Hey, Pants People. Here's a trailer for Minds
Never Matter, a podcast by Hilarity Save RPG.
I have never had students cause so many issues
at the Adventuring College of Alona, especially
in their first year. So tell me, why is it always
this group standing in front of me when something
goes wrong? Sarthelion, you threw a knife at
a student on the first. day you pull out your
knife and it goes flying and it kind of sticks
into the wall of the entrance a student standing
there it looks like cecily you punched a cop
the other the other officer you just hear one
of the ravens run past you and they go it was
cecily cecily beat up a cop pogo kidnapped a
student and pogo tracks him down grabs him and
puts him in the lecture hall and amelia You try
to kill a party member in front of everyone on
family day. She takes the glass and presses it
where an artery would be. Not to mention Frederick
in the corner over there is the reason that there's
no green tea anywhere on campus. Wait, where'd
Sarthelion go? A chicken leg? Really? Where did
you even get one this size? It's Wastokian! I
didn't do it. I was over here doing my own bad
thing. I mean, I wasn't doing nothing. Both of
you, stay right there. Sarthelion, don't you
get any closer to him. You all already killed
one of his party members, and we can't handle
another death on campus. I don't get paid enough
for this. If you want to keep up with our not
-quite -heroes misadventures, listen to the Minds
Never Matter podcast each Wednesday wherever
you listen to podcasts. Or drop us a follow on
Instagram at hilaritysaveRPG. Thank you. Captain,
Treasure Hunter, Tactician, Arch of Perth, the
Crusader, Obstinate, Arbiter of Order, and Wolf
from Perth, the Dragon Slayer, Bull -Bearing
Bounty Hunter. These three had certainly made
their mark on the Concord world, bringing incredible
esteem to their family name. and letting their
great shadows fall over the youngest and least
known of the siblings, young Hiram Byrne. Now,
Hiram preserved an important role in the conquered
worlds, that of a spotter for the Shieldbearers.
This had little to impress his far -reaching
family, though, especially given his inclination
towards the workings of artificery. Often, Hiram's
magical tinkering could be a point of strife
between him and his siblings, a sign of weakness
to them. That all changed when Hiram left the
Shieldbearers following an incredible arcane
breakthrough. You see, Hiram had created an armor
apparatus capable of storing magical energy,
which could then be channeled into destructive
force, or imbued into commonplace items to give
them uncommon power. The moment this technology
was revealed to the Concord worlds, Hiram's life
was entirely changed, and his own religion was
born. His telltale glow with the incredible artificery
he wields. A meteoric rise in his shining reputation
soon led Hiram to the path of a luminary and
the title of Sunshine. Nowadays, Sunshine has
found a new family for himself. He travels the
Concord worlds with Moonbeam, the enigmatic princess.
The two of them face danger after danger together,
seeking lives to save, stories to tell, and even
more incredible magics to wield. Thank you again,
Kevin. Part two of that spotlight. So cool. So
cool. I am sure the adventures being played out
on that family table must be incredible. Yeah,
sounds like a lot of fun. I was like, Kevin himself
on Discord even said that this coming arc, Yanito,
was one of his favorite ones in the book. I think
his second favorite, actually. And personally,
my favorite. That's because I didn't read the
whole book because I'm a bad DM. Got to a point
reading the book and I was like, eh, it's probably
it. We won't get any farther than that. We're
fine. We're good. Well, Kevin, I hope you're
nicer to your players than Dave is about to be
to us. I hope so. Especially since they're children.
I mean, you guys, you're kind of children. When
you really think about it. I walked right into
that one. So I was going to do another lore band
here. You know, lore bands. I really wanted to
get into the whole brass family line. I actually
came up with the Discord a while back. Mr. Scalia
Iguana asked some clarification ages ago on the
brass family tree. And honestly, it was really
kind of enlightening to put that out there and
kind of get a refresher in the world of what's
kind of going on with all that. But I'm not going
to do that this week. I'm going to do it next
week. Do you know why? Do you know why I'm going
to wait? Do you know why I'm going to wait? Why
are you going to wait, David? Because I've got
news for you, pants people. Uh -oh. Mr. Wolf's
married! Yeah! It's mail time! Woo! Fire them
off! Fire them off! Mail time! Big package in
the pants! You got a big package? Congratulations,
Jeremy! Thanks, man. So last week it was like,
man, we got to get together and like have drinks
and celebrate Jeremy's engagement. Yeah. And
then we got together. Yeah. So, so tell a story.
