Pants people, I'm supposed to do it good this
time. So this week, here's a message from Sketchy
Rolls, an actual Play D &D podcast with a rolling
cast. Check it out. Welcome, traveler of these
auditory planes, these realms of adventure told
with rolls of chance. I have you but for a few
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Come, come see. See what awaits behind this door.
Mr. Morbid will cast Disguise Self as a cleaner.
Can you describe what your cleaner looks like,
please? The cleaner looks very much like Larry
of the guards, but has an apron on. In a maid's
outfit? Yes. And the quill is now a feather duster.
I start sort of pretending to wipe the floor
as I'm on the floor. You're on the floor. Mr.
Morbid dressed up as Larry in a maid's outfit.
It's behind. It's giving camp energy. This guard
looks... at this childish sort of waif on the
floor, golden blonde curls wiping the floor,
and they say, Larry? Uh, yeah, yes, me, yeah.
Just don't do a little spring cleaning, you know.
A nude door with a nude tail will open each month.
and you can seek this realm on your socials with
at sketchy rolls where fun awaits you doors regular.
I'm finally moving to a swanky new studio. As
such, our regular digital chatter will be on
hold for the week, so, uh, thanks for tuning
in, y 'all. And down your pee, for reals, down
your pee. One last pee in this apartment. Good
pee. Good, I'm glad it was a good pee. Yes. Uh,
gentlemen, this is the last night, the last episode
of Fancy Pants. Fucking original recording studio.
It's crazy. Yeah. It's crazy. Are you guys very
sentimental? Yeah. Yeah. I'm kind of sentimental.
I can. I'm both. I mean, yeah, I think once we
deconstruct the table after this episode tonight,
then it'll be like, oh, man. Yeah. I mean, literally
the entire campaign has happened in this room.
Yeah. It's crazy. Yeah, I think it's cool. I'm
just not super sentimental. This is so close
to work. You know? Yeah, the location. Now you
gotta drive to Lancaster. Jeremy, why'd you move
so far away? Well, for at least a little while.
It's right around the corner from Stephen's,
so Stephen's gonna have a really nice ride home.
Oh my gosh, right? Right? We'll just walk home.
Yeah, dude, yeah, you could walk. You could walk
to recording. Yeah. Yeah. Damn. Yeah. Maybe I
will. I'm jealous. Living in the middle of nowhere
over here. Gentlemen. You're not that far away
from Lancaster. Yeah, but I'm in Twins. Twins
are nothing down. It's like nothing's going on.
It's not that far, though. 25 minutes. So Lancaster's
25 minutes from here. David, none of these towns
have anything going on. And you're right in the
middle. That's a good point. That's why I live
here. Welcome to the country. Every town is 25
minutes away from every other town. Yeah, I don't
know about you, Sentimental, a lot, but... Well,
you know what? Let's get Sentimental up in here,
because I have a question for you guys. I have
a bad topic for tonight. This special night.
Okay. Give me your favorite OG Fancy Pants Studio
memory. Oh. Yeah. What? Yeah. Fuck. Let me start
off. Remember when we got a sweet roll in here?
Uh -huh. The big sweet roll? Oh, dude, that thing
was... That was a really nice big sweet roll.
Yeah. By the time Danny tried to pull over my
entire mic, that happened multiple times. Yeah.
Yeah. I kind of liked... When we first started
doing this, I would bring something stupid and
just like... Throw it in a pot and make food
up real fast. Oh, yeah. We used to like that
dinner. Oh, we grilled. We grilled on the other
side. Yeah, we used to grill out there. Yeah,
we used to grill. Oh, my God. We were so young
back then. Yeah, we just got so efficient. Where
did the time go? We got earlier into our 30s.
Jeremy is half in the grave. Shut the fuck up.
Jesus Christ. None of us have time for hot dogs
anymore. No more hot dogs for us. Yeah. Yeah,
it really turned into like, all right, guys,
we got to get in record. We're good. We live
25 minutes away from everything. Well, I think
it's like, oh, you know, we have the time to
sit and do this. Yeah. But we're all just so
busy outside of it that it's like, I don't know
if I have like 45 minutes every week to sit and
that's kind of sad. You know, yeah, this is the
saddest bit. Why did you take us down this road?
Damn. Hey, pants people, go find your friends
and hold them tight and maybe throw them up a
hot dog. And while you're at it, invite them
onto our Discord! Join the Discord, save the
mood. Hot dogs on the Discord. Don't worry, guys.
I'm going to say no again in a little while,
so we'll all have a good laugh, you fucking assholes.
Jeremy, you got some crazy good memory here,
right? Yeah. I don't know. My favorite one was,
yeah. I don't know if this is a selfish one,
but it's when I first did these lights in that
episode. Oh my gosh, dude. It was a long time
keeping it secret and building up to that moment.
And that was the first and only time I actually
sang it live in the studio. Yeah. I missed that.
That was great. Yeah, I had the instrumental
track going, and I hadn't recorded the vocals
yet, so I actually did it live in studio. Yeah.
I mean, all the songs. That was a good moment.
Yeah, for real. The weeks leading up to that,
I'm like, this is going to change shit. Yeah.
