Hey friends, it's Jeremy. If you're enjoying
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Instagram at FantasyPantsPod. Pursuit of good
lady as he faded to night. One wagon stopped
dead to show a picture most foul. But it corpse
of her mount in the sound of a howl. Die coyotes
did come. Malzica for meat. Though the hunt would
soon end in a bitter defeat. One coyote ran free.
One horse torn to shreds. And hand ripped from
stomach of a beast that lay dead. And it strung.
Oh, it struck. It struck fucking hard. Oh, yeah.
Good evening, New Hampshire! How you doing? How
we doing? I'm doing all right. All right. Not
as great as you're doing, apparently. I'm the
third rock star. I'm feeling amazing. Uh -oh.
Uh -oh, I had a second rock star. My wife's listening.
Second rock star. There was two of them. Get
God. Ouch. Get God. Uh -oh. Uh -oh. I'm feeling
great. I'm feeling amazing. I'm feeling absolutely
terrific. I'm not feeling that great. That's
a shame, because we're going to have a good night.
We're going to have a fun, fun night here at
Fancy Pants Studios. But before we get to that,
I have a correction I have to make. And maybe,
just maybe, Jeremy's about to have a little bit
better of a night, because... Maybe. Is this
a wedgie? This is a wedgie. It's a wedgie. I
have a couple wedgies. Let me touch on one real
fast. It's a small one. Last combat. Basically,
because you guys have taken a long time, my notes
had planned for the coyote battle to happen around,
you know, sort of later in the day. Setting sun,
all that. It's going to keep full light. The
fight ended up happening at night under moonlight.
I kind of forgot to put that in my notes because
it was sort of an on -the -fly change. And I
should have rolled for, you know, obscurity.
What's the fucking word? Dim light. So you had
a hard time with range attacks and they got sort
of far away. But hey, no worries. Because there
wasn't a lot of range attacks. All the ones that
happened were very close. And we established
there was very, very solid, strong moonlight
piercing the fog surrounding you. And I think
that's just fine. Okay, so that's just a little.
Little one, little one. Here's the big one. Here's
a big mama -jama wedgie. It is huge. Yeah, we
talked about this before, but you've got to let
the listeners know this shit. This is wild. This
is absolutely insane. Listeners. Sit down and
hold on to your panties. Take a seat. Hold on
to your pants. Jeremy, are you going to give
us a big wedgie? Yeah, he's got to say it first.
All right, all right. He's got to say it first,
and then the wedgie is the reaction. We opened
the last session on Letterkenny v. Friends, and
I made a particular quote. Jeremy attributed
that quote to Ross and I corrected him falsely
saying it was Chandler. The quote itself was
actually Ross mimicking Chandler. And so I got
to give Jeremy a button. Oh my God. If you don't
want it, fine. I'll keep the button. I'll take
the button. No, I'll keep it. It's cool. My ass
just hurts real bad. You dropped it. No, there
it is. Oh, my God. Hold right to you. Thank you
for the button. I'm going to use that to buy
new underwear. Man, I could give less of a fuck.
Hey, I got a button in dire times now, so I'm
okay with it. I appreciate the button. I appreciate
the button. I mean, I do wish we'd get more buttons
for more relevant things. It's a fair system.
Basically, you just kind of do something that
pleases me or that I decide is proper, and then
they give you a button. Perfectly fair, unbiased.
Dance, Joker, dance. Yes, yes. Anything else
to touch on, or do you want to just dive right
into the death of Jules LaRoche? As long as we
don't have to talk about friends anymore. Yeah.
Yeah, well, let's go die. I'm good. I'd rather
die. I could spend an hour telling you how wrong
you are. I would rather die. Yeah. All right,
then. Great. Well, let's get to it, then. Let's
get right to it. Let me get that sirenscape going.
Oh, jeez. You stand here amidst corpses. Two
bloody horse corpses lying around gnawed to the
bone. Two coyotes cut and torn, dropped. And
as you stand here, as Chester screams, you see
one of these stomachs, one of these coyotes'
stomach starts to writhe. Wet sounds. Sorry,
listeners. As you see fingers tear through a
sort of cut, slit part of the stomach of this
beast. And a hand leaps out, covered in blood
and ichor, and goes to strike. And I want a quick
initiative roll. Did you just say ickies? Ichor.
What's ichor? Ichor, ichor. Ichor. I'm not familiar
with this term. I think it's like gross, black,
sticky stuff. Oh, okay. Okay. I mean, I'm not
Miriam Webster, but... I rolled good. Goddamn.
You want to go first, Jeremy? No, because I'm
going last. You can roll for Chester and John
Franklin as well, by the way. Yeah, I got to
pull up John Franklin. Zeb got a 22. Okay. Jules
got a 4. Chester got a 19. 17 for John. So all
of you kill this thing before it gets to me,
please. Yeah, I'm sure it'll be a one round.
