Episode 52 David here, and I have come from the
future to warn you that you are about to start
your new favorite TTRBG podcast. Oh, yeah, that's
right. First, though. You're going to meet a
naive young fella that I like to call Episode
1 David. And I am begging, begging that you give
the poor little guy a chance to grow on you.
He's going to be nervous for a bit. He's going
to butcher some rules and terms in these first
few combats and episodes. But believe me, this
guy will get better fast. And maybe even be worthy
of the amazing players that he gets to torture
every episode. You'll also notice a vast difference
in our audio quality very, very quickly as we
upgrade our equipment, our studio, our techniques,
all that good stuff. Now, now, I've also come
to tell you that we at Fantasy Events are not
affiliated with listeners of the coast. I don't
know if all that legally needs saying, but I'm
deathly afraid of lawyers, so here we are. We
are, however, using their Journeys Through the
Radiant Citadel adventure module as a base for
this story. We're keeping a lot, we're changing
a lot, we're having fun. And if you want to experience
a world -spanning adventure in a variety of unique
and tragically underutilized mythological settings,
check that shit out right now. Also, if you like
the background music we used in this campaign,
then check out Sirenscape. Most tracks you hear
will be theirs apart from our own original music
written and recorded by our own editing legend,
Mr. Jeremy Wolf. If you're new to this community,
I just want to say welcome aboard. We're always
happy to meet new friends and make new connections.
We've got a Discord, Instagram, Facebook, all
that crazy stuff, and all headed up by the world's
most likable man, Mr. Steven Rodriguez. Oh no,
the time rift is closing. I gotta go. I'll see
you again down the road. For now, get ready to
laugh, cry, and fall in love when you slide into
these fancy pants. That sounds really weird.
I did not hear you come in. Where'd you come
from, you rapscallion, you? Come on over. Come
on over. We're sitting at a table right now here.
And don't worry about the smell. That's just
Steven. Come on. Take a seat right here next
to me. Can I get you a drink? Something to eat?
I can't because I'm not physically there, but
I wish I could. Hey, let me thank you so much
for coming by and giving us a visit. Sitting
down with us for this story, for this first session
of Fantasy Pants. Isn't this something, huh?
I will be your DM for this adventure, David Monroe.
And don't worry about these two goofballs here.
You'll get to know them in a minute. But I'm
going to wait for that because, well, because
I want to get right into this story. I want you
to know what you're here for. See if you like
it. Let you not just dip your toes in, but dip
your whole body in right now, right from the
get -go. What do you say? Alright, great. I'm
going to take that as a yes because I cannot
fucking hear you. Okay, with that, I think it's
time to start the first episode of Fantasy Pants.
So we're going to open on a screen of white light.
A projected image against a smooth canvas backdrop.
We're going to see flickers of static. on this
screen, though it appears in flecks and waves
of every color under the sun. It's a bit of white
noise accompanying it, but it's musical. There's
a melody to it. It's strange. An image resolves
itself on our screen. A simple image of a gaunt,
dark -skinned man donning a straw hat. in the
simple, rustic farming clothes of the world of
God's breath. Why, hello there, and welcome to
another exciting episode of Journeys Through
the Radiant Citadel. We have a very special episode
today for you folks, to celebrate our Concord
Day, of course. As always, I am your humble host,
Storyteller Ornan. Y 'all know just how deeply
I treasure the many stories that weave together.
to form the rich tapestry of our collective past.
And while the story of our 25 worlds is no true
beginning, I would like to refresh you all in
one of many beginnings. To kick things off today,
we here at the Crystal Network would like to
take a moment, and in just a moment, because
I know most of y 'all have heard this tale about
a hundred times now, to give a brief history
of the founding of our gemstone concord. And
what... wonders it has led to in our modern times.
So let's begin, eh? 257 years ago, in the world
of Anchor and Syngar, Sholay, the Brass Dragon,
made a singular discovery in her treasury. A
strange glow emanating from a finely cut turquoise
gem in her collection. And as she stared into
the light of this gem, A voice called out to
her very soul. A message in Draconic that begged
her to seek out the structure known as the Aurora
Diamond, hidden in the deep ethereal between
worlds, and restore it to glory. For ten years,
Shorley sought this marvel. She traveled tirelessly
between our worlds and gathered some of our history's
greatest heroes to join her in her quest. The
dangers were plentiful, mind. In the end, many
were sacrificed in pursuit of the auroral diamond
of lore. But Sholei and her forces persevered
through it all. In the end, well, they found
what they sought, didn't they? Deep in the haunted
midst of the ethereal plane floated the auroral
diamond. It was, at first, a sight of some alarm
to brave Sholei. A massive fossil wrapped around
the structure, which emanated with only the faintest
light. And beneath it, a massive cyclone stirred.
A great storm soon threatening to consume the
diamond. And with it, the hopes and dreams of
the many who had died in Sholay's quest. But
Sholay was not put off by this. Oh no, no. She
flew right into the structure. and discovered
the lingering wills that yet maintained it. The
ancient gemstone caretakers known as the Incarnates.
And with the Incarnates' assistance, Sholay and
her allies brought life back to the diamond.
And the resulting light that burst forth on the
structure was said to push away the phantom winds
of the cyclone, now known as the Canaan Gloom.
To each of our worlds, the effects of the Aurora
Diamond's awakening was immediately seen. The
Concord gems that lay dormant in our land suddenly
sprang to light and life and shifted to the deep
ethereal. There they took to their constant orbit
of the Aurora Diamond and reached their true
potential as gateways between our many worlds.
The following formation of the Gemstone Concord,
binding all worlds together in agreements of
trade and assistance, is what we celebrate today,
exactly 246 years after its signing. Cholet,
of course, spearheaded this effort as well, and
still to this day works tirelessly to maintain
it as anchoring Sengar's speaker for the ancestors.
