Hey there, pants people. This is David here at
Fancy Pants Studios, and things are heating up
behind the scenes here. And in the show, we just
finished our first major arc. We're moving into
our second. A lot of wild shit's been happening,
and man, oh man, we want to talk about it. So
we're going to have another Fancy Pants unzipped
episode coming up. We're recording it in a couple
days, and we want questions. Please send us questions.
Check our Instagram at Fancy Pants Pod, our Facebook
at Fancy Pants Pod. Drop some questions if you
can, and hey, rate and review the show while
you're at it, while you're already on your...
phones doing your question asking. Thank you
so much. And I'm so excited to keep this journey
going with y 'all. See you later. Luminaries
-to -be, alongside their sidekicks, have returned
successfully from their first adventure off of
the Citadel. With the didn't -see -night market
in the world of Zubsunko behind them, Zebulon
and Jules now hold the promise of full sponsorship,
as well as a number of goodies from the grateful
folk of the market. Their first hurdle has been
cleared on the road of fame and fortune, but
what awaits them on their return to the Radiant
Citadel? What are the friends they've earned
and the bitter enemies they've challenged along
the way? What are you goofballs doing? We're
making Instagram content. We're wrestling. Of
course, the listeners have no idea what that
word is. All I saw was you guys holding your
minis and fighting with your minis in front of
the camera. Yeah. That's exactly what was happening.
So we have a camera now, which is my personal
nightmare. Boys will be boys. It's just my phone
on a $20 Walmart tripod. Just hovering on me,
watching me, always. We're all in it. Yeah. Be
in it more, Steven. Take me out of it. Damn.
Is he just mad? I'm completely in it, actually.
Jeremy's really only. Hold on. Not one bit. Let's
move around. Okay, there we go. Sure, now you're
both half in it. Better. Perfect. Welcome back,
everyone, to another exciting episode of the
wildest character arc in television history.
Hold on, let me put 60 seconds on the clock.
We're not doing this for more than 60 seconds.
That's fine. That's all I need. Because I forgot
a few things. We're doing this again. I forgot
a few things. Holy shit. Vital, vital details.
Steven, get those fucking seconds on the clock.
You tell me when to go. You go whenever you want.
Three, two. One, go. So in his journey of whatever
villainy to hero ship, Siler also became the
president of the United States at one point.
This is true. He found love, and then he killed
love, like he does. He ran a Saw -style game
for a bunch of the main cast. Here's a big one.
He claimed to have kidnapped Hayden Panettiere's
college girlfriend and then tricked her by teleporting
himself across the school campus off screen,
turning into a college girl, and tying himself
up in her dorm room so that he could get some
general life advice from her via trickery. Also,
while his body had amnesia, his memories and
personality possessed someone else's brain and
tormented them all season until they suicided
by a cop. What? Yeah, no, seriously. And then,
after all that, he went into the pocket dimension
for 100 years alone or some shit, and then he
was kind of a good guy afterwards. And there
we go. You still got 15 seconds. God, what else
is I'll do? It's been like 20 years. I don't
remember when this was an old show. Six. All
right, that's fine. All right, cool. Good, I
got nothing. You did it in less than 60 seconds,
I guess. Good for you. At one point, Hiro Nakamura
was a child in his brain. He was a child. There
you go. That was the timer. It's a little fun
fact, extra bit for you. Dude. Yes. You had notes
for this prepped already. It's all, it's worth
a remember. I saw you reading notes off your
computer. I remember throughout the week, I was
like, oh yeah, also this happened to Siler. And
I had to jot that down. Like, oh, this happened.
And I had to jot that down. It's wild. There's
not been a character this fucking wild and terrible
since, well, until Zebulon Black. It's crazy.
Wow. Yeah. Harsh. We're going at it now. Start.
Ouch. I thought we just finished the big combat.
This guy's never done. Come on now. All right.
So with that out of the way, gentlemen, what
has been happening here behind the scenes at
Fancy Pants Studios? Studios? We doing that?
Are we? I don't know. Sounds cool. That's a thing.
Behind the scenes at Fancy Pants. I'm down with
it. Apartments. Fantasy Pants, Jeremy's place.
Oh, yeah. We didn't record last week because
it was my turn to get very, very sick and miss
a week. But yeah, a lot happened. We hit 1 ,000
downloads, which is amazing. It's super exciting.
It's so fucking incredible. It's so wild. It's
so wild. And kind of like a little side note,
a little cool thing that's happening in our lives
is Jeremy's coming to work with me and Steven
at the brew pub we're at. So we're all fucking
working together. Oh, yeah. It's wild. It's so
cool. They have no idea what they just did. I
want a high five, but I'm too far away. Yes.
They came to me. They came to me. So everybody
from work listening. You have no idea what you've
done. We're now co -workers. I know we are a
subsidiary of this local brew pub. It's going
to be a blast. It's going to be a lot of fun.
It's going to be a great time. Definitely looking
forward to having you. Great time. Oh, man. But
yeah, so that's anything else to catch up on?
I don't have anything. Yeah. No updates on my
end. I still have not brought... black garlic
over. You have not. I still have a few of them,
half a dozen, not half a dozen, maybe three or
four little couple ounce jars in the refrigerator.
So I have some. Oh, yeah. I just got to remember
to bring it. Bring them next week because I'll
grab the rolls. Oh, yeah. So I'm grabbing rolls,
so we better have black garlic to go with those
rolls. We're going to have to do some bakery
rolls from town. Yep. All right. All right. I
know where you're talking. You know where I'm
talking. I know where you're talking. Oh, yeah.
Right on Main Street. Mm -hmm. Oh, yeah. Yep.
That's the one. Mm -hmm. I have no idea what
you're talking about. Neither will the listeners.
Oh, my gosh. I've had the best week, though,
because I finally, and I'm late to the party,
I've finally been at Elden Ring. Hey. It was
so good. There are people out there who are excited
for me. Someone's very excited for you. Someone's
excited for me, damn it. I'm sorry. I was letting
Danny out of the room right when you said that.
But, David, I'm so fucking excited. Yes, see?
I'm so excited. Someone's proud of me. Congratulations.
Dad. I'm just saying you could have been hanging
J Channel. God, don't even bring up the J Channel.
It's been eight years. I will get around to it.
I've done half of it. So. So, what do you guys
say we get started on episode 20 here? 20. Yeah,
that's wild. 20 episodes. I'm ready to play.
One might say this should be a big one. Dani
says it'll be a big one. Apparently. She literally
just wanted to get out of the room, so I let
her out. And then she comes and is like, no.
Fuck it, we'll try leaving the door open. Are
you guys ready? Ready? No. Well, shit. Too bad.
Jeremy, go take a break. It's all right. I only
need Zebulon for the start anyway. Oh. Because
we're going to start off with a little flashback.
