Thank you. Last time on Fantasy Pants, we all
bore witness to a terrible tragedy. Our luminaries
were on their way out of the world of Tythos,
in the city of Cerule, being devastated by a
storm. But they made it. On to the Concord Jewel,
on to the Sapphire. But as they phased from that
world back to the Citadel, well, things took
a turn. The Keening Gloom, the massive storm
swirling beneath the Radiant Citadel, began to
pull at the Concord Jewel. All power was lost,
and they were helpless, slowly drifting down
into the Maw of the Gloom. The brave Sholay,
Speaker of the Ancestors for Ankarin Sengar,
one of the... Great leaders of the Radiant Citadel
came to the rescue, but was just as helpless
to stop the fall as our brave heroes. It was
only when the luminary, Atash, and the big hitters,
the top luminaries of the Citadel, came that
things changed. Our heroes were saved, as were
all of the refugees from Tithos. But the conquered
jewel sunk. and was lost. What was that? My heel.
Oh, gotcha. It happened at like the exact same
time that you pressed the record button. I know.
So I was like, did you knock something? I kind
of scared the shit out of me too. Good, good,
we got it. I don't know if the hit actually recorded.
I wonder if everybody's just listening to us
like, what the hell are you talking about? Well,
Jeremy kicked the bassboard and it was very loud
and kind of scary. Yeah. Jeremy, the birthday
boy. Jeremy, the birthday boy. Happy birthday,
Jeremy. Thank you. I'm almost 40 now. Nice. That's
terrifying. Yeah, I don't know. A little bit.
I mean, I've still got three years, but... Yeah,
you're spring chicken. Live it up in my 30s and
then I'll retire. Yeah, there you go. Exactly.
Retire? Wait, what? At 40? Yeah. What do you
do for work? Not enough to retire, but I don't
care. I'm done. Dang. Wow. You got to have the
mindset. Yep, that's true. You got to manifest
that stuff. You got to have hope. The universe
knows what I need. It will provide. Well, hopefully
in three years you can retire at age 40, Jeremy,
but for the rest of us. All right. Remember this,
listeners. Support us on, I don't know, whatever
we have to support us. And we can get Jeremy
retired by 40. There we go. It's our Patreon
goal. We're going to do one of those. Jeremy's
retirement Patreon goal. What's going to be the
perk for that one? Huh. Jeremy will fly over
to you and give you a hug. Nah, that's too involved.
You'll have the time. You'll be retired. Jeremy
will take you to his next Tenacious D show. You
saw Tenacious D yesterday or the day before.
On a Tuesday night of all nights. Pretty cool.
Who does a show on a Tuesday night at 8 p .m.?
Tenacious D, apparently. Yeah. Who does a show
in New Hampshire? Lots of people. Why? It was
not at the pavilion. I mean, I just didn't think
there'd be a crowd. People have fans. It was
sold out. I think it was sold out. That's wild,
man. It was like 9 ,000 people. Oh, yeah. That's
come from mass. That's a big deal. That is higher
than our state's population, I'm pretty sure.
Yeah, it's pretty close. Yeah, close to 9 ,000.
Well, how was the show, Jeremy? It was fun. Yeah?
It was good stuff. Any highlights? All of it.
I'm a big Tenacious D fan, so all of it was fucking
fantastic. What's the other guy's name? It's
Jack Black and Kyle Gass. Okay. Yeah. I didn't
remember that. And they're still going really
strong. Nice. I loved that movie. It was good
times. Hell yeah. Hell yeah. We're talking Tuesday
night plans. Steven, what was your Tuesday night
like? I think I was in bed before 9. Or maybe
right around 9. This is hot stuff. Yeah. Come
on. I think that's right. That's right when Tenacious
D was going on after their opener. I think I
made some brown rice. Oh, yeah. I picked the
raspberries in the garden. Delicious. Yeah, it
was a real slamming night. Okay. What about you,
David? I was remodeling a shower. Oh, that's
right. It was hell, actually. It was awful. You
guys are talking about your wonderful Tuesdays,
and I'm a little jealous. A little infuriated,
one might say, because, my gosh. I say remodel,
but I was mostly just destroying the plumbing
and hoping for the best. I told you, I'll bring
over a sledgehammer and we'll have some fun.
I did well enough on my own, actually. Me and
my wrench. We did wonders to that plumbing, but
that didn't mean we did calamities to that plumbing.
But I digress. We had a pretty exciting last
session. Yes, we did. It was a big one. People
are abuzz. They have questions. Steven, they
want to know how you are so bad at Dungeons &
Dragons. Ow. The Reddit, it's gone wild over
it. There is no Reddit. As of recording, nothing
has been released yet. You don't need to say
that. Damn it. All right. Let's get right to
it. Nobody knows how bad I am at D &D yet. It's
true. They will. But they will. And that's what's
important to me. Jeremy, you want to hit me with
that sirenscape? Let's get into it. All right.
Okay. We're going to open onto two different
scenes. We're going to see them in sort of a
vague shadow. We see Jules. We see Jules surrounded
by many haggard faces, stained with tears. A
number of these low city folk with their bent
backs. matted hair, still wearing those same
rags, all kind of huddled together in this dark
place where this light is flashing right under
their faces, all of them staring into the screen
where an image of Storyteller Orn is projected.
And we see a similar scene in a small apartment.
And we'll get into exactly what this looks like
in a moment, but we see Zebulon sitting alone
on a little couch, just staring at the same screen,
staring at the same image, the light just flickering
across his face. And we cut to the image of Storyteller
Oren, looking haggard, tired, endlessly sad,
and he just says, It's been three days. Three
days since the Tithos incident, and I think I
speak for all of us when I say I am still in
shock. Tithos was once thought to be the safest
among our worlds. It was certainly the most economically
prosperous, most bountiful in raw minerals, the
most populous. 200 ,000 lives. That's what the
estimates say. A population of Tithos that remained
when the Concord Jam was destroyed. 13 luminaries
were on Tithos during the attack. Including the
three known as Thelmira's Blessing. Gaius Argonius.
