Hey guys, it's Steven. If you're enjoying the
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it with your friends. Thank you so much. Sighting
episode of Journeys Through the Radiant Citadel.
Today I'd like to honor the fallen luminary,
Mateo Cortez, also known as Demi Lidge. The Tithos
tragedy and the Sapphires fall have brought much
darkness to our worlds, and so I'd like to remind
you all of a tale from the past involving one
of our brightest shining lights. Mateo was born
in the mining town of Pontezuela in the world
of San Sition. His father worked the local mine,
and the boy and his mother lived in some comfort.
That is, until the silver veins of Pontezuela's
mine ran dry. From there, the family fled to
San Sitian City, where much of the comfort they
had known was soon lost. Mateo acclimated quickly
to the new environment, however. As his parents
struggled to raise his newborn sister, he found
solace in the arms of a different family, the
San Sitian Luchador Wrestling Family. Swiftly,
the boy became a man, and the fan became a fighter.
Taken on the name of Demi Lich, Mateo adopted
the rough mannerisms of a heel wrestler and challenged
some of the best in the business. It was during
one of these fights when Mateo was met with a
challenge beyond a simple foe in the ring. A
disgruntled fan with sorcerous powers set a sudden
fire to the stadium. Mateo spared no time for
panic, his body acting on its own accord, and
he immediately moved to carry the young and firm
from the danger. In the end, he had carried six
people from the stadium before the fire was conned,
including his own child sister, Gabriella. As
a result of his actions that day, Mateo was soon
offered a position as a luminary for the Radiant
Citadel. He, of course, took that position and
brought much honor to the title of luminary in
the years that followed. This story, I say, goes
to show we all know to be true. When our backs
are to the flames, when our breath is lost to
panic, Deliver us to safety, to the smoke and
the fire. Well, thanks for, thanks Storyteller
Oren here. Now I have to go in and make the recap
music longer. Because I have no idea how long
that fucking dude's going to talk. Yeah, it's
hard. I thought that was a shorter one than some
other ones I've done that went quicker. So, darn
it. I've been talking about this bottle for a
little while. I finally brought that sap house
mead. Oh, so I have I have a little bit of a
little bit of a pet peeve. Everybody, especially
in like the fantasy realm. I mean, I'm not like
I'm not a historian. I don't know what medieval
mead tasted like, but it's fermented honey. And
these days it's really crazy, super sweet. So
when people play and they're like, yeah, I'm
big and tough. I'm going to have a mead. Nordic
mead. Right. It's like, yeah, I'll have the hot
cocoa. Extra cocoa. Give me that sweet tea. I'm
for Lord of Thunder. More hot chocolate. So now
here it is. Happy birthday, David. Happy birthday,
David. I figured we could crack a nice sweet
treat. I hope I can appreciate it. Well, you'll
drink cider. I'll drink cider. This is sweeter
than cider. Apparently all the listeners are
going to know whether you enjoy it or hate it.
They will find out. And, I mean, we touched on
before, actually, that I have no sense of smell.
I attribute that a lot to my hatred of the taste
of pretty much any alcohol. So, I don't know.
We'll see. It just tastes like pure bitter to
me. This might be different. I don't know. This
is going to taste like pure sugar. Yeah. I like
that. I think you're going to very much enjoy
mead. Does it taste like Rockstar Energy drinks?
Because I have a crippling, crippling addiction
to Rockstar Energy drinks. It's closer to Rockstar
Energy drinks than any alcohol you've ever drank.
Fucking give me some of that shit. Give me that
right now. Is that mine? Because that's a lot.
That sounds great in the mic. That's so much.
Dude, it's less than half a glass. Are we waiting
for you guys? Am I doing toast? You can do whatever
you want to do, man. It's your fucking birthday.
I'll wait. I'll wait until you guys do it. Oh,
my God. Oh, liquid gold. Oh, my God. This looks
delicious. Is that ASMR? I don't know. A little
bit. A little bit, yeah. I'm sure some people
are triggered by it. Oh, my God. That's going
to trigger somebody. Dude, you gave yourself
like the least amount. You brought this meat
and you gave yourself. That's okay. I've got
an Eastern European Imperial Stout. Oh, yeah.
I refuse to call it a Russian Imperial Stout
anymore. That's right. Happy birthday, David.
Happy birthday. You forget, Stephen's going to
get most of mine when I take one sip and hate
it. Here we go. Here we go. Oh, that's so good.
Really? No. What? No, it's Diamond Tap. You can't
do... It's great Diamond Tap. I'm sorry. I just
feel like my... My mouth is covered in honey.
It just tastes like a honey stick. It tastes
like honey. You know, like the little straws.
Kind of like the pixie sticks, but filled with
honey. No, it's... It tastes like medicine. It's
medicine, man. I am just so, I'm floored. I'm
sorry. I'm sorry. I thought we had him with us.
I apologize. I thought we had him with us. I
appreciate the gesture. No, no, no. You don't
have to apologize. No, I just, I got to get him
into more sours. I think that's, I think that's,
I think that's his, that's his niche. I'll do
a sour. Yeah, that's his niche. And I got, I
got a bunch in the, I got a bunch in my cupboard.
Sours don't taste like medicine. All right. We're
going to, we're going to, we're going to keep
rolling with this. We'll figure it out. We'll
find one. We'll find one. I'll do a cider any
day. I don't know how this is going to go over,
but. Just blowing the smoke off your gun. Off
of my happy birthday pistol. Well, with that,
gentlemen, and with this taste of garbage in
my mouth, I suppose we should just get right
into it because, let's be straight, the situation
is, as Storytelling Horn might say, most dire.
So here we go. Let's get that sound in there.
Yep, there she is. Help! Fire! We're gonna slow
down time. Oh, okay. Yeah, slowing down time
in a scene. People are screaming around you,
and you see them, like, as they're running around
you, they start to move slowly. We, the audience,
are watching this as these three, four heroes
are standing at the mouth of this tent. You are...
At the easternmost part of these three golden
tents, nestled into the circular sunken plaza
at the center of the Din Sing night market, screams
are filling the air, floating amidst the falling
ash and rising smoke all around you. Across the
plaza from where you stand, up the western hill
into the market proper, you see that three tents
have been transformed into a raging inferno.
You remember the location. You passed by it earlier.
