Storyteller David here. You guys having fun?
Great. Well, you know the fun doesn't have to
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pants party. Thank you much. Enjoy the episode.
our heroes wasted no time leaping into the danger.
Teaming up with their former rivals, Dance Macabre
and Ramin Rasool, Jules and Zebulon rushed to
the aid of a few locals in a desperate state.
Trapped within the flames, they had overtaken
their market tent. Dance Macabre managed to carry
out Cusa Sangoon, and Zebulon, aided by Jules'
magic, managed to save her son, Gammon. Though
the luminaries to be managed to save the day,
a darkness yet lingers over the Dinsignite market.
There was evidence present that a fire was intentional.
A suspicious cut in the side of the Zunkum's
tent. And the peelings of persimmon are all the
investigators have to go on. As dawn rose on
the following day, the party split up and traveled
back into the market proper. Zebulon to speak
with the rescued victims, Dance and Ramin to
speak with the current, like -less suspect, and
Jules to meet with their potential new sponsor.
But Jules' meeting swiftly took a strange direction,
as Casamaroon delivered upon him a rather strange
deal. Full sponsorship for seven jewels and a
200 gold bonus. As long as they drop an investigation
and leave Sosanko today. I can banter a little.
I'll lead you off because if you don't lead us
off, I'm going to talk about NBC's Heroes some
more. Oh, yeah. We can do without more NBC's
Heroes. I maybe have a better idea. So for the
past six weeks or so. In my dehydrator, I've
had 100 heads of garlic. I made what came out
to be over five pounds of black garlic. I love
black garlic. You do? Yeah. Okay. See, I didn't
realize that it was so well -known and prolific.
I thought it was like this niche little thing
that I was doing. And then I threw it up on my
Facebook. And everyone's like, oh my God, I love
black garlic. Holy shit. What are you doing with
the black garlic? This and that, blah, blah,
blah. So my plan was to make like a bunch of
it for like Christmas gifts. Um, cause I wanted
to make some and it was like, if I'm going to
run the dehydrator for six weeks, I might as
well do a shit ton of them. Right. So I bought
a hundred heads of garlic. Holy shit. Jesus.
Wrapped it up in tinfoil. They spent six weeks
in the dehydrator and I spent many, many, many,
many hours. uh, getting the actual garlic out
of the husk out of the heads. That was awful,
horrible thing. Oh, it's sticky as hell. Yeah.
Very sticky. It's really difficult to work with.
Took a long ass time. Yeah. I'm so thrilled to,
I mean, that's the thing is like I spoiled the
Christmas surprise for pretty much everybody,
but I just, I could not hold in my excitement
any longer. It's awesome. There's been six weeks
of anticipation. Here's black garlic. So next
time I see you, Jeremy, I'll probably have some
black garlic for you. The only guy I know that
would get that excited over garlic that has dehydrated
for a long time. You're like, I cannot wait for
this garlic that has dehydrated for a long time.
Dude, it's very exciting. Have you had black
garlic? I haven't. Oh, my God. All right, we'll
make you something. All right. You need to bring
some next week. We'll just do something nice
and simple, like a nice. Fresh roll, and we'll
just spread a little bit. Yeah, a little bit
of butter, then a little bit of black garlic.
It's going to be fantastic. It no longer really
tastes like garlic. It tastes more like, I guess
the closest thing I can compare it to is maybe
like a spreadable raisin. Yeah. But in a good
way. What? Yeah. Yeah. What? Yeah. Okay. It's
fantastic. Once you actually do it, you'll be
like, oh, I see exactly what you mean. All right.
Yeah, I mean, I'll try it. I'll make a compound
butter. That'll be easier than spreading two
things. Huh. Yeah. Speaking of this, you mentioned
Christmas presents, and I should note, hey, everybody,
how was your Christmas? Oh, yeah, that's right.
Not you guys, but those guys. The guys are with
us in spirit. Yeah, because this is happening.
We're right now a week before Christmas, just
about, a little less than. And yeah, when this
comes out, we'll be a week after. Yeah. Happy
New Year. No, it'll be two weeks after. Two weeks.
Well, I hope it was a great one, guys. It's New
Year's. I hope it was fantastic. I think it's
New Year's Day. No, not New Year's Day. New Year's
Day is Sunday. It's a Sunday. Oh. I think. Yes.
Yeah. It is a Sunday. All right. So it'll be
January 2nd, I think. January 2nd. I think. I
could be eating those words later on. Stephen,
do you have a fork for Jeremy's words? We had
one in the room at all times, just in case. Horses
and forks. That's all Fantasy Pants is about,
is horses and forks. Do either of you guys do
the New Year resolution thing? No. I don't either.
I like to think about it a little bit in my head
and be like, okay, maybe just privately think
of some things that I might want to do, but I
wouldn't call them resolutions. Yeah. More of
just like, fresh start, New Year, you know. New
things ahead. Like maybe I'll fold the laundry
the day it comes out of the dryer. Yes. Yep.
I'm guilty of not doing that. Oh, yeah. I'm one
of those that takes my clean laundry out of the
dryer and I do the same thing with my dishwasher.
Clean dishes are in there all week and I pull
them out. Oh, yeah. All right. So we're in the
same boat. We're in the same boat. Yeah. Yeah.
That's why my sink is always full of dishes when
you guys are over. I want to live that life,
but I am far too married and will get in so much
trouble if I even think of such barbarism. Barbarism.
Barbanism. Hey, that was all right. Yeah, I got
it. It works. First try. We edit that out. No.
Damn it. No. Yeah, I think every year lately,
when it's New Year, I make my resolution. I'm
just like, I want to start another Dungeons &
Dragons campaign. And you did. And I did. I always
do, and it's insane because I have too many,
and I barely get to sleep anymore. But I love
it, so hey, here we are. Here we are. Hello to
all the work peeps who are going to be joining
David's work campaign. Yes, it's coming. Shadow
the Dragon Queen. I'm very excited to get into
the Dragonlance setting. Hell yeah. But we're
not doing that tonight, gentlemen. We're doing
Fancy Pants. And that means we're doing Journeys
Through the Radiant Citadel. And on our first
journey, we found ourselves on Sipsunko. And
you found yourselves in a little investigation.
As we zoom into the Dinsing Market. I want that
sirenscape, if you don't mind. Let me get this
going. Oh, yes. I like that. We're going to pick
up with Zebulon. Sebulon, you're moving through
the market, passing people. Again, there's a
sort of forlorn atmosphere today. Everything
is a little subdued. Everything's a little gray,
a little sad. Not as colorful and excited as
it was yesterday. I want a little investigation.
Sure. Well, the tragedies that occurred last
night, a violent act, perhaps, unfounded in this
market. One family's livelihood gone. Them just,
the two, the mother and son who sort of managed
the stall of Zungun's family's seafood are now,
or were, critically injured. You're looking for
them now. And you know that the Tianmo Noodle
Shop, another one of the larger families in the
market, has been essentially cordoned off to
their own tent somewhere outside the market proper,
being watched over by some local folk. Likely
they're going to be exiled, or worse, because
they are suspected in this crime as a sort of
aftermath of this, of this, you know, sort of
continuous... Market war they've had with each
other. Little pranks back and forth. Just this
building, building, building until it boiled
over is the current running theory. But our heroes
seem to have a different theory. We'll get to
that in a minute. You're moving through the market.