I'm like, after this episode, things are going
to be different. Yeah. Steven's reaction live
was so funny. It was awesome. I didn't record
that. You know what? It's okay. It's filed away.
This one's for David. I get it. You guys don't.
Ha ha. Suck it. Yeah, that was really special.
I think I still actually have the original project
file for that episode that probably has my original
vocal singing it live here on it. Oh, yeah. That's
never going to see the light of day. It's all
been downhill since episode 11. That's what they
say on the Discord anyway. You'll find out if
you... All right, gentlemen, I want to do a flashback
again. You better not pick on me. I mean, don't
go exploring the nodes again. Stop it. Come on.
I'm not such a dirty mind as you guys. It's not
the word. I just want to get in the open. It's
not the word node itself that's funny. It's just
like the rest of it all. Yeah, I'm just a chuckle
nut. It was like a perfect storm of node and
explore and coming. Hopefully there's less of
that this time. I don't know. I haven't reread
this. Or more of it. What kind of show do you
want it to be? Let's go into a scene. A really,
really important scene. Steven. We open on the
inside of the Crystal Amphitheater. the centermost
point of the auroral diamond. We see Sholay in
her human guise, softly lit by a pulsing red
sky above and the aquamarine crystalline stage
below. She stands on a wide platform surrounded
by a wide expanse that rises at its edge into
a long series of steps, seating that climbs high
into the sky around her. The amphitheater looks
like a ghostly coliseum that stands overwhelmingly
empty, and there's no one here. It just looks
so strange. Every sound echoes. Though the platform
at its center is filled with incarnates. We see
all 25 are here. The Amethyst Tiger, the Bastite
Caiman, even the Jasper Pecan Tree has shifted
its way over to this place of import. Pagan.
I don't care. They all stand around Shirley in
a circle to combine rumbling of their innate
thunderstorms. Rings through the structure, pierced
by the floating notes of their combined melodies.
Together, they sound like some organized orchestral
piece. In the center of the platform, we see
a bright, shining bulb at the tip of a diamond
rose. You gotta do something here. I know it.
You're gonna pick on me. Yeah, probably, but
just do it anyway, I guess. I don't know. Diamond
Rose. 25 lips of 25 petals out. Stop. If you
didn't call attention to it. Stop. Hang on. 25
lips of 25 petals fan out in a spiraling pattern,
each adorned by a different gemstone. Sholay's
gemstones carried with her through each of the
25 worlds. They shine as their assigned petals
point outwards toward their connected incarnate.
And Sholay moves towards that bulb, the master
node of the auroral diamond. Stop. Her hand outstretched.
Come on. And we hear the turquoise lion begin
to speak. Stop laughing. I'm laughing because
I know I can't laugh. It's like sixth grade.
It's not even that funny. It's just funny because
it's not supposed to be funny. The time is nigh,
chosen one. Approach the nodes. I can't do it
anymore. I'm not even laughing now. Serious time,
serious podcast. We got this. Deep breath. I
can't collect myself. say the sentence you picked
on me too much i don't know what to do can you
call it the orb no it's not an orb it's a bulb
in a note in the middle of all the lips come
on how do i do this now all right everyone shut
up shut up shut up shut up we gotta make we gotta
do an episode There's got to be some other word
here, right? Module? Is that a thing? Is that
anything? Sure. Node's a better word. Just pause.
The time is nigh. Chosen one, approach the node
and speak the command. Direct your order and
intent to the remnants of our king, and he shall
heed your mortal call. Do as we have been forbidden
to do and connect our worlds. At last, and beneath
the gaze of these... Fuck, I know you're going
to get me on this one. And beneath the gaze of
these otherworldly creatures, these fallen gods,
Shirley touches her fingers to the center of
the bulb. This is seriously... She shudders.
I just wrote this. You did this on purpose. Oh,
it's a porn. This is lore. You wrote she shudders?
Yes, because she's touching a power. She shudders
as her soul presses against the immensity of
this diamond. It's power. Her body bursts in
a brilliant shimmering light. She pushes. Shocks.
Opens her mouth. I'm already in the old studio.
Her body bursts into brilliant, shimmering light.
She pushes through the shock, opens her mouth
to speak the word, and her eyes flicker towards
the sapphire wyvern. She closes her mouth, closes
her eyes, and pushes in to the power. The diamond
unfolds before her mind. It's history. It's intent.
It's features. The turquoise lion growls. Cholet,
no. What are you? With a gasp while his eyes
shoot open, she yanks her hand back as if badly
burned. What is this? This... This is not what
you said. This... Features... Nobody. Stop with
that face, Steven. I've been trying so hard,
man. This... Features nobody. Nobody should hold
this power. This is not salvation. but the damnation
of every being in our worlds. She just turns
towards her crotch, whirling around her eyes
wide. The turquoise steps forward. Do not speak
in haste. You cannot understand what you have
seen. This is not a burden you need carry. Not
a burden? How? Because these features cannot
be activated. Only a mortal can command the Master
Node, but these commands can only come to pass
if they are accepted unanimously by the Incarnates.
