Pants people! Hey, you want to really get the
full pants people experience, check out our Instagram,
Facebook, TikTok. Just search Fantasy Pants on
all those sites, whatever. And guess what? We
are doing an unzip soon. That's right. When?
I have no idea. I don't schedule things, but
it's coming because we finished the God's Breath
arc and we want questions about that, about the
show, about what everyone asks questions about.
I'm excited to answer them. So are the other
two goofballs. So, hey, give us your questions
on those Instagram handles and, uh... We'll see
you there. Thanks so much. Enjoy the show. For
all intents and purposes, I'm still Oren, and
I'm still here to tell y 'all a story. Now, I'd
like to thank every one of y 'all out there who
voiced their concerns over my potential removal
from the network. As you can see, I'm still here.
My words back then were a mite hasty. The speakers
for the Ancestors had no issue at all with my
decision to showcase the potential of Zebulon
Black and Jules LaRoche. In fact, they are very
excited to sign them on and deliver them their
luminary credentials and passports as soon as
the proper forms are filled out and all that
bureaucracy, you know. Your words have reached
them, folks. And I thank y 'all again for welcoming
these two new names into your lives. Now, I know
y 'all have questions flooding in about Tebion
and Jules, about our adventure on God's breath,
and how it relates to the tragedy that took place
in the rattle. I hear y 'all. I do. I do. For
now, though, let's let our new luminaries rest
and recover. We face dark trials in the homeland,
and I want to give these good folks some time
before we toss them into the spotlight, you know?
All right. Just know there is room to meet you.
As you ought to meet them. And I promise, I promise
they'll be worth the wait. Now, let's get on
to some other news. It seems Handsome Jai has
found himself a new lover. And she is right on
fire. Who's got your hands tied, Oren? What are
you talking about? What are you talking about?
We'll talk about it later. Well, we're back with
our usual recaps. I'm a little more curious with
who this fiery lover is. That too. That's you.
Come catch the even news on the network. Because
that's not our story. That's Handsome Jai's story.
Forget about Handsome Jai. This is the story
of Zebulon Black, Jules LaRoche, Chester Meeps,
that's his actual last name, yes, and Jean -Franklin
Montelio. That's the story we're here to tell
today. Montelio. We have had some huge updates
to this narrative in, well, the last episode.
And there's so, so, so, so, so, so much to touch
on, to catch up on, to just... Deal with. I think
first things first, we're leveling up, right?
Hell yeah. Let's talk about level four. We're
going to roll some HP. We're going to talk about
some of the things you've got. Oh, God. Now,
I know this is also the ASI or feat choice. Basically,
the players here can choose some skill points,
taking two skill points to add to one of their
skills, which are all garbage. That's pretty
cool. Or they can take a feat, which is basically
just a really cool sort of ability or passive
trait they get that is a little more unique and
flavorful. So we have some decisions made. One
of them is going to be a secret for now. But
first, let's talk about Zebulon. Zebulon. What's
a little four look like? Jeremy, look at David's
face for a second. What? Do you see what I see?
Oh, I've seen it this entire time. I didn't know
you saw anything, so I didn't bring it up. You've
got glitter on your lip. Yeah. At first, I thought
it was spit. Okay. But then I looked closer,
and it was glitter, and it's from the office.
It's from the office. Yes. I sat in that glitter
today. Yes. It's on your hands. It's everywhere.
It's on your shirt. It's all over me. Don't touch
me. Hey, this is the story of David and his glitter.
I was going to make like a glittery lip gloss
joke or something. Well, don't. No, this is better.
Yeah. What's level four for Zeb? I think you
asked about level four for Zeb. Level four for
Zeb is pretty straightforward. I'm doubling down
on the only thing that he's good at, which is
dexterity. So I took two points to get to 18.
Hell yeah. Hell yeah. Any other cool rogue traits?
No, not for four, not for right now. Nope, that
is it. Well, two points ain't bad. Yep. Want
to roll that HP? Yes, let me grab my D8. And
I will grab my D8, which is kind of broken. I
mean, that bodes well for us, doesn't it? It'll
roll fine. I don't know. We should do a study.
Roll it 100 times, see what happens. What'd you
get? A one. I got a seven. Oh, yeah. Nice. Nice,
dude. Excellent. Oh, man. I thought I got a one,
too. I was so lucky with HP. Yeah, seriously.
You are. For a rogue, you're pretty beefy. Yeah.
You're probably going to be up there right around
Jean Franklin now, actually. Now I'm up to 28.
Damn. 28. Holy shit. Yep. Nice. Not bad. Nice.
So average for this level is 21. Total possible
is 32. Dude. Wow. Yeah. Wait, are we doing...
Sorry to interrupt. Are we doing re -roll ones?
I thought we were starting to do that. Re -roll
ones? I don't remember. Did we? I fucking think
you should. I don't remember. We can re -roll
ones. I mean, seven's still good. I just... Yeah.
It was something. All right, well, just for shits
and gigs. That's a six, so... Okay. All right.
I don't know. I'm into it. I don't remember.
The listeners probably remember. So let's just
not re -roll. Okay. Yeah. I don't know. Okay.
But I'm going to use a button for advantage.
Double advantage. Oh, come on. So before we get
to your roll, level four, what's it look like?
Now, we're going to keep your feet ASI choice
a bit of a secret for now. Okay. Yeah. You tell
me what I can disclose here. Just tell me about,
I know you're still looking at spells, correct?
Correct. All right. So anything else you got
going on? Well, I don't know what I can disclose.
Let's just roll HP. Okay. There you go. All right.
Let's do this thing. Steven's looking real concerned
over there. Well, it's like you basically said,
I can't tell what I did. It's true. It's true.
Well, you're being shady and secretive. You're
being sparkly and glittery. So it's like between
the two of you. Good time back. Roll your dice.
I got a five. I got a four. Five's pretty good.
Yeah. Five's not bad. Five is. Pretty darn good.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. What are you up to? 14 HP now?
19. Oh. I haven't broke 20. Oh, poor Jeremy.
Poor Jules is awful. But we've learned that Jules
on that back line is a killer. Yeah. As long
as he stays in the back line, he's good to go.