One of the tents belongs to Madame Culp. filled
with a variety of expensive silks. At this moment,
their tent is around halfway covered by the rapidly
spreading flame. You also see that one of the
tents on the other side of this fucking inferno
belongs to Zungun Family Seafood, and that tent
has been completely overtaken by the fire. That's
the other sponsor. Yeah. Well, you guys, remember,
you walked out of Madam Culp's earlier, and you
walked right down, and that's where you heard
Jean Franklin talking to them, so it's right
by her tent. There's one small like trinket shop
in between. It's fucking gone. Like a long, narrow
shop. And then it's just those two tents. So
you see this, those three tents together. It's
just like burning. That was the second sponsor,
right? It was those two and the pepper guys.
They offered you a sponsorship. If you looked
into, they had a basically sort of a falling
out with another group. They believe they were
kind of out to get them. Another, another tent
belonging to. The Tianmos, Tianmo noodles we
were eating. The Zonguns and the Tianmos have
been rivals for some time now with this escalating
kind of war between them. And now their tent
is burning. Burning. There's a flash of movement
to your left. Jewels. You look over to the side.
Again, slow motion. Your eyes panning over and
you see moving slowly. Eyes fixed. Focused on
the flame. All shame forgotten. Dance Macabre
is bolting towards the danger. You hear a voice
behind her calling out, it's Ramin, Gabriela!
He's reaching out to her, but she's not listening,
just bolting ahead. You see Sid Squid, local
adventurer and shop owner who designed the second
game, is breaking out in front of the crowd.
He's running towards the south and he's shouting,
Anyone who can carry, follow me! We have a water
spout nearby! And Bucket's at the ready! Go!
Go! Go! Like waving people on. You see Trace
and Pepper, along with a number of other strong
folk, immediately are moving after him. My Arun
has turned his attention to the panicking crowd,
attempting to control and console them. And Kasim
Arun, the man you talked to earlier, simply staring
at the flames, a look of stupefied horror set
on his face. Madam Colt behind you screams, No,
my sweet baby! She's reaching out towards her
tent. And then you hear another scream, farther
up the hill, coming from the burning tents. No
words. Just this wild sound of uncontrollable
pain and fear. Just... So, heroes, what do you
do? I have a pretty good idea what I want to
do. Okay. So everyone's going to turn to Jaune.
Jaune, go help with the fire brigade. Go get
some water. I'm going to go investigate those
screams. Very well. He's fucking dead serious
right now. His eyes are just, like, narrowed,
locked. He's, very well, good luck. And he just
turns and bolts. Not another word. And Zebulon
heads up towards the... Before you move, actually,
after you say that to Jean, a hand touches on
your shoulder, and you just turn around and see
Ramin Massoul is there. He says, Zebulon, good
luck. And he holds out this, like, statuette
of Atash towards you, some holy symbol. and it
pulls through this light, and you feel it within
you, and he casts Bless on you. Whoa. Whoa. I'm
not quite finished with you. I'm a unicorn. And
he turns around and runs towards the screams.
And I think he's kind of... Looks almost puzzled,
and he actually starts following you, too. I
think he has to be at a certain range for the
spell, but he's not right on you, but he's trying
to stay close as he can to keep the Bless active.
Oh, shit. I said that when I thought that you
were going to say shit, and I was going to run
off. He's behind you. You're much faster than
him because you've got that double action. You've
got that bonus action dash, so you're staying
well ahead of him. You were not expecting to
deal with that awkwardness. No, yeah. I think
while he's doing that, I think Jules is grabbing
Chester. And we're running behind dance. Okay.
All right, yeah. And then I think as we're running
to catch up to her, I'm going to turn to Chester
and be like, Chester, what were you hanging everybody
arguing about before? What was going on? I don't
know. It was nothing. This is crazy. This can't
be this. I mean, they had some little mishaps,
show of pranks. Like what? Like what? I don't
know. We need details right now. There were little
fires, but the Tienmos, maybe they did this.
I mean, that. That gnome we saw earlier, she
was mad. But this is crazy, Jules. This is Austin.
This could be murder. Could be a lot of things
right now. Let's keep going. Let's keep going.
All right, so you guys are all moving up towards,
she's actually heading towards the streams as
well, so you guys all kind of move together.
You go up like a set of stairs, up the side of
the hill, and you spin around a corner. The fire
hits you, the heat blasting your faces. You see
that dance has stopped in front of this tent,
and she's just, her narrowed eyes taking it all
in. Just searching, searching for something.
Screams continue to ring out from the open maw
of the tent's burning entrance through thick
black smoke that fills all the space within.
There's a wall of flames sealing off the opened
way before you. To move forward here is going
to hurt. And now I want to touch on something
for you guys right here, right now. Something
that I think is incredibly important we touch
on. For the first time in this story, maybe in
your guys' lives, As characters, there's no gain
from this. And there's a lot to lose. You stand
before death. Potential death. But there's a
life in there. You can hear it. Someone is hurt.
Someone's in trouble. You could lose everything.
And as I said, there's nothing to gain. You see
a dance macabre has made up her mind. And she's
preparing to lunge forward through the fire.
But what are you going to do? Zebulon pulls out
his water skin and dumps it over the top of his
head. Holy shit. Okay. All right. To then prepare
himself to run into the tent. Yeah. Jules isn't
staying out there either. Okay. I think Jules
will try to save Chester and tell him to stay
out here. Jules. Actually, I'll let you tell
him. He's looking at you. He's ready to go in
too. As Zebulon's fumbling with his water skin,
he's pouring over his head. Jules. It's all right.
I can do this. I'm a dragon, and this is kind
of where I'm going to do pretty well. I really
appreciate everything, and I'm going to go in
there. You got two minutes. Okay. You're not
out here in two minutes. I'm coming in there
after you. Yep. Thank you. 120 seconds. That
should be... I can do this. I can do this. He's
psyching himself up. Okay. Okay. I'm shitting
my pants. Yeah, yeah. You see Dance takes one
last look over. Her eyes fall onto you, Jules.
She nods back, and she dashes into the fire.
Zebulon, you following? Yeah, I kind of wish
that I could have gone first. I'm going to cast
Bardic Inspiration on Zebulon. Okay. Fuck yeah.
All right. So that's a d6 to any roll. Yeah,
and a d4 to any d20 roll that you roll as well.
Well, obviously, it's going to be two attacks
and saving throws. For the blast. For the blast,
okay. Yeah. Okay. Holy shit. Ready? Are you ready?