You pass the burned remains of the tents, destroyed.
You keep moving. You know that there's a medical
tent sitting just outside the northern part of
the market where... Kusa Zungun and Gamon Zungun
should be resting. You still want to go and visit
them? Yeah. Okay. So you're passing by. You move
up to the tent. You see there's not a lot of
folk here. They're all kind of gathered. It's
a lot of work. You know, work has to happen.
The market has to be rebuilt, and the people
are at it. So when you move to this tent, it's
very lightly sort of crowded. It's just a simple
sort of, you know, tent opening, curtain opening,
and no one guarding it, nothing like that. You
want to go in? Yeah, I'll go in. Okay. Zebulon
will anyway. Push open. I think we're still split
up, aren't we? Yes, you currently are. You move
into this room. You see that there's two sort
of sleeping pads laid out on the floor. It's
a very small, sparse tent. If you like medical
herbs, sort of hang in different spots. The tent
is filled with this sort of sweet, sweet smell.
A little too sweet, almost unpleasant. You see
in the far corner of the room, Gamon Zungun yet
sleeps. The child you pulled from the flames.
Softly snoring. You see, uh... You see there's
a number of flowers just, like, built up all
over his side of the room. Donations likely from
various market goers. And something else catches
your eye. Something a little weird. Resting just
on top of the flowers or nestled, kind of peeking
out of the bouquet, you see a persimmon. Ooh,
I thought you were going to say a pangolin. No,
no. And then you even started to say the P. The
other Sosanko P word. I just saw dollar signs
in your eyes. It's just pangolins, persimmons
all day long. Hey, Gammon, that's going to be
10 gold. You notice this, you clock this, but
before I think you... managed to act on it. Closer
to you, towards the front of the tent, there's
another sleeping pad with the larger, much more
heavy set. Kusa Zangun, who's kobold. Kind of
like, I don't know if I ever said, they're like
small sort of dragon -looking people. They kind
of look very similar to you, Zebulon, but a few
sort of key differences. She sort of turns her
head over and groggily starts to take you in,
and when she realizes who is standing in her
tent, her eyes... pop open and she sits right
up, almost like winces when she does, like it
hurts her. It's okay, it's okay. You, it's you.
Thank you, thank you. You carried him from the
fire. Oh, I mean, yeah, I just want to make sure
you guys are okay. Don't get up, please. Lie
back, sit back down. She's still getting up.
She's almost like limping, trying to climb off
it, and she wants to step over you. So Zebulon
goes over to her and like, you know, Doesn't
push her down, but puts a hand on her shoulder
and tries to guide her. The second you get within
range, she wraps her arms around you and pulls
you in fiercely. Oh, okay. All right. You can
feel like a wetness touching your shoulder where
her head rests. That's okay. That's okay. We
got you. We got you. Just like sobbing for a
moment. And after a moment, she breaks off and
kind of like wipes her eyes. I'm sorry. I appreciate
it so much. I thought... Damn. It's okay. We're
gonna figure this all out. Please don't be sorry.
How's Gammon doing? He'll be okay. He's still
sleeping. He hasn't awoken since it all happened.
He's gotten a lot of flowers. Must be a really
popular kid around here, huh? And she actually
smiles a little bit like, not really. They always
thought he was a troublemaker in the market,
but we are family here. You're now too, I heard.
Raya. Yeah, I mean, that's, that's, we're going
to put that on the back burner, I guess. I think,
I think this is a little more important right
now. What do you mean? It's, you saved us. It's
done. We don't need you to. Stay for our recovery.
We're okay. Well, I was hoping that you could
tell me a little bit about your, uh, your tiff
with the, uh, the other market goers. Um, Shadow,
Kozawerface, just the Tienmos. I don't know why.
It happened about a week ago. It's only been
a short while. We used to be on good terms, but
they've been at us for some time, and they're
saying that we're doing the same thing to them.
We haven't done anything. Every little thing
stolen. They say that we stole them. And yet,
it's weird. Sometimes they turn up in our shop,
but that's them. They're planting it to make
us look bad. I don't know what's wrong with Lamai
and her family. We used to be friends. And now
this. I'm sure it was her. Her, her that set
fire to my shop. Her, that bastard tortle. You
know, as I was running towards the kitchen, I
very much did slip on a fish and very much almost
died. If I find that tortle again, she shakes
her face like, starts shaking. She seems to have
forgotten that you were... I was going to say,
I was like, wait a minute, does she mean Jean?
Yeah, you actually, you remember when the first
time you heard Jean Franklin with her, he was
like yelling, he was reaming her out at the Zungun
stand and saying, and he literally said the words,
I hope you trip on a fish and die. Oh, that's
right. So it seems like he's also a suspect in
her mind. Right. And she saw you with him yesterday,
but in everything that's happened, I think it's
slipped her mind that you were in his presence.
And there's no local authority here? There's
no police? From what you've seen, it's basically
like they're all, like I said, it's a big family
in the market, and the market kind of polices
itself. They don't have anyone sort of standing
on top. It's just a number of families that some
may have more money, more power, more influence,
but for the most part, they're all together in
this. Okay. It's a community, and they police
like a community. Yeah. Can you remind me of
her name again? This is Kusa Zangoon. Sorry.
This is getting to be a lot of names. Yeah, it
is. It's a lot of this art. So, look, again,
I'm really sorry about what happened. I'd like
to stay at least long enough to try to help figure
everything out and find some sort of... I don't
know, resolution. But I need to go find my partner.
If you don't mind, I'd just like to leave a little
something for Gammon, and I'll leave you two
to rest. And Zebulon pulls out the Laopop flowers
that he got from that mean, mean lady when they
first arrived in the night market. And he'll
go over and set them down with the rest. And
I'd like to investigate the persimmon while I'm
over there. Okay. I'm hoping to see if it's,
you know, with a particular bunch of flowers
or. You know, I want you to roll investigation
on the persimmon. Okay. Investigation rolling
with a negative two. Oh, no. It's not going to
be a high one. Very low DC. That's cracked. Okay.
Well, it was a natural two. Okay. That's a zero.
Yeah, you. Yeah, I don't. move over and you just
kind of take a glance at it and it's just, it's
sitting there. It looks like, kind of like an
apple maybe. What does this mean? This persimmon
is shaped like an apple. God, I guess I'm going
to palm it and take it with me. Okay. So maybe
I'll do like a swap, put the loud pop flowers
down and grab the persimmon. I think you hear
Kusa's kind of almost like muttering to herself
like, I just don't know how they did it. Demon
was just cleaning on the other side of the curtain
leading into the kitchen space. You were there.
He was putting away the cooking supplies. I was
out front cleaning up. I remember there was a
whooshing sound. You know, like a sudden starting
flame. And then I heard something large drop.