We're going to know it's a flashback because
we're going to have the sort of faded colors
fading to white on the sides of the screen. Yeah,
you know, it's really showcased. As a viewer,
we're watching and we're like, all right, this
is a flashback. I see that. We're flashing back.
to the Densing Night Market, to the earlier on
in that same day, sun's hanging in the sky, that
hot, hot tropical heat is, boom, pouring down
on you. And we see a scene of Zebulon standing
out, as like a lot of the sort of market folk
are seeing him off. And we see Madam Culp reaching
out with a diamond and clicking it against the
side of your own, held out, and she says, Transfer.
And you hear like a little magical, See some
fast footage almost running across the surface
of one diamond into the other. There you are.
It would have been a shame if you had forgotten
to bring all the images of your games to the
market with you on your way. I'm glad that I
remembered at the last second to give these to
you before you left the world. That would have
been a shame if we had to. Thank you, Madam Culp.
I'm so glad that you remembered before we left
the world. That would have been a shame. It would
have been real awkward. So relieved. Also, and
she reaches down and sort of pulls this scroll
out, here is the requested letter of intent signed
by everyone here at the Marketplace, all the
business owners, that should you come to work
with us, you have full sponsorship from your
choice of market vendor. Wow. It should help
you get an agent on the Luminary at least. They'll
understand that there is money behind you. You
are backed. Well, that's, um, really very grateful,
Madam Colt. So please, find this Haringan you
seek and have him come back. And if, you know,
he's the one you wish to choose as your sponsor,
very well, but do come back. I think we'll certainly
be back. Sipsunko's a really special place, and
you were all so kind to us. I like to think that
maybe right now we see, like, in the background,
Chester and Jules are, like, having a little
conversation. Probably, like, I don't know, shadowboxing.
Chester's kind of shadowboxing at Jules, being
silly. And he looks over and kind of waves, like,
hey, Zeb, Zeb, come on. What are you doing? And
he's kind of, like, trying to wave you over.
I guess I better head out. Oh, wait. Before you
go, it's one more matter. And you see she steps
to the side. Standing behind her is a kobold
child. And you see this child looking up at you
with these starry eyes. It's Gammon Zangoon.
That's it. Gammon. He has not been awake up until
this point. You're not sure. He must have just
this morning finally awoken. Wow. Hey, Gammon.
Wow. Zebulon gets down on like... one knee, like,
sort of like kid's stance. Hey, you look so great!
Look here, you're up and around! He immediately
charges in over to you and just, like, wraps
his arms around you, pulls you into a, you know,
kind of a feeble child hug. Oh, hey, bud. Hey,
it's all right. Look at you, huh? And he's actually,
like, a little bit crying. He kind of pulls back
a little bit. It's like, you're gonna, you're
gonna be a luminary, right? Well, yeah, of course.
I mean, I guess we kind of already are, huh?
Pretty cool, right? Yeah. Just nods vigorously.
Yeah, you were so cool. I heard about what you
did. You carried me through the fire, the burning
tent, and... You saved my life. When you become
a luminary, and when my family opens up our shop
again, I'm going to save up, and I'm going to
buy all of your figures, and I'm going to watch
every special about you on the Crystal Network,
and I'm going to cheer you on when I know you're
on a mission. Wow. I mean, Gammon, I'm really
just glad you're okay, and if even half of those
things happen, it's going to be because someone
like you is on my side. He is, Justin. beaming.
Um, like just almost that's back. Like, like,
Oh, it's just, it's just like bathing in your
light. Um, you have just made your first fan.
Wow. Weird. I am. I am dying of wholesomeness
right now. And like, I think we're seeing the
two of you by each other. He just steps away
from me. You're kind of like, maybe you stand
up again, stand, you know, as tall as you stand.
And. I think superimposed over these two, we
see two other draconic figures. Over Gammon,
we see a younger Zebulon, staring up starry -eyed
at his older brother, tall and strong and resplendent
in his shield -bearer armor. We see Arhalon reaching
down to lovingly rub the place between your horns,
Zebulon. We see how he laughs deep, his eyes
shining with pride, and... We see how your smile
falters, Zebulon, just a little bit. It falters
the light force pressing down on your head. It
falters under the meaty half -dragon claw that
is just slightly holding you down. Zebulon! Zebulon!
Are you even listening to me? I'm sorry, man.
I'm cold. Sorry, this is John Franklin. Oh, my
God. I thought the same exact thing. Yes, as
you snap out of this memory, sort of turn sour,
maybe like a slight dream, you are sitting in
the ruby bleachers of the jewel as it's just
completed its transfer and is slowly lowering
down to dock at the Radiant Citadel. You see
John Franklin sitting next to you. He's glaring
at you. Very clearly you were just spacing out.
No, no, I'm sorry. Did you call me Madame Culp?
Do you even know who you're talking to? I was
daydreaming. I'm sorry. What the hell have you
done, Zeb? Daydream. All right, all right, all
right. As I was saying, all we need to do now
is seek out a good agent and hand off our footage,
right? This letter of intent from the market
showcases that we'll have our pick of sponsor.
Despite both of your notoriety, any agent would
be a fool to take us up on this kind of potential
financial backing, right? Gentlemen, we are set.
We're in the clear, as it were. Just... So long
as neither of you do anything stupid to ruin
it. Right? Why do you think it's going to be
us that's going to do something stupid? Yeah,
that was a little harsh. I mean, yeah, I don't
know you that well. His eyes slowly kind of move
back to Zebulon. And he just kind of sighs. Look,
look, look, look, look. I can even handle finding
an agent, negotiating fees, all of that. You
simply just need to lay low and wait. Right?
You can handle that much at least. Right? Right?
That sounds like we're just hand -waving a whole
bunch of stuff. You can get involved. I'm kind
of okay with it. You don't want to have two episodes
of us interviewing agents? You can do whatever
the hell you want. It's your story. All right,
where's Rune? I'm just giving you this out. Oh,
my God. Yeah, John, that sounds great. Why don't
we leave you up to the... Uh, the admin side
of things here. Very well. I suppose if we're
to team up, I should go and join you wherever
you're staying. Can I get your address? I could
go by later on. I assume it must be a rather
high -class venue, given your stations. Well,
you might be surprised to know that we, uh, last
time we were on the Radiant Citadel, we're staying
at, um, the Ugly Coyote Inn. The ugly coyote?
That's right. You got a problem with that? It's
notoriously dirty. Why would you stay there?
Well, because it was notoriously inexpensive.
The pale moonlight is much better. Don't you
dare mention the pale moonlight in. Don't even
think of it, John. Oh, my God. Zebulon's nose
starts to smoke. Well, I have a room at the Pale
Moonlight. I'll be staying there. I will be gracing
you, ugly coyote, with my own presence. So if
you want to meet with me, you can meet me at
my room. That would be room 11, Pale Moonlight.
You got that? How much are the drinks at the
Pale Moonlight? I'll buy you drinks you couldn't
afford them. All right. Party at the Pale Moonlight,
I guess. At this point, you see that everyone's
sort of funneling out of the ruby back out onto
the Citadel. You guys getting up and joining?