In this way, no side holds power over the other,
a blessing born of the Throneweaver's infinite
wisdom. These features exist only as a final,
desperate act of oppression against the larger
threat of war, an act that will never come to
pass. How? How can I trust what you have just
said? How can I trust anything you say? Reach
in again to the power. Once attuned, you can
verify the truth of my words. And Sholay's eyes
are locked onto the lion as she reaches out.
She looks again suddenly to the wyvern as her
fingers hover outstretched over the shining node.
And the sapphire wyvern nods. Sholay presses
in again, bursting into light. She stands. Come
on. We're doing good. She stands. eyes closed
for a long while and the turquoise lion speaks
you can see now the genius of our king this system
is perfect we will connect the fragments of shadrakan
and work together to stand against the extra
cleaner threats that border them under the guidance
of us incarnates we will form a perfect alliance
between peoples in time we may use the lesser
features of the diamond such as the broadcasting
of images and sounds tools to better forge our
connections. Once we've established strong enough
relations, once the threat of war is fully extinguished,
we return again to this place, and you will speak
the command to unite. So speak the word, chosen
one, and start us on the path to peace. And Xolay
stands in silence, her brow furrowed in deep
thought. Finally, she opens her eyes again and
looks around at each and every incarnate, a representative
of each and every world she has seen, every life,
every soul interwoven together. She takes a deep
breath and speaks one word. Connect. And let
us return to the palace. The lore fans are going
to be so pissed at you guys. So pissed. man,
I was doing fine until you started laughing when
you said node. Yep. Like, and I was sitting there.
I had passed it. I had passed it. Yeah. I was
like, I was, I was like, that wasn't funny. Fuck.
Yeah. Yeah. Hopefully it comes out good. I'm
so sorry. We goofed all over the important Lord.
I can't do any better than I, we did. We well
and truly did our best. Our plum best. We did.
We did our, we did our darndest. Yeah. Uh, you
know, who else is going to do a darndest? Ambassador
Omid Pastar. Yeah, this guy sucks. You stand
in the throne room of Queen Jean Mee, who still
sits before you. You are, like, half -bowed as
the door opens as she introduces your new guide
in. And you see Hyronix, the diva angel, the
bodyguard for Ambassador Omid Pastar of Ankh
-Rensingar, who stands before the angel, moves
up to you guys, and says, Greetings, my good
sheep. Ironics, don't be rude. Greet the sheep.
And the angel kind of just passively waves towards
you all. Do either of you play Barak, perhaps?
I would gladly learn. And in turn, I could teach
you some scripture you should know. Queen Jin
Mi, I'd like to thank you for your wisdom in
this matter. Good. I'm glad you see things my
way. It seems you will get along splendidly with
your new guide. I'm afraid I must leave your
company for now myself. There is much to do,
but I will join you all tonight for supper. Perhaps
we can get Sholay to join us as well, I should
hope. And I will keep you informed on any new
updates on Arhalon and Xena Brass. We are putting
our best on their care. I assure you, there is
absolutely nothing for the four of you to worry
about. You can relax. You have no need to leave
these walls. And we trust you implicitly. I'm
so glad. Now, check out gestures for you all
to leave. The guards kind of stand up. Owen Pastor
bows low as though it was the Angel Hieronics.
And you are ushered out. Now, you know you have
chambers here. You haven't seen them. yet, I
don't believe, but you know you are where you
do have rooms already set aside for you if you
want to go there. What do you want to do? You
step out. Guards are kind of moving around you
to kind of salute. You see like a battalion that
kind of moves to the front gates covering the
entrances. You see a look in their eyes. It's
kind of like a don't go past us. It's kind of
just standing beside you as you step out, kind
of awkwardly kind of hanging out. Oh, so I thought
that they were going to lead us to a place, but
it's like we can go wherever we want in the castle.
Olmed's going to be with us and we just can't
leave the castle? Basically, yeah. You have eyes
on you. Oh, gosh. You can return to your rooms.
It's probably expected, but you're guests of
the palace. Okay. And how long would we expect
until this dinner? Oh, boy. Right now, let's
see. We had that last thing that was at 3 o 'clock,
right? So let's say at this point we're looking
at 4 o 'clock p .m. So probably about two hours.
Oh, perfect. Perfect timing, David. What? Why?
Perfect timing. Dinner. Yeah. Ahmed, do you think
we could change the dinner time maybe an hour
earlier or later than six o 'clock? I do my evening
rituals. Ambassador Pastaris. Preferred. demanded,
actually, and no, no, the Queen will determine
when we are to meet. She is a very busy woman,
and we must adhere to her schedule. I mean, Atash
once said, but I digress. Tell me, what did Atash
say? Shit, fuck. I'd like to hear Atash's thoughts
on the matter of dinner time. Atash once said,
hang on. I see smoke coming out of his ears.
Yeah, I, yeah. I wanted to make you sweat once
tonight. Shit, you got me good. You got me good
on this one. Atash once said, to change the hours
of feast in one's banquet hall is to eat alone
without food, for we are not the ones to set
the schedule. We are the ones to adhere to it.
