Hey, fans people. It's Jeremy. You all kick ass.
That's all I wanted to say. Enjoy the show. worlds.
But who would be surprised by that when all of
our worlds are united on the protection of both
autoshes, celestials, and luminaries? Well, almost
all of our worlds. I'm just saying, once again,
that this would be a non -issue. Should have
far too parry angels to be invited on world,
but... I digress. In other news, a few Silent
Roar members have been arrested on Encrancing
Gar following an attempt on a celestial armory.
Officials are still on a hunt for the gloominary
revolutionary known as the Singers. Keep your
eyes and ears open, folks. And for a matter a
bit closer to home for me, the Dawn Incarnates
continue to keep silent on their conspiracy with
Sholay. I'm sure I don't need to remind you all
that they hold the key to messing with our collective
heads. The Shield Bears have cut access to preserve
the answers outside the bounds of Rural Town
while officials are still in talks with the creatures,
but... It's scary, folks. We now know what they
can do, and yet they refuse to agree to any of
our plans to place the power under some level
of control. Well, if they won't negotiate, then
we can only hope that they aren't too high and
mighty to face Atash's justice when the time
comes. Let me ask you guys something. Fuck this
guy. Yeah. Let me ask you guys something. Is
that a level up in your pants? Or are you just
chunky to meet me? He's chunky to meet me. Level
nine. All characters. We're going to get chunky.
Big old chunk in the pants tonight, guys. Yeah.
It's a chunky night. I think you've allotted
your... Human use of the word chunk. You have
reached your maximum chunkness. Four big chunks,
four level ups, four characters, and four sidekick
chunks too. Smaller chunks, but they're chunks.
All the same. So, who's getting chunky first?
Steven, go ahead, get chunky. Yeah, let's do
it. We agreed. You know, we're moving time forward.
One month has passed in our conquered worlds.
I want to talk about how strong you are, what
you've got, all the magic items you've accrued,
and what's been happening to you guys in this
month. You know, sort of montaging through it.
In fact, let's get some music up during this
little bit here, because let's just do it. Steven.
Yo. We starting with you? Sure, yeah. I'll go.
Okay. Who's first? Let's talk Blanche. Blanche.
I imagine... Blanche's sort of training must
involve a lot of, you know, is it the usual kind
of reading or you spend some time with Penny
at the book den? Yeah, exactly. Yeah, buying
some spells over there, reading up. Yeah, Blanche,
let's see here. Got fifth level spell slot anyway.
Okay. Nothing super, super crazy like we talked
about before. Obviously, level nine is... Proficiency
bonus level. That's the big one. So that's kind
of, you know, big across the board sort of thing.
You are now slightly better at literally everything
you do. Yeah. It's crazy. I bought some spells.
I'll keep those with me. I got my single fifth
level spell slot. So that's pretty cool. That's
really cool. Yeah, yeah. That's pretty much it
aside from, you know, some shopping. And again,
I think that'll just come up in the show. Okay.
All right. All right. I'll talk about, I'll say
how much you both spent, but you can keep a lid
on whatever you want to talk about as far as
what you actually bought. All of it. It's pretty
cool stuff. Just make a note that when it comes
up, talk about it. Okay. Because there's some
really cool choices that were made. Hell yeah,
that's Blanche. You want to talk Salome? Yeah,
let's talk Salome. What does Salome's sort of
ninth level look like? What is her training?
Salome's about twice since last we've seen her.
Yeah. Gosh, I mean, you know, being a cleric,
she certainly uses prayer for that sort of thing,
for centering herself and can level up that way.
A lot of it is getting inspiration from this
sort of more mortal experiment she finds herself
in. Observing these mortals on this... plane
that is not her own she has a lot to learn and
this this life has a lot to teach and she's learned
enough that it helped her level up it's a fun
fact of the character that you are a pari you
are the only pari that if we're looking at mechanical
terms has an actual character sheet which means
you have more versatility than a typical Pauri
would. You are, in essence, more like mortals
than a lot of your kin. Yeah. And that seems
to be your strength. Let me ask you a question.
Mm -hmm. Do you think Salome regrets leaving
Kameo's side and joining Atash all those years
ago? Hmm. I don't... I don't... Hmm. I mean,
I think Salome wishes that there was... A reality
where the reason for leaving didn't exist. Knowing
what she knows now, I don't think she would want
to have stayed behind and not been able to help.
You know, obviously I think she would have rather
herself, Atash, all the Celestials that came,
be at home not dealing with, not having this
other problem to deal with, but... Since the
problem is here, she wants to help and does not
want to turn a blind eye to it. It's so funny
to me, too, though, because all those years ago,
that was essentially what Atash said when he
took you here. There was a different problem.
Demons invading Anchorance and Guard. He was
like, hey, it's our job to interfere. And now
here's Salome seeing a different demon hoping
to take control. And here's Salome wanting to
interfere. Are you more right? Are you more righteous?
I think so. You have a six intelligence. I guess
you probably haven't really thought this through.
I don't always really think about this. About
an 18 wisdom. Hey, you know, you know what a
tomato is for. What do you get, Salome? What's
your level looking like? Well, so since Salome
has a fly speed, we decided to not give her another
ability score or feat for level eight. just to
kind of like balance her out. Oh, because we
gave you a level one one, didn't we? Well, every
other character has a level one feat. Yeah. Salome
does not because she has a fly speed. Yes. So
more shopping again. Same thing. Also a caster.