I mean, let's see you guys go side by side. So
you and Dan just both dash in. Yeah. I think
not even looking at each other, just feeling
each other's presence beside you. You run towards
the open flame before you, and first things first,
you're leaping through this wall of fire, and
I need a dexterity saving throw. Okay, I'm going
to have to use some of those. Holy shit. Wow.
I'm going to use whatever I can use, my bardic
inspiration, and can I use bless after a roll?
Yes. Okay. This is a saving throw. Oh, wait a
minute. Hold on. You get a D4 and your D6 if
you want. Hold on. It doesn't matter. A nat 1
is a failure always, no matter what. Right? You
know what's actually crazy? I believe so. Dance
also rolled a natural fucking 1. Get out of town.
Shit. Two nat 1s. Here's what happens. The two
of you go running towards this thing. You go
to make a move, and then... You hear this sound
as a wooden frame from above you comes crashing
down pretty much on top of you. And I'm going
to roll damage on both you and Dance Macabre.
Zebulon. Oh my god. Zebulon, that's six bludgeoning
damage to both you and Dance. And four fire damage.
Halved to two because you are a brass dragon.
So I only take eight damage, which is still more
than half of my hit points. This is... This is
crazy, so let me... Here's what I want to see
happen here. Okay? Roll me a d6. All that matters
is even odds. So you don't want a d4? I don't
care. d4 works too. Odd. Even. Okay. What you
see when this thing falls is... It falls just
in a place where you see Dance screams out as
she gets smashed by this thing and goes rolling
inside the tent. But this thing falls right in
front of you. You get blasted backwards out of
the tent, rolling dirty on the ground. This entrance
you were going to use has been sealed off. You're
in pain. There could be another way in, but you
need to look. Do you want to go back in there?
But now Dance is in there and she's hurt. Um,
yeah. Zeb's going to pull out his swords and
cut an entrance into the tent. Roll me perception.
So he just got blown out of the tent? He got
blown out of the tent. Zeb, wait, wait. I'm going
to come over and cast Cure Wounds. Oh, shit.
Oh, clutch. Oh, shit. Fucking clutch. So what
is... I'm going to roll that perception. It's
a D8 plus spellcasting ability modifier, which
for him... Is going to be your charisma bonus.
So, yeah, okay. So your Cure Wounds is 1D8 plus
3. Nice. Do you want to roll it? Oh, nice. Max.
Max damage. Holy shit. So fucking clutch. So
you reach down and heal Zebulon. Zebulon, you
were like in horrible pain and getting ready,
probably on shaky legs to go back in there, just
focused on this, on being a hero. And you feel
a hand at your back. You feel life pumped into
you. You still have that bless active. Ramin
is there behind you now. And he's just like staring
at the fire like, no, Gabriela, you can't see
dance anymore. The smoke has obscured everything.
You just heard that pain scream and that's it.
Silence. Roll me a perception check, Zebulon.
If you're going back in, you want to cut away
in? Give me that check. Fucking nat 20 on the
perception check. That is. Zebulon, you're scanning
the side of the tent that's closest to you, and
you actually do see there's a small slit already
made in the tent where fire hasn't quite reached
yet over. It's just like one last corner untouched
by the fire so far. It's weird. This slit looks
like it's been cut. And with that nat 20, I'll
give you something else, too. There's something.
Huh. On the ground, just in front of it. And
it looks familiar to you, because it's the sort
of leftover peelings of a persimmon. Jesus Christ.
So if you'll... You can go in that way, it's
safer. If you'll allow me, Zebulon's gonna run
at the canvas of the tent and leap and cut his
way in, or just jump through, and as he's running
and jumping... Jules! Over here! There's a persimmon
peel? Yeah, just say that. Core? What do persimmons
have? I think it's literally persimmon peel in
the book. There's a persimmon leftover. There's
physical evidence. I'm a persimmon. That works,
Zeb. I know what you're talking about now. I
get it. I think I get it. He's like standing
there outside of the tent. I mean, is there a
stem? This needs to be some artwork of Zeb pointing
at the persimmon peel. Alright. I'm making death
saving rolls for people. Oh my Christ. No, no,
don't worry. Not yet. You jump forward. I mean
you're slashing so you're making this hole bigger.
It's small right now actually. It's a very small
hole. You could fit through it, but like Jules
couldn't. I wasn't sure of the mechanics, but
it just seems like a cool image. Yeah, you're
doing this. You're cutting at it. It's weak enough
here you can slice right through it and you're
opening a wider way out. That could be huge.
As you cut it, smoke, boom, billows out in front
of you. You're lost in the thick black of it.
You realize going forward it's going to be hard
to deal with the smoke. It's heavy and thick.
There's going to be complications. We can't figure
out a way around them. But you're moving into
the tent? Yeah. Zebulon steps forward. Roll me
perception check. You see nothing as you move
in. Just blackness. That's a three. Three perception.
All right. So you're pushing forward. But you
don't know. You don't hear anything. Hello? Is
somebody in? I'm here to help. Can you follow
the sound of my voice? You're calling out rule
constitution saving throw. As a smoke enters
your lungs. Shit. I'm going to add my D6 to that.
And add D4 to saving throw. You get it automatically.
Oh. It happens to every saving throw. Get out,
for real? Every saving throw. Yeah. Rami has
set you up. I can't see it. I hope that's a four.
Okay, so five plus four, that's nine. I really
think I need to use my bardic inspiration here.
That's another four, so that's 13. It was a DC
10. Oh, yeah, sweet. Good thing you used that.
You passed. You feel the smoke enter you, and
you manage to pull out of it. You're okay for
now. And because you called out, you do hear,
Zebulon, Zebulon, here, to me, to me. It's dance
somewhere ahead. You push deeper into the smog,
and you see that she is resolving herself before
you in the darkness. She's leaning over a body.
It's Kusa Zangun, the kobold mother you met earlier.
She's still alive, still awake even, but she's
clawing into the ground, and she's reaching a
shaking, trembling hand out towards the back
of the tent to a different, separated section
covered by its own large, short drapery. So I
know that we're not exactly in combat. Yeah.
But if you'll allow me, can I use my cunning
action to move into that other part of the tent?
An extra dash? We're going kind of in free form
here. So it's like, yeah, it's kind of like either
way. So you're just going to start moving because
you do hear her say, she goes, Gammon! Gammon!