Yeah. Joining the crowd. Yep. All right. And
with that, our heroes move down through the ruby
out the great sort of open doorway. and step
back out onto the giant fossil streets of the
Radiant Citadel. You've been away for three days,
I believe, now? Seems like a lot longer than
that. Yeah. It's been how many weeks? A lot.
How many weeks in human time? Many. It's still
early in the day. You're about, because the newbie
comes down at noon, leaves, it's like 12 .05,
12 .10. Maybe it takes a little time to really
get off and on. We'll say 12 .20. How long are
we talking to get off? Are we talking like...
You got fucked over in, like, the last seat of
a plane? Getting taken off? I am thinking this
through, because it's like, yeah, you know, it
could be very fast, it could be very slow. There's
no customs. I mean, you go down, and, like, people,
guards will be kind of watching you, you know,
check and make sure you're not, like, doing it.
But you're not, like, having to full -on take
off all your gear to go through a security belt.
I mean, it's pretty fast coming off a nod. Let's
dig into the logistics of travel in the Radiant
Citadel. Like, legit, though, it's funny, because...
These would be very important details in the
actual lore of a world where, like, there's a
bunch of worlds connected via this one sort of
gateway of travel. So it's almost like I should
put more thought into it, but I don't want to.
And I don't think it needs to be that much of
a big deal. You have, like, writs of passage.
You don't really need them to go back to the
Citadel proper. The Citadel's open for anybody
to go to. It's just heading to other worlds is
going to be a little more of a, you know, difficult
business if you don't have the proper writs or
passport, which is something that you can get.
I was going to say, at this point, isn't it kind
of a given that we're going to get passports?
Yes, as long as you become luminaries, boom,
instant passport, free access to any world of
your choice, along with other perks. So pretty
good stuff. Well, let's go find us an agent.
Let's go. Here's the question. What do you guys
want to do first? I'll list a couple of activities
you mentioned that you were interested in. You
wanted to find Pepper. You know, the last team,
he left Sipsunco yesterday. He took the 12 o
'clock Ruby. So about exactly one day ago, boom,
he was here in the Citadel. You wanted to probably
check up on the Ugly Coyote, your folk there.
Yeah, I got a lot of shit to unload. You do.
Yeah, you're loaded with all sorts of stuff.
You got a gift bag full of stuff. You still got
a pangolin on your shoulder we all forgot about.
I do. I didn't forget about him. I forgot about
him. We got to get him out of here. Jamal was
whispering in my ear the whole time. He was telling
me what to do. Jamal was like, hey, Jules, don't
you have dissident whispers? Yep. Yep. Jules,
turn invisible and sneak up on the guy. So sorry,
Jamal's mine now. It's not like a pangolin voice.
Jules, turn invisible and sneak up on the guy.
That's his voice. Sorry, listeners. Yeah, now
we definitely got to ditch Jamal. Get rid of
Jamal. I'm going to keep it up. Oh, my God. All
right, so what do you want to do first? Well,
as far as Zebulon's concerned, you hit the nail
on the head where he wants to find Pepper, but
I don't know what Jules is. Well, I think I know
what Jules is thinking, and I'm sure. Yeah, you
know what Jules is thinking. Yeah. I don't think.
Sorry. I don't know if that's necessarily like,
I mean, it's his top priority, but I'm not sure
if it's something that he's like, okay, I got
to get here right this second. I'm surprised
to hear that. Me too. Do you have something that
you want to do before? I don't, but I, but I
think at this point we've been through so much
that Jules has kind of started just going with
the flow a little more. Oh, wow. Well, I mean,
he's now doing stuff where he's not just, like,
in control of it all anymore. Yeah. I mean, when
this all started, you weren't even interested
at all in becoming a luminary adventurer. It
kind of just became the path you had to go down.
And you've fully embraced it at this point, it
seems like. Yeah. I mean, so much has changed
for these two characters during this first off
-world journey to Sipsunko. It's amazing what
you've already gone through. And as Storyteller
Oren said, we are just... Getting started. So,
okay, Jules, the way I see it, the next big step
to becoming luminaries is securing our sponsor.
Yeah, I think you're right. I think that's the
next step. If you were Pepper the Haringon, where
would you go once you got back to the Radiant
Citadel? I mean, he works for Rune. That was
what I was thinking. I'm like, fuck, he's going
to go straight back to Rune. I don't know if
we want to go tussle with that guy again. I don't
know anywhere else he would go. I'm not afraid
of that guy. I'm not either. It's possible Ada
knows something. I mean, he runs a tavern here.
Tavern keepers notoriously know things. Yeah.
He's trying to rope all this into one so he doesn't
have to do two separate storylines. I'm just
Chester. I don't know what you're talking about.
So, Jeremy. I'm just giving helpful Chester advice.
Do we want to go to Rune? If we're going to potentially
be going to Rune or getting into some shit like
that, I would prefer it if we stopped off and
at least unloaded my shit, said, hey, guys, we're
back. We got to go do this, but we're back. Okay.
All right. Yeah, you have the whole day. I don't
want to be caring. I don't want to be caring.
But then again, I don't know. Maybe like the
rolls could come in handy or something. Or the
vanilla buns could come in handy while we're
fighting rude. It's like, I throw vanilla buns
down as caltrops. Yeah, we could butter both
of them up. All right. Well, let's pick a direction.
Yeah, if we're going to do that, we need to unload
shit and just be like, okay. That's a great idea,
Chester. Let's go touch base with the crew over
at the Ugly Coyote, make sure the kids are okay,
and then we can head off and do some adult business
and go find Pepper. All right. Great. You guys
move down the platform, up the staircase to the
top of the citadel, the top of the snake's neck
or serpentine fossil's neck. Then you move down,
down, down, past the shield bearer barracks,
down into the trade discall, the long sort of
winding sort of main middle street that runs
down the course of the Citadel. And you go down,
down, down, all the way down towards like the
lower sort of tail of this fossil. Towards like
where the buildings get a little less nice. And
you see the run down in. With the sign of a coyote
with a mange and a nibbled off ear or some shit.
I don't remember. Ear patch. Oh, no. Ader has
the ear patch. Ader has the ear patch. That's
right. Oh, did you guys see the sign that Hungry
Familiar made for the ugly coyote? Oh, it's so
good. It's fantastic. I love it. I think it has
the scratched eye. It's so good. Scratched face.
Yeah. Yeah. So the three scratched eye. I love
that. You see that? The classic sign of the ugly
coyote, which is a thing now. I want to get that
made into an actual sign to hang up in here.
Wouldn't that be awesome? Oh, my gosh. I'm sure
there's a woodworker locally that would do something
like that for us. I bet we could figure something
out. Well, they're from my house. That's so cool.
Right? Yeah, I take it you're going to go inside?
No, we're going to stay outside. Yeah, we're
just going to chill out there. I'm going to smoke
a cigarette, you know? Take my time. All right.
Saloon doors, baby. You move into the Ugly Coyote.