So. HP is rolled. We have some elements that's
level up we're going to keep a little secret.
And we have some narrative beats I want to introduce
to you guys to, I guess, influence these feats,
these ASIs. We have a lot to touch on, like I
said, which is why it pains me so, so much that
I had to start us off with a flashback. Nothing
good comes from flashbacks. Oh, you know how
it is. And sorry to use the same old music I've
been using all this time for flashbacks, but
I just really, really like it, you know? Let's
get this started. We see dawn cracking over the
great pointed mountains of the Canton Range,
just west of the grand city of Cerule. We follow
the sunlight as it glints off the stones of the
towers at the edge of the high city, where bells
are ringing all across the city, down over...
These small, low buildings, the long tenements
of the low city that surrounds it. We pan down,
down from the heights of these towers, serving
as the border between the stone -wrapped marvels
of the city of towers and the grand slums that
surround it. We pan down and down and down, across
an open expanse, heavily patrolled by armored
men in taverns of white and blue, and into these
low buildings and broken streets. And here we
see a sorry, sorry sight. We see folks beginning
to move in droves, their hunched bodies limping,
their eyes shadowed with drooping lids. The masons
and laborers of the low city are moving in to
work on towers that they will never get to live
within, or really experience, or they're moving
to join a caravan heading towards a great variety
of stone quarries and gem mines in the mountains
beyond the city. And here, watching this crowd
from a darkened alley, we see the emaciated form
of Jules LaRoche. Now 14 years old. And I'll
ask you, Jeremy. What does it look like when
Jules is just days after making his escape from
the Tower of Authority? What state is he in?
I think his eyes are very intense during these
moments. I think he's staring every individual
down. Sizing everybody up that he can? Because
he doesn't yet really trust anybody outside?
Wow. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, this is a whole new
world. You're so new here, and now you're just
sitting in the cesspool of your parents' corruption.
You're seeing the victims of their rule up close
and personal. You're with them now, and it's
hard to know what you would do, what you would
think. I mean, I think at this point, Jules still
believes that he knows that these people are
good people. But he is also terrified that they
are also agents of the family still. You know,
somebody's going to rat him out. And you know
for sure you are being hunted. In fact, you're
watching as this line of laborers moves to a
crowd of LaRoche guards sort of at the edge of
the low city. scanning all their faces and searching
for you. And you've managed to keep out of their
clutches for now, but there have been some dangerously,
dangerously close calls. I mean, just this morning,
you only barely managed to slip out of the high
city, carrying only one loaf of fresh -baked
bread, a loaf stolen from the window of a bakery
at the high city's edge. And then you clutch
this precious game now. Yet you do not eat. Despite
the roaring in your stomach, you do not eat.
For here, you can see the folk of the low city.
You can see these victims of your parents' rule.
You see the broken, beaten laborers, and you
see their children. I mean, just across from
this grime -covered street from where you stand,
you see two young girls in torn, simple tunics
hugging their exhausted mother. You watch as
they push aside her sandy hair and each plant
a kiss on her forehead. You see how she smiles
at them, how they smile at her, but as she turns
from them, as she leaves, The little girl's smiles
dissolve. They just collapse into each other's
arms and they whisper to each other harsh words
spoken through gritted teeth and tearful eyes.
And where you stand, only the word hungry carries
to your ears. What do you do? Can I get to them
without being seen? Yeah. A lot of the laborers
have moved on at this point. They're some of
the only folk that are still on this strip of
road. And that crowd is blocking any vision that
the guards could see past, basically. Okay. So
I'm going to walk over to them. They're kind
of focused on each other as you move forward,
but as you get close, it's like they just break
apart and look at you. It's okay. It's okay.
And I'm going to cautiously squat down. I'm not
super close to them. I don't want to make them
any more afraid. But I'm going to squat and hold
out the loaf of bread. Picket. Take it. It's
yours. The girl in the back just pulls in her
sister's, like, tunic. Just, Sana? And the one
girl a little older in the front just kind of
puts a hand up. It's okay. It's okay. And she,
just looking you straight in the eyes, cautiously
reaches out. Here you go. And takes the loaf.
You watch this bread pulled away from you. The
buttery smell is... Leaving you that crispy feeling,
that warmth it had leaving your hands. Your stomach
roars. But you see as that smell hits these two
young girls. They look down at it. Their stomachs
roar. Their faces break into an uncontrollable
grin. The young girl just takes it and begins
to move inside a building behind her. Through
a darkened curtain covered doorway. And the older
girl, Sana, just looks at you. Thank you. Thank
you. You're welcome. And make sure your mother
gets a little bit of that, too. I will. I promise.
And she's gone. You watch that curtain fall behind
her as she vanishes into the dark, gleefully
clutching that precious gain. And you stand there
in the street, your stomach roaring, as your
first meal in maybe two days is just gone. And
then... That buttery smell touches your nose
again. And you feel a warmth being pressed into
your hand. You feel a flaky crust of another
loaf of bread. And you look down. You see a child
is holding a loaf just like the one you had.
Holding it out towards you, basically just pushing
it into your hands. A child with a little newsy
hat and a large oversized brown coat. A mop of
orange hair. Cheeks spattered with freckles.
And, uh... I think he scares the shit out of
me. What the fuck? Whoa, hey, hey. Easy, easy,
big guy. Jeez, don't scare me like that. I'm
sorry. Holy shit. Look, hey, come on. Big guy's
gotta eat too, right? Who are you? I'm Jester.
It's nice to meet you. Jester Meeps. You could
say I kinda run these streets, huh? Sorry. Sorry.
Nice to meet you, Chester. I'm... I'm... I'm
Jules. Jules. Jules. I like that name. A little
better than big guy. Now, come on. Hit up. Honestly,
you earned it. That commotion you caused earlier
made it a lot easier for me to steal it. I can't
take this. It's yours. Hey, we worked together
on that job. You didn't know it. I've been following
you. You sneaky son of a bitch. That's what they
call me. Alright, I'll take a little piece, but
you gotta eat some too. Oh, don't worry, I ate.