So fifth level spells. But if I, I believe that
I actually got to choose a spell for fifth level
here. Are we going to hear about the spell? Maybe.
Are you going to spell your secrets? Okay. That's
what it's about, man. It's the show. No, I don't
want to give that one away because it's going
to be like super situational. Okay. And if I
can ever pull it off, it'll be like wondrous.
Okay. I like that. Yeah. So I don't want to spill
the beans. That's fun. I hope that I tee you
up on accident somehow for the coolest moment.
I kind of do too. But I'm not going to look at
your sheets. I'll never know. Okay. Hell yeah.
Do you want to roll HP before we get over to
old Jeremy? Yeah, I'll do HP. I've got, I think
it's D6s for Blanche and D8s for Salome. I believe
that is correct. And I'm pretty sure they both
started at 50 HP at level 7. I'm almost positive.
I think so. Yeah, I know Salome did. I'm pretty
sure I remember commenting, oh, wow, it's so
weird they both have the same. H -pizzle. And
we're just doing single die now, right? I am
not holding your hand anymore. Fucking crazy.
Taking you off your training wheels. I'm going
to watch you ride into the sunset. Your little
unicycles. You clowns. Dude, that sounds fun.
Okay. Four for Blanche. Okay. Plus con mod. Right,
right, right. Feel free to write it down if we
need to, like... Our sheets are jacked up in
a weird way and we're always kind of fumbling
with it. We must have done a setting wrong in
D &D Beyond. And so it's like we have to kind
of undo and redo the HP every level up. I thought
I fixed it. It changes it every single time.
Yeah. I take screenshots of my shit now and then
I'll level up. And you can always write down
what you get for a roll and I can math it out
later if it's easier because I know it's all
shenanigans otherwise. All right. Sorry. I just
sent it in Discord. Okay. Which reminds me to
turn off my Discord. Okay, yes. Four on the die,
plus two for Khan. So an extra six HP for Blanche,
which I believe puts her up to 56. 56. And twice
for Salome. Let me go to the builder here. She
gets D8s. D8s. Two D8s for Salome. Oh, baby.
First one's a seven. And a six. All right, great.
Solid, yeah. And then plus four for the con.
So we're looking pretty there. That's big HP.
So that's 17? 16? 17. Hell yeah. Hell yeah. 17.
Yeah, so that's, yeah. Wow. Holy smokes. 67 for
Salome now. All right. Pretty good stuff. Let's
slide on to the other side of the table over
there. Slide over to Mr. Jeremy Wolf and your
two characters. Yeah. You want to start with
Jules? I'll start with Dresden. Dresden. All
right. Dresden's got two level ups. He's been
working hard. What's his training looking like
as a fighter? I took another feat. It's going
to be great. I took the interception, I think
it's called. Let's see. Oh, cool, cool. Interception.
So when a creature I can see hits another creature
within five feet with an attack roll, I can take
a reaction to reduce the damage dealt by 1d10
plus four. All right. That's pretty sweet. Nice.
Yeah, that's great. I like that. Cool. All right.
So, yeah, Jules just got added into his proficiency
bonus. You got a spell over there? I got a spell,
yeah. Can you talk about it? No. You know the
spell because I kind of wanted to run it by you
to make sure it was cool. Oh, I do know the spell.
That's wild. Yeah. I'm going to keep it a secret
for the pants people. I'm just going to come
out at some point. I'm going to. I'm going to
make it happen. It's a primo. I want to know.
Primo pick. You know. Oh, do I? You know. Yeah.
I forgot. Yeah. Of course you do. Yeah. All right.
Hell yeah. Give me some HP. Yeah, let's do some
HP. Am I in a D10 now? D10 on Dresden, D8 on
Jules. Okay. Cool. I'd also like to make it be
known that... For the foreseeable future, since
we are entering the endgame era, I am going back
to Jules' roots. And for the foreseeable future,
we'll be using the original blessed dice that
I got from Rochelle. Nice. Sanpico Girl Maps.
Way, way, way, way, way back when. Shout out.
Awesome. All right. So Dresden gets 2d10. Jules
gets 2d10. That is only 11. For Dresden. Okay.
Plus con. Oh, yeah. I don't have both of them
open. Which is con. Actually, it's two. So four
total. So 15. Yeah, 15 total. Cool, cool, cool.
Hell yeah. And then jewels is just the D8. Yes.
That's going to be a nine. Hell yeah. Yep. Strike
that. This is actually a plus four. So that's
going to be 11. 11. Cool. All right. I'll add
those. Change those in my sheets later because
it's all fucky. I'll make our sidekicks very
quick. I'm going to talk about their items, I
think. I think that's fair. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
I know. I'm looking around and I'm like, I'm
trying to decide if I should talk about a couple
items. I actually, did I talk about Blanche's
wand? The Wand of the War Mage, yes. Okay, yeah,
yeah. All right, so all the Blanche stuff is
out there. I think that's fine. Jean Franklin
now has an animated shield, which is purchased
for him by Steven. This will allow him to activate
a shield bonus action. It will give him the AC
boost, but let him have two hands to strike and
act with. That's pretty great. He's sitting on
85 hit points. And that's really most of what's
going on with him. Beefy boy. Still a beefy boy.