Yeah. You see this to make Rip open. He sees
his hand just immediately, as the fingers come
free, just launches with a force, slooping out
of the body right towards Jules. And with my
21 initiative, only Zebulon is fast enough to
slide in and have a turn before I land a hit.
You see this thing flying, but Zebulon, you are
fast. You've got those instincts. Only issue
is I don't have my laptop tonight, so I don't
have roll 20 up. You don't need it. Theater of
the mind, baby. Okay. We got this. There's a
stomach, there's a hand, there's a Jules, there's
a Zebulon. We don't need anything else. Let it
all fade away. So, I don't know who's next to
me or if I'm next to anybody. Everyone is basically
surrounding at this point. I think, like, you're
staying next to Jules, and the hand is right
in front of Jules, launching at him. Gotcha.
So we're talking... Sneak attack. Sean Franklin
is right beside you. Chester is right beside
Jules. The four of you are lined up in front
of this body as it erupts, basically. All right.
Yeah. Then Zeb's going to take a swing at this
guy, at this hand. Hopefully land some sneak
attack damage. All right. Give me that attack.
First swing is just a nine. Just a nine. Will
not hit. It's too quick. Go for the other hand.
That's 21. That will hit. All right. Two swords
go out. First one misses. Second one connects.
And since I'm five feet from Jules, I get my
2d6 for sneak attack. Yeah, you caught this thing
in the air off guard. Give me that sneak attack.
This feels weird. Yeah, something's odd. And
it's just a detached hand? It's literally just
a hand. Looks like a human hand. And you can't
see a lot of it because it's so covered in just
like blood from ripping out. It's not out yet?
No, it's out. But it's a hand on its own, severed
at the wrist, launching out. What? Yeah. That's
a really bad roll. That's a two and a three and
a one. That's nine. With a nine, this thing's
launching out towards Jules. Your blade hits
it and cleanly severs through. Fingers. disappearing.
Not disappearing. Slingers falling apart. Landing
in the mud all around. No blood. The sand is...
How much HP did it have? Because what it meant
to say was six. Still. Okay. You hit this thing
with this attack, and even though you feel like
you didn't connect very strongly, it was enough
to just obliterate the singular hand. The fuck
was that? Did you guys just see that? And Zeb's
standing with one of his swords pointed at the
body that it came out of. He's not letting his
guard down yet. You're watching the fingers that
came off the sort of main part of the hand of
the ground start twitching. The hand still has
a thumb on it, and it's like twitching, twitching.
And then slowly the twitching starts to stop
and slow, and it settles. I think Jules is still
on the ground just... And then he's going to
kick the hand, kick what's left of it. Fuck you.
Holy shit. Jules, hey, hey, you okay? Hey, hey.
Chester's grabbing onto you, just kind of trying
to steady you. The fuck was that? John Franklin's
poking at it with the back of his polearm, his
spear, and he's just staring down. Indeed. What
the fuck? Thompson, did you see that, Thompson?
At this point, I'll say Thompson's just getting
the horses under control, jumping off, and...
Running your way. Just like, I didn't... What
the hell? I see. It's worse than I thought. Oh,
hang on a sec. Worse than you thought? What did
you think? Tungsten, before answering, basically
reaches over and puts a hand out on Jules. Just
hold still, alright? And I'm going to cast...
What are you doing? I'm going to cast Cure Wounds.
Hey -o. Oh. Thank you, Tungsten. No reason for
pulling up Sacred Flame instead of Cure Wounds,
which is not helpful to me at all. Don't cast
Sacred Flame on Jules. I'm going to cast Sacred
Flame on Jules. Make a dex save. Well, that's
six points of healing on you. Okay, that's something.
Now, I can do two more if anyone needs it. Zab,
you all right? Yeah, I'm somewhere around halfway.
I guess I could use a little top off if you don't
mind. They reach out. Ooh, way better. That is
actually 10 points. Oh, damn. Damn. That's excellent
for me. Chester didn't get hit, so Chester doesn't
need anything. All right. I don't think so. I'd
have to double -check. If John Franklin doesn't
need it, I would be happy to take the other one.
Oh, yeah, that's fine. John's at 13 out of 24.
What are you at? 7 out of 14. Okay, yeah. Yeah,
Jules looks worse, so, again, Tungsten reaches
out. A warm light pulses through you, and that's
going to be another 7 on Jules. All right, I'm
full. So, David, should I roll an investigation?
Should I roll medicine on this weird, creepy,
dead zombie hand? This would actually fall under
religion. Huh, just as bad. I'm curious to know
what Tungsten has to say about this. What's Tungsten's
religion bonus? You can actually give me a few
things. Religion will give you information on
the creature in general. Investigation will give
you a little extra information on the scene and
situation. Things like that. Where is sound pukey
girl when you need her? Little religion joke.