So yeah, it's a whole story. So we got engaged
and then we're like, okay, what are we going
to do for a wedding? We can, let's, let's do
it in the fall. Let's do it. Like we landed on
November 2nd. So we're like, great. And then
we were like, wow. we kind of want to get married
earlier. So, okay, what about if we do a wedding
in the fall and then we do like a small little
dinner with family and then we legally get married
at that. And then like a day or two later, well,
we had, yeah, we had originally scheduled the
game night between us. You know, you guys and
Gabby and Rachel were going to come over, we're
going to play games and stuff. And Abby, one
day it was just like, Hey, what if we get married
at game night? And I'm like, you're talking like,
Wedding bomb them? I'm like, yeah. Full wedding
bomb. Yep. And from that moment, we were locked
in. We hit up your brother, Steven, David. Other
David. My brother. My brother, who is also named
David. Who is ordained. And he showed up and
married us on the spot in the kitchen. And it
was awesome. It was wild. We ended up not playing
any games. No games that night. Yeah. No games.
We just hung out. We gave speeches, cut Walmart
cookies. David gave a speech as Chester. It was
great. Oh, my gosh. I just love the, like, well,
I'm just kind of far off. I'd love to get married
sooner. Let's do it in one week. Oh, dude. It
was awesome. And Abby gets all the credit for
doing it that night. She felt so welcomed. by
the family here. We like Abby a lot and we're
glad to have her around. It's not even just this
family. Abby is also a certified super pants
person. Yeah. Oh, absolutely. Andrew starred
in the wiki. Abby's been firing on all cylinders.
Holy shit. So like, yeah, the wiki's been majorly
updated. Abby's swimming in buttons. I'm terrified
of that. She just absolutely like plowed the
entire show in like, what, like two or three
weeks? It was crazy. Really fast. Yeah. Wait,
was it two or three weeks? It was really fast.
Yeah, really fast. And all the shows are archived
with information on every single episode. Oh,
yeah. It's fucking wild. That's its own incredible
feat. She's doing stuff with our transcripts
and everything. I'm still trying to get over
the incredible feat of listening to the whole
show in two or three weeks. I don't even have
the mental capacity to process the wiki. She's
not even the only one that's done that, though.
I know. I know. I know. Oh, it's crazy. But yeah.
Congratulations, Jeremy. Congratulations, Abby.
Here, here. Abby's in the Discord, too. Get in
the Discord. Say hey to Abby. Get in Discord.
You're wedding bombed. Damn. So we'll do a lore
ban next week because there's so much cool stuff
going on. And we have a lot of pretty cool, pretty
crazy, pretty scary stuff to get to tonight,
don't we? No. Don't we? No. We broke the rule.
We broke the rule. What's the rule? Don't split
the party. Never split the party. You did split
the party. Yes. The number one rule. Yes, indeed.
We always break that rule. I hope nobody... And
it always goes perfectly. I hope nobody's going
to take advantage of this situation. Nobody dies,
ever. I hope. Before we get to that, let's get
to something else. We open on a... twisted landscape,
an expanse of black stone broken suddenly by
spire -shaped mountains rising up like curling
spines at the back of some great beast. The edge
of the sky here is burning with orange, just
fading to a shifting green miasma as it rises
high above. No stars, no sun, no cycle of day
and night, just a constant burning, violent flame
giving way to swirling chaos that covers over
this malign land. The land of demons known as
the Abyss. As we look over this cursed land,
a title card appears. 257 years ago. We see a
party of six wandering through a shallow natural
trench that splits across the stony, lifeless
landscape. It's a grim, quiet procession. Warriors
all, the best and bravest of Anchor and Sengar.
But their stoic demeanors look to break before
the horrors that await them. All directions.
At the lead of this party, we see the demon slayer,
Zebulon. He holds a map before his face, shifting
it as he mutters quietly to himself, and just
behind him we see Sholay in her human guise,
peeking slyly over his shoulder, and her face
kind of turns to a grimace. This? This is the
map you're so proud of? It looks like a child's
scribbles! Zebulon just freezes and looks back
sheepishly. Oh, damn. Well, there's a reason
I was keeping it to myself. It's homemade, you
see. I'd been considering an adventure like this
before, so I've done some hard interrogating
during my demon hunts. I can assure you, it will
get us through. I know for a fact that this area
is generally avoided by the residents here. Hmm,
Shirley muses. Well, I suppose it has served
us so far. Only the one incident so far and easily
handled. And Zebulon smiles proudly and goes
back to reading it over. So there was a moment
of silent walking and then... Did the demons
tell you why? Hmm? Turns back to her. Why they
tend to avoid this region? I assume there's some
reason. Well, I, uh... Huh. And a voice sort
of breaks the silence. Storm! A voice crying
out from just ahead. All eyes in the group shoot
up to see a lanky young woman, a scout from their
party, sliding down into the trench. A storm
surging this way. It looks bad, and it's unbelievably
fast. It'll be on us in... And she trails off
as the wind begins to whistle around, kicking
up black clouds of abyssal sand. Chole's eyes
begin to shift, orange, her body suddenly expanding
into her draconic form. Quickly, beneath my wing!