My Gammon! And you remember the child. The child
who fought over the green onions before. The
child that's been with her throughout the day.
What is Dance's situation like? Can I tell if
Dance can get up or not? She looks really bad.
Like her leg. I think you see that her leg looks
like it's been ripped up. No, she's okay. Her
skirt's ripped up where her leg is. It's bleeding
heavily and burned. The flesh warped. But she's
standing on it carefully. She actually picks
up Kusa Sangoon. It's impressive. And starts
lifting her up on her back. And she just looks
in the direction you came from. And her eyes
look back to you. Dance, I cut an opening. Dance,
can you get out? Can you get out? I'll go after
the child. takes a moment, hesitates for a moment,
then just nods, says, be careful, and just starts
to move into the smoke in the direction of the
point. At this point, I have to put this out
there. This is going to be a content warning.
There is a child in peril. We are rolling dice.
If this could get very uncomfortable, if this
is something that you're not okay with, I understand.
Skip to the end. I will not go all out. I will
not. Yeah, yeah. And I will not, like, go in
full description. I will not get gross. But this
is happening. It could go many ways. All right,
then. Zebulon, you push to the back of the tent.
Roll me a dexterity saving throw. So, 13. 13.
That actually is going to pass this one. A burning...
14, I'm sorry. Okay, that's fine, too. Actually,
it was decent 12 for this one. So basically a
part of the curtain from above you kind of falls,
burning, and collapses before you, and you manage
to pull short of it as it hits the ground, bursting
into sparks. And you weave around it and move
back into the tent. You push through the curtain.
Boom, more smoke hits you as you enter this room.
Are you staying? I imagine you're probably keeping
your mouth closed, probably holding your breath
now? Yeah, as best as you can. Okay, all right.
Unless you do anything, I'm not going to make
you roll those con saves. Well, can I do a perception
check? Yes, roll perception. Okay. I feel like
as the fire continues to burn, I think those
dex save DCs are going to keep going up. Yeah,
you're probably right. But with a pretty high
modifier and Mike Bless, that's... pretty slick.
Okay, so that's 18 minus 1, so 17 perception.
Actually, I need to roll again disadvantage because
you can't see anything, and this is going to
be sight -based. Oh, and do I get my blessed
for her? Yes. Or that's just on... No, blessed
would not happen on any check. Okay, well, then
that's not going to really do it. That's a 3
on the die, so that's a 2. You can't see. He's
going to have to call out. Okay. Hello? Is anyone
back here? I'm trying to save you. Come on, save.
I'm rolling one. I'm rolling the check on my
own. Whoop, that's out of the box. Okay. Let
me roll my... Oh, that's an 18. Nice. Okay. Plus
one, so 19. Again, the smoke rushes into your
lungs. When you're able to hold out against it,
you don't cough. You manage to pull it out, basically.
Who's back here? But it's not in you. It's not
poisoning you. It's not hurting you yet. Can
you come to the sound of my voice? Do you wait?
I mean, for like an instant, I wait. Yeah, I
mean. You hear nothing. Okay, then he's going
to go as soon as he doesn't hear a response.
You go deeper in? Yeah. Okay, you push forward
into the blackness. You can't see anything as
you move. You didn't roll high perception before.
Now. Keep rolling. Another perception check.
Different room, different check, I think. I'm
going to roll something, too. What'd you get?
That's a 12. 12, okay. First thing first, dexterity
saving throw. A burning line from a rope snaps
and whips towards you. You see something coming
out of the smoke through the fire. The light
of this rope is launching towards your face.
That's a 10. Let me roll my bless. 11. Three
points of fire damage halved to one, actually.
Nice. No, yeah, one. So you managed to pull your
head out of the side. It rips across your cheek
like a little burning mark on your face. That
12. I think with that 12, you're moving. You're
moving through the smoke, and you come across
a figure lying just at your feet. Figure of a
child. Unconscious. All right, so whether or
not he still has both swords drawn, he's going
to... Either sheath one or draw one and try to
grab the child with one arm and run to the nearest
canvas wall to slash it open. Okay, all right.
Again, you can't see, so you're just pushing
in a rammed direction. A rammed direction, yeah.
Okay, so you just start pushing forward again.
You have a child on your back. Disadvantage on
dexterity saving throws while the child is on
your back. I'm making you roll one now. Oh, that's
a nat 20. Don't do it again, Steven. Okay, didn't
do it again. That's a 9. Let me get my d4 out
here. Get your d4. This is big. That's a 2, so
11. 12. Fuck. Crack! You hear another bit of
the frame above start to snap and break, almost
like a big piece, almost like a pendulum. A big
piece of wood just swings down at you. Now, you
rolled really high, so here's what's going to
happen. You roll high enough that you are able
to instinctively turn and brace yourself forward.
So the child is kind of on your back, not taking
the damage here. That's good. But you take all
of it. Four points of bludgeoning. One point
of fire. Not too bad. Not too bad. So you get
hit by this thing. You almost get knocked backwards
a bit, but you're holding on to this child. I'm
rolling another check. There's some really big
beams holding up this tent. Yeah, there are.
It's actually a pretty big tent. It's got a whole
kitchen in the back and everything. They're,
like, full -on framed. So you just, like, keep
moving, keep moving. You move, you move, you
move. You touch canvas. And you go to cut? And
you just slash it, yeah. Okay. Okay. You cut
into the canvas, and I'm going to have you make
one final check. as the fire starts ripping across
towards you. You actually find a spot where there's
not fire, but, like, it's almost about to encompass
you. You need to move fast, to push yourself
through that hole before you're consumed. Deck
save straight up or disadvantage? Disadvantage.
You do have the kit. All right, that's a nat
16. And a natural 1. Oh, my God. What in the
hell? Fucking natural 1. Not good. Okay. I mean,
like, I'm at the canvas. You're at the canvas.
No, you're at the canvas. So here's what it's
going to look like. You're going to make me a
choice, Zebulon. You're going to make a choice
for me right now. You realize in that instant,
as the fire's closing in on you, you go to move,
and I think you realize there's a line from a
fallen rope caught on your leg. You're about
to, like, try to move, and you're almost tripping.
And you can decide to drop the child and roll
out of the wall, or to throw the child out of
the tent. and let the fire consume your path.
One of you gets to leave without taking damage.
