Hey there, pants people. If you've been around
for a while, I'm sure you've heard the name Kriven
before. He's come up a couple times on the show.
He's been a member of Discord for a very long
time now, and he is a guy who has a ton of experience
when it comes to tabletop gaming. I mean, he
runs so many games, I have no idea how he manages.
He must have one of those Harry Potter clocks,
you know? Anyway, so Kriven has released his
own podcast. And like I said, this guy's got
the know. So if you're sick of us dummies getting
everything wrong, go and check out Kriven's podcast.
It's called Explorers of Elmeral. And it is actually
releasing right now, today, this Monday, if you're
listening on release day for this episode. Then
guess what? It just came out. Get on there. Be
first on the bandwagon. Check out Kriven's stuff.
It's really cool. Make a Barbenheimer of it.
That's not dated, right? We can still say that?
We're the Barben... Yeah, cool. Check it out.
See you. Welcome, adventurers, to the frozen
tundras of Mordune. a land of ice and opportunity
in the distant north of El Mural. Here, fortune
whispers through the howling winds, and snowdrifts
hide many dangers. Ancient gods stir from their
slumber, heroes rise to face monstrous foes,
and forgotten relics lost to time await those
bold enough to claim them. Oh, lovely! Monstrous
foes and ancient gods and dangerous snowdrifts!
Tinkle, surely there's another less life -threatening
adventure out there? Please, Master Gus, you
must try. It is the only way your father will
accept you as a man. Is this really what it takes
for me to become a man? Can't we just stay indoors?
With a warm chalice of honeyed milk and a plush
feathered blanket? Preferably far away from certain
death. Cowardice detected. The human child's
probability of survival without me, zero. Probability
of survival with me, marginally higher. I'm sure
we can find both danger and milk. That's what
being a man is all about, right guys? Join Gus,
Auni, Tinkle, Dimitri, and many more unlikely
heroes as they stumble, banter, and occasionally
triumph across the tundras of Mordune. Join us
at Explorers of Elmeral on Spotify, Apple Podcasts,
YouTube, or anywhere else you get podcasts. Become
a party member. The adventures await. and outpouring
of comments from those good folk that miss ol'
Orin. And while Orin is definitely still unwell,
and will be for a while yet, I did manage to
find a number of pre -recorded spotlights of
his that have yet to be aired. So, here we go.
Let me just... And... The Corvid Chorea Now,
Aldous grew up in a humble home in the Thimerian
countryside with a young wood elf with a middle
child of five. Things took a slightly strange
turn for one day when his eldest brother, Ereleth,
set off on an adventure without warning. Heeding
his grandmother's desire to find him, Aldous
soon left home on an adventure of his own, armed
only with her trusty old rapier. It was on this
journey that he came across six moon maidens
of the... Raven Queen. I don't know if you're
familiar with these figures, but that is what
the record says. This is where that Ringbell
-Stronghawk connect seems to come in. Anyway,
these moon maidens, who would soon come to claim
the names of Kitchen Knife, Acorn, Sailboat,
Cookies, Rabbit, and Peacock... Granted out just
the power to battle on the front lines, and to
fire dangerous foes while wielding a strange
sort of holy line. Now you can still find Aldous
drowning with his mood memes to this day. You
know him easily enough by his remarkable fork
-furled rodeo jacket and his penchant for mentioning
nonsensical places like Greater Britain and Fantasy
London. In the end, while we don't know much
about his powers or his peculiar patrons, we
do know that the Corvus Courier has always served
the good people to conquered worlds with the
utmost courage and care. You had a lot of fun
with that one. Yeah. What a way to bring up the
old Lord voice. Oh, man. I missed it. I missed
it. Thank you, Fisher. Oh, hell yeah. That is
Tire on the social media platform, which we use
to connect with folks. What is that called again,
Stephen? I can't remember. Discord. Discord.
Why haven't you joined? Come and hang out with
us on the Discord. Hang out with the Tired. Hear
about the Moon Maidens. Speaking about folks
in Discord, I got a segue here real quick. Oh,
boy. So I thought a lot about last week, right?
I thought about how I lost, which was impossible.
And I think I figured out what happened. The
place that I went wrong, the way I saw it, with
the power of Oliver on my side, I had a 100 %
chance at Nat 20. Right? But, intentionally,
things got foggy there, okay? Because I talked
to Oliver after the episode, and I realized that
he wanted Jean Blanc, Jean Franklin's blood,
specifically. What? So, I went for Blanche, and
I threw off our decision, Matrix, and reversed
the luck polarity and all that shit. So, that's
my bad, Oliver. I owe you a Smashburger. And
also, I promised something really, really nasty
tonight to make up for it. So, that is my pledge.
A hand on the heart. Did you say ham on the heart?
Hand on the heart. I think you should get that
checked out. No. That's it. This is why I went
for Blanche. This is why I went for Blanche.
I want to see Steven's character. A personal
vendetta? I want number three. If I drop Blanche,
though, seriously, if I got that crit. Whole
fight different. Blanche was the biggest sort
of threat and the one that could survive the
best. One crit, though, would have been enough
to level Blanche, take her out of the fight.
And the other guys, they were all so low in HP,
I would have mopped them up. My little passive
bonus action would have mopped them up. I was
so close. I was, like, so worried for the whole
fight until you were like, yeah, I'm going to
burn my button on Blanche. I was like, oh, he's
desperate. I believed. Look, Oliver didn't want
it enough. That's who's really at fault here.
I turned around. Oliver, now I'm against you.
We're all against you. Let's put the blame exactly
where it belongs. Yeah, exactly. There we go.