I took care of myself. You gotta take care of
yourself too, alright? Jules still only takes
a little bit in the end. He just kind of watches
this intently. You're new here, right? Yeah,
you could say that. You seem, uh, well, you're
neat. I'm neat? Yeah, something like... Listen,
he kind of looks around. Look, between you and
me, right? I've heard your description passed
around amongst the high folk god. It's supposed
to be all hush -hush. But, uh, they're looking
for you, ain't they? You want to tell me why?
You don't have to. Maybe another time. Let's
get to know each other first. He just cracks
his... You see his smile just widens, his big
gap in his two front teeth, his gap -toothed
grin. He just, alright, alright, yeah. Look,
I wanted to see what kind of guy you were, right?
And that right there? That was good stuff. You
got a low -city heart, you know what I'm saying?
You ain't like the others. I mean, everybody's
got to eat. Yeah. Everybody. Yeah, they do, and
we can help a lot more people eat together. Now,
I know my way around, right? But I'm just a little
guy, and I could use a big guy like you to watch
my back. And besides, you're high -city. You
don't have the wits to betray me. No offense.
Jules raises one eyebrow. None taken. All right,
yeah. Yeah, I need a little help getting a little
savvy down here. Well, all right, then. He kind
of puts a hand out towards you. All right, Jules
reaches out and shakes his hand. I just see his
hands moving. These two, we got to pan out with
these two for the first time. Shake hands. Look
each other in the eye. Can I call you friend?
Sure. Yeah. It's always nice to have friends.
To be honest, you might be the only one I got
right now. And I don't know you that well just
yet, but I appreciate you. Well, we'll find more
friends, huh? And for now, hey, Chester and Jules.
Jules and Chester. Think of the trouble we're
going to get about, huh? It's got a nice ring
to it. Oh, yeah. Someday this whole city's going
to know our names. Damn straight. I think we
pan away from this moment. Light fills our screen.
We are brought back into the present. To Citadel.
And to the ugly coyote. Yeah. Not the fucking
pale moonlight. Fuck those guys. Let me get it.
Let me get it. There it is. Boom, boom. There
it is. Welcome back to the Ugly Coyote. Feels
good to be home. Boy, we have a few things to
touch on here. Now, last time we ended the episode,
we cut to a few days post your return. And I
want to touch on what happened in those couple
of days before your announcement, before your
broadcast, real quick. Now, you guys received
some news from God's breath, maybe a day or two
later on. Do you know that the only bodies discovered
were those of the four farmers in that central
home? the four possessed farmers that you dealt
with. But you also know there were 16 other people
working on that farm pact, all of whom have remained
undiscovered. Current theories say that their
remains were brought underground by whatever
mysterious assailant caused that farm tragedy.
The exact identity of this creature remains undisclosed
to the general public. And that's really all
that's been said publicly about the tragedy on
God's Breath. Right now, your names have been
kind of not out on the record. That being said,
Kiana's been actually staying at the Coyote with
you guys. We touched on that last time. She was
there during the broadcast, but she has been
there becoming fast friends with Jeans. She's
been working on painting with her left arm, getting
a little practice, and we see that the back wall
of the Coyote is slowly being overtaken by a
great mural. It's still in rough shape, still
a work in progress, but it looks to depict our
four heroes here, standing valiantly in front
of a horde of shadowed dangers. Jeez. So, yeah,
it's coming out nice. That's pretty cool. Mm
-hmm. You know that Koli has sent out for one
of Atash's powery angels to come to the Citadel
to regenerate Kiana's lost hand. Judge of the
Shieldbearers had done for Arhalon before, but
it takes some time, it takes some expense, so
that's still in the works. Speaking of Koli,
he has been busy. You know, he's been doing a
lot of work on the network. He did manage to
go back to Promise. He brought the diamond. I'm
sure you gave it to him. That belonged to the
Proclaimers. Yep. Once we got what we needed
out of it. Great. He brought the diamond back,
and he told his story to the Proclaimers to have
it written down in the Awakening song. He also
brought a little extra gift for you guys. One
day you come down to see a present. Basically
just sitting there on one of the tables, Ader
points you out to it, and there's a little note
that says, A present from your patron. You see
a little winky face under a straw hat. And you
look at this rustic brown pack with this magical
inscription embroidered around these sort of
mouth and pockets. These big buckles fastening
it tight. And this is a handy haversack. Which
let me. Do tell. Please do explain. Very handy.
That sounds intriguing. Cliff notes it. It's
a pretty long description, but basically this
backpack has a central pouch and two side pouches,
each of which works as an extra -dimensional
space. Each side pouch can hold up to 20 pounds
of material, not exceeding a volume of 2 cubic
feet. The central can hold up to 8 cubic feet
and 80 pounds of material. It always weighs 5
pounds, regardless of how much stuff you have
in it. So just a fantastic adventuring gear sort
of thing. Retrieving an item from it. Requires
you to use an action, but you reach in and that
specific item you're looking for will always
be on top. And there's some limitations. It can
get destroyed or whatever if sharp objects pierce
or tear it. And everything inside, if it's destroyed,
gets lost forever into the astral plane. So you've
got to be careful with it. But it's a really
cool little magical sort of accessory that belongs
to you now. It could come in handy. Yeah, definitely
a very nice gift. Another question I had for
you guys as far as the fallout from God's Breath.
What did you do? With Percy the horse. That's
a Zebulon question. I mean, I assume that we
just would have found a nice home for Percy once
we got back to Promise. I mean, I don't think
we would take Percy with us, right? I wouldn't
think so. Yeah, that's my first inclination.
I mean, too many now ones happen for us to keep
a horse around. All right. So Percy's back on
promise. Maybe with that same, uh, that horse,
uh, you know, handler. No, fuck that guy. No,
the horse. I'm going to say Percy went back to
the proclaimers. That I love that. That's great.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Um, okay. All right. So that's,
uh, that's talks about and done with. Um, so
let's talk about what you guys have been up to
since getting back. Now, this is before the announcement,
so you're not famous yet. You're not known. They
say there's like three days before that happens.
So, like, how'd you spend your three days? Just
real quick recap so we know. I think Jules drank
and slept a lot. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, obviously
the first stop is back at the Coyote to make
sure everything's all right. Hmm. Yeah, I think
Zebulon was also trying to lay low. I think he's
a little nervous about what's going to happen.