The other one is going to have a bad time. It's
really not much of a choice. Very clearly, Zebulon
is going to throw the child. Zebulon is going
to drop the child. He's going to throw the child
deeper. No, no, no. Okay, okay. You take this
child's form. You don't know if he's alive or
dead. And you throw it out into the clear night
outside. And the fire encompasses the wall before
you. You're almost thrown backward by the force
of it. Just maybe more than you're flinching
about or taking a step. You're facing the inferno
in front of you. You have to believe that every
escape possible is covered. And you're inside
here. You can move through, but it's likely going
to hurt. That's okay. He's going to jump right
through. Okay. You brace yourself. Spread your
position, I imagine, and just run. Run and leap.
Okay. One last dex saving throw. I'm going to
make this a pretty high DC because you're going
through pure fire. I don't have disadvantage
this time, though, right? Not this time, no.
It's a 16 on the die. Let me roll my Bless. That's
a 2, so add 5. 20 -something, anyway. Okay. You,
watching the flame before you, when you see this
instant, again, time slows down before our hero,
where the fire seems to part. its naturals or
tendrils just kind of open up for this brief,
brief instant, and Zebulon launches right then
through the flame, through the smoke, out into
the night, rolling, snatching up the child at
the end of your roll, and you're out of the inferno.
Chester, you son of a bitch. You better have
recorded that. That was so good. You were on
the verge of death. So good. You were on the
verge of death. I know, but Zebulon has different
priorities. I want you to make a medicine check.
I'm not great at those. You're at the back of
the tent now. You guys were all in the front
before. All right, that's a 13. I've got a minus
three to medicine. Let me roll my blast for the
check. That's a two, so we're up to 12. 12, okay.
Of the 12 you it's not great But you look down
the child you can't tell unconscious unmoving
limp Help somebody help you put your side of
your head towards their chest as you're calling
out you wait and you wait The child is alive
somebody help he's alive, but he's hurt Ramin
actually turns the corner like, no, no. And he
just comes running over, slides down onto the
bottom of his tunic and just kind of grabs the
child. He's really fussing over him, trying to
check for wounds and such. Is Dance out? I think
Dance, I think he goes, I'm like, get help, please.
And I think Dance sort of wimps around the corner
just like, he made it. She smiles and looks up
into the sky. Oh, thank goodness. Her eyes. He
made it. She turns around. Jules, you're seeing
all this. You hear them calling. You know Zebulon
came out the back. You and Chester are, I imagine,
running around. Yeah, and I think once we get
her on back, I think Jules is kind of in shock.
And he kind of walks up to Zebulon. Kind of looks
at him right in the eyes and stands in silence
for a moment and then just goes in for a big
embrace. And I think for at least the first second,
Zebulon stands with his arms down. He's exhausted.
But then he returns the embrace. Your spell,
Jules. You saved us both. Don't you fucking scare
me like that again. Do you have anything? Can
you help him? After a long rest, I can. And then
by Jewel's side, you see Chester. You see he's
holding up something in front of his eyes, something
crystalline in nature. And he says, stop. And
he holds it down and says, Zebulon, I got it.
Chester, you finally made yourself useful. Zebulon
gives Chester a hug, too. It's a group hug. It's
a group hug now. All right. Zebulon pulls him
into the group hug. He's just trying to fight
it. All right, little guy. Don't fight it, Chester.
Don't fight it. Don't fight it. You see Ramin's
just watching on. He's got the child sort of
again on, sort of, you know, at least as well
as he can be. He sees he's stabilized. He breathes
a sigh of relief and kind of falls back on his...
His butt almost like lies sitting into the grass.
We probably should have figured out the child
was stabilized before we did a group hug, huh?
No, I mean, you kind of, you saw he was, you
saw his heart was beating. The writing was on
the wall? Yeah, it was on the wall. I mean, in
Jules' eyes, yeah, he comes around the corner
and you got three people standing around the
child and nobody's going nuts. All right, that's
fine. I'll take it. I think he kind of assumes
that the child is okay. Good. Dance. I said she
was like staring up at the sky, like breathing
in relief. And she just. collapses down, like
sitting as well. Her leg looks bad and she's
just like stretching it out and just closing
her eyes and just, just sitting. Joel, you can
go rub her legs. I think around this, you hear,
like, people, like, more shouts, but they're
getting closer. You see Jean Franklin is leading
up this group of people with these buckets, and
they're all, like, moving in. There's, like,
a chain of people, and they've got these big,
like, heavy buckets of water, and they start
just, like, spouting on certain spots. I think,
actually, like, there's a couple of these magical
items. You see Sid Squid's got one, and he just,
like, prays to himself and presses it and almost
starts spraying water out like a hose of this,
like, little decanter. Just going over the flame
like an extinguisher, and there's a few more
people that roll up with those, like, locals.
Half orcs and dragonborns, almost like a fire
brigade of the market, just sliding in, spraying
down the tents wherever they can. And let me
tell you what was happening behind the scenes
there. I was rolling death saves ever since you
reached Kusa. I was rolling them for Gamon. I
had two fails, and I was rolling. Even when I
rolled successes, I was still rolling them until
he was out of the smoke. Wow. Jeez. And I rolled
three successes in a row. Holy moly. And you
got him out of there. Wow. Very lucky. It was
really close. Jeez. You got him out. I mean,
if you hadn't thrown him and you hadn't gotten
out that round, every time you took an action,
it was a new save, new potential threat. But
you made it. And I think we leave off with that
for tonight. Oh, you mean in -game. In -game.
I was going to say, I was like, that was a really
fast app. No, no, no. We'll summarize. I want
to summarize. what you guys, I want to summarize
what you guys do over the rest of the night.
I mean, is there anything else in particular
you wanted to touch on or are you okay moving
on to the next day? Um, I think we just crash
really hard. Yeah. I think there's definitely
a period of rest. Yeah. Licking our wounds. In
fact, I gotta put this out there. Jules, you've
been up awake for like 24 hours now. Yeah. You
didn't sleep a lot. You guys woke up to go and
do the, do the heist. You didn't sleep. Yeah.
Yep. The last time he slept was at Xena's before
the heist. That was over 24 hours ago. So Jules
is like, red -rimmed eyes, exhausted. So I imagine
there's some sort of authority here to investigate
the fire, but I don't know if there's something
that Zebulon can roll to kind of help to get
a clue about what happened. I will say, one of
the best things you got was that perception roll,
pick up those persimmons. Apart from that, I
mean, unless you want to go in the tent again.