Jewel's got a 12 on religion. Yeah, I got, like,
nothing, so. Damn it. Jules, with a 12, and maybe
this is something that you're somewhat accustomed
to anyway, because of your upbringing, but you
do recognize this was an undead creature. Sometimes
these things can be attributed to necromancers,
basically sort of a lesser summon to dead, known
as a crawling claw. The hand is something severed,
but brought back to life and able to act on its
own. What the hell is an undead doing here? Tungsten,
what's going on? Tungsten's just staring down
at it. What do you know about this? Right. Sorry.
And sorry I couldn't help back there. I had to
keep the horses from stampeding. I don't know
if y 'all know, but horses and check can be very
dangerous things. Oh, we know. All right, yeah.
But hey, and they do pull up the diamond again.
I got it, if that matters. I mean, as long as
we get out of here, that'll be a great help.
but no insight as far as what the hell is this
thing? I got insight. It's nothing concrete,
nothing to tell us exactly what we're dealing
with here, but have y 'all ever heard of the
Shadowfail? V -E -I -L? F -E -L. Shadowfail.
It's a lot to get into here, but I'll explain
when we get moving again. First things first.
And Tungsten looks over at the horse corpse.
The one laid out against a stone about 30 feet
off from where you stand off the side of the
trail. Where blood is splattered black in the
moonlight. That looks fresh. Probably Lady Drys.
Well, she couldn't have gotten far then. And
Tungsten begins to move towards that corpse.
You guys want to make any checks? Tungsten will
assist you in any check you make. So one of you
will have advantage. Survival would be a good
pick here, or investigation, potentially. Yeah.
Zebul roll investigation. See if we can find
anything to actually follow. Jesus. No good for
Zebulon. So investigation will tell you more
about what happened to the horse itself. Survival
will let you see if there's any tracks. You can
roll survival as well. Okay, perfect. I just
rolled a nat 20 on investigation. Oh, nice. You
can take advantage on survival because Thompson's
looking for tracks as well. That's very generous.
You only get one. Oh, my God. What's that? Another
20. Holy crap. So you're not going to say it?
Yeah, we're both covered in crit. Oh, there you
go. Thank you. I was waiting. You know I couldn't
keep going without it. A couple of crit. Yeah,
that was kind of like when you go in the bathroom
and you have, like, crit wars. And you, yeah,
you take a crit with your buddy. Yeah. I regret
everything. So much regret. One cheek apiece.
So, so much regret. Start with investigation.
You can tell that this thing was killed by the
same coyotes that attacked you. Uh, the horse
was apparently torn. Looks like it had been traveling
on the road. Um, when these things attacked,
it probably, they probably came in from the South,
which made this thing veer off to the North.
It got closed in. Um, and you could see basically
the way the blood splatter was like surrounded
by these things all kind of jumped on it together
and ate the corpse down to the point where there's
mostly bone. There's some meat low, low down,
but it is, um, fresh kill with your twenties
at Mulan. You and Tungsten do find tracks, boot
tracks. It looks like they leapt over the stone
itself, over the boulder to the other side, and
very subtly start to move into, like, brush,
into where tracks can be lost. How high was that
boulder? It wasn't huge. And, like, whoever did
it was on horseback when they jumped off. The
horse went down. The rider basically, like, grabbed
onto stone, leapt over, landed on the other side,
and moved away. And you do not see. Dire coyote
tracks following that path. Looks like they managed
to basically lose the dire coyotes at the cost
of the mount. And actually, very quickly, when
you see that, Tungsten smiles and says, You know,
I had a hunch. I knew it. Would you know that
Lady Dre was alive? And Tungsten just looks at
you with this sort of knowing smile and says,
Little big for women's feet, ain't they? Well,
I think that's kind of rude. Yeah. I don't spend
too much time looking at their feet. I mean,
my feet are pretty small. People come in all
shapes and sizes. I think we need to sit down
and have a conversation. All right. Say what
you will. Say what you will. We just did. You
want to say something. What are you going to
say? I cut you off. So you said these tracks
continued on. The direction they continued, is
it a direction that the horse could follow? It
looks like it is traveling parallel to the road,
but off the main road where they can stay secret.
Heading towards Cradle Lace Lake. So Lady Dre
is continuing on. I mean, at this point, we could
probably catch him. You say him. I said PM. I
said PM. Catch them. Catch them. Well, now that
whole thing has to stay in there. So the listeners
don't actually think that you said him. You can
probably catch him. Because it sounded like him
to me. Say him! Just like glaring at you. Did
you say it? Gotcha! Real gotcha journalism at
its finest. Tungsten moves away from there, too,
and moves over to the fallen horse in front.