Orca Tepuri. Mateo Cortez, also known as Demilich.
They all fought bravely on that day and they
all were lost. 22 shield bearers stayed behind
to control the crowds. Bravely waiting for the
next passage off. A passage that was never to
come. But we need to look at the glimmer of light
in all this darkness. 5 ,383 people saved by
our shield -bearers pulled off that hill. We
need to look at the light. But... Brothers and
sisters of our many worlds, good citizens of
the Gemstone Concord, I am going to be honest
with you. The network won't like me saying this,
but damn it. The Tithos tragedy was the result
of nothing natural. It was an act of deliberate
terrorism. Rosen has betrayed us all. And we
don't know how he did it. How he tapped into
the Keenan gloom itself. We don't know anything.
Except that we are hurt. And we are scared. But
as always, I choose to believe in the power of
our luminaries. I choose to look at them and
be inspired by their courage and their light.
Both the seasoned veterans and the young blood.
I will put my faith in the best of our worlds.
But we must face the storm again. This is Storyteller
Oren signing off. And I hope y 'all can get some
sleep tonight. Because I know I won't. The image
fades away and... Same sort of musical static.
And... We are left with two distinct scenes.
It has been three days since the Tythos incident.
Three long days for our two heroes here. And
I want to talk about what happened in those three
days. I want to start with you, Zebulon. Now,
I mentioned you are sitting in this small apartment.
This is you and Arhalon's apartment. That's right.
Now... I'd like you to describe what half of
this apartment looks like. And I say half because
roughly half the walls in this apartment right
now are covered in red wire sticking between
different maps and people and clippings from
newspaper articles. And it is just this massive
conspiracy board that belongs to your brother.
He just stares at it. And actually, right now,
this board is covered in... in facts about tithos
about the incident about uh the history of of
the storm high about the the three luminaries
that came to save the day everything about the
incident is all over your wall a constant reminder
of it what does your side of the of the apartment
look like so zebulon naturally has the smaller
bedroom in the apartment being both the smaller
figure and the younger brother it's a closet
no no it's not like a harry potter situation
it's just a smaller bedroom you know he doesn't
have the master he doesn't have the attached
bathroom sort of thing so on his shelves around
the room and maybe on spare coffee tables and
such zebulon has some little trinkets like rocks
or maybe like some figurines or he'll buy stuff
from merchants just little little gotsy stuff
like a like a seashell because he's never been
to the ocean or i don't know an acorn because
he's never been to the forest that's that's actually
that's awesome and i love that and do they do
they have luminary action figures oh of course
they have luminary action figures he would definitely
have luminary action figures and probably a couple
of like posters on the wall like some yeah the
big big fold -out tapestries on the wall um you
know mass -produced luminary posters yeah got
a big old atash oh yeah he's got so grand he's
got atash i love it yeah for sure oh that's awesome
that's awesome but other than that i mean it's
tidy i suppose you know likes to keep his bed
made keeps the dirty laundry off the floor he
does better than me um yeah so we see this apartment
and we see this this lone um very small half
dragon slash dragonborn kind of the kind of the
combo deal uh just sitting on this couch just
kind of watching the static and in the background
we see arhalon He's just staring silently at
some clippings on his wall, reaches a finger
out and taps something, shakes his head, puts
it back down, reaches a finger out with his one
arm. I don't imagine that they've spoken a lot
in these last three days. They've spoken very
little. Arhalon has said almost nothing to you.
It's been very quiet. Yeah. And I think... As
we see this scene, as Ebulon's just staring out
at this static, we sort of zoom in towards his
eyes. And I want to take us back for just a moment
to that day. We still see a crowd of refugees
just all over, like this massive, moving, writhing,
just one being, one crowd crammed into the sort
of tail of the Citadel. We see the luminaries
are being swarmed, the big hitters, the top six,
the shining champions of the Citadel, of the
worlds. Especially Atash is floating a bit off
the ground, sort of hands palm open at his side.
just towards the skies, and people are just,
like, rushing over to touch him and feel his
robes, and he just smiles down at them. And way
off to the side of all of this, I think we see
Zebulon staying by Sholay. Arhalon was quickly
taken by the shield -bearers, rushed off for
any sort of further medical aid and attention.
You haven't seen him since you escaped from the
sapphire. But Sholay sought you out. And you
just see her staring towards this scene, staring
towards Atash, eyes narrowed. And she just, just
under her breath, but you hear it just says,
Always. It's always like this. Every time. Do
you say anything? Do I know what she's talking
about when she says every time? I don't think
you do. Go ahead and roll me a, uh... Go and
roll me a history check on Atash. Oh, she's talking
about Atash. Gotcha. 17. That's pretty good.
Okay. You know this much. The Luminary Movement
began a little over 50 years ago. This is when
the, just very soon after the sort of broadcasting
abilities of the Sid -El were discovered, and
the Crystal Network was sort of early on being
founded, people were basically able to watch.
this worldwide news network, world's wide news
network, sorry, that connected every world in
a way that's never, ever been done before, that
was never theorized to be possible before. And
very soon after this discovery, Ankur and Singhar
was placed in a massive amount of danger. You
see, this demon, this horned demon led this horde.
of demons out of a rift in the abyss, all just
pouring into the world. And the people were desperate.
They could not fight back. And Xole, she wanted
so badly to help, but they just didn't have the
resources at the time. The Citadel needs to manage
all of these worlds. And she was trying to rally
an army between all the worlds she could, but
trying to get them to work with a different world,
one that's not, you know, It's not their own.
That's just totally alien to them. It was impossible.
And the shield -bearer forces under her control
were nothing compared to this horde. And she
just had to sit by and watch, helplessly, as
her world was torn apart. Until a miracle happened.