It is a simple wisdom and a truth. Very specific
and appropriate. You know the book well. I know
every word spoken. Uh, so... I don't know what
we're going to get accomplished with him with
us. Right. It's like, it kind of feels like we
need to just kill time until... Well, I was,
I was... I mean, you also know, like, you got
a lead from what you heard in the diamond. That
there is some kind of clue likely in the Tiger
District, but... Right, for that you gotta find
a way to Tiger District. Yeah, we can't, we can't
get there. Unless you want to break bad and find
a way out. Look, look. Realistically, you realize
this. You're not getting shit done in this investigation
anymore unless you find a way. to do it stealthily.
Would it be stupid if we split up now and Jules
caused a distraction to bring him with Jules?
Splitting up is not a bad idea because Hyronix
is the only one who's kind of mobile. Because
Omid's really short. He's short, kind of frail
looking dude. Skinny to the point of, is this
guy even alive? But you just see as you're talking
this, D .Va very sadly just towers over you.
Super stoic expression. It has not... Like he
has not said a word. He has barely shown a single
emotion, but you feel there is true danger in
those features. Like Ahmed is, I think it was
mentioned in your note. He is not strong. Obviously
he is not strong. He is weaker than a common
person, but this bodyguard is something else,
something you do not want to cross. Like, I feel
like Jules just wants to casually break off in
a hallway. Just starts to walk away. Just start
walking away. Non -threatening. Just taking a
stroll and kind of leave Blanche to it. Well,
Blanche will cast message up to him as they're
walking separate directions. I don't think we
should... We should all stay together, don't
you think? I'm feeling antsy. I just want to
go for a stroll. Perhaps Hyronix should join
you. Jules is already done walking down the hallway.
He turns and snatches. Hyronix! After. Go. And,
like, as you really turn a corner and you can
feel, like, the presence of this, like, larger
thumping. That's fine. To be clear, like, I mean,
I think we maybe you said you cast message. Yeah.
Blanche wants to say, we know there's some unique
burial in the Tiger District. I don't know if
we can get there together, but I think splitting
them up is our only chance of forward progress.
And with message, I think you can reply. I can
reply. Because I think Jules' intention was to
let Blanche try to take the lead on that and
just distract the bodyguard. Okay. So, Jules
will say, do what you gotta do, Blanche. I'll
take care of this one. As you go, you say this,
like, whispered word next to your chest. What's
up, Jules? I didn't hear ya. He's, like, walking,
right? Of course, he splits off. I said I'm going
for a stroll. Come on. Oh, yeah, yeah. Damn!
The Keo is behind you. Ambassador Pastar watches
as Hyronix turns the corner, following Jules
and Chester close behind. As Jules goes around
the corner, before he actually gets around the
corner out of sight, he'll kind of look back,
give a little smirk, and then walk past the corner.
Hell yeah. Out of sight. The Ambassador's sort
of following your gaze. You see there's heat
in his stare. I would hope you have no japes
or trickery for me, Blanche Trudeau. Omid, do
I look like a woman who japes? Ambassador Pastar,
actually. So does Blanche know exactly what sort
of being Ambassador Pastar is? He's just a human.
He's just a frail looking human who... has a
high role in Atash's sort of kingdom government.
He's important purely because of the trade deals
he represents for Yanito. Will you be able to
keep up, Omid? Perhaps Akio here could act as
your steed in Hyronic's absence? Hyronic is the
only steed worthy of me. Your mutt can carry
his own weight. He is quite fast. If you insist.
Well, we'll be returning to my quarters now.
And Blanche takes off and walks to her room,
I guess. Yes. You had this game to show me. Let
us pass our time together. We cut over to you,
Jules. You're moving down. So you're in your
quarters, Blanche. You know where they are, roughly.
You were told by Conan June earlier. So you're
moving that direction. Jules, you kind of take
a different route. moving down like sort of the
back ways of the palace probably find yourself
moving closer and closer to chile uh who is in
a sort of back ballroom uh an area that's a little
less guarded because people here are kind of
terrified of the constant roaring and smashing
you move with chester and you feel this looming
presence kind of behind you and to your surprise
that figure actually speaks in a voice that just
does not fit this bulky frame. I sense you. I
sense the evil in you. You are a danger to the
good ambassador. Then you don't truly sense me.
A hand moves down and grazes your arm. I sense...
But there is no legal precedent for your arrest
now. I'm sure that will change. I will be eagerly
waiting. The form just goes very quiet again.
Are we outside of our chalets? Yeah, if you want
to move to that point, you can. Okay. Before
we do that, can I do a flashback for a button?
What? What? What? What? Is that a thing still?
I'm allowing it. Yeah, why not? Yeah, fuck yeah.
As long as it happens during something that was,
like, downtime. It can't happen, like, during
active moments, but if there's, like, a point
we skip time, then, yeah, fuck yeah. Push back
for a button. I love it. It's fun. Have we had
some good downtime? I would say any time you
spent, oh gosh, during the short rest or during
your travel to or from the, like, when you're
traveling to locations, usually we'll just kind
of, like, blab, blab over that. You could do
something during your travels. I just, like,
whatever. So, between the Park of the Elders
and coming back here, I'm spending a button.
What? for Jules to hand the broom of flying to
Blanche. Oh, okay. Shifting around the items,
okay. And he'll just say, just in case. I don't
know what's coming up, but got the feeling this
might serve you better. Yeah, I might need to
sneak out of the castle. Garba, what? Hell yeah.