Probably more excited than nervous. But he does
understand that there might be some blowback
after this announcement with his family. Yeah.
Do we know the announcement's coming? You guys
were aware something would happen. Okay, okay.
I will say for the sidekicks part, unsurprisingly,
you've seen very, very little of Jean Franklin.
He checked into the pale moonlight and has not
been seen since. Oh, my God. Fuck that guy. That
asshole. And more surprisingly, you haven't seen
a lot of Chester. He's been out almost constantly.
And you know that he's left his weapons and armor
and all sort of adventuring gear behind, just
sitting and collecting dust in a corner of his
room. And yeah, he hasn't been around a lot.
And then comes the night of the announcement.
And like I said before, everything changes. Following
that night, I mean, you guys are known now. But,
well, we'll touch on more of that in a bit. There's
one thing, hmm. While you're thinking about it?
Yeah. I just had like this. Awesome little vision
of all of us hanging out at the Ugly Coyote,
watching the announcement like it was the Super
Bowl. Like we've been waiting so long. Oh yeah,
I love that idea. Got some bar food in front
of us. Maybe Ader made something a little special.
Nachos. So I was going to say, what's the fantasy
version of nachos? Is it still nachos? I mean,
there are definitely nachos in this setting,
right? There has to be. Okay, I hope so. Yeah,
then we're eating nachos. All right. On our little
fold -out TV trays, TV dinner trays. Not just
the ugly coyotes menu. With jalapenos. No, the
thing is, there actually was your payout to talk
about from your patron, Peppers Peppers. But
I'm trying to decide because we're going to pick
this up right after the announcement, which means
it wouldn't necessarily make sense for all those
bonuses to add more sales to Pepper's actual
stall yet. So we have to find out how Pepper
has done. on his own without the jewels and Zebulon
boost. Hmm. I'll just say, I'll deal with your
payout maybe a little later in the episode, maybe
next episode when a little time has passed. Okay.
When it makes sense for you guys to receive it
because you've done a lot of extra work to earn
more money. I will say that much. Sweet. Yeah,
and it's not even like, because right now we
don't have the passports. We couldn't go check
on Pepper if we wanted to. You couldn't. Yeah,
you have to wait. And that's what it is now.
You know from the moment that announcement was
made, now it's a waiting game. And you don't
know how long it's going to take before you get
the notice that the speakers are ready to talk
to you. But likely what's going to happen is
you'll be invited into the preserve of the ancestors
inside the Aurel Diamond itself to the speaker's
sort of speaking room. Yeah, you'll be given
your sort of luminary paperwork, your passports,
maybe even your first objectives and quests.
The whole rundown then. But now it's just a waiting
game. Good, good. Now, let's pick this up on
the morning after your little announcement, where
I imagine you guys probably did some celebrating
that night. Oh, for sure. How many shots did
Zebulon take? I'll roll for it, I don't care.
I don't give a fuck. D4 plus one shots. One.
So two. That's a nice celebration. Yeah. Restrained.
Get a little warm. Restrained. Yeah. I could
learn a thing or two. But then peer pressure
happens and roll again. Another one. Look at
that. He's a smart guy. He's a smart guy. He's
learning. He's learning. The longer I look, David,
the more glitter I see on you. At this rate,
Danny's going to be covered in glitter. I was
ready. My sound set got erased. It does this
all the time. I've got to fix it real fast. I
don't want a bunch of weird noise. A lot of times
I look at these episodes and these sound sets
will have the wildest shit randomly. I think
it was a serious scene from an earlier episode
where upon re -listening, I hear some person
go, take the L, loser! And it's just like, why,
Sirenscape? Why do you have that? I can't edit
that shit out. It's just there forever. See if
you can find it and get back to Steven. Speaking
of Sirenscape, thank you for letting us use your
music. We love you. Yeah, Sirenscape, you're
the best, even though that thing that I just
said happened. Don't like that. Well, now you
just diluted that. But I love everything else.
You guys are great. Morning comes in the ugly
coyote. We see you guys sort of waking up, stirring
as the day starts. Jamal the pangolin is nestled
up at the foot of a jewel's bed. I think the
day starts with a little knock on your door,
Jules. What's your sleeping situation? Who do
you actually share a room with here? I think
when we first arrived, I think it was two rooms.
Yeah. One for Zebulon. You're right. So I share
a room with, like, half the Cherry Delights.
Right. At this point, we've probably settled
into a slightly more permanent situation. Right.
I imagine I'm in one room with a few of them,
and then Chester and Jeans are in the other.
All right. I'm into that. David Slyer's game.
I don't know. Okay, okay, I'm up. Fine. And the
guard leaves. I'm turning off all of this. Alright,
good. It's just music now. It's just music. No
more tomfoolery. This is serious time for serious
podcasters. Steven. Stop it. You hear a knock
at your door. It's a serious knock. You can tell.
Shut up! Stop doing it. What? It's a serious
knock, and what? All right, all right. Here we
go, here we go. You hear a knock. Dun -dun -dun
-dun. Jules? It's Gene's voice. Jules, you awake?
Jules kind of sits up from laying down. Rubs
his eyes. Yeah, yeah, come on in. Come on in.
She opens the door and steps inside. I think
she looks over. Maybe Fibro and Mulligan are...
Yeah, I'm putting that on you. Fibro and Mulligan
are still snoring peacefully. Maybe they share
one bed. She just looks over, nods, walks up
to you. What's up? We need to talk. Yeah. Yeah.
I know a lot's going on. Last night, I mean,
everything's changed now. I mean, it's great.
We're just much closer to getting back, you know,
everybody. But I know we should celebrate. But
I'm worried, Jules. No, stop. Stop right there.
You're wrong. Ain't nothing to celebrate right
now. This isn't finished. It's not finished till
we get our family back. I know. And that's sort
of why I'm here. It's Chester. Yeah, I'm a little
worried. Have you seen him? Not really at all.