Come on. Is this an accordion? Yeah, we're home.
Dusty old tavern. You see that same random medium
-sized mangy coyote lying in front of the lit
fireplace. I think you can't really see the bar
when you first come in. There's kind of an L
-shaped in the building. The bar's tucked around
the corner, or maybe it's just barely visible.
But you walk in the door. No customers, because
it's the middle of the afternoon, and no one
is out drinking yet. Well, they're doing it wrong.
It's actually very, very quiet in here, apart
from the random accordion that is playing in
our heads. Or is it a guy sitting in the corner
with, like, a nose patch? Yeah, there's a guy
with a nose patch that's playing the accordion.
Ader hires up music for noon. What a weekday,
I don't know. Excuse me! Anybody home? Anybody
here? You hear a clanging from behind the bar
as someone puts some stuff down. A few moments
later, you see the big, bearded, ear -patched,
dark -skinned, God's -breath -ian Ader pokes
his head around the corner. Oh! Hello there,
you're back! Hey, Eater. Yeah. What's up, guy?
How you doing? How's it going? He kind of looks
at you, Jules, sort of awkwardly. Jules, these
kids are yours. They're a real handful. And you
just see, like... My heart just skipped a fucking
beat. You see, suddenly, responding to the sounds
of your voices. Holy shit. A number of figures
start thundering down the stairs. You see, like,
also from somewhere behind the bar, Mulligan
the Dwarf comes stepping out. He's, like, holding
it. He's got a little, like, hat on and apron.
It's stained with some, like, sauces. And he's
got, like, a bowl and a whisk in his hand. He's
like... Oh, oh, oh, they're back, they're back!
And, like, you see, like, round stuff is the
first one charging down the stairs. Jules, Jules,
and Uncle Zeb! And just, like, runs down, just
to give you both a hug, trying to reach out to
both of you at the same time, just to get really
close together to, like, get in with her. Hey,
stuff, hey! No, you see, like, behind you in
the shadows, suddenly, like, Miskin's just there.
Of course he is. Good, you're back. I was worried.
And you know there's no need to be worried. It's
all been quiet here. I've been watching. I knew
I could count on you, buddy. I think Fibrosis
is the next down the stairs. He peeks his head
down. He's got, like, a couple of books in his
hands. It looks like maybe Aether had some books
kicking around, some old God's Breath lore and
such. He's sort of almost fumbling down the stairs
with them. And he gets down to you just like,
oh, hey, Jules. Oh, wow. You're back. I didn't
think you'd be back so soon. This is great. I
mean, wow. I mean, it has been like 11 episodes,
but I mean, time flies. Time flies. In reality,
it's only been three days. Oh, gosh. Yeah, following
that, trying to make sure I remember all of them.
Paul kind of turns around the corner, starts
moving down the stairs very slowly. Very serene,
but he's still, his eyes are focused on you,
Jules, and focused on Chester, and he's got this
sort of soft smile on his face. Chester's already
just kind of giving round stuff a hug and moving
on to everybody else, giving Fibrosis a kind
of spectacular handshake. Yeah, and then you
hear, I think last but not least, Jean steps
down the stairs. I think at first she doesn't
even realize you guys are here. You just kind
of hear a voice calling down like, Ada, this
is ridiculous. I can't believe how many spider
webs I found in the attic. Have you even been
up there? And she kind of comes down and she
also has an apron on and she's carrying all these
cleaning tools and buckets and stuff with water.
And she just stops at the top of the stairs and
just kind of freezes mid -sentence. Is Chester
next to me? She's looking right at him. Is he
right next to me? Oh, yeah. Okay, I'm going to
take my hip and give him a really forceful little
nudge forward. Hey, jeans. We're back. I got
you a present. I got you... It's in my pocket.
Oh, shit. And he kind of tries to pull it out.
It all comes out in a clump and falls down. Oh,
it's dusty. Sorry. Haley, pick that up. It's
silks. I know you like to sew. So I got you some
silks. He worked hard for those. He worked hard
for those. She is just standing atop the stairs
with the most amused expression on her face.
And she kind of slowly steps down the stairs.
I think every step she gets a little more momentum.
And by the end, she's like full on like running,
just like grabs him, hugs him. Oh, my God. I
love them. Chester, thank you. And she's like
gathering them all up. Matchmaker, matchmaker,
make me a match. And she, like, turns over to
you, Jules, and she's got this sort of intense
expression, actually. Like, not, like, angry,
but just kind of, like, serious. She's like,
so, everything went well, then I take it? No
trouble? No danger? And she's, like, very forcefully...
I don't know if I'd go that far, but... You do
remember what we talked about, yes? We're safe.
And Chester's looking around like, what's up?
Huh? I mean, I guess we're alive, so that counts
for something. Yeah, I mean, and I kind of glance
my eyes over to Chester. I keep my promises.
He's just staring around kind of lost and then
just kind of shrugs like, all right, well, you
guys are being weird. No problems. I'm going
to say no problems. I think at this point, round
stuff has noticed that you have various things,
including a fucking pangolin on your shoulder.
And she's like, what is that? What is that? What
is that? Well, this is Jamal. This is Jamal.
It's Jamal? And I think he's your responsibility
now. How would you like that? It's my sperance
ability? It's your sperance ability. Oh, my God.
It's a present for me? Of course. What is it?
Go ahead. Go ahead. Go ahead. Take him. I think
he just kind of gives you this kind of look,
this sort of blank expression a pet gives you
when they're kind of like unsure. And then I'm
going to kind of nod over. Go ahead. Go ahead.
He slides down your arm. jumps into hers, and
she just grabs him, her arms in the air, and
just starts immediately just, like, turning and
running around the dining room, kind of, like,
air -planning him. Gentle, gentle, gentle, gentle.
No, he loves this. He's a living creature. He's
a living creature. Gentle, gentle. His favorite
thing to do. He only wants to fly. He always
wanted to fly. Ask him that. Do you want to fly?
And he just stares at her, like, blinks a few
times. He's like, see? All right, fuck it, I'm
done. You know what? I'm glad. I'm glad that
we don't have to carry Jamal anymore. I'm sorry
that he has to fly all the time now. He always
wanted to fly. Wash thy hands clean. I'm going
to believe that Jamal has always wanted to fly.
You feel like tugging at your sleeve of your
coat there, Jules. And you see that Paul's looking
up at you and just says, Present. Of course I
got one for you, Paul. He smiles, this big smile.
And I'll reach back and... Do you remember what
he got him? I can fill you in. Yeah, it was the...
No, it wasn't the... Shit. Oh, yeah, no, I got
him the little toy loot. Yeah, it's like a local
toy loot. Yeah, it's like a loot. Was it... Yeah.
Or was it a... What was the exact thing? Because
we said, like, toy loot, but you said something
else. There were, like, flutes they had there.
Tell you what, though. What? I mean, like...
You guys saved the market. You wanted to go for
the lower thing because of cost reasons. Yeah.