Still a sort of healer, damage healer tank. He's
kind of an all -rounder. We go to Gabriela. She's
at 57 HP, but her armor class is boosted by bracers
of defense. Nice. And her two hit has been boosted
by a, what's it called? The wraps of unarmed
prowess. So Jeremy bought Gabriela some nice
upgrades there. Yeah. What are her... Her and
Jaune's AC, I'm just curious. 18 on Gabriela,
19 on Jaune. Great, nice. Jaune has the highest.
We also have an 18 on Arhalon Brass, who's sporting
some adamantine plate. He is now immune to critical
hits. Yeah, buddy. And actually has plate armor,
so that's a huge, huge boost. He also... I gave
him some cool things. He has searing smite now.
He's a fiery smite. And on top of that, Jeremy
bought our boy a flame tongue, the same weapon
that was used, or weapon type at least, maybe
the same weapon. Maybe it was on auction following
all the drama on Yanito. Same weapon used by
Arathelon, a great sword that Ana actually can
erupt into searing flame. Arhalon has pretty
much become, well, while Dance is over there
and she can do many, many hits of damage, she
can hit the most. She's very mobile. Arhalon
has the lowest two hit of anybody in the group,
but the highest damage potential by far. So pretty
useful there. And then we have Olakio with a
76 hit points. He's still at 18 AC with that
magic play gifted to him by Zila and Andrew.
A couple of gloominaries. A couple of gloominaries.
And it is plus two Gatana Ichigenka given to
him by Blanche. All told, I will say our players
have spent. 21 ,500 gold each exactly to get
all the things they want to get. Pretty wild.
Made it rain. Do we want to talk about maybe
Salome's free item, the one that she talked Atash
into giving her? Sure, yeah. This is kind of
a cool one. Definitely. Narratively, it's pretty
neat. So you asked for something, Atash delivered.
He gave you an item that he thought would really
symbolize you, the aspect you control, and kind
of like your... I guess just like your personality.
Yeah, it really is kind of a perfect weapon for
Salome. I gave her the Javelin of Lightning.
So what she can do with this is throw it at a
target and then she can activate it. And in a
line between her and the target can make lightning.
And it does like 4d6 on a... on a save or, you
know, fail on a save sort of thing. So, yeah,
sounds pretty cool. Trying to find some baddies
in a line, see if I can hit the one at the end
of the line and wrap everybody else up in my
lightning damage on the way and see if I can
proc some of those features that she has that
does extra stuff on lightning damage. That's
true. Yeah, man. Dude. For real, for real. This
party, all eight members, have become so strong
now. And I'm so excited because what's coming
up, I mean, now it's like I can look at this
and say, oh, good, they finally might stand a
chance at what's coming up for them in Endgame.
We might. Might, maybe. We might. We're so benevolent.
Maybe. Might, maybe, perhaps. So we ever talked
about this, Dresden and Jules, how you've been
kind of like, how's Dresden sort of working things
out, training this time? How's Dresden been like
working out his aggression, working on getting
these muscles built? I don't know how you, it's
hard to imagine where you train on the Radiant
Citadel. I think he generally trains like in
the alley behind the coyote. Oh, okay. Yeah.
I love that. Yeah, he just turned into like this
like. I think it's like a little makeshift like
men set up and maybe he's taking some trash cans
and stacked them up. He'll take a mattress that
somebody threw out. He has never once gone out
for a training session without Miskin watching
and sort of maybe on the roof, he just pops up
and he's watching. He's kind of copying his motions.
He's got the gigantic, his old Marfil war pick.
He's almost fumbling down trying to copy those
movements. He's getting there. He's getting better.
How about Jules? I mean, Jules, bards are weird
because they have a very similar, I guess, way
of using magic as wizards. But, you know, whether
you approach things on an arcane level or you
just kind of, like, tap more into your emotions
and, like, your own, I guess, kind of personhood
and power. Yeah. I mean, that's how it's always
been for Jules is about the emotion. Yeah. And
boy, are your emotions hot. Whatever is in him
can and will come out. And in the moment, he
feels how to use it when it comes, you know.
College of vibes. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, hell yeah.
Yeah, he doesn't know what's in there, but he
knows that for the most part he can harness it,
but sometimes it gets a little out of control.
Ain't that just art? All right. Chunk's out of
the way now. Back to smooth. So we see a very
smooth montage. Blanche thumbing through books,
reading. Perhaps outdoors, training with her
sword. Training with Jaune and Akio both. Ping,
ping, ping, ping, ping. Blades moving. We see
Dresden in his alley. Boom, boom. Beating things
down. Fighting trash cans. Miskin above his sword
and his weapon. Perhaps we see Arhalon and Gabriela
moving out as well in a three -way sparring session.
The fighters going at it. We see... Salome in
solemn prayer. We hear the rumbling. The heating
gloom far below as if screaming out an answer.
And we see Jules. Perhaps we see him sitting
by the roaring flame of the Lafayette strumming
lightly on his lute. And behind it we hear. The
sending sturge is going off. Okay. Okay. You
want to answer it? It's probably not important.
No. He's going to take it and skip it across
the water. I'm so tired of carrying this damn
thing around. He's magic. He made water. He made
water. Performance of creation, bitch. He created
a lake. Or at least a big puddle. Yeah, exactly.
Yeah. He listens. Pale moonlight. 11 o 'clock.
Be cautious. And that's it. Wow. You asked to
meet. Oh yeah, we did ask. That was last week.