And he's been changing, you know? I mean, after
Sapsunko, he was different then, too. But, like,
it was all right. I mean, his shoulders seemed
heavier, and I was worried, but some of that
change was good. He was bolder. He, um... Did
he tell you that he kissed me? Finally coming
out, huh? She just blushes and kind of looks
down. He said it was your advice he was acting
on, actually. He said his words, when you know,
you know, you know? Those were literally my exact
words. It was adorably awkward. I mean, was it
good advice? She just kind of looks down, won't
look you in the eyes. Yes, it was very good advice,
yes. But that's the thing. It was fine then.
And then you left for God's Breath. No one's
told me what happened there, but he's been different
in a new way. He won't even look me in the eyes.
He'll barely talk. He's never home. I never hear.
I try to track him down and I can't. I feel like
he's avoiding me. We saw some things. Felt some
things that I never wanted any of you to see
or feel. I warned you that this would happen.
He's not strong like you. I mean, he has the
potential. He can fight, but in his heart, he's
not... Let me tell you, James, he can fight.
He is a hero. What's it going to cost him to
be a hero? But I recognize that the darkness
that I know is spreading. I never ever wanted
to expose Chester or any of you to anything that's
out there. And I don't know what I expected going
there. But it was way too much. What do we do
now? Like you said, it's not over. And Jules,
we know your family's waiting. They're there
on Sunset Yarn, right? And what sort of darkness
are you going to face then? He'll break. The
only way to keep him and you all safe is to keep
you. As far away from them as possible. I'm not
going to ask Chester to come with me. It's not
about asking. I'm not going to let him come with
me. She breathes out the deepest, heaviest sigh
of relief at those words. You see tears sort
of forming at the corners of her eyes and she
just wipes them and... I know it's a lot to ask,
but... Thank you. It's... It's for the best,
I promise. You won't like it, but it's for the
best. Don't thank me. You just keep Chester safe.
Until I bring the rest of our family back home
safe. She just smiles. Okay, I will. I promise.
I've got to go. The morning chores need doing.
But I promise, I will. And she backs out of the
doorway. In down the hall. What have I done?
We're going to see. But first things first. Zebulon.
Let's say you're moving down the stairs into
the actual brewpub proper. And maybe you wake
up a little earlier than Jules in this day. Maybe
you actually follow Jean as she scuttles down.
But something surprises you as you walk down
to the room. You see there's a customer at the
bar, drinking. It's early morning. They really
shouldn't be open right now. Oh. Excuse me, can
I help you? I don't think this place is open
yet. And as you say this, this figure turns to
look at you and just says, Oh, Zebulon, there
you are. I was looking for you. Hey. Hey, Oren.
Can you see? I'm trying to get the right voice.
I tried again because it wasn't good enough.
It sounded a whole lot like Oren. Zeb, is that
Oren down there? Is that Oren? Second take. Give
me a second. Don't keep this in. I didn't recognize
him, but I know he's got that hat. It sounds
a lot like Oren. It's not a hat. I thought I
heard his voice. You're going to keep all this.
All right. I didn't practice the voice. That's
okay. Give me a second. I just thought that's
who it was. Hang on. Let me do some. Some words.
Zebulon. No, it's Arhalon. It was a decent split.
Zebulon. No, that was Arhalon. That was Arhalon.
No, Arhalon's more like this. This voice is rougher.
Okay. How about this? Now it's all standard.
It sounds a lot like Arhalon. Damn it. It's my
voice, so it's always going to sound a little
bit like Arhalon. Well, yeah. That sounded as
much like Arhalon as the other voice sounded
like Orin. Son of a bitch. I'll stick to a rigid
sort of way of talking like this. Yes, I like
this. Let's stay steadfast and sturdy with my
words. Definitely sounds militaristic. There
we go. That's perfect. Boom. You can keep some
of this. I don't care. Is this Commander Ariat?
Is that his name? You see, Captain Commander
Aria of the Shield Heirs. And this was the guy
who revived Zebulon? It is, actually. Okay, yeah.
Harriot saved you on Tythos. He piloted the Sapphire
to and from the city. He led the shield bearers
in that battle, in that rescue. And he is here
drinking at about 8 o 'clock in the morning in
the dirtiest pub on the Citadel. Yeah, Zebulon's
definitely surprised and a little cautious, especially...
Right after, you know, the big announcement,
to see a high -ranking military figure here looking
for him. Yeah, that's, yeah. Yeah, Ariat. Commander,
sir. Commander. I'm off duty. It's Ariat. Ariat.
Sir, how can I help you? I'm here for a drink.
Join me. He pushes a bar stool out for you. Oh,
did you just? He sits down. Do you just grab
that, or...? Aether actually kind of bustles
out from the back. He's up surprisingly early,
which has been a big shift from him since Gene
started working. He's... Oh, hey, Zebulon. You
met my big regular here. Oh. Huh, that's funny.
I mean, we've never seen... Yeah. It's been busy
since the Tithos tragedy. I haven't had time
to get out, but this is my favorite place to
frequent. Oh, well, um... That's really nice.
Welcome back. And let me describe Arya a little
more for everybody here. You see he's a little
over 40 years old. He's got kind of a shorter
build, but very sturdy with very commanding presence.
You know, broad shoulders, just, you know, rough
and tumble. He's got a very harsh brown, intense
gray eyes, very strong set jaw. There's scars
crisscrossing the back of his head and down the
back of his neck, disappearing into his, like...
It looks like he's not really wearing shieldbearer
armor now, just wearing sort of general, sort
of very basic, very rough clothing. You'll see
there's two dots marking his forehead. It looks
to be some kind of ash marking, as though he
dipped his two fingers of his hand in ash and
pressed them to his head. And have I seen him
like this before? You have, actually. And if
you want, you can actually roll a history check
if you want to get an idea of what this means.
That's a 14. 14 will get you this. It's probably
something that was mentioned to you by Arhalon,
actually, before, when he's, you know, geeking
out over how cool Captain Commander Ariat is.
But Ariat's sort of forehead is decorated by
these ash dots that they're actually a symbol
of mourning in the world of Dayalangan, where
Ariat is from. What's interesting is normally
when someone close to you dies in this world,
they will dip their fingers in ash, as I said,
and press to your forehead as a sign showing
the world that you are grieving. Ariat is always
grieving. He always has the marks on his head.