Something rolling. I smelled cooking oil. Just
a moment later, he cried out. I tried to run.
That's when I slipped. That's when the fire started
covering everything. So the fire started from
Gammon's side of the tent? Yes. Yes, it was over
there. I didn't see, but I know it was someone.
Lamai, someone. Gammon's careful. It wasn't an
accident. They're going to say it wasn't an accident.
It wasn't an accident. Well, we're going to work
to figure this out. Will you just... Will you
let me know when Gammon wakes up? Yes. Of course,
he'll want to thank you. All right, that's good.
I'd like to see him make sure he's okay, too.
You move to leave? Yeah, I'm going to... Everyone's
going to head out to find Jules. As you go to
move to leave, the tent flap opens again, and
you see carrying another set of flowers and another
bouquet in. is Fi from Fi's Flora, a woman in
this very colorful, large dress that has woven
flower petals in here and there, just very extravagant,
who just stops and looks around. She covers her
head and is like, Oh, hi, little Zeb. I heard
you're a big hero. There is no way. There is
no way in this universe that this lady would
act like that. I refuse to believe that after
saving a child from a fire, this lady who I had
a previous interaction with, who seemed apologetic
upon leaving. You could see a hint of a smile
playing in her lips and you see she's like teasing
you. Nice to see you. I guess. And I think, like,
that smile drops you. It's, like, more serious
and just says, like, listen, I'm sorry. I couldn't
resist, but thank you. This is my sister in the
market. Amon's my nephew, so to speak. And yours
now, too. You are Rhea. You are my kin. Well,
that's nice to hear you say that. I've got a
question about... Something for you. Oh, sure.
Anything. Did a lot of people come to your stall
to get flowers to bring to Gammon? Yes. Oh, yes.
We've made a lot off of this. Yeah. Well... Of
course, I gave away most of them for free. I
mean, I can gather more. I have fields out in
the mountains I can go to. That's nice of you.
Did you happen to see this at all while you were...
selling anybody flowers? And Zebulon pulls out
the persimmon. Oh. Yeah, I sell those. They're
trees that grow out in the mountain range. Usually
no one else travels that far, so I'm the only
shop that normally sells the persimmons, but
yeah. Oh, I was hoping to... I mean, it looks
so good. I was hoping to find whoever sold them.
Oh, thank you. Somebody's got good taste, huh?
You're sweet. Do you remember who bought the
persimmon? I mean, individual persimmon? I mean,
a lot of people have bought them from the store.
I mean, they're not the hottest selling item,
but they sell here and there. Right, okay. So
I just didn't know. Yeah. Honestly, they've been
selling great lately. She kind of laughs to herself.
Yeah, one of the locals has taken a sudden heavy
interest in them. They're making a lot of money
off of that, but drugs. Well, I was going to
ask about some recipes. Maybe you could hook
us up. Oh. I'm an avid home cook. And this is
a new ingredient for me. I was going to take
a bunch home and cook with them. So I could buy
some off of you, but if I don't get a good recipe,
then it's not worth the risk. Go ahead and roll
persuasion with advantage. It's going to be pretty
low DC, honestly, because this is not a big ask
at all. Right. Ooh, that first roll, was that
a four? Yeah. But advantage, so... Oh, look at
that. Same roll. Four. So plus one is a five.
I can't believe it. I think something about the
way you step up, it's like this would normally
be okay, but something seemed off -putting. And
she almost withdraws a little bit. She's like,
oh, yeah, maybe I've already said too much. I
shouldn't maybe talk about the others in the
market without their consent. Oh, I totally get
it. I overstepped, and I didn't mean to insult
you. No, no, no, it's me. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry.
I understand. It's honestly totally a valid thing
you're asking. I just need to be careful. Okay,
yeah, I understand. I understand. All right,
well, I'll leave you all to visit. Like I said,
I got to go meet my partner, Jules. We got to
talk about this. I think we're going to try to
stick around and figure out what's going on.
Well, I'm glad to hear it. She just kind of nods
and A .S. turns to bring the flowers over to
Gammon, and you head out. Yeah, Zebulon's going
to keep his cool and leave the tent, and as soon
as the tent flap closes, he's sprinting to Fy's
stall. Oh, shit. That's awesome. I actually am
going to keep going with this then, because I
like this. Yeah, so you move swiftly through
the market, and I'm going to let you have this
because it's still being set up. You remember
where it was, and it's still early in the day,
so it's not taken down. Nothing's moved. Just
roll me a stealth check to get in without being
noticed. So you move up to the market. You look
around, lightly trafficked. Everyone who's around
is very busy, unfolding. tents and trying to
set up new frames and stuff here and there, loading
stuff to new spots. No one's looking your way.
The opening's before you. Ooh, you know what
I'm going to do? I'm going to roll one of my
new die that I got from Spectral Craft Ice. Ooh,
yes! We threw her information on the Instagram,
but we'll do it again, especially in the show
notes. We got a grab bag from their shop. Wicked
cool stuff. Check them out. Spectral Craft Ice.
Here we go. Well, there's just a two on the die,
but I have a plus seven. Okay. So it's a nine.
Okay. Why can't I roll tonight? All right, so.
It means all the bad ones are out of the way,
right? Two fours and a two. That's absolutely
what it means. All the bad rolls are out of the
way. You step over. You kind of look around for
a second, and you think the way is clear. You
push in. Let this sort of curtain fall in behind
you, and you hear a voice kind of almost from
far away. Just go like, oh, excuse me. Hey, excuse
me. Hey. And you hear someone like they're moving
towards you. You have time, but where before
you were going to have unlimited time in here,
now you might not. What do you want to do? Shit.
I want to look behind the counter for her logbook.
Okay. You're going behind the counter specifically.
Roll me investigation with advantage because
you did choose a solid location to start this
off. Okay. Doesn't need to be high. Well. This
needs to not be complete garbage. Well, good
thing it's advantage because that was a crit
fail. Oh my gosh, Steven. Dude, a three on the
die. Oh my gosh, Steven. Okay, you're digging
around. You're looking around through and you
think you might see. like a book, but it's taking
you too long and you're like reaching out and
all of a sudden the tent flap opens up and a
pretty burly guy comes in. It's the guy that
talked to you the other day when you first came
in. Oh my God, yeah. He walks in and he's just
like, excuse me, hey, you there, I can see you.
Zebulon pops up behind the counter with the persimmon
in his hand and goes, ah, persimmon, found it.
What is that? Okay. What? Why are you looking
for a persimmon? Oh, well, I was just talking
with Fi. Fi's here right now. Because I thought
I saw her walking away pretty shortly. Which
way? Towards the medical tents. She was bringing
a bouquet. Yeah, I met her over there. Oh, you
spoke with her? Okay. Over there. So now, hold
on. You almost made it sound like there was somebody
else that looked like Fi, but you said she was
at the medical tent? That's what I got, too.