Until the heavens opened up. Until the first
recording of a larger -than -life hero saving
the day happened. Because one of those diamond
recorders, a diamond blessed by the Radiant Citadel,
by the Auroral Diamond, captured the moment when
Atash dropped from the heavens with his angel
companions and led the forces of Ankur and Singhar
back against the Horned Demon, driving the darkness
away. Since then, Atash has ruled Ankur and Singhar.
He's been given free reign to essentially rule
how he wants. Despite what the Citadel and what
Sholay says. And there are many who believe his
rule to be a little draconian. But nobody, nobody
can say that Atash is not the greatest luminary.
The most powerful. The Hand of the Sunweaver.
Sounds like a whole lot more than just a luminary.
He's big. And many heroes wanted to emulate this.
Wanted to be that big, grand, day -saving badass.
And... More of these scenes are recorded on various
worlds and more heroes came to light. One of
the first being Ozen Yoshikatsu of Umizu. In
an early episode, I think I said Yonido. My notes
are a disaster. It's Umizu. But yeah, he was
one of the first to sort of follow in on Tasha's
footsteps to be recorded saving the day in a
big way and to become this world's wide phenomenon.
But you know that Shoei has always despised the
luminary movement. You don't know entirely her
reasoning. She's never been clear with you. But
you talked about these figurines you have. And
Shirley does not visit you often, but I think
when she does, you hide those figurines. I think
when she's around, you don't talk about the luminaries.
I think it's a very uncomfortable sort of knowing.
She's aware that you have this admiration for
them, for Atash. She doesn't talk about it. Not
normally. It's a whole lot for a natural 17.
I was looking for a DC -15 just to get some background
on the luminaries, Atash, all that. We needed
it. The people needed that good roll. I liked
it. Yeah, we need that leeway in other rolling
situations. But you're kind of like reflecting
on all of this as you see Sholay just glaring
towards Atash. And then you see your eyes just
flicker right down to you. And I think you feel
cold as that gaze hits you. Yeah, especially
if... You said that she sought me out. I think
that in itself makes Zebulon fairly nervous.
Yeah, I mean, imagine you're probably over here
watching all this, kind of admiring the luminaries,
and suddenly you just kind of feel a presence
next to you. And Sholay's just stood there silently
for a while, and you know she has something to
say, and you know she's just waiting. She's a
politician. She knows how to make people uncomfortable.
Yeah, she's making me uncomfortable. Well, she's
making Zebulon uncomfortable. She's making...
me uncomfortable. Jules uncomfortable and he
doesn't know what the hell's going on. He's not
even here. He's wherever the hell he is and he's
like, oh, shit's going down. She glances over
to you and stares at you for a moment and then
just finally says, so, why were you here? Why
were you on Tythos? I was just trying to help.
Why? You thought that you Could do good for these
people. You thought that you could make the situation
better by being there? Well, it's the right thing
to do. No, it isn't. The right thing to do is
to let the Shieldbearers do their jobs. Are you
a trained Shieldbearer, Zebulon? Well, not yet,
but I could learn to become one. I don't think
you could. I don't think you could learn to follow
orders like your brother does. People were dying.
They were. I don't think that's why you went.
You didn't know the situation. You just knew
there was danger. And you knew the luminaries
were rallying. Didn't you? I just wanted to help
Arlon. Is that right? I... I admire him. You
should. Not because he's strong or big or brave,
but because he's sensible, Zebulon. Do you understand
that? Do you understand how to be sensible? Because
I'll tell you I'm very disappointed, not just
in you, but in your brother. Because in bringing
you... To Tithos, he did something very, very
not sensible. I asked him. It's not his fault.
I don't agree, but we will deal with that matter
later. I'm speaking with you now. And I want
you to understand one thing. She gestures her
finger out towards Atash. That is not for you.
It's not for you. Do you understand? Because
you know nothing of this world. And that's my
fault, perhaps. I've kept you cooped up. I've
kept you safe. Far be it for me to try to keep
my family safe. But now I have raised these fools
who go around doing what they please, following
who they please, and never thinking for a moment.
She presses a hand to her forehead and just kind
of rubs. You're not going to be like them. No
brass will ever be a luminary. You understand
this. Right? No brass. Right. Good. I want you
to go home now. I want you to stay home. I will
have food sent. I'll have your needs covered.
For the time being, you will not leave until
I send a message allowing you to. I think it's
time I take a more direct approach to your upbringing,
Zebulon. What should I do? Watch the network.
Watch your brother. Maybe learn something. I
don't care what you do. Maybe meditate quietly
and think about how much of a fool you've been
today. How? I'll try not to burden you anymore,
shall I, Grandmother? She just gives you a short,
terse nod, turns around. You see her just, like,
walk over to the edge of the citadel and transforms
from her petite female figure into a massive,
gargantuan brass dragon and just... with one
flap of her wings just takes off. Hewn, I won't
be your problem any longer. And with that, we
just phase back through those eyes, looking at
the static to Zebulon in his apartment three
days later. And I want to ask you now, is there
anything else that's happened in these three
days that you've been asked to just stay at home?
Zebulon has been... Zebulon's been quietly preparing
and packing to leave when he thinks the time
is right. Wow. He wants to get out of his family's
way. Wow. He not only feels like he's been an
unfair burden to his brother, but he also thinks
that it's time for him to earn his own freedom
and independence. Damn. And it's so sad because
you live with your brother in this small place
and he hasn't said a word. He hasn't noticed
anything. He's just been staring at that wall
when he's awake. Every once in a while, he just
mumbles, Shadrakhan, Shadrakhan, who are you?
What are you? Just taps at various pieces on
his wall. And wow. um i'll tell you one more
thing that's happened in this span of time zebulon
is now level two hey yeah uh anything particularly
exciting about that to share like uh for instance
your class i don't think we've gotten into this
yet um yeah i've revealed zebulon's class have
you okay yeah all right all right uh nothing
really exciting happened for uh level two rogue
here but um We do need to roll hit points. Oh,
that's right. Yeah. You want to do it now? Yeah,
I want to do it now. Okay. All right. So what
we're going to do for the first few levels here.