Shit. I'm really sorry, Tungsten. This isn't...
This isn't what we wanted. Just, like, quiet
for a moment. Then... What am I... What am I
doing? I mean, I want this song so bad. But...
This is bad, isn't it? This is real bad. Um,
yeah, Tungsten, this is... This isn't safe, what
we're doing. That's why we're here. And Lady
Dre, she's in real trouble. And maybe more than
that. This points the severed hand off behind
the wagon. This ain't isolated, is it? This is
something big. Well, I guess we don't really
know that yet. But, Thompson, we're out here
risking our lives. This isn't to be taken lightly.
They just nod. Right. Okay. I'm a proclaimer
of the Covenant Gods. First and foremost, I need
to offer aid and succor to those in dire straits.
I... I want this story, and... No, no. When this
is over, if y 'all want to tell me everything,
you can. If y 'all want to tell someone else
everything, you can. It's fine. But I'm with
ya. If y 'all have me, I'm with ya, because this
is my job. You are not obligated to risk your
life to go with us. I'm afraid we disagree on
that. We can't guarantee your safety. That's
fine. Though... Then looks back at the wagon.
Only one mount. We ain't all riding anymore.
Percy here can pole on its own, but not a four
wagon, just empty. Well, I guess we better hurry
to try to catch up. Um, Tungsten, can you speed
ahead and try to catch up to Lady Dre and maybe
slow her down? Honestly, with just one mount,
I think we're all going the same pace. On these
roads, you see the roads are rough, just filled
with holes, filled with water. Even walking is
not going to be fun. What if we leave the carriage
here? You just go on horseback. We can. It's
your call. I just feel like my human side feels
like the carriage provides some sort of safety.
some sort of shelter, but... You're not wrong.
If you want to take a long rest again, you might
want to keep this carriage. Yeah, that's fair.
And with Lady Dre being, what, three or four
hours ahead of us, I'm not sure if just Tungsten
alone is going to catch up to her, and even then,
what is Tungsten going to do? It was just an
option. Yeah, no, no, no. One that I'm still
wrestling with, but it feels like the smartest
option is to just travel together with the carriage.
I think you're right. All right, I can stand
out front and lead the way, make sure everything's
safe. Jaune, maybe you can take up the rear.
Very well, I shall do so. Spins a spear. He's
in serious mode. He's very happy to get off that
damn wagon. No more throw -ups or throws -ups?
Much happier on his two feet. And so? The wagon
begins to move. Tungsten bids a final goodbye
to their fallen horse. Just like, sorry, Audrey.
You're a good mountain, good lady. I'll bury
you later. I promise. Begins to lead the remaining
horse. Zebulon scouting ahead. John Franklin
at the rear. Jules and Chester, I imagine, walking
side by side with the wagon. Yeah. I think we're
on the same side. Okay. As each other. Hell yeah.
As we move tungsten, again, quiet for a moment,
getting their thoughts together, then, now, this
ain't something they make mention of on that
fancy crystal network of yours, right? I think
it ain't something the speakers for the ancestors
want in the open. Paints a dangerous lie in all
the worlds, not just mine, not just God's breath.
You mean this has been happening and speakers
know about it? Oh, they know. They gotta know.
Most of us here know. The rattle ain't just some
dangerous place just because. Like all things,
there's a reason for it. Now, I mentioned the
Shadowfell. This is another plane. It's a plane
overlaying the material plane we all live on,
right? Every one of our worlds all exist in a
plane known as the material plane, where all
other planes of existence sort of coalesce. You
have the elemental planes. Fire, water, air,
and earth. They feed into us. They feed into
this world here. Give it shape and form. You
have the higher planes, ideals. Evil, chaos,
law, and good. And they feed into this world
as well, into the hearts of all men, women, all
folk, all monsters. There's other planes too,
strange ones. Feywild, where... Strange, magical
whimsy rules all. Brilliant color paints the
sky. And the opposite. The Shadowfell. The land
of nightmares. A dark world overlaying our own.
Normally these planes ain't something you can
easily reach out and touch, right? Crossing them
is hard. Especially here in these worlds of ours.
But for some reason God's breath seems to be
merging. With the shadow veil slowly overtaken.
I told you before, the rattle was smaller. This
farm we're heading to was in the ribbon before.
But it's spreading out. And you've seen how the
soil in our lands isn't growing. A lot of people
say it's because of the shadow veil. The land
of death seeping into our ground. Even with our
safest nightwater cove. If you really look at
those waters, you see how dark they are. You
see their... Hiding things. Dark things. So if
this is happening, why isn't anybody doing anything
about it? Yeah, how come they haven't sent luminaries
to come deal with this? What's to say this is
just going to stop with God's breath? Now, I
can't speak too much for the other worlds, but
from what I understand, this ain't just a God's
breath problem. It might not be the Shadowfell,
but... I've heard word that the other worlds,
they're getting changed too. By other planes.