No, no, he was saying because he saw her walk
that way a while ago. Oh, okay, okay. Yeah, we
were talking about persimmons. Came by to grab
one, and he pulls out, I don't know, whatever
is the appropriate amount of money and puts it
down. I just wanted to scoop another one. It's
so tasty. You like persimmons? No. You know any
good recipes? And Zebulon's walking out towards
the door as he's saying all this. He's not, like,
standing, you know. Okay. So now they're, like,
next to each other. He's kind of staring you
down. Give me a quick persuasion just to see
if you can get this guy. No, deception check.
Deception check to see if this guy is going to
be suspicious of you or not. I guess it can't
get any worse, can it? For the love of God. Why?
Why? It's a five on the die. I've got a negative
one. Okay, you see he kind of like, as you just
kind of step out of the tent, he kind of puts
his back to it and is kind of watching you. And
he's just, he's not going to like, he's not going
to be hostile. He even says like, well, you are
Rhea, so I'm not going to. But it's probably
best you move along. You know, it can be, some
of the folk here can be a little suspicious if
you move into tents that are unoccupied. I know
that it's a tense time right now. I didn't mean
to be disrespectful. I'm still learning the rules.
You know, Rhea, family, I just... All right,
so unoccupied tents, just off limits. He just
nods like, yes, yes, that would be the best.
And he just kind of leans up sort of in front
of the doorway, so it's going to be very difficult
to get back in here unless you want to cut your
way in the back or something like that. No, no,
Zebulon's just going to... Now I need to just
go find Jules. Okay, all right. We're exiting
this situation. I'm so sorry. I need somebody
else with another set of dice to come in. Like,
you wouldn't need to enroll investigation if
you hadn't failed the stealth, because you would
have no infinite time to search. Hey, man, that's
the game. That's the game. That's the game. Yeah,
you got absolutely nowhere. Totally shafted.
Nowhere. So, Zebulon's moving away. And we zoom
away from that. Back to you, Jules. You are standing
in... The Arunes, the Spicy Brothers tent. And
Kasim has just given you an ultimatum. Full sponsorship,
200 gold. Right here, right now. But... You need
to leave Sosunko. Today. I make no decisions
without my partner. Of course, sure, yes. Bring
him in, bring him in. But I need to make this
clear. The... The ruby leaves at noon. And I
just, with everything that's happening here right
now in this world, and I'm very excited to get
your names out there, you know, really hyping
us up. So I would just be very eager to see you
off as soon as possible. You need to leave as
soon as you can. I mean, noon is coming. You
have a long trip. You'd need to leave within
a half hour to make it. I'll tell you. We will
tell you when and if we're leaving. Okay. I make
no decisions without my partner. I understand
that, but this is, well, I mean, I'll tell you
right now, this is a deal I'm giving you. I make
no decisions without my partner. Yes. All right.
Yes. No, of course. I understand. Perfectly.
You don't sound like you understand. No, no.
This is a working relationship, and I understand
I have to respect you, and I will expect some
respect in return, but hey, tense time. As you
said, I will let it go. I just hope you find
him soon, because I would really like to. I'll
find him when I find him. We'll talk about it
when we talk about it. Well, I'm going to hold
on to this, and he slides the gold coins back,
until I hear more. And if I find that you are
unwilling to work with me already so early, I'm
afraid I may not be able to sign you on like
I wanted to. Like I said, this is the best deal
you're going to get. I don't think any of the
market goers are looking for a sponsorship currently.
I mean, the way you're talking to me right now,
who knows what's going to happen? You're the
first and only one that I've talked to, so...
Well, I... He's like fidgeting his hand, smiling
at you. There's just something behind that smile.
You a little nervous there, huh? No, not at all.
I just... Normally, I believe these kinds of
relationships don't start off so rocky. But hey,
you have talent. I'd really love to sign you
guys on. I just hope that we can make something
work. Maybe we can make something work. Very
good. In time. After I talk to my partner. Well,
go. Go find him. Go. Quickly. Find him. I'm sure
he's out there somewhere. I'm going to go get
a roll first. I'm going to eat that roll. Then
I'll go find him. I'm hungry as fuck. All right.
I'm exhausted. Very well. I understand. He's
just watching you. I'm blinking. I give him a
nod and slowly stand up. And I walk out. As you
go to move out, very similar to Zembulad's scene,
the tent opens. Another figure walks in. You
see a very similar face to the one before you
as Vairun. his brother, older brother, and the
commentator for the games the night before, uh,
steps in. You can see immediately, like, where
Kasim is almost sort of, has a weaselly way about
him, and, uh, almost a shady grin, uh, in general,
just kind of, like, uncomfortable demeanor. Vi
is just, like, bigger than, like, larger than
life, very easygoing, very comfortable to be
around. He just looks in, like, oh, hey, Jules
the Roach, yeah? Yeah, that's me. Oh, man. Last
night, I was blown away. That final move you
did there, was that Tasha's laughter? Yeah. That
was amazing. I've never seen someone do that
in the games. I'm telling you. Oh, hey, hey.
I don't know why you're here, but I'm glad I
caught you. He reaches into his pocket, and he's
like, do you have one of these on you? And he
pulls out a recording diamond, which Chester
is like, oh, yeah, yeah, actually we do. And
he pulls out his. Oh, sorry. Who's supposed to
be playing Chester here? Who's supposed to be
playing Chester? In battle. You do. Not in battle.
Chester's his own man. I don't know about this.
So Vi kind of stops. He kind of sees you and
he's like, no, it's just, sorry. I didn't want
to intrude. As a consolation prize, the winner
gets the recordings of the night before. Everything
you did. I can just transfer it over and you'll
have it with whatever you have. Chester, I think
Zeb will like that. All right. Do you mind? And
he just kind of reaches his diamond out towards
yours. I just need to touch them. No funny business,
I promise you. You can roll insight if you want.
Maybe a bit later. Oh, all right. I gotta go.
We're on our way to find our partner here. He
slides back into his pocket. Why, uh... You know
what I'm asking? Why are you here anyway? I didn't
expect to see you in our tent. Ask him. And I
walk past him and walk out the tent. Okay. Um...
And I think as you move away, like, he's... You
just kind of overhear the snippet of conversation,
just kind of like, Kasim, I... And then Kasim
responds with, brother, you understand that whatever
decisions I make for my business no longer involve
you, right? I'm... And that's like the last you
hear before the tent falls. Okay, cool. I was
going to stand outside the tent for a second.
Oh, you want to keep listening? Yeah. Okay. There's
kind of this awkward silence, and it's just like...
Little brother, I... You can ask me for advice.
I'm happy to help in any way you... No, clearly
you're not. If you were happy to help, you wouldn't
be leaving for some... Some pretty young man
on Toledopec. It's fine, I'll handle things myself,
but... You know you're the one that made this
work. Another long pause, and then Vi's voice.
You... You need to believe a little more in yourself,
brother. You can make this happen. You can run
this on your own. You'll be fine. And then Kasim,
kind of almost under his breath, just says, Oh,
you're right. I will be. And you hear the sounds
of the eye moving towards the back of the tent.
