And so you move. As you get closer, I
think that line of the gate gets a little smaller.
You're in this early part of the day where a
lot of activity is happening and people are moving
in to sell crops to wherever markets are in town.
So when you get there, there's not too large
a line of people kind of funneling in behind
you. It's like a mother and a child. She's like
shushing the child who's sort of complaining
and she wants to get off their feet. Like, oh,
it's going to be fun. Don't worry. Kind of sitting
back there. A few people ahead of you. I imagine
people kind of looking at you, creating space
again. Do you wait in line or do you want to
kind of move around ahead as luminaries? You
probably could do either. No way. I think we
should wait in line. Yeah. Don't want to give
anybody any reason to call us out. No. You're
probably thinking well in your mind of that note
left by Shrike. This ambassador from Ankara and
Sengar. Someone who's here, who's out to get
you. As the cart ahead of you moves in, creaking
wheels, the city gates are wide open. You can
see the magnificence of the city streets ahead.
There are, I think, four guards here at the gate,
all wielding these, like, long halberds. You
can imagine, like, dark sort of breastplates,
long sort of battle skirts. And one of them,
a woman with very, very green eyes and long black
hair and a ponytail. kind of steps up to you.
And she has this very cool demeanor as she looks
to you both. We were told you would be coming
here. You will of course need to be searched.
Do you comply? What are you searching for? We
have been informed that you may have ill intentions
for our city and our queen. We want to be sure
that's not the case. Other guards are kind of
moving up. Surely we could pose no threat to
the great city of Ionito? Surely not. Especially
if you comply. There's something wrong here.
Do you have any checks or anything? Yeah, I'd
like to roll insight, I guess. Hell yeah. Jules
can't see shit. Okay. Three on the die. Just
11. Okay. With an 11, all you know is... She
seems like she's being overly aggressive. You've
seen her speak to everybody else and she was
not like this. Sure. I would feel most comfortable
if there was a supervisor present for this search.
Is there somebody higher up we can speak with?
I am supervising the gate at the moment. Right,
your supervisor. I mean, we are guests of the
Queen. Surely that much respect can be shown.
We will comply. This kind of a furrowed brow,
a bit of an annoyance. Kind of sighs. I don't
think you understand. And she kind of waves other
guards, kind of move a little closer, almost
like a gesture of, they're giving us trouble.
The guards probably wore out an earshot, start
moving in, kind of curious expression, sort of
moving around you. You're looking at her, and
then you guys see something kind of strange,
sort of in the background of all this. Just looking
on past her, past the guards behind her, past
the gate into the city. You can see that the
switchbacking streets curving up and up and up
behind layers of towering city structures. You
can see that above all of it and around the palace
and behind it in the forest that stand behind
and above the city on this great hill, there's
like this thick white mist forming. You can see
it just... falling down over the city, falling
like a tidal wave in a rush, blanketing structures,
obscuring the hustle and bustle of moving cities,
silently enveloping the city, falling quickly,
so quickly down towards the gate, towards you.
It's almost like watching hot fudge poured over
a sundae. And Blanche points behind the guard.
Is that normal? She looks over her shoulder.
You can see, like, cocks her head, and it kind
of looks back to you and shakes her head like,
I will not deal with your distractions. You will
surrender ourselves to a full surge, or we...
And the white mist surges over you all. Do you
use any spell slots? I don't like the way that
was worded. No. Any abilities? Bardic Inspiration?
Maybe a use of Misdirection's Catapult? Bladesong?
Anything. Let me know. What do you want to burn?
So the weird thing is that I, Stephen, was planning
on casting a spell. Yeah. Or at least Blanche
was planning on casting a spell. Okay. But now
because of this, Stephen doesn't want to. Might
want to cast that spell. I don't know. Jeremy,
I don't know what to do. Because I just showed
you on my phone what I was going to do. All right,
let's lay it out on the table. You know, top
level stuff. If I cast invisibility at fourth
level, I can make Blanche, Chester, and Akio
all invisible. You have invisibility as well.
You can cast on yourself. The four of us can
just scoot on by, which is what my character
was ready to do, but now I'm afraid at what David's
saying. Jules was not ready to do that. Okay.