Oh, my God. Also a wedgie. I forgot Akio was
blinded for that first round, so whoops. But
I already ruled on my tiger last episode that
Keen Smell allowed to track a wounded Jules,
so Akio grabbing a very strong Smell into Jean
-Franclin Flambe and dragging him across the
ground seems reasonable, I think. Reasonable
enough. Reasonable enough. Whatever. Fine. Easy
little wedgie to zoop -zop -zop -miss. But I
think we're going to start to do the condition
icons on our maps to help with something like
that. Yeah, but you want to do it. Oh, yeah.
I don't have the ability to do it. That's not
you, David. The conditions always look so small,
but what I did end up, like, what I was messing
around with last night is I realized I could
have just, like, taken a black smudgy and, like,
written a big old thing over the tiger's eyes.
Sure, yeah. It's like, that I can't miss. That's
clear. So maybe I'll do that next time. Because,
yeah. He's going to send you a little pink dot
in the corner, like when they have the, you know,
on Roll20, it's like you have the icons and they're
great, but you click it and it's like you need
a microscope. Well, but that's the thing is like,
as long as there is something there, you know,
we're going to look at it and we're going to
question, oh, what is that? And then we're going
to remember, oh yeah, Akio was blinded. Yeah.
So I'm hearing is that you purposefully ignored
that effect. It was Oliver's fault. Oliver. Join
the discord. Meet Oliver. Join the discord. Blame
Oliver. and uh and submit some unzip questions
while you're on the discord oh yeah because as
you're hearing this um i think if the calendar
makes math then from today you have like a week
or maybe six days to submit uh oh no it'll be
what famously good at this yeah no just yeah
i don't think i've heard when we're doing this
so we have two weeks so this episode The next
episode. Okay. And then I want to do Unzipped.
Okay. So we have two weeks after this episode.
So basically, if you're hearing my voice, if
you're hearing the sound of my voice on release
date. You got a week and a half. Just get me
Unzipped episodes like ASAP. Or not episodes.
Oh, no. We'll make the episode. No, entire episodes.
Guys, guys. Yes. Hang on. Wait. Oh, God. Fuck.
What's today? Two weeks from today, they're going
to be hearing this three days before we record
it. Who's on first? Me. Okay, so you have three
days then. It's Thursday. It is currently Thursday
the 21st. The Wrath Part 3 comes out this coming
Monday the 25th. It's a good one. So this comes
out on Monday, September 1st. By your timeline,
we're recording Unzipped Thursday, September
4th or around that week. Cool, cool, cool. I'll
also throw it in the Discord again. We'll throw
it up on social media. So consider this your
last warning, I guess. And if you get me voice
clips, you can earn buttons and you can talk
to David about how to spend buttons and you can
either help us or hurt us or whatever you want
to do with them. I have some fun ideas for buttons
coming up. So I want to talk about that, but
not tonight because there's a lot to do. I think
Stephen had something. A penny? Why'd you do
that? Oh, yes. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. Okay.
This goes back to our... Oh, you only brought
a penny? I have a quarter, I think, too. You
said any currency. Hang on. You said any? It
might work. It might work. I have any currency
you want. Okay. What do you need? I want a thousand
dollar bill. Okay, so... I have that. Damn. Yeah.
So let's go back. Let's do... To the... All right.
Superstition. Okay. I was talking with Jules,
friend of the show, co -worker. No, not that
Jules. Not me. And she knows of this superstition
as well. And in her family, they practice it.
Somebody gifted her a knife set, I think, one
point when she was, you know, either moving or
something like that. And to the bottom of the
knife set. was taped a dime so she was gifted
the knife set and a dime and she had to return
that she had to buy the knife set oh i see so
you want this quarter for that knife oh it's
not worth a quarter you only brought a quarter
the penny what do you think for that penny hang
on it's what you deserve there it is I told David,
I said, bring any form of currency. I said, I
don't care if it's, I don't care if it's the
smallest form or the largest form. I said, bring
any form of currency. But then you literally
just said, oh, you only brought a penny. Well,
I was kind of hoping that he would have been,
I was hoping that he would have been like, you
know, oh yeah, I brought this crisp, clean 20.
I had to hit the ATM for this. Holy shit. Okay,
so now I think we're even. No, you scared me
out of a penny. I'm pissed. Let's do the episode.
We already did that. Let's hope and we left off.
We see that final flame, that final roaring spark
of power and soul building in the throat of this
great statue about to release everything it has,
every final bit of power in one breath upon you,
Jules. Then we see the golden spear tip cutting
through the back of this throat, cutting through
the fire, and we see the flame just... goes out
like a cut candle wick. You see smoke. No. And
you see mist trails up from the opened mouth.
As the statue begins to fall forward and you
guys sort of dive out of the way as this thing
comes crashing down onto its front. You see Jaune
on the statue's back and climbs up it for that
last sort of heaving strike. He comes sprawling
onto the ground as well. And the statue just
crumbles. No fire anymore. Nothing left inside.
Just a hollow shell destroyed. You hear the chanting
at the edge of the park. Stops dead. Just supernova,
supernova. The name Arathlon hanging in bright
lights above flickers and vanishes. The mist,
however, lingers on. And you remember that a
Gwishin does not technically stay dead when they
are defeated. They must pass on. But now, now
there's an opening. It takes time for them to
regain any power at all. With one this strong,
it would probably take a very long time. But
in this moment immediately after this thing falls,
what are your first actions? You have a moment
of peace here. What do you want to check on?
What do you want to do right away? I know what
Jules is doing. He's gone straight to John Franklin
and giving him a big old fucking hug. He just
like, he's like, he fell. He's on his like back,
his shell. He's like, help, help. He's run over
and grabbed him. I got you, buddy. Thank you,
Jules. It's good to see you. Jules, I'm back.
I'm here. I see that. I've redone the fight.