It seems like the conversation has stopped. All
right, we'll start walking away. Okay. And you
move into the streets. Zebulon, you knew where
they were. So it's very, very short time before
Zebulon, boom, runs into you, literally just
smashes into you because that's the way he's
rolling tonight. Slips in the mud, falls face
first. Slips in the mud. Jules, Jules, Jules
Chester. Okay, I don't know. I think I got something.
What you got? So I'm going to guess that we already,
because this is the next day, so we've already
talked about like, How we found the persimmon
peel and blah, blah, blah. Yes. Yeah. I'm sure
you discussed all that. I think so. I went to
go see the young goons to check up, see how they
were doing. And look what I found in the pile
of flowers and stuff. And holds up the persimmon.
What? Goes, tells the story about Fi. Catches
you up. I think we need to go and try to figure
out who's been buying all these persimmons. Does
she have a ledger? You know, I'm not certain.
I'm pretty sure I saw one, but I think it was
like a four on the die. Oh, yeah, that's no good.
That's not going to get you that ledger. That's
a killer. That's a killer right there. Those
little rolls. Well, you got them out of the way,
okay? So I think we're good from here on out.
Yeah, exactly. We'll see about that. What about
you guys? What do you got? That Kassem dude.
He just made us an offer. Oh, hey, that's great.
Yeah, well... Yeah, I don't know about that.
Let's go talk to him. He threw some gold on the
table. This is sounding better and better to
me. He wanted me to sign a contract. Okay, I
mean, I think that's normal, right? Right now.
Okay. And we have to leave Sipsunko, he said.
Well, we're gonna leave Sipsunko. And we gotta
go be luminaries. Well, yeah. But he sounded
like he wanted us off here as soon as possible.
He wants us gone by noon. Today. Oh, well, like...
Well, that's simply not happening. Alright, cool.
So I guess we're all on the same page then. I
mean, did you tell him that? I told him I had
to talk to you first. We're a team, aren't we?
Well, do you want to go see him? Let's let him
sim it down for a second. Okay. Well then, the
way I see it, we can either go and try to get
that ledger from Fi, or we could go see the Tianmos.
I will say, you do know that you have sent Ramin
Rasool and Dance Macabre to talk to the Tianmos,
so if you find them, they might be able to give
you some information too. Yeah, why don't we...
Why don't we go try to find them? Okay. Let's
go meet up with... I think that's the last piece
we've got to check out right now. Dance. Okay.
All right. So you guys, I will say it does not
take you long. Maybe like 10 minutes moving through
the marketplace, kind of keeping your eyes open,
and you see all very notable in their garments,
Dance Macabre and Rummy and Rasool. You see their
sidekicks are not with them. Pepper and Trace
are just not there. You're not sure what's going
on with that. Hey, guys! Hey! Come here! Dance
looks at you, glances away with a huff. Both
hands. Hey! Also both hands. Hey! He's just waving
back to you very friendly. And then he just dashes
over. Hey. I was looking for you guys. What you
got for us? Oh, yes, we have been speaking with
Atienmos. Jules Zeros, straight to business.
I don't know, he got whispers. I don't know what
you said to dance, but I'm so glad that we're
working together now. I don't remember what we
said to dance either. I mean, even if it does
sound like it might be only temporary, it's good
right now. Yes, well, and she kind of like moves
up there too. And she's kind of like in the conversation,
but sort of, you know. kind of purposely looking
away, won't meet you guys in the eye. You know,
she's happy to work with you, but she's not happy
to work with you, if that makes sense. She's
mad she's lost. Yes. Though it was a bit costly
joining sides with you here. Of course, when
the morning came, we had to send Pepper on his
way for turning to work with you guys. And then,
he kind of looks quizzical, Trace sent us on
his our way for working with you guys. So I guess
Trace is just as undying now. Congratulations
to Trace. So what does that make you guys? Well,
he just looks over at her and says, I guess it
makes us friends. And she just won't even look
at him. Her neck turns so far away. You feel
like she's almost like an owl trying to look
over her shoulder. She wants nothing to do with
this conversation at all. I like this. Justice,
the light undying. Yes. It's wonderful. No. Oh,
sorry. Sorry. Looks a little put off. We've been
speaking to the ten most. I don't know how things
have gone on your side, but I can't say we've
learned much. They're gathered up in a tent to
the north of the market. Sid Squid from the games
is there. He's watching over them with his burliest
chefs. I spoke to Lamai, and she says she had
nothing to do with the fire, that she would never
harm the Zangoons, despite everything they've
put her through, that everything that's happened
has been on their end, that she's done nothing
from the beginning. But Lamai was apparently
at her personal tent during the game, and only
her family can vouch for her, so it's looking
likely that she could have been the one. So it's
a classic, he said, he said. Let me roll real
fast, actually. That was hard to say. That's
correct. Okay. I will say, I looked into her
eyes when we spoke. I believe her for what it's
worth. I don't think she was the one to do it.
Something's not adding up here. Well, we need
some more information. And what have you learned?
Anything? Dance finally speaks up. Not a whole
hell of a lot. Well, we learned that the Xanguns
sure think it was the Tianmos. You guys know
anybody here who's pretty keen on persimmons?
Dan Shrugs, I told you last night. The flower
seller sells them, that's all I know. But you,
I mean... I'm afraid I didn't even know that.
No, nothing. Have you looked into this flower
seller, though? Yes, I was doing that. Perhaps
she has records? I imagine it would be a very,
very, very, very, very, very, very, very simple
task to just go into her tent and look at them,
and barely anyone could mess up such a simple,
simple task. Well, yeah. Yeah, she's got, I mean,
booby traps, and did you know she has armed guards
in there? Oh, my. Wow. It was not. What he means
to say is he rolled like shit. All right, Jeremy.
We got to get back in that tent. Yeah. And that's
where I was thinking, like, that has to be our
next course is trying to get that name. Yeah.
Do you have any great ideas? I think Chester's
stealthy. Well, I'm stealthy, too. I love that.
And you see how that turned out. You're off the
table. You're gone. No one wants you anymore,
Zebulon. Get out of the party. I mean, yeah,
that's true. You know, dance is pretty stealthy.
And also not Zebulon. What if we create a little
distraction and you go on in there? You know
where it is, right? I mean, I think, I assume
it's behind the counter. I just, I didn't have
time. That guy came in and messed everything
up. I'll figure something out. Let's get to the
tent. What do you want me to do? Should I go
in with Zeb or stick with you, Jules? You stick
with me. All right. And what of us? Are we to
be part of this destruction? Absolutely. She
looks interested, intrigued, and kind of just
nods, and they follow along with you guys. That
sound good, Zeb? That sounds good to me. Think
you can handle that? Yeah. Second time around?
Hey, hey, I slipped, all right? I slipped. All
right, all right. All right. All right, let's
go. All right. So you guys move from there, and
it maybe takes you about 10, 15 minutes. As you're
moving down, Ramin kind of breaks off and moves
next to you. Zebulon says, Zebulon, I have a
spell that may assist you in your matter. If
you don't mind, just before you go in, allow
me to cast something on you. Oh, sure. What's
the spell? It is called Guidance. It will grant
you, well... It'll give you some blessing that
will assist you in some way when you begin to
move in. I know it's vague, but the Sunweaver
works in mysterious ways, yes? Well, thank you.