I remember talking about, oh, should we reach
out to Sturge, man? I don't remember actually
reaching out. So you stow the sending, Sturge.
He'd say it. I put the rock in my pocket. No,
damn you. Is there a rock in your pocket? Anyway.
Yes, there is a rock in your pocket. You're just
chunky to see me. Now, I will note once again,
Jules, you do have a ring that lets you ignore,
like, detect thoughts, right? You can get around
any kind of thing. Yeah, the ring of mind shielding.
You don't have that, Blanche. But last time,
he took his helmet off. during your talk do you
want to go alone do you want to bring people
with you and who do you want to bring if you
want to bring anyone it went well last time everything
went smooth yeah it went fine um i i think he
wants to bring blanche and i think he knows that
blanche is level -headed enough that she has
the discipline to keep her thoughts where they're
supposed to be I can practice some meditations
and keep my mind clear. If you feel yourself
slipping, just walk out the door. What are the
things we want to keep from Sturge Man? What
don't we want him to know? Everything. We control
the conversation. That sounds really hard, but
I'm willing to try. I'm probably Gabriella, too.
You're reading Gabriella? Yeah, I think so. Okay.
I'm assuming she has some good stuff. You want
me to come to meet with this Sturge man? Okay.
I'll be your security. If he looks at you funny,
I will snap him. Like this. Oh, I know. Okay.
And we pan to the pale moonlight. Still closed,
weirdly enough, all this time later. Still this
pristine... Pumizan -inspired building. It's
a sloped roof. Gorgeous curved architecture.
As you stand in the middle of it, you see all
around you just these sort of almost brightly
lit, underlit by some like magic stones, fish
tanks all around the room. One's kind of like
cutting its way through the middle of the room.
These big fish swimming around. And again, the
fish are still alive. Someone's feeding them,
but no one seems to be here now. And you... Wait.
For fun. When we perception checks. Ooh, that
is fun. Ooh, okay. 13 for Blanche. Eh, it's only
11 for Jules. I'll draw him for Gabriela as well.
I feel like Sturgeman probably has a pretty high
stealth, so... Mm -hmm. I wonder if he's been
leveling with us or not. You stand there in the
silence, waiting. And you see Gabriella on a
natural 20. Oh, nice. Stiffen. Baby. And turn
and look into the corner of the room as a figure
begins to materialize. And, like, as Sturgeman
drops down and sees he is being stared at, there's
a moment of, like, you see him just startle for
a second. And then Cock, his large, proboscis,
you know, nose mask, his lens is staring right
at her. She does not back down. She stands tall
before those lenses. Does Jules clock this? You
see her step and you turn. You see all this now.
Because she reacted, you see him coming. Hey,
take the mask off. Of course. Yes, of course.
Let me just... There, that's better. We are all
friends here. I am sorry for the delay. I've
been assisting Arthas in a number of private
endeavors. Rotham has been a long and difficult
world to control. Absolutely rampant criminality.
I've cleared several major cases, though. And
opened a tunnel for the Celestial's light to
come and enter in my wake. Next, I'll be going
to Anker and Syngar to dismantle the Silent Roar.
Arthas has chosen me specifically to see this
done. I've never been happier. My world is safe,
the kings have coined and been humbled, and my
father is dead. Oh, and now I can spread such
good fortune to each and every world in turn.
But, but, enough about me. And he sort of moves
very quickly across the floor, belying towards
you, Jules, and says, Tell me, how have you been,
good buddy? He just falls in for a hug, just
grabs you. Yes. Oh, that's nice. Jules is not
accustomed to somebody else initiating a hug.
I missed you, Julie. And he hates it. What? Yes,
I have given you a nick, nicked name. It's what
friends do, I've heard. All right, Sturgey. Oh,
he steps back a little bit, looks delighted.
Oh, I was thinking that after everything has
settled down, I might throw a little party at
my sister's place in Zinda. You know the one.
It'll be kind of a birthday thing. I've never
actually had one since I was never legally born.
I was hoping you would come. He looks to the
two of you. Just sadly doesn't look at Gabriela.
Sure, we'll put it on the calendar. Oh, wonderful.
We'll put it there. The four of us together will
have such a guess. So, man, it doesn't sound
like we've been having near as good a time as
you have. No, I've heard. Your privilege is revoked.
I'm so sorry. What's he got you doing? Oh, just
wonderful work. Heroic work. The usual stuff.
Criminal circuits had to be dismantled. They
were very against the idea of Celestials on World,
but Rotham's always been overrun by those types.
What are they doing? I mean, nothing now. What
are these criminals doing? The criminals are
in the Sky Prison. Okay, what did they do? I
mean, they resisted. Revolutionaries, you know,
the types. They just out for their own self -interests.
Much like our fathers, right, Jules? But me and
you, we know better than them. We were raised
by criminals. And so we can see the real criminals.
And I can see, I can see, as eyes get a little
wide, that you are not a criminal. Those rumblings
with the shield bears and the coyote. I found
that angel's story to be highly suspect. She
lied, that Salome. She lied about you. I know
she did. Now, I know Atash and you have stood
on different ground, but I am going to fix that,
I promise. I'll work hard to please Atash, and
then I'll put in a good word for both of you.
You'll be full luminaries again soon. None of
this would have been possible without your work.
Exposing Yitzmin and Sansatyan, saving my sister
and Nwari. The world's owed you both so much,
and surely Atash will see that soon. I'll make
sure he does. Best I can do for you. Jules is
kind of speechless because he doesn't feel like
he can do anything to sway Sturgeman. You stand
in a strange position. Everything that Sturgeman
has said since walking in tells Jules everything.