No, Miss Shola, you'll be sworn not undercover
of the storm. Hurry, hurry. Everyone sort of,
she like spins around. The group of heroes gather
together as a great shadow of her wings cover
all of them. Lightning cracks above as a storm
hits. This sickly violet pulse in the black cloud.
The wind tears at Shola and she grits her teeth
and growls. for there's a long moment, a feeling
of eternity, for surely as rocks crash against
her scaled form, wind carving across her body,
but she holds and holds and holds, and suddenly
there is calm. She snaps her eyes open and looks
up into the cyclone, and an eye in this hurricane.
She looks up and sees something in the dark,
a shadow in the clouds, long and coiled all around
her. Now, in our last episode, I made quite an
exaggeration describing Sholay's shape in the
sandstorm as endlessly vast. Now, adult breast
dragons are big, right? And she's bigger than
most of them. But, but, that distinction, endlessly
vast, should belong instead to this. A great
serpent, enormous beyond imagining, dwarfing
even Sholay's true body. And the clouds and darkness
above the shape of its head begins to resolve.
and flashes of violet, draconic glowing eyes,
a razor -filled maw, all adorned by a crown of
pointed horns. And Sholay freezes her eyes wide
and wet, her mouth open in a stuttering whimper.
And this thing that looks down at her looks down,
staring for a long moment until it turns away,
fading back into the darkness of the cloud. The
ground rumbles, shaking as it slithers. She only
jumps a little as a voice speaks right beside
her ear. He's... he's real. Her eye shifts to
see that Zebulon now rests on her shoulder, having
climbed out from the cover of her wings. The
man looks for all intents and purposes like he's
about to piss himself, a voice cold with shock.
He? They... speak of him. The demons. I thought
he was just some legend. He's not like them.
Some kind of ancient dragon from Angkor and Sengar,
they say. Changed by centuries trapped in the
abyss. Thus the horns. I always assumed they
were mistaken. That a purple worm somehow got
through the rift. But that... That was no worm.
And Sholay's eyes linger in the sky. Do they
have a name for him? They do. They call him...
Zomateshab. His... Words, she continues, just
eyes far off. Did they hold any meaning to you?
Words? I didn't hear words. I see. Then I think...
I think he spoke to me directly in my mind. And?
Zabon just looks at her, eyes starved. What did
he say? Then he notices her beginning to brace,
looking back as the storm wall begins to close,
and again. The beaten Cholet braces herself for
a second wave, and Zebulon, seeing the danger,
begins to slide from her shoulder, hearing her
shaking voice behind as he dives out of the reach
of the storm's fury. He said, My kin think me
blind, but my eyes are open. And we pan from
there to the present. to the palace of Yanito
called the Seat of Dragons, and to the very opened,
determined eyes of Jules LaRoche. That was awesome.
I hope people like these, because, spoiler, there's
going to be a lot of them. I have so much work
to do this arc. I enjoyed it. I'm excited for
the rest of them. I think this is important.
I think these are all going to be very important
in the end. Get in the Discord and tell us what
you think. Yeah, tell us in the Discord, please.
It's one of those things I'm not so sure about.
Jules, you move through curving halls, standing
by walls of red and blue. The gold -painted form
from Great Serpent, definitely long, decorates
the wall on your right, a constant companion
as you move through the seat of dragons, eastern
wing. I hope it was east. I didn't go back and
check. I think you went west. I know Blanche
went west. Boom, there you go. Okay, cool. Eastern
wing. You are also, of course, accompanied by
Magistrate Conan June. who, I think it's, as
you're sort of moving, moving, you kind of slide
around a corner, and you're sort of pushing,
not eastern, but, you know, towards the sort
of back of the palace. And Conan, dude, sort
of continues, like, uh, the entrance to the ballroom
the queen spoke of is just ahead, just around
the corner. Are you sure about this, Jules? She
made a sound. I mean, not that I would make any
kind of comment about the mental stability of
Speaker Sholay Brass of Anchor Ensign Carr, because
that would be wildly inappropriate of me, but
I... Anything else you can tell me about what
just happened? I don't know anything, honestly.
I just got back, but... This makes me a little
nervous. I'll be fine. Yeah. Trust Jules. He's
got it. All right. You turn that corner. And
you do see down the hall there is a large sort
of closed doorway, like a double door that's
leading to some grand expanse of room beyond,
but you also see that this hallway is not empty.
You see that diva angel, pale -skinned, well
-muscled, huge, and standing before him, you
see Omed Pastar, looking exceptionally tiny and
skinny when he not mounted his angel harness.
who sees you, and immediately flashes this bright
smile. Atash once said the words of a fool are
as fire, burning down the most immaculate of
bridges with little effort, only through great
effort can these flames be quelled and bridges
rebuilt. And so I shall make my effort now. And
he begins to approach you, Jules, hand outstretched.