But there were still many mysteries yet surrounding
the auroral diamond. Among them, the origins
of the message sent to Xole through the form
of a turquoise gem. Now, the incarnates were
bound by ancient oath to speak not of this matter,
and so it seemed the truth would be lost to the
darkness of time. That is, until 56 years ago,
when Senza's own prized magical architect, Kejau
Kamal, made a most incredible discovery. that
beyond the ability to act as a trading port between
worlds, the Royal Diamond also carries the properties
of a magical transmitter and can send sounds
and images through the Concord Gems into their
associated worlds. It is, of course, this very
feature that allows me to speak to you all now,
resulting in the creation of the Crystal Network.
And this network has sparked an age of cultural
exchange that has surpassed the expectations
of our prior scholars and seers from every world.
And there is no better evidence of the prominence
of this age and the rise of the luminary adventurer.
And what better way is there to celebrate the
lives of heroes lost, I say, in the founding
of this Concord than to cherish those brave souls
that stand to protect our worlds today. And so
we here at the Radiant City wish our luminaries
a wonderful Concord Day. Now y 'all keep an eye
out on your festivities wherever y 'all may be.
And if you see such a hero, be sure to wish them
the same. Now we have some incredible stories
coming up for you today, A rather heated confrontation
between the mighty big man and a fire giant with
some rather particular talents. Look forward
to that a bit later. And maybe even a little
message from Arthash himself. Before that, though,
the speakers would like me to put a spotlight
on San Satyan and the spreading illness known
as Serino. We... And we pull away from this man
on the screen. Pull away, revealing a large,
squared sheet of canvas resting against the masonry
of a tower wall. Our camera moves back further
and further, and we come upon a scene of a very
busy city square filled with the hustle and bustle
of human traffic. We see massive towers all around
us. This is central New York, but Fantasyland,
you know what I'm saying? And we're going to
move, I think, from this scene a little farther
back. As we pull back farther into this square,
we come to a base of a pillar, a pole, jutting
up from the middle of the cobbles. Folk moving
around here and there, just passing it, ignoring
it. And we kind of zoom up this pole to where
a football -sized conical crystal rests. We see
this small, finely cut sapphire jewel slotted
into an opening at the tip of this crystal. In
this, we can see a vague image of our storyteller,
the sheen of the blue gem. We can see this image
and this light pulsating through the crystal.
If you zoom around back, the same image being
played on that screen against the wall of the
tower. on the other side of our square. We're
going to move up from there, move up past posters
you see resting against walls, like, you know,
fantasy billboards. Why not? You see Atash, this
larger -than -life archangel being, pointing
out down towards the lower street. Sign just
says, I'm watching you. You see an orc barbarian.
It's a well -muscled bottle, body sheening, sweat.
He's drinking this mead, and under that it just
says, Kegor always eats at Bolga's House of Mead,
miles north of the gemstone landing on Mor. And
there's a number of these strewn about the walls
here in these many towers. You see a samurai
in this red plate. wearing a tengu mask. Underneath
it just says, The Crimson Wind. And in tiny letters,
Visit Shogyaki's Noodles. And as we kind of move
up and up and up past these towers, we pan out
to the sky and look down upon this cityscape.
We see this incredible display of architecture.
We see towers so tall, it defies the laws of
physics. In particular, five. Looking ridiculous,
almost. These long pencils just standing up against
the sky, almost threatening to vanish into the
clouds themselves. One of them has this rainbow
palette to it. As you can see, many gemstones
inlaid in the masonry seeming to shine in the
morning sun. And we see that this array of towers
is surrounded. on three sides by this massive
spreading slum. And on that fourth side, we can
see this massive lake. See the water shining
as the sun rises at its edge. And over all of
this, a title card appears down at the bottom
of the screen. It just says, Sarul, City of Towers.
And then beneath that, Tythos. The sapphire world.
Now we're going to pan back into the city, but
not to where we just were. Not to the towers.
No, no. We're going to move down to these three
main roads that seem to jut out from the city.
Through these slums area. And as we move down
to street level, we can see that along these
roads, it is pristine. The houses are small,
sure, but they're well kept. The streets are
clean. Mild -mannered and well -to -do. We're
going to pan away from these main roads, past
these first line of buildings. And here we see
a place that tells a very different story. Houses
with sagging roofs and boarded -up windows. We
see tents filling a lot of these minor streets
between these houses. And we see people moving
about wearing glorified rags. People with...
Dirty faces and missing limbs. A number of middle
-aged men. Bent backs. Staring around. Tired.
Haunted eyes. We push deeper into these slums.
Past run -down taverns. Residences. We come upon
a warehouse sitting on a street corner. We don't
see anyone nearby. We pan in. to a slop between
a boarded -up window and a dark room. The sounds
of soft snoring and the only light filtering
in from the same window we just came through.
And here we see, on a couple of crates stacked
up, just kind of lying under a rag, not in a
comfortable position, mind, not at all, we see
a rather peculiar man. And let's throw a zipper
in here in post. Like a... You know, unzip the
pants. Copy that. All right, unzip the pants.
We're going to unzip the pants here in post.
Unzip it. Because I want to take you away from
this movie for just a moment. Because before
we introduce this amazing character, it's time
to meet the amazing guy playing him. Jeremy Wolf,
how you doing? Hello, I'm fan -fucking -tastic.
Oh, glad to hear it. Glad to be here with you
all. Oh, yes, yes. Get these adventures going.
This is my best friend next to me. Came in earlier.
I don't know if you noticed him. He's sitting
right here. No. Oh. He's here. Who dat? Trust
me. He's here. Okay. All right. All right. All
right. Roll with it. I got you, buddy. So. So.
How's it feel? First episode, huh? Episode one.
We're going to get into some crazy shit. I'm
looking forward to it. It's going to be so much
fun. It's going to be crazy. We're probably going
to die multiple times and have like 10 different
characters, but it's going to be fun nonetheless.
I cannot, for the life of me, balance an encounter.