You would not have done that. I think, okay.
So why would Blanche not have done that? Because
of what happened. I don't think you would have
done that. Okay. But you can use a fourth -level
spell slot if you want. No. No, I don't think
so. You don't think so? Any abilities? Nothing?
I am going to give you a plus 10 luck bonus here
since you have absolutely no idea what the fuck
is going on this time. I am so benevolent. I
have no idea what is going on. Yeah. Jules does
not make a knee -jerk reaction move before he
can get a lay of kind of what's going on. I mean,
not entirely what's going on, but... I'm not
asking you guys. He pauses for a second. I'm
not asking your characters in the moment. I'm
asking you guys. What the fuck are you doing,
David? Do you use a spell slot? I don't think
so. No. Any spell slots? No. Okay. I think it's
time to wait a beat and see what happens. Okay.
That makes sense. You want to reserve them. It's
still early in the day. Look at your shit -eating
grin. What is this? Plus 10 luck bonus and that's
it. What do you mean? I'm so fucking confused.
Sure. Plus 10 luck bonus and that's it, I guess.
All right. I'll bump it to a 20 because... Oh,
God. We have to do something. We have to do something,
Jeremy. Roll a D100. So, what the hell? Okay.
Jesus Christ. Whoever wants to roll, you need
one for all of you. Oh, one for everybody. One
roll for everybody. Oh, my God. I've been waiting
so long for this. 65. 65 with a 20, that's a
75. That is... Not with a 20. With a 20, that's
an 85. You're right. That's actually really good.
Okay. That's great news. Good? Great news. Good
roll. That plus 20 was way too nice. Can we have
a plus 10? I guess you can do whatever you want,
you sick son of a bitch. Damn. No, you're right.
I'll be nice because I'm not being very nice
right now. Jeremy, I'm willing to use a dice
roller for this for reasons. What is happening?
What is going on, David? Hang on. You know, he
said before we're going to hate this arc. What
the fuck? He said we're going to hate it. Sorry,
I got to do a bunch of math in my head. Give
me a second. Don't point at me. I'm pointing
at you. Pointing at you again. That's two. Let
me ask. I assume that if I was to break down
your party into frontliners and backliners, Akio
and Blanche would be your frontliners, Chester
and Jules your backliners. Oh, God. This is very
important. Yeah. No, that's definitely. Cool.
Okay. Blanche. David. Damn it. You are suddenly
standing, blade raised, some 15 feet away from
where you were. What? You have taken five points
of damage, a large sort of gash kind of in your
upper sort of arm and shoulder. A whimpering
sounds behind you, and you turn to see that woman
and child. They were just behind you in line,
cowering together under your protection. What?
Tears run down their cheeks. What? They are not
crying now. They just look confused. Jules. A
burning pain in your sort of waist, kind of like
down in your side, and you have taken five points
of damage. What? A large gash in you. The stirred
sword is in your hand, positioned in a forward
thrust, like you've just moved your leg sort
of out in this sort of reaching step. You feel
Chester behind you, sort of like pressed up by
your back, his crossbow raised and loaded, and
Akio stands nearby, growling over the blade in
his mouth. He stops growling, though, and then
looks around as if trying to figure out what
he was growling at. The guard that stopped you,
the woman, lies somewhere between you both, Blanche
and Jules. Her body covered in blood and large
gashes. She is not moving, not breathing. You
see two of the guards at the gate are sort of,
again, their weapons, sort of out looking around,
confused, nervous. One of them sits propped up
against the stone wall beside the gate, their
neck a fresh gushing wound, a trail of blood
soaking the wall behind them in a streak down
to their bodies. And you can see around them
enormous gouges have been torn from the stone
of the wall. And there is stone all around you,
too, cracking, crumbling stone, falling apart
but looking as though it has just held some shape.
What? Crackling, but looks like it used to hold.
Cracking. Cracking crumbling. It's stone, almost
like it's sort of you look down and see a vague
shape before it dissolves into just this rubble.
You stand here, hurt, confused, wondering what
the hell just happened. It's like you just fought
for your very lives, and you don't remember a
thing. And we'll call it there.