Oh, and he like hugs you and kind of like, oh.
Hold on. And he runs over around the statue of
Beeline to the little small figurine on the ground.
And he just looks down like, Joe Francine, Papa
is very proud of you. You fought well. Just kind
of picks up the figurine and sort of tucks it
away. It's the first time you in character have
heard the name. Oh, my God. And then he looks
back to you, Jules, kind of nods, looks to you,
Blanche, and says, Why was Rattle on the Supernova
trying to kill us? What is happening? Blanche
gives Jaune her version of a hug, which is just
a pat on the shoulder. Aye, sir. That's quite
formal. And you didn't, um, I didn't, uh, I didn't
say any weird things out loud during the fight,
right? Nothing. You almost died, Jaune. Yes.
Yes, I did. I didn't, as long as I died almost
quietly. You should have been more careful. I,
I'm sorry, sir. Against such a foe. He actually
looks pretty admonished, kind of looks down like,
I'm sorry. I've met your sidekick now. He seems
pretty cool, strong. Thank goodness he was here.
I understand the favor. I blocked the big attack
from him. You would have been unconscious at
the feet of a Rathalon. You, dog! About that,
let's see, how can I catch you up here? Rathalon
is slash was, I mean, I guess still is, a Gwishin,
a vengeful spirit, back to get some sort of revenge.
I think we can hopefully dismiss him at this
point, now that we've been... Able to defeat
him, Jules? Am I getting this right? Do we need
to speak something to him? Gosh, it's so convoluted
and you see our... It seems pretty straightforward
to me, actually. Every time we go to a world,
there's always an undead thing at the end. I
don't know. DM. David, tell me. We gotta do anything?
It's hard. With Kunon Jun, with Bisumin, the
tea shop owner, remember he spoke some words
and essentially appeased her following the fight.
The mist sort of left. Appease the Guishin. Relieve
in the Guishin. I don't care. Yes, you do feel
a presence here. You feel it sort of mounting.
Miss kind of moving in. You feel like things
aren't entirely done yet. Maybe you have one
last thing to do, but not something involving
blades and spells. You see, speaking of blades
though, Akio does come to you, Blanche, and sticks
the blade into the earth before you. Kind of
like lowers his head down. Your sword, Master
Blanche. It is a beautiful sword. You fought
well, Akio. I saw that crit. Yes! Wasn't that
cool crit? She takes it back and cleans it off
before sheathing it. Now, I forget, Jules, does
it have to be somebody who knew the Gwishin in
life to appease him, or can anybody speak to...
Oh, yes, right. I think it was to summon it,
you needed to be someone you knew in life. I
think at this point, anyone here could speak
to it. Okay. Yes. What do we speak to it to appease
it? Blanche has an idea. Okay. Ooh. Okay. So
Blanche will turn and address the plinth, I guess,
where Arathelon's statue used to be. I love this.
You see, like... Jules, Blanche, Akio, and Jaune
all standing before this thing. Blanche kind
of in the lead. And then just maybe 30 feet away,
still kind of standing back with this sort of
blank look on his face, we see Chester. Blanche,
what do you say? The mist seems to be moving
in now, covering over you with its whiteness.
You fought with honor, Arathelon. There were
moments I thought we would perish. At your hands.
For all our bravado and talk before the fight,
I must admit you will not be forgotten. I...
I can't let it. I can't let it be that way. We
will see this statue re -erected. In your honor.
In your memory. But only if you leave this place
now. In peace. Jules understands this kind of
needs to happen, but he is shooting icy, icy
daggers over at Blanche. It's funny, Jules. Like,
in your case, you... I feel like something kind
of profound happened during this fight with you,
Jules. Like I said, you have this sort of...
Yeah, you tell me what happened with my character.
But with Inflict Wounds, that last thing, you
had this moment of triumph against the darkness.
I think I mentioned before, you felt that spreading
of necrotic flesh over your shoulders, over your
back. I think here, in this sort of moment, as
you hold back on your rage, as you reflect on
what you said, not just to Arathelon, but to
that being behind you, to Zomate's shop, in this
quiet moment of triumph, I think you feel that
darkness is receding. Your arms are returning
to its... prior state, just the, just the claimed
arm, nothing more. You have known wrath all your
life. You have felt this since you were too young
to understand it. You gave into it when you moved
to kill Justin Kellig and it cost your friend
his life. But it seems to me that here and now
you have truly come to know the difference between
a dark anger and a righteous fury. I mean, we've
seen it building with Jules for a while. We saw
him completely shrug off on past hours attempts
to like goad him into something. There is a self
-control to you that I think is, I don't know,
I love seeing how much Jules has changed. And
I think in that change, those tethers that worked
so hard to tie to you are kind of loosening here.
This is your power, as you said. You get to choose
how to use it, unshackled and unafraid. Yeah,
he's suddenly very focused now. So while you
hate that Blanche is essentially giving in to
the enemy, giving this... monster what he wants.
I love that you just stay back because you know
that you have everything you need, that you have
one. It's cool though. Fun to note too, we talked
about this right after the show, that was only
the second time in this entire story that Inflict
Wounds has worked. Yeah, I think you used it
four times and two of those times were natural.
Yeah, and that was in the first episode was the
only other time that it actually worked. Yeah.
And it wasn't even actually... Wasn't there like
a wedgie with it? There was something wrong with
it that you let happen. I don't know. I think
you just swapped it. Oh, you know, it's because
I used it AOL. Yeah. Oh, yeah, yeah. Episode
one, David was so nervous and didn't know what
rules were. We forgive him. So technically, this
is the only time it worked as it's supposed to.