So, yeah, prepare for deaths. Prepare to not
fall in love with this coming character because
you will lose him. Dear listener, you will lose
him soon. He's not wrong. I'm not wrong. He's
not wrong. I'm not wrong. But hey, let's get
right to it, huh? Ready to unpause? Let's zip
it back up. All right. We're back. Play is on.
describe the man that we see sleeping on a bed.
Well, on a crate. Kind of a bed. Half a bed.
Shitty bed. What's he look like? All right, so
you're looking at Jules LaRoche over here. He's
just kind of haphazardly leaning up against a
little wooden crate here, a little burlap sack
that kind of works as a makeshift blanket for
him. He's got a super disheveled, dark brown
pompadour that's just kind of all over the place.
It's a mess. A pompadour? Yes. And, I mean, he's
just clearly a mess, either from shenanigans
the night before or really, really good night's
sleep, probably both. And, yeah, not much to
him. Tall, kind of lanky, a little skinny, got
really long legs, kind of just shooting out from
under the burlap sack there. He can sleep anywhere.
He gets tired, he's energetic, and he's just,
he's out. That's it. That's awesome. Yeah, awesome.
So here we are, we see Jules LaRoche sleeping
in this dark and dusty room, and everything's
very quiet. We're just focusing on the scene,
hearing some soft snoring from Jules, and you
start to hear some other noise in the background,
almost like a little hum at first. Almost like
the buzzing of insects. And it kind of picks
up. And you hear its children laughing and talking
amongst themselves very excitedly. And they get
very close to where we are here in this building.
And then you just kind of hear a small moment
of silence. And then, boom! A door just bursts
open on this warehouse. And seven young orphan
rogues just go tumbling in. We see in the front,
there's Chester. He is a 15 -year -old human
boy. Got this big, oversized, brown, dirty jacket.
He's freckled with red hair that is crazy and
wild. Goes down covering his eyes. We have Jeans,
13 -year -old human woman. Brown hair pulled
up in a bun that's hidden under a bowler hat.
Got these suspenders. Maybe they're Jeans. I
don't know. Looking over here, we see behind
them, there's this very tall and gangly half
-elf with short black hair and buck teeth. This
is Fibrosis. Do you know what's fibro? Who came
up with that name? Yeah. To our friend here at
the table, you all should have been there on
our session zero when we all just kind of went
around the table making up names. I am not to
blame for this. Okay, I am to blame for fibrosis,
but I'm not to blame for all of this. We have
Mulligan's Folligan. I am to blame for Mulligan's
Folligan, who is a dwarf, 12 years old, loves
to eat more than anything. He's pot -bellied
with copper skin and blonde hair. He's got the
faint beginnings of a blonde dwarven beard, but
not quite growing in yet. Peach fuzz. You also
see a stalky half -orc, a 10 -year -old child.
He's just got this real cold look in his eyes,
real furrowed brow as he walks in, glances around
the place, almost looking for danger in every
dark corner. This is Miskin. We have behind him
another human boy, 9 years old. Very, very solemn.
sort of blank eyes, stare straight forward as
he strolls in. And then behind him, oh, that's
Paul, by the way. Hi there, Paul. And behind
him, we have a very young, very tiny tiefling
girl. She comes skipping in in rabbit pajamas,
just super dirty and gross, have not been washed
in at least two weeks. For some reason, is holding
a broken bottle. I don't know, like branching
like a weapon. She goes and stabs at the air
a few times as if she was expecting. A ghost
jump out from the shadows and attack her friends.
Laughs excitedly. And this group all just kind
of roll into here. And all turn towards Jules.
But what's her name? Oh, and her name is Round
Stuff. Hey! And I am not to blame for that. I'm
not to blame for that. That one's me. That was
him. I'll take responsibility for that one. Absolutely.
Yes. So this, this, this, this. Jeremy, what
is the name of Jules' group here again? We are
called the Cherry Delights. Cherry Delights.
The Cherry Delights come barreling into this
building, kicking up dust everywhere. Coughing
as they kind of work their way out of this cloud
of dust towards the sleeping Jules. I think Jules,
maybe he's really, really into his sleep. Very
much so. They take a look at him, and Chester,
the wild orange -haired lad, looks back at the
other ones and grins this gap -toothed grin,
pulls this stick out from his back where he has
it tucked in his shirt, and just starts banging
wildly on the crate. Hey, Jules! What time is
it? It's late, Jules. What are you doing? It's
gotta be only like 1 .30. Man, where you been?
We haven't seen you since you were at Vickens
last night. What? You came somewhere out of Vickens
Pub and we haven't seen you. Where you been?
What the hell happened last night? You tell me.
I don't know. We've been looking all over for
you. Do I look like I know what the hell happened
last night? You don't look like you know what
happened last week. Am I right? I don't. I don't.
You know this. Enlighten me. I don't know what
happened to you, but after you left, you know,
the high city folk came in. Oh, shit. Yeah. Your
family's men tore old Vickens' place down. What?
Bottle after bottle thrown out. Yeah, he was
in some trouble. They heard you was there. Now,
that's not fair. That ain't fair at all. That
is not fair. So what are we going to do about
it? They're getting too close. They're getting
too close. They're getting too close. We got
to fight the man, Jules. We got to fight the
man. What are we going to fight the man, Jules?
What's the plan today? You see Jean's young woman
steps forward and just kind of rolls her eyes
like, well, we've already gotten a little bit
done today. Oh, yeah? What's that? Well, we had
a couple of censor folk. You know, the ones that
are working on the cobblestone, the new cobblestone
roads in Sound Square and all around it? Yeah.
Well, they got that fancy guy. What's his name?
Come on, something or other. He's around. They're
folk. They're loaded. And they're out of town.
They got some money, so I figured we could pick
some pockets and maybe give our friend a little
helping hand. Always with the good ideas. This
is why I leave a lot of business and stuff to
you. Hey, that ain't fair, Jules. It was my idea.