Yeah. Maybe for a while. I don't know. We're
going to see how balance feels. But right now,
I'm going to let you roll with advantage. You're
going to roll one, and I'm going to roll one,
and you take the higher. Okay. And how do you
feel about re -rolling ones since we're only
two characters? Tell you what. You're such a
garbage character. Wow. And player. Ouch. Then
I'm going to allow it. Okay. I mean, it kind
of feels like a win, but... All right. I'm just
going to roll my d8 now. I got a five. Five is
pretty good. Can I get better than a five? Six.
That's a six. Pretty good. That's better than
a five. Okay. All right. I'm going to take it.
Take that six hit points. All right. Well, that's
Zebulon. I want to slide it over to old Jules
LaRoche now. Jules, your situation is a lot more
complicated to get into than Zebulon's. Quite.
You are currently in this large sort of domed
building. There's many sort of sub rooms and
buildings all around it. It's called the Palace
of Exile. It exists on the Citadel. Okay. It
is generally where refugees are sent. There's
a whole history to this place. We don't need
to get into it. Right now, though, I mean, this
used to be a very, very esteemed place. They
used to take good care of people that were sent
this way. But, I mean, 5 ,383 refugees, most
of which had to be funneled right here. The world's
in a tough place right now. I mean, we just talked
about this. Typhos was the most populous, most
economically stable world, the safest world.
constant lurking dangers, mysterious dangers
in like every other world in the setting. People
can't just take refugees. Even a hundred is a
lot to ask. I don't know how safe it was. That
depends on your definition of safe. It does.
But as far as the people here know, it was, well,
it was paradise. Yeah, that's a thin veil though.
When you are the most economically prosperous
world, you're allowed certain allowances. The
law is not looking too closely to the civil rights
of the folk on Tythos. Lots of things can hide
in the darkness. Oh, yeah. I think you're thinking
about that a lot, Jules. You're thinking a lot
about how maybe the Citadel treats people equally,
you know, out in the open. Maybe the shield bearers
took everyone they could. That doesn't change
the fact that only 362 Of these refugees were
from the low city. Drop in the bucket. Doesn't
change the fact that for your entire life, you
and your people, the people you chose to belong
with, were treated like dirt. The governing body
of the Radiant Citadel, overlooking and caretaking
for all worlds, just ignored it. Let the royals
of Tythos do what they wanted. You are... It's
resting amongst a large group of your people.
I mentioned the 200 or 362. They're all basically
together here. Normally you'd come to this place.
People would have their own rooms. They'd be
well taken care of, well fed, all of that. Right
now, it's just like chaos. There's this large
sort of main dorm room, domed room that is just.
packed full of people there's tents everywhere
and you've noticed that this same sort of uh
segregation you faced all your life has been
kind of happening naturally here too all the
low city folk with their their bent backs and
their weeping sad eyes and their just their broken
lives are are here they're here with you all
packed together in one corner it's a dome room
in one Pie slice. There we go. Got it. Got it,
Stephen? Yeah, okay. So Stephen is currently
destroying Jeremy's room. Nothing to see here.
There's everything to see here. So, yeah, let's
talk about your situation here because you've
been eating. You've been getting all the food
and water you've needed. Mulligan has been complaining
a lot. He'd like a little more. Yeah, I was going
to say, how many rolls did he get? Oh, I mean.
They got to give a minimum four. I mean, there's
some rolls. He's gotten like maybe two today.
That's horse shit. Yeah, well. This is a travesty.
This will not stand. There's a lot of travesties
happening. That will not stand, man. And yeah,
I want to talk about your few days. But first,
I want to talk about you. You're sitting here.
You're watching this broadcast. You're watching
the static. And the light is still just kind
of reflecting onto your face and onto the faces
of the cherry delights all around you. Jeans
is pretty much fully recovered. But there's just
this heavy sadness to them. Your world is gone.
And maybe it wasn't the best world for you, but
it's the only one you had. And now you're almost
prisoners. You can't just go off to another world.
The Citadel doesn't allow you to just leave.
They're going to place you somewhere. And until
that time, the shield bearers have been watching.
They've been watching your folk extra close.
I've been watching them too. I watch, I learn.
I think right now we just see Jules sitting there
under like some great tarp with a bunch of people
kind of crammed in behind him. We zoom in on
Jules' eyes and we move back to that moment.
Three days ago, you just saw the conquered jewel,
the sapphire, disappear into the maw of the storm.
And immediately, the refugees of Tythos have
all been kind of wrangled up in one way, lined
up, basically just the shield bearers getting
to work to try to control the situation, try
to move you to a place you can belong, I guess.
I want you to roll a perception check for me,
because you're going to see a few things, but
how many you see is going to depend on this check.
Because I like to think that Jules, while he's
being lined up, is keeping his eyes open, is
watching. That's a 10. Okay, all right. With
a 10, you see a couple things. First of all,
you see that somewhere in the chaos escaping
this... The sapphire, when you're being pulled
off by the luminaries, either taking the bridge
out or going through the portals made by Fu Liling,
Chester managed to scrounge up a little something
for you. Oh. Something you recognized in your
past because a lot of your parents' riches were
brought aboard the sapphire and did not make
it off. But one did. Chester presents you with
a loot. What's this loot look like? It's a fine
piece of work. It's pretty damn fine. It's not
something that I would necessarily have chosen,
you know, now. It was kind of, you know, just
kind of forced upon me when I was a kid, you
know. A little too fine ornate for the current
Jules LaRoche? A little bit, a little bit. Jules
LaRoche wanted to play Batuba. Yeah, no, my parents
gave it to me when I was six. So I didn't really
have a choice in the matter, but like I said,
it's beautiful. No, it's made from some really
fine Atagwin Dreamwood. Ooh, Atagwin Dreamwood,
huh? Yeah, pretty hard to get, pretty hard to
get. Oh, yeah, that's some nice stuff. You know,
I like the design, you know. It's down in the
main part of it. It's got these really nice dark,
like, midnight blue, purple, black swirlies,
and it's got a lot of glitter, too, which I kind
of like. It's pretty fun. It's pretty fun. Like
in the finish, the glitter? Yep. Nice. Like when
you're looking at it, it kind of looks like,
I don't know if you've ever read that science
fiction novel about that guy, Vincent van Gogh.