If you want to go for a loot, you could totally
just for free switch it up. You saved the market.
That night, we didn't really get into this and
that, what you did that night. Another flashback.
You want to get a fucking loot? Yeah. Here we
go. We see the white haze. Let's go. All right,
yeah. My idea was to get him a toy loot. Hell
yeah, yeah. So it's similar to mine. Oh, yeah.
I love that. So he can have something to look
up to a little bit. All right, yeah. So you headed
over to him? Yep. I do. He just gets this big
excited look. He starts strumming on the string.
It's terrible. You're a natural. You're a natural
already. He doesn't really talk. He makes a few
sounds, but he's just playing with it. Almost
like as he's playing along, making these little
notes. You see he's just so excited. He kind
of steps away, playing with his new toy. I like
to think he goes up to the guy playing the accordion
and starts trying to jam with him. The accordion
guy, whoever that is in the corner. It's Weird
Al. At this point, the others start to move in.
You see Mulligan's looking at you, and you hear
his stomach say rumble. Man, I missed that noise.
I heard the food up to Sunco is really good.
It is. Why don't you see for yourself? And I
reach back and I grab the sack of vanilla buns
and I toss them in his direction. What is...
Oh my goodness, is this... Now, now, now, now.
Yeah? Savor. Okay. There's plenty in there to
last you a while. He is already... Even though
I know you can eat them all in about 30 seconds
here. He is already full on eating too. Whoa,
while you were talking you're amazed There's
a there's a as we talked about before there's
a powder sugar trail leading like around like
he stepped away a little bit almost like a Cat
hoarding and there's a power to lead into him
right up his clothes all over his face. We see
her cheeks are stuffed already He's like little
tears right down the side of his dwarven cheeks
like We should have brought in one of those giant
prawns. I think we still got some cold noodles.
Noodles? That's dessert. That's dessert. We'll
save that for dessert. Vanilla buns for dinner.
Noodles for dessert. It's Mulligan. That's how
it works. Over there in the corner of the room.
Miskin is like still trying to look cool and
tough, but he's also like, he's 10 years old.
He looks, he's, you could tell his eyes are like
bulging. He's so excited. He's shaking a little
bit because he thinks he might get a present
too, but he doesn't want to, he's cool. So he
doesn't want to say anything. I'm going to look
over to him, make a little eye contact. He looks
at you and tries to, I'll reach around, grab
the buckler and then just, just cool dude as
shit. Just toss it over. He, uh, Kind of lets
it fall to the ground. Kind of looks at you for
a second. Slowly reaches down. Tried not to look
too eager. It's super obvious he's very, very
excited. Just snatches it up. You see him just
spin around from you. He's not being seen. But
you can tell he's just looking over every aspect
of this thing. Flipping it around. Looking at
every bit of it. And just so amped up. Then I'll
just give him a little nod. I got you. Oh, my
gosh. You and your children. That leaves only
one. That is something I never thought I'd hear
in my entire lifetime. This is Jeremy talking.
Fibrosis is a little older than you. He's like
13. But he's kind of just standing there. He's
not like, you know, expectantly like, give me
a present. But he's kind of just like, you know,
if there's something, here I am. Why are all
these kids like looking like they don't think
they're getting anything? I think they're trying
to be polite. He's trying to be polite! If you
didn't get him something, he'd feel real bad
if you were like, oh, yeah, fibro, sorry, I forgot
to... Hey, you almost didn't. I was going to
say, he has two books coming to him, doesn't
he? He has two books. Fuck yeah. Yes, one more
about the history of Sosanko and the valleys
in Tini, and one about the local sort of myths
and lore. Okay, so I'm going to pull out the
books, and I'm going to slowly hand them to him,
and I'm going to say... I made a promise that
these would be put to good use. You make sure
you follow through on that. He sees these books,
and they're just these nice hardcover books,
such good quality books. His breath sort of croaks
in his throat a little bit, and he reaches out
like almost trembling. He's so careful and gentle
as he kind of takes them both in hand. He had
other books with him, and he came down the stairs,
and he just dropped them on a table, and he's
looking at these ones, just like, no way, no
way. This is... He's like flipping through it.
Oh my gosh. Jules, these are... These had to
be expensive. I can't possibly... Just take them.
Take them. Come on. They're for you. Wow. Thanks.
Thanks so much. Of course. Any research I do,
I'll fill you in on anything. If you have knowledge
you want about the worlds, I'm going to do what
I can to help. So I will do my own research,
and I will fill you in on any bits of lore. That
I can. Abso -fucking -lutely. You go ham on it.
And he just, actually on the spot, you see he
slides a chair, sits down, flips it open, and
just goes to work on the history book first.
And yeah, I mean, suddenly you just look around
at this room filled with children just running
around, playing with their new presence. It's
just, it's just a good time. Ader kind of like
steps forward. Kind of looks around at all of
them. With his hands out. Where's my gift? I'm
going to give him a low five. Oh, get me. All
right, then. He's going to stand out and just
like, hey, that's cool, too. So he sets forward.
He's looking around at the kids, just like, I'll
tell you, Jules, these kids of yours, they're
funny. They immediately want to get to work on
the pub. I argued about every little thing I
was doing wrong, and now they're cleaning up
the place. Honestly, last night was our first
busy night, and I can't remember how long. That
Jeans especially, she kind of looks over and
smiles, not in a fond way, almost like a father
to a daughter, but she's a clever one. She's
going places, I'll tell you that, girl. She's
going places. Oh, trust me, I know. I know. These
kids, uh, there's something special. Though,
uh, I do wish you'd stop bringing folk in out
of nowhere. I mean, I don't know what we're going
to do with that other one. I literally did it
one time. Well, uh, hang on. Hey, come on out
here. He shouts behind his back. He sees the
door to the back room opens. And a horngon stabs
himself in the heart. Hey! Oh, you're back! Pepper!
Hey, yeah, I've been here since yesterday. What's
going on? Good to see you. Yeah, you too. I'm
one of your friends now, right? So I figured
I'd come and join you. You know what? It's so
good, Pepper. It's so good that we found you
here. Why don't you come? I've got a really cool
opportunity for you. Jules. Zebulon is just so
eager and excited about this. He's getting right
into it. But a thought crosses your mind. Does
it? Yeah. I think you're smart enough. I think
you're careful enough to wonder why Pepper's
here when you never told him you were staying
at the Ugly Coyote. This is a secret from everybody.
How'd he get here, Jules? How'd he know where
to go? I feel like there's something that I should
know in this moment, but I don't. So not knowing,
Zebulon starts to walk over to Pepper. Pepper
and Zebulon are having this full conversation
in front of you, Jules. And I think you're hearing
words like they're through water as the sudden
fear grips you. That's what's happening with
player Jeremy right now. How did he know? You're
looking at me like I should know. You could ask.
What the? Hello? Something wrong, Jules? Yeah,
it's me, Pepper. Jules, you don't look so good.