Hey, hey, hey. We all got our rolls. We all got
our strengths. You hear Mulligan say, the dwarf,
I could really go for some rolls right now. Some
sweet bread. I got some rolls in the back for
you if you want. In this warehouse? I thought
I saw something back there. Are they moldy? There's
no way. There's no way, Jules, that this place
is going to maintain the proper time temperature
control to have rolls that are worthy of eating.
You understand this, right? It's basic science.
Alright, we'll get some rolls along the way.
Let's just, let's get a move on here. You see,
like, the door kind of, like, closes, and then
the half -orc's kind of, like, leading up against
it, like, Alright. We gotta keep our eyes open.
He's ten. He's a middle -aged ten. He's two little
beater sticks, like, Gotta keep our eyes open.
Jules, you should be in the shadows. They almost
got you last night. If you hadn't stumbled out
lucky. We'd all be in the tank. In the tank,
Jules. Jules will always get away. I'm sneaky
like a snake. Roundstuff, just kind of the cheap
one, just kind of laughs. It's just like doing
hissings. That's... He's like a snake. See, she's
got the idea. So, yeah, Chester kind of looks
at you again, just like, all right, so where
are we going? We can't just hang around in this
warehouse all day, Jules. Mulligan's got to eat.
And we all know there ain't rolls back there
worth eating. All right, let's go get some grub.
Then we'll get down to business. Hell yeah. Fight
the man. Fight the man, but not before food.
Not before food, yeah. Not before food. Yeah,
breakfast is the most important meal of the day,
eh? Fuck yeah. That's right. You remember that.
He points around and stuff. Oh, okay, okay. All
right, gang, let's go. All right. You all kind
of turn and start moving out the door onto the
streets. The city slums. You all step out. I
think they hear the door close behind you. You
see the half -orc, Miskin, looks around again,
one way, then the other down the street. He's
like, no one followed us. We're good. It's a
badass. You guys move on. I'll loop around the
alleys. Make sure we're really alone. All right,
Miskin, you got this. Yeah. He just like disappears
around the corner. Hey, wait, should we really
split? Oh, he'll catch you. No, we're good. We're
good. We're just casual. We're just chilling,
just blending in, you know, going to get some
food. Yeah, yeah. I mean, they did their damage.
I think they're probably going back to their
high towers now, eh? They can't stand to be in
our low seat too long, them high folk. High guards,
even. No, but my parents are going to hear about
this. Oh, they'll hear about it, all right. Hey,
Jules, let's make them hear about something else.
I'm listening. I think it's a big day, huh? Here,
let's talk. I got a little bit of a plan to tell
you. And he starts moving down the street. You're
kind of following with him. Oh, yeah. Your whole
group just gathered around you laughing and chatting.
They're on little conversations. And you kind
of stop because you realize one of yours isn't
moving. And you turn around and see that Paul,
the young human boy, is kind of standing right
outside the door. And you see he's staring into
the sky and he raises a single finger with his
vacant expression and points up and just says,
Storm. I'm going to kind of slowly look up to
where he's pointing. You look up and all of the
eyes of these children follow your gaze. All
of you stare up. And you can see that the blue
sky above you. It's very swiftly becoming overcome
with clouds, dark black clouds, like black tendrils
of smoke, swirling in, moving together in like
a spiral form. And very, very swiftly, everyone
around you in the street stops and stares as
the sky is blotted out. That doesn't look good.
We pan up. Towards this dark cyclone in the sky.
We pan up. As the winds begin to howl. Guys,
I think our plans today might be changing. And
we cut from that to a very similar image. A very
similar cyclone. But this one is absolutely massive.
We're panning out from the dark. An empty maw
of this roaring, roaring storm. See flashes of
lightning here and there. Randomly bursting against
the wind walls. And we pan out from that to see
that we are now in a very different world. Very
different plane. I'd like to welcome you all
to the deep ethereal. The world between worlds.
A world of fog, this rolling miasma of nothingness
that connects all planes together. And in this
nothingness, we see, hovering above this storm,
this cyclone, just above the Maw, this brilliantly
shining, colossal diamond. We can see that there
is... A whole city built upon this diamond, resting
on the backs of this stony fossil that snakes
around it, this massive serpent. We can see lush
vegetation covering bits and parts. We can see
these giant buildings jutting out. This is not
nearly the size and scale of Cerule, where we
just were, but it's still very impressive, especially
for existing in a place that should be uninhabitable.
And as we sort of zoom into this, we see that
the diamond's color shifts. Before it was just
this brilliant white light, and suddenly it starts
to go to this deeper crimson, almost pulsating.
And we can hear this small squeal, like... Some
sirens coming from various smaller diamonds jutting
out of posts all up. the spiral city streets
of the Radiant Citadel. And as we kind of pan
down towards this fossil, towards this city,
we move up, up to the head of the snake, if you
will, where we see that the very tip of this
city ends with sort of a half -moon shape in
the, or a crescent moon shape, I should say,
in the stonework. And in this... In the crescent
sort of opening of the stone, we can see it just
barely perfectly fits this gigantic sapphire
that seems to have come to dock against the edge
of the fossil. And this thing is, I mean, I said
it is building size. It could hold hundreds,
maybe even thousands of people inside. It is
hollowed out. You can see figures, dark shapes,
dashing in and out of this large opening in the
gemstone. We're going to sort of move down towards
this, towards the blinking lights. We see like
a number of figures running back and forth in
this brass armor, all uniform. We are looking
down upon the shield bearers. A policing and
search and rescue force that exists on the Citadel,
that serves the higher powers of the Citadel,
the speakers for the ancestors. And we see shield
bearers running this way and that. It is chaos
here. A number of civilians are just moving in
to sort of watch as some shield bearers are kind
of pushing them back, keeping a line away from
the docking bay here. The passage of respite.