I'll take a mysterious boon. He just smiles softly.
So I imagine you're going to stay just out of
the area where this is all going to take place,
maybe around the corner, and then once the distractions
are going to move in? Once I hear a distraction,
I can... Ramin breaks off with you, and that's
when you guys get to the point where you can
see, you know, you're getting close enough. You
probably should get out of there because this
guy's watching. You see him over there. He doesn't
clock you yet, but he's still kind of like, he's
working, but he's kind of continuously looking
back at that tent. Ramin, I need you to be my
lookout. Oh. You see that guy over there? Yes,
that guy. He looks, he points at him. That guy
there? No, shop, shop, shop. That guy there.
No, don't do that. Oh, oh, sorry, sorry. Yes.
He was the one who saw me. Oh, dear. When he's
not looking, you give me the signal, and I'll
go into the tent. Very well. So he leans up.
You guys are around one side of the tent. You
get to one corner where you can't be seen, and
he's leaning up just around the corner from you,
trying to look like... and looking so unnatural
doing it. He's kind of an awkward dude. Very
likable, but he's just very authentic, I guess
you can see. So he's trying to be something he's
not right now, and it comes off as weird. But
he just kind of puffs out his chest a little
bit and crosses his arms, and he's just leaning
up like, Am I doing a lookout? You look great.
Excellent. Yeah, just tell me when he's not there.
I will. Not looking. Okay. He'll be there. Great.
So you guys split off from the group. And then
we have Dance, Chester, and Jules moving forward
up from front of the tent towards a large crowd
of people who are kind of like working on various
stuff. Again, not a lot of them are looking your
way. Just one guy who's kind of suspiciously
glancing over here and there. Just not sure what
to make of all that. What do you want to do,
Jules? I think I'm going to look over to Zebulon.
Give him a little nod. What's up? Hoping he gives
me a little confirmation of a nod back so I can
start this distraction here. Give him a solid
nod. All right. Then I'm going to... Jules is
going to step into the middle of the crowd out
in front. Gather around, everybody. Gather around.
I got something I want to say. You know, Dance,
just a little while ago, we was enemies, but
now I got a question for you. Do you want to...
Do you wanna dance with me today? I think I wanna
I think I wanna dance with you Friend or foe
We'll put on a show And I'll look to you And
say Do you wanna dance, dance? You look over
and you see like Dance looks Surprised Um, she's
actually moved a little farther away from you.
And it's just kind of standing there kind of
like, kind of like she's just looking at you,
you know, no, no real expression, I guess, but
just like her eyes lingering in a way they, they
weren't before. Uh, Chester again is pumping
the air. So excited. Uh, and, and during this
moment, like I said, no check, uh, Ramin, uh,
sort of looks on the corner. Uh, Sebula, go.
and he casts Guidance on you as you move past
him. You can feel a slight swelling of power,
and you can roll a d4 on an ability check of
your choice within the next one minute. Okay,
that'll be useful. Okay, and you're moving in
again to Stealth into the Tent? Yes. Hell yes.
You hear all this. At this point, the song is
still going on. It's still happening. Everyone's
staring at Jewel, still roaring, and so you go
to move. dash down the way. I think just about
the time, I think Jules, you can hear he's about
to finish, but everyone's still locked on him.
I want you to roll a stealth check as you move
in towards this crowd, towards this tent, and
into the entrance. All right. And go ahead and
roll with advantage. And that d4. Okay. Even
you shouldn't be able to fuck this up, Steven.
We'll see. I'm going to use my new... Oh my gosh.
I'm going to use my new Labradorite dice. That
my wife, Rachel, got me for my birthday. Oh,
hell yeah. And you threw it on the ground. Rachel,
he just threw it on the ground. Scowling. Good
thing for this big rug. All right. Stealth with
advantage. That's a 19, so plus seven. Okay.
I'm not going to use my d4, I don't think, but
let's roll, see if we crit. Not a crit, just
a nine. All right, you slide into the tent. with
that roll. Real easy. You feel comfortable. You
still hear cheering outside. You hear nothing
that sounds, you know, remotely suspicious and
you slide into the tent. Rush over to the desk
again or to the counter again. Give me investigation.
Okay. And you still have that D4. You still feel
this weird tingling energy within you. Almost
like you're able to hyper focus if you want to
use it. Alright, I'm using that same die. It
rolled well, so. Alright. I don't think the d4
is going to help me here, but it's going to have
to. It's going to have to. It's going to be a
very low dc at this point. You already looked
here. You know where it is. It's a 6 and a minus
1 for investigation. Oh, no, sorry. I'm a minus
2 for investigation. It's not even worth rolling
the d4. No, no. I'm going to tell you. I'm going
to tell you right now. I was actually just looking
for a dc5 for this. You already knew what it
was. It's worth it. This is literally only because
of this. You can do it. Otherwise, you would
have not. It's literally a one. I literally rolled
five. You hit it exactly. You scramble, and you
just manage at the last second. I think you're
almost doubting. It's not here. It's not here.
And then you see there's a little black book
kind of pushed to the back, and you kind of noticed
it before. You kind of reach in, pull that out,
and you open it up and flip through. Or do you
want to just take it? Do you want to look at
it and put it back, or do you want to take it
with you and leave? Your call. I'm going to flip
through. Okay. Zebulon's going to flip through.
Flip through real quick, and you're looking at...
I will tell you this. This is going to take longer
than the psalm, for sure, because you're reading
through various papers, trying to find the exact
name. Well, I figure I'm just looking for permisson,
permisson, permisson, permisson. Hmm. Roll investigation.
We're going to see how long this takes. Great.
Another roll. You can't just take the book? You
could take the book. I know, but I feel like
that's going to lead to trouble down the road.
Yeah, true. I mean, if the check roll's bad,
if Zebulon's sitting there and he's taking too
long and he hears the song end, he can just grab
it and run, right? Sure, yeah. Yeah, it's another
shitty roll. Okay, you're going through trying
to read, trying to read, trying to read. And
before you get up, you kind of hear Jules finish
the song. It's just ending right now. There's
cheers. You have a moment where people are still
kind of like distracted by Jules, like, you know,
just raining applause on him. But you need to
go right now. Yeah, kind of just pocket it and
go. Advantage on stealth, check out the door.
All right. Your guidance is gone. Imagine what
would happen if I didn't have advantage or Jules
just like singing an actual song. And the way
the rules are going, if I made him roll, who
knows? First roll's a six. Okay, second roll's
11, so 18. Okay, you're fine. So you whip out,
you charge out, and, like, just as you leave,
I think, like, we see Zebulon move out of the
tent, tent flap closes, he goes, turns around
to the corner of the tent to go, like, where
he would be out of sight, and just as it happens,
you see, like, zooming across this, like, small
area here, the man from earlier kind of, like,
ha, yeah, and you see his head just shifts back,
like, he just remembers, like, oh, yeah, I was
watching that, and he looks back at the entrance,
sees it's fine, and turns back to, like, yeah,
go, go, yeah. You just barely make it out with
the book. So you're waiting for Jules. Jules,
what are you doing? I'm sweating my balls off.