How'd you get here? What do you mean? I took
the ruby. Yeah, but... What's the matter, Jules?
How'd you find the place? Oh, the coyote? Oh
yeah, it was easy, huh? I don't remember telling
you how to get there. I mean, we were going to
come get you and bring you back. Absolutely.
You didn't tell me. Ruined it. Fucker. And just
as these words leave his mouth, I want you guys
to roll a perception check. Oh, my God. Jules
got an 18. 18. I got less. Zebulon's still just
lost. He doesn't even realize the significance
of this. Nine on the die was a negative one,
so. You hear that word leave his mouth. Then
you realize that there's no sound coming from
outside the pub. It all got very quiet outside.
And then you hear the sounds of armored boots.
Are you fucking charging? The saloon doors snap
open, smashing up against the side of the pub,
and the room begins to fill with shield -bearers.
Holy shit. What the heck is going on here? You
see about eight guards in their brass shield
-bearer plate, all running, spears in hand. They
line up on each side of the door. The one in
the front just kind of takes a look around the
room. His eyes sort of fall on you. He's got
a full helm on. They all do. And you see that,
like, Ader steps forward just like, What in the
hell's the meaning of this? This is a private
establishment. You can't just walk in here. And,
like, the one in the front just snaps his spear
butt down on the floor. I mean, at this point,
the children are all stopped what they're doing
and just staring on. You've been running from
the law for, like, As long as you remember, Jules.
Maybe not this law enforcement agency specifically.
But law is law. And the kids are terrified because
they feel like they've finally gotten caught.
You see the man in the front looks around with
his full helm and just says, looks towards Ader.
Nobody move. Anybody that does not follow our
orders can and will be charged with interfering
with an investigation into a serious crime. What's
that crime? The armored visor slowly turns back
towards you, Jules. Jeremy, I'm sorry about this.
I really am. What did you do? You see that the
man raises up and pulls his visor open. You see...
You've got to be shitting me! Sir Jessenth Kellig...
He told me a long time ago that this was going
to come back. And he says to you two words. Child...
Endangerment. Excuse me, bitch. He turns away
from you then. Back towards the saloon door.
No, no, no, no, no, no, no. You don't turn away
from me. And he yells. Not when you accuse me
of something like that. Ignoring you, he yells
out. The room is ready for you, Lieutenant. I'm
going to run up and grab him by the collar. You
see the saloon door. And pull him to me. You
grab him. As you grab him, he pulls in and he's,
I finally got you, Jules. The dune door bursts
open and a hulking figure, a splendid in his
shield bear armor steps in. A half dragon, Arhalon,
moves into the room. His eyes fall right on you,
Zebulon. What is this? I could ask the same thing,
brother. I don't understand. You don't understand?
Why did you bring an army here? What are you
doing? We have received a report that there are
a number of children here not being cared for
properly. Now, we're trying to rehome anyone
that was lost on Tithos. From what we've heard,
these children have spent their time on the streets
for years. With him. Mulligan, show him how well
you're being cared for, Mulligan. Mulligan's
just like, I think he just drops what he's holding.
He's just frozen in place. You know, the streets
of Tithos is the safest place for these kids
to fucking be. Not under your fucking tyranny.
Zebulon, I expect this kind of behavior. from
a scallion like Jules LaRoche, but you, I raised
you right. What do you even think is going on
here? This kid's a fucking hero, unlike you.
Look, we have received reports, a number of them.
We have orders from high up. And look, look.
What's your high up? The council. The speakers
for the ancestors. Okay. What do the speakers
for the Ancestors know about these kids? Look,
look. And he says, Jessent, officer, relieve
him. And Jessent kind of tries to push you back.
No, I pull him closer. Jules, I don't think that's
helping right now. Arhalon steps up to you, just
telling him of you. He spoke true. If you interfere
with our investigation any further, you will
be taken into custody. Arhalon, Zebulon steps
in between and puts a hand on Arhalon and a hand
on Jules. How can we continue on? How can we
help your investigation here? Look, it's an easy
matter, right? Already settled. Maybe you thought
you were doing best for these children, but look
at them! And he kind of points over to round
stuff, points over, and she's always been small,
always looked skinny. I mean, they are wearing
shoddy clothing. They don't look clean. You know
that's necessity. You know it's what they want.
You know what's best for them, Jules. But in
this moment, how do you convince the enforcement
officers that be? He looks at her. He looks back
at you. Rook, we can still rectify this. It just
so happens that a very, very fortunate offer
has come the way of these children. Maybe not
the older ones, but I heard this seven -year
-old tiefling there, eight -year -old child,
human. And this one, he points at the half -orc,
he's got his shield raised and he looks like
furious. Ten years old, they're young enough,
they can still have a life. And there are some
very influential people who want to adopt them.
It's not an offer, Jules the Roach. This is happening.
The orders are from higher up than I can change.
What? I'm sorry. I'm holding Jessenth by the
collar. I'm going to lean down to Chester. And
I'm going to whisper, You guys run to Zenas.
And I'm going to take Jessenth and throw him
at Arhalon. And turn around. and say, guys, run!
I need you to make an athletics check. I want
to contest it with Jessen. I don't know what
else Jules would do. Jules will not bend over
for this. This is stupid as shit. Zebulon, a
voice echoes in your mind as you see this happen.
The voice of Jean Franklin saying, just a little
while ago, as long as you don't do anything stupid.
And you just watch as Jules begins to fight with
the shield bearers. I'm not fighting with them.
I'm not fighting with them. I'm just throwing
Jess in at Arhalon. Just shoving them off and
telling them to run out the back. Make those
rolls. It's a 16 for me. Nope. Nope as in you
didn't get him or? I didn't get him. So you go
to throw him and he grabs you and kind of like
pushes you back. And he's just like laughing,
laughing at herself. And it's like, that's right,
Jules. They're going to have a better family
now. You know what? It's the very family you
chose to run away from. That's right, mommy dearest.
We'll be taking your kids off your hands. Isn't
that awesome? Isn't that great? Aren't they just
the best? Arhalon's just like, calm yourself!
There's no need to push this any further than
it has to be. Look. Look. These are my friends.
And I think they're starting to run, actually.
You said that. They're trying to run. So there's
a backdoor around the corner. They got the place
surrounded. And Arhalon's just kind of like,
go! Get them! We only need the three youngest!
And the shieldbearers start to break. And I think
at this point, if you guys want to take this,
we're going to roll initiative. Can we take a
second so I can think about this? Yes, we can.
Okay, we kicked David out of the room. I don't
know if this is something that would work because
I know Arlan is hard -headed as fuck. But my...
I thought about going invisible and then going
up next to him. Not doing anything. I'm not attacking.
We don't want to get in a fight here. That is
not happening. That's not my intention. We really
can't escalate this, but maybe more try and talk
some sense into him and let him know that my
parents and my family are evil fuckers who are
into dark magic. I have experienced it and I
have it in my blood. I think, I think that could
maybe give him a moment of pause, but not if
you go invisible. I think if you go invisible,
that shows that you're trying to escalate it.