You see that rod is on her back. Cool. I really
have not thought about what the hell Jules is
going to do. He's literally just doing this to
cause a distraction and keep Hyronix occupied.
Are you just kind of basically wandering? Yeah,
I think we're wandering aimlessly. Maybe if we
pass Jules' room, Jules will just kind of open
up the door and just be like, Hey! Just going
to like the farthest corners of the palace. Like,
oh, look at this pantry. Is that your... Yeah,
I think that's... Yeah. Jules, where are we going?
Hey, Jules. We're getting some air. Oh, I mean,
all right. Sure. We're just going for a walk.
All right? Yeah, all right. Go for a walk. Yeah.
Side by side. As the angel silently moves up
behind, we slide. Blanche, you open a door and
step into a lavish little bedroom. I mean, this
bedroom is just exquisite. You see a large canopy
bed, you know, big sort of window. overlooking
it, looking down upon the city, down the hill
where you can just look. You see like the top
of the statue in the Park of the Elders. You
see it all splayed out before you. Yanido in
all of its glory. All sorts of just nice furnishings,
a wonderful little desk, quill and papers all
set out for you. I mean, it's a lovely little
place to spend your time relaxing. Any chance
there's a Bodak board around? I mean, you know
what? I will say there 100 % is, and it looks
like it was newly moved in. It wasn't initially
here. But you do see a small note that just says,
practice, youngie. Blanche goes up to the board.
I believe some people call this the Game of Kings.
Omid, perhaps you are interested in learning?
While I do share a certain reverence for kings,
yes, let us play. I hear games of the mind can
teach so much of one's opponent. Well, the board
is usually a 19 by 19 grid, but when children
are learning, we usually start a little lower
at eight or nine. These are your stones here.
This is how you capture. Explaining territory
and explaining the rules of the game. You see
a mind that is actually very receptive to these
rules. Amid seems like someone who could learn
this game very quickly. Could be very good at
it. A very crafty mind filled with guile. Perhaps
for your first game, you would play against my
pupil here, Akio. While I... freshen up. I wasn't
listening to any of the instructions, Blanche.
I'm sure Master Ozen taught you Bardock. Uh...
Did you, like, wink at him or something? Yeah.
He cocks a head at you? Cocks the head the other
way? Oh, Roof! Yes! Bardock! I have learned of
this Bardock. You remember moving the pieces
with your nose, I'm sure. Yes, with my noble
snoot, I shall move these little guys. Am I the
black guys or the white guys on the board? Well,
we can give Omid the choice, and we can decide
the handicap. I will let you two work out the
details. Omid, if my mutt has forgotten any of
the rules, perhaps you can remind him and teach
him? I feel like you're pulling something here.
I feel like you're making a roll or something
about it. I'm just going to the bathroom. I've
got to freshen up with my rod of flying. Omin,
have you heard the term boofing? Stop it. I didn't
do that one. Omin, he looks at you. The ambassador
just looks at you for a minute. Kind of blinks.
His eyes narrowed. Now. You're not thinking of
leaving, are you? I'm hoping you would be here
to instruct both of us in the game as we go.
Then you hear Akio just say, Yes, he's afraid
of my skills. He doesn't stand a chance against
my canine mind. What do you... I will not...
If we're to have dinner with the queen shortly,
forgive me for being so... Bold, but I have a
lot of blood to scrub out of my shell. And I
would rather not do it here. I'm trying to decide
if that was like a euphemism. No. I was like,
oh my god. No, that was just trying to think
of a good excuse to be in the bathroom for a
long time. Ahmed, give me a persuasion check.
No, give me a deception check, but take advantage
because Akia was helping you. Alright, I still
don't like it, but... Okay, it's the same. The
two times I've rolled dice tonight. The first
roll was a 12. The second roll was a 1. That's
it. 12 total. That's not terrible. Very well.
If you must go, you must go. But while that does
seem like a lengthy chore, if you are gone for
too long... I fear I may have to come and seek
you out. I would be remiss in my duties as a
guide if I did not. You understand? Blanche puts
her hand to her chest. Omid, I find that quite
forward and inappropriate. That's not... What
would the queen think? Take your turn, dog. Stern's
like, oh, yes. And the king just, like, slaps
his nose onto the table and starts wiping pieces
around. What did... Is this a legal move? He
has a unique play style. Gosh. All right. I'm
going to think out loud real fast. Yeah. Oh,
I'm going to guess that charm person would turn
off when I go outside of the range. So that I
don't think it will go turn off outside the range,
but only last for one hour. And afterwards, the
person knows they were charmed. Yeah. I feel
like an hour would be better than. I don't know
how long he's going to let me stay in there without
going in. All right, I guess I'll deal with that
on the other end. Blanche is going to go in the
bathroom and hop out the window. Hell yeah. You,
like, move over to the bathroom. And as you...