I feel we got off to the wrong foot, Jules LaRoche.
I was... Taken aback by the strange circumstances
I had witnessed earlier, coincidence they were,
kind of gestures towards the magistrate who nods
sort of awkwardly, nervously. And the ambassador
continues, I had hoped to speak to you alone,
to apologize and to offer my condolences. He
offers a hand to shake and very clearly eyes
your gloved right hand as he does so. There'll
be a time to chat, but right now I need you to
step aside. I gotta talk to Sholay. I see you
don't raise a hand or anything. No. Your kind
of eye twitches just a little bit. I see. Very
well. I just wanted to express to you how deeply
sorry I am for the incarceration of Gabriela
Cortez. I've heard that you two had some budding
relations. A shame. Well, for you, I mean. For
the world. Well... Miss Cortez struck a speaker
for the ancestors, one of her people's saviors.
She started this movement against Atash, against
peace itself. I mean, Atash once said the quality
of one's heart is best reflected in the company
it chooses to beat for. And given her relationship
with you, I must assume she worshiped the same
demonic forces. You got a point here? Again,
just twitch as he kind of quiets. And his smile
looks so forced, like stained glass kind of creaking.
Looks up to you. I just wanted to say that personally,
I do not feel sorry over Gabriella's fate. In
truth, I do not use these words lightly, but
in truth, I am ecstatic to see that justice is
coming for the bitch. And he looks you dead in
the eyes and smiles. Do you feel something stirring
next to you? You motherfucker! No. Chester. Chester,
shut up. And Ahmed's just staring at you. Jules
stares back. Good for fucking you. Step aside.
You see, like, a vein appears on his little head.
Very well. Very well. My guy is not going to
take the bait. Yes! Jules! I love this! I love,
I, part of this, I wanted to do this because
I knew that Jules in episode one would have fucked
it up. Oh, shit. And that's character growth.
Uh -huh. And he's just kind of like, very well.
And he gets to decide. Hyronix turns to the angel.
We should take our leave. The good allies of
the Citadel are busy, it seems. We'll chat later.
Sure. And Jules and Chester just walk off. Oh,
my gosh. I think the magistrate kind of just
nods to him. He does not look pleased. And you
see the two figures, the angel and the tiny man,
begin to sort of move down the hall, moving away.
Kunan Jun just looks to you. I... Thank you.
I'm so sorry for that. That was uncalled for
on so many levels. I... I'm not the biggest fan.
I shouldn't... Relax, relax, relax. You're good.
You should know... Anchor and Sengar has a, uh...
trade contract with Hauri, ensuring that we are
the foremost source of lumber for the desert
world. And we do make good use of the glassworks
at Grinzingar. We have a very important partnership
with the good ambassador in that way, but his
words do not reflect our opinions of any matter.
Not that I'm disparaging the good ambassador.
That would be wildly inappropriate for me as
a magistrate. Relax. I don't know how. I truly
don't know how. All right, well, I'm going in.
Uh, well, no, really not. Wait, should I come
with you? Would it be helpful if I... No. Are
you sure? Just us. Us? Jules, I'm in. Hey, I'm
in. You stay by the door. All right, but I got
your back. Do not do anything unless I explicitly
tell you to do it. Okay, yeah. Yeah. Following
orders. Sidekick, right? All right. You're going
in. Yeah, that's what I came here for. You move
to those double doors. Jester kind of comes up
beside you. One last sort of scornful look down
the hall to the corner where the ambassador has
just turned and looks back to you. All right,
let's go. And the two of you push the doors open
into darkness. Blanche. Oh, boy. You are moving
down the western sort of wing of the palace.
Similar red -blue walls surround you. Similar
paintings of long golden serpents kind of adoring
them. Absolutely majestic, this place. Opulent
in every way. Though this view is completely
lost on your guide here, who is very slowly tip
-tapping ahead of you, kind of hands in motion
as if he's playing a boddock right now. Oh, right,
right. Scout's trap. You were right about the
scout's trap, but I do wonder what the actual
solution would be. Perhaps you may offer me your
aid when there's time. Yes. Yeah, and Blanche
is just offering sort of... menial game conversation
you know like oh what level do you play at um
there i looked into like the i read like a go
rule thing for like five minutes today that's
awesome and just like i haven't yet well so you
know more than i do the the most interesting
thing i read so far in like the beginner's guide
is like if you go second the two players against
each other they decide on a point value to give
as to make up for going second because it's such
a big disadvantage. Oh, huh. So, you know, she's
like, they're trying to plan, you know, like
what should the point value be and stuff like
that. Making conversation. Can you remind me
of this guy's name one more time? I listened
to it today, but. Young Gi. Young Gi. Young Gi
is the uncle of the queen. So he is of the dragon
clan, but not a royal. He serves, I think the
magic did say he serves in a kind of, What's
the word here? What's the word here? Like an
advisory role? Thank you. Advisory role for the
queen. But he said it with kind of a bit of a
hesitation, stutter. Okay, so he's like the black
sheep of the court? Yeah, he's kind of just moving
along. And then I think at one point he's, you
do know your games, right, right. Blanche, Blanche,
you said it was? That's correct. Blanche Trudeau.