I think if you, in front of everybody, if you
said, Arhan, they're horrible people, blah, blah,
blah. Okay. Well, maybe like, okay. Maybe we
put the run on pause. Maybe, maybe I'll just
say, hold on, hold on, hold on. Okay. Okay. Let's
talk for a second and I'll pull them aside. Right.
If we try to do like, maybe if you and I try
to do a body block and you try to talk. Okay.
I don't know. I'm looking through, I mean, you
know, level three rogue. I mean, I have plenty
of stuff for combat, but outside of combat. Yeah.
I don't have a lot of stuff that I can do. I
can do spells, but anything is going to be seen
as an attack. Yeah. I think you have a decent
argument. We just need to use that argument without
being threatening and attacking. I'm pretty sure
I have a plus seven in persuasion too. All right.
That's really the only shot we got other than
getting into a fucking fight with an army of
shield bearers. We're not going to get into a
fight with shield bearers. To be clear, listeners,
that was never my intention is to get in a fight.
That is not. We cannot win this fight. This fucking
story will be over if that happens. Not only
would it end badly in this room, but even if
we got out of this room, we would have no chance
of getting an agent and becoming a luminary.
Nope. Nope. Okay. Fucking hell. You want to try
that? Let's go. All right, let's do it. Um, you
watch three of these guys break off and begin
to move around you to gather the Terry Delights
who are currently running towards the back. I
think as that happens, as that happens, Jules
is stepping in between the kids and the shield
bearers. And I'm going to look over and Jules
is going to look over at Zebulon. Yeah. Zeb will
join in and sort of body block. Okay. I was,
I was going to say it was like, I'm looking over
at Zeb. I'm not, I'm not going to try and, you
know. coerce him into doing this with me. It's
more of just like a look like, are you going
to help me here? And it's just like you're standing
right now, Jeremy, with arms splayed, kind of
like out to your sides, non -threatening, hands
down, just a passive body block. Three things
happen when you do this. Three things happen.
The first one is, you watch as Arhalon's eyes
fall on Zebulon, and as Zebulon moves to get
in his way, To get in the Law's way. You see
he looks so fucking tired and sad. And then instantly,
like a match being lit, his expression just changes
to this pure rage. You see Aether steps out in
front of both of you. Holy shit. Hands splayed
out. Just says, You ain't welcome here. Get out
of my bar. I didn't expect that. And you hear.
No way. You see Pepper the Horrigan is holding
his ears down. And he goes, Those are my friends!
No! And he goes into a rage. Oh, no. You see
those three things happen. You may react. The
guards stop short in front of you, and they're
kind of like not sure what to do. Especially
with Ader being this huge guy in their way, they're
kind of spears out, and they're just kind of
like holding. So what I was going to do is once
we got in here, I'm going to look over to Arhalon
and say, Arhalon, Arhalon. You're a man of honor,
right? Yes and no. Simple question. Where are
you going with this? You are a man of honor,
right? I know more honor. than you've ever known.
That's debatable. If you are a man of honor,
you come with me right now into the back room,
and we talk. We pause everything right here.
Pause. And we talk, because I got something to
tell you. You see, Jessen is over there like,
now, don't, don't listen to him. He's a liar.
He's a scoundrel. He's always been a scoundrel.
Don't listen. But Arlan's not looking at him
or you, Jules. He's looking at you, Zebulon.
Now, Pepper is still shaking with rage. That's
going to be a problem very soon, but right now,
Arhan's looking at you, Zebulon. Go with him,
Arhan. It's okay. I'll calm down the Haringan.
Can we just take this slow? Slow and easy. All
right. He looks at you, looks over at you, Jules,
and then says, Officer, stand down! And you!
And he kind of points to the Power Guard. Pepper's,
like, seething, but he's not making a move yet.
He's kind of like... Zeb grabs Ader's shoulder.
Ader, help me with Pepper. Help me with Pepper.
All right. And they start to walk over and try
to, I mean, physically restrain if we need to,
but try to calm Pepper down. You guys go to Pepper.
I need you both to make. I'm going to let you
make a check, basically. You can decide what
check it's going to be. You'll have to play it
out. While this is happening, Justin Kelly stares
on in shock as Arhalon sort of like pushes him
to the side. He reaches over like, what are you,
no, wait, stop! And he tries to grab Arhalon
and just pushes him away like, stand down, officer!
And he moves to you, Jules. And take it you probably
open the back door. Mm -hmm. And give him a little
nod in. The two of you. And the cherry delights,
I imagine, all funnel into the room. And as that
happens, make your check. It's going to be a
big one. I'm going to go with persuasion. You
have advantage on whatever you do. Because Aether
is going to give you the help action no matter
what you're doing. So you play it out, and I'll
play his side. I'm trying to decide if I should
use my button or not. They're threatening! They're
threatening my friends! Like, he just seems like
his eyes are getting weird and fuzzy, kind of
getting lost. Can I cast Bardic Inspiration?
As you go? As I go in the room? Yeah, go ahead.
Your loot lights up and you shoot a beam out
at Zebulon. So I'm rolling with advantage plus
a d6? Yeah. It's a pretty good roll. I'm definitely
not using my button then. What are you doing?
No, don't use your button. Threatening my friends?
I don't like it. I don't like it, Samulon. Pepper.
I can take them. I can take them all. No, no,
no. I can take them all. I can take them all.
I know. I know you can, Pepper, but you see that
big guy over there? Huh? That's my brother. Oh!
I don't want you to hurt my brother, because
I really care about him. He's my family. He's
like... He's like... Like we are, family. The
rest of us. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. I haven't had a
family. Well, not since I... Not since the thing.
So do you think that you can calm down and be
civil here? Yeah, yeah, come on. Let's calm right
down. We got this all handled, right? It's under
control, Pepper. Come on, bunny fella. Jules
is going to take care of it. You know Jules.
He's going to be so easy. I know Jules. We go
way back. I met him like three days ago. Yeah,
that's right. Had a wild ride with that one.
All right, go ahead and make that roll. First
roll is a 7 on the die. Let's see what I get
next here. Second roll is a 13, so plus 3, that's
16. Only plus 1, so that's a 17. 17 will do it.
You see he visibly calms, and he goes out of
rage. Oh, okay, all right. That's great, Pepper.
Really good job, man. Way to go. And Zebulon
turns to the rest of the guards. You're right.
It's okay, we got him. There's still weapons
at the ready. The weapons were held out at this
point, like pointing towards him as he was about
to rage. Very aggressive. They start to lower
the spears, except for one. Justin Kellig is
still spear out, grimacing. He looks so fucking
mad. His eyes are on the closed door to the back
of the room. We follow his eyeline to the door.
We zoom in on the keyhole and move through. We
see the cherry delights all lined up, all terrified.