There's a number of bathrooms and, like, different
stalls throughout the floors. And as you go to,
like, one bathroom, you see the door to the other
one opens. And Chester and Jules walk out just
like, yep, so that's the bathroom, so it's pretty
cool. And, oh, there's another one. Come on,
Jules, let's check it out. just slooping down
following you like dead eyed still just wandering
the palace yep um blanche gonna cast invisibility
on herself before she jumps out to fly okay so
she's invisible well wait a second wait a second
so we just walked past blanche No, it was a shift,
a different bathroom door. Okay. I mean, it was
close. Was it close enough to cast Bardic Inspiration?
Hell yeah, it was. I'm casting Bardic Inspiration.
Oh my goodness. Why not? That's fun. All right,
I'll take it. I imagine it was like, you go to
a bathroom and the door down the hall opens up
and it's like Chester and Jules just still doing
their wandering. And they like make eye contact
for a brief moment. Yep. Boom. I'll take my D8.
You feel inspiration as the door closed behind
you as you... Go invisible as you grab the rod
and go. Grab the rod and hop out the window.
Hell yeah. And you fly, Blanche. The city blurring
beneath you as you move. Move to the west. To
the top of the hill. Outside of the western gate.
The edge of the city where the construction of
the Tiger District is taking place. You look
down upon the... Now empty district. There's
no work being done here anymore. Everything has
been entirely cleared out. You look down on this
and you see it is just barren construction. Not
much to look at. What are you seeking for? If
there's a deep excavation, perhaps. Is there
anything like a tunnel? A mine? As you go through,
you see nothing of that sort. You're just moving
through the streets. But you do remember... I
will say this. Blanche would remember two things.
One, in your notes, you wrote Tigers NW, northwest
of the actual construction site. And two, you
remember that that area was supposedly forbidden
from being renovated. They were not allowed to
go in there because there was an active Tigers
den that the Dragon Clan, the royal family, said
should not be messed with. Well, if the Dragon
Clan said don't mess with it, Blanche is going
to mess with it. She's also keeping her eye out
for that sort of six by ten shape, you know,
that she heard about from Kunan Jun. Yeah, a
large coffin. Yeah, or somewhere that that could
be stowed away. You're moving and you see like
just thick, thick wood. It's hard to make much
out atop your rod of flying as you go. Why don't
you go ahead and give me a investigation check?
That's a 18. 18. You're flying over the trees,
looking for anything, and what you do notice
is there is a spot, there's a small, like, gap.
A small, uh... Gosh, what do you call those things?
Clearing. Yeah, small clearing. There you go.
I figured it out before you said it. Small clearing
of the trees. The sunlight above. It starts to
set in the sky. Seems to filter down. It falls
on some shape down there that looks foreign.
Looks important. The way it stands alone. So
you fly down, dropping into the mossy earth.
The forest is so quiet. Damn near silent. And
you walk up to this, it's like some kind of engraved
stone, like a natural tombstone that sits upon
this wide plot where nothing grows. Barren soil,
gray and dark. And upon this tombstone is printed,
Day Wanha. Warrior for the people. Ooh, let me
write that down. And beneath those words is something
else chiseled in very crudely, definitely not
any sort of official inscription. You just see
a victim of the Dragon Clan's lies. Hmm. And
I'm not seeing anything that suggests Tiger Cave?
No. Does anything else stand out if I just perceive
around this gravestone? Only the grave itself,
the plot of land that was excavated for it. It's
weird. Again, this plot of land looks like it's
dead soil, and it's a perfect rectangular shape.
Is it a 6x10 rectangular shape? It's a little
bigger than that, but it looks like it might
fit a 6x10 coffin. And it just looks... Too big.
God, that sucks. I'm going to have to dig up
this grave, aren't I? Are you dealing with the
grave? Whoa. It's going to take longer than you
think, you know. You're going to risk Omid Pastar
seeking you out, but there may be information
to glean from digging up this grave, right? Sure,
let me see if I have anything that could help.
I'm debating fighting the... Oh, well, she has...
and is a turtle and blah, blah, blah. But really
not much in my inventory or my spell list that
is going to make this any faster. No, that's
crazy. That doesn't make sense either. If only
I had a dog. If only I had a dog with a nose
and paws with which to dig. Okay, so... Was there,
gosh, was there anything else that she saw in
that line heading northwest between here and
where she started? Nothing of note. I will say
this, though. You're not far from the construction
site, and there's definitely shovels there. Okay.
All right. Thank you for that. Sure. Yeah. Okay.
Blanche will go back and grab a shovel, I guess.
Let's see. I have... I'm going to try this because,
oh no, it's just a ritual though. Oh no, I can
cast it as an action. So I want to tell you about
this spell that I've had since I made the character
because I thought as like a superhero, this spell
would come in handy. What is going on? It's nothing
crazy. It's really just like, I've been waiting
for an opportunity to use it. It's called floating
disc. It's just a big disc. that can move up
to 500 pounds. It just follows you around. It's
like a dolly sort of thing. I've always just
expected that, I don't know, we'd be in a situation
where we need to move multiple people out of
a place of danger or something. It just has never
happened. But as a... Actually, no, I think,
yeah. Would Blanche think that using 10 minutes
to cast a spell as a ritual would save her 10
minutes of digging? Like not having to move piles
of dirt around. You're like moving the disc into
the dirt and kind of helps her push it up and
stuff. Yeah, that's fun. Okay, great. Let the
wizard do wizard things. Thank you. I like it.