And as we kind of focus in on this, there's a
figure we see moving towards this passage, kind
of moving up the city streets, strolling down
the stairs, down to this docking bay, approaching
this massive gemstone. And while he is dwarfed
by the scale of everything, this figure is still
larger than life. As we zoom into this. Looks
like a half -dragon, a humanoid dragon with a
grand tail, his gigantic wings, shining brass
scales that match the gleam of his shield -bearer
armor. We see a confident smile. We see eyes
hardened and blazing with determination. We see
a hero. And then we pan behind this figure. Just
barely catching the tips of a couple of horns
that are strolling to keep up. And our camera
scrolls slowly down to see the, well, I guess
the real hero of our story. Pause. That pause
like on the screen. Let's throw it unzip in there.
I don't know if anyone's going to hear you unzipping
your pants. Okay. So please don't. Hey, everyone.
Let's take a moment to introduce our second player
in this campaign. Steven Rodriguez, you old Portuguese
-ian. How you doing? Hello, Steven Rodriguez.
How you doing, man? Good. Yes, I am a little
Portuguese. The only geese that can't fly. Oh,
no. And we just lost 10 listeners. We didn't
even have 10 listeners. We were negative 10 listeners
now. Negative 10. That is bad. Sorry. I'll keep
the corny jokes to a minimum. So what's going
on? Are you excited to be here? Yeah. Are you
excited to meet our friend? Yes, our friend,
the listener. The listener. Yep. Happy we're
finally doing this. Jeremy was kind enough to
lend us his, well, not lend us, but co -opt his
studio space for us. And here we are, having
fun. Yeah, yeah. Cheers, Jeremy. To make believe.
Before we go on, what are you guys drinking here
tonight? We're celebrating over here at Fantasy
Pants Studios, a .k .a. Jeremy's office and his
apartment. We are drinking a delicious Goose
Island Bourbon County from 2014 that I've been
saving for a special occasion. And episode one
of Fantasy Pants. It's the occasion. So this
bottle of beer is maybe a little bit older than
round stuff. Yep. That is, huh, that's something.
Yeah. All right. Well, hey, we met Steven. Steven's
pretty cool. We'll see a lot of that guy. And
I think we should move right back into our scene
here. Zip. Zip it back up. Zip. And why don't
you tell us. What does this little guy look like?
This little guy is another half dragon of smaller
stature, probably five foot something. He has
the same copper colored skin scales that his
older brother in front of him has, but they do
not gleam and shine. It's more of a matte color.
I'd say maybe somewhere halfway between brown
and orange. This dragonborn also has wings, but
much smaller. They don't really appear that they
would be functional. They don't look like they
could take him off the ground. Likewise, his
tail is shorter. And he has horns like his brother
that curl down around the side of his head. And
he has an expression on his face that I can really
only describe as... Pesky. We will come to know
this as Zebulon. Currently Zebulon Brass. Am
I right? That's correct. Yes. Zebulon, you are
running down. You're in the midst of all these
shield bearers that are running back and forth,
forming a sort of defensive line. You managed
to get in somehow, kind of sneaking in behind
the tail of your brother. Arhalon Brass, who
is a lieutenant in the Shieldbearers and who
is currently moving towards a very dire -sounding
mission. From what you gathered, something bad
is happening in the world of Tythos. Something
bad is happening in the city of Cerule. The Incarnates
have warned of some devastation incoming. Some
powerful magic that has just been unleashed.
And here you are. To attempt to do something
about it? I think as he hears you move behind
him, you see your brother whips around super
fast. His big, muscular tail. I mean, this is
a muscular tail. You're jealous of that tail.
Almost takes you out as it flies just above your
head. You just, Zebulon, what are you doing here?
I have work to do. You should be staying in the
apartment. Come on, Arhalana. It's been long
enough. You can take me with you. You know I
can do this. You can count on me. Count on you?
We are doing... This is serious business. It's
a search and rescue mission. We are trying to
pull evacuees away from this devastation. I can
search. I can rescue. You can't do anything.
Tell me what to do. Look. Zeb. He kind of like
crouches down really low so you can look you
eye to eye. He puts a hand on you. This... This
is my chance. You don't... What are you trying
to prove, Zeb? That I can be helpful too. You
help me. Every day I get to come home from what
I do and tell you about my day and we can discuss
back and forth whatever things you were doing
that day. It helps me in that way. I'm not looking
to lose that. This could be dangerous. You know
this could be dangerous. What will Grandmother
think if you get hurt? I don't care what Soleil
thinks. I just want to be... I don't care what
Soleil thinks. Like you. Look, here's what I
can do. You can come. He puts his finger up.
You can come, but you are staying on the Concord
Gem. You understand? You do not leave the Sapphire.
As people come on board, you escort them to a
place to sit. If anyone's hurt, if anyone needs
help, you can assist them carrying luggage or
babies or whatever it is that you need to help
with. But you do not leave the Sapphire. You
understand? I will rescue them from the front
door and search for a seat. Don't even go near
the front door. Stay away from the front door.
Stay in the back. Just stay out of the danger.
Yes? Yes. All right. He turns to kind of, like,
stand up. And you kind of see, as he kind of,
like, moves away from you, a number of figures
kind of approach your position, moving past you.
And as they move past, Arhalon looks at them
with just this sort of, I guess I wouldn't say
open dislike, but very close to it. You see there's
a man, super well -built, and, like, These are
almost like black tights and this black mask
with a skull in the front. You see beside him,
there's this, there's this, like almost looks
like a Roman centurion with like the, I don't
know what you call it, the broom helm, paintbrush
helm, the floor scrubber helm. Mohawk sort of
shape. Boom, that's the one. I know what you're
trying to talk about now. You didn't know it
from what I said? I was responding to you. Oh,
gotcha. Yes. So what you're saying is everybody
here except for Zebulon is hugely jacked. Well,
the last of them. This guy isn't so jacked, but
makes up for it in their cool serenity. You see
what looks like a wizard holding some kind of
strange flower that seems to be like... It's
this large yellow flower that seems to be twitching
and moving as she's whispering some incantation
over it, and it's glowing faintly. And you see
that she's dressed in these flowing green and
orange robes, reminiscent of the world of Shankabumi.