Blanche Trudeau, yes, you know your games. And
so I must wonder what game you play, what move
you make by asking me to guide you to your destination.
Uh, well... His eyes look to you and there's
like a sparkle in them. I surmised, Master Yungi,
that you might be forward with me about the smoke
that comes from the mountain and its effects.
Uh, smoke... I... The... Time jumps, lapses in
memory. Ah, right, right. You spoke of it earlier,
the Buko something. What do you call it? Oh,
I spoke the name of Baraki. Baraki. Perhaps a
connection, but not a word for this. I don't
have a word for this phenomenon. Perhaps you
could explain to me who Baraki is. Maybe we can
work it out together. Right, right. Baraki. Well,
nine years ago now, there was a red dragon that
came upon a city from the southeastern valleys,
launched a sudden assault on Yanido, laying waste
nearly to an entire district, the Phoenix District
as it was known. My royal niece, Queen Jean Mee,
faced this monster on her own. And so it repelled
an incredible feat, proving her mastery of dragonkind
and the purity of our clan's draconic heritage.
I dare say she channeled our great Meru, our
great founder. But even though Baraki's massacre
was swiftly ended, the damage was done. Now the
Phoenix District has been divided into nearby
herring and turtle districts, and its center
has been made into a park. The Park of the Elders,
they call it, which celebrates the heroic achievements
of my niece and honors the lives taken by the
battle. We still feel our scars and our hearts
and our land from the fight. So Queen Jean -Mi
can single -handedly take on, like, an adult
red dragon? Apparently. Damn. You mentioned something
about, like, Master Dragonkind wielding the blood
of Meru. It sounds like a whole crazy fairy tale,
but it's... Apparently it happened nine years
ago. Huh. Interesting. Uh, okay. Wow, the Phoenix
District. Yes, as it was. How many districts
are in the city? Did not exactly rise from the
ashes, as one might say. I would say there is
the Phoenix District, there is the Turtle District,
the Herring District. I understand there's construction
happening in the Tiger District? Ah, yes, good.
I'm glad, because I forgot the last district's
name. It's a good thing you didn't. I was going
to go look it up, but there's another one. And
also, yes, the Tiger District. It's outside the
city, actually. Behind the palace, up on the
top of the hill is where they're building it,
expanding out to cover the very top. It is still
early in the making, but it is currently being
built upon. What did he say they're building
there? Just an expanded district. But you do
remember the queen, after they talked about the
mist and the guards. Yeah, she sent that guy
up to the Tiger District. She said to go check
out the Tiger District, check out the construction
site, which seemed weird. Right. What correlation
there? So Baraki was defeated in the Phoenix
District. Yeah. How close is the Phoenix District
to the Tiger District? You made your way through
the city. You probably had, like, things pointed
out to you. Or I'm sure there's a map or something.
It is kind of in the mid -layer of the city,
upper mid -layer. So not quite together, not
quite close, but it does seem strange. So tell
me about the timeline of this. What do you call
it, this smoke that causes lapses in memory,
time skips? I have no word for it. I remember.
Do you remember when it started? Well, just today.
Today was the first time? Yes, I remember I was
sitting there. I had moved a piece that I could
not remember moving. Fascinating stuff. And I
thought at first that I had finally lost my mind
to age, but no, no, it seemed more magical in
nature. Given everybody's reaction, I assumed
that they were... Used to it. Conditioned to
it. Nobody speaks of it. Even though this is
the first time it's happened, nobody is curious
to find out why. Something does set in his eyes.
Some hardness. I feel like I'm playing on only
half a board here, youngie. There are some things
we are not supposed to speak of. When it comes
to our fair city of judgment, for one, it's very
namesake. No, this strangeness is new, but there
has always been strangeness of sorts in Yanido.
Well, certainly you don't want me to play with
this big of a handicap. Is there a way I could
hear about these secrets? Roll my persuasion
check. I'm going to give you something for very
high and something for, like, a moderately decent
roll. I'm going to give you a button. Whoa, okay,
okay. I like it. I like it. Good thing, because
the first roll is a natural one. Oh, my gosh.
A horse. It's a four. All right. Four. Damn.
You are a sharp player, Blanche Trudeau. Right,
right, perhaps. You will seek some answers on
your own. But I will say the magistrates know
much of this strangeness more than I do. What
answers I can give would be unfulfilling, I think.