Oh, man. I'm creating that distraction. But I
think I'm still just waiting outside with the
group, just kind of standing there awkwardly.
I'm still not used to, you know, being in the
spotlight. Yeah, it was just a few minutes of
just people like, yeah, yeah, yeah, just shouting.
Right now there's no, like, market goers. It's
just the people who, like, are built here, people
who work here. But still, you've managed to gather
a bit of a crowd. But as a little time passes
and some pats on your back, go on nudging around
these big burly guys and half -orcs, dragonborn
humans, just like, boop, boop, boop. They're
just, like, nudging you. And they all kind of
turn and go back to their carpentry work. And
Chester just kind of, like, tugs on you and is
like, come on, come on. And starts trying to
pull you away while you have a moment. And it's
kind of just like following at a slight distance.
Okay. And you guys round that same corner. Zebulon
went around. And I imagine Zebulon's there waiting.
Yeah. When Zebulon finally gets out of the tent
to Ramin, he goes over. How was the song? I couldn't
hear anything. I mean, I could hear a little
bit. It was kind of muffled. But was it good?
Oh, you missed it? Did you get the book? Oh,
the book, yeah. Sorry, I got the book. I'm sorry.
Then it was good. Then it worked. And? Yeah,
it's just you. What did you see? Oh, well, I
haven't checked it yet. You didn't check the
book. Well, no. Everything happens so fast. And
I rolled really bad again, so. You have time
now to look who's going to, I mean, she's going
to snatch it if nobody else does. Well, yeah,
I think, I mean, at least Jules and I, maybe
we'll do like a huddle. Yeah, everyone huddles
in. Yeah, yeah. So you just need five heads,
like trying to cram themselves in to look at
this book. But Zeb's got it. He's flipping through
the pages. Yeah, I'm going to pull off. Oh, no,
it's daytime. Well, you're tiny, so it's five
heads above you. Okay. Okay. Okay. Always got
to slip one in there. Oh, that's excellent. Everyone's
bent over at the waist, and there I am standing
full height. So you're just looking at Albert,
and it's just a lot of like, no, the data's wrong.
Go deeper. Like, ah, no, ah, yes, yes, persimmon
right there. Keep going down, keep going down.
And it's a lot of that. And then finally you
hit a point where it's just like you see that
she's, you know, early on in the book it's like
one persimmon, one persimmon, two persimmon,
selling out, like just kind of brief things.
And it's like, okay, well, it's far, you know,
different names, far between. And then suddenly,
dated about two weeks ago, you see one case persimmon.
And you look down, you see more, like, Later
on that same week, two -case persimmon. And just
a few of those, like, within the span of the
last two weeks now, they seem to have been selling
like crazy. There's even a little note, like,
going to have to grab more on my next trip out.
I'll have to take a special trip just for more
persimmons. And they all have the same name written
down next to them. And it's a name that I'm pretty
sure you guys won't be surprised to read. Chasm
Arun. Awesome, huh? So that's why he wants us
off the... So that's why he wants us off Sub
-Sunko. So this is... This is Kazamaru, and he's
the one who spoke at the event, yes? Yeah, that's
him. I don't know what he's playing at here.
But... And Dance looks kind of confused. The
one who had the persimmons, you think they're
the one that started the fire, yes? I mean, it's
all we have to go on. But Kasim was there the
whole time. He could not have left. It was a
public event, and the fire started during the
game. So it could not be him, yes? Who was with
Kasim? I mean, everybody was there. Was, uh,
did you see his brother? Ramin's just kind of,
like, nodding along. I mean, we were down below,
but from what I heard after the event, both Kasim
and Vi were there the whole time. They were commentating
together. They never left the game. So, Jules,
how about this? Let's go back and, Zebulon uses
air quotes here, negotiate with Kasim. Maybe
we can get him to say something, or we can take
a look around, try to gather some information.
We don't sign anything. I don't trust this dude
one bit. I don't, I don't trust him either. Um,
no, we're not gonna, we're not gonna agree to
anything. We need to keep our excitement in check.
Yeah, yeah. He's, he's a suspect. Not a, not
a sponsor. Hell yeah. I think, uh, Ramin and,
and Dan's kind of like, see this and they're,
they're just kind of starting to move away. Dan
says, where do you have your direction? But we're
not going to join your negotiations, so we'll
just patrol the market. Well, I mean, while we're
talking to Cashem, I mean, you know he won't
be out. You could do some investigating, maybe
poke around the area. She just nods. Very well.
Good luck. And her eyes linger on Jules a little
too long as she turns. And moves back into the
street proper. She looks him up and down. And
up and down. And up and down. And lingers down.
You guys leave behind the alley. You move back
into the street proper. You go across the market
back to the tent for the rooms. Now, it's been
a little while since you left. So you don't know,
I mean, like, you would have had to, by what
Casim said, had to have left by now to reach
the gem in time to get off world. So you move
up, you open the, you just go up and open the
front of the tent. I guess, I don't know, if
you knock on a tent, you announce your presence.
What do you do? I think we just walk in. Yeah,
I'm ready to just walk in. Move to that big neon
-esque pepper sign, all dimly lit now, and you...
push on in. You see Viaroon is kind of sitting
at the desk. He's just staring down like a picture
in his hand, sort of smiling to himself, and
he's, oh, hey, hey, you guys are back. Shoot,
you're looking for Kasim, aren't you? We would
like to negotiate. Oh, shoot. He's going to be
back. He actually went out to the we got a little,
sort of a peppered orchard just to the west of
town, just in the trees. He's heading out that
way. Do you got any negotiating power here? Yeah,
let's talk while he's gone. No, no, no, I'm Kind
of bites his lip. Look, I'm actually not really
a part of the business anymore. I'm not going
to be, at least. Oh, my goodness. Well, we were
so looking forward to working with you. I know,
and I would love to work with you guys, too.
It's just, he turns the picture around. You see
this young, handsome man in these sort of white
-looking robes. It's like, it's like a little,
like, like, like sort of, uh, you know, some
sort of recording diamond facet that allows him
to have a, basically a photograph. These kind
of exist here and there. Um, he's like, this
is, um, well, someone special to me. I'm, I'm
moving on. All right. I can't, I can't blame
you. Yeah. Look at that jawline. Yeah. Yeah.
Right. I know. I know. Yeah. I, uh, I'm going
to Lettepec. Wowee. Yeah. That's awesome, man.
I'm happy for you. Thanks. I'm happy for you.
Cass is so worried that the business is not going
to work without me. But I'm telling him, he's
got the people skills. He's got to look inside
him. He'll make it happen. Well, so, I mean,
can't you sell peppers over there? I mean...
Well, he doesn't want to go. He wants to stay.