Let's do some wizarding with a shovel, natural
claws, and a floating disc. Hell yeah. So we
see Blanche, when he sits down, begins to cast
a spell as the area around her begins to shine
with this circle of light slowly. weaving together,
taking shape into this disc. We pan back to the
Sea of Dragons. Don't think you're off the hook
over there, Jules. All right. As you are moving.
I'm not doing anything. Hieronyx, again, totally
silent, moving behind you as you're put on the
show. And it's so obvious to him that this is
a show, but he's just playing along. As long
as he's got his eyes on you, that's all that
matters. Jules pops a squat. Yeah. Puts his back
against the wall and just chills. You're doing
this. Maybe him and Chester start playing like
a game of like, what's it called? Jax? Something.
I'm going to say you're doing this just down
the hall. Perhaps close to where you were when
you saw the bathroom. You move down the hall
a little bit. You're close to the actual rooms
themselves. Probably a specific location so you
can keep an eye on what's happening elsewhere.
Yeah. And you hear like a, damn it! Atash once
said, do not waste your time with the minds of
fools for you cannot beat them at their own game.
And you hear like a door coming out. I'm like,
wait, Rolf, I wasn't done. You see Ambassador
Pastar bursts out of the room, storming into
the hall. Cheating dog. He begins to move towards
the bathrooms where you saw Blanche go. It's
been long enough. I will have my real match now.
What do you do? Drew has a look over. You want
to try this one? We're playing jacks. Oh, that's
right. You're playing a game. Yeah. Might have
better luck with me. Hmm. As fun and novel as
that sounds, I have learned my lesson playing
games. Oh, what? You scared? It's all right.
I'll just play with Chester here. I'm simply
very concerned that Blanche Trudeau has been
gone for quite a long time in the restroom. All
I hear is I'm scared to play a game. Oh, I'm
sorry. I'm scared to lose a game. Watch yourself.
Yeah, the angel behind you tense up a little
bit. Oh, but just kind of like... 100 gold. 100
gold. You down? Let me persuasion check. 26.
Chester looks at you. Jules, 100 gold? I mean,
yeah. Good idea, yeah. I agree, 100%. The ambassador
just kind of bites his lip, looks down the hall
towards the bathroom door, looks back to you.
I suppose it would be rude of me to intrude upon
a lady's personal time. One game. And he moves
over to join you. All right. And let's slide
back out. Oh, man. That's cool. That's cool.
By the way, slide back out. We see that disc
digging up the earth. We see dirt sliding off.
The disc is moving on its own. You're moving
the shovel. Both of you together are moving down
and down. I think it's a really cool spell. I
love your reason for picking it. I love your
reason to be here. Take a button. Finally got
to use that spell. Feels like it's been years.
You see it slide. dirt off to the edge as you
come down their shovel and ting! You strike something.
Uh, okay. Can Blanche try to wedge it open? Yeah.
You look down, you brace yourself, you see a
dark coffin. It's surprising to find this coffin
is made of, like, a dark metal. It is ornate.
It is beautiful. And it's supposed to have been...
Ludicrously expensive. Why would such an expensive
coffin be buried in the middle of nowhere? Somewhere
completely unhonored. It's just strange. You
go to the side and take your shovel and there's
like a little pad you smash down on. You break
it and you can open it up. Yeah. Holy shit. You
open the coffin. God, I hate this. So as you're
moving away from the grave site, what do you
want to do next? Awesome. Okay, great. Forrest
is so silent. How far from the grave is Blanche?
You turn around to the grave. It's about 30 feet
behind you. And then it strikes you that you
don't remember looking into it. It's weird. Jesus
Christ. Let's try this. Blanche doesn't want
to, she's going to walk back to the hole. It's
closed again. She doesn't want to like pull it
open. She just wants to slide the shovel in and
just wedge it open and walk away. Okay. I want
to see how much I can get away with here. If
she doesn't see anything that's inside the coffin.
I love that. You do that and you walk away and
you remember. All of it. Okay, perfect. This
is so cool. Then she's going to summon Turbo.
Oh, shit. Oh, my gosh. Squeak, squeak. The bat.
And send Turbo to fly into the hole and try to
get Turbo to fly into the coffin. I don't know
if it works that way. Turbo flies into the coffin.
Spears inside. And Blanche looks through Turbo's
eyes. And as you finish looking through Turbo's
eyes, and you blink, and you think, Oh, I just
looked through his eyes. You probably don't realize
you haven't done it yet or you have done it yet.
It's a weird feeling. You sit there for a long
time until you realize, no way, I've been looking.
I'm just not remembering. Okay. So then she's
going to send Turbo back to the coffin with the
recording diamond after uttering the command
to record. Holy shit. Okay. Ooh. You. Check it
out? Yep. The diamond comes back in your hands.
You guys imagine they stop. Stop, yep. You look
at the diamond. You watch the recording. You
see... Nothing? No, say record. Oh, record. Record.
Record. Hell yeah. And the diamond gets flying
awkwardly, sort of shifting up and down as it
flies in the arms of the bat into the coffin
and... Record. No, stop. Stop. There we go. There
we got it. And you are saying stop. It is over.