That's wild. Yeah. Damn. You stand here in this
place, this quiet. You let the mist. You feel
a vibration sort of course through it. Like a
ripple through water. Yes. My mother is gone,
but I ruined her legacy. I stole her life as
early as if I killed her myself. And with this
offering, the worlds remember me. They will always
remember me. I... I win. My son. And suddenly
this voice feels like it's not speaking to you.
Somehow it's quieter, like you're overhearing
a different conversation. I'm sorry. I would
have dragged you into death after me. Together
again, where you and your mother could celebrate
me eternally. And I failed to claim you, to deliver
you. A pause. Isn't this... What do you want?
A pause. And then another voice. This one seems
to be directed to you again. No longer speaking
to something far away. My sons. My sons used
to tell me that I was the greatest. The coolest.
My wife doted on me. My mother. I left them behind.
Left everything behind so I could be the best,
the biggest. And now, now everybody loves me.
And nobody loves me. But I win. I win. Right?
Right? Stillness all around you. One final question
from a spirit leaving this coil. The question
is, do you speak true, or do you continue with
your falsehoods, Blanche? Or Jules? Who? What?
What's going on? What's happening? I'm excited.
I don't know. I think Jules steps forward. This
could be just crazy. Sure. You win. Blanche speaks
up. Yes, I agree. Clearly the victor. How could
it be any other way? And with that, you feel
the mists begin to recede. A long sigh rushing
through the park, through the trees, through
the grass. And the presence that has been haunting
the city for nine years, waiting for its time
to strike, to be remembered, is gone. And as
the mist fades, as this presence leaves, once
again, you find yourself recalling memories lost.
Ooh, Chester. Ooh. Ooh. I mean, everything. So
I'm going to need your help with this one a little
bit, because where spell slots were used, I'm
going to ask you how they were used for fun.
We know how these... fight started we know how
they ended but the filler you know just to get
some pictures a quick sort of montage flashes
of combat we start with the gate of the city
as four gargoyles suddenly peel themselves from
the stone of the wall they come flying out uh
attacking over the guards there's a uh this woman
a guard before you that turns away and begins
to like Run off to strike them. One of these
creatures falls on her immediately, and then
two of them slide over her, jumping down on top
of the two of you. The four of you, I should
say. In this fight, you used no spell slots.
So I believe you, we actually ended it with melee
weapons out, jewels your rapier. No, it was your,
the Sturge sword, I believe, I narrated was out.
So you... Go to fight side by side. You know,
blades sticking through stone, breaking through
these creatures. As ahead of you, a number of
guards are slaughtered. Behind you, the people
are made safe. As the gargoyles crumble, the
mist fades. And you forget. The construction
zone of the Tiger District. You see eight tigers
rushing in from the northwest, pouncing on the
workers and on you. There's little you can do
for Huang Junsun, the site foreman, as she is
torn apart in mere moments. You see how these
things can pounce, drop you, rip you apart. You
form a circle on Kunan Jun, who you can protect,
who basically cowers before their might, and
you fight. A second -level spell slot was used
by Blanche. And a first -level slot was used
by Jules. What spells did you cast in this battle?
Blanche would have cast Shadow Blade. That's
so cool. Hell yeah. Blade of Shadow comes out,
slicing into Tiger Flesh. Jules. Sorry, remind
me, were any of us injured in that one, you said?
Not at the start. Okay. You did cast Healing
Magic, I believe, after the fight, but you wouldn't
have needed to during. Okay. Then he was... Tasha's
hideous laughter. Crazy on a tiger. Hell yeah.
It actually probably doesn't work on animals,
but we dealt with it before with a boar, so I
don't care. Oh no, it doesn't work on animals.
No. It's a missed tiger. So, no. Strike that.
Head glasses on. Okay, sorry. No, yeah. So, yeah,
if we were in this fight, we would have had this
conversation. You would say, oh, it can't be
used on tigers. Then I'd be like, oh, yeah, that's
right. Okay. Then he would have done bless. Hell
yeah. Oh, yeah. Boom. Everyone powered up. Blanche.
Powered up Blanche. Wielding this blade of shadow.
Cutting. Cutting. As you're fighting Blanche,
suddenly you're fighting one hand because now,
filled with understanding, you begin to write
quick details into your book. As a voice, entirely
void of character and sound, a voice like a thought
ringing through your mind, begins to speak the
first line of the Gwishin's mantra you have come
to know. I was a hero, celebrated and loved.
You forgot me. And as you finish writing these
details, or try to write all these details down,
as you swing through the last of the tigers and
it drops dead, the mist vanishes. And you forget.
The park of the elders. You see the statue base
begins to break as four gargoyles come leaping
out of it. One of them just turns and flies away
immediately. The three others come and jump on
you. In this fight, a third level spell slot
was used by Blanche and one bardic by Jules.
Jules, did you cast your bardic on? It would
have been Blanche. Hell yeah, Blanche. golden
around your body, what do you do? To make use
of that and to take out multiple enemies, Blanche
would cast haste. Ooh! Oh, yeah. Blanche, glowing
gold and slicing, slicing. And I think this makes
so much sense because as you're slicing this
and you're like, pen, you're trying to get a
late start on it, but your hand's moving so fast
from the haste that you slide open your book,
drop it on the edge of the statue base, and you're
just writing down the second line of that mantra
as it screams into your mind. I did it all for
fame. I sacrificed all to be remembered. You
forgot me. Blanche, you are locked in fighting
these guys and they kind of come to surround
you, all three of them. Akio's trying to help
them. Chester's sort of firing at the statue
base, you know, trying to fire at the ones around
you. And that's when you hear the scream reverberate
through the park. Kunon Jun's scream. Jules and
Akio. Jules, you had the rod of flying. You take
to the air. You go surging after him. You know
you're the healer. You're the one that can save
him. Akio, trying to help, goes as well. He's
rushing, rushing down the path. The two of you
moving in tandem. You can save him. You can hear
him screaming ahead. You can save him. And the
mist vanishes. And you forget the seat of dragons.