It's not much you can do until the fire's gone.
Exactly. Until it's put out, there's not a lot
of investigating that can be done. Okay, so I'm
going to pick up the peel. Okay. And go to dance.
And say, you know anybody that sells these? And
she just, she's looking at it. I think she almost
looks kind of far off. Her eyes are exhausted
as well. She looks about as tired as you. Yes,
actually, I saw them earlier. There was a florist.
They sowed the la pop flower. They also sowed
these. That son of a bitch. What the hell? I
think they grow in similar areas. But I believe
they're the only one I know of in the market.
Why? Somebody's got some explaining to do. You
think this? Well, we found this. We found this
right outside the tent. There was a slice. Somebody
had cut the tent and left. This. Outside. She
just kind of nods, taking that in. And then kind
of just like almost chuckles and smiles. What
does it matter telling me? I am not Rhea. I lost.
I can do nothing. So you don't care? Of course
I care! The title doesn't mean shit. It's who
you are and what you do. Fuck the title. You
can go back home and lick your wounds, but we're
going to try to figure this out. She actually
looks taken aback by all this. And then again,
just kind of ashamed. Kind of looks away from
you. You're important. These worlds need you
too. I'll do it again. But I am not working with
you. We are not allies. I mean, we just provided
you with like a whole bunch of evidence. So I
feel like by definition, we're kind of working
together. Because you would have literally nothing
to go off if it wasn't for the information we
just provided you. I'm not saying you're ungrateful
or anything. She's kind of staring blankly towards
you. I appreciate. You helped me inside. You
saved the child. You... And she almost grits
her teeth. You are the staff of luminaries. I
would not take that from you. I am not one who
works with others easily. I am forced with this
one. He's using guidance cantrip on people who
are trying to do the fire. He's just running
to people and casting this little light spell
on them. They kind of glow for a second, do something,
and then it fades. He's going person to person,
exhausted, but doing what he can to support them.
Look, as long as you're fighting for good, as
long as you're fighting for justice, then we're
on the same side, whether you want to be or not.
That's just facts. Yeah, exactly. It feels really
good to hear you say that. I mean, you could
say it again if you wanted to, but if you're
not going to cooperate with us, then you'd be
better off going home. What exactly do you want
from me? Cooperation. Do I look like an investigator?
No. I'm a fighter. I just beat people up. Don't
give up on yourself. That's all I want. The second
you give up on yourself, you've given up on everybody
else. She just kind of starts to turn away again.
Look, there's nothing to do tonight. I'll speak
to you tomorrow. Yeah, we all need some rest.
Forget it, Jules. We can do this ourselves. I'm
at a loss for words on that. Just, Jules, frustrated.
Chester kind of like steps up and kind of like
puts a hand on your back and... Come on, big
guy. You got to rest. Both of you. I got to fucking
sleep. It's time to look into this tomorrow,
but right now, they're still working. But you're
right. Something's fucked. I'm not done yet.
I think we need to go and speak to Vi. She's
the one who sold the flowers. And according to
Dance, the persimmon. I think I'm going to need
a cappuccino before that. So I'm guessing that
pretty much the whole market has got to be out
and is observing this, right? I mean, there's
a lot of people out, but I think right now, tensions
are at an all -time high. It's going to be hard
finding any singular person in the crowds of
people around. You have to go through and literally
look through the entire crowd. You can roll a
perception check. It's going to be tough. Yeah,
I'd like to. Do I still have Ramin's Bless? No,
because he'd need to follow you the whole time
you're looking. This is more you just wandering
around for a while, so you lose the bless now.
Plus, he's concentrating on other shit now, so
he wouldn't be giving it to you anymore. All
right, that's 16. 16. Yeah, you take a moment
to search around. You do not find Fi this evening.
But, I mean... You know, she might be here tomorrow.
All right, well, that's apparently all I can
do. All right. And I imagine you're just like,
there's like tents set out for travelers, especially
for you guys. You guys move over. And I think
like some, some people lead you away. Eventually
Kusa Sengun kind of regains consciousness. She
was basically, she passed out the one she got
out. And she like, I mean, she's thanking you
guys profusely. Once you've had the brief moments
of consciousness she has, and you're pulled away
from all of this and brought to some small tents
on the outskirts of the, Of the marketplace where
you lie down some sleeping pads, fall asleep.
Yeah. I think if it's possible, Zeb would prefer
to cowboy camp. Okay. Yeah. You drag your inside
of a tent. You grab your pad and you slide it
outside and you lie outside kind of guarding
the door. Slowly. You wake Zebulon to the. son
of some son go shooting down on you. I think
you're sweating. Um, it's very hot. Do dragonborns
or half dragons sweat? Do dragons sweat? You
have scales. I don't know how that works. Do
lizards sweat? Well, I mean, I think, I mean,
I guess it depends. It's really up to you. It's
your world. I know the lizards are cold blooded.
I'll tell you this. I'll tell you this. I can't,
I can suspend disbelief in a lot of ways going
into these games, right? I just can't imagine
a world, any world in which Steven doesn't sweat.
Fair. Impossible. Well, there is also separation
between the character and the player. No, wrong.
I don't know about that. I know about that. This
character trait can't just be separated. It's
so crucial to who you are, Steven. I definitely
think that Zebulon can sweat. but I don't think
it's because Steven's a sweaty boy. So Zebulon,
covered in sweat, sweaty like crazy. His pad
is damp. It's been like two episodes since you've
ripped in real deep. It's a puddle of water all
around him. You're actually floating at this
point on this little pond. Always comes back
around. I went to the low ground. I mean, you
did open the door. How? I don't know. By being
a fool. You did. By sweating. Open the floodgates.
Yeah. You wake up. It's hot. Soaked. It's hot.
The sun's baking you. You probably don't feel
too well. You're a brass dragon. You slowly kind
of move up. You can hear the sounds of the market.
Not, you know, a little bit farther down the
hill. I think you're all up on this rise with
this tent sitting, looking down at, like, Like
the day before, when you came into this town,
you looked down the hill at this market sprawling
below you. And that's where you are now, somewhere
close to the road, somewhere close to the top
of that hill. And while everything is more subdued
today, you can see that the burnt remnants of
the tent are kind of left alone. People are moving
around them. The market has continued to thrive
the way it does. They're resetting up, quieter,
but they are preparing for another day. You realize
almost instantly that you're not alone. Just
beside you, sitting and staring down, is Dance
Macabre. I want you to roll something for me
now. It's a little belated. I want a one of you
can roll me a persuasion check with advantage.