It kind of looks like that. There's a thing in
there that he does called Starry Night. It kind
of looks like that. So question about the glitter.
Is the glitter in the finish or is it in the
dream wood? Oh, it's the dream wood, baby. Yeah.
I like the sound of that. I like the idea of,
like, maybe the way that dreamwood grows, it,
like, as it reaches a certain age, it compacts
its own resin into these little, like, glitter
-like flakes throughout the wood. That's about
right. That's about right. And we'll learn later
on the world of Atagua has some connections to
the Feywild, and this wood definitely sort of...
materializes that connection. It sort of blooms,
or these trees grow, where the connection with
the Feywild is felt the strongest in the deepest
heart of the woods, forests of Ottawa. So I guess
now that we're talking about my loot, I guess
I can let you all know that Jules here, I'm a
bard. Got that... Got that little creative spark
in me, a little fun, a little mischievous. Huzzah!
A little bit of music. The hills are alive with
the sound of the jewels. Oh, gosh. Oh, no. So,
yes, I do have to ask, does Jules get level two
as well? Jules absolutely hits level two. Fuck
yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah, we're going to go over,
like, those... few days you'll have and sort
of what works into that. But yeah, so you get
that loot. I think Chester hands it off to you
and just says, Jules, this is the one, right?
You mentioned this a few times and I saw it on
the wagon. This is yours, right? Oh shit, that
made it? Yeah, it looks like your folks were
taking it off. Why did they even save this thing
anyway? I mean, I bet it sells for a pretty penny.
Oh yeah, you're right. Always thinking about
the money. They got no other reason to keep it.
It doesn't mean shit to them. Still, we didn't
sell it yet, right? Had all these years. Well,
they're not going to get a chance to because
I'm taking it back. Hell yeah. Hell yeah. Sneak
it right by the guard. The big guy, as he kind
of like says that he like his eyes flicker down,
he sort of scans around and you see like, you
know, different forces of the shield bears are
moving in to kind of move your group. I think
you've all been kind of like placed in different.
You know, large clusters of shield -bearers kind
of gathering folk and, you know, groups to lead
further into the city, but rather than marching
a massive line of thousands of people at once,
they're taking them bit by bit, letting them
settle in the Palace of Exile, where you've been
informed you'll be residing for the foreseeable
future, and that a representative from the Speakers
for the Ancestors will be overseeing where you
all go. Nobody's going to dictate that but me.
Oh. Afraid that's not necessarily true, Jules,
because that perception check will show you one
more thing. I think you do see your folks, see
your parents, kind of like, at some point, like,
during all the chaos, I think you finally, from
far off, you'd see them. They're led by a group
of shield bearers, kind of on their own. There's
another group kind of trailing behind them, a
bunch of, looks like folk from Senza, all, like,
sort of dressed in... Very different sort of
flowing robes than the general style of dress
from your world, all with very dark skin, very
close -cropped hair. You remember that there
was architects from Senza mentioned to you earlier
on. This is where Chester had made a little bit
of a score early this morning. And what feels
like a hundred years ago, he'd found these people
and done some pickpocketing, done some fine work,
made a little cash. Always doing fine work, that
Chester. But you see them trailing after your
parents and your parents go and meet with a figure
that rushes over and sort of grabs your father
in a hug. I think your father is, he looks enraged
and his cheeks redder than usual. He's sweating
more than usual, which is incredible. That's
not possible. His clothes are soaked with it.
He might be crying, blubbering a little bit.
I mean, this has been a big day for him. Nah.
You don't think so? No. I'll tell you one thing,
though. Your mother. They lost all their, like,
worldly possessions. Yeah, but they'd never show
it to anybody else but themselves. Okay. All
right. They wouldn't show it. Wow. Unflappable.
Because I'm guessing there's not, like, a central
banking system. No, but they cry alone. They
cry alone. All alone. If your mother even cries.
I think when you see her, she's just got that
same hateful gaze. She's looking around. That
gaze never drops. Oh, yeah. And right now that
gaze is met by essentially the exact same gaze
coming back from this figure that has met them.
Now, I don't think you've seen Cirilla LaRoche
for years and years and years because she has
been a speaker for the ancestors, the speaker
for Tythos on the Citadel for, well, a lot of
your life. That bitch. What does she look like?
I don't know. Don't put me on the spot. I will
say, I think she looks similar to your mother
with the same cold eyes, maybe similar hair,
but close cropped. She looks like she's trying
to be my mother. Okay. Down to the way she does
her hair, even her nails. Wow. Okay. To her,
my mother is a god. Yeah, so just this much younger
version of your mother. charges out, maybe hugs
your father, hugs your mother, and I think you're
even thinking this is just a show. You know?
They wouldn't be displaying this familial love
out in the open normally, but it looks good.
It looks damn good. There's paparazzi guild members
are, you know, got their diamond recorders watching
them. It's all for the press. Oh yeah. All for
the press. Gotta get on the front page. They
are eating it up! Um... Yeah, so you're witnessing
that, and I think this cold dread suddenly hits
you because you realize that the speaker for
the ancestors that's going to be deciding where
your people go from here is Cirilla, your cousin.
I don't think I've ever been more truthful in
saying this than I am now, but now it's personal.