And here we see many gargoyles. I don't think
you can count how many are flooding down the
hall. You see Hyronix turns to face them. They're
only coming from his direction, so he rushes
to hold them back, to protect his charge, to
protect you. And as he smashes through gargles,
as they go and sort of crowd all over him, as
he fights, you see Yungi stands behind Blanche,
Jules, and Chester. As Ahmed stacks back from
the combat, he's removing carefully towards your
group, away from the battle that is soon obscured
by the mist. Akio, ever the good soldier, takes
up a defensive position at the hall's end, guarding
Yungi. And Blanche, you are writing that mantra
in your book as you hear that last bit. I was
a luminary, the best and brightest of them all.
You forgot me. Ahmed moves to you. I know. I
know. This is your work. Maybe my evidence of
your wrongdoing is flimsy now. Maybe I base my
suspicions on a cultural misunderstanding, and
for that, I apologize. But I will prove it. I
will see you brought to justice as he's moving
up towards you, Jules. If I have to subject you
to truth serum, if I have to chase you to the
Radiant City of Lantarica, every one of your
little gang, Jules, mark my words, for they are
Ah -Touch's own words, I will... The dagger runs
across his throat so... Quickly, so suddenly,
the spray of blood is instant, though, gushing
out over you, Jules, and over Chester, who very
smoothly sheathes the dagger, smiling quickly
towards the small, formerly now kneeling ambassador,
just leaning in. Hey, Armin! Now who's the bitch?
And Armin falls dead. Your youngies scream, behind
you, and, oh, calm it, old fella. You'll forget
in a sec. He looks to you, Jules. What is your
face saying right now? What do your eyes say?
There's initial disbelief, and then a furrowed
brow, and his eyes narrow to an expression of,
we will talk about this later. What? What? We
won't get a chance like this, Jules. No witnesses,
at least nothing that can rub anything. We'll
talk about this later. I told you he was dangerous.
I protected you, Jules. I did what I had to do
as a sidekick. And even better, We won't talk
about this. Because you won't remember a damn
thing. Neither will I. No one will. And Blanche,
the fog started to thin. The battle down the
hall sounds like it's clearing out. You look
down and see that almost magically you have written
down Chester's name in your book. You have the
name written. Maybe someone will remember. And
then you see Chester's eyes suddenly snap to
your quill. And rolling over a sleight of hand
check I made quite a while ago. Chester's hand
snaps out in a flash as he tears a page from
your book. Oh no you don't! Both of you reach
over to the page stuffed in his pocket as he
fixes you both with a wink and a gap -toothed
smile. And the mist vanishes. And you forget.
And you are standing in the Park of the Elders.
The mist is gone now. And you remember everything.
And as I said, Chester stands about 30 feet back
from you. Blanche Red is in action. Hey, hey,
hey, hey, whoa, whoa, whoa. His hands go up a
little bit, and he kind of, like, sort of nervous
smile. Look, look, look, all right, I get it.
I messed up, all right? I didn't realize how
crazy that Hyronix guy was. I thought I'd just
assume one of those creatures got past him and
we'd be off scot -free, okay? Next time I'll
do it safer, better, all right? I'll get him
in the sleep or something, okay? It's, it's...
I was reckless, I get it. But it worked out,
right? You're safe and sound right here, right?
Noel Ahmed, totally out of the picture. No more
having to hear what Atash once said. Hey, hey,
Jules? Right? Jules? Jules is staring at him
in a long, uncomfortable pause. And then very
slowly just shakes his head and turns around
and just starts looking at the ground and walking,
kicking rocks. What? What, we talk about it later?
Is that what it is? Or are we going to break
up again? No more Jules and Chester? You know
what? You know what? No! Jules turns around.
Who are you? I'm your sidekick. I protected you.
You should thank me. He was going to keep coming
after us. He was going to keep doing after the
cherry delights. Jeans, our family, don't you
care at all? All our enemies are going to play
dirty, Jules. We can't just sit around and let
them get away with it. You want to live, get
even. You want to be the light? Well, you've
got to cast a shadow. Sometimes people have got
to die. It's just that simple. You can get even
without dropping to their level. Look, Jules,
I get it now. I get it, all right? And it'll
be better for us all when you finally get it
too. You just gotta, just, just, just... When
we get home. Open your eyes! When we get home.
Oh. Fuck. I don't know how to describe it other
than Jules is giving Chester a look he's never
given him before. Jules, when you hear that...
You hear something else, too, like a frosted
whisper down the back of your spine. Sholay's
words. In a way, you are very like the auroral
diamond itself, connecting worlds and planes,
people and minds. Chester looks wild, frantic,
his eyes sort of bugging out, trembling. Jules'
face relaxes, his body relaxes. We'll talk about
this later. And Cesar kind of twitches a little
bit, like he's hearing something. No. No, no,
no, no, no, no. You know what? You know what?
There's no need. Because if you don't want me
around, then fine. I can protect you better on
my own, Jules. Jules casts Detect Thoughts. That's
so cool. That's so fucking cool. As you cast
this. It is like an avalanche of thought and
emotion is breaking your mind. You can feel Chester's
sorrow, his anger, his disappointment. You can
feel that rage so familiar to you. Burning, burning
in him. He's thinking about how he disappointed
you. He's not going to do it again. He's going
to do better next time. Even if he has to go
off on his own, it's fine. It's fine. He can
do it. He's strong enough. He's just a trick
shot. He's a psychic. No, he's a luminary. And
as he's thinking these thoughts, just behind
him, there is another voice, an undercurrent.