He's not saying anything. And he kind of wants
to just go. It's hard. You know that. You called
him here because you want to persuade him. And
as you talk to him, I think two things fall into
your minds. One, he's even more zealous than
he was before. All this, I guess, like victory
and unification happening has only inspired him.
But at the same time, you see, because it's so
clear and obvious, the desperation he has. And
you realize that of all the people in the Concord
world, you and your detect thoughts, Jules, you're
the only one who ever found his true identity.
You're the only person, you and Blanche here,
only people that know who he really is. Atash
probably doesn't know who he really is. And so
there's something there, too. I'm not saying
you can convince him. I'm not saying it'll be
easy, but I'm saying if you try anything, you
will have advantage. Okay. We're friends, right?
Of course, yes. You are my dearest friend. And
you trust me? Of course. You saved my sister.
Would you trust me with your life? Yes. Eyebrows
raised, eyes narrowed just a little bit. He's
curious. From one friend to another, what if
I told you that maybe resistance, maybe it isn't
criminal? You feel Gabriela moving very carefully,
very subtly? Mm -hmm. to stand almost between
you and Sturge, man, as you're saying this. And
you can see her eyes, dark, are just dangerous.
They flicker to you, Blanche, and there's just
the, when you're ready, I will strike eyes. Just
that glance, you can read it. She's not making
a move, but that question scared the shit out
of her. Blanche gives Gabrielle a small smile
and just a little nod, as if to say, Let Jules
do his Jules thing. This is under control. And
then we camera up hands, back to Sturge Man.
He just looks a little taken aback as I sort
of, ah, an interesting query. What do you mean
exactly? Criminality is criminality. Law is law.
It is, I mean, it is black and white, correct?
It's so simple. You know me. And my track record.
But it's all lies. Your track record is all lies.
I can see that you're a hero. And it's just...
You know that my entire life is based on resisting
evil. Never have I ever wavered from that. So
am I a criminal to you? His eyes roll back for
a second, staring towards the ceiling as if in
deep thought. Jules LaRoche betrayed his family.
The royal line was considered wanted. Criminal
activity on the world of Tytho. Stealing, but
stealing to provide for the unfortunate. Stealing
from the rich. Jules LaRoche. World after world.
Chaos is awake, but people saved lives made better.
No, I mean, you have broken the law, but no,
you're not evil and you should not be punished
because when you've broken the law, you've had...
So, would you say... Wait, no, that doesn't make
any sense. Would you say that I have always been
righteous? And the causes that I have fought
for are always righteous? Yes. Just ask him what
you know. You are righteous. But you don't understand
what you've faced before. Look at me. I'm 100%.
that resistance now is righteous. I know things
are hard to understand right now. Resistance?
The... Resistance against whom? This infighting
between people, friends, worlds. That's all just
distractions. No, it's good. You've seen Noir.
It's better now. It's better. Blanche, you're
from Noiri. You, you were the master of defense.
I remember this. At the Golden Bay, you were
able to retire, leave, because of the silent
verse. And because of the celestials. Your world
is safe now. There's a hugging that would trouble
your people. They're no longer a threat. Celestials
will simply eventually take over the Golden Bay
and they'll march the shores and they'll make
sure your people can be safe. This is good. Why
would you question this? The people are not free.
Free? Free to what? Break the law? Free to enslave?
Free to take their place? Take their thrones
and their crowns and stomp on their backs? You've
seen what happened on Tythos. Your father was
free. Your mother was free. No. They enslaved
everybody. I saw that firsthand. Nobody should
have that kind of power. Yes. No. And Natasha's
gonna stop it. Whatever the intention, good or
evil, that kind of power should not exist. I
will ask you now. Wait, wait, wait. I want help
action. You want help action? Get in there. I've
been waiting here. Get in there. Go, go, go.
What do you got for me, Blanche? Staj man, I
don't think you and I are friends the same way
that you and Jules are. I tolerate you. I'm not
asking you to trust me. I'm asking you to use
your greatest skill, your greatest weapon, your
ability to deduce and investigate. Take Jules'
word for it, at least as far as to investigate
Atash, what he's doing. Have you taken his word
blindly? Have you done any digging, any further
thought into his motives? Everybody has a motive.
He doesn't answer you, but the face of a man
who always wears a mask is a face that's always
very easy to read when exposed. He's not used
to covering that, and so it's very obvious that
he has not questioned this before. You can see
it in his eyes. I need you. We all need you to
trust me enough to go back to Atash and just
connect the dots for yourself. No one can do
the looking as well as you. I don't want to fight
you. I don't want to do anything but fight. Talk
with you. No. We're all here for the same purpose.
For a better life. For everyone. His eyes look
hurt, like he's about to burst into tears, and
he kind of takes a stumbling step back, almost
knocks a chair over behind him. Gabriela sort
of flinches for a second and steps even closer
between you. No. No. It's okay. Okay. Fine. shoulders
go down and you see his hand goes to his face
and he's kind of massaging it. And here, I'd
like you to make a roll. It is a sliding scale
roll. If this goes bad, it's going to go so bad.
If it goes middling, then you might have a somewhat
positive result. It might take time. If you beat
the DC I have in mind, you'll have a grand result.