Chester's the only one. I mean, he's kind of,
like, unsure of what to do. You see he's ready
to rumble if it comes down to it. I think he's
trying to, like, catch your eye, Jules. Like,
he's, you know, what are we doing? We doing the
one, two, three? I don't even think I look down
at Chester. Sneaking the grass? I think I'm locked
eyes with Arhalon still as we go in. He is just
towering above you, like, in this small room.
And this back room of Aedir's, you move into
it, it's, like, half the room is, like, this
little sort of kitchenette. And, like, also on
the other side there's a big sleeping pad where
he just sleeps. It's really not the most sanitary
situation. His actual living room is also the
kitchen area. You see there's a few things actually
boiling on the stove. Something's boiling over.
Sizzling as it runs into, like, the sort of open
flame below. Are there chairs in there? No. There's
a bed, right? There's a bed. Is there, like,
a dresser that could be sat on? Yeah, there's
a small one. Kind of roughly made. Wouldn't put
a lot of weight on it. I'm going to sit on the
dresser and then motion for Arlon to sit on the
bed. He slowly moves into the room. We're just
talking here. We're just talking. He sits down.
You see the bed just folds under his weight.
It's like this 500 pound. Sorry, Ada. What did
you say to him? What did you tell him? What are
you talking about? My brother. Suddenly he's
willing to turn on me on a dime? Why? To ally
with you? What did you do? What makes you so
special? What makes you better than me in his
eyes? This kid is special. Your brother's special.
Stay focused. I know. I know. I know where you're...
I know, I know, I know, I know. I know. I see
what he's trying to do. I see what he's trying
to do. I'm very aware. I'm aware. He's seething.
He was quiet this whole time. The second you
get out of the range of everybody else, his rage
is showing. There's a crackling flame at the
back of his throat. You're talking about your
brother who's about to become a luminary? He
is special, and you know what? That's because
of you. It's all because of you. All that he's
done is look up to you. And he wants to be you.
Now I don't know with the way you're acting.
Huh. But you tell me. Huh. Damn. Well reasoned.
I think he's rolled me a persuasion check. I'm
fucking surprised. I think he's rolled me a persuasion
check. I fucking loved that. Huh. But he's mad.
Will these words get through to him? I don't
know. You tell me. 26. 26 again. God. Damn, with
the 19 on the die. Arhalon visibly starts to
soften. His shoulders sort of like losing some
of their tension. Listen, this is not what all
of this is about. Tell me what... It's not, no.
I apologize. That came from a place of I don't
know. I am a shield bearer. I'm a man of honor.
Absolutely. I should not bring personal feelings
and matters into my relationship with my brother.
It has nothing to do with this whole situation.
Yes, you're a man of honor. And guess what? Whether
you think it right now or not, so am I. Tell
me, what do you know about me? You tell me what
you know about me. You won't like the answer.
Tell me. You're a criminal. I know the answer
already. I know the answer. I want to hear it
from you. You are a known criminal. From the
city of Cerulean Tithos, you left your royal
line behind, left your duties, and you became
a thorn in the side of the royalty, speaking
out against them, working against them. You worked
against the law, Jules. And these children, I
understand where you're coming from. I don't
mean to hurt you, but they are emaciated. They're
poor. They could have so much more. Your family
can offer them so much more. I know you walked
away from your birthright. But don't take it
away from them. And, like, they just start, no,
no. Like, Rhapsody starts crying. They take care
of me. Tell me, you keep talking about my family
and my birthright. What if I told you that I
want no part of this dark magic, this evil that
is slowly taking over these worlds? Dark magic?
Yeah, you tell me. What do you think about this?
And I turn my loot, and I just make it glow.
And I make it shine and make all these fucking
little, this magic spectacle. What are you trying?
I'm not doing anything. I'm just showing you.
Where do you think this comes from? How do you
think I can do this? How about this? And I poke
myself and become invisible real fast, and then
I stop and go visible again. Where do you think
this comes from? I'm going to do something. I'm
going to do something here. This is actually
fascinating. Arhalon, you see he brandishes his,
like, shield bear insignia, like a badge he has,
and he holds it out one moment. And he holds
it towards you just as you're doing this. And
he's going to cast Detect Good and Evil because
he is a paladin. Oh, okay. And... His eyes widen.
What the... What is this? This... You're being
lied to. Everybody. And I'm not saying... You're
showing me that there's demonic elements in your
blood. In your... In your blood. Now you're getting
it. I got nothing against you, man. Absolutely
nothing. I'm on the run from evil. From the darkness
that is about to take over all of this. And it
starts with my mother. Something hungry enters
his eyes. Something intense. The storm on Tithos.
The fall of the sapphire. Do they have to do
with this? Do you know where Shadrakhan is? Who
is Shadrakhan? It's a place. Have you been there?
Do you know of this place? I haven't, but while
we were gone off the Siddha, we found out it's
a place where the spirits roam. I see. Never
been there, but it doesn't sound good. This.
And finally, he begins to slump. You can see,
you've won him over for the most part. He's believing
you. He's onto something, but his shoulders slump
and he sighs out. He's like, it doesn't matter,
Jules. Look. I'm not the top of the chain. This
is from the speakers for the ancestors. Your
cousin. My cousin? It's a demand, yes. It's a
demand from the top. You're talking about my
blood. I can't... Think about it. If I don't
make a move here, Arya himself will come in.
I have to do something. What would you have me
do? Go back to them and tell them I changed my
mind? Get on the side of the good. You want to
do something, do something good. I have an idea.
You're not in the room. Get out of here. Get
out of here, Steven. You're not on the podcast
anymore. You're kicked out. Go ahead. I have
an idea. You already told the kids to run to
Xena's. Right, but they're in the room right
now and they can't get out. Right, but maybe
push to have them placed there. He has to do
something. That's a good idea. I was going to
start bringing it back around to them as well
at some point. Sorry, what was the last thing
you said, David? Or how long? I think he just
asked you, what do I do? I think you started
talking about being on the side of good. I get
it. I understand that. I've been in terrible
spots my whole fucking life. But these guys right
here, everybody in this room, and your brother
out there, and hopefully you, we're all the best
chance we got. At staying alive. At keeping the
peace in all of these worlds. And keeping the
darkness out. These guys took care of me when
I was escaping that evil. They showed me how
to be happy. These aren't my kids. These are
my friends. These are my mentors. We are fighting
for goodness. And we need all the help we can
get. This is not an easy road. You see what's
happening right now. It's fucking hard. But it's
what's right. That's just it. What you're asking
me to do is to forsake my role. To forsake my
job. To leave the shield bearers behind. I will
be... You're talking to somebody who did that.
And trust me, it's a lot better to know that
you're right. And you're good. The bed groans
as Arhalon slowly stands to his feet, towering
above you. He looks over at the children. He
looks down into your eyes. And I'm going to need
one final persuasion check. But not right now.
Because we'll call it there! Look at his face.
Ain't I a stinker? He hates you. No, I mean,
it sounds like it's turning around, so I'm shaking
inside.