You recognize that this is a group of luminary
adventurers that must have been on hand, that
are moving. to assist matters on Tithos. The
first of them, the luchador from San Satyan.
You know this guy. He's pretty famous. This is
Demilich. And as he kind of walks by, I think
he sees Arhalon's glare, and he kind of looks.
He stops, and everyone kind of stops behind him
very abruptly. You can tell he's kind of the
leader of the group, and he kind of crosses his
arms and half smiles towards your brother. Very
cocky. You ready to sit back and watch, shield
-bearer? Don't worry. We'll handle all the saving
and fighting. He looks down at you and he's like,
Hey there. Demilich. You must be, uh, one of
Sholey's, huh? Yeah. Hi, Demilich. I'm Zebulon.
Hey, Zebulon. He puts a hand on your head and,
like, roughs up your horn a little bit. Wow.
Tell you what, Zebulon. Glances back at your
brother. Why don't you keep an eye on us? Maybe
you'll see something impressive. Yeah, sure.
I got your back. The woman kind of steps forward
like, Demilich, please. This is not the time
for this. We must get going now. You can play
with the shield bearers later. We have people
to save, yes? Yeah, right. Come on, Thelmira.
Let's go. And he turns back. He's like, some
of us got real work to do. And the group of them
go marching down the stairs, rushing into the
open doorway of the blue gem. Arhalon is, like,
staring after them. He's stopped. He's silent.
Maybe this is a bad idea after all. You should
probably just stay. He looks down and sees your,
like, eager expression. He just sighs again.
Fine. Come on. Let's go. And you stay in the
sapphire. In the sapphire. Okay. Come on. The
two of you go running down. You hear men just
like, Last call. Let's call for Shearbearers.
Come on. Come on. Ariat's at the helm. We're
going. You filter into this large chamber. You
see inside this gem, it's vaguely circular. There's
this gigantic room with almost like bleacher
-esque seating. As you step in, you're kind of
moving in sort of a little lane between two bleachers.
You go in the entrance door, but then you see
like, and there's a ton of seating here kind
of arcing up to work against the walls. And then
sort of in the middle of the room, there's this
large sort of open, I say pit, I don't mean it's
like... I don't say pit isn't like you're going
to fall in 10 feet. It's like five feet down
with stairs leading to it, but this is more where
generally folks would throw their baggage and
they'd unload it afterwards if it's a tight enough
load that people need to. They can't bring in
the bleachers and such, but there's a lot of
trade between the Citadels. A lot of crates and
such are going through here. They all hang out
in the middle here. Like I said, you step in
here and it is massive. It's like a full stadium
you're walking into. No one's really moving to
sit. The shield bearers themselves aren't a huge
force, but they are expecting to bring a huge
force back. They all kind of move towards the
sides of the bleachers. They stand in front of
them, stand at attention. You see this man kind
of steps through their ranks. You see he's bald,
but clean shaven. Shaved face, shaved head, shaved
eyebrows even. He's got, like, a few, like, maybe
two painted dots resting on his forehead, and
this look of just this stoic, stern expression
just slapped onto his face at all times. He's
thin -built, but very athletic -looking. And
you see he's got these two, I guess, sort of,
like, arm -sized swords, you know, a little longer
than a typical short sword, but not quite long
sword length. resting at each of his hips or
each side of his hips. And you recognize that
this is the head of the shield bearers, a man
named Ariat. Ariat kind of like steps down, walks
right into the middle of the diamond, turns back
to everyone just like, is everyone ready? I want
no chicanery here. It's a standard in and out
rescue mission. We pull in, we gather people,
we bring them aboard. I want squads five, six,
eight, and 10. On crowd control. You understand?
We need people in here orderly. Orderly! What's
your ass? Yes, sir. Yes, sir. All right. Let's
get to it. He spins around. He starts moving
towards... This is a different spot. Another
sort of doorway at the end of the stadium. On
a small, almost cockpit room beyond. You see,
like, he steps into there. And you can vaguely
just make out this sort of... glowing white sort
of almost dashboard of crystals. He takes a full
hand and places it down on one. You don't hear
him whisper any command words, but you understand
the gist of how this works. There are command
words spoken. The command word embark to have
this gemstone break away from its docking bay.
You don't feel it move. It's so smooth. As you
push away from the Citadel, about 500 feet away
from the docking bay, close to where the other
gemstones orbit, and then the command word phase.
Like I said, you don't hear it spoken, but you
feel its effects immediately as light just pulses
up and around. Everywhere around you becomes
almost blinding and you're gone. We return to
a scene of chaos. Jules, you stand with your
gang with the cherry delights all around you
staring up into a sky that has just gone mad.
The wind has picked up like crazy. You see any
sort of loose crates, barrels on the side of
the road just rattling. Jean screams, kind of
covers her head. Her hat almost flies off. She
holds it down to her. I'm going to take my burlap
sack blanket and just kind of hold it over her
and just kind of comfort her a little bit. Chester
just looks at you, and even he is scared. He's
like, Jules, man, what's going on? Something's
happening. I don't know what, but something big.
I ain't ever seen anything like this. Quick,
quick, let's go get some shelter. All right.
You guys. I just begin to move. Where do you
want to head? You know that the best shelter
is going to be in the high city, but do you dare
go there? No, I think at this point we're just
going to go into the nearest open building that
we can find. Okay. I'm moving down the street.
You actually see there's a tavern just up ahead.
Another one that you probably have visited before.
You sort of move in. Everyone just kind of running
behind you. I'm going to kind of open the door
and just kind of hold the door for everybody.
The crew, anybody else on the street that can
get in. Come on, let's go, let's go, let's go.
You see, like, fibrosis is still staring at the
sky. This is... This isn't... This is magical.