It's almost an impression of a thought, not actual
words, but somehow in your mind, almost like
it's being translated by a connection you feel
between Chester and between something else that
is reaching in and touching both of you. I have
granted you power. Fly free, little bird. Fly
free. And Chester sort of stops. His mind sort
of goes blank. He looks to you, Jules. Yeah.
Yeah, I can protect our family better on my own.
I've got nothing to hold me back, Jules. Chester
Trickshot is free. And soon, you're gonna be
too. And you see a mist begins to coalesce around
his body. I wasn't finished. What are you doing?
It's happening. There's a black mist going on
his body. What are you doing? Will Dispel Magic
do anything? Well, Blanche also has a rated action.
Oh, shit. Okay. All right. Blanche, you're casting
Dispel Magic. You're trying to run him. Dispel
Magic is the next one. Can you do anything here,
Blanche, to stop? Like, to make this faster?
What do you got going on? What's your rated action?
What's your plan here? I want to see what Blanche
is doing. I need a wisdom saving throw from Chester.
19 on the die. Yeah, he passes. Okay. What are
you casting? Hold person. Oh, my God. You try
to cast this, and you feel completely rebuffed
by something. Let me look at Dispel Magic real
fast. Jesta, wait. No. If it's third level or
lower, which I probably doubt anything is, it
ends. If it's fourth level or higher, it's a
roll with a DC. The question is... It will be
Misty Step, right? It is not. Misty Step. What?
He already used Misty Step. He can't use it again.
Yeah. You can't use it again. Something else.
The question is... I don't know what's going
on in your head, so you tell me. The question
is, will it work on instantaneous spell? Here's
what I want to do to resolve that. On roll initiative.
Chest entrance. If you go off before him, you
can stop the spell. If not, the spell will go
off. That's the way I do this. That's actually
more than fair, because if you think about it...
Jules is reacting to what he's seeing. Yeah,
this is cool as hell. It's more than fair. We're
out of the fight. I want to see where this is
going. Where's his initiative? Yeah, it's just...
It's a dex. It's his dex. So it's a plus. Did
you just point to my sheet and say initiative
like I didn't know how to... I couldn't see you
scrolling. It's right here. Shit, he's got a
plus three. Okay, Jules. Jesus Christ. Let's
see what happens. No, Jules is plus one. Let's
see what happens. I am out of buttons. I rolled
really, really good. What'd you roll? 20. Fuck,
yeah. God damn it. You go to cast it. You bolt
it at the same time. Sometimes you go to cast
magic blanch. You try to cast the spell hold
person. You feel something like this mist rebuffs
you. There is almost like this feeling, this
strange demonic aura that like washes over you.
Your body goes. cold. Jean and Nakio just frozen
in place, watching this, not sure what to do.
Jules, you try to make a move, dispel magic.
It breaks through. And for a second, you think
you've got him. You break through that black
smoke. You break through it. And Chester's gone.
He's just gone. Blanche casts the invisibility.
You cast the invisibility. You do not see anything.
I'm trying to look through, see what else I really
have. Yeah, same. Not a lot of utility prepped
for a fight. Can I roll Arcana to try to identify
what the spell was? Hell yeah, you can. Yeah,
take advantage on it for a reason. For a reason.
Can I do the same? Yeah, not advantage for you
for a reason. Fine. 11. 11. 24. 24. Blanche,
you have the spell Dimension Door. Oh, okay.
You feel... You know Chester does not have that
spell. You see he should not have that spell.
And yet as you see this go off, there's like
some ringing sound, I believe. It's very subtle,
but you recall it because you've been in the
door multiple times. As this goes off, you know
Chester could be anywhere within, what's it,
like 500 feet? I don't remember. It's a far distance.
Anywhere you can recall within 500 feet. That
means he could be out there in the city. And
Chester Meeps in the city is a needle in a haystack.
That is his territory. That is his lair. You
know, I was very close to leaving him at the
coyote the last time, and I was going to leave
him at the coyote again after this one. It was
set. He was going to stay. I was going to make
him stay. Was he, though? Yeah, it's within.
He wouldn't have stayed. You had this planned.
You knew. You fucking knew. Dimension door. Jules,
I didn't know that Chester could use that spell.
He can't. Then how is this possible? Did he have
any sort of unusual, unrecognizable, unfamiliar
items on him? How does Dimension Door work? Okay,
you can tell yourself from a current location
to any spot within range. You're exactly at the
spot desired. It can be a place you can see,
where you can visualize, or you can describe
by staying distance and direction. You've been
moving around the city a lot. Anywhere he's visualized,
anywhere he's been, he could go back to. It's
almost within 500 feet of where he was now. You
could bring along things, but you don't necessarily
have to. It's just a way better system. And it
doesn't say yourself or a target. I was thinking
it was somebody else doing it. Yeah, it says
casting time, range, components, duration. You
teleport yourself. Yeah, you teleport yourself.
So he had to cast it himself. Jules, you've gained
power for this bond with Zomate Shab. This bond
has been shared with Chester as you're starting
to think. It's not crazy to think that he's gained
power from it too. Just as you've claimed your
power for yourself, you realize the Dark Demon's
true intentions. What class is Chester? Was Neo
Ranger? Yes. This is more in line with almost
an evolution, I'll just open the table and say,
of the trait I gave him when you connected with
him and gave him Misty Step. And very interestingly...
You gave him Hex, a very necrotic -based spell.
Back then I was thinking that there could be
an interesting direction to take with that, being
that he connected with that face side of you,
but he also connected with that darker, demonic
side of Jules. And we've seen that develop. Jules
just looks over to Blanche. It's spreading. He's
dangerous, Jules. I don't know how we're going
to collar him. The things he's seen, the things
he's done. He's not a child anymore, and he'll
need a lot of help. We'll figure it out. I hope
you're right. Damn. You asshole. So. Now what?