Jules, I want you to make me a history check.
That's a 14 on the die plus two, 16. I was looking
for a 15. Oh, nice. Score. This actually rings
a bell with you. This conversation. And your
mind wanders back to maybe something you've overheard
from your parents. How fortunate they were. On
Tithos. Because Tithos lands were abundant with
minerals, with gemstones, with mines filled with
all sorts of gems, diamonds and the like. The
exact gems that the crystal network is sort of
based on, what it's founded on. Each world has
a corresponding gemstone that needs to be mined
and shipped to that world in massive quantities
to create the projectors that... gain signal
from the auroral diamond itself. And recording
diamonds? You need a good, solid 300 gold at
least worth diamond to basically transform into
that. And all this stuff. Tythos was the primary
supplier for all the worlds. And you remember
hearing your parents talk about how they were
gifted all this by a connection to the elemental
plane of Earth. The supply of gemstones would
almost like refresh in time. It never stopped.
While God's breath seems to have gotten the raw
end of the deal, Tithos maybe also had a similar
situation, a similar connection to one of these
outer planes. And Tithos made good on it. I mean,
you've seen the city of towers. And from what
you heard, this is what made that economy possible.
So, if... Typho's had a connection to the Earth
plane. If God's Breath has a possible connection
to the Underfell. Uh -huh. Shadowfell. Shadowfell.
Uh -huh. And we ran into those awful, horrible,
miserable fey on Subsunko. Uh -huh. That's three
worlds, three planes. Hey, uh, Steven, take this
button. Good stuff. The Feywild does have a connection
to Sapsunko. And actually, I want you to roll
a history check as well, Zebulon. Oh, this will
go well. Two on the die, minus two. Never mind.
Never mind. History what? It's like, it's great,
because Zebulon himself was essentially told
something earlier in the show. R -I? History.
Yeah, so you hear all that. Ward goes quiet for
a moment. Just nods. I don't know how it stops.
And we've had occasional undead wandering out
from the rattle. But those men with bloody eyes,
that was new. That was something bad. Is it somebody
doing this, or is this just happening? You know?
It's hard to say. I mean... I believe there are
good presences out there watching out for us,
and maybe there's evil ones too. I mean, the
Covenant Gods, they brought us here to these
lands so long ago, and I won't believe that they
knew this was coming. I think this is something
they hadn't foreseen. And that's why we make
our songs and our stories, because we hope to
bring them back. I'm glad we're here, Julie.
Maybe we can figure it out. I mean... I'm not
going to say that we're the cream of the crop,
but I just don't understand how the other luminaries,
how Atash, how Sholei, can let this go on if
they know about it. Feels like we're the only
ones trying to do something about it. It's not
fair. It's legitimately very strange because
something like this should be out there. We have...
You live in a society with this network that
connects all worlds, where information can be
shared freely between all worlds. Why weren't
you aware of this? Send them all over, for sure.
I guess we just really have to find Lady Drag,
because I'd like to know what she has to say
about all this. Thompson just nods. Gotta find
her. Some stories, they deserve an ending, and...
They look at you just right into your eyes and
say, and good folk, they deserve to move on.
When you find Lady Dre, y 'all should tell her
that. Well, that sounded kind of cryptic. What
did you mean by that? I was trying to sound cool.
Why do y 'all call it out? It just sounded like
you knew something more than you were letting
on. Yeah. I mean, I got my suspicions about Lady
Dre. Y 'all can keep hiding it. Well, I think
that was part of the deal that we made a couple
episodes ago. You still haven't told us what
you know. You know, people... Sure, people deserve
to move on. But they... God damn it, now I'm
trying to be serious. Steven! Damn it, Steven!
Give me that button back! Hey! Zebulon asked
them, said, hey, we'll share our story with you
if you tell us about Kali, Kali Sr. And that
never happened. So, anyways. Sure, people deserve
to move on. But it's pretty fucking sad that
they have to move on. That this life can't be
a place to stay. But it seems like it's getting
ruined by something. Or someone. Well, that's
a metaphysical argument that I am not emotionally
or mentally prepared to have. Come on, Zeb. Let's
get super serious. Come on. We have not had a
deep discussion yet. Let's go get high. I'm going
to be honest. I'm going to be honest. I think
that the fleeting life is what makes it all so
special. You're totally missing what I'm saying,
though. The fact that if the afterlife is better,
they deserve to move on to get away from this.
Oh, okay. I took it differently. Zebulon took
it differently. This is going to be so much fucking
fun to edit. God. Jesus Christ. Leave it in.