Okay. Very, very positive. The DC I have in mind
is... 45. No. Just 30. Oh, shit. Okay. You have
advantage because you're friends with this guy.
You have a plus two on top of that from the help
action from Blanche. Okay. That's generous. All
right. All right. Okay. So advantage with plus
15. Yep. You need to roll. 15 or higher. 15 or
higher. 15 or higher. Oh, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck.
You have a 13? Yeah. Holy God. This is not a
gimme, though. It's not a gimme. It's not. It's
not a gimme. A button probably won't help. I
was going to say, if I give you a button, will
I get double advantage? No. Damn. Not in this
case. We're maxed out. Yeah. Okay. Here we go.
Okay. First roll is a 16. Oh, my God. Oh, my
God. All right. At least try to see if you crit,
I guess. Yeah, see if you crit. Why not? Oh,
my God. Nope, second roll is an 11. Okay. Wow,
wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow. 31. Wow. Holy shit.
Holy shit. His hand finally comes down, and you
see there are tears running down his eyes, but
his eyes are set in a look of determination.
They look almost dangerous, but as they fall
on you, you read they are not dangerous towards
you, Jules. You are my friend. You have only
ever protected my family. If you speak these
words, I will have some trust in you. You are
righteous. I'm not going to force you one way
or another. I'm just asking you to open your
eyes. That fucking rules. Take a button. That
whole thing was great. That whole thing was really
good. I will do as you've asked. I will look
into Artash. Perhaps I'll put my trip to Anker
and Sengar on hold for a moment. Be careful not
to raise any suspicion, though. Of course. I
can be subtle. I almost forgot. I wanted to ask...
about what he said on Anchor and Sengar. What
was the name of the group that he was talking
about? Silent Roar. Silent Roar. Yes. I clocked
that and I meant to ask you and then it passed
by. You've heard about it a few times now. If
you want to roll a history check, they actually
came up in the show as early as episode, oh gosh,
it was the one called Let's Talk About Your Futures
when you first went to Aurora Town. Nice. What'd
you get? 23. 23? Hell yeah. Silent Roar are a
revolutionary group on Anchor and Sengar. They
used to be very prominent. Back when Atash first
came along, saved the world, and took over as
king, he started imposing pretty draconian law,
and a lot of people were so down with it as their
big savior, but there was a group that were not
okay with it, that saw the dangerous sort of
hill we were all rolling down, and they stood
against him. How did the Silent Roar stand in
regards to Sholay? I guess you don't know. Okay.
That would be pretty hard. And all you know about
Silent Roar were the 23. They were very prominent.
They fell out of that prominence for quite a
while. Sure. They have a leader known as The
Singer who, I guess, vanished for some time.
Okay, and you mentioned The Singer at the beginning
of the show. Which means The Singer apparently
must be back. Okay. Does Blanche have any knowledge
about the Silent Roar acting against Cholet?
Not against Jolay. Okay, sometimes the absence
of evidence is just as pertinent. Yeah, hey.
I think that's a good line of logic. Yeah, another
potential ally. If you've held Sturgeman off
from hunting them down, that might help you in
the future. It would be interesting to try to
see if we can find a way to get a hold of him.
Sturgeman begins to retreat back. He's actually
raising the helm up. Very well. I will do my
duty. I will... seem the perfect agent, but I
will question. I promise you, I will question.
And when Sturge Man asks questions, Helmer comes
down with that. He finds answers. I look forward
to my birthday party. It better be cake and ice
cream. As you see, he just kind of moves towards
one of the back windows and just a shadow. Moves
out. And he is gone. That was pretty intense.
Yeah. I expected everything to go to hell. Really
fast. So you guys getting out of here? Yeah.
Walking back across the street. Yeah. You guys
go and start moving towards the door. And you
hear another voice. very suddenly resounding
through the room, almost through like a speaker
phone or something. It like absolutely startles
you. You just hear, now, now, let us not be too
hasty. Jesus Christ. It is time for your massage.
And you turn back, like looking around the room
and all you see is suddenly in one of the tanks,
a bunch of dirt begins to stir up in the water.
Oh my God. And out of a hole, open to the bottom
of the fish tank, right in the center of the
room, this, like, one of the long tanks, and
the fish all swim away or are disturbed as a
massive humanoid fish wriggles up, splashing
out water. Gabriela is already just, like, holding
a chair on a table, getting ready to strike.
And this figure flops down, sort of slays up.
Hello. Do you remember your old friend Borgard?
I don't think our characters have any idea. No,
this is so out of left field. That Borgard is
associated with Shola. You now know who feeds
the fish. Yeah, sure. That's as far as you go.
This is just like, what? He just kind of takes
it. You see he kind of stands up. He has like
a very dark looking sort of trench coat jacket
that he pulls up. It's like damp from the water.
He squeezes water on the floor, dripping sort
of onto the nice hardwood. And he sort of. wraps
it around himself and... Beauregard, we... We
didn't know anybody was still here. You should
not have heard what you just heard. Oh, but that's
the idea behind a secret room. Card on the table.
I own this place. That's right. I am Master Soze.