He wants to stay here. And I get it. You know,
it's my life and my whim to leave. And I know
he's bummed, but it'll work out for him. He's
been nervous. But lately, he's been a lot more
confident. I think... I think he'll do okay.
Oh, man. Well, I mean, do you have any advice?
Like, how can we help get him more sure of himself?
I mean, hey, go find him. Seriously, tell him.
He won't want to negotiate. I mean, you guys
are with him. He'll be so excited. Yeah, to the
pepper fields. Can you show us? Yeah, I'll tell...
I can... There, very well. And he kind of sticks
in. Yeah, I'll bring you there. He just head
off that way to, you know, grab a batch. Bring
him back to get ready for the night. Here, you
want to go? Yeah, great. Tell us all about peppers
on the way over. Oh, my gosh. So you have the
skull pepper. He goes on and on, just like, oh,
yeah, the soil we grow that in is literally just
going on and on. You guys leave the tent, and
you work your way around the side of it. You're
kind of on the western side now, and you're pushing
out away from the actual market proper, up the
hill leading out to the trees. Pours you some
brush back. You're going into the heavy trees
of the jungle. Moving deeper, deeper, deeper.
And you move to this small orchard. Basically,
it's like, just up here. Here we go. I'll finish
our conversation about the sweet red hot pepper
later. It's my favorite. Oh, that sounds delicious.
It's sweet and red and hot. It's the names in
the tin. We'll get to it. And he pulls up this
last low -hanging brush in your way, and you
actually see this. Sort of open orchard before
you. There's trees loaded with different kinds
of peppers. There's like really small ones that
have those skull peppers. They're very rare,
hard to grow. He's telling you about them. It's
white, tiny little trees with like one or two
peppers each. And he's just moving out. And he's
like, now where? Oh, and he looks out and you
see Kasim is standing out in the sort of maybe
like 60 feet away from you. And he's not looking
at you. He's got a bag slung over his back. He
just kind of suddenly just haphazardly drops
on the ground and reaches into it. And he pulls
out a persimmon. You watch Kasim hold this persimmon
aloft. Anything you guys want to do? No, definitely
not. Nope. Um, um, um. Chester, Chester, pull
it out, pull it out. Huh? Record this. Oh, oh,
yeah, that's right, yeah. Record. And he starts
recording it. And Vi is like, he's about to yell
out, you see. He just goes like, hey. Jules puts
his hand up and stops him. He looks at you like,
confused? What are you? One sec. And he looks
back out. Is something wrong? No, this is just
fascinating. It's a man hot at work. He kind
of smiles a little bit, looks like, yeah, well.
And he looks up, and you all look up. And you
watch as... the, the persimmon in his hand just
suddenly goes, like, bites just appearing out
of it. And then all of a sudden, this creature,
it suddenly just, just like, materializes just
above his hand. It looks like this weird sort
of, it's got these large, it's very small. It's
a tiny creature with like almost a monkey -esque
body, like this sort of blue color for these
very huge wide green eyes and these little bat
wings just keeping it like hanging in the air.
Some strange creature. You've never seen this
before, I imagine. You could roll. It's going
to be very high. It's going to be Arcana. Why
not? Yeah, I mean, I'll at least roll. Can I
use this wonderful d20 from Spectral Craft Ice?
Please do. I got a 10. Don't worry about what
I got. It's less than 10. All right. So you don't
know what this thing is, but it's weird. It's
strange. It looks like, I think playing on the
breeze, you hear this playful, like there's almost
like a giggling laughter coming from this creature.
I hate that. And then it begins to, and then
Kasim opens up and begins to speak to this thing.
And the language is odd. Do either of you guys
speak Sylvan? Nope. So you don't understand what
he's saying. Vi looks kind of concerned. He's
like, what? What? Do you know that language?
He's telling, what is that thing? He's telling
it to leave? That they're done now? They can
have the persimmons, all of the persimmons, but
they have to go. Because they're done playing.
What is that thing, Vi? I don't, I don't know.
And he starts to move into the orchard. Hey,
Kasim! Kasim, what? And Kasim just whirls around
on him, eyes wide. He sees him. He sees you.
Damn it. What do you guys do? Chasm, it's over.
What do you mean? What do you mean? I think as
this is happening, Jules is grabbing the diamond
out of Chester's hand. And Chester lets you have
it, and he just goes down, pulls out his sling.
As I'm putting it in my pocket, I just say, stop.
Well, I think we've figured it out. You had those
things, whatever they are, start the fire, didn't
you? He recoils. He looks at the thing, just
looks at him, like confused, and he just ignores
it. Listen, hey, hey, hey, look, all right? It
was an accident. Look, look, look, look, look.
They're supposed to play some pranks. Get the
shops against each other. They're fighting what's
going to ruin their business, and I could just
buy out their stalls. All right? I didn't know
what was going to happen. Vi is leaving. I didn't
know what was going to happen to the Spicy Brothers
brand. So, hey, we'll expand it. Spicy Brothers
noodles. Spicy Brothers seafood. I could just
have a sure foot going ahead of me. It was going
to be easy. I get it. It's scary. No one was
supposed to get hurt. That was an accident. The
kid dropped an oil. It caught fire. The tent.
Everything. Look, look, look, look, look, look,
look. Guys, we can still go into business together.
Just keep this between us, okay? I'm going to
be big here in the market, and so you will be
big. You'll get payouts you wouldn't believe.
Just keep it hushed. No one has to know, okay?
I feel like I've been talking a lot. I was kind
of letting you take the lead on that. That's
fine, that's fine. Fuck you! Well, look, Cashm,
look, I think we can probably figure something
out, but we're going to need to all sit down
and talk this over. Why don't we go back to the
market and see what we can come up with? Or,
hey, what if we sign a contract here before going
back to everybody else? Because I don't like
the idea of going back to everybody else right
now when I don't know what you're going to do.
Or say. Okay. What about, we're holding all the
cards here. How about you come back with us?
You're holding all the cards. Huh? You're holding
all the cards. Is that what it looks like to
you? And he just, like, stares at you guys for
a long time. And just, like, says, no. No. No.
I worked hard for this. It's not going to waste.
None of it. I hurt people. It's not going to
waste. You're maybe Rhea, but you came off this
world. No one's going to care. Vi, you're going
to leave sooner or later anyway. No one's going
to care. He's sweating profusely. He's stepping
back. I know, Kasim. This is a really tough spot
for us to negotiate in. He yells this out. Not
to you. To the creature beside him that just
like halts back, eyes wide, and suddenly two
more of these things materialize in the air just
behind him. And they all stare at him. Their
heads cocked. Cali... Caru? Cali Caru. Cali Caru!
Cali Caru! Cali Caru! He's pointing right at
you, yelling at them. Vi, Vi, Vi, what's he saying?
What's he saying? And Vi, just like horrified,
just says, Kill them. You look back at these
creatures, you see their green eyes wide suddenly
fill with this malice. And all three of them
vanish. And we'll call it there. I still believe,
still believe. When I'm not with you, I lose
my mind. Give me a sign. Hit me, babe. One more
time. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. There's your placeholder.
Yeah.