This can't be natural. Fibro, get your ass in
here! Sorry, yes. A barrel almost takes him in
the head as he goes and dodges it. Jesus Christ,
run! Stands up, runs back in, gets right past
you, slides into the building, and you can close
the door. Closes hard as the wind pushes against
you. You turn around to a room. A lot of silent
people are staring. And their eyes are fixed
on a small screen. On one of those same white
screens we opened up on. It's like white mesh
lining the wall here. You can see there's another
one of those same conical crystals kind of set
up on a high shelf. No fancy prop on this one.
It's just kind of like resting somewhere. We
have a couple of books stacked against it to
keep it from moving. And it's projecting an image
onto the screen. You can see that same man that
you didn't see in Character Jewels. But Storyteller
Orin's on the screen. He's staring out towards
all of you with a wide eye. He's like, this is
for my Tithos, brothers and sisters. You need
to go. You need to get. You gotta get going to
the, if you can, to the Traveler's Plaza. Get
off Tythos. There's a shield bearer warning.
You need to get out. Evacuate. Shield bearers
are coming. They're bringing in the jam. We're
taking ships out. You gotta go. You gotta go.
Oh, shit. Evacuate. Evacuate. And he's just going
and repeating this over and over, like, making
sure everyone hears this. And the people in the
pub are, like, looking at each other. There's
a lot of... It's a high city. They'll never let
us through. They'll keep us away. We can't stay
here. We can't stay here. No, no. If we stay
here, we're dead. We have to. We have to make
a run for it. We can break through their lines.
I don't care if there's guards stopping us. Will
there be guards there now? I mean, they'll be
trying to get out too. If we make it to the plaza
of the Traveler, the seal bears will let us by.
They will let us through. They don't give a damn
about Titho's politics. They'll save anyone who
gets in. You sure we can trust that? You speak
out and people just look around and a lot of
eyes widen and a lot of scared, stiff mouths
part into these sort of fragile smiles. And it's
like, oh, shit. Jules. Jules, you're here. What
do you think we should do, man? We definitely
don't want to trust anybody that's not like us.
Look, I know that. I know you've been hurt by
the highborn folk before, but the folk of the
Radiant Citadel, they're good people. They'd
help us if they can. But if we stay here, our
buildings are made of scrap wood. Anybody with
a shred of power don't give a shit about us.
And you know that. They have to. It's in their
codes. The Incarnates. The Incarnates themselves
will hold them to it. If we can get to the plaza,
it's the only way. It's the only way. Look what's
happening out there. And as he speaks, you just
see one of the boarded windows. The boards just
rip off of it and go clattering as something
smashes against it. It's like, oh, shit. People
kind of dash away. Fuck. Fibro looks out. Jules,
I don't want to alarm you, but I think whatever
this is is getting worse. God damn it, I don't
like this. Chester says, I don't like it either,
man, but Jules, what are we going to do? We can't
stay here, man. No, we can't. We gotta go. All
right, everybody. Stay in the group. Stay huddled.
We stay safe. A woman just, like, steps forward
in sort of a ragged dress and just hugs you.
Oh, thank you, Jules. Thank you. There'll be
time for this later. Let's go. Let's go. Okay.
All right. Let's go. You're leading them out?
Yeah. I'm gonna lead them out. I think I wanna...
We don't wanna go in the middle of the street.
I think we wanna kinda hug the sides of the buildings
as much as we can. You pull the door open, and
it's just a side. Miskin's kind of standing there
like, there's trouble. He ends up scouting me
out. Miskin was standing outside the whole time.
He just did it. Way too cool. You made me close
the door on Miskin. It was a lot happening. I
forgot that he wasn't with you, so I was kind
of like, there's trouble. You know that Miskin
can take care of himself. Yeah, and I kind of
look back and say, You know what to do. You're
right. I'll stab the storm. He pulls out a sword.
Come on! Just starts leading you. Yeah, and I'll
kind of let Miskin lead the way. Okay. He's just
going to lead. Running down the street. You do
it, man! Yeah, and you, I think right behind
you, you have your cherry delights all lined
up. I'm staying very, very close. Yeah, I'm being
careful not to run ahead. I'm staying with the
group. Yeah, and Chester's actually in the back.
He's kind of got Paul in one hand. He's kind
of holding his hand and holding Roundstuff's
other hand. Since they're smaller, the winds
are actually really buffeting them, pushing against
them, and he's moving alongside them. And as
you step out, you see there's other low -city
folk all just running out into the streets, all
just pushing towards the... The great spires,
the great towers in the distance, to the promise
of safety that lies there, but beyond the assurity
of corruption. Yeah, as we're running, I just
kind of have this look of dread in my eyes as
I'm looking up at the towers that we're running
to. Maybe looking at one tower in particular,
that great multicolored monster. Just the tip
of it completely gone in the midst of these black,
swirling clouds. The Tower of Authority. The
LaRoche family throne. And I know that somewhere,
somewhere in that tower, my parents are looking
out the window right now. Looking down at the
chaos. And they aren't going to do a goddamn
thing about it. We phase away from that, and
we enter. The Traveler's Plaza, this great sort
of open area. I mean, there's really nothing
here. Maybe a few little spots of vegetation,
potted plants kind of dotting the very edges,
but you just have this sort of great open space,
this cobblestone kind of display leading up to
a great wide... This platform, kind of sitting
in the middle of it, all made of stone, all sculpted.
And we kind of stare at this massive empty platform,
and there's people lining all around this spot.
We just see like a flash of blue as the sapphire
Concord gem appears in place, just barely floating
off the tip of the platform. And immediately,
go, go, go, go, go, shield bearers making commands.
You see men in armor charging out, kind of running
out. Just like, stay calm, stay calm. Line up.