Jamie gets it. I am also... Shirley's foremost
intelligence agent. I apologize for lying to
you in your previous encounters, but I did enjoy
your company. I was about to drink. I have been
waiting to speak with the two of you. I could
not beat your haste. You've been under some surveillance
until recently, but it seems your foes think
you'd be harmless enough now. Good. And my fortune
you had happened to come here for an extremely
ill -advised meeting with a lunatic. You're working
for Sholey? Yes, keep up, Blanche. I suppose
now we don't have to kill you. Gabrielle slowly
gets down from the table. She was like creeping
behind him and just puts the chair down, just
sits down in it and kind of looks like, like
exasperated. I think you saw or heard that Jules
had perfect control over the situation. Do you
still think meeting with Sturgeman was ill -advised,
as you put it? You have done well, I will say.
Perfectly befitting an agent of Shorley. But
I do not like to see you taking risks. Shorley
has plans for both of you. Do you have contact
with Sholai? No. But she contacted me just before
turning herself in. I know little of that whole
matter, but I do know what she asked me to look
into. I know she asked me to report all my findings
directly to you both. Oh, wow. Okay. Very cool.
Okay. What were you investigating? Sholai had
a theory. A theory that Atash... was gaining
power purely to try to assault the incarnates
in some coming time. She is worried that some
great magic will be activated when the incarnates
are dead. So she asked me to look into potential
weapons, tools that may help you in some sort
of counterplay. I don't know the extent of her
plans. I think she did not know. I think she
trusted you would have your own plans. Nonetheless,
he holds up a fin and it's like three fingers,
but it's like, it's a fin. Three weapons she
asked me to find. The first of which is being
handled by, let's just say allies of yours. Ones
you might not know directly. All you need to
know is the first weapon is a figurehead for
our movement. Someone widely trusted by the conquered
world. Someone whose voice cannot go ignored
and so that person has been put away. That, hopefully,
will be remedied. You might... as characters,
immediately realize who Sholay's targeting. It
was a thought you had yourselves, and you realized...
Last episode, I think. Yeah. You think very similar
to Sholay. Especially you, Blanche. You think
very similar to Sholay, and so you may have come
to the same conclusions. I've been Sholay the
whole time. And I think that feeling, that connection,
only deepens as he says this next sentence. The
second weapon is the key. To the Crystal Network.
Whoa. Who? A code phrase. A command that allows
you to take over the network. Whoa. A singular
chance to take control and tell the world whatever
you desire. Whoa. Problem is, only one person
knows this command. Only the founder of the Crystal
Network, Kajal Kamal. If... You're interested
in hunting him down, you will need to go to the
world of Senza. He's a professor of conjuration
and architecture at Endesa Academy, the most
esteemed academy in all our conquered worlds.
The academy, however, right now is shut down.
Ormvoraxes are the official excuse. Gold eaters,
rodents, creatures, weasels. Much of Anissa's
architecture is built of our gold, and the creatures
feed on it. They were thought to be extinct until
recently, wiped out by Sensins because, well,
they eat gold. And suddenly, the infestation
of the creatures at the academy, very, very strange.
One might think Kejo Kamal, who is overseeing
the rebuilding, is up to something. Hmm. One
might think. Do you want to roll any history
for Censa? Anything like that? I would love to.
Yeah. Hell yeah. Natural 20. Natural 20! Woo!
Way better than mine. Okay, I'll give you this.
You know what? Your family was part of the royal
line. I think you traded a lot of... Tythos was
the main sort of gem and jewel sort of... What's
the word? Exporter. amongst the conquered worlds.
I think you would especially know Senza because
they are the main gold exporter. Senza is the
amber world, a desert world that runs on its
gold mines. They are, again, the primary gold
exporter in all the conquered worlds. It's not
even close. The world itself consists of three
monarchic city -states, Anissa, where the academy
is, Neba, and Taric, all working under the rule
of one higher monarch, Empress Anaya. The Gilded
Halls of the Esteemed Sensei Academy is well
regarded as the greatest culmination of magical
knowledge in the conquered worlds, hands down.
But that's what's funny, too. Just for fun, you
also know, like, one thing that maybe you've
thought about before, you probably came across
when you were reading about Mazir Drakon, Shadrakon,
all that stuff. There's a famous place called
the Tomb of the Faceless, a sort of rounded,
spherical... sort of built of gold and stone
that's supposed to hold the bones of an ancient
prophet that helped to really settle the civilizations.
It's very similar in feel to the Shrine of Storms,
where the bones of the sage were inside, and
I think you would immediately pick up, oh, that
was a Drakon that is sort of in this, like, entombed
in this place. People aren't allowed to look
at them, but that ancient Shadrakon history is
there, that connecting line. That's what you
know. Do you want to say anything, or does he
keep going? No, I think he just keeps going.
Jules is just listening. Blanche heard about
an attack on the Incarnates and his, like, jaw
to the floor. You knew it was coming, but, like,
you hear, like, Sholay also predicted this. I
think Salome knew it was coming. You talked to
Salome last night. Oh, right, right, right. You
talked to you. You told you about this. Okay,
you're right. Give me that button back. That
was, like, a whole week ago. And the third weapon,
his fishy eyes swivel and fall right on you,
Jules, is a child. The one you have been looking
for. Shelly has told me he is Mazir Drakhan.
Oh, don't be surprised. Assume I know everything.
She believes he may be able to act as a failsafe
against Atash. Should the Incarnate fall, Mr.