Hi, Post. We're just going to turn a two and
a half hour long episode because we just say,
fuck it, we're not cutting anything. We're just
like trying to have like a half -baked philosophical
argument. Oh, God. I just can't have a philosophical
argument with six intelligence, so. Okay. I can
sell you on religion. Y 'all looking for that?
Higher power to look into. Covenant God, they
might have found. We'll talk later. And you're
moving on. No, we're going to sit down. Okay.
Sit down and talk. We're moving on. Come on,
Tungsten, preach. And they preach as you move
on. Dense wood becomes less dense. Trees become
sparse as grassland once again starts to overtake.
And that road you're riding on, the farther you
go, gets less and less maintained. It starts
getting pretty rough and rugged. And soon you're
essentially just pulling through like straight
grassy field. Tungsten just nods. All right.
This is it. Let's watch that farmland. Keep up
this rise and when we crest it, you'll see the
lake. Here's hoping our quarry's still there.
You guys stay here. What? I can't hear. I'm behind
the wagon. It looks like you're talking. John.
John. Oh. John, just come closer if you can't
hear. Yes, sorry. Here I am. That's the sound
of turtle feet. I wasn't going to acknowledge
it, but you acknowledged it. I was hoping that
Jeremy would just cut that part. I saw you acknowledge
it with your face. Leave it in. You guys stay
here. I'll go take a peek over the hilltop. Sure,
you don't need backup. John, John, John. Zeb's
got this. He's got it. One word, one scream and
we'll be there. Well, I mean, you're going to
be able to see me. I'm going to be like, it's
like a couple hundred feet, right? Anyway, go.
All right. I'm going to roll stealth for Zeb.
Go ahead and roll stealth. Hell yeah. 21. You
continue up the rise. Let me stop the wagon moving
noise because we don't need that now. The wagon
is still. You continue up the rise. All around
you see the meadow. It seems like it's turned
into. You can imagine basically where this was
once filled out farmland. You can see the rows
and rows of vegetation, of wheat, of corn spread
out all around you. As you get down low and look
over the rise, you see the hill slopes downwards.
And you see this great black pool resting in
the middle of this land. The road looks like
it moved right down. The semblance of road you
can see right down into. this pool. And you remember
the stories about Cradle East Lake. Once a brilliant
farmhouse in the land itself opened up and swallowed
it. Dropped into a sinkhole filled with water.
A large family inside held back by the matron
of the family who did not want to be apart. They
all died there. And as you stare down at this
cold, At this glassy, still water. As the wind
blows past you. Maybe it's your imagination,
but you just hear a hint of a scream. And right
at the base of the road, where it meets the water
and vanishes, you see a figure kneeling at water's
edge. straw hat by their side. Just still staring
out away from you towards the water. And it's
still pitch dark around or it would be if it
wasn't for these great massive moon hanging overhead.
And that lake actually glows brilliantly in this
light as it's basically just catching it in the
middle of the sky. That's what you can make out
the shape as a silhouette basically against that.
So Zeb will turn around and hand motion, you
know, like a follow, and he's going to move as
quick as he can towards the figure. Move down,
you wave to them, and you start moving down to
the figure? Yeah. Cress at the top of the hill.
John Franklin, Chester, Jules, Tungsten, all
look down at the sight, Zebulon. You're moving
down to this figure. What do you do? Um, if Zebulon
gets close enough, he'll put a hand on their
shoulder. You can feel, like, a great stiffness
just melting under your hand. The voice just
says, You weren't supposed to come. Not here.
I thought you might just head back home. With
all due respect, Miss Oren, you don't know us
very well. Oren. The man turns his head, and
he's not Storyteller Oren. He looks similar,
but there's a number of subtle changes that spell
out the story. This is a different man. There's
his nose a touch smaller, his cheeks more full,
his eyes larger, more watery, more weary. He
looks up at the wagon coming down. As it catches
the light, squints for a second. Maybe catches
the sight of a rainbow scarf and nods. Proclaim
a war, I found you. I take it if you came here,
they probably told you about this place. Maybe
told you the songs. Yeah, um, I don't think we
would have found this place without them. And
if you know the songs, you know me. The name's
Coley. Coley Sr. This is where my boy died. It's
nice to finally really introduce myself to y
'all. We had some suspicion. The sound of the
wagon grows louder as you guys are about halfway
down the hill. Actually, when you get around
that point, Tungsten pulls the reins, the horse
stops dead, and Tungsten looks at you. This ain't
my place. I want this story. Maybe I'll get it,
but I ain't gonna force it. Y 'all go to the
man. I'll be here. I give them a nod. I turn
to Chester and John Franklin. Come on, let's
go. All right. Let's go. You guys move down the
hill and join Zebulon and Cully. Nice to meet
you, Cully. Likewise. Is this a safe place for
us to talk? No. I don't think anywhere is safe
for me right now. That's why I didn't want you
coming. I've got enough people killed in my life.