Oh, tragic. Arlon says they're a way of honoring
all the shield bearers that have died under his
command, because there have been many. But he
just looks over at you, smiling, this happy smile,
and you see he's already probably maybe two drinks
in. So Zebulon's definitely worried. Wow. And
what was the last thing he said? He said he was
basically just a frequent here and he offered
you a seat. Oh, okay. Yeah. So sitting next to
him, Zip's just going to put his arms on the
table, get comfortable, and look over to Ariat
and wait to hear what else he has to say. I think
he watches you settle down and his face. Any
of the sort of joy found there sort of fades
away. He just nods and you realize there is something
grim coming. I want to talk to you about your
brother while you're here. Things have been bad
for him. Is he okay? He's fine, he's fine, but
I don't know what happened ever since the, well,
the incident here with the children. He's been
under some stress. Maybe it's brought on by...
Losing the arm in the fight on Tithos, but he's
been demanding more investigative duties and
rights. He wants to look into the LaRoche family.
He wants to invade Cirilla's quarters, and you
know we can't do that. But he's spending so much
time fixating on this and not on his work. And,
well, he came by last night. It was actually
just after, well, your big appearance on the
network. Congratulations. Thanks. He came by
and he was in a state. He demanded I give him
leave to investigate corruption in the Roach
family now. He wanted me to sign off on a raid.
He said that she was holding children against
their will. Cirilla LaRoche was holding these
children against their will. And he even implied
that he was somehow aware of the fact that the
LaRoches were behind the Tythos tragedy. Something
to do with worshipping fiends, but there's no
hard evidence, and I told them to back down.
We're search and rescue agents. We're bodies
to act out the humanitarian will of the Citadel.
We act out the will of the speakers. We can't
simply turn on them because we feel it is right.
And I told him he's under a lot of stress. The
time away might do him good. He lost an arm to
the storm eye and was back working only a day
after it was returned to him. It's still not
even working yet, so I put him on leave, and
he decided to make that leave permanent. He reaches
into his pocket and draws out a brass shield,
a small little token, and drops it on the counter,
sliding in front of you. And you really recognize
a badge with the name Arathelon Brass pressed
in across it. Your brother quit the Shieldbearers.
Wordlessly, Zebulon picks up the badge and holds
it in two hands and flips it over and reads it
out loud. Did you say it says Arathelon? It does.
It's funny. It's your brother's full name. And
yet everyone always shortens it. It's never used.
And you get the strangest tingling feeling at
the back of your head when you read it, when
you say it, but... No, no, no, it's nothing.
It's nothing at all. It feels foreign in his
mouth. Yeah. You don't know why your brother
hates it so much. Why Sholay hates it so much.
That name. Paracelon? Where did he... Where did
he go? Do you know where he is? I believe he's
still here. On the Citadel. Probably locked up
in his apartment. No one's seen him around. Who
else knows about what he's been saying? I mean,
he kind of looks down at the drift, swirling
liquid in his glass, getting very low. I had
to report it to your grandmother. She knows everything.
Is anybody taking it seriously? It seems serious
enough. But maybe it's a good thing. I've always
liked Arlon. But he is partial to heroics. I
have seen a lot of good men like him die on mission.
You see he presses his fingers up towards his
forehead. Don't misunderstand me, Commander.
I'm not asking about... What I'm asking is, is
anybody taking what he's saying seriously? But,
no. Of course not. He... Is it untrustworthy?
Has he given you any reason to doubt him? He
has. He's been... He's tired. And he's been through
a lot. And the way he's talking, it's not like
him. It's not normal. I... Arhan is a good shield
bearer. Maybe one of the best. You can't just
brush him aside because what he's saying doesn't
sound as hard. What he had to do that day with
those kids was hard. It was wrong. We aren't
spies. We aren't investigators. We are search
and rescue agents in the hands of the speakers.
If this is what he wants, then he does not want
to be a shield -bearer. So... So why are you
really here? What are you going to do about all
this? And he just raised his glass. I'm here
to drink. I just lost my best lieutenant. And
it's my day off. My first in a while. I haven't
had a day like this since... Tithos. This takes
a long sip. So let's talk about something more.
Upbeat. He nods down at your belt. Those sabers.
Arlon gave them to you, didn't he? He helped
me learn how to use them. Did you know they used
to be mine? An old pair of my weapons, collecting
dust in the Shieldbearer barracks? No, I assumed
they were just old training weapons. And he kind
of just smiles. I've seen they've served you
well. You're good. I watched the footage. had
a good teacher. If you ever want to really know
how to use those weapons, let me know. I am versed
in the ancient arch of Eskrima. It's a deowlingan
art. And, uh, I'm passing good. You see, he does
have very similar weapons. He has two blades
in his belt as well. Finer crafted and maybe
magical for the looks of things. With all due
respect, Commander Ariad, if you're not gonna
take my brother seriously and help him, then
I don't think I have the time to train with you.
I think I should probably help him. And Zebulon
grabs the badge and swings his legs over the
chair to leave. Ariat just raises his glass towards
you. Good luck, then. You're a good brother.
And he takes a sip as you walk away. Holy shit.
Holy shit. I know what you were trying to do
there, and I'm sorry. No, I love this. In fact,
Zebulon, I want to keep following you around
for a little bit longer. Just a little bit longer.
Uncomfortable. Oh, yeah. Where are you going?
To Arhalon's apartment. So you press out the
saloon doors into the streets. And it's interesting,
because as you start walking down those streets...
a very strange sensation comes over you. Well,
no, he had a strange sensation walking out of
the place. He had that almost sense of vertigo
when, I don't know, when you lose a job or somebody
dumps you or you experience, you know, I don't
want to be as dramatic as saying a death in the
family, but you know what I mean? That feeling
where you're almost floating and falling at the
same time. Kind of like that cinematic thing
where the camera's like doing circles around
you and you're kind of looking around. It's fascinating
because while you're experiencing this, you're
watching as almost every face on the street is
turning towards you. Whispering and pointing.