I have come to live a luxurious, simple life
here, not bothered by what dangers await outside
these palace walls. I'm afraid the magistrates
are much more tight -lipped than you are. You
have been assigned young Kun Anjun, yes? He has
greeted us and said as much, yes? He is young
and he is sharp. Perhaps a blade you may turn
upon your foes here. Perhaps you can make him
speak true. How do I gain his trust? He's...
He blocked me out at every pass. I tried to speak
with him telepathically, and even still, I was
blocked out. You come to this city seeking to
help. Perhaps that will be enough. But I will
warn you away, Blanche Trudeau. There are some
secrets you should not seek to unbirth. Dangerous
secrets. Secrets that could crumble the very
city you stand in. I do not wish to become foes
in anything other than Bardock. Forgive me if
I overstepped. Boldness is a fair strategy. I
respect it. Most others will not. Okay, seek
answers with discretion from the magistrates.
Oh, I can't believe I rolled a four and just
added like two episodes onto this arc. I think
he will do one last little musing though. It's
like, yes, whether I, Baraki has anything to
do with this matters. I simply found it interesting
that upon the arrival. of the dragon sholey the
half dragons they would come to be affected so
deeply in such a different way from us but it
may be nothing it may be nothing at all now here
we are he turns to a door you see like and actually
as you're moving closer you have this conversation
people are sort of rushing past you servants
moving with like blankets and various sort of
like uh you know uh sort of vials of liquids
and medicines and medical supplies just rushing,
rushing past, and they're rushing into this larger
chamber that you're moving into. All right. You've
been most helpful, Master Yungi. I appreciate
your escort, and I look forward to that game.
Yes. Do not make me wait long. Maybe I'll have
some more bold questions for you then. I'll have
to win. I think for answers. Right, right. I
accept that challenge. You push into the room.
Blanche is going to head into the room. You move
into this room, into this infirmary. You see
robe positions are moving between beds. You see
two large shapes dominate two beds in the far
back. You're kind of looking at this longer,
you know. Longland is a wide room with beds sort
of lining all the way up. It looks like maybe
it was some kind of general quarters for maybe
like serpents or, you know, militia here in the
Seat of Dragons, but it's been turned into a
makeshift infirmary. And I speak not only of
those two shapes in the back, which you can see
brass wings are falling over the side of the
mattress. You can see, you know, based on just
like the general features under the blankets,
these clearly belong to Arlon and Xena. But they
are not alone in this room, no. There are a number
of figures laying in rows of beds, leading to
them. Bloodstained sheets covering some groaning
or whimpering people. Some sheets fully cover
bodies that are not moving. The chests are not
breathing. The wounds you can see, as well as
the panic in the eyes of the servants and physicians
within the chamber, they're all fresh. Fresh
panic, fresh blood. There was an attack here,
too. Huh. Blanche wants to grab somebody walking
by. I'm sure they're in a rush. You, what happened
to you? She's going to project like an air of
authority. You know, it's like the, you know,
if you walk around carrying a clipboard, everybody
thinks you belong sort of thing. You should have
a clipboard. Just act like you belong. Place
looks at you wide with panic and mouth opens
to answer and the eyes slowly kind of like close
as if like suspicious and then We had a number
of unfortunate accidents happening at once here
in the palace. I'm sorry. I must attend. Move
us away. Huh. Okay. So kind of everybody's on
notice about us, I guess. Interesting. Nobody
in this room is talking about what happened.
They're just talking about what to do about it.
You know, give me that. Give me that vial. Cover
that wound now. We got to put pressure. Put pressure.
You know, just that's the kind of chatter you're
hearing. Okay. So can Blanche see where Xena
and Arhalon are? Yeah, they're at the very back.
What does she see when she goes up to Arhalon?
You move past the other people moving, you move
past these beds, past everyone working on the
wounded. You move to the back. You don't see
wounds here. No blood on the sheets. Just two
figures lying. Sort of their faces popping out
from their sheets, and they're just sweating.
Their eyes are closed, but their brows are working
as if they're groaning, growling. Arhalon, Xena.
Blanche is going to try to cast Message on Arhalon.
Message requires a whisper back, though, correct?
It's more of a, it's not into the mind, actually.
It's more of like a very quiet words to the ear.
Here's the message and can reply in a whisper
that only you can hear. But it might be a more
personal way of speaking. Yeah. Still interesting.
Sure, yeah, I guess she'll try and just say,
you know, Ahalan, can you... Can you hear me?
Can you give me some sign? Just like pain, pain.
Akio just like moves up on like two paws on the
side of the bed, just like looking into his eyes.
What is wrong with them? All right, here's another
idea. Blanche is going to cast protection from
evil on him. What does that do exactly? I'm curious.