I don't need to kill y 'all two. What did you
really think we were going to do when you wrote
off? A man can hope, right? Maybe y 'all would
see reason. Though if you're keeping company
with Ada, y 'all can't be that reasonable. Just
like an empty laugh. Do you want to explain to
us exactly what's going on here and why being
around you is so dangerous? Well, I can't say
nothing for sure. Honestly, when I saw that footage
y 'all fighting, those men screaming my name,
all I knew to do was to run here because it's
got to be here. The answers have got to be here.
I was planning on looking around. Though when
I got here, I just fell to my knees, frozen.
But y 'all came after me. Y 'all deserve to know.
So let me do what I do best. Let me tell y 'all
a story. When I was a young man, I was a bit
of an adventurer. I liked stories of heroes,
travelers. Yeah, I had ambitions of becoming
a luminary. And I knew my way around, you know,
the woods, the plains. But I thought I'd change
when I had a kid. But the wanderlust came back.
And my Susanna, she was fine with it. Raised
our boy mostly on her own. And I wasn't there
when the sickness took her. Or my sister. But
I came back after. And suddenly I was guardian
of not just my own boy. But to Lila's girl as
well, Kiana. And I didn't lie. Those two were
best friends. Cully. Cully Jr. And Kiana. And
I tried being a good dad. I did. I tried being
present. But I wanted to get out there again.
And I heard tales of this place. Cradle Laced
Leg. I mean, the songs. How do you not look into
it? How do you not go? So I took them. Both of
them here. To this damned cursed place. It was
supposed to be just a little day trip, right?
A little fun adventure. I thought I could work
my way around the wildlife here. I'd been doing
it for years. And I took my eyes off them for
a second. Just a fucking second. I swear. Just
wanted to take in the marvels of this land. And
then I heard a screaming. Keona screaming bloody
murder. And my boy was gone at the lake's edge,
just gone. I dug into that muddy water. I screamed.
I flailed. I fought. And when Keanu and I, when
we gave up and we walked on, we didn't speak
a damn word the entire trip back to Promise.
I don't think we could have. Our throats were
just raw, bloody meat. And I left after that.
I couldn't stand the glass nor the pity and looks.
The whole pile later, he just opened an inn on
the Citadel, and I went to stay with him. I tried
taking Keanu, but she wouldn't have it. She wanted
nothing to do with the Citadel or with me. And
I can't blame her, because I was supposed to
be there. I was supposed to protect them. Instead,
she had to watch her best friend and her cousin
die. I never came back as Carly, not here. I
found out in one of my adventures, and I became
Orin on the Citadel. And I became Lady Dre once
a year back here for the Awakening Festival.
Only Kiana knows about the hat, about my real
identity. Kiana, I know where she is. I got that
information, and I've got to go to her. I have
to. And I understand you guys can leave because
something is hunting for me. You've seen that.
I don't know if it's some demon hunting me down
for the sins of my past or it's my boy. But I
gotta go. We came with you for a reason. We'll
follow through. Right, Zeb? What's your reason,
Jules? You son of a bitch. What's your reason?
To help him. I make good on my promises. Zip?
Mr. Oren, this is a lot more than you'd let us
to believe. Oh no. I'd hoped. I'd hoped Kiana
was just... God, this sounds awful, but... I'd
hoped she was just... Going mad. Something I
could deal with. I'll do my best to keep you
safe, Mr. Oren, or whatever you'd like to be
called, but I just want to be paid in kind. He
looks at you. What do you want? I want a sponsorship.
I do. That's where you were going. The way that
you were leading up to it. I got really scared
for a second. Huh. He just kind of like stares
you for a moment, then just chuckles. Y 'all
know we might all die out here, right? Hell yeah,
yeah. Whatever you need, I can get it. When we
get back, I swear, I'll get you on the network.
And if I can get you more money, use my influence,
I'll do what I can to back you up. It takes real
stones to do what y 'all doing here. Y 'all are
real luminaries. Just curious, how did you get
your influence? Honestly? Look, I spun some tales
at Ada's pub. Got a little popular. Ada hated
it. He didn't want people at his pub. He tries
to keep it as desolate and quiet as he can, but
started bringing people in. I think we changed
that for him. Yeah, it surprises me. He must
like those kids. But, yeah, I got found. They
brought me into the network, tried me out, and
folk of the worlds, y 'all know God's breath
doesn't exactly play kind with all the other
worlds out there. Sort of a mystique to us, like
the way we talk. So, it was easy, honestly. I
told stories. I got hired. I got famous. And
all this, justice of the lake, fade to the background.