Yeah, and the thing is, surrounded by shield
bearers, In a foreign place? A world between
worlds? Worlds that you have no access to? Without
her say so? In this situation, Jules, you can't
hide anymore. And you can't fight. And I think
as you're thinking this, you see a man walks
past your parents and speaks to the group of
them, to Cirilla and to them both. And as he
turns, Towards you, you see the blue and white
tabard of your family. And you see Jensen Kellig.
And he points right at you. Oh, horse shit. I
told you you should have killed that motherfucker.
People have been seeing. I mean, the press has
been on you. And Jensen just kind of like points
towards you. And you just kind of see Cirilla.
Is he pointing toward me or actually? I mean,
I guess right in your direction. You don't know
exactly, but eyes do look over towards that way.
And you see at the exact same moment, like twins,
like looking at someone in a mirror, you see
Cirilla and your mother's eyes just both narrow.
And they both just kind of turn and go along
with their shield -bearer guard and go deeper
into the city. And I'm just sitting there. I'm
not going to do anything. And we are going to
fade away from that moment back into your eyes,
through them, and to the eyes of a Jules Roche
three days in the future, still waiting for any
sort of news. A number of the people, naturally
the highest first, have found places to go, but
what will be left for you and yours when the
time comes? A farm out in the rattle? On God's
breath? Some mine on Senza? We'll find our way.
We're going to prosper once again, one way or
another. As this broadcast cuts off, Jules, you
feel eyes sort of lingering on your neck, on
the back of your head. And if you turn, you see
that it's not just the Cherry Delights, but all
of these people. They're all looking to you.
They're all waiting for you to say something.
Is there anything you want to say? I don't know
what the hell just happened here. And guys, I
gotta be honest, I don't know what the future
holds. Right now we don't have much control.
Even me. But I do know that I look around to
all of you people here and I see nothing but
strength and resilience. The desire to live,
prosper and be happy. Whatever the cost. That's
what goodness is. And that's all I see here is
goodness. And goodness, it's going to prevail.
You trust me. We'll get through this. We're all
going to come out better on the other side. You
see, like, these tearful eyes. You see people
smiling. You see people nodding, fists pumping
into the air. Someone's just like, patrols, we
lost Tithos, we lost everything. And someone's
like... Nah, you don't get it. We're Tithos.
That's what he's saying. We're Tithos. And we
lived on. Jules is Tithos. And he's going to
lead us. You all still got a spirit, don't you?
It's all you need. Yeah. And it's just like,
yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. The Cherry Delights all
just come in with like, yeah. And then Miskin
in the corner just kind of nods. Batman grunt.
I have emotion, but I'm not going to show it.
I think Jeans comes over to your side and puts
one arm around you. Chester comes around, puts
his other arm on your other side. And the three
of you are just standing there. I'm going to
kind of put my hands on their heads, but I'm
not doing it in like a condescending way. Just
kind of like, yeah. And on this sort of upscale
note, we're going to fade away on day three here.
But what I do want to talk to you about now is...
It's what you've been doing for these last few
days because you are level two now. And I think
another big change came with this level two.
And that is you have gained access to more magic,
not just the innate magic of your family, but
the magic that was both granted to you by you
regaining the loot and by gaining the pages of
Fibrosis' collection. Yes. I did take a look
at Fibro's notes the last few days. I'm kind
of reading, studying. Somebody's got to do something,
and up until now, I didn't have the tools to
deal with it. Yeah, you had to just watch genes
bleed out. You couldn't do anything. That was
the first one I learned. First page I read. That's
awesome. I just think that was... Cure wounds.
That'll do as well. Awesome. Never going to let
that happen again. I think maybe on the first
day, or first or second day, however long it
took you to really kind of get this nailed down.
You had like some incident. I think like some
fight broke out amongst people in your quadrant
and someone got really hurt. Got like broken
glass sticking out from like right under his
shoulder, like collarbone. And he's just like
bleeding. And then you just rush over. People
are like screaming. They're worried. And I think
you just put your hands on him and bam. What
the hell kind of fight? Practice makes perfect.
This is a tense situation, man. Yeah, I guess.
They're using glass as weapons. I mean, like,
but like, yeah, you got people, thousands of
people all shoved into this tiny area. There's
like some gardens around this place that have
like, you know, tents everywhere. That's where
the higher folk are staying. I think inside the
main domed area is largely the lowest of the
high city folk and the low folk because, I mean,
you're not outside. You're kind of in this stuffy
chamber. You're a lot less free feeling. It's
just really tense in here. But let's talk about
level two. What's going on with that? Yes, please.
Let's talk about that. Yeah. Can I roll for HP?
You can roll for HP. Thank you. And we're going
to give you, even though you're a good character,
the same benefit we gave Zebulon. I won't stop
that. I'm going to hand you a die anyway, David,
because I'm a nice guy. Yeah, he's a nice guy.
He's got that going for him. I told you, goodness
will prevail. Welcome back to you in spades.
So why don't you go ahead and roll yours first?
That's a damn d20. That would be incredible.
Wow. Let's roll a d20 for HP. Wait, what is it,
a d8? Yes. Make sure I got a d8, not a d12 like
last time. Cool. So when the time comes, go ahead
and roll your d8 first. All right. It's a three.
Please roll higher than that. Oh, boy. This is
wild. All right. Ready? Oh, no. Oh, no. Three
HP. Plus con. Not cool. Which is probably zero.
I don't know. I don't have it pulled up right
now. All right. So we're going to call it three
for right now, and then I'm going to go and check.
Yeah, it's zero. Okay. All right. I don't know
if you want to talk about what spells you gained,
or you want to leave them a surprise. We know
one of them. Oh, we're going to surprise. Okay.
All right. We're going to surprise. All right.
I know we did Zebulon already, but I think it's
really important that you understand the context
behind my comments towards him by Stephen. Stephen,
I want you to just real quick here. You asked
to roll stats. Yep. Yeah. I want you to read
me off your stat numbers one by one in case we
don't have the number rolling episode up. Okay.
Yeah, that'll be fun for everybody. We're going
to know. All right. Yeah. So we rolled stats.