Yeah, right. We'll call it there. Well, I guess
we should go back to the castle. Is that what
you're doing? So, I'm assuming that Blanche would
have just told Jules what's happening. Because
if he's within 200 feet, or we know he is...
500 feet. 500 feet. Even still. Too much indoor,
yes. Yeah, she said it was too much indoor. Jules
will call out, just... Don't forget jeans! Her
voice echoing through the empty park. And you
hope those words met his ears. Blanche whispers
to... Jules, hoping that if Chester's out there,
he's far enough that he won't be able to hear.
He'll probably go back to the coyote at some
point, at least to keep watch. He said he wants
to protect the family. I don't know, maybe we
can use that to our advantage at some point,
but for now, I think you're right. I think we
need to let him be, let him make a move. I do
believe he's dangerous, Jules, but I don't think
he has... you or the Cherry Delights any ill
will. He thinks he's doing what's right. I'm
not worried about him hurting us. I'm worried
about him hurting others and himself. I am too.
I hope we can get to him before that happens.
Before we leave, I would like to address what
I said to Arathelon. I didn't mean it, Jules,
and I know... That it was hurtful for you to
hear. We do what we got to do. Well, I think
we can have it both ways this time. I want to
show you an idea that I had. What? Who are you
building? What are you doing? He's trying to
get me something. She pulls up a small sketch
that she was doing. Oh, my God. Come on. Give
me this. No, absolutely. This is awesome. I love
this. Keep going. And in the sketch, you see
a Rathalons plinth, and there's a new statue
on top of it. And on top of it is all these figures
that are meant to represent the lives that were
lost on the day of the battle. And Arathelon
is included. He's very small. He's very short.
And he's hidden in the absolute center of the
statue. And all these other figures are standing
tall, facing outward, looking brave. Hell yeah.
I love that. I love that. Blanche went to the
Salome school of, like, lying with intentions.
I kept my word. His statue will stand here, but
it'll be overshadowed by those who really mattered
on that day. Damn. Of course, you have to convince
the queen not to rebuild the statue of herself.
I think we have some goodwill with, you know,
some people in the castle. We should hope so.
You guys want to go to the castle? I think we
probably should. Yeah. Yeah. Xena and Ahalan,
they must be awake now, right? Let's find out.
I imagine the walk is a rather somber one, though
the town around you seems to be in celebration.
A reserve celebration. This is Ionito, of course.
We're not partying in the street, but there are
smiles on the faces that walk by. There is a
calm that seems to settle over everybody, as
if everyone here can sense that something has
changed, that a darkness has been dispelled.
So as you pass by them, maybe your mood lightens
just a little bit, seeing all the people that
you saved. And you come upon the palace before
long. There are guards at the gate that see you
approach, kind of share a glance, and as you
come, they point their way in. The queen is expecting
you. All right, so I guess we head to the throne
room. Or follow an escort, whichever, yeah. As
you move in, guards at the gate sort of collapse
in behind you, move in depth of courtyard. up
the great steps into the sort of red palace through
the great doors. The guards there fall in line
behind you. The guards in the hall fall in line
behind you as you move down the hall towards
the throne room. Eight figures, armored halberds,
ready at the ready, all behind you. And leading
this huge procession of all these, you know,
shiny, fancy -looking guards is... You know,
Jules and Blanche and Akio all, like, clothes
burnt and tattered and Jaune's limping. And,
like, again, just, like, super, like, Jaune,
I think, doesn't know what the hell to think
of what just happened back there with Chesta.
And he doesn't want to, I guess, broach it because
he feels like this is a just generally very dark
time. So I think no one said a word since you
left the park. You move up. The doors in the
throne room are thrust open before you, and you
see a sight. You see Arhalon is kneeling in the
middle of the floor. He looks quite beaten, but
he is awake. His hands are shackled, and there
are halberds, two of them, resting at either
side of his neck. A number of other guards fall
in around you, and you see Queen Jean -Mi sits
upon her throne, and she looks. Furious. Maybe
not what you expected. She looks furious. In
this sort of corner, looking down, looking so
small, so somber. You see Yungi, and you immediately
realize, Blanche, that he has no power in whatever
this is. Ah, you're back. Good. Please, come
inside. We have to talk. Friends of Sholay. The
Queen addresses you. What is this about, Your
Highness? This is not exactly what I was expecting.
It's not? I remember everything. We all remember
everything. Sholay's actions killed hundreds
of my people. Her flames burned down a district
of my city. She may have escaped my personal
justice, but you certainly won't. Do you have
any idea? Any idea what you've done? Now that
they all remember, they know it was a lie. And
you see the guards sort of shuffling, looking
around each other like there's an uneasiness
around them, too. I need to make an example to
show them all the strength of the Dragon Clan.
You are here to assist Xole. You are here under
her wing. You are a part of it. I know you are.
Omid Pastar knew. He knew. And what of him? How
can we trust your word that his death was not
your doing? I think you hear Yonki just... No,
I was there. I did not see anything, but he was...
I believe it was Hyronix. He struck him. He attacked
him out of nowhere, driven mad by the mist. You
can tell very clearly he's not a very good liar.
He said, I believe it was. I believe he was there.
Someone who was haunted by a lie. He told for
nine years. I thought he told, so he's like trying
to do it again and he's not very good at it,
but he's trying. He's really damn trying over
there. I don't see Shola here. She will face
her own justice in your memories that were returned
to you. Were any of them involving us? Were we
involved in this in any way? We are victims of
Sholay's lies as much as you are. And yet you
came at her beck and call to my world. You're
right, Sholay did escape me. Perhaps holding
you here will bring her back. Perhaps I can make
a deal. Perhaps I can learn more about what happened.