Drakon may have to build this halt, whatever
this great magic is, that the Incarnate could
stop. Mr. Drakon can speak with a diamond, as
she put it. He has been taken, as you know, by
the remnants of the Fractured Horn. They will
see him as a weapon, too. And they will need
to test their weapon. That is Sholay's theory,
and so she gave me a list of certain events to
watch for. Subtle things that may point to a
Mazeer to come, acting upon the bones of our
various worlds. And this list pointed me towards
Dayalangan, who's already our primary suspect,
but now we are quite sure. Do you know anything
of the Bakunawa? Can you say that name without
the fish accent? Dayalangan. Dayalanan? Dayalangan.
Wasn't it Dayalangan? Dialongan. I don't know,
man. I can't pronounce anything. I think it was
Dialongan. I think that's the way you pronounced
it. It's a wild word. Dialongan. Dialongan. Dialongan.
Live a short in. Live a short in. Shut up. You
want a button for that? No. Give him one for
that. Give him one for that. Take a button. Take
a button. Have a nice tonight. That was kind
of funny. I left. You know, there's the world
that Ariad actually is initially from. That asshole.
Yeah, that guy. Okay. He asked if you know of
the Bakunawa. And I'll say you actually do kind
of know about them because you have heard about
them once before in the show. So I'm not going
to make you roll for this necessarily. You could
roll over Jules' natural 20. I won't. But back
when you were researching, again, the Drakkon,
you specifically had a book talking about these
great bridges that connected the islands of Dyalongan.
I have these bridges that were made of the bones
of ancient draconic serpents known as Bakunawa.
There are people called bone singers are the
one of the architects that utilize these bones
to form these gigantic serpentine bridges. It's
very much like, you know, if you know, was it
snake? Oh, gosh. Serpent road. What's the road
in Dragon Ball Z that they have to go? I don't
know. How did I forget about this? Oh, everyone's
going to hate me now. Anyway, it's like that.
It won't be any different than the start of this
episode. It's really cool. It's really cool.
You know that in ancient times, in dialogue and
legend, that these Bakunawa were these great,
massive beings that helped the people. And that
over time, only their close relatives remained.
The sort of great, great, great grandchildren
of these great beings that are much smaller.
They don't hold nearly the same amount of intelligence
and power, yet they are still dangerous and powerful.
From what you've read, those numbers have dwindled
to almost nothing now. They were probably the
world's closest to actually having an accurate
representation of the true history of the worlds.
Do you relay that you know this stuff? You don't
have to say it. You can just say, we say what
we know if you want to go there. I know I just
said a lot of words at you. Right, yeah, exactly.
There were a lot of words. We know that much
about the da -ra -ra -ra -ra. Oh, yeah, the da
-ra -ra -ra -ra. I got you. Yes. Well, as far
as current local legend goes, only a single Bakunawa
remains. Pangil Nangbon. The last Mokunawa, thought
to be old and frail, has suddenly become aggressive.
Savage attacks on various towns and settlements.
The celestials on the world have not been able
to catch it, and the Pari's gift of prophecy
seems to be failing them. Another sign of fractured
horn interference, I think. Bialangan is one
of our largest worlds. It's one giant archipelago
with islands connected by these twisting serpentine
bridges. It's an embarrassment to the Celestials
that they cannot reach these settlements in time
to stop these attacks. And so it has not been
widely covered on the network. I think, given
Sholei's intel, this Bakunawa is under the control
of the Fractured Horn and the Child Paul. Oh.
These are Sholei's final requests. Her last words
of wisdom and assistance. A command phrase on
Sensa. And a child on Dialingen. With these things,
my hope is you can stop what is coming. But I
know as well as you that Sholay is gone now.
You must decide the best course going forward.
And now David wants to step in to say this. I
want to be clear. You know your endgame now.
You know of the assault. And I want you two to
understand that it will be nearly impossible
to overcome. I'm designing it as such. You as
characters know this, given the odds you're up
against. You have three and a half weeks to do
whatever you can, anything you want to try, to
make the impossible possible. In every regard,
it will be difficult. I expect you to be creative
and clever, else the story is going to end badly.
These quests are by Sholay. Should they prove
successful, should you choose to partake on these,
will make things more possible, clearly. But
most likely you're going to fail these quests
too. I am designing them as such. What? Okay.
I have high expectations for you. I mean, I guess,
yeah, he's just saying we're such goddamn good
players, you know? We're so good. He's got to
make it unfair. You guys are always pulling the
wall over me, doing clever shit. So I'm going
to make this mean. You're going to go on these
missions and not even death awaits you, but perhaps
just failure. Perhaps what you're trying to achieve
will be harder than you can expect. And you as
characters know that what's being asked of you
is daunting. To break into a school controlled
by Kejo Kamal, to find the greatest conjurer
in the conquered worlds, and to steal from him
a command phrase that he would certainly never
want to tell you. And on top of that, this is
the one that designed all the defenses of the
Shrine of Storms. This is the one who created
the Zappies. Well, who knows what magical mayhem
might await you, and who knows what sort of protections
Atash would leave for someone so important to
the Sapphire's plan. And then... There is Dayalan.
There is Paul. There is your family, Jules. There
is the black dragon, Calypsania, the leader of
the Fractured Horn. She waits there, and you
feel it now. You know it. It is whispered into
your heart by a darkness somewhere far behind
you by your own shadow. She's there. And so is
your mother. And they have Paul. You do not need
to take these quests. All I can tell you for
certain is you have three and a half weeks and
an insurmountable challenge to try to overcome.
What you do with that time is up to you, but
it will change the world in a way that cannot
be understated. And we'll call it there.