I'll start left to right. Yeah. It starts out
all right. I assigned a 10 to strength, so it's
a plus zero. 16 to dex, so I got a plus three
there. Oh, good character, good character. A
10 to constitution, which is a plus zero. Oof,
okay. Then things start to get a little rough.
I rolled a six for intelligence, which gives
me a negative two. A five for wisdom, which gives
me a negative three. And a nine for charisma,
which gives me a negative one. I didn't realize
that they could be that bad. Ladies and gentlemen,
your hero. Zebulon. So good, though. It's so
right. Wow. Okay. Great. So you rolled your HP.
We talked about you're a bard. You're level two.
You got some spells you're hiding on me. Yeah.
I like it. I mean, I'm pretty sure I told them
to you before, but I'm banking on the fact that
you also forgot what they all were. I have so
many things. I mean, I know you can actually
go in and take a look. I have so many things
in my brain. But this is a gentleman's game of
trust. Don't worry. I have absolutely no idea.
And I will never find a time to go into your
character page and look at it. It'll be a pleasant
surprise. I'll be happy to. It won't be pleasant
for me. No, it won't. It won't. That's the game,
I guess. Is the morning of the fourth day. The
constant kind of guard that's been sort of all
over the place, keeping an eye on you and yours,
Jules, they've kind of faded off. They're not
really as invested anymore. The resources can't
just all be pooled in one spot. I think you guys
haven't done anything to warrant it for some
time. There'll be a couple scuffles here and
there, but they're sort of getting more lenient,
and you think, okay, if I needed to, I could
get out of here, explore the Citadel. Leaving
the Citadel is... Almost impossible without any
kind of writ. But Zebulon, you wake up. I think
Arhalon's out. He's actually on leave currently
from the Shieldbearers, which is why he's been
around a lot, but he's also just been out on
constant walks. He didn't say a word to you.
He just wasn't there when you woke up this morning.
Well, then Zebulon's had three full days. This
seems like as good a time as any to sneak out
and make his leave. Okay. So in your case, Zebulon,
you go and you grab your stuff and you're going
to sneak out. And I think you go up to the door
and you realize that there is an envelope under
your door. All right. You'll pick it up and open
it. You pick this sort of envelope. There's no
writing on it at all, no seal. And you just kind
of open it and you just see an opportunity awaits
you. Come down to the Court of Whispers. Go to
address 574. Enter the courtyard. Proceed to
the back. I'll be waiting. And I'm going to guess
it's not in the handwriting that I recognized?
Not that you recognize, and there is no signature.
Okay. Well, I guess Zebulon has a place to go,
at least for now. Yeah, there you go. He's going
to head straight there. Jules. When you kind
of wake up and start your day, there's a bit
of a kerfuffle as someone's kind of rushing through
to meet you. It's Low City Folk, a younger boy,
probably 14. Okay. Sort of ratty and dirty, and
he knows you. His name is Jamal. You did not
think of a name previous. Before this session,
did you? You can't prove anything. You've seen
him before, here and there, and he kind of rushes
up and he's like, Hey Jules, I got this letter
for you. Some fella dropped it off on the outskirts
there. Do you know who it was? Who it was from?
Nah, I ain't seen him before. I barely got his
face, he was wearing a cloak. Did he say anything?
He just said, give this to Jules LaRoche. He
said he needs to see it now. How did this sound
when he said it? He was like, give this to Jules
LaRoche. He needs to see this now. Then he left.
Is that his exact cadence? Yes. I need to know
the inflections. We'll do this a little more
like... Just take the letter. Fine. I gotta get
breakfast. Alright, go get some breakfast. Most
important meal of the day. He's gone. So, uh...
I forgot it was fucking... It was around stuff.
Yeah. I was trying to figure out who said that,
but it was around stuff, wasn't it? Is it round
stuff? Is it round stuff? This is Jamal. No,
I know. I'm talking about the callback. That
might have been something you said. I can't remember.
All right, so I'm going to kind of... I think
it was Chester 2 round stuff. Oh, it was. It
was a callback. It wasn't meant. It was just
me being repetitive. Episode 1. Darn it. I mean,
sorry. That was a callback, and I'm smart. We'll
go with that. Yeah, cut that one in. We'll go
with that. Look at everything and just put that
in. I'm probably going to do that. And humble.
Nah, keep it. It's all right. All right. So I'm
going to look down at the letter. The fuck is
this? And in your case, it says something a little
bit differently. All right. I'm going to open
it. Almost the exact same, except rather than
saying, I have an opportunity for you, it just
says, I know a way you can help yourself and
your people. And proceeds to tell you the same
address, which I already forgot, in the Court
of Whispers. Smart. And humble. Shut up. Okay.
I'm going to lean over and look at Chester and
say, I'll be right back. Jules, you ain't going
without me, you know. All right, come on. Let
me get you back. You got me, Chester. Come on,
let's go. All right. Chester kind of like hops
down with you. He turns over and he's like, James,
you're in charge. Me and Jules, we got to check
something out. And let me give you Chester's
stat sheet. Oh, stat sheet for Chester. I'll
be voicing Chester, but you'll be playing him.
It's very simple right now. Ooh, I love it. What's
Chester got going on? He's better than me. What?
He's better than me. He's not that good. He's
better than me. Chester is a level one sidekick,
very simplified currently. He doesn't have any
negative stats. Oh, yeah, he has no negative
stats. No negative stats. Sidekicks generally
don't. You guys are special. He's got a plus
two in dex, plus one in constitution. Wisdom
is plus two. I'm minus two. I'm willing to be
wise. He's the wisest one in the group. He's
the wisest one in the group. I mean. You don't
got shit for charisma over me, but did you roll
him? There's set sidekick stats. Oh. So, nah.
Well, let's swap stats. But hey, he's going to
have less abilities. No magic, pretty simple.
And right now he just has a sling and a knife.