Sounds like a jewels roll to me. It might be.
Let me just double check. I think I got a plus
five. I think. You're a bard, so this is probably
your jam. Yeah, I've got a plus five. All right,
with advantage. 22. So what do you say when you
see her? I say, oh, shit! Her eyes just kind
of flicker over to you. You ought to wake. Wake
the others. I want you to wait. Let you have
your rest. Then we'll talk. Yeah, I think I heard
somebody... Staring. Is there... I mean, there's
got to be coffee here. What? You know, the beans.
You roast them. You grind them. You steep hop
water. Pour it over them. I don't have any. It's
a market. It's not open. Go ask them. I can't
help you. Go wake the others. You just pretend.
Can I roll perception to see if Zebulon can smell
coffee? Go ahead. That's outside the box. It
was a 19, though, but... Rules is rules. Okay.
That's only an 11. No, you don't smell coffee
way up on this hill. Damn. Yeah. Crazy, isn't
it? It's real crazy out here in Sbsunko. Alright.
Gonna go down and... Are you just gonna leave?
No. Can we go wake the others? Oh, they're going
down to find coffee. I was like, stay away. Down,
I mean back to wherever we woke up from. That's
the new quest. It's our quest to find coffee.
New game, different game now. You're just looking
for coffee. All right. You go into the tent.
I think you're just outside of it. You basically
pulled your mat outside the tent door, and she's
just sitting outside this tent with you. You
don't know where she and Ramin went. Probably
you assumed their own tent, but she's the only
one here now. Yeah, so you go in to wake Jules?
Yeah. Jules? Jules, are you awake? God, my head
hurts. What's up? What's up? I think it's time
to wake up and figure this out. Just five more
minutes, five more minutes. The tent flaps open,
and Dance walks in and just kicks you in the
ribs. Ow! Wake up! Fuck! What the fuck are you
doing? Outside, now! I am wicked dumb enough.
And she just like turns and leaves. Fine. Chester's
just kind of, well, what the hell? Did someone
just kick you? I mean, his red hair is just this
big, fluffy mess. He's trying to, like, wake
up. I think Jean Franklin is fast asleep in his
corner. He fussed for so long over the inferior
lodgings they provided you. This bed will not
fit at all. He took forever to fall asleep, and
now he's just, like, snoring away. I look over
to Dan and say, you're going to kick me out hard.
You've got to buy me breakfast first. She just,
like, glares. turns around, like whips around,
and opens a tent flap and steps outside. All
right. Tristan and I get up. I'm going to go
outside. All right. And I think the three of
you, I'll say Jean -Francois, just like still
passed out at this moment. The three of you step
out in the light and the heat of the day. And
dance is just kind of staring away from you down
towards the market. She's got this very stubborn
expression on her face, a point you could see
of her face, still covered in the skull mask.
wearing the same uniform as before, though, like
with the sort of burned away parts of the lower
hem of the skirt. Her leg looks better, probably
healed at some point this morning. There might
be like one shallow scar remaining up the side
of it, but nothing that looks painful anymore.
And she just says, not even looking at you, though
you somehow know it's directed towards you, Jules,
the way her body stiffens almost exactly opposite
your direction. My brother told me once that
he had a great love and respect for those who
beat him in the ring. That winning a fight while
joyous does nothing to strengthen your body and
soul. Only a loss can show you those limits.
I was being petty last night, and I apologize.
I... I respect you, Jules the Roach. You are
my rival now. I will help you in this matter,
but you not understand. Only now I will help.
Next time we meet, when we are both luminaries,
I will crush you into pulp. So you better watch
your ass. Because I will be. Watching his ass?
Her eyes just widen. This expression of dawning
horror. Say that again? Say that again? Do you
want my help or not? Her eyes, like, go from
horror to outrage and fury, just staring you
down like, am I going to help you now? Or am
I going to crush you now? And she cracks her
knuckles like... You keep fighting for what you're
fighting for. And you give yourself more credit.
That's all I want. Look, you mentioned an investigation.
You think this was arson last night? It seems
pretty targeted to me. I have heard rumors. The
Tianmos, they are enemies of the Zanguns. Was
it them, then? I don't know. I can tell you this.
The Mai Tenyo, Tianmo, has been arrested by Wadoa
General Populous, being held accountable for
now until proven innocent. They are not taking
any firm action against her, but they are keeping
her locked up in a tent for now. They cannot
hold her forever. But likely she will never sell
in this market again. At the very least, she
will be exiled. You think they'll let us talk
to her? You saved Kemon Zangun. I think they
will let you do anything you want, Jules. I should
tell you, I wasn't your first visitor today.
When I came, there was a man here. Kese Merun.
He had a message for you when you awoke. He said
to come to the Spicy Brothers tent as soon as
you feel able. There's a matter of your sponsorship
to discuss, as well as your sign -on bonus. Kind
of seems a little weird to be talking about the...
It's okay. I mean, the world keeps turning. You
seem eager. I was hoping to speak to you as soon
as able. But before we go dance, I have a question.
Aren't most of those wrestling matches, you know,
like, pre -planned anyways? I will break you.
I'm just saying if you lose, like, wasn't it
predetermined by, like, the event organizer or?
She just looks at you almost like for provision.
I mean, wrestling is fake, isn't it? Roll an
opposed athletics check. Oh, my God. Let's see
how fake this shit is. Of course you picked athletics.
Actually, you can do acrobatics, too, because
I'm trying to grapple you. All right. If we're
doing acrobatics, that's a 21. Seriously? Yeah.
Damn. Yeah, she goes in, and it's a good grapple,
too. She, like, suddenly just almost lightning
fast, just... darts towards you, her arms unwrapping
around you. I think one of her legs crosses around
one of yours, and she's in this pincer hold.
It's trying to drop you down, but you're able
to almost just move your body just slightly in
a way to wrench yourself free and slide out from
under her. And she goes falling down, tumbling,
rolls backwards, and just looks almost astonished.