Okay. Until the spell ends, one willing creature
you touch is protected against certain types
of creatures, aberrations, celestials, elementals,
fey, fiends, and undead. It gives creatures of
those types of disadvantage on attack rolls against
the target. The target can't be charmed, frightened,
or possessed by them. And if the target is already
charmed, frightened, or possessed by such a creature,
the target has advantage on any new saving throws
against the relevant effect. Let me check one
thing. Oh, yeah. It's very interesting. I looked
it up. That is not a high enough level spell
for this. There are spells that could do something
here. So does Blanche have any way of knowing
that that spell was on the right track? It's
just not powerful enough? Maybe. And it's on
the right track is even hard to say. But I think
there's... What I will say, I like where you're
going with that a lot. I think for a moment after
you cast it, Arlan's eye snaps open, kind of
whirls around madly, locks onto you. And it closes
again. It's almost like he's been seized and
pulled back into whatever horror he's experiencing.
Is Young Gi still at the door? I'll say he left.
I think he saw... the scene inside and kind of
backed away like it's just horrible and he's
kind of a sheltered old man i will say beside
you you see akio's just like looking down at
this master master blanche can i speak my mind
please akia i would expect nothing less of you
his claws dig in a little bit to the sheets you
see he's shaking Master Arhalon, selflessly and
bravely, fought our side when we confronted Master
Ozen's body. He was instrumental in our victory
within the Shrine of Storms. He probably saved
my life. All our lives. He is a brave warrior.
He deserves a better fate than this. I... I want
to help him and his mother. No matter what, I
want to help them, Master Blanche. Is that okay?
Absolutely. Akio, I believe there may be an arcane
solution. How good is that nose of yours? It's
not what it once was when I was a young pup,
but it will get us by. Do you think you could
smell out the library? There must be one in this
palace. Books. Do you have a book on you, just
to remind me? Yeah, Blanche will pull out...
Give me your spell book. Sure. Oh yeah, she'll
pull out her spell book. I will return. Gone.
He's like running. I was just going to follow
him. So basically what I want to do is I want
to roll Arcana about it. Try to like figure out
what sort of spells could work with this. Oh,
okay. Yeah. And I'm hoping that something like
extra books or a library will maybe give me a
boost to that check or something. Okay. Maybe
you go to follow Akio? Yeah. I'll say. Right
when you do, one of the physicians sort of walks,
I guess like you see right behind you, just young
man, dark hair, very close cut, very stern, sad
face, just Blanche Trudeau, right? Yes, that's
correct. I have been told of you. Some of the
servants were very worried about you. Lady Xena,
when she came in, I, uh, I'm sorry, this is stupid.
And he kind of moves over to, like, the side
of her bed, and he lifts up, like, a little,
like, sort of ornate little box, like, you know,
almost like a to -go box. Okay. Um, Lady Xena...
Is it goat? No, no. There was mention of goat,
but, uh, the dessert last night... She insisted,
all but a bite goes to you. When you arrived,
it was too good, she said, not to share with
friends. I am sorry to tell you this. We've been
monitoring the two of them. Their vitals are
fading. It is slow. We don't understand what's
happening. It's nothing natural at all. How much
time do you think they have? At this point, it's
hard to tell. We'll assume days, but not many.
Two, maybe three. Thank you, Doctor. That should
be enough. And you go after Akio. Yeah, I'll
take the cake, though. A little golden icing
on this little, like, almost like a fudge lava
cake. It's all splooshed out everywhere because
she took one bite and was like, I'm going to
save this. Yeah. Which way is the library? kind
of points down the hall in the opposite direction
where you... Maybe if you kept going... Oh, I
thought you were going to say the opposite direction
that Akio went. I was like, oh, that stupid dog.
That's so funny. No, you went the right way.
Don't nerf Akio that way. Oh, that west. And
you leave. Going to the library. Going to go
do some studying. Okay. Okay. And... Jewels.
Oh, boy. we pan back to you the other wing of
this palace as you open a door a little dim light
sort of pools into this great massive space it
is a full open ballroom grand and gigantic huge
like you know cathedral size ceilings just like
it feels like You are walking into a massive
cavern into the lair of some great beast. It
is entirely dark, but as you step in, as the
little light sort of goes into the room, you
can feel something very large, a great shadow
moving. The light shines on the legs of tables
splintered, glassware shattered against the wall.
You see craters almost taken out of the wall
from the insides. There's something been thrashing
about. Small points of like burned cinders in
the carpet. The very edge of a chandelier smashed
and burned in the room center. Do you close the
door behind you? Do you leave? No, no. I think
Jules will leave the door cracked. Okay. But
he's not going to leave it wide open. So you're
standing in near darkness. Yeah, and he's going
to push Chester against the wall next to the
door. Fucking stay put. Yeah. He has his misdirection
in hand. Put that away. Jules! Put it away. His
hand twitches on it. There's something in his
eyes, just determined. And he blinks. And, yeah,
smiles. Of course, yeah, of course, put it away,
yeah. You got this. Jesus fucking Christ. Peace.