All you see is it blurring out of the coffin
back into your hands. It's like you see there
is something recorded there. You can look and
see almost a ton of space, but it's all gone.
You can't fix it. It's gone the second you look
at it. Whatever's in there, you can't look at
it. Okay, then this is either going to be good
or bad. Blanche will walk to the edge of the...
hole the edge of the grave and i don't remember
exactly the words that kunan june said but blanche
to the best of her ability is going to start
to talk to what she believes is the guishin of
daewon ha nothing happens and you remember kunan
june saying that you have to hold the memory
and name Of whoever you're speaking of. You cannot
hold this person in your memory for you do not
know them. But maybe if you found someone that
did. Okay. And you know someone must know them
because there's an etching on the grave. Right,
exactly. Whoever made that etching knows them.
I'm going to guess. And very likely the Dragon
Clan knows them too. Yep, probably Yungi. Okay,
so realizing all of this, I think it's time to
go. So... How long has it been at this point?
Oh, boy, let's see. You did some pretty good
tests there, but leaving and getting to here
probably took about 20 minutes. It'll probably
take you about 15 minutes to get back. Digging,
I'll say, took around another 40 minutes. Okay,
so invisibility has worn off. I'm trying to decide
if I should cast it again to get back in. So
we're now looking at the time being about 5 .15.
Oh, it's my last second level spell slot. That
would really screw it. Cheap insurance, I guess.
Hopefully I don't get caught for it or because
of that. I hope it saves me. So she'll cast invisibility
on herself and fly back to the, to the castle,
back to the bathroom. Hell yeah. Let's see how
that Jax game went. Give me a sleight of hand.
Quick question. Is it you or Chester that are
playing against Omid Pastar? I think it's me.
Hell yeah. I think it's Jules. Give me a sleight
of hand roll. Oh, boy. Contested. Oh, boy. All
right. 100 gold on the line. Omid can't have
huge decks. But neither does Jules. Button. Ooh.
Nice. He can't find you. I mean, he can't find
out that you're gone. Yeah. Well, and 100 gold's
on the line. I think that's worth a button. Yeah.
First roll was a 5, plus 1, making it a 6. Yoiks.
Second roll is a 17, plus 1, making it 18. You
spent some time playing with Omin, and you are
crushing him. Yeah. This is a stupid street.
game. I don't understand. These rules are nonsense.
You just grab the pieces as they move. Yeah,
exactly. Exactly. Here, I'll teach you some technique.
Oh, Jules thinks baby's gonna cry. What technique?
Here, alright. And then Jules will proceed to
I can't think of anything off the top of my head,
but he's wasting time. Yeah, showing him that
he's gonna have watch. This is foolishness. You
know what? Enough. Enough. He kind of stands
like up. I am done wasting time. It has been
far too long. Clearly, Blanchard goes and the
door opens. Yeah. Blanchard, step out. Yes, with
a little tissue hanging off the back of his shell.
For good measure. Ahmed's eyes return. Did you
leave my mutt unattended? His eyes like, don't.
falter back at your words there's just like a
small tug of a smile and forgive my rudeness
lady blanche trudeau but you seem dirtier than
when you went in i suppose i don't need to explain
to you what happens in there no of course you
don't atash once said the business of a lady
is the most private Of all, I should not have
left your dog unattended. I apologize. What will
the queen say? Think of the trouble he could
get into. Did you leave the go pieces? The bodock
pieces? Why? Will he eat them? He could. Was
he not trained? Fine. Let's go back. On your
turn. As he goes, Jules is going to... Hey, wait,
wait, wait, wait. Keep that hundred gold. I love
the idea of you owing me. Wink. Chester just
full -on nudges you, big smile, like, turning
towards Ahmed. I'm like, can I just force -smile
back? How gracious. I'll consider it a donation
to the Church of the Sunweaver. Now, let's return
to your quarters, Blanche. As we're walking back,
Blanche will tut -tut -chide. Omid, you got swindled
by a dog and a street rat while I was gone. He's
like, no. Just like shaking, a little shaking,
but no. Like actual spoken word. He moves up
to the door of your room. He goes around a corner,
slightly down the hall, pushes open the door.
And you see Akio is sitting there. And you see
Akio is not alone. He's sliding a piece with
his nose again. Did I do it well? And you hear
from the other side of the table, Ah, yes, yes,
you are getting better, dog. Ah, but I fear our
lessons are at an end, for the main event has
finally shown herself. You step into the room
to see young Guy sitting on your floor at your
bodock table. Now then, I was promised a game,
Blanche Trudeau. And I have been waiting oh so
long. Do we play? Blanchard adjusts her goggles
and goes to sit down. Omid, you're lucky there
wasn't an accident in here. Could you please
see that Akio gets his time outside, as I have?
I suppose if you are in the company of the...
honored advisor, then it's fine. He retreats
out the door, Akio moving with him. Happy little
dog struts in the door, closes, and it is you
and Yungi. A match built up for some time with
answers you are desperate to seek on the line.
He looks at you and he simply says, I will go
first. As he reaches out. and touches of peace.
And we'll call it there.