Sholay is not free to move at her will. She'll
go to the Sky Prison. She has been taken. Hmm.
She sort of stops and seems to consider that.
That's what happens when we kill people we aren't
supposed to. Oh, oh. I'm not going to kill you.
Gosh, no. I am not a savage. Still, some time
spent in the dark of my cells might loosen your
tongues on just how much Shully has confided
in the lot of you. I... i think that and you
hear a sudden kind of commotion behind the guards
that are behind you at the doorway just like
and their voice sort of rings out and just says
oh hi everyone look look look all you see above
the guards is this like big vase or gets lifted
in the air this like full human -sized vase being
like carried uh sort of way above head of uh
a figure you're now sort of making out as she
moves sort of into the doorway through the guards
you see zina look what i found isn't it so nice
can i have it genie genie uh fully not reading
the mood it seems everyone's like arlan's kind
of in the bottom he kind of looks up been completely
silent till now but he kind of looks up and sees
his mother his eyes kind of go wide you see what
actually is there is just relief he maybe didn't
know she was awake yet Uh, the guards kind of
are whispering as, as, uh, Xena begins to move
past you. Oh, hi, hello, whoops, excuse me, whoops,
sorry, whoops, sorry, whoops. Uh, and he's, like,
moving up towards the throne. The halberds sort
of drop, and the queen raises a hand and kind
of, like, shakes her head, like, it's fine. As
Xena sort of moves up towards her, uh, still
carrying this vase. Oh, Jenny, Jenny, what, what,
um, what are you doing? My dear Xena, I'm afraid
Xoli has done some very bad things. As such,
I'm going to have to keep you all here for a
while. I don't know how deeply you are connected
to her, but I intend to... And she kind of stops
and sighs in a very condescending way. I'm going
to ask that you all stay as my guests for a long,
long time, okay? Oh. And then she kind of moves
up beside the queen. But I think Arne's friends
want to leave. Can't they leave, please? No.
No, that is... Out of the question, Xena. I see.
And Xena just looks up very sadly at the vase
in her hands. Oh, God. And you watch as she smashes
it down on the ground, grabs a shard of glass,
and in a flash is on the queen's throat. The
glass pressed against her. Her eyes, usually
so clouded and full of whimsy, are shockingly
clear and cold. Wow. Xena, you are my friend.
And your palace has such nice floors, so I would
hate to have to spill your blood all over it.
Order your men to stand down, right now. I heard
some of your staff saying that Amethyst is coming
soon to take a very panicked crowd off of the
world. I think we will all be leaving on it,
okay? Genie? Presses a little deeper. You wouldn't
dare. I am a queen! Even if I let you go, I could
have you all arrested by the Shieldbears. Once
you reach the Citadel, I could... Oh, shh. You
could call them on me, sure. But my dear Jane,
haven't you heard? Xena's crazy. I'm just crazy
Xena doing crazy things. Nobody can blame my
friends and family for that. At least not the
ones present here. She kind of pouts. I really
did like that vase, though. You should send me
another. Oh, and some of those rice cakes? In
return, I will send you a goat. Blanche walks
up to the nearest guard. They're like... Spears
are shaking in their hands and they don't know
what to do. And she holds an empty hand out to
take the nearest guard's halberd with her other
hand just resting on her pommel. I think as she
does this, jewels will go up to Arhalon. The
guards don't stop. They're just frozen in place.
Can he just break his shackles? Yeah. I'll say
it's like ropes are bound. He cuts them off.
Arhalon kind of just like, he's... Doesn't even
notice he's staring at his mother. His mouth
wide open. Eyes in pure shock. Good, good. Now
we're all just going to get up and we're going
to leave. And we're never going to come back.
Okay? So you don't need to worry about us. Okay?
Glass presses a little deeper. Okay. Fine. Go.
And Xena. I think waits. I think she looks to
you all and kind of nods, letting you sort of
make your move out of the palace. Are you leaving?
Yeah, after disarming the guards. Albert's dropped.
The guards kind of say, I think like Xena then
kind of turns the queen and begins to kind of
walk backwards with you. out the door in a very
like almost weirdly practiced step as you all
step out the doors you see she lowers pulls the
glass away pushes the queen forward and with
her foot just fully boots her really hard rolling
into the room young gi is the last thing you
see just like looking on smiling this big wild
smile as uh the door sort of closes to the throne
room and you all begin to run run You take to
the streets. You run through the city. Run towards
the Amethyst. You can see ahead beginning to
dock. Run to leave this world. I will say this.
You reach the Amethyst just in time. It's about
to embark. No orders come from the castle to
stop you or the palace to stop you. You are allowed
to go. At least at this point you are. But as
you reach that crowd and there are a number of
panics or merchants and wagons people trying
to get off world Maybe like not sure what's been
happening. And finally you're when there's a
name It's not just an emergency and this is leaving
in a second. They all want to just crowd on and
get off and Jules you this crowd you realize
that Chester could be anywhere in the city, but
he could be anywhere here, too And you wouldn't
know me. This is his this is element and so I
imagine you all Bored the amethyst? Yeah, as
Blanche is boarding, she turns around to the
crowd and loudly she speaks. The Gwishin threat
has been eliminated. Your city is safe once again.
And despite this somber air, despite this darkness
that surrounds everything that's happening, despite
this unsure fate that awaits you, that awaits
the world in the wake of everything that has
happened on this day, you take in the sounds.
of roaring applause as you turn and board the
Amethyst. Applause that still rings out as the
doors close, as Amethyst begins to rise up into
the sky above Hollow Ray, above the field outside
Yanido, as it phases and leaves this world. And
we'll call it there!