All that. Don't say a word. Don't move. Yeah.
Easy. He is like visibly quivering. You turn.
I will turn the car around. I'll turn this. I'll
turn this room around. I will turn this arc around.
Get back on that gem. And Jules takes a couple
steps forward. Straight into blackness. More
into the room. I think, you know, just for funsies,
he's going to cast light on his glove. Magical
light fills the space. Almost like a spotlight
as you're hearing your glove forward. Flashes
over the room. And in the sort of great shadow
beyond, you see Sholay. The ancient brass dragon
in all her majesty. You see eyes. staring into
you, boring into you like flames. And you see
blood runs down her back and neck where great
gashes sort of like line all over her. Our scales
have been torn from flesh. Old scars peek out
beneath these fresh wounds. She just, why have
you come? Tell me what's going on. Orb snaps
out. Table goes crashing towards you. Smashes
against the wall. Not terribly far from Chester.
Leave! I was a fool. I have made an error that
cannot be undone. I was so desperate to fight
back. Tell me what happened. Bit of phylaeum.
Backlights the teeth. Your role is done. I release
you from contract. I have contacts, agents. Seeking
out signs of the child. You'll know in time where
you must go. My final boon to you, Jules Laroche.
Your payment in full. Leave. Take it and go.
That's not an answer to my question. You will
have no answer. You can't. What? You can't understand.
Try me. What fucking happened? Gout of flame
just burns across the wall. You see her claws
reach up to the side of her head and start digging
into it like something is wrong. You see in her
eyes something is wrong with her. Relax and come
down to my level. Roll me a check here. What
do you want me to do? Oh, fuck. Yeah, roll me
a check. What do you want? Probably persuasion,
I guess. Okay. This is the kind of situation.
It's going to take some high rolls to make a
lot of head roll. Very high rolls. How about
a 25? That's pretty good. That's pretty damn
good. She seems to, like, shrink just a little
bit. Still something in her eyes that's not quite
right. And just... She lowers her head down towards
you. She does not change form. This city is damned.
They do not know it. They cannot know it. But
everyone will die. And there's nothing we can
do. Why? They will die. Ah, Lord. Seen them,
they will die, they will die, and there's nothing
I can do! Just screams. Smashes against another
table. Jules doesn't flinch. I fought for so
long. Sacrificed so much to create a perfect,
peaceful world for my family, for his family.
But now I've watched them all die. Outlived by
everyone I have ever loved. My family is dead,
so who? Who have I been fighting for? You need
me. And we need you. It's not your fight. You
can't understand, please. Zebulon loved you.
So please, please, please, someone, someone needs
to live. If Zebulon was still here, he'd be right
by my side. He's not. This is all our fight.
Look, let me in. I know you think I'm a misfit,
a fuck -up, a loose cannon. I honestly think
that about myself. But a loose cannon's not a
bad thing if you're pointed in the right direction.
Let me in. She moves closer to you. Her face
coming so close to yours, you can feel Chester
tensing somewhere behind you. Roll me a persuasion
check. This will be a multi -tiered check. Okay.
Different results. Okay. For different numbers.
Button. You have a plus ten currently? Correct.
Okay. A button needed because the first roll
was a natural one. Oh my God, both of you. Yeah,
twice tonight. Second roll. The horse is narrowly
sidestepped. Second roll was a 16 plus 10 for
26. Pretty good. Okay, okay. This face comes
so close to you. You feel intense heat washing
over you like a breath. blowing your cloak billowing
behind you as you stand, Jules. You see your
light from your hand and you're also being lit
by a flame in the throat of this massive monster
before you. As this is happening, Jules will
also just say, I'm not afraid. I'm right here
with you. And you see tears run down those eyes
before you, shining in your light. And she says,
you are so much like him, my husband. I... Something's
wrong with me, too. It's all coming apart. I
can't tell you because you'll forget. Everyone
forgot. But I can tell you pieces. You need to
learn the secret of the city. First, you need
to learn about the Gwishin. The magistrates know.
It's a piece you need to understand the rest.
Learn of the Gwishin. Find the lie they are telling.
The Dragon Clan's lie. And then, only then...
Can you know the lie behind the lie? And you
will know what I have done. And she kind of almost
reels back like pain. Her eyes, please go! Mind
is faltering, please! I don't want to hurt you!
Not you! Jules will slowly... Start backing out
of the room. Still facing her. We will talk again
soon. We will talk. Keep control. For Zebulon.
Zebulon. Claw reaches back again to press in
and then halts in the air and lowers back down.
For Zebulon. Can you leave? Yeah. And we'll call
it there.