Right here. Line up. Starting here. Move in one
at a time. Women and children first. Women and
children first. And they're just kind of pointing
out their way back into the door as the shield
bearers are flooding out. You see Arhalon. Moving
among them, you're kind of standing right behind
him, and he kind of reaches the door, turns around,
looks at you, gives you a pointed gaze, and just
mouths, Stay here. And you see him vanish into
the crowd as he goes out to feed the efforts
outside. Zebulon, as you're standing there, you
feel a presence come up right behind you. You
turn around to see... You're standing basically
probably around, like, the lower abdomen mark
of this tights, black tights -wearing man with
this sort of skeletal design running down the
front of his body and the skull and his helmet.
He just, like, looks at you and smiles, his eyes
gleaming in his mask. So, uh, you gonna listen
to him? You always do what Big Brother tells
you? Demi, let's stop. What? Or what? Just want
to help the kid out. I, uh, I think I know what
I'm doing. Right. Well, don't know how much of
a view you're going to get from in here. But,
uh, keep an eye open. Maybe you'll see a thing
or two. He kind of cracks his knuckles. Come
on. Let's get out there. And the group just nods.
The centurion just, like, raises a spear up.
Looks down at you and says, Good day. And just...
They all just run down the stairs. See ya! Out
into the crowd. You see the luminaries go to
work. You see as they step out. I mean, the shield
bearers step out and people were calmed. But
as the luminaries step out of this gem, you can
see something else wash over this crowd. You
can see, like, first the whispering. Oh my goodness,
it's Gaius. This guy is Argonius. This guy is
Argonius. The crystal spear? No way. He's here?
Oh, we're fine. Oh, man, they sent the best.
Oh, this is Felicius. I can't believe. And they're
just, like, going on. They're so, so excited.
They're all just, like, moving into this crowd.
And they don't even, like, really run. They kind
of stop and wave. Yeah, they, like, shake a couple
hands. You're like, you're all going to be fine.
Don't you worry about a thing, huh? We'll take
care of things from here. I know we can't exactly
wrestle a storm, but we can keep you safe from
any flying debris for a minute. And if anything
ugly is out there, you just let us take care
of it. Ah, so cool. You can just hear them sort
of talking. Are you staying in the Sapphire for
now? Yeah. Okay. So you're just kind of watching
as people start funneling in, and I think the
first groups are starting to walk in with you.
And some shield bearers are taking them aside
and bringing them anywhere. I guess you're kind
of, like, greeting them. No one really seems
to need help quite yet. Yeah, as people are walking
by, like, Zebulon keeps, like, reaching out his
hands to, like, I don't know, grab something
or try to, like, maybe he, like, grabs somebody's
arm as they're walking by and they just kind
of, like, shove him off. He's just, like, he's
trying to get in there and trying to help even
though he has no idea what to do. He's so eager.
One's got a baby in her hands and just walks
by you and you, like, reach, just like, ah! Stay
away from your scoundrel! Right this way, right
this way. I know where I'm going. It's only one
way. Right over here, please. Please stay orderly.
Glad to know the shield bears are sending their
best, huh? Laughing as they move past you. Please
just keep moving, please. Someone shoves you,
and you kind of almost fall down. Sorry I didn't
see you down there. Moving past. And yeah, just
a lot of that. These people are rude for being
in the middle of a global crisis. They're high
city folk, man. Yeah, I guess so. Fucking high
city folk. You're watching all this go by, and
where this door is, you're staring out deeper
into the high city towards the great sort of
spires. You don't see any low city. I'll just
put that out there. Beyond where you're looking,
you'd be looking at the... The lake, if you could
make anything out, that's the direction you'd
be facing. So, Jeremy, the direction you're coming
from is directly south of the Concord Jam and
the plaza. Okay. Now, it's close to the border
of the low city, but not quite. There's a few
blocks in that you'll have to go through, the
towers of the high city, to move towards this
location. Okay. And you'll be coming in from
the exact opposite side, actually, from where
the door is currently facing out. Okay. Now,
Zebulon, you kind of are dealing with these sort
of rude asshole high school folks, unreasonable
people, and you look back out to see the luminaries
shaking hands, you know, pointing the way. Not
only even doing it, I think, like, the, um...
You see, like, some debris was flying over, and
the wizard of the group, uh, just kind of...
Waves their flower around. Sort of does this
weird spin. Some petals, like, almost phantom
petals seem to, like, blow up. And, like, a wind
wall appears and, like, blocks the debris from
moving. Oh, man. Yeah. One, like, chair breaks
from, like, on the side of, like, a bench or
something. It gets ripped out of the ground.
It comes flying towards it. And then you just
kind of see, like, Demi Lich grabs it and just
suplexes it really cool. It was so unnecessary,
but it was fucking awesome. Yeah! That was a
little extra, but... It was really cool. Not
the most efficient way to block a chair, but...
You're watching all this. You're watching the
people slowly kind of moving in a line in here.
Everything seems to be going very smooth. And
that's when the lightning begins to strike. Oh,
shit. You see it where you are, Zebulon. You're
staring out the door, and then all of a sudden,
two bolts of lightning crash down onto the cobblestones
of this plaza. The stone beneath them explodes
out. You see people just immediately go, in one
case, one guy just vaporized, explodes. Another
person manages to dodge us out of the way. This
older woman manages to dive out of the way, probably
breaking a hip in the process as this area right
beside her explodes. Debris just rains down over
her, all over the crowd. People are screaming
as they take cuts from the stone that flies off
and slices them. A few more of these. As these
lightning bolts rain down, you see figures. standing
where the bolts hit, figures made of pure electricity.
You see these, like, humanoid shapes about four
feet tall, very thin, very gaunt, somewhat translucent,
just buzzing with this energy. What's going on
here? Hey, who are those guys? And as you're
kind of looking out, you see a lot of people,
like, staring back. Maybe there's a moment of,
like, people feeling unsure, people not knowing
what's coming. A sign from the gods? Is this
really happening? And then you see one of these
creatures reaches out, grabbing a young man by
the throat, and you see him drop to the ground,
dead. And the screaming begins then. And we'll
call it there.