Well, after this, um... Hopefully you can stay
famous and we can share in that too. Yeah. He's
open. He stands up, turns back to you with eyes
running with tears, wrinkled cheeks, puts out
a hand. At the same time, Zebulon goes to shake
his hand. He asks, So, um, where's Kiana? Shakes.
Not too far, actually. If we cut north from here,
keep moving up, we'll find the collection of
farms I know she's working for. I don't know
which one exactly she's on, but folk there will
know. The one that she said Cully was at? She
said he was coming. And if he came from somewhere,
he must have been here. If y 'all want to take
a look around, I'd... I meant to once I got distracted.
Can I roll a check on perception? Yeah, if you
want to look around. Again, this will be like
before. You can roll investigation. You can roll
survival. Both of those will give you some information.
Here's what's going to happen. Tungsten, I'll
say, moves down now. And there's no words between
Tungsten and Oren. Just like a respectful nod
on both sides. But they will assist you. Both
of them will assist one of you. So you guys can
take... Basically how this works is you can also
roll for your sidekicks in these cases. Only
two people are going to get advantage from the
help action that I'm going to give with my two
NPCs. You can also have your sidekicks potentially
give the help action to one another or however
you want to set this out. You can make a total
of four checks here, two of which will have the
help action. Survival and investigation will
both be the ones to try for. Okay. Second natural
20. What the fuck? On investigation. How are
you guys so good? Same goddamn check. And Sakura
Blossom might not be perception, but it's investigation.
Old men can investigate too. Lots of good old
investigators. Sherlock Holmes. Yeah, yeah. House.
Doctor Who sometimes. Doctor Who, depending on
the season. Sometimes, yeah. House? Yeah. I was
not expecting that. Oh, fuck. Okay. All right.
On a natural 20 investigation, I want to give
you everything. So don't worry about other rolls.
Oh, yeah. Let's skip some. For real. Fuck, yeah.
It's a nat 20. Okay, yeah, that's fine. It just
makes sense. It is a lot of rolls. I'll take
it. It's a lot of rolls. You're going to make
those rolls. Hold on. Our audience wants one
for all the marbles. Go make a roll. Not one
roll. I just want to get in on it as well. It's
a 20. Jeremy gets a button. All right. Oh, yeah.
Three minus two. You dirty one. And I helped.
I wish it was a one so I could have done horses,
but it's all right. It's all right. It's fine.
You guys kept the wagon with you, which means
you kept the horse around, and that makes me
delighted. That makes you exceptionally dangerous.
Oh, so, so dangerous. Yeah. Jules. Yes. You,
without even having the help of anybody, that
was your first roll, you start moving along the
edge of the water. And you see something very
strange. You see marks where it looks like something
started to crawl out from the lake, running up
the muddy shore. And you see there's many somethings.
Streaks in the mud, like fingers pulling themselves
quickly up the shore. As they kind of reach just
maybe like 15 feet or so away from the water,
these marks, these fingers, disappear into deep
burrows. Like snake holes or gopher holes going
deep into the ground. And this is on the northern
side of the lake, heading north. You also see,
in the midst of all of these, something large.
came out of this lake. Must have been the size
of a man. You see many, many prints like this
all coming together, dragging something. And
the way these marks are splayed out around this
dragged form makes you think that there's many
hands pulling it. The form itself is unnatural
from what you can tell. Something shambling,
writhing. And it, too, vanishes into a burrow
heading north. And that's what you know. Jules
is going to call up. Guys? Guys? What is it?
What do you got over there? Hey, Jules, what's
up? You're going to want to see this. All right,
I'm coming. Come on. I'm also coming. Chester's
running over. Oh, he sounds like John Franklin.
Turtle feet on the shore. Look. Oren and Tungsten
both step over. Look down at it. Eyes following
the line of marks where they disappear into the
ground. Into burrows. Those eyes flicker to the
north. Right. Is that where we're going? It's
where he's waiting for us. Let's go. And Oren
just, without a word, begins to march solemnly
under the stars up the coast, across the farmlands
of Cradolace Lake. I imagine you come too? Yeah,
Zeb looks down at this pretty large burrow. Whatever
creature crawled into it must be fairly sizable.
and he thinks about what's waiting for him back
home. And he, yeah, he rushes to catch up, and
he walks right by Oren's side, right by Coley's
side to protect him. Jules is no stranger to
the darkness. He pulls right up. Chester, by
your side. John Franklin hanging in the rear
as before. Spear out. Nervous look in his eye.
In Tungsten, with the carriage rattling as it
goes off -road and across rough farmland. And
this somber party begins towards the north. Towards
Cully Jr. And the horrors that await. And we'll
call it there.