Is that? Is that? Right. This is the. He finally
got what he wanted. And this is the worst time
to be famous. People are trying to approach you
and maybe you're just rushing. Are you like you're
stopping to talk? He's not jogging, but he's
like fast walking. And he's trying to put on
a smile. And he's like, you know, as he's passing
people by, he's turning his body to like walk
sideways and backwards to apologize. I'm sorry.
I'm really busy right now. I can't stop. Thank
you so much. I'm going to be back. I'm going
to be back around. It's really. Thank you so
much. I just, I can't right now. And you're just
pushing, pushing past, moving past. The crowds
keep opening up around you. People looking, people
staring, people pointing, people laughing, cheering.
And you barely see it. Pushing and pushing and
pushing until you find yourself towards the top
of the coil of the great fossil that the city
is built on by the Palace of Exile. and your
apartment with Arhalon, which lies just to the
side of it. You work your way up to this sort
of long building. You guys are on the second
story. You work up some stairs, and you see just
like a large sort of, you know, sort of basic
doorway, pretty basic tenements. What do you
do? Zebulon doesn't even knock. He just goes
right in. You find the door is locked, which
has never been the case before. Yeah, I can see
the motion, because, like, I know. Just muscle
memory, how many times I've gone to open a door
and like half walked in. Yeah. To discover it's
locked. So he steps back and knocks on the door
fairly hard. He's like this weird mixture of
scared, sad, confused. A long moment passes and
the door opens. Before you see your brother,
then the first thing that catches your eye, because
it's strange, is the inside of the apartment.
Where immediately you see that the wall that
you had, that you took, it was basically yours,
filled with luminary decorations and figures
and posters and whatnot. Everything has been
torn down. And you see like Arlan's conspiracy
board has spread all the way to your side of
the room as well. You see like boxes of your
stuff pressed into one corner in the back. And
then you see your brother, the proud brass dragon
brought low. We fucking broke Arhuan. His eyes
are just red and exhausted. Looks like he has
not slept in days. And while he still towers
above you, he looks so small now, one arm still
hanging limp at his side. His left arm pushing
the door open. He just stares down at you with,
like, this face, stupefied. Arhuan, what are
you... What is going on? What is this about?
And he holds out the badge. Zebulon. So you deign
to make an appearance here? Come to gloat? What
are you doing? What are you talking about? What
are you doing, Zebulon Black? Was the name Brass
not good enough for you? Can't share a name with
me? Too good to share a name with me? That, that's...
Is that really what all this is about? I don't
want to hear it! You think you're so much fucking
better than me, don't you? Are you all gallivanting
around, saving worlds, while your brother, he
has to go and bring children to demon worshippers?
You think you're so fucking righteous? You're
nothing! Nothing without me! And now you're out
there, Zebulon. The worlds are watching, Zebulon.
They're gonna see every mistake you make, and
when you fuck up, I won't be there to save you.
Not anymore. Then why did you quit? He just stands
there for a long moment, glaring down at you.
There's heat in his eyes. There's smoke pouring
from the sides of his mouth. Yeah, Zebulon's
on his back foot. He's, like, trying not to show
that he's scared. Now he's got, you know, his
own sort of chops, but he's terrified. He's ready
to bolt. Go. Zebulon, go! And don't you dare
come back! I can help you. This isn't you. He
just stands there glaring. Unmoved. Body shaking.
Hands curling into fists. Zebulon drops the badge.
And... Takes a few steps back without turning
his back. And turns to walk away. That's right.
Run, little Zebulon. Run back to your new friends
and your new life. You're too good for me now.
And you hear the door slam behind you. And before
the door even shuts, Zebulon's tearing up. He's
broken his brother and... Doesn't know how to
fix him. And we pan away from that. Because it's
your turn, Jules. No. Oh, yes. Please, no. It's
your turn. Please, no. We pan. What are you doing
now? After your conversation with Jeans? You
know Chester is out. You don't know where. I
think after the conversation with Jeans, is there
a back entrance that I could go out of? Covered
in my cloak? I don't think there's a back entrance.
There's a side entrance in the stables, basically.
You could do that. Is there a place that I could
go out of with my hood over me where people wouldn't
immediately recognize me walking out the door?
I think that's doable, yeah. No one knows where
you live yet. So then in that case, after the
conversation with Jeans, I left and started walking
around looking for Chester. You move up the city
streets, and you have a very different experience
from Zebulon. Maybe you still have that same
sick feeling he had, but people don't stop and
recognize you as you move. As you keep yourself
low, keep your face mostly hidden. Your eyes
sweeping left and right, trying to find any sign.
Roll me a perception check. That's a 17. Okay.
You move out of the sort of... Let's say as a
trade discal, the main sort of center thoroughfare
of the... Radiant Citadel goes lower and lower
towards the tail of the serpent. You basically,
like, it's a lot less frequented. The businesses
there are a little rougher, like Deadly Coyote.
But you're moving up and up and up to where things
are much nicer. To where the people walking around
are much more well -to -do and well -dressed.
And then you see a sign for the pale moonlight.
This big, actually sort of magical sign glowing
with a soft light. And... As you kind of see
that sign, you see this big sort of very fancy,
I think it's like a Guido Nito -based inn. You
see Chester peeking out of an alley, seems to
be watching the building, watching the front
doors with some interest. He also has his head
kind of covered, his red hair sort of pulled
down in a hood himself, just so he doesn't catch,
because he also was shown. But he's laying low
as well. He's up to something. Can I get up behind
him without him noticing me? Yeah. Yeah, you
take an alley, veer left off the road, turn down
an alley behind a building, and you see Chester
from behind the edge of the alley looking into
the street, staying low. As I come up behind
him, I'm going to bend down and give him a little...
Playful nudge with my hands. Oh, shit! What you
doing? What you doing? Jules! Jules! Hey, whoa!
Hey, come on. You're gonna blow my cover. Mr.
Buddy, what you been up to? Oh, hey. Look at
this. I got a, uh... I got a scam for us, right?
Now, take a look here. See? Pale moonlight. Everyone
here's a douche, right? With the toilet. You
have been waiting for the opportunity to showcase
the pale moonlight in this campaign. So am I,
to be perfectly honest. Yeah, and here it is.