Okay. Oh yeah, I imagine in the last three days
I gave him his knife back. He just lost it. You
get back to him broken. Three days later. Broken
and bloody. So you guys move out, and I think
both of you in your own way. And I'll say your
apartment's actually pretty close to the, because
the shield bearers generally hole up right around
the Palace of Exile as well. That's why there's
so many swarming the area. They have sort of
like their headquarters kind of sort of off to
the side of it. And on the other side of it is
where Arhalon has his little apartment so he
can stay close to work. Keep an eye on things.
So you guys actually are pretty close to each
other, though I do not believe you see each other
as you both make your way down the spiral of
the Citadel. Here we go. So right now you're
like on the, you know, we'll just say the neck
of the serpent, and you're working your way down
towards, let's just say, the sort of main body,
kind of like the lower back of it, where the
Court of Whispers is. Now this is a place where
information is bought and sold all over. This
is a place where spies gather intelligence. This
is a place where people, they basically, like,
luminary tales are traded, where the paparazzi
go to, like, really sell their pictures, videos,
stories, intel. And it is a buzzing, buzzing
market. There's criers all over the place trying
to sell, you know, different newspapers and whatnot.
Yeah, if you're looking for information anywhere
on the Radiant Citadel, this is where to go.
You guys have a location in mind, and you know
where you're heading. So you work your way through
the crowds, and eventually you move to a less
populous area. A little more, uh, I wouldn't
say run down, but just something sort of shady
about it. And you find this sort of open courtyard
that's like this brick, um, wall. Kind of, kind
of, uh, a little scuffed up. Maybe there's a
tiny bit of graffiti on one side of it. Um, kind
of faded, like it's tried to been washed off,
but then, uh, didn't quite finish it. And you
see just beyond this, you know, where there's
like an opening in this wall, there's a, there's
a large sort of expansive courtyard, a fountain
in the front that just doesn't seem to be working
in any way anymore. And, uh, that's where you're
supposed to be. And I think you basically come
in one direction, Jules, cause you're kind of
both can take different, different routes through
the court of whispers to reach this place. And,
uh, Debulon, you turn the corner the other way
and you see each other. Again. Hey, it's you.
So we did come at the same time. I mean, you
left at the same time, but Zebulon tripped and
fell and it took him like 20 more minutes. So
you have 20 minutes earlier, I guess. If we were
coming down the same way, would I not have seen
him stumbling down? Nah. Continuity, man. We
just discussed this before the session. Continuity.
Zebulon left earlier than you, but got lost.
Because he has six wisdom. Okay, that makes sense.
Six intelligence, five wisdom. Oh, okay, even
better. He got lost for 30 minutes in the city
he's grown up in his entire life. I didn't even
get to roll for it. Just let me finish the episode!
You're gonna find it. I don't care how you got
there at different times or at the same time
and didn't see each other. It happened, damn
it. All right, Stephen, we'll roll with it this
time. All right. I'll roll with it this time.
Yeah, I'll let it fly this time. I'm going to
put my foot on you. I'll put it right on you.
Oh, it's you two from the school, right? Yeah,
from upstairs. What are you doing out here? To
be honest, I don't know. Gotta let in. Asked
me to come down here. Hey, Jules. Do we trust
this shrimp? I mean, just a little guy. I don't
see anything wrong with him. What do you call
a shrimp? Chester's not, like, huge either. Zebulon's
just looking up at him. What do you call a shrimp?
All right. Your call. Don't worry about it. I
think we're good. So... Pulls out his envelope.
You got one of these letters, too? Yeah. And
Zebulon's kind of looking around, like, looking
at Chester. Where's yours? I'm with him. Always,
right, big guy? Fist bump. Fist bump. Mic bump.
Fist bump to mic bump. Go home, Chester, you're
drunk. Well, then, it kind of looks like it's
just us. Do you have any idea who sent yours?
No, I... I've got no idea. We should probably
find whoever's waiting for us. We should, but
I don't know who to look for. We should walk
back. Is there anybody standing around us? Nope.
Not that you see. I mean, there's people, I guess,
wandering the streets here and there. Normal
perception? Yeah, I do. Yeah. Can jewels do the
same? Absolutely. I roll a 15. 15's pretty good.
That's a 16. Oh, you got a negative one. I got
a negative one. Yeah. I roll a three. What's
my dice say? 14. Okay, thanks. Oh, Chester. I
just put that together. Was that supposed to
be a secret? No, no. The secret Chester perception
roll in the middle of the table. You roll Chester.
Go ahead and roll Chester. Chester's yours. I
don't want to know what you just rolled. That
doesn't matter. He got a nine. Okay. Good. So.
You guys look around, and yeah, there's just
some folks moving around here and there. You
don't notice anything out of the ordinary. Nothing
that strikes you as strange. And you know the
note said to head to the back of the courtyard.
You see a door back there, beyond the fountain.
Maybe this is it. He gestures to the door. Looks
about right. You ready? I guess. And Zebulon
walks up and knocks on the door. So you guys
walk in towards the door. And you're just passing
the fountain when behind you from the only opening
into this courtyard that you just entered, you
hear a voice ring out. Well, well, well, look
who stumbles in. Oh, tasty lady looks, doesn't
it? We're going to eat you up once we beat you
up. And you see this goblin is standing there.
Um, and like this sort of rough leather armor
with a scimitar and a shield. Uh, he's just pulling
this sort of cloak off his head. And you see
next to him there's this bunny person, a rabbit
person, a haranguan. Um, bare chested with just
trousers and like bare feet. Kind of like whapping
this big beater club down to one hand. And they
just like, uh, yeah, we're gonna eat ya. We're
gonna eat ya. We're gonna eat ya. Yep. What the
shit is this? That guy doesn't sound too confident.
The goblin just begins to move in towards you
and just says, right, better get ready, mate,
because here we come. And they both charge. And
we'll call it there. Stand back, motherfuckers.
That's harmony.