Just kidding. Just kidding. You do what you have
to see to, right? I'm going to find Armin, and
I'll find you down there. I will go and speak
to the Amai tent now. I'll meet you there. You're
going to find Armin? You don't know where he
is? Oh, yeah. Armin? He is waiting for me at
the tent. He was up late. I let him sleep. Why
was he up so late? To help with the fire. Why
didn't we help with the fire? Because you were
dead tired. You didn't need it. You could have.
I asked if you wanted to do anything else that
night, and you said you wanted to go to sleep.
Yeah, we went and crashed. I feel like I was
being pressured to go to sleep. You could have
just said, I wanted to go talk to the lady who
had the persimmons. You could say, I stuck with
the fire until, you know, until it's out. I mean,
it was... When you went to sleep, it was pretty
much under control. You saw them handling the
buckets. You saw it was all being taken care
of. Ramin was giving people guidance to help
them with their stuff. They were spraying it
down with some special magical, like, artificery
equipment that was basically creating a little
mini hose. It seemed pretty well handled. I didn't
catch anything sinister from that. Well, I just
don't trust Ramin. I don't trust anybody but
us, to be honest. So when Ramin's up late, like...
I kind of want to know why Zebulon wasn't up
late. You know what I mean? Oh, I mean, did you
want to have stayed up late? You can put it in
there. No, I think we're already past it. All
right, all right. I just felt like my only option
was to go to sleep. All right. I mean, you could
have gone off. I just said Jules needed to go
to sleep. I wanted to go talk to the lady with
the persimmons. You rolled a bad perception.
So you could have gone. I needed to go to sleep.
Finding a random person, a single random person
in this massive crowd of people after a panic
and a fire was not going to be a simple you -just
-do -it task. But I could have gone to her tent.
She has a tent now. But she's not there at her
tent then. Now they're setting up tents. Now
is the day to investigate, gentlemen. Okay. Not
after the fire. Only when you're half dead. You
fools. But I need to go see... Scallions. What's
his... Is his last name Maroon? Arun. Arun. Oh,
so Kasim Arun. Yes, Kasim Arun. Kasim Arun, okay.
And his brothers, Vi Arun. They're like these
two very similar looking brothers, very similar
in age. I think I need to go and... We need to
stop in this place. Or at least Jules does on
the way out to whatever. So if Jules is going
to go do that, Zeb's going to go check on the
kid. Okay. Wow, yeah. Hell yeah. Okay, you guys
move down to the market and you split up. Chester's
hanging out with you, Jules. So you just kind
of go? Anything else you want to do before that?
I'll say dance basically just says what she says.
You guys have that brief exchange of what Ramin
was doing. She just turns and she leaves just
rushing. She's very fast, just running, you know,
towards some other tent far off on the hill.
No, I don't think anything else. I think I'm
just going to go. Okay. Sorry. I just want to
make sure that you were leaving Jean Franklin
fast asleep and not taking him with you today.
So Jean Franklin is just left snoring alone.
I forgot that he was asleep. The entire party
just fucks off. I forgot he was asleep, but I
think that's okay. I love it. I love it. I want
to touch on you later. I'm going to start off
with Jules here. Jules, you move down to the
marketplace. Let me crank this up just a little
bit. Because now you're in there. Now you're
in the business. It's a little louder. People
around you are rebuilding. Like I said, just
a somber, heavy air. A tension that wasn't here
before. I mean, like, rumors. People whispering.
And people were just going crazy. Like, this
is big shit. Attempted murder? Question mark?
Here? The Dinsing Night Market? You move through.
I think you passed Spicy Brothers yesterday,
so you know where the tent is. And the tents
are being taken down and moved, but it hasn't
been moved yet. It's still very early in the
day. And you move up towards it. And actually,
as you're about to get in there, the tent opens
up, like almost as if it's been waiting for you.
You see Casimiroon peeks ahead, like, Oh! Hey,
hey, hey! Jules! Yes! And, uh, Charles! It's
Chester! Sorry! Chester! Come! He looks around.
Where's Zebulon? And John? They should be here
too. They're taking care of some other business
right now. What business? Mind your business.
Right. Sorry. Just, you know, sponsor, client,
relationship, or talent. I'm new to this business.
Please, step inside. All right. Come on, Chester.
So you guys move up into the tent. So it's basically,
right now it's very sparse. There's like, you
know, baskets of peppers all around, but they're
still being almost put away for storage. He's
like, oh, don't mind the mess. All we got to
do is just, here, I got a few things for you
to sign, and that's really it. And from there
on, I'll give you your first sign -on bonus.
Basically, we just need you to advertise for
us. You are Raya now, so I can make this a reality,
and I'm so excited. So excited, Jules, to work
with you. I mean, oh my gosh, you were incredible
yesterday. So incredible. You left to, uh...
Forgive me if I don't share your enthusiasm right
now. I understand. It was tragic what happened
last night. But hey, no one was hurt. No one
was hurt. Even the caterpillars. Well, a few.
But, I mean, Madame Cope will be fine. Right?
And the kid? You were amazing. You guys saved
Kusasungun and Young Gammon. I mean, they're
going to be singing your praises in this market
for years. On behalf of everyone, I say thank
you so much. And now it's time for you to rest
on your laurels. You've done it. And he kind
of reaches down and he pulls out this bag. Yes.
You need to thank Zebulon for that. I would if
he was here. I wish he came. I would have loved
to talk to Zebulon as well. All right, well,
here, just a little paragraph here in this document,
just detailing what you could do to help to push
the brand on your adventures and become luminaries,
which I am so sure you're going to do. And one
little closure here. See, here's a down payment
for you. This will be 200 gold. 100 split between
the two of you seems fair, right? Sure. All right,
first payment. Hey, a lot more to come, but,
you know, got to work to get the rest, right?
But hey, I think it's more than fair. I was going
to be 50, but you know what? You've done so much
for me. And you can take this gold. There's one
little stipulation. One little thing. That's
why I would like Zebulon to be here. Well, you
got me. That's what you get. Perhaps you can
spread this along then. Sign here. You become
luminaries. All the contract. You get the money.
You get the fame. I will make sure my brother
and I, we're expanding. we're bringing it we're
raking it in soon and you are going to have a
big piece of that pie right there's one little
stipulation right here at the bottom you need
to leave subsumco today and we'll call it there
Of course we're recording. Happy birthday to
you. Happy birthday, dear David. Happy birthday
to you. It's not coffee, is there? Wow, that
shattered glass, I think. There is still coffee,
though. Blow it out. We can do both at the same
time. Make a wish. We'll make a wish.