All right, go ahead. Look at this guy. Look at
this guy. And he points out and you see like
kind of moving out of the door. There's this
red dragonborn and like long silken robes of
deep blue. The sort of natural tendrils that
run from his head are bound by gold rings into
like a tail down his back. And his fingers are
decorated with a variety of gemstone rings. Just
looks very, very wealthy. Very well to do that.
And he just is just like, yeah, you see him?
Yeah, I see him. Now that fella is carrying gold.
I've been looking into him. His name is Doan
Bay, right? He's some cousin or other of the
Queen of Yanito. And we're going to con him.
Well, how's that? Well, I don't know. I was thinking
maybe Snake in the Grass? Boy Who Cried Zone?
Tomato Soup? You got illusion magic now. I mean,
come on. We can get creative. But, like, think
about it. We got all those low city folk. They're
still at the Palace of Exile, you know. And someone's
got to help them. Chester. Chester. What? What?
What? Can we do this? Just one game. Like before,
right? Like Tithos. Those people still need us.
Justin, listen to me. I'm listening, yeah. I'm
sorry that things ain't normal right now. I know
they're not normal. Don't, don't. Look at me.
I've seen you grow into a hero. And what I need
you to do now? Jules, stop. You need to be the
hero for our family. Stop. Just one game. One
game. Alright? Jules and Chester, remember? Jules
and Chester. Everyone's gonna know our names.
Helping the low folk. Taking on the high. Come
on. That's what's happening. And it's always
gonna be Jules and Chester. I need you. He's
just staring. My heart is like, going right now.
Fuck. I need you to do what I can't do right
now. I need you to be at home. They need you
to be at home. Jeans needs you to be at home.
You know I can't do that. Jules, we're not done.
We got work to do, right? Those kids need saving.
I'm not leaving you. No, we're not done. And
I need you to be the hero for the family. Don't
do it, Jules, Jules. Listen, Jules, I know, I
know I've been awful. I know it's been hard.
Chester. I can do this. I can do this, all right?
When I first came to these streets, you saved
me. Let me save you. But if I'm not there, I'm
just going to have your back. You're always with
me. You're always with me. Just... Let me say
my piece, okay? Real quick, just let me say it.
And you can decide what you want to decide. Because
I... I know. It's been hard, right? Like... On
Tsum Tsum Ko. It was different. We were dealing
with con men. And... I can do that, right? I
can handle that. I've seen it before, but...
I watched Vile Rune die in front of my eyes.
Right? I watched that fire almost kill that kid.
And then God's breath and... Fuck. Jules, I wasn't
ready for that, but I can be. I can make it.
I can do it. I just need time, all right? And
look, I don't want this. I don't want to change.
I don't want to grow up. I don't want to be a
luminary. I don't want any of it, but I want
to be with you, all right? I like who I am with
you, Jules. And... If we're Jules and Chester,
I can do it. I can do it. I promise. Just...
We're brothers, Jules. Look, I was afraid. I
was afraid of changing. Because I still want
to be Chester no matter what. And I don't feel
like Chester anymore. I look in the mirror. I
don't see me, but... Jules, I've been doing thinking,
too. I love you, alright? And I love the Cherry
Delights. And as long as I love you and the Cherry
Delights, then I'm Chester. That won't change.
No matter what happens, what I see, what we do
together, I won't change, alright? One more chance.
Please. I'll talk to you more. I'll open up,
just... You trusted me enough to follow me into
the darkness. And to open yourself up to that
horror. We have trusted each other. Unconditionally.
Always. And now I need you to trust me. When
I say that you need to stay. Jules and Chester.
Chester and Jules. We're one. And the family
doesn't work without us there. They need you.
James needs you. But... Don't you need me? I
do. Then I should be by your side. I... Only
for now. Right now, they're scared. And they
need somebody strong. They need a hero, too.
We're tackling this together. We're just... tackling
different parts of it. We're still together.
We're one. Jules and Chester. Chester and Jules.
Fucking right. That's how it's always been. That's
how it's always gonna be. Okay. But it's only
temporary, right? Just for now. Just for now.
I'll be back. I'll keep training and I'll...
I'll have your back and I'll watch the Cherry
Delights. I'll protect them. I promise. You are
a hero, Chester. You're my hero. You watch as
Chester's eyes fall, tears run down his freckled
cheeks, and he rushes in to embrace you, pressing
his face into your chest and just holding himself
there. It's only temporary. We're back together.
We will, right? Right? We're always together.
I love you, buddy. I love you, Jules. And you
fall into this embrace as well. You feel this
outpouring of emotions. And while you don't see
it, while you two stand in that alley, while
you hold each other, you can feel the light of
your loot. You don't see the people in the streets
that stop and gawk as a great brilliance shines
from the alley. pouring out into the street,
a brilliant white light. This lute from the Feywild.
This lute connected to you and your emotions,
shining brilliantly. And you could feel it shining
in you, through you. You feel a well of power
in you. And as you hold Chester, and you open
your eyes for a moment, as a strange sensation
overcomes you, as... Your body begins to vanish
into this luminescent mist. You feel yourself
being pulled away, free and carried on the wind,
free of form. And then you feel yourself come
back together, standing on the roof of the pale
moonlight, looking down at that street, looking
down at that alley. You see bits of mist coming
off of your fingers. You have just used Misty
Step. You've unlocked... The feet. Faye touched.
In this moment, as you stare down, you hear a
voice behind you say, Jules? What the hell was
that? And you turn to see Chester behind you.
Loon hasn't missed coming off his fingers as
well, because Chester has also unlocked the Faye
-touched feet. Holy fuck. Holy shit. And I think
we'll call it there. This isn't easy for me to
do. But, David, I present you with one of my
buttons. What? Oh, man. Oh, you're going to regret
this. Yeah, I already do. Fucking hell. Oh, boy.
I've played in a lot of games with you, and that
session was wild. For the listeners, you can't
see what's happening, but I'm sure Steven and
David both saw. I began crying. Tears came down
my face. Dude, I've had like five or six waves
of goosebumps. We broke earlier for a quick break,
and I was telling you guys how many goosebumps
I was having. And then this shit happened, and
it got even wilder. My heart's been racing for
too long. This is not healthy. Drink another
Rockstar.